Oathkeeper - Using the Shield as a Weapon and Turning Retaliation Into Damage

What It Does Well

Officially described as sharing unflinching loyalty and zealous fury whether they come from the Temple of Menhir or gave their souls to the witch gods - to them, shields and divine powers are not cover but weapons.

• ▸Offense: many skills draw on the shield's weapon damage, dealing damage while reducing what you take.
• ▸Retaliation: several attack skills carry the Forgotten Gods mechanic that adds part of your retaliation damage to the attack, which opened up retaliation builds.
• ▸Varied attack forms: a charge-based default-attack replacement, two weapon pool skills, a piercing dash, a spinning movement attack, a ranged attack that chains across targets, and an area attack that widens.
• ▸Pets: multiple permanent, undying pets that scale off the player's damage bonuses and Offensive Ability, and can carry a broad resistance reduction aura.
• ▸Passives and buffs: armor, Offensive Ability, energy regeneration, health, healing effectiveness, shield block, and critical damage, plus the rare reflected-damage reduction and health-reduction resistance.
• ▸Exclusive skill: one that reduces cooldowns across all skills.
• ▸Attribute growth: Physique 4 / Cunning 1.5 / Spirit 2.

Strengths and Weaknesses

• ▸Strength: many skills scale off the shield's weapon damage, so damage and mitigation come together.
• ▸Strength: not quite Soldier, but still strong at shield-based defense.
• ▸Strength: permanent, undying player-bonus pets whose aura applies broad resistance reduction.
• ▸Strength: an untargeted piercing dash and a spinning movement attack support mobility-focused builds.
• ▸Weakness: outside a temporary buff in the Righteous Fervor tree, no skill raises elemental resistances.
• ▸Weakness: no skill raises health regeneration or heals instantly.
• ▸Weakness: the important category B resistance reduction only unlocks at maximum mastery level.
• ▸What it lacks amounts to instant healing, regeneration scaling, and percentage damage absorption - the Japanese wiki calls it a very strong mastery overall.

Choosing a Partner and Getting Started

It covers many damage types and works without a shield, so partner options are wide. As with Titan Quest's Defender, it clicks faster once you treat the shield as a weapon rather than armor.

• ▸Soldier: layers shield block, armor, and physical resistance reduction, raising both durability and damage for shield and retaliation builds.
• ▸Demolitionist: shares fire while bringing the crowd control and area damage Oathkeeper is thinner on.
• ▸Occultist: meshes with the acid and vitality branch, and Curse of Frailty plus Aspect of the Guardian patch the resistance gaps.
• ▸Since the mastery does not raise elemental resistances, fill them from gear first (see the Resistance Fix Lookup article).
• ▸For what Forgotten Gods adds and whether you have it, see the DLC Guide.

1. Official Grim Dawn Game Guide: Masteries — Confirms Oathkeepers as guardians of sacred tombs and keepers of the faithful who treat shields and divine power as weapons rather than cover, and that the Forgotten Gods expansion is required.
2. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Oathkeeper — Confirms the Forgotten Gods origin; the many skills that attack with the shield, as with Titan Quest's Defender; the physical-plus-fire default with an acid-plus-vitality branch; the several attack skills carrying the FG retaliation-added-to-attack mechanic; the permanent undying pets and their resistance reduction aura covering physical/fire/lightning/cold or acid/vitality/bleed; that the Righteous Fervor, Presence of Virtue, Vire's Might, Resilience, Ascension, and Summon Guardian of Empyrion trees justify the mastery even without a shield; and the listed strengths and weaknesses (no elemental resistance scaling outside a temporary buff, no instant heal or regeneration scaling, and category B resistance reduction gated at maximum mastery level).
3. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Masteries index — Confirms the attribute growth (Physique 4 / Cunning 1.5 / Spirit 2), favored damage types (1. physical/fire/acid, 2. bleed, 3. vitality), and the generalist positioning strong at shields and retaliation while supporting tank, ranged, and caster builds.
4. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn Version v1.3.0.4 + Hotfixes — Official patch notes for the verified version.