1.3 [Newbie Friendly] GROUNDSLAMMER BUILD

I haven't been playing since early beta.. everything seems familiar and i have no problems in merciless so far.. but..
how do you get enough Dexterity to use faster attacks? is it worth spending passive points for dex or should i just try and get it on gear?

Monty, i actually liked it with HS-Splash..i had 2 HS running, one for single and one aoe...the thing is that even tho my dmg was huge compared to other aoes but i was like hitting just twice and not 3 times with multistrike...bcsi was knocking them all away xD
atm im with IB which i found pretty good..

anyone that coudl help me out? what's the most efficient way to get enough dex for faster attacks gems?

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M4st1 wrote:

anyone that coudl help me out? what's the most efficient way to get enough dex for faster attacks gems?

Personally I just skipped Faster attacks and used Added Fire Damage and/or Multi Strike. Later on when you got 5 Links you use Faster Attacks. Try to take as few DEX and INT nodes as possible since they don't provide anything. During leveling I only had to sometimes spend 1 point in the big +30 ones down right of Unwavering Stance.

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Monty_The_3rd wrote:

@Eryendil:
Like DoomCarpace said, the Crit nodes do nothing for this build. You should respec the last two points of that cluster (the other one is only 6% dmg).
Also the Bone Breaker cluster is mostly used in Stun-related builds (working towards perma-stunning emenies). It's not a bad cluster (5p and 10.4% dmg/point), but you need to take all 5 points to make it worth so it's a sizable points investment.

Hi Monty_The_3rd, thanks for your input. I already respecced the crit node in favor of Berserking which gave me a significant dps boost of course. I will also respec this 6% node over there later when I get home. I'm close to 850 DPS now at lvl 54 and I'm progressing nicely. For now I'll keep the Bone Breaker cluster but I'll definitely keep your advice in mind, I still have a whole bunch of respec points I could use to swap it to something else later.

I do have a couple more questions that probably already have been answered somewhere in this thread once of twice.

- Does Amplify (12% incr radius of skills) also affect Ground Slam?
- Is it worth it getting DEX nodes to support the Faster Attack gem on Heavy Strike, or would you recommend getting the necessary dex from gear? (I see M4st1 asked the same question).

Thanks!

What about multiple strike conenected with ground slam? Is it viable?

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DjNanos wrote:

Monty, i actually liked it with HS-Splash..i had 2 HS running, one for single and one aoe...the thing is that even tho my dmg was huge compared to other aoes but i was like hitting just twice and not 3 times with multistrike...bcsi was knocking them all away xD
atm im with IB which i found pretty good..

Monty's reply was for me too, can something like an "increase aoe range" support be linked in? Looking at it, seems to need quite a chunk on int to allow it, maybe an item with a decent chunk of int which is switched out for major boss fights? Just thinking quality of life upgrades (but I'm rather resigned to the fact it's probably not viable).

It seems to be a much better skill for packs that are right in ones face (tho leap and slam have a similar effect). Just need a couple more levels for blood magic and I'll see how it starts looking.

Hadn't considered the slight reduction in single target the splash gem brings, I may end up doing similar with a pair of HS gems linked up (one without splash). It IS super fun to play though, sit and wait a bit so they all bunch up nice then *blam* 7 things die :D

I`m about to finish cruel, i should start to get 4 link gems on my gear? also i should just hope to get a 4 link drop or work with orb to change gems color/link?

---> Disclaimer: i am not an expert! <---


@eladir:
If you are still at the tree posted in top of page 306 (after the respec), then maybe you could leave the Armour Mastery out, that will save you 2-3 points. I was never too keen on that node personally, but then again you don't use any Auras so you may need all the armor you can get, not sure...

And i can't help with the dmg or 4% AS nodes, i am not sure on that either :/

Vaal Pact worked great for LastMFtoBreath as far as i have been told (unfortunately he has betrayed his own kind for using a Bow :P).

Here are some screenshots of me taking the 15%dmg+12baseLife node and Amplify, not sure if these will help but here you go:
http://imgur.com/a/gOl4d
http://imgur.com/a/sSmQZ


@DjNanos:
Like Llamaalarmallama said the quote was for him.
And i see you use past sense in your last post, you don't use splash any more? Why?


@M4st1 / Eryendil:
I didn't suggest you respecing the Bone Breaker nodes, just pointed out that it's 5 points, so if later you need to take some life or whatever nodes and you seem to be lacking available points, remember those ;)

Personally i love the FasterA gem, defiantly a gem that should be used imo (right after Melee Phys Dmg).
About where to get the stats, obviously it's better to get it from gear than spend skill points! Now my tree gives me only 64Dex/34Int, but i am at 156/178 due to gear and you can go much higher, i'm not even using my +30dex boots ;)

Amplify as an AoE node helps with GroundS, HeavyS is not affected on it's own (it does if you use the Melee Splash gem). Also see screenshot i linked above (even though you can't see the increased range which is the most important).


@NobodySuper:
MultiS is a "controversial" gem, but it can be used with all melee skills.
I personally use it on both GS and HS, still it uses the lower-dmg/higher-AS method to raise DPS...

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Monty_The_3rd wrote:

@DjNanos:
Like Llamaalarmallama said the quote was for him.
And i see you use past sense in your last post, you don't use splash any more? Why?

I am using it, but im not using it on HS anymore, im using it on IB