Obligatory newbie first post

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

Hi guys and girls.

Had GD for about a week now, not got a huge amount of time to spend on it but bought it on discount on Steam as the expansion was released so got good value. At lvl18 now, all Shaman with one re-spec of skill when i realised about the difference between rushing/point allocation (will add grimcalc later if I can) - just got to end of Act 1 and remember what a proper boss is like, I’m currently trawling round the underground jail trying to find the Warden, periodically getting my ass handed to me.

I’m looking for tips/direction on how to build a character - with so many different combos and build guides out there I’m a bit lost. Maybe if I give a little history on me/my gaming xp and what I want to get out of you guys can help? Never really had enough of a decent PC to run many PC games but now have a stack worthy of GD, used to be able to run WoW on mid settings moons ago. I’m mid30s, always loved gaming but never fully got in to it due to various life circumstances (lack of set-up, works blah blah blah).

  • Started loving ARPG when I watch my friend play Diablo 2 and Everquest when a teen.
  • LOVED WoW, spent 18 months crumping things and doing dungeons solo/group. Never raided but mates brother was in a big guild so had lots of advice/assistance (which was nice). Had a lvl70 Shaman that I enjoyed playing - dw and decent heals etc

What I’d like from GD/questions I have:

  • A similar dw/2h character that is long term friendly, not super reliant on gear nor pot spamming. Not necessarily face-tanking everything but I don’t want to fanny about tooooo much.
  • A pet is always nice, esp one that can take aggro/tank or provide decent heals/buffs
  • I’m mainly about DPS - I do like a big chunky hit, especially with crit
  • From what I’ve read/watched so far, you can go quite far on random gear
  • is there a requirement to farm bosses etc for item sets? I’m game of course but so far I’ve not found too much trouble from the drops I’ve found.

I’m know I want to go Shaman as main but not sure what to branch in to, what will give me decent enough heal/buff options? I’m not too keen on ranged (but open to having it as a plan B option if the boss/whatever requires it) - are there builds that can cater for both?

I’m sure there’s more to come but that’s it for now. Hope to hear from you!!

Cruss

2

Hello and welcome.

If you’ve got a Shaman, the obvious melee / 2H-route is Warden (+ Soldier). There are a load of very good builds in the various compendiums (compendia?) on the forum. The main choice there is bleeding versus lightning damage builds.

For more of a caster build, you can make a Conjurer (+ Occultist) and either make a summoner or vitality caster.

I can’t emphasize how useful I’ve found the material stickied on this forum, and YouTube build videos, in making decent characters. I’m not a theory-crafter, so I really appreciate all the effort the builders put in here.

3

Thanks for the reply.

I’m probably going to go Warder for this first build, see how I get on. Then maybe branch out for future builds…

I’ll get digging through the build compendium and see what appeals. Thankfully the respec costs are more than reasonable (at this stage at least)

I’ll be back with a bunch of other questions soon enough no doubt!

Happy grinding!