Looking for suggestions for a viable Ice Mage Build?

Made a cold/lightning Conjurer for the same reason :slight_smile:
Probably my most successful build so far (Just cleared SR50 with it and it was easy… which is really good for my standards)

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/pZrBQJOZ

More lightning than cold, but still food for thought :slight_smile:

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@tqFan Thank you for your reply, I’ll have a look through them all more thoroughly and also check the youtube videos to see how they performing and then pick one and post back here for suggestions as to leveling it the best way. :beers:

@DeputyChuck Thank you for your suggestion, I’ll have a closer look at yours as well. As you said, food for thought ! :thinking: :crazy_face:

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So, I have been looking at the posted suggestions and when I was doing that I also found an old build that I bookmarked some time ago but not sure how it will do with today’s version of the game since it might got quiet nerfed. It’s a build made by @Jagermeister but 2 1/2 yrs old:

I like that blue aura that the character has around themselves. But as said, it is old and not sure if it viable after so many updates ? From what I can see the Forgotten Gods DLC had not come out yet when this build was made.

If it would look like it would be to much work I also like this one from @RektbyProtoss, which was made earlier this year.

Now, not quiet sure if they are good for a newbie so there is that. :crazy_face:

I actually like the looks of both this build as well that you suggested earlier. So there is a few to pick between but the first one would be the one I would go for IF it still viable due to FG now being out ?

I actually have a low level character I started on about a year ago, that might be doable to continue with ? It’s now level 11 since I played a bit yesterday to get into the game some again. No grimtools link due to using a mod that changes the inventory (Grim UI) so not sure how to do those links, if it is even possible ?

I do have a couple screenshots:

Here is the skill points I taken so far, never used up those that I earned yesterday or selected the second class either.

Does it matter which class is first and second though ? Just wondering since the two first build the Arcanist are the second class ?

Once again, I appreciate all help that you experts are sharing so one can get a relatively pain free play through ! :rofl:

It doesn’t matter which class you choose first, especially at 11 level, since you can respec all points, including Mastery points, freely. You cannot only respec classes.

Btw these 2 builds you found are considered melee that’s why I didn’t recommend you such, you asked for a mage in the title.

Here are some more beginner guides / leveling: Beginner build guides Compendium (for AoM + FG expansions)

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Ohh right, I didn’t think about that, whopsi ! :blush:

I’ll have a look through the Compendium when I get back home from work. Thanks ! :beers:

Hi @tqFan, after having taken a closer look at the Cold Warlock Beginner Guide you suggested further up, I think I be following that one from start to finish, as it is using faction armor most of the time and the rest seem fairly easy to farm. After all, don’t have any end game since my first run was just the whole game, and on normal only, never reached level 100 either. So saves me time farming stuff, but if I get lucky with drops that fit the play style I can always use those.

Hopefully there isn’t much difference from 1.1.8.1 and 1.1.9.1 though ?

Thanks again for all the advice, much appreciated ! :beers:

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Probably not and even if it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things I suppose @Monceaux

I like Warlock choice for endgame Sigils. I’ve tried to find you the most up-to-date Trozan Warlock so that you can think of it while leveling, maybe even choose the same devotions so that they level

Btw does anyone know whether leveling new devos to decent levels is time consuming when you are 100 level?




Some newer links anyone? @Valinov, haven’t you tested Trozan Sigils in 1.1.9.1?

Hi everybody ! There is a viable beginner/SSF Rune of Hagarrad build? I love this skill :smiley:. I can’t find anything like this in beginner builds. Thank you for your answers/ builds

Hmmm… Pierce or Cold?


For Cold there’s this cool guide


but there are other ways to go about it for sure, for example


For Pierce best would be The Unseeing Gaze I think
(missing pieces got by transmuting other blue set pieces)

Malmouth Slicer

Yap cold build :smiley: Thank you! Very quickly and helpful reply :smiley:

There was this one linked in my thread

It’s pretty fast when you farm SR

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So, been playing it for some hours now and in Act two, where the main weapon might drop from certain places according to the guide: Trozan’s Ice Shard - A cold Warlock Beginner Guide. Which is the Spectral Bludgeon.

Now, there is different items the Lord of Lost Souls drops, the shield having the highest percentage. Which of course what he dropped the first time I killed him. So, lets try again and see what it drops, which was… nothing at all of the items under Notable Loot. Neither the third or forth time he dropped any of them.

