Difficulties and Merits (Difficulty Skip)

The Difficulty Ladder and How It Unlocks

Difficulties unlock per character. Quest progress is shared between Normal and Veteran, while Elite and Ultimate each track progress independently.

• ▸Normal is available from the start. Veteran is not a separate difficulty but a toggle that hardens Normal: enemies get tougher with more champion/hero spawns, in exchange for more loot and +10% XP.
• ▸Veteran can be toggled on or off at any time from the title menu's character selection screen, before loading a character into the world.
• ▸Since v1.2.0.0, defeating Loghorrean (the Act 4 final boss) on Normal/Veteran unlocks both Elite and Ultimate for that character. The unlock is not retroactive for kills made before the patch.
• ▸v1.2.0.0 also expanded level scaling: many Normal areas and all Elite areas now scale up to level 100, so you can reach the level cap on whichever difficulty you enjoy.
• ▸Legendary-tier items almost never drop on Normal; loot quality rises with difficulty.

What Changes on Higher Difficulties

• ▸Elite applies -25% to your primary resistances (Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison & Acid, Pierce).
• ▸Ultimate applies -50% to primary and -25% to secondary resistances (Bleeding, Vitality, Aether, Chaos).
• ▸See the related Resistances article for how to check and fill the penalty.
• ▸Enemies are higher-level and more powerful, letting you keep leveling - and loot quality improves.

Skipping Difficulties with Merits (FG)

FG (which itself requires the base game and Ashes of Malmouth) adds Merits - difficulty-skip items intended for your subsequent characters.

• ▸A Champion's Merit unlocks Elite; a Savior's Merit unlocks Elite and Ultimate.
• ▸They are sold by the merchant Asgra at the Conclave of the Three, the FG hub. The Champion's Merit is only offered while playing on Elite, and the Savior's Merit only on Ultimate.
• ▸To reach the Conclave, the buying character must defeat Warden Krieg (the Act 1 final boss) on that difficulty, then follow the Emissary's introductory quest (the Emissary appears after the kill) to open the rift to the FG area - merely having the difficulty unlocked is not enough to buy one.
• ▸The buying character cannot use one - place it in the shared (transfer) stash for the new character you want to skip with.
• ▸Using one unlocks the difficulty and also grants the lower difficulties' quest rewards (skill/attribute points), lower-difficulty riftgates, and all inventory bags. It is consumed on use.
• ▸A character who already has that difficulty unlocked (for example, by defeating Loghorrean after v1.2.0.0) cannot use one.

What You Miss (and Don't) When Skipping

• ▸Since v1.2.0.0, completing a skill/attribute point quest on a higher difficulty also grants the points from the same quest on the difficulties you skipped - the old worry of permanently missing points is gone.
• ▸You still need to complete each point-reward quest once on the difficulty you are playing; only the lower-difficulty copies are auto-granted.
• ▸The standard alt route is a Savior's Merit straight to Ultimate. v1.2.0.0 made Elite/Ultimate easier at levels 1-50 for Merit users, but the -50% primary resistance penalty applies from the start, so level with resistances in mind.
• ▸A Merit grants the difficulty, points, riftgates, and bags - it does not complete quests for you or stand in for skipped difficulties' faction gear and achievements.

1. Official Grim Dawn Game Guide: Game Difficulties — Confirms the Veteran toggle and its effects (tougher enemies, more champions/heroes, more loot), that Elite/Ultimate unlock upon defeating the base game's final boss, and that legendaries almost never drop on Normal.
2. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn v1.2.0.0/1/2/3 Hotfixes — Confirms the simultaneous Elite/Ultimate unlock on defeating Loghorrean (non-retroactive), lower-difficulty point rewards granted by higher-difficulty quest completion, expanded level scaling, and the easier Elite/Ultimate levels 1-50 for Merit users.
3. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: GameMode, Difficulty — Confirms the per-difficulty resistance penalties (Elite -25% primary; Ultimate -50% primary / -25% secondary), the Veteran toggle and +10% XP, and shared Normal/Veteran vs. independent Elite/Ultimate quest progress.
4. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Consumables — Confirms the Merits' Japanese names, FG requirement, effects on use (lower-difficulty point rewards, riftgates, all inventory bags), the vendor Asgra, and that they are single-use.
5. Grim Dawn Japanese Wiki: Forgotten Gods Overview — Confirms the Champion's Merit is sold only on Elite and the Savior's only on Ultimate, that the Savior's Merit unlocks both Elite and Ultimate, and that the FG area is reached via the introductory quest from the NPC who appears after defeating the Act 1 boss.
6. Official Grim Dawn Guide: About Forgotten Gods — Confirms the official Merit names (Champion's / Savior's Merits), that using one immediately grants all skill/attribute point rewards from the previous difficulties, and that FG requires the base game and Ashes of Malmouth.
7. Official Crate Forum: Can't use Savior's Merit after beating Log on normal — Confirms that a character who already unlocked the difficulties (e.g. via the post-v1.2.0.0 Loghorrean kill) cannot use a Merit - working as intended.
8. Official Crate Forum: Grim Dawn v1.2.1.6 + Hotfix — Official patch notes for the verified version.