Relics & Medals

Overview of Relics and Medals in Grim Dawn, their crafting, unique bonuses, and importance for endgame builds.

Relics are special crafted items that provide significant bonuses and often a powerful active or passive skill. They are crafted at the Blacksmith using blueprints and rare materials. Choosing the right relic for your build is crucial. Medals are accessory items that often provide unique bonuses to skills, attributes, or resistances. Both relics and medals are essential components for optimizing character performance and tailoring a build to specific challenges within Cairn.

Relics: The Pinnacle of Crafting

Relics represent the zenith of the crafting system in Grim Dawn. To create a relic, players must first acquire a specific blueprint, which can be found as loot from monsters, chests, or purchased from certain vendors. These blueprints detail the required components, which often include rare crafting materials such as Ectoplasm, Ancient Bone, or various Essences. The true power of relics lies in the unique skills they imbue. For example, a relic might grant an active ability like "Eldritch Fire," a powerful offensive spell, or a passive bonus such as increased attack speed or elemental resistance. The selection of a relic should directly complement a character's chosen masteries and gear. A melee-focused character might benefit from a relic that grants lifesteal or defensive buffs, while a spellcaster could opt for a relic that enhances their primary damage type or provides a potent crowd-control effect. The Blacksmiths in settlements like Homestead or Devil's Crossing are the only artisans capable of forging these powerful items.

Medals: Accessory Augmentations

Medals are a distinct type of accessory that occupy a dedicated gear slot. Unlike relics, medals are primarily found as loot, though some can be acquired through quests or specific vendors. Their impact on a build can be profound, often offering unique modifiers that alter how existing skills function or grant entirely new passive benefits. For instance, a medal might reduce the cooldown of a vital skill, increase the number of projectiles fired by a ranged attack, or grant a flat bonus to a specific damage type. Some medals also provide crucial resistances, helping to shore up defensive weaknesses. The "Mark of the Void" medal, for example, can offer significant Aether resistance, vital for surviving encounters with Aetherial enemies. The strategic placement of medals in a build's gear progression is as important as selecting the correct relic, as they can unlock synergistic interactions with other pieces of equipment or skill choices.

Synergy and Strategic Choice

The true power of relics and medals is realized when they are chosen to synergize with a character's overall build. A build focused on Vitality damage might seek out relics that enhance this damage type or provide lifesteal, while a medal could further boost the effectiveness of specific Vitality-based skills. Conversely, a build struggling with a particular damage type, such as Fire, might equip a relic that grants Fire resistance or a medal that provides a defensive bonus against it. Players often consult resources like the Grim Dawn build calculator to experiment with different relic and medal combinations before committing to crafting or seeking out specific items. The careful selection and application of these powerful accessories are paramount to overcoming the most challenging content in Cairn, including the formidable Nemesis bosses and the trials of the Shattered Realm.