New Player Knowledge Compendium

ceruleansong · September 25, 2017, 12:01am

Grim Dawn New Player Knowledge Compendium Contd.

[035] Kymon’s Chosen vs Order of Death’s Vigil

You must make a choice in Act 3 to side with one or the other faction.
This will put your rep as Friendly with one, Despised for the other.
Kymon’s Chosen/Order of Death’s Vigil are located on opposite sides of Sorrow’s Bastion (when you side with one, and then change in another difficulty, it’s easy to go to the wrong side).
Both factions have different augments available at Revered reputation.
Based on your end game gear, you’ll want to pick the faction with augments you need on Ultimate difficulty.
The exception to this is if you’ve chosen Necromancer mastery, in which case you will be unable to side with Kymon’s, making the Order your default (and only) choice.
Once you’ve made that choice, pick the other faction on Normal/Elite to build up rep to Revered, stock up on augments of the opposing faction, then switch on Ultimate.
After you’ve switched to a different faction, the other faction won’t be accessible on other difficulties (i.e. you can’t go back to Elite to get more augments from the old faction after allying with a different one in Ultimate).
This choice is slightly less important now with the expansion, since most of their augments are replaced by better ones from the new factions.
If you’re not sure which way to go, Kymon’s is a popular choice, since they have better lightning resist augments and there are many bosses that deal lightning damage with lightning RR, so overcapped lightning resist is especially important (in Crucible and/or vs. bosses like Avatar of Mogdrogen and Valdaran).

[036] Challenge Dungeons

There are challenge dungeons (rogue-likes) that you cannot teleport out of until completion or death that require a Skeleton Key (craftable one-use item) to open.
Generally speaking, save your keys for Ultimate difficulty after you’re geared a bit, to get the best loot/best chance of completing it without dying.
However, trying them out on Normal or Elite is a good idea to get a feel for them the first time.
The dungeons consist of multiple challenging levels followed by a boss at the end.
[li]These dungeons with their bosses are:[/li]Steps of Torment (SoT): Alkamos, Lord Executioner
Port Valbury: Overlod Van Aldritch
Bastion of Chaos (BoC): Shar’Zul, Harbinger of Chaos
I highly recommend you cap (or overcap) resists before attempting the various challenge dungeons; this makes a huge difference (I played Port Valbury without maxed Aether resist and got destroyed, did it with capped Aether and had an easy time).
There will be a new rogue-like dungeon coming in the December 2017 update, The Fall of Port Valbury.

[037] Notable Bosses

Besides the act end-bosses (Krieg, Cronley, Karroz, Loghorrean), there are other notable bosses (particularly those that drop MIs).
A quick reference:
Anasteria - can be fought as final boss of Ikon Prison if choosing to side with Black Legion over her; can drop Outcast’s Secret helm
Avatar of Mogdrogen - can fight him by making him mad (do so with caution!) after cleansing the Shrine of Mogdrogen, a quest available on each difficulty only after being Honored with the Rovers; can drop Mantle of Mogdrogen shoulders
Gollus, the Deepdweller - boss in secret area of Den of the Lost, accessed through the Royal Hive via Skittering Den; he drops the sought after Gollus’ Ring
Guardians of Dreeg/Solael/Bysmiel - all part of the Hidden Path quest chain; unique bosses that have a chance of dropping the X-Sect Legguards used in many endgame builds
Loxmere Nightmage - a hero mob with 40% chance to spawn in Elite and Ultimate only in Plains of Strife; can drop Loxmere’s Frostblade
Rashalga, the Mad Queen - secret boss in the Hidden Path secret quest chain, accessed by touching a Loose Stone in the Bysmiel area (be careful, if you don’t know how to fight her, she will wreck you); can drop Mad Queen’s Claw dagger
Salazar, Blade of Ch’thon - boss in Depraved Sanctuary, which requires a Strange Key to enter per difficulty, which can randomly drop from cultists; can drop Salazar’s Sovereign Blade

[038] Boss Fight Mechanics/Tips

Now that ForgottenKane has updated his survival guide for the expansion, rather than duplicating content, just go see his thread.
It has a fantastic explanation of each boss, their mechanics, damage types, and tips for fighting them.
Now also see Dammitt’s monster database in grimtools, which lists all monsters and their abilities (super helpful to understand what’s killing you/how to prepare to fight them).

