grim dawn best poison build

In the realm of Grim Dawn, where darkness pervades and evil lurks, poison has emerged as a potent force to wield against the unspeakable horrors that plague the land. From the venomous fangs of serpents to the insidious miasma of toxic spores, poison builds offer a unique and devastating approach to combat. Fear not the shadows, brave adventurer, for in the depths of Grim Dawn’s poison-infused gameplay lies the path to vanquishing the darkest foes.

One such build, a testament to the potency of poison, revolves around the mastery of the Nightblade and Alchemist classes. With Nightblade’s swift strikes and shadow-drenched abilities, you will pierce the defenses of your adversaries, leaving them vulnerable to the toxic concoctions brewed by the Alchemist. Virulent Potions and Acid Spray will melt away their health, while Blight Fever and Veil of Shadow add layers of insidious damage that will cripple even the hardiest of enemies.

As you progress through the treacherous dungeons and battlefields of Grim Dawn, you will discover a myriad of items and skills that will enhance your poison build. Seek out equipment that augments poison damage and critical strike chance, transforming each strike into a venomous assault. The skills of the Occultist and Arcanist classes can further bolster your poison prowess, allowing you to inflict debilitating debuffs and summon ethereal allies to aid in your toxic onslaught. Embrace the darkness, master the art of poison, and become a force to be reckoned with in the unforgiving world of Grim Dawn.

The Pierce the Veil Poison Specialist

The Pierce the Veil poison build in Grim Dawn is a devastating force that uses a combination of piercing damage and poison effects to annihilate enemies. This build excels at taking down multiple foes simultaneously and can quickly overwhelm even the most formidable foes with its relentless poison damage over time.

The core of this build revolves around the Nightblade and Oathkeeper classes. Nightblade provides access to potent piercing skills, such as Shadow Strike and Amarasta’s Quick Cut, which deal massive damage to single targets. Oathkeeper grants access to auras that enhance piercing damage and reduce enemy resistances, making it easier to inflict significant poison effects.

To further enhance the build’s poison damage, players can invest in the Reaper’s Harvest devotion. This devotion grants a passive skill that increases poison duration and damage, making it an essential component for maximizing the build’s effectiveness. Additionally, items with bonuses to piercing damage and poison damage should be prioritized to further boost the build’s damage output.

Table of Relevant Skills:

Nightblade	Oathkeeper
Shadow Strike	Celestial Presence
Amarasta’s Quick Cut	Judgment
Blade Spirits	Divine Mandate

Night’s Call: The Essence of Poison

Core Mechanics and Gameplay

The Night’s Call poison build revolves around maximizing poison damage, leveraging its high base poison damage, and unique lifesteal mechanics. Its core skill, Shadow Strike, is a potent ranged pierce attack that inflicts significant poison damage and has a chance of leeching vitality. This build excels at sustained damage over time, rapidly stacking poison stacks on enemies, and synergizing with its high resistances and lifesteal to maintain survivability.

Build Configuration and Gear

To enhance the build’s poison damage, several key items are crucial. The Night’s Call set provides substantial poison damage bonuses, lifesteal on poison damage, and reduced enemy poison resistance. The Mythical Venomcaller’s Veil augment grants an additional 25% poison damage, while the Mythical Will of the Living relic offers poison resistance reduction and damage absorption. The build relies on Night’s Embrace, a passive skill that scales damage with poison stacks applied to the enemy. Devotion-wise, the Viper constellation is essential for its +15% poison damage and increased lifesteal.

Item	Bonus
Night’s Call Set	+25% Poison Damage, Lifesteal on Poison Damage, -25% Enemy Poison Resistance
Mythical Venomcaller’s Veil	+25% Poison Damage
Mythical Will of the Living	-15% Poison Resistance, Damage Absorption

Plague-Bringer’s Wrath

Plague-Bringer’s Wrath is a powerful poison-themed set that grants several abilities and bonuses when worn.

Set Bonuses

2-Piece: Converts all Vitality damage to Poison damage.
3-Piece: Your Poison Damage has a 100% chance to apply the Plague of Corruption debuff to the target, dealing Poison damage over time and reducing their Vitality resistance.
4-Piece: You and all allies near you gain a 25% bonus to Poison Resistance and +3 to Poison Damage every 5 seconds for 45 seconds after casting a Poison skill.
5-Piece: Plague of Corruption deals 200% more damage.

Item Set

The Plague-Bringer’s Wrath set includes the following items:

Item	Type
Plague-Bringer’s Chestguard	Chest
Plague-Bringer’s Legplates	Legs
Plague-Bringer’s Helm	Helm
Plague-Bringer’s Armguards	Gloves
Plague-Bringer’s Boots	Boots

Venomous Strikes with Belgothian’s Carnage

The Venomous Strikes build revolves around the Belgothian’s Carnage set, which provides significant bonuses to poison damage and attack speed. It is a melee-focused build that utilizes dual-wielding to maximize its damage output.

