[3.1] JUGGERNAUT/BERSERKER 1H+Shield Max Block&Spell Block Tank, Atziri Killer+a BoR version

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ComradeSerge wrote:

IMO, you actually might ditch determination, as you will have EIGHT (8!) endurance charges up most of the time, the realistically small boost from determination won't mean much. Without determination, my standard char is sitting at 11k armour. So IMO, you don't rly need it. I would absolutely use warlords though.

Is there any benefit in running Herald of Ash over Hatred?

Also, what do you think of Physical to Lightning instead of Faster Attacks for Infernal Blow 6L?

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Quickfade wrote:

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ComradeSerge wrote:

IMO, you actually might ditch determination, as you will have EIGHT (8!) endurance charges up most of the time, the realistically small boost from determination won't mean much. Without determination, my standard char is sitting at 11k armour. So IMO, you don't rly need it. I would absolutely use warlords though.

Is there any benefit in running Herald of Ash over Hatred?

Also, what do you think of Physical to Lightning instead of Faster Attacks for Infernal Blow 6L?

You reserve less mana with herald of ash, but ofc, you get less dps than from hatred.

I wouldn't recommend it, you might have problems with ele reflect then, as you will do no or almost no physical dps.

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ComradeSerge wrote:

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Quickfade wrote:

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ComradeSerge wrote:

IMO, you actually might ditch determination, as you will have EIGHT (8!) endurance charges up most of the time, the realistically small boost from determination won't mean much. Without determination, my standard char is sitting at 11k armour. So IMO, you don't rly need it. I would absolutely use warlords though.

Is there any benefit in running Herald of Ash over Hatred?

Also, what do you think of Physical to Lightning instead of Faster Attacks for Infernal Blow 6L?

You reserve less mana with herald of ash, but ofc, you get less dps than from hatred.

I wouldn't recommend it, you might have problems with ele reflect then, as you will do no or almost no physical dps.

Understood. Last question, I have a 1700 armour chest, Unbreakable ascendancy sounds REALLY tempting. The double body armour sounds so good. Any reason to not take that but take Unrelenting instead?

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Quickfade wrote:

Understood. Last question, I have a 1700 armour chest, Unbreakable ascendancy sounds REALLY tempting. The double body armour sounds so good. Any reason to not take that but take Unrelenting instead?

It is absolutely a good Ascendancy node. Of course, with Ascendancy, all nodes are good, the point is to decide which is better. In my opinion, Unrelenting is better for several reasons: a) getting extra armour on an already pretty high armour total (you should have over 10k armour even without determination) is superfluous. After 10k armour, getting more armour is less and less efficient because of diminishing returns; b) you have 8 endurance charges anyway, and having a few k more armour will, for that reason, make even less difference; c) Unrelenting gives you a pretty huge DPS buff (48% incresed damage at 8 endurance charges!) + a survivablity buff, since elemental dmg is a huge source of damage for us. Effectively, having more DPS will save your life much more often than taking 1-2% less physical damage.

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ComradeSerge wrote:

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Quickfade wrote:

Understood. Last question, I have a 1700 armour chest, Unbreakable ascendancy sounds REALLY tempting. The double body armour sounds so good. Any reason to not take that but take Unrelenting instead?

It is absolutely a good Ascendancy node. Of course, with Ascendancy, all nodes are good, the point is to decide which is better. In my opinion, Unrelenting is better for several reasons: a) getting extra armour on an already pretty high armour total (you should have over 10k armour even without determination) is superfluous. After 10k armour, getting more armour is less and less efficient because of diminishing returns; b) you have 8 endurance charges anyway, and having a few k more armour will, for that reason, make even less difference; c) Unrelenting gives you a pretty huge DPS buff (48% incresed damage at 8 endurance charges!) + a survivablity buff, since elemental dmg is a huge source of damage for us. Effectively, having more DPS will save your life much more often than taking 1-2% less physical damage.

That makes sense Comrade. Thanks for the advise! Also your build mentions 5k hp @ lvl 70. I only have 3.9k hp @ lvl 72. I've followed your skill tree and have gotten life on all my gear pieces where possible. How do you achieve 5k hp?

