[Mod] Reign of Terror

Grim Dawn Mod - Reign of Terror
, , , ,
6462

My current char must be extremely squishy then, I never even realized this before.

There is one impassable doorway in Act6, Level 2. It appears open, but can’t be entered from either side.

Screenshot 2021-12-17 125145
Screenshot 2021-12-17 125145738×595 95.7 KB
Screenshot 2021-12-17 125217

Sorry, can’t get the pics to line up. In the preview they look fine.

And one tiny spelling error (javalins) on Radament’s Sphere:
Screenshot 2021-12-07 121835
Same for Arioc’s Needle:
Screenshot 2021-12-21 021332

I also feel like the Fungal Tome quest in Act6 could be streamlined: you have to get the tome, run to Adria, just to be told to get a mushroom, run back to her, run to Pepin, do two seperate dialogs for the brain and finally run back to Adria for the reward, which is “just” 3 attribute points.

I get that you want to stay as close as possible to the original, but D1’s design stems from a point in time, when it was generally accepted to waste the player’s time on purpose. Devs often had to stretch content out to make it look like more than what it actually was. This is not the case here, all of D1 is just an additional act.

I really enjoy leveling new chars, but I kind of dread this act by now for how long it takes to complete in relation to the other acts (even Act5, which also could be shortened a bit). And you don’t have to do it once but thrice for any char. That’s a lot, even if you’re speedleveling.

Regarding devotions, I realized I pick very similar ones every time, no matter what char I play (except maybe pure summoners). Since AR benefits melee, ranged and spellcasters (even dot builds) alike and it’s difficult to get a high enough crit chance through gear alone, I normally spend at least half my dev points on AR/crit.Then I spend the rest on my prefered damage type and that’s pretty much it.

Since the mod uses the same devotion tree as the base game, I guess altering it is not an option? Cause in it’s current state it doesn’t change gameplay in any meaningful way. That was always something that bugged me about the whole thing, it could be so much more interesting than just being a basic stat booster.

6463

I dont think it does in basic GD either. Baseline there is always: pick 2 RR devotions, 1 tier3 for your damage type and spent leftovers for resists/defensives. In RoT you have more points, so it feels less restrained. It’s more a small bonus/boost for newer people to overcome some shortages while the experienced players dont notice much of a difference.

6464

Most ARPGs quests are like that…

6465

apologies for mentioning it, but I might’ve found a bug …

if you kill Andariel in the pit before you get the quest to do so the quest is not fulfilled.

I’ll try exiting then restarting … but wouldn’t expect that to fix it, as she’d just respawn.

if you’re wondering how i even managed it …

so … i didn’t know that i didn’t know what a cairn stone was … i just thought it was some kind of lore based stone … and based on the round thingies in my inventory, was looking out for something that looked like it …

anyway … i’d got pretty far, but was being battered by so many of the baddies … all the same, i persevered, and died about 5-10 times in my winning battle against the demon adariel in the pit … … before that, i couldn’t even dent her before getting to about level 20 with my amazon inquisitor.

ANYWAY anyway … i assumed (wrongly) that maybe the stones in question were round things below the fires behind her throne …

when those didn’t reveal themselves to be touchable in anyway … i found some meth looking youtuber and realised what they were and here we are :sweat_smile:

6466

Some quests need to be completed in order to prevent breaking progress. There is a quest fix file available here to fix any issues you might have

1 Like
6467

Cheers, mate.

Also, I noted that the “Player Augment” disappeared when I tried to take an item off my medal.

The Rogue Mercenary now no longer exists anywhere. Which is a shame, as I thought they were permanent perks as per D2.

That said, I might just not know which menu / setting it’s hiding in.

6468

You cannot remove augments and keep them, they will dissapear when you do. Removing a component from an item will also remove the augment.

You can simply buy a new merc from kaysha or any of the d2 mercenary vendors (there is a new one in act4)

1 Like
6469

Ah, crappity, I’m only in the second act … oh, and hehe … thanks for the reply!

This wasn’t a criticism, by the way … I just couldn’t understand it because I’d only played D3, and the companions were with you permanently by a separate mechanic. I’m assuming this was the only way to make it work in game. Either way, duly noted.

