Want to survive in HC? Want to live through a lag-spike? Earthquake Slayer [2.5 viable]

**If you can excuse the basic lay out of this post and read it through youll find yourself with a very strong, reliable build**

I have gotten to level 99 on hardcore with this build, I only ever came close to dying from detonate dead totems.


We are going to be doing earthquake, it's the best all around melee ability. The buff to melee weapon range does nothing for other skills as they still severely lack the damage to compete with this build. You can orb-walk(look this up if you dont know what it means) with this skill whilst having 7-10k life, ~50-80% physical damage reduction and infinite leech/bleed immunity/stun immunity.

Bandits:

Normal: Oak 100%

Cruel: You can do Oak or get the skill point. I would get the skill point because it could end up being the point you need for a jewel socket and a jewel socket can provide much more for you than 16% increased physical damage.

Merciless: Oak is viable if you'd like to get the endurance charge. Kraitlyn for more damage, never skill point. I personally take Kraitlyn because once you reach ~40-60% physical damage reduction you get diminishing returns.

Ascendancy: Slayer.
http://i.imgur.com/43atYjV.png

Fill in the top left first, then get the top right.
Do not put points in the bottom part of the ascendancy tree under any circumstances.

Leveling trees:

First 27 skill points - https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQAALkdFeyK8OlGypCE2Ud-vTZlTb6nAdx346lueWjBBF8_FCDvDlBH5FFnm64-xq7E9nKp9zJ82Q==

27-61 https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQAALkdFeyK8OlGypCE2Ud-vTZlTb6nAdx346lueWjBBF8_FCDvDlBH5FFnm64-xq7E9nKp9zJ82Qthr2xo8vAfogAEs8BmPAXvfOoYdqzPfq2NqZSHanh6qSeE79rBdO0FLXrvQzG_1VO7TP9OKiPTbyeaao9g9kiMzz38

61-93 Skill points - https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQAALkdFeyK8OlGypCE2Ud-vTZlTb6nAdx346lueWjBBF8_FCDvDlBH5FFnm64-xq7E9nKp9zJ82Qthr2xo8vAfogAEs8BmPAXvfOoYdqzPfq2NqZSHanh6qSeE79rBdO0FLXrvQzG_1VO7TP9OKiPTbyeaao9g9kiMzz38-OsUcdl8ggc8LYPMtz7-Cti9NZL-j03j8kU64aZXl3kJljkOZFJOMhfhJvgTTMGj4mEwd1n-rKpZ8xo4kFUnLw==

Now vitality void in the duelist tree(life leech nodes) are extremely strong early but once you get 8 ascendancy points you drop it(you could keep it but it's not necessary.)

Level 90 tree with full ascendancy/res capped from gear alone - https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQBALkdFeyK8OlGypCE2Ud-vTZlTb6nAdx346lueWjBBF8_FCDvDlBH5FFnm64-xq7E9nKp9zJ82Qthr2xo8vAfogAEs8BmPAXvfOoYdqzPfq2NqZSHanh6qSeE79rBdO0FLXrvQzHDM1oaHKcMX1hjU6Wvp8RY9kiMzz38-OsUcdl8ggc8LYPMtz7-Cti9NZL-j03j8kU64aZXl3kJljkOZFJOMhfhJvgTTMGj4mEwd1n-rKpZ8xo4kFUnL6U1DHA7tvVhsoCGtIWnJ58czitQDc3-VHIPZp760hZv42okqjbplG9mVPPdaGUuU9Nvn98=

You can make some small changes to this but for the most part its quite optimal.


Starting out: Grab the best weapon you can and use the normal weapon + 1 blacksmiths whetstone + a magic/rare rustic sash recipe and augment it. You can get by on this alone until end-game.

Axes are going to be our bread and butter, marohi is far too slow.

At the start of the league if you can get your hands on a marohi then feel free to use it but axes are better end-game for clear speed.