To effectively use this build, prioritize acquiring the full Belgothian’s Carnage set, including the amulet, ring, belt, chest armor, gloves, and pants. Additionally, equip weapons with high poison damage and attack speed modifiers, such as the Bleeding Edge of the Damned and the Bone Harvest.

Gaining Mastery in the Nightblade and Demolitionist skill trees is essential. The Nightblade tree provides access to powerful poison abilities like Venomous Bite and Mark of Torment, while the Demolitionist tree offers support skills such as Blast Shield and Grenado.

Hybrid Poison Damage

This build combines physical and poison damage, allowing it to deal substantial damage to multiple enemy types. The Belgothian’s Carnage set and Venomous Bite both inflict poison damage, while various Demolitionist skills provide added physical damage.

The build utilizes components like the Viperstone and the Deadly Crucible to increase poison resistance and damage. Furthermore, constellations such as Viper and Viper’s Hunger further enhance poison damage capabilities.

Skill	Description
Venomous Bite	Primary poison attack, deals high damage over time.
Mark of Torment	Debuffs enemies, reducing their poison resistance.
Blast Shield	Provides damage absorption and reflects projectiles.
Grenado	Throws a grenade that deals AoE physical damage.

The Alchemist’s Gambit: Mastering Acid Damage

Acid Spray: Melding Devastating Corrosion

Acid Spray is the core of this build, dealing substantial acid damage with each cast. Focus on maximizing its damage and reducing its energy cost. Enhancements like “Acid Surge” and “Acid Burst” amplify its damage output, while “Reduced Energy Consumption” aids in energy management.

Venomous Touch: Amplifying Your Toxic Edge

Venomous Touch imbues your attacks with potent poison, severely debilitating enemies. Prioritize upgrades that enhance poison duration, damage, and proc chance. “Venomous Bite” and “Toxic Blast” extend the poison’s duration and deal additional damage, while “Master of Venom” boosts its damage and proc chance.

Crossbow Mastery: Enhancing Precision and Damage

Crossbow Mastery provides ranged weapon specialization, boosting acid damage and critical strike chance. Enhancements like “Eagle Eye” and “Piercing” increase your accuracy and penetration, while “Ranger’s Focus” and “Deathly Aim” enhance your critical strike potential.

Conversion: Alchemizing Afflictions

Conversion is a vital component, transforming physical damage into acid damage. Prioritize upgrades that increase the conversion percentage and reduce the energy cost. Enhancements like “Transmute” and “Chemical Affinity” amplify acid damage by increasing the conversion rate and damage bonus, respectively.

Devotions: Invoking Corrosive Enhancements

Devotions grant powerful boons, further enhancing your acid and poison playstyle. Focus on constellations like Ultos, Mogdrogen, and Amatok. Ultos provides bonus acid damage and resistance reduction, while Mogdrogen grants poison damage and a poison resistance aura. Amatok bestows additional acid damage and lifesteal, further bolstering the build’s survivability.

Devotions	Bonus
Ultos	Acid damage, resistance reduction
Mogdrogen	Poison damage, poison resistance aura
Amatok	Acid damage, lifesteal

The Deathwatch’s Shadow: Secrets of Cold Poison

Gear and Devotions that Work Best with Cold Poison Build

The build heavily depends on gear. The mythical Ravager’s Set is the top-tier set for this build. This set not only increases the cold damage significantly but also boasts exclusive bonuses like Shadow Strike’s 100% pierce chance and bonus damage to slowed enemies. Not to mention the 20% slow resistance it offers to us.

In terms of devotions, you can choose from various options. The ideal starting point is Viper, which offers a 1-point cold damage boost and global poison resistance reduction. From there, you can branch out and pick up constellations like Manticore, Amatok, Solemn Watcher, and Dying God.

Defensive Techniques and Resistance Management

Grim Dawn’s Cold Poison build, despite its offensive potential, lacks built-in defensive mechanisms. Therefore, careful consideration of survivability is essential during gameplay. Players should prioritize dodging enemy attacks and employing strategic positioning to minimize incoming damage. Furthermore, focusing on energy management is crucial to sustain ability usage and maximize damage output while maintaining defensive capabilities through skills like Shadow Strike and Veil of Shadow. Additionally, devoting attribute points to physique and investing in defensive gear with bonuses like health, armor, and resistances can enhance the build’s overall survivability.

