If you’re a fan of Diablo 2, you’re probably a fan of Grim Dawn too. This Action-RPG was developed by Crate Entertainment back in 2016 and it’s still going strong and has an active community. Grim Dawn features an incredibly detailed item and skill system. In fact, one of the things that separate it from numerous other ARPGs is the “Dual Class” system which you will either love or hate. You can take part in shaping the story through choices you make in quests or through joining a faction. As far as ARPGs go it’s a solid game. Solid enough to have a devoted modding community of its own.
Mods have always been a way to freshen up or simply improve the original aspects of the games that have been lacking. Grim Dawn is no different. There are a plethora of mods available but only some of them are up-to-date currently so we’ve decided to sit down and make an updated and current list of the best mods for Grim Dawn. The list features utilities, reshades, multiplayer mods, utilities, and many other game-improving addons. We tried to cover every aspect of the game so keep reading!
Editor’s note: As of 2023, these are still the best mods for Grim Dawn!
1. Grim UI
User interfaces are among the first game aspects that get modded. Especially if your UI is a bit dated, Grim Dawn was no different in that view. Grim UI is the original UI’s overhaul. It features several themes, has multiplayer support, and is fully modular and customizable. It means that you can easily modify the mod’s files and leave only aspects of the UI that you like. You can also change the position of any UI element on your screen. It goes without saying that the only compatibility issues you might come across are the ones caused by some other UI mod that you have. In general, it shouldn’t cause any other issues.
2. Grim Dawn Item Assistant
Managing your inventory can be a nightmare. Especially if the game itself has limited functionality on how to do it. Luckily, grim dawn has its own inventory management assistant. If you’re a hoarder this will be especially useful. This manager lets you store an unlimited amount of items, on any character, and what’s better it allows you to search through said items by stats and name. It has integrated cloud and backup support. The only downside is for cloud support to work you need to turn off Steam’s native cloud support.
3. Smash N Grab
Most ARPGs are grindy. It’s a known fact and in part, the genre is probably as popular as it is because of that. But what if you want to remove the said grind? I recommend you install the Smash N Grab mod. This mod as the author puts it “removes grind” through increased drop rates on legendary and epic items, higher exp drop, reworked skill points system, and many more gameplay-altering aspects.
4. ReShade Graphical Overhaul
I’m a fan of graphic enhancing mods personally. It breathes new life in old games and more than once I’ve returned to some old (but gold) game just because there was an HD textures pack available. ReShade Graphical Overhaul is as the name says, a simple reshade mod but it makes the game less pale and grim (pun absolutely intended). This mod introduces HDR, balances the colors a bit, and enhances fidelity which in turn allows for more color corrections. It’s nothing fancy but it improves the overall look of the game.
5. Grimarillion
Technically not a mod but more of a compilation of various other smaller but popular mods. The pack contains the following mods: Stasher, Grimmest , Zenith, GrimQuest, Diablo 3, Hairstyles, Shattered Affixes, Reskill, Faction-goods info, and Journal Multi-page numbers. This pack enhances several of the game’s aspects you can read the full info on the mod’s page. One thing to note is that you need to have Forgotten Gods and Ashes of Malmouth installed otherwise the mod (pack) will not work properly.
6. Diablo 3 Classes
Pretty Straightforward mod. It adds most but not all skills from Diablo 3 to Grim Dawn. This mod is technically a part of Grimarillion and numerous other mod compilation packs, but some players prefer to have it standalone.
7. Reign of Terror
If you ever wanted to play Diablo 2 inside Grim Dawn, you should definitely get this mod. It features a full campaign, classes, items, events, and sounds. Just about anything you can imagine. It’s a great alternative to Diablo 2 Resurrected and it’s completely free (if you own Grim Dawn that is). It’s not an exact copy of Diablo 2 since some of the Grim Dawn Mechanics are different and thus Diablo 2 Mechanics cannot be fully recreated. The best part is that it has partial multiplayer support and will probably be updated in the future.
8. Nydiamar
A solid content mod that adds a standalone campaign with a lot of new content to explore. You will need to start a new game to play this campaign since it’s not connected to Grim Dawn. The mod adds new environments, sounds, challenges, and changes some of the game mechanics and the way the original game rewards you. As the author of the mod stated “it rewards you for exploring” and there’s plenty of exploring in Nydiamar. It’s worth noting that since Nydiamar does not add new classes, it supports Diablo 3 Classes Mod.
