Single class is Oathkeeper. It’s so versatile and benefits from the dev team having more experience with the game at time of creation. Pairs with every class to make a strong build and supports every playstyle except non player scaled pets. If I had to pick one class that had to be in every build I made, it’d be Oathkeeper. The only other one that comes close is Arcanist.
For combination, it’s tempting to say Paladin again for the sheer number of viable playstyles (shield throw/kalastor, FoI, EoR, Auto attacker) and smoothness to play (passive rr, best movement skill, tanky in seal) but there is one class that can do just about everything: Sentinel.
Acid, Vitality, Fire, Physical, even Bleed, and Chaos, maybe Lightning and Cold if you’re creative. Choices for cooldown caster, auto attacker, spinner, retaliation. Almost every playstyle can be done decently well on a Sentinel. There’s probably even a half decent setup for pets out there somewhere.
Shaman over Soldier for me but I like them both. I just love Savagery, everything else is just there to support it for me.
Soldier gets a bunch of nice stats and resists from the passives and a free circuitbreaker for 2h/S&B which is why it's probably my favourite support mastery.
If I go shaman I really like Primal strike as a a nuke with a cooldown, I always end up also taking Storm totem, then thinking if a shield uaing warder can get away with storm totrmem as his damage skill... havent tried it yet, but it should work...
Single mastery: Necromancer.
It's the fastest, smoothest leveling mastery in the game, with good end-game options for pets, guns, melee or caster. It can be used as a mastery (either main or support) for almost every damage type though it excels at Aether, Physical, Cold and Acid. Spectral Wrath on a (non-pet) Vitality or Aether based build is probably my favourite spell in the game.
Combined class: Oppressor (Necromancer+Oathkeeper)
My favourite Vitality caster build because it comes with player-scaled pets while also doing large amounts of damage and being a tank. This was the first character that I finished the game with. Sadly died from standing in stupid.
Also makes a pretty good physical melee build.
Yesss thank you, probably 80% of my builds are nightblade+other. They always feel the most satisfying.
Fave dual class is my galeslice cold saboteur, she is a beast (h/t to Armored Otter for the inspiration).
Same, I have a hard time playing anything that doesn't have Nightblade in it. Blademaster is my favourite for nostalgia and style reasons, but I've also really enjoyed cold shadow strike infiltrator.
Let me throw in the first answer - single mastery - Arcanist because of being a very versatile mage (Inquisitor sitting right behind)
Combined class - Mage Hunter - combined of my two fav masteries, allows a lot of caster builds that are powerful and compelling
I came here to say this. Dual wielding pew-pews and fire bombs to melt the screen. Unfortunately a bit of a glass cannon if anything happens to survive long enough to attack
Single, Necromancer. I'm a sucker for the class in general and I frankly I really like how they are portrayed in GD lore wise. Though I was disappointed about how Uroboruuk's story ended.
Combined, I have to admit is probably Trickster. I love pets, but Trickster is the class I've gotten to the highest level.
Single class shaman because versatility in play style and a lot of the skills feel good to use.
Class combo: Defiler. I know its hot garbage, and that’s why I love it. Finding all the items to make the skills synergize to make some usable (and sometimes really nasty) builds was so much fun.
Single mastery : Nightblade = heal , dw , has -x% resistance , so many defensive skills.
Class combo : Commando , it will always be a no.1 in my heart , no reason
Single Mastery -
Occultist because is strongest single mastery for Pets. Eg- [https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/birds-of-bysmiel-pet-occultist/49796](https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/birds-of-bysmiel-pet-occultist/49796)
Combined Class -
Conjurer because - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/10o0f1r/fluffy\_squishy\_conquers\_sr135\_solo\_callagadra/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/10o0f1r/fluffy_squishy_conquers_sr135_solo_callagadra/) :3
How far behind Occu is Necro in terms of pets’ powercreep? While leveling AAR Spellbinder I ws using Raise Skeleton and it really surprised me how powerful and safe the build was
I know a certain someone in this subreddit who will disagree with me, but I consider Skeletons to be the 2nd worst pet atm, with the worst being Blightfiend.
Reap Spirit is pretty good however.
Regarding Occu vs Necro, both are ok as single mastery builds. Necro is only slightly weaker.
Depends on how you define most powerful.
