Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Basic end-game build
3. Devotions
4. Skills
5. Items
6. Leveling tips
7. Stats to aim for
8. Attribute points
9. Damage conversions
10. Gameplay
11. Hot-Keys
12. Videos
13. Example of decked builds
14. Future patches/updates
1. Introduction
Warlord (Oathkeeper + Soldier) ​is one of the new promising class combos in the second
Grim Dawn expansion - Forgotten Gods. There is ​strong synergy​ between Oathkeeper and
Soldier (armor, shield, physical damage) which means that it is pretty hard to make a “bad”
warlord.

In this guide I will help you creating a ​spinning wheel of death​ with the skill ​Eye of
Reckoning​ (EoR) that will have a big potential to grow in both damage output and defenses -
like a snowball: keep spinning and it will just continue growing. A ​drawback ​is that we will
not be spinning from the start - we have to level up a bit first and cover energy management -
otherwise I think you will get pretty frustrated.

The target audience​ for this build-guide is a player who has done some builds before and
thus know some of the basic structure and mechanics of the game but have done not that
much farming and such. I will also assume that you have had some struggles in getting a
decent end-game build up and running. ​To summarize:​ I will assume you know how to
complete the quests, importance of armor, resistances etc and that you start from scratch
item/gear-wise.

I will here present to you a very nice budget build that uses gear that is easy to get (faction
vendors, blueprints, common random green items etc.) and that you can do some basic
end-game farming with so that you can upgrade the build further (and farm for gear for other,
future chars).

My goal is that you will enjoy reading this guide and playing the build. Another goal is also
that you will learn a lot on how to make good end-game builds so that you can look on almost
any build that you might stumble on and understand more about what you read and see.
2. Basic end-game build

Level 100 build with basic gear - Grim Tools Calc link:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4Vxe69vZ

Note:​ do ​not​ take the gear etc in the Grim Tool link above as some kind of recipe to follow. It
is just example of what you can do if you follow this guide. You can see it as some kind of
"minimal version build". Below, you can read more about how to get gear, alternative gear,
leveling tips and much more.

With procs in game (in Main campaign, no cruci or SR buffs)

The build was made in Forgotten Gods ​Patch 1.1.2.3

3. Devotions

The build presented above do not have shield-based devotions (i.e. no Shieldmaiden or
Obelisk) but instead focused on the more offensive devotion Azkaara. The reason for this is
that we already have good defenses from the class skills and I felt that in order to squeeze out
some more damage (+180% physical damage, 6% attack speed) we should get Azkaara. I will
also present a devotion map that is more shield focused that you can try later when you have
more physical damage multipliers.

3.1 Devotion map for original build

In the devotion orders below, the goal is to get ​Bard's harp completed asap​ so that we can
start spinning and winning (see also leveling tips). Other mandatory devotions are Assassin’s
blade for resistance reduction proc, Ghoul for a nice life-saver skill, Ulzaad and Azkaara for
damage.

Yellow Xroad
Assassin's Blade
Toad
Blue Xroad
Sailor's Guide
Bard's Harp
(21 devotion points spent so far) – bind ”Inspiration” to a permanent Toggle-skill like Field
Command, Presence of Virtue or your exclusive skill.

Crab – bind ”Arcane Barrier” to a permanent Toggle-skill.

Ulzaad – bind the skill to anything basically. Perhaps a skill that you mostly use on bosses so
that you are sure that the proc goes off when you need it most.

Tortoise – bind ”Turtle Shell” to a permanent Toggle-skill.

Note: get the entire constellation now. Later we might drop one node in it.

Red Xroad
Ghoul – bind ”Ghoulish hunger” to a permanent Toggle-skill.
Remove Blue, Red & Yellow Xroads
Purple Xroad

Azkaara – bind proc to a skill that you hit with failry often (but save the most frequently
hitting skill for Assassin).

Solemn Watcher

Remove the last node from Tortoise (not the skill proc node)
Get the first node in Empty Throne and the first two nodes in Jackal (for speed).

Now you have one (1) devotion point left to spend.

Ideas what to do with it:
Grab last node in Jackal (Physical res), then you can remove the last node from Ghoul (not
the skill proc node).
Grab first node in Ulo (Elemental res).
First node in Dire Bear (+40% physical damage).
Or just grab the last node in Tortoise again… health, DA & armor is not that bad.
Second node in Empty Throne if you need pierce resistance.
First node in Dryad for energy and acid resistance.
First node in Harvestman for energy and energy regen.

