Dual Wield Fire & Lightning Gun Purifier

Welcome to a Complete Build & Leveling Guide for the Dual Wield Fire & Lightning Gun Purifier, with a focus on electrical damage for end-game. This build ROCKS, is new player friendly, and scales very well. It can also do nearly all content in the game with the right equipment. If you’re looking for a fun ranged build with a complete leveling guide, this is the place! Note the GrimTools links are 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.

This build starts out as fire and later focuses on electricity, which is great for scaling. It starts shining around level 30, and really begins to tear through everything around level 60, especially if you have Oathbreakers and Anderos’ Amplifer guns.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED – THIS BUILD IS GREAT FOR TRANSITIONING TO MORTARS AT LEVEL 84.

This build is NOT recommended for Hardcore. Not because it dies all the time, but because it can be a bit squishy.

This build is based on two builds. One is AKDONG’s extremely popular DW Pistol Purifier. One reason people loved this build so much is because of how strong it was, and the great (and easy) leveling guide provided. The end-game of this build focuses on the electrical build provided by x1x1x1x2 and his Build Diary.

05.02.2019 UPDATE: AKDONG just posted his updated Purifier build for Forgotten Gods. Check it out for reference!

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. [b]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.[/b] 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!

Stats: ALL in Physique (don’t worry, you get cunning as you level the masteries and Hawk provides -10% cunning requirement for guns).

Items

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

  • 15: 2x Flintcore Bolts (Extra damage Component)
  • 18: Equilibrium Relic (Generic Relic)
  • 25: Squall Relic (Electrical Damage Relic)
  • 40: 2x Oathbreaker (Great damage guns while leveling)
  • 58: 2x Anderos’ Amplifier (Great damage guns while leveling)
  • 60: Ulzuin’s Pyroclasm Relic (End-game relic)
  • 60: 2x Hells Bane Ammo (Can craft at 20 but replace Flintcore Bolts around Level 60 when you’re doing Electrical Damage)

Skills

Phase I
Demolitionist: Fire strike (1) → Explosive Strike (7) → Vindictive Flame (11) → Flame Touched (1)
Inquisitor: Ranged Expertise (1) → Bursting Round (1)
Demolitionist: Fire Strike (Max)

Phase II (Inquisitor)
Ranged Expertise (Max) → Bursting Round (6) → Word of Renewal (1) → Deadly Aim (1) → Chilling Rounds (6) → Vigor (1) → Inquisitor Seal (1) → Steel Resolve (1) → Arcane Empowerment (1) → Aura of Centure (Max) → Storm Spread (7)

Phase III (Demolitionist)
Temper (1) → Static Strike (Max) → Blast Shield (1) → Thermite Mine (10) → Blast Shield (Max) → Brimstone (5)

You can fill out the rest as you see fit!

Devotions

Updated for AKDONG’s New Build!

Crossroad (Eldrich) → Quill → Toad → Rhowan’s Crown (Bursting Round) [PARTIAL] → Crossroad (Order) → Lion → Crab (Word of Renewal) → Crossroad (Chaos) → Ghoul (Vindictive Flame) [FILL ALL] → Solael’s Witchblade (Storm Spread) → Chariot (Aura of Censure) → Hydra → REMOVE 1 point from Ghoul → Crossroad (Primordial) → Eel → Harp (Flame Touched) → REMOVE Toad → REMOVE Crossroad (Eldrich, Order, Primordial) → Hound → Solemn Watcher → REMOVE Hound → REMOVE Lion → Hand of Ultos (Fire Strike) [PARTIAL] → Empty Throne (1 point)

Old Build

Crossroad (Chaos) → Fiend (Fire Strike) → REMOVE Crossroad (Chaos) → Quill → Crossroad (Primordial) →  Eel → Widow → REMOVE Eel → Crossroad (Ascendant) → Rhowan’s Crown (Inquisitor Seal OR Chilling Rounds) → Hawk → Viper → Ghoul (Aura of Centure) → Lizard → Ultos (Storm Spread) → REMOVE Crossroad (Primordial) → REMOVE Crossroad (Ascendant) → Sailor’s Guide → Crossroad (Chaos) → Dying God (Chilling Rounds) → Crossroad (Ascendant) → Tempest

Stand in your Seal and shoot (I recommend binding Fire Strike to your right mouse button (RMB)). Use Thermite Mines to lower the resists of hard targets, and hit Word of Renewal while in your seal to regenerate health. If you have to run, run – but know outside of your seal, you are very squishy!

With the included leveling guide, GrimTools prior to level 100 isn’t really necessary, but I believe it’s always important to see where you’re going. Below are end-game builds for reference, showing the final gear, etc.

Recommended → AKDONG’s Updated Level 100 Build: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/1NXqvAg2

Old → Level 100 GrimTools: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZPLdydZ

For Reference → Alternative Level 100: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2pmmbyV

For Reference → Alternative Level 100: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/p253zlmZ

 

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

128 Comments

  1. Hi Requnix, love your website! Have been using it for recommendations for Path of Exile builds and was pleasantly surprised to see you posting builds for Grim Dawn when I started playing recently! The build looks great and leveling has been a blast, but just wanna clarify something. You recommended binding Fire Strike to right click, may I know why? The description says that I get bonus damage if I use it as my default attack, but won’t that only be possible if I bound it to my left click?