I was level 25 (not sure about the Lord of the Lost Souls though, never thought of checking his level) but putting him as level 25 as well. I know it is all random but if looking at the Lord of the Lost Souls monster information in Grimtools Database, the Bulwark is 50%, Longsword, Bludgeon and Battle Axe each 10% and War Shield at 8%. Is it right to assume that that would be a 88% of him to drop one of those items and 12% chance to drop nothing ? (Well, part from other random items but which are not under Notable Loot?)

Just curious since it seemed for me, it was more the other way around ! :rofl: And also wondering if I should give it a few more tries or just leave it and continue my adventures towards Homestaed instead. :crazy_face:

Better buy Spectral Bludgeon from Marris Kas
https://www.grimtools.com/map/markers/merchants/6355

You can enter such dungeon once and reset the vendor stock multiple times (usually by going back to previous level of the dungeon but sometimes there are some nuances to it) to farm good affixes on one skeleton key.


He’s more complicated. I think that the probability for him to drop nothing, since there are 3 separate drop pools, is as follows:

(1 - 50.05%) * (1 - 30%) * (1 - 8%) ~ 32%

Because these 3 drops are independent events.
You should be able to get multiple items too.
For example one item from each of the 3 groups but it would be pretty unlikely because just War Shield is already quite unlikely (8%)

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That sounds like good advice, think I head towards the Steps of Torment and see what he has. Although with a little bit of luck (maybe 2% luck or even less ? :thinking: ), there is two persons in the Arkovian Undercity that might drop it as well, so when I run past them who knows ? :rofl:

Ahh I see. So when killing the Lord of Lost Souls, there is a 50% chance for the Bulwark alone, and a 10% chance for one of the other 3 weapons and then a 8% chance for the War Shield but each is a separate event so if you are really, REALLY, lucky, you can get all three dropping at once ?

Well, that would explain the miserable 4 runs I had then ! :rofl:

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The mace also drops from some random ghosts, by just clearing the cave before the first Rovers camp I could get one every 2 or 3 runs, on average :thinking:

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I went back in to the cave to clear the whole one to see if a random ghost dropped it and of course one did now, since the other times I just cleared the way to the boss and then left ! :crazy_face:

Killed the boss again, after following Monceaux advice that even a random ghost might drop it and although the boss did not drop the mace I’m looking for his did drop these two items, and a blue actually ! :rofl:

I do have another question, in regards to the different levels of items. I have a lvl 8 Amulet that I’m liking (Putrid Necklace) if I want the next level of the medal, which is lvl 18 and then 32, for the boss to drop them, it has to be when I do a Elite run ? Since I am guessing as long as I am playing on Normal, the level area for Foggy Bank is not going to be above level 12, if I understand grimtools map correctly ?

Unfortunately yes :frowning: I was running Dreeg’s Evil :eye: and couldn’t get +1 Occ on Veteran because of this, only on Elite because it gets this bonus at higher levels.

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@tqFan I just went to Elite with my first character since I completed the whole game with that one some time ago. To check out the cave and what level the monster happened to be. But…

I noticed two things. One is that I redid the Menu Bar with spells etc, but it did not remember it when I went to the game menu and reloaded the game for a second run. Also, items that was dropped and in my back pack or personal safe with the smuggler was not longer there either. BUT, an item I put in shared stash was still there.

But the weirdest part, (well, if either of the above belongs to that category that is), was that I can access Elite with my second character which only done part of Act 2 so far ? :thinking:

Any idea what make caused this… well bug I guess ??

Do you play with Cloud Saves? How to - Move your saves from Steam cloud to Grim Dawn's default location.
The issues you’re having sound like :cloud: :poop:

That is the case when you play Custom game but I don’t think you do. I haven’t heard of such bug.

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Nope, no cloud save but figured it out. My first character was not set to be ‘In Mod’ in GDStash, hence it did not save properly. Once I clicked the box and saved the character it all back to saving things as it should be.

Yes, I am playing Custom Game due to I am using Grim UI for extra stash and back pack space.

So the first was me being a dingus :crazy_face: and the other part I was not aware of that it made all difficult levels available if playing a Custom Game using a mod. :blush:

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