Beginner's Questions:

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

It's been so long since I played this game seriously as a kid. So, I have a few questions. Firstly, is there a stat I should always focus, like needing physique in Grim Dawn? Should I always put an attribute point into health? Secondly, how can I tell what my offensive and defensive ability stats should be at relative to my level? And, does offensive ability apply to spells and abilities other than those that just activate as you attack? Are resistances or offensive/defensive ability more important?

Thanks.

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

And how does armour work? Is it a flat damage reduction against all damage types, or is it less effective against certain types?

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

And do pets scale with any attributes? In some games, like Last Epoch, pets may scale with intelligence or some such ability.

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

Firstly, is there a stat I should always focus, like needing physique in Grim Dawn?

Not really, it largely depends on your build. Strength boosts physical damage, Dex boosts piercing/bleeding/poison damage and Int boosts elemental, vitality and elemental dots. Strength gear has highest armour rating, Int has lowest and Dex is middle of pack. Dex makes for a good secondary stat for Stonebinder's Cuffs monster infrequent gloves and extra Defensive Ability. So you'd primary go for the stat that boosts the damage you do.

Should I always put an attribute point into health?

No, generally you'll be putting most of your points into Str/Dex/Int. Most of your health gains should come from leveling your mastery and you gear.

A few points in health is okay through if you want to become a bit less squishy. I often like to drop points I get as rewards from sidequests into health.

Secondly, how can I tell what my offensive and defensive ability stats should be at relative to my level?

If you're missing a lot with your melee attacks, get more OA. If the enemy is criting you a lot, get more DA.

And, does offensive ability apply to spells and abilities other than those that just activate as you attack?

Offensive ability only applies to your melee attacks (any attack that uses your equipped melee weapon, this can be the basic default attack or any attack replacer skill like Warfare's Onslaught). Spells and ranged attacks are not impacted by OA. Low levels of OA causes you to miss attacks, higher levels more crits.

Defensive ability applies to any melee attacks against you. Low levels of DA causes enemy to crit you more, high levels cause them to miss you more.

Are resistances or offensive/defensive ability more important?

Resistances are key. Once you get mid way through Act 3 you'll start getting rocked without good resistances. Obviously you'd want enough OA if you're a melee build to hit stuff okay but priority should be getting decent resistances.

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

And do pets scale with any attributes? In some games, like Last Epoch, pets may scale with intelligence or some such ability.

Pets do not scale with your attributes. Pets get boosts as you level their skill (max level is +4 over regular skill cap which can be achieved by getting at least +4 skill on your gear). Also, there is a health buff from a quest mid-way through Act 3 and they get a stat buff in Epic / Legendary difficulty. They tend to scale best in Legendary.

There's some gear that will give boosts to them (these will list the specific bonuses to pets on them); rings/necklaces and staves have access to fixes that boost pet stats, some rares/legendaries will do so as well.

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

Originally posted by chris.ferrantegerard:

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

Firstly, is there a stat I should always focus, like needing physique in Grim Dawn?

Not really, it largely depends on your build. Strength boosts physical damage, Dex boosts piercing/bleeding/poison damage and Int boosts elemental, vitality and elemental dots. Strength gear has highest armour rating, Int has lowest and Dex is middle of pack. Dex makes for a good secondary stat for Stonebinder's Cuffs monster infrequent gloves and extra Defensive Ability. So you'd primary go for the stat that boosts the damage you do.

Should I always put an attribute point into health?

No, generally you'll be putting most of your points into Str/Dex/Int. Most of your health gains should come from leveling your mastery and you gear.

A few points in health is okay through if you want to become a bit less squishy. I often like to drop points I get as rewards from sidequests into health.

Secondly, how can I tell what my offensive and defensive ability stats should be at relative to my level?

If you're missing a lot with your melee attacks, get more OA. If the enemy is criting you a lot, get more DA.

And, does offensive ability apply to spells and abilities other than those that just activate as you attack?

Offensive ability only applies to your melee attacks (any attack that uses your equipped melee weapon, this can be the basic default attack or any attack replacer skill like Warfare's Onslaught). Spells and ranged attacks are not impacted by OA. Low levels of OA causes you to miss attacks, higher levels more crits.

Defensive ability applies to any melee attacks against you. Low levels of DA causes enemy to crit you more, high levels cause them to miss you more.

Are resistances or offensive/defensive ability more important?

Resistances are key. Once you get mid way through Act 3 you'll start getting rocked without good resistances. Obviously you'd want enough OA if you're a melee build to hit stuff okay but priority should be getting decent resistances.

I'm doing a nature build that basically hides behind a thorn wall and shoots out at enemies while pets go and stomp them. I may do lightning for the storm wisp and lightning bolt, or I may go dream for the pet that buffs other pets. I could go hunting for the horn that buffs all allies, but I'm undecided. I like the idea of spamming spells from behind cover, so probably the storm mastery.

