Whoa, this dual Serpent Sparker build is pretty insane. Great work! Will we see a build involving the Monk and his new immortal Mystic Ally? That aura buff he gives is just too sweet. Wondering if it stacks for 2 allies summoned via crudest boots.
I tried using the Mystic Ally before it became immortal and I was miffed at how quickly it kept dying, so I dropped it fairly quickly. Looking through GDStash, the only equipment that gives +Mystic Ally points is Crudest Boots, and outside the Uliana’s Set, there are barely any items that give +Monk skills. That sadly makes it rather limited in how I can fit the Mystic Ally in a build.
I haven’t seen the new aura yet, but having worked with other pet builds with auras, buffs from multiple pets do not stack.
Thanks for the answer. I was wondering how good a player scaled pet build involving the monk would be (maybe with blade spirits). The Mystic Ally aura is really good now, gives %dmg and OA, armor, phys and pierce resist. Combined with one of the 2 defensive mantras, inner sanctuary and the dmg boost from breath of heaven, it could help pets both offensively and defensively. But, as you say, not many +skills to Monk :o
The seventh class feature is Rogue!
With a total of four different damage types to work with and main skills that emphasize each of these damage types, Rogue can help support a multitude of builds with minimal Skill Point investment compared to other classes. A healing ability that provides flat DA, a projectile that provides ample amount of RR as well as damage reduction, a Cadence-like autoattack that can be transmuted from Physical/Pierce into Acid/Vitality, and a passive which provides Attack and Casting Speed; Rogue can greatly help other classes’ abilities shine. Rogue even has its own player-scaled pet for those like having minions around them, but it is not so great that it is mandatory for those who don’t care for such.
Summoners also are wise to pay attention to this class, as Rogue, along with the Storm and Earth classes, provides predominantly Physical pets with the ability to convert their damage into another type. In this case, Physical damage is converted to Acid damage, and it comes with the added benefit of bringing a chance to Fumble / Impaired Aim simply with their attacks. As we have seen with the Nature + Necrotic pet build, Acid is a nicely-supported pet type in Grim Dawn, with multiple equipment and auras that provide flat Acid or Poison damage. In fact, those who are buying the Fallen Gods expansion will treat themselves to the Ghol’s Malice set, which not only enhances pet Poison capabilities, but summons additional pets upon completing the set. I will be theorycrafting a Ghol’s Malice pet build, which I obviously cannot test but will be glad to share my thoughts for optimizing its abilities.
Build Objective: To showcase one of Grim Quest’s full sets and maximize the Call of the Wild Wolves
Source of RR:
Manticore or Bysmiel’s Command - 28 flat RR
Rogue’s Poison Flask - 30 Poison RR
Plague [Nature’s skil] - 35 Poison RR
Rumor - 30 Poison RR
Aura of Bast pet (Relic) - 10 Poison RR
Total RR = 133 Poison RR
Equipment
Weapon: Divine Strength of the Wild + Divine Cerebus’ Eye
Components: Purified Sale + Imbued Silver
Head: Divine Call of the Wild
Component: Eldritch Mirror
Shoulders: Divine Wisdom of the Wild
Component: Scaled Hide
Hands: Mythical Overlord’s Grip
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Feet: Mythical Grim Harvest Boots
Component: Spellscorched Plating
Belt: Divine Dementer’s Sacred Leaves
Component: Spellscorched Plating
Pants: Mythical Runebrand Leggings
Component: Scaled Hide
Chest Armor: Divine Resilience of the Wild
Component: Eldritch Mirror
Amulet: Skillful Amulet with +Nature or +Rogue Skills and Chaos/Pierce Resistance
Component: Aether Soul
Rings: Mythical Yogul’s Ichor X2
Components: Ectoplasm X2
Medal: Divine Talisman of the Wild
Component: Aether Soul
Relic: Sigil of Bast
Devotions: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZo81EoN
The Divine Aspect of the Wild set is a 5-piece set that’s modeled after the Beastcaller’s Set. Instead of providing 2 Biarthorns, however, it provides +2 to all Nature skills, which is incredible considering how point-heavy the Mastery is. With this set, the Off-hand, the belt, and the relic providing +all skills to Nature, it’s no secret that you’ll be able to maximize the Call of the Wild skill as well as most of the pet abilities. With Bull bound to the Wolves, you get a heavy AoE ability that works perfectly with the wolves’ lanky frames. The Sylvan Nymph provides full Elemental damage, so we ditch it to use Thorn Sprites for additional Poison damage from a distance. And let’s not forget Force of Nature, which does massive damage - especially when you can convert all Physical damage into another damage type.
