Grim Dawn Build 30 Released

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Written by BuckGB on January 16th, 2016

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Crate Entertainment's ambitious action RPG Grim Dawn reached a "content complete" state with the release of Build 29, but the team has not slowed down development on the game since and is still moving forward at a quick pace toward an "official" release. That includes the availability of Build 30, which focuses primarily on balance tuning, bug fixes, and general improvements to the game, as indicated in the full changelog:

[Major New Features]

• A tuning pass has been done on all Masteries to improve underperforming skills and general performance.
• Added Devotion Shrine World Map icons. If you discover a shrine, but do not restore it, its location will be marked on the world map. When you restore the shrine, it will be checked off.

[Animation]

• Added a new animation for Flame Breath skill from the Mask of Infernal Truth item
• Added a new animation for Shadowflame skill from the Shadowflame Mantle item

[Art]

• Updated the artwork for Cairn's world map.

[Tech]

• Fixed a crash when opening the options menu on a system with no detectable network adapters.
• Fixed full component stacks creating duplicate full stacks when auto completing components.
• Fixed certain blueprints that would not work properly with different level Monster Infrequent items.
• Fixed shrine offerings that would use multiples of the same item.
• Completed Component icons are now more distinct compared to Partial Components.
• Skill modifiers that require specific weapon types will no longer be applied if the appropriate weapons are not equipped, which could cause a loss of damage (ex. Tremor Transmuter).
• Fixed conversion on buffs not being included in DPS comparison calculations.
• Fixed secondary pet skills overwriting Celestial powers attached to base pet skills.
• Holding CTRL while comparing weapon DPS will now also hide augments.
• Fixed buffs/debuffs created from Celestial Powers not using their appropriate level.

[Game]

• The Final Boss encounter has received a tuning pass. On Normal/Veteran difficulty, the boss now summons chthonians with reduced frequency and the summons have less health. The Tentacle summons have had their health reduced and no longer cast additional Void Zones. The Void Zones last for a shorter duration. The amount of Chaos and Vitality damage dealt by the boss has been reduced. On Elite/Ultimate difficulty, the boss has received a slight damage bonus on several of its abilities and some of its spawns are now more dangerous. On all difficulties: diversified the damage dealt by the boss's summons so that a more general spread of resistances will be required rather than stacking Chaos and Vitality resistance. The boss's Chaos Barrage now deals a combination of Fire and Chaos damage, instead of Vitality and Chaos damage. The area in front of the boss has been slightly enlarged and more pets can now target it at the same time.
• Added an additional chest to the Final Boss as reward for overcoming the challenge
• Ultimate difficulty enemy OA / DA scaling reduced. Enemy life and damage bonuses reduced. Slight adjustments to Ultimate as well.
• Destroying the 3 Blood Wagons now opens the Final Crypt permanently. It is now possible to destroy the Blood Wagons across multiple sessions for the quest without having to destroy all 3 again.
• It is no longer possible to open riftgates within the chamber of the final boss, but a shortcut now opens to the area upon defeating Bloodlord Thalonis which takes you to and from the tomb entrance.
• Legendary item drop rates have been adjusted based on difficulty. They are now significantly reduced on Normal/Veteran difficulty, remain the same as before on Elite difficulty, and have been increased by about 40% on Ultimate difficulty.
• Special chests in Roguelike dungeons (ex. the big chest after the final boss) now have an increased chance of dropping Legendary items to equalize them with the effort required
• Due to their comparably limited spawn locations (in relation to other Nemesis bosses), the Nemesis spawns for the Kymon's Chosen and Order of Death's Vigil no longer have a 100% chance to appear
• Epic item drop rates are now slightly increased on Elite difficulty, and then increased again on Ultimate difficulty.
• Fixed an issue with the Bane of Cairn quest not rewarding a Legendary item if the player was too low level to receive one. The list of Legendary items you can receive from this quest has been reduced.
• Slightly increased drop rate of Manticore Eye from Boss and Hero Manticores. Doubled the drop rate from Champion Manticores.
• The Avatar of Mogdrogen is now easier on Normal difficulty, but instead drops an Epic version of his unique shoulders. He will continue to drop the Legendary shoulders on Elite and Ultimate difficulty.
• To help emphasize the function and relative power of each, "%Total Damage" and "Damage Modified by %" have been changed to "%All Damage" and "Total Damage Modified by %" respectively.
• Fixed an issue with shortcut rifts (ex. Obsidian Throne, Final Boss) disappearing if the area is unloaded
• Increased spawns from Corrupted Devotion Shrines on Elite and Ultimate difficulty, with the exception of the Steps of Torment shrine, which had its armada of Bone Golems toned down
• Increased the level gap between the player level and monster level before which rare crafting materials stop dropping by 10, making it feasible to farm up crafting materials on Elite before needing to move on to Ultimate.
• Diversified damage dealt by Chthonian enemies so that they are not almost exclusively Chaos and Vitality damage
• Reduced stun, freeze and other CC resists on heroes and bosses. Those without 100% resist will stay stunned, etc, a little longer, some of those that are immune have been brought lower, so that with resist debuffs, they can become stunnable, etc.
• Player default Attack and Cast speed slightly increased
• Loxmere Nightmade Energy Burn reduced and spawn set so that he will only appear at level 60+
• Fixed a potential cause of the Obsidian Gate past the Fields of Despair getting stuck in a visually locked position. If this issue persists, please report it as a new bug.
• Fixed an issue with Nemesis Troves remaining locked if the associated Nemesis is killed while pulled far enough away from the chest for it to become unloaded

