Grim Dawn: someone suggest a modern warder build

I have an old warder that is using out of date build. I wanted to respec him. Also he was like first or second character and I had no good gear at the time.

If you don't mind cheating a little bit on the respec, you can use GDdefiler to make him a Death Knight, or Battle Mage. Most of the new top melee builds are using DK and BM now. BM is a really versatile class, because there are really good caster builds, and really good melee builds for that combo. I think there is a Commando build that uses elemental => Physical conversion that's really strong as well. Something like that might work for Warder.

I had a Warder sitting around, and made him into a DK, and never looked back. I don't recall the name of the build, but the DK I'm running uses the Krieg's set, and has physical => aether conversion. I think the same build works for BM. DK is a little tankier than BM, but BM has more DPS.

"

kolyaboo wrote:

I have an old warder that is using out of date build. I wanted to respec him. Also he was like first or second character and I had no good gear at the time.

MrSmiley is right that Warders seem to have fallen out of favor, at least if you look at recent build guides.

Still, if you'd like to make a warder then the older builds probably still work, with some adjustments for devotions and recently introduced gear. Bleed-based or lightning-based are probably still the choices that make the most sense and there guides for them on the Grim Dawn website.

It's unlikely to get a resonable advice that way. Post a grimtool link with the current skill tree and preferred damage type, or just import the character in grimtools and link it.

Warders are not outdated, there're just better toys for min-maxers to play with.
If you are about min-maxing and smashing through the highest tier content, surely there're better options. You'll need the appropriate gear, though.

Someone made a budget Sword & Board Blademaster, that uses mostly faction vendor gear. I don't see a Warder version, but I don't see why something similar to this couldn't work on Warder. Blademaster would have more DPS and higher OA though. But not by a tremendous amount, and Warder has Wendigo Totem.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4ZDWlOwV

Meanwhile I'm trying to come up with an interesting build around the archon's warmaul (two-handed fire strike elementalist)... but I get the feeling that it won't be anywhere near viable :/

There is a lot more theorycrafting involved in GD than in PoE. For PoE you take one skill and build around it. In GD, not so much. Especially with all the devotion combos, and itemized skills, tons of different sets/gear, more resists you need to stay on top of, etc. Then you got components & relics in gear. Lots more itemization in GD.

Armor matters way more in GD than in PoE as well. It's the difference between getting hit for peanuts, or slaughtered. Perfect example of this is against Mad Queen. Extra 500 armor is the difference between face tanking the bitch, and getting ripped in 2 secs.

I made some minor changes and put up a Warder version:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/pZr33L1N

The original blademaster version:

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4ZDWlOwV

Warder is quite a bit tankier (more HP + wendigo totem + more physical resist). But it loses some DPS over blademaster.

If you'd like a budget blademaster, below is a link to my SSF DW pierce / phys / trauma blademaster's build and gear. In hardcore ultimate he took down Log and the end bosses in BoC and SoT (before the expansion). He'd need to be updated for the new level cap and newly available gear, but the build is probably still decent.



He's built a lot more defensively than most blademasters because it was my first attempt at one and I wasn't sure how well gear would come together. He was tough enough to survive my many mistakes in building and playing him, so the build is fairly sturdy.

I admit that Nemesis would have been pretty hard to handle, given BCB's gear.

A lot has changed before/after expansion. End game bosses got tuned up, considerably. Their level caps extended.

I had a Witchblade that could run gladiator crucible 150 waves no problem before the expansion, and I couldn't even finish out the Malmouth DLC on ultimate using the same gear I had.