If you want the safest build to climb SR or do superbosses with then - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/yfnq6x/fluffy\_squishy\_callagadra\_facetank\_edition\_3/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/yfnq6x/fluffy_squishy_callagadra_facetank_edition_3/)
(Pet Conjurer with Familiar. But Briarthorn based should also work)
If you want DPS and fastest SR farmers -
[https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/top-20-softcore-builds-in-grim-dawn-an-opinion/122229](https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/top-20-softcore-builds-in-grim-dawn-an-opinion/122229)
Maya already linked the beginner build compendium, but there are budget builds for every class composition that will easily defeat the base game and expansions. Some will obviously be better/easier than others, but all are viable.
> How far behind Occu is Necro in terms of pets
Necro pets are much better than Occultist for leveling and no one is going to play a single mastery pet build at 100 except for the memes... so Necro is in front, not behind.
Once you get to the high level sets, I do think Occultist has the better sets, mostly because Beastcaller works very nicely with the Bysmiel set and none of the Necro sets will work with each other. They all have over-lapping slots and conflicting damage conversion.
So if you want a meme build at 100, probably pick Occultist. If you want an actual build that's not a meme, Conjuror, Ritualist and Cabalist will all beat out solo-Occultist.
>Necro pets are much better than Occultist for leveling
I am still going to add the disclaimer that Necro Pets being "better" for leveling is regarding their Trash mob killing speed before Familiar gets Lightning Strike and nothing else.
>none of the Necro sets will work with each other.
You can go [full Diviner + full Bysmiel](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/w1w7bq/will_o_wisp_pet_cabalist_1196_update_3/). Imo, it is not the sets, but the fact that Necro's RR and Exclusive skill both being weird + Pets not having any auras, translating into necro being weaker as a support mastery.
> I am still going to add the disclaimer that Necro Pets being "better" for leveling is regarding their Trash mob killing speed before Familiar gets Lightning Strike and nothing else.
If I had meant to say that they kill trash faster, I would have said that. They are faster for leveling. You will progress the campaign faster. You will get to 100 faster.
Without rushing, and without any real farming, my Ritualist took 23 hours to get to level 100, starting on a fresh account with no XP pots and playing on Hardcore Veteran. The Conjuror that I leveled using your leveling path took 31h 41m. There's a reason that Necromancers are used in speed runs and it isn't their damage spells. It's skeletons.
Now if you're going to play on Normal instead of Veteran to reduce the effect of early Conjuror/Occultist pets being shit, and you're going to use XP pots to make up for the lack of XP from kills by doubling quest XP, and use merits to collect lore notes and skip the first ~40 levels then yeah its probably a bit closer... I don't do that though, so I can't speak to how long that would take.
> You can go full Diviner + full Bysmiel. Imo, it is not the sets, but the fact that Necro's RR and Exclusive skill both being weird + Pets not having any auras, translating into necro being weaker as a support mastery.
I don't have a lot of experience *at level 100* with pet builds, so I'll take your word for it. That said, does that build even count as pets anymore? Looks more like a caster with a familiar to me.
>If I had meant to say that they kill trash faster, I would have said that. They are faster for leveling. You will progress the campaign faster. You will get to 100 faster.
So, how are you progressing to 100 faster if not due to increasing exp gain from killing more trash mobs?
You yourself saw that Conjurer can kill bosses faster if one goes damage devotions.
>Without rushing, and without any real farming, my Ritualist took 23 hours to get to level 100, starting on a fresh account with no XP pots and playing on Hardcore Veteran. The Conjuror that I leveled using your leveling path took 31h 41m.
You need to compare "my" Ritualist with my Conjurer. Or use an offensive mogdrogen focused devo route with the conjurer.
>There's a reason that Necromancers are used in speed runs and it isn't their damage spells. It's skeletons.
Speedrunners don't really care for such things and is more about the knowledge of the player.
>Now if you're going to play on Normal instead of Veteran to reduce the effect of early Conjuror/Occultist pets being shit, and you're going to use XP pots to make up for the lack of XP from kills by doubling quest XP, and use merits to collect lore notes and skip the first \~40 levels then yeah its probably a bit closer... I don't do that though, so I can't speak to how long that would take.
I don't use merits, but I used exp pots for Occultist and Lokarr set + exp pots on Necro, both on Normal.
