Skill transmuters, you know these things 
in the skill trees are a defining aspect in Grim Dawn. Some of them outright enable some builds while others barely even see play.
Surrounding the release of FoA, the discussions about the need to refresh buffs, the usefulness of some skills (cough Inquisitor seal cough) and the release of builds ignoring transmuters that should be made for them, I wanted to share my thoughts on some of these transmuters. And what better way to do it in 2026 than with a tier list.
Thought process and justifications for each tier:
Build defining
Transmuters that fundamentally change how one thinks about a particular skill, mostly through cooldown and total damage modifications. Special mention to Guardians of Empyrion since we all know rr is still king.
Impactful
Transmuters that aren’t available to every build but that you almost always want to take if you meet the requirements. I included Bloody Pox here because it’s an odd case: the damage buff is mostly useful for leveling as the damage falls off in the end game, but the speed buff can be really useful to retal builds.
Niche but useful
Terrify is often overshadowed by a better source of rr, but it’s there if you need it. Markovian’s Defense can enable full uptime on Overguard on some builds that can mitigate the damage loss. I included Consecrated Blade here because although the conversion is rarely useful for the player, the pet bonuses are actually useful for chaos pet builds. Aegis placement is explained by the fact that it is only really useful to a single build, a rare case of a case where conversion should be removed.
Mostly just conversion
Title speaks for itself: Grim Dawn’s signature conversion system being represented in the masteries. Some of these include additional effects that are either not that impactful (freeze on RoS) or total damage that is just there to make up for the sub par builds (elemental Cadence).
Conversion but somehow worse
Skills that couldn’t make it to the tier above for the following reasons:
- Concussive Bomb: costs 3, only to convert the internal trauma on the second node and stun enemies that should die in 1 hit anyway. Please.
- Allagast’s Arcane Net: barely noticeable tdm, doesn’t convert the electrocute nor the lightning tether. Pass.
- Sear Souls: Bonus duration on a (not particularly good) skill that already has full uptime, get hit with a tdm penalty for a damage type that can’t even use the DoT part on the second node anyway.
- Volcanic Might: Most fire Vire’s Might items already convert the physical part of the skill. But 1 skill point for 0.4 seconds knockdown is a bargain right?
I'd rather spend my point elsewhere
The tier made for the 3 heal+buff skills. The cooldown reduction generally isn’t useful for these types of skills, especially now that you can reduce the cooldown of potions. The heal/regen bonuses to breath of Belgothian and Word of Arms are underwhelming at best. Also, why spend a point to enable dual wielding when I can just 1 point Dual Blades/Implements of War anyway?
Included Seal in here too because Seal.
IEE
Ever seen someone pick this unironically?
If these were to be rebalanced, I’d like to see the 9 bottom skill transmuters bumped to “mostly just conversion” tier at worst. The 4 skills in “conversion but somehow worse” could use a buff (or a cost reduction for Canister). The 4 in “I’d rather spend my point elsewhere” kinda have an identity crisis now and IEE is just IEE.
Thoughts?
Internet 101. Also worth noting that I didn’t name the tiers S-A-B-C-… so their placement compared to one another is worth taking with a grain of salt.
