-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Grim Dawn |OT| It's always grimmest at dawn.
- Thread starter NoblesseOblige
- Start date
Cracklox
Member
I've sorta told myself no more characters until the expac lol. Just adding 2 classes takes the number of class combos from 15 to 28 so I'm pretty sure there'll be some leveling to do after that.
Alot of the strongest builds involving nightblade involve dual wielding but I usually find myself coming back to caster off hands more often then not. They tend to be a little more defensive and always come with CDR, which I keep harping on, but its pretty powerful. My spellbreaker has 38% which allows for 3 blade spirits all proccing there own blizzards amongst other things. Given you're doing a class combo I don't have experience with, with a playstyle I usually steer away from, you might be on your own a bit, lol
I will recommend working flashbang into what you're doing though. The DA reduction (for more crits) and confuse is nice, but its the searing light part that can (will) save your life. Chance to fumble is one of the few types of cc thats works reliably on bosses, and even after a bit of a nerf, is pretty powerful
Ha. I just found the deathmarked claw yesterday as well. That gave me 4 pieces so, I went back to my blademaster and chucked it on him and changed a few things around and went and basically facetanked challenger crucible 100-149 unbuffed, until 2 Zantarins fucked me up on wave 150. Slaughtered Fabius before that happened though. He's still not properly optimzed and resists are all over the place, but its pretty promising.
Tinkerer's Ingenuity is solid, but (it too) got nerfed pretty hard a few patches back. The proc used to have 50% damage reduction as well, but they just straight took it off. Its still pretty solid defensively though and can help fill some resist holes. I still use it on a few guys. Bladebreakers Sash is prob BiS, but its a little more offensive.
Also, thats what I was kinda inferring with crafting mythical relics. And when you can make one, invariably I end up using resources across like 5 different characters lol. Rare crafting mats (hearts, bloods etc), really need to be able to be shared across characters. And wait until you want to craft a level 70 mythical, which requires another mythical to make.....
And no probs with the (sometimes) overly long responses. I just really love this game and enjoy talking (typing?) about it. The criminally short OT is evidence that not everyone on Gaf does unfortunately
Yes please. And per above make it so purple mats can be shared. Maybe in a separate crafting tab, which is all the rage in these type of games these days.
Although now I think of it, being able to share hearts etc, will likely break some of the quests where you need those to turn in, so it prob won't happen
ShadowgeistX
Member
Already in on that flashbang action. Switched to dual wield for a bit and I'll see where that goes. Currently stacking a ton of fire damage, which is tops for demo since they got lots of fire going on.
I totally get not making any new chars till the expansion. I almost said the same thing myself but I got addicted when I started playing a hardcore character for fun.
Cracklox
Member
Fires a strong, well supported damage type. Though like any damage type, there are a few enemies that are highly resistant. Probably most notably the Bastion of Chaos boss. Remember to have some options to shred resistances. Blackwater cocktail is a strong, underrated skill, that includes a flat resist shred component. The damage on it isn't great by itself, but that debuff is valuable. Ideally you want at least one flat source (indicated by reduce target resistance by x) and then a few sources of % based (elemental storm devotion for example - reduce target elemental resistance by x%). The flat reductions don't stack, so generally one source of that is enough, but the percentage based reductions do and add to the total amount reduced. That all starts to get pretty important from elite onwards. My poison witch hunter has so many ways to reduce resists he kills the poison type enemies just as quickly as the rest.
Just on that, I'd also suggest giving a poison/acid based character a try. Ideally a witch hunter. Really, really strong, and poison has a tonne of support from devotions and gear. Devotions alone have scorpions sting and guardians gaze (combine with blight relic for maximum lols, you can get 10+ balls spinning around you) at tier 1, both good. Tier 2 has fetid pool (not great), and acid spray (really strong) and tier 3 has vile eruption (strong and awesome - combine with skill from Mark of Dreeg component for maximum effect). Compare that to something like cold, which has sort of one tier 1 (its cold and lightening) one tier 2 and one tier 3. It's also not resisted very well by alot of the strong end game enemies (and even if it is there's a multitude of ways to deal with that) so it works well all the way through. Gear wise, it can also be made work with pretty basic, easy to find stuff too. That said, mines always been on the squishy side, so maybe not the best idea for HC lol
Bleeds also a strong dot type for some builds but I don't have as much experience with it. Not to mention dealing with undead enemies becomes a real chore.
And don't tell me about getting addicted to this lol. I binged this so hard at points last year, and kept getting ideas for builds, leveling em to 85, and then immediately starting another. I'm sort of at a point now where I'm 'fixing' alot of those guys and refining them to go as far as possible in the crucible. Its one thing to be able to make a build that can beat Ultimate, but Gladiator crucible is a whole other league. Even challenger 100+ is probably harder then Ultimate...
