KickStarter Grim Dawn

[Hyperion]

Pure Vitality Soldier + Necro looks interesting. Could do 2h lifesteal, or sword n board beefcake. Occultist and Necromancer is definitely the obvious one of the bunch.

 

[Lacrymas]

Necromancer + Shaman based on Vitality damage can work as well.

Maybe something like this -> http://www.grimtools.com/calc/dVboxOZJ

 

[Hyperion]

I recall my buddy's Devouring Swarm build really falling off towards lategame content, has it been improved?

Also, wouldn't it make sense to have Heart of Oak along with more than 1 point in the Necro aura for a bigger health bonus?

Finally, is a point in Soul Harvest not worth it for the bonus to Vitality Damage you would get?

 

[Lacrymas]

Since this is a pretty mobile build, based entirely on Vitality damage, with a lot of that being leeching you don't really need the defensive skills. There are some nice defensive Devotions you can take instead. Besides, which skill are you going to pass on to be able to take Heart of the Wild and more points into Spectral Binding? I didn't notice Soul Harvest, but if Devouring Swarm isn't good (never tried it, but the -60% Vitality resistance looks good) I'd take the points from it and put them into Soul Harvest.

Here's a version without DS - http://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2jMOrN9

 

[Lacrymas]

It's always fun dying to the teleport attack of the last boss in the Steps of Torment. You are allowed no mistakes in that fight, at least with my build, and I had forgotten how much I hated that attack.

 

[Sykar]

I am free tomorrow, luckily. I am giddy to try out the Necromancer and Inquisitor class. Wish I would have had more luck with gear for my currently maximized toons though it will be fun to play them through the expansion and to level 100 as well. Maybe I can get some decent epics for them later.

Edit:
I want to go with a build like this on Inquisitor/Arcanist:

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/0V0M7aZm

Feels much more balanced than Aether Ray Sorcerer. It seems like the Inquisitor skills can help upping the channeling time by quite a bit while also providing extra health and health restoration for better sustain, something the Sorcerer sorley lacks. The new devotions seems very fitting as well for this combination. Just need to make up my mind to waste 10 points on Inquisitor mastery or not and deduce them from for example OFF.

I cannot decide on the second mastery for my Necromancer. Occultist seems like a decent choice but I am unsure if I can fully fit in Raven and Hellhound. The heal and Bonds of Bysmiel are good additions though for a pet build. There might be another alternative like Pyromancer and the fire auras to enhance your pets fire and lightning damage.

 

[Lacrymas]

The Aether Ray's main problems are the slow casting time (as in it takes a split second to activate, which makes it incredibly clunky) and the insane energy consumption. I don't see how Inquisitor helps with those 2 problems.

 

[Sykar]

The Aether Ray's main problems are the slow casting time (as in it takes a split second to activate, which makes it incredibly clunky) and the insane energy consumption. I don't see how Inquisitor helps with those 2 problems.

Never had a problem with either. Energy costs can be reduced quite a bit with gear and devotions plus some points in Mental Alacrity and you get crap ton of cast speed on top of getting loads of Energy regen with 50+ points in spirit. Furthermore OFF has such a low CD that you can just halt almost everything in their tracks most of the time. The Inquisitor skills are as mentioned there for sustain, extra health, defense against freeze resistant/immune enemies and resist reduction.

No I am pretty confident that this is a better combination than Arcanist/Demo which I play at the moment for Aether Ray. That and Arcanist/Occultist for Chaos Ray.

 

[Aeschylus]

I recall my buddy's Devouring Swarm build really falling off towards lategame content, has it been improved?

It's not super good by itself, but if you pair it with the right devotion powers (Rend) and maybe grasping vines, and combine that with another class that boosts bleeding damage (so Nightblade or Soldier) along with the right legendaries then it is very powerful. It's a tricky build to get up and running though.

 

[Lacrymas]

Here's an interesting question - are they going to add epics/legendaries that increase Necromancer and Inquisitor skills in the base game?

 

[Sykar]

Here's an interesting question - are they going to add epics/legendaries that increase Necromancer and Inquisitor skills in the base game?

Not sure, but most of my characters had almost no boni to skills anyway while playing through the game until the last half of Ultimate.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Here's an interesting question - are they going to add epics/legendaries that increase Necromancer and Inquisitor skills in the base game?

Probably yes, since they already add phat loot for nearly every combo/build.

 

[Hyperion]

Here's an interesting question - are they going to add epics/legendaries that increase Necromancer and Inquisitor skills in the base game?

The items are already in the Grimtools database. Didn't notice much early level Epics for them, but I would say close to half of the new legendaries are built for those 2 classes and their combos, when you include the regular and Mythic versions of them.

