1.3 [Newbie Friendly] GROUNDSLAMMER BUILD

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agentanorexia wrote:

Could someone give me some advice? I was doing fine right up until level 50, and then started having serious trouble surviving with the build. Up until level 58, yellow voidwalkers would pretty much one shot me, a group of blues or two yellows would be un-tankable, and even a group of 5-7 normals could drop me to half health before I could hit a potion (all docks, lvl 50). I ground my way 50-59 in the docks and was finally able to kill the general. I moved on, Kole two shots me and righteous fire in lunaris takes me down quite fast.

Resists 77 cold/fire, 66 light, -7 chaos, 2.1k health, 1.5k armor
Damage 800 ground slam, 1200 heavy strike (feels too low)

I'm not finding a lot in the way of gear, jack all actually, but based on the comments here I don't think I should be having as much trouble as I am. I've followed the build pretty religiously except for blood magic as I can't see how I could possibly survive with it (also mana potions are fine to sustain my usage of ground slam atm). I alch what I can, particularly weapons, but haven't gotten much better than what I've stashed from 2 previous playthroughs.

Is the problem just gear, or has survivability/life been lowered since release, or something else entirely?

Buy a voidhome from some one, I got one for 2 chaos. my damage went from about 1k on ground slam to 4.5k and heavy strike jumped up to 9k... the 40% lower item rarity and 30% less xp really hurt, but at least you can actually DO current level stuff.

@agentanorexia:

I am no expert, but this is what i see:

1)You only got +Life stats on two pieces of gear... You got a lot of Life Leech stats, but that could help only so much (and your very low DPS makes that even less).
2)The Rarity gem doesn't help either (that is why you have all that +Int stats on your gear???)...Maybe chrom the socket Green and try a Faster Attacks (even better, find another Helm with Life on it)...
You have a fair amount of "MF" stats on your gear: If you have problems with life/DPS then maybe your should focus on more useful stats than IIQ/IIR on gear ;)
3)You need a better weapon! Geofri's Baptism could work, but it makes no sense at your lvl. The suggested Voidhome does Marohi-like damage, but has HUGE drawbacks, so i would only consider it a last resort personally.

Also you haven't posted your skill tree...

Don't expect to find many items to use, relative cheap pieces could be a great upgrade for you (see second edit!).
Don't use Alchs on gear you find, save them and gather some currency, soon you will have to start spending cash for gear (and remember to use poe.xyz.is)...

I have two 2H weapons for the chaos recipe, you can have any of them free if you like (send me a forum PM):


Edit:
Like OP said, remember that your damage is closely linked with your survivability. From personal experience:

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Monty_The_3rd wrote:

...Up until the Catacombs i had no problems, i was pretty tanky and could take anything a lvl-63 area could throw at me...
...Today i finally managed to but a 5L Marohi, and as i predicted i can now go into the Catacombs without being put down by "easy" mobs :)
...

2nd Edit:
From a very quick search, in thread No 379197 there is a 302 phys DPS (386DPS with the Fire dmg) Mace for 1alch (Vengeance Blunt Colossus Mallet).
That is a much better way to spend your alchs ;)

Thanks for the replies guys. On my other chars (63 summoner, 67 templar) I seemed always able to at least find enough gear to continue with some persistence if I put an ir/iq gem on my boss kill skill. Not sure whether I was lucky then, or unlucky now. Actually, I never bought any pieces of gear except an Aegis Aurora on my templar, everything else was self found, and the summoner witch was only lvl 59 clearing all the 66 areas except piety on merciless (ob).

Previous to mid 50's, I had slitherpinch and was actually using leap slam as my primary. My health dropped just as fast, but I had enough leech to bring it up at the same speed. Once I switched to ground slam was where the trouble began.

I'll check out buying some better gear (that site is the tits 0.o). If I still can't seem to move forward after that I'll come back with my tree.

Just wanted to say, this build has been great. Got frustrated at the start with doing my own thing and was recommended to give this a try. Followed the build to the letter and it has worked out really well. I've learned so much and my next character will easily be 10x easier after having done this (although I'm going to try to get around lvl 80 first).