Anyway
/end daily Grim Dawn rant
Apologies if you knew all that. I'm a bit bored
Just on that, I'd also suggest giving a poison/acid based character a try. Ideally a witch hunter. Really, really strong, and poison has a tonne of support from devotions and gear. Devotions alone have scorpions sting and guardians gaze (combine with blight relic for maximum lols, you can get 10+ balls spinning around you) at tier 1, both good. Tier 2 has fetid pool (not great), and acid spray (really strong) and tier 3 has vile eruption (strong and awesome - combine with skill from Mark of Dreeg component for maximum effect). Compare that to something like cold, which has sort of one tier 1 (its cold and lightening) one tier 2 and one tier 3. It's also not resisted very well by alot of the strong end game enemies (and even if it is there's a multitude of ways to deal with that) so it works well all the way through. Gear wise, it can also be made work with pretty basic, easy to find stuff too. That said, mines always been on the squishy side, so maybe not the best idea for HC lol
Bleeds also a strong dot type for some builds but I don't have as much experience with it. Not to mention dealing with undead enemies becomes a real chore.
And don't tell me about getting addicted to this lol. I binged this so hard at points last year, and kept getting ideas for builds, leveling em to 85, and then immediately starting another. I'm sort of at a point now where I'm 'fixing' alot of those guys and refining them to go as far as possible in the crucible. Its one thing to be able to make a build that can beat Ultimate, but Gladiator crucible is a whole other league. Even challenger 100+ is probably harder then Ultimate...
Anyway
/end daily Grim Dawn rant
ShadowgeistX
Member
I definitely know about resistances, since I of course ran into that in Diablo 2 Hell difficulty where my ice/lightning sorceress had a LOT of hangups. I'm contemplating my options for countering resistances later on, but I think fire as a primary will most likely carry me through most of normal difficulty. I'll probably be adding a couple more elements somehow, maybe through gear or skills.
On my first character in this game I had major "decision indecision" when it came to devotions. Can't fuck around like that anymore on hardcore lol...but now I'm having the same thing regarding stats. I mean, I have no idea what stats to put in so I'm sitting here with only 1 actual point spent while my masteries have kept my actual base stats up to date. Any advice on this, if any?
I swear, this and MAYBE a soldier-type class are all I'm making until the expansion hits. After these two characters I'll need to take it easy and play some other palate cleanser ha. I haven't played the crucible yet since the only viable characters I actually have onhand are Arcanist/Demo (squishy glass cannon) and this hardcore character I'm using now. I'm pretty sure death is guaranteed in the crucible so it'll probably have to wait till I make a character that can take a few hits and has more than 1 life.
Does the game or crucible scale with item level? Because I had no problems getting to level 120 yesterday and I was struggling to get to 110 today even though I haven't changed anything that had any impact on my survivability. One time I even died before I got to 100 because I got charged by a couple of mobs and died within like a second.
Edit: I figured it out... I'm missing points in both skill trees because I swapped out some gear. Gonna have to take a look at it again -_-
Edit: I figured it out... I'm missing points in both skill trees because I swapped out some gear. Gonna have to take a look at it again -_-
Cracklox
Member
Chaos and Aether damage are decent support types for fire. There's a few devotions for both. If you're working towards meteors, then that will put you real close to abomination which has a tonne of chaos damage and a nice proc. Colds also good, but you need an arcanist really to make that work.
Stats wise, I think I mentioned a page or two back, 100% physique is the way to go 99 times out of a 100. Spirit is unfortunately pretty useless. It adds a small percentage of elemental damage. Later on when you have 1200+%, you get an extra couple of percent on top of that... It does include energy regen, which can be useful, but the only build where I felt like I needed it was an aether ray build, which chews energy hard. Even so, those points on him were wasted, as I've since been able to fully mitagate that through gear. Cunning is handy as it gives a little OA, and adds duration to physical dot types (bleed, internal trauma). Not as handy as physique though, which gives DA and health. OA is generally easier to come across then DA, and health is always a good thing so physique usually wins out.
The only issue you may run into are spirit requirements for some jewelry. It's recommended when
(if?)
It sounds like you have a Witchblade in your future. They pretty meta right now. And i'm seriously considering a HC run now too. I mean just to say I've done it right. I think there's a post from me early in this thread, where confirmation of hardcore mode was the selling point of the game for me, and I haven't touched it in 1300 hours. I'm just not sure weather to play it safe and take a tanky class that I'm familiar with, or fly buy the seat of my pants a bit and try one I haven't done yet like a saboteur or trickster. I'm leaning towards the latter option though. Maybe a bleed trickster which I here are pretty strong
Nope, only scaling is with each difficulty. Resists take a hit the same way they do in the regular game as you move up difficulties, and monsters obv get stronger. Some things to be wary of:
- Wave 65 gives you Shar'zul the Bastion of Chaos boss. He's often the first real test, and has ended quite a few runs earlier then expected. Highly fire and chaos resistant and hits like a truck.
- 84, 104 and 137 gives you Anasteria. Otherwise known as 'my lesson to not sherk aether resist'. She debuffs your resistances (this is where overcapping helps) and her devastation can pretty much one shot a character if you've been debuffed and eat all of it.
- 89 gives you swamp king, Maldakarr and Lucius. The first 2 generally aren't a problem, but Lucius can be annoying (big green aether boss)
- 90 is your first nemesis Benn'Jar. He's pretty easy, but his traps can be really annoying, especially if there's other strong enemies in the fight.
