[3.25] The Warbringer Slaming Serker [League Starter | Cheap | Smash the Atlas | MELEE BUFFED]

POB

Spoiler
Basic lvling pob (3.25) https://pobb.in/4tB2B83o0xT6



Basic Leveling PoB (3.24) https://pobb.in/7dw1LwyI30wo

Week one Scourge SC PoB https://pastebin.com/bw1XZjpc

week one sentinel SC, went max res stacking https://pastebin.com/SY0ugNct

3.10 legacy impale version for inspiration by Ninjagizmo https://pastebin.com/Kwrvf6ju

Str stacking version by GSMaggsy https://pobb.in/YgO86w7rXPPB High investment and uses Hateforge

min max'd version by Ben_ , the strongest poe player in the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIrWi9M6FOs

https://pobb.in/XmgDTYrEa0hN





3.25 Progression PoBs
These are my league start and progression into week one of gearing. I have used this character to farm t16 maps and get my voidstones and 115/115 completion. Currently am farming Harbinger, Incursion, Strongboxes, Shrines and Expedition/Betrayal in Defiled Cathredal and Plateau. I stream at https://www.twitch.tv/frawrst so come say hello if you like.

Spoiler


"
day 2.5

https://pobb.in/GK-2JqGxE_ZS

helm and overexertion not in pob yet



day 3

https://pobb.in/zb22_mTNs824

still on 5 link tidebreaker



day 4 gear pob

rolling impact force props to try to get a gg one. so far mine is okay.

https://pobb.in/Qrz-jTP7gCkf



day 5 pob

https://pobb.in/mR39CesFtq_P

swapped into overlord jewel and more life jewels. need to fix res to get better jewels. finally capped chaos res

probably need to upg gloves next, and maybe look into echoes helm

also need a bigger bonk stick


day 7 pob

https://pobb.in/PKFfBk200suQ

switched to lifetap for time being until i can get my own minus non channeling prefixes



lvl 100 pob

no gear change since 99 and ill probably change tree around when i decide to invest more

https://pobb.in/kLFQbo14ApVc

unstoppable forbiddens are very nice for qol

being able to hit 100 seems like a solid testament to the build, fast map blaster with enough single target to speed run t16s back to back













Act 1-10 berserker lvling run 5.5 hours https://youtu.be/3HicbwVl-rY?si=vtD6eY_hvA0bTo8K


3.25 Impact Propagator crafting by iKanks
Spoiler
"
iKanks wrote:
After following the PoE market for two-handed maces and realizing the terrible state of it, I've figured the only way is to craft one myself. There are various different crafting methods and I've concluded that "the best" and "the cheapest" method for end-game impact force propagator is fractured crafting (this is because low physical tier weight rolls are ridicilously low).

I've composed this new player friendly crafting guide:

1) Buy at least ilvl 83 Impact Force Propagator base weapon
2) Transmute if needed. Alteration + augmentation spam it until you hit T1 hybrid Phys (hybrid because this gives us a possibilty to benchcraft increased physical % damage on it after we're done with step 4)
No other rolls matter - if you've landed only one suffix and nothing else then use augment for a guaranteed prefix (hybrid phys-accuracy is a prefix) - in all other cases use alterations.
This method is much better than mindless alteration spamming and rebuying alternations. The general odds of hitting T1 hybrid phys-accuracy with this method is around 1/1300
3) You've hit T1 hybrid phys+accuracy. Regal the item to make it rare and then exalt slam it so it has 4 affixes in total. We don't care about the added affixes, we're only doing it so we could use fracturing orb.
4) Pray to RNGesus and slam the item with orb of fracturing. Chances of fracturing hybrid phys is 1/4. If it didn't fracture T1 hybrid phys, then repeat the process from step 1).
5) Hybrid phys-accuracy fractured. Congrats, you've basically done it! Because flat phys on Impact Force Propagator is relatively low, it's very important to hit high tier added flat phys prefix on the weapon.
For that we use defeaning essence of contempt. Slam until you get T1 attack speed suffix or at least T4 increased physical damage prefix.
You're more likely to hit attack speed. For us attack speed suffix is the most important roll, the other suffixes that end up on the weapon are simply a bonus.
6) After landing attack speed, you'd ideally want to have a free open prefix so you could benchcraft 100-129% increased physical damage. If you don't have a free prefix, then simply beastcraft remove prefix-add suffix (if possible) or yolo annul (there are other methods available, but I wouldn't recommend them, as the outcomes of slamming are quite stable).
7) Congrats, now go enchant the weapon for 50 war runes for 20-25% phys and enjoy your 950 phys DPS mace with warcry extertion.

The average cost for the craft is about 20 divines, but can also be done in about 5 divines or 40 divines. Cost comes from the fracturing orb slams.




3.25
This appears to be a melee league, with quality buffs, damage effectiveness buffs, removal of totem annoyance, rage rebalance, endurance charge buffs and more.

This PoB https://pobb.in/4tB2B83o0xT6 is what I am currently planning on league starting. Note, its gear (aside from ryslathas and tidebreaker) are 1alch/1c rares. You will find and craft much better gear in 3.25.

Most of the new rage and different buffs are NOT in PoB yet, however most people doing theory crafting for melee see it as a 50-75% more damage buff.

I will be league starting this build as a fast map blaster to get my atlas completion and voidstones. Earthshatter looks to be the "highest dps slam" but requires the most piano work.

Overexertion seems to be very very good (numbers soon please GGG!)

Autoexertion may be also very good, we might drop pride 50% reservation and fit in 3 auto warcries (seismic, intimidating, rallying?) and just manually cast enduring cry for the regen. this might make the build non piano (just war banner and slams)

Warbanner seems to be the best for our build, more phys damage when we hit bosses and tanky rares.

We get 50% chance to overwhelm phys on tree which makes general mapping SO much smoother.

The mana changes to attacks are real. We used to have 6 mana base and now they are double or more of that base.

The PoB has spirit of war and mana mastery to deal with this early. However, a decent idea may be lifetapping our attacks (and warcries) for a long while.

Some melee bois are also speculating with a full return to blood magic, which with eternal blessing pride can be very very comfy.

Lots of new buffs and new problems to solve and find out, 3.25 looks very promising.






3.16-3.24

Spoiler
3.24

No changes to PoB tree in 3.24. We gained automation and call to arms support; it will probably be worthwhile to use 4link with call to arms + lifetap if you have trouble doing warcry piano.

EDIT: 03-26: apparently you can only trigger one warcry via call to arms support. so use a dps one if you feel like automating just 1, or go back to piano.

Berserker remains one of the faster map blasters, and Echoes of creation and impale can help scale this build. Most often for endgame red mapping you should swap out dps auras for defensive layer auras. For bossing, typically dps auras are best to get the fight over sooner, but choose your own preference.

Getting over Tidebreakers bad attack speed is a bottleneck for alot of players. Make sure to grab Rite of Ruin from lab as soon as you feel strong enough, and avoid using negative attack speed support gems (melee phys, pulverize) until you get a good amount of attack speed.

Buy jewels with % max life, attack speed with maces/sceptres, attack speed with 2h, attack and cast speed. these are very cheap and help you get over the long wind up

Ground slam of earthshaking is still very very good and satisfying to use

3.23

Get Ground Slam of Earthshaking and enjoy the giga dam and aoe

3.22

No major changes for build. Updated leveling PoB with basic gear,

https://pobb.in/7dw1LwyI30wo

3.20

Another league with no major changes. The new Atziri axe and new Marohi Erqi are huge buffs to slamming/melee weps. They will likely be extremely rare, but nice uniques to look for. I will probably be leveling as slams/trying out volcanic fissure, but am playing a different build for 3.20 (just cause ive done this build for last 3 league starts in a row)


3.19

No changes for the build, we received some buffs to some nice mid uniques like Deidbell, Bringer of Rain etc. All very strong for budget and SSF.




3.18 Week One starter PoB

https://pastebin.com/SY0ugNct

Went max res via brass dome, and armor stacking with new helm.

New helm is very very strong and cheap. Can add 15% more attack multiplier to it via PoB to psuedo simulate dps a bit

Farmed HH and over 100 ex with this build so far

I will be streaming this on league start, come hang out if you like!
https://www.twitch.tv/frawrst

The build has no major changes. We lose rapid expansion but gain AoE built into GS. This is pretty much a non change since we usually run either endurance charge on melee stun support (via tidebreaker) or enduring cry as a part of our warcry rotations.

The build remains a fast berserker mapper, as well as a strong single target for its budget.

the new helm look outrageous

its not %max hp either, its current, and since its phys, we can use endurance charges + determination/defiance banner to basically take 0 dmg from it

we usually use 2 dmging warcries + enduring, but we can swap to 3x damaging warcries for a massive more dmg multiplier

needless to say, this helm is a massive buff to our builds




3.16


New tree is a huge bonus for this build; we path along very nicely and get HUGE bonuses from mastery

Prismatic is best nodes in entire game



Week one Scourge SC PoB https://pastebin.com/bw1XZjpc



MASTERY

warcry i went with remove ailment, 15% life, minimum 10 power

fortify i went +3 max fort, melee hits fortify -3 max fort

attack mastery i went mana reservation of stance

reservation mastery i went 15% inc mana reservation of skills

life mastery + 50 life

resistance and ailment i went CB immunity

maces crush and chill



2.3million GS dps, 1million Shockwave, 4.3million Vaal Ground Slam

This build blew away all expectations again as a league starter. The perfect combo of cheap + powerful with very fast berserker mapping and very strong single target bossing to clear t16 reds on just a 6 link tidebreaker and ryslathas coil.

The new tree changes made this build extremely smooth and easy to level, giving us all the cluster jewel QoL all on our tree (making it very SSF powerful and viable).

I will be working on a full rewrite; as most of the guide was written in 3.6, and updated to the new Slams in 3.11

Now we are post the 3.15 nerf fest and gained so much in 3.16, I will try my best to work on it.

Thank you to everyone trying out slams and keeping this guide active and posting their versions and gears. Its very fun to discuss my favourite arch type with you all.

Much love <3
Frost




Some Nice Feedback

Spoiler
"
Ninjagizmo wrote:

https://pastebin.com/Kwrvf6ju
Hey again,

This is my third league playing this build. In my opinion it has the highest ceiling for min maxing it’s potential so kudos once again for creating it!

Heist league I hit over 10k life but decided to go more offensive and hit over 300m damage (each spike on PoB dealing 26m damage) Easily 1 shotting A8 conquerors and phasing Sirus before he could perform actions.

Double HoP ring and pride amulet, 100% chance to impale using the impale support, fortify corrupt tidebreaker, some insane cluster jewels, endurance charge implicit boots and vulnerability on hit gloves.

My number one tip that is not in the build guide (correct me if I’m wrong) that imo is a MUST have is the medium cluster jewel with the notable cry wolf. This means even out of combat 2 war cry’s can almost fill our rage bar. No enemies needed. This makes mapping butter smooth and gives a brilliant defensive option with easy use of berserker.

Who knows if everything will work as well in Ritual as it did in Heist BUT I can say this - the is one of the best builds in game!

10/10 would recommend to anyone!

Thanks!!





Memes (click for video)




(GIF) Showcase:
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Intro:
Spoiler
Heyo im Frost! I am a intermediate to veteran PoE player, and have been playing since about 3.3 Incursion League (I did play beta and early 1.1 but that was so long ago).

