Build Intro:
Build based around the Mythical Northern Wyrm weapon, which was an item that I found interesting several years back and still do. And just for science, I decided to finally decided try out the Blade Trap skill in 2023 (SPOILER: It’s not great).
Source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DxkEV9
Pros & Cons
PROS:
+Has more mob clearing options than any other class
+Good single Target damage
+Good mobility, along with class skills that grant both survivability & utility
CONS:
-Low-ish life total (Glass Canon)
-Item set bonuses can feel only mildly rewarding or even worthless to some
-Somewhat inconsistent performance, even when Blade Trap is heavily invested upon
Leveling
Your main priority would be to max the entire first row of the inquisitor skill tree first and do the same for aura of censure: Inquisitor, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
After that, put at least one point in Word of Renewal, max out Vigor and invest at least 6 points into Steel Resolve. Remember to place one point into the Nightblade tree per level up until Pneumatic Burst is unlocked: Infiltrator, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
At this point, we are done with the Inquisitor Tree for a bit, so let’s focus on the Nightblade side of things. Max Pneumatic Burst for the healing and increased attack speed, then unlock and max Anatomy of Murder for a huge boost to cunning: Infiltrator, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Continuing on with the nightblade tree, unlock Elemental Awakening and put at least 7 points into it, then put at least 7 points into Phantasmal Armor. This is to increase our character resistances: Infiltrator, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Lastly, we will raise Nightblade Mastery to level 40, unlocking Merciless Repertoire along the way. From this point on, you may allocate skill points as you please, but here is what I went with (From most important to least important). Also, be sure to put a point each into Word of Arms (Word of Renewal skill modifier) & Blade Barrier (Nightblade skill) if you have yet to do so
- Veil of Shadow- 7 / 10
- Night’s Chill- Max out
- Merciless Repertoire- Max out
From now until level 94, there are only three more skills worth spending on- Shadow Dance (Nightblade), along with Deadly Aim & Inquisitor Seal (Inquisitor). Here is a sample of how my skill trees looked like at level 90-ish: Infiltrator, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Leveling to 94 was done on Normal & Elite as a ranged 2 handed auto attacker, so the setup above should work just fine.
Rare/ Monster Infrequents/Faction gear choices:
Ugdenbog Arcaneweaver
Death’s Mantle
Ascendant Pauldrons
Outcast’s Chilled Pauldrons
Malmouth Chilling Mantle
Elite Malmouth Chilling Mantle
Epic gear choices:
Frigid Quillbreath
Nar’s Arcane Destroyer
Mythical Nar’s Arcane Destroyer
Mantle of the Weeping Eye
Empowered Mantle of the Weeping Eye
Haruud’s Frigid Grip
Empowered Haruud’s Frigid Grip
Mythical Haruud’s Frigid Grip
Devotion choices will be the same from level 1 - 100, so please look below for the pathing
Build
Infiltrator, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator : Final Build
Attribute points- Physique/66 Cunning /41 Spirit /0
All things considered, this is pretty much your standard ranged auto-attacker build. I would say that I’ve been pretty generous with regards to how much damage and resistance reduction I was able to squeeze in, since you’ll be using the default attack and Ice Wyrm’s Breath (Binded to RMB) a lot when Blade Trap doesn’t work. Note that Ice Wyrm’s Breath should be used as a shotgun - The 15 Meter range is a lie and its effectiveness drops off at long range. You should ideally be at medium or close range to maximize its usage.
The one thing which differentiates this build from all the others classes I’ve made thus far, is the sheer number of crowd control and elimination options it can have:
- Inherently strong area damage with LMB + RMB combo which comes naturally with the build
- Horn of Gandarr can be spammed, meaning that is can used both offensively and defensively
- Blade Trap has the potential to disable some or an entire mob. Also very spammable
- Inquisitor Seal can be overcapped easily, for 300+ damage absorption which shines vs mobs
- Aura of censure + Veil of Shadow work really well together for quite a bit of passive damage
The build can wipe out fodder pretty fast and has a lot of escape options when cornered, provided that proper positioning and skill cooldown management is observed at all times.
Now, the only reason I invested so heavily in Blade Trap + Devouring Blades was to test the functionality of the skill. I’ll list out a more detailed assessment at the end of this guide, but all you need to know now is that it certainly does not deserve a huge point investment. At most, Blade Trap is a one pointer and Devouring Blades deserves up to six points and only that. In fact, it would also be feasible to just ignore Blade Trap altogether since most players would be happy to do so in the first place.
This can be used to our benefit, since you can certainly use all of the excess skill points to further overcap both Night’s Chill & Aura of Censure for higher Resist Reduction ; A huge net gain for an auto attacker build, since we would want to melt down big threats as soon as possible. Alternatively, you can try to milk the most out of Ring of Steel, since it has a modifier which converts some of its damage to cold & is objectively a more reliable form of crowd control than Blade Trap for many.
Lastly, you can raise your health total slightly by transferring some points from cunning to physique. I just choose more damage in this case since this is what the build excels at, but I know that some players would like a bit more padding just in case.
