Speedleveling Guide 2024 - Grim Dawn

[@rektbyprotoss]

Still relevant on Patch 1.2 in 2024

[@ellivafgnik9812]

When am I suppose to use the Lore notes that I collect? In the cheat sheet and video It doesn't clarify when to use them, just states collecting them. Also, great video, appreciate all this work and education. I will be using this for me and my friends after we complete the campaign on our first characters. : )

[@tresi13]

@@ellivafgnik9812 you probably figured out already, but if anyone shares the same doubt you use the lore notes when you enter the cave at lvl 1. after using enough for lvl 10 you equip the rings and use the rest, and every other new lore you find while playing just use on the spot

[@christoffergyllenberg6375]

Great stuff as always! Another tip regarding reputation farming and expanding on the quest "Burn the taken" in Blood Grove. After finishing it (Side with Rallia) travel to Coven's Refuge and speak to Rallia again for additional XP and this also means that you end up meeting the Coven much earlier and can start gaining reputation throughout the leveling process since alot of enemies in base game count toward Coven reputation.

[@kirkyoung4147]

Thank you so much for this video. I have 411 hours in this game but have never made it higher than level 50 because I am constantly trying new builds. But now im returning from a hiatus to do this for real this time!

[@lucdumais7894]

Really great tips! Thanks for all the Grim Dawn content. If someone gets the shrine in Ugdal's cave from your list, you can also net an early start with the Coven when you give him a wendigo spirit. Another benefit of this are the lost witches just a few steps South West of there. Netting you even more easy Coven rep. These withches can be saved before ever starting the Coven quests and talking to the guard.

[@halbrave]

Excellent guide, using it for my death knight right now! Another tip - there are some more items for even more xp gain: Wretched Necessity - Amulet 8% experience (does not need you to kill crate secret boss) (epic/blue rarity) Explorer's Trousers - Pants 5% experience (epic/blue rarity) All belts with 5% experience (all rare/green rarity): Bounty Hunter's Girdle Shockweave Sash Warmonger's Belt Flamesilk Sash Frostguard Girdle Wraithbone Sash

[@Tiosteel]

Might be worth it to spend a few minutes to kill the Warden on normal to unlock the FG questline, pass the trial and join one of the cults to unlock the reputation. Usually Dreeg as it's the slowest and the needest one. Also as mentioned below the Rallia's small quest is also great to do asap. Also I might be wrong but the best way to join the cults is Dreeg -> Dreeg -> Bysmiel.

[@volunteerpin313]

Rekt, thanks for your vids! This weekend I hit lvl 100 on HC for the first time using your forcewave levelling. It was very helpful. Sadly, not more than 10 minutes later I got killed by some random boss. (on a side note, I wish there was a log you could read to find out what happened so you could fix it on a future build). Anyhow, I do not have the Lokarr set nor do I have the Malmouth xp pots. I just started a new Shaman using your guide and I did do all the notes and such you outlined here. I could not defeat the first boss on Ultimate...heck I had a hard time even getting to the cave without dying. So, bagged it and still got about 14 levels out of reading the notes and saving that one guy. I started on the shrines and have done pretty well up to and into act 3 without too much trouble but I am finding I have to use some health pots more frequently than I feel comfortable with. Doing so I am up to level 25 and have filled out Kraken. Should I continue to forge on with the shrines or just start doing the targeted quests? Not as good as the total speed levelling, but still this has been by far my fastest to level 25. I just am afraid to push it too much. I do now have on a full explorer's set so at least I'm getting 20% exp boost. Would love to hear your thoughts on this "partial" speed levelling for those of us who find themselves in a similar predicament. thanks!

[@fullmentaljacket4159]

This is an amazing guide. I recently got back into the game after a long hiatus, and was curious about levelling alts. I first found your older levelling guide, which put me on the path to farming a Lokarr set. Now I've got that, I just used this guide to start up an Oathkeeper who's now level 36 with 30 Devotion points, and just about ready to jump into Elite. It took me maybe a couple of hours to do, most of which was referring back and forth to this video and getting all the little things set up, then hitting all the shrines.

[@addep0nkeN]

i like this video

[@izabellelindberg2404]

yes.

