[3.7] Rake's Tectonic Slam Equipment Guide - from League Start to Endgame

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Trebax wrote:

Hi! Relatively new player, and am currently leveling this build according to your guide. I was wondering what to do about mana gain - I seem to be bleeding it now and am way too dependent on heavy flask use. When I add Hatred /switch from Smite what do you recommend? Thanks, and sorry if this question is answered in your guide and I missed it.

Hi, using a mana flask while leveling is totally normal. Around level 45 you should get Life and Mana Leech on the Tree what should make it even easier. And just don't use Hatred as long as you have Mana Problems.

I also had a tect slam build with around 4-5M shaper dps. but my gear was pretty much on the t1/t0 section. i'll be trying out your build and compare it with mine :)

PS : i never used elemental focus on mine so i guess thats a big difference. also i used anger instead of hatred :O

This guide is fantastically crafted. Rake, thank you so much!
I'm planning to leaguestart Legion with a Tectonic Slam Chieftain, based on this guide, with the following minor changes.
I'd love to hear your opinion.

Ascendancy:
Tawhoa, Valako, Tasalio, Ngamahu.

Endurance Charges:
Take 3 '+1 max Endurance Charges' on the tree (that's 7 passive points, so I'll need to drop some other nodes. Probably sword damage, but it would depend on how the passive tree is changed in 3.7).
I'll also need a way, in addition to Tawhoa, of generating Endurance Charges. Not sure which way is best. Warlord's Mark would work for clearing but not for bosses.

Links:
As discussed above, switch out Multistrike for something else.

Life regeneration:
As much regeneration as possible, with Tasalio granting 50% increased recovery rate if I've taken fire (or physical) damage from a hit recently.
I would also like to utilize Soul of Arakaali's 50% increased recovery rate, but I'm not sure how. The old way was a CWDT - Blood Rage - Immortal Call combo, but Immortal Call no longer grants 100% physical mitigation, so I'll need to find a different way to "stop taking damage over time recently". Turning Righteous Fire on and off comes to mind, but this seems silly and hopefully there's a better way.

I also wonder if, considering Tectonic Slam + Ngamahu = 100% phys to fire conversion, it could be worth it to use Anger / Herald of Fire. I suppose it would depend on the amount of "increased fire damage" effects on the character. However, I read your explanation as to why go for Hatred and Herald of Purity, and it is quite convincing.

Any and all feedback is welcome :)

Thank you!

Hi Nucleophile,

the Ascendancys are fine. It's more a matter of preference than about "what's better". All are pretty good (except Ramako)

I'm unsure about Valako for a "lazy" gameplay. But if you focus on keeping up your endurance charges it could be worth it.

For getting Endurance Charges: Maybe Molten Shell will be good enough while mapping.

For Bosses and harder Enemies:
I thought about building in a Consecrated Path + Faster Attack Link for generating Endurance Charges quick (3+ Charges within one second just spaming Consecrated Path - before the fight ofc). We could even profit from the Consecrated Ground generated by it: 6% life regen (up to 9 when we get hit) and 100% increased Crit chance (when we start the fight with consecrated path). But i have ofc no idea how fluid it will play out and:
- if we will have enough gem sockets
- if it will be a valid way to have it in weapon swap

I will have to test it as soon as 3.7 is available.

Having enough gem sockets and enough place in the skillbar will be another problem we have to solve somehow (as soon as patch notes and gems are released)

regarding Soul of Arakaali's - i have no idea.

About Anger + Herald of Ash: I've already tested some Setup's in PoB for the new Chieftain. Hatred is still extremly strong damage wise and will be still the best choice in many cases. There are cirumstances where Anger (+ Anger Watcher's Eye) can be better. That's when you choose the Ascendancys which increases the fire damage enemies take (Arohongui, Hinekora) + if you somehow get more -fire resistance.

But that would everyone have to check for himself (for his gear and the currency he have to invest in Watcher's Eye's). In general i probably will still recommend Hatred for the most Setups

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Rake7 wrote:

regarding Soul of Arakaali's - i have no idea.

These are the ways to proc Arakaali I've come up with:
First, you can not use blood rage at all. No method will work with another degen running.

Red Trail / Golden rule: with a 39% conversion Watcher's and any amount of chance to bleed on the tree (there should be new nodes for this). This will generate frenzy charges for you as well, at least somewhat replacing Blood Rage. You will have to pop a Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching to to proc it (or wait for bleeds to expire).

Atziri's flask / Golden Rule: There is currently a 20% chance to poison on route to Brutal Blade in the Ranger area that is already specced on the tree. I've tested this and it worked well: When you hit the flask you acquire poisons that wear off quickly, proccing Arakaalis.

Problem is you can't have Red Trails and the flask with the nodes at the same time, because the overlap of the degens is a mess.

If you want to lose a flask slot, you can just use Forbidden Taste (no quality). 4 second degen on a 4 second flask, so you have to pop it after the visual cue from phasing expires.