[Itemization]

• Performed a sweep on Magical affix loot tables, pruning generally undesirable combinations by level 20-30. For example, Level 25+ Magic weapons will always roll something that increases damage. Magic Medals and Belts can now also roll % Damage bonuses.
• Rare-quality item drop rates increased by 30% at level 55+ from all sources
• Faction armor Augments can now also be applied to belts
• Slightly increased shield Physique Requirements in the mid-levels
• Shield Recovery Time on shield items increased by around 20%
• Increased flat and % damage bonus values on all two-handed guns by 15%
• Increased the chance of rolling Rare affixes from crafting by 30% and the chance of crafting a double Rare by 25%
• Rare - Squire's Handguards: replaced % Block Recovery with % Shield Damage Blocked
• Faction - Survivor's Resilience: replaced % Block Recovery with % Health
• Crafting - simplified the Blueprints for low level Epic items
• Crafting - minor update for Shard of Beronath and Prismatic Diamond to replace duplicate material requirements in the Blueprints
• Component - Mark of Dreeg: reduced duration of Poison damage on granted skill, slightly reduced damage
• Component - Shard of Beronath: reduced % All Damage on skill, but added % Elemental Damage, removed Offensive Ability bonus
• Components: increased Projectile Speed on: Ice Spike, Greater Ice Spike, Fireblast, Greater Fireblast, Poison Bomb and Noxious Poison Bomb
• Relic - Avenger: replaced % Block Chance bonus with 5% Defensive Ability, increased % Elemental Damage to 50%. Ability now triggers on Hit rather than on Block
• Relic - Aegis: ability now triggers on Attack rather than on Block, cooldown slightly increased
• Relic - Bysmiel's Domination: increased duration and reduced cooldown on skill. Skill now also grants 30% resistance to Physical and Elemental damage for the player
• Relic - Oleron's Wrath: reduced Offensive Ability to 50
• Relic - Menhir's Bastion: replaced % Defensive Ability with 4% Block Chance, reduced % Shield Damage Blocked to 30%
• Relic - Primal Instinct: sped up the spawn-in of the Swarmlings and increased their toughness against all damage
• Relic - Troll Rage: slightly increased Physical Damage bonus and reduced Offensive Ability penalty on skill, but removed % Attack Speed bonus

Legendary Items

• Legendary items have received a tuning pass. Most received various buffs or improvements to their stat distribution or skill allocation. This does not mean that Legendary items will never be adjusted again. We will continue to monitor feedback and make changes based on any issues that arise.
• Fixed a variety of issues relating to Legendary item skills (ex. broken durations, missing summons, unusually low damage, missing/incorrect text, etc.)
• Adjusted the item table for Legendaries so that level 50 Legendary items can still drop at max level
• Added a new level 75 Legendary Sword (Reaver's Claw) for Physical/Pierce builds
• Added a new level 75 Legendary 4-piece Set (Trozan's Ascension) for Cold/Lightning build favoring Arcanist and Shaman. The art for this set will be finalized in Build 31.
• Added a new level 75 Legendary 4-piece Set (Valdun's Treachery) for Pierce/Physical 2h-Ranged builds favoring Soldier and Demolitionist. The art for this set will be finalized in Build 31.