Rogue class is there with the Mythical Yugol Rings to complete 100% Physical to Acid conversion and give a second source of RR, but that’s not the only thing it gives. The third node of Envenom provides pets with 6% Attack Damage converted to Health, so even with the low amount of external heals, Wolves have been able to survive difficult battles. The second node provides Poison and Acid and Vitality resistance, which is especially helpful as none of the set items provide that particular resistance. Grace of the Korbyites provides a great low cooldown heal.
If you obtain Pierce resistance in the Amulet, you can use Mythical Tasker and Theo gloves as a way to keep your damage RNG-proof, but please, fix this (look at the Armor value):
Build Objective: Use Claw of Hagaraz’s skill modifier in order to have a certifiable Beserk buff while leaving some build room to let pets shine as well.
Source of RR:
Black Star of Deceit - 15 flat RR
Acid Bomb - 30 Vitality RR
Spectral Wrath - 35 Vitality RR
Rattosh - 25 Vitality RR
Total RR - 105 Vitality RR
*Screenshots are with all permanent and temporary buffs active
Equipment
Weapon : Claw of Hagaraz X2
Components: Haunted Steel + Imbued Silver
Head : Mythical Circlet of the Great Serpent
Component: Living Armor
Shoulders : Mythical Dread Knight’s Guard
Component: Living Armor
Hands : Mythical Overlord’s Grip
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Feet : Mythical Fiendflesh Greaves
Component: Boon of the Trapped (Rare D3 Blacksmith Component)
Belt : Mythical Spiritseeker’s Cord
Component: Spellscorched Plating
Pants : Mythical Wildshorn Leggings
Component: Scaled Hide
Chest Armor : Mythical Dread Armor of Azragor
Component: Titan Plating
Amulet : Conduit of Undying Whispers with Vitality Blight Fiend prefix and Aether resistance suffix
Component: Aether Soul
Rings: Divine Persephone’s Ring + Wildpact Emerald
Components: Royal Diamond X2
Medal: Mythical Black Star of Deceit (Zenith mod provides innate dual-wielding; I’d like to avoid this exploit wherever I can, but for a meme hybrid build I’m willing to make exceptions).
Component: Aether Soul
Relic: Mogdrogen’s Ardor with Stun Resistance bonus
Devotions: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YNnXLMgV (Ignore the equipment, it was from an old draft)
With the Rogue class no longer providing 100% Acid to Vitality damage, I was uncertain as to whether I would stick with it as with the Necromancer Conduit, I could have Blight Fiends doing 100% conversion without a second class to help. Ultimately, I decided to stay with Rogue, as its Vitality Cadence skill was the key to having this build survive. Dual Wield Claw of Hagaraz provides 600% Vitality bonus and 20% Crit Damage to the summoner when you use both of them together, and Envenom’s second node provides flat Vitality damage while the third node gives you Attack Speed and ADCTH. This build would not be able to survive if it weren’t for these generous bonuses, and Calculated Strike hitting for over 100K on crits helps single-target DPS tremendously, while the Blight Fiends wrap up the AoE damage.
As Call of the Grave serves as a longer-lasting but longer cooldown Shepherd’s Crook [pets get nearly 350% Vitality Damage and 38% Crit damage], Devotions follow the Vitality 3T3 setup: Hungering Void + Time Dilation + Rattosh for the great 25% additional Vitality RR, which the Blight Fiends are great in sticking to the opponent. Rogue’s Shadow Heal + ~20% ACDTH before Bloodthirster + Bat makes Dying God’s health drain less of an issue than a pet build that didn’t also do melee. Sadly, the larger focus on resistances and sustainability means that I can’t focus on 22/12 Soul Harvest nor can I use the Bound Wraiths from Bonescavenger Deathgrips. The Blight Fiends do a great job, and having Time Dilation bound to 17/16 Reap Spirit allows you to summon 2 Spirits at once, meaning you can better focus on keeping your Blight Fiends on the battlefield.
