I just wanted to post here, as I’m having some frustrations. I know everything I’m struggling with is likely answered somewhere on the forums but I’ve been reading for a day or two now. It is either answered too complicated in a sort of equation or I simply can’t find it. Hopefully someone can help me find what I’m looking for, if I can even get across what I’m trying to figure out.
So, I’m level 48 occultist/assassin on my first time through the game. I’ve made it up to Fort Ikon (iirc) and everything has been going relatively well. I had some early game power issues when I moved to the new area after beating the warden but I seem to be doing okay now. Without any glaring specifics - I’m pretty much just debuffing things with the occultist spell, hitting them with a DoT and blowing them up with eye of dreeg, I believe it is called. I have phantasmal blades from the assassin and anatomy for bleed damage. That’s it on that end.
Anyway. My first real question or concern, is that I have ZERO idea what armor to use! Everything looks the same to me. I don’t know what to pick up. If I should just sell it or if there is a way to break things down. I’ve mostly just been picking up things that say or have acid/poison/bleed damages on them. I feel like my weapon sucks - every new weapon I see says it is an upgrade to damage but when I put it on my spells do way less.
Also, as far as devotions are concerned, I took one from the rat constellation that I think said do +xxx damage for xxx time or something along those lines. It is not a skill though. Does that mean it just happens when I hit things or does that get added to other poison skills?
I apologize for the messy post, just really having a tough time figuring things out on my own and I have no friends that play to talk to. Thank you, in advance.
Witch Hunter is a fun choice and due to poison builds largely escaping the recent nerfs I think a good choice for a new character.
First thing I would do is check out a guide or two. There really isn’t a poison WH guide being actively updated as far as I know. That said, I would recommend this one since it covers gearing and goes through the idea of a skills rotation which is really important for a poison char: http://grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36115
Poison damage stacks from different sources (for ex: Dreeg’s Evil Eye, the proc from the Slithtongue sword, poison from devotions like Eye of the Guardian). So you want to apply as many sources as possible. I would not recommend adding bleeding to the mix, bleeding requires a specialized build dedicated to it to have much effect. Also I would recommend maxing the first two skills of DEE at least and take the transmuter that only lets you cast it every 5 seconds I think, it really amps up the damage.
When you’ve entered your build info click on the Save button (top right) and then copy the info in the box. Then paste it back here so we can have a look.
Armour does look similar, it’s not as distinctive as in other ARPG’s like Diablo or Titan Quest. So whatever helps you that you can equip basically. If you need resistances look for items that will help with that for example.
If you found Kasparov’s apprentice then she can dismantle stuff for you to recover valuable scrap and components - you’ll need dynamite for that. And Kasparov himself can separate components from items - you choose which to keep, but the other will be destroyed in the process.
There are several Witch Hunter builds in the compendium. Have a look at the builds to see which best matches your plan and see what devotions they’ve used. Yes, if a constellation doesn’t have an active skill that can be attached to an ingame skill then it’s just adding those effects to your general totals.
I usually tend to equip armor that adds + x % to the damage type(s) i am using for the build. Or if i am having a hard time with enemies, i equip some blue armor with good armor values and stats. If you use skills that doesnt use weapon damage, i would go for a weapon that adds as much + x % damage type as possible. And also put a corresponding component on it too.
Took me a while to figure out the DPS on the weapon is worthless if you’re casting spells. Even if not, it doesn’t factor in other things like crit damage. If you’re using a skill that says it does % weapon damage (like phantasmal blades and Blood burst) then all your weapon stats matter. If you’re just casting (using dreeg’s evil eye) then only the + x% is helpful. So if using mostly DEE, you want things with high +x%. If you’re using mostly phasntasmal blades, then the x damage is helpful. The x poison for 5 seconds from the rat will only add the poison damage to attacks that use your weapon damage as that is considered “flat” damage. The +24% poison damage will boost your skills like DEE. So look for items with +%, if your not using your weapons…
Try posting your build like medea said. Your skill points seem to be a bit all over the place. That is fine on normal/veteran but you will need to decide what you want to do later on. Then you will be able to decide what armors you want and other items. In act 4 veteran you start worrying about resistances for the first time. I’d advise crafting and inserting imbued silver in your weapon about now to get some chaos resist (don’t forget to activate the aura it gives).
But first decide on what you want you character to be. Melee? Caster?
Though I love melee i’d suggest you go caster this time to learn about the game a bit and hoard some items. Melee with this one is a bit tricky. It’s a squishy character and requires specific items according to what damage type you choose, or a mix of them.
