[2.2 WIP] "Icy Calamity" : 2 Handed Mace Ice Crash
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Hello Adventurers of Wraeclast, and welcome to my 2.2 Guide!
Introduction : Guide Informations : This guide will give you my point of view and ideas on one of the newest AoE Melee Skill : Ice Crash (Link informations about this skill). There is not many Ice Crash build for Duelist and since my approach is different (Resolute Technique & 2 Handed Mace) I wanted to share it with you guys. In this guide I'll give as much informations and details as I can in order to let you use my build as you please or to create a variation on you own. I can't say that I'll do as the "Extremely detailed guide" of KorgothBG but I'll try my best to succeed in giving something easy to understand and replicate with your own character. This build is Beginner friendly since it doesn't require Legacy or Ultra Rare items to work. It can be used as a Self Found build to, this is why I like it. Everyone playstyle can make this build enjoyable. My Duelist experience : The question that come to your mind when you entered this guide is : Why use a Duelist instead of a Marauder ? I'd like to say "To not do as everyone else" but it sound kinda weird so, let's improve that answer. I started really playing Path Of Exile about 4 years ago (I remember the closed beta, Phase Run, no Act 3...) and the first class I player & enjoyed was the Duelist. Since then, I have played a lot of different build with this class, from a "Blender" of x2P (Cleave with Bringer of Rain and Dual Sword Wielding) to a "Vulcan's Exemplar" of fiqst (Critical Dual Strike with Bino's / Snakebite). One of my favourite build was "Immortal Wukong Janitor" of Hegemony (Critical Sweep with Staff) but I never stay that long with a single build (one of the reason of my multiple Duelist). I really love the Duelist class and especially the aggressive tree start for them. I invested quite a lot of time while playing Duelist so I learned a lot of things that I'd like to share with who ever want. I already made a build at 2.2 release with a really old skill (but still my favourite) : Sweep(Link for the guide, however it is not totally complete since 2.2 isn't released yet). Let's begin with basic informations to give everyone what he need to understand the whole guide. What in the world is Ice Crash ? Ice Crash is a fairly new Melee Skill which is available since "The Awakening" extension, or 2.0 patch. It requires you to be level 28 in order to use it. Thus you need to find another skill which work with the Skill Tree so that you can level up easily. This skill is similar to Ground Slam in his effect : it does a huge spiky AoE. However, instead of doing it in a cone shaped area in front of you, Ice Crash do the AoE under and around you. The base area of the skill is not really big but it is efficient enough to begin with. What do I need to know about Ice Crash ? The skill deal 150% base attack damage and convert 50% of your physical damage to cold damage. The downside is that the skill have a 25% less attack speed which can be painful. The AoE it create is divided in 3 different part or "stage". Monster in the first stage will take 100% of the skill damage, in the second stage 20% less and in the third and last one 40% less. If you use a Carcass Jack and a level 20 Increased Area of Effect you will end with an attack which fill around 80% of your screen. This skill is special due to the fact that Multistrike doesn't affect it so the attack speed is really slow when used alone, with no support gems. And last but not least, if Ice Crash hits with one of the 3 different stage, the same monster will not be hit by the other 2 stages of the attack. What is my idea behind this build ? When "The Awakening" was first announced with the new skills, act and lore, I literally fell in love with this skill/attack. It was, for me, a whole new playstyle for a Melee build since Multistrike doesn't work with it. This new mechanic gave me a lot of ideas on how to play around it but since I didn't have a Beta Access I had no idea on how those ideas would work at the release. Thus, I started watching each little information about playing Ice Crash (from videos/stream) to see how the build around this skill were made and what was the general idea. I saw some builds based on One Handed weapon which seemed, to me, like really bad idea : the damage was somehow totally missing. After that, I focused one the idea of a Two Handed Weapon build. With the huge explosion that Ice Crash produce, the idea of using a Two Handed Mace was the perfect weapon for this skill. With that new idea added to my already long list, I started searching about what Support Gem to use with Ice Crash and what overall setup could work with it. After something like 1 and a half week, my general idea was done, I had what I wanted to. But at this point, I had never tested my build due to the lack of Beta access, but with the informations I had found by watching similar build, I was able to create a build which should work perfectly fine. Gems Setup :