The most important thing to keep yourself alive against the likes of Fabius and Iron Maiden is to make you have Mark of Torment applied to them so you can prepare your Soul Harvest + Dying God + Call of the Grave mega-buffs ready and give yourself the melee DPS you need to leech through their damage. I’m not sure how it would fare against Kubacabra or Grava, but being able to handle base-game content is good enough for a hybrid pet / melee build.
Build Objective: To throw as many Eyes of Dreeg at the enemy as possible.
Source of RR:
Manticore - 28 flat RR
Rogue Skill - 35 Poison RR
Rumor - 23 Poison RR
Deathstalker - 10 Poison RR
Total RR - 96 Poison RR
Equipment
Weapon: Mythical Quillthrower of Dreeg
Components: Seal of Shadows
Head: Cowl of the Venommblade with Outrider Skills
Component: Living Armor
Shoulders: Radaggan’s Mantle
Component: Living Armor
Hands: Mythical Quickdraw Gloves
Component: Consecrated Wrappings
Feet: Mythical Golemborn Greaves
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Belt: Blade Breaker Sash with Outrider Skills
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Pants: Mythical Chausses of Barbaros
Component: Ancient Armor Plate
Chest Armor: Radaggan’s Shroud
Component: Living Armor
Amulet: Mythical Amulet of Dreeg
Component: Seal of Annihilation
Rings: Seal of the High Priest X2
Components: Purified Salt + Imbued Silver
Medal: Satyr Craft with Rogue Skills and Suffix “Of the Wild”
Component: Tainted Heart
Relic: Deathstalker with 3% OA bonus
Fortune is your friend for this Fortune’s Friend as the combination of Hercate’s Sorcery, Envenom Weapons, Seal of Shadows, and the innate conversion from the weapon leads to 100% Physical to Acid conversion, making Outrider’s default attack optimal for damage. Full Acid damage also means fully Acid Deathstalker as well as fully acid Epalios - which thanks to Outrider’s CDR passive allows you to take the transmuter and summon 3 of them without any worry. Outside of your Dreeg Eyes and class pets, your main skills are using Biting Blades for easy devotion procs and Outrider’s Biobomb for absolutely massive Poison DoT. Survivability is bolstered by 2 on-demand heals as well as Ghoul, all helped by great CDR.
The images are an old version, as it barely has any attack speed - the current version goes as much in for Attack Speed as I could get. In addition to the equipment and component changes from the image, this build trades in its machine guns for Mobile Fortress and its great Attack speed boost; be warned that you move half as fast with the buff on, but it is very easy to toggle on and off. The helm and belt are +Outrider so that you can take as many of the passives and buffs as you can get. Battle Awareness + Quickdraw glove procs means that you will have decent uptime for having good Attack Speed.
Due to no GQ rings giving all bonuses to Rogue skills, we will be shorthanded if you don’t take the +1 to all skills rings. Normally, I’d provide a simpler way of getting all skills, whether it’s through the helmet, amulet set bonuses, or relic, but all the above slots are already taken, so we must abuse the +All skills rings (or use the Satyr and craft one +Rogue and one +Outrider, effectively cutting the skill bonuses on the rings to +1 each). 2-pc Radaggan is taken for the resistance bonus, the Pierce conversion on the chest, and the Stun resistance on the shoulders.
The final class feature (at least before Fallen Gods) is Crusader!
