The Carnival: a guide To peTS By, Maya Index: 1. Introduction 2. General Guide to GrimDawn 3. Classes & Pets 4. How to Level 5. Items & Notable Npc’s 6. Making a Build, from Start to Finish 7. Abbreviations 8. Conclusion Note: The guide is made with the assumption that you have both Ashes of Malmouth and Forgotten Gods Expansions. _____________________ INTRODUCTION Who I am, is not important. We are all but faceless names here anyway. But what is important is what I have to offer you, stranger. The Carnival is, as the name suggests a festival; a festival of man and beasts. I could tell you more about it, but you won’t listen and probably just berate me for wasting your time. So instead, let me just show you that which has led you here. The prize at the end, or perhaps I should say, beginning of your journey. Let’s get right to it, shall we? As the sand trickles down in the hourglass, we shall find you all you need to carve your name in the Hall of Heroes. And while I cannot lead you to your fame and glory, I hope to show you the way to immortality. Whether you seek to bind Eldritch creatures to your will, or reap and use the very Souls of your fellow man or perhaps a more noble approach in becoming a simple master of Beasts blessed my nature, you will find your path here. But I must also warn you of something. To become a summoner is no easy task and it demands much of you. Should you hold steady in your current course, you must be willing to give yourself entirely to the art. Attempts at trying to mix it with traditional roles of spell casting or close combat will end only in tears and blood. _____________________ General Guide To GrimDawn So you have decided to enter this grim and dying world. Glory, power, perhaps wealth, whatever your obsessions or reasons might be, I welcome you. Though there is not much wealth to be had and power always comes at a price. You may strive for glory then, but what use is fame in a world of corpses? Ah, forgive my ramblings. Do not let them concern you much. Now let us get straight to the point, for the journey you are about to undertake is a long and perilous one and I do not wish to keep you here any longer than necessary. So, you know the story. A stranger from a far away land happens upon those in need of help and rises to the occasion, thereby becoming their hero and savior and eventually going on to fight and hopefully win against some great evil. Here, of course you start at the end of a hangman’s noose and is no more of a hero than a swamp rat. But hopefully that can change with time and to do so, you need to learn some basic things. That is what we will be discussing here. 1. Resistances and Resistance Reduction play an important part. Do not skimp on either. 2. You get to choose 2 Masteries that will then combine to form your Class. Choose wisely for once you have made your choice, there is no turning back. 3. Devotions play another important part in shaping your destiny. You need to either present certain offerings once you uncover a Shrine or cleanse it of the corruption that has set upon the once holy place of worship, in order to gain the favour of the gods. 4. Skill and Devotion choices are not permanent and can be changed at the Spirit Healer for a cost. Do note that the cost increases with the number of times you do this. 5. While Auras fully benefit other players and all Pets in the Radius, Damage Conversions on Auras apply to the caster only, inorder to avoid unfortunate Multiplayer scenarios. 6. When it comes to choosing sides on faction quests, Allying yourself with Anasteria the Aetherial Witch & with Barrowholm is generally a good idea. 7. Do not ignore Augments and Components. They make a lot of difference. Augments can be purchased from Faction Vendors once you have enough reputation. Some Components can be found while others have to be Crafted using Blueprints. 8. It is generally not a good idea to farm for specific items at lower levels as you will out level them rather fast. Focus instead on Leveling up and on gaining Devotion points. 9. When leveling up Attributes, focus on Physique. Put points in Spirit & Cunning only as needed. You will get a special potion later on that lets you reset your Attributes. 10. Relics are special items that can only be crafted using their Blueprints & materials. 11. Devotion procs bound to Pets scale based on Pet stats and hence should always be bound to pets whenever possible, on a pet build. 12. Exclusive Skills are special skills in that only one can be active at any given time. So, make your choice carefully and do not waste points in a second exclusive skill. 