Is it just me, or is there very little support for necro/soldier? I feel like it comes down to markovian S&B every time because every other set of gear I try for anything has OCD inducing levels of wasted potential if I was a different class combo. Going vitality almost works for either S&B or 2hand, (weapon, shield, chest, legs) but then it turns into caster gear for half of it or wildblood and “Why am I not a shaman?” Going heavy on soldier isn’t bad, you’ve got a ton of useful skills there, but it feels like none of the non-markovian pieces I can work in really mesh with a build unless I just shrug off the necromancer side entirely and go straight soldier for gearing. Could make the new Krieg set work for physical/aether if I ever see it in game…but then it’s a whole lot of wasted potential again, y’know?
No matter how ridiculously high new gear buffs forcewave it’s still going to miss all but the first opponent (and there is no real DK support of forcewave anyway, better off as tactician) when the rest sneeze or lean slightly sideways so I really wanted to try bone harvest, or a tank with siphon and spectral binding/wrath and I just can’t seem to come up with any gear goals that feel ‘fun’. Am I missing something?
ETA: Skele squad has semi-decent support, and seems okay, but I tend to go all in on a concept and can’t make the numbers work to both be in the mix and have the skeletons as buff as I’d like.
It’s poor for sure. I really wanted the skele army as well but ultimately went with wrath, fumes, and eruption route with better success. Still tinkering with it daily.
Actually hadn’t noticed that one. Pure phys/trauma with harbinger of souls, though. Skills are pretty interesting and good numbers, but being blue the overall stats feel a bit low, and no really nifty bonus abilities. The badge and shield are surprisingly good, though. Maybe not even for a DK but just any Trauma-centric soldier. Thanks!
The gear doesn’t exist along with the whole damn mastery combination itself. It’s god awful, the 2 masteries couldn’t be anymore far apart from eachother
Hopefully the next DLC patch they give them some gear and skill support.
+1. After levelling one to 57 I’m about to park it for a while. I’m pretty surprised the lack of synergistic gear for this class combination wasn’t identified in QA / playtesting.
I feel like with reaper strike, siphon, harbinger, and probably spectral binding/wrath there’s a heavy armor vitality damage/debuff tank waiting to be born…but there isn’t enough heavy vitality armor or the right weapons. (except wildwood crusher, and 2handed tanking is pretty much definitely going to be superior as shaman. I feel like that’s a missed opportunity. Some more 2hand support in Necro would have gone a long way.) And what there is doesn’t support those necro skills so you’re more of a soldier and a half necromancer. Which doesn’t feel particularly exciting and on paper feels like you’d be better off with something you could synergize better with gear.
Actually, I just realized I think you actually CAN do that build…but as a nightblade/necromancer. So not heavy armor full on tanking, but there is gear to support it and even more debuffs. =/ Still cool, but not what I was trying to make happen.
Master of Death doesn’t give nearly enough compared to Primal Bond to really ‘lead the charge’. Maybe pistol and shield and skeletons? Just not what I think of when I think Death Knight, though.
I was thinking, at one point, the Necro was a bit like a Shaman analogue (in a good way). Then I realised the one-point-only 2H buff to the main melee skill was it.
When I think ‘Death Knight’ I’m thinking anti-paladin. The Witchblade does that much better.
Looking on the plus side, I don’t think it’s in anyway un-fixable. It just needs a couple of skill tweaks and some proper equipment.
Harbinger of Souls’ +castspeed put me in mind of a Tremor/Bone Harvest 2h Deathknight, Rattosh, Spectral Wrath and Mines would even provide decent RR, but I simply couldn’t find gear that’d fit the Vit/Aether theme of the build while allowing me to push Forcewave to ultimate levels.
Sure, if the character is durable enough, it “works” at 18/16, I had a HC commando that repeateldly cleared ultimate BoC with that, but it was agonisingly slow, so I’m not in any hurry to repeat that experience.
deathknight seems to be the new battlemage. almost no synergy between the 2 masteries. if they add a legendary DK set, it will likely be some full conversion gimmick set.
I’m trying out a 2H DK build based almost entirely around forcewave/cadence.
On the necro side of things, only planning on investing into spectral binding (dps+ hp boost), might pick up some reaping strike to add as a minor dps boost + dps-based healing.
So far i’m tearing thru everything i come across quite nicely. Since this build is going to be almost entirely soldier based, not sure i’m going to suffer from lack of good gear/skill sync that other people are having - though having said that the -first- DK i tried didnt work out very well, i’ll admit.
My summons were doing mostly fine (though even with investing into several pet-based devotions, they were melting pretty fast against boss’s like Zarthuzellan), but i was far squishier then you’d expect a -Death Knight- to be, because my devo’s were going towards my pets up to that point.
I thnk the masteries could be more far apart from each other then they are now. For instance, Demolitionist and Necromancer are more far apart than Soldier and Necromancer.
I think that the new masteries fit Grim Dawn universe perfectly. But this thematic profile that they have, makes them incompatible with some other masteries. So I think they certainly should have added some transmuters to enable meaningful and viable combos between Necro and Demo, Necro and Soldier, Necro and Inquisitor and Occultist and Inquisitor.