The Carnival - A Guide to Pets

Nowhere. Since the base game has a level cap of 85 instead of 100. So you will have less skill points. Grimtools does not account for that :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

Fire Pets Concept: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pbzKyZ

1 Like

Ohh! Didn’t know that, ty for telling me! Looking foward to try the build!

1 Like

A new Pet build makes it way into the list. It is not really anything new and unique, just the Fluffy Squishy, but with a 2h weapon instead for all your fashion needs :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

So… top 3 becomes top 5. Deceiver was already in top 3 before pushed into 4th place by Lupus. Now BirbBringer makes its way into 4th place by killing Crate.

2 Likes

OwO - Pet Conjurer makes its way into the list :3

I’m a new player and I was hoping to get some feedback on the following build that I’m working towards. I’ve almost hit level 100 with my first character, taking me far too long (50+ hrs game time according to Steam…).

I based it off of some stuff in your guide and referencing a few other builds online. I want the build to focus on skeletons, but I’m not sure if I’ve optimized the skill point distribution and if there are better equipment choices for the slosts/augments/components.

Appreciate any feedback! https://www.grimtools.com/calc/r2B1MazN

Also advice on the most optimal way to farm legendaries would be appreciated. I’m confused about if the fastest way is Crucible runs, Shattered Realms runs, or doing the Steps of Torment over and over.

First of all: Welcome to the forum!

I wouldn’t call 50 hrs “too long” for your first character. The following characters will be a lot faster. You can for example use xp potions then.

Regarding legendaries: Depends on what you can clear fast and reliably. SoT and other rogue-like dungeons aren’t so bad. For Crucible to be effective, you should be able to clear around 150 in Challenger (NOT Gladiator!) consistently. SR is similar: Higher levels mean better loot - even if you have to lower the difficulty. Doing 60 in Elite is probably better than 30 or 40 in Ultimate.

I’ll leave the build critique to others - TBH I’m no expert on skellies…

1 Like

If you click on the “where to farm” section in the first post, it gives answer to the question, where to farm legendaries. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Welcome to the forums :yum:

Build is fine. But you have extra points in Hellfire & Raise Skeletons that you can spend elsewhere. It won’t show ingame, but for eg: you can buy back 2 points from Raise Skeletons and it will still show 26/16 ingame. I won’t comment any further on the build since I have an extreme hatred for skeletons due to their fragile nature and any further critique would be along the lines of “don’t play skeletons” :stuck_out_tongue:

Crucible runs are certainly not the fastest anymore, atleast for pets. Especially skeletons. I would say go with Shattered Realms. Do either 60-61, 65-66, 70-71 or 75-76 (that is, start on 75, complete 76 and then cash out for eg). Higher difficulty ofcourse means more loot. It is upto you to figure out which difficulty is comfortable and efficient time wise for you.

1 Like

Ok… so after bit more of theory crafting and minor testing with the Fire Pets concept, I have found out that I don’t like it… :frowning:

Everything I could come up with, Booby Trinkets simply seem to do better. And If I wanted single dmg type, there is the trusty old Kelp Rings for Lightning Pets.

Dracarris could have worked well with the Fire Pet Rings, but its proc is on Enemy Death which only triggers if the player gets the kill, which is pretty much impossible on a pet build.

Maybe Witching Hour could work, but one could just go full on Chaos instead with it. Also given the CD on the skill + only having 50% Phys > Fire Conversion from both the rings combined, I am doubtful if Fire Witching Hour would outperform an Elemental pet build.

Another potential candidate is Skeleton Pet builds, but I have zero interest in putting myself through such torture.

If Doggos were good, then that would have also worked. But Doggo being more of a derpy, that doesn’t work either.

Also, if you go fire Birb, you only get 1 birb. That might be ok with the birb Conduit since it gives the projectiles the ability to pierce through, but that doesn’t help against Single targets.

You could go with Beastcallers instead, but there is the above mentioned thing about Trinket or Kelp rings. There is also the option to forget about all that and just go Bleed Pet build.

Do remember that Trinkets also convert Acid to Elemental and Every Occultist Pet build uses Blood of Dreeg while very few would have enough points for Hellfire.

Currently, I’d say that the only thing Fire Pet Rings have going for them is being Target Farmable. But given the low Drop Rate, I am not sure how well that works in practice.