3.2 Devotion map for more shield focused build

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2EpaelN
(I did not change gear to fix changes in resistances so just look at the devotions)

Yellow Xroad
Assassin's Blade
Toad
Blue Xroad
Sailor's Guide
Bard's Harp
Red Xroad
Ghoul
Remove Red Xroad
Tortoise
Shieldmaiden
Solemn Watcher
Remove Yellow & Blue Xroad
Obelisk (not the retaliation node or the armor/DA node) bind proc to permanent toggle skill
Hammer
Ulzaad
Purple Xroad
Remove Hammer
You now have three (3) devotion points left to spare.
Get the armor/DA node on Obelisk and the two first nodes in Jackal

4. Skills

Eye of Reckoning​ (EoR) is a channeling skill that scales with attack speed. Furthermore, it is
not a default weapon attack replacer, which means that skills like “Smite”, “Shattering
Smash”, “Markovian advantage” and “Zolhan technique” will NOT work with EoR.

The damage reduction from “War Cry” and “Soulfire” do NOT stack. We only get War Cry
to get access to flat physical resistance reduction (rr).

DA reduction from “Blindside” and “Crushing Verdict” do NOT stack.

Some skills scales poor, for instance “Squad Tactics” is best if you leave it at 12/12 since its
main function is to give you more attack speed. “Military conditioning” is best to have at
10/10 or 11/10.

Since EoR do not use that much weapon damage, it is not that important to get flat physical
damage (like from “Safeguard” and “Rebuke”).

In order to see how many points I actually spent on each skill in the Grim Tool link, hold
down “Ctrl+Shift”.
5. Items

5.1 Weapon

Totally Normal Shield​ a mace that looks like a shield! Is actually not a meme-item, it is
pretty powerful considering that it is ”free” i.e. perfect for a beginner friendly build!
Here is how you get it ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsM6VUK82qw
You get one version per difficulty, so go to FG as soon as you can on each difficulty just to
pick up this weapon! (level req for Normal/Veteran is 50, Elite 75, Ultimate 94).
Meanwhile when you are leveling up to 50, just use any mace or axe that gives some bonuses
to physical damage (remember, we will not spin until level 50ish anyway).

5.2 Shield

Basically any shield (yellow, green, blue, purple) that grants huge (+20%) physical
resistances and other defensive/offensive mods is fine. Remember to have a shield that has
item level around your level so that you get the most out of it (in particular, the amount of
damage blocked).

I like these MI shields​ ​Colossal Bulwark​ (and lower tier).The base shield already gives
some physical resistance, cooldown reduction and nice modifiers to Overguard. What is extra
good about these shields is that you can shop them from ​Hyram ​in Steelclap District (you
have to save his ass first in side-quest). You can ”​powershop​” him until you get a decent
shield (reset vendor inventory by leaving the area and visit other vendors, then come back to
him - he can also sell some nice relic blueprints). Note, the level of gear he sells does not
depend on game-difficulty, only your level matters. So it is enough to save him in
Normal/Veteran – if you need an upgrade just go back to that difficulty and powershop some
more.

The shield I used on the build above have two magic-tier affixes so something similar should
be “easy” to get. The most important stat to get is extra physical resist, in total you want at
least 20% from the shield.

5.3 Helm

Fettan Mask​ (Boba Fett from Star Wars you know). Again not a meme-item, very good for
its ”cost” and perfect for beginner/budget builds. Here is how you get it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rltY_sXpeo8
You get one version per difficulty, so go to FG as soon as you can on each difficulty just to
pick up this helm! (level req for Normal/Veteran is 50, Elite 75).
These MI's are also pretty good ​Fleshwarped Casque​ (exists in different tiers and can get
one prefix, and one suffix). Good for having almost 100% uptime on War Cry (reduction of
physical resistance). Drops from the Fleshwarped monsters around Homestead. Worth
farming a few of these and see if you can make them fit onto your char.

5.4 Chest

Some faction chests to consider (they also exists in lower tier when you have Honored status)
Elite Coven Combatant's Chestguard
Elite Dreeg Combatant Chestguard
Elite Malmouth Vanguard Cuirass
Elite Solael Combatant Chestguard

5.5 Gloves

Yellow or Green ones with good defensive stats. It is very important to get ​extra attack
speed​ ​on them (i.e. “of alacrity” and other affixes)

You can try to craft some of these if/when you get the blueprints:
Emberguard Gauntlets
Plagueguard Grips
You can buy these blueprints from the secret vendor in Blood grove. He do not sell them
100% of the time so you have to visit him a few times to get it. Cheap to make so make many
and keep some with many good defensive stats.

