[Looking for a build] High as the sky DMG dealer

Hello everyone!

I’m a returning player who haven’t played the game for a quite awhile. I love min/maxing in any RPG games I play and to concentrate on one single build, that usually has the highest dmg potential, and invest in it hundreds/thousands of hours - all in (until I get burned). I don’t enjoy that much to experiment and jump from one build to another until I find something that’s fun for me, unfortunately. That’s why I usually invest some time in research before I start playing.

And here we go, I will need some help in choosing that top end-game build, “The One”, that’s worth investing potentially thousands of hours.

I know that there are countless builds in this game and reading all of the forum posts with their build descriptions (Crucible timers, Shards etc.) only confuses me more.

Are there meta builds in the current game? Or are all builds on par with their DMG?
Is there a build that experienced players would agree that it’s (likely) the most powerful in terms of damage (end-game, fully bis equipped). I would prefer to be a ranged build, but will consider everything.

Thanks

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Gathering info for fellow players - would you like this build to be able to clear all the super bosses / all content?

Well yes. I haven’t played that content yet, but a min/maxed dmg dealer should be able to do that, shouldn’t it?

Not necessarily if it’s too squishy for them. But don’t worry, it’s doesn’t mean it cannot be capable of that and have very high DPS at the same time.

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I guess it will be a waste of damage if I only one hit low level mobs, but can’t do the highest end game content, so yes - I’m interested in a Highest DMG dealer build for the highest end content.

Very few builds can facetank Cally, usually needing a ton of phys res and pierce res overcaps, so I wouldn’t set that as a benchmark. Outside of her, facetanking Ravager and killing Crate quick enough that you don’t really need to facetank the full time is fine, and rest of celestial bosses being skid marks is possible.

And there are a ton of differences, some that put out huge aoe damage with enough single target to be fast, or big single target with enough aoe to be fast. Based on your verbiage I assume you are more interested in the latter.

Beyond dps, movement skills have huge impact on clear times for crucible and SR, so something with less damage but vires might for example may have a faster time. Also assuming this isn’t what you’re looking for.

I’ll self promote I suppose with Evoker vindi [1.1.9.2-1.1.9.6] Bullseye - Evoker of Elgoloth Vindicator | SR75-76 | CR ~4:30 | Ravager | Crate

This is a top tier single target obliterator with enough aoe from passthrough wps to quickly clear trash as well. It’s not the only top single target DPS option, but I don’t think some of the other current ones are posted on the forum. I have a small update to add to that that increases tankiness thanks to lee and the toxic russian build channel, but it’s plenty playable as currently listed.

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Yes, that’s is my preference. Fast movement isn’t that important for me, even if it means faster clear times.

Thanks for your input and build, I will definitely check it out.

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In my (albeit limited) experience, the builds that can clear the highest end content are not those with the highest damage output: it’s those that can survive the damage they receive.

End-game bosses and enemies deal HUGE amount of damage, and you won’t be able to kill them if you’re dead first.

I’ve made my fair share of obscene damage builds that completely fall flat just trying to clear SR65.

Tankiness, sustain, health, good resists overcaps, circuit-breakers, healing devotions, block chance, high physical resist, High CC resist, armor, mobility… those are the things that carry you through the toughest content.

I’m not saying anemic damage is fine… you also need high damage to clear that content… but high damage alone will get you nowhere.

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The what now ?

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Most people who minmaxed GD with top achievements are no longer active on Crate forums but some of them still hang out. Check out “banana peel” on YouTube where he posts his tests of best current setups by him and some other people.

Wrong game. GD is more about checking out different builds than endlessly grinding out one. Yes, you can grind rolls and green affixes to make your favorite build just a little stronger but that’s not what it’s all about.

Meta is pretty balanced and diverse. There are few things you can really go wrong with. There are outliers but maybe 80% builds (when made properly) range between 4 and 5 minute Crucible clears and 6-10 minute SR75 (SR is more random) so it’s not a great variance unless you’re a hardcore minmaxer.