Gaze upon the sky and be blessed with heavenly strength. The Crusader’s array of skills is nearly wholly focused on the Holy Attribute - in this case, the combination of Fire and Lightning. An auto-attack called Punish, a high WD strike called Condemn, auras centered around Laws, and throwing giant maces that remind you of Thor throwing down the hammer; whatever the Crusader lacks in abilities, it does not lack in thematic fervor. The auras are fairly mundane compared to other classes, and as they are Exclusive abilities, Crusader does not mix well with other classes who are reliant on their Exclusives. What makes this class stand apart then? The Heavenly Strength buff! The Crusader has been bestowed by the Gods of Cairn with such might that it can carry Melee Weapons all other classes require lifting with 2H and lift them easily on its shoulders; the only catch is that it requires you to place a Shield in your Off-hand slot for it to work. The most obvious way to take good advantage of this is to use the 45% Physical Conversion (to either Fire or Lightning) and combine it with a 15% Conversion Shield to get nearly 100% conversion just by using 10% conversion components in both weapon slots. The other interesting way of using this unique ability is combining shield-centric sets with Crusader weapons to bring out the most of that set.
Crusader also brings two player-scaled pet skills into the fray. The first is Phalanx, and unfortunately, ever since the cooldown was increased to 30 seconds, I find this to be an utterly worthless skill. There are simply many better uses of skillpoints - whether they be the autoattack skill, the passives, or the second pet skill: Ray of Light. This skill is a true death beam coming from the sky and you can direct it towards enemies using the Pet Attack key. Only recently have they been given stackable Resist Reduction, which made a great skill even better. If there is any reason to play this class, it’s to rain down a column of death beams from above. Rounding out the Crusader’s abiities are a Mirror-like invulnerability skill, a Blitz-like mobility skill, and a circuit breaker that activates on low health. All in all, it’s a well-rounded class that’s only limited by small damage variety and skill point distribution.
Build Objective: Take Crusader’s Phalanx and Ray of Heaven as high as they go by near full damage conversion and high Holy [Fire + Lightning] RR.
Sources of RR:
Blackwater Cocktail - 28 flat RR
Thermite Mines - 30 Elemental RR
Ray of Heaven - 32 Fire + Lightning RR
Eldritch Fire - 23 Fire RR
Arcane Bomb - 35 Lightning RR
Tongue of Flame - 10 Elemental RR
Total RR - 123 Fire RR & 135 Lightning RR
Equipment
Weapon: Crusader’s Sharzul’s Worldeater with Stronghold Defender
Components: Seal of Destruction + Seal of Resonance
Head: Helm of Arkkhan
Component: Living Armor
Shoulders: Pauldrons of Arkkhan
Component: Sacred Plating
Hands: Tal Rasha’s Grasp
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Feet: Sabatons of Arkkhan
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Belt: Mythical Angel Hair Braid
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Pants: Cuisses of Arkkhan
Component: Scaled Hide
Chest Armor: Breastplate of Arkkhan
Component: Chains of Oleron
Amulet: Shard of the Eternal Flame
Component: Tainted Heart
Rings: Mythical Reign of Ice & Fire + Mythical Seal of the Blazing Inferno
Components: Purified Salt + Bloodied Crystal
Medal: Regular / Mythical Mark of Divinity
Component: Runebound Topaz
Relic: Tongue of Flame with 3% DA bonus
Devotions: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAlgz72
This build was originally designed to take Phalanx as close to full overcap as possible: Grimer increasing the cooldown from 20 to 30 seconds brought the skill down to unrecoverable trash tier. A skill that does as little damage as it does has no right to have such low uptime. Once the news of those nerfs hit, I decided to go full Akkhan set and leave it at that. We take a Primordial + Order Devotion layout [and yes Bard’s Harp is especially mandatory] as Crusader’s Crit exclusive and 22/12 Flame Touched grant a huge amount of flat Offensive Ability. You can use Justice Hammers to heal yourself for 4% every throw (and strikingly, you have 180% Cast Speed against 120% Attack Speed), but Justice is more of a quick heal while Dryad - which was 100% on Shield Bash even before the cooldown buff - as your main source of healing. With Blast Shield, Crusdaer’s Iron Skin, and 2 Circuit Breakers [Crusader’s Unbreakable + Mark of Divinity], you won’t need much more than a few Justice Throws here and there to get your health back at a good rate.
