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I'm introducing my own 2H Cleave build. I was surprised for its simplicity, efectiveness and cheapness. I don't know why hasn't anyone posted a similar build lately. I guess it's all the crit/poison/spell meta. I have decided to name it after the item that gave birth to the build. Yes, I'm not the most creative guy out there.
Pros
* Good Damage (30k+)
* Works on a very tight budget (~10c)
* Very simple! No flask management needed!
* High HP pool (5k+)
* Good defences (60%+ phys reduction)
* High Leech
Cons
* The damage will never reach a crit build
* No block chance
* Low regen (after the 4% dot from Blood Rage)
* Clear speed can't compete with meta builds (crit bow, crit spell, poison, etc)
Required Items:
That's right. It's worth 1 chaos. You don't even need a 5L.
Stats (Lv 80 Champion):
Offence
In Hideout, with just Herald of Ash:
With 4 Frenzy Charges up:
With Frenzy Charges and Onslaught:
Defence
In Hideout, with Grace on:
With 7 endurance charges up:
Pre 2.2 Stats
Defence
In Hideout, with Grace up:
With 3 Endurance charges:
Offence
In Hideout, with Herald of Ash:
With 4 Frenzy Charges up:
With Onslaught:
Take into account that all of these stats are at lv 80, lacking 3/4 endurance charges, on a 4L and with very cheap gear, no flasks and no Ascendancy chosen. I will update when Ascendancy launches.
Character Section: The Build
Ascendancy and Skill Tree:
The build can be made from 3 different classes and with 5 different ascendancies, each with a different approach.
Juggernaut, the Undying
The Juggernaut provides some nice bonuses to Endurance Charges. You should take Unflinching, continue up to Unrelenting and then any other remaining 2 nodes. Unbreakable isn't as good as it looks, given it only gives about 2000 final armour (not flat armour) in the end of the day. Stun Immunity is nice. Unstoppable gives some nice QoL: Disregarding Temporal Chains, Tar ground, Chilled Ground or even being frozen, you will still move at your base speed. Unyielding gives 1.9% life regen, some armour and 30% damage. Not a big deal, but I wouldn't mind having that extra regen when dealing with Bloodrage degeneration.
Note that I removed the dueling starting part, as I think it's pretty bad. Replaced it with 2 jewel sockets.
Item Notes: A pure armour rare chest will get the best out of Unbreakable. Lightning Coil is pretty good as well, since you have an alternative method to generate Endurance Charges. Don't take the Darkray Vectors
Berserker, the Insane
Every other ascendancy I've picked up gives a balance between offence and defence. Berserker is all about damage. I think the best thing here is to take Crave the Slaughter, all the way to Aspect of Carnage and Rite of Ruin to compensate and to get stun Immunity.
Yup. The same boring Juggernaut tree. The damage is so good that you might want to respec some damage nodes into armour or life.
Item notes: I don't think Darkrays are a good idea on this tree. They won't hurt, sure.
Champion, the Provoker
Unlike most Champions, we'll be focusing on taunts, since we already have Fortify, and a good uptime of it. Get Conqueror and Worthy Foe. "Enemies you taunt take 20% increased damage" is very good damage. It is a good idea to have your prefered warcry to taunt as much as you can. About the 5th and 6th points, it depends if you're going to play in a party or solo. If you are going to play solo, get First to Strike, Last to Fall. It's a nice damage bonus, plus an emergency remove status and defence mechanism. If you'll be on a group, find out if there's someone else to run Inspirational. If there isn't, take it.
This is about leech and AoE. Get Brutal Fervor and Endless Hunger. Since we already have Onslaught from other sources, I'd take Impact. 20% AoE is nice even on its own. But to make full use of it, I'd have a quality Infernal Blow.
IB Setup: IB + Melee Physical Damage + Increased AoE + WED + Phys to Lightning + Faster Attacks/Elemental Focus (note that while Elemental Focus gives better damage, it will probably put some pressure on the amount of required Intelligence).
Item Notes: The Retch can be interesting. However, we don't know the price and availability of it yet. If you decide to run Sweep, I recommend getting Empire's Grasp. The knockback can get very annoying.
The Ascendant, AKA What The Actual Fuck?
This is probably not the best option. At the cost of an (very slightly) objectively worse tree, you can take two minor ascendancies. All of the before mentioned are good. Feel free to combine them as you please. Or take anything else! Be creative!
Why 111 points instead of 108? Because Scion Ascendancy gives us 2 extra points. And I used an extra point so I wouldn't get stuck on the middle of a notable.
Okay, since this is a guide, I'll tell you Berserker + Raider (Berserider? Bersaider?) seems the best option to me.
Bandits: Oak, Oak/Kraityn/Point, Oak/Kraityn
Itemization: The Trinkets
Example Gear and Cost Breakdown
Don't look at gems gere. That's what the Gems section below is for. I might tinker with my gems to optimize the build. Nothing confirmed unless I update the post.