Slamming Serker is in my opinion is one of the more underused and beginner friendly builds the game has to offer. It has a linear scaling and easy to understand gearing investments. Every upgrade feels meaningful. It uses 2H Maces, although 1H Maces and 1H/2H Axes are also viable depending on your preference.

This build was originally designed as a Ground Slam build, however its templates work with EVERY slam skill, including the elemental conversion ones such as Tectonic or Ice Crash.

This build was originally designed to Stun Lock all non-stun immune enemies, however in the 3.11 patch GGG added a stun timer and thus stunlocking is no longer possible. This build now focuses on very high DPS and War Cry synergy with Warbringer.

This build is a RT (Resolute Technique) Mace build with emphasis on War Cries; which allows for safety and easier gear progression. Crit versions are viable; but more expensive. Check our questions and answers for details on Crit.

This build is capable of doing any and all content in the game, however niche things like depth 800 Auls and HoGM (Hall of Grandmasters) have much more suited builds. This build is a great league starter and I will write this guide with a beginner mind set, as well as answering questions!


Videos:


Quick Guide:
PoB
https://pobb.in/Qh8IMHpOxCKo
PoB is the last time i played the build and did some min-maxing. This build killed awakener 8 deathless, and farmed a head hunter.

Spoiler



Links
(Vaal*) Ground Slam – (Awakened) Brutality – Ruthless - Concentrated Effect/(Awakened) Increased Area of Effect (Awakened) Melee Physical Damage – Fortify - (Pulverize** – Shockwave*** - Multistrike**** - Rage***** - Fist of War******)

Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - (Lifetap*)

Pride - Blood and Sand - Herald of Purity

Berserk - Enduring Cry – Seismic Cry – Intimidating Cry - Blood Rage – Second Wind

Optional

Dash - Second Wind

Cast When Damage Taken - Steel Skin - Stone Golem - (Enfeeble/Temp Chains/Phase Run) Increased Duration

Weapon:
2 Handed Mace with 6 links and 400+ pDPS
Tidebreaker with 6 links


Chest:
Kaoms Heart
Carcass Jack
Loreweave
SporeGuard
Rare Chest with explode mod, additional QoL mods (life, resists, phys damage reduction)


Helm:
Rare with resistances - life - mod with "Nearby enemies take 9% increased physical damage" and “max res”
Devotos Devotion
Abyssus
Deidbellow

Gloves:
Tombfists (1 or 2 sockets)
Rare Spiked Gauntlets with Attack Speed - life - resistances.

Boots:
Redblade Tramplers
Kaoms Roots
Atziri's Step
Rare boots with resistances - Life - movement speed, onslaught on kill

Belt:
Ryslaths Coil with close to 40% maximum physical as possible
Soul Tether
Rare Stygian with Life - Resistances - Damage

Amulet/Rings:
Life and Resists. Steel Rings offer +physical damage to attacks. You also want mana leech here, or on one of your jewels as this build does not get any on the tree.
HoP rings if you go for max DPS version

Jewels:
% Increased Maximum Life
Cluster Jewel with Overlord is HIGHLY Recomended, easily one of the best DPS and QoL investments available to us as Mace Build
Attack Speed - Attack Speed with Maces - Attack Speed with Two Handed Weapons
and then resists and stats as you need.

Abyss Jewels:
25+ Maximum Life
Attack Speed
% to gain onslaught on kill/% blind on hit
Adds Physical damage to attacks


  • 1. Pros and Cons
  • 2. Gear
  • 3. Gems and Links
  • 4. Bandit + Ascendancy + Pantheon
  • 5. Leveling + Skill Trees
  • 6. Questions and Answers
  • 7. Tips and Tricks
  • 8. Thank You


1. Pros and Cons
Spoiler

Pros
+ Easy to league start with. Ground Slam is available immediately to Marauders and this build clears the story with 0 gear. 4 links, Berserker Ascendancy and the whetstone recipe will take care of all act bosses and areas.
+ Safe. This build has great innate defensive mechanics such as Fortify, Warbringer heals and its ability to stun enemies, making them unable to do anything but take a beating! We also run 6+ Endurance Charges, resulting in 24% physical damage reduction and 24% ele damage reduction, just for stunning things!
+ Boss Killing and mapping, all in one. This build excels at single target damage. Pop up war banner, use your Warbringer passive, use Berserk and start slamming! Everything including awakener 8 will melt. Mapping is smooth and fun, hop around pack to pack while completely smashing with huge Slam AoE.
+ Linear gear progression. This build uses RT and pure physical, so there is no need to stress for critical attack breakpoints, gearing critical multiplier, or converting elemental damage types. Your biggest upgrades such as 6 links chest/Mace/Tidebreaker, BiS uniques and good jewels help min max the build but are not required. You can get into maps and making currency with minimal hideout trading.

Cons
- Cannot do physical reflect. This build has no way to mitigate reflect; you will have to reroll these maps.
- Hardcore viability. I am a Softcore player and this build is made in mind for new players. I have not tested this build in HC. You cannot use Aspect of Carnage in hardcore, you must pick defy pain (not bad but not amazing, requires some reflect mitigation via pantheon or implicits) or small nodes/crit node.
- Melee build. Although Slam Skills offers huge AoE and screen clear, it is not Tornado Shot off screening or ED + Contagion destroying monsters in the next room. You will be up close and personal with monsters and bosses.



2. In Depth Gear Explanation

Spoiler

This build uses non-meta (maces) 2 Handed weapons, and a couple uniques that are currently underused. Gearing with rares is easy as well; get good life rolls on all gear (120+) along with capping resists (6 endurance charges also helps here). Intelligence and Dexterity can be a bottle neck for gear/skills, so feel free to add those to your gears, or pick up some of the +30 nodes on tree in the meantime.

Weapon:
Spoiler
The Tidebreaker Unique 2H mace is top quality for this build. It offers everything, good physical dps, free 7 link with Endurance Charge on Melee Stun, and free Intelligence.Look for the highest physical DPS roll you can find. If you have the $$$, you can look for one with a Corrupted Implicit Supported by Lvl 10 Fortify but this is very unnecessary and difficult to acquire.

If not using Tidebreaker, look for the highest Physical DPS 2H Mace you can find. Kongos Undying Rage, Chaber Cairn, Marohi Erqi, or Brain Rattler (drop brutality!) all work and can be found cheaply.

Once you begin to make currency, look into buying (or findng) a impact propogator 2h mace base. This base's implicit (2 additional exerts) gives us even more value with Warbringer, allowing for near perma uptime on autoexerted intimidating cry or any others.



All item slots should eventually be filled with very strong rares.

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Guide:Best_in_slot_base_types

Use these base items only as they are the highest defense stat per slots. Get as much +armour on every base as possible, as well as needed life/resists/qol mods.

Then once you have strong pieces, use Eldritch currency to get powerful defensive and offensive mods that suit your playstyle.

Chest:
Spoiler
Kaom's Heart, Carcass Jack, Loreweave. Since we 6link our 2H Mace, we free up our chest. Kaoms offers the greatest single eHP boost, but you will miss the slots. Carcass Jack offers huge AoE QoL, if you find yourself wanting more AoE for Ground Slam. Loreweave in general is a great chest piece, offering a bit of everything including much needed stats, and lets us spend max res tree points elsewhere.

Rare mods: +armour, %additional physical damage reduction


Feedback from players gave SporeGuard

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Sporeguard

This offers good life, good chaos res, and good clear with fungal explosions. depending on your budget, you can use this to replace kaoms

Plus it offers annointments, allowing for powerful defense and offense depending on your gear




Helmet:
Spoiler
A Rare helm with the "Take 9% increased physical damage" and mana reservation is ideal.

Abyssus can be used for an insane DPS boost.. with the cost of being very squishy. Only recommended for softcore or people who love glass cannons!

Devotos Devotion is the premier unique helmet. It offers everything we need, Movement speed, attack speed, Dexterity and Chaos Resistance.



Gloves:
Spoiler
Tanu Anhi are the cheap unique gloves we love to use. They provide good attack speed and onslaught/adrenaline when we fill our life via leech which is often due to our self degens.

If using rares, Spiked Gauntlets offer up to 20% increased Melee Damage. Gauntlets can also roll attack speed, a vital stat for us. Otherwise look for Life and Resists.

Good budget/early league gauntlet are Wyrmsigns, offering a 5 Link with Conc Effect. They also provide Rampage, which helps with mapping.



Boots:
Spoiler
Redblade Tramplers have a little bit of everything, Life, Movespeed, some resistances and are extremely cheap. Kaoms Roots are also very powerful, especially for Elder and Uber Elder Fights (where slows can be a problem). They offer great HP, although we are already stun immune due to Rite of Ruin. If you have some spare chaos, consider a +1 Endurance Charge corruption which is a great boost to our DPS and defenses. Atziri step is also solid, offering dodge.

If using rares, go for the usual. Movespeed (25+), life, resists. There are powerful unveiled mods such as onslaught on kill, cannot be frozen that we look to get on our boots for QoL.


Belt:
Spoiler
Ryslaths coil is one of the best belts for us! It offers a HUGE DPS boost (ignore min, go for the most Maximum (40) you can get), good life and stun boosts, and gives us +50 hp when we stun (which is often).

Soul Tether is also a very powerful option, giving us one of the best defensive mechanics in the game (over leech).

Doryianis Invitation (Global Physical) is a great budget build, offering Stun bonuses, good all res and a bit of dmg.

If going rare, look for a Stygian with life and resists, or a rustic or leather belt with the same.

Hunter (and elder) influenced stygian belts can roll %max life.



Rings/Amulet:
Spoiler
These are filler slots, look for Life, Resists, physical damage to attacks. Be sure to add atleast one piece with x% of damage leeched as mana as this build does not get it on tree.

Getting -minus 7 mana cost on rings and amulet allows for much more freedom in terms of mana costs and auras. Look for these asap.



Jewels:
Spoiler

Cluster Jewel with Overlord. Very rare mod, so it will be expensive (1+ ex) but very worth. Allows you to drop main fortify link in Slam, get the bonuses from having Fortify (Rampart etc) for free during all attacks, and they can even roll with extra jewel slots. HIGHLY RECOMENDED

% Increases Maximum Life
Attack Speed - Attack Speed with Maces - Attack Speed with Two Handed Weapons
and then resists and stats as you need

For Abyss Jewels (Tombfists, Stygian, possibly tree) look for
25+ Maximum Life
Attack Speed
% to gain onslaught on kill/% blind on hit
Adds Physical damage to attacks
Chance to avoid shock (if you want to use stormshroud + this to become ailment immune)


Flasks

Spoiler

I like bleed remove, freeze remove, and curse remove on my flasks for mapping for safety.

I like a instant life flask, good for clutch healing + warbringer.

1. Consecrtated ground gives us life regen and 40% dmg, which is an entire 2h wheel in tree. Solid

2. Lions roar is self explanatory, gives a ton of DPS and armor is nice

3. Quicksilver is mandatory for zoom zoom

4. Since we do not have onslaught on tree or Abyss jewels, we get it here. Good dps and move speed

for uber elder i like to swap into

Reduced cold dmg flask with movespeed

this gives us a bit if defense vs shaper balls and elder spears

i like move speed on it as it replaces my quicksilver



3. Gems and Links
Spoiler

(Vaal*) Ground Slam – Brutality – Ruthless - Concentrated Effect Melee Physical Damage – Fortify - (Pulverize** – Shockwave*** - Multistrike**** - Rage***** - Fist of War******)

Awakened Brutality and Awakened Melee Physical are BiS, allowing us to drop Tombfists for intimidate and get extra stats via gauntlets.

