[3.12] Sword & Board Smite Juggernaut - D3 Style (All Uniques!), Fast, Tanky, Fun, Cheap to Start



-::- 3.12 Sword & Board Smite Jugg -::-




-::- Introduction -::-
Spoiler
Ok guys, I've been working on this since the start of 3.12 and it's worked out much better than I expected!

This build was not created just for the sake of this guide. This is my main Heist toon, it's what I play everyday and so I am constantly fine tuning it to be the best it can be.

If you want to see what I'm upto, my profile is public and you can always import into PoB or just inspect my Heist character "Corosii".

Keep in mind the PoB exports here on the main post can go out of date quickly, so make sure to check the last pages on the thread as I post updates often that are not part of the main post.

If you don't know me, I've made quite a few builds in the past, most popular being 'ScourgeFlurry' back in the 2.6-3.0 days.

My build guide for last league is here: 3.11 Infernal Blow Champ

Take comfort in knowing that if I release a guide, I've taken the time to test and made sure the build is worthy of it. I stand by my work, show videos for you to judge for yourselves, and you can always ask questions here or in-game, but depending on the complexity of it, I may ask you to post it here for me to write a detailed answer.

Also, just drop me a line here or in-game and let me know if you're playing this and if enjoying the build or not. It's always nice to hear from players trying out my crazy niche builds.

-::- Short Video Clips -::-
Spoiler

**Click each image for full HQ GIF with sound

T16 Tropical Island - Corrupted 60% Delirium Showcase


T16 Tropical Island - Full Juice Enfeebled


Hunter 8 - Ancestral Call Single Target DPS Showcase


Baran 8 - Max Rage/Beserk Showcase


83 Heist - Clear Speed Showcase


T16 Incursion - Clear Speed Showcase


Sirus 7 - Boss Kill


T15 Dark Forest - Twin Boss Facetanking, +35% Life Boss

-::- Full Length Videos -::-


-::- In-depth Build Description -::-
Spoiler
This is a "D3 style" build using mostly all uniques.

I designed it to survive the damage I was seeing at the start of Heist. Now with all that nerfed this build is better than I envisioned, so go Heist some Heists!!

Clear speed is amazing! Smite is a very good skill, but when I first wrote the guide, I was literally the only person playing it as a main skill. Now that has changed and several people have tried it and loved it.

The basic idea is scaling damage through stacking of Ailments by doing damage of all types (Cold, Fire, Lightning, Physical and Chaos). We can scale this by having our resistances balanced for maximum Wise Oak buff (Balance your res with Jewels, Yoke and Valako's. If you're using Esh's, gone Dual Wield or using another shield with some resist, don't worry about balancing Wise Oak, but do always make sure your highest resistance is lightning!). This all means we are applying Chill, Ignite and most importantly, Shock to boost our damage through Yoke of Suffering and The Taming.

A combination of lightning/ailment focused uniques lets us scale Shock and Ailments as much as possible. Then add Wrath, Herald of Thunder, Conductivity and Elemental Weakness to the mix and it's just a matter of letting that juicy Lightning damage disintegrate whole rooms of mobs with all those lovely Inpulsa's explosions!

We clear whole rooms because Awakened Ancestral Call or if Dual Wield, The Saviour, in addition to Tribal Fury let us hit many additional targets. This also means the AoE portion of each attack on those targets will hit each other and all other mobs around.

Herald of Thunder, in turn, continuously applies Condutivity and Elem. Weak. When your Hextouch is not 5/20, you can run Culling strike as the 4th link. Once it reaches 5/20, move Culling to your totems or Leap Slam and add Elem. Weak. Keep in mind that during lone bosses like Sirus, Herald of Thunder won't have any mobs to begin the cursing, so if you want to be able to curse Sirus, swap Herald of Thunder for Storm Brand. You can temporarily drop one of the Leap Slam links and put HoT there. This is easy if you get some Vorici white sockets on your helm.

One thing to keep in mind is that a large chunk of DPS is coming from totem buffs. This is especially relevant during fights like Minotaur, with AoE rockfall that kill your totems and without AP, you're going to lose a chunk of DPS. So... keep your totems up and alive for max DPS!

Also, if you decide to play this, realize that gear rolls matter. Some of the items I use can be found for 1c, but you want to make sure you're getting the highest rolls of each unique and as many useful corruptions as possible. We're squeezing as much as we can out of these items, so you want the very best you can find/afford.

