With the introduction of the Jewel system, builds that were never possible before are now possible. The concept of this build is to run Vaal Ground Slam permanently while it self-sustains max Endurance and Power Charges by using 3 of the unique Jewels, Hegemony's Era and one notable passive.
By using Hatred aura, shattering enemies for the 80% chance to gain an additional soul from Chill of Corruption is now possible. Sacrificial Harvest gives another 20-30% chance to gain another additional soul on kill. Since shattering only happens when you kill a frozen enemy, we need a lot of critical strike chance to freeze. This is where Vaal Sentencing comes in. By using up to 4 Vaal Sentencing we can increase our critical strike chance from 80-480%. From the passives on the skill tree we get another 135%. Summon Ice Golem 20-35%.
Hegemony's Era synergizes with Vaal Ground Slam natural knockback and 100% to hit enables Vaal Ground Slam to self-sustain 5 Power Charges (if you help Alira in Merciless for +1 Power Charges for the 5th) for another potential 250% critical strike chance. This totals to 900% increased critical strike chance and you can still get more from pieces of equipped gear. This amount of increased critical strike chance should cap your chance to deal a critical strike and pretty much guarantees to shatter every enemy. The real kicker here, is that you don't even need this amount of critical strike chance. Only half the amount of critical strike chance is needed if you use it always in good mob density. When Vaal Ground Slam is not usable, use Cyclone.
Smashing Strikes notable also synergizes really well with Vaal Ground Slams 100% to hit, big area of effect and when at high critical strike chance enables Vaal Ground Slam to self-sustain max Endurance Charges.
Q. This all seems too good to be true, so what is the downside? A. Getting too much damage which is easily obtainable will instantly kill your character to reflect even with good defence mitigation. You will get carried away with the insane clear speed this build is capable of. Having to stop and check every enemy to see if it has reflect is counterproductive to the concept of this build. One mistake, you're dead. The other downside to this build is that, it's expensive.
Q. Is this Hardcore viable? A. Yes. There are players level 85+ in Tempest League using Vaal Ground Slam.
Q. How do you deal with reflect? A. Use Arctic Armour, overcap fire and cold resistances, have at least 6000 armour without buffs and 4000 life, have max endurance charges up, use the link setup in the link spoiler tag, do not get any critical strike multipliers and use Surgeon's Granite Flask of Iron Skin. Since it is a critical strike build you should have no problem running Surgeon's Granite Flask of Iron Skin permanently. You should manage reflect when casting Vaal Ground Slam as long the mob density isn't high. The much smarter choice is not to use Vaal Ground Slam on reflect and to use Cyclone instead to kill them without risking your character.
Stats
For the exact gear and links for when these stats were taken check out the Gear spoiler tag. All stats were taken while in Merciless Dried Lake (67).
Gear
Links
Vaal Ground Slam
For general use and to manage reflect use
Vaal Ground Slam - Multistrike - Added Fire Damage - Increased Area of Effect - Melee Physical Damage - Fortify
For the highest potential DPS use
Vaal Ground Slam - Multistrike - Concentrated Effect - Hypothermia - Melee Physical Damage and Increased Critical Damage.
Leap Slam for mobility and Blood Magic is required because mana is 100% reserved by auras. Summon Ice Golem for more critical strike chance and accuracy increases Cyclone DPS. You can also swap out Summon Ice Golem for Blood Rage which is much more effective if you can deal with the degeneration and are not using Blood Dance.
Auras
Hatred - Herald of Ash - Arctic Armour
Hatred is needed to shatter enemies, Herald of Ash for more damage and Arctic Armour to manage reflect.
Cast When Damage Taken
Cast When Damage Taken - Enfeeble - Blood Magic - Enduring Cry
Cast When Damage Taken is level 1 and casts level 5 Enfeeble. Blood Magic is for a leveled Enduring Cry which is used when Vaal Ground Slam can't self-sustain Endurance Charges.
Normal - Help Oak.
Cruel - Help Kraityn.
Merciless - Help Alira if you are using Hegemony's Era and want to cap your critical strike chance. Help Oak for more defences. If you are using Blood Dance or Blood Rage and want more Vaal Ground Slam DPS help Kraityn.
Level up using Cyclone how you would a standard cyclone build. Do not worry about using Vaal Ground Slam until you can link it with Multistrike, Increased Area of Effect, Added Fire and have Sacrificial Harvest. Once you start using Vaal Ground Slam you will need to start using Staves or Maces. At level 60 I was using this staff with a 5 Link and farmed Dried Lake (67) very sufficiently.
Other Questions & Answers
Q. Is Hegemony's Era core to this build? A. No. You can substitute it for a high PDPS and Critical Strike Chance Staff.
Q. Is Abyssus core to this build? A. No.
Q. Is Blood Dance core to this build? A. No. However I highly recommend using them in Softcore and Hardcore because they are cheap and Blood Dance works well with this build. If you can handle the degeneration, Blood Rage is a better choice.
Q. Is Maligaro's Virtuosity core to this build? A. No.
Q. What other class can you play this build as? A. Duelist.
Q. Would Sibyl's Lament help with reflect? A. Yes. If you are planning on using Sibyl's Lament you will have to sacrifice both ring slots and wear two because the build is physical and elemental.
Q. Is Empire's Grasp viable? A. Empire's Grasp is viable but is only worth using in parties (grouping all the mobs together for faster clear speed). You will have to tweak the build a lot and rely on Cyclone to shatter enemies because Vaal Ground Slam in a 4 link will not provide enough damage to sustain souls by itself.