We take full advantage of Crusader’s Heavenly Strength by taking Crusader’s Sharzul’s Worldeater + Stronghold Defender: Not only does the mace get you to 22/12 Flame Touched and the Shield give you +1 to all skills, but having both weapons convert Physical damage means that you have around 65% Physical to Fire Damage. Throw in Shard of the Eternal Flame (also having Flame Touched bonuses), Seal of Destruction, and Seal of Resonance, and you have nearly 90% Physical to Fire conversion. Phalanx gets a boost being nearly all Fire damage, and Light of Empiryon is a great T3 devotion to take as not only is the proc good damage, but it reduces opposing damage by 24%.
Punish is the Crusader’s auto-attack - use it once and you get a litany of buffs for 5 seconds. We softcap the initial node to get the most oomph out of it as well as get the 100% Health regeneration increase, and hardcap the third node to get the sweet Lightning bonuses and Crit damage. Due to the build’s dreadful Attack Speed, we don’t spam Punish but instead use it for initial buffing and Eldtich Fire binding and rotate between Sharzul’s mace, Ray of Heaven + Mines, and Flashbang for that sweet fumble. This is one of my more button-heavy builds, so I flip bindings to get Phalanx and Akkhan’s Champion when the time calls for it as they have similar cooldowns.
Smite the Unbelievers!
Build Objective: Use the Spellscourge set to convert 100% of Elemental to Physical Damage and combine Devastation and Ray of Heaven for complete death from above!
Sources of RR:
Inferno - 17 Flat Physical RR
Assassin’s Mark - 32 Physical RR
Ring of the Matriarch - 10 Physical RR
Deathstalker - 10 Physical RR
Bombardment - 45% Physical RR (usually around 10-15 stackable RR)
Total RR - ~80 Physical RR
Equipment
Weapon: Mythical Crusader’s Mortal Drama with Spellscourge Bullwark
Components: Seal of Blades + Oleron’s Blood
Head: Spellscourge Visor
Component: Prismatic Diamond
Shoulders: Spellscourge Vanguard
Component: Living Armor
Hands: Mythical Thundertouch Bracers
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Feet: Mythical Earthshatter Trends
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Belt: Mythical Angel Hair Braid
Component: Ugdenbog Leather
Pants: Mythical Chausses of Barbaros
Component: Scaled Hide
Chest Armor: Platemail of Octavius
Component: Chains of Oleron
Amulet: Spellscourge Deflector
Component: Tainted Heart
Rings: Mythical Ring of the Black Matriarch + Seal of the High Priest
Components: Purified Salt + Imbued Silver
Medal: Mythical Combat Medic’s Mark
Component: Tainted Heart
Relic: Deathstalker with 3% OA bonus
Devotions: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAlgz72
I saved likely my favorite Grimarillion build for the end - hope the wait was worth it! As you can see from the picture, it’s a torrent of boulders featuring Crusader’s Bombardment and Arcanist’s Devastation. How do you use Devastation while using Crusader’s Heavenly Strength, you ask? Enter the Spellscourge set: an Elemental to Physical set with the Shield containing a hidden passive that allows you to use Devastation. As the set revolves around the Shield, Crusader’s Mortal Drama goes perfectly with it. This mace wasn’t introduced until one of the later Grimer updates, but its +1 to Bombardment modifier was highly worth the wait.
We take Octavius Chest to complete the 100% Elemental to Physical conversion, so the Fire from both Bombardment and Devastation are fully converted to Physical [Devastation’s Aether damage is converted by the Shield Modifier]. As an additional thanks to the set, both rain abilities also have Weapon damage, so we get some ADCTH and leech with these abilities, as well as our multiple >100% WD item skills. For an extra touch, we take Tree of Life and the Combat Medic medal to give us extra healing when waiting for the bombardment to cool down. If that wasn’t enough, we have Mirror + Iron Skin + 25% CDR + Time Dilation to take as much advantage of invulnerability as possible.