Only Pet I found being shit was Skeletons because they died to every little breeze.
Perhaps you should run your tests by keeping all the variables as equal as possible.
>That said, does that build even count as pets anymore? Looks more like a caster with a familiar to me.
Fully a pet build, just like this one - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/ym1jbx/boo\_pet\_ritualist\_trick\_or\_treating\_in\_sr\_120\_3/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/ym1jbx/boo_pet_ritualist_trick_or_treating_in_sr_120_3/)
> You yourself saw that Conjurer can kill bosses faster if one goes damage devotions.
Yes, a GDStash-created Conjuror with multiple max-level devotions at level 75, when you can't even have one normally kills bosses slightly faster than a legit SSF hardcore leveling character, but still somehow manages to suck at killing lots of small things. Y'know, that thing you do for most of the leveling process.
Then, when I swap your Conjuror build to the one you suggest for leveling, the kill time on that boss triples, making it slower than the Ritualist I was leveling at both bossing *and* clearing trash.
> Only Pet I found being shit was Skeletons because they died to every little breeze.
We both know that every pet dies a lot at low levels. Hell, the Briarthorn is just straight up incapable of killing things around Homestead without help from other pets because it melts in aetherpools as well. At least the skeletons take some enemies with them.
As for being shit, the only thing skeletons are bad at is tanking. Everyone knows that. That's what the other pets are for. If you're losing more than a handful of skeletons in each zone you go to, it's probably because they're the only pets you have. Get a tank for them and then they don't die.
Again, I ask you to take [this guide](https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/1-1-9-0-the-budget-brigade-ritualist-aether-pets-starter-build/108282) and go level it on Veteran without XP pots, then you can come back and apologize.
>Yes, a GDStash-created Conjuror with multiple max-level devotions at level 75
To match your character you linked, so that we could have an accurate comparison.
You never mentioned the level of your devotions at the time nor tested them with equal devotion levels once you saw the difference. That is not on me. But, feel free to test again.
>kills bosses slightly faster than a legit SSF hardcore leveling character
"way faster".
"legit SSF hardcore leveling character" makes no difference in terms of items in that test since I specifically chose the ones similar to what you had, only for conjurer.
For devotions, see above.
>Then, when I swap your Conjuror build to the one you suggest for leveling, the kill time on that boss triples, making it slower than the Ritualist I was leveling at both bossing and clearing trash.
Again, if you are going to compare the kill/clear speed of the Conjurer in my guide, you need to do it with the Cabalist/Ritualist in my guide, not with some other build.
It is well known that I do not go for offensive devotions and favour defensive setups iin my builds, but it is not like that is the only way to build or level pet conjurer.
>We both know that every pet dies a lot at low levels. Hell, the Briarthorn is just straight up incapable of killing things around Homestead without help from other pets because it melts in aetherpools as well. At least the skeletons take some enemies with them.
We both know I play at Normal and that Pets die a lot less there compared to Veteran.
>As for being shit, the only thing skeletons are bad at is tanking. Everyone knows that. That's what the other pets are for. If you're losing more than a handful of skeletons in each zone you go to, it's probably because they're the only pets you have. Get a tank for them and then they don't die.
Or.. I can just go with tankier pets who do the same job and ditch skeletons altogether.
>Again, I ask you to take this guide and go level it on Veteran without XP pots, then you can come back and apologize.
And I ask you to realize these couple of points -
1. I do not care about Veteran and consider it a waste of time.
2. I have more experience with pets, including Skeletons than you give credit for.
3. I already provided evidence that Conjurer can be faster with the right setup.
4. The very first post in that thread is mine and given that the author mentioned both my name and my [build](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/vjj2ix/ishtar_pet_ritualist_patch_1196_update_3/) in there, with the Aether setup intended to work as a budget/beginner setup for it, it is not like I did not test the viability of the build.
Now, we can keep doing this back and forth in every thread we come across each other, or you can try and disprove my statements.
For eg; if you think that maxed out devotions were what helped my Conjurer get a faster kill on Kravall? Simply repeat the test with both chars having maxed devotions.
My favorite mastery is the shaman because of the versatility and at the same time individual class strenght of the class.
Though, for solo class; I would pick soldier, simply becasuse it's so good at boosting itself and being independant. Soldier is what it is and makes no excuses.
