Few questions for experienced players

Grim Dawn Gameplay Discussion
1

Hello. I’ve been playing a 2h melee demo with Barthollem’s warmaul and I love it. Currently I play for enjoyment and do not have any kind of build in mind, however I would like to stick with this fire weapon to the end.

  1. What mastery should I choose as a second one?

I like censure, but I dislike inquisitor’s seal. I know it is a good skill, but I dislike the gameplay with it. I’m afraid If I don’t take the seal, my character will be squishy later on.

Soldier is quite beefy mastery but it is not focused on fire.

Oathkeeper is focused on fire, but I’m not sure how much defense does it provide? Blast shield overshadows Resilience so that’s one defensive skill less.

Maybe some other mastery?

  1. Do these damage reduction skills stack or the most powerful one overrides the others?
  • Soldier’s War Cry (25%)
  • Demolitionist’s Blackwater Cocktail (18% physical)
  • Inquisitor’s Cenusre (15%)
  • Devotion Light of Empyrion (24%)
  • Augment Kymon’s Will (10%) - if there are 3 instances of this augment are they counted as separate sources (15, 15, 15 chance for 10% damage reduction) or it is cumulative (45 chance for 10% damage resistance)? How is this calculated?
  1. I know mythical legendaries are needed later on, but are Galakros Singed Plating (torso) and Incendiary Shoulderplates worthy as MIs since I want to convert chaos damage to fire?
2

Just quick, cause TL;DR: Damage reductions DO NOT stack.

3

I go with Oathkeeper, Smite can help your firestrike aoe damage. Blast shield + resilience never is never a waste.

Why not? I assume you’re using either BWC or firestrike, extra fire damage from converted chaos is always nice, even in leveling.

4

Yes, I am using firestrike with the intention of converting chaos from brimstone into fire. Is BWC worthy of two points for physical damage reduction, or do you recommend me to go for augment, devotion or other mastery for damage reduction?

5

If I don’t have other source of damage reduction, I’ll take the High Potency transmuter and probably soft max the Agonizing Flame for it’s 25 flat reduction so I don’t need to take Rhowan Crown, Revenant, or Scales devotion.

Different story if my devotion route is to Scales and then to Empyrion which obviously gonna be harder if I go for the Ulzuin route, in that case I don’t take BWC at all.

6

You could also consider going Arcanist as your second mastery. Arcanist has great synergy with Demolitionist and with elemental skills. Lots of OA, and some really good defensive skills in Mirror and Maiven’s Sphere of Protection. The Arcanist final skill, Reckless Power piles on the fire damage.