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Grim Dawn |OT| It's always grimmest at dawn.

Cracklox

Member
Man, elite is no joke. My Shadowblade/Occultist is getting wrecked, to the point I'm struggling to maintain a net xp gain I'm dying so often. She's on hold for now...

With that said I started a Demo run, with the idea of maxing the class asap and just 1 pointing skills I wanna use on the way, and then going back to add more skill points. Just hit level 21, and maxed the class and it seems to work well so far. Killing things on Veteran faster than my Witch Hunter could on normal. I'm really tempted to keep a pure Demo as there's a bunch of skills I like, but I'm not sure that'll be best in the long run, so I'll prob add arcanist maybe around level 40 or so.

Looking forward to getting some points into the explosive canister skill mostly. That's been putting in serious work even with just 1 point
 

Nordicus

Member
It seems like some of the optional areas have moderate level-scaling downwards at the very least? In a few areas that I've returned to just to farm some specific enemy type, I've noticed everything being at least 5 levels higher than before
 
It seems like some of the optional areas have moderate level-scaling downwards at the very least? In a few areas that I've returned to just to farm some specific enemy type, I've noticed everything being at least 5 levels higher than before

All zones have level-scaling but they have a cap on the minimum/maximum. Extra zones tend to have a higher cap because they have higher requirements to access (usually more dynamite/scrap/iron).
 

Nordicus

Member
It took until Homestead and then some for the game to really start throwing some genuinely interesting monsters at me at a more consistent pace. Better late than never.
 
Been playing a 100% self-found, or whatever you call it character tonight. One in which you just gear it with what you find on that character. It's going pretty well. Got a few lucky 1-shot chests which dropped a couple nice great swords, including The Conduit which goes very well when lightning damage is your main source.

I wanted to do a Druid since that wasn't something I've done before, and quickly decided that Primal Strike is going to be my main method of attack. By itself it's nothing great due to cooldown, but with the Thunderous Strike modifer you can use it as your LMB spamming skill. So quickly I rushed that.

By level 5 I had both those skills, and my damage was doing well. I continued to raise Shaman mastery to 15 to grab the next important bit - Torrent. This upgrade to Primal Strike causes the attack to chain into other enemies. I also picked up Mogdrogen's Pact, and its upgrade Heart of the Wild. A point was also thrown into the Arcanist Mastery, just because, then one into both Inner Focus and Iskandra's Elemental Exchange. Neither did much, but it didn't hurt. As for devotion, I just progressed through Tsunami. Think I had 4 or 5 devotion points at this point.

Here's a link to what I had by level 10: http://grimcalc.com/build/9fcVnB

And what the character was looking like at that point:

AgwPe1E.jpg

The hammer was a nice find.

Point allocation to level 20 was pretty easy. Just increase Torrent and Primal Strike mostly. I also raised Shaman mastery to 25, mostly for the physique bonus, but also to get a couple more upgrades, and Wendigo Totem which hasn't really done much. Devotion was also easy. Just finish Tsunami, link it to Primal Strike, then work on Owl to meet the Tempest tree.

Here's a link to what I had by level 20: http://grimcalc.com/build/ov96MZ

And some shots:


Got to 25 tonight and mostly finished primal strike, and increased Arcanist a bit because it was being neglected, but it's not really adding much. The Conduit dropped from either Kilrian, or the chest he unlocks. It was a nice reward as it fit this build in its current form perfectly. I had to spend some time at the shops and farming a few components to get my Physique up to equip it. Did I mention I haven't spent a single attribute point? Because I haven't. I also finished Owl and began working on Tempest.

Link to where the build is now: http://grimcalc.com/build/TLiNqx

And screenshots:

 

Mulgrok

Member
Doing a summoner build and it is going very slow. Lack of summoner stats on gear probably hurts the most, but early on I found a very nice offhand that summons a neat pet on hit and it has scaled well for 20 levels now.
 

FlyinJ

Douchebag. Yes, me.
I had no idea they added controller support. It actually works very well, it's almost as good as console Diablo 3.

I was sick of having to play at my computer, but now with comfy couch it's back on.
 

Cracklox

Member
2 questions:

- Any reason to not set your pets to aggressive?

- Anyone know whats up with Survival mode? Their site indicates it would be out for backers only around release. Surely the 'backers only' thing will only be for a limited time?
 

cirrhosis

Member
2 questions:

- Any reason to not set your pets to aggressive?

- Anyone know whats up with Survival mode? Their site indicates it would be out for backers only around release. Surely the 'backers only' thing will only be for a limited time?

