I LOVE BIRDS. So naturally, I built a character that turns the screen into an absolute avian apocalypse. This concept is a total crowd killer, can handle bosses, is absurdly fast, smooth to level and easy to gear.
AS IS NOW, THIS BUILD HAS BEEN RENDERED A MEME BUILD BECAUSE THE ELDRUN SET MAKES THE GREAT RAVENS PLAYER BONUS SCALED INSTEAD OF PET BONUS SCALED. Thank you to @kir2902 and @DarkStyx for pointing this out. It stings, but it is what it is.
Don’t get me wrong, it will still take down all regular content on Ascendant Mode, But Crate-Boss is going to be impossible in this form. Callagadra should be obtainable, but will take tactics and patience.
We aren’t just summoning birds here; we are the bird, we’re commanding a flock of birds, and we brought a flaming demon dog from hell and his mate from the eldritch realm together with a parade of ghostly specters along just for good measure.
Currently working on leveling this build for hardcore, but I will be going a different direction and lose the Eldrun set. Kevin sadly has got to go.
Mystic, Level 100 (GD 1.3.0.8) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Here is a link to a Highlight of a stream of this build handling bosses… like a boss. ON ASCENDANT MODE
I got raided by the amazing @Misterwarborne , my first ever raid, which was thrilling!
Same content on Youtube:
Odin had a simple dream: to sit quietly in the Arcanist library, drink spiced wine, and study ancient celestial charts.
Instead, he was standing knee-deep in swamp sludge, fully transformed into a towering Wereraven—a terrifying, eight-foot-tall hybrid of giant raven and armored warrior—yelling orders at three oversized electric-blue birds, a giant fiery demonic dog, and a parade of pale, translucent spectres.
It turned out that Odin wasn’t just a summoner; he was the flock. As an Occultist-turned-Mystic, he possessed two degrees in magic, zero common sense, and the ability to sprout razor-sharp talons and massive dark wings. But being a giant bird-man himself wasn’t enough. Odin had read a prohibited pamphlet about a forgotten relic set called Bysmiel’s Trinkets, cross-referenced it with the Eldrun armaments, and realized a terrifying truth of arithmetic:
If one Wereraven is scary, adding three Storm-Ravens makes an unstoppable aerial strike team.
He forged the gear. Reality tore open, and out popped Huginn, Muninn, and… Kevin.
Three giant, crackling familiars were now bound to his soul. They didn’t just peck at eyes; they acted as a mobile anti-aircraft battery, flying in tight formation right beside Odin in his Wereraven form. Below them ran the Hellhound—a flaming, four-legged furnace that sprinted headfirst into enemies, biting ankles, breathing fire, and exploding into a glorious fireball whenever things got too crowded.
Whenever a towering Chthonic titan lumbered out of the void, Odin didn’t panic. He spread his giant feathered wings, perched atop a boulder, pointed a lethal taloned claw, and dropped a Curse of Frailty.
What followed was a synchronized firing squad. Odin and his three ravens hovered in formation and unleashed a wall of overlapping lightning bolts and clawing strikes so dense it cooked the monster on the spot. To top it off, Odin wore Bonescavenger’s Deathgrips. Every time his feathered artillery turned a cultist into ash, the gloves snagged the guy’s soul to spawn a pale, shimmering spectre. Before long, Odin the Wereraven was leading a full-blown carnival parade bacchanal: three lightning drones, a hellish attack dog, and a gaggle of ghostly spectres acting as literal meat-shields around his ankles.
Knowing that feathers alone wouldn’t stop a battleaxe, Odin kept his hybrid frame heavily armored. He wore Fiendflesh Greaves, wrapped his feathered chest in the heavy Fiendmaster Raiment, and pulled on Wildshorn Legguards.
When a Nemesis boss finally ducked under the Hellhound, swiped through the wall of spectres, and slammed a massive battleaxe directly into Odin’s Wereraven chest, its blade bounced off a crackling, auto-triggering demonic shield (Fiendflesh Ward) with a hollow THWACK.
Odin didn’t even flinch. He casually preened his wing feathers, took a sip from a flask held awkwardly in his claws, and let the Ravens and Hellhound channel an absolute massacre straight into the boss’s face until it dissolved into ionized carbon.
“Good job, team,” Odin croaked in his deep, raspy Wereraven voice, landing heavily as Kevin dropped a soothing healing aura on his talons while the Hellhound happily wagged its burning tail. “Next town, I’m buying a birdcage the size of a barn and a very large dog house.”
Wereraven form, acting as an active frontline hybrid caster/combatant who stacks player buffs while diving into combat directly alongside the summons.
The Eldrun set has a hidden feature: It makes your ravens scale with player bonusess instead of pet bonuses. Despite this, they still have their own Elemental, lightning and electrocute damage and the “hidden feature” makes it so that they share all the cold, frostburn and piercing damage from Wereraven as well.
Tri-Raven Artillery: Stacking Bysmiel’s Trinkets (+1 Familiar) and the Eldrun Set (+1 Familiar) allows Odin to summon 3 permanent Familiars. Their overlapping projectile attacks deliver massive shotgunning single-target lightning DPS.
Frontline Distraction (Hellhound & Spectres): The Hellhound draws initial aggro with fire/chaos damage and on-death explosions, while Bonescavenger’s Deathgrips generate a continuous stream of temporary spectres on kill to absorb incoming hits.
Fiendflesh Greaves: Automatically triggers Fiendflesh Ward to absorb incoming flat damage when Odin takes a heavy hit.
Fiendmaster Raiment: Grants a protective aura that gives Odin and all his pets Chaos damage absorption and heavy resistances.
Wildshorn Legguards and Fiendmaster Raiment heavily boost Pet Offensive Ability Attack Speed, and Retaliation, allowing Hellhound, Eldritch hound and ghosts abilities to land constant critical hits.
Blood of Dreeg: Serves as the primary active heal-on-demand for both Odin and all pets while granting a massive spike to Offensive Ability (OA) and Acid/Poison resistance while Aspect of the Guardian provides essential Physical Resistance and cap Acid/Poison resists, turning Odin and his entire pack into virtually unbreakable tanks.
