Newbie - Demolitionist Question

[Nocturne]

iam acustomed to the basic mechanics in the game and already checked a view things.

Question about Demo builds:
Do i decide between "do i want to basic attack with melee/range" and "do i want to use spells and be some kind of mage?"....and from this point on pick a secondary class?

For me it seems kinda wasted going for a Bow/Gun build (iam leaning to range) while using some firespells. It seems more hybrid as my thoughts are:

Either go for attack speed / phys / maybe ele damage for firey autohits
or go for some kind of spellcaster where i want castspeed and ignore nodes that enhance any weapon and rather spam abilities like grenades or so?!

Maybe someone more into the game can help me with some decisionmaking towards this class and second mastery. i dont want to hardcore minmax but also i dont want to pick any bad stuff and waste hours of play only to realize i should have went a certain way.

[Toxic Spammer]

specializing in 2 or 3 types of damage will be more effective than just picking everything

elemental damage as a stat will increase fire, cold and lightning so there is some potential for spreading your points out more

I'm playing a shaman which is pretty similar to the demo really, you want a strong default attack, various dots to throw out that will hurt your enemies over time, and I think you get mines as minions that attack enemies

really there are no rules, you want to stack damage bonuses with your equipment, I think until you really get a grasp of how the skills can interact then it's better to just single class

I have 6 points in inquisitor and the rest of my 70 levels in shaman, it's just stronger for my build to keep investing in shaman

you'll realize potential combinations as you go, some classes make more sense to multiclass depending on what you're running

[letir]

First you should pick between going weapons or going casting. Then you decide which abilities you like to use. After that you should check item database, because Grim Dawn have extensive number of items which modify abilities in different ways.

For example, you want to use Black Water Cocktail and Grenado as a caster, but want to focus on fire damage. There is amulet which transform all physical damage on Grenado into fire, making your life much easer.

Then you check Constellations and pick those which help your build, managing points to get everything necessary.

I recommend www.grimtools.com - extensive database which include builds.

[Matthew]

Any mastery will do fine with demo except necromancer. You can make it work with items, but it is one of the more awkward combinations and requires some more effort than others.

You have the right idea. Generally you are either adding attack speed and fire strike with other masteries, or some combination of chucking out bombs. Some of the "bomb" skills can be used as support, such as blackwater cocktail, so there can be some mix and match.

Just be careful not to spread yourself too thin, which is easy to do on demo. If you are going to fire strike, you want to cap attack speed and spend as much time attacking as possible. If you are going to spam stun jacks, same thing but with cast speed. Or you are rotating cooldowns with various bombs.

You can sit on one mastery for a while, so there is no rush to pick up the second. Give some more time to play around and see what you want to use.

[Neit]

Honestly it really depends on how you want to play and build around that. You can't really pick class combo that does not work. As for skills,it's best to experiment and see what you like most.

And just some minor corrections here:

Originally posted by Ginzo Force:

specializing in 2 or 3 types of damage will be more effective than just picking everything

Even 3 is usually too much. During leveling it's okay, but it's better to aim for less for the endgame, since you can't easily cover so many types with resist reduction and damage bonuses.

Originally posted by Ginzo Force:

elemental damage as a stat will increase fire, cold and lightning so there is some potential for spreading your points out more

Yes, but only flat damage, it does not cover dot damage types - burn, frosburn and electrocute. Whether that matters depends on build and skills in use.

[Nocturne]

Thanks everyone, appreciate the help. will definetly go more the chill way now. currently also trying out oathkeeper as iam still deciding on what to play.
I guess it would be better to just bash through the campaign trying out various skills and then sticking to a few and also first sticking to one mastery until iam certain what i want to do.
as of now iam not sure if casting spells or basic range hit is my thing to go.

[madrigal]

I agree with all above. Decide 1st if you want weapon attacks or a caster (cast speed) build.

Any skills with resist reduction are useful for any build type (blackwater cocktail and thermite mines). These are most useful for ultimate difficulty and boss fights so you don't need them immediately.

You can level a demo build just with BWC for a while and respec into some other thing. This is a common leveling strategy. Respec is cheap and easy so you can't go wrong trying skills to see what you like best.

Fire damage is probably the easiest for leveling if you decide to use ranged weapons. You probably start with mostly phys damage and change later when you find fire weapons. It just depends what you find. Hint: blacksmith duncan has recipes for early pistols.

