Never played NightBlade. Might give it a go. Although I been thinking to start over with my Soldier nice I think I have chosen wrong sub class. Besides I need time and I don't have a lot of it nowadays.
Guys, do us a favor, please. Love seeing these responses and builds, might even post mine up at some point, but can we get spoiler tags to make them a little easier to manage? Thanks!!
Guys, do us a favor, please. Love seeing these responses and builds, might even post mine up at some point, but can we get spoiler tags to make them a little easier to manage? Thanks!!
By request @ShurikN .. here is my current Dervish build.
For levelling just grab Slithtongues at 20/50/70 (guaranteed drop in act 1) and watch those poison dots fly. All you really need is Burst, Shadow Strike, and passive damage boosts (Repertoire, Path ot Three, etc.) Then, any greens that boost Burst or acid/poison, its pretty straightforward. Even just getting that Devotion tree as fast as possible is enough to push through Veteran/N and Elite. I'd suggest using Merit (from expansion, to unlock stuff unto Ultimate) so you can speed through those shrines and get rep fast.
Dervish, Level 100 (GD 1.1.2.2) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Apparently Grimtools is in maintenance right this moment probably because of the 1.1.6 patch, but link should work. Its ungeared but the devotion setup and skill set is the most vital part really. Due to that I can not make changes, because my current skill setup is different from this one due to gear drops, most notably the Crusher. Initially this build was meant to work similar but with Righteous Fervor as spammable single target. Thing is, Blade Burst with a Crusher is just better in every way. You only use Fervor now to get the DA and attack speed bonus. Because we know DA is the best defense stat really... Still, feels like 10~12 points that could be used differently if you'd want to.
Essential / BIS gear (or at least to my knowledge so far)
The whole thing begins and ends with Amarastan Crusher as seen in the other topic. The original build focuses on acquiring the Venomblade set, but I doubt its going to be stronger, have yet to find those pieces except the Fist (it drops like candy). I've compared both of my one handers with Fist of the Venomblade, but it doesn't even get remotely close in dmg output. Easily half or less.
Another staple is having Tainted Eruption tied to Ring of Steel. It will proc at 51% which is more than often enough and this way you can use Ring to get a controlled poison dot off after jumping in between a group of enemies. This defines the playstyle. We have two teleports, so its jump in, hit RoS, spam Burst until stuff dies, move on. The second teleport is either an escape or the way to travel to the next group; Dreeg's Vector is not targeted like Shadow Strike so its great for movement. As its a lifesteal build, anytime you can't hit something yourself, you shouldn't be getting hit either.
As for all poison builds, 2x Vitriolic Gallstone is great to have, aura's stack. The whole affair is pretty focused. You only need acid/poison and I'm sitting at 2400% damage for those types now. Can get a lot higher still.
The biggest DPS boosts do come from +skill Amarasta's Blade Burst. 26/16 puts you at 230% weapon dmg... in a huge area... on top of all that flat damage and with no cooldown.
One thing I'm still doubting is whether to keep those WPS skills. With spammable Burst, they barely get used, actually only if we spam Fervor.
- anything with flat damage to Burst. This damage barely gets reduced from Crusher (only 18% total dmg, easily balanced out by the +18% crit)
- More greens. Act 1 is a gold mine for this build which is great of course because you have access to damage early
This ring is farmable just under Devil's Crossing for example
And Slithtongue (x2 if needed) carries you until the end game; being stronger than its Coven Refuge rare/revered rep counterpart. You find this in an Act 1 cave the one with Slith and a combat shrine in it. (Foggy Banks waypoint, go west)
- Venomlash... ridiculous conversion as you can probably see, and a perfect match for all the other skill bonuses too, because we use them as well.
- Also pick up this medal augment, its remarkably strong, the OA shred is even unique to the build, as in, you won't waste it by having another same OA shred that overwrites it. It stacks for example with Veil of Shadow. The net result is a high DA, (very) high OA character with 30% melee dodge and decent HP with 25% lifesteal. Its hard to die, except from onehitters.
