I’ve played GD off and on, but have never even made it to the second difficulty yet. Wanting to really plan out a good build this time and make it through Ultimate.
I know I want to go cold and Shaman for sure. I want Raging Tempest no matter what. I also like lightning, so I’m leaning towards all cold builds or cold/lightning Trickster or Druid. I would also be open to a cold/bleed Trickster if anyone can come up with a good one, I can’t seem to make that combo work in grimcalc though.
Anyway, I got a couple of builds and would like to know how viable they are for ultimate and maybe the crucible down the road. Which one is stronger overall?
Before even looking at the builds I can tell you that the Druid is your better bet simply due to it being better supported by legendaries. Cold Trickster could probably work - I’ve theorycrafted that concept before - but I doubt it would ever be ideal.
After looking at the Druid build it seems pretty solid to me, though personally I wouldn’t bother with Storm Totem. I’d take those points plus the remaining 23 in your Grimcalc and put them in Heart of the Wild, Frozen Core, and maybe Elemental Balance.
Also, to answer a few of your questions:
Yes, going for a single damage type is viable (and probably even optimal) IF you can get lots of resistance reduction for it.
Yes, Lethal Assault will apply its bonuses to skills like Execution
Oak Skin and Blood Pact probably aren’t worth investing in for a build like that.
The thing is that Star Pact and Stormcaller’s Pact are exclusive skills, so only one can be active at a time, and it’s a waste of points to get both. I’d stick with Star Pact over Stormcaller’s.
After long testing i can suggest you my Druid build - level 85, Ultimate finished, Nemesis are not a significant problem without Fabius and Iron Maiden (typical mage killers…)
I thought that might be the case, but did not see that in the Grimcalc tooltips, thanks for the clarification.
Thanks for that, really helps with determining what to do with leftover points from my build. Almost identical builds, gotta wonder if you are the one that posted the build on Reddit? Also helpful with the Devotions.
I guess I missed the build because it’s not in the build compendium. I wish it was updated a little more frequently. Would also love to see a Grim Dawn site dedicated to builds in the future, but I know that might be difficult to make a reality. I will keep your build in mind if I decide to go the Trickster route. Thanks.
Actually I am not aware at all about Reddit, so i am not the guy posted this build there:) Besides, you cannot develop cold/lightning druid in many different ways.I have a question however regarding your updated druid build - i see that you took almost the same devotions but removed Storm Totem. This way OFF remains the only attacking skill to which you can bind Elemental Storm. It however has 6 seconds of cooldown so you might not cast Elemental Storm frequently. With Storm Totem I have at least 2-3 elemental storms on screen at the same time. Anyway it has to be tested - never tried combo OFF with Elemental Storm
Yeah, I was trying to do a mix of your build and Jabarto’s suggestion to remove Storm Totem. I did do a quick look to make sure there were enough skills for devotions still and noticed OFF was still available. I figured a 1-second cooldown difference was not too big of a deal. I could see how having 2-3 totems out would work better for devotion skills though. I admit I’m just theory crafting and don’t have end game experience, so I actually have no idea. Maybe someone else can give their opinion on this.
Also, the only reason I changed your devotions at all (which I really like) was because it seems to be missing a blue affinity for Tempest unlock. I’m hoping that Grimcalc just needs updating and your build actually works in game (have not had time to check in game myself, hope to later today).
Yeah, I really wanted to put Nightfall into the build originally. Didn’t know it did more damage than Merciless Repertoire. I like the sound of the leech and sleep from Nightfall as well.
Sorry about the devotions - i will check later in the evening the exact devotions.
Maiven SoP gives you 20 % damage absorbtion which is too good to pass (at least for me). Altough you can leave it at 1 if you don`t have enough skill points.
My personal opinion is that it is better to have Elemental Balance than Frozen Core.
Yeah that works now. I think I like Throne a little too much to give it up though. I wish Raven was a little stronger, it then might be a good alternative also.
Both constellations (Empty Throne and Raven) are more pet oriented. Hammer is completely useless for this build. I took it for the affinity bonus and the required 3 devotion points. This way i kept Hawk (+3% offense ability) and Scholars Light (+% elemental damage). You are free to change everything you dont like of course
I see why you went that way. I hate missing out on Hawk, but really don’t want Hammer either. The two devotion builds I’m considering keep Scholar’s Light and get +18 offensive ability from Crossroads, which helps offset missing out on Hawk a little.
The decision I’m trying to make now is going with Harpy for the extra cold damage, OA, and Bleed resist. Or Throne for the resists, I’m starting to like the idea of going with Harpy more.
Both builds also have an extra point left over that could be put into Tsunami or OA, or whatever.
Anyway here is the build with the five points not spent, only requirement is it needs 4 more purple affinity. Open to ideas where to spend those points…
