I’m new to this forum, though I’ve been playing GD off and on for about a year now. I was wondering if anyone has any tips for playing a level 95 Commando ranged/melee hybrid.
I know there are many ways to play one. Mine uses Fire Strike for both 2 handed melee and ranged, as needed, along with Mortar support. I’m using 3 spells to buff up: Field Command, Flame Touched and Vindictive Flame. These ramp up my damage considerably and really help me get that extra oomph from my mortar. Grenado is used as a means of crowd control as it bowls over enemies pretty good. Between Fire Strike, Grenado and Mortar I seem to be able to keep a path swept out pretty good so far.
As for my constellations, I was aiming for things that allowed rapid healing (Ghouls, Wayward Soul and Behemoth) as well as things that boosted fire damage (Ulzuin’s Torch and Magi) along with utility (Falcon, Hydra, Kraken). Debating on removing the Hammer to finish the Owl and Ghoul. I think that would be more beneficial.
EDIT Removed Falcon, Hammer & Ghoul to get Rhowan’s Crown, Owl & Scholar’s Light. This upped my damage from a listed 57000 to 60,000 as well as increased my HP significantly since it raised my spirit enough I could release attribute points to put to Physique. The Storm ability of Rhowan’s Crown looks pretty sweet on my grenades haha. The loss of rapid life gain from Ghoul seems like a worth sacrifice given my tendency to soften things up with ranged.
I’m still working on gearing up better as I just recently reached 95, but I’m up around Gates of Necropolis and I feel as though I am doing very well for a first character.
Anyways, any suggestions on gear to watch out for or corrections on obvious errors are always appreciated!
Everyone plays the way they like, ofc, and that is not debatable. But when it comes to optimization of builds there are some decisions that are correct and some that must be labeled as mistakes.
Well, like many beginners you make the mistake of being all around the place: melee, ranged, grenado, mortars, etc. You need a clear vision of your build. Fire 2H ranged? Then focus on skills, gear and devotions that support fire dmg (especially flat) and attack speed. Mortars? Then choose gear that supports mortars and offers some conversion to your chosen dmg type. Grenado/Cannister bomber? Again, gear and also some cdr, Ulzuin Chosen, etc.
Another thing is not picking up the must-haves. Oleron, Scars, maybe Warcry, maybe one point in Decorated, maybe one-point Blitz for movement - every soldier takes those skills.
Devotions are also a bit off the target. No fiend, no witchblade and no crown are the biggies. Besides, eel, sailor or viper is much better for blues than hound. Also, falcon and hammer are out of place, etc.
Last, gear. Obviously you play self-found and don’t have access to endgame gear. But look around faction vendors. They offer massive upgrades to what you’re wearing. Or consider joining the trading community.
I see I see. I knew some of it was all over as this is my first character in the game and I was respeccing into all kinds of things to try out different build types as I leveled. Trying to figure out how I wanted to play it. I can see Blitz being a good idea for some extra mobility. Oleron’s was a skill I was using but I wanted to try Mortar and see how it worked, which I’ve really been liking. Going with your description, are you suggesting I shouldn’t run Fire Strike as well as Grenado & Mortar at the same time? I do not have a lot invested in Grenado, mostly it’s gear bonuses pushing those skills as high as they are. I use it more for crowd control than anything else. I will reduce them to the minimum as that would make more sense, put the points into more useful skills. I have already done the same with Vindictive Flame & Ulzuin’s Wrath, as they boost damage a decent amount but the bulk of their abilities seems to be more of a short range aura better for melee.
Considering I’m going for fire and burn damage as my main damage type, would Decorated Soldier truly be useful? Some of my items do convert physical damage to fire, so I can see where having a few points in that would be handy. Warcry sounds really good with that HP reduction, and 1 point in Morale should be enough for the supportive passive.
For Devotion, I’ve removed Hammer & Falcon for the reasons you stated. I put the points released into Owl for more Fire Damage (and give me enough Eldritch points for Ulzuin’s Torch) & Rhowan’s Crown for the same reason. I can see Witch Blade being handy given the amount of fire damage it has available. The Owl appears to be a better choice than the Fiend given the amount of damage bonus is higher. I’m not sure how the Eel is better than the Hound, as the hound is increasing my Physique and Armor. I will have to puzzle how out how to better distribute. Perhaps removal of Chariot of the Dead? Perhaps two healing devotion bonuses is too much.
As to gear, to be honest I forgot about the vendors selling viable gear. I am too used to Diablo 2 & 3 where the vendors seem to never sell anything good, hahaha. I will go to them when I can and see what I can find. I do play self-found, it’s how I prefer to play all of my characters until they’re near maximum to make use of any major goodies I find.
Thanks for this information, it has been most helpful. I really appreciate your input.
Ya_ has already given you some really solid advice so there’s not a ton for me to follow up on, but I wanted to especially point out the importance of resistances, both yours and enemies’. You currently seem to be well short of the cap in several categories and had no resistance reduction before changing your devotions to include witchblade and crown. Capped resistances are a must, and resistance reduction is possibly the most important factor in maximizing your damage output in the late game.
