Build Intro:
This one was a bit out there in terms of Itemization, but it worked out well enough. Also, once again inspired by the Diablo Bone Necromancer.
Image Source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KBwdB
Pros & Cons
PROS
- Great at crowd clearing
- Max cast speed and low cooldowns allow for highly spammable damage output
- Rewards a defensive-oriented playstyle
- Great attack range on abilities allows the build to perform well far away from the frontlines
CONS
- Is only slightly more durable than a glass canon
- Kill speed is tied to how fast you can spam the LMB / RMB
- Bone Harvest skill can be blocked by uneven terrain / environmental obstructions
Leveling
In terms of leveling, I have opted to use the Bone Harvest skill. In order to do this, we will dual wield the Bonescythe Monster Infrequent axe. Every other gear from level 1 - 94 can be any found item that enhances Vitality or Cold damage, but the axes are crucial while leveling on Hardcore. You will have to spend some time to farm a decent pair at different level tiers, but the time investment will ensure that Bone Harvest remains powerful from normal to elite. Bind Bone Harvest to your Right Mouse Button.
For our Left Mouse Button, zero cooldown ranged skill, we will use a Chilled Steel component to obtain its weapon skill- Ice Spike. At Level 75, you can optionally swap components to Seal of the Night. I personally kept using Ice Spike until I was level 94 and still felt that it was fine even in Elite.
Here is how I recommend distributing our skill points following each Level Up:
Our first priority would be to max out Bone Harvest, along with its modifiers- Dread & Soul Harvest. We will then pump the Necromancer mastery bar till it hits 50, and then cap Harbinger of Souls. For this part, we will ignore the Nightblade skill tree: Necromancer, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Next, we will finally begin with the Nightblade Mastery, and place a single point into Dual blades to allow dual wielding. Keep placing points into the Nightblade Tree until Pneumatic Burst is unlocked, which we will then proceed to cap along with Spectral Binding: Reaper, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator NOTE: I forgot to unlock the Pneumatic Burst modifier- Breath of Belgothian. I advise everyone else to do it now.
After that, we will unlock Anatomy of Murder in the Nightblade Tree and max it, along with Spectral Wrath within the Necromancer Tree. Be sure to put just one point each into Reaping Strike & Necrotic Edge ; these two skills are useless for our build, but we will still unlock them to bind devotions in order to begin leveling them as early as possible: Reaper, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Now, it would be a good time to gain our “circuit breaker” skills- Mark of Torment in the Necromancer Tree & Blade Barrier in the Nightblade Tree. One point each is sufficient for now. We will then ignore the Necromancer Tree for a while, and focus solely on the Nightblade side of things. Increase the Nightblade Mastery bar all the way to 32 and unlock both Elemental Awakening & Phantasmal Armor: Reaper, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Lastly, we will fill out the rest of the Nightblade Tree by focusing on these skills, ranked in the order of Most important to least important: Reaper, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
- Elemental Awakening (7/12)
- Phantasmal Armor (8/12)
- Veil of Shadow (7/10)
- Merciless Repertoire (12/12)
- Night’s Chill (10/10)
The rest of your points can be allocated as you please, but I suggest leveling Dual Blades a bit more for Physical Resistance & building up Shadow Dance to increase your defenses. Ill Omen & Call of the Grave can be ignored before level 94. Here is a sample of how my level 90-ish skill trees look like: Reaper, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Devotions (Level 1 - 94): Reaper, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
- Green Crossroads
- Raven
- Blue Crossroads
- Sailor’s Guide
- Red Crossroads
- Vulture’
- Murmur, Mistress of Rumors (4 nodes, Bind to Bone Harvest)
- Amatok, The Spirit of Winter (4 nodes, Bind to Ice Spike)
- Scholar’s Light
- Yellow Crossroads
- Crane
- Rattosh, The Veilwarden (Bind to Bone Harvest, then Re-bind Rumors to Necrotic Edge)
- Purple Crossroads
- Empty Throne
- Affliction (Bind to Harbinger of Souls)
- Refund green and purple Crossroads
- Behemoth (3 nodes, Bind to Veil of Shadow )
- Bat (3 nodes)
Build
Reaper, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.7) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator : Final Build
Attribute points- Physique / 25 Cunning / 60 Spirit / 22
Playstyle for this build is pretty simple- Spam LMB (Ice Spikes / Chillspikes) and use your RMB (Bone Harvest) when it is off cooldown. Use Ill Omen for extra utility vs mobs, and activate Call of the Grave for a damage / crit damage boost when you need it.
It should be noted that Bone Harvest has a range of 11 meters, so you can fall back a lot further than most builds while spamming your attacks for full damage which helps a ton in terms of survivability.
Also keep in mind that you can go upfront to shred resistances further with your Veil of Shadow / Night’s Chill aura, but use this sparingly as your life steal will not be able to sustain your HP loss in certain scenarios. At any rate, you should only remain close to melee range for a few seconds before repositioning. Repeat as many times as desired, but never stand still for too long unless you want to risk sudden damage spikes. If it feels too risky to get closer, then keep your distance and just spam away until everything dies.
Unlike most ranged / caster classes, target priority should be all or most of the weaker targets before the main threat. The reason for this is because your damage per cast is moderate at best, so you need sustained fire to bring down unique / bosses at an optimal rate. To do this safely, it is best to use your superior crowd clear to delete everything that is weak, so you can focus on spamming single targets to deaths without being interrupted.
Endgame Devotion pathing
- Green Crossroads
- Raven
- Blue Crossroads
- Sailor’s Guide
- Red Crossroads
- Vulture
- Murmur, Mistress of Rumors (Bind to Bone Harvest)
- Amatok, The Spirit of Winter (Bind to Chillspikes)
- Quill
- Viper
- Ultos, Shepherd of Storms (4 nodes only)
- Oklaine’s Lantern
- Behemoth (4 nodes, Bind to Harbinger of Souls)
- Ghoul (4 nodes, Bind to Veil of Shadow)
- Refund red and green Crossroads
- Jackal
Final Words:
Overall, I found it to be a pretty fun, yet very hands on build to play. While it is very entertaining to ‘hose’ enemies to death under a constant barrage of firepower, it also forces the player to be situationally aware. I’ve been caught overextending myself on the offensive for more than a few times and had several close calls because it was just that tempting to get up close to do the most damage. But overtime, I adapted and paid more attention to my positioning which made my experience a lot safer. Still not a very beginner friendly build mostly due to the innately fragile nature of the Nightblade, but a good pick for experienced players who desire a more active playstyle.