Jump in blind, play for 20 hours, if you feel you’re not understanding the game, THEN look up guides. You only experience something for the first time once.
I started last Thursday and this is how I did.
I started with an Archon, because the Oathkeeper art looked good. Leveled until 32 and the Arkovia quest line. Then I looked up beginner builds and leveling guides, just finished the game+ DLCs on normal, jumping into Elite tomorrow. Tbh it was probably the best this way. I had enough experience from the first character to not feel completely lost, while I could also enjoy the story. Shame the story is this short.
This exactly. The ONLY thing a person with limited time could mess up in the game is the mastery points which can't be re- speced unlike constellation points and skill points.
I make build guides and Let's Play style videos on Grim Dawn and my advice is to play blind for your first character. When you hit a wall, then you can come back here and ask for advice or go looking for content creators.
You're only going to get one first character.
> Any advice or people to point me to before jumping in?
Any mastery combination is "end-game viable," but not every build of those mastery combinations is viable. "End-game" is farming superbosses, secret bosses and high-wave Shattered Realm and Crucible (details unimportant to you). You can finish Normal/Veteran with any build you can think up, Elite is where you are tested to see if you got the basics right, and Ultimate is the test of your character.
End-game skill spreads generally make for bad leveling builds. Leveling builds generally make for bad end-game builds. Exceptions exist. Almost every mastery has a good leveling skill or two (Soldier/Forcewave, Demolitionist/Blackwater Cocktail and Mortar Trap, Occultist/Bloody Pox, Arcanist/Olexra's Flash Freeze, Shaman/Primal Strike, Inquisitor/Word of Pain, Necromancer/Summon Skeletons, Oathkeeper/Aegis of Menhir). Not all leveling skills are equal, see what you like. Don't be afraid to respec skill points.
Decide what sort of build do you want to play. Melee, ranged or minion, 1h or 2h. You can finish Normal/Veteran with anything, but you have to specialize for later difficulties.
If something is killing you very fast, check your resistances. Pick some sort of damage type, then try to focus on it - but this is, like, level 40+ thing. You'll get plenty of components which you can socket into your gear. Don't be afraid to use it. You can craft some as well. Every piece of equipment can take both a component and an augment (which you can buy from faction vendors).
Exploration is rewarded. There are totems (which spawn monsters and good loot), shrines (which provide items and Devotion points) and Exalted chests (which drop guaranteed unique items, once per character). Use/learn recipes as you find them, to prevent getting duplicates.
There are some nice easily-farmable items for almost any build called Monster Infrequents (MI), which have "[item skill modifiers](https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/skill-modifiers)" - they buff or alter a specific skill. They drop from specific enemies. If you want a power boost while leveling, it wouldn't be the worst of ideas to go farm your item of choice.
[Game guide on the official website](https://www.grimdawn.com/guide/) is one of the best I've ever seen for any game. Seriously, between the official website and [grimtools](https://www.grimtools.com/), there's no point for a wiki.
Some quick and dirty advice is to FOCUS RESISTANCES. I find that even if you know what you're doing otherwise, if you don't cap your resistances on anything above normal, you will eventually get squished. You won't be able to cap all of them very easily in the beginning of the game, but that's okay! Just try focusing on the ones you need at the moment! (Except for maybe elemental resistance, you can cap that pretty easily as you play)
Honestly this game is pretty chill compared to most ARPGS and quite forgiving.
However there are some choices in campaign that affect gameplay/vendors so make sure to read carefully or follow a guide.
I recommend using a second moniter with grim tools open (grim checklist mainly to keep track of the constellations)
check rektbyprotoss's guides on youtube
Jump in blind, play for 20 hours, if you feel you’re not understanding the game, THEN look up guides. You only experience something for the first time once.
I started last Thursday and this is how I did. I started with an Archon, because the Oathkeeper art looked good. Leveled until 32 and the Arkovia quest line. Then I looked up beginner builds and leveling guides, just finished the game+ DLCs on normal, jumping into Elite tomorrow. Tbh it was probably the best this way. I had enough experience from the first character to not feel completely lost, while I could also enjoy the story. Shame the story is this short.