Yup yup, been slowly working on those resists, using the augments from the faction vendors to try to fill in where my weaknesses are. I’ll have to look at those again as I adjusted my devotions a bit and that has shifted as well.
I’m figuring some of the gaps will fill in better as I upgrade my rare gear to epic or legendary and the build will become more defined as I find better gear.
I do have a question about some of what Ya_ stated about using Eel. I am not seeing the benefits of that over the Physique in the Hound. I can see why sailor is such a good idea and will work on getting that one over the Hound. Should be a simple matter. Probably lose Chariot of the Dead once I get time to take up the Witchblade. I can see how that is far more beneficial over the self healing overlap, even in Ultimate perhaps I got overzealous on ensuring survival, haha.
Eel gives 47 defensive ability, 10% pierce resist, 6% movement speed, and a 2% dodge and deflect chance. Hound gives 35 physique and 5% armor plus some useless (to you) retaliation effects. The physique is worse than the defensive ability because 47 defensive ability would be roughly equivalent to 95 physique to earn the same defensive benefits, though the physique will marginally increase your health as well.
I noticed that when looking over my devotion earlier when I had a bit of time on a lunch break. The retaliation was more useful when I was running more melee than ranged, but have shifted as I progressed to nearly solely ranged at this point. I removed the Hound and Chariot of the Dead for Jackal, Witchblade and Sailor instead. This gave me the combinations I needed to keep Ulzuin’s Torch. Below is a link to the current setup. I wasn’t aware of just how much Physique it took to get the same defensive stats, that is good to know. Maybe I can adjust my Devotion to get Eel as well. Still tinkering so I can keep my high fire damage constellations. Maybe, given how high my elemental resists are, I will change Sailor to Eel. That sounds like it should be feasible.
I’ve adjusted skills so I don’t have so much dedicated to Grenado, Blast Shield and Vindictive Flame so I can acquire Scars of Battle, Decorated Soldier and test War Cry. I’ve really been liking Mortar so I think I’ll keep that for a while longer as I attempt to complete Ultimate.
All of these suggestions and the reasons behind them have been very helpful in ironing little details that have done a lot to improve the build without sacrificing my survivability. I still have a ways to go to get better resists that are not elemental, but that’ll take time to find the right gear! The rebalance in my Devotion and skills has helped fill some gaps.
Commando was my first toon ever so this thread makes me nostalgic
Mortars and Grenado aren’t utility skills like BwC or Flashbang. They’re damage skills you either build around or leave alone. Using one-point grenado is DPS loss - when you’re throwing it you’re not shooting. And two mortars isn’t worth the points. Here’s my mortar build that uses 5 or 6 and it still feels weak.
Field Command. Max it. Every time. On every build. And write petitions to Crate to put skill bonuses to it on more gear.
Use Flashbang. Preferably 12-1.
Vindictive is best at 10/16. Or 11? Where total speed get diminished returns.
Pump up Scars until your armor absorbtion is at 100% and stun res at 50%. Also look for other sources of these two from components.
Nowhere else can be points spent better (defense-wise) until Warcry is at 12/12. I like to keep one point in Break Morale too, especially on Forcewave builds to preemptively disrupt enemy skill disruption.
Oleron. 12/12. Really. +12% oa is what turns Bruce Banner into Incredible Hulk. Synergizes beautifully with flat oa from Flame Touched.
Sailor is one of the best t1 devos. Unless that extra point makes a huge difference elsewhere take it instead of the eel.
If there’s more useless devo than Hound it’s the Owl. Usually the quill is taken to get to the Crown. Take Hawk. Finish up Hydra for the affinity points. Forget about Behemoths. It’s for casters that have no weapon damage. Take Ghoul for adcth and maybe Revenant if possible - that’s where survivablity is for autoattackers.
Toss that mace. Whenever you switch Brimstone don’t proc and Hydra bonuses turn off. Or keep the mace, toss the gun and get rid of hydra and tone down on that brimstone.
I’ve dropped Mortar and Grenado, put a single point into Flashbang & Searing Light (Gear boosts these to 6). Maxed out Scars & Field Command, currently have War Cry to 11 and Oleron’s at 9. My final skill points, when I get them, should top those ones out and increase Decorated Soldier. Vindictive Flame reached 11 before diminishing returns on attack speed so I stopped there.
I still have to take some time and look around at components and augments to adjust my resists, but some of that might wait until I find more appropriate gear.
I will try this out and see how it plays given the many changes to it. Again, I appreciate the suggestions and the reasons why they are beneficial as I learn the intricacies to Grim Dawn. This has been most helpful!
Well, I’ve been trying this out. Fire damage is up, which is awesome. Going with the suggestions in this thread by Ya_, I was right on my assumption I was overzealous on my healing constellations and had needless overlap. Ghoul is covering everything perfectly fine.
Flashbang has been interesting so far with it’s control effects, which have been handy!
Attack Damage Converted To Health (ADCTH) is the main source of sustain for autoattack (like Fire Strike) builds.
Flashbang is there for da shred (equivalent to 250 oa for a couple points = must have) and fumble from Searing Light. That confuse is useless once you hit a certain threshold.
