BURN THE WORLD BWC and RoK Purifier



Welcome to the Complete Build & Leveling Guide for the BURN THE WORLD Blackwater Cocktail and Rune of Kalastor Purifier. This build is one of the best starting builds in the game, can do all content (save a few super bosses) and easily farm Ultimate for set gear with self-found drops. It’s hardcore viable, new player friendly, and scales very well. If you’re looking for a fun, powerful and top tier starter build with a complete leveling guide, this is the place! Note the GrimTools link is at the bottom of the guide.

JAN 2020 UPDATE! Click here to see a detailed announcement by the Guide Creator about the issues he encountered with the Grim Dawn Community, Forum Moderators and why he moved his guides from the Grim Dawn Forums.

Blackwater Cocktail (BWC) and Rune of Kalastor (RoK) have been around quite some time, yet I rarely see anyone playing with these skills. In my missions to find Top Starter builds to share with the community, I decided to revisit these old skills, and look out… This build is awesome. It outperformed my Acid Ravenous Earth build (as a starter) in both damage and survival. An additional great factor of this build is you start using BWC right at level 3, which begins the mission of melting all content in the game with ease. It’s truly badass – but more importantly, it’s fun!

This build is hardcore viable and can easily reach 100!



I researched a number of older builds before putting this one together. This includes blingi’s Purifier 150-170 Gladiator Farmer and JoV’s BWC Sorcerer build. Extended thanks to Reinan22 and RektByProtoss for taking the time to chat with me about this and other builds.



Before we begin, I recommend these mods to anyone playing Grim Dawn, especially new players. Note none of these mods cheat or change the core of the game – they just add quality of life:

GrimInternals (https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/tool-grim-internals/38773) 
This is hands down the best mod currently out for Grim Dawn. Automatic component pickup and monster name/labeling with legendary drop Sound FX are just a few reasons why every Grim Dawn player should have this.

GD Item Assistant (https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/tool-grim-dawn-item-assistant/30491)
This mod allows the player to store an unlimited number of items they find. This is fantastic because it supports “account building” with extending storage to be anything the player feels is important in the future or for another build.

Item Color Filter (https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/tool-rainbow-filter-item-highlighting/42765) 
A fantastic visual modifier to the game that shows item prefixes and suffixes in colors based on their damage/resist/skill type. Extremely popular and valuable. Note this is for the WanezGD Tool, which auto-installs and manages the rainbow filter. Download the setup.exe for the Tool.



Resistances are everything in Grim Dawn. If you die, it’s probably because your resists were low. Below is a list of recommended components that are commonly used throughout the leveling process:

Components List

  • 7: Wardstone | 7% Elemental, 15% Bleed Resistance | Amulet & Medal
  • 15: Silk Swatch | 18% Pierce & Bleed Resistance | Shoulder, Chest & Leg Armor
  • 15: Imbued Silver | 20% Chaos Resistance & 15% Bleeding Resistance | Mainhand/Offhand (Toggled Item Skill)
  • 15: Purified Salt | 20% Aether Resistance | Mainhand/Offhand (Toggled Item Skill)
  • 15: Antivenom Salve | 20% Poison & Acid | All Armor
  • 15: Unholy Inscription | 10% Vitality, 15% Bleeding | Hand Armor
  • 20: Runestone | 12% Aether & 12% Elemental Resist | Head Armor
  • 20: Soul Shard | 20% Vitality Resistance | Ring, Amulet, Medal
  • 20: Mark of the Traveler | 8% Movement Speed & 10% Slow Resistance | Boots
  • 24: Sanctified Bone | 18% Vitality, 12% Chaos | Chest & Head
  • 24: Aether Soul | 16% Aether Resistance | Amulet & Medal


Augments are the most important thing for end-game and require honored or revered reputation with a faction to access them. Rule of thumb: as soon as you hit Honored with any faction (which will begin to happen in Elite mode), immediately buy the Writ (for 88,000 iron) that doubles your faction gain. This will help you get to Revered much quicker, and give you access to the necessary augments to help your resists in Ultimate.

Augments List
The factions a player gets Honored and Revered with first are generally: Devil’s Crossing, Rovers, Homestead, Black Legion, Order/Kymon, and Coven of Ugdenbog. I’m listing some of the most popular defensive Augments below for reference, which can greatly help in surviving both Elite and especially Ultimate.

