[3.11] Shaper = Stunned, Tidebreaker Heavy Strike Stunner Build

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Jhssutrx wrote:
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Totem
Vaal Ancestral Warchief
-Link to your Leap Slam setup if possible.


What does it mean?
Linking a Warchief to a LeapSlam? (Neither is support gem..) Or what?
(I am newbie, of course.)


You will link Faster Attacks and maybe Blood Magic (or in special cases Maim or Fortify) to your Leap Slam. Vaal Ancestral Warchief benefits from these support gems. So by putting Leap Slam and Vaal Ancestral Warchief together (for example, Leap Slam + Vaal Ancestral Warchief + Faster Attacks + Blood Magic), they will share and both benefit from these support gems.
The "Budget gear" part of the build starts with the end of storyline, does that mean that while there we have no problems with any kind of picked up from floor gear, or I will face problems if I'm going to start the league with that build?
Would it be worth investing a bunch of currency into finding a 20 - 30% rEST lethal pride?

I'm aware that there is a soft cap of 75% rEST and having never played a stun centric build before i'm not sure if it would be worth going over that.
Souls along a conduit of blood, from one vessel to the next.
Accidental double post.
Souls along a conduit of blood, from one vessel to the next.
Last edited by Zionyaru on Dec 13, 2019, 10:14:19 AM
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The "Budget gear" part of the build starts with the end of storyline, does that mean that while there we have no problems with any kind of picked up from floor gear, or I will face problems if I'm going to start the league with that build?


Floor gear is completely fine as long as you identify rares, especially 2H weapons when leveling. I also expect things for this build to be real cheap this new league, so this build is not going to be a bad choice as this league’s starter.
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Zionyaru wrote:
Would it be worth investing a bunch of currency into finding a 20 - 30% rEST lethal pride?

I'm aware that there is a soft cap of 75% rEST and having never played a stun centric build before i'm not sure if it would be worth going over that.


We don’t really know much info about the new bosses. But considering the old bosses like Shaper and Elder - no you don’t really need too much r.E.S.T. This build is able to stun-lock Shaper basically as long as you have a 6-Link Tidebreaker.

If the new bosses turn out to have a much higher life pool, maybe the extra r.E.S.T. would be great to have.
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brightwaha wrote:
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The "Budget gear" part of the build starts with the end of storyline, does that mean that while there we have no problems with any kind of picked up from floor gear, or I will face problems if I'm going to start the league with that build?


Floor gear is completely fine as long as you identify rares, especially 2H weapons when leveling. I also expect things for this build to be real cheap this new league, so this build is not going to be a bad choice as this league’s starter.


The league-starting with the build was at least unsatisfying. From the act 4-5 it becomes a very solid bosskiller but earlier... To begin with, from the early beginning when you have no orbs, items and gems all mechanics of the build are not working, but when for other builds that means lesser hp/dmg, here we don't have stun. As the build is about 2h stun, we obviously pick resolute technicue, but that means we don't pick accuracy. So at the beginning we just choose between low damage and normal damage with low accuracy (and low aps in both variants!). And the cherry on the top is that this build is melee. (clearspeed at the beginning = 0) As a result I started the league running closer to monster (not to big packs ofk, or I die) and waiting till it will die (white moster). But that's ok, I waited for that when I started melee playing. The problem is - BOSSES. At the beginnig I was unbeliavably unlucky and have got only 2-link for my heavy strike. After Brutus all boss passed costed we at least several deaths. I was ready to beg for help or give up when I met Gravicius, because of fcking big energy shield he had. However I managed to kill him by running from the waypoint to him with two aims secuently: firstly to remove the es before I die and secondly to run as fast as I can to deal some damage before es recharges... Also as I was fullfilling tasks while missing usual monsters, I have killed not so much of them, that's why to push finally my level to 32, where I got proper 5-link mace, I had to fully clear Imperial Gardens, Library and Archives killing each monster one after another.
After reaching level 32 I have never died and became more positive about my future progression, but before I died 80+ times and had to waste 11 hours totally to reach only level 34.