So, I was going to reply to say that the full venomblade set is the way to go...but they have really buffed amarastan crusher. I think I'll have to pull my dervish back out and try it with amarastas blade burst on lmb, that seems like it would be much more dmg than using righteous ferver. Otherwise, nice build.
fyi, as a general rule, set pieces aren't too tough to get anymore. my usual method when I start over:
1. farm fabius elite for plans. Pretty big grind, but if you do this until you stop getting a plan every time you'll have a ridiculous amount of plans/gear built up.
2. speed farm fabius/moose/iron maiden ultimate, I finished off a huge number of sets this way
2a. work on krieg's set piece farming at same time you're doing (2)
3. kill lokarr. a lot. double nemesis troves!
4. gladiator 150 runs. I've done some up to 170, but they're really tough without real end game setup, and easy to die in hardcore if you go that high. 150 isn't nearly as difficult and loot is very close.
5. SR60. Loot just gets to be amazing once you can do SR 60. Plus, you only need to do 2 shards to get max loot, so you can get SR stones, start at 60, clear 60 and 61, get loot, rinse/repeat...huge loot!
These days it might just be faster/easier to go straight to SR 60 runs if you have the right build for it.
So, I was going to reply to say that the full venomblade set is the way to go...but they have really buffed amarastan crusher. I think I'll have to pull my dervish back out and try it with amarastas blade burst on lmb, that seems like it would be much more dmg than using righteous ferver. Otherwise, nice build.
fyi, as a general rule, set pieces aren't too tough to get anymore. my usual method when I start over:
1. farm fabius elite for plans. Pretty big grind, but if you do this until you stop getting a plan every time you'll have a ridiculous amount of plans/gear built up.
2. speed farm fabius/moose/iron maiden ultimate, I finished off a huge number of sets this way
2a. work on krieg's set piece farming at same time you're doing (2)
3. kill lokarr. a lot. double nemesis troves!
4. gladiator 150 runs. I've done some up to 170, but they're really tough without real end game setup, and easy to die in hardcore if you go that high. 150 isn't nearly as difficult and loot is very close.
5. SR60. Loot just gets to be amazing once you can do SR 60. Plus, you only need to do 2 shards to get max loot, so you can get SR stones, start at 60, clear 60 and 61, get loot, rinse/repeat...huge loot!
These days it might just be faster/easier to go straight to SR 60 runs if you have the right build for it.
I am still definitely hunting down the Venomblade set entirely. Still need to actually try it. This build is really a variation on the MissMeltycakes DW melee poison Dervish. But I had been fiddling with acid/poison builds with Nightblade and Oathbreaker variations (combi with Occultist, etc.) for quite a while now. Kinda just put this together myself, only the devotion tree is the same really. But yea, Crusher is insane, and Venomlash is like a force multiplier for it. When I hit 84 and equipped it, the first try I was like... oh shit, I'm not even seeing the health bars go down... it was just AoE insta kill all
But yeah this feels like a build I can bring to end game. So much potential, still, and so many pieces to collect to make it better. I've never really gone that deep into farming endgame, many toons hit a wall somewhere in Ultimate for me, always missing a damage increase at some point. Not with this one
I am still definitely hunting down the Venomblade set entirely. Still need to actually try it. This build is really a variation on the MissMeltycakes DW melee poison Dervish. But I had been fiddling with acid/poison builds with Nightblade and Oathbreaker variations (combi with Occultist, etc.) for quite a while now. Kinda just put this together myself, only the devotion tree is the same really. But yea, Crusher is insane, and Venomlash is like a force multiplier for it. When I hit 84 and equipped it, the first try I was like... oh shit, I'm not even seeing the health bars go down... it was just AoE insta kill all
But yeah this feels like a build I can bring to end game. So much potential, still, and so many pieces to collect to make it better. I've never really gone that deep into farming endgame, many toons hit a wall somewhere in Ultimate for me, always missing a damage increase at some point. Not with this one
All of my toons hit that wall. The scaling is still something that throws me off... Wolcen kind of does that as well but not nearly as bad as GD. Especially given how easily you cruise through mid game. I feel like level 80+ starts to reaaaaallllllyyyyy suck with all my builds and I have to completely rebuild for late game at that point.
