{"id":4252,"date":"2018-02-07T17:25:32","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T17:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.offkorn.com\/blog\/?p=4252"},"modified":"2020-08-20T05:41:31","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T05:41:31","slug":"grim-dawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.offkorn.com\/blog\/grim-dawn\/","title":{"rendered":"Grim Dawn"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve now been playing this game<\/a> for the last month or so, and have gotten nine characters through the default game content (and one of those through the expansion<\/a> content). The simplest way to describe it is: Titan Quest<\/a> with a Diablo<\/a> aesthetic.<\/p>\n

It’s a bit easier than Titan Quest<\/em> though (you won’t have to worry about certain enemies being completely immune to your damage type) and seems to have a smaller pool of items. There’s some added complexity however in the form of the Devotion system, which allows you to enhance your base class combination in a ton of different ways and can inspire builds all on its own, and a few small roleplaying aspects in regards to the quests. So it’s a bit of a toss up which game is ‘better’, but I’m leaning toward this one because damage-immune enemies are a pain.<\/p>\n

The characters I’ve used so far are almost evenly split between builds I found on the official forums<\/a> and ones I was inspired to make based on certain endgame items or Devotions. I’ll list them similar to how I did the Titan Quest<\/em> ones earlier<\/a>, in order of Act 4 completion (or close to it; the ordering of the middle few might be off):<\/p>\n

The first one<\/a> to complete the normal game was not the first character I created, as the order was switched around for faction reputation-related reasons. I basically made them because I wanted a Retaliation build similar to the Templar I used in TQ<\/em> without the annoyance of having to wait for enemies to kill themselves. So I focused on Piercing, Bleeding, and Physical damage centered around the Counterstrike and Circle of Slaughter abilities with Retaliation damage as a secondary. In retrospect this was not ideal and, despite the fact that they managed to complete the expansion content<\/a> without issue (the old belt<\/a>\/amulet<\/a>\/gloves<\/a> were just switched out), I’m going to respec it before heading into Elite as a more Bladedancer-ish build<\/a>. I may end up re-purposing the retaliation aspects into a more fitting class combo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Next was the second character I created, an Apostate<\/a>. It came about from both being impressed by how powerful the Skeletons were and simply wanting to do something with this particular combo. While it’s a straight-forward pet build and the pets are fabulous at killing stuff already, I realized while playing some other characters that it would be better off trading most of the gun-based skills for the resistance reduction and defense of Spectral Wrath (since the Skeletons do Vitality damage), so now the desired end result looks like this<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first created (which in turn inspired the one above) was one which had a very detailed and well written-up post<\/a> on the forums; a Cabalist build centered around Ravenous Earth. While that was quite effective, I liked the look of the melee-variation<\/a> better and so built my iteration<\/a> in that direction. To give you an idea of how good this build is, it actually looked like it had a shot at killing Mogdrogen’s Avatar in Act 4 at under level 60 (I got him to ~60% health before I messed up and died).<\/p>\n

The Deceiver build<\/a> I used was inspired by the Abomination Devotion. That’s it. I saw that constellation’s abilities and wanted something that would be effective with it and so theory-crafted this end result<\/a>. I also thought up a second, Flamethrower-centric build<\/a> for the class combo… but I don’t think I’m ever going to actually play it.<\/p>\n

Another forum build I liked happened to be a Cadence-centered Deathknight<\/a>, though I thought it might ultimately work better with Beronath’s Shard<\/a>. I finished Act 4 with it<\/a> before I found the Shard’s blueprint though, so my version is currently more in-line with the original (note that the weapon is from the Blademaster’s Act 6 run and I was using a nearly as effective Soulsplitter<\/a> in Act 3). What stands out most about this build, besides the insane Cadence-damage output, is that Spectral Wrath alone passively massacres most of the enemies that attack you.<\/p>\n

The Spellbinder<\/a> came about simply because I found a ton of gear that enhanced both Aether and Vitality damage. Although ultimately<\/a> I want this character to make use of Drain Essence, without the Uroboruuk gear it just doesn’t do enough damage. Replicating Missile and Devastation are enough to wreck enemies though, so that’s fine for now. If it doesn’t work out I’ve got an alternate Devotion setup<\/a> and an idea for a Diviner version<\/a> as well (though that would probably be a bit too similar to the Apostate).<\/p>\n

Near the end came a Reaper<\/a>, which was one of the forums’ ones I modified<\/a>. While far more effective against undead than a similar character I used in TQ<\/em>, those enemies do tend to survive longer than others against the massive amounts of cold damage this Bone harvest-focused build can dish out.<\/p>\n

The penultimate character was also a build I found on the forums, for a Crucible<\/a>-decimating Purifier<\/a>. I have not actually tried Crucible<\/em> yet, but I figured I should have a character that can handle it. Regardless, they currently look like this<\/a> and do indeed lay waste to large swathes of enemies.<\/p>\n

Last was a Druid<\/a>. At first this was meant to be a dual-wielder, and I in fact did play through nearly all the game up to this point dual-wielding (using the relevant<\/a> Relics<\/a>), but ultimately the reliance on Critical Hits along with how otherwise unhelpful the necessary Relics were to the build’s theme made me do a slight re-calibration into a more conventional caster setup<\/a>. You may notice I have both Savagery and Shard of Beronath. This is intentional. Originally I just had the Shard, but then thought… why not alternate the two and have both? So I did and stuff just melts<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And that’s all the ones I’ve played so far (though I do have vague ideas for a Witch Hunter<\/a>, Commando<\/a>, Trickster<\/a>, Magehunter<\/a>, and Elementalist<\/a>, along with a Tactician<\/a> designed for a Hardcore playthough). You may have noticed that most of them make use of the classes provided by the Ashes of Malmouth<\/em> expansion and so I obviously suggest picking that up along with the base game. While the classes alone are great, the two additional Acts it adds are sizable and add quite a bit of content.<\/p>\n

I’ll close this with some tips (I kind of want to write up a mini-walkthrough of some sort):<\/p>\n