Oh … and am I being completely blind? I looked at the Wiki (running on wayback?) above, and couldn’t see it, and couldn’t find anything obvious in the thread:

How do I use the sockets in my items?

I’m guessing it’s something to do with the runes, but I assumed gems, too because that was the system in D3. However I couldn’t put multiple gems into my sockets (fnarr) as I put one in a two-socket item and now it’s full (and neither of the sockets have anything in them).

6470

This does not work like diablo3, or diablo 2, in many aspects. The core for many things is still Grim Dawn. In diablo 2 (and I think 3?) you could equip your mercenaries but that’s not a thing in GD. So having them as a pet-summon skill is the way to go. In diablo 2 mercenaries could die (I honestly cant remember if they could in D3).

Like the above statement, GD only allows 1 component to be placed on an item and 1 augment. The socketed weapons merely serve as crafting bases for the runewords you can make with it. Once you find the Horadric Cube you can have a look at all the runewords and what you need to craft them.

Augments are visible at the ‘magic’ vendors, once you reach the required level (level 40 for akara, 50 for drognan, 60 for Ormus etc etc, up to lvl90 for the ones in act5/act6).

Little tip for you already, once you reach level 50 I can highly recommend getting 3x Survivors Inguinity at Drognan (vendors can be reset), unless you are playing a pet build.

1 Like
6471

Ahhhhhhhh … gotcha … so I need to be at a sufficient level to make them viable options in the first place. Thanks.

I’d forgotten entirely how some parts of Grim Dawn itself worked, including the component / augment separation, so thanks for the reminder. :+1:

This is the kind of thing I’d love like a tool tip to explain in game … like “nah, you can’t do that yet” or … “looks like you’re not experienced enough to give the kind of joy this lady (weapon) requires” … :smirk:

((( again, that’s not said as a critique or a suggestion, i’m just thinking aloud :slight_smile: )))

I feel like it’s almost worth me grinding up a character or two PURELY to use to make weapons for an earnest playthrough character that can then use the socketed drops they get early doors. (I’ve had and sold a few)

Also, purely curious, but I’m on the second act on Normal+ difficulty, playing as a range focused, dual weilding, Amazon + Inquisitor, at Level 22, and I have two genuine questions which I promise aren’t spikey disguised whingeing:

  1. Will I ever make enough cash for it to be useful?
  2. Are there any builds that can remove my dependency on the mana sapping fire-arrow?
  3. Will I ever not be two levels too low for everything on screen … even when it’s a couple of levels below mine?

I ask these three because even plunging nearly all of my upgrade points into dexterity I am still missing 50% of my targets, with only 4700 dps, and that’s on a mana-sapping fully specced fire-arrow. So I’m really not making much money from pickups. I think I might have spent 1 or 2 in strength.

Should I re-spec to something else? I’m thinking if I can get a tancred + vidala set mashup I might spam lightning damage.

Finally, if I can learn it, perhaps I could help by adding a D2:RoT addition to the grim tools calc?

6472

If you can add this, sure but you’ll have to speak to dammit for this. As far as I know he’s already got it planned to see if he can add RoT to Grim Tools.

  • Sell Gems and rares for money. You’ll get your cash at some point.
  • Nope. you can apply components to help you out (ectoplasma, focusing prism, arcane lens, skulls) to get more regen/reduce spell costs/mana leech. Devotions can help out a lot there as well (Owl, Harvesters scythe). If the damage is enough, consider taking a few points out of the fire/explosive/immolation arrow till a point where you can sustain it long enough.
    There are class options that have less mana issues (sorc/arcanist) but they lack the wps for a fire arrow build. Last tip is magic arrow. It costs less mana as you put points in it and at some point it will start leeching mana.
  • Dont pay attention to monsters being a higher level. It’s not relevant. If you can kill it or not is what matters.

If you use GDstash, and dont mind switching now and then, vidala’s multiple shot + sorc will work fine while leveling for quite a bit.

