My first Nemesis

Grim Dawn Gameplay Discussion
1

Okay so I just killed my first Nemesis. The Aetherial one who named Vadlun or something. I was walking to the amalgation and was like whoah that guys name is red and I realized I was fighting a nemesis.

Anyway hes was really really tanky but i barely felt his damage. Hes certainly not as scary as three heroes (one mage) at the same time. I took like a minute or two to kill him. Maybe I just wasnt hitting herd enough though.

So I was wondering are all the Nemesises/Red Name roughly the same? Or maybe some are tankier while others are glass canonish?

Who are the general hardest Red Name bosses?

2

It can depend on your character or build but otherwise, i think the general consensus is that Iron Maiden is the hardest/most annoying.

3

Valderan is relatively easy if you can avoid getting shotgunned. The Iron Maiden is the hardest.

Unless you play a retaliation build, then she and Fabius become a joke and everything else becomes hard instead.

4

Yes, the red name are all roughly. But in different way. The guy you’ve faced is Valdaran, Aetherial Nemesis.

He’s heavy lightning dmg.

  • He can cast debuff to reduce your resistance. [You may see when there’s “broken shield” above your head. Press “C” to figure out the exact number]
  • He can stun you with a lightning strike. If you have high stun resistance(reduced time you got stunned), it’ll be fine. If not you may encounter his combo.
  • He can swap his position and yours
  • He can blink close to you
  • When he’s close to you he usually cast lightning orbs around himself. If you’re too close you’ll get many projectiles at once. That’s why it combo with his debuff very dangerous.
  • When he’s in rage mode. He’ll cast 3 lightning orb rapidly.

So, overcapped lightning resistance, some stun resistance and have reliable health gain is the way to fight.

PS. Other nemesis are badass too. They have different strength and weakness. Depends on what build you are too, but I don’t want to post long comments though. :stuck_out_tongue:

5

also Valdaran demonstrates his true power (:p) in Ultimate. in Elite he is not that hard. but like other said, even in Ultimate he’s doable with an overcapped lightning resist.

Nemesis are more or less powerful given your build, ofc. for exemple the Undead Nemesis is much easier with a ranged build, the Chtonic one is more tank-friendly… but they are the most powerful enemies in the game after Hidden bosses.

6

For me, factions’s nemesises skills should have damage type of faction related ones not the absurds unrelated ones. I think everyone should expect valdaran to do lots of aether damage not lightning one?

7

Aetherials utilize every damage type other than Chaos, and Chthonians vice versa.

8

Many of Valdaran’s attacks deal both lightning and Aether.

9

^ Valdaran doesn’t deal Aether damage

Aetherial Overseers main damage type is lightning, so it’s a damage type used by that faction.

OP, did you fight him on Elite? Nemeses are pretty easy in Elite, they get much nastier in Ultimate.

10

https://grimcalc.com/monster/nemesis_aetherial_01

Check out lightning discharge and lightning surge, both have an aether damage component. Is this information no longer up to date?

11

So i must look at it in a faction way he. It started to make more sense now. Still, if i am coming from hell(not talking about aethers), should you expect me to hit fire damage or water? This is why i wrote that =). So aether guy = aether damage. Of course it would be so basic and not fun.

12

Hi guys, also defeated my 2nd Nemesis Benjarr. Granted I am only Nemesis with Aetherials and Cthonics, so I cannot spawn other Nemesis yet.

I defeated them in Ultimate, but I got Nemesis with Cthonics on elite (didnt find Benjarr elite though) and got Nemesis with Aetherials in Act 1 Ultimate.

I was durdling aroud Blood Grove getting to the Gryver Mill when Benjarr apeared. Luckily the Bolivar was like a screen down did not help him. Benjarr was bit scary too, sometimes his damage spikes but it was good.

So far I am in Fort Ikon now. Just killed the commander Lucius.
I don’t think I would bother to farm the Nemesis of Death Vigil and Undead. Their trash mobs are painful to kill, slow, ranged and scattered all the time (Also they pop up in installments, not lump sum). The aetherials and Cthonics are easier to kill because they like to bunch around each other a lot.

I guess I am lucky I do not get to see Iron Maiden then. The Nemesis/Red Name all have roughly the same drop rates right? I mean killing one is not so different in rewards from another?

13

They have their own exclusive drop. Which called MIs(Monster Infrequent).

It is green shoulder armor which had their name in. A nemesis has 2 variation of the shoulder. The affixes and stats will determine how good it is.

Drop rate is the same. You have the same chance of getting legendary/epic of every kills and loots in their troves.

14

Oh I see, both Nemesis DID drop shoulders but they weren’t very good.

15

Like most Monster Infrequents (Rare items specific to a monster) they have the potential to be very good but you’re subject to RNG a little bit. This is because both the suffix and prefix attached the item are randomised.

I guess I am lucky I do not get to see Iron Maiden then. The Nemesis/Red Name all have roughly the same drop rates right? I mean killing one is not so different in rewards from another?

While this is true, some Nemeses are much harder to find compared to others. Valderan for example is generally considered the worst to farm because he has so many varying spawn locations, including deep inside the Port Valbury rogue dungeon. Fabius on the other hand (Cronley’s Nemesis) only has a few spawn locations in close proximity to each other so searching for him is easy. Of course, he is the hardest Nemesis to farm reputation for and they’re usually somewhat balanced against each other in this way.

16

I still prefer searching for Valdaran than invisible BennJarr. Honestly still haven’t killled him once in Vanilla. He has nearly as many spot as Valdaran got but you also need to find the Rift quite often before searching directly for him. Valdaran once you know the “road” unless he spawn in Port (and Benn can spawn in BoC so that’s a tie there) he is super fast to find.