Was in a full party before doing cruel DOM and I was literally the only one who could survive (all around level 50s). I died only once (where everyone was constantly dying) and pretty much soloed him. It's great to constantly have people ask "how much HP do you have" etc. and to do him solo without a party is a breeze.

One thing though. Towards level 45-50 I found my DPS really low compared to others. So I brought a Voidhome. I brought a decent one (30% reduced exp and rarity) and for 3chaos and I would definitely recommend it if you're struggling. My DPS is insane now. I can easily solo the first half of Merc (where I'm up to). It is a trade off for the exp and rarity but in the end it makes finishing the game so much easier and I can clear fast enough for it to offset the exp loss, or alternately you can just level with an inferior maul.

here's my current gear (all aquired through my first real play through, only traded for the maul).




I'll definitely be upgrading when I can farm more currency but for now it's doing pretty well. Just wanted to say thanks!

Hi. Thanks for the exellent guide.

I just wanna know if this build suits for Hardcore mode?

Thanks.

I haven't played hardcore (too many desync and lag issue for me) but I'd say this build would be pretty good provided you got enough levels and played safely. Every death I've had (few) would have been preventable if I had been more leveled or had played safer.

hey guys, I have been following this build and as many others I did put some personal

adjustments to it with main difference being skipping the blood magic passive.
Main goal is to run with 2-3 blood magic gems for my main skills while rest being passives

(auras, cast triggers).

I have reached act2 cruel and am starting to feel pretty vulnerable both in my defensive stats

and offensive. I have been watching alot of streams and the situation for them is completely

different as they seem to steam roll over the acts on cruel. I guess them being fed items from

previous characters and from viewers makes a lot of difference. Me being a complete noob and

just starting out(this is my first hc nemesis char) puts me behind. Although I enjoy the

challenge I do feel I am getting closer and closer to an inevitable RIP.
So I was wondering if any of you more expirienced players might give some pointers what gear

item or skill should be swapped, or skill/supoport ought to be added.

The idea for skills to use are as follows:

Singel target dps: Heavy Strike supported by blood magic, Melee Phys dmg, multistrike (5th not

sure, haven't gotten that far to be thinking about 5l items)

AoE: Ground Slam supported by blood magic, melee phys, faster attacks(and as in heavy strike

situation not sure for last support skills)

Mobility(safe dmg): Leap Slap supported by faster attacks(and blood magic)

For passive skills: Molten Shell, Enduring Cry supported by Cast When Damage Taken(once I get

cast when damage take which may be a far way off)

Auras: Purity, Determination with reduced mana(for now I run Vitality only since I lack all off

the previously mentioned skills)

Main problems I am expiriencing atm is my single target damage is to low for it to be effective

against bosses damage output and life leech(so far only 2% from tree) is to low for damage

income from enemy and with blood magic cost), so I do few hits run out cast a max range ground

slam(or use decoy totem) which takes a loooong time.

My defensive stats at current level(43) are as follows:

health: 1936
armor: 420(21% reduction)
ER: 323
fr: 38
cr: 65
lr: 75
life regen: 36.8
mana regen: 4.3

life got alot easier as I got my second blood magic for ground slam, becouse I was having a big

problems with mana, now that I have life on hit and blood magic on ground slam I can dael with

most trash packs with ease, althought dmg feels low.

my dps stats for my dps skills are:

heavy strike: 747.4 dps
ground slam: 243.7 dps

I have no idea if certain items I am wearing are particulary weak or even completely off so

would love if you could give me som e guidlines. Pls do remember that most of items I have come

from looting as I am very strained for currency so buying expensive items is impossible.

Thanks in advance.

Current passive tree:


Current gear:

Your weapon is atrocious. ALWAYS us a weapon with increased physical damage.

ok thanks, will watch for such weapons. Although hard to find any with 4 links, is it worth dropping links for +phys weapons?

It's easier to get 4 links now with the new patch and you are sacrificing too much potential DPS, So yes, it's worth it to get a better hammer in place of that 4 link weapon. Also keep an eye on your physical resist as you progress through to cruel onto merciless.