[@frida0815]

yes me too,

[@Weaver_Games]

This is very helpful! I had no idea about a lot of this stuff or even some of the hidden super bosses lol. 300 hours in this game I still feel like a total noob it's kind of crazy. I found levelling was just taking forever and figured there must be a faster way. Still seems crazy to me you can do it in 6 hours - you must really have all the quest completions down to a science.

[@michaelhvadragerdetjer]

Thank you for this great guide. And all the many many other great ones as well. Very thourough, thought out and well put together. Much appreciated

[@eduj]

so glad imgur added the totally NOT annoying adblock message, which totally stops you viewing images on that site, bricking all these old links. i'm sure this is a great strategy to keep people using their service

[@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken]

To anyone curious: Explorer and no other XP item aside from the Clarity is just fine if you don't have them. I don't have the Lokarr set, or any of the other "fancy" XP items, just 3 Explorer set (+15% exp in total), doing what he shows here, you get to level 32. If you have the other pieces then awesome, but otherwise doesn't really feel worth it farming up the pieces for the singular larger level. Obviously you'll get a lot more XP in the long run with them all, but definitely not needed for the initial jumpstart.

[@Kopetan4egX]

Thanks a lot. Great guide. I skip questing in elite, going with lvl 55 or so after shrine hopping straight to ultimate (softcore player). Yeah, i'm losing some reputation with factions by not opening them on lower difficulties, but i'm too lazy for repeating same quests few times on each character, especially with my dedication to opening the whole map each time step by step.

[@iLostmyrealname]

WOW great video man...it REALLY points out how much I suck at this game. lol. Seriously, thanx for this!

[@rektbyprotoss]

lol, we've all been at that "I suck at this game" point :D

[@iLostmyrealname]

@@rektbyprotoss 1 year later update on this video, I play SC almost exclusively (to each their own), yet looking back at this video NOW I can do whatever I want! Little did I know how much this video would affect me a year later, 4k+ hours in game and over 6 100's geared. 1.2 changed something's obviously but still a great video! Thanx man!

[@Alientank]

Thanks for doing this!

[@BoomtownPkers]

Was looking for leveling tips while playing on my fire vire’s might oathkeeper, which eventually will turn into a chaos EoR sentinel. Gave me a good laugh when I realized you also made the same chaos spin2win sentinel guide that I’m following atm, and were on said character in the video at one point lol.

[@TheLordSascha]

Thanks for sharing, I very much appreciate the help I get from you videos^^

[@banishedbr]

Thanks! Awesome guide as always 👍

[@sirhcvt]

Awesome guide, thank you Protoss

[@Nugpops]

I have tried this a few times without Lokarr set, and the aether crystals near burial hill instantly blow me up when I try to run through. Something for aether res or absorption might make it possible, but I think the Lokarr set is kind of crucial.

[@TheNignag89]

It's easily done without the Lokarr set, just drop a stack of health potions from your shared stash into the character's inventory and use pots to heal while you run past the crystals. I did it all the time before I killed Lokarr, you just end up a slightly lower level in the end.

[@rtyuio6215]

Very outdated reply, but hopefully this helps someone - I did it by using a couple of aether clusters to absorb the damage, which made it very easy.

[@zi-zo2ml]

I followed this w/o lokkar set. only explorer's set which is very easy to find. together with leovinus ring and exp pots, I got to level 31 and half. not bad

[@omgopet]

Holy shit, I did not know about the trick with the lore notes and the first quest on ultimate, that's fucking brilliant. One more thing regarding questing/leveling at early-mid levels (up to 70-ish): there are some builds/skills/procs that just mobs and campaign bosses much quicker and safer than trying to play your desired endgame build from lvl 30. Therefore, aside from Lokarr, reputation items and tonics, you should also prepare some low-mid level uniques/MIs in your stash and always use those for leveling. For example: 1. If your char is a necro, regardless of what the other class is, the best way to level is Ravenous earth + bat devotion proc. Prepare a couple of good low level MI medals and daggers for Ravenous earth and your leveling will be super fast. 2. If your class has an attack modifier (in order of how good the attack is - demo, shaman, soldier, oathmeal), pick up a good 2-hander you prepared in advance (Golemfist, for example) and pick up the Falcon and Kraken devotions, then just smash things. Even if your class doesn't have an attack modifier, using troll relic and later Beronath shard works as well, especially if you have a good mid level double rare green. This covers everything except Witch hunter, and that class is garbage anyway, so just don't level it.

