[3.9] Disintegrator Glacial Hammer & Ice Crash Inquisitor | Off-meta | Endgame | All Content



Changelog
20.8.2019
- Added build guide
- Added build showcase videos (Tiers 16 Maps, Guardians, Shaper, Uber Elder)
21.8.2019
- Added belt on accessory explanation and price breakdown
9.9.2019
- Added 3.8 update breakdown
15.9.2019
- Fixed Ice Crash POB pastebin link
- Added 3.8 POB for Glacial Hammer and Ice Crash
17.9.2019
- Added anointment guide below accessory explanation
- Added other build guide section
13.12.2019
- Added 3.9 update breakdown
- Added other build guide section
3.8 Update
Ancestral Call Support
- Now deal 19% less damage at gem level 1 (from 25%), up to no penalty at gem level 20 (from 16% less).

3.8 doesn't change anything for the build, and it receives buff from Ancestral Call no longer receives damage penalty at level 20. To update the Path of Building tree, simply click convert to 3.8.
3.9 Update
Monster Resistance and Life
- In general monsters have more resistances than before; a regular map boss now has 40% elemental resistance (up from 30%) and boss like the Shaper now has 50% elemental resistance (up from 40%.
- The life of all unique monsters in the game has been increased by 10%. On top of this, map Boss Life has been greatly increased at the highest tier of maps.

Character
- Fortify's damage reduction effect is now multiplicative with other similar effects.

Atlas
- The Shaper and Elder storyline is gone and has been replaced by a story that takes place in the aftermath of the old story.
- Zana can now sell Shaper- and Elder-influenced maps and these act like the old Atlas influence, creating new monsters, threats, and rewards.

In summary, boss encounter will be harder and elemental resistances buff to bosses and monsters does not affect Inquisitor in general because of Inevitable Judgement which ignores enemy elemental resistances.

Unfortunately, building this character on feature leagues with suggested item will be significantly harder because it requires drop from Uber Elder and rare gear with Elder or Shaper influence.

This doesn't mean the build is dead however, I will keep it updated as long I play the game. It may get buffed in the future, or maybe you can revisit for some info or inspiration for other build.

To update the POB tree, simply convert to 3.9 at the bottom.

Welcome, exile. If you are looking for non meta build to kill some time before waiting for the next league or maybe you just want to try out two-handed Glacial Hammer/Ice Crash, look no further because I've got you covered. I've played dual-wield Doryani's Catalyst Glacial Hammer with Berserker in the past, but have always wanting to play it as a "slugger", hit once hit hard playstyle.

I took this build to level 90, kill all the guardians, Shaper and Uber Elder. Then I started to play around with Ice Crash as I've never play with one before. To my surprise it works just as well if not better than Glacial Hammer, and the only changes I made was swapping out two gems and respec two passives nodes. So I decided to include it in this build, you can choose which skill you prefer.

Pros and Cons

+ Shattering pack to pack is fun
+ Super culling strike against any non-unique monster
+ Safe mapper because of freezing capability
+ Capable to do all endgame content
+ No gemswap
+ Flexible gear choices
+ Ice shatter is music to ears
+ You can tank Shaper's Slam

- Cannot do no regen or reflect map mod
- Not a beginner friendly
- Not cheap but not expensive either
- Freeze immune boss like is not fun to fight




Disintegrator
Disintegrator has the highest pdps out of all unique staff in the game, dealing 564-616 pdps at 20% quality. It grants the chance to gain Siphoning Charge when you use a skill, you have one Siphoning Charge per Elder or Shaper item equipped. With six Siphoning Charges it can match total dps with 600 pdps 7-link Fortify Elder Staff that cost around 15-30 exalts while 6link Disintegrator costs around 4-6 exalts and non 6L can be purchase as cheap as 1 chaos!