- 99 gives you the Sentinel (hidden path boss) and bunch of his friends. He's real aggresive, hits like a truck, and puts down a green pillar, which if you fight him within range of, he gets uber buff, so you need to keep kiting him away.
- 100 is Valdaraan the aetherial nemesis. He can be a real dick, teleporting you around everywhere. He can also stun the fuck out of you, and likes to teleport right next to you for shotgun lightening blasts, that used to be able to oneshot a lot of toons. The shotgun effect has since been dialed back a bit though, so he's prob not as bad as he used to be
- 110 will be a random nemesis
- 115 you get Moose the undead nemesis. Not to bad for ranged builds, but his freeze fuckery can be super annoying if you need to get in close. Reduced freeze stat is basically there to counter him if you can find a way to get some. He's also the reason the Hoarfrost potion is a thing...
- 120 aspirant is a random nemesis. Challenger/Gladiator is two random nemesis.
- 125 and 135 have a chance at a random nemesis
- 147 has a chance to spawn the Mad Queen, who in Ultimate is more or less used as yard stick for how strong builds are. Outside of Avatar of Mog, and maybe the Bourbon clones, she's probably the strongest enemy in the game. Hits like a truck and heals herself often. If you here a loud shriek when 147 starts, shit just got real
- 149 is a random spawn of I think 4 strong bosses and some friends. Guys like Shar'zul, sentinel, Alkimos, Lucius, Krieg, Cronley etc. Certain combos like Shar'zul, Sentinel, Lucius can be real dangerous.
- 150 you get 2 random nemesis on aspirant, and then 3 on challenger and gladiator.
Main nemesis to be worried about are Iron Maiden and Fabius. Both will relentlessly chase you down, and hit real hard. In fact, without stun resist Iron Maiden is next to impossible, even in challenger. She has a blitz which stuns the fuck out of you, which she usually follows up with some ridiculously hard hits. She also has an emergency heal when her health gets low, that has a 1 minute cooldown, so you can't fuck around with killing her. Fabius, I tend to find a little easier, but he can crit the shit out you with low DA and end a run very suddenly if you're not careful. Side note to that, when multiple nemesis are involved you can get multiples of the same one. Except that is Iron Maiden in challenger. You can only get multiple of her in Gladiator, which speaks to just how much stronger she is then the others.
The others can all be dangerous (except maybe Zantarins slow ass) when paired with either of those 2. Valdaraan constantly teleporting you around when you're trying to kite. Benn'jar trapping you when you're trying to kite. Moose freezing the shit out of you etc.
Zantarin on the other hand is dangerous for certain builds and a pushover for others (ranged mostly). He has a shotgun attack, with a pretty big obvious windup, that I used to always time a shadow strike as he let it go, eating all the projectiles in the face, and just straight being popped. I'm a little more careful nowadays.
Anyway, that's some crucible 101
Haven't encountered Iron Maiden yet but I do know Fabius... I was trying to kite him yesterday when I wasn't at full health and he one-shot me out of invis. And lol at Zantarin, I was about to write something about him yesterday because I managed to do the shadow strike thing twice yesterday before I got wise to it. At least I now know that I'm not the only one these things happen to.
Another question though: Do you actually use the defensive buildings? The buffs seem pretty nice, tried the fortitude buff yesterday and I liked it.
Another question though: Do you actually use the defensive buildings? The buffs seem pretty nice, tried the fortitude buff yesterday and I liked it.
ShadowgeistX
Member
Cool, I've totally been doing stats wrong on my sorcerer then hah (which incidentally was an ice/aether build). I'll pump that physique up then, I feel like it'll probably make the heavy gear requirements much more manageable.
Funny that you should mention Witchblade, as I think I was actually contemplating that and looking at skills/synergy between the masteries. I made a soldier already, I used him to beat the warden on veteran before level 11 (I actually did it at level 9 and didn't even select my second mastery yet lol).
If you want my opinion, you should go crazy with a hardcore build. Whether it ends at level 12, level 30, or level 85 you can still say you did it. I kinda wish I did a tankier build at this point because aetherfire sections in this game are total ass.
Cracklox
Member
Yeah meet Fab. He does that. He takes a pretty good defensive setup to be able to tank. Even in aspirant he packs a fair amount of dps. With my squishier casters I tend to only engage when mirror or other strong damage mitigation is up and then hit him with the kitchen sink. Otherwise I get some good exercise doing laps around the arena lol .Thats the other thing about him and Maiden though. They small and blend into the shitstorm really well, and you don't often know they're there till too late.
