Squad Tactics Grim Dawn

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Last updated on March 22nd, 2018

In this guide, I’ll give you some useful Grim Dawn tips to help you to play the game in a more efficient manner. Hopefully it’ll also make it a more enjoyable game for you.

Grim Dawn is an Action RPG that have been around since 2016, and with every update, DLC and expansion, it’s getting better and better. The next expansion, Forgotten Gods, was announced earlier this month, and is due to be released on Steam and GoG in second half of 2018.

The first expansion (released October, 2017) brought some interesting features like new classes and the entertaining Fashion Dawn. So I can’t wait to see what the Forgotten Gods have to add to the game next. But before we all get too excited about the future of Grim Dawn, I wish to share some few precious tips I’ve learned along my journey in Cairn that I wished I’d known them before I started playing.

I’ll split the tips into more than one article, to give some details on each part.

One: Attributes aren’t there to mess with:

The customization in Grim Dawn is immense. You can customize and tweak every aspect about your character, when you first level up, or later. You have the spiritual guide, an NPC who can reset your skill points and devotion points, so you can spend them elsewhere. All of your choices can be changed later in higher difficulties. Be it faction, or some random trader you murdered on the road, you have a second and third chance to rectify your choices.

It’s all designed to give you freedom, and encourage experimentation. Which means you can virtually go crazy and make what you like, and change it all later. And it’s true, but for one small tricky part: Attributes!

The problem: It’s very easy to develop the wrong attributes

You get one precious attribute point each level, which you can spend on Physique, Cunning, or Spirit. Attributes gives small bonus to damage, health, or mana, but their main value is being a requirement for armors and weapons.

That’s where it gets tricky, you are level 20, and you get a nice drop which makes you all excited, but sadly you can’t equip due to lack of Spirit, or Cunning. You level up, you immediately spend your point into Spirit or Cunning. Then it’s enough, so you level some more, and keep spending points this way until you able to wear it.

Then you spend one more hour, and your are level 30. Except now that awesome drop isn’t awesome anymore. By end game, you realize that attributes can’t be refunded and new gear needs different distribution. Regret doesn’t feel good, does it?

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The Solution: How to play safe with Attributes?

  • Level up your mastery bar first:

Your two classes increase your attributes passively, which get you the points required to equip things. It decreases the need to spread your attributes points around and gives you a better idea of where you really need to spend your points. So don’t rush maxing all skills, but instead increase mastery bar early on.

  • Physique is the king in Grim Dawn:

Plain and simple, Physique is the most important attribute. It not only gives flat numbers in health (which can be multiplied by various ways), but the best defensive armor requires so many points spent on Physique – maybe even Allpoints in it.

  • Leave some points undecided for end-game:

If you – typically – spent all first 70 points in Physique, it’s probably wise to not spend the rest immediately. Leave the last ten or twenty points free until you get to Max level and have all the equipment you need. You might find a good accessory that needs five more spirit points or something.

  • Utilize components as you level up:

Things like “Polished Emerald” , “Spellwoven Thread” , and “Vicious Jawbone” can be a source for some attributes early on. Even if they don’t give direct benefit to your build, using them for the stats is okay. You can see a full list of all components and what they do here.

  • Take a look at Devotion Constellations:

Yes, the stars have attributes, and you might not need to go out of your way to get them! On the road to every major proc skill, you will find small boosts in attributes. You will grab these by default on the way, so don’t worry about changing anything for attributes.

Two: Build up your defenses properly:

No matter what level you are (beyond the first ten or twenty), you always need to prioritize defense. Yes, when I first heard this tip from professional players, I thought it sounded counter-productive, and boring, and that it would make progression slower. But having played this game over 400 hours, I can totally confirm the viability of the method.

The thing is: Grim Dawn is really grim. The enemies can be really weak on normal/Veteran, but become way stronger in Elite, and a total nightmare in Ultimate. Even in normal you can encounter some hard to pass encounters as a glass cannon. And if you can’t stand few hits, you will have to start running to escape, and will stop doing damage. While a good defense allow you to stand your ground for a bit, giving you better chance at finishing enemies before they finish you.