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Quickfade wrote:

That makes sense Comrade. Thanks for the advise! Also your build mentions 5k hp @ lvl 70. I only have 3.9k hp @ lvl 72. I've followed your skill tree and have gotten life on all my gear pieces where possible. How do you achieve 5k hp?

One of the reasons might be you're missing meginord's girdle or you haven't yet taken all the life nodes in the tree. You will definitely get more HP as you level, since we get 12HP per level.

Playing through this latest league again with Serge's awesome build (that's how much I love it) and apparently RNG also supports it. I finally completed my first run through of the Merciless Labyrinth, enchanted my helm and here's the result:



And yes, I'm playing the Infernal Blow version of the build. I feel like I've won the freaking lottery :)

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ComradeSerge wrote:

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Quickfade wrote:

That makes sense Comrade. Thanks for the advise! Also your build mentions 5k hp @ lvl 70. I only have 3.9k hp @ lvl 72. I've followed your skill tree and have gotten life on all my gear pieces where possible. How do you achieve 5k hp?

One of the reasons might be you're missing meginord's girdle or you haven't yet taken all the life nodes in the tree. You will definitely get more HP as you level, since we get 12HP per level.

I have a meginord's girdle and it gives me only 6 additional hp. I'm trying to figure out how you got 5k hp @ lvl 70. Hahaha. Anyway, really good build! Loving it so far, alternating between Ice crash and Infernal Blow. Not sure which I should stick with. Hahah!

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Aldora_the_Summoner wrote:

Playing through this latest league again with Serge's awesome build (that's how much I love it) and apparently RNG also supports it. I finally completed my first run through of the Merciless Labyrinth, enchanted my helm and here's the result:

And yes, I'm playing the Infernal Blow version of the build. I feel like I've won the freaking lottery :)

This is awesome, grats! I've hit exactly the enchant I want too after 10-15 lab runs, I know the feeling :)

Thanks for a great build guide! I thought I should share my experiences.

Since I'm a poor casual, I wasn't able to get Aurora, and thought I should get it later in game, when survivability had become an issue. Still, I'm doing fine without it. Haven't done Atziri yet, but no map bosses I've encountered so far (currently doing T8/9 maps) are of any problem what so ever. So... I might save those exalts, and not get Aurora after all. We'll see.

My tree is at lvl 86 this. Still have some defensive nodes in the Duelist section left, and I haven't taken all of the endurance charges either. Got one from Oak, so I'm currently running 6 charges. Might change the tree a bit... I try to weigh DPS vs Survivabilty, and I'm never dying. So until I am, I'm maxing DPS.

My gear is as follows:



Since I'm not using Aurora, I'm not reyling on ES in any way, and therefore I'm running BloodRage. Also, I found that the Ancestral Protector totem very useful. Great DPS boost, and great for blocking Argus (almost the only boss I don't facetank).
I manually cast a high lvl Warlord's Mark when I need to get the charges up, and maintain it with a low lvl CWDT (that also casts Tempest Shield). I have no mana issues, but just in case, I carry a hybrid flask.

I also wanted to try something other than IceCrash (done a two IC builds already) I went for Earthquake. The quake delay is a bit annoying, but it kills stuff, so I guess it does the job. In my ho, with HoA and Hatred auras, it has a tooltip DPS of 19k (with inc. aoe). With frenzy charges and the AP-totem it's well over 30k. I one-shot most mobs in T8 maps.

I have 6.2k life and almost 14k armour. With charges up and granite flask, it gives a 90% dmg reduction.

I have the Stone of Lazhwar (corrupted, with IAS modifyer) in my inventory when I need that spell block.

Most of my gear cost just a few chaos. Bought the chest last night, white, for 2 vaal. Used exactly one alch to get the + armour + life i wanted. (Resists already taken care of with the other gear.)
Only item that actually cost orbs, was the mace that I payed 50c for. Decent price for a 325 dps 1h mace.

All in all, this build works great! Best survivability + raw damage I've tried yet. Two thumbs up!