Skyforth presents: Glaciator. RIP BUILD. GGG can let me down one last time.



Note: That's the boss of


As of 12/12/14 (1.3 patch) I will no longer be updating this build. You are all free to do whatever you want with the work i've done so far, but i have given up hope in GGG's balancing team.

I won't sit on this seesaw of balancing nightmare anymore, and I give up on melee.

Patch 1.0.0 represented what i felt was the true Path of Exile game. Balance was right, classes were strong and melee had it's defensive identity. At the same time, Ranged classes were able to have their own identity through various means. The continuation of nerfs and shitstorms have rendered this game inconceivably bad, and the community is part to blame.

Filthy Casuals......


"
Qarl wrote:

Path of Melee
Path of Desync
Path of Bullshit
Path of Life Nodes
Path of Nerfs
Nerfing Gear Games
"
Qarl wrote:

Path of Melee
Path of Desync
Path of Bullshit
Path of Life Nodes
Path of Nerfs
Nerfing Gear Games
"
Qarl wrote:

Path of Melee
Path of Desync
Path of Bullshit
Path of Life Nodes
Path of Nerfs
Nerfing Gear Games
"
Qarl wrote:

Path of Melee
Path of Desync
Path of Bullshit
Path of Life Nodes
Path of Nerfs
Nerfing Gear Games
"
Qarl wrote:

Path of Melee
Path of Desync
Path of Bullshit
Path of Life Nodes
Path of Nerfs
Nerfing Gear Games
"
Qarl wrote:

Path of Melee
Path of Desync
Path of Bullshit
Path of Life Nodes
Path of Nerfs
Nerfing Gear Games
"
Qarl wrote:

Path of Melee
Path of Desync
Path of Bullshit
Path of Life Nodes
Path of Nerfs
Nerfing Gear Games
"
Qarl wrote:

Path of Melee
Path of Desync
Path of Bullshit
Path of Life Nodes
Path of Nerfs
Nerfing Gear Games


I prefer to play this build on my Hardcore character, where I dedicated a whole character rather than just respeccing my scion on standard.

Why choose this build?

"
Still Loving this build update now lvl 75 gear wise everything is the same bar


"
Acrol wrote:
I have been getting some tells for my HC variant of the build. I figured this would be a good place to post it. Please note that this is an alt and gearing has been very budget for it. Total cost is under 10 ex.
Current Build @ LVL 86 on Beyond

Current Gear


Stats
I have 3 Frenzy and 3 Power Charges here, which are ~100% uptime.


Edit: I believe that Doryani's can only be a late game option due to it's low crit chance. From what I have gathered talking to people who are struggling with the build, the scaling just isn't there at the lower levels (sub L90 at least) to make it competitive with a rare sceptre. Unfortunately I can't even afford the weapon to test things for myself. My tree doesn't have as much crit chance on it as the OP's version so I doubt Doryani's would be viable with my rendition as well.

"
nyth89 wrote:
just an amazing fun build!

current level is 86, so far i can easily run every mapmods, just triple reflect suckt :D

Spoiler

"
loving this build especially now wearing my LC. Currently Lvl 63

Spoiler


Had to tinker with the set up due to the low lightning resist so running hatred and purity of elements so i can cap out.

"
mego950 wrote:
Just hit level 76 doing this build, can confirm it's fun.

My gear

Spoiler

"
kibrab wrote:
Hi skyforth, I'm a 85 duellist atm and I fucking love your build!

I wanted to know what I could improve in my stuff and what are the next passives I should get.

Spoiler
Here is my stuff :


I can't put maligaro's instead of aurseize for now because of the -60 lightning res from lightning coil.

Here is my passive tree : http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAAAYJWAxfDkgPqxRSFSAV9ha_GNsaOBynHcomlSftKNsppSoLKk0s6TBUNJM1kjXvNj067TwtPT4_Jz-bQYdHfkrITipRTFM1U6VVS1nzW69csF3yYeJieWKsY3BlTWwWbIxttG5pbqpwUnDVcql9W369gUGE2YcZidOMNpBVl_6ZK5u1naqmf6c0p4SsR6yqsbO1SLXytkG3Pr2BvqfAGsCcwYvDOsS4xPbGrspK0_zV-Ni926fcI90N3-_jhOoY7UHv4_Pq9zL56PxL_go=

And last questions, can I try atziri with my char? Should I put heavy strike instead of glacial hammer for her?