Going back to what I said in the beginning, another important thing to note is that I did not design this build to 1-shot Sirus or Mino or any other tanky mob. I designed it for Heist, and that's where I believe it will shine. Yes, as you can see in the videos, it is fully capable of all end-game content, but I don't think I'll be taking down bosses in 2-3 seconds with this, since a lot of scaling is based off of the number of mobs around you.

Regarding the Dual Wield Variant

Initially the build was only Sword & Board, but the version I am currently running is a Dual Wield Crit/Rage/Berserk variant that I highly recommend, if you can afford it.

All videos above, besides the Baran 8 were with a Shield, but as you can see with Baran, the Single Target DPS of the Dual Wield is quite respectable!

This variant abuses a combination of items, namely: "Chains of Emancipation" + "Bubbling Life Warding Flask" + "BerserK", to achieve a massive DPS boost and added tankyness ON DEMAND on ANY BOSS including Sirus!

The sequence of events is this: Get hit > Belt curses you with Temporal > Pop Warding Flask > Belt grants you Max Rage > Pop Berserk > Become a massive, tanky beast that obliterates anything in sight!

While under the effects of Berserk you'll most likely get hit. If you get hit while your Rage counter is under 25, you'll again be cursed with Temporal, you can then pop your Warding flask, and regain max rage, by that time the Bersrk CD should be complete and you can pop it again. Timed correctly, you can chain these endlessly as long as there are mobs around to hit you.

Basically, you'll have 65rage which you can gain/sustain just by attacking or fully replenish just by getting hit and popping your Warding flask.

We use a "Bubbling" Life flask, because it has a similar instant heal to a "Seething", but we need a bit of duration, so that we can remove the curse on maps/zones with Temporal on it.

Keep in mind we are not affected by Temporal as a Jugg, so if you let it stay on you, while at the same time you have Berserk active, it will also make Berserk last longer. Not by much, but something to keep in mind.

The trick to optimizing DPS and being able to maintain Berserk uptime, is learning to juggle Berserk expiration timer, Temporal expiration timer and Berserk cooldown timer.

An important timing thing to keep in mind is that you want to make sure you pop your Warding flask BEFORE popping Berserk, or else you might not be at max rage and you will have to wait for Berkserk to cooldown. A potentially deadly situation when you are counting on Berserk to keep you alive.

This might sound simple, but when you're fighting a ton of mobs, keeping track and timing takes practice to get right, but the reward can be you running from the Artifact in a Heist all the way back to the exit with Berserk active almost all the time.

The shield version could also be converted into this Crit variant, but I have not done that myself. I see no reason why it wouldn't work and I am sure you guys can figure it out on your own if you want to ;)

You can find both Sword & Board and Dual Wield PoB Exports at the end of this guide.

-::- Ascendancy, Bandits, Etc. -::-

Spoiler

Leveling tree
1) Path out through "Melee Damage" (You will drop these for life later)
2) Bridge through "Strong Arm" to "Resolute Technique"
3) Path to "Art of the Gladiator"
4) Path to "Life and Mana Leech" (Solves Mana problems forever! Or can do anoint "Spirit Void")
5) Path to "Tribal Fury" + "Call to Arms"

From here complete the tree to either Fatal Blade or Elemental Overload and drop Resolute when you reach them. This isn't rocket science. Experiment, think critically and I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out from the PoB Exports.

Leveling Skill: Smite + Ancestral Call + Onslaught or any melee skill you like
Bandits: 2 Points
Ascend: Unstoppable > Undeniable > Unyielding
Pantheon: Solaris + Shakari/Ryslatha/Abberath
Helm Enchant: Blood Rage 12% AS, Smite 40% dmg, Berserk 30% eff
Boot Enchant: 16% AS (Mapping), Ele Pen (Bossing)

-::- How to Play the Build -::-
Spoiler
Run around spamming your attack, but don't stand around. Our Leap Slam can be linked to Culling Strike, so use your mobility to stay alive and kill low health mobs. Also remember Leap is linked to Blood Magic, so if you run out of mana, just Leap on mobs to leech mana.

If you want to gather mobs up and then blow them up, I find that pretty satisfying!

Keep your totem up for max DPS and swap to single target gems for tanky bosses.

Pop Vaal Ancestral Warchief when you need a boost to DPS.

