I am really very new to Grim Dawn so I will start my question(s) with a little preface. My first character was a Warder because when I bought the game and did (very little) research, it seemed the Warder was the best starting toon for beginners. Since my first video gaming started with Elden Rings last year (at 59 years old), I thought frequent dying was okay. Then at about level 40 with the Warder getting frustrating, I watched a video from Arcadelife to try to learn a bit more about the game. He was showing how to build a Purifier, so I followed his guide videos until about lvl 35, (act 3?) and I realized I now knew enough game basics to start over with the Warden. I also learned that dying should not be a tolerated thing in GD. Note to self – stop dying!
But first… I decided to build a Dervish because I had a lot of acid stuff. That went well and I took him to lvl 100, completing Ultimate. I still am a rank amateur, unable to kill Ravager on Ultimate (Dervish, Druid and Purifier all have completed Ultimate, while the Spellbinder is at lvl 100 yet never bothered clearing Malmouth on Ultimate), nor can I handle Lokkar and a bunch of other higher stuff. So… I built the Druid since I had a lot of Korvan lightning stuff. At lvl 100, the Druid was okay, very colorful, had okay stats, but my Resistances sucked! Yep, sucked. I probably have good gear but since I do not have the Blueprint for Sacred Plating (the only, yes ONLY Rare blueprint - seemingly impossible to find), I was struggling to get the Vitality Resistance to anything worth Ultimate. After several days of nothing but doing farming runs, dungeons, etc. with all my toons, still no Sacred Plating. When the Fist of Ultos dropped for me on a farming run this morning, I switched from the Charged Korvan Storm Halberd and, well, wow, Primal Strike damage went up 35% to about 62,000, but I still could not balance resistances. So…
I decided to venture off into the scary land of Shattered Realms (using the Acid Dervish since she has better Resistances). I did a little reading, watched a beginner video, then jumped in, with the intent of seeing if I could get a blueprint. Thirty-ish minutes later SR21 completed, went for my rewards. One blueprint, a Mask. Darn RNG! I did decide to buy one of the SR Chest pieces for the good Vitality Resist.
Next, I decided to use the SR Chest piece and my damage dropped to about 58,000 (Character page II). I will take it since I was then able to balance out my resistances much better. I am not joyful with the results but at least everything is above the 80%, with most well about 120%. Since the DPS went down but my resistances were better balanced, I immediately decided to make a Four Hills test/farming run for dynamite (that sucked - only 3 pieces found between both Cronley’s and Hanneffy’s Mines). After running Cronley’s I noticed my Primal Strike status on page II was now showing up differently. Primal Strike is now showing a spread of damage from 56085 – 110505. What?! I have no idea how it doubled since I have not made any changes other than the SR Chest piece. I noticed this jump when I wiped out Cronley in about 7 seconds. I thought, “WTF, that should not have happened since my DPS is lower with this new chest piece.” Then I looked at my Character Window page II and found that damage anomaly. Not sure why this happened but I do know, RESISTANCES MATTER and damage changes are a mystery.
I then thought, hhmmm… If I can wipe out Cronley so quickly, why not try those two *^!#$% men in the Pit, you know the two, Rekt ByProtoss and his good buddy Boris. Those two always decimate me on Ultimate. The plan: turn on the Nvidia screen recorder; run Hanneffy’s to try to get some dynamite; and then see how long I can survive before Rekt wrecks me, hopefully without the typical one-shot. What? Wait! No! I annihilated those two in less than 13 seconds. Yes, under 13 seconds between the two of them. If I knew how to upload a video I would so that it can be shown even a beginner can actually get something right, even if he does not know how he did it! Since starting that Warder, I have learned a lot about this game. Primary for any beginner are the following lessons:
Lesson 1 – do not die.
Lesson 2 – focus on one damage type and build it up.
Lesson 3 – RESITANCES MATTER.
Lessons 1 and 2 I learned form Arcadelife. Lesson 3 I learned from the school of hard life.
And, not really a lesson, but a reality, the game really does not begin until Ultimate, lvl 94+, when the gearing matters and the dungeons, areas, etc. really start getting interesting/challenging. Prior to Ultimate lvl 94, the player is only gearing up and learning.
Disclaimer, I think it is fair to note that I loosely based the Druid from both a RektByProtos video and the beginner’s guide on Grim Tools by Stupid_Dragon). Should I apologize to RektbyProtos for his lessons on how to wreck Rekt? No… I used Stupid_Dragon’s guide, as well, and without ArcadeLife’s video, I would probably have stopped even playing Grim Dawn.
Wait, was I supposed to be asking a question? Or two? After all that, how about just one?
Back to the Warder. I do not want to abandon that toon. I want to build it up and I have a lot of gear now. Going through the gear, I feel like I want to build towards using the Mythical Guillotine, but I also want to branch out my abilities and game play, so maybe Sword and Board? The Druid is a 2H melee storm god. The Dervish is a duel wielding melee acid master. The Purifier a duel-wielding pistol artisan, although too squishy at the moment. The Spellbinder, an AAR laser-master, still does not have great gear but does have amazing resistances, all above 130, most above 150. All four are worth trying to build better to complete all the game, but since I have the Warder and want to challenge myself in creating the toon to something viable (building it myself without any Warder guides, videos, etc.) for end game, I want to get it to at least 100.
As noted above, I have not tried any Sword and Board, nor caster, unless the Spellbinder counts as a caster. I am not inclined towards a caster at this time, but maybe if I learn enough. The issue I have with the Spellbinder and the Purifier is kiting and not dying. The two melee toons I can attack, get up close and personal, run if necessary to heel up a bit, then jump back in to finish my victims. I have not learned the art of ranged fighting yet. This leaves continuing 2H Melee, what I originally started with on the Warder, trying to build up a toon for the Mythical Guillotine, or go Sword and Board.
Again, SandB or 2H for the Warder? I am not looking for build guides, just thoughts on which of those two fighting styles might be better for getting the Warder through Ultimate and maybe beyond. What might add to my play-style and what might be FUN! (Possible weapons I have for the S%B would be: Mythical Agony, Mythical Reaver’s Claw, Targo’s Mallet, Mythical Brutallax, or Mythical Ravager’s Bite for possible physical or pierce damage type, as well as any of those Totally Normal not-shield weapons.
Now I will shut up and open this up for discussions, suggestions, comments. Thanks for being patient if you read all of this. Thanks for being a great community.