Offensively, we have Ray of Heaven piercing through the skies, and converting both of its damage types to Physical damage maximizes its output. Callidor’s Tempest + Inferno is responsible for applying a large internal Trauma DoT, and Ground Smash is present for both the Chaos resistance and an item skill to proc Time Dilation. Oleron’s Blood is taken for the reduced damage debuff. Devastation has enough cooldown reduction that if the first barrage doesn’t finish them off, it won’t be too long before the second barrage is ready; just remember to use Mirror while using the first barrage and Iron Skin to reduce the waiting time before setting off the second barrage and refresh all of it with Time Dilation.
Hey man, could you post the abilities screenshots without hovering over the skill or add them to grim calc? I’m a new player and it’s kinda difficult to see which one should I take now. Thanks!
Unfortunately, Grimtools does not work on modded classes. If it was, I’d have much less of a need for all these screenshots. I hover my mouse on the most important skills to demonstrate the build’s potential. Most of the classes in my features have enough screenshots from the multitude of builds that you can figure out which skills to soft cap or hard cap and which ones are just one-pointers.
I am glad to help you with any build posted on here. Let me know which build you’re interested in playing and I’ll post the skill point allocation, devotion binding, and anything else that’s not explicitly stated in the screenshots.
Thanks for the reply. I was playing around with nature/necrotic build you recommended in the grimarillion thread but now i’m very curious about the last build (arcanist/crusader) if it’s as fun as you say. Would be great if you could post more info like you mentioned!
Besides that - what is your favorite pet build and could you post something more about it? Thanks.
My favorite part of the Arcanist / Crusader is you have Heaven’s Fury + 2 Bombardment skills so you’re pelting enemies to death from above. The caveat is that you absolutely need the Spellscourge set or else the build doesn’t work at all. Keep that in mind if you want to pursue it.
Crusader Skill layout:
Fully max Heaven’s Fury, Bombardment, & Laws of Valor (the one that gives Crit damage)
Get to 10/10 Hold your Ground, Iron Skin, and Fervor (I have Fervor up to 13/10 but outside of some %damage and speed, this one is not as important)
Divine Fortress and Indestructible I have at 5/10.
Arcanist layouy:
Fully max Devastation & Maiven’s
Get to 12/12 Mirror, Elemental Balance, Inner Focus, and Inferno (the skill next to Callidor’s Tempest)
1 point in everything else, though you can put some extra points in Nullification to reduce the cooldown.
As for favorite pet build, I like the player-scaled pets more than the regular summoner pets. For summoner pets, I like the Nature + Necrotic build as you get the most out of all of your pets, and it’d be interesting to see how well the Ghol’s set goes with it.
I made a point in the Grimarillion thread that I’ll be leveling my favorites further in the game - I’ll definitely have 1 Summoner build, 1 Hybrid (either the Reap Spirit one or the Blight Fiend + Rogue hybrid), and a few player-scaled pets one. In addition to the Bombardment Mage, I like all the 2H gunner builds I’ve made - it’s really hard to limit myself to a few since they all have something interesting.
That’s a bit off puting about the spellscourge set to be honest. I think i’ll stick with nature/necrotic then, could you posting some more info about this one too?
Also any other non-pet build that’s fun and not that gear dependent you can think of?
edit: actually, I started a barb/crusader since the new Grimarillion update is here and i’m having tons of fun with whirlwind, will you be giving it a try? Very curious about a build you’d put together for it.
Out of my current builds, the least gear-dependent ones I have are ones where the conversion is built into the masteries. Champion Mastery’s Army of None is one of my favorite skills because it really feels like an Army and - unlike other skills - feels really rewarding when you overcap the abilities. 100% Lightning to Aether conversion is built into the Storm Mastery, so all you need is a good Physical to Aether weapon and you’re most of the way there.
Any build incorporating the Zenith masteries is going to be fun; Ceno did a wonderful job with these masteries, even if they were designed to be more OP than the regular classes. Since their abilities are very good, they are less gear-dependent than other classes would be, as often weak skills need either gear conversion or massive overcap before they become reliable.
I’d tell you about Oathkeeper and Barbarian, but I’d have to get the expansion first. 