Links in order of priority:
Earthquake, Less Duration, Fortify, Melee physical damage, Added fire damage, Weapon elemental damage

Enduring Cry + Increased Duration + Vaal Haste

Cast when damage taken + Immortal call + Increased Duration + Stone Golem

Leap Slam + Faster Attacks + Endurance charge on melee stun(optional)

If you'd like too you can use ancestral warchief.

Stone golem is an awesome skill, he's very tanky at level 20 and will even sometimes finish off enemies that have a little life left. I would not use any golem other than stone golem.

Life leech can be swapped out, added fire/weapon ele taken out for elemental reflect maps.

Increased area of effect is not needed, this build has more than enough AoE from the Slayer ascendancy.

This build cannot do the physical reflect map mod, if you wan't to stay alive/keep your exp I recommend not doing it.

Your god-tier items:

Helm: Devoto's devotion or 700+ armour 90+ life resist helmet

Chest: Kaom's heart or Belly of the beast

Belt: As much life and resist as you can get. Rustic sashs implicit bonus is minuscule.

Gloves: GG crafted essence of insanity gloves. These previously gave a 20% more attack speed multiplier which allowed me to reach dual-strike speed leap slams. GGG said they we're going to nerf them so it might end up only being 10%, but still very strong. You could also just get some high life/resist gloves possibly with dexterity.

Boots: Rare with 30 ms as much life as possible and resists. I would not use atziri's step you will have trouble res capping with them.

Rings: High life + resists, added phys is definitely a bonus. I wouldn't worry about weapon ele/attack speed on rings the damage increase is minuscule. Voidheart is also a great option.

Amulet - In order of priority: Life, Intelligence, Resistances, Added phys

and finally your weapon

End-game Best in slot weapon: Atziri's Disfavour - This is going to be very expensive, around 15-20 exalts but it's definitely worth it.

Great tier: 500+ Dps 2h Axe

Good tier: 450+ Dps 2h Axe

Average: Marohi Erqi

Low tier: Kaom's Primacy/-400 DPS 2h Weapon


I have given away all my gear so I have no pictures of the stats you can achieve but I will type them out for you(these are accurate, I have played this build for 4 leagues straight.)

Your DPS: Anywhere from 30-250K(tooltip won't show this.)

Life: With Kaoms:9-10k, With belly 7-8.5k

Defences: 76 Fire resist, Everything else capped. ~+40-60 chaos resistance.
20-40% phys reduct, 60-80% with charges.
10-20% Evasion


Anyway thats about it, if you have any questions post them here.

Sorry if I do not have flashy pictures above each line of text like other build guides but I am just not capable of pulling all of that off.

Heya,

first off thanks for your build. I don't care with (missing) shiney pictures.
One question, if you go with a "Low tier" weapon like Kaom's Primacy or even a Marohi Erqi, would it be a viable uber-lab farming build? It looks like being such, as the great lifeleech and 20% cull.

What do you think of slayer - eq as early league starter/ uber farmer?

Hi There

Im new in POE is this build good for new player?? I dont have much currency and wanted to play some fun build and not to die all the time. Will i be able to tank labirynth boss with it??

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1741080

For the two above, this is another guide with a better presentation and more details. The main differences between the trees, his has some armor, life regen and a frenzy charge while the linked build sticks with the leech nodes.

Disfavour is very good but there aren't really good budget axe uniques for the higher levels.
If you go 2h Maces consider Marohi(decent) or Brain Rattler(probably the better choice).

HC with EQ Slayer will be tougher than other builds though.

EDIT:
Also keep in mind we don't know most of what 2.5 will bring, nerfs, buffs, so everything is theoretical right now.

Don't you use auras?

I have to say that with all these CI meta builds this league , this life based melee EQ build is quite nice , I'm 86 atm with my EQ salyer using marohi and I plow through tier 11 maps , I got 8.3k life and I could go for more but I think it's enough, saving for an atziri disfavour then spec into axe damage nodes.

btw I play quite recklessly since i'm on sc breach and I only died once cause I literally leap slammed into a huge pack in breaches , got 1 shot. Overall I think it's a gg life build.

Hi i was wondering what you think about the Splitting strikes cluster if its any good/worth picking up?