13. Devotion Bindings are not permanent and can be changed any time you want. Certain devotions can only be bound to certain skills. It is by design. 14. There are 3 types of Resistance Reduction(rr) : -%rr, rr & %rr. Sources of “-%rr” stack while the highest “rr” and “%rr” gets counted instead. “-%rr” stacks additively with “rr” and they both stack multiplicatively with “%rr” 15. Cool down reduction applies to both skills & devotions, but not to item granted abilities. 16. Every skill can be upgraded by 10 more levels from its maximum, using specific items that grant extra points to those skills. 17. Pets only benefit from “Bonus to All Pets” part of Item stats unless it is an Aura. _____________________ CLASSES & PETS So you seek a companion to aid in your quest. Who doesn’t? After all, all life craves someone or even something to share it with and why should you be any different. But fret not. It is that search that has led you here and it will not be in vain. But enough of all that, let us look into your options first, shall we? Companions, henceforth addressed as “Pets”, come in two distinct forms. There are those that gain their strength directly from you and are mostly immortal extensions of your very being and then there are creatures which willingly follow you or are either bound to yourself by some strong and ancient magic. For ease of differentiation, we shall address them as “Player Scaled Pets” & “Pet Scaled Pets”. Player Scaled Pets are those like Wind Devils and Wendigo Totems, the Guardians of Empyrion and even the likes of Blade Spirits. We will however be focusing primarily on Pet Scaled Pets, or True Pets. I am fully aware of how it sounds to say it out loud, but do bear with me for the moment. While you shall learn more about them in the next section, let us focus on the various masteries and classes that you have the option of pursuing for now. Occultists, Shaman & Necromancer, are the three basic masteries that you’d require if you are planning to focus on Pets. But in the world of Grim Dawn, you are not limited to a single mastery as you have the option to select a second one once you acquire sufficient experience (Lvl -10). So, in other words, you need not start with one of the three Pet Masteries unless you want to. And even then, you do not have to start with pets right away. You may decide to simply acquire more power before eventually switching over to the path of a Summoner . And yes, for those of you who might be wondering or a bit perplexed, mastery is infact the proper term, while a combination of two masteries is known as a Class. Any disagreements or arguments regarding that are better left to the scholars of Cairn, if any are still left alive and finding themselves in the mood for a debate even in this situation we all find ourselves in. Now let us look at the choices in a bit of detail shall we? Occultist: - Familiar serves as a Ranged Pet while supporting with Aura & Heals. - Hellhound is mostly used as a Tank / Support Pet. - Blood of Dreeg provides an Area wide Heal. - Aspect of the Guardian provides Physical and Acid Resistance. - Pets fully Benefit from Blood of Dreeg and Aspect of the Guardian. - Curse of Frailty provides Physical and Bleed Resistance Reduction. - Vulnerability gives Acid, Vitality & Elemental Resistance Reduction. - Bonds of Bysmiel increases Pet Health and Energy Regeneration. - Manipulation increases Pet Speed and Damage. - Consecrated Blade (Solael’s Witchfire) is used in Chaos Pet builds. - Possession, provides Damage Absorption & Chaos Resistance. Occultist fits as a primary / support mastery in nearly any pet build due to the sheer amount of bonuses it provides to the archetype. It is also strong enough to serve as a good starting option. Shaman: - Briarthorn acts as both Tank and Damage Source. - Primal Spirit is a Temporary Pet used for extra Damage. - Wendigo Totem, provides Area wide Heal. - Blood pact gives Vitality damage & Life Leech to Pets in the radius. - Wind Devil, if you need Raging Tempest’s Resistance Reduction. - Wind Devil itself is not worth investing into since it is not a true pet. - Devouring Swarm provides Bleed & Vitality Resistance Reduction. - Mogdrogen’s Pact, for extra Damage, Health & Energy Regeneration. - Heart of the Wild, primarily for Health and Health Regeneration. - Oak Skin provides Defensive Ability + Pierce & Aether Resistance. - Pets benefit from Mogdrogen’s Pact, Heart of the Wild & Oak Skin. - Primal Bond provides Damage Absorption & Pet Damage + Crit. Shaman is used mostly as a secondary mastery in Pet builds due to it only having a single permanent Pet. It does