I recently completed the Hardcore achievements and want to talk about how I got there in case anyone else needs inspiration or wants some hints. I originally picked up Grim Dawn early in 2023 after finding the final form of Wolcen rather disappointing. Because I’m just that way, I decided to get all the Steam achievements (still another couple dozen to go) and finish all the ones I could in Hardcore first. I am also not a particularly well-coordinated person, so a game like Grim Dawn is never something I’m going to be particularly excellent at, which is probably why I felt determined to beat it in Hardcore first.
I did eventually weaken enough to use GDStash to resurrect dead characters to use as mules for all the gear that drops (although I never felt the need to keep the Enhanced items. Every character that got far enough to start seeing those has a couple of tabs in their personal stash full of Enhanced parts) I do have a couple of mules that are full of Legendaries and Mythic items, respectively. (I kept the transfer stash full of lower level items for when I, inevitably, needed to start anew.) I also started collecting Mandates to give new characters a chance at augments when they got to the appropriate level and, at the end of this run, have a good half-dozen characters that picked up all 13 of them before they hit level 10. And, certainly for the last character, transferred some iron bars to fund transmuting the set I wanted to equip after crafting the helms.
The other trick I ended up using, after two otherwise adequate characters got kilt by Nemesis bosses in Ultimate, was to try and avoid piling up reputation with the bad guys. (and whose bright idea was it to suggest having Nemesis bossed spawn anywhere? [sigh]) For this last run, the only totems I popped where the 2 or 3 I clicked on accidentally. And the only Skeleton Key dungeon I went in was Port Valbury to get the belt I needed for the build. I hit ESC>Main Menu as soon as it was in my inventory, too. The highest dislike I got was 14891/20000 on Hated with Aetherials; Beasts, Chthonians, and Aetherial Vanguard following close behind.
Although this wouldn’t have been a trick I could have used if I hadn’t already piled up a couple dozen (dead) characters’ worth of recipe unlocks. One poor guy, in particular, that farmed Vinetalon and then died when I thought it would be fine to take on Gargabol “while I was in there.” Skeleton Keys are precious and I promised the Avatar of Mogdren, didn’t I?
Along the way, I quickly got in the habit of bookmarking my characters when they got killed. So, here they are:
Astrape Helengiwe (“Lightning” in Greek and “Redeemed” in Zulu. Yes, I have benindthename[dot]com bookmarked, why do you ask?) who reflects my early love of Primal Strike Druids. Which, as we’ll see, I never really got over. I think this was the last character I played without using a guide of some kind. Didn’t even make it through Normal Vanilla, this one.
Athanasius (Greek for undying - ha!) The first of a number of Savagery builds, based on the top of what was the Top 20 list at the time. He was the first to get into Elite and I’d figured out that Resistances Are Important by this point.
GI Thanos was a Death Knight - GI for Soldier and Thanos is another version of “Undying,” get it? And, yes, he was about as undying as the last one. I think he got kilt by standing in Kilrian’s purple puddles because he looks really tanky, right?
Ignatius (Latin for fire and the name of a couple of saints - one of which was thrown to the lions, which should have told me something) I think this was my first attempt at a Retaliation build, but I don’t remember which guide I was using or if I was making it up in defiance of all the guides which FAILED ME FOR THE LAST TIME!
Poison Angel got a little further as an attempt at a pet character, which, as we’ll see, I’m still fond of. I might have been using one of Maya’s guides, because I remember my first attempt at pets was with skeletons, but I didn’t bookmark that one.
Scorpia was another attempt at using what, I think, was this guide. Didn’t get much farther, either, unfortunately.
Mark Tribune was the next run at Maya’s can-be-played-drunk pet manager. Got him into Elite, but still hadn’t quite learned to prioritize character stats on gear over pet stats. Also, had some difficulty with the character drawing aggro, which I’m not sure I’ve completely figured out even now. One of these poor bastards definitely got one-shot by a charging boar, but I think that was a later one. I think Mark got it popping a totem in Port Valbury without clearing the area first, which took down more characters than I should admit.