  2. Hey Jyven! The binding “location” has nothing to do with it being the default; what matters is if the attack qualifies as a “default attack” (like Fire Strike or Cadence) – you just need to use the default attack and all skills supportive of the default attacks will/can proc. I hope this answers your question!

  3. Hey Requnix,

    I’d like to switch from my DW Fire/Chaos Purifier to one of your alternatives. I just hit lvl 94 on Ultimate, and I don’t know if it’s gear related, or not, but I feel that my build post lvl 80 has gone subpar on all fronts (survivability, dmg, etc). On Devotions I’m using Eldritch Fire, Flame Torrent, Fissure, Meteor Shower, Hungering Soul, Ghoulish Hunger. I get the feeling that Fire/Chaos can never be as potent as Fire/Lightning combination for Purifier, but maybe I’m missing something, if you could suggest a build based on Fire/Chaos I’d greatly appreciate it.

    Awesome website btw.

  4. Great guide, leveling this right now. Just got to level 50. Do you have any good armors or guns for around level 50 I should be using? Would be good if the guide had a few armor pieces to look out for.

  5. The Items Section lists the below two – I think those are still the best:
    40: 2x Oathbreaker (Great damage guns while leveling)
    58: 2x Anderos’ Amplifier (Great damage guns while leveling)

  6. Thanks! Unfortunately I’m not familiar with a Fire/Chaos DW Purifier build offhand – the best thing I can recommend is doing some digging online. I’m sure somebody has done it. My apologies – I wish I could help out more on your questions! You can also ask in the GrimDawn Subreddit.

  7. Thanks for your reply, I’ve been looking around the Grim Dawn forums recently. I just wanted to ask one thing, I’ve got the Tempest on the devotion tree by following your guide. But I only have enought points to put 1 point into the first node. I’ve respected the ones you told to remove but still only left with the +40% damage node. Is ths correct or is there more nodes I need to remove from begining in the tree.

    Thanks once again!

  8. In the end, you’re supposed to put 3 points into Tempest; did you remove the center leftover nodes? (Chaos/Primordial/Ascendant)

    Feel free to post a GrimTools and I can look at it!

  9. Hi Lewis I found out for devotion you dont put all points in Ultos and Dying God (they each can be substract 1 point), that will leave 2 more points for a total 3 points in Tempest

  10. Hi, nice build.
    But i dont get why to get dying god devotion – it has chaos and vitality damage. And we want fire + lightning. Is it mistake?
    Btw is there a way to get Oathbreaker somehow or do i have to wait till it drops?

  11. You are correct; you want to use the updated build by AKDONG – I’ve modified the guide to set it as the recommended tree. Thanks for the reminder!

  12. I cant figure out how akdong has his devotion tree path set up anyone have a rough idea of how he did it?

  14. If i follow your new Devotion Guide, i can’t get Solemn Watcher. Cero points are left, before i can get it. So i can’t remove the points.
    But if i remove 2 points from hydra, i can do it. But then u have only 4 poins left for Ultos.
    To get this u need 56 points and in your order u have then also one point 4 Throne???

  15. I just plugged it into GrimTools to verify, and it works fine — are you accidentally completing Rhowan’s Crown? Remember, you only put 3 points into it (vs. 5). I updated the order to say [PARTIAL] so people are reminded not to complete Rhowan’s Crown. Other than that, the order works perfectly.

  17. Checking the updated devotions path it seems I am lacking that one point to put into Empty Throne at the end, even if I don’t fill out the left hand in Hand of Ultos.

    I have checked this three times now in Grim Tools and I always come to the same result. Maybe I am not following your instructions right? (And yes, I only put 3 points into Rhowan’s Crown and removed 1 from Ghoul)

  19. Hi,

    first of all, love your work and your effort!

    Would like to know your opinion on Akdong’s choice of going for Chausses of Barbaros instead of, let’s say, Stormcage Legguards which give alot more sustained damage (lightning+electrocute).

    I thought of the passive proc, but I don’t find it big enough to justify this choice…

    Ty!

  20. Also, what do you think on this build in SR? I really enjoy it but I find it very squishy.

  21. Correct – it’s quite squishy compared to other builds – but a lot of fun 🙂 Not sure how far anyone has taken it in SR. My guess is it’s not very viable higher than 75.

  22. Thanks! I’m not sure offhand; it’s been awhile since I’ve played and reviewed the builds – comparing the two builds side by side (GrimTools) should reveal any substanrial OA/DA difference, etc. It also depends on what one wants to do – push Crucible, SR, farm Nemesis, etc. Let me know what you find out!

  23. Ty for your reply!

    As what I’ve learned in a topic on steam, those legs are there mainly for its passive proc (especially AS) and physical resistance. Someone suggests going for more physical resist via constellation due to the build’s very low armor (have no clue what to take off from current constellations tho).

  24. [quote]David Allen says:
    July 17, 2019 at 8:50 pm

    Not sure what to say; perhaps you have an extra point in crossroads?[/quote]

    I checked Arkdong’s setup to compare and found where the missing point comes from: Hand of Ultos is not completely filled (missing the hand, upper left). That point then gets put into Empty Throne. That’s not in your description however.