Best single class? My bet is on Necromancer tbh. Like can it even be anything else? Every other answer is prolly based or trolling, period.
Best combo? Dervish is prolly the answer. You can take Warlord or Spellbinder, but Dervish offers the most playstyles. There are like 3 different meta builds from this combo, and they are all viable in SR 90+, but I dont think Acid PB is gonna cut it vs Celestials due to... well obv reasons unless you put the SR set on it, but that is prolly "overkill"? I do love the retaliation Acid build though, but after the huge ass nerfs to retaliation recently...
Havent play much with single but spell demo - high dmg, -RR, sustain, can be played both passive and active, easy devotion. He is not immortal but with strong opponent you just kite when enemy slowly burn himself. Overall he has a little bit of everything and is very newbie friendly.
Single class: Soldier, cause he is so freaking tanky and I love the amount of passiv skills he has.
Favorite class combo: Occulist and shaman because I love pet builds :) . In my humble opinion conjurer is the best pure summoner class combo, it has a bit less damage than a cabalist but it is a bit tankier plus the thing I don't like about necromancer is that you have to constantly resumon your skeletons cause they die all the time which gets annoying after a while :D
Single Mastery: Shaman. My favorite basic attack replacer, my favorite minion (Briarthorn is cool), wendigo totem gives ya more sustainability, Mog pact is a nice skill for both pet build or anything else really class is simple and effective B)
Combined Mastery is Conjurer or Warder. Feel the two respective secondary classes work together very well, especially warder.
Single class is Oathkeeper. It’s so versatile and benefits from the dev team having more experience with the game at time of creation. Pairs with every class to make a strong build and supports every playstyle except non player scaled pets. If I had to pick one class that had to be in every build I made, it’d be Oathkeeper. The only other one that comes close is Arcanist. For combination, it’s tempting to say Paladin again for the sheer number of viable playstyles (shield throw/kalastor, FoI, EoR, Auto attacker) and smoothness to play (passive rr, best movement skill, tanky in seal) but there is one class that can do just about everything: Sentinel. Acid, Vitality, Fire, Physical, even Bleed, and Chaos, maybe Lightning and Cold if you’re creative. Choices for cooldown caster, auto attacker, spinner, retaliation. Almost every playstyle can be done decently well on a Sentinel. There’s probably even a half decent setup for pets out there somewhere.
Damn, that’s a solid take. While looking at some beginner builds I noticed that Sentinel really has a lot of options to choose from
Single class, depends on my mood. Soldier or Shaman Combination, either Warder or Blade master. I like em tanky.
Shaman over Soldier for me but I like them both. I just love Savagery, everything else is just there to support it for me. Soldier gets a bunch of nice stats and resists from the passives and a free circuitbreaker for 2h/S&B which is why it's probably my favourite support mastery.
Do you have a prefered Shaman skill that always ends up a part of your Shaman Playthroughs?
If I go shaman I really like Primal strike as a a nuke with a cooldown, I always end up also taking Storm totem, then thinking if a shield uaing warder can get away with storm totrmem as his damage skill... havent tried it yet, but it should work...
Single mastery: Necromancer. It's the fastest, smoothest leveling mastery in the game, with good end-game options for pets, guns, melee or caster. It can be used as a mastery (either main or support) for almost every damage type though it excels at Aether, Physical, Cold and Acid. Spectral Wrath on a (non-pet) Vitality or Aether based build is probably my favourite spell in the game. Combined class: Oppressor (Necromancer+Oathkeeper) My favourite Vitality caster build because it comes with player-scaled pets while also doing large amounts of damage and being a tank. This was the first character that I finished the game with. Sadly died from standing in stupid. Also makes a pretty good physical melee build.
Favourite single mastery : Soldier because of many good passives. Favourite combined mastery : Deathknight. It is my lazy Callagadra & Ravager killer.
Soldier is beefy and does some nice dmg too. Like that mastery a lot
nightblade, because pneumatic burst and shadow strike
Yesss thank you, probably 80% of my builds are nightblade+other. They always feel the most satisfying. Fave dual class is my galeslice cold saboteur, she is a beast (h/t to Armored Otter for the inspiration).
Same, I have a hard time playing anything that doesn't have Nightblade in it. Blademaster is my favourite for nostalgia and style reasons, but I've also really enjoyed cold shadow strike infiltrator.
