[Druid] Sherkhan's Thunderstrike (2H Ranged Primal Strike | 50 Shaman 15 Arcanist)

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

This is my first character in Grim Dawn. Finished Veteran at L43, Elite at L64, and just finished A3 Ultimate at L77 which appears to be mid-fast. Proof of kills

Putting the barebones out here for the people who asked - haven’t seen any other writeups quite along the same lines.

Concept

Plant lots of Arcane Bombs on enemies while dealing massive ST+AOE damage with Primal Strike. Have Wind Devils reduce resistances while dealing high lightning damage through Maelstrom and Tempest. Use Grasping Vines and a L1 Briarthorn to keep enemies at bay while you kill them. Maiven for protection, Mirror for WTF situations.

Since GD damage modifiers don’t stack on conversion (unlike POE), the offense in this setup only scales lightning damage, and benefits from lightning conversion to maximize damage output. Viper (x% reduced), Primal/ArcaneBomb(-x to lightning) and Wind Devil/Raging Tempests(xx reduced) are used to reduce resistances.

Defensively, this draws on “slow” mechanics from passives and devotions (Wind Devils, Vines) to ensure mobs are kept at bay, while dealing high amounts of lightning damage and debuffing.

The build is tanky enough (finished Veteran with 10k HP, Elite with 7k - inverted, I know) to be run as melee, but I prefer kiting since the melee animations seem too lurchy for me.

Build

GrimCalc

Playstyle

Keybinds:
Move, Vines, Wind Devil, Primal Strike [main whatever you use to play]
Health Pot, Energy Pot, Mirror, Potions, Briarthorn
Auras [only need to turn them on once per game]

Cast Vines on packs/bosses. Cast Wind Devils (for debuff, damage). Attack with Primal Strike from a distance. Resurrect Briarthorn as needed. Hit pots / Mirror as needed. Aether Bomb on Primal, Tsunami on Vines, Tempest on Wind Devils.

Auras are Maiven, Modrogen, Stormcaller’s Pact, Lightning Aura (Hell’s Bane Ammo), Iskandra.

One point wonders: Briarthorn + Ground Slam (for aggro), Mogdrogen’s Pact (for Heart of the Wild), Wind Devil (for Raging + Maelstrom), Mirror of Ereoctes (for 3s immunity)

Gear

I used white/magic rifles till I could purchase Chosen Bolt from Kymon’s people. Still using this L33 weapon in Ultimate. Will upgrade to the Elite version when I get enough Kymon Rep. The other lightning conversion epics/legendaries also work well.

Stormcaller’s Sash is the only other epic offensive item I’m using at the moment. Not planning on cheating to have perfect gear. Rest are OA on gear.

Defensively, haven’t really figured it out. Using HP/Res/DA gear in most slots. Just picked up Wyrmscale Footguards which seem to work pretty well.

2

Hey! I recognize your name from the PoE forums :stuck_out_tongue:

Can you explain this a little more?

Looks interesting. I’m working on something similar, although it’s a bit squishier than I’d like. You’re managing ok without Wendigo Totem?

3

I seem to remember two posts with similar builds awhile back. Both were using Raka’Jax, the legendary Xbow. Try getting your hands on Nar’s Arcane Destroyer, Ulda’Jax or Thunderclap if you are level 75.

4

Break time ;>

Can you explain this a little more? “Since GD damage modifiers don’t stack on conversion”

In POE, if you convert physical to elemental, both the +% phys and +% ele modifiers apply to the end damage. In GD, only the +% ele would apply to converted damage.

The PS skill essentially adds flat physical and flat lightning to your main attack. All the other options in Shaman add flat lightning. In my setup, I’ve avoided scaling physical (cept a little bit at Kraken, but that was unintentional), and instead go for as much conversion as possible. That lets me focus on lightning/elemental scaling and elemental resistance debuffs.

Looks interesting. I’m working on something similar, although it’s a bit squishier than I’d like. You’re managing ok without Wendigo Totem?

If I go melee, I feel superhuman till one of the AOE chaos/poison vomits get me. The ranged setup is a kite build, and doesn’t feel that squishy (just requires awareness).

Wendigo totem has poor synergy with my ranged setup. I don’t scale vitality damage anywhere (cept maybe Revenant), and I’ll rarely be within a 10m radius of enemies. Leech from Ghoul + Revenant (+ gear, maybe) applies to all damage, which is more than enough to sustain in fights (
%leech in GD seems to work like VP in POE). Plus, it scales naturally with damage.

5

Yup. Those bows are on my list. Currently L65 making my way through A1 Ultimate.

I see a lot of “get XX” recommendations in GD. In POE, there’s a huge trade economy, so it’s just a matter of time to earn one. I’m playing solo on my laptop, and the only way I’ll see something is if I drop it.

