No, in theory, you don’t need to do the expansion at all to move on. Since the expansion has harder enemies and requires a tankier build/gear, many skip the expansion until Ultimate when they’re geared up and in final build. However, like Kekkuli said, unlocking the factions is a good idea, so you can build rep as you go along. Expansion factions are:
Coven of Ugdenbog
Barrowholm
Malmouth Resistance
Aetherial Vanguard (unfriendly)
The last two are only in the final act and you only get rep (positive or negative towards Nemesis) within that act, so you can skip them until you’re ready to take on expansion content.
No problem! Thanks for posting and I’m glad it was helpful.
Look up the brimstone gunslinger (cant link yet but trust me) This is the first build I used and it got me through all the way to Ultimate. Simple and easy build to follow for beginners who want to do things gunslinger style.
Just for reference, though in Act 5 A Witches’ Bargain, you get access to Ravager if you befriend Scorv and Barrowholm, and the Nemesis if you attack them. The two ubers (Ravager and Nemesis) are either/or, depending on which way you align yourself.
Ah, good catch, CainMaris. I haven’t had the time to finish out the expansion content yet (almost done with Act 6, then started a new character), so that was my own misunderstanding on how things worked. I’ll fix it. Thank you.
@Zachshadrack, I’ll look it up, thanks. Been leveling/testing out Nightmare’s Vitality Cabalist build that is built for end game with just faction gear. Assuming testing goes well (so far it’s been perfect), will publish a thorough leveling guide, since it seems pretty perfect for new players.
Like I mentioned previously, Nightmare’s Cabalist is really good without needing literally ANY farmed gear. I posted a quick leveling guide for that here. I’m currently level 89, starting out in Ultimate, after completing literally every quest/challenge dungeon/etc. on Veteran and Elite. Only real problem was getting wrecked by Kubacabra over and over again (did kill him though!), but he’s a pain for most anyway. Other than that, almost no deaths and haven’t run into any walls (except Mad Queen on Elite that I tried early on; was easy on Veteran but on Elite she kept leeching to full life even with me kiting).
For elemental based, I don’t know of any guide, but you can make most things work into mid-Elite if you’re specced properly. JoV’s Meteor build would probably work (obviously better with specific gear, but just focus on the general stats he mentions and it should be OK in Elite).
I have a question regarding damage conversion, hoping someone here can help me.
So the conversion order is: Base Skill > Skill Modifiers > Conversion on the Skill or Transmuter > Conversion on Equipment and Buffs > Equipment, Auras and Passives
How does the “Conversion on Equipment” differ from “Equipment” in the last part?
I’m disappointed that you’re not outside Crate HQ demanding more bridge quests in AoM. We have zero bridge quests (no the lower the bridge one doesn’t count :p)
^ I’m currently involved in secret negotiations with the developers. I think we’re on the verge of seeing some speshul Bridge-themed DLC which will challenge the way you see scrap as a resource.
Thank you for your efforts in putting together this fantastic collection of information. It looks like a wall of text, but does not FEEL like a wall of text, great job.
It was particularly helpful regarding where to find/craft tricky items, and general efficiency of playthroughs. I’m sure I’ll be coming back here often.
Thank you so much for this guide, it has helped me tons in getting started and also saved me a lot of time just linking this to my friends wanting to get into GD and me not having to explain everything to them :p.
Is it a noob trap if during the early game (still only 46) I’m only comparing the DPS values of the weapons? I’ve got an axe (well, technically a schyte) which absolutely destroys everything in terms of sheer dps, even the legendary weapon I got after killing the final boss in Act 4. I have no idea why it has such a huge dps; sometimes other items have higher base dmg and higher attack speed, and the extra stuff (like + X Aether damage) are quite negligible.
Define noob trap. I played my share of this game and still find myself gearing before the Warden, and then again before Log. The game would take so much longer if I actually paid attention to loot. Boots must have movement speed, gear must have resists and weapon upgrades show me a green number on dps.
Shields are my main vice. Always interested in checking out stats on a nice new green shield.
@ Volband Yes it is, its almost completely useless.
+x Aether etc is huge in many builds btw if its a damage type you are pushing.
Other reasons the DPS calc might say weird things:
Attack (or cast depending) speed. It’s often this one, attack speed is really good at increasing base weapon dps, after all 50% more attack speed is 50% more dmg right? Except it isn’t because this doesn’t include your WPS skills or the fact one of these weapons might be converting the damage of the skill you have on hotbar 1 to a damage type you don’t use, for example, along with like a million other things that affect your actual dps. This issue is lessened though not erased on skills that scale with cast speed.
One of the weapons has conversion that is really good/extremely unhelpful to your build.
One weapon has + to the skill you are attempting to calculate the dps of, +1 to one or both classes will throw this out even further.