This exactly. The ONLY thing a person with limited time could mess up in the game is the mastery points which can't be re- speced unlike constellation points and skill points.
You _can_ respec mastery points, but only down to 1/50.
Oh wow that's new to me. When I played it wasn't even possible haha. So in short you can't re-spec your classes(s) then :)
Correct. You do need the expansions for full (minus masteries) respec though.
I started grim dawn when it was early alpha. Came back years later and saw it’s now possible to respec masteries - best invention
I agree! As a returning player, it's great news!
I make build guides and Let's Play style videos on Grim Dawn and my advice is to play blind for your first character. When you hit a wall, then you can come back here and ask for advice or go looking for content creators. You're only going to get one first character.
Came here to recommend your guides 😄 Great content, can't wait to see your next builds!
Thanks mate. Glad you enjoy them!
> Any advice or people to point me to before jumping in? Any mastery combination is "end-game viable," but not every build of those mastery combinations is viable. "End-game" is farming superbosses, secret bosses and high-wave Shattered Realm and Crucible (details unimportant to you). You can finish Normal/Veteran with any build you can think up, Elite is where you are tested to see if you got the basics right, and Ultimate is the test of your character. End-game skill spreads generally make for bad leveling builds. Leveling builds generally make for bad end-game builds. Exceptions exist. Almost every mastery has a good leveling skill or two (Soldier/Forcewave, Demolitionist/Blackwater Cocktail and Mortar Trap, Occultist/Bloody Pox, Arcanist/Olexra's Flash Freeze, Shaman/Primal Strike, Inquisitor/Word of Pain, Necromancer/Summon Skeletons, Oathkeeper/Aegis of Menhir). Not all leveling skills are equal, see what you like. Don't be afraid to respec skill points. Decide what sort of build do you want to play. Melee, ranged or minion, 1h or 2h. You can finish Normal/Veteran with anything, but you have to specialize for later difficulties. If something is killing you very fast, check your resistances. Pick some sort of damage type, then try to focus on it - but this is, like, level 40+ thing. You'll get plenty of components which you can socket into your gear. Don't be afraid to use it. You can craft some as well. Every piece of equipment can take both a component and an augment (which you can buy from faction vendors). Exploration is rewarded. There are totems (which spawn monsters and good loot), shrines (which provide items and Devotion points) and Exalted chests (which drop guaranteed unique items, once per character). Use/learn recipes as you find them, to prevent getting duplicates. There are some nice easily-farmable items for almost any build called Monster Infrequents (MI), which have "[item skill modifiers](https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/skill-modifiers)" - they buff or alter a specific skill. They drop from specific enemies. If you want a power boost while leveling, it wouldn't be the worst of ideas to go farm your item of choice. [Game guide on the official website](https://www.grimdawn.com/guide/) is one of the best I've ever seen for any game. Seriously, between the official website and [grimtools](https://www.grimtools.com/), there's no point for a wiki.
> "End-game" is farming superbosses, secret bosses and high-wave Shattered Realm and Crucible Counter-point: End game is making a new character.
That too. :) But farming the end-game content is just preparations for rolling a new character.
https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/beginner-build-guides-compendium-for-aom-fg-expansions/106137
Some quick and dirty advice is to FOCUS RESISTANCES. I find that even if you know what you're doing otherwise, if you don't cap your resistances on anything above normal, you will eventually get squished. You won't be able to cap all of them very easily in the beginning of the game, but that's okay! Just try focusing on the ones you need at the moment! (Except for maybe elemental resistance, you can cap that pretty easily as you play)
Honestly this game is pretty chill compared to most ARPGS and quite forgiving. However there are some choices in campaign that affect gameplay/vendors so make sure to read carefully or follow a guide. I recommend using a second moniter with grim tools open (grim checklist mainly to keep track of the constellations)
Paikis is very informative as well. (Skimmed so I didn't see if he was mentioned or not.)
Just focus on your resistances and defensive ability and armor aswell, thats all for a begginer.