Thanks so much everyone. I’ll try to post my build - I browse the forums while at work so I’d have to do it from memory. The thing I’ve come to realize, that has been mentioned, is that my build is majorly messed up. As much as it’s probably better, I don’t like to follow a cookie cutter build for my first time playing. The mistakes often end up helping me in the long run.
That being said, my skills are super screwy. It seems I have melee, caster, and a whole bunch of different damage types - bleed/acid/poison. I do really like the idea of poison or acid. Either one. For the most part, I’ve picked up ‘corrosion’ gear. I think I’m going to reset my skills - if that’s possible - and try to rebuild.
I jumped on last night and went to explore a bit more, apparently I was at the last boss and didn’t know it. Killed him/it just fine and got a whole bunch of loot I’m nowhere near being able to use. Then, turned it up to elite difficulty and started a new game to see how it was and it did not go well at all. Any single hero monster I found was really putting the hurt on me.
Is there some sort of suggested progression to the game? Should I beat normal - as I did, and then move to elite? Or should I play normal on veteran mode from some point in the game?
Really having fun, despite the troubles… and I think I’m starting to see that it might just take a simple respec and consolidation of skills with more planning.
This is one of the biggest things. The DPS number on weapon changes is almost always lying to you, especially if you’re a caster. Figure out what you really want to work on, damage wise, and get +% to that damage.
I see, I kind of figured as much, I just was hoping the tooltip was accurate a little longer being new to the game.
So you guys said that poison from the rat constellation only works for flat damage, does that mean if I respec all caster (dreegs eye for ex.) does that mean that bonus is useless?
You can reset your skill points and devotions, but not any attribute or mastery points you’ve gained, at the spirit advisor or whatever she’s called in the north part of Devil’s crossing. Skills just cost some iron, devotions cost aether crystals.
The way you went about playing is definitely a good way to learn the game. I always find it best to try and fail then just follow a cookie cutter design and not know what you’re doing. There is definitely a lot to learn in this game. Now that you are running into trouble, if you try some of the “cookie cutter” design, it should help you see how they work. Then you can modify the design to fit your play style as needed…at least that is the way I do it…
Usually Log is a gear check. If you struggled with him then you probably aren’t ready for Elite. Sounds like you were playing on normal? See how it works for you on Veteran. That will at least give you some more exp and get you a little more ready for Elite. If you can’t use the gear Log dropped, then maybe you could use some more levels?
When moving to Elite (and even more so in Ultimate) you want to make sure your resists are good. You’ll want to bump them up if you have only been focusing on DPS so far. Dead players deal 0 DPS… Plus heroes/bosses heal more on player death in Elite… At lv 50 some nice faction gear unlocks. You can grind some rep (if needed) on your way to 50 and the faction gear should help you…
The x damage for 3 seconds is not helping as much, but the +24% poison damage will. Any damage that is not listed as a % on a devotion (not counting the most procs) or item will only be applied if you attack with a weapon or a skill that lists % weapon damage. Also that flat damage will scale based on the % weapon damage. Such as Blood Burst that modifies DEE has (at higher level) 15% weapon damage. So if the poison from the rat was 100 for 3 seconds, for example, then you’ll only be getting 15 for 3 seconds added to DEE from blood burst. But if you went melee with and got execution (last skill at the top of the nightblade tree) the base is 230% WD, so that 100 poison for 3 seconds would scale to 230 for 3 seconds… That is a really simple way of looking at it, as the damage will still benefit from +%, but I think you can get the idea that it will be significantly less or more then what is listed there based on what skill you’re using. If you plan to stick with mostly a caster, then most of the flat damage is not going to be that beneficial to you.
Log - assume that’s the end boss, I just can’t remember his name. He was really easy. The mechanics were simple to figure out, as he almost reminded me of the end boss in Path of Exile. Anyway, yeah I played on normal. Maybe I should just pick a point halfway up the left side of Cairn and start there on veteran for xp and materials.
I likely don’t have any resists, as I assumed it wasn’t necessary in normal mode. I’ll have to take a good hard look at my gear and see how to get them and how to fit them in. I do have some nice gear, but it is level 50 and I’m only 48, I believe. I swear I have a ton of blue items that sound amazing and straight forward as to how a character should be built, always seems to be arcanist or demolitionist though.
Think I’ll go respec when I get home, boil my skills down to Eye of Dreeg, and then run the end of normal on veteran difficulty and see how it goes.
Alright - I’m going to trash this now that I have a better understanding from everyone’s suggestions… but here is a rough visual of how messed up my skills were.
