[1.1.3] 2h Glacial Hammer

This is not optimized, almost self found type of build. If you are looking for an uber version of it - replace my jewelry with +phys and +ele% pieces. it should easily double the damage. This is not a very end-game build as i cannot sustain maps above 73 (rng.. ) but is perfectly capable of dealing with these i had pleasure(?) doing

1) This is 2h, Resolute Technique Glacial Hammer build. Main concepts of it:

- Glacial Hammer WITHOUT multistrike used to deliver solid freezes
- added Lightning damage + wrath + lots of WED passives + static blows == solid shocks
- Elemental proliferation for UBER crowd control

2) Gear




3) Passives


4) Gems
GH + Cold Pen + WED + Melee Splash + Elemental Prolif (AOE setup)
GH + Cold Pen + WED + Melee Phys (single target setup)
Vaal Lightning Strike + Added Cold + Ele Prolif + WED (to spike bosses. ultra fun, however gems are not optimized)
Red Mana + Wrath + Hatred

Decoy Totem/Leap/Enduring Cry (self cast)

I currently run no CWDT setup. It did not proc frequently enough for me to care. Cold Penetration i consider MANDATORY.

5) How it Works

GH main strenght and selling point is non-crit freeze + 33% culling strike. Both are not visible in tooltip. This is very easy to be ignored or downright ruined by gems like Multistrike.

So I planned: i want to freeze as large pack and possible with as little effort as I can and cull them. Enter Elemental Proliferation + Melee Splash. These two in short result in very very high chance of freezing entire pack due to having multiple flat chances to freeze and with Ele Prolif one needs only one frozen mob to stop entire pack. Same applies to shock. Static Blows add flat chance that means several tries.

But freezes/shocks that last shorter than interval between next swing of my maul are irrelevant, arent they? Sure. Enter Temporal Chains (from corrupt gloves). This curse prolongs all freezes/shocks by a LARGE margin. This is a reason why i can shock stack mobs in maps with nothing more than mediocre roll on maul and wrath. i have no other lightning damage source.

This curse (free in my case due to gloves, but there are low lvl gloves with built in similar mechanic) is WAY more effective than frostbite or vulnerability. because it provides longer freezes (safety, more cull) and shocks (more damage, and in effect even more damage because each subsequent shock is longer)

6) why multistrike is a noob trap

It increases tooltip dps by a lot. it gives that 'uber' feeling. true.. true.

but.
a) 3 small hits might deal more dps, but they are less likely to shock/freeze for long if at all
b) aiming. auto aim is cool et all. but GH is a skill based gem. it works like this - you freeze a pack of mobs with AOE attack. rare champion got proli-frozen. now you want to focus only HIM, not entire pack (where are freeze sources that you do not want to kill). so you use single target, non-multistrike skill to carefully kill the rare before freeze wears out. with multistrike you have no chance.

Once one learns how to do this 'freeze throng, kill solitary' technique most fights get trivial. any map boss with adds? EASY. boss that spawns tons of crap? EASY. dangerous rare surrounded by trash? EASY

in short - if you like multistrike then do not combine it with GH. youll ruin entire concept of GH and use it just like re-colored heavy strike. do not bother. heavy strike is better.

7) but how to deal with SINGLE bosses.

there are not so many single, no-adds bosses in this game. really. you can always bait something with you. but lets assume that the boss IS single.

vaal lightning strike for shocks, single target for freezes. boss might not be perma frozen (mind my mediocre gear) but it is frozen for long enough to not pose a serious threat. vaal lightning strike is a bit undervaluated but it is very good in such situations

8) cons

- desync. it is UNBELIEVABLE how much desync stun+freeze+chill generates. it is ABSURDLY bad. be ready to spam /oos. and i mean spam. no other build ive ever played (including cyclone!) desyncs so bad.
- cold resistant mobs are a pita but well.. these always are
- DEX requirements. sadly GH is a very badly 'colored' gem. it is RED gem and most of the best nodes for it are RED/BLUE but you need to use Cold Penetration that is pure GREEN gem. this creates need for DEX and a big one. There are not many DEX nodes around Templar. This explains some 'questionable' passive choices i made.

Cool Build - I think Glacial Hammer is an under-played skill. My Ambush toon is a Glacial Hammer Staff build - but is critical based. The higher damage crits allow for stuff to stay frozen long enough without the need for elemental proliferation. I kind of gave up on the toon at 80 though for 2 reasons:

1) Using Staff Block (~28%), and Armor/ES Hybrid (4500/1500) didn't make me as tough as I thought - I actually felt very squishy.

2) As you said - ACC from Templar is a pia. Even with the 2 10% ACC +20 Dex nodes, and 20 more dex from the tree, and some ACC on gear - I was only at like 78% tooltip accuracy.

3) Unluckiest time on Ambush ever with linking, couldn't even get my armor or staff to 5L - was ridiculous and got frustrated and stayed poor since everything went into failed attempts. I think the extra link would have helped a lot (life leech).



Kudos again on something different. If you keep leveling it, I hope you have better luck than I did with mine.

Could you provide a break down of what you went for first and so on when levelling?

i leveled from the start as GH. this had two issues:
- mana costs
- GH working only with maces and staves

first one i solved with 2*Perandus Signets (can be cheaply substituted for +curse rings for that 'mana on kill' affix that is surprisingly effective early on) and flasks. i think i run 2 or 3 mana flasks before being able to BM Clarity of high enough level

second one - well, i play in standard and i have an impressive array of twinking gear. however there are fortunately 3 leveling maces (honourhorme, 'somethingquol' spiked maul and Baptism) with Voidhoime if one does not care about rarity penalty. these 3 should be enough to get you to late cruel/early merc. then you can use vendor recipe on a good white maul for a nice phys roll. that should be enough for leveling.


or you can do what everyone is doing - level as facebreaker + infernal blow or searing bond/flameblast. both share GH passives so nothin to lose here except fun.


to help me, and to have more fun, i had a 3Linked Raise Zombie that provided meatshield and some entertainment. dropped them ~lvl50. i think i used raise spectre too but im not sure

passives:
first get 'mana regen starting node' and then rush to resolute technique
second get to marauder start (mainly for life and flexibiliy to spec any resist from his resist cluster, gearing can be sketchy)
third get rest of mana regen start branch
fourth get aura nodes and fill in the gaps
fifth get static blows and start picking up dmg nodes (not really needed before 50-60)

initially - gimping myself on purpose - i went STRAIGHT to the Breath of Rime notable. i do not recommend it. it is a very VERY good notable, however price is steep due to meh placement. if only the placement was different

one concern is DEX. cold penetration is full DEX gem and requires ~140 dex when maxed. this amount is not available through Templar passives and as such has to be acquired with gear choices. this dictated some of my un-optimal gear selections