PoE Glacial Hammer Build 3.25 – Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur

The Glacial Hammer build in Path of Exile focuses on delivering powerful melee strikes that convert physical damage to cold damage, freezing and shattering enemies with ease. This build leverages the unique mechanics of Glacial Hammer to maximize cold damage, freeze chance, and the effectiveness of cold ailments. This guide will provide a comprehensive overview of how to optimize a Glacial Hammer build in the 3.25 patch, ensuring you maximize the damage output and crowd control potential of your icy strikes.

Key Features of Glacial Hammer

Glacial Hammer (Level 20):

• Attack, Melee, Strike, Cold: Glacial Hammer is a melee attack that hits enemies and converts physical damage to cold damage. It has a unique mechanic where frozen non-unique enemies on low life shatter when hit.
• Mana Cost: 10 mana.
• Attack Damage: 622.6% of base.
• Effectiveness of Added Damage: 622%.
• Quality: +20%.
• Requirements: Requires Level 70, 155 Strength.
• Cold Damage and Freeze Mechanics:
  • Converts 100% of physical damage to cold damage.
  • 25% chance to freeze enemies.
  • Every third successive strike freezes enemies as though dealing 490% more damage.
  • 29% increased effect of cold ailments.
  • 35% increased duration of cold ailments.

Building Around Glacial Hammer

1. Weapon Choice:

• High Physical Damage Maces, Sceptres, or Staves: Prioritize weapons with high base physical damage to maximize the conversion to cold damage. Look for weapons with increased cold damage, attack speed, and critical strike chance.

2. Passive Skill Tree:

• Focus on nodes that enhance cold damage, melee damage, attack speed, critical strike chance, and cold ailment effectiveness. Specific clusters to prioritize include those near the Marauder, Templar, and Duelist start areas.
• Consider pathing to nodes that increase life, resistances, and defensive attributes to maintain survivability.

Ascendancy Choices

1. Juggernaut:

• Unflinching: Grants Endurance Charge generation and reduces physical damage taken.
• Unstoppable: Grants immunity to stuns and movement impairments.
• Unbreakable: Increases armor and grants life recovery based on physical damage prevention.
• Unyielding: Enhances fortify and provides damage reduction.

2. Chieftain:

• Ngamahu, Flame’s Advance: Provides increased physical damage conversion to fire, which can be modified to cold damage.
• Hinekora, Death’s Fury: Grants life leech and increased damage.
• Tawhoa, Forest’s Strength: Increases physical damage and enhances totem skills.
• Ramako, Sun’s Light: Provides increased elemental damage and life recovery.

Support Gems

1. Main Skill Setup:

• Glacial Hammer: Primary melee attack skill.
• Support Gems: Multistrike, Melee Physical Damage, Cold Penetration, Hypothermia, and Ruthless.

2. Secondary Skill Setup:

• Ancestral Warchief: Totem skill to enhance melee damage.
• Support Gems: Multiple Totems, Melee Physical Damage, and Elemental Damage with Attacks.

3. Utility Skills:

• Hatred: Aura to increase cold damage.
• Herald of Ice: Aura to increase cold damage and shatter enemies.
• Steelskin / Immortal Call: For defense.
• Leap Slam / Shield Charge: For mobility.
• War Banner: For increased accuracy and physical damage.

Armor and Accessories

1. Armor:

• Body Armor: Prioritize armor with high life, resistances, and increased cold damage or melee damage. Consider options like Carcass Jack for increased area of effect and damage.
• Helmet, Gloves, and Boots: Look for items that boost life, resistances, attack speed, and cold damage. Consider using items with increased armor and defensive mods.

2. Accessories:

• Amulet and Rings: Focus on items that enhance cold damage, melee damage, life, and resistances. Look for mods that increase attack speed and critical strike chance.
• Belt: A Stygian Vise with life, resistances, and increased cold damage is ideal.

Flask Setup

1. Life Flask:

• Instant Recovery: For emergency healing.

2. Utility Flasks:

• Granite Flask: For increased armor.
• Basalt Flask: For physical damage reduction.
• Quicksilver Flask: For increased movement speed.
• Diamond Flask: For increased critical strike chance.
• Silver Flask: For increased movement and attack speed.

Combat Strategy

1. Engaging Enemies:

• Use Glacial Hammer to freeze and shatter enemies, maintaining high uptime on your attacks to maximize damage and crowd control. Utilize Leap Slam or Shield Charge for mobility and positioning.

2. Utilizing Ascendancy Passives:

• Leverage the Juggernaut or Chieftain passives to enhance your defenses and damage output. Use Juggernaut for increased endurance charges and physical damage mitigation, and Chieftain for life leech and increased elemental damage.

3. Managing Buffs and Debuffs:

• Maintain high uptime on Hatred and Herald of Ice to boost your cold damage and shatter enemies. Use War Banner to increase accuracy and damage.

Example Builds

1. Juggernaut Glacial Hammer Build:

• Focus on endurance charge generation and physical damage mitigation.
• Utilize Unflinching and Unyielding to maximize survivability and damage reduction.
• Use support gems that enhance cold damage and melee effectiveness.

2. Chieftain Glacial Hammer Build:

• Focus on physical to cold damage conversion and life leech.
• Utilize Ngamahu, Flame’s Advance and Hinekora, Death’s Fury to maximize damage and survivability.
• Use support gems that enhance cold damage and attack speed.

Conclusion

The Glacial Hammer build for Path of Exile 3.25 offers a powerful and crowd-control-oriented playstyle for melee enthusiasts who enjoy freezing and shattering enemies. By focusing on maximizing cold damage, freeze chance, and the effectiveness of cold ailments, players can effectively dominate both single-target and group encounters. Proper gear selection, passive skill tree planning, and strategic use of ascendancy passives will ensure that you unleash the full potential of this powerful skill. Equip your weapons, prepare your flasks, and strike with the chilling force of Glacial Hammer to crush your enemies into icy fragments.