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Earthquake Slayer Build Guide (POE Legion 3.7 Resolute Technique)

Path of Exile Legion

This is a POE build that is defined by how simple and fun it is to play. Earthquake offers some surprisingly potent quirks by changing one aspect, its duration. The shorter the duration of this skills, the faster it applies the damage of both the initial hit and the aftershock. The main goal here is to get it down to perfectly in-sync, making damage application buttery smooth.

Offensively the mapping and bossing process are relatively similar, and extremely easy to handle. Pop your offensive Flasks if you have them, move into a pack/boss and drop your Ancestral Warchief Totem. Let that do its work while you start spamming out Earthquake. Once you have enough Phys/Fire DPS and Attack Speed to combine with the Reduced Earthquake Duration, it should be relatively easy to drop packs and bosses in many cases.

You’ll find all you will need to construct this build down below. The guide assumes that you’re going all-out and are maximizing every aspect, but you don’t have to go that far at all to reach a point where the build is enjoyable. Even in the low 90s with less-than-perfect gear, the build runs Maps and Delves just fine. And it’s a great choice as a league starter build for any POE player. If you are a brand new Path of Exile player, feel free to check out our various POE guides for noobs.

Build Pros

  • Great clear speed
  • Decent boss killer
  • Relaxed play
  • SSF and HC viable

Build Cons

  • Not the best leveling build

Passive Tree(s)

Here is the Endgame Passive Tree

Final POE Tree

Pantheon

Upgrade all of these.

Major God: Soul of Lunaris 

offers great defensive options for mapping. If facing some bosses with lots of DoT, opt for an upgraded Arakaali.

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul

Abberath offers decent defensive help as well for fire damage.

Bandits

Kill all for bonus Passives, can’t really beat this, although Alira might be useful while gearing up, personal choice.

Ascendancy skill points

Slayer

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

  1. Endless Hunger
  2. Brutal Fervour
  3. Headsman
  4. Bane of Legends

Enchants

Helmet: (From Best to Worst)
40% increased Earthquake Damage
30% reduced Earthquake Duration
40% increased Ancestral Warchief Totem Damage
12% increased Ancestral Warchief Totem Area of Effect

Boots:
0.6% of Damage Leeched as Life and Mana if you’ve Killed Recently
Damage Penetrates x% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven’t Killed Recently
x% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you’ve Killed Recently

Gloves:
Commandment of Light or Force.

You could also use these Corruptions on Gear:

Curse Enemies with Level (10–12) Elemental Weakness on Hit
(4–6)% increased maximum Life
(8–10)% increased Attack Speed

Leveling General Tips

Efficient Farm Locations:

Act 1: The Ledge

Act 2: The Fellshrine Ruins

Act 3: The Docks

Act 4: The Dried Lake

Act 5: The Chamber of Innocence

Act 6: The Ridge

Act 7: The Temple of Decay lv1-2

Act 8: The Harbour Bridge

Act 9: The Blood Aqueduct

Act 10: The Ossuary

Avoid these map mods:

* Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield

Be careful of these map mods:

* Monsters have #% increased Critical Strike Chance / +#% to Monster Critical Strike Multiplier
With high evasion, attack should almost never crit you. Spell on the other hand can still hit hard.

* Monsters fire 2 additional Projectiles
Scary mod on some bosses and monster types. Some monsters are still able to spam out too many projectiles to handle.

* Area contains two Unique Bosses
Your goal to survive this mode is a combo of extreme DPS and Life. The faster you can down the bosses, the less threat they pose.

* #% increased Monster Movement Speed / #% increased Monster Attack Speed / #% increased Monster Cast Speed
Some bosses are going to be too fast to hit effectively, meaning you’ll spend more time than you normally should kiting them. This combination with Temporal Chains is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

* Players are Cursed with Vulnerability
Negated during mapping with a Warding Flask, but not against bosses. Bleeds from bosses can kill you easily.

* Players are Cursed with Temporal Chains
I would personally avoid this on high-tier maps.

Final Skill Gem Setup

You’ll find recommendations for different attack skill setups for this build below. The basic buff and aura setups are down there too.

=== MAIN ATTACK ===
Earthquake -> Melee Physical Damage -> Damage on Full Life -> Less Duration -> Concentrated Effect -> Maim (Swap for Added Fire if you want)

=== SECONDARY SKILL ===
Ancestral Warchief -> Melee Physical Damage -> Damage on Full Life -> Multiple Totems -> Concentrated Effect -> Maim

=== MOVEMENT ===

Leap Slam -> Faster Attacks -> Fortify -> Blood Magic

=== AURA/UTILITY ===

Cast When Damage Taken -> Summon Lighting Golem -> Steelskin ->Vulnerability

Herald of Ash -> Hatred -> War Banner -> Blood Rage

Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear

In this section you will find all the suggested items for this build. We always try to include optional gear in our listing, or try your own assuming you get similar stat rolls. Aim for high-quality Rares if you’re replacing Uniques. The Minimum/Optional requirements listed assume you’re using Rares as a replacement for listed Uniques (where possible).