    Thanks a lot for the build though – I just got it to 100 and while I have certainly started to feel the squishyness Certain bosses sometimes just oneshot me on Ultimate) it IS a lot of fun to play.

  25. Ahhh – thanks for investigating that! I’ve updated the guide to include [PARTIAL] for Ultos before the final point into Empty Throne. Yah, it’s squishy (not really HC viable) but is a ton of fun to play – and it can melt certain bosses VERY quickly 🙂

  26. Awesome guide – super helpful for a noob like me.

    One resistance I can’t find listed in your article, or for that matter, as a search criteria in the GD IA is what items or stuff (augments, etc.) will give Reduced Stun Duration. That’s one of the key resistances but this article doesn’t really mention it.

  27. Thanks Olorin! That’s because Reduced Stun Duration is only available on items (as modifier rolls) and not through components. AFAIK that’s the only “resistance” that one can’t enhance with components.

  28. Hi, Just a question I do not see hawk in the New build’s devotions, do I need to put points in cunning now?

  29. AKDONG’s new version puts 6 points into Cunning. Might need more while leveling to use certain items, but you can refund it at 80+ when your masteries catch up. I hope this helps!

  30. It does, like I now know you can refund stat points, I have never gotten far enough to know that.

  31. I’m new and have been following this guide, with great success so far (only level 21). I’m a little confused on the skills section now though. I have added 1 point to Bursting Round like it suggested earlier, however, I’m now at the point where it says “Bursting Round (6)” and I do not know if it is saying to add 6 skill points for a total of 7 bursting round or if it’s saying my skill total should add up to 6, which means add 5 points to the skill. Would you be able to help me understand which one?

    Thank you for the great guide and help!

  32. Welcome! My apologies; I’ve been meaning to update the guides to answer this question. For this build, it means the total amount you should have (6 in this case). I hope this helps. Have a great time, and feel free to ask any additional questions!

  33. Awesome, thank you for clarifying so fast! I do have one question about the game. I can’t figure out how to tell if a weapon is superior to my currently equipped ones. Is there an efficient way or a more simple way to judge if I should exchange weapons? Is there something I should be looking at?

    Looking at the stats, they are all over the place when I compare weapons. Sometimes my Fire Strike shows much higher numbers along with my weapon damage, yet the DPS is lower. Sometimes DPS is lower, but when I actually equip the weapon, its stats (DPS or Damage) are much closer than just hovering over the weapon.

    I’ve noticed that weapons with a increased fire rate tend to be the highest DPS, no matter the other weapon stats. Does DPS actually mean it’s superior though? I’ve had weapons with lower DPS, but have things like +XX% elemental/fire damage or weapons that convert to fire damage, or fire/burn damage bonuses etc., but all seem to be outmatched to a simple weapon with fire rate alone when it displays the DPS, so I can’t figure out which one is actually better. Especially when you also include how my skills or devotions may change things, like extra elemental damage or other bonuses.

    Anyway, sorry for the big question. I just am struggling to wrap my head around what to look for. It’s not the most important thing though, as I tend to just decide on any and do fine right now. I tried using the dummy and shooting enemies, but it’s very hard to get an accurate read when there is a whole lot of numbers everywhere haha. Just wish I understood better.

    Thanks again for the help! No worries if this question is rather complicated or a “depends” answer, I’m sure with time I’ll learn. 🙂

  34. Generally, as you’re leveling, tooltip DPS is king. Level, skill point distribution and unlocked devotions are a factor as well – if you’re only (for example) level 40, just keep playing and pushing because you really need the skill points and devotions to start proc’ing actions, etc. Character’s don’t really start coming together until the 80’s and with some BiS gear (which changes everything). A full BiS Ranged Purifier melts most everything in Ultimate – just need to make sure you aren’t hit 🙂

  35. I see! I also found out I was stupid and confused myself because I misread the description of DPS. I thought it said it excluded all the other bonuses, which made me think I had to try and decipher all the bonuses myself haha.

    Should I be using my components as I play whilst still at lower levels and changing gear somewhat frequently? Or are they meant to be stockpiled for later? I’ve not touched them so far and I’m now in the level 30’s. I think I have been fine so far in the game, just not sure if I should be touching them now to make my life easier or if it’s for higher levels where gear is less commonly replaced as often. Thanks again for all your help!

  36. Definitely use components early on – it makes a huge difference. Remember, you can extract the components and destroy the item as well (and during leveling, we usually get rid of our leveling gear unless it’s good blues – in that case just toss them with components in the bank for your next character). I hope this helps!

  37. Okay, I’ll start using them in that case. Nice to know I can destroy gear and get my components back. I’m rather a horde who hates to waste if I can avoid it. Knowing it’s not a permanent commitment or wasteful is really nice. This game seems to really cater to my personality of hating to commit to anything or waste.

    For now I’ve been storing every blue item because I’m still unsure what’s great. I’m also just keeping it for my other future characters. I do have an excellent blue revolver that dropped recently though. It’s more powerful than anything I’ve seem (like 150DPS more than my best prior revolver) and it leaves this circle of elemental damage, which really has been great!

