Mini Guide to Leveling Alts in Crucible 1-50

Grim Dawn Guides and Tutorials
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Hello everyone. I have been leveling some alts through Crucible and I figured you guys might like some tips/things I’ve learned.

This setup can work with some “twink” gear and without. The main idea is a “fake caster” in the sense of high mana regen mainly using spells to level even if you plan on making a different build.

Gear : Explorer’s Set, Guardsman Set, Maiven’s Set, Herald’s Set, Alchemist Belt, Perdition Set, Praetorian set, Medal with resistance/survival stat, Rings/Ammy with resistance/survival stat, any relic, Ectoplasms, and a spell based component.
(This gear is mainly based on choice. There’s all kinds of lvl 20-40 sets you can use. I’d suggest Maiven’s/Herald’s for better casting/regen and Perdition because it’s an entire set so no thinking required :D)

No Gear or Crafted : Explorer’s, Guardsman, Witchstalker Pistol, Ranger’s Badge with resistance/survival stats, Rings/Ammy with resistance/survival stats, miscellaneous crafted/self found greens/epics. Check the crucible vendor for some early medals.

Components : Flintcore Bolts (spell, small aoe/dot), Ectoplasm (mana regen), Riftstone (small aoe, mobility), Devil Touched Ammo (spell, small heal), Anti Venom Salve (health regen), Mark of Dreeg (spell, dot) and whatever else you might prefer for auras.

Walkthrough :

  1. Start the character and grab Francis’ Gun/Olman’s Axe from the 2 houses and any nearby books (prison book). (This will get you a few levels just from mobs/books)
  2. Pick your Leveling mastery and choose 1-2 damage spells to use for leveling. You may need additional mastery points to reach them. (Ideally 1 single target and 1 aoe)
  3. Enter the Crucible and start with waves 1-10. After completion grab your loot and use some of the early items and buy pots or send some over.
  4. When you quickly hit lvl 7 you can equip one of the early components to gain a usable spell or just use one from your leveling mastery. Also set up your rings/ammy/helmet with some Ectoplasms for early regen. (Spells like Cracked Lodestone spell, Olexra’s Flash Freeze, Eye of Dreeg, etc)
  5. Keep working towards higher waves as you feel comfortable. Ideally the quicker to 50+ the better. At level 15, equip a higher component like Flintcore Bolts/Devil Touched Ammo/Mark of Dreeg for a better version of the spell. (Put all stat points into Physique for early use of solid armor.)
  6. At level 20, you can begin wearing some crafted/found gear like the Explorer’s set and the Guardsman set at 22.
    (You can craft 2p of both if you have the recipes, if not just use the gear from the chests and craft a Witchstalker Pistol, if possible, for component usage and extra regen.)
  7. At 25, you can equip Maiven’s if you have it. At 29, you can equip the Alchemist belt to have a circuit breaker. At 35, you can equip Herald’s. (Try to grab a defensive ability/spell to help survival if you have additional points.)
  8. At 40, you can equip the Perdition set for massive armor/retaliation. This improves squishiness from earlier gear.
    (At this point, you can begin powering through Normal mode (ideally with Reputation Bonuses, or you can wait till 50)
  9. At 50, you can equip the Praetorian Set for insane tankiness.
    (At this point, definitely power through Normal/Elite to get reputation for augments.

Tips :
This is relatively quick leveling depending on what Mastery you have chosen to level with. Early tributes should be spent on devotion points (after 24 devotion points, the cost becomes prohibitive, 18+ tributes per) until you are comfortable enough to hit 50+ waves. At this point, save enough points to start at the checkpoints (5-8+) for highest exp and remaining points can be spent on devotions. It’s about 1-1.5 levels per 50-70+ waves after completion for loot. This should let you finish a speedrun through Normal ending with 50 devotion points.Your devotion choices are your choices, nothing required to min max this :D. If you can, push to wave 90. That boss is super easy and you gain a solid amount of tributes for a 50-90 push. For example, a normal run would look like this: start at wave 50 for 8 tributes, push to 70/90, get loot, refresh at wave 50/70 for 5 tributes, push to 70/90, get loot, repeat at wave 50 for 8 tributes.