And yeah Zantarin has a really obvious tell when he about to let go his shotgun. Big windup and it has a cooldown, so the idea is to wait until he releases and then get in there. He's still stupidly slow, but he used to get bugged easy as well. There were times when he literally did nothing and I sat right next to him and beat him to death. Those days seem to be long gone though
As for the banners, yeah they worth using if you're sitting on a fat stack of tributes. The towers not so much. You need to fight in there range for the buffs but they're good. I don't use them often though (I probably should...), partly because I don't wanna feel like I have to hold my ground in one part of the arena, partly because I feel like I should be able to do challenger at least with as little assistance as possible and lastly cost issues. By the time I've started on wave 100 and grabbed a blessing or two, it starts to eat tributes fast. Regarding blessings, Empyrion is almost a must for most of my guys (more health). Ulo can be massively helpful as well (reduced entrapment, dot duration and other handy stuff), and Amatoks good if you lack some dps. Ulzuin on the other hand was rendered useless when the cooldown reduction got nerfed from 15% to 5%
In other news I finally started a hardcore run. Witchblade, which I'm gunna try to do physical with a side of bleed. Its working ok (ish) so far. Just got to Homestead at level 33. One or two close calls, most notably to fucking Gloomweaver, where I'd almost resigned to death before a pot came of cooldown at the last second.
Seriously though, fucking Gloomweaver. smh
- edit - ^ Ha. Yeah I took the plunge. Oh and aether fire (or any ground damage) just does a straight percentage drop to your health. 500 hps or 50k hps it' still kill you as quick. The only way to mitigate it is with damage absorption, which the game doesn't allow for much more then around 20-25%. See Maivens sphere or Possesion in Occultist
And yeah Zantarin has a really obvious tell when he about to let go his shotgun. Big windup and it has a cooldown, so the idea is to wait until he releases and then get in there. He's still stupidly slow, but he used to get bugged easy as well. There were times when he literally did nothing and I sat right next to him and beat him to death. Those days seem to be long gone though
As for the banners, yeah they worth using if you're sitting on a fat stack of tributes. The towers not so much. You need to fight in there range for the buffs but they're good. I don't use them often though (I probably should...), partly because I don't wanna feel like I have to hold my ground in one part of the arena, partly because I feel like I should be able to do challenger at least with as little assistance as possible and lastly cost issues. By the time I've started on wave 100 and grabbed a blessing or two, it starts to eat tributes fast. Regarding blessings, Empyrion is almost a must for most of my guys (more health). Ulo can be massively helpful as well (reduced entrapment, dot duration and other handy stuff), and Amatoks good if you lack some dps. Ulzuin on the other hand was rendered useless when the cooldown reduction got nerfed from 15% to 5%
In other news I finally started a hardcore run. Witchblade, which I'm gunna try to do physical with a side of bleed. Its working ok (ish) so far. Just got to Homestead at level 33. One or two close calls, most notably to fucking Gloomweaver, where I'd almost resigned to death before a pot came of cooldown at the last second.
Seriously though, fucking Gloomweaver. smh
- edit - ^ Ha. Yeah I took the plunge. Oh and aether fire (or any ground damage) just does a straight percentage drop to your health. 500 hps or 50k hps it' still kill you as quick. The only way to mitigate it is with damage absorption, which the game doesn't allow for much more then around 20-25%. See Maivens sphere or Possesion in Occultist
ShadowgeistX
Member
Kind of got that feeling with the Aetherfire...wish I could mitigate it cause it's almost gotten me killed a LOT and I'm glad I'm through that conflagration area.
You work fast though, my character is only level ~44ish and heading to Fort Ikon. I've had to backtrack a couple times to finish up quests/devotion shrines and such. I still can't for the life of me make a frozen heart for the one devotion shrine so that's still untouched for now lol. Shame I can't skip work to play or that's what I'd be doing right now.
You work fast though, my character is only level ~44ish and heading to Fort Ikon. I've had to backtrack a couple times to finish up quests/devotion shrines and such. I still can't for the life of me make a frozen heart for the one devotion shrine so that's still untouched for now lol. Shame I can't skip work to play or that's what I'd be doing right now.
Cracklox
Member
Farm some slith in the early game areas. They're good for Frozen hearts. Although if you outlevel the area too much it reduces the chances of components dropping so that may not work well...
And yeah this is something like my 14th character (the others all 85 through Ultimate), so I've got a pretty good idea of how to get through the game quickly. Getting through normal I reckon takes me about 7-8 hours nowadays. I could go a lot quicker if I ran past stuff straight to quests and shrines, but I kill everything I see, and depending on the map and my mood, I might clear it for fun.
Its been interesting having no blueprints or stash full of goodies to call on though. That makes me take my time a bit more, and I've actually bothered with components on pretty much all slots, which I don't usually start doing till the end of normal/elite.
And I'm REALLY not looking forward to going through Arkovia and the SoT again. It's the first time i've taken someone through the campaign since the undead got buffed a few patches back, and fuck me they're annoying now. It also doesn't help that I'm dealing a decent amount of bleed damage, and they're next to immune to that..
And yeah this is something like my 14th character (the others all 85 through Ultimate), so I've got a pretty good idea of how to get through the game quickly. Getting through normal I reckon takes me about 7-8 hours nowadays. I could go a lot quicker if I ran past stuff straight to quests and shrines, but I kill everything I see, and depending on the map and my mood, I might clear it for fun.
Its been interesting having no blueprints or stash full of goodies to call on though. That makes me take my time a bit more, and I've actually bothered with components on pretty much all slots, which I don't usually start doing till the end of normal/elite.
