GRIM DAWN / CLASSES / COMBOS

All 45 Class Combinations

Every pairing of two masteries, with the damage types it can scale, the expansion it needs, and whether this site has a build for it. 39 of 45 currently have at least one build.

Last updated: 2026-08-01

HOW TO READ THIS

▸The combination name is fixed by the two masteries you pick - you cannot choose it separately. The first mastery is chosen at level 2 and the second at level 10, and neither can be changed afterwards.
▸Damage types are the union of what both masteries scale well - not a list a build should use all of. Each mastery article explains how far to narrow and when to unify types through damage conversion.
▸The expansion shown is the later of the two masteries, since you need it to take that mastery at all.
▸A synergy note appears only where the mastery articles already document that pairing. Its absence means this site has not verified that pairing, not that the combination is weak.

ApostateAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Necromancer + Inquisitor

Damage: Vitality / Aether / Physical / Cold / Acid / Pierce / Bleeding / Elemental / Chaos

Builds: Aether Drain Essence Apostate

ArchonForgotten Gods

Masteries: Shaman + Oathkeeper

Damage: Lightning / Bleeding / Vitality / Physical / Cold / Fire / Acid / Retaliation

Builds: Vitality Primal Strike Archon

BattlemageBase Game

Masteries: Soldier + Arcanist

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Elemental / Fire / Cold / Lightning / Aether / Chaos

Brings armor, health, and shield block, directly covering the lowest Physique in the game.

Builds: Physical Blitz & Cadence Battlemage

BlademasterBase Game

Masteries: Soldier + Nightblade

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Cold / Acid / Vitality

Pierce and bleed overlap with Soldier's own damage types, while dual-wield weapon-pool skills and mobility raise its offense.

Builds: Pierce Phantasmal Blades Blademaster

CabalistAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Occultist + Necromancer

Damage: Acid / Vitality / Chaos / Bleeding / Aether / Physical / Cold / Pierce

Supplies the pet healing Necromancer lacks, along with strong debuffs, keeping the pet line alive.

Builds: Beginner Skeleton Pet Cabalist

CommandoBase Game

Masteries: Soldier + Demolitionist

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Fire / Lightning / Chaos

Adds plentiful area damage plus fire and lightning, covering the clear speed and elemental coverage Soldier lacks alone.

Builds: Fire Cadence & Blitz Commando

ConjurerBase Game

Masteries: Occultist + Shaman

Damage: Acid / Vitality / Chaos / Bleeding / Lightning / Physical / Cold

The standout base-game pet pairing: both masteries' buffs reinforce the pets while keeping the character itself durable.

Builds: Vitality Caster Conjurer

Death KnightAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Soldier + Necromancer

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Vitality / Aether / Cold / Acid

Adds weapon attacks and durability so Necromancer's high-multiplier weapon skills and ADCtH can commit to the front line.

Builds: Aether Blitz Death Knight

DeceiverAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Inquisitor + Occultist

Damage: Elemental / Pierce / Physical / Aether / Chaos / Acid / Vitality / Bleeding

Builds: Chaos Word of Pain & Flames of Ignaffar Deceiver

DefilerAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Demolitionist + Necromancer

Damage: Fire / Lightning / Physical / Chaos / Pierce / Vitality / Aether / Cold / Acid / Bleeding

Builds: Fire BWC & Ravenous Earth Defiler

DervishForgotten Gods

Masteries: Nightblade + Oathkeeper

Damage: Cold / Pierce / Acid / Bleeding / Vitality / Physical / Fire / Retaliation

Builds: Acid Righteous Fervor Dervish

DreadnaughtFangs of Asterkarnno build yet

Masteries: Demolitionist + Berserker

Damage: Fire / Lightning / Physical / Chaos / Pierce / Cold / Bleeding

DruidBase Game

Masteries: Arcanist + Shaman

Damage: Elemental / Fire / Cold / Lightning / Aether / Chaos / Bleeding / Vitality / Physical

Builds: Trozan's Sky Shard Druid

ElementalistBase Game

Masteries: Demolitionist + Shaman

Damage: Fire / Lightning / Physical / Chaos / Pierce / Bleeding / Vitality / Cold

Shares lightning so offense can be unified, and supplies the enemy Offensive Ability reduction and enemy damage reduction debuffs Shaman has no mastery skill for.

