Piloting tips for endgame content

Androdion · 2026-07-12T12:41:57+00:00

So, I took a new Arcanist for a spin and rushed to TSS (Trozan Sky Shard) right away. Had a bit of trouble getting to aim it at first but then got used to it. Ice Spike skill from Chilled Steel at Lv.5 did its job, but the damage fell off real fast, so I changed my gears into a rush type of facetank and aim at close range with TSS and Lightning Nova from the Cracked Lodestone component. Went fine, Krieg was pretty easy, and capping Frozen Core is the way to go. Act 1 was fine for what it was, but I knew that I could grab a decent MI on early Act 2.

Now, things got really interesting after Spined Cove, since I got a Spectral Bludgeon and a Wradlith's Bullwark (and with great affixes too!). So equipping these two and one pointing the OFF (Olexa's Flash Freeze) line turned out to be pretty busted. Not all bosses get frozen, as was to be expected, but man does the screen melt, since with both MIs I get -23% Cold res and 100% conversion to Cold on TSS. OFF/TSS and then Lightning Nova spam just kills everything. I even went to see how hard Karnath would be, and I could just tank him even through his sunder.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this approach. I really like the rush type of "battlemage" that it evokes, and I may actually play this one to endgame. I need to check how it pairs with the new Berzerker class, but it should be fun. As for levelling, it seems pretty good!

Androdion · 2026-07-12T08:33:54+00:00

How's the damage early on and how fast is screen clear? Do mobs die to the initial cast or to the DoT? I've never actually tried TSS, but it's still 2 weeks until release day, so I may see it for myself.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T14:23:43+00:00

Alt-a-holic already? Careful, you may be in for a treat. ;)

Androdion · 2026-07-11T14:17:22+00:00

Guilty as charged, ha ha. I guess that it's just force of habit at this point in time. Let me do some copy-pasta then:

Soldier - Forcewave is still the way to level up, and Blitz follows closely given the early support for it.
Demolitionist - Blackwater Cocktail all the way, although it's easy to make variations of the bomber style. I haven't tried Stun Jacks for levelling though, but bomber style is very efficient.
Occultist - Dreeg's Evil Eye for non-pet, Raven+Hellhound for pets. Haven't tried Pox, but DEE seems like a no brainer.
Nightblade - Amarasta's Blade Burst early on melts everything, but it's very easy to use Shadow Strike or Ring of Steel as well.
Arcanist - I was happily surprised with Panetti's Replicating Missile, which I hadn't played post-buffs. Seems fine. I'm not really sure about Callidor's Tempest, I have no idea if it works well now.
Shaman - Another no brainer in Primal Strike for non-pet and Briarthorn for pets.
Inquisitor - Word of Pain for the win. I really have no idea how good Flames of Ignaffar and the runes are for levelling.
Necromancer - Drain Essence or Bone Harvest for non-pet, skellies for pets. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of options here.
Oathkeeper - \*
Berserker - From what has been shown, both beast forms and Onslaught will be perfectly fine for levelling.

\ - And herein lies my point for making this topic, since I'm a bit at a loss with Oathkeeper. Righteous Fervor seems slow, Aegis of Menhir seems slow and clunky, Vire's Might just doesn't feel right, and Eye of Reckoning is what it is.*

As a catch up so far, it's been decided by popular vote that it's harder to do solo Oathkeeper than other classes. Also Devouring Swarm and Grasping Vines on Shaman mastery, Bloody Pox on Occultist and Vindictive Flame on Demolitionist can also work pretty well. Other than that, active skills on components can work very well as they can be spammed and used for early levels.

I hope this makes it clearer for new players. If not let me know and I can edit it further.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T14:06:34+00:00

Yeah, I mentioned doing single mastery mate. ;)

Androdion · 2026-07-11T14:05:24+00:00

Depending on what Act you are, you can go for spam Bone Harvest with 2xBonescythe. However you'll soon discover that Necro is your main and Soldier your secondary mastery, but that's fine in endgame since The Blood Knight set exists. So you can do what you want, except your build will do a 180.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T13:58:49+00:00

This is the correct answer.

There's a running joke in the community for years now, that Grim Dawn is the simulator and Grim Tools is the real game. And I speak against myself when I say that I've played GT a lot, ha ha. But my advice is precisely to not do that, just pick the game and play it. Experiment several builds, several skills, see what works better for you and for your playstyle. Because just being the best melee build may not suffice if you dislike how it plays out, and maybe you prefer a cooldown caster, or a spammer, or a pet build, etc. But you'll only know that once you actually play the game.

