[3.5] Glacial Hammer Inquisitor
 Introduction I've always loved melee skills that let you feel tanky and get up in the mix. As well, I tend to like physical to elemental conversion builds. Not to mention the 6% buff to glacial hammer like 40 patches ago launched it into OP territory (memes /s). Seriously though, I've always wanted to try and make a viable glacial hammer build, and I feel like I have succeeded with this one. I recorded 5 videos detailing different aspects of the build. I am going to try and summarize the information here in the forum post, but you can click on the related video to see a slightly more detailed explanation. Here's all 5 linked in a playlist. Is this build for you? This build has both decent AOE clear and single target damage output. It has moderate buff management requirements. As well, it is really quite tanky and forgiving. It's one of the few truly melee skills I have played that feels pretty good. This video of a chimera map clear should give you a decent sample of what it looks like in action.
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Archetype: True melee namelock skill.
Mobility: Relies pretty heavily on shield charge and consecrated path for mobility. Movespeed is quite low. AOE clear: Fairly solid when ancestral call is equipped. Not the best in the game, and doesn't compete with something like frost blades or wild strike, but does better than most "melee splash" setups. Single target damage: Very respectable considering how tanky this build is. I have successfully killed Uber Elder and it was pretty smooth. Guardians die in a reasonable amount of time should you want to farm them. Hardcore viability/tankiness: This build is very hardcore viable. There are some extra defensive options you can opt in for at the expense of damage if you really want to play it safe. Honestly though, the survivability is great as is. Health pool is solid, 6 endurance charges, armor, block, multiple sources of reducing elemental damage, regen, leech, and freezing/chilling enemies are all layers of defense at your disposal. Ease of play: The playstyle is pretty smooth and straightfoward. Dash or conc path into a pack, right click, profit. Use enduring cry every 10 seconds or so. Drop frost bomb and/or focus against tankier rares, and vaal warchief against uniques or large, spread out, packs. Gem Setup For a bit more detailed discussion of the gem setup, check out this video of me going through the gems and all their links.
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Glacial hammer
Multistrike Elemental damage with attacks Melee physical damage Hypothermia Ancestral call/Ruthless Vaal ancestral warchief Concentrated effect Elemental damage with attacks/melee physical damage Shield charge Consecrated path Fortify Faster attacks Hatred Arctic armour Herald of purity Enduring cry Frost bomb Increased duration Passive Skill Tree/PoB For a more detailed look at my choices on the passive tree, check out my video discussion.
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Gear This video goes through my gear choices and discusses other gearing options.
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Leveling This video describes gearing and passive tree routing during the leveling process in a bit more detail.
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Ascendancy order
Sanctify Pious Path Instruments of Virtue Augury of Penitence Leveling skills Level 1 - Molten Strike Level 50 - Glacial Hammer (Frostbreath is useable) Useful leveling items Standard leveling gear, but a couple of notable mentions aside from things like Goldrim and Screaming Eagles. This ring with a warlord's mark gem in it will solve a lot of sustain issues until you make your way down to the leech nodes on the southern part of the passive tree. Please, if you have any further questions or comments let me know; I would love some feedback. I hope this guide format makes it easy to get the information you want without having to go through a bunch of information that doesn't interest you. You can also find me streaming at https://www.twitch.tv/cowpimp to maybe see the build in action and ask me questions live. Cheers! Check out my other guides here: List of forum guides PS - I've also added a clip of me getting a deathless Uber Elder kill. I recorded it on stream. Not the cleanest kill ever, there was a pretty close call a couple of times, but deathless is deathelss! Check it out: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/386339612 Last edited by cowpimp#1491 on Jul 26, 2019, 5:04:13 PM Last bumped on Apr 25, 2019, 11:30:29 PM
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Thanks for your effort. Looks good!
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" Thanks for the feedback! |
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very solid build, easy to pass all contents.
This build will benefit from 3.6 and 3.7 I believe. |
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" It seems like it might, though maybe a crit version will be even stronger. A hege's staff crit glacial hammer build could be awesome with the new consecrated ground changes coming. Cheers! |
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a rare high physical dps mace (one hand or two hands) is better. At the league, this unique one is good enough.
With new flask in 3.6, critical version would be awesome. |
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Hello! I love the Glacial Hammer playstyle, i was looking for this build a long time! I hope do this build on 3.6. I use to play on hardcore and I want to know if i can start with this build in next league. I would like to know too if i can use a version with 2H weapon(mace or staff). Thank You! :D
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Good build!! :D
Last edited by Hbergon#4797 on Feb 23, 2019, 2:11:23 AM
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" I'm sure a rare 1hander is better no doubt. There's nothing special about Frostbreath except that it scales really well for how cheap it is. Also, the fire resistance on it makes your other gearing easier. Definitely, a critical version would be awesome. Maybe a Hegemony's Era glacial hammer character considering Inquisitor's proximity to those juicy staff and melee crit nodes? |
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" I see no reason this wouldn't work in hardcore. You could even play it safer and spec some additional life nodes. However, 6.5k HP is pretty decent for hardcore when you have the level of mitigation this build does. You will likely feel a bit safer with more though (I played hardcore exclusively for years, so I am familiar with it). I would think the build is a great league start actually. Frostbreath is super cheap, and the only "mandatory" item in the build. Loreweave is obviously great, but you could run a belly of the beast or just a decent rare chest in it's place if you wanted something cheaper. Lightning coil could even be a good choice if you want some extra physical mitigation. This is very doable with a 2 hander! Kongor's undying rage would make for a good 2H elemental overload version, Tidebreaker would be cool for a resolute technique version, Hegemony's Era would be great for 2H crit, and Doryani's Catalyst would be solid for a crit or EO 1H (Or even dual wield) version of the build. Obviously, if you get a super nice rare, the weapon isn't mandatory. You could replace any of these with a high damage, well-rolled, rare at any time. |
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