    Anyway, I should probably stop using this place as my personal question asking area haha. Thank you so much for the guides and the personal help on top. I hope other new players can get something out of it! 🙂

  38. It’s not a problem at all – and this is exactly the place to ask questions! I assume you’re using Grim Dawn Item Assistant to store everything? It’s always a good idea to keep every blue and purple that drops. Not only do you build your character, you build your “account foundation” with the items you collect for other future builds 🙂

  39. I did grab it so I’d be able to feed my horde-self haha. I can never say no to an infinite storage. Are there any times I should consider keeping my greens? I’ve noticed a lot of greens so far have been my most equipped item, even overtaking the blues I’ve found, though it could just be the limited amount of blues since I’m so early on and getting higher level gear. I’m imagining once I hit the level cap it will be different.

  40. While leveling, I’ve found the only greens are build-enabled greens (like the mace the Warden drops that is for a skeleton summoner build). Honestly, too many to count, but as you learn the game you’ll start recognizing things you should keep (+skill and such). There is no storage limitation, so grab everything! 🙂

  41. Alrighty, I might start sticking some greens in my storage that I think may be good and learn as I go along. Thanks!

    I’ve just reached the faction choice in Homestead between Kymon and Death’s Vigil, is there a preference specifically for this Purifier class? Or does it not matter much? Thanks again.

  42. Yup; no harm in storing anything that looks like it could be useful in the future with another character. The big items are the ones that do damage conversion or provide additional skill points.

    As far as Vigil vs. Kymon, I can’t remember for that build (and I think it’s the only one that I don’t define which one to go). I THINK we want Kymon, but it’s been quite some time since I ran the build, so it’s not fresh in my memory. My apologies; either way, it won’t “break” the build. You can google the difference between the two and the types of items/components they offer.

  43. Thanks, I’ll keep those items in mind for sure.

    No worries on the faction (and yes, the other builds did specify the factions as I looked at them all for pre-planning my next future character early haha). From what I read, if you join Vigil and kill Kymon, they drop a lightning/fire badge, yet I’ve seen it recommended to go for Kymon for fire/lightning users. I was planning on Kymon, so I’ll probably pick that as my next character may be a Necromancer.

  44. I followed the Devotion guide section but in the end i dont have completion bonus points to go into Ultos. Any thing changed in the values?

  45. Nope; no changes. Are you sure you didn’t miss taking points out of Crossroads? Perhaps you were looking at an older version of the tree? You’ll want to use the updated link.

  46. Hi, I’m pretty new to the game, following the guide until now and I need to chose – do I kill the witch at Fort Ikon, or do I side with her? Do I make the same choice at every difficulty? Thanks for help :3

  47. I can’t remember the differences, but I always side with her. When you kill her I think it opens a dungeon, but nobody really runs the dungeon. Apologies for not remembering the specifics – a quick google search should outline the details.

  48. Hi,

    i’m using your build with my first character and have some questions:

    1. Why do you use Rhowan’s Crown with Bursting Rounds and not on Fire Strike, witch is the default attack? Doesn’t that mean, that Elemental Storm triggers less? Because Bursting Rounds trigger 20% of the time and as far as i understand it only then Elemental Storm has the chance to trigger, so it will only activate 5% (20% * 25%) of the time? Or am i missing something?
    2. Which fraction should i join in act 3 Kymon’S Chosen or the Order of Death Virgil? I’ve red arguments for both sides so far and just want to know if you have any recommendation.

  49. Hey! First my apologies; I haven’t played this build in quite some time. If I recall, we want it proc’d by each hit the bursting round does rather than the single hit (so we get AoE support). Since this is elemental, I’d choose Kymon’s Chosen, but mainly for the components. I hope this helps!

  50. Love the website, and the guides are very informative. However I am fairly new to the game and now am at the point in the devotions for my purifier where I am supposed to remove toad, and it will not let mas as there are conflicting constalations. I dont think that I messed up. but aside from refunding all my points is there anything else that I can do?

  51. Thanks, and welcome! My guess is you’re missing a single point somewhere. Toad gives 3 purple and 3 green. Look through the previous steps to see what provides the deficient point. Perhaps you’re missing one of the color crossroads? I’d need to see a GrimTools to provide more detailed guidance. I hope this helps!

  52. I noticed you don’t identify “Reduced Stun Duration” as a critical resistance, such as not listing “24: Leathery Hide – 25% Reduced Stun Duration” in Components. Is Stun resistance not that important? Thanks for the guides.

  53. My apologies; it’s been a bit of time since I played the build. If i recall, Stun Resist isn’t as important on this build because it’s designed to kill everything from a range, so stuns are very rare.

  54. No problem, thanks for the guide! And thanks for the prompt reply. I just got the recipe for Shard of Beronath, and I’m wondering about replacing one of my Hell’s Bane Ammo for a Shard of Beronath? https://www.grimtools.com/calc/w2668gx2 is a link to my build, I think. Also, I’ve found Conflagration to be a powerful relic with this build… (not having the Pyroclasm thing yet).

  55. It’s been so long since I played the build I couldn’t comment on the benefit of changing; but you can swap it out and see how it adjusts your damage. Let me know the outcome – I’m interested!

