Last updated on March 22nd, 2018
In this guide, I’ll give you some useful Grim Dawn tips to help you to play the game in a more efficient manner. Hopefully it’ll also make it a more enjoyable game for you.
Grim Dawn is an Action RPG that have been around since 2016, and with every update, DLC and expansion, it’s getting better and better. The next expansion, Forgotten Gods, was announced earlier this month, and is due to be released on Steam and GoG in second half of 2018.
- Grim Dawn Commando Build (Solider Demolitionist) Gameplay Part 4: 2017-04-29: Heroes Evolved - Free to Play Mobile Moba - First Look Gameplay: 2017-04-28: Road to Ultimate Face Tank! Grim Dawn Commando Build (Solider Demolitionist) Gameplay Part 3: 2017-04-26: INSANE KILL STREAK! New Godlike+ Seris Build - Paladins Free to Play Moba Gameplay.
- Clocking in at over 10,000 words (27 pages) with plenty of game images and charts, The Grim Conspectus is a one-stop knowledge base for game mechanics, beginners tips, build templates, devotions and basically everything else you've ever wanted to know about Grim Dawn.
- While top tier build publication is an excellent reality for those who are experienced with Grim Dawn and have a huge repository of legendary set gear, the majority of builds shared with the community are complex end-game builds that often leave new players in the dust, confused and wondering where to start, how to progress, and most.
May 26, 2018 According to Grim Dawn’s lore, Demolitionist are part engineer, part sorcerer mastery that is absolutely good when it comes to explosions. This hybrid mastery is proficient in dealing both physical and magical based damage by laying traps, throwing grenades, and putting any kind of pyrotechnics into its attacks.
The first expansion (released October, 2017) brought some interesting features like new classes and the entertaining Fashion Dawn. So I can’t wait to see what the Forgotten Gods have to add to the game next. But before we all get too excited about the future of Grim Dawn, I wish to share some few precious tips I’ve learned along my journey in Cairn that I wished I’d known them before I started playing.
Pdfwriter ghostscript for mac. I’ll split the tips into more than one article, to give some details on each part.
![Best Commando Build Grim Dawn Best Commando Build Grim Dawn](https://forum.quartertothree.com/uploads/default/original/3X/8/8/8856367d9b217a4d62c8e4cd94813bde75ab91a0.jpeg)
One: Attributes aren’t there to mess with:
The customization in Grim Dawn is immense. You can customize and tweak every aspect about your character, when you first level up, or later. You have the spiritual guide, an NPC who can reset your skill points and devotion points, so you can spend them elsewhere. All of your choices can be changed later in higher difficulties. Be it faction, or some random trader you murdered on the road, you have a second and third chance to rectify your choices.
It’s all designed to give you freedom, and encourage experimentation. Which means you can virtually go crazy and make what you like, and change it all later. And it’s true, but for one small tricky part: Attributes!
![Soldier builds grim dawn Soldier builds grim dawn](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MoKGfVaByYc/maxresdefault.jpg)
The problem: It’s very easy to develop the wrong attributes
You get one precious attribute point each level, which you can spend on Physique, Cunning, or Spirit. Attributes gives small bonus to damage, health, or mana, but their main value is being a requirement for armors and weapons.
That’s where it gets tricky, you are level 20, and you get a nice drop which makes you all excited, but sadly you can’t equip due to lack of Spirit, or Cunning. You level up, you immediately spend your point into Spirit or Cunning. Then it’s enough, so you level some more, and keep spending points this way until you able to wear it.
Then you spend one more hour, and your are level 30. Except now that awesome drop isn’t awesome anymore. By end game, you realize that attributes can’t be refunded and new gear needs different distribution. Regret doesn’t feel good, does it?
The Solution: How to play safe with Attributes?
Level up your mastery bar first:
Your two classes increase your attributes passively, which get you the points required to equip things. It decreases the need to spread your attributes points around and gives you a better idea of where you really need to spend your points. So don’t rush maxing all skills, but instead increase mastery bar early on.
Physique is the king in Grim Dawn:
Plain and simple, Physique is the most important attribute. It not only gives flat numbers in health (which can be multiplied by various ways), but the best defensive armor requires so many points spent on Physique – maybe even Allpoints in it.