Siphoning Charge
Per Siphoning Charge you gain the following; 12-14 to 15-16 Physical Damage to Attacks, Gain 4% of Non-Chaos Damage as Extra Chaos Damage, 1% Additonal Physical Damage Reduction From Hits, 0.2% of Damage Leeched As Life and also with a drawback of taking 150 Physical Damage Per Second if you've used skill recently.

Glacial Hammer
If any non-unique enemy is frozen and is on less than one third life, they will shatter when hit by Glacial Hammer. This is the highest culling strike effect in the game. With 3.7 melee rework, Glacial Hammer receives additional buff; higher damage effectiveness (200% at level 20), +4 melee range at level 20 (from 2), adds 75-113 Cold Damage Against Chilled Enemies at level 20 (previously none) and every third successive strikes freezes enemies more easily.

Ice Crash
Ice Crash receives huge buff with 3.7 update; 20% larger base area of effect, adds 169-254 cold damage to attacks at level 20 (previously none) and higher damage effectiveness 240% at level 20 (from 200%), 240%! This is insanely good with high added physical damage weapon like Disintegrator. However these buff comes with a nerf to attack speed, Ice Crash now has 30% less attack speed (attack speed multiplier of 70%), previously had 20% less attack speed.

Why Inquisitor?

Sanctuary creates Consecrated Ground while stationary, this ground effects provides the following; additional 6% of maximum life regeneration per second, 100% increased Critical Strike Chance against enemies on consecrated ground. Consecrated Ground you create applies 10% increased Damage taken to Enemies and 15 mana regenerated per Second while on consecrated ground; both of the latter effects are unique to Inquisitor only.

Augury of Penitence grants an aura that causes enemies to deal 8% less elemental damage and take 16% increased elemental damage, the radius of this aura is 60. Great defensive and offensive node.

Inevitable Judgement is the reason for picking Inquisitor as ascendancy for this build. It grants Critical Strike to ignore enemy elemental resistance, this is very powerful against endgame bosses like Guardians, Shaper and Elder.





Passives Tree
37 Points
74 Points
111 Points

Ascendancy
In order of Labyrinth difficulty;
Sanctuary > Augury of Penitence > Righteous Providence > Inevitable Judgement

Bandit
Save Alira for +5 mana regen, +15% elemental resistance, +20% critical strike multiplier

Pantheon
Soul of Solaris (Major God), Soul of Ralakesh (Minor God) for general mapping and Soul of Ryslatha (Minor God) for Uber Elder and Labyrinth
Complete all the upgrades, this is important as these pantheons gives great defensive bonus.


Gem Setup

6L - Glacial Hammer
Glacial Hammer > Ancestral Call > Elemental Damage with Attacks > Fortify > Faster Attack > Melee Physical Damage >

6L - Ice Crash
Glacial Hammer > Elemental Damage with Attacks > Fortify > Faster Attack > Physical to Lightning > Melee Physical Damage

4L - Movement | Ancestral Warchief
Leap Slam > Ancestral Warchief > Faster Attack > Multiple Totem

3S - Aura | Buff
Herald of Ice | Precision | Hatred

4L - Utility
Cast when Damage Taken lvl1 > Immortal Call lvl3 > Increased Duration lvl20 > Ice Golem lv3
*Important! Do not level any of these gems higher than stated above
Current Gear




Weapon & Armour Explanation

Disintegrator

Look for the highest physical damage roll you can afford, ideally 600dps and above at 20% quality. Mine is near perfect roll, bought it for 30c and six-link it with Fated Connection prophecy for 5ex. If you have 6L armour you don't need to 6 link the staff unless you want 6L Ancestral Warchief setup.

Rare Helmet

Rare Elder or Shaper armour based with 90+ life, attributes or resistances that your build needs. Best enchantment; 15% of Glacial Hammer/Ice Crash Physical Damage gained as Extra Cold Damage > 40% increased Glacial Hammer Damage / 12% Increased Ice Crash Area of Effect

Rare Body Armour

Rare Elder or Shaper armour based with 100+ life, +% max life, +% life regen and resistance your build needs.

Alternative unique : Belly of the Beast, Craiceann's Carapace (Skip Bleed Immunity flask if you use this)Carcass Jack (if you want massive AoE for Ice Crash) Loreweave (respec/skip Barbarism and Soul of Steel cluster)


Rare Gloves

Rare Elder or Shaper armour based or Spiked Gloves base with +80 life, attack speed or added physical damage, as much resistance your build needs.

Kaom's Roots

Best boots for the build, grants stun, chilled and freeze immunity. Not to be affected by Uber Elder's slow is always a plus. Get the highest life roll you can, best enchantment is "16% increased Attack Speed if you've Killed Recently".

IMPORTANT NOTE!

1. If you want to use Enlighten level 4 and saves four passives points, remember to have one of your equipment as evasion based to roll 3 green socket for auras and 1 blue for Enlighten. That was my mistake with my chest armour, it is hard to get that color without spending hundreds if not thousands of jeweller's and chromatic orbs.

2. Although on rare gear I recommend Elder or Shaper base, do not go above six Elder or Shaper item equipped, Disintegrator included. Although you gain a lot of added damage the degen hurts more than the build can handle. If you want to go all Elder/Shaper item equipment for whatever reason, I recommend you play it as Juggernaut or Slayer instead.

Accessory & Jewel Explanation

Rare Amulet

Elder or Shaper rare amulet with +70 life, +% Physical Damage gained as Extra Cold Damage, critical strike chance/multi, added physical damage to attacks and attributes your build needs.

Mark of the Elder

Get the highest roll you can afford. Remember to use Shaper base ring for other ring slot to get the bonus damage, up to 80%.

Rare Ring

Rare Shaper Diamond base with 70+ life, added phyiscal damage to attacks, resistance and curse Assassin's Mark on hit (level does not matter).

Rare Belt

Elder or Shaper base with +90 life, resistance your build needs, fossil crafted mods "increased Elemental Damage" (Prismatic Fossil), "increased Cold Damage" (Frigid Fossil) or increased Elemental Damage with Attack skills.

Transcendent Flesh

+75% critical multiplier and +3% additional physical damage reduction from a single jewel, can't get any better than this. Tempered Flesh for cheaper alternative.

Winter Burial
Two jewels is required for Glacial Hammer. It converts the other half of physical damage for full cold damage conversion and grants melee splash for cold damage. Best corruption > Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you > +% increased Critical Strike Chance.

Rare Jewel

If you choose Ice Crash you have two jewel slots for additional stat or spend two points on Amplify node for 2 additional radius and 20% damage and one jewel slot. Get rare jewel with attack speed, added physical damage or critical strike multiplier.
Amulet Anointment

Tier 3

Coordination
12% increased Attack Speed
6% increased Cast Speed
+10 to Dexterity and Intelligence
Black Oil | Crimson Oil | Amber Oil

Other notables that grants 12% increased Attack Speed is Berserking and Lust for Carnage, but Coordination requires cheaper oils.

Enigmatic Reach
8% increased Attack Speed with Staves
8% increased Cast Speed while wielding a Staff
3% increased Area of Effect per Power Charge
10% increased Area of Effect while wielding a Staff
Black Oil | Teal Oil | Verdant Oil

Solid notable and it is very cheap.

Tier 2

Snowforged
25% increased Fire Damage
25% increased Cold Damage
+10% to Fire and Cold Resistances
30% increased Critical Strike Chance
Black Oil | Azure Oil | Sepia Oil

Very good notable that out of reach for this build and it is not expensive. If you need the extra resistance go for this one.

True Strike
+12% to Critical Strike Multiplier
45% increased Critical Strike Chance
Black Oil | Crimson Oil | Teal Oil

Heartseeker
+30% to Critical Strike Multiplier
Crimson Oil | Crimson Oil | Teal Oil

Simple notable, but this notable alone boots 100k dps to the build. Other notable that grant 30% to crit multi is Throatseeker but it costs more.