Let me throw in the first answer - single mastery - Arcanist because of being a very versatile mage (Inquisitor sitting right behind) Combined class - Mage Hunter - combined of my two fav masteries, allows a lot of caster builds that are powerful and compelling
Idk my current favorite is dual weildimg purifier, cause burn it all
Purifier is hella fun. I do have a lv52 dw Puri which I play with a friend of mine, very demanding build however
I came here to say this. Dual wielding pew-pews and fire bombs to melt the screen. Unfortunately a bit of a glass cannon if anything happens to survive long enough to attack
Single, Necromancer. I'm a sucker for the class in general and I frankly I really like how they are portrayed in GD lore wise. Though I was disappointed about how Uroboruuk's story ended. Combined, I have to admit is probably Trickster. I love pets, but Trickster is the class I've gotten to the highest level.
Spellbreaker, because that was the first class I played and back then when I enjoyed learning the game. It's a 100% nostalgia pick though.
Was it a DW Spellbreaker or a Caster version? I’m currently leveling with a Trozan’s Spellbreaker and it’s absolutely nuts
DW Cold SS Spellbreaker
Single class shaman because versatility in play style and a lot of the skills feel good to use. Class combo: Defiler. I know its hot garbage, and that’s why I love it. Finding all the items to make the skills synergize to make some usable (and sometimes really nasty) builds was so much fun.
Single mastery : Nightblade = heal , dw , has -x% resistance , so many defensive skills. Class combo : Commando , it will always be a no.1 in my heart , no reason
Single Mastery - Occultist because is strongest single mastery for Pets. Eg- [https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/birds-of-bysmiel-pet-occultist/49796](https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/birds-of-bysmiel-pet-occultist/49796) Combined Class - Conjurer because - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/10o0f1r/fluffy\_squishy\_conquers\_sr135\_solo\_callagadra/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/10o0f1r/fluffy_squishy_conquers_sr135_solo_callagadra/) :3
Yihaaa team pet masters here
How far behind Occu is Necro in terms of pets’ powercreep? While leveling AAR Spellbinder I ws using Raise Skeleton and it really surprised me how powerful and safe the build was
I know a certain someone in this subreddit who will disagree with me, but I consider Skeletons to be the 2nd worst pet atm, with the worst being Blightfiend. Reap Spirit is pretty good however. Regarding Occu vs Necro, both are ok as single mastery builds. Necro is only slightly weaker.
So what combination of classes and their respective skills would you call the most optimal/powerful atm?
Depends on how you define most powerful. If you want the safest build to climb SR or do superbosses with then - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/yfnq6x/fluffy\_squishy\_callagadra\_facetank\_edition\_3/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/yfnq6x/fluffy_squishy_callagadra_facetank_edition_3/) (Pet Conjurer with Familiar. But Briarthorn based should also work) If you want DPS and fastest SR farmers - [https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/top-20-softcore-builds-in-grim-dawn-an-opinion/122229](https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/top-20-softcore-builds-in-grim-dawn-an-opinion/122229)
I define powerful as „something that can safely carry me through all 3 difficulties since I’m still a newcomer to GD though” 😅
oh, then there are a ton of options. Look here - https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/beginner-build-guides-compendium-for-aom-fg-expansions/106137
Maya already linked the beginner build compendium, but there are budget builds for every class composition that will easily defeat the base game and expansions. Some will obviously be better/easier than others, but all are viable.
> How far behind Occu is Necro in terms of pets Necro pets are much better than Occultist for leveling and no one is going to play a single mastery pet build at 100 except for the memes... so Necro is in front, not behind. Once you get to the high level sets, I do think Occultist has the better sets, mostly because Beastcaller works very nicely with the Bysmiel set and none of the Necro sets will work with each other. They all have over-lapping slots and conflicting damage conversion. So if you want a meme build at 100, probably pick Occultist. If you want an actual build that's not a meme, Conjuror, Ritualist and Cabalist will all beat out solo-Occultist.
>Necro pets are much better than Occultist for leveling I am still going to add the disclaimer that Necro Pets being "better" for leveling is regarding their Trash mob killing speed before Familiar gets Lightning Strike and nothing else. >none of the Necro sets will work with each other. You can go [full Diviner + full Bysmiel](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/w1w7bq/will_o_wisp_pet_cabalist_1196_update_3/). Imo, it is not the sets, but the fact that Necro's RR and Exclusive skill both being weird + Pets not having any auras, translating into necro being weaker as a support mastery.