Leave some points undecided for end-game:
If you – typically – spent all first 70 points in Physique, it’s probably wise to not spend the rest immediately. Leave the last ten or twenty points free until you get to Max level and have all the equipment you need. You might find a good accessory that needs five more spirit points or something.
Utilize components as you level up:
Things like “Polished Emerald” , “Spellwoven Thread” , and “Vicious Jawbone” can be a source for some attributes early on. Even if they don’t give direct benefit to your build, using them for the stats is okay. You can see a full list of all components and what they do here.
Take a look at Devotion Constellations:
Yes, the stars have attributes, and you might not need to go out of your way to get them! On the road to every major proc skill, you will find small boosts in attributes. You will grab these by default on the way, so don’t worry about changing anything for attributes.
Two: Build up your defenses properly:
No matter what level you are (beyond the first ten or twenty), you always need to prioritize defense. Yes, when I first heard this tip from professional players, I thought it sounded counter-productive, and boring, and that it would make progression slower. But having played this game over 400 hours, I can totally confirm the viability of the method.
The thing is: Grim Dawn is really grim. The enemies can be really weak on normal/Veteran, but become way stronger in Elite, and a total nightmare in Ultimate. Even in normal you can encounter some hard to pass encounters as a glass cannon. And if you can’t stand few hits, you will have to start running to escape, and will stop doing damage. While a good defense allow you to stand your ground for a bit, giving you better chance at finishing enemies before they finish you.
The solution: How to prioritize your defenses
- Max out “Resistances”, that will take care of most damage types. Physical resistance is very hard to come by though.
- Invest in “Health”, health is an all around decent defense against all types of enemies.
- Defensive Abilities. It’s a sure way to not get hit by a crit, and also have enemies miss some hits on you. very important to not get 1 hit by the toughest bosses.
- Don’t let “Armor” fall behind too much. Make sure to replace your low level equipments regularly with something with higher armor and decent stats.
- “Circuit-Breakers” This is a term people use on skills that proc when player Health gets to a certain point (40% for example) and pop up some temporary strong defense buff or shield. Skills like “Blast Shield” from demotionalist , or Gaint’s Blood from Constalltions are very strong defense in tight situation where you can’t do much. I put it further down the list because it’s not mandatory in Normal and Elite. But Max these out by the time you get Ultimate, it will be very useful.
- Over-cap your resistance. That’s a tip for the very end-game top contents, like hunting Nemesis bosses. Some bosses debuff your resistances, so having some extra reserve is always a good thing. Don’t neglect other important defenses to do that though.
There are many other sources of defense in Grim Dawn, but they are situational, and depends on build. Like Vitality damage builds, and retaliation builds, also solider shield builds are very strong and Crucible viable in general. But these are topics not for this article.
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Three: Know what build you are doing
This one sounds basic stuff, but it could get very tricky. Grim Dawn is a rich world, with countless possibilities to replay the game and having different experience. Thus, the majority of the build guides out there are aimed towards experienced players, with long hours into the game, and decent stash of equipment ready to be used. In other words, many builds are gear dependent, which might not be friendly for beginners.
The matter is: If you don’t have the specific gear the build asks for, you either ask the guide writer to suggest you a beginner alternative, or don’t do this build. The drop rates in grim Dawn are very good, and you keep getting good items constantly as you play. But the loot tables are shared among all monsters in the world, meaning that anything can drop anything, and there are no specific spot to farm any item. The exception is some rare items called “Moster infrequents” or “MI”, which are moderately good items dropping from some specific bosses or monsters, and are okay for leveling, not top end game though.
Pro & Cons:
It’s good on one side, as it make you keep playing the game, go wherever you like, and enjoy all the content without worrying about the drops, since what you get here would be the same as you got there. But it restrict you from planning top builds without before having the items required. It might be wiser to plan your second character based on what you already have from first playthrough, not on what you wish/expect to have.
This problem extend to the first playthrough, since you have nothing to start with. Well, not “nothing” , since the faction gear can be excellent choices for some builds, best in slot even. These faction gear require some effort to get, but it’s fun and very rewarding to do.
