*What if Taken is actually Chthon himself and he tries to regain his power by deceiving Ulgrim and Black Legion , if you like this scenario and role play you are on the right place!
(1) Introduction
This leveling guide is inspired by the latest patch changes to Drain Essence and the absolutely beast of a build that @mad_lee dropped recently Drainmaster 9000 [1.2.1.6], yes this is one of the top specs currently and its not sink unclogging equipment .
(2) Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Very easy to play ( 2-3 buttons )
- Easy playstyle to master
- Leech tank
- Fantasy of Chthon collecting his blood (I even start in pure human form and slowly change the appearance into Chthon final form using the Illusionist for the sake of the role play )
- Beginner friendly
- Insane damage
- Full Monster Infrequent support
Cons:
- Drain Essence and Devouring Swarm cant break objects ( I use shift + left click )
- Requires grind on certain levels
- Some map tiles can block your Drain Essence (not very often but happens)
(3) Leveling Progression
Nothing special about this bracket , we start as a Shaman vitality caster cause Drain essence without extra targets is kinda bad, so Devouring swarm + Fire Blast/Greater Fire Blast (Searing ember and Flintcore Bolts component) carry easily up to level 20 ,items wise we looking for caster gear (energy regen) , resistances and life. Most important items for this bracket are Isaac Spaulders and Slith Primal Ring (both quest related guaranteed items)
This bracket involves more character development we start to looking for better components ,gear and no empty slot or slots equipped with Magic items , after you unlock your Blacksmith immediately craft 2xWardstones for your amulet and medal (medals pop up in the vendors around level 13 buy some basic and cheap one ideally with stats or resistances) . I recommend exploring for this levels and slow phasing cause we look for Karvor’s Conjuring Bone and Putrid Necklace very easy to get items but very effective early on necklace is massive health boost and off hand spawns pet that boost our total speed , skill tree wise we still progressing Shaman for life/energy regen and basically Devouring swarm ranks (don’t spam it 1 -2 casts per group of mobs is enough spamming this just reset duration and drains your energy) and spam Fire blast/Greater Fire blast as a filler. Around level 18 usually we approach Warden Krieg Lab , my personal advice here is farm last Rift for crystals (do at least 3 runs to stock up crystals and scraps also some levels) , we have important crafting session after Warden Defeat
Level 22 Swap to Drain Essence CLICK ME
We finally switch to DE and after Warden defeat we do our first serious crafting session:
- 2x Antivenom Salve - Belt + Boots
- Silk Swatch - Pants
- Scaled hide - Shoulders
- Salt - Weapon
- Silver - Off hand
- 2x Wardstones - Medal + Amulet (if you don’t have this yet from the previous bracket)
- Helm slot stays open for Ectoplasm ( if you have it use it )
- Rings either Corpse dust or Frozen Hearts (just for some minor boost )
- Craft Equilibrium (not much options early at the game)
We are on the way to deal with Cronley and this bracket provides first useful guaranteed MI item
Spectral War Shield 2 of the Arkovian Elders (Nomos Dred and Laudos Varga) can drop this its huge upgrade cause gives DE mods and chance for extra targets. Most important resistance for this bracket is probably pierce and bleeding cause Cronley’s renegades deal tons of this damage and Arkovian Archers hurt as well. Skill tree wise we work on DE and Hungering reach for maximum AOE potential and ofc max out Spectral Binding + Spectral Wrath ( Spectral Binding value is unmatched tons of OA and Life ), again my advice here is slow phasing and explore get this reputation and this quests done Ritualist scales very well with levels and can easily outscale enemies and bosses if you rush on the other hand you can get yourself in a bad spot. I spend few minutes to grind Cronley’s hideout according to reach Respected status with Devil’s Crossing so I can craft Gluttony hands down probably the best starting vitality relic on a beginner or SSF run
Note: be nice to Isaiah Reddan from the Vengeance quest he is very important vendor later on selling valuable Ointments (if you are not SSF or beginner doesn’t really matter )
This is probably one of the most important brackets for any character development , we unlock several reputation gear pieces and valuable components + relics blueprints . Here I slow down a little bit and spend time in Old Arkovia so I can get Respected with Rovers and farm a little bit Royal Hive and Pine Barrens for several good items and Homestead reputation , again this is important level range and our gear needs more depths cause we are on the way to face our first challenging zone. Important resistances for this bracket are Vitality , Aether , Poison and Pierce , west part of Homenstead is infested with bugs and Aetherials. Most of our stats goes in Physique and Spirit for the gear but at this point we have to consider Cunning as well cause I plan to use gun at my 50s levels
Shopping List:
