---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // LEVELING // ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**CHECK LEVELING PASSIVE TREES**
Level 1-12: Ground Slam w/ any 2H weapon
Level 12-end of campaign: Sunder w/ 2H axe
Ground Slam links:
Chance to Bleed, Momentum
Sunder links: **(use Ground Slam links until Weaver killed in Act 2)**
Melee Physical Damage, Close Combat, Fist of War (Added Fire Damage until Act 4)
Warcry (CHOOSE 1):
Intimidating Cry for more damage
Enduring Cry for more defense / regen
Movement skills:
Frostblink (buy from Clarissa) & Leap Slam
**LINK MOVEMENT SKILLS TO Lifetap**
Auras & Heralds:
Act 1: Precision, War Banner (buy from Clarissa)
Act 2: Precision, War Banner, Herald of Ash (add Herald of Purity too if enough mana)
Act 3-end of campaign: Precision, War Banner, Herald of Ash, Determination (also buy but do NOT use Pride & Dread Banner)
**ALLOCATE AURA RESERVATION NODES DURING ACT 3**
Ascendancy Order:
Aspect of Carnage > Crave the Slaughter > Rite of Ruin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ // POST-CAMPAIGN UPGRADE PRIORITY LIST // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHILE performing these steps, farm Jun missions (Betrayal) to unlock these crafts
- hybrid chaos / ele res
- non-channelling skills have -x mana cost (Elreon jewelry)
- %phys / impale
Also, CAP YOUR ACCURACY ASAP. You can see how close you are to 100% accuracy in-game, in the Character Panel, under: "Offense > Chance to Hit Evasive Enemies."
You can eventually drop the "Eagle Eye" passive cluster to save 3 points, once you find enough accuracy (flat and %) on gear. I recommend speccing into "Hearty" to HEAVILY mitigate Rite of Ruin's degen!
You may ALSO eventually be able to drop "Versatility" to save a further 2 points but that requires QUITE a bit of accuracy (and Dex / Int) on gear and won't be achieveable until a good amount of investment has been made into your gear.
Finally, DO NOT FORGET MANA LEECH! You only need ONE roll and you can find it on: gloves, jewelry and jewels.
--
**DO STEP 1 BEFORE MERC LAB**
1) [~2c] buy Cleave of Rage & use it on the Merc Lab Divine Font to gain as close to 20% quality as possible (but do NOT swap to Rage Cleave until Step 2!)
2) [~4-5c] buy Rigwald's Savagery AND enough GCPs to finish 20% qual on Rage Cleave (you need EXACTLY 20% qual to gain "+1 rage per enemy hit")
3) [~25-30c] buy Bear's Girdle OR farm it yourself from Harvest (t4 purple)
4) [~20c] buy well-rolled 1H sword WITH OPEN PREFIX AND WITHOUT %phys (hybrid %phys/acc is fine!), then craft on %phys/impale.
5) [~20c] buy cheapest WHITE 6L Body Armor (basetype: Armor or Armor / Evasion) & roll stats with alch/scour, essences or chaos spam.
6) [~10c] put at LEAST 10% qual on Assassin's Mark (power charge generation)
7) [~20c] get 20% qual on Rage Vortex (WAY more damage)
--
After you get both 20% qual on Rage Vortex AND a Bear's Girdle, you can actually swap Rage Vortex over to your 6-link and run Rage Cleave on a 4-link (now used only for ad-clearing and rage generation.) You should net more dps this way, especially on bosses.
Experiment with the best links for a 6L Rage Vortex but they should be a combination of: Brutality, Melee Phys Damage, Multistrike, Impale or Increased Crit Strikes.
Remember to move Maim on over to Rage Cleave.
Do NOT remove Rage support from either skill.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ // BIG-TICKET THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR // ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- higher dps 1H sword with crit chance, crit multi AND %phys/impale (can still craft it if open prefix)
- Watcher's Eye with any of: "Pride, Impale additional hits", "Pride, Chance double damage", "Determination, Phys damage reduction"
- Armor / Evasion hybrid gear with spell suppress
- Tanu Ahi with "Attacks +% crit chance" corrupted implicit
- Abyssus with "+1 maximum Power Charge" corrupted implicit (balls-to-the-wall damage - remember, Assassin's Mark quality generates power charges.)
- a SUPER well-rolled Psychotic Axe Heist basetype (seriously - it needs to be VERY well-rolled to beat Rigwald's Savagery...)
- Redblade Banner AND swap "Flawless Savagery" (Ascendancy Node) for "War Bringer". Use Redblade Banner in your WEAPON SWAP, then use Enduring Cry to instantly get max rage.
**THIS LAST STEP IS NOT NECESSARY BUT IS MASSIVE QUALITY OF LIFE! YOU WILL LOSE A BIT OF OVERALL DAMAGE!**