Glacial Jackhammer [Video Demo] [Revised]

Hey everyone! I've done some major revisions to the build - but the core concept still remains the same - attack fast to keep enemies frozen, then shatter them as they drop below 33% life. I also went ahead and cleaned up the post a bit to make it easier to read and understand.

This build uses both the new Melee Splash and the new Multistrike support gems in combination with Glacial Hammer to deliver attacks fast and to multiple enemies at once.

Glacial Hammer: Hits the enemy, converting some of your physical damage to cold damage. If the enemy is frozen and is on less than one third life, they will shatter when hit with Glacial Hammer. Requires a Mace or Staff.


Videos:

Level 46 Demo (Still using Brightbeak D:)


Suggested 6-Link:

Glacial Hammer
Melee Splash
Multistrike
Elemental Proliferation
Life Gain on Hit
Blood Magic

One could argue for Weapon Elemental Damage over Elemental Proliferation - I went with the latter due to wanting to be capable of freezing enemies at a further range and to freeze them more reliably. If you lack the damage to freeze I would definitely go with Weapon Elemental Damage though.


Bandit Rewards:

Normal: 40 Life
Cruel: Oak or Kraityn (I chose Kraityn for the attack speed)
Merciless: Endurance Charge


Build Progression:

010pts
020pts
030pts
040pts

050pts
060pts
070pts
080pts

090pts
100pts
110pts
117pts


The build uses the Blood Magic passive until a 6-linked armor is aquired. Once you aquire one, every passive below the Berserking node is re-allocated to the upper part of the tree in order to grab Inner Force.

When you've transitioned from Blood Magic to Blood Magic support gems you're able to run 7 auras Determination, Purity, Haste or Vitality and Hatred off your mana. With a max-level Reduced Mana coupled with the 10% Reduced Mana Reserved from passives your auras will reserve about 96% of your total mana pool.

Calculation: 40%+40%+40%+30% = 150%, 150%*0.9*0.71 = 95.85%

Grace, Wrath and Anger will be run off your life using a Blood Magic gem.

I would recommend this switch to be made when you have about 90 points to spend.

In addition, I'd also recommend picking up and dropping Savant nodes as required, as most of the int in the build is accessed at later levels.


As opposed to my original build plan and some of my earlier replies in this thread I have chosen to forego Resolute Technique, although it's definitely an option (being only two points off) if you feel the need to use it.

ExilePro Build Summary:

Having now leveled to 27 and tried out Blood Magic with Life on Hit and Melee Splash, I have to say I've fallen in love - the life return is amazing, and I doubt I can beat it using Life Leech without resorting to Vaal Pact - so that's one issue taken care of.

I also added Leap Slam due to how it interacts with attack speed, made Quicksilver Flasks redundant.

I'm currently able to tear through packs with ease - hoping to get hold of a Multistrike soon, but that might prove expensive. At worst I'll have to settle for a Faster Attacks for my 4-link and add Multistrike when I transition to a 5-link.

Going to hit Docks later tonight. Depending on how things go, I might make a video when I've reached a point where the freeze is reliable enough - for now my speed and ability to freeze is a bit too low to validate showing off.

Edit: Got my hands on a Multistrike! Costly, but well worth it. The rate at which I attack just went through the roof. Next on the list should probably be getting a 5-link and adding Elemental Proliferation

Holy shit, I did not know that about Glacial Hammer. Can you shatter bosses too?

Interestingly, my Duelist has been spamming Glacial Hammer recently, since my passives allowed me to switch out of sword swinging and into Mace bashing. Which has been great fun.

Leap Slam. Flicker Strike. Ground Slam. Glacial Hammer.

This is easily the most fun character I've played.

I'm worried about how to handle the whole 'not dying' aspect, later, though. About to fight Cruel Brutus.

"

lalib wrote:

Holy shit, I did not know that about Glacial Hammer. Can you shatter bosses too?

Sadly you can't - at least I haven't been able to, but anything up to rares seems to work as long as it's frozen when the attack lands.

"

Aragashia wrote:

"

lalib wrote:

Holy shit, I did not know that about Glacial Hammer. Can you shatter bosses too?

Sadly you can't - at least I haven't been able to, but anything up to rares seems to work as long as it's frozen when the attack lands.

I remember reading that it's intended that you can't blow up bosses like that. Same for Culling Strike.


Luckily, I think you can still Chill or stun some of them.



Dat Sceptre elemental buff.
It's not even ideal, but it's working fairly well on my dude so far.

