[2.2] (Updated) Dkodr's HS/GS Stun Guide

is Hypothermia viable?

"

Bash wrote:

is Hypothermia viable?

I can't c how that would benefit.

Added optimized skilltree, updated stats, added links.

Thanks for the updates.

I have a problem, I have endu charg on melee stun socketed in my GS and I get them but the "stun" symbol is never shown above the mobs...can u tell me why?

I am not sure why they don't show, I'm gonna do some testing to try and find out why.
I guess it has to do with the stun duration modifier and stun threshold reduction numbers that you can find on your skills Offence tab, combined with your physical damage pr. hit. I think that when those numbers get high enough the monsters will be stunned for such a long time that the animation can appear.

edit: this is from the wiki linked to in the first post

"

"Whenever a player or monster takes damage, there is a chance they will be stunned. A stun interrupts whatever that creature was doing while a brief animation is played.

The chance to stun is based off the damage done in a single hit compared to the target's maximum life. The default length of stuns is 350ms.
The duration of stuns can be altered by increased Block and Stun Recovery, increased Stun Duration on enemies, increased Stun Duration with Two Handed Melee Weapons on enemies and similar modifiers.

Whether or not a stun occurs can be calculated using the following formula:[2]

stun_chance (%) = 200 * damage / defender_effective_max_life "

Dkodr, very nice writeup. I love this build, I've been playing this ever since I saw Dyz's guide.

In the previous patch the synergy between endurance charges and immortal call was great. In reflect maps I could hit a 12 second immortal call and have 6 charges up before it was up, and thus have it up almost permanently. Now with the massive IC nerf, I can only have it up about 4 seconds, and I'm not able to get my endurance charges up to max in that time.

Each endurance charge only provides 4% damage reduction of physical damage only, the ele resist bonus is useless since most gear to max resists anyway. So I feel that endurance charges don't add a whole lot to the build anymore. The 4 passive points could be better spent elsewhere and the ECoMS gem could be switched to more damage.

On the other hand frenzy charges are now insane good. 5% attack speed and 5% MORE damage, which means it's multiplicative. It's perfect for this build. Perfect for any non-spell build lol. I'm thinking of picking up the frenzy charge node in the dualist area and picking up the extra frenzy charge from the bandits. I'm even also considering using the frenzy skill, just for those bosses where I'm not able to get the frenzy charges from mobs beforehand or long fights. This will require testing though.

Thoughts?

"

mosasaur152 wrote:

Dkodr, very nice writeup. I love this build, I've been playing this ever since I saw Dyz's guide.

In the previous patch the synergy between endurance charges and immortal call was great. In reflect maps I could hit a 12 second immortal call and have 6 charges up before it was up, and thus have it up almost permanently. Now with the massive IC nerf, I can only have it up about 4 seconds, and I'm not able to get my endurance charges up to max in that time.

Each endurance charge only provides 4% damage reduction of physical damage only, the ele resist bonus is useless since most gear to max resists anyway. So I feel that endurance charges don't add a whole lot to the build anymore. The 4 passive points could be better spent elsewhere and the ECoMS gem could be switched to more damage.

On the other hand frenzy charges are now insane good. 5% attack speed and 5% MORE damage, which means it's multiplicative. It's perfect for this build. Perfect for any non-spell build lol. I'm thinking of picking up the frenzy charge node in the dualist area and picking up the extra frenzy charge from the bandits. I'm even also considering using the frenzy skill, just for those bosses where I'm not able to get the frenzy charges from mobs beforehand or long fights. This will require testing though.

Thoughts?