  • 40: Arkovian Rose Powder | 10% Elemental Res | Rings/Amulet | Rovers Honored
  • 40: Slith Venom | 15% Poison, Acid & Bleeding Res | Rings/Amulet | Devil’s Honored
  • 40: Gazer Eye | 10% Aether Res | Rings/Amulet | Devil’s Honored
  • 40: Corpsefiend Tentacle | 10% Vitality Res | Rings/Amulet | Devil’s Honored
  • 40: Divine Flame | 10% Elemental Res | Rings/Amulet | Kymon’s Honored
  • 40: Blessed Ashes | 15% Fire & Lightning Res | Rings/Amulet | Kymon’s Honored
  • 40: Consecrated Silver | 12% Chaos Res | Rings/Amulet | Kymon’s Honored
  • 40: Necrotic Flesh | 15% Bleeding Res | Rings/Amulet | Order Honored
  • 40: Chillheart Powder | 15% Cold & Vitality Res | Rings/Amulet | Order Honored
  • 70: Venomguard Powder | 15% Poison & Acid Res | All Armor | Rovers Revered
  • 70: Nightshade Powder | 7% Pierce & 10% Cold Res | All Armor | Rovers Revered
  • 70: Bladeward Powder | 10% Pierce Res | All Armor | Devil’s Revered
  • 70: Mogdrogan’s Touch | 10% Poison & Acid Res, 7% Vitality Res | All Armor | Devil’s Revered
  • 70: Kymon’s Blessing | 15% Fire Res | All Armor | Kymon’s Revered
  • 70: Kymon’s Conduit | 15% Lightning Res | All Armor | Kymon’s Revered
  • 70: Demonbane Powder | 7% Vitality & Chaos Res | All Armor | Kymon’s Revered
  • 70: Mankind’s Vigil | 7% Aether Res, 7% Chaos Res | All Armor | Black Legion Revered
  • 70: Kingsguard Powder | 7% Pierce Res, 10% Poison/Acid Res | All Armor | Black Legion Revered
  • 70: Flameweave Powder | 7% Pierce Res, 10% Fire Res | All Armor | Homestead Revered
  • 70: Solarstorm Powder | 10% Fire Res, 10% Lightning Res | All Armor | Homestead Revered
  • 70: Wraithtouch Powder | 15% Cold Res | All Armor | Order Revered
  • 70: Spiritguard Powder | 10% Vitality Res | All Armor | Order Revered
  • 70: Spellward Powder | 10% Lightning Res, 7% Aether Res | All Armor | Order Revered
  • 90: Coven Warding Powder | 7% Elemental Res | All Armor | Coven Revered
  • 90: Coven Black Ash | 8% Pierce and Chaos Res | All Armor | Coven Revered


Transmutation
This is a new and critically important feature introduced with Forgotten Gods that allows the player to convert set items to another item of the same set. And it works with BLUE (non-legendary) set items! The quest to unlock Transmute is given by Kargon in the Conclave of the Three. The quest unlocks after you’ve progressed to the Oasis area. The Tome is found on Canen’s Corpse. It costs 120,000 iron per transmute, and uses 1 Eldrich Essence (which is quite rare, so make each transmute count!). Luckily, a player put together a guide on Farming Eldrich Essence. Remember, if you can craft the helmet of a set, you can transmute those helmets to other pieces. This means you can craft an entire set just from the helmet recipe!

Another technique is to convert a set item to another random set item. This costs 30,000 iron, scrap and crystals (which is a lot cheaper than converting to the same set). A good example of this technique is if you want the Mythical version of a set item (but you have none, and don’t have the recipe to craft the helm), you can take another mythical set item and convert it to a random set item with the possibility of getting a mythical of the set you’re looking for!



Final Level 100 Stat Distribution: 94 Physique, 11 Spirit
Faction of Choice: Kymon

Items

This build can easily make 100 and faceroll Ultimate up to AoM with self-found gear, so don’t worry about having the BiS complete legendary sets. You only need those for the really tough end-game content. The end-game build of this character uses the 3-piece Justice set of armor, however you can also use the Infernal Knight Armor set, or even a Flame Keeper’s Armor set. Whatever you have the gear for, you can make it work!