Tips for Maximizing Damage Output

To enhance damage output, some tips to consider:
– Maximize the use of Shadow Strike, optimizing both damage and energy expenditure.
– Utilize the Veil of Shadow’s damage absorption to maximize survivability and damage potential.
– Keep enemies slowed and chilled to gain advantage of the build’s bonuses and devotions.
– Utilize the various skills and devotion procs to stack multiple damage-over-time effects.
– Prioritize gear with cold damage, poison damage, and energy regeneration properties.

Additional Tips for Survivability and Resistance Management

In addition to the previously mentioned strategies, here are some further tips for enhancing survivability and resistance management:
– Allocate attribute points wisely, prioritizing Physique to augment health and survivability.
– Invest in defensive skills such as Pneumatic Burst and Blood of Dreeg to enhance damage mitigation.
– Utilize components and augments to improve resistances and defensive attributes.
– Stay mobile and avoid prolonged engagements to minimize the risk of exposure to enemy attacks.

Attributes and Skills

When it comes to attributes, focus on Dexterity and Spirit. Cunning is less important for this build. In terms of skill allocation, prioritize maxing out Shadow Strike and Veil of Shadow first.

Attributes	Skills
Dexterity	Shadow Strike
Spirit	Veil of Shadow
Cunning	Pneumatic Burst

Unleashing the Blight: Pestilence and Decay

Grim Dawn’s poison builds offer a unique and devastating approach to combat. By harnessing the power of decay and toxins, players can unleash a relentless onslaught that saps enemies’ health and cripples their defenses.

1. Poison Resistance Reduction

Stripping enemies of their poison resistance is crucial for maximizing damage output. Skills like “Acid Spray” from the Occultist and “Venomous Bite” from the Shaman can weaken foes, making them more susceptible to poison attacks.

2. Damage over Time

Poison builds excel at inflicting Damage over Time (DoT) effects. Skills like “Virulent Bloom” and “Plague” deal continuous poison damage, draining enemy health over time.

3. Acid and Vitality Damage

Poison builds often incorporate acid and vitality damage to enhance their poison potency. Skills like “Acid Burst” from the Demolitionist and “Vitality Decay” from the Necromancer augment poison damage and provide additional damage bonuses.

4. Healing Reduction

Poison builds can significantly hinder enemy healing by applying healing reduction effects. Abilities like “Curse of Frailty” and “Pestilence of Dreeg” reduce the effectiveness of enemy healing spells, making it easier to deplete their health pools.

5. Damage Absorption

Certain poison builds focus on absorbing enemy damage to empower their own abilities. Skills like “Blight Fiend” from the Necromancer and “Bone Harvest” from the Occultist allow players to convert absorbed damage into additional poison damage.

6. Pet Support

Pets can be a valuable asset to poison builds. The Occultist’s “Raven” and the Shaman’s “Briarthorn” can spread poison effects to multiple targets, increasing damage potential.

7. Equipment Optimization

Choosing the right equipment is essential for maximizing poison damage. Look for items with poison damage bonuses, vitality damage reduction, and healing reduction properties. Notable items include:

Item	Bonus
Ravager’s Plague	+20% Poison Damage
Heart of the Wendigo	-10% Vitality Damage Reduction
Vestments of Uroboruuk	+10% Healing Reduction

The Sentinel’s Standpoint: A Hybrid of Poison and Stealth

The Sentinel’s Standpoint build revolves around Nightblade’s Shadow Strike’s massive poison damage and Demolitionist’s Canister Bomb’s explosive damage, making it a formidable hybrid build in Grim Dawn.

Shadow Strike: The Core Poison Attack

Shadow Strike is the foundation of this build, providing high poison damage and a large number of strikes. With investment in Nightblade’s skills, you can increase its damage, poison duration, and strike count.

Canister Bomb: The Explosive Enhancement

Canister Bomb synergizes well with Shadow Strike, amplifying its poison damage. Demolitionist’s skills enhance Canister Bomb’s damage, radius, and other aspects.

Devotion Path: Focused on Poison

The devotion path complements the build’s poison focus. Ultos, Rah’Zin, and Murmur all provide additional poison damage, critical strikes, and other beneficial effects.

Equipment: Geared for Poison and Stealth

Specific items enhance this build’s performance. Items with bonuses to poison damage, shadow strike, canister bomb, and stealth increase the build’s effectiveness.

Gameplay: Utilizing Stealth and Poison

Gameplay involves using Shadow Strike as the primary attack, while Canister Bomb supplements damage and provides crowd control. Stealth allows for surprise attacks, maximizing Shadow Strike’s damage.

Skill Allocation: Balancing Poison and Explosions

Nightblade Skills	Demolitionist Skills
Shadow Strike	Canister Bomb
Dual Blades	Blast Shield
Night’s Chill	Thermite Mine

Tips for Optimization: Enhancing Your Lethal Potential

To further enhance the build, consider the following tips:

Prioritize poison damage bonuses on gear and devotions.