Wrecking Ball
10% increased Attack Speed with Two Handed Melee Weapons
20% increased Stun Duration with Two Handed Melee Weapons on Enemies
20% increased Damage with Two Handed Weapons
20% increased Damage with Ailments from Attack Skills while wielding a Two Handed Weapon
Opalescent Oil | Teal Oil | Clear Oil

Tier 1

Serpent Stance
40% increased Global Critical Strike Chance while wielding a Staff
+35% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier while wielding a Staff
Opalescent Oil | Black Oil | Azure Oil

Best notable for this build and it is not expensive.

Cruel Preparation
10% increased maximum Life
+5% to all Elemental Resistances
Silver Oil | Black Oil | Teal Oil

There are seven notables that grants 10% increased maximum life and Cruel Preparation is the cheapest and not within reach. Go for it if you need the extra life.

Summary

Other notables not listed here like Golem's Blood or Assassination is because of the high price or the stats it grants is not good enough.
Flasks Explanation

1. Diamond Flask

Even on my third build of this league this flask still gives the most dps out of any other flask. If you don't have the craft, what can you do is either buy from trade or craft increased Duration then look for craft service. I recommend Vocandin, been using his service since Synthesis.

2. Basalt Flask

Craft 23% reduced Charges used, not lower. At 22% it uses 31 charges so that's a no. With 23-25% it uses exactly 30 out of 60 thus allowing two usage per flask without refill. Once you get the right number beastcraft with "of Staunching" for bleed debuff removal. Beastcraft "of Grounding" for Shock Immunity if you have other bleed immunity effect.

3. Quicksilver/Divine Life Flask

Surgeon mod or Increased Duration, beastcraft "of Warding" for curse Immunity. Use Divine Life Flask with "Panicked" mod; Instant Recovery when on Low Life for Uber Elder encounter. For general mapping life flask is not needed in my experience.

4. Lion's Roar

Get the highest roll you can afford. Great offensive and defensive boost.

5. Taste of Hate

Very good for against Shaper and Uber Elder or anything like Legion monsters that deals high physical damage. Get highest roll you can afford.





PAQ - Probably Asked Questions

1. Why you don't use 'x' gems?

Melee Splash - Not needed. Winter Burial modifies Glacial Hammer to have melee splash for cold damage.

Cold Penetration - Inevitable Judgment ignores monster elemental resistance making elemental penetration a wasted stats.

Herald of Purity - Better dps than Herald of Ice but Herald of Ice deals cold damage in an area around shattered frozen enemies and this improves clearing ability.

Ruthless - Overall dps is much higher compared to Faster Attack but Faster Attack feels better to play with.

Multistrike - Most monster packs dies with one strike and Multistrike gives bonus damage to second and third strike. But to be honest the main reason I skipped this gem this league because of the 3.7 rework. It just feels bad, attacks with 100% accuracy can miss when the animation shows that it actually hit, the animation canceling doesn't work like it supposed to and I missed the "auto-aim" of old Multistrike.

Elemental Focus - Cannot freeze with Glacial Hammer so you lose culling strike. With Ice Crash you lose the ability to shock and freeze.

Blood Rage - Degen from this buff on top of Siphoning Charge hurts.

Rage - Even at 50 stacks, Melee Physical Damage is a better support for this build, Glacial Hammer or Ice Crash. If you want to use Berserk, replace Melee Physical Damage with Rage.

Pulverize - Ice Crash has an attack speed multiplier of 70%, which make it the slowest attacking skill (the other is Dual Strike) and Pulverize makes the supported skill have 15% less attack speed. Using it together with Faster Attack still feels too slow even for my standard (I actually like slow hitting, hit once hit hard skill like Earthquake). If I play the build as Berserker with Blitz and Rage, then Pulverize is a good support.

2. What about 'x' uniques?

Impressence (Cold) - Useless for this build.

Abyssus - Gives the enemy the ability to one shot you, also makes degen from Siphoning Charge worse.