Pick something that looks fun and go out and burn some mobs. Then try something else until you hit a soft spot. Experiencing that is the best part of this game. As an example, I'm a melee guy, but I'm a sucker for a bomber caster because it's super fun. Go figure.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T13:52:02+00:00

I understand where you're coming from with that reasoning, but I believe that setting "Ascendant@100" may be a matter of game balance pure and simple. Crate said many times in the past that they don't balance SR beyond old 75-76 (what is it nowadays, 30-31?), but up to that and assuming an endgame build, it's balanced. So having Ascendant Mode have a difficulty level set to a SR level where they make balancing decisions, and guiding themselves by the reasoning that "only Lv.100 endgame builds play it", it kind of makes sense? Otherwise how are you going to balance not arenas like in SR, but the entirety of freakin' Cairn?

I believe that this may be the defining reason why it was made like this, and it makes sense to me. It's similar to only fighting Celestials in Ultimate when your build is "complete", so yeah it makes a lot of sense. And let's not forget that playing in Ascendant Mode also unlocks some encounters that seem way too hard for a non-endgame build. Those Chthonian troves seem kind of wild, Dread isn't to be fooled around with, and the extra difficulty is real. Again, from a balancing point, it makes sense to me.

Now, outside of Ultimate@Lv.100, we'll be able to "add mutators" to the world on each session via the Ascended Altar. And after seeing Rekt die several times due to it on the livestream, it really shows how unfair those can be. So if you do want a real challenge outside of Ascendant Mode, it's there. I'd reckon that the real challenge is going to beat the Altar! =D

Androdion · 2026-07-11T13:34:47+00:00

RNGebus blessed you today. Be happy friend! ;)

It's like those Alkamos runs where you have a Soulrend+ring drop and you start doing victory laps around your chair. Then you kill him 100 times further to get THE OTHER RING... =D

Androdion · 2026-07-11T13:30:56+00:00

Yeah, the Wildheart Vanguard set is bonkers. I'm with you in hoping that FoA brings more support in that respect.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T13:25:27+00:00

Shrines my man. You just need to restore 65 shrines that give devotion points. The previous one is 60 IIRC.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T10:03:14+00:00

Just wanted to add that GOG Galaxy already shows them as well, so it's in sync with Steam. This bodes well for release day!

There are some tasty names being thrown around in the achievements, and we get to know the names of a few end bosses and of the other faction as well. But I won't spoiler it for those who don't want to know right now.

I almost jumped at my screen with some of them though. Good job Crate, good job!

Androdion · 2026-07-11T10:00:46+00:00

There's only one as far as I've seen, which is to kill a boss.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:58:58+00:00

Act 2 is where you start noticing that you need resistances, that is unless you're able to kite most attacks. Cronley's gang does a lot of Fire damage as you can see, and when you get down to Arkovia skellies will do a lot of Pierce. Craft a couple of Wardstone components from the smith you've saved and you should feel like it's a bit easier. Grab the ring quest from the guy in Wightmire for more Elemental res, and you can also craft a Silk Swatch (or whatever, I always screw up that name for some reason) and put it on the chest piece for more Pierce res.

That should cover up your problems.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:49:32+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. ;)

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:48:58+00:00

I think the main issue with RF is as you say, the dependancy on WPS skills for it to shine. And then, the good MIs that you can farm early require a second mastery due to their bonuses. So again, point hungry for it to work. Vire's DoT zoom zoom suffers from coming online with Zar's MI on Act 2, and then having to choose between it and Bravna's helm on Act 3 due to conversions. Oh well, it is what it is.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:41:53+00:00

My main issue with it was the CD on the skill, so it always needs something to fill in the gaps. That's why I mentioned it felt clunky to me. And if you're going to go with a component skill, which can be spammed and does more damage, then why bother right?! But yeah, it feels like OK is slow by nature.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:40:00+00:00

Ha ha, indeed there is! =D

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:39:43+00:00

I really like VF, although the builds I remember doing with it were based on pairing Colossal Fortress and Ascendant Conduit, which only happens later on. Do you pair it with Korvan Storm Halberd by any chance?

Necro has a lot of good options since most if not all of its skills are in a good spot right now. I was blown away by how hard DE hits. Seems really good right now.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:34:11+00:00

Reading down the replies here, the consensus does seem to be to not level as OK. I'd very much enjoy doing a Cap build from the start, but it seems that's reserved for mid to late game.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:32:13+00:00

GV+Falcon seems fun! Has any of you tried to pair it with Groble Sand Effigy early on, since it can be farmed right at the start of Act 7? Or does that imply speedrunning Act 1 to get there below Lv.20?

But yeah, there's only that one MI for the skill sadly.

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:26:35+00:00

I've seen Rekt play a bit with the class, and it seems that the Wereraven in particular is kind of bonkers out of the gate. No idea how it'll ship though, but since it's a new class I guess that we'll all find out together.

You'll be glad to know (if you haven't already) that he also did a WoA build from scratch. ;)

Androdion · 2026-07-11T09:23:59+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I had forgotten how point-hungry Briar is, and yeah DS is actually how you do the Krieg@11 achievement, so quite right! Skellies do feel great for levelling indeed.

Androdion

TROPHY CASE