Invest in skills that increase Shadow Strike’s duration and strike count.

Use Canister Bomb wisely to maximize damage and create crowd control situations.

Utilize stealth to your advantage, especially when facing tough enemies.

Experiment with different devotion paths and items to find the best combination for your play style.

The Reaver’s Feast: Crushing Enemies with Poison

In the realm of Grim Dawn, the poison-based Reaver’s Feast build reigns supreme for crushing enemies with insidious toxins.

Mastery Choices

This build utilizes the Nightblade and Shaman masteries for their potent poison skills and supportive abilities.

Equipment and Attributes

Focus on items that enhance poison damage, such as the Reaper’s Harvest set, and invest points in cunning and spirit for maximum poison potency.

Skill Choices

Core Nightblade skills include Shadow Strike, Night’s Chill, and Blade Spirit, while key Shaman skills include Primal Strike, Bloody Pox, and Solael’s Witchfire.

Pets

The Blight Fiend and Wendigo Totem pets provide valuable poison damage support and tanking abilities.

Devotions

Choose constellations that augment poison damage, such as Viper, Widow, and Hungering Void.

Gameplay

Engage enemies with Night’s Chill and Shadow Strike, then activate Primal Strike and Solael’s Witchfire for devastating poison damage. Use pets to shield and distract enemies.

Endgame Viability

The Reaver’s Feast build remains highly effective in endgame content, excelling in clearing high-level dungeons and bosses.

Stats and Items

Attribute	Points	Equipment	Set
Cunning	300+	Reaper’s Harvest	Reaper’s Harvest
Spirit	150+	Nightshade Blade	–

Mythical and Legendary Options for Poison Builds

Mythical Set Items:

Vire’s Might Set:
Grants substantial poison and chaos damage bonuses, as well as attack and movement speed. Excellent for builds that deal both poison and chaos damage.

Shadow Strike Set:
Provides significant poison and vitality damage bonuses, along with increased attack speed and pet bonuses. Ideal for builds that rely on vitality damage as well.

Nemesis Set:
Offers potent poison and acid damage bonuses, as well as health regeneration and movement speed. Suitable for hybrid builds that combine poison with other damage types.

Legendary Weapons:

Reaver’s Claw
A dual-wield dagger with exceptional poison damage and attack speed.

Venom Spitter
A ranged weapon that deals high poison damage and can apply a stacking poison debuff.

Doom’s Herald
A two-handed sword that provides a massive poison damage bonus and slows enemy movement speed.

Legendary Armor:

Mark of Damnation
A headpiece that grants increased poison damage and devotion levels.

Mace of the Damned
A chest armor that enhances poison and vitality damage, as well as health regeneration.

Pants of the Damned
Leg armor that increases poison damage and provides resistance to multiple damage types.

Boots of the Damned
Footwear that boosts poison damage and movement speed, making it ideal for squishy casters.

Legendary Accessories:

Seal of the Damned
A relic that provides a bonus to poison and vitality damage, as well as health regeneration.

Sigil of Demonic Binding
A component that adds poison damage to all attacks and allows for the binding of enemies.

Other Notable Options:

Item	Benefit
Ashes of Malmouth (Ring)	Increased poison damage and health regeneration
Aspect of the Serpent (Devotion)	Poison damage and reduced enemy poison resistance
Curse of Frailty (Skill)	Reduced enemy poison resistance

The Nightblade class in Grim Dawn offers a variety of poison-based builds that can be very effective in both campaign and Crucible content. One of the most popular and powerful of these builds is the Dual Pistols Poison Nightblade, which utilizes the Nightblade’s strong poison damage abilities and dual-wielding capabilities to inflict massive damage over time.

The build focuses on maximizing poison damage by investing in skills such as Deadly Aim, Belgothian’s Shears, and Veil of Shadow. These skills increase poison damage, reduce enemy poison resistance, and provide defensive bonuses, respectively. The build also utilizes the passive skill Night’s Embrace, which increases poison damage by a significant amount when dual-wielding pistols.

The Nightblade’s Shadow Strike skill is a key component of the build, as it allows the player to close the distance to enemies and deal significant poison damage. The skill can be further enhanced with the Pneumatic Burst and Veil of Shadows abilities, which increase its damage and provide defensive bonuses.

The build also utilizes the Demolitionist class for additional poison damage and utility skills. The Demolitionist’s Blight Fever ability deals heavy poison damage over time, while the Canister Bomb skill can be used to clear groups of enemies or provide a defensive barrier. The Demolitionist’s Blast Shield ability also provides a significant defensive bonus, which can be crucial in difficult encounters.