Hrimsorrow Gloves - Not needed for Glacial Hammer and for Ice Crash, it is better to convert the other half with Physical to Lightning because of "Physical Damage added as Extra Lightning/Cold Damage" stats is very good with high added physical damage weapon such as Disintegrator. With Physical to Lightning it also gives Ice Crash the ability to shock and you can use better rare gloves.

3. Can this build do 'x' content?

Shaper - Easily.

Uber Elder - Hard but doable. Bring "Panicked" divine life flask and use Soul of Ryslatha pantheon. Engineering Eternity's Uber Elder Guide.

Uber Atziri - Hard and very deadly. Hit the wrong copy and you will one shot yourself. But it is doable if you know the fight well. Engineering Eternity's Uber Atziri Guide.

Uber Labyrinth - Not a problem. Bring life flask and use Soul of Ryslatha pantheon.

Delve - Carry flares and you're good to delve.

Timeless Domain - Yes. The build is very much capable of taking on 5 faction Legion, but if you planning to use it for farming I don't recommend it as the loot return is not as profitable as mf build.

4.What about life flask?

For general mapping it is not needed in my experience, yours may differ. It is up to you. Since Uber Elder doesn't have curse I replaced curse immunity flask with life flask. If you want to use life flask at all times, replace Taste of Hate when mapping and swap curse immunity flask with Taste of Hate for Uber Elder.

5. What about 'x' as ascendancy for the build?

Berserker - Very good ascendancy as it gives much needed attack speed for the build. The only reason I don't play it because my previous build is Infernal Blow Berserker and I hate playing the same ascendancy/item in a row.

Juggernaut - If I'm going to make another Disintegrator build then Juggernaut will be my choice because of physical damage mitigation he offers to counter degen from Siphoning Charge. Although he lose a lot of damage in comparison to Inquisitor, particularly with elemental build.

Slayer - Solid ascendancy, offers high damage, area of effect and overleech mechanic to counter Siphoning Charge degen. Since I already played Slayer with my league starter this one is a no for me.

11. I have some currency to spend, what can I improve and best bang for the buck?

Get all the suggested item at the highest roll you can afford. Level 21/23 quality Glacial Hammer/Ice Crash and Level 21 Precision, 20/20 on other gems.

Enlighten level 4 to support Herald of Ice, Enlighten and Hatred > respec Sovereignty and nodes behind it, and get One with the River notable for total of four passives points or spend two points on Life and Chaos Resitance nodes, another two for Melee Critical Strike Multiplier at Disemboweling and Dismembering cluster or get jewel slot.

12. Roughly how much this build costs?

Disintegrator : 4-6 exalts (1-30c for non 6 link)
Rare Armour : 100chaos - 1 exalt
Enchanted Helmet : 1-4 exalts
Rare Amulet : 50-100 chaos
Rare Gloves : 1-2 exalts
Rare Boots : 1-30c (depending on rolls) and 1-2 exalts (with enchant)
Rare Rings : 50-100 chaos, 1-4 exalts for Assasin's Mark on hit (cheaper if you craft them yourself as the desired suffix is not hard to get)
Rare Belt : 50c-4 exalts (depending on mods)
Transcendent Flesh : 3-3.5exalts

The only required item is the staff, the rest can be change depending on your budget and preference.


Leveling Tips

Veteran melee players can skip this part and do what suits you best. Please keep in mind these tips only serve to make leveling easier, by no means required.

Act 1

1. Before you start new character, get Goldrim if you don't have it already. Also get Wanderlust for immunity to Freeze.

2. Get Purifying Flame or Smite at Enemy at the Gate quest. Purifying Flame is better leveling skill in my experience. Link it with Elemental Proliferation.

3. Upon completing The Tidal Island quest, take Quicksilver flask. Add Onslaught, Arcane Surge to Purifying Flame.

4. After Breaking Some Eggs quest, get Holy Flame Totem and Frostblink.

5. Next get Combustion and replace Elemental Proliferation with it. Purifying Flame > Onslaught > Arcane Surge > Combustion > Added Fire Damage (if you use Tabula Rasa).

