Grim Dawn discussion thread

Page 3 - Love gaming? Join the PC Gamer community to share that passion with gamers all around the world!
I am with Pifan on this. I think its a sacrifice I am willing to take. :D

Furthest I got tonight was chapter 7
how it normally goes
  1. Do chapter 1
  2. Start chapter 2 up until character is about lvl 24
  3. switch to chapter 7 to get some gear if you lucky, levels otherwise,
  4. Around lvl 28ish come back to chapter 2 and continue to Homestead. In most cases you easily do the rest of chapter 2.
  5. Then you can either stop playing the character and start again (this might just be me) or go back to desert or continue story

The mental block of not remembering what boss does is a pain. I have watched videos of fight and it seemed to be over before it started. I know there are 2 stages.

Today, the characters all made me think they wouldn't make it past a certain point. Not the same step each time.
One got as far as Warden (chapter 1 boss) and I wasn't sure they could do it. So I started again.
I think next one didn't even get that far before I deleted them. Some combos just don't work for me.
3rd was a lesson. Don't put a ring from your bank on a lvl 5 character, even if can technically use it. The item might have been a weapon but it was soon replaced... ring stayed around.

Game stopped giving any useful drops and then the last areas of chapter 1 felt like every single mob was one of 4 types
  1. Fire guys throwing fire at me
  2. Green guys throwing poison blobs at me'
  3. Big guys with swords trying to beat whats left of me up
  4. Eye ball bosses there to spawn more of the last 3 types.
Fire guys are the worst normally. I don't think most resists work right in chapter 1.
I had to buy more healing potions. That is a sign something is wrong... well, it was obvious what. Game hadn't given me any armour worth using and my only poison resist was from a quest ring. That is normal for Chapter 1 but you normally get something else. Like weapons... or armor.
Its not normal to get to end of chapter 1 and still be in yellow gear. I restarted the client after I got into chapter 2 and it went back to normal. Started giving me green drops worth using. I had thought about doing it before end boss but I wanted to see if the crazy continued leading to him. Yes... it did. I skipped one area that is full of spiders and other poisonous things that hate me normally. I just knew I wouldn't enjoy/survive it. It wasn't worth the risk. Could be why she was under lvl for the fight. Most character reach that area and treat it like a hunting zone... but she felt like the prey.
Shame the character was fine in desert but the bosses in chapter 2 take it apart. Could be lack of gear early on means it was harder to get a theme going... all cold for example.
Very next character, I didn't look in the bank and the game gave it 3 blue weapons it can actually use. Over correction? I will accept it when I play again. It is ready for Warden but I have to sleep...

So the game did its Black screen bug where logging out of windows normally fixes it. Tonight it didn't. I had to restart to get the PC to get game to show on screen.

One thing I learned is desert scales to character lvl. I went there at 23 and expected to struggle but it was "easier" than it is later on a higher character. It was easier but no drops. I prefer the other... he needs weapons, main reason I stopped him at Cronley. If I find anything good I will save it.
 
Last edited:
Made a nightblade/inquisitor dw cold build. Very similar to others. Got to lvl 38 and got a Oathkeeper chest that uses acid... I thought, that is 2 chest peices for Oathkeeper that supplement acid... there aren't many attacks that use it for them though. decided to make a acid using Oathkeeper... seems I already had one, and finding a dagger as good as hers. Might be a struggle. I gave up and went back to first one mentioned. Getting tired... when you leave characters in a position where every quest includes killing some boss, its no wonder I restart every day.

There is this boss in one zone I generally try to avoid. Turns out I have a quest to kill him. Joy.

I noticed Grim Dawn is only 3,06GB. Pretty impressive for the type of game and quality.
Unless you get the expansions, mine is just over 9gb. Not that it loads entire game into ram... i only occasionally see a loading action. Its pretty good .
 
I started a Demolitionist/Shaman character. Currently at lvl 19, just killed Warden and going to be focusing on a fire build. It is fun to burn down enemies while kiting though it is a bit slow on single-targets, like mini-bosses. I'm using a two-hander, but I'm looking for duel pistols since it seems a bit more fun with more fire rate.

HIKadzl.jpg
 
Last edited:
Chapter 1 the enemies are mostly melee
Chapter 2 they have more ranged and you might start to miss having a shield... though tbh they shoot at you regardless of having a shield or not. If your armor isn't sufficient you will encounter more big rock guys that throw things at you designed to kill you. AS a shaman you at least have Mogrodans pact. Shaman are fun but I got bored of Primal Strike builds, they make game too easy. I am trying the classes I don't understand. Inquisitor being the last one really. NIghtblade/Inquisitor is current build, though really its just mostly nightblade with only 4 inquisitor moves. 1 heal, one crit buff and one attack... I don't have 4th yet as its mastery lvl 50.

Chapter 2 good place for fire drops. I just sold a few. You will find out.

You may encounter the gear gap the expansions were designed to fill. Chapter 2 has a steep incline approaching Homestead.

ranged is fine if you can keep the distance. At least fully zoomed out you can see a fair bit ahead of you, provided you not going down the screen.

I have an elementalist I think who uses fire bombs Nice for crowd control. Stand in middle of flames and watch things die trying to hit you. Nightblade has similar with Nights chill. though its a buff and constant. Anything around them freezes to death. Necromancers also have a similar effect. Stacking them can be fun.

I am happy trying to beat bosses I haven't fought before, I did that yesterday wandering through the newer zones, as a tourist. Not knowing what I am meant to do there. The quest instructions are vague. Only one that is obvious includes fighting three bosses at once so I am reluctant to try it on a lot of characters. You can cheese it as they don't reset health if you leave area so you can run away and heal

I don't know why I can't get self to try the boss at what I think is end of chapter 3. Guy I started yesterday almost up to him. If I could stay awake longer I might do it one day.

Guy yesterday was funny. I was doing the Old Arkovia quest and I thought, this is too much of a struggle at this level, so I warped to chapter 7, beat up a few bosses there, wander around new zones beating up everything that moved. Got a few levels and went back and finished the place I started. I was only on floor one anyway. Since I hadn't restarted game client, the skeletons weren't back. That place has two bosses in it that you have to kill to get to the bosses on quest chain. They are harder than the listed ones.

it was funny as he first one to stop and think this is too hard now. I hate that place as I have had game crash just as I was half way through and it only saves if you warp to town. Any quest progress lost if you crash since last successful portal. I had to clear the areas I had already done. So now when I am out of there in an hour or so I am happy. Worst part about crashes is they often happen during a warp. I just know to restart game itself before going in there. I am starting to recognise signs it might happen soon.

Some of my characters struggle in old zones, some in new. Some everywhere.


I can't play today, have to go out later so no point. I only play if I know I won't be disturbed. Some things just need time.
 
Last edited:
They have a sense of humour after all
LIaVcMS.jpg


Not as good as the Sword of Adam

Just talking about a necro/Night blade made me start one. Already lvl 24, just about to start in the desert. Nights chill and spectral binding make sure things around me don't stay there for long. Necro have a fear as well, need to get that too. I was 21 at thye warden but I do all the side quests and extra bosses along way. OKay, there is one I miss every time but its right at start and is just an easy way to die. Some caves are for late game as well. But it will warn you when you enter too low a lvl - though warnings might be an expansion pack thing as there are warnings on places now that weren't in base game.

Old habit of clearing all the map before going on. Only took 4 hours to get to lvl 24 though. It slows down after 30.

I normally skip the monster shrines in wardens cellar as the area is too cramped but this guy doing everything I normally skip. He wasn't getting any weapons. Finally got a good one on warden but i had to wait for end of fight to see it. Only cold weapons I got were all worse than what I already had. thanks game.

Nice guns around, my guy is getting lots. It happens like that, I want cold, game has been giving me fire. I just ignore it. Also I am using 2 weapons so its been dropping 2 handers. Always gives drops that have skills on them you aren't using. It doesn't help to have points in everything, Better to go tall on just a few.

I found out components only stack to 1000 yesterday. I probably have too many lol. Wish I could combine my money so easy as I would have bought all the bank slots by now. Last two are expensive.
 
Last edited:
You want guns? PLay as a dual weild sword user then
This is just today so far. I am sick of gun drops. If it makes it any easier, most of them shoot acid. Its a side effect of being half necromancer. I had to adjust my build to account for its damage type.
t5jyw5L.jpg

and shields as well. So far only one I used is the hammer.
Not a lot in desert for Rogue, although he just got this which he wasn't expecting
Hcpgwpn.jpg

another blademaster is annoyed as he uses all the skills on that helm. Maybe he can wait...
 
The more you look, the more hidden things you find
I needed a shower, a waterfall will do nicely
EUY0qPV.jpg


Guess I should stop walking through drains
z8Jdj50.jpg

But you find the strangest things if you do
3uPhWzP.jpg

I found it yesterday, it still has same items even though its a different character. One item has +1 skills for necromancer, I am already wearing it.
I didn't realise he looked like a Gargoyle
RoTCHek.jpg

It will take a lot to get him to stop wearing it. Not based on looks.