While leveling, you’ll find these items to be very helpful:

  • 17: Flamebreaker (Shield)
  • 20: Zarthuzellan’s Codex (Offhand) (BWC MI)
  • 25: Inferno (Relic)
  • 30: Kalastorian Gavel (1H)
  • 35: Conflagration (Relic)
  • 43: Flamebrand (1H)
  • 50: Rune Armor of Ignafarr (Armor)
  • 58: Grim Fate (1H)
  • 58: Empowered Alazra’s Ruby (Neck)
  • 60: Ulzuin’s Pyroclasm (Relic)
  • 65: Empowered Blessed Torch (1H)
  • 68: Justice Armor Set (Armor) DEFENSIVE
  • 70: Annihilation (Relic)
  • 72: Flame Keeper’s Armor (Armor)
  • 75: Infernal Knight Armor Set (Armor) OFFENSIVE
  • 84: Mythical Band of Eternal Pyre (Ring)
  • 90: Korvaak’s Deception (Relic)

Skills

Phase I (Demolitionist)
Fire Strike (1) → BWC (Max) → Flame Touched (1) → Vindictive Flame (1) → Explosive Strike (1) → High Potency (1) → Demon Fire (1) → Ulzuin’s Wrath (1) → Agonizing Flames (Max) → Thermite Mine (1) → Blast Shield (1)

Phase II (Inquisitor & Demolitionist)
Deadly Aim (1) → Word of Renewal (Max) → Rune of Kalistor (1) → Vigor (1) → Ignition (Max) → Inquisitor Seal (1) → Steel Resolve (1) → [Demo] Flashbang (1) → [Demo] Searing Light (1) → Aura of Centure (Max) → [Demo] Thermite Mines (6)

Phase III
Deadly Aim (Max) → Temper (1) → Steel Resolve (Max) → Blast Shield (Max) → Flame Touched (Max) → Inquisitor Seal (Max) → Null Field (1)
Distribute the rest as you see fit!

Devotions

Crossroad (Chaos) → Fiend (BWC/Fire Strike) → Quill → Hawk → Wolverine → Chariot of the Dead (Flame Touched) → Solael’s Witchblade (BWC) → Magi (RoK) → Viper → Ulzuin’s Torch (Flashbang) → Oklaine’s Lantern → REMOVE Quill → Eel → Behemoth (Aura of Centure)



This build is so strong to play while leveling, most of the time you’ll just drop your BWC and run ahead, knowing you leave a trail of burning screams of anguish behind you. Your goal is to stack fire and burn damage any way you can while keeping good resists and health. I recommend the 100 health per level rule (e.g. at level 50, have at least 5000 – and at level 90 have at least 9000).

While this build can facetank later on with great DA, you are a kiter. You run around and avoid taking any damage, and often kill everything (including mini-bosses) before they even have a chance to reach you. If you do get some great DA and health early on, facetanking with Fire Strike is devastating and you’ll kill bosses 2x (or more) faster. You’ll get a feel for what works or not rather quickly.

Survival revolves around a combination of Blast Shield, Word of Renewal, Flashbang and kiting. Synergizing each of these allows you to down most any content in the game (paired with the right equipment). It takes time to get this down, but the good thing is farming up to Ultimate (and even the beginning of Ultimate) is such a cakewalk, you’ll have plenty of time to get it down.

Rotation for Trash: Toss your BWC or RoK when it’s on cooldown… that’s all. Everything will die behind you as you run away, manically laughing.

Rotation for Bosses (Kite): Thermite in area, BWC in controlled area, RoK behind you as you’re being chased, Flashbang when necessary, and WoR. Forget fire strike – too dangerous.

Rotation for Bosses (Facetank): Seal at your feet, Thermite Mines in front of you, BWC at your feet, RoK in front of you, Flashbang, Word of Renewal (WoR), Fire Strike 3-5 times, rinse and repeat.

Grand Priest Zarthuzellan, the boss at the entrance to the Steppes of Torment dungeon, has a 17% chance to drop a great Codex that gives an absolute ton of damage to BWC and is BiS until you need a shield for defense (or switch to Stronghold Defender at 94).

Mythical Warpfire is the ultimate weapon goal for this build (L94), however it’s very rare. However, if you want some ranged kiting fun with Fire Strike, you can use a Stronghold Revolver with your Stronghold Defender. It’ll be less damage, but the ranged proc of Fire Strike could compensate for hitting tough bosses at range. Give it a try!



Below is the recommend end-game goal for this build, however, as mentioned above, you can also use the Infernal Knight armor set. The Justice Armor Set is simply tankier and allows for better survival.




Below are additional complete build guides you might be interested in!

112 Comments

  1. Great build! love it so far 🙂 I’m lvl 60 right now and everything melts.
    I noticed that the devotion skills are assigned a bit differently in grimtool. For example BWC is on Magi and not on Solael’s Witchblade. Is there a reason for that?
    Thank you!

  2. My apologies, it’s been so long since I played, I can’t remember – I recommend trying both and see which one seems to work better 🙂 Let me know!