[@Apudurangdinya]

Fine... I play it again for another 50 hour

[@KalidhoS]

best guide ever!!! ty Rektoss!!!

[@Lordpanda99]

Thank you for all of your guides! Ive learned a lot more in the last 3 days than all of my 900 hours just mindlessly playing this game haha 😅

[@leobustos740]

The mindless blind playing just hit different though

[@WhiteSlash_Guitars]

lvl 33 in 12 minutes... just that sounds VERY cool to try out skills in each mastery !

[@J-Sinclair]

Very well done.

[@DavidFletcher566]

Excellent video. Thanks!

[@circ1eoflife459]

Good old Gottfried 🤣🤣🤣

[@Zep2084]

meanwhile a newbie like me level 54 at 31.8 hours. I need to watch this to avoid wasting time

[@lecosti8234]

Great video really ty for all the help

[@QanarIsDelirious]

one complaint from a noob there are ressources for shrine 31-55 that have to be prepared and precrafted, i ran into alot of shrines i couldnt activate and had to rerun the same entrance dungeon whatever with the crafted shid then + as soon as you log out the exp potion dies ;D you could add the stuff needed to be crafted on that cheatsheat thingy to help out people prepare those runs ... stuff i was missing precrafted was flintstone, vengefull wraith, imbued silver, amber, rigid shell ... those cannot be dropped(regularly) and have to be crafted by my newbie knowledge

[@jcc4543]

Do shrine hoping first when you get to level 34 when you got all 55 dev pts and make your devotion it is time to do quest and level

[@ScarletSpiderDave]

The medal is level 14 and has 3% exp gain so equip that a little earlier before reading the rest of the lore.

[@TheEluminator]

Small feedback: At 1:39 by "maxed devotions" he means, you have all 55 devotion points. The devotions themselves won't be maxed out, aka you have to get experience for them still.

[@TheEluminator]

After rewatching it I might have misunderstood him. Point still stands: Have to do some more xp farming for all devotions to be maxed.

[@rektbyprotoss]

When I rewatched the video on KZbin to do timestamps I knew you're gonna nitpick on this detail :D you are right, my wording can be misinterpreted. Devotion skills will pretty much still be maxed out by the time you hit lvl 100 when using this method to lvl 94 (as long as you don't respec).

[@TheEluminator]

@@rektbyprotoss When I first watched it, I thought you actually meant that your character has all 55 devotion points, but then I read that you actually wrote "almost" on screen, so i realized you refered to the levels instead.

[@Gaudynio]

GJ and GG 🤠

[@Zaphod_]

I'm still on my first char, having played through normal and like 70% of elite but no ultimate; guess it'll take a bit until I can use this for alts...

[@turbanheadless]

Awesome stuff. Im doing same with archon, but been thinking about swapping to vitality primal strike. Wonder if you have a transition guide or perhaps some archon

[@oswain1]

Thanks for the vid. Any chance for a reputation farming guide ? Especially for new HC chars would be nice.

[@markpaine2208]

Thank you!

[@mynameisnobody5295]

I always kill Gulgoth and pick up Ulgrim and Colin to start Rovers, Homestead and Black Legion favor activated.

[@juan1033]

What level should i be after finishing elite? (barrowhold faction rep).

[@80gunslinger]

How does he move in small jerks around bosses, for example during Lokarr fight? As he is making small side-steps around him evading the attacks? Is this just attack-click to the side or is there a little bit more to it?

[@diversitycandle5708]

Rekt, at 4:16 the Eye of Reckoning Sentinel that you are running around Conclave on, do you have a build guide or Grimtool link for that character?

[@rektbyprotoss]

Here you go kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZ7FgoCFf7V_ZpI

[@diversitycandle5708]

@@rektbyprotoss Cheers mate 👍🏻

[@sauravchakrabarty2759]

Thanks a lot !!!

[@cristof6725]

you can make a guide about gd optimization and "trick" ???¿beacuase is commong know that the game is restricted to 1 thread of cpu and many options are no worth in performance. but looking your gameplays and videos your game look rlly cool and smoth, maybe we can learn something about options, settings or tricks and help the community to get better experience. and also make us know the "limitations" of the old engine i mean, when to expect a fps drop or something like that. about video thx was rlly helpfull

[@JetterSys]

Excellent guide as usual, but if only Grim Dawn had made something like speedstarting in ultimate... There are so many characters I want to build, and hardly enough time to play. 😢

[@rektbyprotoss]

With this method you can get a char to level 94 in 5-6 hours.