Pop Vaal Molten Shell for your everyday "ohh SHIT!!!" moments.

If running Dual Wield version, use your Warding Flask to gain Max Rage after being cursed with Temporal Chains and then pop Berserk. You can do this on any boss!

-::- Easy Key Binding Setup -::-
Spoiler



*Keep 3 fingers on "234" and thumb on "Space", ready to spam the most used flasks.
*Slide over ring finger to "1" for Life flask.

"LMB" = Warcry
"MMB" = Blood and Sand
"RMB" = Smite
"Q" = Ancestral Protector
"W" = Leap Slam
"E" = Blood Rage/Frenzy
"A" = Berserk/Vaal Haste
"S" = Vaal Ancestral Warchief
"D" = Vaal Molten Shell

-::- Current Gear -::-
Spoiler

Chests

Weapons

Shields

Helmets

Gloves

Boots

Flasks

Jewelry

Jewels


**Obviously, I have some pretty expensive items, but they are by no means required, they are just icing on the cake and there are cheap options listed below.

**Swap Inpulsa's/Taming/AS boots/Esh's > Farrul's/Rare Cat/Pen boots/Lioneye's or Victario's or Ahn's for T16 bosses (This is NOT NECESSARY! It's just for those that want to focus on bossing. You can do T16 bosses with Inpulsa's just fine. All videos above were with Inpulsa's).

**Swap Ring > Sibyl's + Yugul Pantheon to run Reflect Maps.

**Replica Rumi's + Replica Mistwall = Max Block + Max Spell Block

-::- Leveling and Other Optional Gear -::-
Spoiler


-::- PoB Exports -::-
Spoiler

Dual Wield Critical/Rage/Berserk - Max Endurance Charges
https://pastebin.com/YxJsKNrh **Updated Nov 1st 2020 11:39AM EST

Dual Wield Critical/Rage/Berserk - Fatal Blade
https://pastebin.com/WzCUULX4 **Updated Oct 30th 2020 12:16PM EST

Sword & Board Elemental Overload
https://pastebin.com/CbkgNwm1 **Updated Oct 17th 2020 12:13AM EST
https://pastebin.com/czjg3nCj **Updated Oct 1st 2020 11:47PM EST

***The Config page in these exports is setup to show max potential DPS and to let you (the player) know exactly what effects I am optimizing. Please keep in mind that PoB is a math tool used to help you optimize temporary effects and this game is ALL about temporary effects.

When you use PoB and only tick things that are up 100% of the time, you're doing yourself and your build a disservice as you won't be able to truly optimize DPS output.

The point is that effects weren't just ticked to inflate DPS and I take it as a given that people understand that I won't be Shocking Shaper/Sirus for 50%, nor will I have 1000 Rampage, nor have killed 50 Shocked mobs in the last 4 seconds when fighting a lone tanky boss, so adjust the Config page to match the scenario you're looking to see the numbers for.



Come on guys! Won't you give Smite some love? ;)





Last edited by corosou on Nov 6, 2020, 12:53:55 PM
Last bumped on Nov 13, 2020, 10:12:50 AM
what ascend order did you go? and what direction did you go for the passive tree?
"
Guvnah153 wrote:
what ascend order did you go? and what direction did you go for the passive tree?


Ascend: Unstoppable > Undeniable > Unyielding
Pantheon: Solaris + Shakari/Ryslatha/Abberath

You want to get everything that gives you damage. Since you're a Marauder you can take a lot of damage, there's no need to survivability.

10 Step Tree:

1) Path out through "Melee Damage" (You will drop these for life later)
2) Bridge through "Strong Arm" to "Resolute Technique"
3) Path to "Art of the Gladiator"
4) Path to "Life and Mana Leech" (To solve all Mana problems forever! can also do cheap annoint on amulet "Spirit Void" while leveling)
5) Path to "Tribal Fury" + "Call to Arms"
6) Path to "Elemental Overload" (Drop Resolute when you get this)
7) Path to "Divine Wrath/Judgement"
8) Path to "Retaliation" and "Blade Dancer"
9) Path to "Soul of Steel" (When you start feeling not tanky enough)
10) Path to "Constitution"

This is just a rough idea... use your best judgement. I don't like to hand-hold ppl too much.

GL
3.12 Quick Important Paradoxica Update!

