[1.3.0] 90% cold Glacial Hammer Duelist - with videos!

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sai25 wrote:

Hi there!
I've used a similar build after Melee Splash patch. Really safe and fun to play.
I've tried DW and 2h. Both work fine.
Tried it in end game maps, as lvl85 Duelist, around 6.5k HP, 10k armor, all resist cap and around 11k dps on GH. Auras Grace/Hatred/Purity.

PS: I guess you just need to fix the armor, its really low. Or at least get more Endurance charges for Immortal Call.

Keep with the good work!

How did you sustain mana without Clarity? No Hrimsorrow plus mana leech from gear? Mana leech gem? Or were you just using a four-link so mana consumption wasn't an issue?

I'm dedicating an aura and at least eight or ten passive points on being able to sustain GH without leech.

Though I suppose if I were to get a six-link, instead of socketing more damage in through melee physical or weapon elemental, I could socket a mana leech gem and use the freed up aura slot for some more defense. I certainly feel like I'm doing enough damage as it is.

Hello again! I've used BM gem on a 6L, but you can use Mana leech gem instead.

Hi again.
I gonna tell you the same thing that i'said on the other thread you followed to start using DW.

You should try Frostbite on CWDT gem or just as simple curse in last case.

Cold Pen lvl20 gives 35% penetration.
Frostbite lvl6 gives the same 35% penetration, more freeze chance and duration.
A simple lvl4 CWDT would keep it procced all the time.

I do the same on my Molten Strike/IB build, using CWDT with Flammability, and in hard high damage bosses just swap it to Enfeeble.

I'd suggest BoR with GH+Splash+Multi+ BM/Mana Leech or WED/Add Fire or even Cold Pen.

Penetration is not the same as lowered resists. I suggest you read this http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Penetration.

While frostbite does wonders for a glacial hammer build, that added step of manually cursing takes away from the flow of combat a bit. Having it on cwdt, while auto, still requires you to be hit first. While elemental weakness is not as effective as frostbite, it can appear as a corrupted implicit on gloves which makes cursing a step you don't have to think about.

Of course, if frostbite can appear as an implicit(in the future or not), I'd gladly take it over elemental weakness. But due to the mechanics of the game, curses get shafted hard in certain situations and I'd actually prefer not to rely on them. Currently, I actually want temporal chains over elemental weakness on my gloves since I feel they offer more utility vs mobs that resist curses.



I'm probably the least tanky variation of all these glacial hammer builds.
Forgoing life on accessories for damage AND having low armour WHILE using abyssus.
With that said, I'll leave this here:

Hello.
Good idea too.
I just gave a cheap idea without spending currency at all.
Tho i still prefer Frostbite, you can gather a huge pack, Frostbite and shatter them all :)
And that way you can even use it with CWDT, because minions will attack you while you gather the pack. Personally i used manually the lvl20 Frostbite (CWDT dont even existed backthen).
I've used GH build after Melee Splash was released (April 7, 2013). Tried it with lots of variations for 2 months and made a break for 11 months, until last month. Probably im going to try it again soon.
Atm as Molten Strike or IB build i just use Flammability with low lvl CWDT.

@This: You can handle easily late game maps with that defensive stats?

One of my goals with this build is to get a decent amulet corrupted for extra curses (probably after I 6l an Astral Plate so I don't have to fuss with resists).

From there, I would replace my rejuvenating totem with a curse totem, which would both be better at tanking because the support gem could be level 20, and it would be better at cursing as it could hit entire packs instead of a few mobs at a time. Currently I use Weakness on CWDT mostly as a way to mitigate ranged damage when I dive into a mob pack and desync causes me to spend a second or two not freezing everything (or those situations where ranged mobs are outside my freeze range). Against exiles and dangerous bosses however, having elemental weakness fall off whenever I get hit is actually a bit of a downside.

I was thinking about using Frostbite instead of Weakness as my curse, and before the changes to dual wielding I probably would have given it a try. As things are currently however, my damage is high enough that I don't think that it's really all that necessary against non-boss mobs, even overcapped resist mobs on 74 maps are pretty damn easy to kill.

As for boss mobs, curse effects are reduced dramatically, so it would really be a choice between a couple hundred more DPS, or attacks that hurt me slightly less. I think when I get to that point, I'll probably just keep Frostbite as an alt skill and swap them around to see which one I'm more comfortable with.

@sai25

Well I most certainly made it up to your level.

I'll leave the specifics out since this is gilrad's build thread.

That doesnt answer my question. You have the same lvl as me. lol
How you handle lvl77+ maps? Whats your weakness?

Well from my experience, packs are usually no problem at all - rush in, get a proliferated freeze off, and nobody's going to touch you (especially true if you have some increased AOE effects).

Bosses can be much more troublesome, but if his single-target DPS is as crazy as his AOE, he could possibly just perma-freeze them (remember, Abyssus gives a huge boost to crit damage). With enough attack speed, 4-second freezes, and a 50% chance to crit, bosses probably won't be able to touch him.

Can you guys solo Olmec's Sanctum? Easy map but hard for melee builds. I would like to see some vids of GH build working nowadays. Especially @This with such low defensive stats.

I guess you cant do Atziri with this build tho.