"Newbie" questions for Blademaster (need advice/help/comments)

[Toymachine]

Hey guys!

I am sort of “new” to Grim Dawn and got only one character. It’s a Blademaster and I have been checking quite a few different builds around but I am having a hard time recognizing which is generally considered the strongest.
I saw couple of builds with Shattered set with Cadence, and I have seen quite a few Belgothian sets which I am going for at the moment.

Here is my build before changing after advice in this thread:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pybjKV

And here is after changing Barbaros for Really Great pants, and switching Devotions:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/L2JG4X0V

So after modifying according to some advice I got here:

• slight increase of HP
• increase in OA
• greatly increased DPS (20%+)
• lifesteal increased by 5%
• 2 new skills with changed devotions on top of 3 old skills

But I lost

• a lot of armor
• a lot of DA
• ~10% to almost all resistances, however all are still at least 20% over cap

Was my modification worth it?

Amulet Question

Why is everyone using Mythical Avenger of Cairn amulet? Conduit of Night Whispers that I use gives +1 to all skills in Nightblade which is 17 skill nods, while Soldier skill tree has 9 active nods, also +2 on Pneumatic Burst makes Conduit give quite literally 10 skill points over Cairn. It also gives a lot more hp and 8% dmg reduction from Eldritch monsters on top. I see that Cairn does have small DA boost and 4% instead of 3% maximum resistances, but can that be worth 10 skill points, more hp and 8% reduction from Eldritch? Also what would be the best amulet if neither of those are?

Medal Question

Everyone is using Mythical Direwolf Crest. I am using Mythical Mark of Dark Dreams which gives me as many skill points as Crest, however it adds 2 meter range to Veil of Shadow which weakens significantly monsters around me. Is Crest mandatory? I was also confused by Crest’s skill that has 12% chance of activating. Isn’t it also reducing chance for other skills that proc off default attacks to such as Markovian’s Advantage or Execution? Any explanation to why is everyone using crest and logic behind it is appreciated.

Pants Question

Mythical Chausses of Barbaros? were my pants before, however I’ve found Really Great Pants which by stats seem to be better, however with worse skill and armor. What do you think is better? Chausses or Great Pants, and is there any 3rd better/as good alternative?

Belt Question

I have found a belt in Ancient Grove with insane resistances and physical/internal trauma dmg bonus, and it seems to be better than purple ones that I’ve found and seen most builds use Mythical Blade Breakers Sash. Is this normal? I saw that it does add more dmg and it’s +1 to all Nightblade instead of +1 to all Soldier, however insane amount of resistances, 10% armor bonus and 4% physique… am I wrong? Should I just go lower with resistances in favor of damage?

Weapon Question

I see that people are using Mythical Reaver’s Claw next to Belgothian’s Slicer almost exclusively. I have found that Redeemer of Malmouth gives me very slightly higher dps while giving me over 10 skill points more. So both more dmg (466 dps higher to be exact when I compare raw Redeemer and Claw that I own) and more everything else. It even adds 30% crit dmg to Belgothian’s Shares. How is it that people are going for Reaver’s Claw? What’s the logic behing it?

Shattered vs Belgothian Question

Also I would appreciate any suggestions and the answer whether Shattered Blademaster version with 2x Mythical Reaver’s Claw is better variant than Belgothian variant?

Any advice, comments suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thank you very much in advance!!

[mad_lee]

[1.1.4.1] Luminari Godkiller: Ravager, Mogdrogen, Callagadra, Crucible 6:30m Belgothian Infiltrator/Blademaster

Simple and resilient Belgothian Blademaster short guide (no green items) Decided to test few small ideas I had for Belgothian Blademaster and here is the spec that I found to be the most consistent, efficient and fun. After all the Inquisitor nerfs in some aspects it feels safer and it’s definitely more fun to play. 1.1.5.2 Update Reworked the spec according to the balance changes in the latest patches. Barbaros pants had to go, instead we got full Disruption protection + almost full Cunning du…

I think my version is the best one in terms of offense/defense balance. You can comfortably farm both Crucible Gladiator 150-170 and Shards 75-76 with it (albeit do expect to die sometimes in Shards) and it’s a good blend between offense and defense. Try it out (be sure to copy it to the letter tho) and decide for yourself.

Answering your question:

• Amulet: Will of Blade is BiS unless you can get some godly rolled Kaisan and even then I think crit damage alone would be hard to beat. Conduit is good for Hardcore play (I would suggest one with Blade Barrier bonus - very useful if you don’t want to die).

• Medal: Direwolf is BiS because of the fat resists rolls/monstrous OA/racial to Beasts and flat damage. Crest’s skill is wps like Execution or Markovian Advantage, just a weaker version.

• Weapon: unless it’s some godly rolled Derm Slicer second Belgo sword is bis. Mostly due to points to Dual Blades (which translates into tonns of flat and some phys res). Second bonus to wps is also nice.

