Necro Melee Vitality/Aether

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Hi everyone,

I want to try a necro melee centered around vitality and aether damage and I have some questions for you:

  • is it better to go for dual wield or 2H weapon? Because the dual-wield could proc a lot the 2 proc-based melee Necro skills, but with 2H you get the 2H modifier on your bone harvest.

  • should i try to max both vitality dmg AND aether or just one of those 2? I don’t jnow if there are devotions constellations that’s increases both?

  • depending on the 2 previous questions, which mastery is the best to pair with it? For a lot of vitality dmg I think to occultist but I don’t know if it is tanky enough to hold in ultimate. Also arcanist as a support class to max aether and get some tankiness with Maiven’s sphere or mirror. Or finally Shaman or Soldier, but I don’t think they offer a lot of synergies for aether or vitality.

Thanks for your answers!

2

The bone harvest modifier converts all physical damage to cold damage. If you’re going aether/vitality, this doesn’t really fit your goal, especially if you have phys->aether or phys->vitality conversion on your weapons.

If you want to go 2hander, more power to you, but I’m just saying it’s not worth it to go 2hander solely to get the bone harvest modifier unless you’re doing a cold damage build.

As for the damage type, I’d say vitality has more support in devotions. It seems that aether has no standalone support - it’s always attached to fire/lightning or vitality. So focus on vitality with aether as a close second.

If you’re going for a vitality focused vitality/aether build, I’d recommend occultist or shaman, because both have vitality resist reduction. Shaman has wendigo totem and the Mogdrogen’s Pact line, which are both much better for tankiness, so I’d recommend shaman if you can’t decide.

3

This modifier seems to exist solely to make Soulrend builds more fun. I’m not complaining, I have one stashed somewhere.

Also fixes the lack of conversion on Leviathan, I guess.

4

The first char I’m leveling is a lifesteal reaper, and I agree, the modifier is made for soulrend :stuck_out_tongue:
It even has bonus % weapon damage to fit the lifesteal.

5

When selecting another mastery, you should think about what primary skill you’ll use. Necromancer doesnt have any spammable melee skill (bone Harvest has 3 sec CD), and default attack sucks. So, your second mastery should provide a spammable melee skill, what will synergize well with Vitality or Aether damage and your gear.

Few skills that quickly come to mind:

  • Savagery. Has huge base %Weapon Damage, works, greatly with WPS, 100% lightning damage can be converted to Aether with Conduit of Wild Whispers. Or it can be used with Wildblood Crusher that has 100% base Vitality damage on its own.
  • Primal Strike. Has AoE and lots of added damage. 100% lightning damage can be converted to Aether with Conduit of Wild Whispers, and large part of physical damage can be converted with your weapon (like Soulsplitter).
  • Blade Arc. 100% damage can be converted to vitality with Conduit of Warren Whispers. Scales with cast speed.

The main thing you should think about first - where to get enough base damage?
For one-handers, you need a huge portion of flat Vitality(or Aether) damage to make them deal decent DPS (well, maybe with exception of using Cadence). So try to stay with 2-handers first.

I think you should focus on just one damage type - either Vitality/Decay, or Aether. I think Vitality will be better, but Aether can work too.

2-h can make great synergy with Shaman (using Primal Strike or Savagery at their best, and can reduce vitality resistance), and with Soldier (using Blade Arc or Forcewave).

I also figured, that majority of great gear, constellations and passives for Vitality damage actually boost cast speed, so perhaps it will be wise to try using Soldier mastery with his Forcewave or Blade Arc. Or Arcanist, for his Calidor’s Tempest (though he wont be completely “melee”).

6

Ok so you think occultist couldnt tank enough? That is also my first impression but this class can max vitality dmg so hard :slight_smile:

Ah you make a 2H cold dmg Reaper? Do your most damage come from the Nightblade tree or from the Necro tree?

Isn’t there an craft material or a Legendary sthat gives some good spammable melee ability?

What is conduit of warren whispers? Is that the conduit of wild whispers you mentioned? Because i dont see blade arc conversion in the database.

But is there some legendary gear supporting the necro+soldier combination? Because I see on every post that that is the least synergetic class…

7

There are some, but usually those abilities are weaker, than similar abilities from masteries. For example, Shard of Beronath provides nice spammable ability, but Savagery is much stronger.

Conduit of Wild Whispers is for Shaman, and Conduit of Warren Whispers is for Soldier. One of its mods can convert 100% of Blade Arc physical damage into Vitality.

There are some, but generaly, you’re right, it’s very poorly supported.

8

Ok thanks for the info! Actually now i hesitate to go to a Vit/cold Reaper instead of a Vit/aether death knight or ritualist :slight_smile:

9

Could you tell me more about this build you are making? :slight_smile: