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100 degrees Calcium posted:Oooh I totally misunderstood. I thought Veteran was for people experienced with the genre, not necessarily the game. Dunno why I thought that. I'll start a new, much more enjoyable playthrough. It is, but veteran right now is pretty rough for a solo player. From what I've read they've made veteran a bit more difficult over various patches. But if you have a friend veteran is a breeze and is a no brainer with the xp boost.
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Dec 27, 2020 05:05
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xzzy posted:It is, but veteran right now is pretty rough for a solo player. From what I've read they've made veteran a bit more difficult over various patches. Veteran Mode is a simple modifier to Normal difficulty that normalizes the enemies and spawn rate to match Elite/Ultimate. It can be enabled/disabled at any time (while playing Normal; it's built into Elite/Ultimate). There's no reason whatsoever to play with it off unless you're playing some sort of gimmicky duelist build with no crowd control abilities.
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Dec 27, 2020 09:18
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Yeah last time I started a new character I had veteran on and no stash equipment to deck myself out in and once you get a couple levels (which happens immensely fast) to put into your first damage skill you start killing stuff pretty easily. You have to be a little more careful while you flesh out your build but you shouldn't be caught off guard by most things. And hey, if you are, you can learn from it 
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Dec 27, 2020 09:48
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Braking Gnus posted:I swear it used to be. But I'm convinced they changed it at some point, where it used to be tough but not a huge pain in the rear end. They did change veteran to be quite a lot more difficult a patch or two after forgotten gods, with the motivation that power creep had made base game content too easy compared to the expansions. It used to be a standard “I’m not an idiot” difficulty while normal was super easy, but now it’s quite challenging if you don’t know what you’re doing. Veteran does now expect some experience with Grim Dawn specifically, not just arpgs in general. Veteran difficulty is still fair, though. You definitely don’t need twinked gear from level 100 alts, although a bunch of crafting recipes and components will certainly help. But you can still absolutely start on veteran and take a hardcore character through the whole base game and the expansions on all three difficulties with only self found gear if you know the game and play carefully.
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Dec 27, 2020 10:13
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I wish they'd tone down the HP bloat on veteran, but otherwise yeah, it's pretty viable even when starting from scratch without hand-me-down gear.
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Dec 27, 2020 13:08
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Depends on the build, doesn't it? That forcewave build in the OP says it isn't suited for SSF because it needs a good two-hander. It's definitely easier to make up for deficiencies in resistances and OA/DA with a one-hand/off-hand build in an SSF playthrough. Even better if the key abilities aren't tied to weapon damage. I've had success in SSF veteran, but it was always with casters so I could get by with equipment that I picked up an act or two ago so long as it had nice bonuses. 100 degrees Calcium posted:I'm giving this game another go and I am finding it very challenging. I'm playing on Veteran and starting to have some serious self doubts. I'm working on Dahbadu's Forcewave 2-Handed Physical Bruiser build for newbies, and just getting massacred at any fight that involves anything beyond a basic mook difficulty enemy. Just in case clarification is needed - SSF stands for Solo-Self-Found ie. starting from scratch and not getting any help. Goons are awesome though, I'm sure they can hook you up with a couple good bits of kit if you go online. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Dec 27, 2020 |
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Dec 27, 2020 13:53
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Fruits of the sea posted:Depends on the build, doesn't it? That forcewave build in the OP says it isn't suited for SSF because it needs a good two-hander. It's definitely easier to make up for deficiencies in resistances and OA/DA with a one-hand/off-hand build in an SSF playthrough. Even better if the key abilities aren't tied to weapon damage. Yeah, in my experience physical-focused builds tend to have the most trouble with the early game. So the issue here seems to be considering a 2H Forcewave build 'newbie friendly' in the first place... or possibly one of tactics. Like, are you waiting until your health is nearly gone before popping a health potion? Because you should be to minimize its cooldown time.