And I'm REALLY not looking forward to going through Arkovia and the SoT again. It's the first time i've taken someone through the campaign since the undead got buffed a few patches back, and fuck me they're annoying now. It also doesn't help that I'm dealing a decent amount of bleed damage, and they're next to immune to that..
ShadowgeistX
Member
I'll try running sliths later probably. Sucks to be wasting time on it though when I could be progressing my character further. I've been doing a lot of backtracking on this character trying to nail down quests and devotion shrines since I want to do a semi-completionist run on this character.
Despite having no stash transfer, I'm hoarding stuff like I would to give to secondaries in my hardcore transfer stash. But it's all pointless cause I think this is my one and final/only hardcore character lol. I totally get the whole adding components though, makes a huge difference and it's something I never really paid that much attention to.
All I can say is that I can't relate to your undead woes cause I just threw canister bombs into mobs back in that area.
Cracklox
Member
Hah, yeah I'm hoarding hard too. Although failure IS NOT AN OPTION, its nice to have some stuff there just in case.
After a few hours this morning, just hit Fort Ikon at level 40. Feeling much better now I've got some skills and gear. Can tank pretty much anything.
Famous last words?
Also, this is mad handy for getting all the shrines. I used to use it all the time, but I know where they all are now.
-edit- hargates lab would actually be good for frozen hearts now I think about it. Higher level and tonnes of slith in there
ShadowgeistX
Member
Nice, I'm just past the Fort Ikon riftgate at level 45ish. Didn't have much time to play last night cause I didn't want to stay up till 2am again lol.
Using that site plus a checklist to get the shrines cause man, I don't have a good memory for those things and there's no way to check which shrines you've actually gotten (that I know of).
I think my build is kind of coming together, but I definitely need to start getting geared up. This last act I think was a huge damage spike compared to the previous ones and I remember dying a bit as a sorcerer but that might just come with the territory for him.
I'm on my way to Fort Ikon and enemies got noticably stronger once I went in the direction of the Blood Grove. I'd have serious problems if didn't kill that fast but I have a feeling I'll run into that sooner rather than later if I don't get some more DA and life...
I did find the second Deathmarked weapon though, so that's nice.
how do shrines work if I have all 50 possible points? Because right now I think I'm missing 2 points but according to the list there are 5 shrines in act 4. Do they just become inactive, despawn or are they restored by default?
I did find the second Deathmarked weapon though, so that's nice.
how do shrines work if I have all 50 possible points? Because right now I think I'm missing 2 points but according to the list there are 5 shrines in act 4. Do they just become inactive, despawn or are they restored by default?
I imagine you just get the loot reward from restoring them and that's it.
Cracklox
Member
Correct. Although if you get all shrines on all playthroughs, you should be capped by about act 2 of ultimate. There's still I think 8 or 9 to unlock after that.
Just do the desecrated ones (where you have to fight stuff). The ones that need resources to unlock usually need rare mats like hearts and stuff in Ultimate, and I'd prefer to keep those then get a few shitty greens and a blue. In Ultimate they have a chance of dropping purples but I just don't find it worth it. Some of the desectrated ones are pretty fun in Ultimate though. The last one in the bastion of chaos especially. Spits out a tonne of heroes
- edit - hardcore run is now at Fort Ikon on Elite, level 64. Not setting world record kill speeds or anything but he's pretty damn durable. Finally just got everything together to craft the fortress relic, and my already tanky dude just got tankier, and can also now go pretty much invincible for 12 seconds. Also I've already got 2000 DA at level 64, which is probably a bit overcooked, but can't be too sure
ShadowgeistX
Member
Wow, super quick. I just beat normal after coming home last night, ran it till 4AM and got level 49ish beating normal and finishing up some quests. Gonna skip Anasteria's quests cause they seem like a colossal waste of skeleton keys lol.
For someone who doesn't really know what he's doing, I think I'm doing pretty good so far.
For someone who doesn't really know what he's doing, I think I'm doing pretty good so far.
Cracklox
Member
Ya if you can make it to the end of normal without dying you're doing pretty well. You need some idea of whats going on.
And the Anasteria quests are worth running. I usually save my free key till I meet her and get the quest in the SoT and run it then. I'll also craft one for BoC because of the amount of xp available in there. I've only leveled a few toons since Port Valbury was added, and haven't bothered with it on normal so far. Place is pretty tough.
ShadowgeistX
Member
Are they worth doing on normal? Or would it serve better on the next difficulty up?
Cracklox
Member
Yup. They obv a bit tougher then everywhere else so you want to be properly prepared. Steps you want elemental (especially cold) and pierce resists in a good spot. BoC, you want chaos and vita, and fire will help for the boss as well.