It makes me wonder whether it's better to try and make a marauder and just build a lot of flat Damage. A templar and Go full AoE elemental damage. Or a Duelist that tries to juggle Attack speed with inherently high damage buffs and effects.

I feel like the last one is more gear dependent. But that might be my approach, too.

In advocacy against Resolute Technique. You will need to crit to freeze certain creatures with High resists to cold and/or a large enough lifepool.
Plus, you have a higher attack speed than most mace users.
So your misses aren't as big of a deal as they would be when you're dishing out an entire 9 attacks every 10 seconds.

"

Milchut wrote:

Dat Sceptre elemental buff.
It's not even ideal, but it's working fairly well on my dude so far.

It makes me wonder whether it's better to try and make a marauder and just build a lot of flat Damage. A templar and Go full AoE elemental damage. Or a Duelist that tries to juggle Attack speed with inherently high damage buffs and effects.

I feel like the last one is more gear dependent. But that might be my approach, too.

In advocacy against Resolute Technique. You will need to crit to freeze certain creatures with High resists to cold and/or a large enough lifepool.
Plus, you have a higher attack speed than most mace users.
So your misses aren't as big of a deal as they would be when you're dishing out an entire 9 attacks every 10 seconds.

I'll sit on at least 40% chance to freeze per hit with Glacial & Frostbite, allowing me to crit 5%~ of the time (without drastically altering the build) doesn't seem like a fair tradeoff for losing 20-25% chance to hit at later levels.

I'm building quite heavily for damage actually. 110% Elemental Weapon Damage, a bunch of physical early on in the Duelist area, some increased area damage/radius - I'm not sure I could possibly need/want more than that for what I have in mind.


Being a Marauder or Templar won't really affect the goal I have in mind in a positive way - Both start in areas which would make lower levels a chore - Marauder has no early access to anything useful but HP and a bit of resits, Templar is a little better off with it's area/elemental passives - but then what?

As a Duelist I get quick access to +134% armor, IR, BM, 30% atk speed, 46% phys dmg and Unwavering stance. This puts me in quite a solid position from which to build up my damage gradually without the worry of low armor, mana issues and leech issues.


I've just hit 41 on my build, still using Brightbeak, so my damage is lagging behind slightly - but I'm still tearing through content and freezing most mobs I come across - so I only have to deal with 66% of their health.

I've got capped resists, 1800 hp and 5.1k armor. next up is another 30% armor node followed by some weapon elemental damage and a bunch of life nodes and more elemental damage. Putting my weapon aside, the gear isn't exactly beginner gear - but I'd have a much harder time as any other starting class, I'll guarantee that.

Fair enough.
I honestly haven't stuck with a character long enough since OB to really know how hard melee is at that level. I have multiple 20-somethings laying around.
So you probably know what you're talking about, is what I'm saying.

"

Milchut wrote:

Fair enough.
I honestly haven't stuck with a character long enough since OB to really know how hard melee is at that level. I have multiple 20-somethings laying around.
So you probably know what you're talking about, is what I'm saying.

I probably should've mentioned it earlier, but I'm playing on Hardcore, and as a result of that I'm biased towards a solid defense. Since this build also requires me to stand in the middle of the fight, I really can't afford to end up in situations where I constantly drop below 50% health (It's bad for you!).

It's not that melee is hard at 40, but if you're focusing soley on HP by the time you are 50~ you're going to run into quite a wall unless your abilities permit you to stay at some range whilst fighting - not sure that would count as melee though in my book.

Using Glacial Hammer like this requires you to stand in the middle of packs, which might be considered suicidal at later levels if it weren't for the builds ability to reliably freeze surrounding enemies.

Edit: Thought I'd also add (in reply to a previous comment of yours) that Culling Strike works on bosses, but it only operates at 10% hp or less.

What auras will you be using?
I am considering no-BM build:

The only aura that boosts cold damage is Hatred and it only scales of physical damage.
Since this build will stack cold/elemental damage I dunno how effective will Hatred be.

Other than that probably Grace + Determination could be a good idea.

Glacial Hammer
+Melee Splash
+Faster Attacks
+Weapon Elemental Damage
+Blood Magic
+Multistrike

Dunno if Life Leech would be necessary if you have 5.4% Life regen.
Cold Penetration would be nice but I don't see how can I fit it in :D

If you take Blood Magic Keystone, the only auras you will be using are the default BM auras:
Grace+Wrath+Anger

The build I'm suggesting is this one: link

Any comments on this?