The eight acts
| Act | From — to | Comes with |
|---|---|---|
| Act 1 | Devil's Crossing → Warden Krieg | Base game |
| Act 2 | Arkovian Foothills → Smuggler's Pass | Base game |
| Act 3 | Deadman's Gulch → Darkvale Gate | Base game |
| Act 4 | Asterkarn Road → the end of the base game | Base game |
| Act 5 | Gloomwald → Barrowholm | Ashes of Malmouth |
| Act 6 | Lone Watch → the end of Ashes of Malmouth | Ashes of Malmouth |
| Act 7 | Frostveil Highlands → Aurora Peaks | Fangs of Asterkarn |
| Act 8 | The Korvan Basin, start to finish | Forgotten Gods |
How they actually fit together
- Acts 5 and 6 continue the campaign where Act 4 stops, so Ashes of Malmouth is an extension rather than a side trip.
- ⚠️ Act 7 is Fangs of Asterkarn's own region, added in July 2026 — and it pushed the Korvan Basin from Act 7 to Act 8. Any guide written before that date numbers them one lower, including the first version of this page.
- Act 8, the Korvan Basin, is somewhere else entirely and can be entered without finishing the earlier acts.
- Each difficulty replays the whole campaign, which is why the shrine counts differ between Normal, Elite and Ultimate.
What each act is for
🏚️ Acts 1 and 2 — learning Cairn
Devil's Crossing to Smuggler's Pass. The game teaches its loop here: a hub, a road out, a dungeon at the end of it. Your second mastery lands in this stretch, and so do the first shrines.
🔥 Act 3 — the choice
Deadman's Gulch to Darkvale Gate, and the act that asks you to pick between Kymon's Chosen and the Order of Death's Vigil. Everything else in the game can be respecced; that cannot.
⛰️ Act 4 — the end of the base game
Asterkarn Road onward. If you own nothing else, this is where Grim Dawn finishes, and it finishes properly rather than trailing off.
🌫️ Acts 5 and 6 — Ashes of Malmouth
Gloomwald to the fallen capital itself. This is a continuation, not a side story, and it is where the level cap moves from 85 to 100.
❄️ Act 7 — Fangs of Asterkarn
Frostveil Highlands to Aurora Peaks, added in July 2026. Six km² of new ground with over sixty bosses in it.
🏜️ Act 8 — the Korvan Basin
Forgotten Gods, and the one act you can enter without finishing the ones before it. It carries the Shattered Realm, which is the reason most people own that expansion.
Still to verify
Corrected on 10 September 2026 against GrimTools' checklist for game version 1.3.0.8, which lists eight acts with Frostveil Highlands through Aurora Peaks as Act 7 and the Korvan Basin as Act 8. The first version of this page said seven, from wiki and forum sources that predate Fangs of Asterkarn — the exact failure this guide warns about on its own expansion page. Act boundaries for Acts 1 to 6 are the community's, unchanged. What is still unverified is the only thing reading cannot settle — nobody here has played it.