- Rhowari Deathtouch (good starting weapon from the Rovers %Vit damage , DA and Sigil proc for more sustain)
- Rhowari Handguards (Casting speed ,stats and ele res very good gloves overall)
- Devil’s Spaulders (Pierce , Phys res and Stun res )
- Buy both boots option from Homestead ( I keep different off pieces for different situations or mainly for quick adjustments since Antivenom salve is cheap component )
- Runestone blueprint from the Rovers (hands down best helm component for leveling triple res and %damage multiplier against Aetherials)
- Craft Solar Belt from Homestead blueprint (not ideal since I have just 1 skill in Shaman tree)
- Devil’s Cuirass very good armor ,tons of sustain and utility since Ritualist has enough damage on its own
- Stack vitality damage Ointments from Rovers first vendor tab (amazing boost it worth 2 x items in terms of damage at this level)
Note: You can refresh vendors by leaving the area via personal rift and port back after few seconds that way you can get higher stats values since item implicits varies
Items to farm:
- Kilrian’s Shattered Soul from the last boss in Old Arkovia
- Gollus ring very good ring overall you can farm even 2 , implicits are very good and you can get even more res and life on top
- Bloodfeast’s Mark good generic vitality medal with good resistances from the boss in Tyrant’s Hold
Another important bracket cause towards end we unlock finally every single powerhouse MI that we need to destroy the campaign content . Blood grove is the first serious challenge , try to get Chaos res ointment from Isaiah Reddan (he sells that pretty often) if your chaos res are below 60 especially if you are in HC mode like me also visit secret vendor under Blood grove rift he sells Death-Watcher pendant amazing amulet for any Vitality Necro , nothing much to be said for Asterkan Valley , Fort Ilkon and Necropolis pretty straight forward zones with not so much to do, I always kill Anesteria I find Outcast faction pretty useless and Black Legion is too important to mess with some Aetherials Outcasts , mostly here I finish my main quests and my Death’s Vigil questline (being a Necromancer we don’t have option here Kymon hates us) . Loghorrean and Lucius fights if you follow the guide are pretty easy Lucius dies before even cast something deadly and Loghorrean is famous as one of the most disappointing and easy fights ever. Unlock your Hidden Path quest so you can farm Solael Sect Pants (check wiki how to do it if you are new to the game)
Note: Current grim tools link can be way to forward cause my progression and yours can be different but all the gear from previous one work totally fine up to 55-60
Level 50-60 End of Normal CLICK ME
You should be at Coven at early 50s or late 40s depends how much time you spend grinding but here are most important MIs and next very important factions for Vitality build. I do both Coven and Barrowholm full questlines and farm Glomwald mostly for my weapon and helm , for the sake of role play and not only I take some evil decisions like banishing Ugdal and killing Larria , spend some more time here cause Glomwald its one of the most important zones for DE Ritualist. Malmouth is very rich area nothing practically good for us but a lot of side quests and if you buy their ointment and you should you have less damage from Aetherials which makes this act a breeze and act 1 Elite also. Nothing much to say about FG expansion its not even necessary to finish that but up to Korvan city there is very easy shrines to get and Temple of Osyr is nice farming spot for our chest piece MI
Items to look for:
- Ugdenbog Howler top leveling weapon making Devouring swarm to shred Vitality res on crazy numbers
- Packla’s Visage from skull boss in Glomwald with multiple spawn locations
- Leafmane Trophy best way to get this is vendor in Ancient Grove , Mogdrogen gives you free key you have to just reset the vendor by going to the previous level of the dungeon for few sec on pop up back (stats doesnt matter but Celerity suffix is by far best and not hard to roll)
- Ilgorr’s Eternal Vigil I hate to involve dungeons in HC guides and beginner’s guides in general but this medal gives 10k DPS + around level 50-55 and I can pass such powerful item , it comes from one of the skull bosses in Steps of Torment back at Broken hills (there is a footage in video section how I fight him )
Note: I go to Steps of Torment that late cause pointless to go there early Ilgor spawns high level and there is high chance medal to be 50 level + anyways - Lunal’Valgoth’s Waistguard finally decent belt comes from Cinder Waste a Chthonic rift with multiple spawn locations in Mourndale (check grim tools map for it this belt worth all the effort)
- Grind some Sewers and Galakros to stock up crystals and Honored status with Malmouth we want Mortality relic blueprint (top leveling relic for this build)
- Korvan Plating FG item best location to farm this is Osyr Temple its going to take awhile but this chest piece converts Aether to Vit (only leveling item to do that) and gives nice bonunes to DE