• Shattered BM is a different build. Definitely better for SR and Hardcore, but slower and less exciting to play.

EDIT: Belt - Blade Breaker is hard to beat. We need +1 to Nighblade everywhere so getting a Nightblade’s belt is a priority.

[Toymachine]

Answering your question:

• Amulet: Will of Blade is BiS unless you can get some godly rolled Kaisan and even then I think crit damage alone would be hard to beat. Conduit is good for Hardcore play (I would suggest one with Blade Barrier bonus - very useful if you don’t want to die).
• Medal: Direwolf is BiS because of the fat resists rolls/monstrous OA/racial to Beasts and flat damage. Crest’s skill is wps like Execution or Markovian Advantage, just a weaker version.
• Weapon: unless it’s some godly rolled Derm Slicer second Belgo sword is bis. Mostly due to points to Dual Blades (which translates into tonns of flat and some phys res). Second bonus to wps is also nice.
• Shattered BM is a different build. Definitely better for SR and Hardcore, but slower and less exciting to play.

Hey! Thanks a lot for answer, checking your build atm.

For the Crest skill. It has 12% chance to proc off default weapon attacks, but doesn’t that reduce chance for other such skills? If it procs, it means that only that one procs at that time instead of some other that would’ve proced? Like Execution?

For the amulet, this is the 1st time I’ve seen Will of Blade, will try to farm it somehow… it has a standard random drop chance or can it be farmed?

For the belt… Mythical Blade Breakers Sash does seem to add dmg and more skills than +1 to all Soldier from this Ancient Grove belt and more dmg, but is it worth it against so insane amount of resistances, armor, physique and all?
40% Elemental, 28% Chaos 29% Vitality 22% Pierce and 35% Petrify, as well as higher base armor and 10% armor on top…
I mean I will swap it of course, but just to show the belt before I do Thanks a lot for the advice! Started searching for the Crest and Will of Blade.

[mad_lee]

For the Crest skill. It has 12% chance to proc off default weapon attacks, but doesn’t that reduce chance for other such skills? If it procs, it means that only that one procs at that time instead of some other that would’ve proced? Like Execution?

It doesn’t reduce chance for other WPS (“weapon pool skiils”) skills unless it takes your total WPS pool chance above 100%. That would mean that chance for each WPS is reduced proportionally. For Belgothian Blademaster it’s recommended to take Execution, Whirling Death, Belgothian Shears (omit Amarasta’s Quick Cut) from Nightblade and Markovian Advantage from Soldier which takes your total WPS pool to 85%. With WPS from Direwolf Crest it gets to 97% so having it does not reduce chance of other wps to proc.

For the amulet, this is the 1st time I’ve seen Will of Blade, will try to farm it somehow… it has a standard random drop chance or can it be farmed?

Standard legendary drop. Try to farm it or trade it. Conduit or Night’s Embrace or even Peerless Eye will also work. It’s important to have +1 to Nightblade skills in this slot.

Also Redeemer has crit dmg on top of for me slightly higher dps and 17 skill points more. (17 different nods in Nightblade tree). Maybe it’s because of my other items that Belgo doesn’t do as much dmg?

Slicer is better because it gets fully converted into Pierce and yields higher total flat. Plus it’s bonuses to WPS outweigh Redeemer’s bonuses. It’s been tested. Difference is not big however so if you don’t have second Belgo Redeemer should be a good placeholder.

For the belt… Mythical Blade Breakers Sash does seem to add dmg and more skills than +1 to all Soldier from this Ancient Grove belt and more dmg, but is it worth it against so insane amount of resistances, armor, physique and all? Check it out:

You can cover all resists without a green belt. Why having Blade Breaker is crucial:

• +1 to NB skills (super important in this slot)
• Flat damage. Scales insanely well with high weapon damage AA like Belgo and WPS skills.
• Crit and OA. Crit is a very scarce commodity on Belgothian Blademasters and it scales super well on such archetype because it usually packs huge OA. High OA is especially important on Physical and Pierce builds because your resist reduction proc - Assassin’s Mark is on crit. So higher the OA, higher the chance to proc Assassin’s Proc. Sooner you proc, the more damage you deal and better adtch you have (thus higher survivability too).

[Toymachine]

Thank you!

For Belgo Slicer it’s still much worse to me than Redeemer (dps/skills/resistance), but maybe when I get Will of the Blade & Direwolf Crest it will start making more dmg when I get better piercing scaling. I already have one ready with Solael augmentation and Seal of the Blades component ready and waiting!

Also I have done what you recommended, using Blade Breaker Sash now.

Before:

After:

Lost approx about ~20% in all resistances (instead of 30% over max now it’s ~10%), lost 230 armor, but gained 16 OA 45 DA and 4500 dps, as well as 6% higher crit dmg (not sure if that is calculated into dps as well?). Hope the damage and small OA/DA is worth over 20% extra on all resists and armor.