Your build is awesome !

"
JumpMan84 wrote:
Hello guys,

I'm running this build and so far it looks pretty awesome.

"
niinjjayoko wrote:
If you are thinking about doing this build i higly recommend it. Saw the gorge clear speed video last nigt and i respeced my old 82 duelist and bought gear for 4.5ex (abyssus and the 2 weapons) this took me about 1h and i could jump into endgame maps. I am really impressed by the clear speed it gives!

gear im using

Spoiler


dps is around 36k with ground slam and 4 power charges and 57k+ with 4L heavy strike

Life is at 3,3k and i still have a hand full of life nodes in the tree and i could replace my gloves for more life.

resistance is at 75 fire, 75 cold and 78 light (with Purity of lighning)

its a really good and uniqe build and for the price u pay its amazing!


"
iGanc wrote:
This is a very fun build! I'm level 70. So I have to cut out a few things. What would be the strategy here?

I feel like I should reach life nodes first, then go for crit (so i can freeze and gather power charges faster), then lastly go for dual wield dmg / block ?

Input on this would be great! Again, cool build, i'm liking it haha! Been wanting a good melee

"
Really strong build dude, those 4 items carried me until late cruel with only 6 dmg nodes!
Spoiler


And this is the passive tree at lvl 47
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAD6sUUhUgFr8mlSftKk0s6TSTNZI2PTwtPydHfkrITipRTFM1VUtbr2HiYqxjcGVNbBZsjG1sbmluqn1bhNmMNpAKmSubtZ2qpzSsR7VItfK2Qbc-vYG-p8CcwzrEuMT2xq7KStX42L3dDeOE7-P8S_4K



SOFTCORE

Everything listed in Hardcore applies instead or on top of what i explain in softcore. What i explain in Hardcore is still very relevant to softcore, but to a lesser extent (abyssus etc) and is still worth the read..



Crazy Gorge Clear using Ground slam

This video is all you need, to truly realize the power of this build.

It appears our DPS tooltip is incorrect, as it is factoring in offhand for some reason. Therefore the actual DPS is even higher. How high? I don't know but imagine it without counting a 50 dps weapon in offhand.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Requirements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- BoR or Abyssus + Lightning Coil
- Doryani's Catalyst or better weapon
- Ungil's gauche

So relatively "Budget" for such insane damage and tankyness, even on short term leagues.

These 3 components will basically guarantee you 50k grand slam and 100k+ Single target Glacial Hammer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class Diversity
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can play this on scion, shadow or even marauder. I think Duelist is the best though.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Overview
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who... is... this glaciator?

Well, this build revolves around being able to pretty much freeze everything, adding insane survivability. We spec straight into Crit, and through hatred and other forms of elemental scaling we can crit with cold damage to guarantee a freeze. This applies to any melee skill we use, such as ground slam.


This build incorporates the use of Dual wield, and the unique Ungil's Gauche to create an amazing synergy between offence and defence.

By Dual Wielding, we have a Crit Sceptre/Mace/Strength Weapon in main hand while wearing Ungil's in offhand. The skill we use is Ground slam which is complimented by Glacial hammer, however any skill that can not be used with a dagger will work.

By utilizing the DW bonus and the 90% global crit chance on off hand, we can achieve amazing dps. The 20% block while dual wielding allows us to gain a huge amount of defence and access amazing block nodes for duel wielding.

All in all, by turning Ungil's into a supporting off hand, we can bring together an amazingly offensive and defensive melee build.

The use of both a melee strength weapon and a dagger allows us to access skills that the other would not have before, and thus we can use both Leap Slam AND whirling blades to move around the map.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hardcore Viability
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This build is extremely viable in Hardcore, with high block and spell block. To increase survivability, i recommend a BoR rather than abyssus and spec more into life rather than damage. This is very easily hardcore viable.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Variations
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can use a BoR for a tighter budget while having 15% more block over a 6L+Helm


You can also use a 6L Lightning Coil (or other chest) + Abyssus to reach sky high dps, and are only 3 points away from 64% block, which is still very nice.