Are all the “get XX” recs aimed towards the multiplayer gamers, or under the assumption that someone will hexedit to get the item?

6

Indeed, I played PoE for two years.

As far as the items go, I trade for what I needed here in these forums. Currently, I pretty much own every legendary in the game, so finding items to try on builds is not as hard at the moment. I do not use GDSidekick, nor hex to get any of my items personally, everything was self found, or traded for.

7

Ah. I’m not planning on going online (enjoying my lag-free experience). I guess I’ll see what falls my way. On paper, it seems that the Elite Chosen Bolt is near Rax in terms of damage output. Just missing the +x to Shaman skills. Considering how comfortable 75+ content feels on a 65 char with a 33 weapon, I think a 70 weapon will suffice when I get there ;> Just need to kill some Cthonians.

8

We do have trade forums here, you basically join a game solely for the purpose of a trade and jump back out. No lag there. :slight_smile:

If interested, go here: http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=27 and the first two threads have plenty of stuff for trade.

9

Lol, that’s how physical->piercing used to work in Titty Quest. It was broken as fuck since Dexterity increased both damage types.

On the topic of the build:

  1. You would benefit greatly from going up to Elemental balance. Crit damage is an amazing damage multiplier in GD, you can never have enough of it. Depending on how much +skills you use, going further to Conversion would be pretty good as well. Stun resistance is really hard to get and something that opens up new farming options once you acquire enough of it (most notably Anesteria, if you don’t have her helmet yet, also Avatar of Mogdrogen if that’s your thing). I’m willing to spend 2 devotion points and a helmet augment for 40% on my lightning Warder for the fights I mentioned. That’s just an option, but Elemental balance is a must imo.

  2. Pick up 1-point wonders like Storm surge and Arcane will. Consider Grasping+Entangling vines if you prefer to play ranged, it’s one of the best CC skills.

  3. You want Falcon swoop attached to Primal strike, it’s bay far the best devotion proc for any 2-hander build (including rifles/xbows) and it’s even better for Primal strike builds because Primal strike and Storm surge count as separate attacks that occur at the same time, giving you 27.75% effective chance to proc Falcon swoop.

  4. Get Wendigo totem to the highest level divisible by 3 you can! Non-negotiable, it’s the single best sustain skill in the game.

  5. Resistance reduction is king in GD. Get the Widow constellation and bind Arcane bomb to Grasping wines, it will proc like crazy. Consider Ulzuin’s hat once you get access to it (it’s craftable so you could ask someone to make one for you if you don’t consider it cheating).

  6. More on your devotion choices, since they look like a mess. Hawk gives 3%+15 OA and 8% crit damage for 3 points, it would be amazing even if your build didn’t require green devotion anyway. No-brainer. With Falcon, this brings you up to 6, which means you can drop the completely useless Spider. Ghoul is pretty ineffective. It gives you 4% extra attack speed (20% 1/5 of the time and nothing 4/5 of the time) with an awkward way of activating. Jackal gives you 6% and the same +3 red devotion. The lifesteal is more useful to you than to most 2-hander Primal strike builds, but it’s still kinda pointless because of #4. 3 points into Behemoth (up to the skill) will do wonders for your survivability as well. Hourglass is complete shit, petrify doesn’t work on bosses (the only enemies that have a chance in hell of hurting you) and the slow doesn’t stack with Wind devil. While revenant is not bad, it’s not really good. The skellies are completely useless, lifesteal is superfluous and the attack speed bonus inefficient. Turtle is pretty meh as well. The passive bonus to health and armor is useful but too small and the activated skill is garbage because it goes before resistances. Removing Turtle and Revenant and replacing them with Lizard (regeneration is awesome!) and red Crossroads will still let you keep Spear. Consider 4 points in Dying god, it’s the single most effective way of boosting OA for your char. The activated skill is not bad for you either if you have 2 points to spare, it’s almost always up and gives a massive boost to crit damage and some speed.

10

I’ve been eyeing that, just seemed like a lot of points.

Consider Grasping+Entangling vines if you prefer to play ranged

Would you put more than 1 point into each?

  1. You want Falcon swoop attached to Primal strike, it’s bay far the best devotion proc for any 2-hander build (including rifles/xbows) and it’s even better for Primal strike builds because Primal strike and Storm surge count as separate attacks that occur at the same time, giving you 27.75% effective chance to proc Falcon swoop.

Huh, I haven’t tried this yet. So you attach Arcane Bomb (or Elemental Storm) to Grasping Vines instead, even in a melee build? I assumed Arcane Bomb would be most important to have with Primal Strike. Do you use Wind Devil or Storm Totem?

  1. Get Wendigo totem to the highest level divisible by 3 you can! Non-negotiable, it’s the single best sustain skill in the game.

I’m confused about this on ranged characters. I noticed that it doesn’t go off and start healing my life unless I’m standing quite close to it (even when I have 12 points in it), so it seems amazing for melee but terrible for ranged.