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Weapon :
5L - Leap Slam | Faster Attacks | Endurance Charge on Melee Stun | Fortify OR Blind | Blood Magic (Good overall Mobility; Good Survivability) 6L - Leap Slam | Faster Attacks | Endurance Charge on Melee Stun | Fortify OR Curse on Hit | Blind OR Frostbite / Warlord's Mark | Blood Magic | (Good Overall Mobility; Either Good Survivability OR Good Bonus Damage) In this 5L setup, Fortify give you a pretty huge defensive bonus when you jump in addition of the Endurance Charges. You just need to hit some targets to get that Bonus and with the Passive Tree nodes it's really good for what it takes to use it, you can avoid using it. The Blind gem gives you a little chance to get less hit, so if you encounter a bigger monster pack / boss, it can gives you some times to react. For the 6L setup, the Curse on Hit with Warlord's Mark give you a good Life and Mana sustain and easy Endurance Charges which are not negligible. For Frostbite, it give you a really huge damage bonus by decreasing ennemis Cold Resistance. With -44% Cold Resistance at Gem Level 20, it's something that can modify your clearspeed a lot. _________________________________________________________________________________ Body Armour : 5L - Ice Crash | Hypothermia | Melee Physical Damage | Weapon Elemental Damage | Added Fire Damage (Good AoE Damage) 6L - Ice Crash | Hypothermia | Melee Physical Damage | Weapon Elemental Damage | Added Fire | Increased Area of Effect / Concentrated Effect (Good Damage; Faster Clearspeed) For the 5L setup, you just want to maximize your damage because the best defense is offense. Hypothermia is a really huge bonst against ennemies you can't one shot, like a HUGE boost. The others are just more, more and more damage. In the 6L setup, the Increased Area of Effect / Concentrated Effect just give you either a whole screen huge damage or a extermination in a little area. Either way, it's something you can't refuse, obviously it's something really good for the skill. _________________________________________________________________________________ Helmet : 4L - Arctic Breath (level 4) | Greater Multiple Projectiles | Cast when Damage Taken (level 1) | Hatred (Good Defensive Setup) This setup give you Hatred, first of all, which give a really descent amount of damage for Ice Crash. With that, we have a Cast when Damage Taken setup which have the role of make your surroundings chilled ground which, with Arctic Breath and Greater Multiple Projectiles, cover nearly everything around you so you are totally safe against melee ennemies. _________________________________________________________________________________ Gloves : 4L - Rallying Cry | Increased Duration | Vaal Grace | Blood Rage (Good Survivability Boost) Rallying Cry give you damage and mana regeneration depending on the number of ennemies around you. Ice Crash is a skill with huge mana cost so the mana regeneration isn't useless. Blood Rage is just free Attack Speed / Frenzy Charges, simple as that. For the Vaal Grace / Vaal Haste it depend on you, if you want to play safe or just want to maximize you damage, either way it's a good buff with the Increased Duration. _________________________________________________________________________________ Boots : 4L - Arctic Armour | Empower | Blasphemy OR Vengeance | Frostbite / Warlord's Mark OR Blind | (Good Defense Boost; Either Good Survivability OR Good Bonus Damage) Arctic Armour have the same effect as our Cast when Damage Setup : it gives you a huge survivability buff with the chilled ground around you and the huge damage reduction against Physical and Fire damage as a chilled ground effect where you walk. The Blasphemy setup gives you the opportunity to curse everything around you without losing time. On top of that, you get either more damage or more suvivability, what do you want more ? For the Vengeance with Blind, it is here in order to protect you against huge melee damage. Vengeance have a 30% chance to counterattack when you're hit. When it counterattack, it hit everything around you. Blind give a 10% to blind ennemis hit by Vengeance. It's not really much, but it the setup which work the best. _________________________________________________________________________________ Why this Cast when Damage Taken setup ? As I writed above, this Cast when Damage Taken setup is used in order to create Chilled Ground all around you when you take damage. This character have, at least for me, way enough survivability as it is now. I don't want to use a regular CwDT with Immortal Call because it'll be overkill for me. Since you can run Fortify and Warlord's Mark as Curse on Hit, I don't see the points of making you immune to physical damage. I think the Chilled Ground is a better advantage with the slow of everything. Since it slow Movement Speed, Cast Speed and Attack Speed, it can work against anything whereas Immortal Call only work against physical damage. In order to end this part, I'll had that this setup work in a 3 Link item (RGB) when an Immortal Call a 4 Link to be really efficient. Why Vengeance/Blind instead of Chaos Golem ? As I said in some Daily Updates, the Golem die really fast in high level map. I tried different setup with it, it even reached 12k hp but still needed to be resummoned every 2 minutes. So I searched something that can prevent physical damage as the golem. I found the idea by looking on some other build with block. i wanted first to use it with Curse on Hit and Warlord's Mark. But the issue with it is that Warlord's Mark get a really little area of effect. It is then not really useful. So I turned into Blind since, even if it's a low % chance, making nearby ennemies unable to hit you is really something strong for a melee character so, I ended up with that and it run pretty smoothly in maps. Gems Quality : Every gem don't need quality, some are really nice for the build, some are just a waste of time / currency. Weapon :
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-Leap Slam : "0.5% chance to Knock Enemies Back on hit"
Well, it's not useless, it's just that it's more against you than with you. No quality is better to not make a pack a whole screen cover. -Faster Attacks : "+0,5% increased Attack Speed" Just perfect, it give you the opportunity to move faster and generate more Endurance Charge. -Endurance Charge on Melee Stun : "+1% increased Stun Duration on ennemies" We don't plan to have a 10 years fight so it's pretty useless. -Fortify : "+0,5% increased Fortify Duration" Really useful, with one jump in the middle of some monsters you keep the buff way longer. Reaaly worth. -Blood Magic : "0.5% reduced Mana Cost" We don't really use Leap Slam for damage, but Mana Cost can be useful. -Curse on Hit : "+0,5% increased Effect of Supported Curses" Totally worth, it makes either way a better leech or more damage output. -Warlord's Mark : "Cursed enemies have an additional 0.5% chance to grant an Endurance Charge when slain" It can be really useful. It's not 100% necessary but it can help in difficult situation. -Frostbite : "Freezes on Cursed ennemies have +1% increased Duration" Since we want to kill the monster the fastest as possible, it's pointless. Body Armour :
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-Ice Crash : "1% increased Cold Damage"
Well, more damage, who doesn't want it ? Obviously really good. -Hypothermia : "1.5% increased Chill Duration on enemies" Not really useful, we don't plan to do 1 monster kill per hour... -Melee Physical Damage : "+0.5% increased Melee Physical Damage" Damage, damage, and more damage. What else ? -Weapon Elemental Damage : "+0.5% increased Elemental Damage with Weapons" What else ? Elemental Damage! Also really good. -Added Fire Damage : "+0.5% increased Fire Damage" And Fire damage. Good too. -Increased Area of Effect : "0.5% increased Area Damage" Area damage, it's damage too, so really worth. -Concentrated Effect : "0.5% increased Area Damage" As Increased Area of Effect, Area Damage is damage after all. Helmet :
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-Arctic Breath : "0.5% increased Area of Effect radius"
Since we use it to chill everything around us when hitted, it can be really nice. -Greater Multiple Projectiles : "0.5% increased Attack Speed & 0.5% increased Cast Speed" We don't use the skill do deal damage, so useless. -Hatred : "1% increased Area of Effect radius" Just, useless. We're not a Summoner or a Support so... -Cast when Damage Taken : "0.5% increased Damage" Arctic Breath is used for his effect and not his damage so it's pointless. Gloves :
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-Rallying Cry : "1.5% increased Skill Effect Duration"
Since this skill is used for its really nice effect, the quality is good. -Increased Duration : "0.5% increased Skill Effect Duration" Duration is always good, especially with Cry and Vaal Aura. -Vaal Grace : "1% increased Area of Effect radius" First of all, quality useless and then it's difficult to get quality on Vaal Gems. -Blood Rage : "0.25% increased Attack Speed" Since we can't use Multistrike with Ice Crash, the skill can feel slow. This quality can help faster things. Boots :
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-Arctic Armour : "1% increased Skill Effect Duration"
It is not essential, but it can help quite a bit. -Empower : "This Gem gains +5% increased Experience" Well, it's not useful, at least if you play daily the quality will be useless. -Blind : "1% increased Blinding duration" The blind duration can be good in long fight. But since this build have some really good damages, each fight is short so it isn't really useful after all. -Vengeance : "0.5% chance to Counterattack with this Skill when Hit" This quality is really something useful. With a 20% quality gem, the 30% proc become a 40% chance which is really huge difference. Skill Trees :
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Every link send you to the Offline 2.2 Skill Tree. I wrote the details of the main stats you get at each Tree (Link To DL the Offline Tree).