In our 6L, we have 4 reds and 2 blues.

We replace Faster attacks with increased Critical Strikes or PCOC for more consistent crits. No blind

You can use Doryani's Catalyst or a rare sceptre. In 99% on cases, Doryani's is probably better but a good rare sceptre can out dps it.

CoH Herald of Thunder vs PCOC

Here's the thing, we kill too fast to get anything out of HoT and CoH with Assassin's mark. I tried running maps and it just doesn't work. Everything is dead before the HoT can even apply the curse.

On the bright side, PCOC is very very good as it's almost guaranteed sustainability on charges allowing us to easily retain our Damage. In Bossfight situations, there's nothing to kill to activate Herald of Thunder, and then kill another mob cursed by Assassin's Mark.

Ultimately, i decided the benefits of a single target are so much stronger due to the perma freeze nature of Frostbite+Glacial Hammer and the fact we can have power charges at bosses outweights HoT Cursing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Videos
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Clearing Gorge in 2:06
Shipyard Clear
Palace Clear
Courtyard Clear
Shrine Clear

Perma Freezing Palace Dominus + DPS comparison for Doryani's and rare sceptre



Atziri Kill Using 5L Lightning Coil + Abyssus (Outdated, much more dps and leech now)



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skill setup
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOOOOLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYY SHHIIIITTTTT

Ground slam revolutionized.

For 6L + Abyssus

GL Ground Slam. 5L is also extremely good, just no added fire. 6L adds about 40% more dps

IF YOU CAN GET BBBRRR USE CRIT DAMAGE INSTEAD OF ADDED FIRE. Probably hits 80k dps or something.



For single target, we use a 4L Glacial Hammer



For Bringer of Rain

Ground Slam, PCOC, Multistrike, Increased AOE

For both BoR And Abyssus

You can easily switch out Gems in 6L RRRRBB to fit in a 6L heavy strike or Glacial hammer for bosses like Atziri

Main Hand Weapon 3L

CWDT-ENDCRY-IC

Off hand 3L

Whirling blades-Leap Slam-Faster Attacks

Boots

Reduced Mana - Hatred - Herald of Ash - Purity of Elements or Vitality. (Situational)

Gloves

Blood rage - Frostbite - Vaal Haste - Increased Duration

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Damage
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our groundslam is pure physical, which is augmented by Hatred to Perma freeze and supported by Herald of Fire to ignite and overkill. Lightning damage on any piece of gear will cause perma shock with ground slam on white and magic packs. This is enabled due to the multstrike nature where the initial shock duration is short, but the monster is quickly hit again due causing a 50% higher shock damage and thus a longer shock is applied. This is cycled every time you hit to loop a permanently shocked enemy.


All damage screenshots are SOLO SELFBUFF ONLY.

This skill setup is truly amazing.

Ground Slam with Increased AoE




Glacial Hammer 4L Single Target



It is important to note that a decent rolled Doryani's is very close in DPS. Infact for Single Target glacial hammer it matches my Rare sceptre DPS. It's at 57k Ground slam vs 63k. It's a perfect weapon.


When playing this build with BoR, expect about 50-60% of the DPS i posted with Abyssus and 6L Lightning Coil. So approximately 30-40k Ground slam, but still good.

The benefit of BoR is the much higher Block and general increase in survivability. Much recommended for HC. While, you can't use Single Target Glacial Hammer, Ground Slam is ranged which gives that added benefit of killing when not next to your enemies.

Bringer of Rain Ground Slam


Character Panel Screenshot

Spoiler


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defences
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This build has a CWDT Setup for Physical Bursts, and here are the following stats.

My character has approximately 4.5k hp.

Abyssus + Lightning Coil
For 6L Lightning Coil + Abyssus, you get 64% block and 45% spell block.




Bringer of Rain


These are the old screenshots without the life regen using old tree. Same block though.