Also its helps with maxing outcast rep, which has a alot of good stuff at revered. I'm tracking nicely to max that at around level 70 on my current run which will then let me equip the augments. That'll be a big help come Ultimate
- edit - forgot to mention steps are good for ectoplasms, and BoC you should come away with a blood or two, so they generally pay for the cost of the key themselves
- edit edit - Just beat the steps on elite. The clear was easy enough, until Alkamos, who proved to be a real asshole. Couldn't tank him and needed to move around a bit. He procced my Menhirs as well which is the first time thats happened in elite. Anyway just BoC and Foghorn Loghorn to go and onwards to Ultimate
Also its helps with maxing outcast rep, which has a alot of good stuff at revered. I'm tracking nicely to max that at around level 70 on my current run which will then let me equip the augments. That'll be a big help come Ultimate
- edit - forgot to mention steps are good for ectoplasms, and BoC you should come away with a blood or two, so they generally pay for the cost of the key themselves
- edit edit - Just beat the steps on elite. The clear was easy enough, until Alkamos, who proved to be a real asshole. Couldn't tank him and needed to move around a bit. He procced my Menhirs as well which is the first time thats happened in elite. Anyway just BoC and Foghorn Loghorn to go and onwards to Ultimate
ShadowgeistX
Member
Welp, got some Grim Dawn on tonight, I'm only lvl 54 on hardcore elite and not as fast as you but I've been preoccupied this weekend. =|
I should hit up BoC and such on normal maybe if I get a chunk of time to run them all. My Saboteur has had some close calls but still alive!
I should hit up BoC and such on normal maybe if I get a chunk of time to run them all. My Saboteur has had some close calls but still alive!
Cracklox
Member
Not bad. I'd start to do something about those resists though. The elemental and pierce especially. Aether you need for a few areas, most notably the rotting croplands, just after you get to homestead. The scarecrow enemies turn into aether wisps, which deal a good wack of pure aether damage. My regular account has had a bunch of deaths there because I ignored aether.
Some suggestions that should help.
- Put a silk swatch on your pants and shoulders. That'll got along way to sorting out bleed and pierce
- Put a hollowed ground on your chest piece. Elemental resists and DA
- Corpse dust in your rings. Common, and gives vita resist, health and regen, all good
- Mark of the traveller on your boots. Movement speed!
- Unholy inscription on your gloves. All nice stuff
- Runestone in hat. Elemental and aether resists
- Belt, a rigid shell, dense fur, or antivenom salve
- A wardstone for your medal
- Ammy, maybe an aether soul, but there's other good options as well
- If you've have reached honored status with any faction you get access to augments for rings, ammys and weapons depending on the faction. These can be attached as well as components and can further help with resists, OA and DA and all sorts of stuff. Worth checking the faction vendors for. They can also sell some nice green gear that should be better then the yellows you have
Hope that helps
Some suggestions that should help.
- Put a silk swatch on your pants and shoulders. That'll got along way to sorting out bleed and pierce
- Put a hollowed ground on your chest piece. Elemental resists and DA
- Corpse dust in your rings. Common, and gives vita resist, health and regen, all good
- Mark of the traveller on your boots. Movement speed!
- Unholy inscription on your gloves. All nice stuff
- Runestone in hat. Elemental and aether resists
- Belt, a rigid shell, dense fur, or antivenom salve
- A wardstone for your medal
- Ammy, maybe an aether soul, but there's other good options as well
- If you've have reached honored status with any faction you get access to augments for rings, ammys and weapons depending on the faction. These can be attached as well as components and can further help with resists, OA and DA and all sorts of stuff. Worth checking the faction vendors for. They can also sell some nice green gear that should be better then the yellows you have
Hope that helps
ShadowgeistX
Member
Thanks, I'll get on that. A bunch of that equipment is stuff I got very recently so I haven't looked at putting stuff in them lol.
I don't remember what the yellows were but I think they're boosting my fire damage or a resistance. I'll have to go check the faction armors later.
Cracklox
Member
Grim Misadventure #115: Dressed to Necromance Some info on the first necro set. Also this
So about that more stash space thing...
Uhh, unless I'm missing something my experience with pets, is there's no reason to not set them to aggressive. If that doesn't make him busy enough, there's also a pet attack skill you can assign that will allow you to direct it. I usually just set and forget at aggressive.
Also I'm not sure exactly how its health and defenses scale, but it can be pretty much invincible against most content. It does seem to have some pretty wicked health regen too. The only time it seems to die is when other nemesis are involved, which I guess there's some weird irony in.
So about that more stash space thing...
Uhh, unless I'm missing something my experience with pets, is there's no reason to not set them to aggressive. If that doesn't make him busy enough, there's also a pet attack skill you can assign that will allow you to direct it. I usually just set and forget at aggressive.
Also I'm not sure exactly how its health and defenses scale, but it can be pretty much invincible against most content. It does seem to have some pretty wicked health regen too. The only time it seems to die is when other nemesis are involved, which I guess there's some weird irony in.
Cracklox
Member
Ding. One down
Still gotta finish up the necropolis onwards and the skeleton key areas which will be pretty tough. I really need some more OA but pretty happy with how it turned out given its self found gear from scratch. Ultimate hasn't been too bad. Had a hairy moment at the shrine in the SoT where I ended up retreating and portaling out and taking stock because of all the bullshit that was going on. Oh, and Lucius as always was annoying
Also, the games dropped a decent amount of purples, only one of which was useful to what I'm doing (Boneshatter treads) but I already have a pretty damn good blue there so... And still no empowered legplates of valor (a blue) which I swear I see 2 or 3 times a run with all my other characters, and will be pretty much BiS for this guy
I usually just stay friends with Anasteria. She has a real nice selection of revered augments that I never want to lock myself out of. That said, if you kill her, it opens up access to a dungeon with her as the boss. Benefits are obv black legion rep, but most people do it so they can farm her for her hat that only she can drop. You can still max black legion from bounties, so unless you really want that hat (and prepared to farm her for it. She's pretty tough) it's best to just stay friends.