[@ricardovillegas3465]

Greetings! Not sure if you are still messing around with Grim Dawn, but i have a question regarding pets and super bosses. Ive been demolishing the game on ultimate with my Cabalist on a pets build (2000% pet damage increase), the entire game was pretty much a joke, pets would destroy everything on sight as im walking by, all the campaign bosses melted in seconds (dps must be about 600k), same for crucible, shattered realm, etc. But when it comes to optional bosses like Callagadra or Lokkar pets would not harm them, i just spent 15 min running around Lokarr while the entire pet army was attacking him and only took 1million health off of him, which makes no sense because a 6.5mil health bosses wouldnt last 10 seconds anywhere else. So my question is: Do pets behave differently in front of super bosses? Bosses have some kind of damage reduction from pets?? Cant think of any other reason. Thanks for taking the time!

[@rektbyprotoss]

Do you use proper resistance reduction to increase the damage of your pets to harder enemies like the bosses you mentioned? Do your pets die a lot? What resistances do your pets have?

[@DarkinWithin]

I was wondering if you can do the first quest in ult trick if you don't have crucible or would the boss be too strong by the time you do the first quest in normal (to unlock devil's crossing), does anyone know?

[@damianczapran4804]

Awsome!

[@NostraFnDamus]

there are level 95 items?

[@legendaryvicius]

I've only seen lvl 94 items.

[@mazssj]

There's 2 rings, 2 amulets and 1 medal from AOM that are level 95. But 99% of end game items will be level 94.

[@Splinta013]

where can i get/farm the Valiance set? i just cant seem to find any information on it online.

[@rektbyprotoss]

It's a random drop that you can only get while leveling. It doesn't drop anymore when you are lvl 100.

[@Splinta013]

@@rektbyprotoss thanks👍

[@danm2084]

Wtf I've never even heard of warrants. I guess nemesis hunting really has fallen out of meta, before I even started playing the game lol. I didn't even know about em... how... I have 900 hours played lol. Awesome guide btw. Here I was just getting to 16 quick with the lore notes as my method of fast leveling lol. Then I would just go through the game on normal as fast as I can and then elite and ultimate and going to finish devo shrines after I was done :/ bad method lol.

[@rektbyprotoss]

Yea last time warrents were useful was in like 2018 :D

[@lyriaastora]

Hey! I already used my heart of darkness to access to Lokarr and the blacksmith Arcturus do not appear where he is suppose to, so I cannot not farm the lokarr's set. What can I do?

[@rektbyprotoss]

You only need to open the way to Lokarr once.

[@lyriaastora]

​@@rektbyprotoss But Flameond Bleu is not appearing.

[@rektbyprotoss]

@@lyriaastora Did you do check all three spawn locations? Are you on ultimate difficulty?

[@lyriaastora]

​@@rektbyprotoss Yes I did. I will look for him again. By the way thank you very much for your speedleveling guide. It helps me a lot!

[@anglerpete1983]

Have my 1st char in ultimate revered only with 2 factions, but wanting to start a new char...unlucky

[@rektbyprotoss]

As long as you have malmouth resistance at revered, it's fine.

[@anglerpete1983]

@@rektbyprotoss Working on it, thanks

[@felixmikolai7375]

grim dawn had so much potential, pls bring part 2 someday.. new graphics, more content , more legendary effects

[@hyggend2863]

They are about to release a new expansion (next year maybe). I think it reached its potential and is still going

[@aleigor450]

I'd rather just an Grim Dark remaster in a new engine with all DLCs, even the new one coming. I feel this game game bigger, but it feels old and honestly, and sequel is risky.

[@argelfraster2]

This is all well and good but when you need special items and some ground work before doing this then its clearly for an alt, so why not just use like gd defiler to make an alt?

[@rektbyprotoss]

One thing is considered "cheating" the other one isn't. This video is about the quickest way to level an alt in a legit way.

[@argelfraster2]

@@rektbyprotoss I suppose but if the leveling gameplay isint fun so you speed past it in mins why not just skip to the part you like? To me spending an hour to speed level like this is just the same. I mean to each their own but I dont fully grasp the difference, in instances like this.

