His wasn’t a pet build… blademaster, I believe. He’s never shared the full details of that build with me.
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There was some back and forth between him and Maya who also wanted details on the pet bleed build. He did mention reaching some pretty deep solo SR with it on Reddit.
Welp, doesn’t matter, I’ve made a dozen characters by now and never stick to them to the end 
Just for funsies I took this toon out of SR to play some main game content, just to see how it’d go. 
I’m a bully. 
Kravall
Gargabol
Korvaak
Mad Queen
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Korvaak spent more time doing his phase-change animations than actually fighting 
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That -was- bullying, you’re a bully.
Reminded me of Diablo 3 and me fighting a cosmic demi god by throwing jars filled with spiders at it.
I read somewhere that Imp is one of the highest damage devotions because it has no cooldown and it stacks. But I seldom see it used especially in places with myriad pets who seemingly would each proc it.
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Imp would be good on aether or aether / elemental / fire for sure. I’ve been playing around with Eye of the Guardian and different conversions, it works well. A lot of those lower tiered devos have quick cool down and can be bound to pets…
Thanks for the buffs guys! (Playing MP with friends, getting some pretty nice damage buffs and rr from the team)
Getting busy with some friends in deep SR, using this toon as the DPS part of the team… when the hordes literally have hundreds of millions of HP, gonna need something that can dish out some hurt…! The star boss (Odus’Aldos) here has 82,000,000HP alone. I never thought of this toon as meant for pushing SR limits, but it worked really well here with some support toons and a pet conjurer on the team.
Nvm… will add some pics here in time…!
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nvm… wrong diff 
I am a new player in grim dawn and I really like this set with pets. Could someone please send me a link where I can step by step build a kit like skelemental has?
I am just learning this game and I am very much asking for help and understanding
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Since the 1.2.x patch, the gloves this build uses don’t work well as they now have too much phys → vitality conversion for pets, not the damage type this build is aimed at. Moved a few things around, this version is a little more elegant, but more or less works the same. Tried it out in crucible, easy under 5 minute run yet. Will tweak this a bit and get some more videos against bosses, SR, etc.
v1.2.x updated build:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4NO8bOO2
Crucible run
More coming soon.
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I will create a guide using realistic greens for this toon shortly.
Leveling Guide (1-25)
Start with taking the Necro mastery, put points in the bar, start with skeletons as soon as you can. Every level put at least a point if not two into them. The goal is to get them to 16/16 asap. But, you also want to work towards Undead Legion to increase the max number of skeletons you can summon, so I did it 2 in skeletons, 1 in mastery bar until they were full.
At level 8 I grabbed the Occultist mastery and got the bird. I focused on the skeletons until I had undead legion at 12/12, then I put a point in to get the Blight and work towards Will of the Crypt. Continue to put a point into the mastery bars, get the Hellhound somewhere around level 20. Also, at least 1 point in Curse of Frailty before the Shep Crook devo is complete, need a place to bind it. I have 1 point in mend flesh (huge help) and 1 point in storm spirit. I also have a single point in Blood of Dreeg for it’s heal and OA boost for the pets. The plan is to continue to add a point to each mastery bar and a point to Will of the Crypt until I can get more opened on the Occultist line.
Gear, focus on anything that has a pet affix at this stage.
What I’ve done so far? I’m on my way to Homestead, just got the quest. Cronely was a bit of a challenge, everything else up to this point has been a breeze, including Gunworm and Salazar. I got a Salazar blade early, use the Warden’s Judgement from Kreig if nothing else, the +3 to skeletons is nice at this stage in the game.
*edit - Forgot to mention, choose friendly with Barrowholm when you have the option. Just bring your own lunch when you visit them. We want the Ravagers’s Eye augment for our weapon and offhand, need to be friendly. It matters less with Death’s Vigil and Kymon’s choosen.
Toon at lvl 28 (meant to share at 25, but forgot… whoops)
Devos, start with purple, get Shep Crook, then take back the 1 point in Crossroads, start Toad. I plan to work towards Soleal’s Witchblade next.
Necro at lvl 25:
Occultist at lvl 25:
Current pet stats:
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Level 50 Update
Build as it is now:
Example of how it is going with this build. Level 42 vs Loghorrean.
Leveling Guide
I continue to put points in the Occultist mastery, pet auras (Hellfire / Storm Spirit), the Blight’s Rotting Fumes attack. Any combination you like, I do typically two in the mastery, one in something else. But it isn’t that important, tbh. I got the Bysmiel’s Bonds devo at level 49, got to level 50 so I could craft a Glyph and bind it. My advice, prioritize that devo (Bysmiel’s Bonds) last up to this point as you’ll need a binding spot and won’t have access to use a Glyph until level 50. Also, once you have or are about to get Solael’s Witchfire (and already have Fiend), I recommend starting to put points into the Consecrated Blade Occultist skill for the pet Chaos damage.
I have gone through SR1-5 to get an Essence to create the Glyph. This is easy XP and is an option, though I like getting faction as I gain XP at this point, so I am doing bounties and farming (a few spots mentioned below that are good to farm at this stage), saving SR for a bit later. But, the toon should be very capable of lowish SR at this point.