  3. Hi, im super fresh to Grim Dawn (couple days in) so sorry for my potentially dumb questions. I’m about lvl 30-35 currently running this build, just wondering roughly how to damage scales so i can figure out what items i should be aiming for / upgrading with? I have a fair amount of experience in games like PoE and Diablo, so i get the general theory of survivability > dmg.. just wondering what things to prioritise in terms of ‘% fire dmg” or “+lvl to BWC” or “% burning dmg” ect. like would 20% fire dmg trump +2 lvls in BWC? I’ve tried looking up but cant seem to find any sites that go into specifics of how skills effectively scale and if things like weapon dps even matter at all when im technically casting a spell (or throwing a bomb) anyway?
    If anyone has any advice for me or could point me in the right direction to get me started that would be great.

  4. Welcome! And it’s not a dumb question at all. Admittedly it’s been awhile since I ran that build. So to answer this all you need to do is open the GrimTools link and click on the 2nd tab (II) of stats and scroll down to see where the damage is. In this case it focuses on Fire and Burn. You can also look up the items under the Leveling Guide (Flamebreaker, Inferno, Conflagration, etc.) and look at the stats they focus on; that should give you what you need. This build is awesome BTW – the AoE damage and burn is fantastic. Keep at it, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the entire process to 100. I hope this helped answer your question; let me know if you have any others!

  5. Dave I gotta say I love your builds! I used Mr. Zappy and I flew through the levels! Do you know if there’s a decent Sorcerer Build that uses Fire Strike and 2H guns?

  6. Thanks a ton! Unfortunately I’m not familiar with a Demo/Arcanist 2H ranged build, but perhaps somebody in the forums has put one together? If you find one, please let me know!

  8. You mean never really got into “Grim Dawn”? 🙂 Attribute point distribution for this build is right under the “Leveling Guide” section (94 Physique, 11 Spirit). I hope this answers your question!

  9. I can not find Quill on the Devotion tree… did they change its name? or just remove it during a patch

  14. This is the most enjoyable built for me. I did not try for hardcore yet but for ultimate, it is really fun. I’m pretty dying because I often play with my eyes closing spontaneously. 🙂

    Thanks for the built.

  18. So basically ROK isn’t worth bumping in itself and is only for triggering ignition and magi proc?

  20. Thanks for all you do in the community! Im enjoying this build while I learn the mechanics of the game.

  21. Thanks for the great Build Guide! I enjoyed looking through your other ones and will probably come back to pick another. Very well done and easy to follow – better than just the GT link which is most ‘guides’.

  22. I’m only at low level (around 13), but my BWC deals very little damage to stronger monsters/bosses. I’ve tried playing on my own for a bit before tried this build and it can kill those tough monsters much easier. Will it become better at higher level? or should it be good from the start but I played it wrong?

  23. Level 13 is “just starting” so yes, it definitely gets a LOT better. Focus on fire damage and you should start seeing some serious changes as you grow stronger and find better gear. Also, get components in your items as soon as possible.

  24. Love the build. New player to Grim Dawn. Fan of ARPGs in general. Made multiple characters before this one and having a lot of fun. One thing, I just had the Kalastorian Gavel drop with plus 42% fire dmg, 42% burn dmg and plus 2 to RoK. But a rare hand cannon I’ve had since level 8 with 14% fire dmg and plus 2 to BWC provides significantly higher dmg with BWC. So Bonus levels>extra fire/burn %? I was pretty stoked to see that gavel drop but having it underperform an item I got at level 8 seemed interesting, and slightly disappointing lol. Anyway, thanks for the awesome build! Apologize for the wall of text.

  25. Glad to hear you’re enjoying it! I haven’t played the build in awhile, so I can’t remember the leveling focus that’s the most efficient, but it sounds like you’re figuring it out just fine. Happy Melting! 🙂

  26. Have recently returned to the game and this build still slays through content. Unlocked ‘expert’ last night around lvl 46. Time to make the push to 100!
    Many thanks to you for producing the great content and builds for the community. ML <3

  28. This guide is awesome – very interesting stuff, and clearly you put a lot of time into this, which I appreciate.

    I hate to ask dumb questions, but I’m just getting started out, and am a little lost on some of this.

    For the skill upgrades, often I’m told that I need X more points to get access to one you have listed. Is the idea that if you don’t have the requisite points in the base class, that you just put points in that until you do?

