2.5.1 Scolds Berserker. (Don't play this in HC)

This is a build guide as a follow up to people asking me why I play berserker over pathfinder.

Why you should play berserker over pathfinder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo-UA87yx-o
(Includes a map clear demonstration) (Ignore the last 20 seconds of the video I'm dumb)

Budget version shaped strand clear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj2Z6eK8H68&t=4s

t15 clear non budget version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbYFkazR_gY

Required items:

Obvious Reasons

Don't ever quality your zerphis, it only adds more mana per second, and topping off your mana means zerphi's stops running which means you'll probably die if you aren't paying attention.

Obvious Reasons
5x
Makes your stuff cost more for higher cwdt.
Makes your stuff cost more for higher cwdt. You don't need the WED corruption but it is nice.
You use bitterdream for all the mana multipliers, 5 fevered minds for 500% more mana cost, and level 1 no quality blood magic for another 245% multiplier.

Now you don't need these specific gloves but having this corruption is too massive to not have.

You also don't need these specific boots but having this enchant is too good to not have as well.


Rest of Gear:


Flasks:


BUDGET VERSION: Use 5link belly, drop death's door boots and use an onslaught bleed immune flask over dying sun. That removes ~14ex from total cost and the build is still very strong.

Budget total cost: 2.5ex MAX
Non budget total cost: 18ex

5Link chest: Spark EK Pierce faster proj CWDT 6th link is controlled destruction
4link helm: ice spear ball lightning GMP CWDT
4link gloves: fireball arctic breath GMP CWDT
4link boots: Ice Nova Flame surge controlled destruction CWDT
3link shield: CWDT bladefall Glacial cascade
1link ring: I use an unset ring to get anger for added flat damage to all of my spells.
Bitterdream 3 link: Shield charge faster attacks LEVEL 1 BLOODMAGIC NO QUALITY.(IMPORTANT) You can use leap slam here as well but I prefer shield charge outside of uulnetol.

Map mods it absolutely cannot run: ele reflect

Levelling: From 1-65 I personally took 15-20 melee nodes and did regular cyclone then respecced at 65. You can do hooves/firestorm etc whatever you'd like.

Bandits: 40 life - 8% attack speed - skill point
Ascendancy order for levelling: Get aspect of carnage(norm/cruel) then cloaked in savagery(merc/uber)
Level 65 tree: www.poeurl.com/YOz
Level 75 tree: www.poeurl.com/YOA
Level 91 tree: www.poeurl.com/YOr
Character page where you can see jewels as well: https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/akmufasa/characters
Last edited by akmufasa#7359 on Jan 4, 2017, 8:26:58 AM
Last bumped on Jan 19, 2017, 1:01:46 AM
Nice
Last edited by KBdark#4580 on Jan 5, 2017, 6:05:18 PM
What are your 30 things? And I explained why I'm berserker in the video
Ill try to give a quick list.

1) No dousing flask means no RF. So other poeple running same build have 50% more spell damage.
2) Those gloves are not good for the build. Give almost nothing to us besides that corruption. That corruption can be 1-Link on CWDT.
3) Bitterdream is fine on a budget version. Should be Fireburst wep with other stats.
4) 2 scolds flasks is pretty inefficient.
5) That shield on a non-block build gives very little. A nice rare one would go a lot further.
6) Deaths door is also an odd gearing option when you dont need more charges. Sure it gives immunity to bleed but bleed is hardly a problem as whenever theres a few stacks on you, you can shield charge for the duration of it to heal yourself.
7) You get off a lot less heals because you are hitting less often.
8) Less life than pathfinder variant. Might just be your gearing choices.
9) Your chest should be your biggest spells because they have more support gems. Spark is kind of a waste as it requires more proj speed/inc duration/highpeirce to make it strong. EK is also a pretty weak spell as your big dmg move.
10) Without any good single target you take much longer to kill bosses. Im not sure if it would be t16/shaper viable like the pathfinder version.
11) Mana leech on ascendancy can get you killed super easy. You can see your mana filling halfway almost instantly in the video. Get stuck on a rock or something and you die.
12) GMP on your helm links can hugely reduce their dmg. You should have full uptime on your dying sun anyways except in boss fights. In boss fights the extra proj means nothing.
13) All flasks get reduced effectiveness over pathfinder version (obviously)
14) With shield charge you need to use not maxed level gems with less dmg multipliers from the low level CWDT
15) Zerphis heals you for a fraction of what cyclone-pathfinder would get. Wayyy more casts per second plus 1200% zerphis. Matters more in t16s.
16) You have no way to deal with shock alongside the boots which increase shock duration by 50%
17) A lot of the ascendancys power is wasted because life/mana regen actaully hurts us + no movement speed on not being hit.

