PSA: Grim Dawn is 75% off!

[Cikomyr]

I don't find most of Port Valbury to be too bad. The real problem are the zombie councillors at the end--they will absolutely murder you even if you've finished the rest of it with no issues. I think I had one character who succeeded in killing them in normal difficulty, I don't think I've ever managed it on the higher ones.

Holy crap you are right. They wiped the floor of my Cabalist.

[Morty]

I bought the game and got started on a Soldier/Nightblade with a two-handed weapon. Already made some missteps in skill assignment, but I guess I'll just keep on going.

[Avilan the Grey]

I bought the game and got started on a Soldier/Nightblade with a two-handed weapon. Already made some missteps in skill assignment, but I guess I'll just keep on going.

You can respec any point for a cost of 25 iron when you're done with the first story quest.

[Cikomyr]

I bought the game and got started on a Soldier/Nightblade with a two-handed weapon. Already made some missteps in skill assignment, but I guess I'll just keep on going.

As Avilan said, dont sweat misattributed skill points. Remember: RSPC is Good

[Morty]

Yeah, found the NPC in question. And I can even do it point by point, rather than reset it all to 0 and start over.

[Psyren]

I enjoy it. I have an Aether Ray Arcanist (no points in any second class yet - leaning towards Demo or Occultist) while my BF is running Necromancer/Shaman. And apparently another expansion is coming out later this year (Forgotten Gods).

How much does the expansion change the game? Especially in the way of items? I enjoyed the game itself, but the items, most specifically the legendary/epic items(Or whatever they are called, it's been a while) bugged the crap out of me. None of them actually felt "unique" to me, the handful I found by the time I was halfway through the hardest difficulty just felt like normal blue or green items. And they definitely weren't any stronger, I wasn't wearing even a single one of them, all my equipment was green(that's the step up from blue, right?), and the rares were all significantly better. And that bugs me, especially when it's the type of game that is specifically played to find good loot. I don't want to find the rarest quality of equipment, only for it to be vastly outclassed by the "rare" equivalent of gear(I use rare and unique in reference to diablo style loot, which goes normal(white), magic(blue), rare(yellow) and then unique and set(gold and green).

GD goes White -> Yellow -> Green -> Blue -> Purple IIRC.
(Normal, Magic, Rare, Epic, Legendary, respectively. Set items can be either of the latter two.)

I heartily recommend it to anyone who liked ARPG diablo-style.

The game is challenging in its action, and yet forgiving regarding build errors. You are allowed a lot of fun customization.

The only flaw of the game, IMHO, is the very, very, very, very intricate and badly structured Constellation system. Not badly structured in term of gameplay implementation, but badly structured in term of ease of information. Its almost impossible to know what you are doing without a heavy wiki research.

The game is awesome besides that

Note that you can respec the Constellation stuff too. More expensive that redoing your skill tree (since it costs crystals) but still manageable. What you can't respec are your attribute points, which I find rather annoying.

Of course, you can also just download a trainer to respec everything... or use it to jump to max level, give yourself a bunch of items and gold, make your stats whatever you want etc, because the game content is kept locally, Open BNet D2 style But it's plenty fun played the normal way too.

[Morty]

I'm mostly just messing around with my soldier/nightblade build. Spreading the points fairly evenly and trying to avoid redundancies. I use the soldier skills to hit things, and nightblade skills to buff myself, debuff enemies and throw daggers. Seems to be working okay so far.

[Cikomyr]

I enjoy it. I have an Aether Ray Arcanist (no points in any second class yet - leaning towards Demo or Occultist) while my BF is running Necromancer/Shaman. And apparently another expansion is coming out later this year (Forgotten Gods).

I also happen to have tried a pure Aether Ray build. The linked skills are fun, but in higher levels i feel like a sitting duck whenever i attack. Since you have to stay in one spot.

I kind of discovered that i am a truly Trap B*tch. I was going for an Inquisitor/Demolitionist 2-pistol build, and thought "oh.. I'll just put a few points in Mortar.." only for it to become my #1 skill used.

Damn. Maybe i should just go full Demolitionist/Shaman. Mortar/Lightning Traps ftw.

[Inarius]

Note that you can respec the Constellation stuff too. More expensive that redoing your skill tree (since it costs crystals) but still manageable. What you can't respec are your attribute points, which I find rather annoying.

You can get potions to respec your attributes as quest rewards from the main quests in the expansion areas. Its much more limited but it is an option if you make a mistake or decide to change up your build after hitting a wall.

As for me I'm sort of loving a gunmage inquisitor/demolitionist build I have going. I mostly use the various seals but have some points into the gun procs and some gear that adds more gun procs so my gun damage is kinda bursty and unreliable but its still fun Second favorite is probably my 2 handed lightning Shaman/soldier, it just sort plows through everything it comes into contact with.

[factotum]

You can get potions to respec your attributes as quest rewards from the main quests in the expansion areas.

I've never really found that to be useful. You get so much of your attributes from boosting your masteries that it doesn't seem to matter where you put the piddling few attribute points you get from levelling up.

[Morty]

I wanted to make a demolitionist/inquisitor my second character, but upon reaching level 10 I realized inquisitor requires a DLC. I guess that will wait until I decide if I want to buy said DLC, then.

[Cikomyr]

I wanted to make a demolitionist/inquisitor my second character, but upon reaching level 10 I realized inquisitor requires a DLC. I guess that will wait until I decide if I want to buy said DLC, then.

The new masteries are fun and unique. I havent tried the new locations.