Survival mode isn't out yet; devs have said that they'll be releasing a content patch at some point, presumably with mod tools as well. Wouldn't be surprised to see them renege on the limited time thing; I don't think it would be a good use of resources to do so otherwise.
 

Nymerio

Member
Played a couple of hours without realizing I had to assign this devotion skill to one of my regular skills to gain the effect. I don't remember when the last time was that a game didn't hold my hand every step of the way. I like it though.

I also got the Gunslinger's Jacket on my Pyro and dual wielding is legit. Is there even a penalty on it aside from the generally lower damage range from one handed weapons? I also like that you can equip two identical epic items, no unique equipped shit so far.
 

Unicorn

Member
I can't seem to get cloud saves to work. It's ticked on my desktop and laptop..

Started at Veteran mode. Wish there was a higher difficulty mode than that because it's still a little too easy when I stacked around 90% lightning damage and pumped Storm Totem to 17/16, cruised through everything so far.

Veteran isn't a difficulty mode, it just doubles mobs. It has a similar progression to Diablo in that New Game + and ++ are the harder modes with outright degradation of stats. Veteran allows bosses to heal on your death though, so I guess it can half-count.
 

Nordicus

Member
Managed to beat the optional (super?)dungeon at Steps of Torment. I had picked everything that yellow or higher, so I had to dump stuff on the dungeon floor at least 3 times during my time there since I couldn't portal to town to sell them. Amidst the yellows I actually finally got an upgrade for one of my swords!

The Chamber of Souls was no joke, had to pop one of my Aether Clusters for that because the ranged damage and stuns got bit insane for a moment
 

Dreavus

Member
I'm starting to think there isn't that many great overlaps with Soldier and Nightblade (Blademaster). When I picked through it at first, it seemed like I could grab some passives and weapon techniques but upon closer inspection TONS of them require a shield to be used. And Cadence is the big one I was considering too, but it doesn't stack with the Nightblade passives very well.

I suppose having it be a light investment of 1-3 skills 10~ points each is fairly reasonable for a secondary class... there is so much I want to put into the Nightblade skill tree anyways.
 

bati

Member
I'm starting to think there isn't that many great overlaps with Soldier and Nightblade (Blademaster). When I picked through it at first, it seemed like I could grab some passives and weapon techniques but upon closer inspection TONS of them require a shield to be used. And Cadence is the big one I was considering too, but it doesn't stack with the Nightblade passives very well.

I suppose having it be a light investment of 1-3 skills 10~ points each is fairly reasonable for a secondary class... there is so much I want to put into the Nightblade skill tree anyways.

The blademaster builds I've seen in early access only went 2-3 tiers deep into soldier tree but the tree has changed since then so take this information with a grain of salt.

Is anyone playing the game with a (x360) gamepad? If so, how is it?
 

Purkake4

Banned
If anyone gets tired of dying go for a shield build, they are surprisingly useful. I'm tanking my way through elite with racking up XP like no tomorrow. Not dying helps a lot with that.
 

Ichabod

Banned
Was roaming around near Gryvers (sp?) mill last night and came across a path behind a waterfall that led to an area I never knew existed. It was called something like the Shrine of the forgotten god or some such. There was a really cool looking door there. I got excited and thought it was the entrance to a secret dungeon but, nada ;_;
 

Purkake4

Banned
Was roaming around near Gryvers (sp?) mill last night and came across a path behind a waterfall that led to an area I never knew existed. It was called something like the Shrine of the forgotten god or some such. There was a really cool looking door there. I got excited and thought it was the entrance to a secret dungeon but, nada ;_;
There are two totally hidden dungeons/areas with one-shot chests.
 

Mulgrok

Member
Managed to beat the optional (super?)dungeon at Steps of Torment. I had picked everything that yellow or higher, so I had to dump stuff on the dungeon floor at least 3 times during my time there since I couldn't portal to town to sell them. Amidst the yellows I actually finally got an upgrade for one of my swords!

The Chamber of Souls was no joke, had to pop one of my Aether Clusters for that because the ranged damage and stuns got bit insane for a moment

I was doing fine in there, then died in a split second during 2nd or 3rd waves of bosses. I was playing a summoner so it was taking forever. nothing useable dropped anyway... waste of time.

Found a dungeon that drops summoner gear, but out of the handful of runs it was always offhand items with the summoner stats.

There are two totally hidden dungeons/areas with one-shot chests.

I found an ogre? boss in an unmarked cave at level 21ish. it was level 29ish and took forever to kill. Only dropped a couple of crappy yellow items, too.
 

Purkake4

Banned
I found an ogre? boss in an unmarked cave at level 21ish. it was level 29ish and took forever to kill. Only dropped a couple of crappy yellow items, too.
That's just like an optional one. There's one secret in Burrwitch and one in chapter 4.