Masteries : Some examples of masteries/spells are

  • Arcanist - OFF+, Trojan Shards+, Panetti’s Missiles+
  • Nightblade - Veil+Night’s Chill, Amarasta’s+, Phantasmal Blades+
  • Occultist - Dreeg’s Eye+, Blood of Dreeg+, Curse of Frailty+
  • Demolitionist - Vindictive Flame, Stun Jacks+, Cocktail+, Greater Fireball (Flintcore Bolts)
  • Soldier - Forcewave (1 pt)+Internal Trauma (maxed), Field Command, Warcry, Blade Arc+
  • Shaman - Devouring Swarm, Grasping Vines+, Wind Devil+
  • Inquisitor - Word of Pain++, Word of Renewal++
  • Necromancer - Raise Skeletons++, Blight Fiend+Blight Burst, Bone Harvest++, Ravenous Earth++. Spectral Binding+, Ill Omen

Recommended masteries are Inquisitor (Word of Pain++, Word of Renewal++) and Necromancer (Pretty much everything)

EXPAC NOTES : Both new masteries are EXCELLENT ways to level alts. They both can handle the limitations the other masteries have in Crucible.

*Inquisitor’s Word of Pain++ is a strong elemental dot (multiple damage types) that hits single target and aoe equally (only the beefiest mobs don’t die in the first tick when maxed). Word of Renewal is also a strong early buff and on-demand heal that can be of great use in low level Crucible. Inquisitor is greatly strengthened by the gear listed here due to the focus on elemental damage.

*Necromancer has a multitude of options for Crucible. You can go pets (Skeletons++, Blight++, Bone Harvest++ or Ravenous Earth++), caster with cc (Bone Harvest++, Ravenous Earth++, Ill Omen), melee caster (Bone Harvest++, Ravenous Earth++, Spectral Wrath+) and more. Basically, Necromancer is Soldier with magic. Bone Harvest comes with multiple damage types and hits like a truck AND buffs you and your pets. Ill omen can be used to cc if you get overwhelmed. Ravenous Earth is a solid, low cd aoe that is also greatly buffed by Soul Harvest. Spectral Binding+ is a nice aura that puts a strong resistance debuff and dot to those who attack you. Necromancer is especially strong in that, it really doesn’t matter what gear you wear. I don’t even use my trusty fireball on my Necromancer. I simply use Bone Harvest and Ravenous Earth. My buddy is going full pets and does extremely well.

Combat : The main idea of combat is ranged spells to kill them quickly before they hit you. Less time running means faster spawns and more exp. If they reach you then just kite or use a health pot. (If you have the Perdition set equipped they will just kill themselves if they reach you.) Mobs don’t start hitting very hard until the 50+ waves (main leveling done through waves 40-70 or 50-90). Because you are ranged, ideally the best Crucible map is the Crucible of the Dead. This map has the large open square with 4 spawns on each corner. This allows you to fire at multiple directions very quickly. One issue is missing spells and abilities. Try to grab some extra OA from devotions or gear as you can get it. Try to get multiple damage types because there’s always someone highly resistant to a damage type. (For example, fire/poison, physical/lightning, and so forth.) You can spend tributes on banners/buffs for combat bonuses. I leave this choice to you.

Example Gear Setup : This is what I normally run on my toons from 1-50 (gear lvl requirements apply). If you need a circuit breaker, Guardsman’s Shoulders +shield +gun will work. If you have Alchemists Belt, use the Spellfire Wand +tome for the sweet damage. Here is a small link (http://www.grimtools.com/calc/qNY88AZ6) with the most used items and devotions.

Example Devotion Setup : This is what I normally run when leveling my toons. These add extra regen, damage, reduced resistance, and extra aoe. Level 1 should be enough, but if you want to go deeper you can go level 2. I almost always choose Sailor’s Guide no matter the build. Love the stats and movespeed :).

