DISCLAIMER
DISCLAIMER
Aether Death Knight is very interesting and unique spec just for the fact @banana_peel make it works with Menhir Bulwark, huge shotout to him for this amazing spec .I have tons of fun leveling this all this energy and procs that comes out of my character absolutely a blast. Huge thanks to Grim Dawn community around different platforms that keep support me so I can keep improving on my guides and builds,special thanks to @GSAsylum for formating the original post really appreciate what he did and another gentle request to @tqFan to add this to Begginer Compendium so this spec can reach more people that like Aether Tanks. Stay tuned for more interesting builds
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Thanks to @banana_peel we have different flavour Blitzer after the last playtest. His setup catch my eye because of the fact he used Menhir Bulwark as a exclusive and spec is actually very cheap and affordable even as a beginner player. Stay tuned and don’t sleep on this amazing offensive tank.
PROS AND CONS
PROS AND CONS
PROS:
- Very easy to build
- Very hard to kill
- Very cheap setup (set is target farmable and shield can be shopped)
- Solid burst damage
- High mobility
- Very easy to master (3 buttons playstyle)
- Very cool visuals (all this green energy and procs )
CONS
- We cant start as aether Blitzer before Malmouth city (we play standart physical one)
- Need Devotion points re-allocation at 50-55 lvl
LEVELING
LEVELING
Faction and Blacksmith choices (CLICK ME)
- Vigil vs Kymon - as a Necromancer I stick to Vigil
- Outcast - this is one of the few rare cases that I am friendly with them (augments are needed)
- Barrowholm - I want to kill Ravager so I stick with them
- Cults - I prioritize Solael cause their rings and amulet augments, also Charging Bull compliments this build very well
- Angrim - better endgame crafting bonuses
- Calamity relic
Attribute points: (CLICK ME)
As a physical build 1:1 Physical/Cunning is standard, however I recommend some points in Spirit as well or ideally 1:1 Physical/Spirit cause Blitz is very energy hungry skill at max ranks(we are going to switch anyways later on to Spirit over Cunning cause Aether damage scales with Spirit), 2:1 Physique/Spirit also viable strat, if you like more damage before the transition dump into Cunning but keep in mind you have to press energy potion often. During my playthrough up to level 56 I do 1:2 Physique/Cunning but one of my fingers was constantly on the energy potion hot key - pick your poison carefully !
[PROGRESS STEP BY STEP (CLICK ME)]
Level 1-10
As I mentioned we cant start as an Aether Death Knight and we cant start as Blitzer either, so the most easiest start is Soldier with big stick and Forcewave. Blitz comes online around level 12-15 for now I pick everything so I can build some wealth (I switch off common items at the start no value). I check vendors often enough to buy basic components and scraps the moment i hit level 12 and kill Milton I switch to Blitz CLICK ME and I paid visit to Putrid Den for my first shield of choice Bernard’s Slightly-Chewed Buckler
Level 10-20
In this bracket I progress slowly doing my shrines and questing, tanks scales very well with skill tree and devotion tree. Most important for this bracket is to fill all empty slots with rare items and around level 13 medals start to pop up in the vendors stock, be sure you buy one with nice resistances, I track my first shoulderguards as well Isaac Spaulders this can be found west from Foggy bank rift if you cross the river (grim tools map is your friend). Don’t forget to finish your Sith Primal Ring quest this ring is amazing for SSF or beginner start. Angrim is my blacksmith of choice immediately after I send him to Devil’s Crossing I open a rift to craft 2x Wardstones for my medal and amulet (huge boost to bleed/ele res and movement speed). Playstyle is very simple I use Blitz for nuke and Cadence + Shield Smash component as a filler. When I reach Undeground Transit I like to do few runs for building crystal and scraps numbers also getting few levels before Krieg is never a bad thing.