BLock



Block + Spell block



The 40% increased physical damage taken is more or less mitigated by the 40% of physical damage taken is converted to lightning damage. I don't know the specifics but it works well and physical reflect and elemental reflect both have null effect.

As for bosses, there's no need to worry when they're perma frozen.

Reflect is not an issue unless you happen to double up reflect.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gear
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bringer of Rain


Core Items



Weapon



Doryani's Catalyst is the perfect weapon for this build. I'm sitting at less than 10% dps difference compared to my rare sceptre.

For reference, with the current tree i have 94.9% chance to crit with a 8.48% base crit weapon. This means that you can get away with a lower crit weapon while still scaling till the end. Vice versa, weapons with more than 8.5% crit will have diminishing returns as you cap out crit and overcap. Nevertheless the tree and build can be easily adjusted to compensate it elsewhere.

Perma Freezing Palace Dominus + DPS comparison for Doryani's and rare sceptre

Watch that to see the small difference between rare sceptre and doryani's.

Jewelry



Wear Lahzwar if you need spell block, if not just use a crit amulet. On Hardcore, might as well wear it 24/7. For rings, aim for as much Accuracy as you can and resists. Wed is optional extra.

For the rings, aim for life accuracy and resists. Anything else is a bonus. Mana regen is useless, lightning damage is quite nice but cold and fire are useless.

Armour pieces



Make sure you balance out your resists. I use Rainbowstrides + Rare gloves mostly. You could use maligaros if you really want to push your DPS but you must balance your resists accordingly.



Lightning Coil+Abyssus


Same as previous.

Core items



With Lightning Coil and Abyssus, you get quite a lot more Armour and a significant DPS increase. I suggest against maligaros as you need the life leech and resists to cap with the -60% from Lightning Coil.



I find Abyssus + Lightning coil very good, as it has 50% more dps than Bringer of Rain while retaining equal or better defences. It does however cost a lot more due to the 6L LC, but as you can see in the video above, i killed Atziri with a 5L LC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doryani's Catalyst vs Crit Sceptre
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, Doryani's range from 240-320 pdps which is really good. It also has up to 100% increased elemental damage mod to further give us the damage we need.

Now, between the 2 weapons i have.



This Doryani's is approx 300 pdps. A bit above average. It has the same single target DPS as the rare sceptre and slightly lower dps on Ground Slam.



Now the determining factor here is consistency. Due to the 8.48% Crit on the Vaal Sceptre vs 6.68% on the Doryani's, the critical strike chance values change a lot.

On the Vaal Sceptre we have 94.9% chance to crit while on Doryani's we have 79% chance to crit. Same dps, different consistency. What this means is that while Doryani's will crit less, it will crit harder when it does. And vice versa for Vaal Sceptre where it crits more but hits for less.

I prefer consistency, as when i clear packs i know that 93% of the time it will be the same damage i usually expect. This allows for smoother gameplay and generally faster clear speeds. The Doryani's however has less consistency due to only a 79% chance to hit the damage i would expect.

The leech on Doryani's is negligible as we have waaaay more than enough from the 12% lifeleech.

All in all, Doryani's is extremely good for this build, but over time if you can find a high crit rare sceptre and even if it's less PDPS you may find the increased consistency more desirable.

Extra: It's valuable to note, that you cap out crit with 9.21% very easily and that with my current tree i get 94.9% crit with a 8.48% crit sceptre. This means that having very high crit will start to have very minor diminishing returns as the power of doryani or lower crit sceptre continues to scale.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Playstyle
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whirling blades + Leap slam provides extremely high mobility.

Glacial Hammer freezes packs and culls at 33%.

Ground Slam evaporates the screen.

Blood rage gives us 10% Lifeleech+2%passive which is more than enough to almost always cap our life leech rate.

Frostbite+Single Target Glacial Hammer Freezes every freezable boss in game.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bandits
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Life or Passive - Passive - Power Charge (If using pcoc)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passive Tree
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Extra 30 Int node isn't required for Abyssus+LC. This is just a core tree, you can modify it in many ways to suit your playstyle, either for more dps and less hp and vice versa.