  56. I do want to try it out, but I just learned to craft the Arcanum Sigilus and want to place it in that, but I’m short 7 Chtonic Seal of Binding of the 12 needed, and at level 79, I can’t seem to find any anywhere… tried doing Crucible from level 50 to 100, but didn’t get a single one… maybe try Shattered Realm? Playing again on elite, but haven’t gotten to Homestead yet, much less Blood Grove… frustrated…

  57. Blood Grove is where the Chthonic Seals drop like candy; if you haven’t gotten there on Elite yet, go back to normal and farm the grove. You should get 7 within 10 minutes (easy). I hope this helps!

  58. No luck… wandered all through Blood Grove, and I can’t remember if I ended up with 0 or 1 Cthonic Seals… went back to Elite and killed Salazar, and got 1 from that…

  59. Wow that’s terrible RNG – it could be you’re too high level and need to farm it in Elite; I’d rush there in Elite and see if the drop rates change. Sorry to hear you’re having such difficulty – but I’m sure once you get the seals you’ll be back on your feet!

  60. Hello, first of all great build, i’ve actually been creating something very similar to this but ofc not nearly as solid lol. I ended giving up

    Anyway i just had a question regardless the “null field” skill that comes from inquisitor seal ability which gives 25% chances to avoid projectiles in exchange for -10% attack speed, why don’t take it? is that because it reduces your total attack speed by 10% or its substracted from your others attack speed modifier? it looks lika a pretty damn good defensive skill to me.

  62. Hi! Love your builds, and after cabalist I tried this one. When you say transition into mortars at 84, how would you go about doing that gear-, and build-wise? That skill always appealed to me and I would love to make it work with fire and lightning.

    Cheers!

  63. I can’t remember the specifics because it’s been so long, but a Mortar build is a completely different animal – there should be some build guides for Mortars posted on the Grim Dawn Forums. Mortars is fun, but a completely different play style. If you do try Mortars and like it, please let me know which build guide you followed, and I’ll see about amending it to this guide!

  64. Hello ! so as my first “serious” charater i’ve chosen this build and I have a lot of fun playing it but I’m a little stuck right now . I’m done with veteran and I honestly can’t do elite so far , I have no idea where and how to farm the two anderos , I’m level 67 my gear is decent I have 30K dps and alright rounded resist but my guns are so low level that I switched for a strong two handed guns (I know it’s really not recommendend but there is like a 9k dps difference with my two better 1 handed guns and this one ) .

  65. So is the issue you don’t have the DPS to kill the mobs, or you take too much damage? It’s better to farm a higher difficulty Act I than it is a lower difficulty Act IV (for example). So if you can farm Warden or something in Elite Act I that’s the best thing to do to try and get better drops. Running 2x Havoc guns is recommended (I think it’s Havoc, they drop at 64 and are very common). Make sure all of your resistances are maxed out. Without a GrimTools/calc I can’t really comment more – feel free to post it here if you want me to look at it.

  66. Hello ! thanks for your answer . Oh it’s definitely a too much damage taken I’m completly stuck against Warden right now , I can easily face tank is first phase in my rune but when he transition to his second form either i cant outheal his damage in melee or get absolutely one shooted at range with his dart thingy .

    there is my grimtools : https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNkO9kdN

  67. The issue is your resistances; they should all be around 80% (except for stun). In Elite it’s also OK to have less than max aether and chaos resistances, but the others, especially poison, need to be 78%-80%. Once you max those out, you should never die in Elite. Keep farming for those dual 1H guns (Havoc preferred) and use components to max those resists and you should see an exceptional improvement. Good luck!

  70. I finally used a different character, who was level 43, in Normal Veteran difficulty and farmed the Cthonic Seal of Binding, made the Oleron’s Blood, so I could make the Shard of Beronath. Took me quite a while through work and a few other things, but made it, as well as the Arcanum Sigillus pistol to put it in. The DPS is a little higher than the Deviltongue with Hell’s Bane ammo. More than that, the Beronath’s Fury on the left mouse button is awesome as it builds up charges of elemental damage with the Creed’s Cunning augment.

  71. UPDATE: SERIOUS BUG WITH Arcanum Sigilus pistol – it does not stack as a dual ranged weapon, which makes it do 10,000 DPS less than any other pair of pistols at my level… around 17000 DPS instead of 27000 DPS… need to notify GD about this, I think it must be a bug…

  74. If I recall, it really doesn’t matter except for the movement skill you prefer at the start of FG (I can’t remember which FG factions provide which ones). A quick google of the Forgotten Gods factions will share the details of what they offer. My apologies for the details not being fresh in my memory.

  75. Just popped in to thank for the amazing guides! However i just ran into the same issue that was mentioned on October 30 (Not enough Chaos and Eldritch for Hand of Ultos). Upon checking, i see that on Grimtools the completion bonus for Hydra is inverted. It says 3 eldritch and 2 chaos, however in game i get 2 eldritch and 3 chaos.

    I haven’t confirmed yet if any more constellations are wrong.

  77. Hi, love your guide so far. It’s really made my first character in Grim Dawn alot of fun and easy to learn.

    One question I was hoping you can help me with. Throughout leveling I’ve mostly looked for fire damage gear. Is there a point where I should switch to lightning more? I’m level 61 now and I’m a little confused as to the balance between fire/lightning damage and what I should look for to keep in gears.