 

[Sykar]

Less than an hour left, I am getting more excited by the minute though with my luck my shitty Wifi connection will be unstable so I might not be able to play until tomorrow.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeap, I'm excited as well, I'm heading home right now and the release fits me perfectly.

 

[HanoverF]

Less than 20 minutes...
https://www.twitch.tv/crateentertainment

 

[Sykar]

1,1 GB Update started on my Steam account. Time left: 3 hours...

I so hate wireless internet.

 

[Lacrymas]

It's out. Downloading it now.

 

[Gentle Player]

I like the new menu music. Very ominous.

 

[Sykar]

It's out. Downloading it now.

I wish I could, still 2 hours left on the patch.

 

[Gentle Player]

Yuge amount of extra stash space now, very nice.

 

[Lacrymas]

Did anyone else get a severe drop in fps? I'm trying to figure out what option they've added that is so taxing.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Base game also got a yuuuge patch released for those interested:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/219990/discussions/0/1488861734124070138/

Grim Dawn: V1.0.2.0 Changelog
V1.0.2.0

[Major New Features]

• The game engine has received a major overhaul to its renderer, allowing the game to run on DirectX11. While results will vary from system to system, this will generally result in improved performance.

[Game]

• Rare Crafting Materials (ex. Blood of Ch'thon) can now be placed in the Transfer Stash.
  
• Adjusted overall loot tables scaling with level. They now drop significantly less Common and Single Affix items as player level increases. This change also applies to the Crucible.
  
• Increased drop rate of Rare items at all levels, scaling with game difficulty. This works in conjunction with above. Not only will less Single Affix items drop, but more of the Double Affix items will have at least one Affix of Rare Quality. Rare item drop rates remain unchanged in the Crucible.
  
• Improved results from Random Crafting Blueprints. They will no longer generate single affix items. Items that roll a Rare affix will instead roll a Rare Affix + Magic Affix. In addition, the chance of generating a double Rare item from crafting has been increased. Increased chance of rolling a Rare Affix on Single-Affix Rare quality blueprints.
  
• Increased drop rate of Ectoplasm from Ghosts
  
• Increased drop rate of Frozen Hearts and Mutated Scales from Slith
  
• Increased drop rate of Components from Chthonic Cultists, particularly of Consecrated Wrappings
  
• Updated many spell and damage effects with more efficient particle counts and less bright spots, reducing the intensity of these effects when multiple overlap and marginally improving performance.
  
• Inquisitor Creed and Kasparov have received new VO

[Itemization]

• Increased base Conversion on Unique 2h Melee and Ranged weapons by 15%, on 2h Monster Infrequents by 3% and on 2h Rare Prefixes by 10%
  
• Adjusted skill proc damage on various Legendary items
  
• Replaced all sources of flat and % Life Leech damage and retaliation on equipment and skill procs. Note: this does not affect sources of Attack Damage Converted to Health, which remain unchanged.
  
• Epic - Apothecary's Injector: replaced Leech damage with 28 Defensive Ability
  
• Epic - Bloodreaper's Cleaver: replaced chance of Leech damage with 20 Offensive Ability
  
• Epic - Empowered Apothecary's Injector: replaced Leech damage with 48 Defensive Ability
  
• Epic - Empowered Bloodreaper's Cleaver: increased Offensive Ability to 45, removed chance of Leech damage
  
• Epic - Empowered Headhunter's Trophy: replaced % Life Leech damage with 5% Attack Damage Converted to Health
  
• Epic - Empowered Omen: replaced Life Leech damage Retaliation with 150 Health
  
• Epic - Empowered Thirsting Maw: increased % Health Regen to 24% and Offensive Ability to 45, removed chance of Leech damage
  
• Epic - Eyes of the Reaper: increased Defensive Ability to 40, removed chance of Leech damage
  
• Epic - Flesheater Legwraps: replaced Life Leech damage with 3% Attack Damage Converted to Health
  
• Epic - Headhunter's Trophy: replaced % Life Leech damage with 8% Attack Damage Converted to Health, replaced Life Leech damage with Bleed damage / 3s
  
• Epic - Scythe of Tenebris: increased % Attack Damage Converted to Health to 14%, removed chance of Leech damage
  
• Epic - Spaulders of Mogdrogen: replaced % Lightning/Electrocute damage with 16% Elemental Resist. Increased Offensive Ability to 34
  
• Epic - Thirsting Maw: increased % Health Regen to 20% and Offensive Ability to 28, removed chance of Leech damage
  
• Legendary - Bane of the Winter King: all base damage has been converted to Cold damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Cold removed.
  
• Legendary - Beastcaller's Cowl: reduced duration on granted skill to 12s and reduced cooldown to 20s, added flat Physical damage
  
• Legendary - Beastcaller's Shroud: added 22 Defensive Ability
  
• Legendary - Beastcaller's Shoulderpads: added 22 Defensive Ability
  
• Legendary - Damnation: replaced chance of Leech damage with 180 Health
  
• Legendary - Demonslayer's Life-Ender: all base damage has been converted to Vitality damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Vitality removed.
  