Spoiler


Ground Slam. Our main ability. Strikes the ground in front of you, sending a cascade of spikes dealing damage. Has some built in scaling physical damage. The gem includes a MORE damage multiplier for enemies that are directly in front and centre of its AoE. It also includes "Reduces Enemy Stun Threshhold (or R.E.S.T) which reduces the damage necessary to stun enemies. Can be modified by Rapid Expansion, a Unique Jewel which increases its radius. The best Helmet Enchantment is "40% Increased Ground Slam Damage".

If you are using other Slam skills, swap out certain ones depending. Less Duration for EarthQuake, Ele dmg with attacks (instead of Brutality) for Tect/Ice Crash.

(Awakened) Brutality. Heavily boosts our dmg, offering MORE physical damage at the cost of doing no other type of damage. Since we are a pure physical build, this is not a problem, but it means we cannot use any conversion such as Hatred, Herald of Ash, Atzirirs promise, Taste of Hate etc. Awakened version offers Physical damage penetration, nice bonus. Good investment early in a league

Ruthless. Heavily Boosts dmg on repeating hits, keeps track itself. This allows for huge burst and is available to Mauraders right at lvl 1. Very powerful and reliable, especially for bosses.


Concentrated Effect/ (Awakened) Increased Area of Effect allows us to either heavily increase our dps, or move to bigger area. Gem swapping on bosses vs mapping is recommended. Blue links can be ignored if you don't feel like recolouring from all red.

(Awakened) Melee Physical Damage. Good dps boost, no downsides. Awakened version gives Intimidate proc, allowing for more gearing options. Good investment to buy early in a league.

Fortify. Good dps boost, but most importantly gives Fortify buff on hit, lowering damage taken. Fortify is a key part of defense for melee builds, so mandatory to get it in main links or on movement skill. Priority to Overlord Cluster Jewel to get free Fortify on Hit, which allows for more DPS or AoE gems.

**Pulverize can be swapped for Concentrated Effect or Increased Area of Effect, depending on your damage, current setup, intelligence requirements, # of rapid expansion jewels etc. Feel free to experiment and make the build your own!

***Shockwave is a Mace/Staff only skill; it adds a shockwave ability with a low cooldown (0.72s I believe) to attacks. It can aid in AOE clear for mapping; but feel free to swap for Ruthless or the above mentioned Conc Effect or Inc. AOE if you prefer! Ruthless should always be used on bosses.

****Multistrike was once king of Melee supports. It provides alot of Attack Speed, and the new ability to cancel allows for better QoL, so use it if you prefer the speed quick hits vs big chunky hits. Great for general mapping.

*****Rage support can be used to generate rage quicker and allows for flat physical, which is great for early league when items dont offer much + physical. Try it out!

****** Fist of War. Huge dps and AoE boost every 1.8 seconds. Very fun to use. I prefer this VS pulverize, but try out both and see which one you like.


Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - (Lifetap)

Spoiler
Leap Slam is our main movement ability; it will stun enemies on hit as well allowing for safer movement! Linking to Faster Attacks is Mandatory; it will greatly increase our clear speed and dodging ability. The last 2 links are optional; Lifetap is highly recommended (nothing is worse than trying to dodge but being out of Mana). Fortify** is only required if you do not use Fortify on your main Ground Slam setup.


Pride - Blood and Sand - Herald of Purity

Spoiler
Our Aura Setup. Pride is the brand new Physical Aura that greatly increases our damage; while Blood and Sand and Herald of Purity offer great utility.



Berserk - Enduring Cry / Intimidating Cry / Seismic Cry - Blood Rage – Second Wind

Spoiler
With the Warcry nodes we take on tree + Warbringer, we can gain rage if we are under 25, and spend our +25 rage to deal 50% MORE damage on our exerted attacks.
Blood Rage offers much needed attack speed, however you can skip this if you do not like the Degen combined with the Berserker Rite of Ruin Degen.
Berserk offers great Burst DPS and defensive mitigation at the cost of DPS uptime. Use it when you need a big push of damage or defense, or when you are up against big mob packs like Legion, Breaches or bosses. It works well with Serkers own rage generation, and increased duration improves the time of our Warcries.


Optional

Spoiler



Spoiler



Dash - Second Wind

Spoiler

Dash can be a good replacment for leap slam. It feels alot "cleaner" than leap slam for some (myself included) so try it out! Support it with Second Wind is highly recommended to give you multiple.


War Banner )

Spoiler
War Banner greatly increases our damage, and offers some utility in clear and single target. Supporting it with Maim or Chance to bleed will increase our damage even more; and Chance to Bleed opens up opportunities to use Bloodlust support for boss killing. Feel free to support or not support, depending on your open sockets.



Cast When Damage Taken - Steel Skin - Stone Golem - (Enfeeble/Temp Chains/Phase Run) Increased Duration

Spoiler
Our CWDT setup, offers QoL and damage reduction. This is entirely optional. You can level this as high as you want for less procs, or keep it low level to proc often.








4. Bandit + Ascendancy + Pantheon

Spoiler
Bandit:
  • Kill them all, or Oak as an alternative.

Ascendancy:
  • Aspect of Carnage
  • Crave the Slughter
  • Rite of Ruin
[li]War Bringer[/li]


Pantheon:
  • Major God - Lunaris for general mapping and Solaris for bossing.
    Arakalli offers chaos res, however we can no longer abuse the Blood Rage + Immortal call to proc the increased reovery.
  • Minor God – Map/boss dependent.
    Garuhan can be solid for the movement speed.
    Yugul is excellent for Elder and Uber Elder fights (cold damage)
    Gruthkul offers solid phys damage reduction and - attack speed for enemies
    Ralakesh is decent for lab farming or Trials
    Ryslatha is great for areas with no mobs, like Trials or Lab.
    Shakari is good for maps that have poison mod, or poison bosses.


5. Leveling + Skill Trees
Spoiler

No uniques are required as this build is fine for a league start. Check vendors regularly for Boots with movement speed, and the highest DPS 2H Mace you can find. Then vendor that mace with a whetstone and a blue (magic) or yellow (rare) rustic sash to get a weapon with # increased physical damage. If this is not your first character in the league, the usual: Goldrim, Tabula, Wanderlust, Belt of the Deceiver, Meginords Girdle, Facebreakers, Elreon -Mana Cost jewelry (int/dex/resists) and good 2h uniques, like Hrimnors Hymn/Hrimnors Dirge

Note that all gems are available from Lily Roth after clearing the Twilight Strand in Act 6

Follow PoB for Early Tree 1. Low Level Tree

The early tree is very straight forward. We path straight through Warriors Blood, Born To Fight, Barbrism and head to Resolute Technique. Afterwards we grab the dex node on the way to the duelist area for some dex for "Dash" or any other needed attributes. Look for 2 handed maces with "Adds x to x Physical Damage to Attacks" and "x% Increased Physical Damage, although pretty much everything will be fine.

MainSkill: Slam Skill - Ruthless - Chance to Bleed/Onslaught
Main Skill 2: Ancestral Protector - Chance to Bleed
Mobility: Leap Slam
Aura - Blood and Sand

2. First lab + Second Lab + Main Tree

Now were getting places! Soul of Steel is one of my favorite defensive nodes, the rest being good Mace and 2h nodes. Consider Art of the Gladiator early before DPS if Dex is a gear bottle neck! We also grab more life and our huge powerful exert node, Measured Fury.

MainSkill: Slam - Melee Physical - Fortify - Rage (Brutality - Multistrike – Fist Of War Pulverize/Concentrated Effect/Increased AoE (if you have Int))
Main Skill 2: Ancestral Warchief - Maim/Chance to Bleed
Mobility: Leap Slam - Faster Attacks
Utility: Enduring Cry, Seismic Cry, Intimidating Cry, Berserk
Aura - Pride, Blood and Sand, Herald of Purity

Consider lvling a Shockwave if you want to try it out as well!

3. Bring War to them (End of Campaign)

Scream and shout and Smash your way through the story! We grab more Mace DPS nodes, as well as our WarCry Synergies with War Bringer! We also grab max res nodes for defense and alot more life, as well as more fortify and mace nodes. We also begin respecing some of the more wasteful nodes and get our tree in good order.

MainSkill: Ground Slam - Melee Physical - Fortify - Rage (Brutality - Multistrike – Fist of War Pulverize/Concentrated Effect/Increased AoE (if you have Int))
Mobility: Leap Slam - Faster Attacks
Utility: Enduring Cry, Seismic Cry, Intimidating Cry, Berserk
Aura - Pride, Blood and Sand, Herald of Purity

If you have extra slots, consider:

Main Skill 2: Ancestral Warchief - Maim/Chance to Bleed
Golem: Stone Golem
CWDT: Steel Skin, Enfeeble/Temporal Chains

After you complete Act 6 Lily will have all the skill gems you may have missed.

4. Final Skill Tree/Endgame


At this point we get our Endurance Charge nodes, jewel spots, and other easy to reach masteries. You can crush maps and bosses as your DPS and stun capabilities are very high.


Last edited by frawrst#6156 on Sep 13, 2024, 8:54:02 PM
Last bumped on Nov 25, 2024, 7:26:21 PM
6. Questions and Answers
Spoiler


Calls to Arms?
Spoiler
Calls to Arms is a QoL keystone that lets us have instant War Cries, akin to pre 3.11. This is very powerful and you can put any Warcry on your left click, so it will move you and automatically cry whenever off cooldown. However, by stacking Seismic Cry + Intimidating Cry + Warbringer + Bersek we achieve VERY huge DPS for low cost. So if your dps is good enough and you are lazy, get Call to Arms for ease.


I keep dying, whatsup?
Spoiler
This build is relatively tanky, but it is melee and does have Berserker Degen and increased damage taken drawbacks. Make sure your res are capped and you get +Life on all equipment!
A good life check is approx 300 life per act.. so 600 act 2, 900 act 3, 2100 act 7, 3000 act 10 etc. For maps and Merc/Uber lab I recommend 4.5-5.5k hp. Remember to dodge using your fast leap slams and use your Ancestral Warchief to kite a bit!


Why doesnt my Cast when Damage Taken work?
Spoiler
You may have over/under leveled it. CWDT has a lvl req, and can only support other skills at or under that lvl. Remember not to overlvl or underlvl it! You can stop a gem from lvling by right clicking it.


What about timeless jewels?
Spoiler
Absolutely! I've found good lethal prides myself. Good nodes include % chance to deal double damage, generic STR increases, Increased Effect of Fortify, and Increased Physical Damage. Experiment!


How can i do Physical Reflect maps?
Spoiler
If you really need to; you can convert all your damage to Elemental. Pick a skill such as Frost Blades, Ice Crash, Static Strike etc. Any skill that says "Converts x% of Physical Damage to X Elemental". Then, swap one gem in that skill to Physical To Lightning Support, and you will do 100% elemental damage. You can check this by looking at the tooltip for the skill.

You can also swap your gloves for Conversion gloves, like Hrimsorrow to get 100% elemental damage with Physical to Lightning support.


What if I like Sunder, or Earthquake better?
Spoiler
These both work excellently with this build! Be sure to add "Less Duration" to your skill setup for Earthquake and the helm Enchantment "Earthquake has 30% less duration. Sunder can use exact same as Ground Slam, so if you prefer its range or look, go for it! Both these skills offer less Stun capabilities however.

Earthquake in particular is an amazing leveling, mapping and boss killing skill. Vaal Earthquake is very satisfying to use,


Cyclone?
Spoiler
Ahh yes, the current King of Melee. Cyclone is amazing in 3.7 patch and is great for this build as well. Add Infused Channeling as a support and you can spin like the rest of the Meta!


Can I go Slayer? What about Champion? Ascendant? INQUISITOR? CRITICALS?
Spoiler
These are all very viable for this build! We would need to drop some stun nodes to get Crit multi and Crit chance on tree. Slayer offers most QoL and Crit, as we can turn Tidebreakers 5% base crit chance into 8% with Overwhelm. Its AoE with Impact is also unmatched.

If you want to go Champion/Ascendant/Jugg/Inquis, consider going Axes ot Staves. These offer more DPS, more crit, and the ability to get FORTIFY as a 7th link on Elder'd versions items. I will begin working on a tree for these if there is interest.


True Ground Slam King - Slayer
Spoiler
Moses has arguably the best Ground Slam Setup, and he even did it on SSF!

Highly recommend watching his build guide if you feel you have alot of $$ and want to truly take Ground Slam to next level. Slayer crit node + aoe node is too strong for Ground Slam. Serker version is alot cheaper and more viable for league starts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsG9FsK1gqA


Precinct Farming? Whats that?
Spoiler
Precinct farming is something I will be trying in 3.8, hopefully. Precinct has alot of amazing div cards (2x exalt card, headhunter league card, merciless weapon card...)

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Precinct_Map_(War_for_the_Atlas)

It has 5-7 unique exiles as map bosses, which are typically considered one of the more RIPPY and dangerous bosses. Thus, this map isnt very popular.


But...

None of these bosses are stun immune ;)

So we completely steamroll this map!!!!

Look forward to lots of diary and farming in the weeks to come.


How do I afford a Tidebreaker/Good DPS weapon?
Spoiler
Use the Whetstone recipe as often as possible until you can! Whetstone + white weapon + rare or magic rustic belt = increased physical weapon when you sell all 3 to a vendor.

When searching for DPS upgs weaps on trade site, enter number into the pDPS field (we do not care about elemental damage). Try 250+ early, then increase by 50 or so every now and then. You will find two hand maces are very cheap to buy from other players!

The Warlord div card drops from Arsenal map and is very low demand. You need 6 to create a 6 link Coronal Maul with item lvl 83. They can be 2-4c week one, and cheaper after that.

Craft it with Transmutes-alterations and look for T1/T2 Increased Physical Damage, and T1/T2 Adds x Physical Damage to attacks. Then use a regal and craft another dps mod (attack speed, double damage).

Or use a essence of Contempt (Deafening Essence of Contempt for best phys roll) and then play around with annuls and benches.

For Tidebreaker; look into The Deep Ones Card! 5 of them will make a Tidebreaker, and they are reasonable cheap at league start and only get cheaper as league goes on!

Poe.trade links (be sure to check which League you are searching!)

Spoiler

The Deep Ones
http://poe.trade/search/oritagawitikih

The Warlord
http://poe.trade/search/hinuogasidumas

Ground Slam Enchantment Helmet
http://poe.trade/search/ohonikonitetoy

Rare Maces
250+ pDPS
http://poe.trade/search/oteritiuboyoni

300+ pDPS
http://poe.trade/search/kiwanoherubota

350+ pDPS
http://poe.trade/search/tanaedurakiotu

400+ pDPS
http://poe.trade/search/onuwakekazuriz

400+ pDPS and 6 links
http://poe.trade/search/ikeyerekuwahun

Tidebreaker
http://poe.trade/search/tasiteninasasu


Mana Sustain
Spoiler
"
my friend wrote:
I think the only problem I've had is some mana issues right when you start using all 3 auras. I knew I could just drop an aura, or figure out other solutions, but I think a new player could get stuck. It might be worth adding in a line about which aura should be a priority, or how to solve mana issues (the mana potion mod that keeps mana regen going even if your mana pool tops off is great for this build)


If you find mana issues early, there a few things to try.

Drop a Aura to get more mana available. This is only for early game, as you will want all 3 at maps. Pride is biggest DPS, while Flesh and Stone offers defense and Blood and Sand is Utility. Pride only works for entire of story, since its DPS increase is by far the most meaninful.

Get mana leech, either on a ring, gloves, jewel.

Use a mana flask/hybrid flask. Enduring is a new affix for mana flaska nd persist even while you are at full mana, ensuring you can always attack




7. Tips and Tricks
Spoiler
Vaal Ground Slam
Spoiler
Vaal Ground Slam is definitely a reason to pick up this build. It offers huge damage, huge AoE, guaranteed stun and has a incredible low Soul requirement and Soul Gain Prevention. On top of all that, it can store 3 charges! Use it liberally during mapping for blue and yellow packs, it will stun everything and outright kill most. It is great for Legion and Breaches, and other high density and tough mob packs.


Syndicate
Spoiler
Ahh yes, the bane of our stuns. 3.5 introduced the Immortal Syndicate, and they were moved into the main game in 3.6+. All Syndicate members have the Unwavering mod, which means they cannot be stunned. We must treat them with regular melee gameplay, and dodge alot. Popping A. Warchief and Berserk helps alot here, and Vaal Ground Slam still does very good DPS.


Unwavering
Spoiler
This mod shows up on certain bosses (Minotaur, Atziri, Syndicates, Delve bosses) as well as being a mod on map rolls. Because our DPS is so high, we can often ignore it on maps lower than t15. If you do roll it on a t15+, consider rerolling it to ensure stun safety.


Izaro and Lab
Spoiler
This build runs lab very well due to Warbringer heals and Stuns, as well as Rite of Ruin and Warcry movespeed.

Izaro is fully stunnable; this build is good for Lab carries.


Wrecking Ball, Kinetic Impacts, Butchery, Executioner, Martial Experience, Brinkmanship, Ribecage Crusher, Steadfast
Spoiler
Damage stops being our bottleneck, as we will stun everything that can be stunned. At that point, defenses and quality of life come into player. More regen, or more Life, is usually the better choice. However, this can vary depending on your gear, skill execution, and how you like to play the game.

Steadfast is also pretty excellent.


3.8 Annointments?
Spoiler
1. annoints are flexible, depending if you want more defensive life, resists, or more offensive dps

personally my three favorite are:

kinetic impacts

steadfast

crystal skin


theres also just good generic nodes that arent worth pathing too, or are too far that can be good:

cruel preparation

discipline and training

tireless

ribcage crusher

brinkmanship

executioner

purity of flesh


Ruthless and MultiStrike
Spoiler
These two are a bit anti-synergistic. Ruthless counts "the number of times and attack is used" while Multistrike triples our usage. While you may think it will mean every third hit will get both Multistrikes 2nd repeat more and Ruthless Third hit More; it does not work this way. Instead, the 7th, 8th and 9th hit (third use of Multistrike) will get the Third Ruthless bonus. While not terrible, this is not ideal either. Feel free to swap them out for each other depending on bossing/mapping. Ruthless is MVP when it comes to bossing and is highly recommended.


Stutter Step and Dodging
Spoiler
In patch 3.7 Legion we got a MAJOR buff to Melee skills that can target ground (Ground slam). By holding right left click to move, and tapping right click for Ground Slam, we can stutter step. We cancel the back end animation of Groundslam, the AoE still hits and does area damage, but we are already moving, and then cancelling that movement into another Ground Slam! It is a very powerful and safe way to dodge and keep up DPS, and best of all it is pretty easy to learn! Check out the mapping or Uber Elder videos to see it in action!


Flasks

Spoiler
"
anvilgod wrote:
Could you maybe add a Flask section under in-depth gear explanation? I know that lion's roar and flasks with bleed removal are BiS but maybe there are some options that are better for general mapping and some are better for uber bosses and it would be a good addition to your gear explanation.


Good questions!




Here are my current flasks.

I like bleed remove, freeze remove, and curse remove on my flasks for mapping for safety.

I like a instant life flask, good for clutch healing + warbringer. Dying at lvl 93 sucks xd


1. Consecrtated ground gives us life regen and 40% dmg, which is an entire 2h wheel in tree. Solid

2. Lions roar is self explanatory, gives a ton of DPS and armor is nice

3. Quicksilver is mandatory for zoom zoom

4. Since we do not have onslaught on tree or Abyss jewels, we get it here. Good dps and move speed

for uber elder i like to swap into



this gives us a bit if defense vs shaper balls and elder spears

i like move speed on it as it replaces my quicksilver




8. Thank You
Spoiler

Most credit goes to @Brightwaha
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1862864/page/1

He has the best Heavy Strike Tidebreaker Stun build and I highly recommend that for more info if you enjoy this playstyle. He is always answering questions, check him out!


Big Shout outs to @Thi3n
https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/thi3n

who is by far one of the most knowledgable and friendly players. Check out his guides and stream!

Moses! https://www.twitch.tv/MosesPlays

He has an amazing GS Slayer guide which can help you choose between Slayer and Serker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsG9FsK1gqA

Hitma$7
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2865478

Pushed stunlicking ground slam to very high $$$ upgrades, stunlocked awaken 8 sirus

Rius

The PA community

You the reader!

My Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/frawrst





Change Log
Spoiler
Aug 12/2019 - Build Guide Started, added Intro, Pros and Cons, Skills links, gear recommendations, bandits/ascend/pantheon, basic leveling tress and skills, questions and answers.

Aug 13/2019 - Cleaned up formatting, added Ground Slam AoE GIF. Added Cyclone, Earthquake and Sunder tips. Added The Warlord Div Card for 6 Link as well as a short crafting tip. Added Poe.Trade search links.

Aug 14/2019 - Added Mino Phoenix and Shaper Videos, added Legion League (3.7) gears. Added tips and tricks. Added more mapping and bossing videos.

Aug 15/2019 - Uber Elder Video added. Updated Pantheon

Aug 16/2019 - Another Uber elder added

Aug 19/2019 - Deathless Uber Elder added, new stunlock meme video added

Aug 20/2019 - Added Q/A and Crit/other classes viability

Sep 5/2019 - Updated Ascendancy route as we can use Rage gem until Merc lab. Buffs to build, updated POB for 3.8, add annointment

Sep 10/2019 - Day 5 of league, Uber Elder down. Flasks QA updated

Sep 14/2019 - Added Mana sustain QA

Sep 18/2019 - MF gear added, HH acquired in 3.8 league. Build goals fulfilled, start league, defeat all bosses, get $$$ for HH

Nov 12/2019 - eagerly awaiting 4.0 and 3.9 details from Exilecon! Added in Moses slayer video for true Ground Slam king

Dec 8/2019 - added Sporeguard to chest options based on feedback, extra annointment and explosions very good QoL

Dec 10/2019 - adcded 3.8 balance manifesto details

Dec 12/2019 - updated PoB, skill trees, gem to include Awakened Melee Phys and Awakened Brutality

Jun 4/2020 - 3.11 news, added new luxury items from Hitma47 guide

Aug 12/2020 – 1 year anniversary of guide. Almost 100 pages and almost 400k views! Thank you for your support!!!!

Sep 3/2020 – Guide reworked for 3.11 changes. 3.12 announced, we slamming in heists boys.



