Hello everyone,
I bought Grim Dawn 2 weeks ago and tried some builds on my own. I have 46 lvl warlord and some of alt characters between lvl 10 -15. Also I have approx. 40 hours. I completed the main story with my 46 lvl warlord and the game refers me to AoM DLC (btw I have all the DLCs). So I explained my current situation.
I need to ask some questions about the endgame and the process of character building.
1 - I love the build variety (I mean its literally PERFECT) and I have lots of build comps in my mind to build in future (I don’t follow any build guides because I don’t want to follow some dude’s mindset I want to learn on my own.) BUT the main campaign on normal difficulty took like 21 hours to complete and I couldn’t reach the level 100. I assume I need to complete the AoM DLC to reach endgame (shattered realms) or level 100 idk tbh. Is there a fastest way to level my character to reach the endgame to test my build ? I love the campaign and I read all of the questlines and lore stuff its amazing! I can do that 1 or 2 times again but it will eventually get boring to do all the things again and again… Because I have to open all riftgates, complete the main quests and side quests.
2 - Is there any different endgame objectives to complete rather than shattered realms that I don’t know currently ? Any big balls boss or something ?
Thank you for the answers ! Also please don’t mind the grammar errors english is not my main tongue.
Edit : For other newcomers like me please refer to medea_fleecestealer’s answer. Also I highly recommend to read the other answers. There are some good informations about the game. Have a nice day/evening/night !
GD is designed around doing the main campaign 3 times - Normal, Elite and Ultimate - though it’s possible to get to L100 on Normal if you want to.
The Shattered Realm you can do at any point once you’ve killed Kreig at the end of act 1 base game; the Emissary appears at all the major hubs and you just talk to him and then follow him through his riftgate. Of course diving into SR early will be difficult, but you can try it out and see what it’s like if you want to.
You can farm monster totems for loot and when you become hostile with hostile factions like the Beasts then their Nemesis bosses will appear. There are also what we call Celestial bosses that you can run into via quests or accidently if you’re not careful.
What is also possible is to get a character into either Elite or Ultimate Forgotten Gods content and there you can buy Merit Tokens for your other characters to use. These unlock higher difficulties so you can try starting on them if you want to.
If you have the Crucible battle arena add on you can start an L1 character in main campaign, exit and hop into the Crucible to get a Merit Token and use it, then exit back to main campaign and choose the higher difficulty to start from L1. It’s not easy, but it can be done if you want to.
The Shattered Realm you can do at any point once you’ve killed Kreig at the end of act 1 base game; the Emissary appears at all the major hubs and you just talk to him and then follow him through his riftgate. Of course diving into SR early will be difficult, but you can try it out and see what it’s like if you want to.
I didn’t know that I will definetly try for the challenge
What is also possible is to get a character into either Elite or Ultimate Forgotten Gods content and there you can buy Merit Tokens for your other characters to use. These unlock higher difficulties so you can try starting on them if you want to.
Dude, that’s what I am looking for I really appreciate it
If you have the Crucible battle arena add on you can start an L1 character in main campaign, exit and hop into the Crucible to get a Merit Token and use it, then exit back to main campaign and choose the higher difficulty to start from L1. It’s not easy, but it can be done if you want to.
I thought that game mode is just an alternative to spend some time. So I need to complete some waves to drop that item (merit token). Am I right ?
No, Crucible has nothing to do with the main campaign tokens, though it does have some of its own so you can skip iirc. It’s just an easy way to get a Merit Token you already bought and put into the smuggler’s transfer stash to start at L1 because if you start in the main campaign without going into Crucible for the token then you have to complete the Burial Hill quest to unlock the prison gate to access the smuggler for the token so you’d be several levels up depending on whether you go straight there or wander around a bit first.
I will not give specifics (because spoilers) but yes. Not just secret bosses, but secret sets, secret quest lines, etc.
Oh! And welcome to the game my dude
Welcome to endless hours of fun!
As others have said, you usually go through the higher difficulties to get to a higher level, since you get bigger xp rewards for the quests there.
One beginner tip: Watch your resists! If they’re not at (or near) 80, you’ll get hurt sooner or later.
Thank you I will take care about resists. I prefer to equip gears that gives resistance feature. For the damage I prefer to equip ring,amulet and medal that gives internal trauma damage and also pyhsical damage. Because my main skill is forcewave and it scales to the internal trauma damage at the end . I use both attack and defence buffs also.