• Legendary - Harbinger of Eternal Suffering: all base damage has been converted to Chaos damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Chaos removed. % Physical/Trauma damage replaced with Health.
  
• Legendary - Hellborne: all base damage has been converted to Fire damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Fire removed.
  
• Legendary - Mask of the Harbinger: replaced % Physical/Trauma damage with 14% Bleed Resist
  
• Legendary - Meatwall: replaced Life Leech damage Retaliation with 6% Attack Damage Converted to Health
  
• Legendary - Nightshade's Reach: all base damage has been converted to Acid damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Acid removed.
  
• Legendary - Infernal Brimstone: all base damage has been converted to Fire damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Fire removed.
  
• Legendary - Leviathan: increased % Physical Resist to 15%
  
• Legendary - Mantle of Mogdrogen: replaced % Lightning/Electrocute damage with 18% Elemental Resist and 25% Chaos Resist. Increased Offensive Ability to 52. Changed trigger for Lightning Bolt proc to 100% chance when Hit. Added 10 Lightning damage for pets.
  
• Legendary - Siegebreaker: reduced % Physical resist to 16%
  
• Legendary - Soulrend: reduced % Crit damage to 14%, reduced % Cooldown Reduction to 16% and reduced Frostburn damage
  
• Legendary - Stonefist Rebuke: added 14% Cast Speed
  
• Legendary - Stormreaver: all base damage has been converted to Lightning damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Lightning removed.
  
• Legendary - Temporal Arcblade: all base damage has been converted to Aether damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Aether removed.
  
• Legendary - The Deathmark Set: increased % Pierce Resist Reduction on the granted skill to -15%
  
• Legendary - The Northern Wyrm: all base damage has been converted to Cold damage, values adjusted accordingly. % Physical converted to Cold removed.
  
• Legendary - Ultos' Stormseeker: increased % Cooldown Reduction to 16%, added 16% Cast Speed
  
• Legendary - Ulzuin's Flamespreader: increased Health to 300
  
• Legendary - Ulzuin's Headguard: reduced % Fire/Lightning Resist Reduction on the skill proc to -10%
  
• Legendary - Warpfire: reduced % Fire Resist Reduction on the skill proc to -15%
  
• Legendary - Wildblood Crusher: all base damage has been converted to Vitality damage, values adjusted accordingly.
  
• Faction - Death's Force: increased Defensive Ability, removed chance of Leech damage
  
• Relic - Primal Instinct: reduced attack rate of Swarmlings, reduced Summon Limit to 5
  
• Component - Arcane Spark: recipe updated. Rather than requiring a Vengeful Wraith, now requires an Ectoplasm and a Chilled Steel.
  
• Component - Haunted Steel: recipe updated. Rather than requiring a Chilled Steel, now requires a Polished Emerald.
  
• Component - Vengeful Wraith: recipe updated. Rather than requiring a Chthonic Seal of Binding, now requires an Aether Crystal.

[Class & Skills]
Devotion

• On Hit and On Low Health Celestial Powers can now be assigned to the Arcanist Mastery's Arcane Will and Soldier Mastery's Fighting Spirit and Menhir's Will. Any assigned powers will have a chance to trigger while the respective buff is active.
  
• Aetherfire: increased Fire and Aether damage scaling with rank
  
• Autumn Boar: added 10% Reflect Resist
  
• Bat: replaced chance of Leech damage and % Leech damage with 10 Offensive Ability, 6 Vitality damage and 30% Vitality Decay damage
  
• Blind Sage: increased Offensive Ability by 20
  
• Crane: added 8% Bleed Resist
  
• Eye of the Guardian: added 8 Defensive Ability and 12 Offensive Ability. Reduced % Chaos damage by 10%.
  
• Gallows: replaced chance of Leech damage Retaliation with 10% Bleed Resist
  
• Ghoul: replaced Leech damage with 3% Health
  
• Light of Empyrion: added 6-10 Physical damage, 80% Physical damage and 6% Health for the player and 6% Health for pets. Reduced % Elemental Resist for player and pets by 10%. Reduced Fire damage to 6-10.
  
• Obelisk of Menhir: added 18% Armor Absorption, added 120 Pierce Retaliation, reduced % Armor by 1%
  
• Raven: increased % All damage to 20% and Offensive Ability to 20, added 6 Lightning damage for pets
  
• Scholar's Light: increased Defensive Ability to 15 and Energy Regen to 2.5
  
• Vulture: replaced flat Life Leech Damage with 80 Health and 200 Energy. Replaced % Life Leech Damage with 8% Chaos Resist.
  