Ascendancy tree used (Champion) : https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwQAYZjsXISUiXF71GIXLJQ= The bottom part makes your Fortify way stronger and even, it makes it PERMANENT... Yeah, no need anymore for the gem so you can change for a more damage oriented setup. The other part gives you a pretty huge damage boost, and some nice mobility. It works for the whole party so, pretty sick. Leveling Trees :
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End Act 1 Normal : https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwQAuR0V7Irw6UbKkITZxLhHfqmU1fi9NodqeHplTaknvqeE76LqEuGS0A==
20 Points Start with some Damage, Life & Mana nodes, nothing really special. Important Stats : 26% Life - 1% Life Regeneration - 105% Physical Damage - 17% Attack Speed - 1 Endurance Charge End Act 3 Normal : https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwQAuR0V7Irw6UbKkITZxLhHfgHcqZTV-L02d-OHanh6ZU2pbqknvqeE76LqEuGS0F4TIVXvTkCg3D0s-2FSeu8HdYoixVMFLcCmJyDcMkh4BTw= 40 Points Some damage, life and the Fortify cluster. Important Stats : 41% Life - 2,6% Life Regeneration - 211% Physical Damage - 33% Attack Speed - 1 Endurance Charge End Act 3 Cruel : https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwQAuR0V7Irw6UbKkITZxLhHfgHcqZTV-L02d-OHanh6ZU2pbqknvqd5aITvwQSi6l8_EuEUIJLQ7w5eE1BHIVXvTkCg5FHcPSz7YVJ675d5B3WKIsVTBS0JlsCmJyDcMjkOSHjrCQU8hVLZYa2Nz352rOoY9zJ82fjr 60 Points Go to the Marauder area. Again, some Life / Damage and Resolute Technique. Important Stats : 75% Life - 4,4% Life Regeneration - 298% Physical Damage - 46% Attack Speed - 1 Endurance Charge End Act 3 Merciless : https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwQAuR0V7Irw6UbKkITZxLhHfgHcqZTV-L02d-OHanh6ZU2pbqknvqfAGnlohO94DW87wQSi6rXyXz8S4TWS9kgUIJLQ_o_YvYzP7w5eEz38UEchVe9OQKBYY-RR3D0s-2FSeu9Gt8bYl3kHdYoixVMFLdNvCZbApicg3DI5Dkh46wkFPIVS2WGtjc9-dqzqGFHm9zL463dTfNm77Ts7kc6exQ== 80 Points Same, Life / Damage. We start investing in Jewel Slots since it's about this level that you'll really start looking into your stuff. Important Stats : 116% Life - 4,4% Life Regeneration - 364% Physical Damage - 50% Attack Speed - 2 Jewel Slots - 2 Endurance Charges Around level 80-85 : https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwQAuR0V7Irw6UbKkITZxLhHfgHcqZTV-L02d-OHanh6ZU2pbqknvqfAGnlohO94DW87wQSi6rXyXz8S4TWS9kgUIJLQ_o_YvYzP7w5eE03jPfxQRyFV705AoKZXWGPkUdw9LPthUnrvRrfG2Jd5B3WKIsVTBS3TbwmWwKYnINwyOQ5IeOsJBTyFUtlhrY3Pfnas6hhR5vcy-Ot3U3KpfNm77Ts7xPaRzp7Fr6c9DxzOfLsrUDrYDc0nL-w4_lSQVYKbmjuf3-98PAU= 100 Points Going through the Templar area for some Elemental Damage & Area of Effect. Important Stats : 160% Life - 4,4% Life Regeneration - 364% Physical Damage - 50% Attack Speed - 18% Elemental Damage - 2 Jewel Slots - 2 Endurance Charges EndGame Tree :
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Basic Tree https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwQAuR0V7Irw6UbKkITZxLhHfgHcqZTV-L02d-OHanh6ZU2pbqknvqfAGnlohO94DW87wQSi6rXyXz8S4TWS9kgUIJLQ_o_YvYzP7w5eE03jPfxQRyFV705AoKZXWGPkUdw9LPthUnrvRrcxnsbYl3kHdYoixVMFLdNvCZbApicg3DI5Dkh46wkFPIVS2WGtjc9-dqzqGFHm9zL463dTcql82bvtOzvE9pHOnsWvpz0PHM4U9ny7K1CGO3flOtgNzQGRJy_sOP5ULdKQVYKbhXuaO2ZUn9-Ub-98PAVyD8BmcYUEs1cp8xGiAEbXsULwH2jy
120 Points More Life and overall damage. What more to get ? Important Stats : 180% Life - 5,4% Life Regeneration - 406% Physical Damage - 53% Attack Speed - 80% Elemental Damage - 3 Jewel Slots - 3 Endurance Charges Gear Setup :
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Flasks :