[039] Crucible

The Crucible is optional DLC that adds an “arena” mode that pits you against waves of monsters.
The monsters do not drop items, but once you decide to stop (you can stop every 10 waves or finish all 150 waves), you get a reward based on how well you did (you get an extra reward for a high points score, which means killing each wave under the time limit).
The final reward consists of multiple chests (depending on how high you cleared and on what difficulty) that can drop MIs, epics, and legendaries, as well as components.
This is probably the best way to farm for items, provided you can efficiently complete Gladiator waves 100-150 (or at least Challenger 100-150).
Monsters are scaled to your level on all difficulties, but have more HP/do more damage on higher difficulties.
After each 10 waves, you get a number of tributes, which can be spent on unlocking devotion points (useful early on), or buffing yourself for more runs.
You can also buy Celestial Blessings to buff you, Beacons or Banners (towers that either do damage or buff you when nearby respectively), as well as use tributes to restart at checkpoints (i.e. start at wave 50 or 100 if you’ve already cleared it, or a nearby wave if you died).
As you get higher up in waves, Mutators apply, which are random effects on the monsters that apply various effects to them.
See the wiki for more details on Crucible mechanics.
Once you’re able to farm Crucible, you can have an infinite loop (where the number of tributes you spend will yield slightly more on wave completion).
[li]As per Drizzto, the standard tribute usage for infinite loop (starting with a minimum of 64 tributes) is:[/li]Vanguard Banner Level 3 (25 tributes)
Might of Amatok Blessing (12 tributes)
Empyrion’s Guidance Blessing (12 tributes)
Raise the Stakes [to start at wave 100] (15 tributes)
A clear of waves 100-150 rewards you 66 tributes on Gladiator.
To keep going, you can restart at checkpoint (wave 130) twice in a row (first time you start at checkpoint costs 5 tributes, second time costs 15, third time costs 30, which is not worth it since the cost is more than a Level 3 Banner). Two time checkpoint restart yields the best rewards for minimal cost.

IV - Gearing and Leveling
[040] Items

MI = Monster Infrequent, a rare item (green) that only drops from specific boss monsters (only some of the time), with possibility for different prefix and suffix.
The reason these are considered the most rare/hard to find items is that you have to farm the particular boss, only have a chance for it to drop (not guaranteed), then it has to have the prefix and suffix you want to be godly (and usually the prefix and suffix are rare, so you are looking for double rare MI).
To get them, farm the boss of associated name (the various leggings of Dreeg-Sect, Solael-Sect, etc. are dropped by the Guardians in the Hidden Path chain).
Legendaries are “easier” to find than MIs because they don’t have to roll any particular combination of affixes since they roll guaranteed attributes.
Use shift+left-click to automatically move an item to your stash (and stack with duplicates if possible).
Use the sort button to sort everything alphabetically. If you press it more than once it will organize in different ways (vertically vs horizontally, components first or last).
I initially avoided using the auto-sort but after spending time trying to alphabetize my components and clicking on it by mistake, I realized it alphabetizes for you, which makes finding particular components quick and (relatively) painless.
Items become soulbound if they are purchased from a faction vendor or if you add an augment.
You can remove the soulbound status by removing the augment at the Inventor (which will leave any added components intact).
Soulbound items cannot be traded or placed in the shared stash (so you can’t give it to one of your other characters until you remove the augment).
[li]There is a loot filter on the left of the health bar (a small triangle), which can be toggled between showing Common+, Magic+, Rare+, Epic+, Legendary only:[/li]
If you’re seeing things sparkle on the ground but you can’t interact with it, check your loot filter setting (after Normal/Veteran, or even after at least having all magic items, I recommend setting to rare, which will make things faster as you don’t have to wade through a bunch of yellows and your gear will be just as good; you also don’t want to go higher than this because you want to make sure you can pick up MIs).
For more information on item color, see this fantastic guide by Bobymitch.
Expansion adds a new Mythical tier of items, as well as new items/sets.
You can still get all the old sets at a higher item level, so a lot of old builds can simply be adapted to the newer gear with some additional points to spend.

