[1.3.1] ♦ Physical Core Build ♦ Hegemony's Era ♦

Hi all! Welcome to my build guide about a Ranger who utilizes Hegemony's Era unique staff to such extent it trivializes majority of mapping content with smart plays, timings and perception.

This build is all about fun character and is not for newcomers. You need a good knowledge of the game and you must know what to expect with certain encounters. It is also mediocre costly, so you will require some currency to start with. Most expensive will be the weapon, rest is obtainable easier, especially if you trade with other players (use some 3rd party software like Procurement if you are not comfortable trading on the chat, or you do not have much spare time).

Pre-post

Disclaimer

I will start the build guide bluntly. This one is not for the faint hearted, or ones who want to automate their gameplay. Play style of this characters is fast, for quick fingers and exceptional perception. You have to keep an eye on a great number of things on the screen. This is not one of the fastest clearing builds in the game, but it is one of the most damaging ones.

As you are aware, melee characters in Path of Exile are kind of lacking compared to their ranged counterparts. It is not always true, but to be on par as a close-quarters character you have to have a certain parts of your gear ready for the tests to come. From Gems to Stats, you are bound to realize sooner or later you need much better gear than a common archer or mage archetype, especially for a two handed wielder.

To prove my point I will state the following items you need to play this character effectively:
Hegemony's Era
Immortal Call 20Q (or more)
Increased Duration 20Q (or more)
Endgame Belt (successfully corrupted +1 Endurance Charge) is a massive boost!

These things are all taken with a grain of salt, so you have some flexibility and you are able to equip Gems that are of a less quality, but you get the big picture.

Leveling

Bandits

Items

Skill Tree

Gems

The idea is to (like few perma-Immortal Call builds before) cast Immortall Call as often as you can. It is not a perfect form of physical mitigation, as it has few but great weaknesses. You are require to use skill Enduring Cry as often as it comes off cooldown to keep your Endurance Charges up for the next cast of Immortal Call. This is one of its great weaknesses, it is not all dandy when it comes to having to cast Enduring Cry every few seconds, while having to dish out good damage.

Be very wary, physical reflect with low (or theoretically zero) armour is the bane of your existence. You have to be very careful about the stats the mobs, or map has. As you are wielding a powerful and hard hitting two handed weapon, without a shield you will have practically negligible amount of armour require to mitigate the reflected damage. With a critical hit you will probably kill yourself (on one monster).

Also be very careful around rares, they can have Reflect Physical Damage Aura, or can have the Nemesis mod Nullifier. I am still not sure does the Nullifier remove Immortal Call, but he definetly removes your Endurance Charges and that can mean much trouble for you.

Ideas behind Carcass Jack and Abyssus are as follows; Carcass Jack increases the radius of your Enduring Cry, plus giving some damage to you Sweep as well. Abyssus is an amazing item for those who are willing to risk its negative. It is a common knowledge it can eventually give more than double your total damage, especially if are a going for a critical strike build such as this. Since your main focus will be to be physically immune to all sources of damage, the negative of the unique helmet will be mitigated.

Tooltips and Sheets

Mind you, these are numbers with max of 5 Power Charges. 6 Power Charges are obtainable by corrupting the Hegemony's Era staff but that would be something you can only dream about.

Pros and Cons

My items are far from perfect, as a two hander you have a hard time overcapping your resists so you can run Elemental Weakness maps and face certain Rogues much easier. But you have insane burst potential as is now. I have only 5L both skills and am doing fantastic in maps. Hegemony's Era is not the best staff in game, but it has an insane boost with that extra Power Charge which in turn gives you more critical chance. I have been one shotting bosses since almost the beginning of mapping, some are of course more durable such as Vaal, Piety, Oak etc, but none were a problem.

As you see my items are far from perfect, especially the belt which I still want to buy with an added Endurance Charge which will in turn give me more than 20 seconds of physical immunity. At the moment I am trying to obtain Doryani's Invitation unique belt, successfully corrupted with 1 Endurance Charge. It is costly, but probably a best in slot item for this build.

I hope you try this if you are able and enjoy the game! If you have any questions or suggestions please comment, I appreciate it.

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