The build is complete at approx level 95, with points after that just being extra life or damage or whatever you want. It's easily playable at even level 80, just less damage and less life.



By grabbing those Life regen nodes, you can run a blood rage while having a tiny degen effect even at -60% chaos res.

Some things to note

- I need the 10 int from Mana flows
- Golems blood is unnecessary when running vitality.

YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.YOU CAN DROP BLOOD RAGE IF YOU GET LIFELEECH ON GEAR. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DROP THE LIFE REGEN NODES. THIS IS VIABLE AS I DO THAT IN HC.







HARDCORE



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Overview
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, after making the build on Standard and theorycrafting using a couple hundred regrets i decided this build is more than viable for hardcore. Guess what? I was right. I spent a little over a week leveling a hardcore character, now level 88. Through the way I took various adaptations to the original softcore build making the hardcore version also very strong.

To start off, abyssus is gone (duh), and after trying BoR i felt i could go better with a Lightning Coil. Right now, Lightning Coil + 10.5k Armour = Near god mode. Should be hitting 13-14k armour at levels 90+.

Finding a sceptre maybe tough, and doryani's aren't easily available either on HC. I actually played this build to level 85 using a 5 Link Lightning Coil and was using random gear till around level 60.

Overall, this build is fan-fucking-tasic for hardcore as the defences, survivability and clearspeed will be further elaborated below.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defence and survivability
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best defence is a good offence???

Why not both? We actually have the best offence and the best defence.

Armour

We run a Lightning Coil, mitigating 40% of physical damage into lightning where it is resisted. The remaining physical damage is thus toned down where Armour becomes better. The smaller the hit, the better Armour is. The more armour, the better it gets.

11k Armour is a fairly easy feat, even when dual wielding. It comes mostly from non-arbitrary items, Lightning Coil, Alpha's Howl and Grace. Together with IR, we easily hit a huge armour value. With Granite we reach 30k+ Armour and become more or less invulnerable.

As we level more into the 90s, 13-14k is easily attainable.

Block

We are dual wielding, so we have innate 15% block chance. With Ungil's in offhand we hit 35% block. Pathing in duelist reaches 45% block and 3 nodes above at Bravado puts us at a healthy 53% block. With the option of pathing to Blade Barrier we hit 64% block. If you corrupt your Ungil's (1 chaos maximum each) for 6% implicit block we're at 70% block. Add in corrupted Lahzwar and you're at 74% block.

74% maximum block when dual wielding.

With rainbowstrides and Stone of lahzwar we have the option to apply that to spell block, and with Rumi's Concoction we hit 75% block and spell block.

Unfortunately i couldn't get my hands on a Rumi's on HC. It's almost as if they don't exist. And while 74% block is attainable, it isn't quite necessary except for perhaps bossing.

Leech

With 2% passives in the tree, I only need another 2% leech on either glove, amuluet or rings to hit cap leech. I sit at 4.5k hp and leech is capped at 20% of max hp, therefore we have 900 health leeched per second.

Life regen

Pathing through Path of the Arena, Shaper and Combat Stamina we have a mighty 3.8% life regen per second. At 4.5k hp this equates to 170 life regen per second.

Combined with the leech we have approximately 1200 life gained per second when attacking.

Perma Freeze

Our hatred + Crit build allows our ground slam to freeze white mobs and blue mobs while our single target glacial hammer will freeze ALL rares + Bosses

Perma Stun

Our crazy high damage on ground slam + a few stun nodes allow us to effectively Permanently stun everything. While this can't actually be seen, that's because they're already frozen.

Can not be Frozen

Alpha's Howl = Can not be frozen.

Cast when damage taken setup 1

CWDT+END CRY+IMMORTAL CALL = Immune to Phys Burst

Cast when damage taken setup 2

CWDT+Enfeeble+enhance = Less damage, less crit chance/multi (multi the important one), reduced accuracy.





Conclusion:

So, I shall list the order of defences we have and the following line is what is applied if the line above fails.

