Heyho everyone,
i started Grim Dawn 1 week ago and i am reading through many forums,
but i just don’t see and Thread about Vitality Damage.
so here is my question: how does this kind of damage work?
I wanted to do a Vitality Damage based Witchhunter, with “dying god” and
the only combination i found out was with Occultist.
Since i am insanely squishy i’d like to know how exactly Vitality Damage works so i could actually get another secound class to be a little more bulky 
It’s just a generic damage type, thematically related to life stealing through skills/abilities/procs.
I’m surprised you can’t find anything in the build section, as vitality builds are wide popular. They are also easy to play and there are plenty of related items.
If you have any troubles, show build with https://grimcalc.com/, and you’ll get tips how to improve it.
So when i’m going fully Vitality Damage then i will lifeleech,
but what if there comes a boss with a resistance to that?
Am i doing still any damage and do i get enough hp back,
or am i just simply ****ed?
thank you for the quick reply btw 
Yes, leech from bosses and certain mobs is unreliable. Ofc you may improve it by % resistance reduction, don’t expect to facetank the hardest bosses though. It’s intentional.
Vitality damage is just another damage type like any other that you may build your character around.
Life leech is a separate thing and is affected by vitality resistance but, bosses also have life leech resistance which is a separate resistance. Your character can also get this special resistance via devotions or equippment.
Life steal or, Attack damge converted to health, is dependant on % weapon damage skills. It great for melee characters ranged shooters etc, that usually use %weapin damage skills, bosses are alo resistant to it btu it’s FAR more reliable than life leech. There are only a few monster immune to Attack damge converted to health. Anasteria, Obsidian monsters, some Undead monsters are among the most important.
Don’t rely on life leech! It’s only nice early game. Use life steal^
Vit/Chaos Witchhunter is hard for a starter without gear, go with Vit Caster Conjurer first
Don’t rely on life leech! It’s only nice early game. Use life steal^[/QUOTE]
And how exactly do i use lifesteal?
I mean is there a skill on Occultist for example where it is lifesteal and not lifeleech?
Because i only see " +xx% Vitality Damage"
or did i just get trolled without knowing it ?
I think a witchhunter is better with a Poison based build, maybe a dual wield build with the new 1.006 venom set for example
Iam playing a dot based Vitaly Conjurer (Shaman/Okku) without pets, u can play with pets too.
I have a link on youtube for this build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq0dFDbJ-Y4
Its fun to play
there are items that convert your dmg to health, an example of this is:
there is also an devotion that gives a good amount of ActH, it’s called the revenant:
and some skills (passives) have a ActH Feral hunger:
there are also some items that give ActH; thread of mortality and some affixes which you can find on gear like vampiric, Dread lord’s
But keep this in mind:
Attack damage converted to health, is dependent on % weapon damage skills. It’s great for melee characters ranged shooters etc, that usually use %weapon damage skills, bosses are also resistant to it but it’s FAR more reliable than life leech. There are only a handfull of enemies who are immune to Attack damage converted to health: Anasteria, Obsidian monsters, some Undead monsters are among the most important.
hope this helps?
I actually know that i should not play this with melee and without poison,
but i don’t want to play with pets and i don’t want to play with poison.
I guess that my plan of building “dying god” into a witchhunter won’t work #feelsbadman
My plan was to get a little tanky and beeing able to lifeleech/lifesteal more hp than i lose (i don’t mean facetanking big bosses) but atleast enough to stand it a bit.
Early game: Hollowed Fang inserted in weapon, can be crafted
Weapons/rings with Vampiric prefix
Late game: Haunted Steel in weapon
Equippment like Black star of deceit, a very popular amulet due to flat Resist reduction, life steal and good resists, devotions like Revenenat 9if it suits your build), Lifegiver signet.
Greean weapon woth Of Voracity Suffix (really depends on build this one, it’s usually Blademasters)
Leech and steal are separate mechanics, obtainable through skills/items/components/devotions.
Your confusion comes out of the reason that vitality damage is somehow related to life sustain, as it’s heavily backed up with certain items/skills/devotions/components. Though it’s just a generic damage type, and sustain abilities aren’t integrated in the damage type itself.
As a beginner, I’ll also recommend you the vitality conjurer - it’s easy to play and gear up, sustain keeps you alive, and damage potential is sufficient.
some examples of SoC builds, probably the easiest to play build
Here’s one, but I highly doubt you have the items to make it work as expected. I’m playing this witchhunter with an offhand and geared to the teeth with top tier items, sustain is insane, but as it’s a melee, HP bar jumps up and down yo-yo style in intense fights, no matter the gear. Sustain from hard bosses is unreliable no matter what.