5.6 Boots

Yellow or Green ones with good defensive stats.

Craftable: ​Stoneplate Greaves

You can buy the blueprint from the secret vendor in Blood grove. He do not sell it 100% of
the time so you have to visit him a few times to get them. Cheap to make so make many and
keep some with many good defensive stats.

Good faction boots that can be good to begin with ​Elite Harvest Footpads
5.7 Belt
Craftable: ​Stoneplate Waistguard​ you can buy this blueprint from the secret vendor in
Blood grove. He do not sell it 100% of the time so you have to visit him a few times to get it.
Cheap to make so make many and keep some with many good defensive stats.

White Lotus​ Faction blueprint. Extremely good belt but require you to be revered with one
of the FG factions. Remember that learned faction blueprints are not soulbound.

If you get a good rolled belt of this MI ​Ugdenbog Girdle

(and lower tiers) it might also be a decent choice for a basic end-game build. Can drop from
the “creeper” monsters in the Ugdenbog areas.

5.8 Legs
Get whatever good ones you can come by (many defensive stats).

A good choice is ​Solael-Sect Legguards

you can farm them from ​Guardian of Solael​ in the "Hidden Path" quest. They always roll
with Aether & Bleed resists and life steal. Drop chance is 40% and it is pretty fast to run that
boss so give it a try if you lack pants.
Another good leg-armor is ​Bysmiel-Sect Legguards
from the third boss in the Hidden Path quest. Always rolls with acid res and life.

Craftable pants that might be worth to consider:

Rimeguard Chausses
Stormguard Leggings
You can buy the blueprints from the secret vendor in Blood grove. He do not sell them 100%
of the time so you have to visit him a few times to get them. Cheap to make so make many
and keep some with many good defensive stats.

5.9 Shoulders

These MI shoulders are nice for the builds since they convert some of the fire & lightning
damage on EoR to physical damage ​Korvan Spaulders​ (and lower tiers).
They drop from monsters in the first regions in FG (before Vanguard of the Three) like
Cairan Docks, Temple of Osyr, etc.

Some faction shoulders (also lower tiers)

Elite Malmouth Vanguard Pauldrons​ nice resistances
Elite Dreeg Combatant Spaulders
Elite Coven Combatant's Spaulders
Elite Bysmiel Defender Pauldrons
5.10 Rings

Solael Stormfire Seal​ from Solael faction,

the +2 EoR is what we really want, OA and aether res is nice too.

These are good too:

Coven Defender Seal
Coven Storm Seal​ (good damage, DA and attack speed)

Below is a ​comparison ​with build using two stormfire vs. two coven storm seal rings
(no procs).

Sheet dps and OA/DA (no procs etc) with two Stormfire rings:

Sheet dps and OA/DA (no procs etc) with two Coven storm seal rings:

As you can see, pretty small difference in sheet dps. The big difference is OA & DA.
Stormfire gives more OA so you will crit better. Coven Storm seal is a bit more defensive.

5.11 Amulet

Empowered Essence of Beronath

Craftable. You can buy this blueprint from the secret vendor in Blood grove. He do not sell it
100% of the time so you have to visit him a few times to get it. You can also farm this by
killing mobs, and it’s easiest to do that on Elite (Rogue-like boss chests).

Faction amulets of interest:

Coven Blade Pendant​ nice attack speed
Bysmiel Champion Pendant​ nice resistances and armor boost
Bloodsurge​ faction blueprint. Not great resistances but still an option.
5.12 Medal

Faction medal ​Bysmiel Mark of Storms

Craftable ​Mythical Sanctus Crest

You can buy this blueprint from the secret vendor in Blood grove. He do not sell it 100% of
the time so you have to visit him a few times to get it. Very good defensive medal.

5.13 Relic

Endurance​ faction blueprint. Switch to this when you do not longer need the mana skill from
the Talisman relic (see leveling tips below). The best completion bonus is +1 to Soulfire but
+1 to Celestial Presence and +1 to Haven are good too.