Which, because im super lazy usually involves just googling and copying a build... kind of takes the problem solving fun out of it.
All of my toons hit that wall. The scaling is still something that throws me off... Wolcen kind of does that as well but not nearly as bad as GD. Especially given how easily you cruise through mid game. I feel like level 80+ starts to reaaaaallllllyyyyy suck with all my builds and I have to completely rebuild for late game at that point.
Which, because im super lazy usually involves just googling and copying a build... kind of takes the problem solving fun out of it.
Its sure not easy to find the right secret sauce with each build but now with all the crafting and rep gear a lot of stuff is easier to tweak and improve. But yeah, very similar experience though that also keeps the game fresh every time. Rerolling is half the replay value Imo.
Yeah, since Forgotten Gods was released we've had 2 HUGE updates (1.5 and 1.6), the game has continued to improve. By the time you start seeing expansions at $5-6 each, gd 2 will be out.
Base game and the first expansion are dirt cheap from time to time, second expansion is still fairly new, I think you can get the whole package for around $20 during sales. Which is more than a fair price IMO
Greens, man. Greens! You can get +10% attack speed and raw damage for Righteous Fervor on your helmet, for example... It outclasses Perdition by a mile, probably... Frequent visits to monster infrequent vendors are a great pastime. In addition, there is a green Poison Bolt proc for belts too, so you can get different weapons and still have those bolts flying about.
Also the result of my number crunching with Oathkeeper is that, while Retaliation damage is a nice way to double dip in damage and counter-damage... it does not stack as well as a damage type for Righteous Fervor; ie you are better off stacking Acid directly than going with ret bonuses. Retaliation looks like double dipping, but they're also stats that don't always go to stacking the pure damage itself (Perdition set is a great example; it barely gives raw poison/acid damage). Its separate and does not stack; Acid Retaliation != Acid. Fervor only gets about 15-20% retaliation damage from stacking it, but you get full Acid damage stacking on it.
Do you spam WPS with Righteous Fervor? If you want to capitalize on that, get all those devotions that also proc Retaliation damage to get the most out of that and your Ret damage stacking.
That is one nice armor score by the way, damn! How much is your absorb?
Play the Lut Gholein theme song and all is well Embrace the shameless copy and get into those Tombs, because the execution in Grim Dawn is done very very well. I'm currently chewing on Lost Oasis and destroying Morgoneth. Tough cookie
Greens, man. Greens! You can get +10% attack speed and raw damage for Righteous Fervor on your helmet, for example... It outclasses Perdition by a mile, probably... Frequent visits to monster infrequent vendors are a great pastime. In addition, there is a green Poison Bolt proc for belts too, so you can get different weapons and still have those bolts flying about.
Also the result of my number crunching with Oathkeeper is that, while Retaliation damage is a nice way to double dip in damage and counter-damage... it does not stack as well as a damage type for Righteous Fervor; ie you are better off stacking Acid directly than going with ret bonuses. Retaliation looks like double dipping, but they're also stats that don't always go to stacking the pure damage itself. Its separate and does not stack; Acid Retaliation != Acid. Fervor only gets about 15-20% retaliation damage from stacking it, but you get full Acid damage stacking on it.
I'm always on the lookout for an upgrade to warrant dropping my 3-piece bonus from Perdition heheh. The sword just replaced a halberd for some excellent Speed upgrade for a 1k dps bump, and the pants I farmed for about 2 hours before getting a decent double green roll. The Radaggan's gem just looked too awesome not to try rofl, and it did give me a small dps bump. I'm not really looking to stack Ret damage, mainly just looking for Acid/Poison, but I've died too many times lately, and I'm tweaking here and there for a more health, and finally maxed my elems with semi-decent numbers on the others. I'm wanting to go farm a better roll for Viloths Ring, but I've been distracted by Totem searching heheh.
Do you spam WPS with Righteous Fervor? If you want to capitalize on that, get all those devotions that also proc Retaliation damage to get the most out of that and your Ret damage stacking.
That is one nice armor score by the way, damn! How much is your absorb?