The solution: How to prioritize your defenses

  1. Max out “Resistances”, that will take care of most damage types. Physical resistance is very hard to come by though.
  2. Invest in “Health”, health is an all around decent defense against all types of enemies.
  3. Defensive Abilities. It’s a sure way to not get hit by a crit, and also have enemies miss some hits on you. very important to not get 1 hit by the toughest bosses.
  4. Don’t let “Armor” fall behind too much. Make sure to replace your low level equipments regularly with something with higher armor and decent stats.
  5. “Circuit-Breakers” This is a term people use on skills that proc when player Health gets to a certain point (40% for example) and pop up some temporary strong defense buff or shield. Skills like “Blast Shield” from demotionalist , or Gaint’s Blood from Constalltions are very strong defense in tight situation where you can’t do much. I put it further down the list because it’s not mandatory in Normal and Elite. But Max these out by the time you get Ultimate, it will be very useful.
  6. Over-cap your resistance. That’s a tip for the very end-game top contents, like hunting Nemesis bosses. Some bosses debuff your resistances, so having some extra reserve is always a good thing. Don’t neglect other important defenses to do that though.

There are many other sources of defense in Grim Dawn, but they are situational, and depends on build. Like Vitality damage builds, and retaliation builds, also solider shield builds are very strong and Crucible viable in general. But these are topics not for this article.

Three: Know what build you are doing

This one sounds basic stuff, but it could get very tricky. Grim Dawn is a rich world, with countless possibilities to replay the game and having different experience. Thus, the majority of the build guides out there are aimed towards experienced players, with long hours into the game, and decent stash of equipment ready to be used. In other words, many builds are gear dependent, which might not be friendly for beginners.

The matter is: If you don’t have the specific gear the build asks for, you either ask the guide writer to suggest you a beginner alternative, or don’t do this build. The drop rates in grim Dawn are very good, and you keep getting good items constantly as you play. But the loot tables are shared among all monsters in the world, meaning that anything can drop anything, and there are no specific spot to farm any item. The exception is some rare items called “Moster infrequents” or “MI”, which are moderately good items dropping from some specific bosses or monsters, and are okay for leveling, not top end game though.

Pro & Cons:

It’s good on one side, as it make you keep playing the game, go wherever you like, and enjoy all the content without worrying about the drops, since what you get here would be the same as you got there. But it restrict you from planning top builds without before having the items required. It might be wiser to plan your second character based on what you already have from first playthrough, not on what you wish/expect to have.

This problem extend to the first playthrough, since you have nothing to start with. Well, not “nothing” , since the faction gear can be excellent choices for some builds, best in slot even. These faction gear require some effort to get, but it’s fun and very rewarding to do.

Some beginners-friendly builds suggestions:

  • Poison Caster Witchblade (Occultist/Solider)
  • Pyromancer fire pets summoner (Occultist/Demotionalist)
  • Sword and Board Pierce Blademaster (Nightblade/Solider)
  • Two handed lightening Elementalist (Shaman/Demotionalist)
  • Strom totem Warder (Shaman/Solider)
  • Lightning/Pet Druid (Arcanist/Shaman)
  • Dual pistols Sorcerer (Arcanist + Demolitionist)
  • Dual Wield Melee Witchhunter (Nightblade + Occultist)
  • Bleeding based Conjurer (Occultist + Shaman)

These are some quick concepts of varied basic builds in Vanilla to look forward. But notice that you don’t have to follow any of these suggestions, you can actually start the game and level with one mastery through the normal difficulty, then depends on your taste, decide where to go from there. Adding another mastery depends on your direction, or respec to another build entirely, Grim Dawn is flexible like this. These guidelines are only for those who don’t like to feel overwhelmed by the amount of customizations the game have.

Four: Learn how to craft, and what to craft:

And be patient for the recipes as they come one by one. Really, crafting a strong aspect of the game, that keep giving you candy along the way, but only gets to its full potential after hundreds of hours of gameplay. You can craft so many things. For example, consumables, powerful Mythical Relics, parts of legendary items sets and the most important components.

Saving the rare materials required for materials is crucial, as these are drops only, and not sold by any merchant (they can be exchanged for one another in act Four though). Things like Tainted Brain Matter, and Ancient heart and the like are precious little things, so use them wisely.

Don’t be afraid of trying to craft basic gear though; the items with question marks in the default menu of the blacksmith, named Enchanted Mace and Enchanted Boots. These are not strictly “magic” items. The crafting can give you rares and scales up with your level. You can actually get some solid gear from them to cover any weakness your character have. You just need scraps and gold, and some courage to go through the randomization.

I hope that you liked this article. If so, you could read Grim Dawn – A Detailed Analysis next. Alternatively, you could read Divinity Original Sin 2 Builds: Eternal Warrior.

Jul 5, 2019

Other Grim Dawn Guides:
  • Optimized Farming Routes.
  • Ugdenbog Points of Interest.
  • Deceiver (Resistance Shred Caster).