6. From The Siren's Cadence quest reward, take Storm Brand and link with other support if you use Tabula Rasa.
Act 2

7. Around this time you should be around level 15-20, get Atziri's Foible. It is a great leveling amulet that can reduce stats requirement and will greatly boost your max mana and regen.

8. Next get Herald of Purity for Intruders in Black quest reward. Buy Herald of Ash if you choose to continue leveling with Purifying Flame, Herald of Ice if you want to use Glacial Hammer or Smite. For spell levelling setup get two Ashcaller Wand, and for melee levelling get two Brightbeak Hammer. Smite > Onslaught > Added Fire > Ruthless or Glacial Hammer > Ancestral Call > Melee Splash > Onslaught.

9. After Sharp and Cruel quest get Faster Casting for spell setup, Melee Physical Damage for melee setup.
Act 3

10. Upon completing Sever the Right Hand quest, take Ice Crash as a reward if that's your main skill or Consecrated Path for melee. If Glacial Hammer is your main, it is up to you to use between Glacial Hammer, Smite or Consecrated Path for leveling.

As for me, I use Glacial Hammer starting at level 20 with Brightbeak until level 54 when I replaced Brightbeak with Voidhome. Voidhome is replaced with Disintegrator at level 64.
Act 4-Act 10

11. Get your cwdt setup when you met the gem requirement. Remember not to overlevel them more than required.

12. Use Bismuth flask if you struggle with resists, Granite Flask helps alot in early level. Make sure you have bleed removal before going in Labyrinth.

13. You don't have to go it right away after you completed required Trial of Ascendancy. Most players will usually overlevel their character before going. As for Cruel and Merciless difficulty, complete them before act 10 Kitava.

14. You can buy other required gem from Siosa at act 3, Lilly Roth at act 6 or Oriath.


Path of Building
Glacial Hammer
Ice Crash

Important Note :

Sanctuary mod "Consecrated Ground you create applies 10% increased Damage taken to Enemies" is not supported by Path of Building with the node, so I added the mod in Basalt Flask.

Videos
Glacial Hammer & Ice Crash VS Tier 16 Maps & Shaper
Glacial Hammer & Ice Crash VS Uber Elder





Last edited by Asramero on Dec 12, 2019, 11:58:11 AM
Last bumped on Mar 17, 2020, 7:38:13 AM
Thank you for the good guide.
"
RPGNoobANKA wrote:
Thank you for the good guide.

My pleasure.
Ice crash pastebin link is invalid.
Since i am interested to see the gem links for that, can you fix it please ?:)
"
epetrou wrote:
Ice crash pastebin link is invalid.
Since i am interested to see the gem links for that, can you fix it please ?:)

Fixed. Thanks for bringing this up, the passive tree has been updated to 3.8 for both skills.
Thank you for the guide. I am always interested to read guides from other players about Ice Crash and to try and check if there is something that I could use for my Elementalist.

Well written guide.
"
Thural wrote:
Thank you for the guide. I am always interested to read guides from other players about Ice Crash and to try and check if there is something that I could use for my Elementalist.

Well written guide.

Thank you for the kind words.
Hey noob question here, i following this guide and i'm actually 62 with voidhome. How long should i keep this weapon ? and since disintegrator is not avaible (and too pricy) what weapon would you advice me ?

thx for the guide :)
"
Gunshu wrote:
Hey noob question here, i following this guide and i'm actually 62 with voidhome. How long should i keep this weapon ? and since disintegrator is not avaible (and too pricy) what weapon would you advice me ?

thx for the guide :)

Hegemony's Era. As for Disintegrator, it was never expensive in the past, it just not available early in the league. My guess is after two-three weeks it should be available and priced 2-6c. Which skill are you playing right now?
Wow thx for the quick answer !

I'm using glacial hammer the feeling on the spell is so nice ^^.

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