Have fun and Smash Things =]
Last edited by frawrst#6156 on Oct 1, 2020, 7:27:38 PM
Pre 3.11

Accomplishments:

T16 Guardians Stunlocked
Shaper Stunlocked

ilvl 83 Syndicate Safehouse (stun immune)

ilvl 83 Syndicate mastermind (stun immune)

Pure Xoph Breachstone Stunlocked

Delve 220+

Kurgal Stunlocked

Uber Elder stunned and DEATHLESS

3.8

Day 4 Uber Elder on League Start using 5 Link Tidebreaker stunned and DEATHLESS

Day 10, farmed t15 toxic sewers and t16 burial chambers to buy doctor cards

8/8 get






3.8 progression

Day 1 Gear Blight SC

Spoiler
Story + half of white maps done

Found a Geofris, used it until i bought a Kongors with high dps for 3c. Could carry to early yellows easily. Found a rare chest with life + resists, using Wyrmsign for 1 alch price 5 link + Rampage. 2 raw exalt drops on day 1.





Day 2 Blight SCstunlocked uber izaro with the below gear

Spoiler
Bought 5x Deep ones cards for 4c and under, then 5 link prophecy card at 3c and under. Total cost = about 30c day 2, for 5 link. Used this tidebreaker to kill Uber elder

Bought a good MORE rsyalthas for about 14c, perfect lions roar for 10c





end of day 2 blight SC
Spoiler

Finished all white and yellow maps and uber lab, starting t11s and reds.

Bought perfect tombs for 3c, got a decent life + resist murderous for 1c





How i deal with Ele reflect maps on league start

Spoiler
Spoiler


all other map mods are easy


Day 4 Uber elder kill gear, 5 link tidebreaker deathless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-Leo4113U

Spoiler






Mf gear, used to farm t15 toxic sewer and t16 burial chambers to buy HH

Spoiler







Farming in 3.11

Spoiler


"
frawrst wrote:
more league goals ^^











3.11 Harvest

Spoiler


day 1

Spoiler
end of day one harvest sc, lvl 73 prelimary tree

Spoiler


https://pastebin.com/AXBBuLLL

about 115k dps with flasks up, but PoB is not account for alot of new tree and skills dmg so probably a fair bit higher




biggest investment was 8c for 25% lions roar. rest is random 1c/1 alch rare. wyrmsigns are gg for us as its a 1 alch 5 link that has good hp and gives rampage and endurance charge synergy. really fun to use in story and in early maps


got through story mode very easily due to new OP crafting (just pick up bases and roll phys mods on maces... by far the strongest melee lvling league thus far)

spec'd into some warcry nodes, the +1 exert one is really OP. warbringer also feels great to use. ive been completely 1-2-3 shotting most bosses with intimidating + seismic + war bringer procs

got into about t3-t5 maps, dps is still great.

big investment of the night; 10c for tidebreaker and beginning to buy 5 link prophecy for early 6 link. with this we should be able to focus on life and push into red maps :)







"
frawrst wrote:
day 2 pob

Spoiler


"
frawrst wrote:
day 2 pob

https://pastebin.com/8K6yyyDw

490k ground slam and 900k vaal gs

not including fist of war, or new warcry stuff (double dmg, seismic... war bringer..). lets just say dps is very high

end of day 2 gear, in early red maps, build dps is still insane. since we dont stun lock we must dodge with leap slam alot

Spoiler



bought tidebreaker 10c day 1, 5 link proph 15c total

used a divine and got near max rolls

dropped the boots, amazing res and hp

bought helm for 3c

rings 3c each

bought perfect ryslaths for 2.9 ex... big investment but the best belt for us and a good roll

chest is self crafted with new harvest, will look for a incursion 110+ life and max hp one soon



slamming feels good


day 3

Spoiler
day 3 harvest sc gear

https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/frawrst/SlamminInTheNewWorld?i=0&search=class%3DBerserker%26skill%3DGround-Slam%26sort%3Dlife

Spoiler


lvl 90 pob
https://pastebin.com/MPjTMVjX

at 21 watchstones now. got some better jewels, awakened brutality, better chest. at 6800 hp which is nice for t14+ reds

Spoiler


spec'd out of most of the waycry nodes except admonisher and measured fury just go get more hp. not sure if right decision yet, i find myself needing warcry uptime alot more to keep up with late reds. will keep experimenting



end of day 4

Spoiler


https://pastebin.com/fVMXPiG4

switched tree around to get a cluster, make room for more jewel sockets and life

PoB says 800k GS, and berseker is 1.1m

at about 26 watchstones now, farming up the rest slowly

moved to dash + second wind, and put intimating cry here to so we can get 6 double dmg exert attacks on command

bought awakened melee phys so dropped tombfists for big life rare

bought a cheap (but not great) overlord jewel, dropped fortify in 5 link, replaced with awakend melee phys

second wind is gg for war crys, highly recomended. dash is good with second wind too

also for single target big boy dps ->

get ready for boss

warcry next to it to get +40-60 instant rage

hit berserk

now your use warcries to keep rage high, extending berserk. under 25 = warcry becomes max rage

laugh at your dmg



currently saving up $$$, may begin buying gear for a second char or may opt to see if we can get a 6 link tide/600-800 pdps rare
"
frawrst wrote:



lvl 95 pastebin

Spoiler


https://pastebin.com/ma1UugJD




uber elder, sirus aw8, all conqs etc dead

150/154 atlas and 144/154 awakener completion

overall the build has been amazing. the new war cry stacking lets us do insane dps for all bosses, instantly phasing. we become more of a glass cannon due since we lose old warbringer heal.

definitely not HC viable the way i am playing. if you feel defense is lacking push for 6.8k + hp, maybe consider kaoms roots/heart for big life
Last edited by frawrst#6156 on Sep 3, 2020, 3:17:28 PM
original version of guide, kept here for reference

Spoiler
3.11
Spoiler

End of Week One Update:

Overall the build is in excellent shape. The new War Cryn Synergy with Berserk and Warbringer allows us to have very long uptime on Bersker, and all the reworked slam skills work great with this build template. I will be rewriting portions of entire guide, especially the skill gems section. Please note this will be a work in progress for a bit while I play league and experiment more and more.







War bringer change removes huge sustain/QoL, will need to play around with the build to see if exerting war cries + instant are needed, or do we use multiple at a time and spec into the Warcry notables

Added some tentative skill trees and leveling, will need to put into use to see how we do.

Emphasis on Stunning is removed due to stunlock nerf.

Fist of War is insane!!









Looks like massive buffs for this build. Seismic cry, new Fist of War Support (similar to shockwave) and better tree support all look like huge buffs to our dps and aoe.

If build is very popular (similar to EQ) may need to remove Cheap from the title.



3.10
Spoiler
Patch notes out, zero changes for build

alot more bosses got more life now, meaning stunning them is harder. build still does fine getting to reds on a low tier budget (roughly 100c)

new notables give very nice buffs to this build

Spoiler


Warcry is incredibly powerful

Mob Mentality
20% increased Warcry Cooldown Recovery Speed
You and nearby Party members gain 5 Rage when you Warcr

allows us to keep rage stacks during phase bosses

Haunting Shout
20% increased Warcry Cooldown Recovery Speed
Enemies Taunted by your Warcries are Intimidated
Enemies Taunted by your Warcries are Unnerved

lets us drop tombfist intimidate and run powerful rare spiked gauntlets

Rattling Bellow
Enemies Taunted by you take 5% increased Damage
Warcry Skills have 40% increased Area of Effect

huge aoe and another 5% more damage multiplier




some good mace QoL too

Overlord
30% increased Damage with Maces, Sceptres or Staves
Gain Fortify for 6 seconds on Melee Hit with a Mace, Sceptre or Staff

lets us drop fort in our 6 link for more dps


Expansive Might
Mace, Sceptre or Staff Attacks deal 20% increased Damage with Hits and Ailments
While stationary, gain 10% increased Area of Effect every second, up to a maximum of 50%

good aoe increase when slamming in one spot

Weight Advantage
Mace, Sceptre or Staff Attacks deal 30% increased Damage with Hits and Ailments
4% chance to deal Double Damage while wielding a Mace, Sceptre or Staff
+20 to Strength

nice double damage


Battlefield Dominator
Attacks with Two Handed Weapons deal 25% increased Damage with Hits and Ailments
10% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold
15% increased Area of Effect if you've Stunned an Enemy with a Two Handed Melee Weapon Recently

good 2h power boost


Heavy Hitter
30% increased Attack Damage
10% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold
20% chance to double Stun Duration
30% increased Damage with Ailments from Attack Skills

good stun


Fuel the Fight
8% increased Attack Speed
0.4% of Attack Damage Leeched as Mana
20% increased Damage while Leeching

removes the need for mana leech on ring/jewel/neck


Devastator
20% increased Attack Damage
20% increased Damage with Ailments from Attack Skills
Enemies killed by your Attack Hits have a 15% chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their maximum Life as Physical Damage

amazing for clear



along with all the good defensive ones


overall this build got some very strong buffs due to notables, will see how rare/difficult they are to find

Good guide for luxury upgrades here; can stunlock all bosses

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2865478



3.9
Spoiler


MSC day 3 PoB

https://pastebin.com/6ZsEs5rF

about 650k dps on a 5 link tidebreaker


PoB and leveling trees updated
https://pastebin.com/TuewABvq

Overall for 3.9 this build appears mostly unchanged. None of our uniques are going away, none of our damage is being reduced. We moved away from lust for Carnage and into Martial Experience for extra 12% physical penetration. Kinetic Impacts is likely BiS annoint, it gives another 15%. Dropping Wrecking Ball Wheel for Kinetic Impacts.


No word on stun, or unwavering changes. My guess is that bosses that were already unwavering like kitava and minotaur, will keep it. If we somehow metamorph those bosses they will still be unwavering, so we must dodge. Otherwise we will stun lock.

The hp increase may make stunning more difficult for lower dps 5 link budget setups, this will likely be my 3.9 starter


3.9 Patch notes
Spoiler

Patch notes out!

Awakened Brutality and Awakened Melee Physical are free power for us

Some nodes we may get depending on how powerful the Phys pen is:

Great
+Spinecruncher (already have) 12% pen
+Master of Force, Kinetic Impacts (was our BiS annoint) 5% pen and 15% pen, making Kinetic Impacts better than Wrecking Ball
+Martial Experience (better than Lust for Carnage now, 1 extra point used, tree reworked to include 12% pen.
+Path of the Warrior (good for life wheel, no brainer) 5% pen

Could be good
- Adamant (4 points for some good defense + Phys pen) 5% pen
- Inexorable (5 points for medium Endurance charge QoL) 5% pen

Overall this build received very minor buffs (fortify change buffs aspect of carnage debuff) and the new phys pen puts as at:

Spine - 12
Kinetic - 15
Martial - 12

39% phys pen, which may be overkill for bossing








3.8
Spoiler
Day 4 Uber Elder down, 5 link tidebreaker

https://pastebin.com/dMrvFhbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-Leo4113U





Day 11, farmed HH in t15 toxic and t16 Burials

MF gear PoB

https://pastebin.com/VyrnBrU3



3.8 Patch notes
Spoiler
Buffs to Warbringer are big, we gain 2.5% double damage compared to old

we lose increased dmg but we can just add in rallying cry if we really need the dmg (hint we dont)

We gain 10% attack speed which is a HUGE dps boost!!!

pulverize got a big AoE nerf, but decent DPS increase. i think i preferred the AoE

minor nerf to flesh and stone, consider arctic armor for more fire and generic reduced dmg if you didnt like flesh and stone

other than that, build looks really good for 3.8





Memes (click for video)





(GIF) Showcase:
Spoiler







Intro:
Spoiler
Heyo im Frost! I am a intermediate to veteran PoE player, and have been playing since about 3.3 Incursion League (I did play beta and early 1.1 but that was so long ago).