Taste of Hate | Atziri's Promise | Granite (of Heat) | Eternal (of Staunching) | Eternal (of Warding) Taste of Hate is a bit costly but it give a huge help. - Taste of Hate = Mitigation OP, free Elemental Damage, less Elemental Statuts. - Atziri's Promise = Physical and Elemental Damage as Chaos + Chaos Leeched as Life = Free regeneration - 2 Eternal Life Flask and 1 Granite for Statuts / Curse / Bleeding which are really harsh. Can replace the Granite to Topaz / Sapphire / Ruby flask with elemental dispel for boss as Piety, Atziri.... Weapon : High pDps 2 Handed Mace You just need a high amount of Physical Damages, only Damage. - 400+ Physical Damages - 1,3+ Attack Speed - If you can find with a +2 Melee gem on top of that it'll be the best possible. Armour : Lightning Coil Perfect Body Armour... Just, perfect. - "30-40% Physical Damage taken as Lightning Damage" = Mitigation OP - "+60-80 to Maximum Life" since we're melee, life is essential. - The less Lightning Resistance isn't an issue, find it on others items, or master craft it. Common Rare Items No fancy items, nothing too expensive. - Overcap your resistances to get 120% @Res in Merciless. (Elemental Weakness = easy map) - Find items with "+50 or more Maximum Life" each to have ~4500+ total Health Point. - Amulet; Belt; Rings with "Adds #-# Physical Damage" or "#% Increased Elemental Damage with Weapons", it's free damage. - Movement Speed on boots but since you're Leap Slaming everywhere, it's nearly useless. Overall Price : ~1-2 Exalted Orb : Price for a gear without Taste of Hate but viable for mapping. ~12-15 Exalted Orb : Price of the gear I'll use at the release, you can see it on my Live Server character Tetchuro. Many Mirror of Kalandra : Price of a BiS gear, but it's like many other builds, the price range can be huge for the same build. What to invest in first ? For me, there is 2 main things to really have as soon as possible in order to have a better progress : a good 2 Handed Mace and a a Lightning Coil (Legacy or Not, depend on your budget). So, for the first item, the weapon, you can find some really good weapon for cheap if you have Vagan at a good level. The 2 Handed Mace I use right now, was a ~480 Physical DPS Mace at first which I bought for 20 Chaos. After some Vagan roll, it is now a 513 Physical DPS one which is worth way more than my overall investment, I could sell it for more than 6 times the base price. At the moment I write this, there is some weapons with 400-450 Physical DPS for less than 10 Chaos, which is a really good weapon. For me, with less than 400 Physical DPS you can't go in maps, even a 66 since you'll be slow. For the Lightning Coil, you should search for a high life roll since the Armour & Evasion isn't something as worth as some good life. It depend on how much you pray RNGesus everyday. If you feel lucky, search for a Legacy one with no link and try to do, at least, a 5 Linked one. If your luck is as bad as mine, you'd better find a already 5 Linked one Non-Legacy Lightning Coil. It cost around 1-2 Exalted Orb and give you a really good survivability. Ligthning Coil is a really powerfull item for melee character so you really need to find one since it can block your progression into higher level map. Stats :
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These stats are all but a "must have" section. It is here to give you some sort of idea on what you should aim for. If you have less or more, it isn't bad, at least, if you are around my numbers.
Stats for a random Level 70-75 character :
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These numbers are an approximation for a Level 70-75 character.
Life : 4000 (The more you have, the tougher you are.) Resistances (but Chaos) : 75% (105% for good overcap and easy maps.) Armor / Evasion : 2500 Armor & 1250 Evasion (Same as life, the more is the better, but it isn't vital.) Damage : 30000 [with Hatred] (It can vary a lot from one to another but with the skill tree you should easily reach that amount, or even way more.) Other Stats that can help : Life / Mana Leech; Life / Mana on Hit; Movement Speed; Attack Speed (These are here if you really want to have the best gear, it isn't an obligation.) Stats for a good geared Level 85 character :
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These numbers are an approximation for a Level 85 character with good gear.
