Grim Dawn's dual class system

Introduction

After I saw question about dual class system in GD, wanted to make guide about it. It’s truly one of the unique features in the game, which separates Grim Dawn from the others action RPG’s. So I want to provide some information to all the new players getting into the game. And as you can see there is steady flow of incoming players.

What’s dual class?

In Grim Dawn you start with one mastery, but at level 10 you can select second one. Unlike most of the games, where your job is to utilize the best of one class abilities, in GD you should try to find the synergy between the two classes you pick.

Why go dual class and not single?

Actually some players love to impose themselves challenges and pick just one mastery or going even classless. But dual mastery is always better. So you need it for:

  • Base stats. Every point invested in mastery bar provides attributes 0 physique, spirit, cunning, health etc. If you have one class, you are pretty limited.

  • Advanced stats. Going solo means you have twice less passive buffs and stats. For example just unlocking Necromancer mastery and taking Spectral Binding gives you massive OA and health. If you pick solo Inquisitor let’s say, you can expect shortage of stats like OA, DA,health, etc.

  • Resistance Reduction. It’s key to stack as much as possible. And you lose mastery with - RR.

  • Damage Skills. Again some classes don’t have fire power on their own. Better to use skills from both classes.

When to choose second class?

It’s not straightforward. You can unlock class at level 10 but sometimes it’s better to reach the end of mastery bar of first class, before investing in second class. For example some players start using second class at level 30-40 after reaching the exclusive skill or damaging skill requiring many points to unlock . I prefer to choose second mastery early and use the RR skill or passive buff. For example I unlock early Occultist as second class and use Curse of Frailty for RR. Or Oathkeeper and get Presence of Virtue for OA and energy regen. So depends on the build.

Building the synergy

When you select second mastery, you need to be aware what’s your plans for the build regarding the damage type it deals and the archetype. After selecting leading class, you have usually certain combinations that can be easy to level or perform better, because they have better synergy.

So synergy can be common damage type, RR for same type, supporting the play style. For example Inquisitor is considered great secondary class, especially for elemental builds or ranged. Arcanist is good option for caster secondary class.

Main and secondary class

Main class it’s the mastery, where you invest the most points and usually have your main attacks/spells. For example fire builds often have Demolitionist as main class, because it have so many fire spells and also option for auto attack - Fire Strike.

Secondary class it’s the one you take for passive buffs, RR and such. In Dual Melee cold Infiltrator, you usually use just Word of Renewal, Aura of Censure and Deadly Aim. Just passive skills and heal, no attacking spell.

Some builds have more equal distribution and don’t have dominating class.

Exclusive Skill

You can pick just one exclusive skill per character(makes sense). And some classes have 1, some two and poor Demo and Nightblade have zero. So you have to make decision what class to pick according to the possible exclusive skill. For example you are Arcanist cooldown reduction spells caster and want Star Pact to reduce CDR of your attacks. And you select Inquisitor for support. But Inquisitor Aura of Censure blocks Star Pact and you have to make sacrifices. At same time Demo don’t have exclusive skill, so you can combine them both to create something cool.

Going wit the flow

Note that Grim Dawn have wonderful build diversity and it’s almost impossible to completely screw your character, especially if you are familiar with the mechanics. So you can just select what’s sounds cool as name or concept and have fun, that’s the main thing :slightly_smiling_face:

Final

If you have ideas for extra information, I will add it. I cherish each player ideas and feedback! :slightly_smiling_face:

Extra information about different classes here:

6 Likes

Thanks to mods for the fast approval!

I think the most important piece of advice for total noobs to the dual class system is to first pick a dmg type and then pick the second mastery in accordance to it, looking for the presence of resistance reduction of that dmg type, flat dmg bonuses, %dmg bonuses, etc.

Second most important piece of advice, if you don’t know what to do pick soldier or arcanist. Unless you’re already one of them. :wink:

Well, not quite unique

since the dual mastery class combo came from Titan Quest. But it is rare amongst games in the genre.

what is RR?

Resist Reduction
lower enemy resist thus increasing your dmg types
comes in several forms
-x%, ex could be thermite mines or curse of frailty
x% reduced target’s resist ex could be Viper devo or abyss suffix on items
flat/n’th reduced target’s resist, ex Revenant devotion or Break Morale in soldier

ah, thanks much!