Improving survivability

Grim Dawn General Discussion
1

Just curious what I can do to improvement tanki-ness for my Shaman/Soldier. I can get more specific if need be, but here’s where I basically stand:

-80 in every resist
-99% armor absorbtion
-Some defensive signs (like Giants Blood)
-Roughly 2234 defensive ability
-15.6K health
-5% health steal
-2858 armor rating

Basically with that while I can solo most stuff, I do have to constantly chug health potions and some enemies/groups absolutely trash my health in like 1 second. Just trying to see where the gaps are and what I can do to improve my characters tankyness.

2

Hello,

I would consider increasing DA + armor with those sats.
And increase health regen (giant’s blood, dryad, wayward soul, etc…) of course.

3

I do have have some level 58-75 stuff I have yet to trade out yet (rings/ammy/belt/medal/boots/pants) so there’s def room to improve armor rating.

I’m a little unsure of how armor works though, my understanding is it only defends against physical attacks? I would think the majority of incoming damage is elemental/aether/chaos/etc? Or is that totally incorrect? Does armor help a lot with survivability? I also have quite a bit of health regen, something like 250hp/sec, and even more when certain skills pop.

4

It is totally incorrect. Armor only absorbs physical indeed but it is the most common and also most dangerous damage type. You should have sufficient armor though with myth light defender 99% absorption on a soldier.

From the stats you have provided your DA is some 400 points below minimum. A grimtools link could help determine what else may need fixing.

5

Could use 200ish more DA imo. Are your resists overcapped? If you are just barely at 80 alot of enemies will hit you with 30-40 flat resists shred which could double the damage you are taking easy.

It coukd also be more a sustain issue… are you using wendigo totem? A rank 12 totem returns loads of health every sec as long as you and at lesst one enemy are both within 5 meters.

6

My elemenalist’s tend to favour stormcaller’s pact over primal bond. You really notice the lack of %damage absorption in some areas.

7

For more tanki-ness:

  • Damage Absorption.
  • Reduced target’s Damage.
8

Okay so updated my initial posts with actual values. I think a good place to start is getting a bit more armor and def pumping up my DA.

So this is another thing I didn’t know…so when you get hit with resist decreasing skills I didn’t know they first drew from whatever you have over. Some of my stuff (like elemental) are like 150% over, but others like aether/chaos/piece are barely just 80.

I do use wendigo totem, though.

9

I feel your pain, I destroy everything yet certain mobs own me. All my resist are above cap except stun only at 67. Amy reflect damage bad guy I insta kill myself if he pops that skill and I hit him. Warlocks,bleed/vitality? 9 out of 10 Times drains my life all gone and archemages with their mini reflect kills me too. Really annoying.

10

Apart from using CC and things that debuff mobs (war cry etc), you are probably a bit low on defensive ability. More armor is always welcome of course.

Overcapping resist is a luxury for those geared very well, perhaps save some specific items for specific bosses if you can’t make it overall.

As for the life steal. Is that 5% on one hand? Or on both? If it’s on one hand make sure it is the hand that does the most %weapon dmg attacks. If its for both hands it’s ok, but you should aim for a bit more. Hand component can help.