1. Permanently Frozen enemies, if not
2. Permanently Stunned enemies, if not
3. Very high block, if still hits
4. CWDT Immortal call, if down
5. CWDT Enfeeble, reducing damage by 22%
6. Lightning Coil + Huge Armour, then
7. Flask for 30-40k armour and 86/75/85 res and 75/75 block, then
8. Leech for 900 life per second, then
9. Life regen for 170 life per second, then
10. Seething and Bubbling Flasks.

You tell me, how much it would take to kill me.

And to back this up, here are some GIFS revealing the nature of the build.

Tanking 2 Titan bosses while permafreezing the (COLD RESISTANT) Magic pack.

Note: The following gifs are on Hardcore.



4 Link Glacial Hammer Freeze Locking Boss. (Also freeze locks everything in the game that can be frozen)



No hatred, no herald of fire. Showing the permashocking nature. less than half usual dps.



Defences simulating a finished character at level 96.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offence
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obviously because we're not on Softcore, we must make some compromises.

1. Abyssus is gone.
2. I can't find a single Doryani's Catalyst on legacy HC. Even then they're 30ex ea.
3. Take defence early, then offence later.

In the end, we come to a reasonable damage output and still amazing clear speed. I have atm 17k Ground Slam, and 28k Glacial Hammer. You can read more on offence in SC section because it's basically the same, only less dps nodes and no abyssus.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mobility
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is prevalent in both builds.

Mainhand Mace (1h Strength weapon which can use leap slam)
Offhand Dagger (1h weapon that can use whirling blades)

Neither skill take into consideration the attack speeds of the weapons, only the attack speed modifiers. Dual wield is 10% MORE attack speed, and with all the attack speed we get, we move around so fast.

This results in crazy mobility to whirl through mobs (extremely useful for opening strongboxes) and leapslam over rivers or obstacles.

Tip: Check the 2:06 Gorge Clear down below.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hardcore gear and passive tree
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now in Hardcore, we run 3 auras as opposed to 2 in softcore.

Why? We need the extra defence from Grace. Optional, but preferred. If you want significantly higher damage then take the softcore tree. If you want better stun, more armour, more life and tankier character take the hardcore tree. We don't run Blood rage, and take the leech off gear. 6% is optimal but 4% is perfectly fine. More for single target ground slamming to utilize 6%.

Here is my gear.

Spoiler



Alpha's. Can not freeze. +1 to defence. Improves our auras for more cold damage and more armour.



Lightning Coil. Huge survivability boost.



Ungil's. At level 80+ This becomes better than Prismatic Eclipse.




Resists to fill the rest of the gear. Lightning damage on 1 piece, Life leech on another piece. Accuracy wherever possible, life wherever possible.



Physical Crit sceptre

Flasks






Passive Tree

Final passive tree @Level 95.



Shaper at level 97 and whatever you want there after. I don't have the time or patience to go that far on hardcore when it appears im the only person on the server to be mapping at the time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEVELING GUIDE!!!!
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LEVELING GUIDE?

DO I HEAR A LEVELING GUIDE?

1-100. Level with Ground Slam. Use whatever single target you want.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1092900/page/12/#p9262916

Progression through to level 88 in Hardcore. Can also be applied to softcore, but you can change it up for SC because you can afford to die.

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Future plans
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Probably see how far this build can be pushed. Chances are, this is very capable of being transitioned into lowlife build with acuity etc. This can also be further enhanced to suit hardcore.

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Credits
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If you want to be credited then feel free to feel credited.

But seriously, I look up uniques on Wiki and experiment for hours and hours using hundreds of regrets to test a huge variation of combinations. Eitherway, I don't care if this was done before me or not because I create guides for people and the community to enjoy.

Take care
I am sending you this message to let you know that I have removed your signature as it is designed to mislead others. Please refrain from using similar signatures in the future. - Rob_GGG
Last edited by Skyforth on Dec 12, 2014, 1:07:39 AM
1) show your stats in merciless, not normal (your hideout), so we can see your actual resists :)

2) insane dps? hrm, 57k is good dps, but i wouldn't consider it insane in the current meta

3) try a doryani scepter instead of a rare mace/scepter. with a conversion skill like glacial, it'll increase your damage by a lot with the +100% ele dmg on it.