No ETA on when that will happen, and I wouldn’t be able to say anything about the new gear as GDStash won’t be there to give a look into anything related to Barbarian.
I’ll take a look at the zenith masteries then, also is FG needed for barbarian though?
So would recommend going with riftstalker/d3 necro or riftstalker/outrier, which one was more fun to you?
- FG is indeed necessary for anyone to play the D3 Barbarian class.
- I did not make a Riftstalker + D3 Necro build, so I don’t know what you’re referring to. Riftstalker + Outrider is a lot of fun, especially when you get the bonus ability that puts totems all over the place. I haven’t built that one from scratch, so I won’t be of much help when it comes to leveling.
- Skeleton Overlord (D3 Necro + GD Necro) Equipment List is completely revamped! I’ll redo the pictures for the skill distribution once I get the opportunity, but Skeleton Overlord is a build I definitely want to test in both xpac content.
I have a few leftover builds that don’t have a class feature, but I want to make sure all the summon pet skills in this game are accounted for:
Build Objective: To make Dracarris feel like a unique and build-defining item while making use of the Core Dweller.
Source of RR:
Black Star of Deceit - 15 flat RR
Earth Ring of Flame - 20 Chaos RR
Eldritch Fire - 35 Chaos RR
Symbol of Solael - 10 Chaos RR
Fiendgaze Tome - 10 Chaos RR
Total RR - 90 Chaos RR
Equipment + Devotions: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/pZrjz0kZ [AoM]
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YZenLGvN [FG]
Along with Zunimassa Witch Doctor + Storm, this was one of my first build concepts, spanning out to last September. It had served me well getting through initial testing, but multiple nerfs to several items forced me to reimagine this build somewhat. The concept was a simple one: convert 100% of both Physical and Fire damage to Chaos for full Chaos Swarmlings, with help from 22/12 Hellfire Hellhound and tanking assistance from the Core Dweller. Dracarris was first used in DaShiv’s Pyromancer, where he used Demolitionist’s Fire abilities to reliably proc the Hellspawn ability and grant further Fire damage to pets. Here we focus on the Chaos side of it, as thanks to Earth’s buff, we don’t just convert pet Fire to Chaos, but player damage as well. The main skill we use to proc this ability is Earth’s Meteor - an ability with massive flat damage which if we could bring to 16/16 (maybe by reducing Core Dweller investment), we would. Meteor is bound to Time Dilation - the skill cooldown activates when the Meteor lands, so as the Meteor descends, you can activate abilities like Blood of Dreeg and Core Healing and have their cooldowns reduced as well.
This build gets a nice buff with Fallen Gods: As you can see in the screenshots, you only have around 2650 OA with permanent buffs + Blood of Dreeg; that’s not very reliable to Crit bosses and 25 RR is bound to Crits (Black Star and Fiendgaze Tome). The Mystical Vestments of Severed Faith gives you an extra 100 flat OA, and while you do lose about 140% Pet Damage, that is partially made up by the 21 flat Chaos damage given to your pets. Pierce Resistance is hard to come by on this build, so the new Chestpiece is especially welcome since it grants that resistance. As an additional bonus, you gain about 100% Chaos damage yourself, which will definitely help getting the kills necessary to proc Hellspawn. Now that Fiendgaze Tome converts 100% Cold to Chaos damage, you can also use the Bonescavenger Gloves for even higher player OA and more pet damage to partially offset the loss of Fiendmaster. As for other equipment, the nerf to Voidwhisper rings means that you now have to equip both rings in order to have full 100% Physical to Chaos conversion; Peerless Eye is surprisingly one of the best options for the amulet even with the boon of All Skills amulets you have access to; and the head gear, while surprising to see from a pet build, has the best combination of resistances, damage bonuses, and skill points - even more valuable as the usual sources of Satyr craft are all taken.
Build Objective: To take Blade Spirit to its maximum potential while eschewing the Demonslayer set as it’s essentially used for P. Blades throwing.