1 Like
6473

In which case I’ll stay out of it, couldn’t see it above ( but I’m ADHD inclined :wink: )

Incidentally, that was kind of what I was inferring. As I’d mentioned afterwards, the fact that I’m missing half the time means that a lot of my (mana leaching) shots are wasted, yet I’ve completely spammed my dex.

I perhaps now realising that spamming intelligence instead might have had better results since it’s a mana based skill. :roll_eyes: I did say I’m dumb. :sweat_smile:

I think I need to find the best passive skills that either activate off and/or permanently buff default weapon attacks, then test them on the dummies. Because my (dumb-ass) head still says spamming dex for amazon is the way.

You are amazing, thanks again for all the advice, I’ll see what I can do with this … I’ve read enough to know that this is just a harder game ( talk of spongey enemy heros & bosses above ) in general, and that I’ll need to just stick with it.

But … hehehe … the biggest thing that has held me back so far is just being a dumb prick … :smirk: … I mean … not knowing that I didn’t know what a cairn stone is a real high (low) light there. :sweat_smile:

6474

Also have a look at the discord. Even if you dont want to partake in the conversations there (although there is little difference between asking the questions here or there), there is quite some information available there as well in the pinned messages about GD mechanics, boss and specific loot locations etc, including a starter guide for RoT that has some good pointers what to look out for when you’re starting.

Unlikely, as you need chance to hit more then you need mana. Stay above 80% (90%+ ideally) while leveling. Going below 75% chance to hit (maybe it was 70%) will also have a secundary penalty for the damage you actually deal. So not only will you miss 30-40%, the actual damage output will then also be about 15% less.
Another (cheap?) option would be strafe or multishot. They work fine and require less skill points before, meaning you have enough left-over points to max out your mastery bars/pasisves for extra mana/dex/AR. Strafe does only work with bows.

1 Like
6475

Ahhhhh … cool. Super amazing info and good to know!

Are strafe / multishot passives, or are they something I need to keep spamming or keep activated? (I’m about to respec them in to test, but thought I’d ask all the same for the record)

FWIW 1 - I went targo’s as first devotion purely to stay alive when I get swarmed. I’ll look at others as soon as I can, but I have only gathered enough dev points for that so far by Lvl20.

Cheers, mate, duly noted. :+1:

FWIW 2 ( and believe me, I fully realise that I’m “special” here ) I don’t touch discord with a yard stick.

I have privacy concerns that I can’t back up easily in conversation, but essentially discord gives me the willies.

Plus, I’ve never understood the need for a thing that does the same as Steam … but somewhere else.

Regardless, not saying this to have a conversation about it (off-topic) just explaining why I don’t do discord ( “DDD” :smirk: ) …

sub-FWIW … All that said … I am building a discord pi so that I can fully disassociate it from my actual self, but that is currently in the deep ‘theory’ section of the build :sweat_smile: with always on VPN and smart DNS options, etc.

6476

As you wish, each their own preferences. Although I dont think Steam and Discord are the same? One being mainly a chat/voice focused website/program, the other a gaming platform. I guess the Discord nitro is the thing with games? No idea though as I just use the free website browser thing :wink: .

I have posted the link to the starting guide a while up (it’s a google doc), if you’re interesting you can find it a while up. ( [Mod] Reign of Terror - #6161 by Fuzzydunlop )

1 Like
6477

Ah, sweet, cheers.

Also … heavily lolling at myself, here.

Just switched out to Magic Arrow and at full 20 it’s only using 2 mana, and my DPS is basically doubled with the same equipment.

If I switch out to a lighting build and keep improving my retreat skill it’ll keep building a mana reserve AND spam lightning damage for a later fire arrow (with vidala x3 100% fire to lightning) addition to the build.

You’ve honestly really helped a lot here, if it was purely just the magic arrow hint that would’ve been enough of a change as it now allows me to respec to some defence!

Have bookmarked your guide, too, and will read soon!

On the DDD in a browser … yeah … I’m thinking I could run it in a FireFox multi-account container with FF VPN as a workaround until I get that separate device. That’s a good reminder, cheers. :+1:

6478

Mana reserved on buffs is a portion that is taken away from your maximum mana. Effectively reducing your maximum mana as a cost for keeping a buff active.