• Wendigo: increased Vitality Decay damage to 12, removed % Leech damage
  
• Blizzard: reduced Frostburn damage scaling with rank, increased Cold damage scaling with rank
  
• Fissure: reduced Burn damage scaling with rank
  
• Flame Torrent: reduced Burn damage scaling with rank
  
• Ghoulish Hunger: increased % Attack Damage Converted to Health to 35% at rank 1, 75% by rank 20, removed flat and % Leech damage
  
• Guardian's Gaze: increased Poison damage scaling with rank
  
• Light of Empyrion (Celestial Power): increased % Weapon damage to 48% by rank 10. Rebalanced damage as a combination of Physical and Fire, removed Burn damage. Replaced chance to confuse with 1.8s Knockdown.
  
• Raise the Dead: now activates on Attack, duration of raised skeletons reduced. Attack speed of Skeletons increased by 20%. Skeletons now charge more readily and are immune to slows.
  
• Stone Form: replaced % Armor, % Armor Absorption and Pierce Resistance with flat damage Absorption similar to Blast Shield and Overguard. Increased % All Retaliation Damage.

Soldier

• Markovian's Advantage: increased % Weapon damage to 128%
  
• Zolhan's Technique: increased base % Weapon damage to 110%, reduced scaling for ranks 2-12 such that the rank 12 value is still 175%

Demolitionist

• Mortar Trap: increased rate of fire by 15%

Occultist

• Ember Claw: increased damage scaling with rank, reduced cooldown by 25%
  
• Infernal Breath: reduced cooldown by 25%
  
• Lightning Strike: reduced cooldown by 25%

Nightblade

• Belgothian's Shears: increased animation speed by 20%
  
• Nightfall: replaced flat Leech damage with Vitality Decay damage and 5% Attack Damage Converted to Health, reduced Frostburn damage scaling with rank
  
• Whirling Death: increased base % Weapon damage by 5%

Arcanist

• Manifestation: increased % Physical converted to Elemental for pets to 45% by rank 3

Shaman

• Brute Force: increased Lightning damage scaling with rank to 71 by rank 12, 175 by max ultimate rank. Can now be used with Two-Handed Ranged Weapons.
  
• Feral Hunger: increased base % Weapon damage to 110%, scaling to 160% by rank 10, 210% by max ultimate rank and Bleed damage to 102 by rank 10, 230 by max ultimate rank, reduced % Damage Converted to Health to 33% by rank 10, 40% by max ultimate rank. Can now be used with Two-Handed Ranged Weapons.
  
• Upheaval: increased base % Weapon damage scaling with rank to 155% by rank 10, 185% by max ultimate rank. Can now be used with Two-Handed Ranged Weapons.
  
• Emboldening Roar: renamed to Emboldening Presence, now a toggled aura. Bonuses adjusted.
  
• Ground Slam: reduced cooldown by 25%
  
• Entangling Vines: replaced Life Leech damage with Vitality Decay damage / 2s
  
• Mogdrogen's Pact: added flat Physical damage bonus
  
• Oak Skin: increased % Health Regeneration scaling with rank to 30% by rank 10, 40% by max ultimate rank
  
• Primal Bond: replaced % Health bonus to pets with % Crit damage, increased % All damage bonus for pets to 74% at rank 12, 154% by max ultimate rank. Increased % Physical damage bonus to match % Bleed damage bonus.
  
• Primal Strike: increased Physical damage scaling with rank
  
• Storm Surge: increased Bleed and Electrocute damage scaling with rank
  
• Savagery: increased Lightning and Bleed damage scaling with rank
  
• Tenacity of the Boar: increased Offensive Ability scaling to 107 by rank 12, 177 by max ultimate rank and Defensive Ability to 83 by rank 12, 133 by max ultimate rank
  
• Storm Touched: increased % Attack Speed scaling to 12% by rank 12, 18% by max ultimate rank. Increased % Physical damage scaling at ultimate ranks to 100% by max ultimate rank. Increased chance of Lightning damage scaling with rank to 280% by rank 12, 500% by max ultimate rank
  
• Storm Totem: reduced Electrocute damage scaling with rank
  
• Wind Devil: increased Radius by 10%
  
• Raging Tempest: replaced Reduced Elemental Resistance with -% Elemental Resistance, this is a change meant to make Wind Devils more compatible with other Resist Reduction effects. The resist reduction no longer persists for 1s after the Wind Devil moves away from the target.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Did anyone else get a severe drop in fps? I'm trying to figure out what option they've added that is so taxing.

Try to disable ambient occlusion. If that doesn't work, try playing with "/d3d9" set in Steam's launch option.

 

[1451]

A good chance to replay this using a controller. I guess the crucible is mere fluff and the meaty content update comes now