Life : 5000 (The life become really needed in high level map. You can do nothing if you have not enough life.) Resistances (but Chaos) : 75% (Resistances need to be overcapped to 115% to be safe against every map mod possible.) Armor / Evasion : 3000 Armor & 1500 Evasion (These numbers increase with your gear getting better and better. But since we're not 100% based on them, they end giving you just a little bit of survivability.) Damage : 50000 [with Hatred] (You start getting map with EndGame level so you need to deal a lot more damage to have a easy and fast clean of map.) Other Stats that can help : Life / Mana Leech; Life / Mana on Hit; Movement Speed; Attack Speed (It's at this moment that these become a good "plus" in your gear. It give you easiest progress.) Bandits :
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Normal Difficulty : Oak +40 Life
As I wrote a bit above in the guide, since it's a melee guide, Life is something really important in your survivability in EndGame. The numbers I wrote as approximation are real, you can't play melee with less than 3000 in high level map. At least, you can but you'll die too much for it to be worth. Cruel Difficulty : Oak +18% Physical Damage OR Kraityn +8% Attack Speed For me Oak is the best in Cruel, 18% Physical Damage is something huge. But since Ice Crash is a slow skill that can't be supported by Multistrike, the +8% Attack Speed from Kraityn can be useful and make the playstyle a bit faster. Merciless Difficulty : Oak +1 Endurance Charge OR Kraityn +1 Frenzy Charge Here again, it depend on your preference. If you take Oak, you'll have a little boost in survivability than can allow you to play a little bit riskier. For Kraityn, it's give you some more Attack Speed from Blood Rage which can make you enjoy more the gameplay. Pros & Cons :
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Pros :
- Don't need BiS items to be viable in high level maps. This build can easily be used as a Self-Found build since no Legacy Gear or BiS Gear is needed. - Good AoE damage / Survivability even with crappy gear. Ice Crash have a HUGE base Area of Effect even with no "Increased Area of Effect" nodes or gems. For the survivability, we have Arctic Armour & a pretty good Cast when Damage Taken setup. We also have some Life Leech and Regeneration which can help. - Only need one unique in order to play safely. Lightning Coil is the only item that the build really need. Since it's a melee build, the Mitigation is really a lot helpful to counter most of the bad things that can happen to you. - Can be Atziri viable with good items. I've seen videos of Atziri run during Closed Beta with build like this and it seems that there is no major issue for it. - Reflect isn't an issue at all. Ice Crash have a 50% Physical Damage converted to Cold. So your damage is mixed between both type, Physical and Elemental. After that, things like Lightning Coil of Atziri's Promise give you some help to manage the damage of any reflect. Cons : - Can be repetitive / boring since it's a One Skill build. We only use one skill to do damage which is Ice Crash. Even if the build have different setup of buff and some things that can change, it can be boring for some people. - Need some good positioning against some maps mods. As I said above, the build is nearly 100% reflect proof. However, huge pack of reflect mob can be tough to do. I don't have specific mods to name but it's like every build, it isn't 100% perfect. - No Regen / 50% Regen can be really difficult / impossible to do. Ice Crash have a HUGE mana cost. Since we have 1 Aura and 1 Buff and on top of that Arctic Armour, the mana is something really valuable. That's why 50% Regenenration / No Regeneration map can be tricky to do. You can mana to do 40-60% regeneration map with a 5L Ice Crash but it's totally impossible with a 6L. - Some maps boss are impossible without really good gear. In high level maps, boss as Village Ruin (79) one can be really hard to do. If you're not sure about your capacity to deal with them, I think it's better to skip them. - Upgrading your Gear may take time. We play with a lot of rares items. About time, you will hit a wall for your upgrades. Finding one will take some days but it'll always be a good improvement. My Character :
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There is the main informations about the character I play the build with. It can help you as a reference on what you should aim for.
Current Skill Tree (with Jewels) :
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Gear :
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Stats :
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General Stats :
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Defense Stats :
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Ice Crash Stats :
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5L :(Ice Crash; Added Fire Damage; Melee Physical Damage; Weapon Elemental Damage; Hypothermia)
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No Aura; No Buff
Hatred Only Hatred; Fortify; Blood Rage (3 Frenzy Charges); Rallying Cry; Atziri's Promise; Taste of Hate And the unrighteous were turned to ash! Last edited by Kormir on Mar 4, 2016, 2:55:07 PM Last bumped on Feb 15, 2017, 5:27:50 PM
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I'm open to any sort of comments on my guide as long as it is something constructive and which may improve the guide.