Note:I use Warchief glory belt but this can be any belt with resistances don’t try to hunt random epics at this stage of the game, what you equip pre 35 lvl doesn’t really matter as far as you get good stats ,life and resistances
First Crating and Component Session:
- 2x Antivenom Salve - Boots + Belt
- Serrated Shell - Shield
- Purified Salt - Weapon (not good physical components that early )
- Scaled Hide - Shoulders (this component is better on Torso cause that’s most hitted part)
- 2x Silk Swatch - Pants and Torso
- Helm - If you don’t have Ectoplasm at this point use w/e you have (don’t left empty comp slots)
- 2x Corpse Dust/Frozen Heart - Rings
- 2x Wardstones - Medal + Amulet
Note:This is standart comp setup at level 20, this setup provides vital sustain tools
Level 20-30
I face Warden Krieg at the beggining of this bracket cause his shield is essential for us (just stay toe to toe with him he is not bursty enough to drop level 20 Soldier). You can do few runs if you want just to get slightly better shield but honestly is not necessary. We move forward to FG expansion just to do the first quest I want to unlock Charging bull movement augment for my medal, my cult of choice is Solael for multiple reasons - they are closer to the rift, their augments exist in the final setup and Charging Bull is my fav. I repair the bridge and its time to deal with Cronley and his goons, first and very important thing to do is to save Steven Skinner family - he gives you an amazing ring in return. Second important thing to do is to be nice to Isaah Reddan (pick top dialogue option after you take the quest from his ex business partner). This level bracket involves some important choices as a physical setup reflect damage is huge problem so I decide to rush couple reflect reduction Devotions like Owl (you don’t want to one shot yourself on first Skeleton knight).Act 2 offers some decent upgrades so my advice is to explore every corner of it cause Blitzer is good exploring class and you can use that as an advantage
Level 35 Faction Gear
Very important milestone for every class in Grim Dawn, you unlock DC and Rovers faction gear. You have to spend some time killing Cronley’s gang members and some Undeads to reach Respected status with both faction but trust me every minute spend worth it.
Shopping List:
- Devil’s Cuirass - hands down amazing armor (500+ life, OA/DA and pierce + chaos res)
- Devil’s Shoulderguard - OA/DA, physical, aether and pierce res
- Rhowari Grips - amazing gloves (%damage, attack speed, ele res and flat stats)
- Rhowari Footpads - amazing boots (triple res, 200+ life and movement speed)
- Blueprint for Devil’s Cord - 1 to Soldier belt (tons of soft skill points cause Soldier is main mastery)
- Blueprint for Runestone (Rovers) - hands down best leveling helm component
After shopping and reputation is done its time to get new pants, be sure you stock some dynamites cause we go back to act 1 and open Hidden Path quest ,just few steps east from Hevil’s corpse there is hidden path with detonation site (be sure your poison res are 60-80 ideal cause this is very acid/poison heavy area), here we face Guardian of Dreeg and this rat will drop this amazing Jeans, this pants provides tons of sustain and also good offensive ability. My personal advice is to grind and finish Pine Barrens questline before you step into Blood Grove you need decent Chaos and Vitality res for this zone of the game, everything so far is breeze but this area can catch you off guard so paid attention. I do every quest in Homestead (keep in mind Conflagration quest is not recommended if you are on HC mod). Everything can be facetanked at this point just dont overstay on top of aether/acid pools this type of damage ramp up really quick when you don’t leech life back from enemies.Homestead and Pine Barrens shouldn’t be hard in general especially when most of our resistances are maxed out and we running aheavy plate armor tank, few items are important here we need at least one or two Gollus rings and Bloodbriar Amulet from Pine barrens questline.You can grind a little bit for better rolls at this point, I like to play my Blitzers slowly and build them correctly
Level 35-45
Time to step into first really dangerous zone - Blood Grove. This area is very heavy on vitality and chaos damage, couple of deadly bosses lurking here like Bolvar and Zaria. Zaria and Harbringers are one of the first enemies that can shred your resistances, that’s why is not recommended to step here before level 35, if your resistance page is not on par you can be debuffed even to negative values and get one shot from Zaria’s Obsidian Shards. Harbringers on the other hand look harmless, floating and slow enemies but they cast one of the most nastiest debuffs in the game - Spectral Miasma, you can see what this debuff is capable of in this short crucible video. Blood Grove on the bright side is very rich on side quest, also very easy ones so be sure you fully explore the zone cause there is secret vendor as well that sells some useful items and