Level 1: Spider, Owl, Rowan’s Crown, Viper (18 points)
Level 2: Candle, Magi (28 points)

You can, pretty much, choose whatever devotions to use. For example, you can go all passives with Sailor’s Guide/Lion/Scythe or Behemoth/Viper/Crossroads or even Viper/Lion/Scythe.

EXPAC NOTES : The expansion opened up so many more constellations to use for early Crucibles. Toad, Quill, Murmur, Rattosh, and Harp are VERY strong low-cost choices in addition to those above. Inquisitor’s could even skip Behemoth since they already have a heal. Necromancers have many options due to their multiple damage types (cold, aether, poison, pierce, vitality, and vitality decay).

Let me know if you have any questions/comments. Thanks for reading :).

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Not bad. My personal record is level 42. The biggest issue is that gear in 30-49 level range is rather bad, in main campaign you just get faction pieces. Also from level 40 onward you miss augments.

On your builds.
I level Arcanist with OFF and Greater Fireball straight into Reckless Power and Devastation.
Shaman is levelled either through Devouring Swarm + Grasping Vines or Wind Devils + emp. Lightning Nova.

On itemization. There are a few important pieces like Hermit’s Legging, Swampdweller’s Leggings, Chthonian Thread Sash, Warp Shard and some other. Also you completely ignored relics like Squall, Conflagration, Arbiter, Deathchill.

Best Crucible map for me is Sands. Deeps is fine too. Grove, well, I’d rather not. And Dead is rather special - it’ smaller so you can clear faster, but if you can’t then it gets flooded real quick.

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Crucible vendor sells 8%xp badge, sometimes with a bunch of other stats

Dreegs component is amazing regardless of class

Getting 10 devo points from crucible is the sweet spot to enter main game

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Ya I forgot to transfer Shaman to my list when I was remaking it xD. I tried to leave it open because, overall, it doesn’t matter to much to min max. I’ve done it a few times with minimal support. All that’s really needed is the components/some spells and some exp items.

On itemization, I agree there’s certainly better choices, but it’s mostly based on what can be easily obtained/what I’ve gotten tons of on all toons leveling. Same idea on the relics, it’s whatever you have available. I’ve done it with toons using whatever random relic I had that could give them a benefit even if it’s just some spirit.

On zone, it’s pretty much choice. I prefer Dead because I can send some greater fireballs in the bottom/top two zones killing most on spawn and send a few fireballs south before they even reach me. Then it’s just killing off a few leftovers or some minor kiting of big hp mobs.

Thanks for y’alls input :smiley:

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Good catch, I never checked the vendor to buy, only sold xD. Ya pretty much any spell component will work. I prefer stuff with range like greater fireball or some mobility like Chaos strike (the riftstone one). Personally, I prefer to go in with 20+. That way you are capped with the 28(?) you get from normal. Then in Elite it’s just bonus loot and you don’t have to search for shrines if you don’t want to.

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I added some of y’alls suggestions/tips to the guide. Thank you :slight_smile:

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Nice work. Not sure this thread will stay super active, so I will stick it.

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Since this is a guide about optimal leveling you may wish to include a vital bit of info in that regard.

Grabbing that first thing should always be the very first thing you do as it puts you almost to level 2. It can be taken from that spot no problem. Grab, read, kill a few mobs, level up. Done.

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but you need to kill the reanimator first before you can get in the prison :stuck_out_tongue:

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You don’t need to go into the prison to grab it Dikkie. How in theeeee hell do you not know this by now?

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

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I did not know that too^^

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Trust me… Dikkie should know this by now. Unless he is yanking my chain =/

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I tried to leave it open because, overall, it doesn’t matter to much to min max.

