[2.0] 1h (mace) + Shield ice crash marauder, auto end charges / ic combo is back, extreme low budget

hi! I wanted to go a mara since my L85 witch magma orb ripped on tempest and I started to follow this guide 2 days ago, just hit level 70 and getting some minor changes done before starting to mapping

must say I like this build! Currently at 9k dps with hoa and golem (not using hatred yet cause of mana problems) and 13k flat armor and 4k hp, since im playing tempest i will go for 6 endurage charges probably and took oak-oak-oak

managed to get a decent mace for 6c, went with lioneyes remorse 8c, 30 jews/10 fuse lucky on a 5L astra from docks, rolled about 5c to get an decent roll for it, and rest selffound from this or my previous char in tempest

gear:


so thanks for guide and I can update later when I've started mapping aswell!

CWDT -> Curse is not effective. It casts the curse on whichever mob hits you first. As such it could cast it on the lone archer, and leave the main group free.

Much more effective would be the following:
Leap Slam -> Curse on Hit -> [Insert curse flavor here] -> Faster attacks.

That also would mean putting fortify on your main hit, which isnt a big issue as it can just take the spot of added fire for minimal DPS loss. Yes, increased phys > added fire. But increased phys scales ALL your other damage sources (goes trough all your support gems, aura's...).


That leaves your CWDT options also more open, such as:
CWDT -> Tempest shield -> Blood rage -> (Molten Shell / Immortal call )


Now you automatically curse whichever mob you're fighting, as you generally leap-slam in to keep everything in range and boost clear times. You also dont need to worry about recasting the short-term skills anymore, as these mostly self-cast at each fight.


For HC, your want the golem to stay alive, as the longer your Chaos Golem lives, the longer it deald damage, takes hits/distracts monsters and provides you with the buff. That means linking it in with something like:
Chaos Golem -> Fortify -> Life Leech/Minion gems.





Also look into Cameria's Maul. Extremely cheap, but with Ice crash (50% goes cold) and Hatred (another +30% or so goes cold) the damage boost of that monster is INSANE. I tried it yesterday instead of my 350DPS 1her, and my output went from a low 2k dps to >4k.
I would be surpriced if that didnt boost your output, looking at your current weapon and how much cold damage you're dealing.


Lastly, your tree.
- Take the mace node on the bottom side, and scrap it. 4 Points to get there and get a total of 48% damage (46% + 10 str), 6% speed and 0,4% leech.
If you put those 4 points in the shield tree (lower side) and mace tree (left side) you'd get for the same 4 pts 50% damage and 6% speed. Thats an easy 2% more damage, over the 0.4% leech you wont even notice to be missing. I mean, you're dealing 1k or so physical damage per hit, thats 4 entire hitpoints leeched per attack...

- go TROUGH the staff/mace node at the templer area. Take that 10 str node above it, and 1 additional point. You can basically then gain 10% (12% minus 10str node) damage, 10% armor and 3% attack speed for 1 measily additional point.

- you got some armor/evasion gear, really good choice. Except your passive tree does not make any sense.
You spent 15 points: gain ~21% block.
You spent 4 points (US/IR): you loose what, ~20% evasion?
If you were to remove ALL shield-passives, and the 4 in US/IR, you would probably still get hit the same number of times you are now and have 19 points to spent!

So i would strongly suggest to remove the US/IR points, and take up some plain +armor nodes. Unyielding for example is an easy 58%, the other point you can use for the mace path in the templar area (another 10% armor). Thats +68% armor (your +150% goes to +218%), which should make up for the lost IR quite a bit, along with getting hit significantly less.


- Get those damn Jewel Nodes already! Each one is an easy +10% [1h? area? while wielding shield? ]damage and +7% life. Thats a simple blue or cheap (other rolls are crap) rare jewel for <1 chaos each (or even find/craft yourself). There is some HUGE value there in those nodes.

"

Xanarot wrote:

Lastly, your tree.
- Take the mace node on the bottom side, and scrap it. 4 Points to get there and get a total of 48% damage (46% + 10 str), 6% speed and 0,4% leech.
If you put those 4 points in the shield tree (lower side) and mace tree (left side) you'd get for the same 4 pts 50% damage and 6% speed. Thats an easy 2% more damage, over the 0.4% leech you wont even notice to be missing. I mean, you're dealing 1k or so physical damage per hit, thats 4 entire hitpoints leeched per attack...

- go TROUGH the staff/mace node at the templer area. Take that 10 str node above it, and 1 additional point. You can basically then gain 10% (12% minus 10str node) damage, 10% armor and 3% attack speed for 1 measily additional point.

- you got some armor/evasion gear, really good choice. Except your passive tree does not make any sense.
You spent 15 points: gain ~21% block.
You spent 4 points (US/IR): you loose what, ~20% evasion?
If you were to remove ALL shield-passives, and the 4 in US/IR, you would probably still get hit the same number of times you are now and have 19 points to spent!

So i would strongly suggest to remove the US/IR points, and take up some plain +armor nodes. Unyielding for example is an easy 58%, the other point you can use for the mace path in the templar area (another 10% armor). Thats +68% armor (your +150% goes to +218%), which should make up for the lost IR quite a bit, along with getting hit significantly less.


- Get those damn Jewel Nodes already! Each one is an easy +10% [1h? area? while wielding shield? ]damage and +7% life. Thats a simple blue or cheap (other rolls are crap) rare jewel for <1 chaos each (or even find/craft yourself). There is some HUGE value there in those nodes.

Could you just post the changes to the tree that you think would be best and we can decide, it's pretty hard to follow what you're saying.

Quick note towards lvl80 tree version:

http://cb.poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwEAAecEhwSzBS0GOQz3Dc0UIBRNFPYYkRo4Gj4aVRuXHM4hNCcvK1AvzDJONI426DndOtg7OzwFPQ89_ECgQT9D50d-TUZQR1FgUeZVqVcNWGNfP2EhYuxlTWjyagFr2XKpdO12rHdTeTl673y7fNl-4oIHhNmE74Y7hymMz4-ZkFWRzpSHlmyXtJ7Fns2iAKcwqZWsr62Nr2yvp7QvvJ-9Nr6nwGbAv8GCxLjE9sbYz37SIdX42WHZfNrB37LkUenV6hjvDu988B_yQfMG9kj3Mvuq_Ev-VA==

Gains:
+68% armor
20% reduced extra damage from crits recieved
probably 15-20% avoidance trough evasion
16% increased physical damage
3% attack speed


Losses:
Evasion-> Armor
0,4% of physical dealt as life leech


In my opinion, thats quite an interesting trade-off considering they both are using the same ammount of passive points. Gives a much higher baseline to build from.




My personal tree is more like this, also 1h/shield but doesnt actually focus on the +shield defense nodes. Instead just goes for total armor/hp. Maybe it can give some inspiration:
http://cb.poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwEBAZEB5wSzBS0MXw3NEuEUIBRNFPYYkRjXGjgaVRv6HKccziE0Jd8nLygqK1At0i5TL8wxnjSONZI26DrYOuE7OzwFPC09Dz38QT9Hfk3jUEdR5lOlVw1YY18_YSFi7GVNZlRoZWjya9lyqXTtdqx3U3fleu98u3zZggeCm4Nfg8yE2YTvhVKFe4Y7i0-Mz5BVkc6Uh5Zsl3mbap7Fns2iAKLqpBmmV6cwrY2vbK-ntC-2LLaKtz68n702vqfAZsGCxPbGrsbYz37SIdNv2L3ZYdl82sHfsuRR6hjsOO8O73zwH_JB8kXzm_ZI9zL8S_4K_lT-jw==
A +40% shield defenses node is nice on a 1500 shield (+600 armor). But a simple +15% to your entire set (helm/gloves/boots/chest/shield) needs a baseline of 'only' 4000 armor from equipment to also give +600 armor. And it scales granite flask as nice bonus, which the shieldnode does not.

Add 5 endurance charges (20%), chaos golem (3%), soul of steel (4%), enfeeble (21?% less damage dealth - so happens before everything else mitigation-wise), arctic armor (another 9?%) and things get quite... interesting.