Check the wiki if you really want to get spoiled.
 

Nordicus

Member
I was doing fine in there, then died in a split second during 2nd or 3rd waves of bosses. I was playing a summoner so it was taking forever.
Yeah, there's something in one of the later waves that causes near-instantaneous death. Don't exactly know what it was because my poisons and Scorpion-constellation powered Blade Spirit tend to kill my targets off-screen

gPbZTtf.gif


25% chance on attack
my ass, dunno if the spirit "attacks" 6 times every time it throws those daggers, but the constellation ability procs almost every time
 

Nordicus

Member
Whew, finally beat the game on normal veteran difficulty. Looks like they got a small expansion hook at the end. Eager to see more...

...alhough I've now seen enough Cthonians to last a lifetime. That Ch'thon optional superdungeon in Necropolis was crazy, even compared to the undead one. I leveled like 3 times during it, almost 4!

Also, the legendary item I got as reward for beating game's final boss was a big upgrade to my already really good gauntlets. Nice.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
Just learned about this game while installing D2:LOD MXLU. I was going to grab Titan Quest Gold again, but someone mentioned this game. How does it compare? Is there a lot of "extra content"? Will they be adding level editing and mod tools for people to make their own worlds/quests/etc?
 

Xyber

Member
Just learned about this game while installing D2:LOD MXLU. I was going to grab Titan Quest Gold again, but someone mentioned this game. How does it compare? Is there a lot of "extra content"? Will they be adding level editing and mod tools for people to make their own worlds/quests/etc?

Yeah, they have the option for custom games in the main menu but it's locked for now. They will release modding tools sometime in the future.
 

Nordicus

Member
Just learned about this game while installing D2:LOD MXLU. I was going to grab Titan Quest Gold again, but someone mentioned this game. How does it compare? Is there a lot of "extra content"?
It compares incredibly favorably to Titan Quest in every aspect except for maybe the setting

And the heck is "extra content"?
 

Fou-Lu

Member
A friend and I are just playing through normal casually for the first time. I am a huge fan of Titan Quest and I am absolutely loving Grim Dawn. I have to say that I don't find the masteries quite as intriguing as those in Titan Quest though. They all feel a bit too unfocused to me. I am currently focusing on the Shaman with a bit of Arcanist and find that my friend who is Demolistionist and Soldier has both much higher DPS and much more survivability. Perhaps focusing on lightning damage is just not worth it?
 
A friend and I are just playing through normal casually for the first time. I am a huge fan of Titan Quest and I am absolutely loving Grim Dawn. I have to say that I don't find the masteries quite as intriguing as those in Titan Quest though. They all feel a bit too unfocused to me. I am currently focusing on the Shaman with a bit of Arcanist and find that my friend who is Demolistionist and Soldier has both much higher DPS and much more survivability. Perhaps focusing on lightning damage is just not worth it?

I'm currently going through as a Druid (shaman+arcanist) and haven't died once yet. Granted I've been terribly busy and currently it's only level 28. I posted above how I'm building the character so far, and will probably post updates when I can find more time to play.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
It compares incredibly favorably to Titan Quest in every aspect except for maybe the setting

And the heck is "extra content"?

I was more alluding to the stuff that D3 and PoE have brought to the table. Rifts and Adventure mode style things.

I'm really enjoying the game. It feels just like Titan Quest, so I'm pretty stoked. Trying to build a Pet Demolitionist. With the option to reset spec points, I can tinker with it enough to find what works. Stat points being permanent means I'm sort of just hoping and praying that I'm doing OK with them, ha. Hopefully they don't make too much of a difference at endgame.
 

Dreavus

Member
Yeah, there's something in one of the later waves that causes near-instantaneous death. Don't exactly know what it was because my poisons and Scorpion-constellation powered Blade Spirit tend to kill my targets off-screen

gPbZTtf.gif


25% chance on attack
my ass, dunno if the spirit "attacks" 6 times every time it throws those daggers, but the constellation ability procs almost every time

Proc stuff is weird. I have a socket item that shoots brimstone in a circle with only 5% chance to fire off of an attack, but the extremely light DoT from my aura (like 6 damage per second) which ticks every second can proc it.
 

