Apr 18, 2017 Soldier is undeniably one of if not the most powerful mastery in Grim Dawn. On it's own, it's a beast that can destroy. And then combined with another mastery, and you get an even more OP build 9. Grim Dawn Item Database. 2017-2020 Created by Dammitt. This site is not affiliated with Crate Ent.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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!
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.
Current master of the ARPG throne -- especially for fans of grimdark fantasy and horror -- Grim Dawn is about to get a major update with a whole new mastery class to play.
Before that highly anticipated Necromancer becomes available though, there are still dozens of potential mastery combo builds to try out. We've previously looked at some of the more fun mastery builds, but now its time to get down to the real goods: what's the single, absolute best Grim Dawn build available?
The answer to that question is that there's at least five 'best' builds, depending on your play style: melee, ranged, caster, hit and run, or the tank. Among those five varied styles, there are still two different ways to approach which is the 'best' -- either the highest damage per second output, or the best survivability.
https://coolzload761.weebly.com/screens-4-4-access-your-computer-remotely-password.html. There are plenty of mastery combos that can deal ungodly amounts of damage (the Nightblade mixed with just about anything immediately comes to mind) but they are also quite squishy, making it difficult to survive after you leave Normal difficulty behind and head into later stages of the game. The Sorcerer combo for instance (Arcanist + Demolitionist) can deal huge damage to large groups, but requires quick reflexes as you run around the screen like mad to avoid getting hit back.
For our best Grim Dawn build, we're going to focus on the survival aspect https://vskupg.over-blog.com/2021/01/ati-102-a924-b-driver-windows-10.html. , with respectable damage output, for a tank who rarely goes down and will allow you to survive the most devastating enemies at the highest difficulty levels.
Keep in mind that most builds can be drastically altered by your equipment choices, since there's a very random element there in what weapons and armor you'll find you in your playthrough, as well as what path you are taking along the constellation when you unlock Devotion Shrines.
We're going with a Shaman + Soldier combo to create the Warder. The focus here is on high health, massive defense, quick regeneration, and equipping absolutely any item with reflection or retaliation so you never go down and always take out enemies when they hit you.
We're going to eventually max out the Soldier mastery bar entirely. The Shaman mastery bar will end at 25, but we're actually going to start on the Shaman side as the first class.
First up, grab Devouring Swarm on the Shaman side as your primary attack at low levels (this is costly on energy, but well worth it). If you want to branch out, Savagery and Grasping Vines are decent, but don't go too far on those.
At level 10, switch to Soldier and focus on Menhir's Will to keep you alive (don't forget you need a two-handed weapon or shield for this skill to work). This is the skill that keeps you alive for longer periods. When it triggers, get out of the throng of enemies and wait to recover so the cooldown period ends.
Around level 15, switch back to Shaman and work on Modrogen's Pact and Heart Of The Wild. Next, fully upgrade Wendigo Totem and Oak Skin for huge bonuses to healing while draining enemies of health.
Shaman Projected Build
Around level 29 - 30, switch back to Soldier and pump up the mastery bar, while maxing out Military Conditioning, Shield Training (if you are doing a shield instead of two handed), Overguard, Decorated Soldier, Field Command, and Veterancy. These will keep you up at maximum health and defense while doling out decent damage.
When you're around 40 - 45, its time to let go of Devouring Swarm, which won't be as helpful anymore, so respec and put all those points into the Soldier mastery bar and maxing out the previously mentioned skills.
From there, focus on Menhir's Bulwark (with a shield equipped and this skill maxed out, you will absorb and retaliate huge amounts of damage). Now finish off the build with maxing out Scars of Battle and (on the Shaman side) Modrogen's Pact.
Soldier Projected Build
This Warder build is extremely effective against melee combatants, but it does have one Achilles Heel: ranged spellcasters are a problem. So get close to them to force them into melee. And of course putting a few points into the Soldier skill Break Morale can rectify this to a degree.
In terms of equipment, a full set of Perdition items vastly builds on the Warder's strengths -- but in general, pick up anything that adds reflection or retaliation.
Create a sim free. For the Devotion constellation path, Tortoise and Wolverine are both excellent choices, since they even further increase your defense, and Scales Of Ulcama is another great choice for upping health and regeneration.
Surviving a brutal boss with the Warder
Of course, there's other possible routes to take to reach an invincible killing machine, such as switching up which class is the primary or connecting a different secondary to the Soldier.
What's your preferred build, and how could we tweak this best Grim Dawn mastery build to make it even tankier? Let me know down in the comments! And be sure to check out the rest of our Grim Dawn guides for even more tips to help you get through the game.
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