@Xanarot: I know the tree is not optimised for lvl 80. It's not meant to be. I chose to go for the faraway passives first, because every level above 80 is slower and slower to come by, and I don't want to be wasting them in traveling nodes. I'm also playing in Warbands, which means I can afford to be lax and die once in a while because everything is not min-maxed. From here on out, every node I get potentially gives something important, be it survivability or damage. So most of what you said, like the shield damage nodes, I'm actually planning to get, point by point, from here on out. It makes things more fun for me compared to dinging lvl 89 and wasting the point on a traveling str node - you will notice that i won't have to travel at all from here on out.

Jewels are expensive, and the build is made to function without them. I get the feeling you didn't really read what I wrote. As for evasion vs IR, trust me when I say it was a noticeable difference in survivability to trade 1k EVA for 3k AR.

In terms of the CWDT setup: Your leap slam curse on hit idea isn't bad. However, putting fortify on the main skill is a VERY noticeable DPS loss. It's not equivalent at all to the current added fire, which also gets boosted by WED. I also tried CWDT for the rest of the buffs but i didn't like it. Also, CWDT+curse doesn't work exactly the way you imply - the curse is still cast in an area and it affects multiple mobs, and for the most part, during mapping, more than half the mobs on screen are affected. There aren't really any "lone archers" in maps as you should know.

Anyway, all of what you said is good. By all means, do any changes you feel might be better or fit your playstyle - I'll repeat, I left this here as a template of what I did, and to show that this kind of build CAN work, because I see a lot of negativity towards 1hand RT lately and I didn't really see many people trying it unless they had insane gear.

"

Xanarot wrote:

My personal tree is more like this, also 1h/shield but doesnt actually focus on the +shield defense nodes. Instead just goes for total armor/hp. Maybe it can give some inspiration:
http://cb.poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwEBAZEB5wSzBS0MXw3NEuEUIBRNFPYYkRjXGjgaVRv6HKccziE0Jd8nLygqK1At0i5TL8wxnjSONZI26DrYOuE7OzwFPC09Dz38QT9Hfk3jUEdR5lOlVw1YY18_YSFi7GVNZlRoZWjya9lyqXTtdqx3U3fleu98u3zZggeCm4Nfg8yE2YTvhVKFe4Y7i0-Mz5BVkc6Uh5Zsl3mbap7Fns2iAKLqpBmmV6cwrY2vbK-ntC-2LLaKtz68n702vqfAZsGCxPbGrsbYz37SIdNv2L3ZYdl82sHfsuRR6hjsOO8O73zwH_JB8kXzm_ZI9zL8S_4K_lT-jw==

How are you sustaining mana? Since you've taken away all the mana nodes including mana gained on block I assume you have some other way.

"

PrimordialDarkness wrote:

@Xanarot: I know the tree is not optimised for lvl 80. It's not meant to be. I chose to go for the faraway passives first, because every level above 80 is slower and slower to come by, and I don't want to be wasting them in traveling nodes. I'm also playing in Warbands, which means I can afford to be lax and die once in a while because everything is not min-maxed. From here on out, every node I get potentially gives something important, be it survivability or damage. So most of what you said, like the shield damage nodes, I'm actually planning to get, point by point, from here on out. It makes things more fun for me compared to dinging lvl 89 and wasting the point on a traveling str node - you will notice that i won't have to travel at all from here on out.

Jewels are expensive, and the build is made to function without them. I get the feeling you didn't really read what I wrote. As for evasion vs IR, trust me when I say it was a noticeable difference in survivability to trade 1k EVA for 3k AR.

In terms of the CWDT setup: Your leap slam curse on hit idea isn't bad. However, putting fortify on the main skill is a VERY noticeable DPS loss. It's not equivalent at all to the current added fire, which also gets boosted by WED. I also tried CWDT for the rest of the buffs but i didn't like it. Also, CWDT+curse doesn't work exactly the way you imply - the curse is still cast in an area and it affects multiple mobs, and for the most part, during mapping, more than half the mobs on screen are affected. There aren't really any "lone archers" in maps as you should know.

Anyway, all of what you said is good. By all means, do any changes you feel might be better or fit your playstyle - I'll repeat, I left this here as a template of what I did, and to show that this kind of build CAN work, because I see a lot of negativity towards 1hand RT lately and I didn't really see many people trying it unless they had insane gear.