Acid Spray is attached to my RF, but I do need to re-visit my devotions to make sure I've got things where I want them. Absorption is at 100%, which is good considering my lower HP pool
I'm always on the lookout for an upgrade to warrant dropping my 3-piece bonus from Perdition heheh. The sword just replaced a halberd for some excellent Speed upgrade for a 1k dps bump, and the pants I farmed for about 2 hours before getting a decent double green roll. The Radaggan's gem just looked too awesome not to try rofl, and it did give me a small dps bump. I'm not really looking to stack Ret damage, mainly just looking for Acid/Poison, but I've died too many times lately, and I'm tweaking here and there for a more health, and finally maxed my elems with semi-decent numbers on the others. I'm wanting to go farm a better roll for Viloths Ring, but I've been distracted by Totem searching heheh. View attachment 147569 View attachment 147570 View attachment 147572
Acid Spray is attached to my RF, but I do need to re-visit my devotions to make sure I've got things where I want them. Absorption is at 100%, which is good considering my lower HP pool
In Ultimate just having 80% resistances isn't enough. Overcapping is recommended. I'm sitting at +25-30% on each resistance above cap now and can still be shredded to 50%! That is what gets ya. Have you reaeched Revered already with the expansion factions (Cults)? That is where a huge chunk of survivability comes from. The augments are best in slot, along with the ones from Coven, Malmouth Resistance and Barrowholm. It gives you a lot of leeway to customize the rest of your gear more freely.
Try Murmur for devotions. Its a ridiculously good shredder. and works well with a spammable like RF. Its better than Acid Spray because -% reductions stack and I believe they nerfed Spray into the ground too. And its also better for stacking devotion points towards 18 ~ 20 green. Also, OA reduction on enemies is a fantastic way to improve your defense. It effectively pushes your DA stat even further = avoid crits more. That suits your low HP pool too.
+
VERSUS
Another fantastic devotion for us is the Raise Skeleton one. It slows enemies and working through that devotion you get attack speed and a whoppin 6% lifesteal. I have that one linked to my RF now, but I don't spam it, I just use RF to stack the buff. But the skeletons help alot surviving against the super fast enemies in expansion content. The Vitality damage is irrelevant. You want that debuff.
This is all more tailored to a Nightblade combo with Cold dmg, but I reckon you can easily convert that to Acid especially if you're using greens.
And yea totems.. definitely the best way to farm gear now. Its like christmas!
Final suggestion: free up some resistance space with Arcane Harmony leggings. They're fantastic; huge spirit and DA stats, elemental and aether resist. And should have dropped for you now at least once... It seems like an odd choice but just ignore the proc it has. Mythical of course is even better... But Spirit is pretty huge for acid builds. (Duration + Magical), easily on par with just stacking Acid damage on its own.
And the proc... it is a knockdown, even if its the wrong damage type, so that is a great defensive mechanic too.
In Ultimate just having 80% resistances isn't enough. Overcapping is recommended. I'm sitting at +25-30% on each resistance above cap now and can still be shredded to 50%! That is what gets ya. Have you reaeched Revered already with the expansion factions (Cults)? That is where a huge chunk of survivability comes from. The augments are best in slot, along with the ones from Coven, Malmouth Resistance and Barrowholm. It gives you a lot of leeway to customize the rest of your gear more freely.
Try Murmur for devotions. Its a ridiculously good shredder. and works well with a spammable like RF. Its better than Acid Spray because -% reductions stack and I believe they nerfed Spray into the ground too. And its also better for stacking devotion points towards 18 ~ 20 green. Also, OA reduction on enemies is a fantastic way to improve your defense. It effectively pushes your DA stat even further = avoid crits more. That suits your low HP pool too.
Another fantastic devotion for us is the Raise Skeleton one. It slows enemies and working through that devotion you get attack speed and a whoppin 6% lifesteal. I have that one linked to my RF now, but I don't spam it, I just use RF to stack the buff. But the skeletons help alot surviving against the super fast enemies in expansion content. The Vitality damage is irrelevant. You want that debuff.
This is all more tailored to a Nightblade combo with Cold dmg, but I reckon you can easily convert that to Acid especially if you're using greens.