Some beginners-friendly builds suggestions:
- Poison Caster Witchblade (Occultist/Solider)
- Pyromancer fire pets summoner (Occultist/Demotionalist)
- Sword and Board Pierce Blademaster (Nightblade/Solider)
- Two handed lightening Elementalist (Shaman/Demotionalist)
- Strom totem Warder (Shaman/Solider)
- Lightning/Pet Druid (Arcanist/Shaman)
- Dual pistols Sorcerer (Arcanist + Demolitionist)
- Dual Wield Melee Witchhunter (Nightblade + Occultist)
- Bleeding based Conjurer (Occultist + Shaman)
These are some quick concepts of varied basic builds in Vanilla to look forward. But notice that you don’t have to follow any of these suggestions, you can actually start the game and level with one mastery through the normal difficulty, then depends on your taste, decide where to go from there. Adding another mastery depends on your direction, or respec to another build entirely, Grim Dawn is flexible like this. These guidelines are only for those who don’t like to feel overwhelmed by the amount of customizations the game have.
Four: Learn how to craft, and what to craft:
And be patient for the recipes as they come one by one. Really, crafting a strong aspect of the game, that keep giving you candy along the way, but only gets to its full potential after hundreds of hours of gameplay. You can craft so many things. For example, consumables, powerful Mythical Relics, parts of legendary items sets and the most important components.
Saving the rare materials required for materials is crucial, as these are drops only, and not sold by any merchant (they can be exchanged for one another in act Four though). Things like Tainted Brain Matter, and Ancient heart and the like are precious little things, so use them wisely. Talking heads remastered rar.
Don’t be afraid of trying to craft basic gear though; the items with question marks in the default menu of the blacksmith, named Enchanted Mace and Enchanted Boots. These are not strictly “magic” items. The crafting can give you rares and scales up with your level. You can actually get some solid gear from them to cover any weakness your character have. You just need scraps and gold, and some courage to go through the randomization.
I hope that you liked this article. If so, you could read Grim Dawn – A Detailed Analysis next. Alternatively, you could read Divinity Original Sin 2 Builds: Eternal Warrior.
In the first part of this beginners guide, I gave players some useful Grim Dawn tips to help them make their way through in a more efficient manner (and find joy in doing so!). In this second installment, I will continue to give more advice, focusing on the leveling and endgame aspects, and how they are different.
Part Two: Leveling v.s Endgame
This concept took me some time to get use to, and when I started playing as a newby, I would spend hours looking at Guides. I was perturbed to find in my searches that there were NO beginner leveling guides, so I instead just skipped to ones covering builds. Other times I’d play another build, following it’s leveling guide on “veteran” difficulty, and would think, “Wow! This build is going to be the easiest to run.” In both cases I came out with false impressions of the game, as what I thought were hard facts, were simply a lack of understanding. I have since come to the realization that Grim Dawn is simply unfriendly to beginners… Although, this I consider is totally fine, as Grim Dawn has a very steep learning curve, as I explained in my Grim Dawn review.
The reality is: There are many ways to level a build, some of which are easier than others, with the endgame result being very different. I’ll try to go into more detail about some of these differences between endgame and leveling in hopes to give new players an idea of what to expect and what to not to.
Endgame Skills Might Not Be The Same As Leveling Skills
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Yes it’s true, you could choose “Arcanist” for the first mastery and pick up one of strongest leveling skills such as “Olexra’s Flash Freeze” or “OFF” as some call it. This can be your focus early on and one hit the entire screen as you begin leveling. Or you could pick up “Fireblast/Greater Fireblast” from components and think it’s a strong build… but you’d be wrong.
The build is neither strong, weak or anything yet as it’s way too early in the game for you to make your judgement. These skills might not even apply to your endgame build, just like “Fireblast”. Or you may reduce its level to one, just like “OFF” in a “Albercht Aether Ray” build.
So enjoy being overpowered for the first few levels, but be smart about it while leveling as some skills (such as “Primal Strike” for “Shaman”) have good scaling with “weapon damage”, others have extensive modifiers like “Panetti’s Replicating Missile,” and might be suitable as a main skill for you endgame if you build around them. But other skills are good only for lower levels such as fillers until you get your upgrades so don’t get too attached. If you’re not following a step-by-step leveling guide make sure to ask questions, ask other experienced players forums and/or experiment around with different variations.
