(2.4) Hegemony's Freezer Heavy Strike Juggernaut

This is the build I've had the most fun playing in Essence, so I figured I'd make a thread about it. I've never posted a build guide before, and I don't know how to link my gear and whatnot, so I'm just going to type it all out for everyone.

The main concept of this build centers on using a single target melee skill (in this case Heavy Strike, for reasons I'll get into later), the Physical to Lightning support gem, and the Three Dragons to create massive hits of lightning damage with the potential to freeze really tanky enemies. I haven't fought any endgame bosses yet, but so far it's working like a charm.


Required Uniques
Hegemony's Era Judgment Staff
The Three Dragons Golden Mask
Empire's Grasp Goliath Gauntletts

Another unique I've considered using is the Winterheart Gold Amulet, to avoid chill, but I haven't tested it yet to see how losing the crit I have on my rare amulet will affect the build.

Gem Links
Heavy Strike-Melee Splash-Melee Physical Damage-Physical to Lightning-Weapon Elemental Damage-Increased Critical Strikes/Increased Critical Damage
This setup, due to the 100% knockback chance on Heavy Strike and the 10% chance to gain a power charge on knockback with Hegemony's, generates power charges fairly quickly, even against single targets. It's also just a devastating melee hit with the right passive allocation and gear.

Leap Slam-Faster Attacks-Fortify-Added Fire Damage (Knockback in gloves)
This setup should be in your Empire's Grasp gloves. It may seem silly to support Leap Slam with Added Fire Damage, but with The Three Dragons and this build's high crit, you end up shocking a lot of mobs with the fire damage, which is pretty decent thanks to Leap Slam benefitting from all your melee damage passives. So essentially you leap into a pack, shock them, maybe generate some power charges with knockback, then shatter them instantly with a freezing Heavy Strike.

Cast when Damage Taken-Immortal Call-Increased Duration-Molten Shell
This setup is pretty standard for high armour melee builds. My Molten Shell is level 14, with a level 9 CWDT, and it actually does decent damage when it pops, even with no investment. If you'd rather use something other than Molten Shell in the fourth spot, that's your prerogative.

As far as auras go, there's a lot of freedom there. I use a Blasphemy supported Warlord's Mark for leech and Herald of Ash to aid in pack clearing, but other options are probably just as viable.

This build can be used with Kaom's Heart, though I don't have one. I don't really have any setups worth mentioning in my chestpiece, so hopefully I'll eventually be able to afford one.

Skill Tree and Ascendancy Choices
I chose to go with the Juggernaut Ascendancy class for this build, even though a Berserker would deal a lot more damage. The reason for that is the notable passive Undeniable. A mechanic of crit that some people may not be familiar with is that it checks accuracy. That is, even after you roll a critical strike, that crit is checked against your accuracy rating to ensure that it hits. Since accuracy and dexterity are not stats this build focuses on, I had to get accuracy another way, and that's where Undeniable comes in. It gives 1000 flat accuracy rating, and a small attack speed bonus, which is nice for general quality of smashing. The Juggernaut class also generates endurance charges reliably with Unflinching and Unrelenting. A Juggernaut build that doesn't take both of those passives is not a Juggernaut. The last two points can go to either Unstoppable or Unyielding, depending on whether stun or slow annoys you more. Personally I think I'll go with Unyielding when I do Uber Lab, since I don't really get the whole rapid clear meta.

Here's a link to my endgame tree. My actual character isn't quite here yet, so if you have any questions about leveling, just let me know. The main thing is to keep a good balance of defense and damage, and don't spec into too many staff nodes until you can equip Hegemony's. I leveled with maces and axes, and it made finding a good weapon a whole lot easier.

http://exilecraft.org/#AAAAAwEAAdwEBwUtBsYIsQmWEuETcRQgFHEWQBo4Gj4dFCBuIVUnICcvKS4s+zGeNDE1kjkOOlg64T38P/xAoEFyRWVHfkouTLNN41AwUEdVxlhjWK5Z812kXhNepV8/ZU1mnmhlbztyD3KpdO12rHfjeA14enloeu98uH1zggeD24TZhO+FUoV9h2qKIozPj0aQVZBskc6SfZMHl3mYb5uhouqmV6elqSepbqmUrJisqq0JrY218rlDu+28mr02vqfAAcAawQTEWMbYyWfLHs9+0B/SONWL2L3ZYdl82sHcI93V5FHlz+hm6hjrCe1E7w7v6/JB8kXz3fZI9zL3uffX+Ov60vuL/gr+jw==

Bandits
Normal: Help Oak
Cruel: Show no mercy
Merciless: Either help Oak or Alira. I went with Alira in order to hit 7 power charges.

As I said, I've never posted a guide before, so I'm open to suggestions on how to improve my post format.

I hope you enjoy playing this build!

Actually I really just hope that at least one other person tries this build.

Great build man.

You can link your gear by clicking at the Character square (Which has "SWITCH CHARACTER" line under it) in top-left corner of the forum. You will figure things out after that :D