blueprints. Final boss for this act also summons Obsidian Shards but they are not even close to the power of Zaria ones, however his chaos pools deals significant amount of damage if you stay inside for too long( secure next riftgate after you kill him, don’t teleport to finish quests ,shop etc cause is very easy to forget and displace your rift and then you have to run whole Darkvale fortress again-happened to all of us ). Asterkan valley is prob the most poor area in Grim Dawn (no quests, no NPCs), but there is a very special Tomb (best place to farm Chthonic Seals of Binding) with very special boss inside - Harvoul, this guy drops solid medal that gives physical damage, Break Morale ranks and huge boost to Chaos res. Fort Ilkon is pretty straight forward, not so much scary enemies but some of them drop Fleshwarped Pauldrons which compliment our current setup perfectly, at this point we are Respected with Black Legion and its time to craft Fortitude thanks to the blueprint I buy from them( if you are not SSF, beginner or you have been lucky enough to find Juggernaut craft this instead). Necropolis is another easy area for this setup keep in mind there is a tomb with Devotion Shrine and extra boss encounter so pay visit to it you wont regret it. Loghorrean as a final boss of the original game is very disappointing (he is steady ,slow and big mass with tentacles ), I really hope they buff this encounter a bit in the future
Level 50 Elite Jump
Here I did a quick jump to Elite after I unlock it by finishing the base game but not to actually play Elite just to reach Milton cause my helm is level 18 and I out scale this long time ago. This way I can jump to Elite for basic helm upgrade during my Normal difficulty leveling. Well after this wee upgrade time to finish Coven and Malmouth questlines
Note:Dont skip Lost Father quest, reward from this quest will help us to switch to Aether damage much faster and cheaper
We step into Ugdenbog wilderness and one very rich area - Gloomwald. Everyone here wants a piece of us (literally ) so dont let them catch you off guard (you don’t want to end up as a secret soup recipe ingredient). Important spot here is Caraxus Foul cave this crab drops very sweet Soldier belt and location is very close to Coven riftgate so very easy to hunt affixes. Remember Mogdrogen cares only for his personal garden and dont give a s**t about you and humanity in general so be sure you scam him for his free Skeleton key and just grab the free Devotion inside Ancient Grove and left him deals with his own problems (we dont have time for his bs). My personal advice is to kill every tree and every plant that cross your path, they have high chance to drop Ugdenblooms (very valuable endgame material), if you are HC player better left Secret of Ugdenbog as a secret (dont mess with Kraval, this guy is no joke if you are not familiar with the fight ). Barrowholm questline is the questline that I hate most, a very powerful Wendigo tribe cant deal with few bugs and cant repair few totems (which are literally 3 crossed sticks), but if you decide to delete Scorv smile, you locked Ravager fight for your toon. Ulgrim waiting for us in the Void, cause both Coven and Scorv want something in return for their help but finally we got there and its time to beat some senses into Ulgrim. Malmouth on the other hand is very rich on easy quests and most of them very enjoyable, main downside here is navigating all this ruins and houses, be sure you explore first part fully cause first Wilford’s quest locks the whole questline.
Level 56
Finally the moment we are all waiting switch to Aetherial corruption that destroys everything, we need several items and a vendor to be saved according to do that.First we have to save Hyram and Nadia (they are located in two separate buildings a little bit before Crown Hill bridge, check grim tools map ), after you saved them they don’t appear in Steelcap District immediately (you have to restart game session ). Hyram sells the shield that we looking for Colossal Bulwark (you have to teleport into random map wait 6-7 sec and pop into your personal rift next to Hyram according to reset his stock, we look for a shield with at least 50% + conversion to aether ),he sells most level 35 class based relics so check his stock for Juggernaut. Second part is to repair second bridge in Devils Crossing (be prepared this is not cheap), that bridge opens a small area with fallen statue that caries a shield in every hand next to it is a breakable object that contains Totally Normal Arbiter a legendary easter egg shield (which is actually a mace class weapon and its one of the six similar weapons) this item will convert another 12-18 % physical damage to aether (keep in mind this item is once per difficulty and rolls cant be manipulated ). Third part of the transition is to craft 2x Wrathstones so we can convert another total 20% physical damage to Aether and final part of the transition is to use our quest reward from Lost Father quest to reset the whole Devotion map and to pick the new one.