Devotion
1.Green Crossroads
2.Spider
3.Blue Crossroads
4.Eel
5.Red Crossroads
6.Kraken
7.Murmur, Mistress of Rumors (Bind to Beronath’s Fury)
8.Amatok,The Spirit of Winter (6 nodes, bind to Chilling Rounds)
9.Purple Crossroads
10.Toad
11.Hydra
12.Viper
13.Ultos (4 nodes)
14.Refund Green, Blue, Red & Purple Crossroads
15.Hammer
16.Rhowan’s Crown (Bind to Storm Spread)
17.Ghoul (4 nodes, bind to Veil of Shadow)
Final Words :
My overall impression of building around the Rimetongue set as an infiltrator, is that it feels almost like a support set that mainly supplements cold damage and buffs skills which are used more as utilities as opposed to damage dealing options. While Blade Trap seemed like a great crowd clearer and a pick which would turn the class into a mobbing specialist of sorts, it has two big issues which make it perhaps one of the worst skills in the game:
- Inconsistencies based on the enemy type and skill effects
- Impractically or just flat out uselessness when used against boss type or more powerful foes
The second reason I should be able to excuse, which turned out to not be the case especially when Blade Trap seems to have no consistency when it comes to what it can or cannot affect. Case and point:
- It can actually stun Korvaak (A super boss) for a milisecond in all his phases while doing nothing vs Kalis Ka, the Bonehunter (A boss enemy)
- It affects the Temple Guardians which guards Inashkor, while the common Animated Watcher & Animated Preserver completely no sells the move
These are only two of the many examples I choose to cite. While I understand that different enemies have different immunities or might even gain resistances the more times I use Blade Trap, it just feels mechanically clumsy to me, when a skill that I was encouraged to spend a lot of points in feels seemingly random on which enemy it can affect. It would be fine and dandy if the skill worked on no enemy which are on the boss tier and above, while working on everything that is weaker - But what I learned was that apparently some lesser enemies are 100% immune while act bosses are somewhat affected. It just severely throttles any semblance of reliability which Blade Trap could have retained.
And as for Blade Trap not working on bosses or anything higher, that feels completely fair - It would be completely OP if Blade Trap could permanently entrap them. From my experience, anything that gets affected by the full duration is never going to move if I reapply Blade Trap off cooldown since it refreshes every 1.8 seconds for me. However, I feel that it should apply the “- % Defensive Ability” part for a few seconds as long as I hit anything even if the rooting effect isn’t applicable. Perhaps cap it at -20%, since I imagine -39% DA on any boss would probably feel too powerful. Or perhaps just give whatever that is immune a slow or sorts, since it feels utterly unrewarding to players who experiment with skill if nothing happens.
But I think another lesser factor which hurts Blade Trap’s credibility is that it tries to do something big, but that something can be done better by other classes. Blademasters and Spellbreakers can be build to delete mobs in the blink of an eye ; Blade Trap seeks to control the playing field by Killing fodder overtime with DoT. Most players would rather just wipe out any threat out of existence in an instant, rather than have them clutter up the playing field…and the kicker is that not even all enemies would be affected as I mentioned earlier, so the player would need to spend more time and effort for the cleanup. If Blade Trap was at least consistent in its effectiveness, then perhaps it could have some credibility by delaying the advances of weaker foes, but even that distinction would be undeserved because it has such a fickle output even vs the things it should 100% work on.
At the end of the day, Blade Trap in 2023 still feels like a skill that is both outclassed and outmatched by virtually every other class. It both fails to excel at crowd control and can barely perform in a way that functions as “satisfactory” crowd control. Basically, it fails at being mid tier as well. And while it sound like I’m just joining the hate wagon here, the reality is that I wanted Blade Trap to shine, and I think I gave it a lot more chances than others would allow. But in the end, it was always one step forwards, two steps back ; one success for every two disappointments - Excelling at letting me down was its only constant. It does have its shining moments and great potential for mechanical rework, but other than that I just can’t sell this skill to anyone as I originally intended.
The Silver Lining is that it could be a passable skill if it did provide some kind of debuff on hit, but I doubt anything about the skill would change. If you have read my critique / rant thus far, then take this as confirmation that you shouldn’t Build so heavily into Blade Trap like I did.
And lastly, here is a non-definitive list of notable campaign enemies that Blade Trap works on. If something isn’t on the list, then it means Blade Trap had no effect, or I didn’t fight it. Do what you may with the list, since I mostly just did it out of curiosity, so take it as approximate and not definite readings. In other words, you should probably just Ignore Blade Trap if you are fighting some big enemy:
Kreig- Phase 1
Guardian of Dreeg
Galfang
Ramzul
Korvan Titanavore
Tirgan
Navan
Gannar’vakkar
Grimmaw
Inashkor & temple guardians (Sometimes)
Duskreaper (Sometimes, Milistun)
Okaloth (Milistun)
Dravis
The Steward
Brother Segarius
Korvaak- Phase 1, 2 and 3 (slightly less than one second)
Gulgoth
Halion & his Rat
“Dravka” the Torch
“Boomer” Slocum
“Moneybags” Martin
Hudson Fury
Bloody Jack
Darius Cronley
Nomos Dred
Luthra, the Abandoned
Guardian of Solael
Harrath, the Slaughterer
Ballog’nath. The Hellfire
The Amalgamation
Wraith of Sorrows
Bolvar, the Bloodbinder
Zaria, the Carver
Karroz, Sigil of Ch’thon
Thall’Nosh, the Unraveler
Guardian of Bysmiel
Commander Lucius
The Sentinel (milistun)
Balok’Anatu, Bloodfiend
Bloodlord Thalonis
Dralgar, The Keeper of Burrwitch
Pakla, The Turning
Javos Bonespliter
Ugdall, Wrath of Ugdenbog
Neak, Phris, and Alya Dugald
Naxen Shade
Avris Marrowill
Ollivioth
Yuvolloth
Handarroth
Janaxia
Stone Basilisk (Slightly over a second)
Ekket’Zul, Progenitor of Darkness (Slightly over a second)
Gabal’Thunn, The Visage of Madness (milistun)
Terrnox
Ballog, Keeper of the gates
Dreven Cole, Alberran Rein, Cyrian Marcan
Valaxteria
Allostria, The Mindthief
Fleshweaver Krieg
Hagalvar, The Bone Monger
Rodalgar,The Flesh Collector
Theodin Marcell (Phase 2 & 3 only, Milistun)