The third and final expansion for Grim Dawn was finally released recently, and I’ve been somewhat busy getting three Berserker characters up to Ultimate.
While the new enemy and location content isn’t as aesthetically unique as it was for the previous ones, the game makes up for it with the new potion system and Ascension difficulty/modifiers/upgrades. You can add all sorts of different effects to your potions now while also choosing how they’re used (e.g. long cooldown and multiple charges, or one charge and a short cooldown). I haven’t played around with the Ascension mechanics yet but the ability to further upgrade your gear alone is well worth it, while the loot modifiers will be a godsend if they work as advertised.
There’s also plenty of new lore, several quests with multiple options, and a ton of hidden and semi-hidden areas to find (including a hidden smith that can upgrade certain epics into legendaries). While most of it works well, the main complaint I have is that the Ice Walls really need a map indicator like the existing Dynamite and bridge-building ones to tell you that a Magma Orb is required to pass. Also… the NPC that gives you the faction quest in Kruu’Sul Crags should probably mention how to make them.
Now for the builds:
The first ended up as a bone-themed Veilwalker which didn’t end up playing all that differently from a Cadence build. It’s currently sitting at the end of Normal since I got distracted by the other two builds. A Wereraven Runekeeper was the next I went with and it plays like a particularly tanky spell-spammer with no notable issues all through Elite. Though do note that the Messenger’s Repeater is required until you can get an Awakened Interrogator.
For the third character I ended up with a Zealot with rather high resistances, and so decided to make this one a Hardcore character to justify prioritizing defense. Despite that, it had even less trouble killing things than the Runekeeper and was able to facetank right through most of Elite (skipped around a bit and quit for Ultimate once I hit level 70). This one is by far my favorite of the three and I think I’ll try taking it through Ultimate before going back to that Veilwalker.