Patch 1.1 - The 2H Mace TANK (350% armor, 254% life, 273% phys damage)

I was playing around with the new offline skill tree calculator (link at the bottom of this post) and happened to stumble upon this build. I'll include a link for the offline skilltree calculator and to PoE Builder below.



Highlights

The highlights of this build (at 100 points) are:
- 324% increased armor + 32% increased armor and evasion = 356% increased armor
- 254% increased life + 4% life regen per second
- +1% max resists
- 140% increased phys mace damage + 55% increased phys 2H damage + 78% increased melee phys (from strength and Master of the Arena) = 273% increased phys damage
- 30% increased attack speed + 3% mace attack speed = 33% increased attack speed with maces

Comments

Determination is definitely a necessity with this build (it will make your armor Ridiculous!). Next, 2 of the 3 endurance charges are easily within reach (3 points to get both) and would raise the tankiness to a new high. I wonder if it would have the ability to tank Vaal smashes with that much armor + loaded endurance charges (6 if you get the merciless Oak reward).

I'm currently unsure what skills will work best. For the beginning of leagues, I could see a straight-forward Heavy Strike and Ground Slam build working out well. I could also see this build being tweaked to use other mace skills like Glacial Hammer.

Potential Problems

The major question that I have with this build right now is how to make sure that you can afford your skills. I imagine mana leech will be key here, but with the changes to how leech works I'm not too sure how well it will work out now.

Where You Come In
I'm interested in your feedback on this build. What weaknesses or potential problems have I overlooked with it? Where do you think the skill tree could be improved? What skills do you think would work best with it?

I'd also be interested in gem suggestions to use with this build.



And the link to the offline skilltree calculator download post below:

http://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/1zlt62/updated_for_110_offline_skill_tree_calculator/

Edit 1: Skill tree updated from initial feedback.

Not a bad build, helped with my future Ambush char ;d

Ground slam will surely work well, but I'm going for Cyclone probably. And with that much life blood magic gem is the key, not mana leech imo. Also, using cyclone, I can tweak the build to use swords or axes instead or maces too.

Thanks

Your proposed build is essentially equivalent to what I used in Nemesis for a heavy strike/ground slam build. Worked wonders. The one key thing, as you said, is ensure you have mana leech. Wurm's molt is great for this reason.

I would switch the flask life node for the reduced crit multiplier node when connecting to diamond skin. Generally its those big life fluctuations from crits that cause death, not gradual ones that can be prevented by flasks.

I am considering sacrificing few HP/armor nodes to get Stun Mastery and Bone Breaker. The extra stun duration and the associated extra control over enemy NPCs may be worth it... but it is one of those things I will have to try in practice.

Elemental Adaptation is also worth considering for 2 nodes.

"

kemott11 wrote:

Not a bad build, helped with my future Ambush char ;d

Ground slam will surely work well, but I'm going for Cyclone probably. And with that much life blood magic gem is the key, not mana leech imo. Also, using cyclone, I can tweak the build to use swords or axes instead or maces too.

Thanks

Thanks for the feedback! I agree that you don't want to use a mana leech gem, but I meant getting some mana leech on gear. I would think that hitting for so much physical damage should leech enough mana to keep attacking. However, I do agree that using a higher base-cost gem like Cyclone would work much better with a Blood Magic gem, unless you were able to overcome this some how.

Yes, another benefit with this tree is that it can be adapted for other weapons too (axes or swords) since it runs right by those passives as well.

"

rakarsis wrote:

Your proposed build is essentially equivalent to what I used in Nemesis for a heavy strike/ground slam build. Worked wonders. The one key thing, as you said, is ensure you have mana leech. Wurm's molt is great for this reason.

I would switch the flask life node for the reduced crit multiplier node when connecting to diamond skin. Generally its those big life fluctuations from crits that cause death, not gradual ones that can be prevented by flasks.

I am considering sacrificing few HP/armor nodes to get Stun Mastery and Bone Breaker. The extra stun duration and the associated extra control over enemy NPCs may be worth it... but it is one of those things I will have to try in practice.

Elemental Adaptation is also worth considering for 2 nodes.

Thanks for the feedback!

I agree that the crit reduction node is better than the flask node. I must have misclicked when I was assigning points. Thanks for pointing that out.

I also debated about giving up some of the armor or HP nodes for some more damage.............350% armor is a lot. However, I'm not sure I want to do this with the new Atziri boss fight yet. I imagine that might be something that I tweak as I play the build.

I completely missed the Elemental Adaptation node north of the templar. That node is definitely worth the 2 points.

Links updated.

I also would be interested in gem suggestions for this build.

Similar to the original GS Mara, but:
-No Unwavering Stance?
-You don't need that much Armor. It's great for running lower maps, but you generally wont notice the difference between 15k and 8k armor for small or large hits.
-You're very close to Amplify.. you shouldn't pass it up.
-Take at least 2 nodes on the Scion life wheel - you're only 1 pt away.

I would respec to something like:

Took your tree and modified some nodes in and there and made this one...

+ 3 Endurances charges
+ 2% life leech
+ 25% or so all resist

- Less damage
- Less life
- Less base armor

Still not sure which one I prefer between yours and mine...

Edit : http://www.poebuilder.com/#character/AAAAAgEAAdwB5wJxBLMFLQmWEuEUIBRNGJEaOBo-G_ol3ycgJy8pLi3SMgk0jjboOtg9_ECgQT9Cjkd-SshN2FBHUeZUSVcNWGNYr1nzXz9gS2EhZU1nWGoebEZuaW6qcmxyqXK7dO14DXrvfLh82YFvhNmE74Y7jHaMz5BVkc6ePJ65ns2hbaIApBmnMKeEqBipaKluq8WsqrQvtfK5zbvtvJ--ir6nwA_AGsbY0iHSTd7B4urjn-St6wnsOO8O8B_xrPIv9kj3Mve-_Ik=

"

j0zef wrote:

Similar to the original GS Mara, but:
-No Unwavering Stance?
-You don't need that much Armor. It's great for running lower maps, but you generally wont notice the difference between 15k and 8k armor for small or large hits.
-You're very close to Amplify.. you shouldn't pass it up.
-Take at least 2 nodes on the Scion life wheel - you're only 1 pt away.

I would respec to something like:

Spoiler

http://www.poebuilder.com/#character/AAAAAgEAAdwB5wJxBLMJlg48FCAUTRRxFPYWbxiRGYUaOBpsG_odFCSqJd8nICcvMgk1kjboNuk62D38QT9Cjkd-TdhQR1HmVcZYY1ivWfNfP2VNZp5r2WxGbmlybHKpcrt4DXzZgW-DOITZhjuI8Yx2jM-PRpBVnjyfy6FtogCkGaSspzCnhKloqW6rxayqtC-18rnNvJ--ir6nwA_AGsEExtjPZdDQ0k3eweNq45_kreoY6wnsOO8O73zwH_Iv8932SPcy-Ov60vyJ_9M=

I was crunching some numbers and I should be able to get ~20k armor unbuffed. When I pop a granite it skyrockets to ~45k.

Good call with Amplify.............I should pick that up.

Yeah, the Scion life wheel is where I would plan to go after 100 points and just max out my health.

How would a 2h cyclone go with this?