It does matter. Crucible rewards you with a fixed amount of experience which doesn’t care about your level at all, so you need to push wave numbers further and further if you want to have an adequate reward. And as you level up higher the importance of resistances rises up too. It doesn’t matter if you have 0% poison on level 20, but on level 40 it does. Also since early on crucible has quite a bit of chaos bosses (Salazar on wave 50 is especially annoying) having Chaos around 50% helps a lot. That’s why I like Warp Shard, that’s why I like Black Tallows, that’s why I like Sanctified Bones. As for Wave 60, it has a Fire and Cold theme, so you’d better be prepaired too. That’s not even mentioning Silk Swatch / Mutated Scales.

In short, levelling up to very high levels in Crucible, especially when crossing 40 to 50 limbo, is very much about min maxing. Only min maxing and usage of cheesiest levelling strategies allows you to have an adequate levelling speed that makes it worth it, otherwise you’re better in campaign.

Contrary to what you say, exp items are of not big importance. If an exp item hinders my performance then it has to go. But yes, Explorer’s Cover + Explorer’s Boots + Hermit’s Legguards is my standart for levels 20-30, any character.

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This guide is not meant to be about min maxing the leveling process in Crucible. I made this guide for the type of person that is “bored” of the questing/campaign experience or the person that wants to level alts but doesn’t want to theorycraft about it very much (simple).

For example, I got home and thought “Man, I wanna level someone but I really don’t want the hassle of doing the same quests over and over”. Sometimes it feels like work as opposed to gaming. Just wanted to come home and kill stuff. I also made it for the person who says," I want to level a character but I don’t have any/much gear."

Recently, I have leveled a pure Arcanist (waiting for expac for 2nd mastery), a Witchblade (mainly Dreeg’s Eye), and I have a 42 Commando (mainly Grenado/Greater Fireball). I did all of these to 1-50 range through Crucible and it was great. They didn’t require alot of thought. Just grab some components/spells and toss on some music or a podcast.

The gear/resistance requirements are not especially necessary since we are ranged and there is an assumption that the person knows/can learn to “dodge fire”. The points in physique helps the survivability issue. My Arcanist (currently 73ish) has barely 4k hp and my Commando (currently 42) has almost 6k hp. The Commando is doing well in the Crucible (50-70 waves) and my Arcanist has graduated to Elite/Ultimate.

Thank you for the sticky. It is your choice if you want it to remain a sticky. This is not meant to be an end all-be all advanced guide to anything. Just a small list of tips/advice on a different playstyle.

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Thanks, I never noticed that the exp is fixed. I always thought it was different based on the number/type of monster that spawned for you. I noticed some of the waves are the same and some change. I added a section for multiple damage types to cover the ones that will resist. my Arcanist/Occultist learned this very quickly xD.

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How many hours does it take to get a character from 1 - 50 in the crucible?

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Important question right here

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Level in crucible for early devotion points. i farm crucible till i have 22 devotion points thus at the end of first difficulty (it equals of 25 levels as i remember), i should have all 50.

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Up to level 30 it’s a parity between MC and Crucible, roughly 3 hrs, except Soldier and Nightblade (no records). As for 40 and 50 it really depends on the exact build and your twinking capabilities. Like I said before, except Legs of Valor 30-49 items are rather bad if not well-rolled yellows/greens, it’s 50+ where things get interesting. Not having items prepaired ofc hinders you in Crucible more than in MC. Also levelling speed conflicts with devotion acquirance speed, because doing 1st 50 waves stops being worth it exp-wise by around level 30-35, but to start from 50 you need to pay 5 tribute. Yes, if you can go up to 90-100 then it’s worth starting at 50, but if you go only as high as 70 then you’ll pretty much stop getting devotions.

By far the most optimal strategy is to get 10 devotion points, which conveniently happens around level 23, then go MC (won’t miss much reputation that way) and come back after completing normal. I do level up higher than 30 in Crucible, but it’s more for sports and usually just to dress my mules in low level sets.

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Wait you can level in the crucible?

How is SF levelling possible i am curious cause back when i started the game i made do with faction gear