Thoughts on nerfs found in 1008 testplay footage

Grim Dawn Gameplay Discussion
1

Originated from twitch video url in Fluff’s commando Build thread.
My opinion can be very wrong,
and ignoring me when discussing 1008 testplay is welcomed.
Hope these changes won’t happen in 1.0.0.8 or are just wrong info though.

  1. Nerf or remove flat Phy Dmg from Deadly Momentum, Shield Training and Menhir’s Bulwark:

If it’s a re-distribution of Phy dmg source, it’s fine;
If it’s a nerf to Physical damage build, it makes no sense.
When poison, bleeding works well with multi-source Dot overlapping and Burn/Electrocute serves better than internal trauma,
Phy Dmg is really not top-tier in terms of damage choice.

So what’s the point of nerfing Phy Dmg?
Because it’s from Solider and Crate want it to be high-DEF but low-DPS?
No one really likes stalling…
If you do, you can enjoy yourself with PM Warder and kill Modgroden in 30 minutes,
instead of messing up Soldiers.

  1. Overguard nerf, add 2sec cd to 20sec, and
  2. Blast Shield nerf, add 2sec cd to 14sec:

One of the best defense build in GD is:
High CDR + Mirror + Blast Shield
Which should make you sudo-invincible 70% of the time I think? (Max CDR)
So if Crate consider Arcanist inferior to Demo,
and thus nerf Blast Shield instead of Mirror in this formula, I wouldn’t be surprised.

But Overguard is another story.
In the order of defense, shield block is more or less the same as normal armor. It isn’t some miracle like Dmg absorption.
So basically, it’s nothing wrong to have a high up-time of this skill.

Also, shield builds have to deal with block chance & recovery time.
While working on CDR also benefits your Damage Skills,
working too hard on those two factors reduce your DPS potential instead,
in the end you can only rely on Targo Hammers…and become poor in both Offense & Defense when Overguard is down.

Why can’t we nerf them both you ask?
Well, don’t we have enough builds suffering squishiness issues?

tl;dr blah blah blah

2

Annnddd 1008 changelog is out, facepalm.

3

Actually, Shield block works as flat damage absorbtion, which is the very last line of defense and thus extremely powerful.

Though I have to agree that the amount of nerfs to physical soldier is too much. It’s fine to reduce the damage of shield tanks - after all if you are playing a tank you should not do as much as a 2h or DW because of the extra safety.

But not only the physical damage was hit all around - Targo hammer nerfed, all physical nerfed etc -> this is fine. The problem is that you are no longer allowed to play a tank, because even in full markovian you’ll have 6 to 8 seconds without Overguard.

Markovian set is reduced to a nearly worthless set completion bonus. Belgortian shears nerf is fine, because it’s a single item and not set completion. But Markovian set was almost exclusively used only to keep Overguard up. That is no more.

4

Lol, r u serious?
Physical damage is top-tier, just look all of this copy/paste warborn witchblade builds, that required nothing but keep pressing left mouse button.

5

That indicates nothing but the lack of tankiness builds, not DPS output…
Jajaja’s build was a tank before any other means.
You can easily out-damage Physical Dmg builds with other types.
Maybe it was good due to pre-nerf CoF but also remember Thermite Mine, OFF, Widow, Acid Spray…

And with the 1008 nerf it will not be top-tier anyway…whatever it was, it’ll be in the past only.

(If you still think Physical Builds was top,
broken Torch-Mine BD could do gladiator with no buff no banner no potions,
but that maybe a bit too far from the topic.)