I like to spend the time between 60 and 70 level in Elite (most players skip it but on a beginner run and SSF run Elite provides really good power up cause its not hard and easy shrines ). My goal here is to get Revered with Devils Crossing and Rovers cause their faction gear get Elite status at level 70 and this items are huge upgrade ( its a bit of a grind but having access to level 70 augments is essential to not die in Ultimate) , I clear the content up to Broken Hillls which is more than enough to get fast levels and up to 10 easy shrines , at level 70 I jump back to Normal to farm better versions of my MI items ( always upgrade you MIs by farming higher level bases at level 50,70,84 and 94)
This is basically Ultimate my goal here is capped resistances with slightly overcaps (if your resistances are not cap or close to spend more time farming upgrades and reputation ). I did nothing different in Ultimate its just repeat all the quests and jump back to Normal when I reach good level milestone to farm higher bases on my MIs , mainly I am looking for Impurity blueprint so I can transform my Mortality into my endgame relic of choice
Note: Its easier to farm in Normal pre 100 cause faster and not so dangerous all the areas and vendors scales up to 100 for this build especially Steps of Torment for the medal
Pretty much this should be nearly the end of the whole campaign , leave FG for last cause quite dangerous on fresh Ultimate character. Most important for this bracket is level 90 factions reputation grind you want their last tier Augments and items
Areas to grind if you are not still Revered:
- Cinder Waste for Barrowholm
- Steps of Torment Normal for Rovers
- Coven should be easy but if you are not Revered before 90 farm Royal Hive Ultimate(gollus rings and a lot of beasts spawns)
- Galakros and the Sewers for Black legion and Malmouth ( easy map with tons of crystals and high density)
- FG cults are not important for this build , I don’t need their Nemesis as well
Level 100 Pre-endgame optimal setup
This is my setup after I hit 100 and grind for 3 hours for better gear ,very generic rolls nothing crazy took me in total few Glomwald runs , few Cinder wastes runs and few Steps of Torment runs (medal is terrible roll btw) , I did like 2 x Temple of Osyr runs and his armor is ok roll I buy Coven Defender Seal ( very good defensive ring) and I roll Rovers and Homestead vendors for high stats on their stocks , keep in mind hitting 100 doesn’t mean your build is strong to face challenging content , you have to spend couple of hours in grinding to prepare yourself for the basic Ultimate challenges like Totems, Dungeons , Boss routes etc
How to farm as a beginner or budget build:
Easy Nemesis Trove route 50 legendary items per hour CLICK ME
How to farm Treasure Troves CLICK ME
Drainmaster 9000 Endgame setup provided by @mad_lee
(4) Devotions progression
- Pink Crossroad
- Jackal
- Green Crossroad
- Spider
- Remove Green Crossroad (Spider sustain on its own)
- Hawk
- Remove everything ( you will need around 15-20 crystals)
- Yellow Crossroad
- Crane
- Lion
- Scales of Ulcama (here I switch to more sustain oriented Devos)
- Remove Yellow Crossroad
- Purple Crossroad
- Empty Throne
- Green Crossroad
- Spider
- Chariot of the Dead
- Lantern
- Remove Green Crossroad
- Yellow Crossroad
- Remove Crane
- Pink Crossroad
- Jackal
- Hydra
- Hawk
- Ratosh the Veilwarden
- 6 Points Abomination for the vitality proc
(5) Videos and footage from the run
(6) How hard is to copy top tier Endgame build and how legit top builds are ?
This question is very often discussed in the community and today I will share my thoughts about Stier builds cause getting to 100 is the easy part . First and most important thing is if you want strong build you have to farm, you have to invest time - optimization in Grim Dawn is centered around grind if grind is not your cup of tea there is plenty of cheap builds. Second thing that I want to mention is Top 20 Softcore builds chart has been accused several times of being unrealistic , that’s not true I build 10 out 20 builds completely from scratch both Vanilla and Seasonal in less than 100 h some of them even less than 50h , this chart is not all about builds, you can gather valuable information about Devotion pathing , character stats milestones ,stats allocation , skill tree dimishing returns and so on. Like people behind the chart several times mentioned " Top 20 builds , doesn’t means top 20 viable builds". This chart exist simply as a measure and guidance to deep endgame , process to do all the testing, all the adjustments and all the communication required during the process is not easy ,so please respect this players work and dedication (they do it for free and they don’t expect anything in return).
**(7) Conclusion **
DE Vitality Ritualist has unlimited firepower and sustains very well , one of the most strongest builds that I ever played but still approaching harder content requires focus and reposition and good cooldown management
Special thanks to @mad_lee for providing the endgame setup , @tqFan for still running the Beginner Build Compendium - 110 guides for AoM & FG expansions after Ulvar1 mysterious disappearance and special thanks to Grim Dawn community for the inspiration and support so I can keep making this beginners guides