-edit- woops. you said you killed her in the other difficulties. you monster! she's
And yeah thats about the only way for Cronleys. There are a few Devils Crossing bounties that give negative rep as well, so its prob worth picking those up on the way. There's a few there for killing various members of Cronleys which I think give some negative rep as well as DC rep.
Fortunately Cronleys is a pretty good run. Start from the rover camp, and head up through the cave. Lots of guaranteed heroes, a bunch of dynamite and scrap, and a couple of aether crystals at the end as well. Also, if you aren't, make sure you have nullification for Cronley. As soon as he puts his shield up, nullify it and watch him die about 5 times as quick.
Still gotta finish up the necropolis onwards and the skeleton key areas which will be pretty tough. I really need some more OA but pretty happy with how it turned out given its self found gear from scratch. Ultimate hasn't been too bad. Had a hairy moment at the shrine in the SoT where I ended up retreating and portaling out and taking stock because of all the bullshit that was going on. Oh, and Lucius as always was annoying
Also, the games dropped a decent amount of purples, only one of which was useful to what I'm doing (Boneshatter treads) but I already have a pretty damn good blue there so... And still no empowered legplates of valor (a blue) which I swear I see 2 or 3 times a run with all my other characters, and will be pretty much BiS for this guy
Witchblade was also probably the easiest way to do this with how tanky they can be, so I might need to undertake something a little more challenging at some point
Just got to Fort Ikon. What's the best thing to do with Anasteria? I killed her in all other difficulties, is it worth it keeping her around on ultimate? Also, what's the best way to farm Cronley's Gang reputation? Just run the hideout repeatedly? That's going to take ages
I usually just stay friends with Anasteria. She has a real nice selection of revered augments that I never want to lock myself out of. That said, if you kill her, it opens up access to a dungeon with her as the boss. Benefits are obv black legion rep, but most people do it so they can farm her for her hat that only she can drop. You can still max black legion from bounties, so unless you really want that hat (and prepared to farm her for it. She's pretty tough) it's best to just stay friends.
-edit- woops. you said you killed her in the other difficulties. you monster! she's
trying to help
And yeah thats about the only way for Cronleys. There are a few Devils Crossing bounties that give negative rep as well, so its prob worth picking those up on the way. There's a few there for killing various members of Cronleys which I think give some negative rep as well as DC rep.
Fortunately Cronleys is a pretty good run. Start from the rover camp, and head up through the cave. Lots of guaranteed heroes, a bunch of dynamite and scrap, and a couple of aether crystals at the end as well. Also, if you aren't, make sure you have nullification for Cronley. As soon as he puts his shield up, nullify it and watch him die about 5 times as quick.
That all said I've never actually maxed negative rep for Cronley on any of my guys. Pretty close on one or 2, but most of my post 85 time gets spent in the crucible
Yep absolutely. You just take a minor hit to Black Legion rep that is easily recovered through bounties.
Cracklox
Member
Outcast rep comes pretty easy, so it won't take as long as some others.
Against my better judgement I took my hardcore dude through 150 waves of aspirant crucible. It was all good. Used a health buff for the last 20, but probably didn't need it. Fuckin mad queen showed up on though, and even on aspirant puts up a fight. Especially melee. Valdaran and Benn'Jar was a nice draw for 150 though.
I think I'll wait for some better gear before pushing challenger too far as well
Against my better judgement I took my hardcore dude through 150 waves of aspirant crucible. It was all good. Used a health buff for the last 20, but probably didn't need it. Fuckin mad queen showed up on though, and even on aspirant puts up a fight. Especially melee. Valdaran and Benn'Jar was a nice draw for 150 though.
I think I'll wait for some better gear before pushing challenger too far as well
ShadowgeistX
Member
Been awhile since I pushed my hardcore character further, friend wanted to play a character with me and he doesn't play hardcore so I had to punch out a witchblade sooner than I thought. That, and I muscled through Persona 5 at the same time lol.
First step into Ultimate difficulty though, finished Elite at level 69 (giggity):
Surprisingly had much less trouble later on in Elite cause of the chaos resist I built up. But now all my resists are looking ultra low.
On another note, Saboteur is quickly becoming my favorite class to play, but I only get it on hardcore mode with all the stress of not dying lol...I totally don't want to make it again softcore though, what to do...
First step into Ultimate difficulty though, finished Elite at level 69 (giggity):
Surprisingly had much less trouble later on in Elite cause of the chaos resist I built up. But now all my resists are looking ultra low.
On another note, Saboteur is quickly becoming my favorite class to play, but I only get it on hardcore mode with all the stress of not dying lol...I totally don't want to make it again softcore though, what to do...
