Grim Misadventure #193 - Wake Up!

[Zantai]

Take a deep breath, because we are diving into another Grim Misadventure. Last time, we shared some of the Legendary sets coming in Fangs of Asterkarn. Sets are some of the most involved item work, and the expansion will ship with 17 of them!

Before we jump into today’s update, you should definitely read up on the state of the expansion’s development. We go over the facts and give some statistics that you might find enticing.

Now, let us talk about Epics, and finally waking up their true potential…

We previously hinted at this system in Grim Misadventure #184, but were scant on the details. We did mention though that the process is very straightforward. Awakening Epic items and unlocking their Legendary potential will require Ashes of Awakening. You may recall these are important for Affix Rerolling too.

Ashes of Awakening are primarily acquired in Ascendant Mode, so it is not a walk in the park to find these in bulk, but you can use the Ascension Altar to activate mechanics such as Resplendent Troves and Marked by the Void on any difficulty and have a chance of finding some. In that, all of the new features tie together and support each other!

The purpose of the Awakening system is to, over time, take the hundreds of Epic quality items the game has that have largely fallen out of favor in the endgame and give them a second lease on life. Why have all this wonderful art and itemization if they serve no practical purpose? With the release of Fangs of Asterkarn, we plan to transform many of our existing Epics into Legendaries, and we intend to continue doing so with subsequent updates. Whether we eventually cover every Epic in the game remains to be seen, but you can see the potential for years to come.

But how does one take the ashes and harness this power? The knowledge is not known to man, but should you befriend the right allies in the battles ahead, your trust may be rewarded with access to their unusual reliquaries. Then it is a mere matter of gathering the right materials for the job and the awakened Epics will be yours!

Like knowing what is coming up next for Grim Dawn? Check back on August 11th for the next Grim Misadventure!

[Ceno]

Babe wake up, there’s a new Misadventure.

[mad_lee]

Vitality ring that gives points to Ravenous Earth? Unthinkable!

[medea_fleecestealer]

What about those epic items that don’t have a mythical version though? Can they still get awakened? Thinking of something like Empowered Stormcaller’s Spellblade which doesn’t have a mythical version.

[RSnoomak]

Charges on Shadow strike , Interesting

[Kurapika]

Very nice, now I have to hoard my epics items in preparation

[Gnomish_Inquisition]

not even the might of Awakening can muster forth cast speed on Eastern Gloves tho

[nguyenduc_chibang]

Imagine the awakened thundertouch bracer

[mad_lee]

still better than that phys eor amulet

[Paradigm]

I swear there’s enough content in this expansion alone for a full game, and this is all being carefully layered upon an already gigantic game. Keep cooking Crate!

[arivus]

Awakened my Epics!

Ayayaya

[DenisMashutikov]

At last Awekening info!

[Spraynerb]

Lots of pet items that would be interesting awakened - Sanar’sin, Marrow Bands, Blightshard Amulet, Og’Napaz. Can relics be awakened too? Would love to see the Hysteria relic crab in an awakened state in addition to + skills like the later pet relics. I have always liked that crab.

[Dioarchet]

The approach taken to resistances thus so far seems to be to take the existing numbers and make them bigger. I question if this is sufficient. Often one of the key value-adds of legendary items over epic items is that they have more kinds of resistances. A clear example can be seen with endgame aether damage boots. The epic ones have three kinds of resists (including CC resists); the non-set legendary ones have four or five. Krieg’s Boots is an exception to this trend, but it’s a set item.

In any case, I’d like to see a bit more sophistication with what Awakening brings to the table.

[Kurapika]

I don’t think so, but iirc on when the expansion was announced, there were plans to make lower levelled relics into a legendary relic probably by drops

[Zantai]

@Dioarchet

Often one of the key value-adds of legendary items over epic items is that they have more kinds of resistances.

That’s going to depend from item to item. Legendaries rarely have 3-4 resists on an item. Something like a ring has 1-2. So a Legendary version of some items is not going to slap on an extra resist just because it became Legendary.

[Dioarchet]

@Zantai

So a Legendary version of some items is not going to slap on an extra resist just because it became Legendary.

If you’re implying that at least some items will gain extra kinds of resists upon Awakening, then that’s good enough for me.

[davide_sacco]

Can’t wait to see what my mytical blightshard amulet will do once upgraded

[KoalaeiO]

He said the opposite.

[Dioarchet]

@KoalaeiO

He said the opposite.

If some won’t, that usually implies some will.