Seriously, I had a similar issue in PoE, but in GD it’s even more insane. SO many stats that are mandatory to survive, 8 different damage resistances, multiple CC resistances, armor and/or phys res, armor absorb, DA and OA etc… Do you guys have any system to make balancing all those important stats less of a pain? I just hate it that every time I change something like a devotion or piece of gear I fix one problem with my stats but create 2 others. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
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don’t make changes every level/as soon as you find an upgrade but when you have enough gear/augments/components to make a big ‘overhaul’ (i.e. at levels 50, 75 and 94 or more often, it depends on many factors)
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import your character to Grim Tools and plan everything there; then makes changes in-game
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while leveling you don’t need to be perfect; you just need to be good enough to progress
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it gets much quicker when you become more experienced with the game
Oh, and balancing stats is one of the biggest pros of Grim Dawn. I’m pretty sure most would agree with me. That’s why many players spend so much time in Grim Tools.
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In terms of making end game character builds from scratch, not really sure if I can suggest an immediate fix or help for this. Figuring out which stats are found/concentrated in which places the best is something that takes time and perhaps some trial and error on character building to learn.
No one who makes builds here will tell you that they got to their point quickly and easily or without some failures along the way.
You might want to look over other posted build threads and see how they build stats is the best I can really say. Or if you can tell us what issues you’re having with specifically or provide build links as examples, we can provide some tips from there.
As for levelling, there’s a lot of stats you really don’t need to worry about - CC resistances can be generally ignored until later, you should get enough DA from Physique, your mastery bar and any mastery-related skills (e.g. Word of Renewal) that you don’t need to worry for examples.
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I’ve written this guide for end game builds to give some recommendations but it’s based on experience and what you can sacrifice for certain build in order to function.
For leveling, especially in normal you have lot’s of ground for mistakes without stopping your progress. Still:
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Use components and later augments to cover your resistances and stats holes. Components ideally should be primarily for res and augments for DA/OA and damage. For example Survivor’s Ingenuity is universal low level jewel augment you should take.
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Max your main resistances. If you can’t cover them all, observe what damage enemies in the are do and cover it. For example you should max aether against aetherial enemies in Malmouth, against wendigo mobs/flowers you should have vitality, poison, bleed, against chtonics chaos, vitality, fire, etc.
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Have enough DA not be critted. Especially important for elite and ultimate. hover DA stat in-game after fighting bosses.
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Physical protection with physical res/armor is important, since most attacks do split physical/magic damage. Key in higher levels.
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Have damage reduction source. Important for your defense. Also some source of heal/leech. Bat, Scales, Wendigo and Ghoul devotions can be used. Standard combo is Bat+Ghoul.
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Resistance reduction is key for offense, take it from classes/devotions.
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Max your main offensive skill early on. Don’t spread yourself too thin on multiple 1-2 pointer offensive spells. Support skills though can work well initially at 1 points.
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Invest not only in skills but in mastery bar, it will provide your valuable stats.
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This is only really an issue at endgame where it can be a bit of headache to get those stats you want. Grimtools helps enormously for that. Simple to plug in your existing character and see what tweaks do.
80% res is accessible as a new player around level 70 (even without armor augments). Devil crossing jewellery augment give nice res option that can be switched on the fly for small iron cost. Other faction at honoured give res aug for weapon slot.
x2 scaled hide is easy armor absorb. Plenty of res component for levelling.
I guess the exception to this rule is physical/pierce builds that also want OA to proc those devotion, but since cunning was buffed to grant OA it is not as bad as it used to be.
What I do is:
- barely change my gear once res are high. After 65, I stay in faction gear until 94 and just change hand/leg/feet.
- If I have trouble against pack of hard hitters, I simply pull back. My damage is typically good enough I only have to run back once or twice at most.
For a new player, if you experience issues much more frequently then you may need to improve gear for the higher armour, or try to rework the build to do more damage. Dealing more damage reduces the damage you receive and increase life steal.
Thanks for the answers guys, especially @Nery 's guide on recommended stats was very helpful. Actually managed to balance out my main pretty well after some grinding, resistances are overcapped enough, I have 55% stunres, enough armor/phys res and good DA/OA. Damage is superb as well, but I’m playing a Trickster so dealing damage should be way less of a problem than surviving damage by default. Now I only need those stupid Legendary Alkamos rings, but at least I have his blue rings already 
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