Ground Slam Serker is in my opinion is one of the more underused and beginner friendly builds the game has to offer. It has a linear scaling and easy to understand gearing investments. Every upgrade feels meaningful. It uses 2H Maces, although 1H Maces and 1H/2H Axes are also viable depending on your preference.

This build is a RT (Resolute Technique) Mace build with emphasis on stunning; which allows for safety and easier gear progression. Crit versions are viable; but more expensive. Check our questions and answers for details on Crit.

This build is capable of doing any and all content in the game, however niche things like depth 800 Auls and HoGM (Hall of Grandmasters) have much more suited builds. This build is a great league starter and I will write this guide with a beginner mind set, as well as answering questions!


Videos:




Quick Guide:
PoB
https://pastebin.com/zRKfV7cr

Spoiler

Final Skill Tree






Links
(Vaal*) Ground Slam – Brutality – Ruthless - Concentrated Effect Melee Physical Damage – Fortify - (Pulverize** – Shockwave*** - Multistrike**** - Rage*****)

Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - (Blood Magic* - Fortify**)

Pride - Blood and Sand - Flesh and Stone

Berserk - Enduring Cry / Rallying Cry - Increased Duration - Blood Rage

Optional

Ancestral Warchief - (Maim - Chance to Bleed - any other Melee support)

Cast When Damage Taken - Steel Skin - Stone Golem - (Enfeeble/Temp Chains/Phase Run) Increased Duration


Item Priority

Sample Gears (3.7 Legion)

Spoiler





Weapon:
2 Handed Mace (Shaped with Double Damage/Attack Speed or Supported by Maim) with 6 links and 400+ pDPS
Tidebreaker with 6 links, close to 30% R.E.S.T.


Chest:
Kaoms Heart
Carcass Jack
Loreweave
SporeGuard
Elder rare chest with life - Resists - maim support - reduced mana cost of skills


Helm:
Rare with resistances - life - Delve mod with "Nearby enemies take 9% increased physical damage".
Enchant "40% Increased Ground Slam Damage" is recommended.
Devotos Devotion
Abyssus
Deidbellow

Gloves:
Tombfists (1 or 2 sockets)
Rare Spiked Gauntlets with Attack Speed - life - resistances.

Boots:
Redblade Tramplers
Kaoms Roots
Atziri's Step
Rare boots with resistances - Life - movement speed.

Belt:
Ryslaths Coil with close to 40% maximum physical as possible
Rare Stygian with Life - Resistances - Damage

Amulet/Rings:
Life and Resists. Steel Rings offer +physical damage to attacks. You also want mana leech here, or on one of your jewels as this build does not get any on the tree.

Jewels:
1x Rapid Expansion
% Increases Maximum Life
Attack Speed - Attack Speed with Maces - Attack Speed with Two Handed Weapons
and then resists and stats as you need.

Abyss Jewels:
25+ Maximum Life
Attack Speed
% to gain onslaught on kill/% blind on hit
Adds Physical damage to attacks


  • 1. Pros and Cons
  • 2. Gear
  • 3. Gems and Links
  • 4. Bandit + Ascendancy + Pantheon
  • 5. Leveling + Skill Trees
  • 6. Questions and Answers
  • 7. Tips and Tricks
  • 8. Thank You


1. Pros and Cons
Spoiler

Pros
+ Easy to league start with. Ground Slam is available immediately to Marauders and this build clears the story with 0 gear. 4 links, Berserker Ascendancy and the whetstone recipe will take care of all act bosses and areas.
+ Safe. This build has great innate defensive mechanics such as Fortify, Warbringer heals and its ability to stunlock enemies, making them unable to do anything but take a beating! We also run 6+ Endurance Charges, resulting in 24% physical damage reduction and 24% all res, just for stunning things!
+ Boss Killing and mapping, all in one. This build excels at single target damage. Pop up ancestral warchief, use your Warbringer passive, and start slamming. All non-stun immune bosses will be instalocked in place. Stun immune bosses (Unwavering) do require regular melee gameplay however, dodging including. Mapping is smooth and fun, hop around pack to pack while completely smashing with huge Ground Slam AoE.
+ Linear gear progression. This build uses RT and pure physical, so there is no need to stress for critical attack breakpoints, gearing critical multiplier, or converting elemental damage types. Your biggest upgrades such as 6 links chest/Mace/Tidebreaker, BiS uniques and good jewels help min max the build but are not required. You can get into maps and making currency with minimal hideout trading.

Cons
- Cannot do physical reflect. This build has no way to mitigate reflect; you will have to reroll these maps.
- Hardcore viability. I am a Softcore player and this build is made in mind for new players. I have not tested this build in HC, however it has great defensive mechanics like fortify, Stun and good eHP pool thanks to Warbringer
- Melee build. Although Ground Slam offers huge AoE and screen clear, it is not Tornado Shot off screening or ED + Contagion destroying monsters in the next room. You will be up close and personal with monsters and bosses.



2. In Depth Gear Explanation

Spoiler

This build uses non-meta (maces) 2 Handed weapons, and a couple uniques that are currently underused. Gearing with rares is easy as well; get good life rolls on all gear (50-75+) along with capping resists (6 endurance charges also helps here). Intelligence and Dexterity can be a bottle neck for gear/skills, so feel free to add those to your gears, or pick up some of the +30 nodes on tree in the meantime.

Weapon:
Spoiler
The Tidebreaker Unique 2H mace is top quality for this build. It offers everything, good physical dps, free 7 link with Endurance Charge on Melee Stun, free Intelligence and also includes "Reduce Enemy Stun Threshhold" a.k.a R.E.S.T bonuses. Look for as close to 30% R.E.S.T as possible, followed by physical DPS roll. If you have the $$$, you can look for one with a Corrupted Implicit Supported by Lvl 10 Fortify but this is very unnecessary and difficult to acquire.

If not using Tidebreaker, look for the highest Physical DPS 2H Mace you can find. Kongos Undying Rage, Chaber Cairn, Marohi Erqi, or Brain Rattler (drop brutality!) all work and can be found cheaply.

If using a rare, consider a Shaper 2 Handed Rare. These can roll (increased attack speed and chance to deal double damage) and (Supported by Maim) which are great boosts to DPS!







Chest:
Spoiler
Kaom's Heart, Carcass Jack, Loreweave. Since we 6link our 2H Mace, we free up our chest. Kaoms offers the greatest single eHP boost, and the fire dmg roll does not matter. Carcass Jack offers huge AoE QoL, if you find yourself wanting more AoE for Ground Slam. Loreweave in general is a great chest piece, offering a bit of everything including much needed stats. The res bonuses, elemental damage and crit chance are wasted stats on us, but its still solid regardless.

If using a rare, go for as much life and resists as possible. Fossil crafting offers huge HP rolls. Elder chests can roll maim support and reduced mana cost, but these are also an unnecessary luxury.

Feedback from players gave SporeGuard

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Sporeguard

This offers good life, good chaos res, and good clear with fungal explosions. depending on your budget, you can use this to replace kaoms

Plus it offers annointments, allowing for powerful defense and offense depending on your gear




Helmet:
Spoiler
A Rare helm with the delve mods "Take 9% increased physical damage" and 25% Increased effect of Fortify is the best. You can craft this with Dense + Jagged fossils.

If using a random rare, ry to get it with big life, resits and life regen rolls.

Abyssus can be used for an insane DPS boost.. with the cost of being very squishy. Only recommended for softcore or people who love glass cannons!

Devotos Devotion is the premier unique helmet. It offers everything we need, Movement speed, attack speed, Dexterity and Chaos Resistance. These can be pricey due to Melee Meta.

A great budget Unique helm is Deidbellow. This gives even more Warbringer synergy, good flat phys and stats, at the negative of not being able to leech at low life. Try it out if you are on a budget!







Gloves:
Spoiler
Tombfists are amazing value, and the single socket ones are dirt cheap and easy to find. Make sure to socket a Murderous Eye Jewel to get the free Intimidate! Look for the best Max hp roll as possible, and consider some corruptions such as attack speed of Vulnerability/Temp Chains on hit.

If using rares, Spikes Gauntlets offer up to 20% increased Melee Damage. Gauntlets can also roll attack speed, a vital stat for us. Otherwise look for Life and Resists.

Good budget/early league gauntlet are Wyrmsigns, offering a 5 Link with Conc Effect. They also provide Rampage, which helps with mapping.



Boots:
Spoiler
Redblade Tramplers have a little bit of everything, Life, Movespeed, some resistances and R.E.S.T. Try for a 10% R.E.S.T roll if possible. Kaoms Roots are also very powerful, especially for Elder and Uber Elder Fights (where slows can be a problem). They offer great HP, although we are already stun immune due to Rite of Ruin. If you have some spare chaos, consider a +1 Endurance Charge corruption which is a great boost to our DPS and defenses. Atziri step is also solid, offering dodge.

If using rares, go for the usual. Movespeed (25+), life, resists. Dodge can also roll on Temple of Atzoatl boots, which offers even more defense.



Belt:
Spoiler
Ryslaths coil is one of the best belts for us! It offers a HUGE DPS boost (ignore min, go for the most Maximum (40) you can get), good life and stun boosts, and gives us +50 hp when we stun (which is often).

Doryianis Invitation (Global Physical) is a great budget build, offering Stun bonuses, good all res and a bit of dmg.

If going rare, look for a Stygian with life and resists, or a rustic or leather belt with the same.




Rings/Amulet:
Spoiler
These are filler slots, look for Life, Resists, physical damage to attacks. Be sure to add atleast one piece with x% of damage leeched as mana as this build does not get it on tree. You can spam Warbringer if you enjoy destroying keyboards.



Jewels:
Spoiler
1x Rapid Expansion is highly recommended; you can get it from Act 5 Quest Death to Purity. This increases Ground Slams AoE from a cone in front of you to a cone that is in front and to both sides of you. 2x Rapid Expansions increases the angle/AoE slightly more too, but it is not necessary as Jewels are a valuable source of Attack Speed, Life and Resists.

% Increases Maximum Life
Attack Speed - Attack Speed with Maces - Attack Speed with Two Handed Weapons
and then resists and stats as you need

For Abyss Jewels (Tombfists, Stygian, possibly tree) look for
25+ Maximum Life
Attack Speed
% to gain onslaught on kill/% blind on hit
Adds Physical damage to attacks


Flasks
Spoiler



I like bleed remove, freeze remove, and curse remove on my flasks for mapping for safety.

I like a instant life flask, good for clutch healing + warbringer.

1. Consecrtated ground gives us life regen and 40% dmg, which is an entire 2h wheel in tree. Solid

2. Lions roar is self explanatory, gives a ton of DPS and armor is nice

3. Quicksilver is mandatory for zoom zoom

4. Since we do not have onslaught on tree or Abyss jewels, we get it here. Good dps and move speed

for uber elder i like to swap into



this gives us a bit if defense vs shaper balls and elder spears

i like move speed on it as it replaces my quicksilver



Luxury Gear Upgrades
Spoiler


Hitma47 has a very good luxury upgrade and skill tree, which uses alot of cluster jewels to abuse berseker rage and 8 link tidebreaker. Take a look; this build can stun all bosses at awakener 8!