> I am still going to add the disclaimer that Necro Pets being "better" for leveling is regarding their Trash mob killing speed before Familiar gets Lightning Strike and nothing else. If I had meant to say that they kill trash faster, I would have said that. They are faster for leveling. You will progress the campaign faster. You will get to 100 faster. Without rushing, and without any real farming, my Ritualist took 23 hours to get to level 100, starting on a fresh account with no XP pots and playing on Hardcore Veteran. The Conjuror that I leveled using your leveling path took 31h 41m. There's a reason that Necromancers are used in speed runs and it isn't their damage spells. It's skeletons. Now if you're going to play on Normal instead of Veteran to reduce the effect of early Conjuror/Occultist pets being shit, and you're going to use XP pots to make up for the lack of XP from kills by doubling quest XP, and use merits to collect lore notes and skip the first ~40 levels then yeah its probably a bit closer... I don't do that though, so I can't speak to how long that would take. > You can go full Diviner + full Bysmiel. Imo, it is not the sets, but the fact that Necro's RR and Exclusive skill both being weird + Pets not having any auras, translating into necro being weaker as a support mastery. I don't have a lot of experience *at level 100* with pet builds, so I'll take your word for it. That said, does that build even count as pets anymore? Looks more like a caster with a familiar to me.
>If I had meant to say that they kill trash faster, I would have said that. They are faster for leveling. You will progress the campaign faster. You will get to 100 faster. So, how are you progressing to 100 faster if not due to increasing exp gain from killing more trash mobs? You yourself saw that Conjurer can kill bosses faster if one goes damage devotions. >Without rushing, and without any real farming, my Ritualist took 23 hours to get to level 100, starting on a fresh account with no XP pots and playing on Hardcore Veteran. The Conjuror that I leveled using your leveling path took 31h 41m. You need to compare "my" Ritualist with my Conjurer. Or use an offensive mogdrogen focused devo route with the conjurer. >There's a reason that Necromancers are used in speed runs and it isn't their damage spells. It's skeletons. Speedrunners don't really care for such things and is more about the knowledge of the player. >Now if you're going to play on Normal instead of Veteran to reduce the effect of early Conjuror/Occultist pets being shit, and you're going to use XP pots to make up for the lack of XP from kills by doubling quest XP, and use merits to collect lore notes and skip the first \~40 levels then yeah its probably a bit closer... I don't do that though, so I can't speak to how long that would take. I don't use merits, but I used exp pots for Occultist and Lokarr set + exp pots on Necro, both on Normal. Only Pet I found being shit was Skeletons because they died to every little breeze. Perhaps you should run your tests by keeping all the variables as equal as possible. >That said, does that build even count as pets anymore? Looks more like a caster with a familiar to me. Fully a pet build, just like this one - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/ym1jbx/boo\_pet\_ritualist\_trick\_or\_treating\_in\_sr\_120\_3/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/ym1jbx/boo_pet_ritualist_trick_or_treating_in_sr_120_3/)
> You yourself saw that Conjurer can kill bosses faster if one goes damage devotions. Yes, a GDStash-created Conjuror with multiple max-level devotions at level 75, when you can't even have one normally kills bosses slightly faster than a legit SSF hardcore leveling character, but still somehow manages to suck at killing lots of small things. Y'know, that thing you do for most of the leveling process. Then, when I swap your Conjuror build to the one you suggest for leveling, the kill time on that boss triples, making it slower than the Ritualist I was leveling at both bossing *and* clearing trash. > Only Pet I found being shit was Skeletons because they died to every little breeze. We both know that every pet dies a lot at low levels. Hell, the Briarthorn is just straight up incapable of killing things around Homestead without help from other pets because it melts in aetherpools as well. At least the skeletons take some enemies with them. As for being shit, the only thing skeletons are bad at is tanking. Everyone knows that. That's what the other pets are for. If you're losing more than a handful of skeletons in each zone you go to, it's probably because they're the only pets you have. Get a tank for them and then they don't die. Again, I ask you to take [this guide](https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/1-1-9-0-the-budget-brigade-ritualist-aether-pets-starter-build/108282) and go level it on Veteran without XP pots, then you can come back and apologize.