Sources of RR:
Marked for Death - 25 flat RR (or 18 flat RR from RoS modifier)
Veil of Shadow - 30 Pierce RR
Demon Hunter Bolt - 30 Pierce RR, 30 Bleeding RR
Assassin’s Blade - 32 Pierce RR
Rend - 32 Bleeding RR
Blind Assassin Proc - 15 Pierce RR, 15 Bleeding RR
Bladetwister Signet - 10 Pierce RR
Total: 132 Pierce RR, 102 Bleeding RR
Equipment + Devotions: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNklpKD2 [FG]
Replace Boots with Shadow’s Heels, Ring with Elusive Ring [D3], and maybe Pants with Shadow’s Coils for the 120% Pierce Bonus. As always, ring components are Purified Salt and Imbued Silver, respectively.
If playing AoM, Reaper Leggings are necessary to get 26/16 Blade Spirit, replace gloves with Shadow’s Grasp and Shoulders with Vileblood Mantle to keep 22/12 Circle of Slaughter
Blade Spirits were the first of Grim Dawn’s player-scaled pet skills, and it would do thie compendium injustice to leave out a build showcasing this skill. Blade Spirits were revamped around the 1.1.0.0 patch; instead of them being temporary and your ability to summon them relied on Cooldown Reduction, they are now permanent pets where you can increase the number of blades summoned via item modifiers. This build was a relic towards the old way of building for them through the Blind Assassin set, whose claim to fame revolves around Off-hand levels of CDR despite the set involving DW weapons. The CDR may not affect Blade Spirit summons now, but it does greatly help this build’s other abilities - most notably access to 3 healing abilities: Pneumatic Breath’s access to great flat DA and extremely short cooldown, Demon Hunter’s Shadow Power and the second node that grants ADCTH (normally not anywhere close to 100% uptime, but now only has 0.5s downtime thanks to this build’s CDR), and a second Demon Hunter heal that also grants a short burst of immunity.
Blade Spirits consist of three damage types: Cold, Piercing, and Bleeding. As Bleeding is incapable of being converted, this build uses a double damage set-up of Pierce and Bleeding, converting 75% of Cold to Pierce using the Pack of Trecherous Means and Bladetwister Signet. Normally, double damage builds tend to lag behind single damage builds, but the Blind Assassin Set thankfully includes both damage types and the devotion set-up allows for grabbing T3s for both Pierce (Unknown Soldier) and Bleeding (Mogdrogen the Wolf), as well as their respective RR’s. The conversion also allows for the Nemesis pet to be largely single damage, maximizing its output. Pierce damage is most heavily used with high WD attacks - especially since Lethal Assault’s flat damage is made up of 75% Cold to Pierce and 50% Acid to Pierce. Bleeding damage is used in 22/12 Circle of Slaughter and Blade Spirit + Rend. With the Bleed ticks combined with the build’s three healing skills, this is an incredibly sturdy build - well capable of handling the roughest content.
For equipment, D3’s Elusive Ring gives great damage to both Pierce and Bleeding as well as over 80 flat OA, and the 2-pc bonus in the Shadow’s Set gives 120% Pierce damage, which is vital for this build. The question becomes: what should the Grimtools give up to obtain it? The first piece is the boots - 50% Slow Resistance and Piercing damage alone makes it perfect for the build. The second slot is a far trickier option: the AoM build uses the gloves thanks to its 100 flat OA, but it’s a tall order to ask to give up Grasps of Unchained Might and its flat RR on Ring of Steel. Shoulders can be another option, but note that you lose your 26/16 Blade Spirits by taking it, which means roughly 15% DPS loss by leaving Blade Spirit at 24/16. The pants are probably the best options, especially since you get an additional 50% Slow resistance. Chausses of Barbaros makes a compelling option, however, as the Bleeding damage, 100 flat OA, and the 150% damage proc nearly closes the damage gap. The other placeholder slots are shown for having similar resistances so you can see how the build fares defensively. Mind you, Demon Hunter has a passive that gives 20% to all Resistances, and that doesn’t include the standard Purified Salt / Imbued Silver on the rings. If you need more OA, Seal of the Night is a potential option, but having the extra Armor is hard to pass on.