Builds: Lightning Stun Jacks Elementalist

EvokerFangs of Asterkarn

Masteries: Arcanist + Berserker

Damage: Elemental / Fire / Cold / Lightning / Aether / Chaos / Bleeding / Pierce

Shares cold damage - this site's play-verified Evoker build pairs Winds of Asterkarn as the main skill with Trozan's Sky Shard for single-target damage.

Builds: Winds of Asterkarn + Trozan's Sky Shard Evoker (beginner, play-tested)

InfiltratorAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Nightblade + Inquisitor

Damage: Cold / Pierce / Acid / Bleeding / Vitality / Elemental / Physical / Aether / Chaos

The Japanese wiki explicitly calls this pierce pairing very strong, and it adds elemental scaling and plentiful resistance reduction.

Builds: Shadow Strike Infiltrator

Mage HunterAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Arcanist + Inquisitor

Damage: Elemental / Fire / Cold / Lightning / Aether / Chaos / Pierce / Physical

Shares elemental damage while supplying both the resistance reduction Arcanist lacks and instant healing plus defensive skills.

Builds: Elemental Mage Hunter

MysticFangs of Asterkarn

Masteries: Occultist + Berserker

Damage: Acid / Vitality / Chaos / Bleeding / Cold / Pierce

Curse of Frailty layers on resistance reduction that covers cold. This site's Mystic build is a cold example of the pairing, but it has play reports only to level 30 and no endgame verification.

Builds: Ice King Werewolf & Hellhound Mystic (FoA launch-window build)

OppressorForgotten Gods

Masteries: Necromancer + Oathkeeper

Damage: Vitality / Aether / Physical / Cold / Acid / Pierce / Bleeding / Fire / Retaliation

Builds: Physical Sword & Board Righteous Fervor Oppressor

PaladinForgotten Gods

Masteries: Oathkeeper + Inquisitor

Damage: Physical / Fire / Acid / Vitality / Bleeding / Retaliation / Elemental / Pierce / Aether / Chaos

Builds: Fire Vire's Might Skater Paladin

PrimalistFangs of Asterkarnno build yet

Masteries: Shaman + Berserker

Damage: Lightning / Bleeding / Vitality / Physical / Cold / Pierce / Chaos

PurifierAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Demolitionist + Inquisitor

Damage: Fire / Lightning / Physical / Chaos / Pierce / Elemental / Aether

Shares fire and lightning so offense can be unified, and brings the defensive skills and instant healing Demolitionist lacks.

Builds: Fire Strike Gunslinger Purifier

PyromancerBase Game

Masteries: Demolitionist + Occultist

Damage: Fire / Lightning / Physical / Chaos / Pierce / Acid / Vitality / Bleeding

Adds resistance and Defensive Ability passives for durability, while its strong debuffs and chaos damage line up with Demolitionist's own.

Builds: Grenado & Canister Bomb Pyromancer

ReaperAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Nightblade + Necromancer

Damage: Cold / Pierce / Acid / Bleeding / Vitality / Aether / Physical

Builds: Cold Drain Essence Reaper

ReaverFangs of Asterkarn

Masteries: Nightblade + Berserker

Damage: Cold / Pierce / Acid / Bleeding / Vitality / Chaos

Dual wielding plus cold, pierce, and bleed overlap broadly. This site's Reaver build is a pierce example of the pairing, but note that its author states it is unplayed theorycraft.

Builds: Phantasmal Blades Crit Machine Reaver (FoA launch-window theorycraft)

RitualistAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Shaman + Necromancer

Damage: Lightning / Bleeding / Vitality / Physical / Cold / Aether / Acid / Pierce

Layers area healing and pet scaling and overlaps on vitality and bleed, producing a more complete pet build.

Builds: Dark One Bone Harvest Ritualist

RunekeeperFangs of Asterkarnno build yet

Masteries: Inquisitor + Berserker

Damage: Elemental / Pierce / Physical / Aether / Chaos / Cold / Bleeding

SaboteurBase Game

Masteries: Demolitionist + Nightblade

Damage: Fire / Lightning / Physical / Chaos / Pierce / Cold / Acid / Bleeding / Vitality

Builds: Fire Blackwater Cocktail & Canister Bomb Saboteur

SentinelForgotten Gods

Masteries: Oathkeeper + Occultist

Damage: Physical / Fire / Acid / Vitality / Bleeding / Retaliation / Chaos

Meshes with the acid and vitality branch, and Curse of Frailty plus Aspect of the Guardian patch its resistance gaps.