Depending on your gear choices, you can go for either a lot more DPS at the expense of Life, or go for more defensiveness by sacrificing a portion of DPS. This is your choice. In most cases, I would prefer Life personally, as it’s just a bit more forgiving. If you’re a new player, this may the path for you.

Stat Priorities:

Life is super important for survivability, especially at endgame. Although be careful not to forsake too many damage mods for it or you won’t be able to kill mobs quick enough for your defenses to handle incoming DPS.

Physical Damage is your primary DPS, and it scales primarily as a raw value. You might decide to run some Elemental conversion and scaling, but be careful. This means you should target Physical damage over direct Elemental damage so as to not compromise defenses.

Armour and physically dodging attacks are your defensive layers. By using specific item base types and Flasks, we can achieve a useful amount of defense.

Resistances until capped off.

Attack Speed means that you simply attack faster the higher it is. This stat becomes vital for scaling overall DPS. Attack Speed is great for your movement skill to keep Fortify up.

Weapons

This build is made to work with a 2-Hand weapon, you can easily go for either Axes or Maces with only focusing on the damage nodes for your weapon type. Although given the strength of Uniques, 2H Axes are usually better, so we will focus on that.

Consider solid two-handed Uniques like Kaom’s Primacy, Sinvicta’s Mettle, Kitava’s Feast, Marohi Erqi, Voidhome as some viable choices, although they depend on what your other gear slots have to offer. And of course, the top-end Unique will be Atziri’s Disfavour.

Any Rare Mace or Axe with at least 400pDPS can be used while saving up for a top-end Unique. Vaal Axe is by far the best base, aim for a Shaper or Elder base and go by the stats below:

Min. requirements:
Multiple Physical Damage Buffs
% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life
Strength
Optional affixes:
+1 to Maximum Endurance Charges (Shaper)
Gain % of Physical as Extra Fire Damage (Shaper)
Damage Penetrates x% Fire Resistance (Tangled Fossil)
Socketed Gems are supported by Elemental Damage with Attacks (Shaper)
% Chance to Deal Double Damage (Shaper)
% Increased Attack Speed (Elder)
% Increased Area of Effect (Elder)

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Helmet

A Rare works best here, the enchant is where most of the power of this slot comes from. I would say going for enchants which increase your main skill damage are best. Some Unique options do exist though. Devoto’s Devotion can really help clear speed for example. Abyssus is by far the best Unique for this build for the added Armour, which you will absolutely need more of if using this Unique. Just make sure to stack as much Armour as possible in every slot when using that.

If running a Rare, use Eternal Burgonet as a base with this build for the most Strength, Armour and Life gain.

Min. requirements:
90 Maximum Life
Attributes (Strength, Intelligence)
% Increased Armour
+ Armour
Uncapped Resistances
Optional affixes:
Chaos Resistance
Reduced Attribute Requirements
Nearby Enemies take #% Increased Physical Damage (Jagged Fossil)

Body Armor

There are several Unique options for this build, each offering slightly different options. Loreweave offers great DPS and is not too difficult to obtain. If you want to be even tankier though, The Brass Dome is your best defensive option for this build. Belly of the Beast offers another tanky option but with the caveat that you’ll want to run a Life Flask to give it the most impact.

A high-end Rare can do really well with this build in a pinch though. Aim for a Strength/Life base like an Astral Plate. If going the Rare route, prepare to get needed attributes on the chest in order to get more DPS from your Jewels and other Affixes.

There are several ways to further increase the effectiveness of a Rare here, but they will massively increase the currency cost, as a high-end Armour that fits these parameters would be Mirror-service-worthy.

  • A +1 Level to Socketed Gems Corruption is extremely useful if running a Rare.
  • % Increased Effect of Auras on you is good too, that comes from Bound fossils.
  • Getting Reduced Attribute Requirements can really help if you’re struggling with attributes. This can also free up other Affixes as you no longer need to waste them. This would allow you to further increase your DPS. Although getting this mod combination will be extremely hard, and will cost a lot of currency, so bank on just using a crafted affix instead.
  • Getting a high, or possibly Legacy, Increased Life and/or Chaos Resistance roll really helps with survivability.

