Thoughts on this Warder build?

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

http://grimcalc.com/build/Jzmnj8

I am trying to make a 2h lifesteal type character. My only worry with this is that it has damage spread across lightning, vitality, & phys. Any advice is much appreciated.

2

you have high hp, and wendigo totem, pair with Feral Hunger, I don’t think you need life-steal build - and life steal isn’t very effective against boss anyway.

What is your main skills (damage)?

What is your devotion set up?

3

It’s mostly an LMB build (tank) with the totem as extra protection.

4

You have to use Savagery or Primal Strike. If you don’t you will never kill anything. Don’t need all those points in the 1st on shaman, upheaval in particular is pretty crap I don’t even use it. Blood Pact doesn’t need to be maxed, maxing all 3 parts of Modrogen’s buff is a waste 1st part should be 1 point only and just a few in the 3rd. Need a lot of points in savagery/pstrike for damage and you want one of the lvl 50 shaman buffs, most likely stormcallers

Check the recently psoted thread by GeneralCash for a good devotion setup

5

Hmm, But you dont have any offensive ability? How are you planning to KILL your enemies???
Also, you maxed many skills, that are kinda junk.

6

okay, if you want good balance for damage and defense, below is what you can try:

  1. Do not max Feral Hunger - as long as it reaches 25% activation then stop adding points to it
  2. 1 point in Upheaval
  3. Blood Pact - 1 point o 0 point
  4. Markoviants Advantage - 25% activation is enough, then stop adding points
  5. 1 point or 0 point in Menhirs Will
  6. Max Shamman mastery tree to get Primal Bond (since you have already went this far in the tree) - and max Primal Bond
  7. Now, with all the return points: max Savagery & Might of the Bear
  8. Max Blade Arc + Clearn Sweep + Laceration (this is your highest damage skill --> Blade Arc and also your superior AOE skill)

Note: if you cannot max out Blade Arc or Laceration or Savagery - then try to refund some points from other skills, max these offense skills are your priorities.

For defense: you have Wendigo Totem, Primal Bond, High HP , then in Devotion tree, get Giant’s Blood & Healing Rain (if possible, or you prefer more damage go get offense devotions, up to you)

It’s nothing fancy, a lot of people are playing Warder as above - is very Tanky and Good damage too, especially after you have obtained all the BIS gears.

Good luck:p

7
  1. Why dont max Feral Hunger? It’s still amazing, even after 25% cap.
  2. The most stupid thing you can do. You either max Upheaval, or dont lern it at all. level 1 Upheaval is just a BIG DPS loss.
  3. Agreed.
  4. You may dont put points into it at all - it’s kinda weak move for 2-handers, especially not maxed. You can get 100 reduced DA from consumable, if you want that.
  5. Agreed. Too long cooldown even after maxing.
  6. If you go physical build - yes. For lightning build, Stormcaller’s pact then. However, Oleron’s Rage is also good, cause it grants move speed and OA for crits, and it’s very hard for Warder to get movespeed capped without it.
  7. Savagery should’ve beed maxed long, long ago… As your 1-st skill, actually. Same for Might of the Bear.
  8. Why would you need that? Why dont just max out Feral Hunger, Zolhan’s Technique and Upheaval for physical build. You will have great AoE with all that WPS procs, no need for Blade Arc.
8
  1. If I can I want to max every good skill - but 25% is okay, you can put more points if you want to, totally up to you
  2. 1 point wonder is enough to me, I am on physical build - 1 point with all the + skill will actually turn it into lvl4 or 5
  3. Blade Arc provides very good dmg for physical build and works really well with Savagery - is not just for AOE purpose.:stuck_out_tongue:
9

Upheaval will automatically override any WPS when you crit, this means if you don’t build around it, any crit you do result in a weak Upheaval compared to other WPS. Level 4-5 is not enough.

10

oh I didn’t know that, I used Upheaval to proc my devotion skill - I will test the dmg without it and see how it goes, thx for pointing this out :slight_smile:

11

Actually, Upheaval is WPS proc itself, with 100% chance to activate. It wont completely override other WPS on crit, but its % weapon damage is very low if not maxed.
Also, +skill levels isnt the most valuable stat for physical build. It wont increase your DPS drastically, unlike casters, or Primal/Fire Strike builds.