I do like that someone is posting a glacial hammer build. just my 2 cents

edit:
those 4w rainbow strides.....
ign crixus_sabr
Last edited by litesabr on Oct 23, 2014, 12:08:39 AM
135 resist is required for merciless, he easily makes it
So many strikes within one breath.
But only one strike needed, for certain death.
Hi, I'd like to share a glacial hammer experiment I did a while ago.

glacial hammer with catalyst/abyssus/soul taker

It gives you an idea of the power that the abyssus-catalyst combo gives
So many strikes within one breath.
But only one strike needed, for certain death.
That rare sceptre probably gives more damage than the doryani's because of the huge base crit. But yeah, doryani's on the offhand with abyssus would probably be crazy.

I want to ask you skyforth, how much did you spend on crafting your weapon? I really want something like that but there's nothing on poexyz.

Other than that, great build!!
For try, for see, and for know.

This is a buff
Last edited by Etherfire on Oct 23, 2014, 3:19:38 AM
"
Etherfire wrote:
That rare sceptre probably gives more damage than the doryani's because of the huge base crit. But yeah, doryani's on the offhand with abyssus would probably be crazy.

I want to ask you skyforth, how much did you spend on crafting your weapon? I really want something like that but there's nothing on poexyz.

Other than that, great build!!


Doryani's is actually only 5k less dps than the rare sceptre i had.
I am sending you this message to let you know that I have removed your signature as it is designed to mislead others. Please refrain from using similar signatures in the future. - Rob_GGG
Really? Wow.
I guess that says even more about the power of that weapon.
However I don't think that the difference would be so small while using a more physical based skill like GS or HS.

BTW, why did you take lust for carnage?
For try, for see, and for know.

This is a buff
Would you care to show a screenshot of the offense tab? I've also been doing a DW Glacial Hammer build, although it's only at ~30-40 crit chance since I'm still using a mostly phys scepter. Running around with Whirling Blades + Blind + CoH + Frostbite and Frenzy + ECoMS + PCoC. Basically whirl in, hammer once, grab charges if needed, hammer until shattered.

I have had issues with sustaining, because of how little phys damage there is after conversion (specced into revelry, grabbed an alphas to have more mana pool). How do you feel about using block/leech items compared to getting a good roll amulet?
cold leech

I started Scion for the 3x2% block nodes (and regen), so with Anvil it's capped at 78%.
"
Schaller wrote:
Would you care to show a screenshot of the offense tab? I've also been doing a DW Glacial Hammer build, although it's only at ~30-40 crit chance since I'm still using a mostly phys scepter. Running around with Whirling Blades + Blind + CoH + Frostbite and Frenzy + ECoMS + PCoC. Basically whirl in, hammer once, grab charges if needed, hammer until shattered.

I have had issues with sustaining, because of how little phys damage there is after conversion (specced into revelry, grabbed an alphas to have more mana pool). How do you feel about using block/leech items compared to getting a good roll amulet?
cold leech

I started Scion for the 3x2% block nodes (and regen), so with Anvil it's capped at 78%.


Spoiler
I am sending you this message to let you know that I have removed your signature as it is designed to mislead others. Please refrain from using similar signatures in the future. - Rob_GGG
In the guide, you say you want "increased critical strikes" in the BoR, but obviously "increased critical damage" is way more DpS, and you're using it yourself. Maybe correct that.

The tree in the guide and the tree in the video are not the same.
Can you update?

In the video, you have taken the little attack speed nodes leading to Scion start.
But on the other hand, you are advocating to take the passive point at Cruel Bandit quest.
Sounds like a waste to me.
Why would you take 3+3+3+4 attack speed at Scion for 4 points, but not the 6% in Dualist start and Cruel Kraytin (14% for two points, that's more and that's 2 saved)?
Edit: oh lol, sry, saw just now that the char in the video is a Scion... ;)

Also:
5 points for 3% life leech at Marauder is a waste.
With those points, you could get sweet crit multi (Cruelty), or 20% more life at "Thick Skin"...
3.5 build: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2299519
Last edited by Peterlerock on Oct 23, 2014, 4:14:14 AM

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