I just came back to Grim Dawn a couples days ago, having not played it since Early Access.
I’ve been tooling around with a sword & board Blademaster using Cadence and the lack of AoE is making some “boss” fights unmanageable due to all the adds. I chose to wear a shield because I figured it’d simply be another layer of protection because, let’s face it, I’m a D2 player and the build complexity in this game blows Blizzard out of the water.
I’m looking for a build that has the potential to complete all difficulties. It will have to subsist off of self-found gear; and I am no “noob” to grinding gear, so I don’t mind parking myself at certain stages of the game to upgrade items as needed.
I’m drawn to melee-style builds (Pally in D2). I’m hoping to not have to manage a ton of active skills. I’ve been looking at a Warder b/c I like the thought of Savagery + 2H face-smashing. But, I’ve also looked at summoner builds because I do have a complete Summonmancer in D2. What I worry about with pets in GD is that I keep seeing all the comments that it’s hard to manage aggro and casting debuffs constantly pulls it from your pets.
This has become long-winded, and I apologize. I just feel like my current toon is a mess and it’s not like D2 single-player where I can Hero Edit to reclaim points that were not placed well.
I hope this makes some sense…I just really need a push to get me going with a build that isn’t going to burn out on me. I really am enjoying this freakin’ game!
Your blademaster is not hopeless, they can bee lots of things, just don’t put more than 10 points in spirit (for end game amulets).
For leveling it, if you don’t go dual weild but go shield then Blitz (maxed) + blindside (1pt) - excellent AOE right here bind falcon swoop devotion to it and enjoy steamrolling through content , Cadence + deadly momentum (maxed) and Bulwark maxed are your friends, in that order kinda. Pneumatic burst from nightblade.
You can also level with Blade arc maxed and a 2 h weapon if that is too convoluted.
Cadence and deadly momentum swapped, like bulwark deadly momentum adds huge flat damage to all your %weapon damage skills like cadence and blitz making them hit very hard.
Assasin’s mark devo on cadence and flacon swoop on Blitz
Devotion are invaluable for S&B lacking AoE. i currently ran a Warder making big use of Targo’s Hammer and Falcon Swoop, first of my char reaching Ultimate so he’s mostly selffound, and definitively viable. Should work with a BM too.
you can also look at items with proc on bloc or physical AoE (things like Ground Stomp from Stonewrought Boots). Grim Dawn gives you a lot of ways to offset your char’s main flaws, use them
Do any of you think Targo the Builder / Shield Wall would be worth it? All the stars seem to provide good benefits. The only problem is that I already have Cadence tagged with falcon…
put falcon on blitz, The short Cooldown increases proc chance, also Blitz hits 2x (weapon and shield) so it double the change further. It’s great. Put assassins mark on cadence for reliable Debuff (debuff is important in this game - later on break morale or black star of deceit medal) flat n debuff stacks with -%n debuff.
Flat n don’t stack with itself but -%n stack from different sources, like assassin’s mark+ Ring of the Black Matriarch
You don’t need targo when you can kill everything yourself, Just the targo anvil, that is good.
Side question: How do I know what to choose for weapons. Specifically in terms of weapons speed. As I understand it, the tooltip “lies” about the DPS gain/loss. But, I have an Average speed weapon (30-72 dmg) and a Slow weapon (25-133), but it also has +7% atk spd modifier. The other stats are a wash between the two.
Tips on how to select weapons (all gear really), before I hit endgame equipment?
if you rely on Devotion for damage, base damage (and bonuses from the weapon as well) are more important than attack speed (because they have %wpn dmg). if you rely more on Cadence, attack speed is more important. if you rely on both, both are important