I didn't mention it earlier because I didn't think it was worth. I had tried it and it was absolute garbage, so I just thought it was garbage for this particular build. Well it turns out Paradoxica DPS is actually bugged and NOT DOING DOUBLE DAMAGE!!

This I can confirm myself and several people confirmed in Bug forum:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2947900

Well, this is good news because if Paradoxica actually is just bugged then once it's fixed it is going to take this build to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!



So, I bought a similar to the one I had:



Definitely not cheap, but it's a chase item you don't NEED. As you can see I've done everything up until now with Rebuke.

GL
Hey man, cool build! I was thinking of doing something with smite soon, and I was wondering if you might know whether or not the aoe portion of smite counts as melee? I'm planning on going crit, but I don't know whether or not the melee crit nodes near marauder work for both portions of the attack, or only the initial strike. When I asked this on reddit I got two people who gave opposite answers.
"
TheTravelz wrote:
Hey man, cool build! I was thinking of doing something with smite soon, and I was wondering if you might know whether or not the aoe portion of smite counts as melee? I'm planning on going crit, but I don't know whether or not the melee crit nodes near marauder work for both portions of the attack, or only the initial strike. When I asked this on reddit I got two people who gave opposite answers.


Thanks!

Going crit should be fine, though I have not explored that avenue, so I can't guide you there.

I can say that from a lot of in-game testing, what feels the best is: Penetration, Attack Speed, +Strike Targets, Strike Range, Area of Effect.

Smite scales well from overlapping the circles, so Ancestral Call and Tribal Fury are very very good:



The default AoE is pretty good already, so with 3-4 additional targets and IAoE a lot of overlap takes place.

The issue is mostly single target, and for that the biggest boost is going to come from getting as much Attack Speed as you can, from what I've seen in testing.

GL with your toon!
3.12 Gear Update

Hi guys!

I've made quite a few important optimizations and squeezed a ton of attack speed and hence, DPS, out of the build.

Let me show you the latest combo of goodies:



Notably I found the BiS helm enchant BR +12 AS, +9% AS corrupted gloves and ran labs until I got 16% AS enchant on boots. Speaking of Lab, this toon is amazing for it... a walk in the park! ;)

I've also gotten Awakened gems as they are pretty cheap. Got Awakened Ancestral for 30c, which is insane... So, now I'm actually hitting an extra target and hit much further away. Awakened Elem and Lightning were 100-150c each.

Last notable change is a GG roll Ryslatha for big juicy hits.

I've been running T15 Beachhead ROTAs all day and I've gotten a few questions about what I was playing and I think it's because they liked what they were seeing ;)

So, if you are reading this, I humbly suggest you get in on this, cuz it feels fucking amazing! (modesty aside it just feels really on point).

Lastly, I added to the main post a PoB export with the final form with Paradoxica + Double Curse (Condu. + Elem. W.).

GL!
Last edited by corosou on Sep 27, 2020, 9:52:56 PM
Giving smite a try right now and there are two questions I have as a (relative) noob to Path of Exile!

1) What bandit choice do you recommend?

2) Your PoB link isn't working for me, presents a massive error page when
entered. Any idea what is going wrong? My version is 1.4.170
"
CardeaC wrote:
Giving smite a try right now and there are two questions I have as a (relative) noob to Path of Exile!

1) What bandit choice do you recommend?

2) Your PoB link isn't working for me, presents a massive error page when
entered. Any idea what is going wrong? My version is 1.4.170


HI, cool, thanks for checking it out!

1) Kill all - we need the points
2) You need to use the PoB "Community Fork" release:

https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/releases

GL!



3.12 Paradoxica and Single Target Damage Test Update!

Ok guys, we got out main weapon fixed!



Now it's time for some T16 Mino testing ;)

But I wanted to make sure there was no doubt about the strength of the build, so here are the mods pre-corruption:



A short clip from the full video showing the kill and me taking a leisurely stroll through Mino's rockfall and electric fences:



And the full video:

Youtube: T16 Minotaur (Corrupted, +35% Life, Elemental Weakness)

How about that clear? ;) If you notice, I try to not use flasks at all during trash, except a few times on tanky mobs.

The single target isn't one-shotting Mino, but I don't have Elemental Weakness or 5/20 A. Added Light yet, so those will help a lot. I also need to test to see if Elemental Focus is worth losing the Ailments on big targets like Mino. Stay tuned...

GL
Last edited by corosou on Sep 29, 2020, 8:45:52 AM

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