Please help me optimize my character!

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
41

yeah, so I just got rid of the last node on Forcewave, not gonna die to reflective internal trauma again :stuck_out_tongue:

aw how cute, a big mighty warrior picking flowers for the blacksmith :wink:

42

So, everything has come together and the new build is just plain awesome. I was able to defeat Crucible (Aspirant) 150-170 without buffs and banners and wasn’t even threatened. In the campaign, I can facetank Rashalga, Alkamos, Shar’Zul and every Nemesis I met so far.
It feels great :slight_smile:

I have also found a new medal: Mythical Sigil of the Bear King and replaced my other one with it. My question is: Does its proc also work on Forcewave?

My next goals are to beat the AoM content on Ultimate and beat 150 and 170 on Challenger. :slight_smile:

Thanks everyone!

43

I also have that medal on my forcewaver, I have never seen any procs of it :stuck_out_tongue: I read that due to Tremor transmuter, Bear claw can not proc

Challenger should be easy too, you might use a couple of banners starting around wave 120-130 or so.

44

Hm… strange, as Assassin’s Mark and Venom of the Black Matriarch proc, so why shouldn’t Bear Claw?

First, I will see how far I can go without banners :slight_smile:

45

Hello everyone!
I would like to give an update on my character! Also I would like to thank malawiglenn for his continous help here and veretragna for his original build!

Currently, my character looks like this. In the attached screenshot, only the permanent buffs are active.
With it I managed to…
… clear all AoM content on Ultimate with just dying once to Grava’Thul, who somehow managed to one-shot me.
… kill and quite easily farm Lokarr for his awesome set. I died four times due to ridiculous DoTs (?)
… clear Crucible Challenger wave 150 without buffs or banners easily without threats. I also cleared Challenger wave 170 but only with the use of two buffs.
… clear Crucible Gladiator wave 100 without buffs or banners. Reaching and clearing Gladiator wave 150 was only possible with two buffs.
… clear Crucible Gladiator wave 170 with four buffs and no banners. I only did it once but I did it! :smiley: I’m very proud :slight_smile:

I also have some questions:

  1. I have found the chest and shoulder piece of the Octavius set, but I don’t know if they are really worth it. I gain DPS but it feels like I am losing survivability.
  2. Is a change to elemental Forcewave better? I have all the parts of the Runebinder set except the shoulder piece and Arcanor.
  3. Is Reforged Chains of Oleron and the Judicator ring set as in veretragna’s build really an improvement? It seems to me that I am losing too much damage.

As for now, I will farm Challenger 150 for more sweet, sweet gear :slight_smile:
My next character will probably be a Conjurer as sigatrev’s pet builds are very impressive :slight_smile:

Thank you all!

46

Sigatrev is quickly becoming (if he hasn’t already become that is) one of the top pet builders the forum has seen IMO.

Not to mention he’s got some pretty sick piloting skills.

Anyway, I digress. If this is your first toon you’ve ever done, I must say it’s extremely impressive.

Not much input on my end except for some skill point redistributions.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/M2g4X16V

Also not the devotion pathing I myself would have used, but to each their own.

I would advice dropping out FALCON (it’s a terrible constellation IMO) to try out:

  1. Bull.
  2. The bottom 3 nodes of obelisk
  3. Crab
  4. Rhowan’s scepter
  5. Oleron’s

Not all the same time mind you, but just the ones which catches your eye. (Bull is without a doubt infinitely better than FALCON though).

EDIT: Had originally typed in hawk instead of falcon. My bad. Hawk is love, hawk is life.

47

Yes, sigatrev’s builds are all just very, very strong! He has just now posted some more :slight_smile:

This is my very first character, yes. But as I stated above, I just used veretragna’s build and replaced the equipment I did not have at that point. I basically copied his devotion and skill point allocation choices.

But nevertheless, thank you for your suggestions! I will look into them! Especially Bull looks very promising.

48

Don’t underestimate the value of flat damage. Take a look at your sheet 2 dps right now in GT, then remove 3 points from steel resolve.

Note the drop. Now multiply this drop by the %WD you deal with FW, bladearc, etc. etc.

Point being - getting flat damage in devotions is of utmost value.

I would personally forgo Ishtak for Oleron’s, and make a point of snagging both bull and scepter on the way there.

49

I see. Just changing Ishtak to Rhowan’s Scepter boosts my damage by 800. I can compensate the loss of resistances by swapping augments but I will also lose 4% Total speed which could affect damage. I will try that!

