[3.7] Crit Sunder Champion - Budget - Beginner Friendly - High DPS - Good survivability

Build Introduction :

This build is based around Sunder, a melee AOE skill which has great single target damage and decent clear.

Having searched around for other sunder builds, I noticed that most of them used rather expensive gear. As such, I wanted to write this guide for new players or for those who are short on currency.

The total cost of the build is below 1 exalt. For those of you who wish to invest more into this build, or those who want to start off cheap and upgrade the build along the way, I have also included suggestions for gear progression. Please look under the Equipment section for details.

If you have any suggestions and/or questions, do post a comment below.


Pros:
- Cheap
- Good survivability, even with an Abyssus!
- High DPS for bossing
- Good AOE for mapping

Cons:
- High reliance on flasks to boost defenses
- May be clunky
- No Physical Reflect Maps


POB & Passive Tree :

POB : https://pastebin.com/Pi3UsMsW
Passive Tree : www.poeurl.com/cwah


Ascendency :

Order : Unstoppable Hero - Master of Metal - First to Strike - Inspirational

Sunder is a flexible skill which can be played by many different ascendencies. I could imagine it being played on any duelist, Jugg, Berserk, or even a Guardian.
I went for Champion for the huge defensive benefits. Our ascendency gives us 2000 Armour, 1000 Evasion, Healing & cure ailments on low life. With an Abyssus, we are taking a lot of damage from bleeding and having an auto bleed removal on low life really helps.


Pantheon :

We are looking for ways to reduce physical damage taken to mitigate the effects of Abyssus. As such, both Lunaris & Solaris are great options for the Major God choice. For Minor God, I recommend Gruthkul.


Bandits :

Help Alira


Gems :

Main Skill :
Sunder - Shockwave - Melee Physical Damage - Fortify - Pulverise - Rage

Feel free to experiment swapping gems around with Multistrike or Ruthless in your setup.

You can even run a 5R1B setup, using Increased Area of Effect for mapping and gem swap to Concentrated Effect for bossing. This setup has significantly better single target, but the constant gem swaps may be a hassle.

Mobility :
Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - Curse on Hit - Assasin's Mark - Endurance Charge on Melee Stun(optional)

This setup allows us to generate power charges. Simply leap into mobs , cursing them with AM then kill them for power charges. Endurance Charge on Melee Stun is completely optional as we can generate endurance charges from our passive tree via Smashing Strikes.

Auras/Buffs :
-Flesh and Stone - Maim
-Blood and Sand
-Dread Banner
-Precision
-Blood Rage
-Vaal Molten Shell - Increased Duration
-Vaal Ancestral Warchief
-Berserk


Flasks :



We need to have Staunching, Warding and Heat flasks in our setup. Lion's Roar gives us a big damage buff, while Jade flask further improves evasion. Feel free to experiment with other flasks of your liking.

If you are running a map with No Leech/ No regen / Reduced Recovery rate, switch your life flask into a hybrid flask for mana sustain.


Equipment :



-Rare Jewel with Mana leech is mandatory for sustain.
-Extractor Mentis is a really cheap amulet that gives us Onslaught & Unholy Might for huge DPS boost.
-Chest : HP & Resistances
-Boots : HP, Resistances & Movespeed
-Gloves : HP, Resistances & Attack Speed
-Rings : Flat physical Damage, HP, Resistances , Dexterity (we need it for Blood Rage)
-Weapon : Hegemony's Era is another cheap option which gives us good DPS. Try to look for one with >1.5 APS. The 5-link setup used here is not necessary.
-Helm : Alternative choices are Starkonja's Head , Rats' Nest or Devoto's Devotion. Use them if you are uncomfortable with the increased damage taken from Abyssus.
(Special Note : When doing your Ascendency lab trials, I strongly recommend you to swap out Abyssus, as the increased damage taken from Abyssus applies to traps)

Stronger Versions :
-Rare Amulet with >18 flat phys damage, >70 max life, resistances, Critical Multiplier and high Dexterity

-A pair of Rare Steel Rings each with >19 flat phys damage, >70 max life, resistances, and some attributes/attack speed/accuracy
(One method of obtaining the jewellery is by spamming Deafening Essense of Contempt on Steel Rings & your Amulet of choice.)

-More life & resistances on boots,belts,gloves

-A rare Chest Armour with +1 Maim and high life. Resistances and/or a "-15 mana cost of socketed attacks" rolls are a plus , but they are very costly and not really necessary.
(To obtain this, first buy a non-corrupted 6-link chest with your desired colours. Then, spam Serrated Fossils and Pristine Fossils onto the chest)
Alternatively, a 6-link Loreweave is also a strong option, giving us huge DPS boosts & survivability.

-A rare Staff with >1.6 APS and >550 PDPS. Since we are stacking so much flat physical damage from our gear, we will benefit greatly from a fast attacking weapon.


Playstyle :

This build relies highly on flasks to boost defenses, as well as the guard skill Molten Shell. With our flasks up, Molten Shell creates a 6000+ hp shield which can greatly boost survivability.

Always activate your flasks when engaging large packs of monsters. Vaal Molten Shell creates an amazing 20000+ hp shield , giving us near invulnerability for 13-14 seconds. Be sure to use them for legion encounters or other difficult fights.


Leveling Gear :



Here is my take on leveling gear. I prioritized getting lots of damage boosts from my gear in order to clear content fast. Most other guides would recommend using Atziri's Foible, Perandus Signet and/or Praxis for mana sustain. I personally prefer damage over QOL and am happy to use mana flasks while leveling. Do experiment to find your preferred playstyle.

Start by using Lochtonial Caress & Wanderlust, and progress to Sundance & Asenaths when you reach required levels.

(Special Note : Don't use the blessing fonts from Lab trials on your leveling gear as they will increase the required level of the item!)

If you are starting completely from scratch, look for Life, Resistances and Increased Item Rarity on your gears. Armour/Evasion are less important. Save your Essenses/Alchemy Orbs and use them only on 4-link gears picked up from enemies.

Don't pick up any weapon mastery nodes on your Passive tree , as they will force you to specialize into using only 1 weapon type, making gear progression even more challenging. It is also highly recommended to level with a skill which has no weapon restrictions, e.g Cyclone, for the same reason mentioned above.



Videos :

T12 - Carcass Map : https://youtu.be/5jfdUgDpC20
T15 - Palace Map : https://youtu.be/3YGOeXxKE6E
T16 - Lair of the Hydra : https://youtu.be/t59hz38zOdg
Shaper : https://youtu.be/zilGBxza7kE
Uber Elder : Will post in the future
Last edited by Hoppip179 on Jul 16, 2019, 12:32:04 PM
Last bumped on Sep 5, 2019, 6:58:51 AM
Finished Equipment section
Updated Passive Tree
Updated Playstyle section
Updated T16 video
Updated Shaper video. Should have used Ruthless over Rage for more DPS.



Last edited by Hoppip179 on Jul 14, 2019, 9:44:26 AM
Updated Leveling Section.

I have already defeated Uber Elder twice, but the fights were not deathless (my very first 2 attempts at the fight, actually). The fights were also much more difficult than I expected, so a deathless run would take many more practice sessions.

Now I'm short on currency from setting up the Uber Elder fights , so unfortunately, the Uber Elder video will be delayed.
Hey, I'm leveling this build up and really enjoying it so far. I just have a couple of questions.
First, you mentioned trying out Multistrike and Ruthless in the build. Which skills did you recommend cutting to use them?
Also, maybe it's just that I don't have enough damage yet, but the sustain from one mana jewel doesn't feel like it will be enough. Is that just something that the build has to grow into?
Lastly, CoH w/ Leap Slam feels a bit clunky for generating power charges. I'm considering swapping Fortify over to Leap Slam and using Increased Critical Strikes on Sunder. Any thoughts on how that'd work?

Anyway, thanks for posting this build. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
Last edited by TadpoleJohnnie on Jul 26, 2019, 5:48:04 PM
Hey there, glad to know you are enjoying the build so far.

I would cut out Rage for Ruthless, Fortify for Multistrike.

Yes, typically Mana leech only starts kicking in at levels 60+ when you start dealing large chunks of physical damage.

Fortify on Leap Slam could also work well, its up to personal preference. In this case, you can cut out fortify on Sunder for another support gem.
Yes, ICS is not a bad choice either.

If you are not using CoH Leap Slam, then you should consider different options for generating power charges as they boost your dps greatly.

If you are using Hegemony's Era, you have "Power charge on Knockback" so that's settled. However, if you are using a rare weapon, here are 2 options for you to generate power charges:

(Expensive)
- Shaper Ring with "Curse enemies with level # Assasin's Mark on hit"

(Budget)
- CWDT + Power Charge on Crit + Spell + ICS, where Spell could be Blade Vortex/Orb of Storms/Storm Brand, up to personal preference.
thank you, added to my 3.8 starter list
Good luck! Let me know your thoughts/suggestions :)

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info