Also I got question about your boots if you have time… those Mythical Final March look much worse to me than Mythical Windshear Greaves that I’ve crafted. Windshears seem to have higher defensive ability, much more dmg (Final March doesn’t seem to have any), more Skill points… and on top of all that they have a good skill… Is Final March dated or just better for some other reason? I see it has physique, but still much less DA and everything else than Windshears?

Also your pants… First time I’ve seen them. Are they better than Chausses of Barbaros or/and Really Great Pants? Also is it some kind of secret boss farm or it’s just a random normal drop? Also how to get Really Great Pants in case you know as well?

Sorry for all the newbie questions, and thank you a lot for help!!

[mad_lee]

Hey, man, you have to copy my build to the letter (that includes Prismatic Diamond in the helmet, pants, boots, augments, devotions, everything) or I can’t really guarantee that half-measures will improve your particular spec. And I also can’t see it, use www.grimtools.com to upload your build fully.

Also I got question about your boots if you have time… those Mythical Final March look much worse to me than Mythical Windshear Greaves that I’ve crafted. Windshears seem to have higher defensive ability, much more dmg (Final March doesn’t seem to have any), more Skill points… and on top of all that they have a good skill… Is Final March dated or just better for some other reason? I see it has physique, but still much less DA and everything else than Windshears?

Final Marches cap your slow resistance, give you phys res and DA and give physique that converts into cunning which is OA and damage.

Those pants are bis because again, they give you Spirit which converts into Cunning, relevant resists, DA and very important Disruption Protect. They are also craftable.

If you notice I have 106 attribute points invested into Cunning with my spec. And my total OA is around 3500. That takes your damage to the next level and good damage with good adtch (coupled with good defenses) is what helps those builds survive.

[Toymachine]

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pybjKV

Here it is! (noticed that while stats are close, grim calc didn’t count my stats completely correctly for some reason, in game they are slightly different, is that normal?)

Unfortunately I cannot copy your build, missing too much stuff, amulet, medal, pants, boots, and quite a bit materials to match components in items. So I can only start working from what I have. In 200+ hours in game (clearing shattered 60-61 and 150-170 crucible but not the most efficient way for at least 3rd of that) I am yet to find blueprint of your pants, or Really Great Pants, and yet to see amulet & medal…

Linked my build now after changing from that belt I mentioned previosuly:

[mad_lee]

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/r2B01AbZ

Here is a little skill/augments re-shuffle that should work better. Try my devotion setup too. And if you have Final March - use them and put the rest of the physique into Cunning. Prismatic Diamond is a must have.

Also, are you playing Hardcore or Softcore?

[Toymachine]

Softcore! My 1st character in Grim Dawn

Will change skills now and diamond was crafted the minute I’ve read your comment…

I didn’t even notice it had such a good skill!

Will change skills based on your recommendation, and no Final March boots for me yet! Probably got some during my playtrough but sold them like all the other blue items, had no clue it could be good.

[mad_lee]

Same with Blackwatch Seal ring. Easy to find, easy to overlook. Put skull in chest and Diamond in helmet.

[Toymachine]

Small update!

After swapping that insane resistance Ugdenbog Girdle with Mythical Blade breaker Sash (hence 101.000 -> 106.000 dps, 15 OA 30 DA more, but -20% to all resistances, -280 armor, - 400 hp) I have been having a hard time clearing SR60-61, seems resistances are way too low, as well as lower armor. Tried three times, cleared it once and two times I pretty much kept dying until the timer ran out.

Anyways, until I find all the appropriate gear I put back that huge resistance belt just temporarily.

Blade Breaker Sash, 2nd Belgo Slicer with decent Piece dmg roll are waiting! Will of the Blade and Direwolf Crest are next target, next to new pants

Thanks a lot for advice, I think I understand what to search for now.

Oh and Shattered Realm set Blademaster… is that one any good? Saw that they can have pretty awesome dmg with Cadence, a bit better resistances and have weapon slot free to use anything (ones I saw used 2x Mythical Reaver’s Claw).

From what I understood they have better survivability needed for very high end Shattered levels, but are slower with DMG than Belgo ones?

[savage1991]

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/wV1l7KP2

[mad_lee]

Oh and Shattered Realm set Blademaster… is that one any good? Saw that they can have pretty awesome dmg with Cadence, a bit better resistances and have weapon slot free to use anything (ones I saw used 2x Mythical Reaver’s Claw).

From what I understood they have better survivability needed for very high end Shattered levels, but are slower with DMG than Belgo ones?

Yep exactly.

I have been having a hard time clearing SR60-61, seems resistances are way too low, as well as lower armor. T

As I said, you gotta copy my build to the letter otherwise it won’t really work the way I designed it to work. Good luck on your loot hunt!

