Grim Dawn is many things, but chief among them is a role-playing game. Players customize their characters to suit their specific skill sets. Facilitating this is a selection of classes, each boasting strengths and weaknesses. It's all familiar stuff.
Grim Dawn's take on that familiarity comes in the form of Masteries. Despite the new name, these are essentially the classes that players can pursue. Most of them are centered on combat, which makes sense due to the game's action-based approach. As such, picking the right Mastery usually revolves around its usefulness in battle. The best ones combine elements to create deadly hybrid jobs. Players wouldn't want to be pigeonholed, after all.
7 Soldier
Soldiers, or warriors, are usually the conventional fighters in gaming. They have a balanced array of stats with no special tricks. They may not boast much magic, but they're reliable as physical fighters. That remains the case in Grim Dawn.
This Mastery's skills focus on hitting hard and taking any retribution head-on. Any buffs deal with boosting physical, critical, and piercing damage. Others improve one's recharge rate, energy reserves, and resistances. In short, they keep the health up and abilities available, all so that players can keep swinging. As such, the Soldier is best suited to those who prefer the direct approach.
6 Occultist
This is the de facto poison/necromancer class. The game reflects that in the skill tree. The Occultist deals with curses and toxic spells which whittle down foe's health. They're designed to kill enemies over time. Of course, this risks the player incurring damage themselves before the target keels over.
Luckily, the Occultist has some measures against that. Not only does it sport a few direct spells like lightning bolts, but it can summon several servants to act as bodyguards. These minions are somewhat fragile, but the Occultist has yet more magic to beef them up. Those who invest enough skill points can have a makeshift army on their hands. They can then sit on the sidelines while their thralls do all the fighting.
5 Nightblade
Like the Occultist, the Nightblade's skills lie in sabotage. The difference is that the latter is more melee-centric. Players have a plethora of specialized strikes which bypass enemy armor through piercing. In the process, they inflict bleeding and other status effects, especially frost damage. Going through one's defenses makes the Nightblade a time-efficient killer.
The player's own defense falls by the wayside in favor of offense. The class lacks a shield, but it enables dual-wielding weapons to compensate. In addition, it sports several traps and illusions to stop enemies in their tracks. Oftentimes, this involves conjuring more blades from pure energy. The enemies then feel like they're fighting ten people instead of one. Unfortunately, the lack of defensive options means the player is essentially a glass cannon.
4 Demolitionist
As the name suggests, the Demolitionist emphasizes explosives. Its skills equip the player with various bombs and projectile flames to inflict burning damage. To be more on-the-nose, it even comes with a Molotov cocktail. These weapons are great for wearing down approaching enemies, but the Mastery's uses don't stop at ranged attacks.
The Demolitionist also has a few melee skills. These infuse the player's strikes with both fire and piercing damage. For tougher foes, there are area-of-effect moves and elemental shield conjuration, which pay back any damage dealt with searing retaliation. Any firebugs out there will have a blast with this Mastery.
3 Inquisitor
This Mastery is for those who prefer projectiles to melee moves. The skill tree makes use of the character's dual pistols by conjuring several types of ammo. Players can obviously inflict piercing and other physical damage, but the bullets also have magical enhancements like fire and ice. Such magic is where this Mastery truly comes alive.
In that, the Inquisitor is basically a better version of the Arcanist. Players can shoot lightning bolts, ice beams, and flamethrowers. What's more, is that they can activate buffs to intensify damage and cast more frequently. Granted, they have few options for up-close combat; the class counts on enemies not reaching the player. Thankfully, the spells are potent enough that this shouldn't be a problem.
2 Oathkeeper
The Mastery is essentially the Soldier on steroids, albeit mystical ones. It has a slew of physical attacks with both weapons and shields. These all hit hard enough on their own, but the elements amplify the damage.
The Oathkeeper comes with a handful of stylized movements and AoE strikes, often with potent magic attached. The effects range from burning to acid to lightning. At the same time, players can beef up the hero with resistances, summoned allies, and damage-to-health conversions. These perks add up to a magical freight train. Any enemy who tries to stop that train gets burned (literally).
1 Shaman
At first glance, the Shaman looks like a tank class. Masters of this field wield two-handed melee weapons like hammers. Sure enough, they pack a powerful punch. Their heavy strikes crush the targets along with anyone else in the vicinity. However, the Shaman's uses go beyond brute force.
The Mastery combines those heavy blows with magic. Namely, it adds a lightning effect to one's swings. Given the high melee damage, this extra effect is an unnecessary yet welcome perk. There's still the issue of slow striking speed due to the weapons' weight, but the Mastery provides an answer to that, too. To prevent enemies from interrupting the warrior's swings, the skill tree offers a variety of buffs, thus increasing the player's resistances. Finally, the icing on the cake comes from one's allies, which the Shaman can summon at will. A player using this Mastery will be a one-man army on both the physical and magical side.
Grim Dawn is currently available on PC and Xbox One.