[Class & Skills]

• Taunt mechanics have been updated to be more effective. Warcry now taunts affected enemies while other skills generate additional threat (ex. Clean Sweep, Hellhound's Fire Claw, Briarthorn's Slam)

Devotion

• Note: Due to changes to Devotion, you may need to reassign skills to certain Celestial Powers
• Aeon's Hourglass: added % Aether Resist
• Blind Sage: added % Cold, Fire and Lightning Resists
• Chariot of the Dead: reduced Offensive Ability bonuses
• Dying God: added % Chaos Resist
• Leviathan: added % Cold Resist and % Health
• Menhir's Obelisk: reduced % Shield Damage Blocked to 30%, increased Defensive Ability, Stun Resist and Freeze Resist
• Mogdrogen: reduced % Offensive Ability for pets to 5%, added % Vitality and % Elemental Resist for the player
• Oklaine's Lantern: reduced Offensive Ability bonuses
• Oleron: added % Pierce Resist
• Raven: reduced % Offensive Ability for pets to 5%
• Shieldmaiden: reduced % Armor Absorption, % Block chance and % Shield Damage Blocked
• Spear of the Heavens (Constellation): added % Aether and % Lightning Resist
• Targo, the Builder: reduced % Shield Damage Blocked to 20% and reduced Defensive Ability
• Tree of Life: added additional Health Regen
• Ulzuin's Torch: added % Chaos and Fire Resist
• Unknown Soldier: added % Health and Health Regeneration
• Blizzard: slightly reduced damage
• Elemental Storm: proc rate increased to 25%, now also reduced Elemental Resistance on affected enemies
• Healing Rain: now activates on Any Hit rather than on Block
• Living Shadow: increased damage
• Meteor Shower: now drops several waves over a duration rather than a single wave. Damage adjusted accordingly
• Spear of the Heavens (skill): increased proc rate to 50%, added 1s Stun
• Trample: increased cooldown to 1s, slightly reduced % Weapon Damage
• Time Stop: increased proc rate to 30%, from 25%
• Tsunami: % Weapon damage now scales slightly with rank, but starts lower
• Whirlpool: increased damage
• Fixed an issue with Wendigo Totem not triggering the Bat Fangs Celestial Power

Soldier

• Soldier mastery life bonus reduced from 30 per point to 28 while energy has increased from 8 to 10
• Menhir's Will: cooldown now decreases with rank to 16s at rank 16, 12s at max ultimate rank. To balance this, duration has been cut from 10s to 8s.
• Markovian's Advantage: Defensive Ability reduction amount increased in the first two ranks (which also bumped up later ranks) and physical damage scaling increased and animation speed increased.
• Blade Arc: animation speed increased slightly
• Discord: bonuses updated. Now converts up to 50% of Physical damage to Elemental.
• Veterency: Health Regeneration increased at higher ranks, significantly at ultimate ranks
• Forcewave: Physical Damage scaling with rank increased
• Tremor: reduced % Weapon damage penalty on from -75% to -70% and damage modifier from -30% to -20%
• Military Conditioning: % Health bonus decreased, % Physique increased moderately
• Oleron's Rage: % Attack Speed moved back to Squad Tactics and % Offensive Ability slightly reduced
• Squad Tactics: % Attack Speed returned, % Movement Speed shifted to Oleron's Rage
• Overguard: Block Recovery now starts lower but scales more quickly in early ranks. Starting Health Regen also reduced to promote early investment.
• Shield Training: Block Chance and Block Recovery moderately reduced and Physical Damage bonus slightly reduced
• Blindside: Enemy Damage Reduction removed as it was redundant with Warcry and the skill is powerful enough without it
• Warcry: Enemy Damage Reduction scaled down

Demolitionist

• Blackwater Cocktail: damage increased slightly and max radius scaled up from 5m to 5.8m
• Fire Strike: damage scaling with rank increased
• Explosive Strike: % Weapon Damage scaling with rank increased. % Chance of Physical Damage now scales with rank, instead of being a flat 33%.
• High Impact: resistance reduction removed. This modifier seems compelling enough without resistance reduction and it reduced the value of the debuff on other skills.
• Lightning Arc: Lightning and % Fire Damage significantly increased
• Brimstone: Fire and Chaos Damage significantly increased. Fragment number scales higher.
• Demon Fire: % Burn Damage and Armor Reduction scaling with rank increased
• Stun Jacks: Physical and Lightning Damage increased
• Quick Jacks: Damage Modifier adjusted relative to base skill damage changes. Energy reduction increased.
• Full Spread: Electrocute Damage increased. Internal Trauma damage added. Max projectile count decreased by 1.
• Canister Bomb: Damage slightly reduced, Cooldown adjusted from 7.5s to 8s and Fragments now have a min number 2 less than the max.
• Concussive Bomb: Transmuter Stun duration adjusted down, Reduced Damage Modification increased by 5% higher at max rank.
• Grenado: Radius slightly increased, Physical and Pierce Damage increased. Physical damage range tightened up for greater consistency.
• High Impact: Fire Damage now starts lower but scales to a higher max and the Chance of % Physical starts higher and now scales to 75%, up from 50%
• Thermite Mine: Damage and Radius increased. Added chance to cause Fear.
• Mortar Trap: Attack Rate increased
• Ulzuin's Chosen: % Damage Bonuses increased
• Vindictive Flame: Radius slightly increased
• Blast Shield: converted to a skill that activates on 75% health, providing a significant defensive boost for a short duration.