If you want to use Oni, Arakaali will proc when her embrace expires (you have to not ignite an enemy for three seconds to get the 4 second life recovery buff).

point is, these methods are all pretty build warping. You better be doing something special with all this recovery rate. These numbers are not exact, but with both recovery buffs running you are looking at 1k-1.5kish life regen/second. You can also go VP, put your regen in the trash, and wear a Soul Tether to Leech 90%+ of your life per second with no cap besides leech's 5 seconds (attack speed dependent).

Excellent guide.

Regarding Chieftain and gear links for Tec Slam - assuming we would take away Multistrike and seeing that many of the gem replacements come up either slightly worse or at no gain, how do you feel good ol' Fire Penetration would do? Very rough napkin math seems to suggest it's still way worse than multi against an enemy with 40% res, but maybe I'm missing something crucial here.

Regarding generation: I wonder if CWDT-cast fire skills will proc that node. I so, then CWDT proccing: Wave of Conviction, Molten Shell and Flammability would have a 72.5% chance to give at least one charge. Shell is spammable, so having max charges before engaging and then a very good chance to generate a charge every time something pokes you enough to proc CWDT would probably hold charges for us... or am I beign too optimistic here.

This has to be the best build guide I've seen. Great work.

This is definitely in my top 3 choices now that Herald of Agony has been nerfed.

What are your thoughts about using Molten Strike (pre-patch nodes ofc) instead of TS.

- clear speed?
- Boss dmg?
- Gem/Tree changes?

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rurt wrote:

Excellent guide.

Regarding Chieftain and gear links for Tec Slam - assuming we would take away Multistrike and seeing that many of the gem replacements come up either slightly worse or at no gain, how do you feel good ol' Fire Penetration would do? Very rough napkin math seems to suggest it's still way worse than multi against an enemy with 40% res, but maybe I'm missing something crucial here.

Regarding generation: I wonder if CWDT-cast fire skills will proc that node. I so, then CWDT proccing: Wave of Conviction, Molten Shell and Flammability would have a 72.5% chance to give at least one charge. Shell is spammable, so having max charges before engaging and then a very good chance to generate a charge every time something pokes you enough to proc CWDT would probably hold charges for us... or am I beign too optimistic here.

The Gems are not released yet. But i'm confident that we will get some other strong Gems we could use (maybe even Fortify if the multiplier is at least 25%)

As far as i know cwdt will not prog the endurance charge generation. And Molten Shell will get an cooldown alongside the other guard skills.

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Ariane wrote:

This has to be the best build guide I've seen. Great work.

This is definitely in my top 3 choices now that Herald of Agony has been nerfed.

What are your thoughts about using Molten Strike (pre-patch nodes ofc) instead of TS.

- clear speed?
- Boss dmg?
- Gem/Tree changes?

I never really liked Molten Strike and only played it once. But what i know from reading and what i saw:

Clear speed wise Tectonic Slam should be way ahead of Molten Strike. Boss damage, when done right, Molten Strike is probably ahead of Tectonic Slam. The biggest benefit from Molten Strike is the life gain on hit when your Build is build this way. But with the new Chieftain, the healing shouldn't be any Problem either. I've tested a little bit in PoB and got around 4k life per second (leech + life reg) for 7k life.

And what changes i have to make i still have to see. With Patchnotes + Tree Reveal i can rework the Tree. Than i will have to wait for the Gem reveal.

As for now, it seems i will focus on Chieftain for Tectonic Slam and provide additional PoB Links for other Ascendancys. Chieftain seems pretty balanced Damage and Defense wise.

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Rake7 wrote:

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Ariane wrote:

This has to be the best build guide I've seen. Great work.

This is definitely in my top 3 choices now that Herald of Agony has been nerfed.

What are your thoughts about using Molten Strike (pre-patch nodes ofc) instead of TS.

- clear speed?
- Boss dmg?
- Gem/Tree changes?

I never really liked Molten Strike and only played it once. But what i know from reading and what i saw:

Clear speed wise Tectonic Slam should be way ahead of Molten Strike. Boss damage, when done right, Molten Strike is probably ahead of Tectonic Slam. The biggest benefit from Molten Strike is the life gain on hit when your Build is build this way. But with the new Chieftain, the healing shouldn't be any Problem either. I've tested a little bit in PoB and got around 4k life per second (leech + life reg) for 7k life.

And what changes i have to make i still have to see. With Patchnotes + Tree Reveal i can rework the Tree. Than i will have to wait for the Gem reveal.

As for now, it seems i will focus on Chieftain for Tectonic Slam and provide additional PoB Links for other Ascendancys. Chieftain seems pretty balanced Damage and Defense wise.

Thanks for the input. I've never done TS but I liked bossing with MS a lot. My idea was to start with your Jugg TS build and switch to MS if I don't like (or am not good with) TS.