Best weapons he found were within 10 minutes of each other. Two were in same drop. But game didn't like fact I noticed as it gave me another soon after that beats the long sword in damage in everything apart from backstab. It can do 6k crits on backstab. they made game too easy... Shame it wasn't higher dps, it would have been fun pair.
DvnMSMZ.jpg

IwcTuPd.jpg


So the sword is in my 2nd weapon slot.

I think game stopped giving him guns, I got so many blues today I had to buy 3rd slot in his bank. Some characters don't see any shields, he has duplicates. Same soldier shield twice now. Same shaman one as well.

He is lvl 39. I should keep playing him. I need to use more than 2 attacks eventually. e goes for walks and ends up killing bug bosses and the amalgamation - you will learn what these are. You probably end game before me but I never rush to end. I am collecting shrines so I can do as much of the constellations as possible as they all free stats.

I took a different faction so I didn't get quest to kill the boss thats annoying in blood grove, but I killed him anyway. Secret is to be able to heal through the damage. Why my 2 heals are numbers 1 & 2 on kb. Normally don't need potions. He uses so many spirit ones he has 113... okay, he doesn't use them at all. They not even on toolbar.
 
Last edited:
i knew my dps was good but it was the comparison amount that made me look at it
kfND4dC.jpg


Its not a misprint
N83FF5A.jpg


This shield dropped tonight, its nice as it was only part of the set I didn't have yet. Next step was 40
mVtCdVL.jpg


ZbnnyJJ.jpg


though to be fair, he refuses to wear the helm as it means taking off his other one. The DPS difference is not worth the bonus. He loses 1500 DPS swapping helms. One day he will have to find a new weapon as well. I know better exist... somewhere.

I beat the boss that I had been avoiding tonight. His progress tells me my memory of walls is pretty accurate. He is up to the next boss in the main quest, at Fort Ikon. I vaguely remember him... thats problem, I vaguely rmemeber a lot of the game. It helps this guy built like a tank and can hit like one too. He has 180 healing potions. I have not bought any on him. He collects them but rarely uses them.

I wasn't going to fight it but being in the same area on a character who isn't a necromancer was a new thing. I need to check if there is a shrine in there. Its a relief really.

You can run past the extra boss outside castle. So I see a line of my guys wanting to do it now... I need to work out what he hits you with as I had good resistances... 80's mostly and yet he still took my life off me... well, not all of it... he has 6k so about as quarter. When you don't lose any at all normally it is a shock.

Not many bosses he has run away from up until that guy. The last time he had to back off was in the wardens dungeon in chapter one, when a monster shrine filled a room with giants.... He didn't have the dps back then. Every other time he just sat in front of bosses and they just couldn't hit him unless it was a poison cloud on ground. He had to retreat to let heal potion timer run down. Most of his skills are defensive. Lucky he has dps or it would have been an annoying fight.

XJ22JPe.jpg



Greatest Monster Killed isn't even on main quest line. He from a faction quest in the expansion areas.

I need to back track as I was single minded in reaching next fort. I might have missed a few things.

Need to look at my other 40's as I have better pants than what he is wearing... although they have 30 cunning and are needed to use his other sword... need to add more mastery levels as he can only just use this

L7UOjDp.jpg


ad7pxK0.jpg

its only 700 dps behind the normal weapon.
 
Last edited:
So far today I have started 4 different characters and I haven't even got to the warden yet. I might give up and play my lvl 40 who should explore more.

I ran into the Steam Cloud limit again. I deleted my oldest character as he really wasn't going anywhere and a respec basically meant starting again. And he was a necromancer... i already have enough pet builds... and tank builds. Hard to find something new. Ranged is just annoying in the wardens area.
I tried an electric build but Primal Strike goes from not op to op just by making it aoe. Starts as single target, Eventually its the entire screen. It gets too easy too fast. Boring


I have to remember - don't put rings/amulets on a character even if they say they are lvl 18. Game goes mental. It seems to ruin characters chances of finding anything useful. Game is bad enough at that as is.

Edit: Number 4 is now lvl 31, he is ready for skeleton dungeon... shame I am not. I need to sleep...
Its not just blade arc that benefits from the stingers
7CXiASD.jpg


But its much easier for them to get one, that falls off a boss only. I have seen a lvl 40 version. It as nice to get it as he had been in desert for hours and was starting to think there was nothing there for him.