[Toymachine]

Here is my build before changing after your advice in this thread:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pybjKV

And here is after changing Barbaros for Really Great pants, and switching Devotions:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/L2JG4X0V

So after modifying according to some advice I got here:

• slight increase of HP
• increase in OA
• greatly increased DPS (20%+)
• lifesteal increased by 5%
• 2 new skills with changed devotions on top of 3 old skills

But I lost

• a lot of armor
• a lot of DA
• ~10% to almost all resistances, however all are still at least 20% over cap

Was my modification worth it in your opinion? I also changed devotion points, not completely to your recommendation but very close and based on it, added basically two new skills (that arcane shield and the one that adds your shadows to fight).

Also got a question, why are skills usually attached to self casting skills and not those auto-attacking ones? Aren’t auto attacking ones with enough attack speed (200%) procing faster than if we casted for example Blade Spirit?

And again, thanks a lot for all the comments!

[mad_lee]

You are on the right path. Bind Assassin’s Mark to Belgothian Strikes and Azrakaa to Blade Spirits. Proc Living Shadows with WPS (preferably aoe wps like Shears or better Whirling Death). Never bind resist reduction to wps - it’s a serious damage loss, you need to proc your RR asap.

added basically two new skills (that arcane shield

not sure what you mean here, can you clarify? What arcane shield?

Also got a question, why are skills usually attached to self casting skills and not those auto-attacking ones? Aren’t auto attacking ones with enough attack speed (200%) procing faster than if we casted for example Blade Spirit?

Because you need to proc RR devotions first and foremost, for melee builds AA is the best way to do it.

Also, change your weapon augments to Solael’s Voracity, why are you using Internal Trauma ones?

[Toymachine]

By Arcane Shield I meant Arcane Barrier:

Pretty much had 3 “spare” devotion points, so I placed them there, skill seemed more significant than other bonuses I’ve seen.

And done! Mark is bind to Belgothian Strikes, and Living Shadow to Whirling Death. As for augment, Internal Trauma ones seemed to have higher DPS, when I place Solael’s it gets reduced by a little. Seems I have almost as high bonus for trauma as for piercing, and more bonuses on that one, but didn’t try changing after re-specing devotions/attributes and belt/pants, so will try as soon as I’m done with Morgoneth’s Tomb!

[Toymachine]

EDIT: done! Solael’s augment (Piercing) now does add more dps than Bysmiel’s (Internal Trauma), so respecing attributes/devotions/items resulted in much higher favor of piercing dmg.

However, from what I think I understand now, even with slightly lower dps stat in char window, Solael’s might’ve been better cos it would increase dmg of skills more that isn’t shown in dps stat?

[mad_lee]

DPS stat is super unreliable and tells almost nothing. I would not really read into it too much. You need as much flat Pierce as possible, so Pierce augments are infinitely better than Trauma ones here.

Not sure how you got Crab devo in there , never really used it on Pierce builds.

[Toymachine]

Update: finally found Will of the Blade and Direwolf Crest after couple of days! Unfortunately, even tho my dmg did jump insanely, I am so fragile now that I can barely do SR60-61 (had to use Aether Cluster 3 out of 4 runs and died couple of times in total, also some Zantarin boss one shots me, never happened before that I noticed), also Crucible 150-170 is almost impossible unless I have fully upgraded Stonewall Banner and that blessings that add DA and Resistances and even then I died 3rd try.

Here is current build:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2M8rLbN

I have noticed that when I switched to Mythical Will of the Blade from Conduit of Night Whispers that I have started to take significantly more dmg. When I saw 3% maximum to all resistances of Conduit, at 1st I thought it doesn’t mean much, what’s 3% of dmg? But I’m sort of stupid, as it’s quite literally 15% more of all dmg (except physical) that I take, not 3%.
Now I am starting to understand why so many run Mythical Avenger of Cairn, with +4% to all resistances it starts to make sense now.

I even am considering switching to Shattered Set + Cadence after pretty much being unable to survive even what is considered low shards (for endgame). But will try more… it’s very fun to do so much dmg, obliterates boss like a hero mob! But in vain if I can’t effectively farm with it 75-76 % 150-170.
If I roll better stats on every item a bit maybe, craft better Really Great Pants… Maybe get +%DA buff or 4% attributes on Serenity… Oh and still missing Arcane harmony legs

Anyways, dmg is off the charts now, at huge cost of survivability. Good thing is that I almost have everything for Shattered/Cadence build to try it out, missing only 2nd Reaver’s Claw

[malawiglenn]

yeah +max res is very helpful on higher shards

is it really “needed” to farm 75-76? For efficient farming it is loot/time what matters, at least for me, and then 65-66 is good enough for me since its smoother, faster and less chance dying etc