    Also, for devotions, I didn’t follow the progression – you mention things like “Crossroad (Chaos)” but I don’t see Chaos listed – is that just put a point into the node that opens the next constellation (where Fiend is) or do you complete Crossroad. Same with Fiend – I don’t see anything labeled “BWC/Fire Strike”. Is there a specific skill to train to, or just complete Fiend and then the next?

    Thanks again – I appreciate the hard work that went into this.

  29. The guide points you to what skills to first put points into, but you must take your base mastery to the point of being able to access those skills first. For Devotions, unless it says [PARTIAL] each step means to fill it out in full (and map the appropriate skill if the devotion has an action associated with it). As for the term (e.g. “Chaos”), it relates to the color – if you mouseover the different color nodes in the upper left legend it will tell you what type of devotion color relates to the name of the type (e.g. “Chaos”). BWC/Fire Strike refer to actual skills you learn as your character progresses. I hope this helps!

  30. Thanks – that’s very helpful. Now that I completed Fiend, I see it asks me which skill to bind that to (e.g., BWC so now that makes sense). I had been mousing over, and didn’t see that text.

    Thanks again!

  31. Hey man, thanks very much for this awesome guide. A quick question please: Searing light should be just one point, right?

  32. Thanks for the feedback! Good catch, and yes – you are correct. I added the (1) to the guide. Note the final version does have 2 points in it, but that’ the end-point where you distribute the remaining skills as you’d like one the core tree is built.

  33. HI, I’ve used your build guide for POE and now am embarking on GD. Quick question: Does it matter whether I choose Solael, Dreeg or Bysmel? Thanks for the effort you’ve put into providing build guides. It’s greatly appreciated.

  34. Not really; they offer different movement skills, and you end up unlocking all of them anyway; it really comes down to which movement skills you want at the start. A quick google search should help out with that – but just remember, if you miss something initially, you’ll get it later. Enjoy!

  35. I’m having problems with the Devotions. Maybe the requirements have changed? I couldn’t pick up Ulzuin’s Torch before Oklaine’s Lantern so picked up Lantern first then Torch but now I can’t remove Quill because of requirements. I have 51/55 points.

  36. I’m not aware of any changes to the devotion setup since the guide was written; perhaps you missed just one node in a prior devotion to prevent the completion bonus? I’d have to see your GrimCalc in order to troubleshoot the problem.

  37. That’s exactly what happened. I had checked but not close enough. I missed a point in the Magi’s head. Sorry to bother you. All sorted.

  39. Hello there, i follow this build and for big part of game that was pure pleasure to play. You can exp incredibly fast and kill all screens of monsters quite easy. But now when i try to farm top-end items for example cleaning ultimate totems/Sot/nemesis bosses im struggling hard (i get one shooted easy). Here is my current build what i need improve to increase survivability ? (for this case i replaced Uluzin belt for lotus but i dont have luck to drop Mythical justice set:/)? https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZoBMvQV
    David you made great work with allyour builds 😀

  40. Well, your resists are solid; it’s surprising you’re getting 1-shot. You could try to get your AR up and DA >3200 but I haven’t played the build in so long, I could advise on exactly how to do that. Sorry I can’t be more help; you should have better survival though – I’m surprised you’re having such difficulties. You could also post your PoB in the GD Subreddit. Let me know how things go!

  41. Hi, just want to say that I’ve played a lot of your builds at least a little bit and had the most fun with this one. I’m not a very hardcore player but I thought GD was a lot more fun when I had a guide to hold my hand a bit. Thank you for all the awesome builds and explanations 🙂 <3

  43. Leveled to 100 on this build and just reached Fort Ikon in Ultimate. This build was a lot of fun and filled my need to just blow shit up and watch it burn. Thank you.

  47. It has been a while since I played, thanks for the build, when it comes to the choices of helping duncan, or killing the witch later on, what do you recommend?

  48. You’re very welcome! I recommend siding with Angrim (not Duncan) for the armor increase. I also preferred helping the witch since there’s so many other dungeons to run. I hope this helps!

  50. Great build, im really enjoying it so far 🙂

    Ive just reached Homestead and was wondering if there was a reason to join the Kymon Faction?

  51. Glad to hear! The faction you join gives you access to items that benefit the build; if the guide states Kymon, then the Kymon vendors will sett items (often components) that are very useful for the build. You can research more information by searching on the factions and the items they give. I hope this helps!

  52. Hello. I’m curious why you don’t have Conflagration as the endgame relic, is it because of the weak stats it has? Because the ability itself is the most damage dealing ability I have, so I’m just curious why it’s not in use.

  53. Morning! I honestly can’t remember; when I put the build together (I think it was over a year ago) it was based on what appeared to be BiS at that time – have you switched to Conflagration and tested it out?