The core of the build. Nice dps. Cheap. And free AoE. Cost: 1 chaos
Generic helmet with life, armour and resists. A good spot to get intelligence. Cost: Self found
Probably my weakest spot. Ideally, you want flat phys damage, attack speed, dexterity, life and resists. Cost: Self found
Generic Movement Speed/life/resists boots. Cost: 2 chaos
Life/Strength/resists. WED is welcome, but not necessary, as you can see. Cost: 2 chaos
I lied. This is my weakest spot. All of this is self found. You want to look for life, resists, flat phys damage, some dex and int. And one item with mana leech. Cost: Self found
Cost: 4 self found flasks, Atziri's Promise: 1c
Final cost: 7 chaos + self found pieces.
Take into account that, in order to avoid grabbing +30 Dex/Int nodes, you need 72 Dexterity and 34 Intelligence in your gear.
Gems
Main Link: Cleave + Melee Physical Damage + Multistrike + Faster Attacks (+ Weapon Elemental Damage + Increased AoE/Concentrated Effect/Phys to Lightning) (See discussion below)
Auras: Grace (+Empower), Herald of Ash
Trigger+Utility: Blood Rage + Increased Duration + Cast When Damage Taken + Immortal Call
Counter: Any Vengeance setup you can think of. We don't really need this, but it's free dps. Melee Phys Damage, Inc. AoE, ECoMS or LGOH are good supports for Vengeance. Remember that, as long as they don't share the same links, different Vengeances will stack, each triggering on its own.
Discussion (Warning: Wall of Text incoming)
Gear:
* Weapon: It is possible to do the same build with any Axe, Sword or Mace. I chose Doomsower because of the AoE and personal preference. A good rare axe will probably give you better dps, at the cost of lower AoE (remember, Cleave has a fixed AoE, doesn't use Weapon Range as Cyclone does.). With maces you could achieve almost the same AoE (only 4% reduced AoE from Doomsower), but I felt that a mace build which didn't stun is a waste.
* Armour: You can wear literally anything. As long as you have your resists capped, you can wear a white Simple Robe, and you'll be fine. However, given that you can get better stuff, why not to? I've chosen Daresso's Defiance for I think it's the best cost-effective option. It gives Endurance Charge generation, and that's a big deal lately. What I believe to be the BiS item is Kaom's Legacy. It just gives a whole lot of life. With it, you should achieve almost 8k HP at lv ~85. We just don't need links on our armour spot. However, you will need another source for Endurance Charges, and you will lose some armour. Another option is Lightning Coil. However, it makes the budget thing complicated, requiring more resists than necessary. And 7 endurance charges give more protection than a non-legacy LC. If you can manage to get your endurance charges somewhere else and to cap your resists, it's a bit better than Daresso's Defiance. Belly of the Beast isn't as good as it looks. It only gives you ~800 life, but lower armour and nothing "extra". If you can't cap your resists otherwise, it's still good.
* Boots: Darkray's Vectors are a good option with this build. I didn't include it in the core build for the same reason as Lightning Coil: It makes capping resistances harder. Go for them when you are done with your resists.
* Gloves: Not much to add. Asenath's Gentle Touch might be interesting. But I believe a good rare will outperform it.
* Helmet: Devoto's Devotion is just a luxury. It adds some attack speed, which increases both our movement speed (through Leap Slam) and our damage. And some chaos resist. And removes the need of dexterity in other items. But that's it. Not necessary at all. You'll do fine with a rare with life, resists and strength (or any other stat you need).
* Rings: Look for life, strength and resists. Attack Speed and flat phys damage are a nice addition, but not compulsory.
* Amulets: Same as rings. Try to get a Turquoise base. If you find a really good talisman, it might be worthy to get your stats somewhere else.
* Belt: A good rare with life, resists and strength is your best option. WED is a nice addition.
* Jewels: All of the things that obviously benefit the build: Increased life, increased damage, damage with 2h weapons, damage with swords, attack speed with swords, etc.
* Flasks: A Seething Divine and a Catalysed Eternal should cover your life needs. If you can get bleed and freeze immunity, better. As of damage flasks, Lion's Roar and Atziri's Promise are both very good and cheap, but I don't stand knockback, so I left Lion's Roar out of the question. For defense, Taste of Hate is great. When on a budget, a Jade Flask, a Quartz Flask or a Basalt Flask are quite good. Good affixes for them are Alchemist's, Experimenter's, Ample, of Iron Skin or of Warding.
Gems:
* Main Skill: I felt Cleave was the best to me. Other possibilities include Infernal Blow and Sweep. With Sweep, you'll have lower dps (not much, I go down to 26k from 30k) but better coverage. Infernal Blow is only recommended if you can afford a quality IB and a quality Melee Splash. The radius of the explosions are too small otherwise.
