Attribute Points: Physique / Cunning / Spirit

What Each Attribute Raises

Attribute points come one per level plus quest rewards, each granting +8 to the chosen attribute.

• ▸Physique: per attribute unit, +2.5 health, +0.05 health regeneration, and +0.4 Defensive Ability (DA). Also the requirement stat for armor and mainly axes, maces, and two-handed melee weapons.
• ▸Cunning: per unit, +0.4 Offensive Ability (OA), +0.41% physical/pierce damage, +0.46% internal trauma/bleed damage, and +1.0 health. The requirement stat for one-handed swords, daggers, guns, and the like.
• ▸Spirit: per unit, +2 energy with energy regeneration (+0.01 and +0.26%), +0.47% magical damage, and +0.5% magical duration damage. The requirement stat for caster gear.
• ▸Spirit's health contribution went up in v1.3.0.0. The official note reads "Increased Health per point of Spirit to 12, up from 8" - that is, per allocated point (which grants +8 to the attribute) health went from +8 to +12, so roughly +1 to +1.5 health per unit of Spirit. Physique is still by far the larger source of health.
• ▸Exact breakdowns show on the character sheet tooltips - the in-game display is the final authority, since the math is layered.

The Standard Allocation

• ▸The standard: spend into Cunning/Spirit exactly to meet gear requirements, and everything else into Physique.
• ▸The reason: damage (% bonuses, OA) pours in from gear, skills, and devotion - but attributes are nearly the only big source of base health and DA.
• ▸Even casters don't dump everything into Spirit; energy management can be covered by gear and components.
• ▸When gear upgrades loosen the requirements, route future points to Physique.
• ▸Follow each build page's recommendation for fine-tuning - this article's rule is the safe default when in doubt.

Respec Options

• ▸The base game has no attribute respec - allocations are permanent, and the Spirit Guide does not handle them.
• ▸Only with AoM can a Tonic of Reshaping return every attribute point to unallocated (acquisition and procedure in the Respec article).
• ▸Since respecs are scarce, avoiding adventurous allocations beyond requirement-matching is the safe posture.

1. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Player — Confirms +8 attribute per allocated point, one point per level, the gear-requirement roles (one-handed swords/daggers/guns = Cunning, etc.), and that the base game has no respec (AoM's Tonic of Reshaping only). The precise per-unit numbers come from the official Character Basics guide instead: a 2026-08-02 re-check found the "+0.5 or more" DA/OA figures previously taken from this page conflicted with the official 0.4.
2. Official Grim Dawn Game Guide: Combat — Confirms OA/DA governing hits and crits - the background for valuing Physique/Cunning allocation.
3. Official Grim Dawn Game Guide: Character Basics — Cross-checked the per-unit values against the official figures (Physique: +2.5 health, +0.05 health regeneration, +0.4 DA; Cunning: +1.0 health, +0.41% physical and pierce, +0.46% internal trauma and bleed, +0.4 OA; Spirit: +1.5 health, +0.47% magical, +0.5% magical duration, +2 energy, +0.01 and +0.26% energy regeneration), plus the rule that one allocated point raises the attribute by 8. A 2026-08-02 re-check corrected the previously stated "+0.5 or more" DA/OA figures, which conflicted with the official 0.4.
4. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn v1.2.1.6 + Hotfix — Official patch notes for the version whose per-attribute values were cross-checked.
5. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn Version v1.3.0.0 + Hotfixes — Confirms "Increased Health per point of Spirit to 12, up from 8". A 2026-08-02 re-check read every v1.3.0.0 entry plus v1.3.0.4 and v1.3.0.5 and found this to be the only attribute-related change - the Physique and Cunning effects and the Tonic-of-Reshaping-only respec rule are unchanged.