But I don’t think it is possible to get Oleron without sacrificing too much of the good defensive devotions like Chariot or Harp. At least i couldn’t make it work right now :slight_smile:

50

Lmao. You don’t need those defenses IMO.

3k+ armor, 12-13k hp, 3.2-3.3k DA, 48% phys res, Menhir’s will, inqui seal, an on demand heal, potions, and an escape with blitz should things go south.

At this point, hindering your DPS actually becomes more dangerous than tanking up in the crucible.

Unless geared specifically to do so, trying to play slapface with a group of nems just to see who dies first is a dangerous and foolhardy game.

You need to start focusing on kill times at this point to prevent the fight from dragging on.

EDIT: You do need the OA however. Veretragna and I have very different approaches to this. I like consistency because I can’t always predict what’s going to happen in the arena. So I aim for an OA value of at least 2.7k - 2.8k (before debuffs, and before deadly aim).

Veretragna on the other hand will commonly get 12/12 fighting spirit and couple that with 12/12 deadly aim. His mindset is as such, I’ll blow the biggest threat tf up within this timeframe, then deal with the small fries which don’t require me to have OA.

Both work very well (not sure who’s better) - just different piloting styles.

2nd EDIT: With that biasedness in mind, this is what I’d do - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZoDv8oN

Resists aren’t fixed, however.

51

Dude you have come a long way with your build, gratz!

How effective is that blade arc btw?

You could max Storm Box instead for even more DA shred (will stack with stonefist/blindside mechanic)

I did this with the proposal from sir spankalot: added storm box instead of blade arc (will also be a good proccer), some more into Fightning Spirit, and changed augments in rings/amulet (less DA, more OA and acid res)

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YNnY7X9Z

52

The thing about storm box is that it’s another thing* to cast though. :confused:

And that can interrupt attack flow.

Transmuted bladearc ought to pack quite the punch with oleron’s gloves plus the crazy IT damage he’s got going on, and blindside has about 200-300 DA shred.

53

True, but perhaps be might worth testing?

Also, if one ditch chariot, he can get Kraken (+170% damage to all, +15% crit damage, 5% movement speed and 360 flat health, attack speed is wasted though)

54

Any/everything is also worth a test. I’m basically speaking out of my ass here - it’s just sheer speculation on my part.

55

Thank you, sir spankalot! Your suggestion looks really strong! :slight_smile:
And yeah, you’re right about the kill times. Offense is also a good defense!
I can get behind those devotion changes, but I will need to fix the poison resistance. But I do not understand the choice of Veterancy as a skill. As far as I understand it, Constitution is mostly useless and the health regeneration probably as well. But well, it’s only one point.

And thank you, malawiglenn :slight_smile:
But I will not replace Blade Arc! It’s my strongest attack skill actually.
And I would also rather not change Chariot. The heal and the OA is very valuable, in my opinion.
But your augment change on the jewelry is a good call! I will look into that!

56

You need to remember I’m asian, and therefore cheap AF. So I’m a sucker for +skill points.

In my head, it’s like buy-1-get-4-free.

Of course you can place it into something like blindside or whatever. But it really isn’t going to make or break the build.

EDIT: I also wonder if you’d be better off with a bladetwister’s signet if you have it. You have more phys RR, and the elemental to pierce conversion can’t hurt either.

57

OK, I’m sorry, I was just wondering :slight_smile:

So this is what I now came up with using your devotion setup and (almost) your skill point allocation. I also had to slightly adjust the attributes to meet gear requirements.
Compared to my current setup, I lose around 120 DA and 400 health and gain around 80 OA and 1500 damage (second sheet). Your setup has 100 DA and 200 damage more but misses the Poison & Acid resists.

Edit: I also lose secondary resistances as Slow, Freeze and Life Leech, but this shouldn’t be too crucial.

Sadly, I do not have the Bladetwister Signet :frowning:

58

Bro. No need for apologies. I make fun of everyone, including myself. :stuck_out_tongue:

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

59

Understood :smiley:

Those were impressively simple changes. Wow. I will try that right away!
Thank you very much! :slight_smile:

60

So, unsurprisingly the altered devotion pathing performs much better, as I was now able to clear Gladiator 150 without buffs/banners. To be fair, on the fourth try, but it was possible nevertheless. I also managed to reach Challenger 169 without buffs/banners but died due to carelessness.

Thank you, sir spankalot! :slight_smile: