[3.1] Thunderous Heavy Strike | 1mil DPS (Budget)
  For Softcore and Hardcore play!!!  What's going on ladies and gents! I'm back with another build that I've been working on now since the start of 3.1. I'll be honest, I died a lot. Rethought out my life at times, gained a couple pounds due to stress eating bindges from all the countless deaths... But finally, this was created! The idea came to me while looking for a way to achieve incredible amounts of damage while keeping defense and map clearing still in tact. With the arrival of the new skill gem, Ancestral Call, it synergises well with the Slayer ascendancy, making Heavy Strike a quick viable choice for farming maps. The build is focused around two things, heavy damage and shocking. When combined, we take a non-crit rendition of something that does around 500k to over 1mil DPS! Not to mention, the total build amount doesn't exceed 50 chaos, making it do tons of damage without investing so much gear into it. Video(s)
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Heavy Strike Demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuZ6_8k2D8Y&t=10s T11 - Spider Forest + Abyssal Depths https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFToa1_FxTo Build Mechanics The build is simple. We take Heavy Strike, which does massive amounts of physical DPS (194% rounded base damage at lvl 20) and start off by adding a fun little jewel, Weight Of The Empire.
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 This jewel gives our Heavy Strike to have a 40% chance to deal double damage when using two of them. Which is huge seeing as now we turned a 194% ability to deal 388% base damage! Now, we add shock to our setup which basically doubles our damage further. How do we achieve this? First, we need the bread and butter of this build; The Brain Rattler.
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 To break down the function of the Brain Rattler, we first look at the most important feature,"50% of physical damage converted to lightning damage." Combined with the Support Gem Physical To Lightning, we achieve 100% phys to lightning conversion. We then obtain chance to shock from the weapon, our passive nodes, and the Conductivity curse to end with a 49% chance to shock. Next, we gain 30% cast speed and movement reduction to enemies that have been shocked; basically a mini Temporal Chain curse mechanic. Last but not least, 20% lightning penetration which will help us further deal amazing damage. So with all this in play, our damage soars and mapping just feels natural and easy as cake!   + We achieve a decent amount of defense from leeching and also stunning hits from mace passives. + Have a healthy life pool, 195% from passive tree which leaves us just under 6k life. + Very inexpensive build, at a 50 chaos budget, getting to maps won't be an issue. + Our map clearing is very fast, and no boss is an issue to take down. + We cannot be stunned or slowed below base speed, making us that much more unstoppable!   - Elemental reflect maps are a no-go. Unless you like death. ^.^ - Intelligence can be an issue and may force you to get intelligence jewelry early on to help progress. - Movement speed is a tad slower than I'd like since we are using Kaom's Roots. - Resistances will be hard to balance nearing maps since we do use 3 pieces of unique gear, but all for good reasons!   Required Uniques
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These three are by far the most important pieces of the build. The Brain Rattler, we could never achieve full 100% lightning conversion. Devoto's Devotion is such a great helmet, helping us attack faster, move faster to counter the fact that we have no movement on our boots, and helps with the negative chaos res that we have. Thunderfist is another great item that is also necessary, since we use a slow attack speed mace, it gives us that much more attack speed to continuously leech from monster. It also gives us longer shock duration on monsters which will help in boss fights. Recommended Uniques
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  So in my build setup, I would recommend a Kaom's Roots because as I've stated before, this is a budget build. However, we can totally use a Kaom's Heart! We would have to take out our Blood Magic from our movement setup, but at the end of the day, we could achieve just under 7k life! It's entirely up to you how you want to build at the end of the day!   Ascendancy Passives as follows: Impact > Endless Hunger > Bane Of Legends > Headsman To start things off, Impact is the first ascendancy that we need to take. This enables us to switch into our Heavy Strike setup at level 40. Next, we could grab Endless Hunger or Bane Of Legends depending on if you're running on SC or HC. As a HC player, I would recommend you take Endless Hunger since it will give us a over-leech life pool and can help with very bad situations. However, if you're feeling extra "Dangerous", you're always welcomed to take Bane Of Legends as your second pick. Last but not least, Headsman for that nice 20% more damage after killing recently and also the bigger AoE for map clearing with Heavy Strike. PoB Link
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https://pastebin.com/X9Jv5KS0
*NOTE* Nothing about the damage or stats you see here in the PoB link is fluffed. This is entirely achievable gear, the damage can most definitely be pushed even further, so feel free to do so! Passive Tree
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Starting off - http://poeurl.com/bJCs Mid-Game - http://poeurl.com/bJCt Mapping - http://poeurl.com/bJCw Final Build - http://poeurl.com/bJCx The focus of our passive tree is to first, get to our jewel sockets asap so we can switch to Heavy Strike right at lvl 40 after finishing normal lab. We then focus on getting all our chance to shock nodes so when we get to lvl 63, Brain Rattler will be 110% useful. We'll also be grabbing life nodes on the way for stability. Finally, we want to finish all our life nodes when we enter maps, ending with grabbing the last bulk of damage to maximize our final red map setup. Bandits
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Kill all
Pantheon
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With our Pantheon, we have full reign to make a lot of options here, since we will have a Kaom's roots, we will have no worries about being stunned. Also, our leech is so fast that reflect won't be much of an issue, not to mention reflect monsters are easy to dodge now. So this is the setup that I enjoy using since we really only have one weakness outside of having a little bit better of phys reduction; Chaos Damage.