*Note:you can be different level than me and you can have less devotion points as well if you dont unlock all of them but dont worry just follow my links, all you need at this point is to be level 50 so you can equip the Arbiter *
Devotion Respec Order:
- Blue Crossroad
- Sailor’s Guide
- Green Crossroad
- Spider
- Widow
- Remove Blue Crossroad
- Pink Crossroad
- Viper
- Jackal
- Wretch
- Revenant
- Remove Pink Crossroad
- Hound
- 1 Point Aeon Hourglass (mainly for stats)
Note:Even if you are far from 37 points dont worry you will catch up just follow the path to the point you run out of points
After the transition now is ideal moment to test our new setup by start farming higher level bases of our MIs, I hit Bloodbriar in Pine Barrens, Dreeg Guardian, Caraxus Foul an Harvoul so i can get higher stats and better affixes (take your time dont rush the game, you don’t have to hunt for godly affixes either cause this gear is subject to change in level 70 ). Final part at Normal difficulty is FG and I spend there a little bit more time than usual cause I have to level Widow from scratch but mainly I like how rich is FG on Devotion Shrines, its pretty straight forward Solael questline + most side quest available
Level 65 Elite
After FG I step to Elite for a semi-long run cause I want to be Revered with the basic faction and I want to be close to level 70 so I can use endgame augments to fix my resistances, its up to you how long you want to stay in Elite but honestly I did Pine Barrens and Homestead left side just get Revered with them as well and I jump to Ultimate. Before you go to Ultimate don’t forget to farm for higher bases of your MIs and don’t forget to get your Elite vesrion of Arbiter
Level 75 Elite
After all the grind and questing I am finally Revered with lower level Factions and from now on I don’t have to be worried for my resistances, with everything capped and 26 % res I am practically unkillable (you have to mess it up really hard to die on DK with such sutain level). Here in Ultimate I slow down to enjoy my min max setup by killing stuff ,questing and visiting some side areas just to explore more and enjoy my favourite game (endgame is not a rabbit, its not going to run away)
Level 85 Elite
Around level 80 I start another upgrade farming session to get myself level 82-84 items, I shop back at Normal for better shield, I did some Bloodbriar, Gollus, Solael Sect Guardian, Caraxus the foul and Harvoul runs just to get myself higher level bases with higher level affixes, since I am Revered with most factions I can play jenga with affixes and augments. I am level 85 at this point and you would ask “Wait a minute RS most of this gear is the same like previous 3 links, everything is 30 levels behind, what you talking about ?” and you would be totally right, unfortunately I didn’t managed to upgrade everything, usually off pieces like jewelrys, medal and belt didn’t hurt that much cause they don’t have Armor scaling attached to them (belt goes on top of every piece is universal slot, it hurts a bit to be low level but not like your Torso) so if you have more patience just grind a bit more until something ok drops.
Level 90 Elite
At this point I step into Malmouth and here the real grind fest starts, cause I am high enough level to farm my endgame set - Kriegs Armament, amazing set with unique voiceline when you cast Krieg’s Wrath (your character screams “Feel my wrath”, good stuff). My personal strategy when I go for Krieg set is:
- Spam just Ternox first, check Hyram stock at the beginning and at the end of every run for higher level base Colosal Bulwark with Supercharged prefix (this prefix is BiaS roll so much much easier to get I found 5 in 10 resets -insane)
- After I got the boots from Ternox I move to combined runs of Valaxteria + Warden Krieg, also I add Alostria as a skull boss to build up Infamy faster so I can eventually spawn Alexander into my runs for more wealth
- Even if I got everything from Valaxteria for example I dont skip her cause she might drops upgrades if my set rolls are poor
- Took me total of 2h52mins grind to get all the pieces and roll Supercharged of the Aether shield with 18% CDR and 56% conversion (if you have Mindwrarp already conversion is not that important cause buff from this weapon is full uptime)
- I manage to find 3 pages Legendary items, some of them my BiS items from the final setup by @banana_peel
- I hit level 100 along the way and I max out all of my devotions
NOTE:Take your Ultimate Arbiter at level 94, but keep an eye for potential upgrades I found several (Mindwarp included)
Time to close the campaign and gather last skill points + last attribute points and also getting Revered with Solael, with such a powerful gear nothing much to explain, FG was like cake walk I even facetanked Korvaak in all three phases, so very easy
FINAL SETUP
FINAL SETUP
Cheap Begginer setup level 100
This is my begginer setup for people that cant afford 8 h grinding per day and people that just pick up the game recently. There is no crazy items, everything is guaranteed with a little bit of play time in fact my green rolls are rubish apart from the pants
Endgame setup by @banana_peel
Again very cheap setup, no crazy greens and all of them pretty easy to farm, shield can be shopped as I mentioned early. Warrior prefix on the amulet is in the BiaS pool and "of Attack " on the belt not hard to roll either, the only affix that might take awhile is Dread Lord on the belt
FARMING
FARMING
I would leave a link to my personal farming strats and what I do as a SSF player (I use completely fresh save folder for all of my runs ), I do a lot of farming tests when simulating begginer starts
FAQ
FAQ
Ok whats the difference between this Blitzer and a standard Warlord?
This one is cheaper in many aspects, Warlord is very skill points hungry class and with Death Knight we have good amount of skill points left to dance with for different content
Is this one a proper Tank ?
This is an offensive tank, requires some cooldown management and good positioning -its very hard to be killed but its not impossible, so play with care
How much time final setup would take as a begginer?
Pretty casual friendly build, took me 2h52mins no rush completely chill gameplay to get the set, Shield is shop based took me 10 re rolls to get mine most important is Supercharged prefix, during my set grind I got Mindwarp as well .
TL:DR 25 hours from level 1 to Endgame completelly SSF at the end I just missing the pants and the epic ring in the @banana_peel setup
VIDEOS
VIDEOS