[041] Farming for Items

Either do fast 100-150 Challenger Crucible runs or 100-150 gladiator runs if you can do it consistently; ideally in a group.
Crucible can drop all legendaries, even MIs, so it’s a good way to farm for items assuming you have this DLC.
For Campaign and/or solo, farm MIs from respective hero monsters and by the time you get those perfect MIs, you’ll have plenty of legendaries too.
You can also farm mats to craft random legendaries at Etram Fald in Tyrant’s Hold.
For components, common drop from specific mob types (e.g. Ectoplasm drops from undead, Bristly Fur from beasts, etc.).
For rare components, these drop randomly from chests and hero spawns, so any area with high density hero spawns and chests/breakable objects (like hives, scrap piles, etc.) are where you should farm them (such as Swarming Hive in Twin Falls).
Nemesis chests (available after killing a Nemesis boss) have a good chance to drop blueprints, so you can farm Nemesis bosses for these (it’s important to keep in mind all of the legendary end game helms are crafted, as are the relics, so you want blueprints).
Here are the loot tables if you want to see drop chances.
For new players with Crucible, start with a Crucible farmer build (usually Soldier + something else) and run Challenger 100-150 until you have the gear to do Gladiator for even better/more loot.
A good farming route in pre-expansion content (still viable and useful post-expansion) is Royal Hive, Forsaken Wastes, and Obsidian Throne (per Chthon).

[042] Items to keep in your Stash

You can use GD Stash or similar mod as mentioned in ForgottenKane’s Hardcore Survival Guide, but if you’re playing vanilla, after some time, even with multiple tabs, your stash will fill up with epics and legendaries and you’ll have to pick and choose what to keep.
Beyond keeping end game equipment you want for alts, I recommend keeping various items and sets that will expedite the leveling process for pretty much any character.
Keep in mind that many sets exist in a normal version plus an “empowered version” which are considered different sets (i.e. you can’t get a 2-piece set bonus wearing a normal set plus an empowered set item of same name).
Here’s a list (with set items in parentheses being most useful), and some are craftable so will be a blueprint drop rather than a regular drop, so double-check at the Blacksmith if you have it already.
Sets: Guardsman’s Raiment (Spaulders, Breastplate), Explorer’s Garments (Trousers, Footpads), Maiven’s Sanctuary (Hood, Lens, Tome if caster), Perdition (all), The Praetorian (all), Herald’s Regalia (all)
Non-set Armor: Glory of the Silver Knight, Warlord’s Spaulders, Alchemist’s Belt, Oldenar’s Stabilizer, Chthonian Thread Sash, Zealot’s Gauntlets, Runic Bracers, Legplates of Valor, Hermit’s Legguards, Swampdweller’s Legguards, Mistwalker Leggings, Templar’s Leg Armor, The Final March
Mainhand/offhand: Witchstalker (crafted), Spellfire Wand (crafted), Elementium
Jewelry: Obsidian Seal, Warp Shard, Slith Primal Ring (from quest, just to pass to others since it can be equipped before you could otherwise find it), Sister’s Amulet of Lifegiving (same as Slith Primal Ring)
Relics: Any basic relic you can craft that’s relevant to your character (Equilibrium, Squall, Conflagration, Arbiter, Deathchill, etc.)

