Today I was re-visiting this awesome game, checking out how the last balance pass changed my most used character (with so many changes didn’t notice anything), played a little and got my ass handed by that Korvac a few times before he met his destiny.
I have to say I impressed how much work and passion is put into the game, and in balance, one of the qualities, strangely enough, I cherish most.
This character is a Spellbreaker, From mid-game I pushed a dual-damage type character: Pierce and Cold, was not easy to put the pieces together, also I opted to buff Cunning instead of All-powerful Physique, because all of the synergies I get from that stat, and try to get enough the DA/ Health with all the components/gear.
The dual damage thing is tricky, the game gently pushes you to focus on a damage type and get a huge RR for that type going forward, Cold/Pierce are both in many items, but I guess using both was not the objective, instead make those items good options to both cold and pierce builds. Anyways I managed to get a decent damage with decent RR in both types, there are very few enemies really resistant to both types (I think some skeletons and that’s it), so also has its advantages.
Maybe is not SR 8k viable or does not beat crucible when I boot the game, but is good enough to clear all the main goals and content (SR 25 being the last goal), and with some breathing room doing so.
Just wanted to thanks Crate devs their immense job, and a group of systems with enough flexibility that allows wacky builds like mine don’t fall flat because is not “META” or “Optimal” (this actually happened me in POE, not META or really really good build: forget about clearing the hardest content) It really feels great when you go your way and still be able to finish the race with your creation.
Well, to be fair, PoE is a multiplayer game and Grim Dawn is mostly single-player. In single player games, what is “meta” naturally matters a whole lot less, and players are much more free to play however they like since it doesn’t affect others. Playing with third-party tools, mods, wacky builds, whatever. You can do as you please. I suspect it would be quite a lot different if Grim Dawn was more MMO-like.
That said, I agree that Crate has done a fantastic job of balancing Grim Dawn, to the point where they even encourage “meme” builds to some extent. It’s one of the most well-balanced games I’ve ever played, to be honest.
Havy you played PoE? you can play single player, everything is for single player, the only difference is that forces server-side connection and you see other players in towns and such.
In that game a “less optimal” build could mean as much as 10-20x less damage than good builds, that disparity absurd in my eyes.
It’s excellent to hear you’re loving GD and enjoying making builds your way @Ninakoru. You’re not alone in thinking that GD is a very balanced and in-depth game that lets you do lots of meme or non-meta things. Keep up the great work and try out other Dual Damage builds!
Some Dual Damage builds are very powerful like the Priest of the Damned Vitality/Chaos Sentinel from @WyreZ in the link below:
Hehe, great to see I an not the only one who got into weird builds!
Here’s a little “showcase” of this wacky thing, the final build in near impossible greens, Spellbreaker Dual Cold-Pierce
I play with a more modest version, but I GDstashed that one to test it and performs quite well. Mine struggles a bit with endgame content, but is definitively doable.
The damage is not very high, but can be deceptive, as is some sort of piano-clicking build, the RR reaches -77 to pierce an -78 to cold if everything procs. Also you debuff enemy’s OA/DA in several ways, so crits and crit avoidance is higher than what is shown.
ABB for the left-click to maintain the buff and the dual attacks as filler between your Shadow Strike, Ring of Steel & Flash Freeze. Icechill and Ravager’s Deathgaze on demand (but usually just activate them when available), almost every ability has some sort of augment from gear.
Has consistent damage thanks to dual types, and no problems with AoE. Tried some CDR but that is nerfed to the ground so, only about 15%, also some old sources of RR where nerfed, but is fine. I throwed in Belgothian’s Carnage for more piano clicks ^^.
A bit on the squishy side, but can tank many many things, if you can’t, still you have great mobility to get in and out.
