My original Tectonic Slam of Cataclysm Juggernaut 3.25 build showcase ‧ PoE Build (2024)

Hey people, hope everyone is doing great in this fun league.

First of all, this is my very first build that actually works, and it works great (for me). One week before Settlers league launch I decided I wanted to enjoy melee rework and create a slam build, which was the first build guide I followed in 3.10, at that time I obviously had no idea on what I was doing. Now, after 1500+ hours, I feel I would actually have some skill to create a build from scratch. I'm having a lot of fun so far.

DISCLAIMER: This is not essentially a guide, but a showcase where I want to explain my creation process and also seek feedback and options for improvement.

The process

Leaving things short, >!the start of this project took place 1 week before league launch, went from ground slam to tectonic slam over the course of 3 days, at the 4th day I started with the idea of going with two-handed mace and then changing to two-handed axe for higher max attack damage. For the next 4 days I tweaked a lot for more efficient tree, changing unique gear, designing a step by step for my leveling on launch, many different skill trees, skill gems and gear setups for each step. I also planned the endgame setup and cheap options. One week into the league I was really liking the build, it was tanky and had good damage. But then I reached yellow maps, I finally saw many flaws in between the gaps. I had to change the build, get more damage and more tanky, so with intensive analysis, I went for the idea of one-handed axe and a shield, I got much more tankier, huge max hits on PoB, lots of defensive layers. Shortly after getting to red maps I started to feel the huge change from two-handed to one-handed weapon. My damage was below my initial expectations for endgame, I wasn't one shotting common rare and unique monsters, I didn't expect that on essence monsters and Einhar beasts, I was very sad. I had to study the wiki and PoB again, looking for different uniques, game mechanics and their interactions. During the second week of the league, testing things here and there, I came up with something that works very well for me, not cheap but not super expensive, I believe it can be minmaxed for much more power.!<

Defense: I don't wanna die every map, so having many defensive layers is crucial for the build structure, 'abusing' Endurance Charges for damage reduction, we also have life regeneration, life leech and life on stun for when damage is dealt we will instantly obtain our life back. Many panic options are also available to us, self cast Enduring cry for fast life regeneration, Life flask for instant recovery when on low life, Flame dash and Leap slam for backing up away from enemies. Anoiting "Hatchet Master" on our amulet give us chance to gain Onslaught on kill, providing us high mobility to run away from enemies, in addition to dodge projectiles and AoE damage. 100% Chill avoidance on flask is very good for maintaining high mobility, 100% Freeze avoidance from flask or pantheon is vital as well. We cannot be stunned due to "Unstoppable" ascendancy node, it is also crucial so our attacks can't be cancelled (big problem for lower attack speed setups). We remove curses through life flask; immune to corrupt blood derived from corrupted jewel and bleed immunity from "Death's Door" unique boots; Automated Molten shell up most of the time is also huge for us; We get fortification from melee hits on our skill tree node wheel; Block from skill tree nodes and shield; High armour on every piece of gear is essential for physical and chaos damage reduction, acquired by "Unbreakable" ascendancy node; We have elevated maximum resistances from various nodes on the skill tree, eldritch implicit on body armour and also from our shield; Our sources of Endurance charges are Juggernaut ascendancy (30% chance when hit), stunning enemies by "Endurance charge on melee stun" support gem linked on Tectonic Slam and for last, for using Enduring cry when close to enemies, with that we have max endurance charges realistically 95% of the times, on bosses we might not be able to have max charges for every attack.