[factotum]

Said DLC is pretty good, all told, although Gloomwald and Ugdenbog are way too large for the amount of content they contain, IMHO. TBH I think it's worth it just for the extra masteries--the Necromancer allows you to properly have a summoner character, which is a bit of a struggle in the non-DLC game because you can only get maybe 3 or 4 summons out simultaneously and it's way too easy for the enemies to skirt around your minions and attack you directly. Not really had a lot of play with Inquisitor, but the frost and fire traps (I forget the names) are hella fun.

[Inarius]

I've never really found that to be useful. You get so much of your attributes from boosting your masteries that it doesn't seem to matter where you put the piddling few attribute points you get from levelling up.

Attributes from level up are kind of deceptive. Each point is worth 8 in a stat. Masteries grant a total of +10 to the three stats in various combinations depending on what class is being raised so the stat increases are comparable. Especially since maxing both masteries isn't usually a great idea unless you really don't have anything else to grab.

I mean in the grand scheme of things its not really that important because gear will easily outweigh the stat boosts from level ups and masteries, but being able to reset it freely would be nice if only to make it easier to equip a new shiny piece of gear you don't have the right stat distribution to wear.

[Psyren]

Attributes from level up are kind of deceptive. Each point is worth 8 in a stat. Masteries grant a total of +10 to the three stats in various combinations depending on what class is being raised so the stat increases are comparable. Especially since maxing both masteries isn't usually a great idea unless you really don't have anything else to grab.

I mean in the grand scheme of things its not really that important because gear will easily outweigh the stat boosts from level ups and masteries, but being able to reset it freely would be nice if only to make it easier to equip a new shiny piece of gear you don't have the right stat distribution to wear.

This, especially the second part. Not knowing how much physique my Arcanist needs for every conceivable item they might want to wear is annoying. Again though, it's an offline game, so I can just hack it if I find something really good.

[Murmaider]

This, especially the second part. Not knowing how much physique my Arcanist needs for every conceivable item they might want to wear is annoying. Again though, it's an offline game, so I can just hack it if I find something really good.

I usually don't put any points into attributes, until I find an item with an attribute requirement. It's not a perfect solution, but I don't think it heavily impacts my games.

[Avilan the Grey]

I usually don't put any points into attributes, until I find an item with an attribute requirement. It's not a perfect solution, but I don't think it heavily impacts my games.

I just pump physique unless I need spirit for my off hand.

[Cikomyr]

All right. I'll try my first Tank-Retaliation build ever. Apparently Warden is the best build. For.it

Damn. Someone would like to trade me Shield of Perdition?

[Cikomyr]

All right. I'll try my first Tank-Retaliation build ever. Apparently Warden is the best build. For.it

Damn. Someone would like to trade me Shield of Perdition?

So i am building that: Tank Retaliation build

I just straight-up tanked the Warden. No running around. No dodging. Just staying put, hitting and healing.

Man. That felt weird.

[Cikomyr]

So i am building that: Tank Retaliation build

I just straight-up tanked the Warden. No running around. No dodging. Just staying put, hitting and healing.

Man. That felt weird.

You know when a build starts to gain traction?

So my main attack does 80-110 damage per hit.

My retaliation damage does 1400 damage 0_0

[factotum]

The real problem is going to come when you're facing things that hit really hard, like the Port Valbury councillors, I suspect.

[Cikomyr]

The real problem is going to come when you're facing things that hit really hard, like the Port Valbury councillors, I suspect.

These bosses are probably the only bosses who outright wiped my Cabalist's army. So "not able to stand up to Port Valbury's final bosses" is not exactly a standardized benchmark of success ;)

But you are right. However, the build focus on a lot of + health and + resistance skills, as well as healing skills. So its meant to be able to tank. Ill keep you posted! I just easily beat Cromley.

[Cikomyr]

Just reached homestead. 5k of retaliation damage per pop now. Almost reached level 40, where i will don the Perdition set and have about 3000 extra retal.

I died once; in the Steps of Torments; against the upper-left hulk boss. Hes usually the SoT boss i have the most difficulty with.

[Morty]

Why do scythes always seem to have more DPS than other two-handed weapons of the same level?

[Avilan the Grey]

Why do scythes always seem to have more DPS than other two-handed weapons of the same level?

Because they're cool, I guess?

[factotum]

Why do scythes always seem to have more DPS than other two-handed weapons of the same level?

I'm not sure they do? For example, a level 21 Troll Bonesmasher does 52-202 damage at Very Slow speed, whereas a level 22 Weathered Scythe does 55-178 damage, also Very Slow. Pretty sure the Bonesmasher has higher DPS than the scythe does, despite being lower level (which is why my melee character uses one).

[Inarius]

It might be because your builds damage bonuses line up with the damage types of the scythes you've gotten? That's the only thing I can think of because for instance for my 2h lightning shaman all the scythes I've gotten do considerably less damage than the lightning oriented drops I've received.

[Cikomyr]

It might be because your builds damage bonuses line up with the damage types of the scythes you've gotten? That's the only thing I can think of because for instance for my 2h lightning shaman all the scythes I've gotten do considerably less damage than the lightning oriented drops I've received.

Good point. Is the weapon's dps consider your bonuses?

If you have +10% damage to lightning, would a 5 dps lightning weapon show as 5.5?

[Morty]

It's possible they benefit my build, such as it is, more. I'll check once I'm home, but right now I simply know that when I look at scythes in the store, they show an uptick in DPS compared to my two-handed sword.

[factotum]

It's possible they benefit my build, such as it is, more. I'll check once I'm home, but right now I simply know that when I look at scythes in the store, they show an uptick in DPS compared to my two-handed sword.

The listed DPS will be including all the bonuses from your equipment and any active buffs when you check that, so it could well be that the scythes particularly suit however you've built your character, as suggested above. Swords tend to be lower damage but faster swinging than scythes, too, so they're probably more useful if your build has a lot of chance on hit or chance on attack effects.