So, if you liked this guide or if I've help you somehow or even if... like you want to do things with me, be sure to leave a little comment. It'll help me to make a better guide and maybe some others :) See you soon in the wide and wild world of Wraeclast. Enjoy & Have fun! "Thanks to" List :
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As I said, I don't have Beta Access. So people who played build like mine or people with ideas to improve either the guide or the build are welcome.
- fiqst for the idea of using Frostbite as Curse on Hit setup instead of Warlord's Mark. - KorgothBG for his overall advice on what is done and what to do. Updates List :
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Update 0 : Creation of the guide. (v. 0.0) -30 June
Update 1 : A touch of color. *kawai* (v. 0.1) -30 June Update 2 : Improved "Gem Setup" / "Items needed" parts. (v. 0.2) -30 June Update 3 : Improved "Skill Tree" part. (v. 0.3) -4 July Update 4 : Improved "Stats" part & added fiqst idea to "Gems Setup" part. Added ""Thanks to" List" in order to thank the good idea. (v. 0.4) -4 July Update 5 : Added the "Gems Quality" details to "Gems Setup" part. (v. 0.5) -5 July Update 6 : Improved "Bandits" part & the overall visual. (v. 0.6) -5 July Update 7 : Improved "Pros & Cons" part with detailled informations. (v. 0.7) -5 July Update 8 : Added "What is Ice Crash" in the Introduction. (v. 0.8) -7 July Update 9 : Added "What is the idea behind this build" in the Introduction. (v. 0.9) -7 July Update 10 : Added one HC Skill Tree variation to "Skill Trees" part, more to come later. (v. 0.10) -7 July Update 11 : Added "What to invest in first ?" to the "Gear Setup" part. (v. 0.11) -8 July Update 12 : Rewrote the "Introduction" with some more details. Rewrote the "Gems Setup" part in order to be easier to understand. (v. 0.12) -8 July Update 13 : Added explanations on the Cast when Damage Taken setup in "Gems Setup" part. (v. 0.13) -9 July The Awakening release -10 July Update 14 : Changed the Gems Setup for Boots after different test in horrible high level maps. (v. 1.0) -13 July Update 15 : Reworked every Skill Tree after what I experienced in game (Less Damage, More Utility). (v. 1.1) -14 July Update 16 : Create the "My Character" part with current Gear, Stats, Offense and Defense as well as the Current Skill Tree and Jewels. (v. 1.2) -15 July Update 17 : Modified the "My Character" part since there was some modification. (v. 1.3) -17 July Update 18 : Modified the "Skill Trees" part with some optimisation in the SoftCore part. HardCore part is coming soon. (v. 1.4) -17 July Update 19 : Changed (again) the boots in "Gem Setup" and added a "Why Vengeance/Blind instead of Chaos Golem ?" answer for that change. (v. 1.5) -17 July Update 20 : Started Update with upcoming 2.2. (v. 1.6) -3 March Update 21 : "Gems Setup" updated for Ascendancy. (v. 1.7) -3 March And the unrighteous were turned to ash! Last edited by Kormir on Mar 4, 2016, 12:46:07 PM
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Hi, i like your build and i did something similar during beta.
I found it very easy to build a 2h mace character from scratch and play almost self found. I found 2x 350+ pdps maces during the beta and the only thing i bought was a tabula rasa which i used all the way up to wipe at lvl 80 or so. The tree i used was a poor one that spread across from marauder to shadow wasting plenty of travel points. Even so, i was able to achieve a 5L tooltip of 50k, the 6th was the hypothermia gem which doesn't show in the tooltip but you can add another 39% to that. If i were to make a recommendation, it would be to make use of a more offensive curse. Blood rage should be sufficient for your life leech needs so warlords mark isn't really needed. The curse i used in the beta was frostbite which was very effective at being both offensive by lowering cold resistance and defensive by causing more enemies to suffer "micro-freezing" which often freezes their attacks mid swing and allowed me to kill them without suffering as much damage. Good luck with your guide and i can see potential for this to be a great newbie guide with easy to find items, with the endgame level dps of Crash. So many strikes within one breath.