How This Build Works


A Dervish is the combination of a Nightblade and an Oathkeeper. Focussing on acid & poison damage and healing gets the best out of both classes and makes this build very viable for the endgame.
The Oathkeeper grants you Righteous Fervor, a fast single target attack that can have (nearly) 100% acid damage right at the start of the game. This attack doesn't need a lot of skill points to be effective. So we can focus on putting our points in the awesome supporting skills of the Nightblade.
Nightblades have area of effect attacks that can be activated off of your main attack. This alone makes Righteous Fervor viable for group fights, because fast hits mean more chance of activating the AoE-skill.
They also have some skills which boost poison and acid damage. Most notable is Night's Chill which is an effect of an aura that decreases the resistances of enemies by a staggering 30%. And our devotion skills will decrease their resistances even more.
Pneumatic Burst is a fantastic buff. It makes you even faster, allows you to evade a large amount of attacks, buffs your life regeneration and can be pressed every five seconds to heal yourself. In this build we will combine this with the health aura of the Oathkeeper, more heals & health from devotion and a constant life leech from our fast attacks.
Shadow Strike is an excellent addition to the whole build. In the beginning, it is used as a movement skill. Then AoE-damage is added (that can sometimes be so huge that you only have to jump into a group with Shadow Strike and then everyone will die from the poison). AoE-Life Leech will be added later in the game. This makes Shadow Strike basically also a full heal that can be pressed every 2,4 seconds.
The result is a warrior that deals a ton of damage, can facetank the Logherrean and can do pretty much every content on Ultimate and in the Crucible.
And most importantly: It is very fun to play!

Playstyle


Bind Shadow Strike to the left mouse button and Righteous Fervor to the right mouse button. So when you run around by holding down the left mouse button you just need to hover it over the next group of enemies and your char will charge at them. Very convenient.
When you're fighting focus your attacks on bigger foes. The weak ones will die from your area of effect damage. But don't overdo it. You don't want to stand it the middle of effects or large groups for too long.
Keep the Pneumatic Burst up all the time. The buff lasts for 24 seconds so it doesn't need to be spammed.
Hit your current enemy with Shadow Strike whenever it is ready.
Shadow Strike could also be used for hit & run tactics.
Blade Barrier works as an emergency shield. You can't deal damage while it's up. But it's a nice way to survive until your heals are ready or until you can jump out of the group of enemies with Shadow Strike.

Attribute Points


Spend all points in physique. But be aware that good weapons will need about 461 cunning (level 75 sword) / 511 cunning (level 94 sword). For the level 94 sword I've spent a total of nine points in cunning and boosted the rest with the Anatomy of Murder passive skill and devotion points. Since you won't have the exact same gear I recommend to spend about 10-12 points in cunning.

Skill Points & Devotion



Devotion Points


Devotion points are important for this build as they grant you a lot of damage and healing / health. Your main goal will be to get to the Abomination and Yogol nodes.
  • 1. Activate the red point in the crossroads. (1R)
  • 2. Max out the Ghoul node. This will grant you life leech and an emergency heal. Remember to bind the heal to a skill (e.g. Pneumatic Burst). (4R)
  • 3. Respec the red point in the crossroads. (3R)
  • 4. Max out the Wretch node. (5R 3B)
  • 5. Activate the green point in the crossroads. (1G 5R 3B)
  • 6. Max out the Scorpion node. Bind the skill to Righteous Fervor. (6G 5R 3B)
  • 7. Max out the Manticore node. Bind the skill to Righteous Fervor. Bind the skill from the Scorpion node to Shadow Strike. (1P 7G 5R 3B)
  • 8. Respec the green point in the crossroads. (1P 6G 5R 3B)
  • 9. Max out the Lizard node. (1P 6G 5R 7B)
  • 10. Max out the Murmur node (left of the Manticore). Bind the skill to Whirling Death. (1P 8G 7R 7B)
  • 11. Max out Scholar's Light, Fox and Behemoth in any order. Bind the heal from the Behemoth node to a skill (e.g. Resilience). (1P 20G 9R 7B)
  • 12. Activate every point in Abomination except the two skills (Tainted Eruption & Abominable Might). If you prefer Tainted Eruption over Black Blood of Yugol from the Yugol node, feel free to activate it.
  • 13. Max out the Yugol node. Bind the skill to another one (e.g. Veil of Shadow).

One point is left. You may spend it where you want. E.g. in the Empty Throne for -15% stun duration, in the Eye of the Guardian for another +15% damage or in the Revenant for energy leech.

