Grim Dawn - Quest Guide and Gameplay Tips

There are a few (very few though) quests in this game that you might need some help in finding the location with. This guide is designed just for that - I won't be putting in all the quest locations for every quest in the game, only a select few that can be tricky to find.

I'll also include a couple general tips as well :)

P/S: Click on the images to enlarge

1. Quest: The Sacred Ashes

This is where you need to go for The Sacred Ashes

Quest location: 

So the quest giver tells you that the entrance to the crypt is IN Fort Ikon and technically it is. However, don't bother looking around the actual fort.

Instead, you need to head south from the Fort Ikon Rift until you're past the gate. Once done, open up your map and you should see (if you've explored every inch of the map prior to capturing the Fort Ikon Rift) a cave entrance near the top titled Tomb of Archon Barthollem. This is the place you need to go - keep descending until you face the boss.

2. Quest: Braving the Void

Tips:

• Before entering the Rift, you should empty your bags and only bring the essentials. This is because you won't be able to teleport to town to sell your goods. However, you can kill the boss, exit the map, teleport to town, sell your stuff, and then return to the same map to pick up any loot you might have been forced to leave behind.
• The place is almost pitch black, so if you want to adjust the gamma setting, you can. 
• Make sure to have enough powerful AoE skills - you'll need 'em.

Quest Location:

If you read the quest text, you should know that you should be looking for a Chthonian Rift in Plains of Strife... though honestly, this is quite vague.

The Rift you should be looking for looks like this:

Braving the Void: Chthonian Rift in Plains of Strife

And is located here:

Take note of where my character is standing

Now, this Rift is not the only Rift you'll need to take. It will bring you to a place called The Forsaken Wastes and from there, you have to find another Rift to bring you to where you actually need to go - The Obsidian Throne.

Here is the location of the second Chthonian Rift in the The Forsaken Wastes:

Don't confuse this Rift with the other Rift (there are 2 Rifts here). Note the reddish hues around the area - this is the one you'll want to go into.

Once you're in the Obisdian Throne, you still need to find the location for Bane'Gargoth. Here's the exact location:

Where is Bane'Gargoth: Take note of where my character is standing

3. Quest: Wrath of the Beast

Taking on the Kalis Ka, the Bonehunter while under-leveled

Tips:

• Have high Bleeding and Pierce Resistances
• Make sure to get that Personal Riftgate up before engaging and use potions even when you think you don't really need it yet (depends on the resistances you have though).
• **Took down this beast at a much lower level (the boss name is red for me)

Quest location: East Marsh, east of Burrwitch or more specifically Craig's Crags. This is the quest where you are tasked to kill the Kalis Ka, the Bonehunter and to get the Fang of Bonehunter.

This is where you can find Craig's Crags and Kalis Ka, the Bonehunter

Where is the special Smith who can craft Tainted Brain Matter?

Where is Horrus the Cursed Smith? Here he is! 

I don't like farming for stuff on a single-player game - I have done that on MMOs multiple times and I have had enough.

So, guess where I went to just to get the Tainted Brain Matter needed to complete the quest "Power of Our Enemies"? There's a special smith (Horrus - Cursed Smith) located in the Gates of Necropolis region who can craft it for me in exchange for Blood of Ch'thon. Unlike some players, I have enough of these vials of blood to spare so it's no biggie.

The thing is though, this cursed smith isn't located in or near any town... and this makes him slightly difficult to find. Don't worry - I'm here to help :)

This is where you can find him:

The Smith is not exactly in the Necropolis but rather in the zone, Gates of the Necropolis.

General Gameplay Tips:

1. If you can, open a Personal Riftgate before starting any boss fight. Just in case you happen to die, you can then hop right back into the fight without having to run through maze-like corridors again.
2. Time your potion intake. Note the cooldown and how much time you need for the potion to restore your health pool back to full.
3. To make any fight easier, make sure your Constitution (the yellowish film-like thingy on your health bar) is as close to full as you can before jumping into the frey. You can do so by consuming food (like Food Rations or Untouched Meals) or picking up Vital Essences. This helps because your Constitution level determines how fast you can regain your health when you are "out of combat" (not taking damage). It also dampens how fast your health gets drained when you are taking damage. 
4. At least have 1 good stun skill (A "group stun" is even better). Can't tell you how many boss fights were made so much easier when the boss can be pretty consistently stunned :)
5. Click-and-hold to move. Instead of clicking non-stop to move, use click-and-hold, but make sure to move your character in a sweeping motion, just so you can "find" all the hidden stashes of loot. Make sure to consult your map from time to time as well. Usually an outcropping indicates a loot cache.
6. Resistances. They don't really matter much in the base game (Normal mode), but they can come in real handy if you find you're having trouble defeating a boss. For the expansion, Ashes of Malmouth, you will want to stack as much Poison resistance as you can. 
7. You can destroy certain barriers like wooden fences and stone banisters which will allow you to shoot (if you're ranged) your weapon around corners. Note that you can shoot OVER certain objects as well, allowing you to get that first shot in before the entire horde descends on you.
8. Bottlenecks. Identify them asap when you encounter a horde/swarm of enemies. Stand just beyond that bottleneck (a safe distance away), hold your ground (press Shift), and start shooting (with a ranged weapon, naturally) everything that comes through the threshold. Supplement your shooting with some spells if needed. For melee, just make sure you stand in front of the threshold, enough to block the enemies from going around to your sides. 
9. Can't find the Rift for a zone? The trick is to run around the place (and killing everything that stands in your way) while keeping an eye on the minimap. If you're close enough to the Rift, a Rift icon will appear on the minimap, leading you directly towards it.
10. "Yellow" magical items - Once you have a full set of blues and greens (and you should do so as soon as you can), you can just sell every yellow item you get. 
11. How to check the value of an item? Unlike other games where you can refer to the "combat power" or "gear rating" of an item, in this game, you can use the allotted price of the item as a very rough indicator. However, some personal judgment and common-sense character-building decisions are still needed when deciding on which gear to put on.

That's about it for now! If I encounter any other quests with tricky quest locations, I'll put them up here. The same goes for gameplay tips - I'll try to put in some less obvious ones along with the more obvious ones that veteran ARPG players would very much be familiar with. 

You can ask me questions about the game as well if you like :) 

P/S: Just completed the base game - defeated the final boss at level 47 :P Now, I'm trying to attempt the expansion, Ashes of Malmouth at level 48. Been encountering plenty of red-named bosses (up to level 53-54 bosses) and died plenty (more than I did in the base game, in fact) due to low poison resistance - oh, I so hate those poison-spewing bloody flowers and thorny vines; and low bleeding & pierce resistances - stupid wendigo bosses :P