NoblesseOblige
Banned
Been feeling an itch to jump back in but was trying to hold off until the expansion.
NoblesseOblige
Banned
LurkerPrime
Member
Those metal masks are good stuff.
I'm looking forward to this xpac.
I'm looking forward to this xpac.
ShadowgeistX
Member
That last hat looks pretty sweet.
I hate sets though, my luck is absolutely terrible when it comes to set drops. I only managed to complete one set so far in this game and it was a set of two rings.
I hate sets though, my luck is absolutely terrible when it comes to set drops. I only managed to complete one set so far in this game and it was a set of two rings.
Cracklox
Member
I've been on a bit of a break too. Stupid D3 console seasons sucked me back in. My hc dude is still going though.
Yep. Sets are tough to put together. 1500 hours here and yet to complete a 5 piece set. I have 4 bits of a few, and have completed a couple of other 3 and 4 set pieces (I think I've got the Wildblood 3 piece around 8 or 9 times). They're not the be all and end all though like that other game I'm playing.
They're bloody rare and strong, but you don't need them, which is the way it should be
Yep. Sets are tough to put together. 1500 hours here and yet to complete a 5 piece set. I have 4 bits of a few, and have completed a couple of other 3 and 4 set pieces (I think I've got the Wildblood 3 piece around 8 or 9 times). They're not the be all and end all though like that other game I'm playing.
They're bloody rare and strong, but you don't need them, which is the way it should be
ShadowgeistX
Member
True that, but I think the real shame is that you'll never complete the set to look as awesome as the screenshots. Then you end up having characters that look as disjointed as my Saboteur lol. I do love the itemization of this game though, it's pretty much what I wanted from Diablo 3 and was sorely disappointed about the most.
Thanks for your advice on my hardcore character btw. I'm sure I would've died without some of the components you suggested for my armor. Hopefully I can make that final push to 85 and start gathering the goods to fight mogdrogen.
Cracklox
Member
Haha. Good luck. That's a death wish if you ask me. I've fought him a grand total of once in elite. That was with a toon that had just facerolled ultimate Port Valbury on Ultimate. After about 5 minutes I had him at about half health, before making a mistake and dying. I haven't even bothered trying since. He's a stupid, arrogant, 8 squillion hp, god-dickhead. I don't even bother restoring his shrine in Ultimate anymore cos fuck you idiot
and you should well and truly have devotion capped by then
Ultimate Mad Queen is a more realistic yard stick if you ask me. Tough but properly prepared builds can do it. Whereas Mog, there's only a few very specific builds using gear that would take an eternity to find ,that can handle him on Ult. And it still takes like 10-15 minutes.
And lucky transmog is coming then I guess, though dress-ups in this game isn't very fun for me. Most all of the gear, even the supposedly cooler shit, looks pretty meh. Maybe the new gear plus being able to transmog will change that. We'll see. Now D3, and other such games I will admit to perhaps spending a little too much time in the wardrobe trying to look nice...
NoblesseOblige
Banned
I've completed a number of sets but it's partially thanks to half my playtime being with a friend. So we traded a bunch of pieces.
ShadowgeistX
Member
I feel you there. My friend and I made a combined effort and managed 2/3 of the perdition set that he recently ditched lmao.
I figure it'll be the end of my hardcore character's run. I mean, I'm just gonna polish off the achievements and then fight Mad Queen and Mogdrogen and see how far it goes. Unless of course, there's a way to convert it to a softcore character. I mean, after polishing off everything on the list, the hardcore character is kind of just added stress over dying lol. Mogdrogen is definitely a dick though, I wanted to attack him but I figured I'd do some research on a non-hardcore character first. Was a good choice, that one.
Seriously if there's a way to convert a hardcore character I'd like to know. I kind of don't want to remake this one again lol. =x
And yes, transmog will be great. Although I think you need to have found the items you want the appearance for at least once from the time you launch the expansion? In any case, looking like a complete peasant is easily the worst thing about this game.
ShadowgeistX
Member
There's this. Never used it myself though. That can can get to be one pretty slippery slope that I don't wanna get on
Hm, yeah I see. I'll consider a conversion once I'm completely done with this hardcore run. I see lots of cheat options though, but I'd probably refuse to use them lol.
In any case, got new weapons on the Saboteur and I am loving that DPS (all buffs included):
Some resistance fixes are in order but other than that I think it's shaping up pretty okay.
Cracklox
Member
You're a braver soul then me tackling hc ultimate with those resists lol.
I can't tell from the screen, but it doesn't look like you're using any of the faction augments yet? Logic being 28% pierce resist with Golemnborn Greaves means you ain't getting much pierce resist anywhere else. Pierce is one of the more important resists and not something to leave behind
Anyway augs are added to gear on top of components and should really help fill those resist, uhh, 'gaps'. You can access them at level 70 (some at 40) if you have the faction rep maxed. You should be at least very close to the Homestead and the Outcast (if you sided with her) by early Ultimate. Rovers shouldn't be far behind either.
If you haven't hit the point in your Ultimate run to unlock access to the vendors, just load it up on elite and portal around and grab what you need.
And for the love of god, put a silk swatch on those shoulders