* Main Skill Supports: First, we should never use Added Fire, as it negates Doomsower's special "ability", the extra damage as fire. Second, we want to strike fast, to increase our clear speed. Therefore, Multistrike and Faster Attacks. Third, we want to increase our damage as effectively as possible. The best way to do it is Melee Physical Damage. The second best way is Weapon Elemental Damage. As a 6th link, I would increase coverage, since I don't need extra damage. If you feel you lack a lot of damage, take Concentrated Effect. However, Phys to Lightning will add almost as much damage as Conc. Effect without lowering your coverage.
* Alternative Setups: Sweep + Melee Physical Damage + Multistrike + Faster Attacks + Inc. AoE/Conc. Effect/Phys to Light + WED. Or Infernal Blow + Melee Splash + Melee Physical Damage + WED + Inc. AoE + Phys to Light. Notice that these setups will also work as a 4L. Gems are in order of importance.
* Auras: I started running Hatred, but I realized I didn't need the damage. Grace came immediately to my mind as replacement. You can take Hatred if you feel the need to, but you should be ok without it. Instead of Herald of Ash, you could run a Blasphemy Vulnerability or Elemental Weakness (if you have more elemental damage than physical, or if you do a full conversion). It's up to you. I went oldschool. If you have the money to do so, empower your Grace. You might need enlighten if you both Empower your Grace and use Blasphemy, depending on your remaining mana.
* Trigger: Increased Duration does nothing for an Immortal Call with Endurance Charges up. You could swap to a different approach: Cast When Damage Taken + Immortal Call on a side and Cast When Damage Taken + Increased Duration + Molten Shell + Blood Rage on another one. You can make Blood Rage to be supported by CWDT or not, it's up to you. I'd rather have it selfcast. A more offensive (and expensive) setup is Blood Rage + Increased Duration + Enhance on a side and CWDT + Immortal Call + Molten Shell on the other.
* Warcries: I don't like to bother with them. However, Enduring Cry can generate charges if you don't use Daresso's Defiance and Abyssal Cry gives a nice slowing effect, besides the explosion. Suggested links: Warcry + Increased Duration + Increased AoE
* Ancestral Protector: It's free dps, and we have the
Tree:
Well, I won't discuss much about the tree. It's pretty straight forward, grabbing damage with 2h swords, life, armour and evasion. I will discuss, though, some optional nodes.
- Versatility: This notable, near the marauder start, had been forgotten for a long time, but it has been buffed recently. For two points, you get +20 to dexterity and intelligence (both lacking in the build) and 4% attack speed (Reduced Mana Cost and Accuracy aren't important). I would respec out of it for endgame, but it's definitively helpful if you are having trouble with your stats.
- Cloth and Chain: Next to the Duelist Frenzy Charge, this notable will give you 12% all res and 36% increased armour and evasion. Contrary to common belief (and devs' statements), armour and evasion nodes double dip for Iron Reflexes, converting this cluster into 72% increased armour and 12% all res for 2 points. Not bad. Not bad at all. It also helps capping your resists, opening options for more uniques.
- Revelry: Easy mana for levelling. Should be respecced out for endgame, since some leech is more than enough.
- Precision: This 2-point cluster near the Templar starting point will provide you +20 dexterity, 6% attack speed and 3% movement speed. The cast speed is also helpful for Warcries, auras, etc, but it's more a QoL thing than an useful one. Not bad if you need the dexterity.
- Path of the Warrior: Over the Scion life... rectangle (I'll never get used to this), it'll provide 12% phys damage, 10 flat armour and 20 strength. It doesn't hurt, sure, but it's not that helpful. Maybe, if you have extra points.
But I'm not on a budget. Can I make this build better putting some currency into it?
Answer
Sure! Have a list of to-do things.
- Get a 5L/6L Doomsower
- Get good jewelry
- Get a Kaom's Heart (better if legacy)
- Get a Taste of Hate
- Overcap your resistances
- Get 20/20 gems
- Get Darkray's Vectors
- Get Devoto's Devotion
- Get life and a stat (the necessary dex+int and str on every other item) on every possible item.
- Get to a higher level (90ish), take armour or life nodes as needed. (I don't think you need any more damage)
- Cap your chaos res
- Get Empower, Enhance and Enlighten for your auras/Bloodrage
v0.5 - Posted forum thread
v0.7 - Rearranged info for better comprehension. Added screenshots.
v0.9 - Added a Youtube video, added 2.2 screenshots, added/updated flask section, added some 2.2 new info.
v0.91 - Updated trees for new planner. Minor optimizing in trees.
That was it. I hope you have enjoyed the build. See you on ascendancy!
why Doomsower? Wings of Entropy (1c) in combination with a bringer of rain (1c) or a belly (1c) (prices depending on rolls) is ultra cheap already and you can easily hit 60% block chance to spells and attacks with about 60k dps.
Last edited by Ondrugs#1147 on Jul 10, 2017, 8:29:21 AM