How To Dunk Like Jordan! (Physical CI Melee for Dummies!)(Ridiculous Survivability and Damage)

Unfortunately... Passive Tree changes killed this build... to combat other problems in the game this build had to die with them.

First off, this build is not for those who are overattentive, cannot recognize buffs and debuffs, and cannot remember to utilize their primary skill once per pack to instantly 1-shot.

Q: Is this viable in Hardcore?
A: Yes, as long as you understand the quirks of CI and how to play melee safely.

Before we start, some abbreviations I tend to use:

I am a level 86 Templar, and I love to play this game. I started playing in Closed Beta, and immediately loved Templar, and most especially, Melee (duh! melee is the shit!).
Obviously, melee just isn't viable because of survivability issues, so no one should play this right?
Right?

Spoiler Alert! Read On!

Yup.
Ok. Now that your mind is blown, down to the facts.

Everyone knows Physical melee has problems with taking too much damage from reflect. Well, with this build you will easily attain 20k-50k armor through the 14 armor/es nodes you take, the nonstop spammage of granite flasks (CI = mega pots), Molten Shell, and the Determination/Grace aura combo.

This build requires gear, not good gear, not bad gear, but average, decent, and mediocre gear, and can function well with easily attained uniques.

Before I continue, here are the Pros of this build:

And the necessary Cons to match:


Obviously, you all want to see what this build really is, with its point progression!:

Here you have it, The Strongest Physical Mace CI build.

What each of these Progressions is for:


Bandits!


How does this work?


Main skill(s):
As mentioned before, it is Leap Slam. (Can also be Sweep or Groundslam)

Typical Rotation:
Cast Blood Rage
(optional) Cast Molten Shell, Cast Enduring Cry (if Phyiscal Reflect, Cast Immortal Call)
Leap Slam into a pack
They die, you gain Frenzy Charges from Blood Rage, and its Duration is Reset.
Repeat!


GEAR:
My Current Gear:
With Carnage:
With Eye of Chayula:

Mana is sustained by having 2% Mana Leech somewhere within your gear, or in the Tree. Gloves and Rings can have it, Slitherpinch or Wurm's Molt are good budget options. I recommend using a chain belt or rustic sash, but a strength belt is fine. Whatever has better rolls should be used, and armor on your belt is nice.
1 Mana Pot can be used if you feel you may need to for No/Half-Regen maps. Currently I have 175 mana post-reservation and do not need one.

Sidenote: I am currently in godly gear, but from people speaking with me in-game, I know that using sub-par/mediocre gear with this build is still quite viable!
(See page 22 for a quick break down of my original gear)

Current Stats!:
Run the auras Determination, Grace, (optional) Hatred, and Discipline, to Increase your Flat Armor, Multiply your Armor, Increase your Damage, and Increase your ES total.
Have a high physical damage mace with slow/decent attack speed and high topend damage. (Actual DPS matters less than the topend, as we are looking to One-Shot Packs of Mobs).

Supports are as follows, for Multi-Target, and Single Target:

Quality:


Utility Effects:


FAQ!:


For any other questions feel free to contact me in game! I am terribly sorry for the lack of videos, but I can not make one, nor can I upload one. If you want to see this in action before trying it out feel free to pm me, I can carry any map, and I have a deep knowledge of the game and have played all of the content to its fullest.

Special thanks to:
Umit(rhotboy), Ryan(Pyrimis), Ryan(Littlehank), Yilmaz(Ylmz), Kevin(Frozenswarms) and Onur(IFcorleone)for being great map partners and friends.

If anyone does decide to try this build, feel free to post gear and stats! I am online daily and have no problems giving advice/listening to tweaking ideas/helping out with your endeavor to be the best CI leapslammer ever!

"

Lvl 20 20Q Blood Rage

Did they actually fixed blood rage in the last 2 patches? Last time i checked the refreshed version after u kill a mob is the none QL version?
Can u recheck this by checking your leech value after BR did refresh via a kill?

I also don't fully understand how the "67k armor" is happening? U only have base armor on the belt and via grace + determination right?

Is the 67k with a iron skin granite flask or without?
If so whats your base armor with just auras and without molten shell?

thx Andy

The Blood Rage bug has not been fixed, just checked this out myself. My armor is so high that the reflect still does not hurt me :p

The 67k armor is post-granite (which is possible to continuously spam due to the kill speed and increased duration of Inner Force, also with a reduced flask charges used belt and perfect ample it is possible to have 4 uses of your granites, which becomes 12 granites in a row or roughly a minute of spamming)

My base armor with just determination and grace is 11k.
With Molten Shell it becomes 18 or 19k.
With Granite it is 56-67k, depending on which I use.
Theoretically, with armor or evasion pieces of gear, one could have close to 90k or 100k armor.

"

Midnightgem wrote:

increased duration of Inner Force

Um, inner force is increasing flask duration? I only know it increases the effect, are u sure it also increases the duration? I don't have IF, so i cant test this myself.

how about this ?
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYB_5MhwLMObWy1SA-r53Q2PYhrtveZmutjES-lywzyBbW0xSsKwQDbGhB79Uu-OsLsRwZfatvnj_rsGMNtwcUsv4auFdfXhlZjf8Yc3JMnN2YspqbrN4PqurQMRnGVIILHQYd6uK6TKji3PsauPC3E9j0PJIt8u548TdiMdoFvJ-3z3ayqcql82VHmtC9BPxnp3sHkrcAaZp5xTZrPQ2O3MVj1ncSNv1FHPs-95jB8nydNkn8rd9d0QRR1Dq0ppUOcGNt08Z65IWBAoO9OMgkotWCIYVKfy1YE7hSgnZwnLIVaGg==

i drop innerforce. start as shadow and get 3 frenzy charges to go with bloodrage.

