Berserker - Beast Forms, Dual Wielding, and the Winds of Asterkarn

What It Does Well

Officially described as the brutal defenders of Asterkarn who embraced the beast god Mogdrogen's gifts to shapeshift into ferocious beastlike forms, harnessing Asterkarn's bitter winds to infuse their weapons and shatter their foes - and bringing down prey in savage dual weapon combat when not in their wereforms.

• ▸Favored damage types are 1. cold, 2. bleed, 3. pierce, 4. chaos, per the Japanese wiki's mastery index.
• ▸Attribute growth: Physique 3.5 / Cunning 4 / Spirit 1.5 - specifically +4 Physique, +4 Cunning, +2 Spirit, +27 health, and +11 energy per mastery level.
• ▸Shapeshifting: two forms, Werewolf at tier 1 and Wereraven at tier 3.
• ▸Cold line: Winds of Asterkarn, Glacial Talons, Everwinter, Icebound, Hailstorm, Avalanche, and Bonechilling Cry.
• ▸Ch'thon line: Blight of Ch'thon, Covenant of Ch'thon, and Talons of Ch'thon.
• ▸Exclusive skills: Bloodborne and Heart of Asterkarn, both at tier 9.
• ▸Dual wielding: the tier-1 passive Implements of War is a dual weapon bonus that also unlocks dual wielding and dual pistols. Its in-game text reads "This is a dual weapon bonus. Also enables the ability to dual wield weapons."
• ▸Others: Onslaught, Amatok's Pact, Bloodfangs, Battle Surge, Rallying Cry, Untamed Rage, Leap, and Form of the Beast.

What Is Currently Verifiable

Fangs of Asterkarn released on 2026-07-23, and as of 2026-08-02 the Japanese wiki's Berserker page still has empty overview, strengths, and weaknesses sections. This section reports what this site's Berserker builds support, explicitly separating what has been play-verified from what is still theorycraft.

• ▸Only one of these is play-verified. A cold channeling build is confirmed by play through the Evoker - Winds of Asterkarn as the main skill with Arcanist's Trozan's Sky Shard for single-target damage - whose author completed the Ultimate main campaign.
• ▸That build's level progression runs Werewolf early, into Wereraven around level 12, into Winds of Asterkarn around level 40, adding Trozan's Sky Shard around level 70.
• ▸The other two lack that evidence. Mystic (Occultist + Berserker) has a play report only up to level 30 on SSF Veteran and no endgame data, and Reaver (Nightblade + Berserker) is stated by its own author to be unplayed theorycraft. Treat both as weak support for the pairing.
• ▸In v1.3.0.4 the Werewolf and Wereraven hitboxes were adjusted, with audio and animation consistency fixes applied.
• ▸Deliberately absent: an overall strengths/weaknesses summary, comparisons against other masteries, and recommended skill allocations. The primary sources are not yet in place. For concrete pairings, the build list on this site is the reliable reference right now.

1. Official Grim Dawn Game Guide: Masteries — Confirms Berserker as a shapeshifting defender empowered by wind magic who employs dual weapons and savage combat, that the Fangs of Asterkarn expansion is required, and the ten-mastery roster.
2. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Berserker — Confirms the backstory, the skill list (the Werewolf and Wereraven forms, Winds of Asterkarn, Glacial Talons, Everwinter, Icebound, Hailstorm, Avalanche, Bonechilling Cry, the three Ch'thon skills, and the two tier-9 exclusives Bloodborne and Heart of Asterkarn, among others), and the attribute table (+4 Physique, +4 Cunning, +2 Spirit, +27 health, +11 energy per level). As of 2026-08-02 its overview, strengths, and weaknesses sections are empty, which is why this article carries no overall summary.
3. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Implements of War — Confirms this tier-1 passive and its in-game text "This is a dual weapon bonus. Also enables the ability to dual wield weapons," along with the wiki's note that it unlocks both dual wielding and dual pistols. This is what establishes that the Japanese wiki's "only mastery" claims for Nightblade's gear-free dual wielding and Inquisitor's dual pistols no longer hold after Fangs of Asterkarn.
4. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Masteries index — Confirms Berserker's attribute growth (Physique 3.5 / Cunning 4 / Spirit 1.5), favored damage types (1. cold, 2. bleed, 3. pierce, 4. chaos), and its addition by Fangs of Asterkarn. Note the page's prose still says six base masteries plus two from AoM and one from FG for nine total - that text predates FoA, while the same table lists Berserker as an FoA addition.
5. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn Version v1.3.0.4 + Hotfixes — Official patch notes for the verified version, which adjusted the Werewolf and Wereraven hitboxes with audio and animation consistency fixes, and rebalanced Fangs of Asterkarn enemies at low levels to reduce their burst potential.