Useful useless skills

[Lirio Fantasma]

Hello, people.

I have been playing Grim Dawn for years, and I love how the game is still expanded by the devs. Then, I assume there is no useless skill on any tree, just build-depending. But here comes my question:

Could somebody explain to me how to use skills like Devouring Swarm, Grasping Vines, and Bloody Pox? I've seen the use of Ill Omen in its confusion effect, which is nice to distract crowds while you use area damage against them, but for the mentioned in the question I only have been capable of use them as devotion skill activators, but I don't believe that's their ultimate use... Once I even read somebody saing they was using Bloody Pox as a killer skill in high levels, which I can't even imagine. Could you help me please? How can I make good use of this skills?

Good luck. :)

[Tsel13]

I find Devouring Swarm very useful, maxed and over maxed, for my Vitality or Bleed builds.
Just maxing without over capping it puts a -55% Vitality / -35% Bleed against enemies natural resist against vitality / bleed.
It helps a lot.
CON: The monsters with mega super high resist against vitality / bleed you won't really notice the difference.

[Slash Van Halen Earnhardt]

DOT builds are my favorite, if you haven't tried one go for it! Watch things quickly drain into nothing :P

[KillingYouGuy]

Hey Lirio, although I wouldn't recommend entirely moving away from your own unique builds, maybe pull up some top tier build specs on skills you don't believe are actually good. With proper gear and devotions for instance; Bloody Pox can be epic.

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

Devouring Swarm is literally shammy bleed/vit RR skill, borderline mandatory if you want some decent dmg output in a "meta" sense on bleed or vitality dmg builds

Vines is a highly potent dmg stacking skill because of its semi unique properties, which means if you directly build around it you can make it a decent main dmg or support dmg skill
*cc effects are irrelevant btw, remember; enemies you want to CC can't be CCd, enemies that can be CCd doesn't matter/dies too fast for it to matter

Pox is a bit of the odd one out, it's fine levelling skill to clear packs, very efficient, it sadly drops off a fair bit at endgame, because the overall investment to make it slightly potent is just too high a cost.
It is/was doable to make a pox end build, but required full dedication and acceptance it wouldn't perform equal to other "top" builds.
But it's mainly used for debuffing, and since 1.2.1 it seems like it's lost a bit of extra of it's main skill glory

[Morton Salt]

Originally posted by Lirio Fantasma:

Once I even read somebody saing they was using Bloody Pox as a killer skill in high levels, which I can't even imagine.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2E9O732
It does the ,,thing", but you need to use other abilities to make bloody pox a ,,thing". You wont be able to speedrun the bosses thu.

Originally posted by gNuff!~©~gNom3™:

But it's mainly used for debuffing, and since 1.2.1 it seems like it's lost a bit of extra of it's main skill glory

What do you mean? Damage of bloody pox got buffed in 1.2.1.

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

Originally posted by Morton Salt:

What do you mean? Damage of bloody pox got buffed in 1.2.1.

it got dmg shifted from the transmuter, but it still needs the transmuter dmg to deal decent dmg at end
issue with that is it's one of those things that defensively took a large hit with the phys changes

[Morton Salt]

Originally posted by gNuff!~©~gNom3™:

it got dmg shifted from the transmuter, but it still needs the transmuter dmg to deal decent dmg at end

Oh right, well i playing on HC, so i dont realy using it. :v

Originally posted by gNuff!~©~gNom3™:

issue with that is it's one of those things that defensively took a large hit with the phys changes

I can comfirm that, survivality on my bloody pox conjurer dropped hard after phys changes.

[Automator]

Originally posted by Lirio Fantasma:

Hello, people.

I have been playing Grim Dawn for years, and I love how the game is still expanded by the devs. Then, I assume there is no useless skill on any tree, just build-depending. But here comes my question:

Could somebody explain to me how to use skills like Devouring Swarm, Grasping Vines, and Bloody Pox? I've seen the use of Ill Omen in its confusion effect, which is nice to distract crowds while you use area damage against them, but for the mentioned in the question I only have been capable of use them as devotion skill activators, but I don't believe that's their ultimate use... Once I even read somebody saing they was using Bloody Pox as a killer skill in high levels, which I can't even imagine. Could you help me please? How can I make good use of this skills?

Good luck. :)

16/16 Devouring Swarm for rr and the rest you are correct. One shot DS and let spread, spamming is counterproductive.
You can make all good DPS for campaign, but not good endgame.

[Lirio Fantasma]

Looks like specialization, mutators and a strategic build are the keys; and the special notes of some people make me think on special cases and uses.
Thank you all for your responses!

[jadeite]

I have a build with vines and swarm maxed.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4NOrKdvZ
It seems I have to readjust resistances, but the vines work well with the Huntress' Rend. Going full acid should also work, but you'll lose the synergy with Devouring Swarm.

[Max]

Im just gonna say, I dont know what PURPOSE does Bloody Pox have, but it was my primary weapon as the Occultist and I loved watching hordes of enemies melt away after a short song and dance routine.

[Voodoojedizin]

Grasping Vines. This is excellent for use in blocking passageways and hallways and slowing down and eating up the bad guys. Once you get them all blocked up in a group you can then use the big bombs on them, and just rinse and repeat. Takes out masses of enemies real quick.

[Dr.Killenstein]

Vitality scaling build Bloody Pox with Wendigo's Mark devotion is ridiculously strong. The fire-and-forget playstyle (because of how Pox spreads) clears fast and safe, and Wendigo Mark having no cooldown means you basically can't die unless you get oneshot. I honestly had no idea it was a good as it is until I built around it. Plus it is a relatively easy to gear build since Dark One set can be target farmed.