Wereraven (unless you are a hardcore Werewolf build fan) is easily one of the Grim Dawn additions in Fangs of Asterkarn, and it’s not close. Great single-target damage and insane self-healing. The catch? The moment you start picking a second mastery, everyone asks: which class actually plays well with a raven, and why does your own pet do lightning damage when the rest of your build is cold? Let’s sort it out in this Grim Dawn Wereraven Build.
What You’ll Read:
Best Second Mastery for Wereraven Build
Pro players all agree on four real contenders, and Reddit threads on this pretty much agree on the ranking, too. Here it is:
Occultist (Mystic)
The most popular pick, and for good reason. Wereraven’s own damage is cold and piercing, but Occultist leans into chaos, which the raven can be augmented with. Doombolt fills the single-target gap Wereraven struggles with on its own, and there’s a decent amount of supporting gear out there for it. It also opens the door to an actual attack build instead of just raven-spam.
Shaman (Primalist)
If you want to go full elemental caster, Shaman works. Wind Devils give you a pet to stack alongside the raven, and Storm Totem turns this into a two-element build by adding lightning on top of cold. Winds of Asterkarn isn’t required (the raven’s default attacks are already fine), but the channeled AOE is fun in big packs and withstands against bosses too.
Nightblade (Reaver)
This is the defensive pick. Reaver brings genuinely strong survivability tools, and most of its kit pairs naturally with Wereraven’s cold and piercing damage. If your last character with Occultist felt too squishy, this is the fix.
Best Devotions for Wereraven Build
Devotion picks come down to keeping the raven (and you) alive long enough for the damage to matter. These are a few that stand out:
| Devotion | What it gives |
|---|---|
| Tree of Life | Big flat health regen boost, best if you’re already stacking green points |
| Giant’s Blood | Health, armor, and a chance to trigger a large heal when hit |
| Jackal | Cheap, easy health regen pickup early in the tree |
| Storm Spirit | Elemental resistance plus a lightning retaliation proc |
| Ghoul | Converts a slice of attack damage into health, works well since Wereraven attacks constantly |
None of these are mandatory, but Giant’s Blood in particular solves a lot of the “why do I keep dying” problem players run into once bosses become harder than expected.
Cold vs. Lightning: Wereraven’s Pet Damage Problem
Here’s the thing nobody warns you about: when you shift into Wereraven, the transformation grants two skills, Ice Talon and Cold Snap, and both do cold damage. But the Raven pet itself (the one tied to the Eldritch set line) does lightning.
That means every point of bonus cold damage on your gear buffs your own attacks and does nothing for your pet. It’s a build that’s fighting itself. Or at least could be improved.
The fix is conversion gear. The Call of the Brotherhood ring converts a chunk of lightning damage to cold, though don’t trust random forum percentages floating around for it, check the tooltip yourself. There’s also an offhand that converts Raven’s damage to cold, but it first needs the Eldritch 4-piece bonus. Stack enough of these, and you can push toward one unified damage type instead of splitting your stats across two.
Gears Tips and Tricks
The single biggest item goal for this build is the Eldritch tier set. Getting even part of it makes the Raven pet scale off your own player stats instead of its own flat base numbers, which is the difference between a raven that tickles enemies and one that actually bites off their health (or head).
Beyond that, keep an eye out for legendary pieces with built-in lightning-to-cold (or cold-to-lightning) conversion, since that’s how you patch the damage-type split from the last section. Here are a couple of things you need to prioritize while gearing up:
- Resistances first. Ether and chaos resistance in particular tend to lag behind since most cold-focused gear doesn’t roll them naturally.
- Don’t sleep on defensive ability and armor. Wereraven’s healing is strong, but only if you’re not getting one-shot before it can proc.
- Full four-piece isn’t required to start feeling the build come online. Even two or three pieces of the Eldritch set noticeably improve the raven’s damage.
FAQ
Is there a secret third shapeshift form?
Players have floated a rumor about a hidden werewolf/raven hybrid form tied to the Fangs of Asterkarn DLC. Nothing’s confirmed. It’s likely a troll comment, since datamines haven’t turned up anything solid.
Which secondary mastery is best for Wereraven?
Occultist is the safest pick for chaos synergy and single-target damage. Go Nightblade if you want more survivability, or Shaman if you’re building around a full cold/lightning hybrid instead.
Does Wereraven’s damage convert to cold or lightning?
Neither by default. Wereraven’s own skills deal cold, while the Eldritch Raven pet deals lightning. You need conversion gear, like the Call of the Brotherhood ring, to unify them.
