[1.1.2] Grallo’s SELF FOUND 2H Mace Leap Slam build

The heart of this build is Leap Slam linked with Faster Attacks, Life Leech or Life Gain on Hit, and damage-increasing support gems (these all can be obtained from quest rewards). Leap Slam is first offered as a reward from the Caged Brute (Warden) quest in Act 1 Normal, so it is easy to get. However, Leap Slam starts out slow, so it's not advisable to begin using it immediately, just start leveling it.

Heavy Strike is the single-target damage skill. Link it with life leech when you get it, and as many damage-enhancing support gems as you can.

Due to changes in the skill tree between 1.0 and 1.1, 2H maces appear to be the most efficient way to go.

If you are playing self-found, you should tweak this build based on what you find. Yes, this sounds like an obvious comment, but part of the fun of self-found is actively adapting your build and play style to the gear you find, so you should deviate from my passive tree if you feel it benefits you.

Don't start with Leap Slam. Until you have the right nodes and right gear, using leap slam is like watching grass grow. Yes, grab it from Act 1 normal when you kill the warden and start leveling it, but don't start using it until you get a Faster Attacks gem, or you have at least around +30% attack speed from the passive tree and gear. I used Ground Slam as it synergizes well with 2H maces, but others such as Sweep or Infernal Blow would probably be fine too.

Cruel Dominus is a f***ing pain unless you get lucky with gear or want to farm for a while. I seriously did not want to farm, so I died/portaled a gazillion times just to move on to merciless. Lame, yes, but when I do grind I actually want to have a chance to get something decent.

By the time you reach the middle parts of Merciless, you will definitely want to be able to dump the Blood Magic(BM) node and start running an aura. I started with Determination, switched to Grace when it dropped, then switched to Hatred (most of the time) once I got Iron Reflexes(IR), because IR got my toughness up to deal with most things, and I needed the DPS boost. Eventually you want to be able to run both Hatred and Grace, but may you may well be into low level maps before this is feasible.

When do you spec out of BM? I did it at level 56 in Act 1 Merc when I got 5L, and was able to use a Blood Magic gem with my Leap Slam. It's not easy to find a 5L, but remember to check all the vendors that can sell items with 5 sockets each time you level - I once did find a 5L from a vendor. If you do NOT find 5L, you need to get mana leech gear, +mana gear, and use Warlords Mark and Devouring Totem for more mana leech. With 2% leech and a Sanctified Mana Potion, you might be able to start supporting an aura around the early 60's.

Make a beeline to Resolute Technique so that you don't whiff all the bloody time thanks to your crappy dex. (22 points)



Next, take Blood Drinker for a bit of life leech, and grab those juicy Mace nodes nearby. This does pigeonhole you into 2H maces, a downside. The RNG favored me with 2H maces, which is one reason I went this route. Lava lash is not needed now, but depending on your build and gear, you may benefit grabbing it much, much later in life. (31 points)


While Blood Magic is not a great end-game node, it makes leveling a Marauder MUCH MUCH more convenient - not being OOM all the time and having to spam blue potions. Use those slots for resist/quicksilver potions, and if if you are very lucky to have one drop (I did not) a granite potion. It is also very cheap to spec out of once you no longer need it. So Blood Magic is our next stop on the roadmap (35 points)


Good attack speed is essential for Leap Slam to be viable, so I headed next to Berserking (42 points):


My resists absolutely blew, so I decided to grab Sentinel and the 6% all resist a bit to the southwest. If you have better gear, you could delay or skip this, but I think Sentinel is an integral part of this build and should be taken at some point no matter what, and there are some nice life nodes nearby. (46 points)


OK, at this stage if you have been lucky enough to have a faster attacks gem drop, you should probably head down Diamond Flesh at the south end of the duelist area. I didn't have them gem, so I instead went for acceleration. I was also short on lighting resist, so grabbed the 18% node near Sentinel. Obviously pick your resist nodes based on gear. (55 points)


Now I was close to getting to Merciless, I started heading toward Diamond Flesh and eventually grabbing some other resist nodes (67 points):


I had been farming Merciless ledge for a few levels, when finally I got a 5L 2H mace, got an acceptable alchemy roll, and decided it was time to dump the Blood Magic node. This freed up 4 points, so I grabbed resist nodes to max my resists and also 2 more life nodes (67 points still)



Head next to Iron Reflexes. I also got some better gear and was able to drop more resist nodes and still maintain 77% fire/cold/lightning resists (71 points)


From here, I went for Baptism by Light, about 5 more life nodes, and Vigor (80 points)


That's where I stand now after downing Piety and just about to start Maps. I have not decided where to go next.