Devos → Once Toad is complete, start red on Crossroads. Get Fiend and bind it to skeletons. Get Jackal next, then get Soleal’s Witchblade and bind it to the Hound. If you get enough shrines, I recommend putting at least 3 points in Rhowan’s Crown by this point, bind it to the bird. Pull your points back from Jackal once you have Fiend and Soleal’s Witchblade (you’ll need 1 in Crossroads to have four red, though), and you can then start Bysmiel’s Bonds.
Gear: Still focus on any good pet affixes with gear that provides the resists you need. At this point I have done some regular farming of Halion (good alt medal, easier drop), Darkvale Gate boss (rings), and and Depraved Sanctuary boss (1H).
I have gone to Elite and finished Burial Hill for the shrine and easy XP in beginning game. The toon is plenty capable, but I only recommend playing around in Elite at this stage if playing softcore. If playing hardcore, my suggestion is to stay in normal for now.
Everything has been very easy so far with the exception of Anastaria. Only face her if you have ample Aether resist, 70+ on normal difficulty.
See you in ~25 levels.
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Reserved for 51-75
Level 75 Update, build as it is right now:
Leveling guide
By now you will have all devos or close to it. Since the level 50 update, I’ve added Raven, Throne, Mog the Wolf (bound it to 1 point in Dreegs Evil Eye, using that as a temporary skill just to bind Mog the Wolf to while I gain XP). Next I added Panther then Typhos.
What I’m doing now? Farming a little for a Wendigo Gaze, I have a couple drop, but nothing with a pet-friendly affix yet. Not quite to end game farming yet, so I’m still spending the majority of my time advancing the main story (about to go get Ulgrim from the Void on Elite) and gaining faction. Finally a Symbol of Soleal has dropped, once I get my resist up I will pop that on my off hand, bind Mog the Wolf to it’s debuff, put that skill point somewhere else. Speaking of skill points, I have most of my main areas covered, now I’m just fillig in what’s left… the hound, vulnerability, BoD, Possession, and a few other spots will get padded with points yet.
At this point you can play in Elite if you have good resists on the gear that’s dropped, even farting around in Ultimate difficulty is possible, though like above this is only recommended at this point for softcore.
What’s it like at this stage? Very easy running through anything and everything on Elite. If anything I need to be careful on HC as this is the type of build that can lure you into a false sense of security, then bam… starting fresh. But so far, smooth sailing. To be fair, on this build I’m only using HC due to my stash being fresh, so this being a way to build from ground up, getting BP’s and all. If I die, I’ll cheat this guy back to life (I’m a Cabaist necro afterall 
) for the sake of this guide. But so far, no cheat, easy through level 75.
Gear: Nothing has change, focus on gear with pet friendly affixes. Getting close to high enough level now where mythical purples we need can start dropping.
< video of fight vs. Loghorean incoming >
Reserved for 76-100 / end game
Toon is at level 100 and has been for a bit, been finishing up faction and have quest related skill and attribute points to collect yet. I have been doing some farming as I gain faction, have gotten a few pieces of required for the final build. Right now I’m still mostly on Elite (though I’ve beaten Warden on Ultimate, can start my way towards Cronely any time I feel I’m ready), farming totems / faction and SR30-31 mostly. Anyway, the build as it is now:
Level 100, farming work in progress.
Next steps: Continue farming and gaining faction. My goal is to get the Fiendflesh shoulders, that should help a lot with my pet aether and chaos resists. At this point it’s just about finishing faction and farming.
Damage is very good, resists are still a work in progress. If playing HC, definitely stay in Elite until you get resists up. I did die once in SR while being lazy, so… be careful.
Thank you very much for the leveling guide. It’s a big help for players like me who have little experience in this game.
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So, I’ve been having a lot of fun playing with acid pets using the Mythical Blightshard Amulet for elemental → acid conversion for the pets, I’ve been trying different elemental based devos… I like whirlpool with it a lot in combination with acid pets. That got me to thinking, this toon converts cold damage to handy chaos, and it’d be pretty fun to put persistent chaos pools ticking damage away under the feet of enemies while the high speed chaos / fire pets hack away… so in this version the whirlpools get bound to the highest damage pet, the hound. The combination works well, played a few rounds today, best was this 4:26 150-170 run. (playing on a potato with integrated graphics, mostly low settings… sorry)
Updated build:
N̶e̶w̶ p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶a̶l̶ b̶e̶s̶t̶ - 4 min 13 sec
Pretty try hard on this one, better rolls on some equipment, using pet friendly pharma. Totem strategy was to put lighting covering a chunk of the map, utilize a vanguard where I tried to work, stay in it’s range and let the pets cook. Active piloting and using all of the health bar… But, if you enjoy a glass cannon doing glass cannon things, I like watching these pets run like they’re at a different game speed than everything else. I’ve beat 150-160 in ~1:50 before, here it took 2 minutes even, so I think there is more in the tank yet.
New new personal best - 4 min 9 sec
Same as before, but made the potions easier to get to.
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Hi
Just want to say that this build is awsome and has inspired me a lot for my own pet builds.
Also I think that a sub 4min cruci run seems to be possible, excellent work.
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