Offense: Our main source of damage is definitely high physical damage on weapon, I tested fire damage as well but only physical will always be better. We scale great damage the more endurance charges we have because Tectonic Slam have increased damage and AoE for each endurance charge we consume when attacking. The build has 3 automated warcries to exert our attacks, matching that with Echoes of Creation unique helmet, every attack will be a huge bonk. Rage also help us a lot on addition damage, gaining 2 rage per hit on skill tree, I decided to not have more rage generation because it works well when mapping, we ascend to 40 max rage on the start of the map and for the rest it will keep on max if constantly hitting enemies. I also decided to not go with automated Berserk because rage generation is not so high, but the skill tree can be tweaked for more rage node wheels, I just didn't find a good setup for it yet. We get fire exposure on hit from eldritch implicit on our gloves (there are other exposure sources but I kept with that, I will test with others though). Flammability curse comes from 2 options, the first one is "Autoexertion + Battlemage's Cry + Flammability" setup, the second I came up later is "Flammability on hit" synthesis implicit on ring, it is much expensive but worth the simple QoL over more reserved mana. We have good uptime of Onslaught anointing Hatchet Master on our amulet, it's very cheap, although cheaper gear I used Clever Thief anoint for life and mana leech (mana is a problem early). We intimidate enemies, causing them to take more damage, by blocking with a shield, from Shield Mastery on our skill tree, another choice is going with % chance through eldritch implicit on gloves (both implicits is possible on gloves, so it's not necessary to choose exposure or intimidate). I mainly use Berserk on bosses or challenging monsters for huge damage increase, together with War Banner on 50 Valour. Another choice I made is going with Resolute Technique keystone so we don't have to care about accuracy or critical strike scaling, I'm a simple man with simple desires. Ashes of The Stars unique amulet is best in slot for this build, many gems scale very well with quality, more levels for skill gems was not that impressive though.

Quality of life: Using autoexertion for 3 out of 4 of our warcries is much better in my view, so there will be no piano gameplay, our other buttons are necessary only in few specific situations. I'm liking a lot the build because I can use only my mouse while playing, left click to walk, right click to attack and side button for leap slam, the others are either damage boost or panic, which happens sometimes. Going with one-handed axe and shield was my choice for safe gameplay, I don't need to pay a lot of attention because I'm very tanky, although a lot of damage was sacrificed for that. Worth it. Having 3 main sources of life gain was a choice for not having to care too much, while the life flask helps in moments of need. Ryslatha's Coil unique belt works great because of both damage increase and life on stun.

Skill Gem links

For our main skill, Tectonic Slam of Cataclysm, I went with the following support gems: Endurance Charge on Melee Stun, (Awakened) Elemental Damage with Attacks, Fist of War, Overexertion, and Pulverise. Other options include (Awakened) Melee Physical Damage Support, Cruelty, Ruthless, and Volatility. However, I’m still testing them gameplay-wise to find out what actually delivers the most fun and effective results, rather than just focusing on the numbers on PoB. This setup will go on our body armour 6-linked sockets.

The next 2 setups can be placed on helmet, gloves, or boots, depends on corrupt implicit for more levels or other explicit mods:

Our autoexerted warcries will be: Autoexertion, Intimidating Cry, Infernal Cry, and Rallying Cry, but all warcries must be level 1 because levels only affect buffs, what Autoexertion cuts off. Autoexertion must be the higher level possible as well as the quality. I'm not sure if the warcries should have max quality as well, not tested by me yet.
"Auras" are: Blood and Sand, War Banner, Anger and Enlighten for more mana reservation efficiency (we don't want mana issues). Herald of Ash is an option as well, and because it reserves less mana, Flesh and Stone can be used in this setup, where War Banner needs to be placed elsewhere on the gear. Blood stance is the choice for damage, Sand stance is for more defense. All gems must be the highest level possible, only War Banner, Herald of Ash and War Banner needs quality.
Our other links will be: Automation with Molten Shell (highest level and quality possible on both); Urgent Orders, Enduring Cry, Flame Dash, and Lifetap (highest level and quality possible on all gems); Leap Slam, Faster Attacks and Lifetap will be our 3-link that goes on weapon or shield (highest level possible on all, quality only needed on faster attacks); I don't link Berserk with anything, it can fit unlinked with Automation and Moltenshell. (highest level possible on Berserk).

Be careful on gems like Automation, Faster Attacks and Flame Dash, our planned Intelligence and Dexterity are very low, if you find possible to add more Dex or Int on gear or any other place, these gems can be leveled more.

PoB: https://pobb.in/pCPilEUmOmAC

I'm also leaving a video showcase of the current state of the build (sorry for the low fps, my cpu is ancient and still waiting for retirement).

That's it, so far over 100 hours invested into this build. I hope this showcase is understandable and the build looks interesting to more people other than me. Feedback is very appreciated!

My original Tectonic Slam of Cataclysm Juggernaut 3.25 build showcase ‧ PoE Build (2024)

References