Elkan Tushar (“God has purchased” and “Frost.” I do not remember why I picked this, although I still think it sounds kind of cool and mysterious) Another, good, run at the Death Knight. He died because I kilt The Messenger and walked away from the computer afterward with him standing on the lava patch just outside The Pit. I might have finally learned to hit ESC whenever I got up after this, but maybe not completely.
Wolf Gift (not Anne Rice’s finest work, but, woah, can she put a sentence together) I think this was my first run using Rekt by Protoss’s ranged Primal Strike build. I had a lot of fun with this and it might have actually been Elkan Tushar who got kilt by Gargabol after farming recipes and Ugdenbog Sparkthrowers for the next time after Wolf Gift got kilt.
Skeleton Jones was the only Hardcore run I made at Fire Skeletons, but it was so much fun I’m still hoarding Korvaak’s Burning-Blades whenever I get them and I’ve got a Softcore version waiting for more fun.
Sparky Sally was another fun build that I’ve since built in Softcore. Although, if I hadn’t popped that totem in Port Valbury, I might have got my achievements a lot sooner.
Ignis Purus (“pure fire” in Latin, for obvious reasons) Although it isn’t reflected here as much as I might have expected, I also have a fascination with dual-wield Mage Hunters. I believe this was an attempt to get the idea to work, but with Demolitionist as back-up. Although I’m pretty sure I was using some kind of guide, but can’t find it now.
Ringmaster Augusta was another run at the lazy pet build. She got it when a boar charged and neither the Briarthorn or Hellhound picked it up. I think I’d pick Grasping Vines instead of Devouring Swarm to slow down boars, in particular, if I make another one of these.
Icy Annie The new Top 20 list came out and I figured I should try #1 since it wasn’t the Avenger again. Pretty good, actually, but a bit more fiddly than I can manage.
The Warden I did finally reach level 100 with a Savagery build from Top 20. Even if it was only #8, it had a higher HC rating. This was the first character I felt was well-made that got dropped by a Nemesis, as this was shortly after the patch that let them roam freely.
Storm Borne I do really love Primal Strike. After several disappointments trying to make it work, I took SEP-Ralph’s guide with some ideas from Rekt by Protoss and was pretty successful with this. Did I mention I’m not a fan of Nemesis bosses spawning all over the place? Yeah, she was well on her way to the crown, too.
Calcine Phosphorus I do find dual wield ranged really attractive and will, likely, run another of this build in Softcore. I’m not sure why I wasn’t able to get past Korvaak in Normal, although maybe I should have stopped when I got to the last riftgte and tried it in the morning when I was fresher. It definitely made me much more careful when I did fight him again.
Zuzuka Iztoz (“Susie Ice” actually. I’d originally intended to run her as a Trozan Druid, but, by the time I was done with Elite, didn’t think I could get through Ultimate with just Wind Devils and didn’t want to have to farm totems - see above) is my champion, finally. She was actually at level 94 when I went into the Shattered Realm for the last HC achievement, but picked up a couple of levels when she was done.
So those are the ones that I actually remembered to bookmark. I know there were at least a couple of Mage Hunters where I tried to make Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange and the top line of Inquisitor work, but couldn’t. I still have a Softcore Mage Hunter I enjoy, although she’s really slow to kill anything. There were also some skeleton-focused Necromancers, although those were among my very first characters and never really got off the ground. And one attempt at a Doom Bolt build, Red Anja, that I disliked so much I deliberately sent her into the Shattered Realm at level 21 just to see what it was like. She made a good Chaos damage item mule, however.
I won’t list all the characters that got to, maybe, level 11 because it seemed like a cool idea to start a new one. Although they all have all 13 Mandates just in case.
In the end, it was a lot of fun, although I’m starting to think that, having all the Hardcore achievements in Grim Dawn; and having completed Satisfactory and it’s achievements, it might be time to go outside. Just in time for “the worst winter storm in a decade” of course!