5.14 Components

Weapon/shield:
Overall good components for resistances and damage against Aetherials/Chthonics
Purified Salt
Imbued Silver

If you have your resistances in place, this might be a good component for some more
speed ​Oleron's Blood

For better ​shield efficiency​, these are good shield components

Mark of the Myrmidon
Serrated Shell
Reinforced Shell

Amulet, Medal, Rings​ (note, some can only be used in Amulet/Medal):

Mark of Illusions​ great for energy regen and DA.
Ectoplasm​ great for energy
Aether Soul​ great for aether res
Black Tallow​ great for chaos res
Arcane Spark​ great for OA and energy
Frozen Heart​ great for Freeze reduction
Dread Skull​ ​good for speed
Soul Shard​ good for Vitality res & Energy absorption
Wardstone​ elemental and bleed res, speed
Armor ​(note, some are slot-specific):
Sanctified Bone​ great for resistances and extra damage to undead/chthonics.
Very good for SoT & BoC runs.
Restless Remains​ Energy, casting speed and life steal.
Consecrated Wrappings​ Attack speed
Scaled Hide​ great for armor absorption
Leathery Hide​ great for stun resistance
Runestone​ elemental & aether resistance
Silk Swatch​ pierce & bleed res
Antivenom Salve​ poison/acid res
Unholy Inscription​ ​OA and some resistances
Molten Skin​ fire res
Dense Fur​ cold res
Rigid Shell​ lightning res
Chains of Oleron​ OA
Mark of Mogdrogen​ ​health and speed
Mark of the Traveler​ speed & slow res

5.15 Augments

Weapon/Shield
Probably the best mix of offensive and defensive stats ​Coven's Terror

Rings/Amulet
Survivor's Ingenuity​ allround very good augment
Arcanum Dust​ elemental resists and energy regen
Ateph's Will​ health & armor
Hammerfall Powder​ very good! DA, damage, energy regen
Osyr's Temper​ OA & DA
Osyr's Wisdom​ OA and good resistances

Medal
Teleport skill, pretty high cooldown though. It requires clear line of sight
Emblem of the Riftstalker

Rush skill, need no target. Short range & cooldown. Similar to Vire's might.
Emblem of the Charging Bull

5.16 Crafting
Try to craft as many items as possible with ​Angrim ​for Armor and/or Physique.
6. Leveling tips

Leveling this build can be tricky to begin with. EoR drains your energy pretty quick if you do
not have good energy regen and means to refill your energy (Presence of virtue, energy regen
from devotions, Talisman relic etc). Hence, I suggest that you try to play with Vire's might
and the Guardians of Empyrion until Bard's Harp devotion proc is at least rank 10 or so (level
50-60ish).

The devotions for leveling up is not optimal (ideal devos for this would be to get Fiend proc
bound to Guardians, but this will mess up our goal to get Bard's harp asap and might be
confusing for new(er) players). So, we will stick with the devotion plan for the goal build
from the start.

For the GT-links below, just look at skills and devotions.

Up to level 10, just kill mobs with a big 2-hand weapon with Righteous fervor. Vire is more
of a movement skill now (it does not require a target to cast).
Level 10: ​https://www.grimtools.com/calc/M2gEYvEZ

Level 20 we can focus more on Vire and Guardians. Pick up a shield.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2jYGXxN

Around here you will be able to pick up the ​Talisman relic​ from the ”​Lost elder quest​”.
When you hand in the quest, select ”No, I did not find a talisman” and you will get a pretty
good relic from free that have a skill that will regen your energy.

Level 30 Similar to level 20

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2M53J12

Level 40 Similar to level 30

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAgAWBN

Level 50 Similar to level 40

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/vNQW6K8V

Now you can go to FG and pick up the lowest tier version of the ”Totally normal shield”
mace:
https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/13725
When you have Bard's harp proc to around rank 10, you can switch to Eye of Reckoning as
main-skill. Make sure you have around 10% life steal (Toad gives 3%, restless remains in
gloves give 3% and Ghoul 4%, you can also try to use a ring or amulet with ”Vampiric”
and/or ”Dread Lord's prefix).

Level 60 EoR set-up

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4ZDR5QW2
Also use Ectoplasm / Mark of Illusion if you need more Energy and regen, Soul Shard for
energy absorption. Try also to use rings and amulets that have energy regen as default
modifier.

Now it is just a matter of filling in the rest of the skills so that you set-up looks more and
more like the goal build. Remember to still pumping the Soldier mastery bar for stats,
upgrading gear etc. For instance at level 75, you wanna pick up the Elite version of the
”Totally normal shield”. It is also important to hit revered with a few factions asap so that
you can use their armor augments for resistances (All pre-expansion factions armor augments
can be used from level 70).