But only one strike needed, for certain death. | |
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Hi fiqst,
First of all, thank for your advice. The biggest issue I have actually is I don't have a beta access so i can't try different setup so this guide is 100% on 2.0 informations, no gameplay. If you achieved 50k Tooltip DPS with a non optimal skill tree and weapon, I think my theory is good. For the offensive curse, I think i'll think about it. It's sure that it can help A LOT. My idea behind Warlord's Mark is that I wanted this build to be viable against every boss, even if your stuff is total garbage. The extra Life Leech / Mana Leech give a lot of survivability and the Endurance Charge give some good damage reduction / life regeneration. I wouldn't ever thought about Frostbite as a good curse for this build, for sure. I think I'll check every curse available and look which would be the best. But the combo Frostbite / Hypothermia should be really good. Thanks for your overall advice, the guide isn't completed yet but I'll rethink what I already wrote :) And the unrighteous were turned to ash! Last edited by Kormir on Jul 4, 2015, 11:46:42 AM
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Daily Updates :
Update 5 : Added the "Gems Quality" details to "Gems Setup" part. (v. 0.5) -5 July Update 6 : Improved "Bandits" part & the overall visual. (v. 0.6) -5 July Update 7 : Improved "Pros & Cons" part with detailled informations. (v. 0.7) -5 July And the unrighteous were turned to ash! Last edited by Kormir on Jul 5, 2015, 4:21:13 PM
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Daily Updates :
To do List : - HC Variation of the Build - DONE I am currently working on a HC viable variation for this build. It'll have less damage but a LOT more Survability with Life, Life Leech and some other nice stuff. - Ice Crash informations, "What's Ice Crash?" - DONE In this I'll detail what is Ice Crash, how it works and how it common Melee Support Gems. - Explanations on this Cast when Damage Taken setup - DONE In this part I'll explain why I choose this Cast when Damage Taken instead of another and what make this one better. - "What to invest in first ?" - DONE I'll give you my advice on what to invest your currency in and in which order. - "What's the idea behind this build ?" - DONE This part will give you the informations on why I thought about this build and how I wanted it to work. And the unrighteous were turned to ash! Last edited by Kormir on Jul 9, 2015, 12:16:10 PM
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Daily Updates :
Update 8 : Added "What is Ice Crash ?" in the Introduction. (v. 0.8) -7 July Update 9 : Added "What is the idea behind this build ?" in the Introduction. (v. 0.9) -7 July Update 10 : Added one HC Skill Tree variation to "Skill Trees" part, more to come later. (v. 0.10) -7 July About the last beta patch : The change to Blood Rage doesn't really affect this build since it is based on a huge AoE skill. For now, no modifications on the beta had any real impact on this build. And the unrighteous were turned to ash! Last edited by Kormir on Jul 8, 2015, 12:42:50 PM
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Daily Updates :
Update 11 : Added "What to invest in first ?" to the "Gear Setup" part. (v. 0.11) -8 July Update 12 : Rewrote the "Introduction" with some more details. Rewrote the "Gems Setup" part in order to be easier to understand. (v. 0.12) -8 July What will happen to this build until and after the release ? : There is some more things I'd like to had to this build before the release date on Friday. There is, firt of all, the explanation on the Cast when Damage Taken which will come tomorrow. I'd like to add another HardCore Skill Tree if not two. I'll rework the Introduction which is getting pretty messy with time, too much things added to it. For after the release, this build will stay a "Work in Progress" for about a week, time for me to test everything I need to complete this guide. With the release, the numbers of the "Stats" part will be adjusted and I'll add a "My Gear & My Stats" part with explanations on my build with everything, Offense & Defense as what I'd like to improve in my Gear and how much it cost (at the time I bought it). I'll try to do some videos about Atziri run and new high level map with horrible map mods. I can't promise the last thing since my internet is worse than a potato so.... Stay tuned until Friday :) And the unrighteous were turned to ash! Last edited by Kormir on Jul 8, 2015, 3:33:15 PM
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Daily Updates :
Update 13 : Added explanations on the Cast when Damage Taken setup in "Gems Setup" part. (v. 0.13) -9 July Release, update... Tomorrow there will be no update, at least, none really major. With the release, I'll try to be prepared to try as many things as possible in order to, this week end, do a really huge update with a rework of what is already wrote above. I'll try to get some images going to make this guide more enjoyable to read (yeah, lot and lot of text in there). I'll provide my Gear in the "Gear Setup" part as my stats numbers in "Stats". If I manage to, I'll show some numbers with different support gems setup. As I said, a lot of things coming up for this week end and next week. So, everyone, have a really nice "The Awakening" release and enjoy it at its fullest :) And the unrighteous were turned to ash! Last edited by Kormir on Jul 9, 2015, 12:44:38 PM
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Hi,
Thanks for your build. I try it from tonight on the new league SC. |