And yea totems.. definitely the best way to farm gear now. Its like christmas!
Final suggestion: free up some resistance space with Arcane Harmony leggings. They're fantastic; huge spirit and DA stats, elemental and aether resist. And should have dropped for you now at least once... It seems like an odd choice but just ignore the proc it has. Mythical of course is even better... But Spirit is pretty huge for acid builds. (Duration + Magical), easily on par with just stacking Acid damage on its own.
And the proc... it is a knockdown, even if its the wrong damage type, so that is a great defensive mechanic too.
I've been wanting to dig into ways to shred resistance, but keep getting distracted with "Just one more run around, hitting my spots, I bet I'll get an even better pattern this time!" lol. This weakness is compounded by replacing my amulet, a ring and the halberd in the last 4 days, thus justifying my procrastination . I'll look for the Harmony legs this evening Thanks for the input!
edit: @Vayra86 you seemed to be stressed over the greens in my gear lol. Here's my GT link, please feel free to point out any places that I should focus. Apparently, I don't have any of the Harmony pieces, but I'll keep an eye out. thanks!
If anyone here is on the fence, and fine with Steam, GD is on sale 80% off, and the DLC at 30% off, or if you want it all except the bells and whistles, the Bundle is 57% for the game and all DLC combined.
If anyone here is on the fence, and fine with Steam, GD is on sale 80% off, and the DLC at 30% off, or if you want it all except the bells and whistles, the Bundle is 57% for the game and all DLC combined.
I wish that 57% were true... I have been wanting the expansions for awhile now but I am waiting for around $15 complete your collection price point. I'm not in any rush, but the $5 base game price is fantastic and the lowest its ever been to my knowledge.
I wish that 57% were true... I have been wanting the expansions for awhile now but I am waiting for around $15 complete your collection price point. I'm not in any rush, but the $5 base game price is fantastic and the lowest its ever been to my knowledge.
You already own Grim Dawn on Steam, so it's not in your bundle Price checks out at $5 for GD, plus the $23.77, minus a little if you had the full package available Good game, you won't regret it! Grab that DLC
Came across this in a stack of urns I hate not exploring/smashing/killing everything, which takes so stupid long, and then something like this pops up and reinforces the bad behavior lol
Came across this in a stack of urns I hate not exploring/smashing/killing everything, which takes so stupid long, and then something like this pops up and reinforces the bad behavior lol View attachment 151568
it only requires level 10 to wear? that seems really OP'd for that low a level. unless the +15% part has a max cap on it. otherwise I wouldn't know why you would change the ring once from level 10 to 90 lol
it only requires level 10 to wear? that seems really OP'd for that low a level. unless the +15% part has a max cap on it. otherwise I wouldn't know why you would change the ring once from level 10 to 90 lol
Came across this in a stack of urns I hate not exploring/smashing/killing everything, which takes so stupid long, and then something like this pops up and reinforces the bad behavior lol View attachment 151568
I believe these items drop from fixed locations, like the Exalted Chests that you only get once per playthrough. Another example is the Totally Normal Shield. Which is a pretty cool thing because you can dual wield shields (visually at least) that way All these static drops have something peculiar to them that sets them apart from everything else.
it only requires level 10 to wear? that seems really OP'd for that low a level. unless the +15% part has a max cap on it. otherwise I wouldn't know why you would change the ring once from level 10 to 90 lol
+All Damage isn't that powerful a stat, though in early game you can feel it for sure. 15% is pretty low, even if its a relative scale. +2000% of added damage on a character isn't uncommon in late game.
Still, XP and elemental resist on top of it this early is nice.
I believe these items drop from fixed locations, like the Exalted Chests that you only get once per playthrough. Another example is the Totally Normal Shield. Which is a pretty cool thing because you can dual wield shields (visually at least) that way All these static drops have something peculiar to them that sets them apart from everything else.
Ah you figured out its static I see
+All Damage isn't that powerful a stat, though in early game you can feel it for sure. 15% is pretty low, even if its a relative scale. +2000% of added damage on a character isn't uncommon in late game.
Still, XP and elemental resist on top of it this early is nice.
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