  54. Hey, thanks for responding. Loving the build btw!
    Yes I tried using the Conflagration relic and I actually haven’t tried the others, but Conflagration does more damage than BWC and while it’s very energy consuming, you only need to use it to apply burn honestly, which is not that bad.
    I only just dinged 100 today without much effort, and I do not use Rune of Kalastor since I am using this ability with Thermite Mine and BWC. I’m not very pro at this build stuff, but I just needed to ask 😀

  56. Thanks! If you don’t mind me asking, what do you think the ultimate build is as of right now? Solowise

  58. So I’ve been following this build up to level 70, and whilst I’m in love with how I can set the entire screen on fire, I feel more than a little squishy in Elite. I haven’t died yet, but going after Cronley and his gang, most trash mobs can take half my health in the first volley.

    Here’s what my character looks like ATM: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/L2JGewjV

    Any advice on how to un-squish this purifier?

  59. Morning Capn’! Definitely focus on resists; your pierce and bleed is way too low – by Elite, all of your resists should be maxed out – you can use components to do this. Once you max them out (except Aether and Chaos – that you don’t have to worry about until Malmouth), I bet your survivability goes through the roof. Let me know if this helps!

  60. Thanks David, I’ll see if I can’t find some useful components in my multiple stashes 😀 I find it so frustrating that there are so many damage types, and basically no way to find out how you’re being damaged, apart from the very obvious fire and poison/acid splashes.

  61. Hi David, first off I would like to thank you for all of your guides. I can tell you put hours upon hours into them just to help others and myself and many others really appreciate it. I am new to grim dawn and love ARPGs, especially in hardcore, in fact I’ll only play them in hardcore. However I keep dying right around my mid 20s-30s and I am really enjoying this particular build so I was wondering if there were any tips regarding playstyle/movement that you could share with me. Thank you again for all your work! Cheers.

  62. I forgot to add that i am playing HC veteran and am currently level 15, thanks again 🙂

  63. Thanks for the feedback and support! #1 cause of death in Grim Dawn is lack of resists. Use Components to get your Elemental, Poison/Acid, Pierce and Bleed resists up as high as possible. Generally you don’t need them maxed out until Elite, but trying to max them out as soon as you can makes all the difference. I hope this helps!

  64. Thanks for all the guides and great tips! I would never have got into Grim Dawn without them.
    And i really LOVE this build! Just strolled through Ultimate and facetanked Loghorrrean at lvl 79.

    Did som alterations to the devotions and got rid of Fiend to get Rhowans Crown (3 first points) and Ghoul instead for some more resist reduction and an extra life saver and it works fantastic. I think that will allow me to get rid of Inquisitor seal when i lvl up and can use better gear. Only need it for tough bosses as it is.

  65. Hi. im enjoying this build. What faction items is good for this while leveling??

  67. so first time i go down to the steps or torment for the quest at level 31 i get a nice black water codex drop i can use for a long long time for lvl 35 😀

  68. Why not run owl, instead of wolverine?

    Saves you a point, still gets the colors needed for chariot, gets you more offensive stats and -reflect (only has 15 defensive instead of 40+4%, but doesnt waste some points on retal which this doesn’t focus on) etc.

  70. Man I am just loving this build! It’s the fourth one I try using your guides, they are all so good and so easy to understand.

    Do you have plans for posting perhaps a Warlord or Spellbreaker build? That would be tremendously helpful, you are the only person preparing builds for the community and talking about the level up proccess, which is exactly what a noob like me needs lol.

  72. Oh i’m sorry to hear that. If you know any half decent, easy to follow Warlord/Spellbreaker builds, I would love your suggestions! Thanks for the good work anyways.

  73. Ok for this build what are the 2 classes I’m supposed to choose? Sorry I’m very new to this

  75. Hey I don’t have inquisitor class available to me because I don’t have the DLCs. Is there another class I can use to substitute for that?
    I have the first class demolition and I am gradually putting in the points that you recommended for that build.

  77. Wanna say that this build is very fun and is very high dmg output! Thank you for this guide!

    I’ve been scratching my head on this one for a while now, which one would you decide on? I’m currently level 72…

    Judgement of Empyrion or zarthuzellans codex?

    With Sunspot as an active it’s hitting easily for 13k+ and 23k on crits plus burn damage of 6k a tick x3, however my Cocktails now hit for 2500k less a tick

    With the Codex i’m having Cocktails hitting for 7k+ a tick the and crits are significantly higher because of the bonus damage on the Codex. I would also lose the converstion of Chaos damage to fire damage.