The final thing you need to fix is to transition from Divine Mandate to Oleron's Rage
exclusive skill. In order to make this as smooth as possible, just make sure that you pump the
Soldier mastery bar until it is maxed (1 point into the mastery bar per level up is a good idea).
When you have maxed the Soldier bar, you can switch exclusive skill.

Do quests for Solael in FG, so that we can get their faction rings asap. Remember to buy and
apply writs (if you do not have mandates) for all factions as soon as you get honored with
them.

For armor gear in general, it is important that you have gear that are around your level so that
they provide as much base armor as possible.

If you take too much damage and die, it is most likely due to having low resistances, armor
and life steal.

7. Stats to aim for

At level 100ish

At least 14k health

40% physical resists
2.5k armor
140% attack speed (but try to get even higher! from 140% to 160% we get 14% more dps)
10% life steal
Overcapped elemental, poison, vitality and aether resistances.

Without Ascension and other procs:

2.8k OA, 2.7k DA, +1300% physical damage

With Overguard:
At least 50% Block chance, 70% block recovery, 4k dmg blocked.
8. Attribute points

As much as possible into Physique. Some spirit might be needed to wear Rings and Amulet.
Cunning is good for some more OA. But do not go overboard with Spirit and Cunning. 10-20
spirit and 20-30 cunning should be enough for starters. You can only respec attributes with a
special potion (quest rewards, nemesis troves, crucible and SR reward chests).

9. Damage conversions

We need Fire to Physical, Lightning to physical and/or Elemental to physical.

Remember that Elemental to x and the individual elemental damages gets converted
multiplicative.

e.g. let's say we have 30% Elemental > Physical and 50% > Fire > Physical.
Start with 100 flat fire damage.
First we convert 30% of that into physical (with elemental > phys conversion), we have 70
fire left.
Then we convert 50% of the remaining 70 fire damage to physical : 35 in total.
In total, we are left with 35 fire and 65 physical.
In total we got 65% conversion = 0.3 + (1-0.3)*0.5

Easy to get items for such conversions that fit this build are the MI shoulders ​Korvan
Spaulders ​(and lower tier)
or these blue shoulders ​Mythical Baldir's Mantle​ (and lower tier) and these ​Mythical
Dustbrawler's Shoulderguards

Also this helm ​Mythical Baldir's Mask​ (and lower tier), but then we miss out the nice things
on the Fettan mask.

10. Gameplay

Sometimes EoR if do not start, hold down "stationary attack" key to start it. You might also
need to step away and start the spinning. This is of particular annoyance when we do
Alkamos and Gargabol. You kinda have to move around when fighting these. If you try to
spin stationary on these guys, they will interrupt your attacks too often and reduce your health
severely.

Another situation we might be vulnerable in is when we are swarmed with many mobs and
we can’t tell if we are spinning or not. If you lose health too quick, try to start EoR with the
tips above or use a movement skill to get a fresh spinning start.
For those of you that have played Whirlwind Barbarian in Diablo III, Eye of Reckoning is
infinitely more clunky in comparison.

I have killed the superboss ​Callagadra, Scion of the Sands​ ​on Normal with this build. Doable
but require patience and playing skills. She drops these helms which can be considered an
upgrade actually​ ​Callagadra's Gaze​ ​and ​Callagadra's Gaze

11. Hot-Keys

W : War cry
E : Vire
R : Rift tear
T : Overguard
F : Ascension
LMB : move to
RMB : Spinning

12. Videos
Steps of Torment runs with Beginner Spinner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnkmTZsaPxw

13. Example of decked builds

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2m1wl02​ Sword and Board version.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/D2px3ye2​ Dual Wield version with Beronath sword (that

converts all the elemental damage to physical damage)
(Made by Sir Spanksalot on the Grim Dawn forum :
https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/1-1-2-0-the-ragin-phallus-dw-warborn-warlord-eor-e
verything/50454​ )

Keep the items these builds have in mind when you are playing.
If you get ​duplicate ​items of a set, you can try to ​reroll them​ with the new inventor feature
for a higher chance of completing a set compared to regular farming.

14. Future patches/updates

I will not have time to update this build guide with every new patch. Patch changes seldom
“kill” beginner builds but can sometimes “hurt” decked end-game builds. At the official Grim
Dawn forum you can read the patch notes and see what changes have been done to this guide.