Leap Slam (AOE):
For 4L:
Leap Slam
Faster Attacks
Melee Physical Damage (or Added Fire Damage if you don't have it yet)
Life Gain on Hit (Perhaps Life Leech would be better, not sure to be honest)

For 5L:
Add Blood Magic to make it much easier to sustain auras.

For 6L:
I've never had a 6L (in any league), but some options might be Added Fire Damage or Concentrated Effect.

For your sanity if nothing else, I do not recommend linking Multistrike with Leap Slam, but it can be pretty funny just to see what happens!!!

Heavy Strike (single target damage):
For 4L:
Heavy Strike
Life Leech
Melee Physical Damage
Added Fire Damage

For 5L:
Faster Attacks

for 6L:
The chances of me getting two 6L pieces playing self-found are extremely remote, so I don't worry about this.

Defensive:
You will get Cast when Damage Taken(CwDT)as a quest reward for the Library quest in Act 3 Merciless. If you are lucky you might get one sooner. What you link with it will depend on your gear of course, and I very often change what I link with it. This is what I use right now at level 64.

4L:
Cast when Damage Taken (Keep it at level 1 to begin with)
Enduring Cry (level 5)
Enfeeble (level 1)
The fourth slot I sometimes use Blood Rage (level 5), but blood rage can kill you if you are not careful, so I take it out sometimes.

Totems:
I like Devouring Totem for added life leech, and for removing targets for necromancer rezzes. It also scales well with high attack speed. Decoy Totem can be useful for very high damage bosses.

Curses:
Warlord's Mark is the one to start with. Once you get enough toughness and leech from other sources, Enfeeble is the way to go for damage reduction, but you will need some Int to use it. I have dual-curse unique boots right now, so I am currently using both, one is linked with CwDT.

Auras:
Auras are the main reason to get the hell out of Blood Magic once you reach Merciless. Get Reduced Mana at the very first chance and start leveling it in an unused gem slot (remember you can level gems in your alternate weapon slots even when they are swapped out). Anger is superb for damage, and once you take Iron Reflexes, Grace gives a huge boost to armor. I briefly ran Determination before I got IR, and also I didn't have a Grace drop until near level 60.

4L:
Reduced Mana
Grace
Anger
Anything else that can benefit from reduced mana, like a curse or a totem.

This is my current gear at level 64. Yes, some of it is utter sh*t, but I play self-found, so it takes a while to upgrade. Despite this, it got me through Act 3 Merciless with the exception of Dominus, who I will not attempt yet since he is not worth the pain and grief for me to try right now.

Weapon:


Armor and other gear:

A lot of work needed here, but I'm poor at the moment. Once you are into merciless, you need to have instant-heal (seething or bubbling) red flasks. Try to get ones that cure status effects like frozen, bleeding, cursed. Granite Flasks are VERY handy. I was level 60 something before I got one, and I still need to reroll it to get better mods, but didn't want to use all my orbs. A Sanctified Mana Potion helps a lot when you are mana poor and trying to sustain auras. I keep an Amethyst Flask in my inventory for chaos damage since I have no chaos resist on gear yet.

Normal: Side with Oak for the life.

Cruel: I was torn between Oak for the physical damage and Kraityn for the attack speed. Based on my experience in Domination, I decided to go with the physical damage. With Faster Attack gems and passive nodes, I think I will have enough attack speed.

Merciless: I killed all for the passive point, but siding with Oak for the endurance charge would also be OK.