For a ranged build, the most obvious 2nd mastery is inquisitor for ranged weapon bonuses. Soldier or shaman are also good choices for beginner builds. Demolitionist has tons of versatility so is one of the most interesting masteries, imo.

[phenir]

One off skills don't need massive cast speed behind. Stuff like transmuted cocktail or mortar. You toss them down once per group and then start blasting.

[Nocturne]

Originally posted by madrigal:

I agree with all above. Decide 1st if you want weapon attacks or a caster (cast speed) build.

Any skills with resist reduction are useful for any build type (blackwater cocktail and thermite mines). These are most useful for ultimate difficulty and boss fights so you don't need them immediately.

You can level a demo build just with BWC for a while and respec into some other thing. This is a common leveling strategy. Respec is cheap and easy so you can't go wrong trying skills to see what you like best.

Fire damage is probably the easiest for leveling if you decide to use ranged weapons. You probably start with mostly phys damage and change later when you find fire weapons. It just depends what you find. Hint: blacksmith duncan has recipes for early pistols.

For a ranged build, the most obvious 2nd mastery is inquisitor for ranged weapon bonuses. Soldier or shaman are also good choices for beginner builds. Demolitionist has tons of versatility so is one of the most interesting masteries, imo.

Unfortunately i picked Angrim - this a problem? I believe i can pick Duncan in later difficulty aswell? Just read a bit about it..i still dont know about these 2 blacksmithes.
Thx for the advice.
Yeah also figured the mentioned skills will be great as all the usual suspects (games) have this in common. higher difficulty = monsters with more resistances.

[Slainpessimist]

Originally posted by Nocturne:

Originally posted by madrigal:

I agree with all above. Decide 1st if you want weapon attacks or a caster (cast speed) build.

Any skills with resist reduction are useful for any build type (blackwater cocktail and thermite mines). These are most useful for ultimate difficulty and boss fights so you don't need them immediately.

You can level a demo build just with BWC for a while and respec into some other thing. This is a common leveling strategy. Respec is cheap and easy so you can't go wrong trying skills to see what you like best.

Fire damage is probably the easiest for leveling if you decide to use ranged weapons. You probably start with mostly phys damage and change later when you find fire weapons. It just depends what you find. Hint: blacksmith duncan has recipes for early pistols.

For a ranged build, the most obvious 2nd mastery is inquisitor for ranged weapon bonuses. Soldier or shaman are also good choices for beginner builds. Demolitionist has tons of versatility so is one of the most interesting masteries, imo.

Unfortunately i picked Angrim - this a problem? I believe i can pick Duncan in later difficulty aswell? Just read a bit about it..i still dont know about these 2 blacksmithes.
Thx for the advice.
Yeah also figured the mentioned skills will be great as all the usual suspects (games) have this in common. higher difficulty = monsters with more resistances.

Rule of thumb is Angrim is better for melee for defensive bonus and Duncun is better for spellcasters for his energy regen.
https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Blacksmith

[Nocturne]

Originally posted by Slainpessimist:

Originally posted by Nocturne:

Unfortunately i picked Angrim - this a problem? I believe i can pick Duncan in later difficulty aswell? Just read a bit about it..i still dont know about these 2 blacksmithes.
Thx for the advice.
Yeah also figured the mentioned skills will be great as all the usual suspects (games) have this in common. higher difficulty = monsters with more resistances.

Rule of thumb is Angrim is better for melee for defensive bonus and Duncun is better for spellcasters for his energy regen.
https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Blacksmith

thx for the info. so it seems i can just pick one on each difficulty, in case i will change my mind later on and become a caster.

[Tsel13]

I have a level 100 HC Ultimate Defiler (Demolitionist + Necromancer).
It has no problem going through the story line game, including the DLC's.
It has no problem fighting off Nemesis Spawns.
Where it does have problems is Secret Bosses, Shattered Realms, and bad RNG in Skeleton Key Dungeons.
So far no deaths with this character.
It has not become a ghost.
But it did take a good deal of planning and thought, as well as great suggestions given to me by the guru's here in the Steam GD Forum.

The main thing is what are you after in the game.
If you're not planning on doing Shattered Realms or Secret Bosses, you should be okay with what you've done so far. 😊