PoE Intimidating Cry Build 3.25 – Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur

The Intimidating Cry build in Path of Exile focuses on utilizing the powerful warcry to enhance melee attacks and provide significant buffs to movement speed and damage output. This build leverages the unique mechanics of Intimidating Cry to maximize physical damage, mobility, and overall damage effectiveness, making it highly effective for both single-target and group encounters. By taunting enemies and exerting melee attacks, Intimidating Cry ensures that each hit counts, intimidating enemies and causing them to take increased damage. This guide will provide a comprehensive overview of how to optimize an Intimidating Cry build in the 3.25 patch, ensuring you maximize your damage output and efficiency.

Key Features of Intimidating Cry

Intimidating Cry (Level 20):

• Warcry, AoE, Duration, Physical: Intimidating Cry is a warcry that taunts nearby enemies, exerts melee attacks, and grants a movement speed buff to the user and nearby allies.
• Mana Cost: 19 mana.
• Cooldown Time: 8.00 seconds.
• Use Time: 0.80 seconds.
• Quality: +20%.
• Requirements: Requires Level 70, 155 Strength.
• Intimidating Cry Mechanics:
  • Base duration is 3.40 seconds.
  • 38% increased Warcry Speed.
  • 40% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate.
  • Enemies taunted by this warcry are intimidated.
  • Counts total power of enemies in range.
  • Buff grants 3% increased movement speed per 5 power, up to a maximum of 30 power.
  • Exerts the next 2 melee attacks you perform.
  • Exerted attacks deal double damage.

Building Around Intimidating Cry

1. Weapon Choice:

• High Physical Damage Weapons: Prioritize weapons with high base physical damage to maximize the effectiveness of your melee attacks. Look for weapons with increased attack speed, critical strike chance, and added physical damage.

2. Passive Skill Tree:

• Focus on nodes that enhance physical damage, melee damage, area of effect, and critical strike chance. 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. Champion:

• Unstoppable Hero: Grants increased attack speed, damage, and immunity to stuns while you have fortify.
• Fortitude: Grants fortify, providing damage reduction and increased defenses.
• Inspirational: Increases the effect of non-curse auras from your skills.
• First to Strike, Last to Fall: Provides increased damage and survivability.

2. 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.

Support Gems

1. Main Skill Setup:

• Intimidating Cry: Primary warcry skill.
• Support Gems for Exerted Attacks: Melee Physical Damage, Multistrike, Brutality, Ruthless, and Increased Area of Effect.

2. Secondary Skill Setup:

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

3. Utility Skills:

• Pride: Aura to increase physical damage.
• Dread Banner: Aura to increase accuracy and physical damage.
• 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 physical damage. Consider options like Belly of the Beast for increased life and resistances.
• Helmet, Gloves, and Boots: Look for items that boost life, resistances, attack speed, and physical damage. Consider using items with increased armor and defensive mods.

2. Accessories:

• Amulet and Rings: Focus on items that enhance physical damage, life, and resistances. Look for mods that increase attack speed and critical strike chance.
• Belt: A Stygian Vise with life, resistances, and increased physical 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.
• Sulphur Flask: For increased damage and life regeneration.
• Silver Flask: For increased movement and attack speed.

Combat Strategy

1. Engaging Enemies:

• Use Intimidating Cry to taunt enemies and apply the exertion buff to your melee attacks. Utilize Leap Slam or Shield Charge for mobility and positioning.

2. Utilizing Ascendancy Passives:

• Leverage the Champion or Juggernaut passives to enhance your defenses and damage output. Use Champion for fortify and increased attack speed, and Juggernaut for endurance charge generation and physical damage mitigation.

3. Managing Buffs and Debuffs:

• Maintain high uptime on Pride and Dread Banner to boost your physical damage and cause additional explosions. Use War Banner to increase accuracy and damage. Apply flasks to enhance your damage, resistances, and survivability during combat.

Example Builds

1. Champion Intimidating Cry Build:

• Focus on physical damage and fortify.
• Utilize Unstoppable Hero and Fortitude to maximize damage and survivability.
• Use support gems that enhance physical damage and attack speed.

2. Juggernaut Intimidating Cry 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 physical damage and area of effect.

Conclusion

The Intimidating Cry build for Path of Exile 3.25 offers a powerful and strategic playstyle for melee enthusiasts who enjoy dealing significant physical damage and controlling large areas with their warcry. By focusing on maximizing physical damage, area of effect, and overall damage effectiveness, 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 intimidate your enemies with the overwhelming force of Intimidating Cry to crush your foes.