[3.23] Heavy Strike Champion | Stun & Chill | Start>Endgame

!!!No changes from 3.22, build got buffed from skill gem changes!!!

POB (3.22):
https://pastebin.com/C8082Ur8

Video Guide:
https://youtu.be/xOfzbM_murk

Showcase playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyZZROTmiOw&list=PLn4lVg3-kDCu0e1cYgp_bOU_LpS2AR6uW


Greetings Exiles, I've previously played a stun-oriented build way back when GGG did not nerf stun such that unique bosses have stun immunity after getting stunned. GGG recent 3.21 & 3.22 patch mentioned some updates about stun, so I thought I'd re-imagine the old build I've played in 3.22. League started with it, reached 97 by end of week 1 so I'd say it's pretty okay.

Not ticked in POB- :
-Berserk (Warlord Mark need to stun rare mobs to generate, dependent on how juiced the map is)
-Phase Run (Mostly used for phasing, to benefit for DPS don't leap slam after casted)
-Vaal Ancestral Warchief (may not have enough vaal souls to activate)

!!!To change Endgame to Budget Configuration:!!!
Change tree in 'Tree' tab
Change active skill & aura in 'Skills' tab
Change item set in 'Items' tab
Notable changes: Aura setup because difference in using Aul vs not using

!!!Build needs to aim for around 75% total Reduced Enemy Stun Threshold for QOL (REST for short)!!!

Pros & Cons:
Pros
+ Decent clearing speed.
+ Good DPS (and uptime) for endgame because of chill & stun
+ Quite tanky because of Perseverance armor evasion stacking
+ Cheap to start & gear (niche uniques), but scaleable to 10++ mil dps

Cons
- Melee strike skill in modern POE
- Slow-moderate movement speed (leap slam still fast)
- Unique dependent
- Do not jump into mob packs early in the maps if your fortify is not up yet.
- If not stunning, build will fall off (hit damage stun calc DOES NOT INCLUDE impale damage),
will feel bad on bosses / rares that you can't reliably stun, can be managed if respecced Ascendancy into perma Fortify

Offensive layers:
1. Stun-oriented Heavy Strike + Onslaught on stun (Perseverance belt) + Rage on stun (Warlord Mark)
Stun-heavy build. Activates onslaught from stunning hit and generate rage when stunning rares for berserk activation.
Perseverance allows for very high %increased damage from stacking evasion & armor, which is both offensive & defensive for us.
!!!Berserk effect is constant regardless of rage count!!!

2. Culling Strike + Chill from mace mastery + stun
2 tree points for very OP effect, free culling & reduced action speed up to 30% (easy to hit because we scale average hit damage more instead of DPS).
Allows for continuous hitting vs other build because of the CC effects (better DPS uptime)

3. Champion ascendancy for Adrenaline + flat added phys from impale
Adrenaline serves as a panic failsafe since reaching low life is easier nowadays at 50%,
lots of flat added phys from applying impale (build not focused on impale DPS, so only need to stack them reliably)

Defensive layers:
1. Armor + Evasion + >75% res + Stun Immunity + Fortify
%Armor & Evasion from tree
Armor from gear, Determination, Molten Shell, flasks.
Evasion from gear, Grace, flasks. Focus so that armor is higher as it's more important.

>75% res from Tree

Stun Immunity from Unstoppable Hero ascendancy when fortified.

Fortification from Perseverance on stunning melee hits.

2. Chill + Stun
Chill from mace mastery + stun allows build to CC enemies to a decent extent, which helps both widening the window for melee to hit enemies
and window to evade winding up attacks.

3. Ailment removal + recovery on reaching low life (<50%)
From ascendancy node First to Strike


Mastery, Ascendancy, Bandits & Pantheon
Important Mastery :
1. Accuracy mastery (+ Flat accuracy)
2. Armor mastery (All max res)
3. Mana mastery (Reservation Efficiency)
4. Attack mastery (+1 Strike target) + Tribal Fury node for melee Splash
5. Resistance mastery (Corrupted Blood immunity)
6. Mace mastery (chill on mace hit)
7. Mace mastery (culling on stunning hit)

Ascendancy :
1. Unstoppable Hero (Stun immunity + att. speed)
2. Master of Metal (Impale for flat added phys)
3. Inspirational (Banner aura reservation)
4. First to Strike, Last to Fall (Intimidate + recovery) / Fortitude (For permant fortify if DPS is low that you're not stunning)

Bandits :
Alira (Crit multi + res, otherwise difficult to cap resists & have some chaos res)

Pantheon :
Soul of Arakaali (Reduced DOT & Increased life recovery from leech & regen)
Soul of Ryslatha / Yugul / Garukhan (life flasks, or Yugul for reduced curse effectiveness during cursed maps, reduced shock effect)


Gem setup:
Main Skill (Heavy Strike):
Heavy Strike + Multistrike + Brutality + Melee Phys Dmage + Ruthless + Maim (or Fortify if not stunning reliably)
Main skill, Multistrike + Ruthless allows for high average hit on specific condition (Final repeat of multistrike + Ruthless hits) to overcome stun.
!!!Culling strike added to simulate culling on stunning hit dps!!!

Warlord's Mark
Warlord's Mark + Mark On Hit
Warlord's Mark for rage generation + chance to double stun duration. Extremely satisfying to double stun duration on ruthless hits (>2.5 sec).
Only works for rares or above so generation is not 100% reliable, depends on rare density in maps.

Leap Slam
Leap slam + Faster Attacks
Standard leap slam setup. Leap slam benefits alot from the stun duration investment on the build.