  78. Thanks! I’d have to go back and re-review the build to determine when the switch takes place, but if I recall it’s when you complete your devotion points – if I recall I did the switch around L80 or so. My apologies for not knowing the answer off the top of my head.

  79. Thanks for the sweet guide, I’m having a lot of fun with this build. Considering the scarcity of Oathbreakers, I opted for the solar revolver from the faction vendor in Homestead. I think it’d be worth mentioning in your guide as a less powerful but much more achievable weapon option.

  80. Thank you for your builds! I had installed the game for years but never got into it because the complexity was too much for a new player that just want to have fun for a while. Searched for builds on the forum and every single one I found that the title sounded interesting was just a link to grimtools with no explanation whatsoever…tried a couple of times “following” one but it was no good. Opened GD a couple of days ago and found your builds and it was the first time I had fun with the game. Imma do a couple more and then try making my own build now that I have some experience with the game. Thank you!!!!

  82. Just started leveling this build and its my first real attempt at getting into grim dawn. Played a lot of POE and the Diablos so I know in game tooltip DPS is hilariously inaccurate in these games. I seem to get the most bang for my buck from 2h ranged weapons yet I’d prefer to dual wield pistols. Every time I try to equip pistols my damage is much less. How do I know when to switch over or should I just do it?

  83. The key is in attack speed, which is much faster when you duel wield the pistols; add the components and you should notice a substantial difference I’d say at 40+, but it’s been awhile, so I can’t remember the details. Definitely duel wield 🙂 I hope this helps!

  84. Hey there again. I’m enjoying this build a lot. Can you tell me if anything changes in the latest update? Thanks in advance.

  85. Great to hear Tleilaxa! I’m not aware of any major changes since the 1.1.6 release, but since I haven’t played in quite some time, I could be overlooking something. If you learn anything feel free to let me know in the comments; you can try the Grim Dawn subreddit!

  86. Hi David,

    Thank you for your contribution to the community and especially for trying to make the game equally fun for everyone. I’m a returning player, but even the first time round I could not understand many of the discussions in the forum and there was no place to ask. Trying out this build and to be honest I was slightly disappointed at first, mob clearing was slow and boss fight was painfully long (especially Krieg), it was nothing spectacular compare to, say, a lightning shaman. However, as you said, the build slowly comes together around lvl 30, and it was much faster and more fun to play. I especially enjoy the speed of the build.

    I have 2 questions and I realize it might take a little time to answer, so if you are busy just point me to the general direction and I can go from there. Firstly, I figure that when you start to build a leveling character you look for a spammable skill and then supportive skills to compliment. What are the characteristics you look for in such a skill? I’m thinking: AOE, short CD, mana cost. Is there anything I missed out? Secondly, can you roughly describe the process of min-maxing? I see a few items and augments keep re-appearing in most builds, so I thought people will generally try to get the most damage and then rely on these to beef up resistances? I understand there are a lot of trials and errors but what is the general approach once a character reaches lvl 100 with abundance of items?

    Lastly, best of luck and good health for you and your loved ones in this turbulous time. God bless.

  87. Thanks for the support Trung! Unfortunately, I haven’t played this build in well over a year and have stopped playing Grim Dawn altogether, so my memory on best practices tied to your questions isn’t really recent enough to help out. Ultimately, there are “standard” leveling items for builds but they are more catered towards play style (melee vs caster for example) and the damage type (physical vs poison vs elemental, etc.). Min Maxing in Grim Dawn usually revolves around finding the best mythical legendary gear set for your build. Sorry I can’t be more specific or helpful, but I hope this points you in the right direction. Have a great weekend!

  88. I cant get the updated akdong builds devotion to work. When youre removing the 3 crossroads before taking hound it hangs on me on dependancy ?

  89. Hmmm – I thought it was updated and verified; are you sure you aren’t missing a single point somewhere (either in one that says PARTIAL or possibly missing a completion point)?

  90. Devotions are okay. I got stuck at the exact same step and found out I had one unrelated node active – Crossroads Ascendant. Scrolling the map can be bit of a pain so make sure you don’t activate unrelated stars by accident. Run a simulation on Grimtools first. And uh make sure you don’t do the same mistake there as well… (like me)

    In my case I had a few points in bank if I decide to put them elsewhere and later I switched to this path here and must’ve allocated one point in a wrong spot.

  91. Hi David,

    Got GD a while back but never played it much. Just restarted on it and having alot of fun with this build. Thanks for putting this together!

  93. Heya.

    Im At level 81 as we speak and I love this build very mush 🙂 But now im stuck at devotion. Ive read the comments and you mention that I dont need to fill “crown” because of the partial. But now when Im about to remove toad it says –Constellation Dependencies: Rhowan Crown, Crab, Chariot of the dead and last Bards harp–. Help needed 😀

    Thanks.

  94. My guess is you’ve missed a node somewhere; devotion resets are easy to come by – you can do a reset and re-build the devotions based on a focused walkthrough. Should put you where you need to go. I hope this helps!

