Hey there,
long ago I played a pure physical warrior char that focused on Strength for Phys. Damage, Dex for Crit and Atk. Speed and Evasion and Life Leech.
Is such kinda build possible and viable in Grims Dawn? I’ve seen lots of %phys dmg as lifeleech in Devotion and alot of gear with such kinda stat…
Definitely possible, and actually one of the preferred methods of staying alive. The acronym is ADCtH for Attack Damage Converted to Health and it functions on weapon damage type skills and attacks (so not spells like panetti’s replicating missile that have no %weapon damage in the tooltip)
You can basically break survival down into three types in GD. Have more health, have more regen, have more ADCtH. You really need a basic amount of health to avoid being one-shotted and then you use one of the two, regen or ADCtH, to replenish your pool.
Playing a physical focused character in this game most likely means one of your classes must be soldier. I would recommend witchblade if you like stealing health, as you can throw down a sigil of consumption and then fight inside the ring while enemies are slowly sucked dry. Alternatively play a blademaster (soldier/nightblade) if you like the ‘not getting hit’ playstyle as you can stack evasion with the shadow dance skill and a higher defensive ability.
Your stat goals are a little different in GD than in your previous game. Attack speed is not modified by stats, but by enchantments and skills, so keep an eye out for it on gear and buffs. Physique increases your health and defensive ability (ability to not get hit, ability to not get critted) and is required for top level armor and some weapons. Cunning increases physical damage types (physical, pierce, bleed, internal trauma) and offensive ability (ability to hit enemies, ability to crit enemies) and is required for top level guns and some other weapons such as swords. Spirit increases magical damage types and your energy pool and regen and is required for top level jewelry and some caster gear such as scepters and caster armor.
Hope this helps!
It also depends what you aim for, Hardcore killing Nemesis in ultimate? Not everything works for that.
But having a good time in normal you can make everything work if you are willing to invest some time and iterate on skills and items.
Heck later on with more knowledge, early components and maybe one or two weapons from stash you can just breeze through normal.
I believe Zantai once told us that only like 20% of the player who buy GD ever make it to ultimate, maybe less, so many people don’t need any meta top tier skill setup. I would just play whatever I feel like.
Not just possible, but the strongest build to play Grim Dawn, probably.
Though you’re wrong, % leech work for any direct damage, not just physical.