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2865478





3. Gems and Links
Spoiler

(Vaal*) Ground Slam – Awakened Brutality – Ruthless - Concentrated Effect Awakened Melee Physical Damage – Fortify - (Pulverize** – Shockwave*** - Multistrike**** - Rage*****)

Awakened Brutality and Awakened Melee Physical are BiS, allowing us to drop Tombfists for intimidate and get extra stats via gauntlets.

Spoiler


Ground Slam. Our main ability. Strikes the ground in front of you, sending a cascade of spikes dealing damage. Has some built in scaling physical damage. The gem includes a MORE damage multiplier for enemies that are directly in front and centre of its AoE. It also includes "Reduces Enemy Stun Threshhold (or R.E.S.T) which reduces the damage necessary to stun enemies. Can be modified by Rapid Expansion, a Unique Jewel which increases its radius. The best Helmet Enchantment is "40% Increased Ground Slam Damage".

*Vaal Ground Slam offers both regular and Vaal Ground Slam in one gem! Try to pick it up early league and level with it; however you can always wait until later to grab one. It provides huge utility and quality of life. The effect is a massive AoE slam attack that is guaranteed to stun all non-stun immune (called unwavering) monsters in the game. It allows 3 charges to be stored, as well as having a very low soul requirement and cooldown period between getting new souls. Highly recommended and can be bought cheap.

**Pulverize can be swapped for Concentrated Effect or Increased Area of Effect, depending on your damage, current setup, intelligence requirements, # of rapid expansion jewels etc. Feel free to experiment and make the build your own!

***Shockwave is a Mace/Staff only skill; it adds a shockwave ability with a low cooldown (0.72s I believe) to attacks. It can aid in AOE clear for mapping; but feel free to swap for Ruthless or the above mentioned Conc Effect or Inc. AOE if you prefer! Ruthless should always be used on bosses.

****Multistrike was once king of Melee supports. It provides alot of Attack Speed, and the new ability to cancel allows for better QoL, so use it if you prefer the speed quick hits vs big chunky hits. Great for general mapping.

*****Rage support can be used to generate rage quicker and allows for flat physical, which is great for early league when items dont offer much + physical. Try it out!



Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - (Blood Magic* - Fortify**)

Spoiler
Leap Slam is our main movement ability; it will stun enemies on hit as well allowing for safer movement! Linking to Faster Attacks is Mandatory; it will greatly increase our clear speed and dodging ability. The last 2 links are optional; Blood Magic* is highly recommended (nothing is worse than trying to dodge but being out of Mana). Fortify** is only required if you do not use Fortify on your main Ground Slam setup.


Pride - Blood and Sand - Flesh and Stone

Spoiler
Our Aura Setup. Pride is the brand new Physical Aura that greatly increases our damage; while Blood and Sand and Flesh and Stone offer great utility. I like to link Maim to Flesh and Stone to increase the physical damage taken by enemies, but this isn't necessary.



Berserk - Enduring Cry / Intimidating Cry / Seismic Cry - Increased Duration - Blood Rage

Spoiler
With the Warcry nodes we take on tree + Warbringer, we can gain rage if we are under 25, and spend our +25 rage to deal 50% MORE damage on our exerted attacks.
Blood Rage offers much needed attack speed, however you can skip this if you do not like the Degen combined with the Berserker Rite of Ruin Degen.
Berserk offers great Burst DPS and defensive mitigation at the cost of DPS uptime. Use it when you need a big push of damage or defense, or when you are up against big mob packs like Legion, Breaches or bosses. It works well with Serkers own rage generation, and increased duration improves the time of our Warcries.

You can skip Berserk if you prefer having rage uptime and dont like pushing buttons.






Optional


Ancestral Warchief - (Maim - Chance to Bleed - any other Melee support)

Spoiler
A. Warchief greatly increases our damage, and offers some utility in clear and single target. Supporting it with Maim or Chance to bleed will increase our damage even more; and Chance to Bleed opens up opportunities to use Bloodlust support for boss killing. Feel free to support or not support, depending on your open sockets.



Cast When Damage Taken - Steel Skin - Stone Golem - (Enfeeble/Temp Chains/Phase Run) Increased Duration

Spoiler
Our CWDT setup, offers QoL and damage reduction. This is entirely optional. You can level this as high as you want for less procs, or keep it low level to proc often.




4. Bandit + Ascendancy + Pantheon

Spoiler
Bandit:
  • Kill them all, or Oak as an alternative.

Ascendancy:
  • Aspect of Carnage
  • War Bringer
  • Crave the Slughter
  • Rite of Ruin


Alternatives: 3.8 Crave the Slaughter lost double dmg, so now its better to go Aspect First for easy story clear, then Warbringer, then rest of Rage once you hit Merc lab and Maps. If you want to skip Aspect , you will lose alot of damage but can go Pain Reaver, which gives free leech and some situation attack bonuses. I do not recommend skipping Rite of Ruin.

Pantheon:
  • Major God - Lunaris for general mapping and Solaris for bossing.
    Arakalli offers chaos res, however we can no longer abuse the Blood Rage + Immortal call to proc the increased reovery.
  • Minor God – Map/boss dependent.
    Garuhan can be solid for the movement speed.
    Yugul is excellent for Elder and Uber Elder fights (cold damage)
    Gruthkul offers solid phys damage reduction and - attack speed for enemies
    Ralakesh is decent for lab farming or Trials
    Ryslatha is great for areas with no mobs, like Trials or Lab.
    Shakari is good for maps that have poison mod, or poison bosses.


5. Leveling + Skill Trees
Spoiler

No uniques are required as this build is fine for a league start. Check vendors regularly for Boots with movement speed, and the highest DPS 2H Mace you can find. Then vendor that mace with a whetstone and a blue (magic) or rare (yellow) rustic sash to get a weapon with # increased physical damage. If this is not your first character in the league, the usual: Goldrim, Tabula, Wanderlust, Belt of the Deceiver, Meginords Girdle, Facebreakers, Elreon -Mana Cost jewelry (int/dex/resists) and good 2h uniques, like Hrimnors Hymn/Hrimnors Dirge

Note that all gems are available from Lily Roth after clearing the Twilight Strand in Act 6


1. Low Level Tree

The early tree is very straight forward. We path straight through Warriors Blood, Born To Fight, Barbrism and head to Resolute Technique. Afterwards we grab Martial Experience for Damage, Physical damage pen and QoL Life Leech. Look for 2 handed maces with "Adds x to x Physical Damage to Attacks" and "x% Increased Physical Damage, although pretty much everything will be fine.

MainSkill: Slam Skill - Ruthless - Chance to Bleed/Onslaught
Main Skill 2: Ancestral Protector - Chance to Bleed
Mobility: Leap Slam
Aura - Blood and Sand


2. First lab + Main Tree

Now were getting places! Soul of Steel is one of my favorite defensive nodes, the rest being good Mace and 2h nodes. Consider Art of the Gladiator early before DPS if Dex is a gear bottle neck!

MainSkill: Ground Slam - Melee Physical - Fortify - Rage (Brutality - Multistrike - Pulverize/Concentrated Effect/Increased AoE (if you have Int))
Main Skill 2: Ancestral Warchief - Maim/Chance to Bleed
Mobility: Leap Slam - Faster Attacks
Utility: Enduring Cry, Seismic Cry, Intimidating Cry, Berserk
Aura - Pride, Blood and Sand, Flesh and Stone

Consider lvling a Shockwave if you want to try it out as well!


3. Bring War to them

Scream and shout and Smash your way through the story! We grab more Mace DPS nodes, as well as our WarCry Synergies with War Bringer!

MainSkill: Ground Slam - Melee Physical - Fortify - Rage (Brutality - Multistrike - Pulverize/Concentrated Effect/Increased AoE (if you have Int))
Mobility: Leap Slam - Faster Attacks
Utility: Enduring Cry, Seismic Cry, Intimidating Cry, Berserk
Aura - Pride, Blood and Sand, Flesh and Stone

If you have extra slots, consider:

Main Skill 2: Ancestral Warchief - Maim/Chance to Bleed
Golem: Stone Golem
CWDT: Steel Skin, Enfeeble/Temporal Chains

After you complete Act 6 Lily will have all the skill gems you may have missed.

4. Final Skill Tree


At this point we get our Endurance Charge nodes, Scion life Wheel. At this point you can crush maps and bosses as your DPS and stun capabilities are very high.





6. Questions and Answers
Spoiler

I keep dying, whatsup?
Spoiler
This build is relatively tanky, but it is melee and does have Berserker Degen and increased damage taken drawbacks. Make sure your res are capped and you get +Life on all equipment!
A good life check is approx 300 life per act.. so 600 act 2, 900 act 3, 2100 act 7, 3000 act 10 etc. For maps and Merc/Uber lab I recommend 4.5-5.5k hp. Remember to dodge using your fast leap slams and use your Ancestral Warchief to kite a bit!


Why doesnt my Cast when Damage Taken work?
Spoiler
You may have over/under leveled it. CWDT has a lvl req, and can only support other skills at or under that lvl. Remember not to overlvl or underlvl it! You can stop a gem from lvling by right clicking it.


What about timeless jewels?
Spoiler
Absolutely! I've found good lethal prides myself. Good nodes include % chance to deal double damage, generic STR increases, Increased Effect of Fortify, and Increased Physical Damage. Experiment!


How can i do Physical Reflect maps?
Spoiler
If you really need to; you can convert all your damage to Elemental. Pick a skill such as Frost Blades, Ice Crash, Static Strike etc. Any skill that says "Converts x% of Physical Damage to X Elemental". Then, swap one gem in that skill to Physical To Lightning Support, and you will do 100% elemental damage. You can check this by looking at the tooltip for the skill.

You can also swap your gloves for Conversion gloves, like Hrimsorrow to get 100% elemental damage with Physical to Lightning support.


What if I like Sunder, or Earthquake better?
Spoiler
These both work excellently with this build! Be sure to add "Less Duration" to your skill setup for Earthquake and the helm Enchantment "Earthquake has 30% less duration. Sunder can use exact same as Ground Slam, so if you prefer its range or look, go for it! Both these skills offer less Stun capabilities however.

Earthquake in particular is an amazing leveling, mapping and boss killing skill. Vaal Earthquake is very satisfying to use,


Cyclone?
Spoiler
Ahh yes, the current King of Melee. Cyclone is amazing in 3.7 patch and is great for this build as well. Add Infused Channeling as a support and you can spin like the rest of the Meta!


Can I go Slayer? What about Champion? Ascendant? INQUISITOR? CRITICALS?
Spoiler
These are all very viable for this build! We would need to drop some stun nodes to get Crit multi and Crit chance on tree. Slayer offers most QoL and Crit, as we can turn Tidebreakers 5% base crit chance into 8% with Overwhelm. Its AoE with Impact is also unmatched.

If you want to go Champion/Ascendant/Jugg/Inquis, consider going Axes ot Staves. These offer more DPS, more crit, and the ability to get FORTIFY as a 7th link on Elder'd versions items. I will begin working on a tree for these if there is interest.


True Ground Slam King - Slayer
Spoiler
Moses has arguably the best Ground Slam Setup, and he even did it on SSF!

Highly recommend watching his build guide if you feel you have alot of $$ and want to truly take Ground Slam to next level. Slayer crit node + aoe node is too strong for Ground Slam. Serker version is alot cheaper and more viable for league starts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsG9FsK1gqA


Precinct Farming? Whats that?
Spoiler
Precinct farming is something I will be trying in 3.8, hopefully. Precinct has alot of amazing div cards (2x exalt card, headhunter league card, merciless weapon card...)