    Really would appreciate your insight! Thank you!

  78. Thanks for the feedback Gage! My apologies, but I haven’t played GD in more than a year, and I couldn’t make a recommendation – go with whatever seems to work across the board better for a combo of mobbing and bossing (I would guess some Chaos Conversion would be the best for this). Definitely post the end-results here for other players to see!

  79. Judgement of Empyrion (JOE) or zarthuzellans codex (ZC) Update: (along with other off-hand combos I’ve tried)

    I preface that I’m not a gaming math guy, but I have stuck with Zarthuzellans Codex because…

    JOE is a lot more burst damage, and forces you to “play piano” with yet another activatable skill. However, I do not feel that it is more OVERALL damage. Sunspot is quite the energy hog!

    The deciding factor for me was the burn duration. ZC gives 72% extended burn duration, which with my current gear nearly doubled my burn duration (72% vs 158%).

    My burn crits with ZC were capping at around 23k which from what I could tell, was Meteor from Annihilation relic. Crits using JOE maxed at around 14k. ZC triggered Meteor much more frequently and other procs were allowed to extend their durations which in turn would trigger it again. Given that almost every skill you use has a burning effect, it raised the crit values on my other burning abilities.

    I hope this helps others!

  80. David Allen,

    Your guides are the most well written and detailed ones I have seen for this game.

    I’m playing this BURN THE WORLD build and it is absolutely the funnest build I think I have ever played on any ARPG.

    Only level 80 at the moment and I have none of the suggested equipment, but as a new player to Grim Dawn just wanted to post my thanks for your site and guide.

  82. Started up Grim Dawn again and went to the forums for a quick build idea…. Mistakes were made.

    Then I remembered this gem of a website you built and I’m currenting giving this build a go. My first one was your Sir Bloodydots build, but I thought I’d start from scratch since I have forgotten about most of the gameplay/mechanics.

    Thank you again! I know I’ll play more of them as I get back into it.

  83. You’re welcome! I’m glad the content is still helpful! I’ve heard the forums are still just as venomous and rotten as they were when I left over a year ago. 🙁

  84. Just wanted to say, what an awesome website. As a new player, this is just too good lol.
    I’ve been using the necro/occultist build and is a blast, but kinda boring for me because everything dies so easily without me doing anything haha.
    Gonna try this build now, seems really fun. Thanks a lot!

  85. Hello just picked up the game and decided to try your build. Fantastic guide and everything is melting like butter. I just had a noob question. I see you recommending a Gun for an end game item but I find myself not being able to meet the cunning requirements for any of the Guns. I am only level 34 and starting to move into the Inquisitor Tree is this something that will balance out as I delve deeper into the tree or do I need to start to focus gear starts towards cunning for the use for guns seeing as almost all the points from leveling are allocated to physique and a couple to spirit.

  86. Thanks for the feedback; I’m glad to hear the build is working well for you! It was one of my favorites when I played it well over a year ago 🙂 Happy Hunting!

  88. Whoops! My sincere apologies; you’re right, I missed your cunning question, which is actually a good one. Use Components to address Cunning issues; you can also put points into the stats (you will receive potions later that let you redistribute your stats). Once you get higher level, you’ll get cunning from your classes. I hope this helps, and sorry for the oversight!

  89. No problem at all thank you for taking the time to respond. It is appreciated especially for a game you no longer play! I saw your article regarding the toxicity of the community. It is a shame, you genuinely seem to love the game seeing as you are still here a year after still answering the questions of a simple noob. I look forward to trying your other guides. =)

  90. The game is excellent; it’s just that the people at CRATE are terrible, and so are many of the most active people in the forums, who have turned it into a very narcissist and hostile place. It’s quite unfortunate :(. But, I’m glad my guides were able to help! Happy Hunting!

  91. David Allen,

    First off — let me thank you for all your hard work you’ve put into these builds over the course of your Grim Dawn career. While I respect your decision and reasons for leaving the game, I disagree with them. What you’ve described isn’t a mutually exclusive symptom of the GD community, but rather the internet as a whole. Every where you go, on any game, in any forum…you will find many terrible, terrible human beings. I think it is unfair to use the terrible majority who patrol the world wide web as a reason to punish the loyal, decent folk who really find a lot of joy and pleasure from your guides and insights.

    Just my thoughts.

    Thank you for all you’ve done, either way.