Just some of the big issues that I think make other build paths of scoldbreath stronger. In the end I think yours has pretty comparable clearspeed (maybe even a fraction faster) but much lower single target and survivability.
Interesting build. But too much complex to gear.
Playing this in HC. Having a lot of fun so far. Thanks for the suggestion!
1. I could try dropping a zerphi's for a dousing flask and get a 2nd unset ring for RF? I'll do some testing but that is an apt critique.
2. I use the gloves because I really really do not want to use cyclone or leap slam for higher mana cost, so the 80% increased mana cost of skills lets me use shield charge. I know personally this isn't optimal that's why I put you don't have to use these in the guide.
3. I again use bitterdream for the mana multipliers so I can use shield charge. I despise cyclone/leap slam. I know it isn't the optimal course of action but another situation where it's my personal preference.
4. refer to #1
5. I use the shield for %spell damage, %max life, and spell block. There are better shields out there, this is what I prefer.
6. I've noticed that bleed totally fucks you when you use movement abilities if you have a lot of stacks. Another personal preference.
7. I can hit nearly as often as cyclone with shield charge. Just have to put the cursor closer to myself.
8. The life is currently being improved upon, I'll have around 7.5k once I get the gear optimizing done. I have around 250% on tree.
9. The spells can be re looked at, when I theorycrafted the build they seemed like the highest dmg option. If I'm wrong then hey I'm wrong, I'll look into it.
10. Haven't tried those yet!
11. The mana leech is irrelevant, it doesn't fill up fast enough that I can't get a shield charge off before it tops off, and even if it does once you play this build enough you can use zerphis right after and react to it.
12. I should probably get a slower proj changeout for bosses but haven't needed it yet.
13. Don't think it matters as much as having an assload of attack speed / more / increased damage from berserker.
14. Yes I could use leap slam and probably use lv18 cwdt but again personal preference I despise it.
15. Don't want to play cyclone, the flask effectiveness makes sense.
16. Like I said if I go into a map where I know I'm going to get shocked I throw on an onslaught flask with shock immunity, in maps with a few random lightning mobs I haven't had an issue yet.
17. life regen doesn't hurt us at all, mana regen isn't enough to matter, the no movement speed on not being hit is bad I agree but it's made up for with quicksilver flask / 25% on boots / 5% on belt maybe not entirely but enough to feel good.

You made good points and a lot of them come down to personal preference. I'll do more endgame testing and maybe make some changes to the build. Thanks for the constructive criticism.
Last edited by akmufasa#7359 on Jan 4, 2017, 2:16:30 AM
Bitterdream high end maps, i thought the day will never come
Really cool build
I hate the lab

SET FREE THE ASCENDANCY POINTS https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1609216
I like that youre open to criticism so i changed my original comment so its not so nasty :p

The things i would try asap if i were you is swapping out a zerphis for that sapping flask of dousing. Then running Righteous Fire INSIDE OF a CWDT. This means you can toggle it on when you deal dmg but switch if off when you are sitting around via that flask.

Take out some of those GMPs. Your clear is fine. Especially with perma uptime on dying sun. One of these places is a good place to put RF into.

Sub out ice nova for Vortex. With how much spell damage the build has it gives a huge benefit to us and will give better single target.

Try getting molten shell in there. Probably attached to a controlled destruction or something. Its strong as fk and will boost your single target by insane amounts. To give an idea mine hits for 125k per time and goes off like twice per second.

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