Builds: Acid Aegis of Menhir Sentinel

ShieldbreakerForgotten Gods

Masteries: Demolitionist + Oathkeeper

Damage: Fire / Lightning / Physical / Chaos / Pierce / Acid / Vitality / Bleeding / Retaliation

Shares fire so offense can be unified, and brings the crowd control and thrown area damage Oathkeeper is thinner on.

Builds: Fire Blackwater Cocktail & Guardians Shieldbreaker

SorcererBase Game

Masteries: Demolitionist + Arcanist

Damage: Fire / Lightning / Physical / Chaos / Pierce / Elemental / Cold / Aether

Shares elemental damage so offense can be unified, and adds a percentage damage reduction buff plus an emergency evade to shore up durability.

Builds: Fire Grenado & Blackwater Cocktail Sorcerer

SpellbinderAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Arcanist + Necromancer

Damage: Elemental / Fire / Cold / Lightning / Aether / Chaos / Vitality / Physical / Acid / Pierce / Bleeding

Builds: Albrecht's Aether Ray Spellbinder

SpellbreakerBase Game

Masteries: Arcanist + Nightblade

Damage: Elemental / Fire / Cold / Lightning / Aether / Chaos / Pierce / Acid / Bleeding / Vitality

Builds: Cold Ring of Steel & Shadow Strike Spellbreaker

TacticianAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Soldier + Inquisitor

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Elemental / Aether / Chaos

Builds: Elemental 2H Cadence Tactician

TemplarForgotten Gods

Masteries: Oathkeeper + Arcanist

Damage: Physical / Fire / Acid / Vitality / Bleeding / Retaliation / Elemental / Cold / Lightning / Aether / Chaos

Builds: Lightning Albrecht's Aether Ray Templar

ThaneFangs of Asterkarnno build yet

Masteries: Soldier + Berserker

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Cold / Chaos

TricksterBase Game

Masteries: Shaman + Nightblade

Damage: Lightning / Bleeding / Vitality / Physical / Cold / Pierce / Acid

Builds: Shadow Strike Trickster

VeilwalkerFangs of Asterkarnno build yet

Masteries: Necromancer + Berserker

Damage: Vitality / Aether / Physical / Cold / Acid / Pierce / Bleeding / Chaos

VindicatorAshes of Malmouth

Masteries: Shaman + Inquisitor

Damage: Lightning / Bleeding / Vitality / Physical / Cold / Elemental / Pierce / Aether / Chaos

Builds: Farming Lightning Vindicator

WarderBase Game

Masteries: Soldier + Shaman

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Lightning / Vitality / Cold

Shares physical and bleed, and adds armor, health, and enemy damage reduction for stability on the front line - shield block only applies when a shield is equipped, so it does not carry over to a two-handed build.

Builds: Primal Strike Warder

WarlockBase Game

Masteries: Occultist + Arcanist

Damage: Acid / Vitality / Chaos / Bleeding / Elemental / Fire / Cold / Lightning / Aether

Builds: Raven & Hellhound Pet Warlock

WarlordForgotten Gods

Masteries: Soldier + Oathkeeper

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Fire / Acid / Vitality / Retaliation

Layers shield block, armor, and physical resistance reduction, raising durability and damage together for shield and retaliation builds.

Builds: Beginner Retaliation Warlord、Forcewave Warlord

Witch HunterBase Game

Masteries: Nightblade + Occultist

Damage: Cold / Pierce / Acid / Bleeding / Vitality / Chaos

Shares acid and bleed as damage types and layers additional resistance reduction through Curse of Frailty.

Builds: Bleeding Blade Spirit & Pox Witch Hunter

WitchbladeBase Game

Masteries: Soldier + Occultist

Damage: Physical / Bleeding / Pierce / Acid / Vitality / Chaos

Curse of Frailty reduces a wide range of resistances including physical, directly covering Soldier's weakest point.

Builds: Physical Blade Arc Witchblade

ZealotFangs of Asterkarnno build yet

Masteries: Oathkeeper + Berserker

Damage: Physical / Fire / Acid / Vitality / Bleeding / Retaliation / Cold / Pierce / Chaos