Blade Arc with transmuter is great for DoT (as you dont need to spam it), but just for physical build? IDK, 372% weapon damage every 5 seconds isnt bad, but ZT will deal 302% weapon damage with Savagery, and it’s passive with 25% chance to proc. I’d rather got some extra passive leveled, rather than Blade Arc. Though, choice is up to you.

Gear is the main problem for physical 2-h warder. Actually, there are almost no legendaries, desighned for that build. Soldier’s legendaries are desighned for shields, Shaman’s legendaries are desighned for lightning damage. And it’s very hard to find items with OA on them, to get benefit from crits (and you HAVE to use crits, because of Assassin’s Mark, at least). You may even want to put few skill points into Cunning (as long as your Physique exceeds 970), to get some extra OA.
Ring of Black Matriarch is one of the few those legendaries. It puts -15% physical resist proc (has no CD), and provides nice stats.
Another few items worth mentioning are
Grasp of Unchained Might. Not really BiS, but can work with Blade Arc.
Ultos’ Spaulders. Set is desighned for lighning damage, but shoulders somehow fit physical as well.
Wildblood Girdle. Set is desighned for vitality damage, but belt has nice stats.

And the last. I played 2-h Savagery Warder myself, but then, i realized, that Conjurer is actually better for that build. Conjurer can cast Curse of Frailty, which boost damage far better, than all Soldier skill combined (also, it’s cheap, has huge AoE, long duration and no CD). He also receives +12% physical resist, +100% poison resist and more free skill points to be spend for OA skills. He has less HP, but that can be fixed with items easily, it’s more efficient to grab HP from items, rather than OA.

I play my 2-h Savagery Conjurer now, and i’m quite fond of it. The only small con is some lack of AoE (due to ZT loss), but it’s hardly an issue for me, Upheaval+FH+Falcon Swoop+ Blind Rage make wonders.

12

This is all very good advice. I’ve reworked my build, but I am now 30 points over budget. I could take points out of the Mogdrogen’s Pact tree, and that would get me back under budget, but I really like how that toggle sounds. Any thoughts on that?

13

From Mogdrogen Pact line, you need only +40% HP. Investing into other 2 skills isnt required, they’re too weak.

14

Gotcha. I’ve done some reworking based on all the advice given here. I also read up on Upheaval and decided to take it out of my build. How does this look? http://grimcalc.com/build/bXLUjB

15

Brute Force is junk. It isnt worth points at all. Just leave it at 1.
Storm Touched isnt worth your points either. Leave it at 1 (or 2, if you dont have any +skills)
Squad Tactics is so-so, Scars of Battle is better imo.
Same for Tenacity of the Boar. Though, its effectiveness strongly depends upon your devotions.
Also, you MUST max out Zolhan’s Technique. It’s insanely strong. Also max Feral Hunger. You wont regret it.

And what devotions do you plan to get?

Here is my Warder build. With devotions.
http://grimcalc.com/build/XbFM9L

16

I can’t thank you enough for all your advice mate. I honestly haven’t even tackled devotions yet, so I’ll probably go with what you’ve shared and tweak to my preferences as I learn more. I am a new player (not new to the genre, mind you), but I really like to figure out my builds ahead of time. It’s 80% of the fun of these games for me. :stuck_out_tongue:

Also, what ratio did you use for your attribute points?

17

Didnt i already said that? Physique up to 970 (including Military Conditioning bonus and contellations), rest into cunning.

18

This is a horrible idea, and you can’t respec it!!

99% of the characters should have maximum possible physique after meeting requirements. Getting OA and physical damage trough items is much more effective than getting health and DA. Especially with a Warder who has passives that make physique much more effective than effective than cunning or spirit.

Physical damage Warder is a bad idea imo, you can have a much better result by going lightning, even with Savagery. I posted a lightning-based Warder build recently here, check out the video to see how it works. I’m willing to bet anything that it’s faster and safer than any physical-based Warder, especially one that goes Savagery over Blade Arc.