Occultist

• Summon Familiar - Mend: flat heal scaling boosted at mid and higher ranks
• Blood of Dreeg: cooldown reduced from 24s to 12s, allowing it to be continuously active. %Heal now scales from 15% to 25% by rank 16 and 30% at max ultimate rank and regen scaling reduced slightly.
• Armor of the Guardian: Poison Resistance now scales to 100% by rank 12 and 150% by max ultimate rank
• Solael's Witchfire: Chaos Conversion swapped with Consecrated Blade's % Offensive Ability bonus, % Poison Damage increased. It seemed better to make the conversion optional.
• Consecrated Blade: % Offensive Ability swapped for Chaos Conversion, added % Fire Damage bonus
• Bloody Pox: Bleed and % Current Life damage scaling increased while cooldown and contagion interval has been reduced.
• Wasting: Vitality Damage slightly increased
• Possession: has been converted into a toggled exclusive buff skill
• Sigil of Consumption: radius now scales up with level.

Nightblade

• Shadow Dance: dodge and deflect values increased slightly
• Elemental Awakening: Cold Resist changed to Elemental Resist.
• Phantasmal Blades and its transmuter have been reverted to their original form, where the transmuter, renamed "Frenetic Throw" removes cooldown. The skill and transmuter have received corresponding damage and penalty adjustments. It was always preferred that the skill should work that way but prior to our addition of Total Damage Modification, it was not possible to adequately balance the transmuter.
• Lethal Gambit: Pierce and Cold damage increased and range on the Cold Damage removed for greater consistency. Cooldown reduced from 2.5s to 2s
• Blade Spirit: Attack Aura damage and Blade Shower damage increased significantly
• Veil of Shadows: Radius scaling increased from 5m to 6m at max rank
• Ring of Steel: Range increased slightly
• Phantasmal Armor: Energy Leech retaliation increased, Pierce Resist increased and Freeze Resist added
• A minor to moderate damage trim has been undertaken to Dual Blades, Belgothian's Shears, Amarasta's Quick Cut, Whirling Death and Execution to bring down Nightblade clear speed a little.

Arcanist

• Reckless Power and its modifier, Ascendance have been redesigned as Exclusive skills intended for Aether/Fire and Cold/Lightning builds, respectively. Both Exclusive skills are in Tier 9
• The Reckless Power transmuter, Unlimited Power, no longer affects any skill and will be removed with Build 31. UNLEARN THOSE POINTS OR THEY WILL BE LOST TO THE CHTHONIC VOID.
• Proliferation has had its damage significantly increased. These additional fragments now deal Aether damage and are visually distinct from the regular fragments. Moved to Tier 8
• Conversion: bonus values adjusted so the skill does not give such a large return at a single point. Bonuses scale up to their original values by rank 12 and remain unchanged at ultimate ranks.
• Maiven's Sphere: Projectile Avoidance removed. %Cast Speed penalty and -%All Damage replaced with scaling Total Damage Modified by -%. Damage absorption now scales less quickly to 25% at rank 12. Previously, this skill only really penalized casters and was too attractive for melee.
• Olexra's Flash Freeze: freeze duration increased, radius expanded from 10 to 16 meters at max rank, damage increased and cooldown reduced
• Devastation is now truly devastating and launches multiple waves of projectiles at intervals over a duration as you fight.

Shaman

• Wendigo Totem: % Heal increased
• Mogdrogen's Pact: Health Regeneration increased slightly
• Heart of the Wild: % Health scaling with rank increased
• Oak Skin: Pierce Resist and Armor scaling with rank increased. Added % Health Regeneration bonus.
• Devouring Swarm: Bleed Damage and Damage Converted to Health increased
• Primal Strike: the Area of Effect aspect of this skill now functions with Two Handed Ranged Weapons and damage has been increased.
• Torrent: now strikes from the initial target hit by Primal Strike rather than from the caster
• Thunderous Strike: can now be used with Two Handed Ranged Weapons and the % Weapon Damage and % Total Damage Modifier penalties have been reduced.
• Emboldening Roar: % All Damage and Offensive Ability increased, Physical and Vitality Resist added. Duration and Cooldown reduced.

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