1 Like
6479

me:
crying chun-li

Just dipping into your guide (not going full on in, and happy to take this to PM) … but you say:

Is there a reason for this, or is it just a bit unbalanced or something? I only ask because the other options look super hard, especially if I’m having problems at this level of the game!

FWIW - My mana isn’t even flinching now with 20 Magic Arrow and 12 Retreat, so with that doubled DPS I’m laughing. Perhaps upping the difficulting might be a thing soon, will keep testing.

6480

Dex can be good for any character, including a mana based one, but my personal style is strength and save up points where I can and dump into dex if I feel I need it later. I prefer intelligence. Usually I find attack value/dex in the passive tree to help out and other comparable stats. I can’t seem to want anything less than health personally. The exception may be one day when I do pure melee, which I haven’t done in quite sometime. At various points in the game, if I feel outmatched, I can dump into whatever stat I want, Intelligence/dex, for extra damage or to hit. I tend to try to max masteries as much as I can as that adds to it naturally.

I often don’t finish characters but with this strategy I’ve not ever needed to reset my attribute points even once. I save up and react. This is probably bad advice for maximum clearing speed early on, but I don’t have the game memorized and it helps me at least! :smiley: Sometimes up to 50 attribute points waiting to buff something I need.

I haven’t played amazon yet. Tell me if I am wrong that spell based characters have a DISADVANTAGE to physical damage because physical base doesn’t need intelligence and spell based characters DO for damage! So they would need to invest in intelligence AND dexterity for the same results, whereas an amazon can simply invest in strength/dex, ignore intelligence all together, and then be better off besides needing to be in close combat for some builds.

So when I go for a character that needs physical damage increased, won’t that simply mean my character is easier to play, if I can avoid melee like with an amazon?

All the way back to Titan Quest from 2006, that same system with higher level elites existed, to explain their higher stats than their normal monster brethren. In that game I fight the same monsters in one pack, and all 3 may be a different level than the other! Usually the difference is subtle, sometimes with a boss as in Grim Dawn, it’s significant. That’s merely the mechanism used to make the monsters actually be difficult. In D2 there’s a manipulation that changes every monster based upon character level and it’s very significant. Grim Dawn doesn’t do this, it doesn’t handicap you based upon character level.

In D3 your merc can die but only until you find an amulet that makes it invulnerable to death. In D2 you have to resurrect your merc in town with gold and it can be very expensive, in D3 I believe you just wait a bit and he comes back. So the merc system in this mod is more like D3, which I like MUCH more!

EDIT: Now I remember alot of melee builds need intelligence if their weapon damage is elemental damage from skills, for example. That’s a built I want to do with paladin/sorceress. I may need both intelligence AND dex, plus it will be melee, LOLOL!

EDIT 2: I’ve yet to actually use item enhancements to help with hit chance on a character in this mod. This may be an oversight, or it may be that I simply didn’t need it as much as other stats.

1 Like
6481

I did not write that guide, although I would recommend not playing normal+ either. I’ve balanced the game so that the regular campaign in normal is challenging enough already. If you know exactly what you’re doing or just really like the challenge (or have a shared stash for of gear) normal+ is fine.

If you do want to play normal+, i’d recommend doing that starting from act3 onwards. I’ve noticed that by then the skills and gear are strong enough to keep you going at a decent enough pace.
The game works as GD/Diablo 2 (not diablo 3). So you go from normal(+) > nightmare > hell. Because its a custom game all difficulties are unlocked at the start but yeah, dont do those yet :wink: .

Not true, as a physical damage build often end up with maybe 30-60% physical resistance reduction, while other damage types often reach values up to -100-150%, so it more than balances itself out. It’s not that simple. And spellcasters can also invest all in intelligence once you’re reached the endgame gear with enough AR. Just while leveling its recommend to go for dexterity to keep your chance to hit high enough (paladin + arcanist for example can simply dish all points into intelligence, conviction+arcanist AR bonuses provide more then enough to keep good hit chance).

1 Like