make for a good support mastery due to having the strongest Exclusive skill for any Pet build, while providing plenty of Healing, Resistances and Resistance Reduction. Necromancer: - Skeletons are Fragile, but you can summon a lot of them. - BlightFiend acts primarily as a Tank to keep other pets safe. - Reap Spirit is a Spell that summons a Pet upon damaging an enemy. - Reap Spirit’s Ghosts while temporary are practically invulnerable. - Master of Death, is used in Vitality Pet builds. Avoid on other builds. - Call of the Grave empowers your minions for the duration. - Spectral Binding is taken primarily for access to Spectral Wrath. - Spectral Wrath Reduces enemy Resistances when they attack you. - Mark of Torment, used on an enemy, gives you Damage Absorption. - Bone Harvest, only if you need the pet bonus from Soul Harvest. Necromancer is used mostly as a primary mastery in Pet builds due to it lacking support options that Occultist and Shaman provide. Viable as a starting option due to the sheer number of pets you can summon. Pets: Here we will look into the various options we have in a little bit of detail and see if we can find you the perfect minions. For the sake of keeping things simple, we will only be looking into pets that come with the Masteries and not the ones that are available through certain items and devotions. Note that you will not be able to focus on all the mastery based pets at the same time due to a lack of skill points and so, will have to choose between them. Since Item Sets often also end up conflicting with each other due to occupying the same item slots, you will be forced to decide on a primary pet and play style to focus on. But that is all for later. For now, let us just jump in and look at the fluffy little things. Familiar – - From the Occultist Mastery. - Ranged Pet, used primarily in Elemental pet builds. - Storm Orb, the Basic attack is a spell and scales with pet cast speed. - Storm Orb’s projectile count increases with Familiar’s Level. - Mend Flesh is an Area wide Heal that targets only the player. - Mend Flesh requires the player to be in combat. - Storm Spirit is an Aura that affects everyone in the radius of effect. - Storm Spirit is taken for Elemental resistance / Elemental damage. - Lightning Strike is a powerful spell that deals damage in an area. - Lightning Strike should be maxed out if focusing on the Familiar. Item set - “Bysmiel’s Trinkets” is a legendary set of items that lets you summon 2 Familiars instead of just one. So if you wish to focus on the Familiar, acquiring the full set is highly recommended. HellHound – - From the Occultist Mastery. - Melee pet, used mostly as a Tank or Aura provider. - Hellhound deals Area wide Damage upon Death. - Ember Claw generates threat, making enemies target the pet. - Ember Claw’s threat generation increases with level. - Ember Claw gains the ability to Taunt enemies at level 17. - Hellfire is an Aura that affects everyone in the radius of effect. - Hellfire is taken mostly in Fire / Chaos pet builds. - Infernal Breath is used primarily for reducing enemy damage. Item set - If you wish to focus on the Hellhound, consider getting the full set of the legendary items known as “Shepherd of Lost Souls”. It lets you summon 2 Hellhounds while reducing its Cooldown. Along with the Off-hand - Fleshwarped Archive, you can reduce its Cooldown so low, as to be able to use Hellhounds as exploding Bombs. Briarthorn – - From the Shaman Mastery. - Melee pet, with high amount of health and deals heavy damage. - Easy to convert Briarthorn’s damage from Physical, with items. - Ground Slam generates threat, making enemies target the pet. - Ground Slam’s threat generation increases with level. - Ground Slam gains the ability to Taunt enemies at level 17. - Emboldening Presence is an Aura that affects everyone in the radius. - Emboldening Presence is useful in all pet builds. Item set - “Nature’s Call Regalia” is a legendary set of items that lets you summon 2 Briarthorns instead of just one. You may use Briarthorns with or without converting the physical damage into something else. Primal Spirit – - From the Shaman Mastery. - Melee pet, with high amount of health and deals heavy damage. - Temporary pet that will disappear after a certain duration. - High mana cost to summon. - Cooldown Reduction & Duration Increasing items exist. - Is possible to have near Permanent uptime with proper Items. - Used mostly as a source of additional damage in builds. Item set - Do note that while there is no particular item set focused on Primal Spirit, “Nature’s Call Regalia” despite being a Briarthorn related