  1. More on your devotion choices

Tell me more :smiley:

So you’d do something like Viper, Falcon, Hawk, 3 points in Behemoth, Widow, Kraken, Lizard, Jackal, Tsunami + Wraith (need something for more Primordial), Spear of the Heavens? I think that only leaves 2 or 3 devotion points.

11

They are not wasted, points in mastery give you health. Arcanist mastery doesn’t give much, but your aura works on percentages so every flat bonus helps.

Back up your character in case you don’t like it.

Would you put more than 1 point into each?

It’s hard to tell, I have +5 Shaman skills and one point in each locks everything down pretty easily. I would definitely not invest in the main skill.

Huh, I haven’t tried this yet. So you attach Arcane Bomb (or Elemental Storm) to Grasping Vines instead, even in a melee build? I assumed Arcane Bomb would be most important to have with Primal Strike. Do you use Wind Devil or Storm Totem?

Vines proc things like mad, in a few seconds the entire screen will be debuffed.

Unfortunately, Totem can’t proc Arcane bomb because pets can’t proc pets.

I use WD just for the Raging tempest, and i rarely cast is vs normal mobs. Tbh, i only took it for the Avatar of Mogdrogen fight because every bit of res debuff helps there, but now i have all of those points in it and barely use it…

I’m confused about this on ranged characters. I noticed that it doesn’t go off and start healing my life unless I’m standing quite close to it (even when I have 12 points in it), so it seems amazing for melee but terrible for ranged.

Both you and an enemy need to be in range for it to heal you.

It’s still amazing, you just don’t bother with it until enemies rush you. Ranged is a relative term in GD, enemies are pretty fast so even ranged chars spend a lot of time in melee. Bosses will definitely rush you, usually with some kind of blink or snares/stuns, so kiting them is not an option. Jut pop a totem and facetank them.

If you miss lifesteal, just put a Haunted steel in your weapon (the lightning aura ammo is quite meh anyway, you won’t notice the change if you remove it) or wear a vampiric ring. You will eventually come across things like Black star of deceit and Lifegiver signet which give lifesteal as well as other useful stats.

Edit: another thing about melee vs ranged… It’s fine to kite your way trough the game when you’re starting out, but it just slows down your farm when you have to run around half the map every time you meet a boss. It also gets tedious and frustrating. Tank up just enough to be able to stand toe to toe with anything you intend to farm, otherwise you won’t be able to farm effectively. I have 4 casters with ranged spells, and they can all facetank anything. In fact, I use things like Shadow strike to get into everyone’s face in order to better use my aoe skills and speed things up.

Tell me more :smiley:

So you’d do something like Viper, Falcon, Hawk, 3 points in Behemoth, Widow, Kraken, Lizard, Jackal, Tsunami + Wraith (need something for more Primordial), Spear of the Heavens? I think that only leaves 2 or 3 devotion points.

I was being deliberatly vague because your devotion setup will always vary with items. For example, you may need Ulo or Dryad for resistances, while I don’t.

This is the setup I use, last two points change depending on my mood (usually Empty throne + first node in Hourglass because i hate stuns and stats always nice, but I’m playing melee…). Other experienced people on the forums use very simillar setups for their Shamans, so I know I’m not far off.

12

Thanks for the explanations! I’m not terribly far with my Druid character yet (only lvl 43 or so), but that gives me a good idea of where to head.

I’ve wanted to play ranged, but the two-handed melee weapons I find are much better so I’ve been sticking to those. I can tank most things well enough, just need to be cautious of DoT when around mobs.

How do you feel about the Tempest constellation?

13

Ah. Just updated a bunch of devotions, then I saw the commentary on this thread.

–

  1. Elemental Balance

I’ve been meaning to try it out, but the “can’t regret mastery” aspect of the game has prevented me from allocating points till I’m comfortable that there are no better choices.

  1. Storm Surge / Arcane Will

Why are these 1-pt wonders? I’ve been allocating points to Storm Surge recently. Any reason not to max it out?

  1. Falcon Swoop on PS

I attached Mark of Wendigo instead. I really don’t see the point of Falcon. My focus is on conversion to ele, then reducing ele res on monsters.

  1. Wendigo Totem

I’ll put some points to try it out.

  1. Widow on Vines

Thought about Widow, but moved away from it after I realized I couldn’t bind it to PS. Might reallocate to that once I detangle my setup and figure out where to get +3 Ascendant affinity. Right now has space for change at 48 pts to finish (46/50 atm).

  1. Devotions are a mess.

Yes they were.

Agreed on Ghoul, Turtle and Revenant. That’s why I ended up respeccing them.

At the moment I have them replaced with Tsunami (Wind Devil), Hawk, Behemoth, and Wendigo (PS).