[043] Gearing

There are more resists than listed in main sheet (physical, trauma, life leech, etc.); you can see on tab 3 of the character sheet.
Only the ones on the first tab receive penalties on higher difficulties.
Use augments to round out your resistances; ideally you want everything at the 80% cap (bleed and stun are slightly less important than others).
Even better is to overcap resists, since some bosses/enemies will use resist reduction spells on you, leaving you no longer capped out (unless you’re well overcapped; Aetherial Nemesis Valdaran and lightning resists come to mind).
While %damage of your primary damage type is nice, you don’t want to get overly focused on it; it has diminishing returns and it’s much more important to have resists capped and have decent OA/DA (Offensive Ability/Defensive Ability) with good health and health regen.
Don’t worry about putting components or augments on items in Normal (except those to provide skills to help level), but consider adding some on Elite and definitely in Ultimate (I finished Ultimate on my first play through with a Witchblade with only half of my items having components, but everything had an augment to round out my resists).
Remember that if you put a component in an item and want it back later, you have to destroy the item (or keep the item and lose the component), so choose wisely.
Augments can be overwritten at any time and they’re always purchasable from vendors, so feel free to change these around as needed.
Elite Harvest Footpads can be purchased from the Homestead Quartermaster at Revered and are a great item to round out resists in Ultimate until you find your end game gear.
In a similar vein, the fairly easily found Empowered Legplates of Valor are a good substitute for those triple-rare MI Dreeg/Solael/Bysmiel-Sect Legguards used in most end game builds.
The legs and boots in most end game builds are usually just stat sticks to max out resists, so substitute Elite Harvest Footpads + Empowered Legplates of Valor and then adjust some of the augments for resists accordingly. This is more than sufficient to use until you eventually find some of those MIs.
The Exalted Stonehide Treads of Kings or similar you see on a lot of builds are a crafted item at the blacksmith; it actually appears as a magic item: Heavy/Imperial/Exalted Treads or Preserver/Redeemer Treads in expansion, depending on Physique requirements.
These will become a rare if they roll one or more rare attributes; it can take a lot of crafts to get the attributes you’re looking for, making these somewhat similar to an MI in rarity.

[044] Crafting

Some items can drop but also be crafted (you’re more likely to get the blueprint than the item to drop).
To craft an item, you need to find the blueprint first (there are some that can be purchased from faction vendors).
Once you use the blueprint, it’s craftable at any blacksmith and is craftable by any of your characters (they carry over).
If you get a blueprint you already know (from a quesst reward, which always reward the same blueprint, such as for Skeleton Key), you can vendor it safely, since the first time you learned it carried over to all your current and future characters.
If a duplicate blueprint rolls, it’s invisible, so it’ll seem like blueprint drops become rarer when you have most of them.
Check your Blacksmith for already known recipes, since some are known by default (certain crafting components that don’t drop but can be made from the materials that do drop).
You can also craft legendaries at the Blacksmith, Etram Fald, who is located in Tyrant’s Hold dungeon on Elite and Ultimate difficulties only.
He can craft random legendaries from 5 categories (Accessories, Armor, Caster Weapons, Melee Weapons, Ranged Weapons) for 75,000 Iron Bits, 1 Polished Emerald, and 8 rare crafting materials (depending on category, such as Ancient Hearts, Tainted Brain Matter, and Blood of Ch’thon). See Etram’s entry on the wiki for more details.
You can break down items (particularly epics and legendaries) at Devil’s Crossing (Inventor’s Apprentice) for rare crafting materials at cost of 1 Dynamite.
[li]End game relics take a lot of materials and blueprints for all the subcomponents (not to mention the blueprint for the relic itself). To give you an idea of the materials required, the Mythic Relic Solael’s Decimation requires the following to craft: 3x Blood of Ch’thon (rare crafting material), 1x Eye of the Storm (relic), 1x Conflagration (relic), 1x Inferno (relic), 1x Symbol of Solael (rare component). But Eye of the Storm requires 3 other relics to be made first, and two crafted components (not to mention the requirements for these sub relics which also need relics and more materials). If you actually break down the raw materials needed, for all subcomponents, it comes out to (minus the blueprints for all the sub relics):[/li]65x Scrap, 19x Aether Crystal, 19x Scavenged Plating, 19x Searing Ember, 13x Bristly Fur, 12x Blood of Ch’thon, 9x Chilled Steel, 8x Cracked Lodestone, 8x Tainted Brain Matter, 6x Battered Shell, 6x Polished Emerald, 5x Chipped Claw, 4x Chthonic Seal of Binding, 3x Manticore Eye, 2x Ancient Heart, 2x Devil-Touched Ammo, 2x Frozen Heart, 2x Roiling Blood, 2x Serrated Spike, 1x Amber, 1x Consecrated Wrappings, 1x Ectoplasm, 1x Mutagenic Ichor, 1x Severed Claw, 1x Symbol of Solael, 1x Troll Bonecrusher, 1x Unholy Inscription
Finally, a note on Blacksmith choice (Angrim vs. Duncan). Each blacksmith will add specific attributes to gear you have them craft, so once you unlock a recipe, be sure to have your desired blacksmith craft it for you to get the extra attribute you want. See the Wiki Blacksmith page for more details.