I understand you wanted that lvl80 setup, hence i kept the points number (107) exactly the same. Just switched it up a bit to more 'travel trough nodes' instead of 'travel arround nodes'.
Because in my book, any +10str/dex/int node you can avoid is a point more towards dps or survivability. You can still play the same with spending points from my lvl80 setup, you'll just have (and also finish at lvl100) with a lot more armor, damage and possibly even life.


Jewels are insanely cheap. A +6-7% life rare with a nice +attack speed or +damage boost, goes for 1 chaos if not less. Thats very cheap for the return it provides.

Towards the curse in CWDT - i mentioned that it is cast arround the target that triggers CWDT. THat can be any mob on the map. So yes, eventually everything is cursed if you kill them slowly enough. But it is possible that you jump in a group, and that the curse is casted in a different spot of the screen (i.e. ranged/caster mobs) but that the group you are fighting doesnt get affected. With the leap slam link, you control where the curse gets cast and are guaranteed that the important ones (blue/rare/unique monsters) get it.

Towards fortify. Ofcourse it is a HUGE dps loss. But who cares really? I'm running arround in merc with a 4l still (ice crash/fortify/melee phys/wed) and most already gets 1-shot. Yes, faster attacks/added fire gives 'even moar deepees!1ONE', but in terms of clearing speed the diminishing return is huge compared to the loss of your character (HC) or xp (SC) on dying.

"

wolfx28 wrote:

"

Xanarot wrote:

My personal tree is more like this, also 1h/shield but doesnt actually focus on the +shield defense nodes. Instead just goes for total armor/hp. Maybe it can give some inspiration:
http://cb.poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwEBAZEB5wSzBS0MXw3NEuEUIBRNFPYYkRjXGjgaVRv6HKccziE0Jd8nLygqK1At0i5TL8wxnjSONZI26DrYOuE7OzwFPC09Dz38QT9Hfk3jUEdR5lOlVw1YY18_YSFi7GVNZlRoZWjya9lyqXTtdqx3U3fleu98u3zZggeCm4Nfg8yE2YTvhVKFe4Y7i0-Mz5BVkc6Uh5Zsl3mbap7Fns2iAKLqpBmmV6cwrY2vbK-ntC-2LLaKtz68n702vqfAZsGCxPbGrsbYz37SIdNv2L3ZYdl82sHfsuRR6hjsOO8O73zwH_JB8kXzm_ZI9zL8S_4K_lT-jw==

How are you sustaining mana? Since you've taken away all the mana nodes including mana gained on block I assume you have some other way.

Ice Crash -> Melee Physical -> Weapon Elemental Damage -> Fortify -> Blood Magic -> Concentrated/Increased AOE

The increased AOE is 6, because that one is the least important. Its great for clearing speed, and once you're mapping then it is not difficult to find the currency for a 6L.


Also, this kind of play enables you to run something like Arctic Armor/Hatred/HoA, as you can afford reservering almost all your mana.
That additional 15% from HoA means more single-hit damage (and as such more stuns) and no need for mana pots means you can bring an extra life pot or resist/granite.

Just tested Cameria's Maul. It's about 2/3rds the DPS of my sceptre (I lost something like 4.5k). Of course, it also costs a lot less (1 Alch instead of 5c). Definitely the default weapon to use if you want to switch things around and do some MFing. Wouldn't really call it an entry level weapon though, as it is a lvl 60 requirement. By that time, you SHOULD really have a rare with more DPS.

Hey guys,

I really like the idea of this build, and love that it uses a shield.

I play tempest, and I had a couple of questions because I am still SORT OF new to this game, and definitely do not know nearly everything I need to.

Since I am playing HC, should I go for endurance charges for IC? I feel like that'd be the safest way.

Also, could OP or someone maybe make a leveling part for the tree (such as levels 1-20,20-40,40-60,etc.)
I just don't think I know the passive tree enough yet to fully optimize it on the way towards leveling.

I keep rip'ing in A4 cruel, and I really want to get past that part haha. I got 1 shot by malachai on the tankiest guy I've ever leveled so I'm kind of wanting to be really safe!

Thank you guys,

CircA

Why cant i open the skilltree link?