  95. Thank you for all your amazing work. I just hit 100 on the Dervish build it is crazy tough. When I hit 94 I literally got the helm to drop, blueprint.

    I just started this build, Love the guides they are impressive. Sorry about the community but I personally never went there and been playing since the first beta. If I tweak anything or find any tricks I will let you al now, thanks again David!!!!!

  96. Hey! Great work on those guides, they are really helpful for a new player like me.

    One thing that I was wondering: I’m almost at the point where I can get the blueprint to start dual-wielding pistols (I’ve been using a rifle, in the meantime). However, looking at 1.1.7.2 builds on the official forum and Youtube, I mostly see rifle Purifiers instead of DW Purifiers. I’d prefer to use your build since it comes with a very nice leveling guide, but I’m wondering if I’m not shooting myself in the foot (ah!) and if DW might have been nerfed at some point. Since I’m new to the game, I don’t have a good grasp on how patches might have affected the balance of older builds.

  97. My apologies, but I haven’t played this build in over a year. I’m not aware of any nerfs, but it could be they buffed the rifles because they were rather weak in the past – so newer builds may be jumping on the rifle bandwagon. Might be worth posting your question in the Grim Dawn Subreddit to see what other players think. Let me know what you learn!

  98. As you thought, the prevalence of Rifle builds seems to be due to a few buffs to rifles. That being said, at the point where I’m at in the campaign (Act 2 Normal w/ Veteran), switching to DW Pistols greatly increased my DPS. I think that it’s mainly due to the fact that my attack speed is much higher, which means more procs from the Inquisitor skills.

  99. Hey! This is super late but I wanna say thank you so much for the detailed leveling guide! I played this as my 2nd character after feeling my sorcerer was very lackluster (I didn’t follow a build and had no idea wtf I was doing lol). This really helped ease me into the game since I had little idea of what to work Towards. I’m 86 now and very much looking forward to finishing my build with some end game gear 🙂

    Thanks again for how detailed this was!

  101. Have been through the grom tools several times and the devotions dont work anymore. Gets hung up on harp as there are 2 more primordial needed to proceed. What did I miss

  103. I really like this web page, stumbled across it quite incidentally 😉 Back to GD after 5 years, playing my first spec, SSF physical FW Warlord, mid-Ultimate atm, and rocks 🙂 set kind of a benchmark against which I will measure strengths and weaknesses of other specs 😉 Appreciate the time and effort you have put into this!

    Now, do you think I can make this build work on a limited budget, as second spec? Will it take me to the end of Ultimate (FG) or will it fall off at some point? performance-wise (AoE, single target / trash clear / sustain & survivability) how would it compare to my physical FW Warlord?

    Cheers!

  104. Welcome! It’s pretty hard to compete with FW Warlord when it comes to survival (they’re pretty tanky). This build will definitely do more DPS but it’s squishier and requires quicker reflexes. All I can recommend is give it a shot and see what you think! Good luck!

  106. Love your site, and your guides. They are lot better than other guides out there, especially the ones at… well, you know where.

    One thing I noticed with this guide though… You stated all points needed to go into Physique, and not to worry about cunning, as the masteries and Hawk would take care of that. However, after you updated the guide with AKDONG’s devotions, I noticed that Hawk was no longer listed. I looked in the comments and saw that it was recommended to put 6 points into cunning to make up for that. However, the guide itself doesn’t say this (it still says to put all points into Physique.). I think that should be changed so that new players don’t get confused.

  107. Sry for noob question but what will change my fire dmg to lightning around lvl 60. Nice build so far i am having fun

  108. Howdy! It’s been so long since I played GD I can’t remember; but if I recall the build does both Fire AND Lightning damage, not pure lightning; but if it is pure lightning my guess is one of the class mods does it later on. I recommend just following the guide and it should all come together. Happy hunting!

  109. Ty your builds are awsome helped me so much with game.Will try your skeleton build next time

  111. Hi, David, I’m following the guide pretty much letter for letter and word for word (amazing build, btw; this has been, hands down, the best build guide I’ve run across.) However, I’m having the same “Harp” problem that Mick had (I’m somehow 1 primordial (Blue) points short of putting a point into this.) Any ideas where I might have gone wrong? My build is here: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/nZoa59z2

    As an aside, a good recommendation for starting DW purifiers is to side with Duncan during the smithing quest – he can craft a double-barrel pistol called, well, “Double-Barrel Pistol” – gives +2 to Fire Strike and carried me from my teens well into my 40s, where I eventually picked up Blueprints for “Hand Mortar” and that carried me well into my 60s – hope this helps.

    Thanks for all your great work on this – again, much appreciated!

  112. Hi, David, me again – I found my problem; I put points accidentally into Viper, rather than eel (they look very similar.) I’m back on track now; apologies for the noise!

  114. Hi, David, Christian again! I notice on your end-game build, you’re using Ignaffar’s for the rune; what were the thoughts on selecting that over the Pyroclasm (or Bane or Annihilation) rune(s)? Just wanting to make sure I maximize my end-game potential (Closing in on level 83 now – when should I be looking to switch?) Also, I’m using Haunted Steel in one of my pistols as I find the LL to be useful in a pinch, should Blast Shield and Ghoul not cut the mustard in panic mode; do you think that nerfs the damage potential too much?

