[3.7] Defekt's Earthquake Berserker | End-game Annihilation | 12+ Million Shaper DPS [Video Guide]

Things to know...

Earthquake is great for leveling - It's got amazing early game damage and pretty good AoE as well, so go ahead and pick it up at level 28 and start destroying things

Untill level 28, use whatever 2H-friendly skill you desire.

I suggest using Ground Slam until level 12, then Sunder or Sweep from level 12 to 28.

Remember to get your Ancestral Warchief totem at level 28 as well - It is amazing to put down when fighting bosses and tougher monsters.


Which route to go first?

I have made some suggestions down below in regards to the progression of the skill tree. However, pick the passive points you feel the most need for - If it feels like you're running low on life due to lack of gear, pick some life nodes. Same goes for damage nodes, pick these if you're lacking (I doubt you will be though).

While leveling, feel free to pick up the Resolute Technique keystone. 100% hit chance feels great, but comes with the downside of no crits - Luckily, this will change dramatically when you hit 70 and you can equip your Fleshripper.

One thing to notice: Do not pick any of the crit nodes from the tree before level 60. These are not sufficient if your base crit is low and/or you're specced into Resolute Technique.

I personally started to pick the crit nodes in the tree when I entered act 10, a good 8-10 levels before equipping the Fleshripper. Safe to say, when I equipped the axe with the allocated crit nodes, my DPS went up by 1000% - This feels good - Remember to spec OUT of Resolute Technique when equipping the crit axe!

Progression Tree - 26 points:
http://tinyurl.com/y4bp89ze

Progression Tree - 45 points:
http://tinyurl.com/y3bz69qg

Progression Tree - 75 points:
http://tinyurl.com/yyhwsgut

Progression Tree - 90 points:
http://tinyurl.com/y6k3367c

- At this point you should be around level 70 with all the passive point quests completed. Notice that Resolute Technique has been un-specced and the crit nodes have been picked up.

Progression Tree - 111 points (Final):
http://tinyurl.com/y5zzwj8l


After level 90 you're free to choose whatever you feel necessary. At this point I'm sure you'll have a feel for what final optimization is suitable for your character.


NOTE: If you're going with the budget version of the build, check out the budget version Path of Building pastebin posted above for the "final tree" - All the other progression trees (up until the final one) is the same for both versions.

Ascendancy Points:
Aspect of Carnage > Crave The Slaughter > Flawless Savagery > Rite of Ruin


Bandits
Help Alira or Kill All

I personally helped Alira for the juicy critical strike multiplier and resistances she provides - But both options are very viable for this build

Vaal Earthquake + Less Duration + Brutality + Melee Physical Damage + Pulverize + Ruthless

Vaal Earthquake + Less Duration + Brutality + Melee Physical Damage + Pulverize + Fortify

Brutality + Melee Physical Damage + Maim + Ruthless

Cast When Damage Taken + Molten Shell + Enfeeble + Increased Duration

Leap Slam + Faster Attacks + Fortify + Blood Rage

Pride + Flesh and Stone + Blood and Sand + Enlighten (level 3)

+

Precision (level 1-5)

I suggest you run Pride + Flesh and Stone + Blood and Sand + Enlighten (level 3) for less mana reserved - And then fit a low level (1-5) Precision aura somewhere else (I have it in my 6th socket in my 5L chest)

- Precision is not needed, it's just a sweet little damage increase reserving almost no mana at low levels.

First off, to hit the "Socketed Gems are Supported By Level 20 Fortify" you need an Elder Fleshripper axe with an itemlevel of 80.

However, I suggest you go with an item-level 83, as you then will be able to hit the highest physical damage rolls as well.

1) Start with a white base and use Perfect Fossils until you reach 28%+ in quality.

2) When you've hit the 28% or above on the base, craft 16-18% quality on top using the crafting bench - This is a suffix, so if you can't craft it, simply throw a couple of chaos on the base until it has an open suffix roll for the %quality/str or %quality/int craft.

3) At this point, your Fleshripper will sit at around 43-48% quality. At this quality, it's more likely to hit a 6L than on a regular 20% base.

4) Time to hit that 6L - Good luck!

5) Grats on the 6L (hopefully you didn't waste too many).

6) Scour the base and start throwing some alts/augs on it - You want to hit the "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Fortify" mod. Level 18 is decent, but I would personally re-roll - The DPS difference is 5%~ more damage at level 20.

Regals are pretty damn cheap this league, so I suggest you regal when you hit a good flat phys / %phys hybrid and attack speed - You might get lucky!

7) When you've hit the desired "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Fortify" there are two different ways to go from here depending on whether you have a rolled suffix as well, or the mod is by itself.

7.1) If you have a suffix on the axe, I suggest you annul it once and hope you hit the bad suffix (so you only have the desired Fortify mod left). If you are unlucky in the 50/50 chance, keep your head up and re-roll with alts.

7.2) If you're lucky enough to hit the "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Fortify" mod by itself, it's time to Imprint the magic item in your Menagerie. If you don't have the crafting recipe available, you can buy the beast from pathofexile.com/trade - Simply search for Craicic Chimeral - They are priced around 1 exalted orb at the moment.

8) Time to Imprint - Right click the Craicic Chimeral when you're standing by the Blood Altar in your Menagerie - Insert the Fleshripper in the slot, click on the "Create an Imprint, Of a Magic Item" and kill the beasts.

The imprint makes it possible for you to go back to the previous magic state of the item (as it was before it was imprinted). Therefore, take care of this Imprint until you're done with the craft.

9) Now you want to regal your Fleshripper, to make it rare (so you can craft it with the crafting bench). You will most likely hit a bad regal - There's a few good outcomes of the regal:

- Flat Physical Damage roll above the crafted roll of 24-42
- Attack Speed roll above the crafted max roll of 20%
- Increased Critical Strike Chance roll above the roll of 32%

If you hit one of these, grats!

If not (which is most likely), it's time to use an Orb of Annulment to (hopefully) remove the bad mod. If you hit the Annul, the axe is ready for multi-modding & crafting with the bench. If not, use the Imprint you made of the item to restore the item, and go back to step 8 - Better luck next time!

10) Craft that thing! Use the crafting bench (or find a "certified" master crafting service) and craft the following:

Can have multiple Crafted Modifiers
Rank 3 Flat Phys (18-24 - 36-42)
Rank 3 Increased Attack Speed (16-20%)
Rank 2 Increased Critical Strike Chance & %to Quality (21-25%, 13-18%)
Hits Can't Be Evaded


You're done! Congratulations on the amazing craft, time to smash everything in your path!