  92. Thanks for your feedback Robert; unfortunately, this is a unique situation where the people running CRATE are, themselves, toxic. The overview makes it perfectly clear the community managers exhibit narcissistic behavior patterns and even promote the rotten and dominating venomous behavior of community members. While I agree the internet as a whole has become quite toxic, you don’t see the sort of problems we do in the GD forums in other games, like Path of Exile (which is probably one of the best-run communities out there). This doesn’t mean PoE doesn’t have toxic people; it means the folks working for GGG are good people. The folks running CRATE and the community are not. It’s really that simple. As such, the GD community sucks, and it’ll never get better because the people at CRATE simply don’t care.

  93. David,

    Thank you your response. My apologies as I skimmed your big post about why you were leaving and assumed it was mostly due to the GD community and not the actual members of CRATE!

    I now have a much better understanding of where you’re coming from.

    On a side note, are you playing/making guides for any other ARPG’s? 🙂

  94. Not a problem! Most people don’t realize the core of the community issues for Grim Dawn are due to the CRATE employees and founder. It’s quite sad.

    My latest guide is the No Man’s Sky guide I did last month. I reviewed Torchlight 3 and am now playing Fallout 76 again, with plans of writing an updated review. I might make a starter build guide for PoE 3.13 but we’ll see. If you haven’t played No Man’s Sky, I highly recommend it; the game is awesome 🙂

  95. Greetings from Argentina. Thank you very much for writing this guide with so much love and dedication. Your guides have helped me and my friends a lot to complete the game.
    We are just at lvl 78 in harcored mode and we still don’t have a single recommended item, but we keep trying.
    Thanks again!

  97. Thanks for the great guides which I can imagine took some effort and time. It’s great that you’re still answering people’s questions even after you stop playing GD. Much Props – I’m having a gay old time melting faces!

  99. >>”I’m having problems with the Devotions. Maybe the requirements have changed? I couldn’t pick up Ulzuin’s Torch before Oklaine’s Lantern so picked up Lantern first then Torch but now I can’t remove Quill because of requirements. I have 51/55 points.”

    I had the same exact problem as sajyana – I followed the guide and I only had 13 eldrich at the time I was supposed to pick up the torch, so I completed imp which has supportive stats and gave me the eldrich I needed.

  100. your a legend just to start off with.

    Mate with this build im confused on the devotion points as we dont have enough to get everything in the guide ?

    55 is max and im not even on behemoth yet do i drop lantern ? Please help

    Keep up the great work mate your guides are amazing and fun to play

  101. My apologies, but I haven’t played Grim Dawn in more than 2 years, so I can’t remember or comment on any issues you are encountering with the build. Best thing I can recommend is to visit the GD subreddit and ask there. Best of luck, and Happy Hunting!

  104. Hi David,

    I am currently near level 70 with my own BWC Purifier on Harcore. I was sceptical because I had changed a DW Fire Lightning Purifier to that build before and it felt not right, low killspeed, really unnerving. I decided to start a BWC from scratch and until now, it really owns the battlefield. Secret is to let the devotions evolve, when you rebuild a char, you often start with lvl 1 devotions and then they‘re quite meh. Thanks again for your guides! I will hopefully hit 100 in HC with this one (one point on the bucket list )

  105. Hello, I just wanted to say thanks for all the guides. I just finished the game today with this one, on veteran. It felt pretty easy tbh, and I am not a pro player by any means. 🙂

  107. This is a proper guide ! I am not new to the game but (due to severe-lack-of-attention syndrome 😛 ) I never could play hardcore . Long story short – this tells me how to proceed and how to reach where I want to reach and not just the final outcome of all the grinding at level 100. I am level 51 ultimate hardcore purifier . I just found it ! Will bookmark this page and READ . Thanks a ton !

  109. Topic: „Burning Weapons“

    Hi i like your builds a lot and also the detail that goes into the guides – probably the most detail i have seen on Grim Dawn guides.
    Now about „Burning Weapons“ – i saw you have two Flints in your handslot items but only one trigger in the hotkey list. I wanted to make sure newer players know, that you can activate both stones, but you need both on the hotkey list, and activste both symbols to profit from double aura. Maybe you can add the second symbol to the list. Knowing your love for detail, i thought i have to tell you.

  110. Unfortunately it’s been so long since I played Grim Dawn, I can’t remember any details associated with this – but I’m glad players who read the comments see your feedback. Thanks for the information!

  111. I recently got into Grim Dawn, I started off as a different class but decided to switch when I found a bunch of +fire dmg intems and a blue demo belt so I stumbled upon this, just wanted to say thanks! I know it’s been years lol, your time and effort is still appreciated.

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