Skill Points


This is the 'core' of the build. You may spend 24 additional skill points for the skills you want.
First of all, it is not vital to do everthing exactly the same as I write. I see this more like a 'guide' to reach the goal. So feel free to vary your char like you want to. E.g.: In the early game, the AoE-damage isn't the best. If this is bugging you just spend more points in Belgothian's Shears / Amarasta's Quick Cut or focus on getting to Whirling Death.
What you want at the start of the game is of course your attack skill. So put a few points in Righteous Fervor. Then boost Oathkeeper to level 15 and put your points in Consecration.
When your character reaches level 10 you can choose Nightblade as your second class. Then you want to put one point in Dual Blades (makes dual wielding available) and boost Nightblade to level 5. Put one point in Belgothian's Shears and a few in Pneumatic Burst.
In the next phase, you can boost Nightblade to level 15, spend one point in Shadow Strike, one in Amarasta's Quick Cut, in Dreeg's Reproach (the acid conversation of Righteous Fervor) and in Phantasmal Armor. The rest goes in your Oathkeeper skills, Pneumatic Burst and its link Breath of Belgothian.
Now boost Nightblade to level 25. One point in Blade Barrier helps you surving until you have decent life leech and regeneration. Respec Belgothian's Shears and Amarasta's Quick Cut and max out Whirling Death. Put a point in Veil of Shadow and max out Night's Chill. Also put points in Shadow Dance and Nidalla's Justifiable Ends.
Boost Nightblade to level 32. Max out Merciless Repertoire. Put a point in Presence of Virtue, five in Haven and one in Resilience. Max out Dual Blades and Nidalla's Hidden Hand.
In the last phase, you can boost Nightblade to the maximum and put your points in Shadow Strike and its link Nightfall.
It doesn't matter very much at which time you put points in Anatomy of Murder. You can max it out for a better chance to deal critical strikes. Or you can just spend a few points to have enough cunning for the next fancy Sword.
As I wrote in the beginning you will have 24 skill points left. I used them to push the Oathkeeper to level 32 and put one point in Retribution, Rebuke and Ascension. I've spent the rest in Clarity of Purpose. The only reason I did that is because I was unhappy with stuns etc., because they can be a real threat for this build. But this is of course just one way to spend these points. Just use them how you like.
The exclusive skill of the Oathkeeper (Path of the Three) would be nice to have. But you will have to spend a ton of points just to get to this skill. And in my opinion it isn't worth it, because we already have 100% conversion for Righteous Fervor and more than enough +damage from other sources.

Items and Their Addons


There are countless of items and item combinations so it's no use to post my entire gear here.
But if you're asking what kind of gear you should wear, the most important things you want to have on your items are:
  • 1. +resistances - (components and augmentations will help very much to max them out).
  • 2. +flat acid & poison damage - (we have +2000% acid damage. Therefore it is better to add more flat damage instead of more +%-damage).
  • 3. conversion of physical or pierce damage to acid damage - (physical will boost the damage of Shadow Strike very much, because you'll most likely have weapons that deal physical damage. Pierce will boost all attacks, because the damage of Dual Blades will be converted).
  • 4. +level of skills (preferably for Righteous Fervor).
  • 5. +chance to avoid melee or projectile attacks.
  • 6. +% of Offensive Ability.
  • 7. +attack speed.
  • 8. +% of acid & poison damage (preferably without a longer poison duration).
  • 9. +health & health regeneration.

It isn't difficult to find decent weapons for this build. Every one handed melee weapon with a lot of +acid & poison damage and attack speed will do. To get the best out of your weapon, I recommend to use Vitriolic Gallstones in both weapons. So you can have two more auras that increase your damage. The physical to acid conversion will boost the damage of Shadow Strike significantly, since now 20% of its damage is modified by all your acid damage bonuses (provided that your weapons deal physical damage). I also recommend to augment both weapons with either the Blight Beast Pustules from the Coven of Ugdenbog or the Outcast's Venom from the Outcast.
The latter will do a bit more damage.
The best weapons I've found so far are these:
Last but not least here are a few items that are very useful for this build and can be obtained rather easily:
These shoulders can be found by the dozen in the late game. Got mine in Malmouth. They alone boost your damage by about 2000. The health bonus is also pretty neat.
This is the relic you want to have. Really a must-have. It boosts the damage of Righteous Fervor by about 4400 and Shadow Strike by about 8000.
If you don't have the recipe for this relic, you can use the relic from the quest in Old Arkovia where you have to search the elder (on Ultimate). After finding him return to the Rover camp and tell them that you didn't find the relic.
This belt can be crafted. The recipe can be purchased from the Solael cult (honored reputation needed). It has outstanding defensive stats. The heal doesn't seem to be much, but it has only 4 seconds of cooldown and can therefore be a decisive factor.
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