So should I focus Int first and then Dex? What about Energy? Can you get Energy regeneration from Int/putting points into Energy?

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

Originally posted by chris.ferrantegerard:

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

And do pets scale with any attributes? In some games, like Last Epoch, pets may scale with intelligence or some such ability.

Pets do not scale with your attributes. Pets get boosts as you level their skill (max level is +4 over regular skill cap which can be achieved by getting at least +4 skill on your gear). Also, there is a health buff from a quest mid-way through Act 3 and they get a stat buff in Epic / Legendary difficulty. They tend to scale best in Legendary.

There's some gear that will give boosts to them (these will list the specific bonuses to pets on them); rings/necklaces and staves have access to fixes that boost pet stats, some rares/legendaries will do so as well.

Alright, thank you. I had guessed that it'd just be from gear buffs, but I wanted to be sure. I like pet horde builds, so optimising them is key for me.

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

Also, how many total skill points will I get through the game? I have all but the Eternal Embers dlc.

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

And how does armour work? Is it a flat damage reduction against all damage types, or is it less effective against certain types?

Armour rating reduces damage from physical attacks. When you get attacked, there is a 40% chance your torso is hit and 20% chance for arms / legs / head. Only the armour rating of the area hit is used for reducing damage. Physical damage taken up to the armor value of your armor is reduced and the damage reduced by armour is reduced by 66% (Defence has a skill that increases this % fyi).

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

So should I focus Int first and then Dex? What about Energy? Can you get Energy regeneration from Int/putting points into Energy?

If you want to go Storm, then you'd want to go heavy Int. This will boost your elemental damage (Storm has skills for cold and lightning damage) Then you can grab Ice Shard as a spammable spell.

Personally I don't like putting points into Energy. Ice shard is pretty energy draining but I just guzzle tons of energy potions. Nature's Heart of Oak aura has a synergy that can help lower energy costs. FYI, Int will increase your base energy regen and caster gear comes with +energy regen.

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

Originally posted by chris.ferrantegerard:

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

And how does armour work? Is it a flat damage reduction against all damage types, or is it less effective against certain types?

Armour rating reduces damage from physical attacks. When you get attacked, there is a 40% chance your torso is hit and 20% chance for arms / legs / head. Only the armour rating of the area hit is used for reducing damage. Physical damage taken up to the armor value of your armor is reduced and the damage reduced by armour is reduced by 66% (Defence has a skill that increases this % fyi).

Thank you for these clarifications.

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

Originally posted by chris.ferrantegerard:

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

So should I focus Int first and then Dex? What about Energy? Can you get Energy regeneration from Int/putting points into Energy?

If you want to go Storm, then you'd want to go heavy Int. This will boost your elemental damage (Storm has skills for cold and lightning damage) Then you can grab Ice Shard as a spammable spell.

Personally I don't like putting points into Energy. Ice shard is pretty energy draining but I just guzzle tons of energy potions. Nature's Heart of Oak aura has a synergy that can help lower energy costs. FYI, Int will increase your base energy regen and caster gear comes with +energy regen.

Thanks for the tips.

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

Where can I go to respec?

[chris.ferrantegerard]

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

Where can I go to respec?

You can respec your skills from a mystic. These are NPCs with a blue symbol above their heads. I think Delphi is first available spot. You can spend gold to remove individual point spent in skills. You cannot remove points spent in the mastery bar (FYI, you're going to want to put many early points into the bar as it boosts your stats) or change either of your classes (first class at level 2, second class available at level 8)

The devs recently added a way to respec your attributes. You can activate shrines in temple in starting town of Act 1. Each of these apply a debuff to you (lower resistance, worse OA/DA, energy reserveration). Killing enemies with these debuffs earns you Electrum which you can spend at the temple on orbs. The orbs drop loot (each act / difficulty has own orb) and can drop potions that allow you to reset a particular attribute or all attributes. Also new bonus dungeons were added that can drop it, need special keys dropped from big act boss I believe.

[Chadiwan Kenobi]

Cool. Thank you.

Originally posted by chris.ferrantegerard:

Originally posted by Chadiwan Kenobi:

Where can I go to respec?

You can respec your skills from a mystic. These are NPCs with a blue symbol above their heads. I think Delphi is first available spot. You can spend gold to remove individual point spent in skills. You cannot remove points spent in the mastery bar (FYI, you're going to want to put many early points into the bar as it boosts your stats) or change either of your classes (first class at level 2, second class available at level 8)

The devs recently added a way to respec your attributes. You can activate shrines in temple in starting town of Act 1. Each of these apply a debuff to you (lower resistance, worse OA/DA, energy reserveration). Killing enemies with these debuffs earns you Electrum which you can spend at the temple on orbs. The orbs drop loot (each act / difficulty has own orb) and can drop potions that allow you to reset a particular attribute or all attributes. Also new bonus dungeons were added that can drop it, need special keys dropped from big act boss I believe.