I hope I understand the build mechanic correctly
Welcome to Grim Dawn! If you like playing a lot of different builds this is the game for you.
For endgame, as well as Shattered Realm, you have celestial bosses (the hardest content) and farming of ultimate dungeons (where there is loot that can’t drop in SR). In the coming Fangs of Asterkarn expansion we are going to get more endgame bosses and something called Ascendant Mode, which is going to make the campaign world much harder and more rewarding.
Thank you for more explanations about the endgame ! I actually very curious about the next expansion. I think my almighty warlord can’t afford to deal with celestial bosses at the moment but he will become stronger and beat their asses. I believe him !.
Actually I am really in shock because of grim dawn. How did they manage to build a game like this really ? I finished AoM DLC and currently I am working on Forgotten Gods, story is cool but the gameplay and the boss mechanics… I really love it. I hope my excitement never falls in the future
I’m sitting at 2450 hours with several 100’s and too many alts. I just love it. The story/lore, the game mechanics, the endgame gear/boss hunt. While first levelling I especially looked forward to the notes because I loved the insights into the lore and setting. There’s about 240 notes I think. Plenty to find.
One tip I have is to pay attention to 3rd character tab - defences. Specifically Life Leech resist and Reflect resist. Early on I definitely got wrecked more than a few times by not paying attention to these. I usually build these two up via Devotions, but they do show up on some gear and augments.
Also Defensive Ability. Mouse over and double check right after a boss. It will tell you chance to be crit. Try to keep pace with it. You don’t want to be crit, especially by nemesis bosses. And you will definitely find them. Once you’ve maxed an enemy faction, that specific nemesis boss will show up after a certain (somewhat random) number of kills on Elite or Ultimate.
Warlord is a lot of fun. As your build and gear start to be streamlined for power output, you’ll start wrecking things in turn. Nemesis bosses, too. Good luck and enjoy!
I’m sitting at 2450 hours with several 100’s and too many alts. I just love it. The story/lore, the game mechanics, the endgame gear/boss hunt. While first levelling I especially looked forward to the notes because I loved the insights into the lore and setting. There’s about 240 notes I think. Plenty to find.
I highly agree about the lore; it’s really good. I don’t want to go into details because I don’t want to give spoilers for future readers, but guys and girls, trust me, it’s good. It’s sometimes funny (you can choose different dialogue options and some of them are funny as fuck) and sometimes sad.
One tip I have is to pay attention to 3rd character tab - defences. Specifically Life Leech resist and Reflect resist. Early on I definitely got wrecked more than a few times by not paying attention to these. I usually build these two up via Devotions, but they do show up on some gear and augments.
Thank you for the tips about the character’s defence stats! I definitely see Life Leech effects during boss fights - especially when the boss applies DoT damage to you, it’s quite a pain in the ass. I’m trying to use some passive healing skills on my Warlord to deal with this issue, but I will definitely also check the Devotion tree for these stats
Also Defensive Ability. Mouse over and double check right after a boss. It will tell you chance to be crit. Try to keep pace with it. You don’t want to be crit, especially by nemesis bosses. And you will definitely find them. Once you’ve maxed an enemy faction, that specific nemesis boss will show up after a certain (somewhat random) number of kills on Elite or Ultimate.
I guess there are certain consequences for mercilessly slaughtering mobs on the map .
Where can I learn boss specific abilites ? I mean X boss do DoT damage and Y boss do Crit damage etc. Do we have a damage recap after the boss fight ?
Thank you for the answers and explanations. It makes me happy when I learn new things about the game
Always max your main damage skill as soon as possible. Stack some health regen, it makes the game much less stressful.
If you’re looking for a challenge, start a new character in Ultimate. There’s no better test of your skill, and no faster way to learn the game than that.
Thank you for the suggestions I will try the Ultimate start after my warlord save.
Do you mean to max my damage skill at first or damage skill plus damage skill upgrades ?
Max first node in your main skill, then max a regen skill, then finish the other nodes in your main skill. That’s what I typically do. In Softcore you can skip the regen skill and just fully max all the nodes in your main skill.
What you don’t want to do is put 1 point in every skill and max the mastery bar.
If your class doesn’t have any regen, keep an eye out for items “of Mending” and Corpse Dust.
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