Grim Dawn Act 3 complete and build 26 live – Game release later this year

Crate Entertainment are back with another update for their ARPG Grim Dawn, Build 26 in fact.

This build is a big milestone for the team as Act 3 is now complete taking players beyond the northern walls of Homestead and into the Cult of Ch’thon’s territory. This new content means there’s been an increase in the level cap to 50 and more than 70 new Epic items have been added to the game.

Crate has been keeping tight lipped about a final release date but there is some news on that front as today they have reiterated that Grim Dawn will release by the end of this year.

There’s still more to come with the addition of Legendary Items, the Devotion System, and an unannounced 6th Mastery. For now though, here’s what’s just gone live in the Early Access version of the game.

[Major New Features]

• The Final Chapter of Act 3 is now available. Venture out to the north of Homestead and face off against the vile Cult of Ch’thon and their minions. Learn about what brought the Cult to the north and the cataclysmic plans they have in store for Cairn in Act 4!
• Humanity will not survive through the efforts of just one individual. Join forces with the enigmatic Order of Death’s Vigil or the zealous Kymon’s Chosen factions and turn them into valuable allies in the battles ahead.
• Two new Nemesis bosses have been added; one each for the Order of Death’s Vigil and Kymon’s Chosen factions.
• The Level Cap has been increased to 50. Discover new loot and reach for ever greater power as you gain access to over 70 Epic items and class-specific Rare suffixes.

[Tech]

• Critical Damage Bonus now visible on Character Sheet
• Pet reputation levels sync with player’s regularly instead of only on pet creation
• Skill confirmation dialog changed back to not require confirmation in between mastery panels
• Bonus items from dismantling now have a proper seed

[Art]

• Updated Aether Crack terrain texture and Scattered bone Terrain Texture

[Game]

• Boss and Hero monster health scaling adjusted. Should have minimal impact at the levels you normally fight individual bosses at, but improve scaling at higher levels.
• Drop rate of Manticore eyes increased
• Rifthounds have had their Component table replaced so that Bristly Furs will drop more consistently in the early game
• Drop rate of Bristly Fur from Boneback rats has been increased
• Bounty: Mortallis now spawns on the first 3 floors of Steps of Torment instead of the bottom 2 floors. Reward reduced.
• Bounty: Lord Executioner has been replaced with a new target that does not require entry into the roguelike dungeon. Reward reduced.
• Updated the requirements, rewards and text for various bounties. Some bounties may be reset because of this.
• Fixed an issue that could cause players on any bounty to be stuck without a bounty and unable to accept another
• Fixed Stone Clan Groble bleed dealing excessive damage
• Sped up default cast animations by 8%
• Fixed an issue with being unable to complete the Seamstress quest

[Itemization]

• 12 new Faction Augments have been added to support Pet builds
• 6 new Faction Augments have been added for Burn, Coldburn and Electrocute builds
• Many older Monster Infrequents (MIs) have had their stats updated to bring them in line with more recently introduced MIs
• Rare Suffix – Abomination: removed % Offensive Ability for real this time, added % Physical damage
• Component – Arcane Spark: can now also be applied to Medals
• Component – Mark of the Myrmidon: added 16% Reflect
• Crafting – several blueprints have been updated to use Chthonic Seals of Binding instead of Aether Crystals. More blueprints will be introduced in the future that use this crafting material.
• 14 new Epics have been added to the loot pool in the 10-50 range

[Class & Skills]

Soldier

• Warcry: now has tiered effects that scale in size to more accurately represent the skills effect radius. Radius increased.
• Markovian’s Advantage and Zolhan’s Technique have been adjusted to provide a more fair value relative to other weapon pool skills, for their weight for point investment. They now increment to 25% prior to the level cap, then only bonuses increment.
• Markovian’s Advantage and Zolhan’s Technique bonuses have been shifted around and rebalanced to be more in line with the number of targets each skill hits
• Blade Arc: Bleed and % Weapon damage scaling increased
• Break Morale: changed from % Total resistance reduction to absolute Physical resist reduction. The resistance reduction also scales up to about twice what the original provided.

Demolitionist

• Fire Strike: Fire damage scaling with rank increased
• Static Strike: base chance increased from 15% to 30%, scaling to 60% at max and 75% at ultimate. Damage adjusted to start lower but scale higher.
• Quick Jacks: Lightning damage reduction increased to -30%, from -25%

Occultist

• Wasting: Vitality damage increased
• Black Death: Poison damage increased. Vitality and Bleed % damage bonuses increased
• Sigil of Destruction: Chaos and Fire damage increased

Nightblade

• Weapon-pool skill weights now all start at 8% and increment to 20% by level 5. Beyond that level, only the power of the skill increases.
• Scaling on various weapon pool skills adjusted based on the higher starting weights and change of Nidalla’s Hidden Hand to affect Belgothian’s Shears and Amarasta’s Quick Cut.
• Belgothian’s Shears %physical bonus changed to pierce so that it isn’t self-boosting and flat physical scaled down slightly.
• Amarasta’s Quick Cut %weapon damage scales to a higher cap. Pierce damage also increased at cap but %pierce was removed.
• Whirling Death %weapon damage starts lower but scales faster to reach within 5% of the than the original cap. Bleed damage scaling increased.
• Ring of Steel: Pierce damage starts lower but scales faster to reach a higher max damage
• Circle of Slaughter: Bleed damage significantly increased
• Blade Trap: replaced % Weapon damage, which was actually not functioning, with flat Pierce damage. A significant damage increase for the skill. % Defensive Ability reduction now scales with rank, starting at -25%, instead of being -50% at all ranks.
• Devouring Blades: added % Pierce bonus, reduced starting % Damage Converted to Health to 25%, from 33%
• Frenetic Throw: Total damage reduction increased
• Lethal Gambit: % Current Life damage minimum now scales up to 7% at max ranks instead of remaining at 1% at all ranks
• Amarasta’s Blade Burst: % Weapon damage now scales up to 75%, up from 50%
• Merciless Repertoire: % damage bonuses increased. Added % Acid damage bonus

Arcanist

• Panetti’s Replicating Missile: slightly increased scaling, more so at rank 13 and above
• Distortion: slightly increased Aether damage scaling with rank, with a bump at rank 12. Added % Fire damage
• Supercharged: % Elemental damage bonus increased with rank
• Proliferation: now starts at 2 additional fragments, % Aether damage bonus increased with rank
• Sky Shard: area of effect scaling increased, but energy cost increased with rank as well