Grim Dawn Beginner's Guide

Grim Dawn looks like a straightforward Diablo-style ARPG until you open the devotion constellation map and realize you've been playing checkers while the game wants you to play chess. Most first characters hit a wall in Elite difficulty because their build has fundamental problems baked in from Level 2. This guide prevents that by explaining what actually matters in your first 20 hours.

Choosing Your First Mastery

You pick your first mastery at Level 2 and your second at Level 10. Both choices are permanent. You can respec individual skill points but never un-choose a mastery. This makes your Level 2 decision the most important one in the game.

Best first mastery picks for new players:

| Mastery | Why It's Good First | Pairs Well With | |---------|--------------------|-----------------| | Soldier | Best defense in the game, works with everything | Anything. Literally any second mastery works. | | Shaman | Strong melee and pet options, Lightning/Physical focus | Occultist (pets), Soldier (melee), Oathkeeper | | Oathkeeper | Good damage auras, melee and caster options | Soldier (Warlord), Occultist (Sentinel) | | Demolitionist | Best ranged damage, Fire skills are straightforward | Inquisitor (Purifier), Soldier (Commando) |

Avoid as first mastery: Arcanist (too squishy without a tanky second mastery), Nightblade (high skill ceiling, punishes mistakes), Necromancer (needs specific gear to shine).

If you can't decide, pick Soldier. It pairs well with every other mastery, provides enough defense to survive mistakes, and gives you clear skill options for both melee and ranged playstyles. You can always start a second character with a more exotic choice once you understand the game.

Stat Allocation (Physique, Cunning, Spirit)

Every level grants 1 attribute point for Physique, Cunning, or Spirit.

Put almost everything into Physique. This is not a joke. Physique grants health, health regeneration, and Defensive Ability. Cunning grants Offensive Ability and minor damage bonuses. Spirit grants energy and minor caster damage.

The standard recommendation: 90% Physique, 10% into Cunning or Spirit just enough to equip your desired gear. Most end-game gear requires specific Spirit or Cunning thresholds. Check the gear requirements for your build before allocating.

New players who split evenly between all three stats create characters with low health, mediocre damage, and average energy. A pure Physique character has 3,000 more health and 200 more DA than a split character at Level 50. That difference keeps you alive.

Skill Points: Mastery Bar vs. Individual Skills

This confuses every new player. You can spend skill points on either the mastery bar (the horizontal bar at the top of the mastery tree) or on individual skills (the icons within the tree).

Mastery bar investment matters. Each point in the bar grants flat health, energy, and relevant stat bonuses. Reaching bar level 50 unlocks the most powerful skills and gives roughly 1,000 bonus health. Many new players invest heavily in skills while ignoring the bar, ending up with maxed-out skills on a character with 5,000 health instead of 8,000.

General rule: Keep your mastery bar at roughly (character level × 0.7). At Level 30, your primary bar should be around 21/50. At Level 50, push it to 40/50. Max it to 50/50 by Level 60.

For individual skills, prioritize in this order:

1. Main attack replacer (Fire Strike, Savagery, Cadence, etc.) to rank 10+
2. Exclusive buff (each mastery has one; these provide massive passive bonuses)
3. Resistance reduction skill (crucial for damage scaling)
4. Defensive toggle skills (Field Command, Presence of Virtue, etc.)

Devotion System Basics

Devotion Shrines are scattered across every map. Restoring them costs crafting materials (shown on the shrine tooltip) and grants 1 Devotion Point each. There are 55 total shrines across all difficulties and acts.

Don't panic about devotion paths on your first character. A reasonable approach:

1. Take Sailor's Guide or Eel first (both grant useful affinity and movement speed)
2. Look at what your build's damage type needs. Fire builds want Solael's Witchblade. Physical builds want Assassin's Blade. Pet builds want Shepherd's Call.
3. Work toward one Tier 3 constellation that matches your damage type
4. Fill remaining points into defensive constellations (Behemoth, Solemn Watcher, Turtle)

You can respec Devotion Points at the Spirit Guide NPC. It costs Aether Crystals (common drop), so experimentation is affordable. Don't stress about getting it perfect the first time.

Gear and Components

Component Crafting

Components are small items you socket into gear pieces. They grant resistances, damage bonuses, and sometimes active skills. Never leave a gear slot without a component. Even a basic Searing Ember (+35% Fire damage) or Purified Salt (+16% Aether resistance) makes a noticeable difference.

Visit the Blacksmith in Devil's Crossing to see available recipes. Components require crafting materials dropped by enemies. By Level 20, you should have enough materials to fill every slot.

When to Upgrade Gear

Replace gear when you find items with significantly better stats. "Significantly" means 20%+ more damage, 15%+ more resistance, or 500+ more armor. Swapping gear for 3% more damage isn't worth the time to compare stats.

The exception: resistance gaps. If you're missing resistance to a damage type and find any item with that resistance, equip it immediately. Resistances prevent death. DPS doesn't.

Common First-Character Mistakes

1. Choosing two masteries that don't share damage types. Nightblade (Cold/Pierce/Acid) + Demolitionist (Fire/Lightning) has almost zero synergy. Check the Grim Dawn Tier List before committing.

2. Ignoring the mastery bar. Your bar should hit 50/50 on your primary mastery by Level 60.

3. Skipping resistance reduction. -50% enemy resistance doubles your damage against that enemy. Max your RR skills early.

4. Playing without components. Free stats in every slot. No reason to leave them empty.

5. Hoarding skill points. Unspent points help nobody. Invest them. You can respec later for iron bits.

6. Rushing to Ultimate difficulty. Farm Elite until your resistances are capped and your DPS is comfortable. Entering Ultimate undergeared means dying to trash mobs.

For specific build allocations to follow, check our Best Grim Dawn Builds. The complete leveling path is in our Grim Dawn Walkthrough.