I really like the build and think that's great that the author had shared it with the whole community, but for any kind of stranger reading this: DO NOT START THE LEAGUE WITH IT! Be patient till you afford the starting gear (like tabula, nice pDPS mace and so on) playing another build and then start with this one in a very comfortable and pleased manner.
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brightwaha wrote:
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The "Budget gear" part of the build starts with the end of storyline, does that mean that while there we have no problems with any kind of picked up from floor gear, or I will face problems if I'm going to start the league with that build?


Floor gear is completely fine as long as you identify rares, especially 2H weapons when leveling. I also expect things for this build to be real cheap this new league, so this build is not going to be a bad choice as this league’s starter.


The league-starting with the build was at least unsatisfying. From the act 4-5 it becomes a very solid bosskiller but earlier... To begin with, from the early beginning when you have no orbs, items and gems all mechanics of the build are not working, but when for other builds that means lesser hp/dmg, here we don't have stun. As the build is about 2h stun, we obviously pick resolute technicue, but that means we don't pick accuracy. So at the beginning we just choose between low damage and normal damage with low accuracy (and low aps in both variants!). And the cherry on the top is that this build is melee. (clearspeed at the beginning = 0) As a result I started the league running closer to monster (not to big packs ofk, or I die) and waiting till it will die (white moster). But that's ok, I waited for that when I started melee playing. The problem is - BOSSES. At the beginnig I was unbeliavably unlucky and have got only 2-link for my heavy strike. After Brutus all boss passed costed we at least several deaths. I was ready to beg for help or give up when I met Gravicius, because of fcking big energy shield he had. However I managed to kill him by running from the waypoint to him with two aims secuently: firstly to remove the es before I die and secondly to run as fast as I can to deal some damage before es recharges... Also as I was fullfilling tasks while missing usual monsters, I have killed not so much of them, that's why to push finally my level to 32, where I got proper 5-link mace, I had to fully clear Imperial Gardens, Library and Archives killing each monster one after another.
After reaching level 32 I have never died and became more positive about my future progression, but before I died 80+ times and had to waste 11 hours totally to reach only level 34.

I really like the build and think that's great that the author had shared it with the whole community, but for any kind of stranger reading this: DO NOT START THE LEAGUE WITH IT! Be patient till you afford the starting gear (like tabula, nice pDPS mace and so on) playing another build and then start with this one in a very comfortable and pleased manner.


I want to comment that this build is written assuming that the audience have good knowledge of how to progress to end-game with a melee build. Everything in the build, besides a general leveling tree, is for after finishing the story-line.

For many reasons I haven't included a leveling section in the guide, but here are some tips for leveling:

1. Don't use Heavy Strike. I usually use Molten Strike, Ground Slam or Sunder while leveling. I would only start using Heavy Strike for certain boss fights after getting my hands on a Tidebreaker.

2. Don't pick up mace nodes too early if you're starting the league. Without the ability to buy whatever weapon you like, you will very often end up using a good rare sword or axe that you happen to pick up.

3. Many nodes on the tree are not good in the end-game but are great for leveling. This includes resist nodes, % increased physical damage nodes, and mana nodes like Revelry.

4. Again, most content of this guide targets the mapping experience. Before getting to the endgame, you should play the build assuming that you're playing a generic 2-hand melee build. Don't start following the build (besides having a similar passive tree in mind) until you get to endgame and get your hands on a Tidebreaker.

Hope this helps.
So slayer is still an option for endgame stunlock or just go bers?..

Should we pass armor nodes for stun now?
Last edited by TripleCrab on Dec 15, 2019, 5:36:57 PM
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TripleCrab wrote:
So slayer is still an option for endgame stunlock or just go bers?..

Should we pass armor nodes for stun now?

This is a tough question to answer. Shaper’s life is now almost quadrupled, which makes it difficult for Slayers to consistently stun-lock Shaper without a Fortify corrupted Tidebreaker. At the same time, Shaper is quite trivial considering the defenses Slayer has, which makes it quite inefficient to go for more stun capabilities just for the sake of stunning Shaper.

So I would say, if the only purpose of playing this build is to stun-lock all the endgame bosses, then you should consider Berserker right now. Otherwise, Slayer is still a very strong choice for sure.

About the armor nodes, this really depends on the flat phys reduction and armor mobs are going to have. We will naturally have 10% penetration from Awakened Brutality and also easy 10% from Spinecruncher; this on top of our high damage per hit probably means we don’t need extra armor penetration. But I still need to put more thoughts into this.

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