That said, if someone manage to make them work well enough to actually compete with Elemental/Lightning builds, do let me know for I would be very much interested.

Hi Maya,

Kinda new to GD and all the pet builds but I find them very interesting.
I’ve created both a conjurer and a cabalist and atm playing more with the cabalist.

The one huge question I have is to help me understand Devotion choices.
Your T3 are the same in all your builds so the end goal is clear.
However, there’s tons of variations on T2 and in order to know what I should go with, I’d like to understand why the variations even exists.
Ex. I’ve seen Murmur with vs staff of Rattosh vs Amatok vs Widow.
With or without crown
In T1, sometimes scholar’s vs raven and crane vs lion.
Some builds with hound and//or panther, some without.

This is all a bit confusing as looking for Pets on the map, you’d think you’d always pick Rattosh over anything else.
And in T1, Raven always beats scholar’s.
I’d also look at jackal and Nighttalon.

Hence, would you please help me understand your choices and why your guide goes for Amatok and not Rattosh or Murmur?

Thanks.

First of all, welcome to the game and to the forums :blush:.

For devotions, I recommend giving the section on “how to make your own builds” from my guide a read if you want a detailed answer.

For a shortened version :-

Different dmg types require appropriate kind of Resistance Reduction which means different devotions. This mostly applies to T2 devotions since that is where you find RR. That inturn requires different T1 devotions inorder to get the necessary colour requirements.

Procs like Amatok’s Blizzard, when bound to Pets scale off of Pet stats, providing an extra source of dmg. Hence the reason for getting such things even though they do not provide Pet Stats.

Jackal and Nighttalon do not do anything for us to pick them in my builds.

If you see me going for Scholar over Raven, it is due to Scholar providing 4 green for 3 points while Raven provides 5 green for 4 points. If you only need 4 green and cannot afford to spend 4 points to get them due to whatever reason, there is no reason to gimp yourself of more important stuff just for a bit extra Pet stats. for eg: in my Rawr God Cabalist, the 2 points in Stag and Obelisk are much more important than the extra Pet stats from Raven.

Post the concepts that you came up with anyways.
You obviously are too fond of the Bysmiel set. Did you test the idea build that I had proposed with beastcaller?

Even with a different proc activation, Dracarris would be lacking the 50% phys->fire conversion and a loss vs Korvacs blade… Unless you are again thinking only about birds with this. :rofl:

Thanks. Is that SR on normal, elite, or ultimate?

Something similar, yes. Basically I took my Sanguine Lupus and instead of making it Bleed based, tried to make it fire based. But problem is that as I mentioned earlier, other options simply end up being better, like even when simply looking at the stats page :frowning:

I no longer have the GT links for the Conjurers, but here is a theorycrafted Cabalist: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZP5KzGN

Sorry, just woke up and clearly not conscious enough to have proper reading comprehension. Many thanks!

1 Like

Thanks for the detailed answer. I guess that also answers picking Murmur if dmg also increases when linked to pets.
But would Murmur or Amarok still offset the boosts received from staff of Rattosh?

So for T1, a cabalist has more to win from those 2 points in Menhir and stag, while a conjurer can go for more pet boosts.

Lastly, it seems you’re not fond at all of skeletons, so should I get all my points refunded at some point?
When do they really start to fail and the points better spend elsewhere?

I’m lvl 40 in HC and at the moment, they still do the dps well.

Murmur provides Resistance Reduction. It is not for the dmg on the proc.

And Murmur/Amatok vs Rattosh depends on the build. If I picked them over Rattosh, then it is because they are better for the builds they are chosen for.

No, depends on the build. Class combination has nothing to do with it. Also Menhir is T3

It is a personal thing. You can use them for as long as you want. But I don’t like their fragile nature compared to other pets. I replace them as soon as I have enough points for a Briarthorn/Blightfiend.

Hi @Maya , is my first time learning about a summon build, your guides got me very interested in summon builds :slight_smile:
some advice needed from you, grim dawn is always buffing and nerfing stuff, with the new current patch which is the best for a first playthrough solo self found Softcore. i saw your top 5 , but i have no knowledge in deciding which is better for first playthrough with no end game items. could you recommend me your top 2 build thats working for this patch?
Thanks in advance