9. Path of Grim Dawn
As the name insinuates this mod makes Grim Dawn more similar to Path of Exile. There is a main core difference between Grim Dawn and Path of Exile and that is the speed of both games. Where Grim Dawn is slow-paced and sometimes sluggish when it comes to map clearing Path of Exile has always been faced paced. This mod aims to “speed up” the Grim Dawn by removing the player speed cap, reducing the cooldown, and many other things. It tries to keep things balanced though. So if you’re a fan of the Path of Exile you should give this mod a try.
10. Grimquest
One more mod that adds things from other ARPGs. This time it’s Titan Quest. This mod adds masteries from Titan Quest and tries its best at it. It’s also a part of the Grimarillion mod pack and many other mod packs.
11. Pet Patch
This mod turns your temporary pets into more permanent pets, makes your summons last longer, and adds new pets. It’s targeted toward players and classes who rely heavily on their pets while playing. There are two versions of the mod to download. One version for purists and the second version with much more changes to the pet-oriented gameplay.
12. Grim Internals
My favorite utility mod from this list. It adds many features to the base game like money counter, auto pickup, death counter, kill counter, floating text messages, purple lootbeam for legendary items, and green lootbeam for dropped rare items. There’s more stuff to cover but you can read the detailed info on the mod’s main page. Grim Internals is a bit different to install, you have to add it as a Non-Steam Game to work, and making a stash backup is recommended.
13.New Caravan & Inventory Sizes
A simple but useful mod. New Caravan increases your stash, inventory & bag sizes. The change is pretty massive so prepare to be awed.
14. Dawn of Masteries
One more mod pack on this list. Dawn of Masteries is a compilation of various mods out there for example Cataclysm, Diablo 2, GrimQuest, etc. You can read the full list on the mod’s main page. It’s a pretty straightforward mod, it adds additional masteries to the game and balances them out.
15. FasterLoot
Unlike the Smash N Grab mod from this list, this mod has fewer features but it’s really determined to make your game less grindy. It’s a simple straightforward mod that increases the drop rate of legendary and epic items from both heroic spoils and grand spoils.
16. Grim Dawn Reborn
I’ve lost track of the number of mods that overhauls classes in this game. Or tries to make them more similar to Diablo or some other ARPG. Grim Dawn Reborn is a full class, skill, and item system overhaul. It features some new skills and improved visuals for the said skills while trying to maintain a unique class identity. The Creator went as far as revamping ALL skills and including a ton of new skills. It makes the game more fun through revamped monster encounters, revamped weapon drops, scavenging, and lots of other minor tweaks.
17. Dread
We had a Path of Grim mod that tries to speed up the pace of the game it’s only fair that we include one mod that tries to kick it down a notch. If you prefer it even slower that is. Dread tries to slow the pace of the game through slower-paced combat and exp loss when you die. It also reduces the rate of your healing, and your attack speed and adds higher times for recasting spells.
18. Larger Cursors
If you’re playing on high resolutions, cursors in older games can be a nuisance. This small but useful mod tries to fix that through cursor upscaling. It’s nothing fancy but good investment in the long run.
19. Grim Damage
Technically not a mod but a tool that allows you to analyze your damage output and received damage. If something killed you, now you have a chance to analyze the encounter blow by blow. Be warned though that the mod lost its support a while ago and might not work as intended.
20. Reforge of Dawn
One more Shader entry on this list. Just like ReShade Graphical Overhaul, it softens the colors in the game a bit without changing the original aesthetics of the game.
How to install Grim Dawn mods?
If you’re finished with our list and want to try out some of the mods from our list but you’re not sure how to proceed we’ve prepared a little guide for you. So follow these steps and you should be good to go.
- Download the mod you wish to install
- navigate to your steam root folder of the game it should look like this: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Grim Dawn\mods
- Extract the mod’s files into the “mods” folder
- Start the game and navigate to custom game selection
Is Grim Dawn still being updated?
It’s still getting minor updates and bug fixes but nothing big is planned so far. The last update for (PC & Xbox) has been on June 21st and it brought a ton of small but significant changes to the gameplay and itemization. The community is definitely keeping the Grim Dawn alive and developers are appreciating it through constant support.