CWDT
CWDT + Molten Shell + Purifying Flame(Divergent) + Phase Run
Guard skill + Consecrated ground generation + Phasing (not really for damage, but can be applied for hits when have not used other skills yet.
!!!Phase Run need to be slotted last on activation, that is bottom left slot / bottom right (if CWDT in bottom left)!!!

Aura
Pride + Determination + Precision + Herald of Purity + Enlighten lvl 3. Grace need not be linked (when using Aul)
Aura skills. For Budget version, drop Herald of purity and lower Precision level since already getting alot from Hinekora Sight.

Utility (Slot whereever free)
Enduring Cry, Berserk, Vaal Ancestral Warchief, Dread Banner
Enduring Cry on LMB click with call to arms for instant activation, Berserk whenever you like, Vaal ancestral + normal version as needed.
!!!Need to adopt Dread Banner dropping and picking up playstyle, sometimes forgot to pickup once used!!!


My Gear + Explanation:
(Disclaimer: completed the last leg of the build in POB because it's just numerical improvements at that point)

2H-Mace:
High phys rare mace w. high base crit chance
Top 3 base in order: Terror Maul (high crit) / Piledriver (20% REST) > Meatgrinder (% double damage)

Helmet:
Rares > Abyssus
Rares into Abyssus for attributes and damage. Play softcore lol.
Best enchantment: %Heavy Strike deals double damage
!!!!Aim for low rolls of % increased phys damage taken (40%-42% maximum)!!!!

Body Armour:
5L rare > 6L Rare > 6L Double Inf. mod astral plate
Deterministically available DPS mods via crafting
Easy 6L via Celestial Justicar, apply awakener orb for aura effect.
Get separate chest with +attack crit (Elder / Hunter base), awakener orb together & pray for good outcome.
Got mine with decent life rolls, freed up life mastery (15% inc. life if no life roll on body armor)

Gloves:
Rares > Rares with Sear Ex. & Eater implicit
Need +1 strike for QOL. Not mandatory, but highly recommended. Bought a base with %damage against chilled from Incursion and craft from there.
Best implicits : +1 strike & phys overwhelm

Boots:
Rares > Redblade Tramplers > Ralakesh Impatience
Redblade Tramplers give REST, live & MS. Ralakesh for Full end., frenzy & power charges when stationary (during attack)
Best enchantment: % life regen

Belt:
Belt of The Deceiver > Perseverance > Corrupted Perseverance
Stun oriented belt for fortify + onslaught. Huge %inc. damage when investing into armor + evasion (Make sure Determination + Grace aura is up)
!!!Best corruption is elemental res, otherwise hard to cap res & get decent chaos res!!!

Rings:
Double Rares > Rare + Circle of Guilt
Double Rares (w. dexterity + intelligence craft for stats requirement), Life + Res. Transition into Circle of Guilt with effect of inc. buff effect & phys damage reduction / inc. phys damage.
Circle fo Guilt is for pure DPS stats increase, only transition once comfortable capping res on other equipment slots.

Amulet:
Hinekora Sight > Aul's Uprising (Grace),
Early game budget version use Hinekora Sight for massive accuracy + evasion. Grace Aul best version because provide good dexterity source.
Best anoint: Influence (inc. effect of our many auras), Blacksmith Clout for budget version

Jewels:
- Large cluster with Heavy Hitter (REST), Battlefield Dominator (more REST), Graceful Execution (good stats + attributes)
- Small cluster jewel w. 1 of the 50% aura reservation (Pride / Determination)
- !!!Budget setup requires 2 small cluster jewel with aura reservation!!!
- Lethal Pride at Duelist jewel location is MASSIVE (aim for 2 points of REST), the rest can be life, crit chance, crit multi, double damage, phys taken as fire, whatever.
- Watchers Eye with Flask charge on Crit w. Precision + Pride inc. damage (honestly, can pick whatever nodes you like, we have alot of auras)
- Jewel with %life, crit multi & reduced curse / shock effects in remaining slots

Flasks:
1.Bleed life flask
2.Jade Flask (curse effect)
3.Stibnite Flask (evasion)
4.Diamond Flask (freeze)
5.-Flexible- (Amethyst Flask / Lion's Roar / Bottled Faith for endgame)

-Reserved-

This sounds based, might try when I get tired of my Flicker Slayer

Any Update for 3.23 ? Thanks !

"

Mscyril21 wrote:

Any Update for 3.23 ? Thanks !

No changes from 3.22, build actually got buffed from base skill gem changes.

Hey there I'm looking over your build and it looks fun. I have a question about POB though, it shows your MH Stun Threshold in the Calcs section is .25. What exactly does that mean and is higher or lower better?

Does it mean you need to do 25% of the enemies life to successfully stun it?

"

rasmapanda wrote:

Hey there I'm looking over your build and it looks fun. I have a question about POB though, it shows your MH Stun Threshold in the Calcs section is .25. What exactly does that mean and is higher or lower better?

Does it mean you need to do 25% of the enemies life to successfully stun it?

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Stun

It means that for stun to occur, our hits would treat enemies' stunning threshold as if it's only 25% of his original value. Example:

Our damage per hit = 100k
Enemy effective max life = 800k
After reduced stun threshold reduction = 800k * 0.25 = 200k

Now our hits deal 50% (100k / 200k), which results in guaranteed stun chance against the enemy. Without that stat, our hits would deal 100k / 800k, which is 25% chance to stun (your hits can still stun, but not always). If your hits deal less than 10% of enemies effective max life (for this example its 80k without reduced stun threshold, but only 20k with 0.25 REST), you'll have 0% chance to stun.

Lower is better, but beyond 75% reduction (< 0.25) the scaling is not linear anymore, so you can aim for around 0.25.