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Dec 27, 2020 14:19
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100 degrees Calcium posted:I'm giving this game another go and I am finding it very challenging. I'm playing on Veteran and starting to have some serious self doubts. I'm working on Dahbadu's Forcewave 2-Handed Physical Bruiser build for newbies, and just getting massacred at any fight that involves anything beyond a basic mook difficulty enemy. Do you have the Inquisitor Seal skill yet? Rush it, max it, and stand in it while fighting.
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Dec 27, 2020 19:45
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Offkorn posted:Yeah, in my experience physical-focused builds tend to have the most trouble with the early game. So the issue here seems to be considering a 2H Forcewave build 'newbie friendly' in the first place... or possibly one of tactics. Are you saying that the cooldown on potions is determined by the level of HP you have when you use it?
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Dec 27, 2020 20:27
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John Lee posted:Are you saying that the cooldown on potions is determined by the level of HP you have when you use it?
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Dec 27, 2020 20:38
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Another part of the difficulty for people who haven't poured a lot of hours into it is just trying to work out enemy priority in a fight. It's less of an issue as you level up and get better gear, because you'll be chunking through packs, but early on it really is. Also, getting the Aetherial totems early on is pretty painful. Oh good, 3 Flesh Hulks, a Flesh Hulk hero and two Reanimator heroes. What a fun fight this is going to be...
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Dec 27, 2020 20:59
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Fruits of the sea posted:Depends on the build, doesn't it? That forcewave build in the OP says it isn't suited for SSF because it needs a good two-hander. It's definitely easier to make up for deficiencies in resistances and OA/DA with a one-hand/off-hand build in an SSF playthrough. Even better if the key abilities aren't tied to weapon damage. My last run was when the expansion released, so maybe they patched something, but... I play SSF and forcewave is really easy to get going, probably my 2nd favorite next to vit casters. Start with some early leveling skill, beeline to kraken constellation then respec to forcewave and your damage will not be a problem for a long, long time even with random 2hers you find. Massacre is a very common blue 2her you can start using at level 17, and you can grab one of the easily farmable MIs with +forcewave (Obsidian War Cleaver) for another huge damage spike and just go back and get higher level versions of that as you continue progressing if you don't have good luck with drops. Once you've leveled you can target farm a Krieg set if that fits your character or just keep going with forcewave. The skill is very nice mechanically as a sort of midrange caster with absurd lifesteal and doesn't have the issues actual melee builds have of dying because you stopped leeching when transitioning between targets.
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Dec 27, 2020 23:00
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My first and only character to hit 100 was a Forcewave spammer and it worked just fine  Mostly using the MIs until I hit high levels and then I think I switched to Stonefist Rebuke or whatever it's called.
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Dec 27, 2020 23:13
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Veteran was made much harder a couple of patches ago. It's noticeable.
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Dec 28, 2020 00:09
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Veteran's tuned for min/maxing, if you're not wearing twink gear. Think veteran of Grim Dawn's systems specifically instead of ARPGs generally.
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Dec 28, 2020 00:32
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I'm getting back into the game, so I'll be updating the builds. The Forcewave build is a popular starter, so here's the overhauled version until the next major update. Also, the update to Stonefist Rebuke they did is perfect for this character. The modded version of Aura of Censure is sooo loving OP for this build. quote:Forcewave 2-Handed Physical Tank (Starter Build) Dahbadu fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Dec 28, 2020 |
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Dec 28, 2020 02:51
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Dahbadu posted:I'm getting back into the game, so I'll be updating the builds. The Forcewave build is a popular starter, so here's the overhauled version until the next major update. Yeeeah, that's not newbie-friendly. A 2H Retaliation build takes some skill (and good equipment) to pull off. A Cadence build would be newbie friendly. EDIT: Also, you may want to swap out one of those Osyr's Tempers with a Survivor's Ingenuity, since the Chaos damage doesn't help you much. Offkorn fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Dec 28, 2020 |
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Dec 28, 2020 12:22
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I see this game is on sale at the moment and I have been really enjoying Titan Quest on a nostalgia kick recently. Would I likely enjoy Grim Dawn even more seeing as its newer? In Titan Quest, it feels like any mastery combo is viable for the most part and it's hard to really screw up. Is the same true for Grim Dawn? Or are there only a few select builds that will ever be effective?
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Dec 28, 2020 17:47
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Cocks Cable posted:I see this game is on sale at the moment and I have been really enjoying Titan Quest on a nostalgia kick recently. Would I likely enjoy Grim Dawn even more seeing as its newer? In Titan Quest, it feels like any mastery combo is viable for the most part and it's hard to really screw up. Is the same true for Grim Dawn? Or are there only a few select builds that will ever be effective? Although the games are very similar at their core, Grim Dawn is far more polished and includes some nice quality of life stuff. There's a plethora of builds that are viable for playing through the game, DLCs included, on all difficulties. Making up your own build as you go along is also pretty simple and even if you happen to make a mistake, you have the option to respec.
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Dec 28, 2020 18:50
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Some masteries don't really have any synegry, like demolitionist and nightblade. But you should be able to beat the campaign on ultimate with pretty much any combo. It's when you're pushing Shattered Realm and the Crucible that the less effective builds get weeded out.
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Dec 28, 2020 18:56
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On my first playthrough (which was about two months ago now) I went into the game completely blind and sank points into whatever looked cool or fun. Playing with one other person we were able to finish the main story no problems at all. I did die a more than I'd have liked because I ignored resists and my whole game plan was to spam healing potions whenever possible but it generally worked. Granted, one of the skills I bought was eye of reckoning which when I started googling it seemed to be pretty far up on the list of "effective skills to build around" so it's possible everything was dying before it became a problem.
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Dec 28, 2020 18:57
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Offkorn posted:Yeeeah, that's not newbie-friendly. I've played a similar version of the build SSF Ultimate from scratch. You don't need a specific set, but that Stonefist is super nice. The other items are just equipped as an example. Retaliation on some builds is easy to incorporate, and it's worth it because it really increases your clear and it's easy damage to scale and fit in. i.e. You don't need to itemize for retaliation, and what you have on your tree is enough -- everything else is just gravy. Thanks for pointing that out about the Tempers. I had them on because they actually provide more OA/DA than Ingenuity when scaled, but it may throw some people off, and the extra 60% all damage is nice. Here's an update, also tweaked resistances so it's nice and overcapped. https://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2GEDA6Z https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZo09kzN I'm gonna make some build videos this week, so I'll make a video on this character first. In the video I'll do challenging content w/ only a Stonefist and green/yellow gear, to show it's newbie friendly.
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Dec 28, 2020 18:59
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Cocks Cable posted:I see this game is on sale at the moment and I have been really enjoying Titan Quest on a nostalgia kick recently. Would I likely enjoy Grim Dawn even more seeing as its newer? In Titan Quest, it feels like any mastery combo is viable for the most part and it's hard to really screw up. Is the same true for Grim Dawn? Or are there only a few select builds that will ever be effective? There are probably over a hundred builds that will take you deep into the endgame stuff. Even more, if you're just wanting to beat the game on Ultimate. Every mastery combo has at least a few great builds.
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Dec 28, 2020 19:07
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Theres also a lot of gear that makes synergies where there were none before.
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Dec 28, 2020 22:07
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the warden on veteran is a goddamn wall of hp huh. other stuff is dying ok so i dont think im full on zdps but he was quite the step up. i didnt die at least. i now have the forgotten gods guy in devils crossing. do i want to ignore that until later
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Dec 29, 2020 04:01
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You should at least go in and pick a faction, which will open up movement skill augments that make gameplay a little smoother. Otherwise it’s probably better to wait until you’ve finished the main campaign.
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Dec 29, 2020 04:17
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if i need to fix a specific resist while leveling (i think im getting worked hard by poison in act 2 veteran) i want to look at components right? probably this thing https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Antivenom_Salve also how important is base armor? in poe its fairly worthless
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Dec 30, 2020 17:28
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Armor is important in Grim Dawn. A common mistake is to prioritize resistances or other affixes over upgrading base armor types. Try to make sure you’re keeping your armor up to date. I find common vendors are the source of most of my gear until I start to unlock recipes and higher level faction gear.