He is half necormancer, half oathkeeper. I want to learn the Necro skills. You don't really need them on pet builds. I find with pet builds that I am regulated to being their nanny and making sure they don't all die at once, so I have enough of them to take mobs attention. I just try to act like I am invisible. I already know some of them. Bone Harvest is nice crowd control... it removes the crowds. Handy if you not exactly heavily armoured. Warlord AKA Soldier/Oathkeeper builds are made of bricks, Hard to hurt. just need to have dps to make fights not take too long.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Brian Boru
I have to remember - don't put rings/amulets on a character even if they say they are lvl 18. Game goes mental. It seems to ruin characters chances of finding anything useful. Game is bad enough at that as is.

I've looked into this a bit and as far as I know the loot that's dropped does not depend on your current equipment in any way. In fact, it seems almost entirely random, which just a couple of specific things dropping only from specific monsters. I don't even think your masteries affect it in any way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brian Boru
I have played games before that as soon as you choose a build, it would hardly ever drop anything you wanted.

Random is probably the answer. It just seems to avoid the things you want.

You can set up the loot filter in game to only show drops you want to see, but with so many possible choices its probably just random. It could be you are still looking for items based on previous characters. Longer you play, more items have fallen, so over time you might get what you want.
 
My character above set up to do elemental damage. Its weird. The game can give you gear that is specifically cold or fire for example, or it can give you gear with Elemental damage on it which can do all 3. Elemental represents cold, fire & electric. I am not sure how it splits the amount. If you have cold attacks and add elemental gear, does it add full amount to attack or just one 3rd of it? I do cold and fire, do I get 2/3 or all on both??
Pifan, you don't need to answer these questions, I am just asking out loud. I could probably look it up if i wanted to waste my time.

So what that means is almost any weapon he picks up can be better than what he has already. Have to compare and see. It mostly only works for Cold and fire given his gear choices.
He has already replaced that stinger with another weapon. Skeleton dungeon good for that at least.

Have one which says it better than what I have but its 2 levels ahead of his current level, so have to wait and equip. It really depends on what elements it has on it. Plain physical damage being higher removes a bunch of bonus damage meaning it often turns out worse.

He was up to skeleton dungeon when I left him last night... its not exactly what I want to do first thing in morning so go to set up new character... steam character limit thing... okay, so I play on old one... look at a few, try to remember thier builds... go back to skeleton dungeon. Its easy on any class with part necro as one of his buffs eats the vitality of anything that gets close to him. Most of the skeletons just disappeared. That and I had him set up to negate the main attacks of final boss in area, so game decided to spawn an extra monster to chase me around and force me to stand in the bosses attack zone. I still beat him.

I just ignored skeleton archers in it (well apart from the archer boss). His health regen means I didn't notice them apart from the noise they make. It seems to me half their army is archers. they are the only ones that are an actual problem. the others are just in the way. Likely different on harder difficulties.

Noticed the game won't let you fight a mini boss alone now. Unless you can kite him away from other things, they all try to help. Most mini boss fights now I spend most of time killing adds. I hadn't noticed that at first but its obvious in chapter 1 now. Guess I have seen that chapter too many times. Katest thing current one has is 2 bosses at same time. You might be op when only way you can tell you fighting a boss is it hasn't died yet.

Rain here now getting in his way to Homestead. Guess I take him to meet that boss I beat on other guy. That sentence actually matches many fights he has to do.

I used to equip my guys with all blue gear but I have learned that greens can have way more interesting stats. Blues are set stats but values can change. Green can be anything. Saw an amulet with +5 to a skill in chapter 1. Most I normally see is +2 on one handed weapons and +4 on 2 handers. Shame its not a skill I use much.

Blue weapons look great when you a lvl 5 but by time you can equip them, its really rare any of my characters do as their DPS advantage is gone. Blue armour can be useful though. Rings/amulets as well. Shields as well. But weapons generally look better than they are.

You start a character doing 50 damage and by lvl 30 doing 1000. Chapter one is a test and you get penalised if you take high lvl gear in there with game obviously trying to kill you. It stops being fun at that point. So best not add stufff you get in chapter 7 to your character. It doesn't seem to mind so much if you make armour for the character.

The current guy hasn't found any blue chest pieces. He has found plenty of books which are off hands for mages. Wait, no, he found one and thought about it since he is part necro but he is more tank than caster. His crowd clearing move is an aoe though.
 
Last edited:
I have 4 characters past the extra boss out side of the 1st castle where boss is. There is a shrine right before the boss so the guy who has already killed boss will have to backtrack

It seems many of them are in extra areas I am not sure when to go to in the game

Devotion system takes some working out. Looking at other builds is half of it. Seeing patterns. Knowing you can remove crossroads points if the prizes include the cost. You need 1 yellow on teh crossroads to pick a constellation but the prize can be 6 yellows. You can then remove the yellow on the crossroads as the prize pays for the required 1 yellow. It helps as you only get so many points.