The numbers may be slightly off, but that’s absolutely what I was trying to use before. I’ll post a revised ‘build’ once I get to sit down and take a look at it tonight. Then again, I guess I could just try to put it together on my lunch break instead of slumping through it tonight.
But that is the fun of learning. There are so many skills to chose from, but picking a little here and there usually is not as good as focusing on a few. A lot of the skill don’t synergize well with each other, while others skills do! That is the fun of grim dawn, you can make multiple completely different builds from the same to masteries! Can be useful if you were focusing on poison, but got some sweet legendary bleed items and wanted to switch focus…or wanted to get away form casting and go melee…
As you’re sticking with poison, getting night chill on the nightblade side for the poison resist reduction will help a lot as well as upping Vulnerability. Reduced resists usually help you more then plus to damage… Pets are also underwhelming less you put a lot of points in them and gear for pets. Familiar has a nice heal, but blood of dreeg would suit your build more. Bloody pox also is underwhelming, unless you want it to proc devotions…then it is great for that! In that case you only need one point in it. One point in shadow strike will help your mobility as well… Really helpful for getting around or even escaping danger.
Oh, and one more point of clarification on the poison from WD…all weapons damage DOT’s (poison/bleed) are treated as the same source regardless of the skill they come from. If you attack with execution (230% WD) it would apply the 230 poison for 3 seconds. If you then hit with blood bust, the 15 for 3 is less so it would not apply at all. Like wise, if you hit with blood burst first it would apply the 15 then hit with your weapon, the 15 would go away and you would get 230. So hitting with both will not give you 245 for 3 seconds. The poison from the skill not associated with the weapon damage (12/12 blood burst on grim calc yields 38 for 3) will stack and add to your total making it 230+38=268… So stacking different source for poison is good, just remember the poison from weapon damage should not be part of your calculation for each skill, just probably once for from the highest source.
I know it’s bad, after talking to you guys just a little. I just took what I could as I went along to try things out. I loved Bloody Pox when I was starting out and even still, it does proc one of my skills that puts some spinning green orbs around me. When it really gets going, it’s insane, everything just blows up.
I appreciate the tips. Honestly, I haven’t even really looked at the assassin side very much and I would’ve never leaned on debuffs at all. That is super good to know.
One of the hardest things right now, is that there are so many buttons, my fingers get jumbled up when things get hairy. Most times when I die, it’s because I couldn’t find one of my heal buttons.
I think a lot of us were in the same boat you were at one point too… My story is a lot like yours! I didn’t post my build…I just read a bunch…probably would have been better to post to get an better understanding…
Resist debuffs are probably the strongest thing in the game right now…even after they got nerfed in the last patch… Resists in general are huge in this game! You want yours high and you want to lower the mob’s.
Cutting back on some skills will definitely help with the button smashing…and make the buttons you do press much stronger! If you haven’t done so yet, changing some key bindings might help! I use q, w, e, r, t, a, s, d, f, g instead of 1-10 as it is easier to do with one hand… It works for me, but whatever is most comfortable for you would work. Some people put the skills on their middle mouse button…
I did set my skills to Q W E R T and had health pots and heals on 1 2 3 but always managed to get messed up still. Didn’t even think to check if you could bind them to a mouse. I’ll have to find my mouse that has the thumb side buttons.
It’s so weird watching people stream though. It seems like everything uses 1 skill. Guess I just need to respec and go from there.
Can’t thank ya enough man, so pumped for this game right now. It’s the best thing I’ve played in a long time.
Grim Dawn is a great game Pariias. I found it at a time where I was really in the dumps about how bad Diablo 3 has become. I tried Path of Exile, but its not for me. The items are why I play, and GD has pulled that part off perfectly. IMO, balance in the items is just as important as balance in the classes. It is so refreshing that a rare item can be as strong, if not stronger than the top tier of gear.
My first character was a hot mess, but I took the time to read alot of guides and watch alot of videos on YouTube. After a little bit I started to understand how damage works and what to look for on gear, and also how to distribute stat/skill points.
As far as key bindings, I love that GD has 2 rows to bind skills. I put all my toggled skills on the second bar, and the first one is for the active skills, health/resource pots, and potions. I have a Corsair K70 and changed the 1-6 keycaps to the supplied rubber coated caps and it is really easy to keep track of where my fingers are. Usually I bind my escape/movement skill to the right mouse button and most commonly used skill to the left, and the only other thing I have on the mouse is using one of the thumb buttons to toggle the map on and off.
Have fun exploring and educating yourself about the game. To me that’s one of the funnest parts.