Min. requirements:
100 maximum Life
% Increased Maximum Life (Elder)
+ Armour
Uncapped Resistances
Attributes (Strength)
Optional affixes:
Recover % of Maximum Life on Kill (Elder)
+ to Level of Socketed Support Gems (Elder)
Reduced Attribute Requirements

Belt

Abyss Belts with Life and Resistances are a good option for more difficult end-game sections and bosses. Other Rares might do in a pinch, but not having good rolls can make you a lot more squishy than is tolerable. Abyss Jewels are also a great source for damage buffs as well. Buffing your damage and Life is the best bet here with Jewels.

Elder/Shaper variants are good too, assuming you can get a good combo of Life and Resists on them.

Another good bet is a Cyclopean Coil. Although this will be really expensive as it’s pretty high-demand. The added life and Attributes are extremely useful, so this is a good option if you want to avoid wasting other affixes on attributes in favor of more DPS, assuming you can afford it.

Min. requirements:
70 Maximum Life
Uncapped Resistances
% Increased Global Physical Damage (Jagged Fossil)
+ Armour
Optional affixes:
Reduced Flask Charges Used
Increased Flask Duration

Gloves

Rare Gloves with buffs to Physical/Elemental damage are great as an endgame option. Always get some Attack Speed and added Physical Damage with this base to make it viable with this POE build. Go for Armour bases, no question if using a Rare. A Rare base like Spiked Gloves are great for the Melee Damage buff. And Gloves are actually pretty flexible for this build.

Check here for some Unique options, most useful while leveling.

Min. requirements:
70 Maximum Life
% Increased Attack Speed
Increased Physical Damage
Added Phys/Fire Damage to Attacks
Optional affixes:
Chaos Resistance
Reduced Attribute Requirements

Boots

Rare boots with max rolled Life, Resists and Movement Speed are great as a generic choice, but you may find yourself a bit more prone to taking hits than you would like. This one is more of a personal judgment call. Here’s the basic requirements for Rare in this slot. Two-Toned Bootes are good here for the extra Resists.

Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
30% increased Movement Speed
Any Uncapped Resistances (>25%)
Optional affixes:
% Increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills (Crafted)
+ Armour

Once you’ve gotten decently into end-game, you may want to switch to a Unique that’s more tailored for the playstyle of the build.

Kaom’s Roots – This is the best Unique pair of Boots for this build, and will provide decent defensive stun immunity, just be sure you don’t compromise your resists or other defenses using these. You may also be Socket-starved with this, so weigh your options.

Amulet

A Rare can work great here, but the best Rare is on which offers some Elemental Damage scaling, and it will not be cheap. Carnage Heart offers a decent starter Unique option for this build.

Min. requirements:
50 Maximum Life
% Elemental Damage with Attacks
Gain % of Physical Damage as Extra Fire Damage
Adds # to # Physical Damage to Attacks
Uncapped Resistances
Optional affixes:
% Increased Global Physical Damage (Jagged Fossil)
Attributes
% Increased Elemental Damage with Attack
Increased Aura Effect (Corruption)

Rings

Rare rings will likely work best here, Opal Ring or Steel Ring bases still offer tons of potential for both Physical and Elemental Damage, so give those a shot. There are a ton Fossil and Shaper/Elder mods which can be useful here, check out this list. And if you’d like to search for a specific Fossil mod to find out what Fossil it comes from, go here.

Min. requirements:
50 Maximum Life
Gain % of Physical Damage as Extra Fire Damage
Adds # to # Physical Damage to Attacks
Uncapped Resistances
% Increased Attack Speed
Optional affixes:
% Increased Global Physical Damage (Jagged Fossil)
Attributes
% Elemental Damage with Attacks
Increased Aura Effect (Corruption)

Flasks

Atziri’s Promise – A great defensive layer with extra DPS that helps keep you alive.
Lion’s Roar – Offers both good DPS boosting potential and a little defensive breathing room.

Other Flasks:

  1. Chemist’s Basalt Flask of Warding (Onslaught and Curse Immunity)
  2. Chemist’s Silver Flask of Heat (Freeze Immunity, Swap for Iron Skin if using Kaom’s Roots)
  3. Experimenter’s Sulphur Flask of Adrenaline or Alchemist’s Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline (DPS or Speed, your choice)

You can swap these mods around if needed due to RNG.

Jewels

Abyss Jewels that have a chance to gain Onslaught can also be used in a slot for a damage increase. Watcher’s Eye with buffs to Hatred or any other Auras you use can be really powerful. Rare Jewels will work just as well though in most cases, and be much cheaper.

Rare Jewels can run with the following stats:

Recommended affixes:

  1. % Increased Maximum Life
  2. % Increased Attack Speed with Axes
  3. % Increased Physical Damage with Axes
  4. % Increased Physical Damage with Two-Handed Melee Weapons
  5. % Increased Physical Damage
  6. % Increased Damage
  7. % Increased Area Damage

Optional affixes:
Attributes (Dexterity/Intelligence)

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