Build Intro:
Just an idea I came up with while looking at the Mythical Touch of Purity. That and I basically wanted to see how many healing abilities could I fit onto a character.
Image Source: https://www.deviantart.com/drowtales/art/darkest-dungeon-Plague-doctor-782661110
Pros & Cons
PROS
- Extremely good crowd / Trash Clearing
- Respectable Single Target Damage
- Very Durable and has great sustainability
- Able to perform buffing, Debuffing, Healing and Crowd control roles well while playing with others
- High Mobility
CONS
- Energy intensive build ; Can run out of energy fast if you keep spamming abilities
- Elemental Resistances might be slightly undercapped due to item stat rolls
- Very vulnerable if Word of Renewal + Blood of Dreeg ever goes down
- Will need to dodge / kite around during prolonged confrontations just to regenerate energy
Leveling
For leveling, I used this guide as a reference: [1.1.9.3] SSF Dreeg’s Evil Eye Sentinel - leveling and beginner build.
For this Deceiver build, we will rely on Dreeg’s Evil Eye as our main leveling skill. It is vital to max out the entire DEE line, before doing the same for possession. The sooner it can be done, the better, so focus solely on the above early on. Also, remember to craft Dreeg’s Affliction at level 70 to greatly speed up your clearing speed.
Before moving on, here is how I recommend distributing our skill points following each Level Up:
- 2 points into Occultist / 1 point into Inquisitor (Level 2 - 50)
- 1 point into Occultist / 1 point into Inquisitor (Level 51 - 90)
- If you are done with the Occultist tree, then focus completely on the Inquisitor Tree
Next we will focus on the following milestones. Follow the ratios above while allocating points:
- Blood of Dreeg 1 / 16
- Aspect of the Guardian 12 / 12
- Keep increasing the Inquisitor Mastery Bar by 1 per level up
Once done, move on to Milestones 2. Follow the ratios above while allocating points:
- Curse of Frailty 4 / 10
- Vulnerability 8 / 10
- Keep increasing the Inquisitor Mastery Bar by 1 per level up
Lastly, here is the final list of milestones. Follow the ratios above while allocating points:
- Blood of Dreeg 16 / 16
- Keep increasing the Inquisitor Mastery Bar by 1 per level up until it hits level 40
From this point on, we will not be touching the Occultist Tree while leveling to 94. As for the Inquisitor Tree, I like to distribute my points accordingly:
- Word of Renewal 1 / 12
- Vigor 10 / 10
- Steel Resolve 8 / 10
- Inquisitor Seal 12 / 12
The rest of the points can be spent as you please, but I suggest putting some points into Arcane Empowerment and Deadly Aim if you can. Here is a sample of my skill tree looked at level 80+: Deceiver, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
The linked guide gives a lot of good advice for gearing. Here are a few others which I have used:
- Venomlash
- Plaguebearer of Dreeg
- Eldrick’s Backscratcher
- Empowered Vilescorn Bracers
- Daega’s Mantle
- Alchemist’s Mantle
- Empowered Mark of Anguished Lies
- Mythical Mark of the False Gods
And as for devotion pathing, you may follow the above guide or continue below for my choices which pertains to this particular build (Recommended, since it allows you to level up your celestial powers sooner)
Once you have hit level 94, please continue reading and prepare to respec your skill points.
Build
Deceiver, Level 100 (GD 1.1.9.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator : Final Build
Attribute points- Physique / 60 Cunning / 30 Spirit / 17
This playstyle is pretty durable with around 30% physical resist and Inquisitor Seal. The better you are at moving around and placing seals, the better you can survive. While it feels like a character that can tank, it is highly suggested that you constantly reposition while placing seals around the battlefield since it gives time for your energy to regenerate.
I have done my best to improve the rate of energy regeneration, but you will always be keeping up Word of Renewal + Blood of Dreeg on top of constant seal placements, debuffing and attacking ; this effectively means that you will need to stop attacking for a bit if your energy bar is struggling to replenish itself, otherwise you’ll quickly find yourself surrounded with no way to attack or escape.
Devotion Pathing
1.Green Crossroads
2. Bat
3. Viper
4. Imp
5. Murmur
6. Spider
7. Raven
8. Red Crossroads
9. Yugol
10. Ghoul
11. Abomination
12. Refund red
13. Lizard
14. Jackal
Final Words:
As far as a support build goes, I was quite surprised at how it performed campaign wise. However, I was unable to find other builds to compare it with for more comprehensive benchmarking, which is to be expected given its intended purpose. It can already solo clear hardcore ultimate story content, so I’d say that it is more than capable of functioning in a coop setting where it’ll have more opportunities to excel at assisting allies. I’m not sure if 4 healing abilities are considered overkill (or overheal), but they certainly are nice options to have along with all the buffs and debuffs that come with the build. While more comfortable with staying away from the frontlines, a character following this build has a surprising amount of durability and enough offensive capabilities to come out and mass kill crowds of weaker foes ; Allowing the main damage dealers to focus on bigger threats.
