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Path of Exile Ultimate Hardcore Marauder Build

 Path of Exile Ultimate Hardcore Marauder Build by BaneoftheLight

For those who do not know, I was NyanNyanNyanNyanN on Hardcore in closed Beta. I posted my build here and many people loved it. I made it through all difficulties with ease, and farmed some of the best items HC had. I am not some guy who has been playing for three days posting my build. I have been playing since the old closed beta invites, and had gotten many chars to end game.

I did one of these for closed beta. A lot of people liked it. So I had some messages asking for an updated build.

So here we go. This time it's a little different, but the core is the same.

Skill Tree

Things like diamond skin can be skipped depending on your gear.

Also, this build can be done as 2H, just drop the shield mastery nodes and switch the very few one handed nodes i got for the two handed versions (the one that comes to mind is in the duelist area, same route basically, and same amount of points used)

This build is more HP and regen than my old build. The main difference is I grabbed some more life and regen nodes towards the center of the tree.

Now, that build is fine and all, but what order should you get thins. It should come down to playstyle, but I go from themara life passives to RT and head to the duelist area first, getting berserking and blood drinker on the way.

I dropped the dual totems from my other build, and I dropped the blood magic passive and went with blood magic gems instead.

Ideally, you should use the following skills...

Heavy Strike w/ Melee Physical, Added Fire, Blood Magic

Ground Slam w/ Faster Attacks, Melee Physical, Blood Magic or you can use things like Concentrated Effect, or Increased AOE or Culling Strike (keep in mind culling will kill anything with less than 10% HP and it's speed reduction goes down as you level and it gains % physical added damage)


Enduring Cry and Decoy Totem (no supports neeed). I usually toss them randomnly onto my weapon since it'll only have 3 slots.

Anger and Wrath on Blood Magic and Reduced Mana. You can get this combo on helm, gloves, or boots.

Hatred, Vitality, and Tempest shield all on reduced mana. You can get this combo on your helm, gloves, or boots.

Molten Shell, Iron Will, Concentrated Effect(optional but an armor boost and takes out close range junk mobs in one shot when it explodes) I usually put this combo on my shield.

If you got a 5 link armor, Ground Slam is the bread and butter of mace users.

If you get a 6 link armor, you can have GS and HS share the same supports(blood magic, faster attacks, added fire, and melee), and it'll free up other items.

You can also throw in a curse. Temp Chains, Warlord's Mark, Punishment, whatever your playstyle prefers.


Things I skip that some people get...


Unwavering- You don't really get stunned much with tons of HP.

Various Damage Passives- I went with the most effective one's without using a lot of points. You will get MORE than enough damage with the right items and skill combinations and buffs.

Lava Lash/Elemental Damages/etc. 30% isn't THAT much since you your primary concern is PHYSICAL boosts since they will drain the most HP and hitstun enemies more often. Plus since you use RT, you aren't going to get the crit statuses from elementals. So things like added fire and hatred do add a lot of damage to some skills, but they aren't your primary concern to boost. Just an added bous more than anything

You'll notice I skipped elemental adaption. If you can reach max resists in merciless without diamond skin, that is where you put it. End game if you have TONS of hp and max resist, an extra 5% isn't a life or death matter though.

The shield props are more defensive, but in my opinion, optional. If you want more damage or whatever,you can drop those.

The endurance duration boosts- Unneeded, just watch your timers, 10 seconds is plenty to recast.

Armor passives- I skip these because armor scales funny end game. I rely on 5 endurance charges and the HP more.


Now, each player is different, and their items will be different, so some players will have slightly different needs. Feel free to grab a random +30 stat if you need it. There are some one node away from how this build is setup.

I really dig the smashing blows passive, not so much the bloodless passive. So if you want, drop two of the less important passives to get smashing blows.

Anyway, enjoy. I helped out many closed beta players understand the hardcore marauder, I hope this will help many new players succeed as well.

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2 comments:

zigz said...

Hi im really confused with this build, im actually playing a marauder which i want to play on hard core mode as a tank. i had a look on your skill tree but it seems you only have 50 points in the tree.
can you link a completed one in the comments please.

Anonymous said...

Hey man, awesome build cant wait to try it out. Unfortunately i think the link to the passive skill tree might be broken. could be please take a loot at it?