With the introduction of the Jewel system, builds that were never possible before are now possible. The concept of this build is to run Vaal Ground Slam permanently while it self-sustains max Endurance and Power Charges by using 3 of the unique Jewels, Hegemony's Era and one notable passive.
By using Hatred aura, shattering enemies for the 80% chance to gain an additional soul from Chill of Corruption is now possible. Sacrificial Harvest gives another 20-30% chance to gain another additional soul on kill. Since shattering only happens when you kill a frozen enemy, we need a lot of critical strike chance to freeze. This is where Vaal Sentencing comes in. By using up to 4 Vaal Sentencing we can increase our critical strike chance from 80-480%. From the passives on the skill tree we get another 135%. Summon Ice Golem 20-35%.
Hegemony's Era synergizes with Vaal Ground Slam natural knockback and 100% to hit enables Vaal Ground Slam to self-sustain 5 Power Charges (if you help Alira in Merciless for +1 Power Charges for the 5th) for another potential 250% critical strike chance. This totals to 900% increased critical strike chance and you can still get more from pieces of equipped gear. This amount of increased critical strike chance should cap your chance to deal a critical strike and pretty much guarantees to shatter every enemy. The real kicker here, is that you don't even need this amount of critical strike chance. Only half the amount of critical strike chance is needed if you use it always in good mob density. When Vaal Ground Slam is not usable, use Cyclone.
Smashing Strikes notable also synergizes really well with Vaal Ground Slams 100% to hit, big area of effect and when at high critical strike chance enables Vaal Ground Slam to self-sustain max Endurance Charges.
Q. This all seems too good to be true, so what is the downside? A. Getting too much damage which is easily obtainable will instantly kill your character to reflect even with good defence mitigation. You will get carried away with the insane clear speed this build is capable of. Having to stop and check every enemy to see if it has reflect is counterproductive to the concept of this build. One mistake, you're dead. The other downside to this build is that, it's expensive.
Q. Is this Hardcore viable? A. Yes. There are players level 85+ in Tempest League using Vaal Ground Slam.
Q. How do you deal with reflect? A. Use Arctic Armour, overcap fire and cold resistances, have at least 6000 armour without buffs and 4000 life, have max endurance charges up, use the link setup in the link spoiler tag, do not get any critical strike multipliers and use Surgeon's Granite Flask of Iron Skin. Since it is a critical strike build you should have no problem running Surgeon's Granite Flask of Iron Skin permanently. You should manage reflect when casting Vaal Ground Slam as long the mob density isn't high. The much smarter choice is not to use Vaal Ground Slam on reflect and to use Cyclone instead to kill them without risking your character.
Stats
For the exact gear and links for when these stats were taken check out the Gear spoiler tag. All stats were taken while in Merciless Dried Lake (67).
Gear
Links
Vaal Ground Slam
For general use and to manage reflect use
Vaal Ground Slam - Multistrike - Added Fire Damage - Increased Area of Effect - Melee Physical Damage - Fortify
For the highest potential DPS use
Vaal Ground Slam - Multistrike - Concentrated Effect - Hypothermia - Melee Physical Damage and Increased Critical Damage.
Leap Slam for mobility and Blood Magic is required because mana is 100% reserved by auras. Summon Ice Golem for more critical strike chance and accuracy increases Cyclone DPS. You can also swap out Summon Ice Golem for Blood Rage which is much more effective if you can deal with the degeneration and are not using Blood Dance.
Auras
Hatred - Herald of Ash - Arctic Armour
Hatred is needed to shatter enemies, Herald of Ash for more damage and Arctic Armour to manage reflect.
Cast When Damage Taken
Cast When Damage Taken - Enfeeble - Blood Magic - Enduring Cry
Cast When Damage Taken is level 1 and casts level 5 Enfeeble. Blood Magic is for a leveled Enduring Cry which is used when Vaal Ground Slam can't self-sustain Endurance Charges.
Normal - Help Oak.
Cruel - Help Kraityn.
Merciless - Help Alira if you are using Hegemony's Era and want to cap your critical strike chance. Help Oak for more defences. If you are using Blood Dance or Blood Rage and want more Vaal Ground Slam DPS help Kraityn.
Level up using Cyclone how you would a standard cyclone build. Do not worry about using Vaal Ground Slam until you can link it with Multistrike, Increased Area of Effect, Added Fire and have Sacrificial Harvest. Once you start using Vaal Ground Slam you will need to start using Staves or Maces. At level 60 I was using this staff with a 5 Link and farmed Dried Lake (67) very sufficiently.
Other Questions & Answers
Q. Is Hegemony's Era core to this build? A. No. You can substitute it for a high PDPS and Critical Strike Chance Staff.
Q. Is Abyssus core to this build? A. No.
Q. Is Blood Dance core to this build? A. No. However I highly recommend using them in Softcore and Hardcore because they are cheap and Blood Dance works well with this build. If you can handle the degeneration, Blood Rage is a better choice.
Q. Is Maligaro's Virtuosity core to this build? A. No.
Q. What other class can you play this build as? A. Duelist.
Q. Would Sibyl's Lament help with reflect? A. Yes. If you are planning on using Sibyl's Lament you will have to sacrifice both ring slots and wear two because the build is physical and elemental.
Q. Is Empire's Grasp viable? A. Empire's Grasp is viable but is only worth using in parties (grouping all the mobs together for faster clear speed). You will have to tweak the build a lot and rely on Cyclone to shatter enemies because Vaal Ground Slam in a 4 link will not provide enough damage to sustain souls by itself.
