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

The Glacial Hammer of Shattering build in Path of Exile focuses on delivering devastating critical strikes with a unique mechanic that ensures every third hit is a guaranteed critical strike. This build maximizes cold damage and critical strike potential, allowing players to freeze and shatter enemies consistently. This guide will provide a comprehensive overview of how to optimize a Glacial Hammer of Shattering build in the 3.25 patch, ensuring you maximize your damage output and critical strike effectiveness.

Key Features of Glacial Hammer of Shattering

Glacial Hammer of Shattering (Level 20):

• Critical, Attack, Melee, Strike, Cold: Glacial Hammer of Shattering is a melee attack that hits enemies and converts physical damage to cold damage. Every third strike is guaranteed to be a critical strike, making it highly effective for freezing and shattering enemies.
• 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 Critical Strike Mechanics:
  • Converts 100% of physical damage to cold damage.
  • +40% to Critical Strike Multiplier.
  • Every third successive strike is a critical strike.

Building Around Glacial Hammer of Shattering

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 critical strike chance and critical strike multiplier.

2. Passive Skill Tree:

• Focus on nodes that enhance cold damage, melee damage, attack speed, critical strike chance, and critical strike multiplier. 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 of Shattering: Primary melee attack skill.
• Support Gems: Multistrike, Melee Physical Damage, Increased Critical Strikes, Cold Penetration, Hypothermia, and Elemental Damage with Attacks.

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 critical strike chance. 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 critical strike chance. 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 critical strike chance and critical strike multiplier.
• 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 of Shattering to freeze and shatter enemies, maintaining high uptime on your attacks to maximize damage and critical strike effectiveness. 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 of Shattering 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 critical strike effectiveness.

2. Chieftain Glacial Hammer of Shattering 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 of Shattering build for Path of Exile 3.25 offers a powerful and critical strike-oriented playstyle for melee enthusiasts who enjoy freezing and shattering enemies. By focusing on maximizing cold damage, critical strike chance, and critical strike multiplier, 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 of Shattering to crush your enemies into icy fragments.