Based on your comments, it seems that I shouldn’t bother finishing Aeon. If I remove Tsunami (which is pretty extraneous at the moment), that leaves me 13 points to play with (and a Primordial deficit of 4, if I want to keep spear). I’ll look into this and get back. Let me know if you have any suggestions for the 13 pts / 4 prim.

Update: What do you think of this rework for the Devotions? (Haven’t changed the passives portion yet.)

http://grimcalc.com/build/2TvF5H

Thanks!

14

I think I’m going to try something like this: http://grimcalc.com/build/8qk10S. I like that Elemental Storm triggers from Wendigo Totem (right now I also have Arcane Bomb on Grasping Vines, although I’ll probably get rid of the Widow constellation later), and Falcon Swoop really is amazing.

Do people ever max out Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange? I rarely see more than 1 point in that. Is Oak skin fairly useless with a Druid (unless you need the pierce resistance)?

15

While it’s mechanically interesting, Falcon Swoop doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the build - I barely scale bleed (cept at Kraken), and my lightning damage modifier is 700% at L70 before StormPact.

My current setup has two casts before attacking - Vines and Devils. I have Wendigo attached to my PS, which seems to work wonders for leech. With the Mark of Wendigo, the totem is unnecessary (and you’re right from earlier - it’s better for melee)

Do people ever max out Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange? I rarely see more than 1 point in that. Is Oak skin fairly useless with a Druid (unless you need the pierce resistance)?

Oak Skin is fairly useless. I took my points out of that now that I know how strong Vines are.

I max out Iskandra for the leech, the phys -> elemental conversion and the flat ele dmg. With the leech, I never need to hit a potion (freeing up time and resource management); 1/3rd of the rest of the dmg is scaled a lot, 2/3rds of it is scaled more than I scale physical. I tried going without Iskandra, but my energy bar depletes after a few fights (and I hate potting).

Edit: Just looked at your tree. I’ve found maxing out Vines to be pretty strong. It’s 40% slower at L1 and 75% slower at L12. So the monster goes from 0.6x speed to 0.25x speed - i.e. his speed more than halves for the point investment. Also, you get much better AOE coverage from packs with the points. Haven’t played with Entangling yet, but that’s where I’ll try points next.

16

I agree, it doesn’t seem like it should fit, but it’s very potent.

With the Mark of Wendigo, the totem is unnecessary (and you’re right from earlier - it’s better for melee)

Losing the totem’s a bit scary to me, but if you’re healing the damage right back up with leech, then it saves you a bunch of points in the skill tree. Do you run into trouble when slowed? I wish there was an icon that showed the duration of the debuff on you, like there is when you’re hit with frostburn.

I max out Iskandra for the leech, the phys -> elemental conversion and the flat ele dmg.

The flat damage seems low, but energy regen is nice if you need to pot (I do with my build, but usually only once against tough bosses). I think I’m missing something with the leech. Why would IEE help with that?

17

I’ve been killing L78 heroes at L65 without slow being an issue. The amount of slow I put on monsters really makes me safe from melee. I suspect Entangling will help vs ranged.

The flat damage seems low, but energy regen is nice if you need to pot (I do with my build, but usually only once against tough bosses). I think I’m missing something with the leech. Why would IEE help with that?

IEE gives 72 energy leech per second at L12. Doesn’t cover the cost of the attack completely, but is pretty good for countering the drain.

It also gives 234 flat elemental damage [78/78/78 light/fire/cold] and 25% physical dmg converted to elemental. The latter has a base 654 physical from PS and 148-195 from my current weapon [Elite Chosen Bolt]. The IEEE conversion turns that into 54 + 12-17 of each element.

While these numbers are pretty low, they get scaled by 7x for lightning [before factoring in resist reduction], as opposed to 1.5x for physical.

18

You guys are incredibly wrong. Falcon swoop deals around 400% of your weapon damage (which is huge since you have a 2-hander) to everything directly in front of you. Since it hits every 4 hits if you have Storm surge, it effectively adds 100% weapon damage to your attack in a pretty large aoe. There is no contest when it comes to devotion skills attached to Primal strike, anything else is simply the wrong choice.

19

Damage doesn’t seem to be a constraining factor for me. Leech from Wendigo’s Mark lets me tank bosses +5 my level.

Other than slightly more damage, adjusting for the 15% proc rate, I fail to see why Falcon is necessary. I agree that Falcon is better on PS than it is on other skills, but I don’t see why it should be attached to PS above Wendigo.

20

Uhmm, have you tried it against Nemesis on Ultimate?Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t Wendigo’s Mark life steal amount based on the Vitality damage done by the skill itself? Bosses on Ultimate have very high Vitality resistance…I don’t see how this life steal is even comparable to Wendigo Totem heal. It is the single skill that let me facetank Fabius on every Shaman-based build.