Yea I thought about going for more frenzy charges and it's certainly an interesting option.
Personally my damage output feels so good that I rather spec into defensive nodes like endurance charges, it is also the fact that using Endurance Charge on Melee Stun gives reduced stun threshold reduction and increased stun duration with quality, thus making it synergize strongly with the stun mechanics the build is based upon. I guess it's just a personal preference, one must feel for oneself
how the setup works with the gear that you have, if the damage is lacking and you are tanky enough perhaps taking an extra frenzy charge is good.
Btw, 1 frenzy charge now gives 4%as and 4%more dmg, not 5%.
Another fact is that Blood Rage is needed to generate those frenzy charges, it means that sometimes we loose the duration of it and have to recast it, and if we do not generate kills within 11 seconds it dissipates.
I am running with 6 endurance charges atm, and I took 1 as a quest reward in merciless bandit quest by helping Oak. This means if I took a frenzy charge instead I could still get 6 endurance charges from the tree and thus end up with 6 and 4, it is a perfectly viable. It all ends up with having to decide between damage and defense, softcore or hardcore.
Another thing is that by using the combo CWDT-Imm.Call-Warlords Mark I have no problems whatsoever to generate max endurance charges within the 4-5 seconds window of being immune to physical damage, perhaps you are not stunning consistently enough to generate charges?
Feel free to post your Frenzy testing results here, all information that would enhance the build is welcome.

Updated and added content. Added a new video using a 527dps mace in a lvl 79 Shipyard map

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr1nEl7zPqM

"

Yea I thought about going for more frenzy charges and it's certainly an interesting option.
Personally my damage output feels so good that I rather spec into defensive nodes like endurance charges, it is also the fact that using Endurance Charge on Melee Stun gives reduced stun threshold reduction and increased stun duration with quality, thus making it synergize strongly with the stun mechanics the build is based upon. I guess it's just a personal preference, one must feel for oneself
how the setup works with the gear that you have, if the damage is lacking and you are tanky enough perhaps taking an extra frenzy charge is good.

I take back what I said about endurance charges, they are very good if you have lots of armor because the damage reduction stacks. I will most likely still keep at least 5 in my build, and continue to use the ECoMS gem. Still I think the frenzy charges are worth more now with the buff in the latest patch. Not all of us have the godly Terror Maul that you have, and need extra dps for stunning. I have a 591 dps mace (that unfortunately doesn't have a stun threshold reduction mod) and I can perma-stun about 90% of bosses without issue. The bosses with high life totals and especially with maps with boss extra life mods, it becomes more problematic. This is where I think the extra damage from frenzy charges might tip the scale in my favor.

"

Btw, 1 frenzy charge now gives 4%as and 4%more dmg, not 5%.

Yes, you are correct, it's 4%. Still very much worth it IMO.

"

Another thing is that by using the combo CWDT-Imm.Call-Warlords Mark I have no problems whatsoever to generate max endurance charges within the 4-5 seconds window of being immune to physical damage, perhaps you are not stunning consistently enough to generate charges?

I stun trash mobs 100% of the time, including rare mobs. That is not the issue. My Ground Slam has multistrike, so with 3 hits all mobs are dead. But that only gives me 1 endurance charge, and I have to move to the next pack. So have to kill 4-6 packs in 4 seconds, which I don't see to be possible. But you say you're doing it, so I'm curious as to what I'm doing wrong.

Your Warlord's Mark on CWDT works for you? For me I don't get hit that often since I'm stunning everything so I don't see that as being very useful. Let me know how this is working for you.

I've got my Warlord's mark on Curse on Hit with my Leap Slam, so I can leap into a boss and then immediately start Heavy Striking him. I use the curse mainly for the extra chance to stun, everything else the curse does being secondary.

Also I notice you're not using Increased AoE for your Ground Slam. Even though it doesn't increase the dps number on your tooltip, it effectively does increase your dps (since you're hitting more enemies with it), and you are preventing damage (because you're essentially stunning the screen). I only have a 5 link for GS and it's: GS - Melee Physical - Multistrike - ECoMS - Increased AoE. It does take a bit longer to kill things, but you take 0 damage, and kill things all at once. I suppose it's just personal preference.

Take a look at the last video I posted, there I use a 527dps mace. You can see I have endurance charges up almost the whole time, and how warlords mark go off from time to time. Endurance charge on melee stun gives 1 charge pr. enemy stunned, so why you can't get more than 1 charge pr. pack is beyond me.
I don't use AOE gem as I have some AOE nodes from the passive tree (top left), I think it works fine with those so I can use a dps gem instead. But as with everything it boils down to personal preference.