I’m at a crossroads. My gut is telling me all attack but the extra defence may be better and balance between the 2. The more his skill goes off the better. I’m curious what the pros are doing.
Apologies if this is a repeat thread, I did attempt to search , with no luck.
Go attack! His DoT will be even greater.
In fact pretty much any DoT heroes, I’d go attack path if you decide to give emblems.
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Thank you @l2ider these precious emblems are a big decision with how hard they are to gather. Going attack!
Go defense/HP route.
He is already very fast so it doesnt matter if he gains a little extra offense. The main point for him is to be able to keep launching his special consecutively.
High survivability = longer lifespan to launch more specials
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Bumping up this thread as I’ve been lucky enough to get GM during Atlantis Rise (70 pulls). Been power leveling him (thank you SG for Atlantis Rising and all the rugged clothes, backpacks and swords!) and should be done by end of day.
With this said, I’ll be moving a whole lot of emblems from Grimm+17 to GM. I’ve had a very simple approach with all my emblems:
- If it’s a tank / healer / mana control hero => defense/health path.
- If it’s a sniper / damage dealer => attack path.
Kind of having a hard time figuring out where GM fits in those 2 categories.
My current tank is Kunchen. I’m planning on using GM on the flank.
I think I’ll go with Evelyn/Lianna - GM - Kunchen - Onatel - Alasie.
So, I see one vote attack and one vote defense in this thread so far. I’m leaning defense… I think?
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
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I will still go defense/HP route
Thanks AirHawk. I just looked at the top players and about 8 out of 10 have an attack build. Probably to take advantage of the higher DoT and bleed damage. Thinking I’m leading that way now.
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Judging by the path of the GM talent tree, I am chosing to go attack till about the 13th node then maybe add some defence. But until then I am going attack route thus far.
Great post, I was actually thinking the same due to scoring GM over the weekend. Personally, I would still say going down the Def/Health path will benefit him most. Being very fast you want him to survive, that extra Def/Health may just be enough for GM to fire one more time which can make all the difference.
For many barbarian heroes, choosing all attack, all defense or all HP has little effect ( see notes).
However Gravemaker has a unique 2 turn DOT for target and nearby. Gravemaker’s DOT, like all DOT, bypass defense stat and reflect damage ( but not the recent reflect ailments seen on newer heroes ).
This makes Gravemaker one of the few heroes to get a huge impact from raising attack stat.
Since attack buffs do not increase DOT but defense buffs increase defense and minions increase HP, attack nodes ( and troops) are the only way to increase Gravemaker’s DOT.
increased attack also helps with wound talent and boosts the effect of Gravemaker’s elemental link.
Natalya is tricky because her DOT is non dispellable and longer ( and only effects a single target ), but Gravemaker is the strongest argument for a 5*+18 all attack barbarian hero.
All attack barbarian heroes do not even have to decide between HP or defense since no fork has two attack branches.
Notes
Click for notes
Choosing every branch with attack or defense or HP.
Does not apply here, but I am including since Gravemaker is the exception that shows why these are just guidelines:
FIN
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Thank you for the very thorough response and well articulated view. I checked our local forum experts @Kerridoc @Razor and their GM emblem build was all attack as well. If most top player have chosen that route, including some of the most insightful minds on this forum, that’s good enough for me.
Just a couple more levels to go before he gets those emblems…
Have a great day all and thanks for your guidance!
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@Gryphonknight if people cannot see the right path even after your excellent explanation, then let them be.
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People also sleep on tile damage on titans with bleed. My gormek on level 7 or so I have seen deal 500+ in bleed damage after a massive cascade. Since bleed is based off attack…
Go GM to +18 at last. Attack path. Would you go for mana or defence on node 19? Do 4% mana do much for a very fast hero??
First, it’s only 2%
Second it can be useful as you can get the tile shaving from a level 5 mana troop rather than level 11.
If you went with a defensive build then I can see being tempted to take another Def node. I would NOT take mana - it should be easy to level a troop from 5 to 11 - you’d want to anyway just for the stats boost. That said, I stopped and did NOT take node 19 at all, feeling it was too expensive and my roster would be better off spending those emblems elsewhere. Not like GM+18 is NOT strong.
Lastly, as long as this got necro bumped, to address to OP question, GM (any build) is sooooo much better than not having GM that I kind of think it doesn’t matter how you spec him out. Lots of respect for AirHawk, who I think plays above the level of many here (which may be why they need def/hp), but attack oriented GM will survive more than fine in most circumstances. Personally, I went all attack because it’s sexier. I often fire GM and then charge him again before his DoT wears off, so there is some benefit to upping his damage per instance (with the caveat that of course this argument completely fails if GM dies).
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Yes. 
Believe so.
One question regarding attack path on GM. On node 8/9 you can choose between 3% attack bonus + 18 points def OR 15 attack points + increase healing by 2%.
My question is, what is the difference between those two attack boosters? Do both of them have an effect on the DOT-dmg?
The % based node is a percentage of the heroes attack stat PRE EMBLEMS.
Both boost the attack stat of the hero, and hence both will boost GMs DoT. The higher attack stat one will give more DoT boost.
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