Nordicus

Member
I was more alluding to the stuff that D3 and PoE have brought to the table. Rifts and Adventure mode style things.
Aah well, there isn't much long-term side activity at the moment afaik. You got 2 challenge dungeons that take fairly expensive consumable Skeleton Keys to enter, and have the rule "No Town Portals or turning back, you exit through boss or through death"
Trying to build a Pet Demolitionist.
Funny, I'm doing the exact same thing on my 2nd character Shaman+Demo, though right now it's mostly just Shaman. I rushed the Briarthorn (and now at level 13, my gun does 30-200 dmg while pet does 600-700) and will keep rushing until I get the second big Shaman summon, then I'll start building Elementalist damage and party buffs on him
How is the story in this game and how long would it take approx to beat it?
It was about 45 hours for my fairly completionist run on Veteran setting (slightly harder normal mode). The main plot is nothing special but there are some neat (and dark) little character stories

"Interdimensional entities are invading and some people have started worshipping Warhammer's Khorne for aid. Shit is fucked up"
 
I feel a little ridiculous... I got Nightblade, expected it to be awesome/necessary, but I'm still pure Demo, lol.

500-900 damage a shot at level 20... shit is nuts.
 
Wow.

I [
] fulfilled the dying wish of a rapist, and killed an innocent man and his daughter. I feel like an asshole...[
]

Games alot darker then most ARPG.
 
This has been sitting in my Steam wish list for quite a while, waiting for a decent sale. But this thread might just make me pay full price and dive in.
 

Xyber

Member
Yay, seem to have stumbled on some dumb bug. I never got my inventory bag as a reward in act 1 on my fresh character I started today. =/

It is pretty damn limiting not having that extra bag space and it doesn't look like I will be able to fix it. Not even a trainer seems to be able to unlock those bags.
 
This has been sitting in my Steam wish list for quite a while, waiting for a decent sale. But this thread might just make me pay full price and dive in.

I almost picked it up during the winter sale, and once January hit and the sale ended I completely regretted it. Ended up picking it up for full price, and I have zero regrets about doing so. More than worth it.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Ugh. Reached Burrwitch and my FPS drops to 28 when there are fights :lol. Such a shame the game doesn't have better core utilization. Can't play it like this, I guess I'll shelve it like I did Torchlight 2 back when I had my old E8500 and never return to it. I kid, but seriously, you'd expect it to run better than it does.

Edit: Seems I'm not alone lol, even a dude with an i7 is getting big framedrops in Burrwitch, hopefully they'll be able to squeeze a bit more out of the engine performance wise, it's a fucking great game otherwise.

Edit #2: Oh what the hell, disabling Core0 and putting it on High Priority improved my fps considerably, even with a twitch stream on in the background. I'll take it :lol. Burrwitch just went from dropping to 28 FPS when there were 10 enemies around, to dropping to the low 50s. That's insane. Now all I want is for them to fix the game resetting your system gamma settings everytime you close it.

Anyway, if you're having huge drops, go into the Task Manager and turn off Core0 in the affinity settings and set priority to high. Did wonders for me on my FX6300 :D.
 
So the campaign kind of just ends after you kill
the Cthulhu monster under the necropolis.

Played as a Witch Hunter, most of the time I just wandered into groups cast Curse of Frailty and Mark of Dreeg'ed them to death. KInd of wished the log and map were a little more useful.. Onwards to veteren mode!

How is the story in this game and how long would it take approx to beat it?

Took me about 34 hours on normal mode, ended at L46.

Procs are definitely a little wacky in this game, I had a lightning strike that proc'ed at 5% but acted more like 50%.
 

Xyber

Member
Yay, seem to have stumbled on some dumb bug. I never got my inventory bag as a reward in act 1 on my fresh character I started today. =/

It is pretty damn limiting not having that extra bag space and it doesn't look like I will be able to fix it. Not even a trainer seems to be able to unlock those bags.

Just a little update to this, I started a new playthrough on normal and did the quests and now I got my extra bag at least.
 
Just a little update to this, I started a new playthrough on normal and did the quests and now I got my extra bag at least.

Hope they squash these bugs. I'm not sure if it's just because more people are playing since release, or if the release build is more problematic, but I've been seeing a lot more reports of people experiencing issues that would be frustrating. I've personally not ran into any major bugs outside minor multiplayer annoyances, but I've also not been able to play as much as I could when it was early access.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
So do end game enemies have full elemental resist/immunities? Or will building fire/lightning be enough to deal with it?
 

Nordicus

Member
Because my pet build Elementalist is a bit slow compared to my poison Witcher Hunter, I finally found out that the bandit boss has a gimmick other than doing Aether damage, hahah.
 

Purkake4

Banned
Because my minion master Elementalist is a bit slow compared to my poison Witcher Hunter, I finally found out that the bandit boss has a gimmick other than doing Aether damage, hahah.
He also has a very hidden, but not actually secret laboratory behind him that took me like 20 runs to actually notice.
 
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