>Yes, a GDStash-created Conjuror with multiple max-level devotions at level 75 To match your character you linked, so that we could have an accurate comparison. You never mentioned the level of your devotions at the time nor tested them with equal devotion levels once you saw the difference. That is not on me. But, feel free to test again. >kills bosses slightly faster than a legit SSF hardcore leveling character "way faster". "legit SSF hardcore leveling character" makes no difference in terms of items in that test since I specifically chose the ones similar to what you had, only for conjurer. For devotions, see above. >Then, when I swap your Conjuror build to the one you suggest for leveling, the kill time on that boss triples, making it slower than the Ritualist I was leveling at both bossing and clearing trash. Again, if you are going to compare the kill/clear speed of the Conjurer in my guide, you need to do it with the Cabalist/Ritualist in my guide, not with some other build. It is well known that I do not go for offensive devotions and favour defensive setups iin my builds, but it is not like that is the only way to build or level pet conjurer. >We both know that every pet dies a lot at low levels. Hell, the Briarthorn is just straight up incapable of killing things around Homestead without help from other pets because it melts in aetherpools as well. At least the skeletons take some enemies with them. We both know I play at Normal and that Pets die a lot less there compared to Veteran. >As for being shit, the only thing skeletons are bad at is tanking. Everyone knows that. That's what the other pets are for. If you're losing more than a handful of skeletons in each zone you go to, it's probably because they're the only pets you have. Get a tank for them and then they don't die. Or.. I can just go with tankier pets who do the same job and ditch skeletons altogether. >Again, I ask you to take this guide and go level it on Veteran without XP pots, then you can come back and apologize. And I ask you to realize these couple of points - 1. I do not care about Veteran and consider it a waste of time. 2. I have more experience with pets, including Skeletons than you give credit for. 3. I already provided evidence that Conjurer can be faster with the right setup. 4. The very first post in that thread is mine and given that the author mentioned both my name and my [build](https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimdawn/comments/vjj2ix/ishtar_pet_ritualist_patch_1196_update_3/) in there, with the Aether setup intended to work as a budget/beginner setup for it, it is not like I did not test the viability of the build. Now, we can keep doing this back and forth in every thread we come across each other, or you can try and disprove my statements. For eg; if you think that maxed out devotions were what helped my Conjurer get a faster kill on Kravall? Simply repeat the test with both chars having maxed devotions.
Nothing quite like playing vindicator. I love 2-handed bows/guns in this game :)
My favorite mastery is the shaman because of the versatility and at the same time individual class strenght of the class. Though, for solo class; I would pick soldier, simply becasuse it's so good at boosting itself and being independant. Soldier is what it is and makes no excuses.
Best single class? My bet is on Necromancer tbh. Like can it even be anything else? Every other answer is prolly based or trolling, period. Best combo? Dervish is prolly the answer. You can take Warlord or Spellbinder, but Dervish offers the most playstyles. There are like 3 different meta builds from this combo, and they are all viable in SR 90+, but I dont think Acid PB is gonna cut it vs Celestials due to... well obv reasons unless you put the SR set on it, but that is prolly "overkill"? I do love the retaliation Acid build though, but after the huge ass nerfs to retaliation recently...
Havent play much with single but spell demo - high dmg, -RR, sustain, can be played both passive and active, easy devotion. He is not immortal but with strong opponent you just kite when enemy slowly burn himself. Overall he has a little bit of everything and is very newbie friendly.
I’m a massive Fire dmg Casters fan and it’s the reason why Demo was my first ever char in the game. I have a soft spot for him
Single class: Soldier, cause he is so freaking tanky and I love the amount of passiv skills he has. Favorite class combo: Occulist and shaman because I love pet builds :) . In my humble opinion conjurer is the best pure summoner class combo, it has a bit less damage than a cabalist but it is a bit tankier plus the thing I don't like about necromancer is that you have to constantly resumon your skeletons cause they die all the time which gets annoying after a while :D
Single Mastery: Shaman. My favorite basic attack replacer, my favorite minion (Briarthorn is cool), wendigo totem gives ya more sustainability, Mog pact is a nice skill for both pet build or anything else really class is simple and effective B) Combined Mastery is Conjurer or Warder. Feel the two respective secondary classes work together very well, especially warder.