    Again, thanks for all the pointers! 🙂

  115. Hey Christian! It’s been so long since I played GD, I honestly can’t remember any details anymore. You’re probably more versed in the game than I am now 🙂

    Sorry I couldn’t be more help, but I hope you’re able to figure it out – feel free to share your findings here for others who read through the comments!

  116. In Grim Tools of AKDONG’s build has 6 points into cunning but the current guide says put everything into Physique as Hawk will give you the 10% to cunning.Hawk was removed in AKDONG’s version.Wasn’t sure if it just wasn’t updated in guide.

    P.S. Love your guides!Wish the Compendium Builds were laid out as well as these!

  117. Thanks a ton for the information! Sadly, I don’t update or manage the Grim Dawn content anymore because the posts are so old, any changes would require a complete redux of all the content in the page, which I don’t want to deal with. So I’m just leaving them as is for now — but your comment can be seen by others who are looking at the post, and hopefully it’ll help!

  118. I seem unable to remove points from things (like Ghoul). Claims there are dependencies like witchblade (which I do have completely filled out with StormSpread).

    Any thoughts/suggestions?

    Thanks for the awesome guide btw 🙂

  119. It’s been so long since I played, I cannot remember; but it could be you have a skill tied to the ghoul ability and you need to disconnect that first. I hope this helps – and thanks!

  121. In the stats portion of this build you said all physique since the cunning part will be taken care of by the masteries bar and the Hawk constellation, but, in the new devotions section there is no Hawk. So should we put some cunning in and what would be the distribution?

  122. My apologies; it’s been so long I cannot remember, but that’s probably a fair idea – there may also be items to address it, but I don’t remember. Players on reddit might be able to help. If you do come up with a solution, feel free to share the details here. Thanks, and happy hunting!

  123. Hi there Requnix. I’m glad i could find this site of yours. I just had those last days the very same kind of attitude of the Story you so well documented reserved to me on the Crate forum coming from Zantai and others being rude pieces of shits. I’m super glad that there’s an angle like this one cause i grew really tired of the Crate forum toxicity.

  124. Yah I’ve had others say the same thing is still happening today. Crate truly is unique. They’ve made one of the best ARPGs out there, yet have one of the most toxic communities in the industry (which is facilitated by their staff). Then again, that’s why the founder never, ever interacts with the public. Because he’s at the center of it. He simply doesn’t care. He wants to make a good game to make good money money and nothing else matters. Most companies evolve and change. Crate has not and will not. It’s actually quite sad. Zantai is still with Crate because no other company would tolerate his behavior.

  125. Not to mention about how they managed to kill variability within the game with this last 1.2 update slashing away rare single classes/masteries prefixes variability and making them drop only with a unique skill now, killing vast majority of fun builds that used them, which is why i got targeted as well, cause whenever anyone try to go against them and let them see they are wrong, they litherally do this. TThey did this with Biff as well few days ago(a streamer), who brought an argument with video proofs to them about another problem present in 1.2 and they were being in denial mode even under video proofs, offending him, his building capabilities and so on. It was good till it lasted for me as well, i’m going to stay on v1.1.9.8 because v1.2 is just ridicolous and slashed down the variable and substance that fun builds could had before and that now can’t have anymore. 3000+ hours in and i decided not to buy fang of asterkarn, nor to play v1.2 because that change alone killed down the game. Good thing i kept backups and that 1.1.9.8 at the very least can still be played, which is though, not a solution of course, cause peoples will want to play fang of asterkarn but if they do they would see majority of the gears we worked on stripped away from us. To enter more in the details, an example is, if before a dagger or an amulet(example), could drop with a +3 in star pact on a Magi’s prefix making cooldown based builds more viable, now that prefix can only drop with a +3 to devastation and every single gear you had before with that prefix, got an enforced change to have that +3 to a potential useless skill that now forces peoples to change multiple pieces of gear that ends up being completely useless. This was an example but it happens with every single rare single class/mastery prefixes. It is really ridicolous to see the game getting killed off of its variability and to see thousand of hours of grind getting an enforced change no one asked for such as it is ridicolous to see Crate employee’s and the usual shitheads in the community gang assulting peoples that tells them what is wrong about things they doing to the game.

  126. Yah I stopped playing Grim Dawn years ago and refuse to ever come back or play any future Crate game. Sorry to hear the latest patch has caused so many problems. BTW you should write a comment overview on my post about the toxicity of Crate and Grim Dawn and share your experience – analytics show a lot of people still read it.

  127. Hello, it is February 2025, and I am here looking at your guide. Some questions here
    1. is the guide still can be used as for now, can you peek at the changes done up until current version 1.2.1.5 even you are not playing anymore.

    2. I saw the new AKDONG build devotion does not include hawk devotion anymore. Do we have enough cunning if we put all attributes into Physique?

    3. How much – resistances we can get from this build, and perhaps gear (from AKDONG grimtool link). Aura of censure, Solael, Thermite mines and some on Ultos.

    4. For now (at level 65) I do much fire damage as compared with lightning, any idea where the vast majority of lightning damage later? or only Dagallon set provide such?

    Thank you in advance.

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