I spent most of night playing one guy but I am now going through all the ones near 40 to get them past that optional boss. He attacks you but if you click entrance of the castle you can get past him.

Greatest Monster Killed isn't even on main quest line. He from a faction quest in the expansion areas.
I worked out it depends on the order you kill the bosses. Makes no sense but current guy beat Navan first and then did the queen and she appears as his Hardest enemy now... which isn't really right, he didn't run away from her. Navan steal your life. Have to retreat to get it back again.

Since there is a shrine in the Navan dungeon, characters who don't even have quest need to go in to get it. Turns out that is case for a lot of them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brian Boru
Spent most of day getting characters to after optional boss or at least to point where they could get past him. Then I worked out I didn't have a shaman mixed with a necro so sacrificed one low lvl shaman to make another. He a lot of fun but was as struggle against first boss. Great at destroying crowds but not so good against one target that hits hard... it didn't help I levelled up wrong move and then my ranged choice didn't work so well against him. I survived but it was more running around than usual.

he is in desert early so should get something, already has better armor than before. Needs a few lvls before he takes on 2nd boss. Need a few more skills. He will be more prepared by lvl 30 ish
He is a mix of lightning and vitality damage. Most things bleed to death before they reach him. That is the plan. He doesn't feel like he has killed that much but its only as he hasn't hit many. No pets, just ranged insect swarm.
 
Its not a he, I tend to forget. You can't tell once they have a helmet on, there is no other difference
2h4KgMw.jpg

She is now my most advanced character though only by one boss. She didn't want to wait around. Only reason she stopped there is I wasn't sure where the next area was. I am 3 zones away from end of the game. But there are plenty of extra zones. 4 are linked to the 1st zone. You just need to look around. I went into one on another character and was warned not to go any further.

This little dagger doubles the damage of Devouring swarm and turned it from just being great crowd control to my main attack against everything. Including bosses. I almost forget the other attack exists. I don't need to hit things most times to watch them die in front of me.
cyPLhGL.jpg


She went from running away from 1st boss to standing her ground and shooting everything that moves. She is wearing 3 parts of the perdition set since game gave them to her. Last 2 set bonus wouldn't help her really.

Not sure where she will get next weapon. She used same lvl 18 sword until she could equip this one. Guess she is only lvl 43, and current weapon doesn't have a problem killing things, she occasionally even hits something. One day her ranged attack won't be main attack, but it sure is fun. She has another one, its just hardly needed after devouring swarm melts them away.

She hasn't even needed to use her fear attack.

Some bosses you really don't want to get near too, so having a ranged attack that hits like a truck... and kills things as they run towards me... (even more fun if they all line up and you can get 5 or so in one shot.) is really handy. She can take some hits but she not really melee right now, unless game gives her something nice. Only weapons I seen that beat current are 2 handers. They normally beat by 1k, I saw one that beat it by 2k. She not crazy enough to use 2 hander... build designed for dual wield. There is a relic you can make that allows any class to dual weild. I have blueprint but its complicated enough to not do it on every character. Maybe if she continues.

I only know of one other shrine location. Its corrupted, I don't know how to do this one. Looking into it, I need to have something from a later quest perhaps... hmm, no. I am not insane, when I see an unmarked portral I don't go into it. Turns out its an extra zone in Chapter 3 you can only enter via unmarked red portals. The item you need drops in there.

Guess this shows me where they all are - https://progameguides.com/lists/all-shrine-locations-in-grim-dawn/
But the ones I am missing are in either dungeons or extra areas.
After getting her through, I am now working on getting another shooty character up to same area. I thought she was further in. Not far away.

Her greatest monster killed is different to everyone else now. The last boss she fought, he was different. 4 legs... She ran around a pile of bodiues and killed him from a safe distance. My other guy almost went into his room a few nights back.

The 2 characters past Darkvale gate have different factions and so one has a quest to kill necromancers trying to get ashes, and the other is the necromancer trying to get the ashes. Good thing you can't fight yourself.
 
Last edited:
Storms all day, probably just get more character up to same spot. Might try quest, depends on my reputation. I might be able to do bounties for them and increase it a little. You get rep for every boss kill made after meeting faction, and the Rovers are the first faction you meet in chapter 2. Might have a few at same stage. If I don't know to ask, I wouldn't know. Generally little reason to go to old zones.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Frindis

TRENDING THREADS