Soul of Arakaali(Major) - This will benefit us from taking reduced damage from all DoT sources, as well as avoiding lighting damage at a small rate. This will also help us take less damage from shock and in hopes, keep it off us from here and there. But the kicker, the 25% chaos resistance from DoTs. This means and caustic clouds, poisons, asshole exiles that one shot me with essence drain, won't hurt as much!! ^.^ Soul of Shakari(Minor) - 5% reduced chaos damage helps out more than you know. Since we gain resists from Devoto's and our Atziri's Promise, while active we will just make it over the negative chaos resists. But the best part about all of this, is the immunity to poison. What a gift. Keep in mind that my choices are purely personal and there's really no right or wrong ones. If you feel you need to switch over to other Pantheons, then by all means do so.   Heavy Strike Setup Heavy Strike > Physical To Lightning > Elemental Damage With Attacks > Melee Physical Damage > Multistrike > Ruthless/Ancestral Call Defensive/Auras Hatred > Herald of Ash > Immortal Call > Cast When Damage Taken Movement Setup Leap Slam > Faster Attacks > Fortify > Blood Magic > Ancestral Warcheif Curse Setup Orb of Storms > Curse On Hit > Conductivity > Vaal Haste  
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*GEAR UPDATE* Since time has passed from when I first published the build, I've updated my gear tremendously. I crafted a new 6-link chest piece, updated some of my jewelry, got a semi-decent abyss belt, and updated my flask setup. This is almost a finished gear setup, I would like to replace both of my rings and get past curse cap. I'm almost there but I'm farming T11 to 13 maps right now at lvl 86. So far, this build has been an amazing transformation!  
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This build is entirely too easy to level, but in this section it will give a detailed description of what I did when I was leveling throughout the game.
Starting Off At level 2 fresh off the Twilight Strand, go for a dual wield setup and grab a Frost Blades skill gem. Get a 3 or 4 link if you'd like to further your damage with low level support gems. Below is what my gear looked like when heading into the coast:
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Level 13 Grab a Limbsplitter and you're now switched into a two-handed setup. Keep pushing on further with the same setup. My gear upgrades around this point:
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Level 20's We'll keep Frost Blades going, but we will use new supports such as: Melee Physical Dmg, Added Fire, and Ruthless. Also we'll use Herald of Ash and Herald of Ice. Pick up a Geofri's Baptism at lvl 28 since we will be speccing into maces around this point.
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Level 40 Now things get interesting. We can finally do normal lab and grab the Impact Ascendancy which will allow us to use Heavy Strike + x2Weight of The Empire jewels. Make sure to use Ancestral Call when fighting packs of monsters and switch off for boss fights. End Game Finally we're getting into the interesting part of the build. By now, cruel lab should be completed, and you can finally get your Brain Rattler at lvl 63. Continue fighting until you get to lvl 68 which means it's time to redo the majority of your gear. Kaom's Roots, Devoto's Devotion, and Thunderfist will hinder your resistances a bit. So taking on good jewelry and a chest piece will help balance those lack of resistances. Once you have done so, you're onto mapping and enjoying the high life. :)   Even though I have yet to fully complete the build (Currently level 86), I can feel just how powerful this build will really be. It demonstrates the synergy of a heavy hitting ability, and the power and might of shocking in a combination that can devastate. Though I still have a lot of work to do to fully say I've completed the build, I can't wait to hit all the goals that I know this build will easily achieve. If you're like me and enjoy the build, I would love to hear your comments below. Also, any criticisms are also welcomed. I hope you guys enjoyed the build guide. As always, stay safe out there!  Arctic Breath Elementalist https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1832063 Shadow Clone Ninjutsu https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2006007 Last edited by Morphyne123 on Jan 13, 2018, 1:47:41 AM Last bumped on Jan 20, 2018, 8:55:56 AM
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Hi, looks good! i will try this out on HC.
Can you actually facetank endgame bosses with this build? like uber izaro etc Last edited by Tecken1407 on Jan 10, 2018, 7:44:01 AM
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" Yes you can, althought I try not to feel the wrath of his damage since I only get one life. :P |
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Videos added to the build.
Last edited by Morphyne123 on Jan 11, 2018, 10:19:34 AM
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Is it worth buying 20% quality Heavy strike gem for the stun?
Started fresh with this build also on HC. Lvl 40, leveling seems fun. Thanks for the build OP! | |
" Hello, NerKiuKas! Glad you're enjoying the build so far! ^ ^ To answer your question, it's not really that big of an investment to focus on. Yes stunning is very nice especially in the late game, but we'll never really have the full potential to stun bosses so I haven't gotten one yet. But, it is a nice little mechanic that helps when clearing out maps for sure! I will definitely be getting a 20% at some point in time. Last edited by Morphyne123 on Jan 11, 2018, 11:56:49 PM
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Hi, can you check my gear on profile if theres anything i should improve?
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" Heya Tecken1407!! Your gear is spot on! As long as you're over capped for ele weakness, I have no objections. Don't think there's really anymore improvement, aside from getting jewelry with bigger physical damage, but it's hard to find that with intelligence rolls on them while still maintaining good resists and a decent life roll. Loving the progress, keep going!! |
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" I see thanks, what do you think if i should avoid getting to bone breaker and skull cracking tree nodes and put the points into jewels to focus more on life %? |
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" You most certainly could, however I wouldn't recommend for a few reasons. One, we would only have enough passive nodes to gain two additional jewel sockets. Two, in order to gain damage that would match Skull Cracking and Bone Breaker, the jewels would require a lot of currency (which if you're a person of wealth I'm sure is no issue.) You would have to find jewels with flat physical damage, life, and attack speed. Not to mention you lose some utility as well such as AoE for clear speed and stunning threshold. To me, it wouldn't be such a good trade off, but I encourage you to try anyways!:D |
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