If you want dmg and celestial clears then I’d suggest ranged like a paladin or the aforementioned vindicator. Ranged can facetank most things and heal up just like melee, and they have the added benefit of kiting and chipping the likes of Calla down from a distance without having to overpay for tankiness with dmg.

For burst dmg, you can never go wrong with Blade Arc, Phantasmal Blades, Trozan, Ultos and others. Physical warlord is always the safest bet for a top build.

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Perhaps another alternative is a Belgothian’s Blademaster. Since I bought Grim Dawn in 2016 plus both expansions and everything there is, BM is the only char I ever played. I am obsessed with min-maxing. And if it’s your thing too, then you cannot go wrong with him. I cannot comment on other builds coz I don’t know them but I definitely can on BM.

He’s all about OA, Crit Dmg, Pierce damage and other lesser ones. The min max-ing involved in tweaking such a char is beautiful :slight_smile:

Also I believe is one of, if not the best single target dps ingame. I’ve done everything there is with him, recently started playing again after a 2 year break and i’ve achieved a few things. He can do SR85 which is saying a lot for a pure offensive build, can solo any nemesis in game in a matter of seconds, Callagradra proves to be a challenge but she will go down.

My stats:

4311 OA
2712 DA
62% Crit Dmg / 200% IAS
Overcapped resists with about 30%
3.15k Armor

Largest dmg dealt 1.52M

Love him to death, will min max some more.

Choose whatever suits your style. GD is awesome

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do you have a GT link to that beauty ? :eyes:

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Hey.

I do not but I will create one and link it here as soon as possible.

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Was thinking the same thing. Seems like particularly good stats for a Belgo BM.

Blademaster, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator there you go.

Devotion is not quite as it should be, because I cannot modify it properly so several points are missing.

Dryad ain’t present in my build but Scales of Ulcama are.

I also have 2 points spent in Spider. 5% IAS with 20 DA and 3% Cunning with 20 DA.

Everything is min-maxed in order to achieve 200% IAS with Devotion, Items and Skill Points, because due to gloves and amulet, 200 IAS is not so easily reached.

Both Belgo’s Slicers have max IAS (I re-rolled until I got them)
All other Belgo’s items have close to max rolls (5% DR, 7% Armor etc)

Sometimes when needed, I swap the amulet for Avenger of Cain, still looking for Will of the Blade, altough I’m not sure it’s going to be better than Peerless Eye of Beronath(the active skill on it is quite good).

Also, I have Azrakaa’s Relic but that +1 to Nightblade helps me reach 18 to Execution(max), 18 to Belgothian’s Shears(max) and 25 to Dual Blades(one more point would be needed to reach max lvl and gain 2 more %DR). I will test Serenity when I find it due to good def stats and +1 to Skills.

True stats for my BM are:
-4350 OA
-2750 DA
-3150 Armor (100% Armor absorbtion)
-200%IAS
-Elemental resists are overcapped by 34%
-All other resists are overcapped by 10-30%
-Crit damage is 56% if I’m not mistaken
-15k HP
-DPS is ~115k (max DMG dealt is 1.52M)
-40% Physical dmg reduction( 42 can be reached when I can craft a pair of Windshear with 5% )

Lastly, in order to gain more skill points I ditched shadow strike completely and added Vampiric Touch instead.

It can be improved slightly but I need to get my hands on a few items ( Will of the Blade, Magi Ring ) so I can test.

It’s a purely offensive build, relying heavily on leech and crit, as it should. Would love to have more DA/Armor but I would lose way too much offensive stats and I believe it’s not worth the trade.

Best regards,

Mad

l.e. Blade Trap is actually Blade barrier but couldn’t be bothered to change the whole Nightblade skill tree :slight_smile:

You know that you can just upload the savegame to grimtools and don’t have to reproduce your character, do you?

Well, I don’t have access to my PC at this time, nor anytime soon :slight_smile:

And I did not know that, never uploaded a build

if you have access - or just want to do it
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Cool, thank you <3