[@tripleraze321]

@@argelfraster2 if you are looking at purely the result then sure. However the process is not the same whatsoever. One involves using 3rd party tools to just skip effort of any kind. The other involves using the tools the real game gives you. There is something to be said about getting to max level quickly manipulating viable non game mechanics and interactions. This takes planning, effort, and time studying the game. For some people such as myself this is a rewarding process. There is a sense of pride in playing the game without leveling cheats or programs. However, like you said…to each their own.

[@thamoj0]

well im glad i didnt skip ahead. soon as he said "you have to beat warden on ultimate" i clicked off. that will never happen

[@rektbyprotoss]

Talk about confidence :D

[@thamoj0]

@@rektbyprotoss it’s not about confidence, it’s about wasting two hours dying time after time after time again. I feel like I can’t spend 200 more hours farming for gear I mean my resistances are all pretty high. He just freaking kills me in about 15 seconds. He’s a dual stageboss so you know I’ve been able to get past his first stage but as soon as he gets to the second stage, I’m one shot and I’m dead

[@rektbyprotoss]

@@thamoj0 you should check out one my beginner guides. Krieg is a pushover with a proper starter build, even in ultimate. You don't need to farm for gear to kill Krieg.

[@thamoj0]

@@rektbyprotoss I have to disagree. Almost all of my resistances are 90% or higher and I’m doing over 24,000 damage. Already there’s nothing starter about that. In order to have to have the right gear like you just said, I need to farm.

[@rektbyprotoss]

@@thamoj0 on the right build, you don't need to farm to kill Warden Krieg. You use the gear that you get while leveling, that all you need. You don't need more than 80% res vs Krieg either. You need more damage, sustain, the right skill and devotion allocation and you can kill both of this phases in under a minute.

[@0xNobody]

speedleveling in 2023. Get GD Stash, reach lvl 94 or w/e you want including revered reputations, max bags etc and do what you would do in 6-8 hours in 10 minutes. Now someone might say you're cheating! Yes somewhat - I have a wife and a kid, my time is limited and I can play very few hours. If I've already completed the story and I've seen what I wanna see, why waste so many hours to start enjoying what I want when I can do it instantly. BUT you have to put up a line, how much you "cheat". In my mind this is a QOL saving me lots of time, I never get weapons, armors, elixirs or w/e etc - I farm those.

[@rektbyprotoss]

People have cheated since the dawn of gaming and that's fine to a certain degree. The point of this video is to show the quickest way to level an alt using only ingame mechanics without any form of cheating. Imo GD Stashing is obviously "cheating", but if you're only playing on your own and have more fun doing only endgame stuff, then sure go ahead :D

[@vsolyomi]

Was.. that pit boss actually named after this guy??

[@rektbyprotoss]

Perhaps

[@selectionn]

if you are a new player, dont even bother watching this video, its completely useless it requires you to basically have 500 hours in the game and grind every faction rep, and have a level 100 character basically. what a waste of time.

[@rektbyprotoss]

Yea this video is for alts, not for your first char.

[@fullmentaljacket4159]

I strongly disagree. Yes, you do need a level 100 character before you can use these techniques to level atls, but that hardly takes 500 hours. It also give you an idea of things to work on while you're levelling your first character, and a number of the items can be gotten pre-level 100, and be used to get to 100 faster (like the rings and XP potions). It also helps show where the shrines are to max out your devotion points. Also, it showcases the significance of the Lokarr set, which is a great thing to work toward with your first character, although that boss is exceptionally challenging, and requires careful planning and lots of prep to be able to down.

[@tripleraze321]

Yes this video is clearly designed for Alts(should go without saying and shouldn’t require explanation). After all he mentioned items and gear that is required, which you couldn’t obtain without a character already. However you are completely off with saying the video is useless, or that it takes 500 hours. Just because the video game is a struggle for you, doesn’t mean it is for everyone else.

[@jcc4543]

Are you stupid or something I got level to 100 like 60 hours what are you talking about 500 hours

[@steveblease]

That levelling you just did made no sense at all. Ive been playing for hours and hours and only level 27. you did almost nothing and passed me by. I think the game is far too complex for it's own good. I guess if you're good at the game and undertsand it, it's all well and good, but you just put me off completely.

[@Freedom-kl8rt]

This video is for alts,not new characters..and the game is easy,not complex..

[@shadrsabirov6412]

what's the spinning fire proc at 27:00 ?