Set can be considered as the ideal choice. Skeletons – - From the Necromancer Mastery. - Used primarily in Chaos / Vitality based pet builds. - There are 4 different types of Skeletons. - Quality of Skeletons summoned increases with point investment. - Fragile, but they make up for it in how many Skeletons you can have. - High theoretical damage potential due to quantity of Skeletons. - Undead Legion decreases cool down & increases summon limit. - Will of the Crypt increases their damage and survivability. - Need other Pets to act as Tanks due to Fragile nature of Skeletons. - Good for binding low cooldown devotion procs to. Item set - If you wish to focus on Skeletons, consider getting the full set of the legendary items known as “Shepherd of Lost Souls”. As a bonus the set also lets you summon 2 Hellhounds. BlightFiend – - From the Necromancer Mastery. - Melee pet, used primarily in Acid/Poison based pet builds. - Can be used as a supporting unit in other setups. - Does a tremendous amount of Area wide damage. - Unstable Anomaly allows more than 1, but makes them Temporary. - Rotting Fumes generates Threat & Lowers enemy Defense. - Blight Burst generates Threat & deals high damage in a large radius. - Blight Burst gains the ability to Taunt enemies at level 17. - Rotting Fumes + Blight Burst make enemies target the pet more. - Can be used to divert enemy attention away from Skeletons. Item set - The Legendary set of items known as “Ghol’s Malice” increases the summon limit of BlighFiends by an additional 1. The set also provides you with an additional permanent Pet and a few temporary ones. Reap Spirit – - From the Necromancer Mastery. - Reap Spirit is a Spell that summons a Pet upon damaging an enemy. - Melee pet, used primarily in Vitality pet builds. - Temporary Pet, with low cooldown and high duration. - Poor Tanking capabilities, but is invulnerable due to high resistances. - Summon limit increases at certain intervals as you level up the skill. - At 17 points, you can summon 2 Spirits. At 23 points, you can have 3. - Skill itself is treated as a Spell for Proc’ing Devotions. - The Pet Attacks do not Proc the devotions the Skill is bound to. - Devotions bound to the Skill do not Scale based on Pet bonuses. - Item granted modifiers to Reap spirit only affect the Spell portion. Item set - The legendary Item Set known as “Diviner’s Vision” further increases the summon limit to a total of 5 Spirits that you can have at any one time. _____________________ HOW TO LEVEL While there are many ways to level in Grim Dawn, I will be writing down a basic Skill & Devotion path here, for you to follow just in case. But before we get to the details, a few key points - - If you have to buy back Skill and Devotion points, it can be done at the Spirit Guide NPCs. - This section only contains information on Single Mastery Occultist, Necromancer and Shaman. It is intentional, since that way, I can cover pretty much all Viable Pet mastery combinations. - Number of Skill points invested, is before factoring in any additional skill points you may get from items. - Regarding Attributes, everything into Physique, except for when you need to invest into Cunning or Spirit to meet the required stats for equipping items. - If you find yourself not having the exact number of skill points at particular checkpoints (eg: at level 50), you need to factor in the additional points you get from secret quests in each difficulty. - It is alright to delay Skills if you lack enough points at any particular level. Simply get them when you can. - Devotions can be Self-Sustaining. For example, “Eel” requires 1 Blue point, but provides 5 Blue points upon Completion. Once you complete it, you can refund the 1 Blue point since Eel’s completion bonus allows it to sustaining itself. . . . . Occultist: We will be focusing on Hellhound, Familiar and Elemental Damage. If you are going for a Conjurer, it is recommended that you put enough points in Shaman early on, to get a 16/16 Briarthorn before going back to focus on the Occultist Side. If you are going for a Cabalist, it is recommended that you put enough points in Necromancer early on, to get a 16/16 Blight Fiend before going back to focus on the Occultist Side. However, do note that it is optional and not necessary for success. Devotions:– Purple Crossroads > Shepherd’s Crook > Remove Purple > Green Crossroads > Raven > Rhowan’s Crown > Remove Green > Blue Crossroads > Eel > Amatok (4 points for Blizzard) > Yellow Crossroads > Tortoise > Remove Yellow > Sailor’s Guide > Crane > Panther > Solemn Watcher > Ishtak > Tree of Life (4 points for Healing Rain)