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Precinct_Map_(War_for_the_Atlas)

It has 5-7 unique exiles as map bosses, which are typically considered one of the more RIPPY and dangerous bosses. Thus, this map isnt very popular.


But...

None of these bosses are stun immune ;)

So we completely steamroll this map!!!!

Look forward to lots of diary and farming in the weeks to come.


How do I afford a Tidebreaker/Good DPS weapon?
Spoiler
Use the Whetstone recipe as often as possible until you can! Whetstone + white weapon + rare or magic rustic belt = increased physical weapon when you sell all 3 to a vendor.

When searching for DPS upgs weaps on trade site, enter number into the pDPS field (we do not care about elemental damage). Try 250+ early, then increase by 50 or so every now and then. You will find two hand maces are very cheap to buy from other players!

The Warlord div card drops from Arsenal map and is very low demand. You need 6 to create a 6 link Coronal Maul with item lvl 83. They can be 2-4c week one, and cheaper after that.

Craft it with Transmutes-alterations and look for T1/T2 Increased Physical Damage, and T1/T2 Adds x Physical Damage to attacks. Then use a regal and craft another dps mod (attack speed, double damage).

Or use a essence of Contempt (Deafening Essence of Contempt for best phys roll) and then play around with annuls and benches.

For Tidebreaker; look into The Deep Ones Card! 5 of them will make a Tidebreaker, and they are reasonable cheap at league start and only get cheaper as league goes on!

Poe.trade links (be sure to check which League you are searching!)

Spoiler

The Deep Ones
http://poe.trade/search/oritagawitikih

The Warlord
http://poe.trade/search/hinuogasidumas

Ground Slam Enchantment Helmet
http://poe.trade/search/ohonikonitetoy

Rare Maces
250+ pDPS
http://poe.trade/search/oteritiuboyoni

300+ pDPS
http://poe.trade/search/kiwanoherubota

350+ pDPS
http://poe.trade/search/tanaedurakiotu

400+ pDPS
http://poe.trade/search/onuwakekazuriz

400+ pDPS and 6 links
http://poe.trade/search/ikeyerekuwahun

Tidebreaker
http://poe.trade/search/tasiteninasasu


Mana Sustain
Spoiler
"
my friend wrote:
I think the only problem I've had is some mana issues right when you start using all 3 auras. I knew I could just drop an aura, or figure out other solutions, but I think a new player could get stuck. It might be worth adding in a line about which aura should be a priority, or how to solve mana issues (the mana potion mod that keeps mana regen going even if your mana pool tops off is great for this build)


If you find mana issues early, there a few things to try.

Drop a Aura to get more mana available. This is only for early game, as you will want all 3 at maps. Pride is biggest DPS, while Flesh and Stone offers defense and Blood and Sand is Utility. Pride only works for entire of story, since its DPS increase is by far the most meaninful.

Get mana leech, either on a ring, gloves, jewel.

Get Warbringer and spam a warcry

Use a mana flask/hybrid flask. Enduring is a new affix for mana flaska nd persist even while you are at full mana, ensuring you can always attack




7. Tips and Tricks
Spoiler
Vaal Ground Slam
Spoiler
Vaal Ground Slam is definitely a reason to pick up this build. It offers huge damage, huge AoE, guaranteed stun and has a incredible low Soul requirement and Soul Gain Prevention. On top of all that, it can store 3 charges! Use it liberally during mapping for blue and yellow packs, it will stun everything and outright kill most. It is great for Legion and Breaches, and other high density and tough mob packs.


Syndicate
Spoiler
Ahh yes, the bane of our stuns. 3.5 introduced the Immortal Syndicate, and they were moved into the main game in 3.6+. All Syndicate members have the Unwavering mod, which means they cannot be stunned. We must treat them with regular melee gameplay, and dodge alot. Popping A. Warchief and Berserk helps alot here, and Vaal Ground Slam still does very good DPS.


Unwavering
Spoiler
This mod shows up on certain bosses (Minotaur, Atziri, Syndicates, Delve bosses) as well as being a mod on map rolls. Because our DPS is so high, we can often ignore it on maps lower than t15. If you do roll it on a t15+, consider rerolling it to ensure stun safety.


Izaro and Lab
Spoiler
This build runs lab very well due to Warbringer heals and Stuns, as well as Rite of Ruin and Warcry movespeed.

Izaro is fully stunnable; this build is good for Lab carries.


Wrecking Ball, Kinetic Impacts, Butchery, Executioner, Martial Experience, Brinkmanship, Ribecage Crusher, Steadfast
Spoiler
Damage stops being our bottleneck, as we will stun everything that can be stunned. At that point, defenses and quality of life come into player. More regen, or more Life, is usually the better choice. However, this can vary depending on your gear, skill execution, and how you like to play the game.

Steadfast is also pretty excellent.


3.8 Annointments?
Spoiler
Tribal Fury is amazing for the Heavy Strike/Anc call
Tenacity Trescendance Cleansed Thoughts Aspect of Stone are all strong

Way of warrior is also insane

Will see how rare these are and add them to guide for recipes


Ruthless and MultiStrike
Spoiler
These two are a bit anti-synergistic. Ruthless counts "the number of times and attack is used" while Multistrike triples our usage. While you may think it will mean every third hit will get both Multistrikes 2nd repeat more and Ruthless Third hit More; it does not work this way. Instead, the 7th, 8th and 9th hit (third use of Multistrike) will get the Third Ruthless bonus. While not terrible, this is not ideal either. Feel free to swap them out for each other depending on bossing/mapping. Ruthless is MVP when it comes to bossing and is highly recommended.


Stutter Step and Dodging
Spoiler
In patch 3.7 Legion we got a MAJOR buff to Melee skills that can target ground (Ground slam). By holding right left click to move, and tapping right click for Ground Slam, we can stutter step. We cancel the back end animation of Groundslam, the AoE still hits and does area damage, but we are already moving, and then cancelling that movement into another Ground Slam! It is a very powerful and safe way to dodge and keep up DPS, and best of all it is pretty easy to learn! Check out the mapping or Uber Elder videos to see it in action!


Flasks

Spoiler
"
anvilgod wrote:
Could you maybe add a Flask section under in-depth gear explanation? I know that lion's roar and flasks with bleed removal are BiS but maybe there are some options that are better for general mapping and some are better for uber bosses and it would be a good addition to your gear explanation.


Good questions!




Here are my current flasks.

I like bleed remove, freeze remove, and curse remove on my flasks for mapping for safety.

I like a instant life flask, good for clutch healing + warbringer. Dying at lvl 93 sucks xd


1. Consecrtated ground gives us life regen and 40% dmg, which is an entire 2h wheel in tree. Solid

2. Lions roar is self explanatory, gives a ton of DPS and armor is nice

3. Quicksilver is mandatory for zoom zoom

4. Since we do not have onslaught on tree or Abyss jewels, we get it here. Good dps and move speed

for uber elder i like to swap into



this gives us a bit if defense vs shaper balls and elder spears

i like move speed on it as it replaces my quicksilver




8. Thank You
Spoiler

Most credit goes to @Brightwaha
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1862864/page/1

He has the best Heavy Strike Tidebreaker Stun build and I highly recommend that for more info if you enjoy this playstyle. He is always answering questions, check him out!


Big Shout outs to @Thi3n
https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/thi3n

who is by far one of the most knowledgable and friendly players. Check out his guides and stream!

Moses! https://www.twitch.tv/MosesPlays

He has an amazing GS Slayer guide which can help you choose between Slayer and Serker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsG9FsK1gqA

Hitma$7
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2865478

Pushed stunlicking ground slam to very high $$$ upgrades, stunlocked awaken 8 sirus

Rius

The PA community

You the reader!

My Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/frawrst





Change Log
Spoiler
Aug 12/2019 - Build Guide Started, added Intro, Pros and Cons, Skills links, gear recommendations, bandits/ascend/pantheon, basic leveling tress and skills, questions and answers.

Aug 13/2019 - Cleaned up formatting, added Ground Slam AoE GIF. Added Cyclone, Earthquake and Sunder tips. Added The Warlord Div Card for 6 Link as well as a short crafting tip. Added Poe.Trade search links.

Aug 14/2019 - Added Mino Phoenix and Shaper Videos, added Legion League (3.7) gears. Added tips and tricks. Added more mapping and bossing videos.

Aug 15/2019 - Uber Elder Video added. Updated Pantheon

Aug 16/2019 - Another Uber elder added

Aug 19/2019 - Deathless Uber Elder added, new stunlock meme video added

Aug 20/2019 - Added Q/A and Crit/other classes viability

Sep 5/2019 - Updated Ascendancy route as we can use Rage gem until Merc lab. Buffs to build, updated POB for 3.8, add annointment

Sep 10/2019 - Day 5 of league, Uber Elder down. Flasks QA updated

Sep 14/2019 - Added Mana sustain QA

Sep 18/2019 - MF gear added, HH acquired in 3.8 league. Build goals fulfilled, start league, defeat all bosses, get $$$ for HH

Nov 12/2019 - eagerly awaiting 4.0 and 3.9 details from Exilecon! Added in Moses slayer video for true Ground Slam king

Dec 8/2019 - added Sporeguard to chest options based on feedback, extra annointment and explosions very good QoL

Dec 10/2019 - adcded 3.8 balance manifesto details

Dec 12/2019 - updated PoB, skill trees, gem to include Awakened Melee Phys and Awakened Brutality

Jun 4/2020 - 3.11 news, added new luxury items from Hitma47 guide



Have fun and Smash Things =]
Last edited by frawrst#6156 on Sep 3, 2020, 2:30:42 PM
Would appreciate a video or 2 of red maps and guardians if possible. Thanks!
"
X70A wrote:
Would appreciate a video or 2 of red maps and guardians if possible. Thanks!


Absolutely!

T16 Corrupted Phoenix Map. The adds can cause trouble even if we stun Guardian so sometimes we will need to kill them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2YVwZG0DmA

T16 Corrupted Minotaur map. Minotaur is stun immune (Unwavering) so we must play like normal melee, dodging big hits and dpsing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKVp9tExLJs

Shaper Kill, including Stunlocking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dROf129cBLw&t=2s
Last edited by frawrst#6156 on Aug 14, 2019, 1:25:14 AM
More videos added:

Mapping
T4 Strand (good and easy Legion farming)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ2UakgQrP4

T13 Tower (+ 3x Incursions)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTLh_ETiJI0

220+ Delve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHmSYO0L1Qw

Bosses:
Corrupted Chimera (we stun him so much his animation bugs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-eCiRIIuzI

Lair of the Hydra (easiest Guardian for this build, just watch for the frostorbs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K4gkv-p8Gs

ilvl 83 Syndicate safehouse (they are Unwavering so we must dodge)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8rFijbc2aU

Pure Xoph Breachstone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5tNS1roPTw
Last edited by frawrst#6156 on Aug 14, 2019, 3:01:15 PM
Awesome, going to start leveling one! :D Thanks!
"
X70A wrote:
Awesome, going to start leveling one! :D Thanks!



Glad to hear it! Let me know if you have any questions
Uber Elder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbGQeFo9rf4

Got quite a few stuns, but alas the phases is where we die. A more skilled player could do it deathless, I will keep trying ^^

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