edit here is for templar. very end game. but just remove damage nodes till u get high level!
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBhMSb7Irkr2zFiny7njxN2Ix2gW8kixnp3sHkrcAaZp5xTZrPQ2O3MVj1ncQ9D8T2J-3z3ayqcql82VHmtC9BPzwtxq63Pnq4rpMqOEGHgseVIEZxtAyTJzdmLKam6zeD6roc3H_GwcUsv4auFdfXhlZj7BjDbY_62-dHBl9qwuy0xSsKwQDbGhB79Uu-OgW1DPKlyzY9iGu29xEvmZrrY42_UUc-z73mMHyfJ02Sfyt313RBFHUOrSmlQ5wY23TxnrkhYCyFWhpAoO9OMgkotWCIYVKfy1YE7hSgnZwnVvqKIsDzfPXApg==

"

AndyPandy22 wrote:

"

Midnightgem wrote:

increased duration of Inner Force

Um, inner force is increasing flask duration? I only know it increases the effect, are u sure it also increases the duration? I don't have IF, so i cant test this myself.

Yes it does. I have tested this.

"

martinwub wrote:

how about this ?
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYB_5MhwLMObWy1SA-r53Q2PYhrtveZmutjES-lywzyBbW0xSsKwQDbGhB79Uu-OsLsRwZfatvnj_rsGMNtwcUsv4auFdfXhlZjf8Yc3JMnN2YspqbrN4PqurQMRnGVIILHQYd6uK6TKji3PsauPC3E9j0PJIt8u548TdiMdoFvJ-3z3ayqcql82VHmtC9BPxnp3sHkrcAaZp5xTZrPQ2O3MVj1ncSNv1FHPs-95jB8nydNkn8rd9d0QRR1Dq0ppUOcGNt08Z65IWBAoO9OMgkotWCIYVKfy1YE7hSgnZwnLIVaGg==

i drop innerforce. start as shadow and get 3 frenzy charges to go with bloodrage.

edit here is for templar. very end game. but just remove damage nodes till u get high level!
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBhMSb7Irkr2zFiny7njxN2Ix2gW8kixnp3sHkrcAaZp5xTZrPQ2O3MVj1ncQ9D8T2J-3z3ayqcql82VHmtC9BPzwtxq63Pnq4rpMqOEGHgseVIEZxtAyTJzdmLKam6zeD6roc3H_GwcUsv4auFdfXhlZj7BjDbY_62-dHBl9qwuy0xSsKwQDbGhB79Uu-OgW1DPKlyzY9iGu29xEvmZrrY42_UUc-z73mMHyfJ02Sfyt313RBFHUOrSmlQ5wY23TxnrkhYCyFWhpAoO9OMgkotWCIYVKfy1YE7hSgnZwnVvqKIsDzfPXApg==

Your builds are much more points than mine bro. If I was building a level 95-100* build I could easily include 3 extra frenzy charges, but they really aren't necessary, and there are better boosts to be had for less points (ele weapon nodes for hatred comes to mind).
Also, both of your builds lose a lot in ES (the 5 nodes in the middle are much better than a nullification circle, and the int this build gets is chosen for a reason, to get more %increased es so that bad gear can give amazing es. I tested with a friend's godly es gear and I was achieving 12k es with a 400+ helm, 1k chest, 300+ boots, 250+ gloves)

well i suppose u know what ur talking about. but my build is only more points cause i have more dps nodes. and nullification circle is actually better then the 5 in middle. cause u get lots of armor and 10 resist and u loose like 5% energy shield compared to the 5 in the middle. but if u really need the int i get it.
why dont u go zealoths oath, when u go inner force route?

"

martinwub wrote:

well i suppose u know what ur talking about. but my build is only more points cause i have more dps nodes. and nullification circle is actually better then the 5 in middle. cause u get lots of armor and 10 resist and u loose like 5% energy shield compared to the 5 in the middle. but if u really need the int i get it.
why dont u go zealoths oath, when u go inner force route?

Your build is 10-12 more points (Level 98-100, seeing as mine is 104 points at 86 and yours is 114 and 116). Also, you go out of your way to pick up the nullification circle for less ES and the same amount of points, while the entire build is about gaining as much ES as possible while also grabbing the best damage nodes easily available. Furthermore, Vaal Pact Cancels Regen... Aka Zealot's Oath. No reason to waste a point there. And yes, VP > ZO, even though about 4% regen is easily available.

At what lvl do you suggest respeccing to this build? Im currently 67 on HC, and would like to do a heavy respec once i have the ci gear, and the level. :)

"

krilox wrote:

At what lvl do you suggest respeccing to this build? Im currently 67 on HC, and would like to do a heavy respec once i have the ci gear, and the level. :)

This is more of an endgame-oriented build but with

And some nice gear you should be fine speccing over, and than devoting your next 10 levels to the ES nodes in the middle, followed by the 2% mana leech node and elemental adaptation. This would be around your low 70s. Until than, playing a life-based mace user or bower would work fine, in fact LA would probably optimal until than because of the low risk on ele reflect, just needing to watchout for thorns.
Truly, make sure to know the ins and outs of CI first, especially in HC... The first time I got the burning debuff in closed beta on a CI character I shit my pants. You must know exactly which pot is your burning dispell (and freezing if you go without a Dream Frag, and Shock if you want that...), and also against puncture DO NOT LEAP WHILE PUNCTURED! This counts as movement. I would recommend level 73-4 for this build, not sure entirely on my math but my current build is 104 points and this is 91 points so that is 13 points less than my 86 so it should be 73 if I am not mistaken. Which is about the time you are doing 67 maps for the first time.