[045] Leveling

To be clear, the first character you make, just play through the Campaign and enjoy exploring and discovering the lore.
Once you’ve had time enjoying your first play through and you’re starting to level alts, here are some tips for leveling quickly (tips courtesy of TomoDak and Goat in this thread).
For maximum efficiency, do not fully clear areas; the ideal strategy is to only kill heroes and what is getting in your way (kill heroes/bosses and ignore trash).
Only do main quests and side quests along the main path; the goal being to get to higher difficulties faster.
Stack movement speed from boots/devotions (Sailor’s Guide devotion for +8% MS, Eel devotion for +4% MS).
If your class has a dash, get it ASAP; if not, put a Riftstone on your weapon immediately when you hit level 25 (grants skill Chaos Strike, which is a teleport like ability).
There are two important types of skills for leveling quickly: a big AoE that melts through trash, and a gap closer for speed (or bonus movement speed skill); even if these won’t be part of your final build, you can always respec later.
These abilities can kill bosses quickly and one shot trash while you walk by, so you can drop your AoE and keep moving.
It also helps to invest some in healing/health regen abilities, such as Blood of Dreeg, Pneumatic Burst, or Mark of Renewal (bonus for the last two which also add movement speed bonuses).
[li]Here are the common leveling skills per class (with gap closer in italics if there is one):[/li]Soldier: Blade Arc (without Clean Sweep), and/or Forcewave, Blitz
Demolitionist: Explosive Strike (the Fire Strike upgrade), Stun Jacks, or Blackwater Cocktail (with High Potency transmuter), Vindictive Flame
Occultist: Dreeg’s Evil Eye (with Focused Gaze transmuter), can add Curse of Frailty with Vulnerability for RR, plus Blood of Dreeg for survivability
Nightblade: Amarasta’s Blade Burst, can add Veil of Shadow with Night’s Chill for RR, Pneumatic Burst for health regen/bonus speed, Shadow Strike
Arcanist: Olexra’s Flash Freeze (pair with Fireblast/Greater Fireblast from Searing Ember/Flintcore Bolts components), can add Mirror of Ereoctes, Maiven’s Sphere of Protection, and Nullification for damage reduction
Shaman: Devouring Swarm, can add the Mogdrogen’s Pact line for survivability (pretty standard to any Shaman build)
Inquisitor: Storm Box of Elgoloth or Rune of Hagarrad, Word of Renewal
Necromancer: Raise Skeletons or Ravenous Earth, add Spectral Binding for health
Generally speaking, put Mastery points into your primary damage skill, max it, then add some more Mastery and a few points in supporting skills, and consider adding Mastery into another class to get your speed/gap closer ability if it’s not the class you started with.
Even if you level in Campaign, if you have the Crucible DLC, it’s a good idea to use tribute points in Crucible to get 10 devotion points before heading back to Campaign; this means you’ll max out your devotion points in Elite (normally you don’t max out until near end of Ultimate).
[li]Leveling plan incorporating Crucible:[/li][ol]
Start game on Veteran, get ~level 3 and a weapon, switch to Crucible.
Play Crucible until ~level 15. Use all Crucible points for devotion points (will have 50 points by middle of Elite).
Switch to Veteran Campaign. Put skill points in damage (devotions and skills). Put points in Spirit first for more Energy, then all Physique (depending on build).
Get Writs from other character to increase rep gain.
Do every convenient side quest and shrine until you have 50 devotion points.
On Elite, put components on gear and start adding defensive skill points. Be ~level 70 by end of Elite and respec into end game skills/gear.

[li]Here’s a link for primarily leveling in the Crucible.[/li]
[/ol]