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

Dunno if this has been pointed out before, didn't read the whole thread obviously, but I have been using the Thread Of Hope Unique Crimson Jewel with the radius "Very Large Ring" along with a stunning build like this (not in the image). As you can see from the below example, it allows you to skip quite a bit of skill point allocations to get many useful nodes for these kind of builds, and to allocate them elsewhere:

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Minorith wrote:

Dunno if this has been pointed out before, didn't read the whole thread obviously, but I have been using the Thread Of Hope Unique Crimson Jewel with the radius "Very Large Ring" along with a stunning build like this (not in the image). As you can see from the below example, it allows you to skip quite a bit of skill point allocations to get many useful nodes for these kind of builds, and to allocate them elsewhere:

It's a very interesting point. But I don't think it's particularly good here.

The nodes enclosed in the ring are:

1. Resolute Technique and Bone Breaker. We are going to connect to these nodes anyway to get to the endurance charge node near Templar start.

2. The 5 nodes around Heart of the Warrior. Berserker would get to these points naturally and Slayer could save like 2 passive points.

3. Blacksmith's Clout. Not valuable enough for a non-crit build.

4. Words of Glory. Quite a strong node for Berserker, maybe worth like 2 points.

So overall, both Berserker and Slayer would benefit only 2 passive points by using this jewel. The problem is that the jewel uses a jewel socket, which is usually worth around 3 passive points, and in this case it's worth even more as it's right where we would put Lethal Pride jewel.

Well it depends, you can do quite a lot of different builds based around this concept (I've been playing stunners since open beta, only now noticed this guide) I personally utilize this to the max and don't even go above Resolute Technique, and I also utilize the Intuitive Leap Jewel on the underside of the Duelist starting position next to Golem's Blood.

But, if one follows an archetype of this guide, then it might not be useful yeah. Anyway just figured I'd throw it out there if someone gets an idea.

An excellent guide and I learned a lot of useful things, thanks for that!

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3. Rely on leeching and stunning, so lagging can be problematic

now I know why I get one-shot in the second lab :D (laggy unstable connection 3rd-world problem).

Out of curiosity, has anyone attempted to craft a Crusader weapon combining the Shaper-equivalent 20-30% REST suffix, the vanilla 5-15$ REST suffix, and the new-to-3.9 hybrid (25–69)% increased Physical Damage /
(6–8)% REST prefix? I understand it's not very likely to outperform a Tidebreaker, but I'm curious to see if anyone's burned some currency experimenting.

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Haasts wrote:

Out of curiosity, has anyone attempted to craft a Crusader weapon combining the Shaper-equivalent 20-30% REST suffix, the vanilla 5-15$ REST suffix, and the new-to-3.9 hybrid (25–69)% increased Physical Damage /
(6–8)% REST prefix? I understand it's not very likely to outperform a Tidebreaker, but I'm curious to see if anyone's burned some currency experimenting.

My guess is that it's quite unlikely that someone has tried this and succeeded to some degree, but it's an interesting idea, and I'd like to give my thoughts below.

Theoretically, with the perfect rolls, we can expect something like this:


I don't claim this is the theoretical best combination of rolls, but it's extremely strong nonetheless.

This weapon is compared with the non-corrupted Tidebreaker that I own. We see it's 20+% more dps, 20+ additional r.E.S.T., and higher base attack speed.

And if we take out one affix, it usually results in a slightly lower DPS than the Tidebreaker.

So, even with just 5 good affixes and no master-craft, this is still better than an uncorrupted Tidebreaker.

Now, considering the difficulty in obtaining a weapon like this, we should probably compare that with a Fortify corrupted Tidebreaker. In this case we see very similar DPS levels - if we don't socket Fortify Support in either cases - which means lower DPS in this weapon if Fortify is socketed.

So, considering the higher r.E.S.T. and base attack speed, I would still prefer this weapon over a Fortify corrupted Tidebreaker, but Tidebreaker is honestly not far off in this case.

I think the major take-away from this is that,

1. Theoretically a Crusader mace can be better than Tidebreaker.

2. When bound by reality, a Fortify corrupted Tidebreaker, or a normal Tidebreaker are better options at their respective costs. In other words, unless you're filthy rich, it's probably not a good idea to throw currency into crafting something like this.

3. For some reason if you desire such a Crusader weapon or happen to be able to find / craft one, it's actually not a bad option. With 4 really good affixes and 1 master-craft, this could definitely compete with Tidebreakers.

Invested late league currency Into this and stunning is fine just get gang banged with any amount of layered projectiles

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chowderfuh wrote:

Invested late league currency Into this and stunning is fine just get gang banged with any amount of layered projectiles

Ranged projectile is something this build can be weak against, but there are also plenty of ways to work around it. If you're having trouble with "any amount of layered projectiles", then there probably is room for improvement.

I remember back in Legion league when the Legion off-screen projectiles were really insane, I played this build and very rarely fell below 50% hp doing any Legion content and got to lvl 100. One thing I learned from that league was that being more mobile (using Cyclone) and getting the Fortify passive nodes really help against projectiles, which could account for a major portion of this build's rips.

After that Cyclone was nerfed and Fortify is also a bit weaker for Slayer now, but the idea is still solid. There are many ways to boost mobility, leveling further and reach jewel sockets, using any skill other than Heavy Strike (slow base attack rate), maybe get rage and onslaught effects (you're basically using a white Sulphur flask there...), etc.

Then getting more life and fortify nodes really help as well, which is also possible at a higher level.

Besides this, I really don't recommend using Heavy Strike w/ Impale. This one of the slowest attack in the game generally shouldn't be used for AoE, and pairing Impale with it sounds even worse. You shouldn't need to hit normal packs enough hits for Impale to start having any effect at all.

Hi! To increases the chances of me stunning the enemy with this build, what do I look for and increase in path of building?

Average Damage

or

Total DPS

Thanks!

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MasterChief22530 wrote:

Hi! To increases the chances of me stunning the enemy with this build, what do I look for and increase in path of building?

Average Damage

or

Total DPS

Thanks!

Your damage range, as well as your r.E.S.T., is what determines your chance of stunning for each hit, which is well reflected by average damage.

But as the damage range is so high, together with the Ruthless and double damage rolls, it's common to have some hits having like 0% chance to stun and some hits having 100% chance to stun against the same monster.

This is why attack speed also really matters when it comes to consistently stun-locking an enemy.

What total DPS tells you is your average damage times attack speed. And from my experience, total DPS is a really good benchmark for your stun capability. This is because in my previous tests using my simulation code, increasing average damage by 10% and increasing attack rate by 10% raised my stun chances roughly the same.

So, average damage is a good benchmark for the chance of stunning in a single hit, and total dps is a good benchmark for the overall stun capability of your build.