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Dec 30, 2020 17:41
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Its not worthless but capping resists is your primary focus. And since higher gear has higher resists and armor, your armor naturally goes up. But I wouldn’t keep a low level piece of armor just based on its resists. It would be pretty rare that I wouldn’t be able to find a replacement piece or swap a few pieces in, change components etc to have resist coverage.
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Dec 30, 2020 17:42
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Yeah slotting components (and keeping an eye out for gear with useful resists) is the way to go. Base armor works differently than in poe- every time you are hit the game rolls a die to determine which body part (piece of armpit) is hit. Not a big deal in act 2 but later on you’ll want to make sure your gear has half decent armor so a hit on your legs or whatever isn’t doing excessive damage. Defensive ability is more important than armor because it determines the chance to be hit as well as reducing the damage from critical hits.
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Dec 30, 2020 18:15
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can i kind of ignore any of the resists? are any a lot more important than others? or should i value them all pretty evenly
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Dec 30, 2020 18:22
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Ehh, not really. Certain areas are guaranteed to deal a shitload of one type (often aether or chaos) but there’s no guarantee that a random boss isn’t going to ruin your day with some other element. Try and cap resists as evenly as possible. It will get much easier as you pick up more components and start unlocking augments. On higher difficulties you’ll want to shoot for 20 or so above the cap because some bosses can reduce resistances.
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Dec 30, 2020 18:29
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There are also a lot of poison baddies around so don't neglect that either! I think bleeding is one of the least common but that's not scientific.
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Dec 30, 2020 20:11
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yeah i just threw on an antivenom salve and imbued silver which also seems really nice with the aura it gives. also made this gluttony relic thing. the first time i played through the base game was on normal awhile ago and i basically completely ignored components but it seems like veteran is really tuned around using everything while leveling also i remember the first time i played the components had to be combined in your inventory from fragments or something? i assume they realized that was dumb because it doesnt seem to be a thing anymore
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Dec 30, 2020 20:16
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When starting fresh, the game gives hints on what resists are important for a given piece of content based on the gear that drops in the area. The first time I hit a wall against bosses after ignoring resists was Zaria at the end of blood grove. Without good chaos resist one of the bosses attacks is basically a one-shot kill. Comes with a resist debuff that lasts forever too. Fortunately everything around Homestead loves to drop chaos resist gear so a few totems later I did fine.
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Dec 30, 2020 20:20
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Yeah even worse early on combining components generated a random bonus so if you really wanted to min max you had to pray for certain bonuses. This is how it was in Titan Quest. They then got rid of the bonus, then got rid of combining all together thank god.
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Dec 30, 2020 20:32
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Dont forget the rovers and devils crossing have a bunch of early augments that cover chaos and aether resistance. Big help when going through areas like the conflagration or early port valbury runs. Cant start using them until lvl 40 though.
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Dec 30, 2020 20:45
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Here's the updated build for the Warlord shield retaliation tank: Captain AmeriCairn, Super Retaliation Scaling Phys Tank Oathkeeper / Solider build by Dahbadu Last updated Dec 2020 Final build: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/8NKozJWN Notes: - Facetank everything, including Ravager. Hold aggro like a champ. Do a gently caress ton of damage, while also healing and protecting your buddies. - With Time Dilation, you can have close to 100% up-time on Overguard (soldier skill), Healing Rain (devotion, affects the party), and Stone Form (devotion, affects the party), Messenger of War (devotion), Absolution (relic), etc. - With these buffs up, you block like 5k+ damage all of the time with zero cooldown, on top of your other ridiculous defenses. And things just die by attacking you. - If you can get the items, this is probably the strongest build posted here.
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Dec 30, 2020 23:07
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Cool build but there's a Kymon augment on the helm 
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Dec 30, 2020 23:15
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Suspicious posted:Cool build but there's a Kymon augment on the helm Oops, I missed that. One might say that augment was suspicious. Fixed it: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/gZwGeeJZ
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Dec 30, 2020 23:25
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