How Early Game Offensive Priorities Differ To Endgame
I’m talking about the most common question asked in the game: “What bonuses do I look for, for gear and weapons?” The answer is…it will differ, sometimes greatly depending on which build you pick. Let’s continue with the “Fireblast” example from the previous point, this spell does pure fire damage. So while leveling, picking up “Fire Damage %” will be the best bonus for you to choose as you can increase your damage with it. When you reach 50% and have found a good “Aether” weapon, start to invest in “Albercht Aether Ray” (which is “Aether/Fire damage”). Keeping fire might sound good for few more levels (as it’s a part of the damage spec anyway) but soon you’d be better off looking at getting “Convert X damage to Aether”, “Aether resistant reduction” along with “Aether damage %”. Also be wary of “Reduce Energy Cost” , because this skill can drain you dry in no more than a couple of seconds. See the difference now between endgame and leveling?
Another example would be a “Fire Pets” build, where you might see some drastic differences from stacking “Pet damage %” early on. However, as you level up, things gets quite different. “+Level to Flame Touched” should be your biggest concern, I won’t explain about it here but if you’re interested go read DaShiv’s extensive guide as it will give you more insight into it.
How To +Levels To All Skills
This part can easily trick novices, as it did to me. As I said before, most builds are easy to play early in the game and everything turns out fine. But not all builds can keep up throughout the game, the reason being is the need for more skill points. It’s a serious concern for builds which need many skills, these include “Damage”, “Damage Mitigation”, “Resistance Reduction”, “Health”, “Armor”, “Procs”, “Defensive Ability” and “Offensive Ability” reduction etc. All these require skill points to be at max, and then “+ levels to skills” to go over max for example 22/12 and 26/16.
“+ Levels to skills” only comes from gear which come from random drops and are from a huge drop table. You are never know what you will get and if it’s what you want at endgame (with few exceptions for granted drops).
So know this: If you plan to go with something that requires many skills, don’t let the leveling process fool you into believing it will be easy, it will be an uphill battle unless you have the right gear. That’s why a build which is gear dependent isn’t that friendly to newer players. You might want to shelf characters that lack the right gear and level another character who can gain you gear more readily and are easier to be kept content.
Relics Will Not Level As Fast As You Do
You will learn this very soon, relics will NOT progress as fast as you do, so don’t be disappointed when you see this happening. The recipes for relics are obtained in random drops, meaning they are harder to get than gear, and they have a progression system that can hinder you for several playthroughs. Even something as simple as a level 35 relic can be very hard to craft. You finally get the recipe for it only to discover it’s not enough and you are not ready to use it yet as you still require another few relics. Each of those relics will need an additional recipe and each of those need rare materials you probably used for some other task. Not only will they require components but, some might need certain faction reputation in order to be made available. That’s normal, you aren’t slacking so don’t blame yourself for not having a proper relic yet. Make do with whatever you can craft (or trade) and make sure whatever build you are making it is not dependent on a certain relic (for example some pets are exclusive to relics).
Resistance Reduction (RR) Is Mandatory At Endgame But Not While Leveling
That one might not be very obvious, but it’s true for most builds “Restistane Reduction” is essential later on. Whatever damage type you decided to go with, you will most likely need to de-buff the enemy, reducing their resistance to that type of damage. It’s good to know that beforehand, and plan your devotion path/items accordingly. You will not need them on “Normal/Veteran” difficulty, but you will need them in the end, so remember this!
Faction Reputation Is Important At Endgame But Not Early On
Well, the gear these factions provide might be good for your build, bad or anything in-between. But what is mandatory from factions are the little flasks named “Augments” as these put bonuses on your gear. Again, this is something you might not want to bother with early on, but when you hit “Elite” and “Ultimate” difficulty, you will need to get them on every item. Weapons and accessories become accessible when “Respected” and “Honored” faction status are reached, but armor ones need a “Revered” status, these are crucial to compensate the higher resistances and counter the difficulty level.
Read Part 1 to this guide here or check out our Grim Dawn Review here.