Heavy Strike of Trarthus
Strength-stacking Juggernaut Build

Updated for Patch 3.28

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Heavy Strike of Trarthus is rather pragmatic-looking, but there are unique ways to scale up its damage. It has a property that causes increases to Spell Damage to apply to its Attack Damage at an increased efficiency. Increases to Spell Damage will be sourced primarily from Iron Will, which requires a lot of Strength, and from one of the weapon's modifiers. That puts some pressure on the weapon, so it's for the best to find a better source of flat damage, which is not hard since Replica Alberon's Warpath will grant flat Chaos Damage sourced directly from Strength. Strength is also a source of many more offensive and defensive stats that will be expanded upon in the gear section. This version of Heavy Strike also has a chance to deal Double Damage tied to Intelligence; at 500 of this Attribute, it's 100% chance to deal Double Damage. We're also planning to cap Crit Chance (sourced, again, from Strength). The build has high Attack Speed, Withered on Hit, and decent Chaos Penetration.

Choose Juggernaut. Undeniable adds Accuracy equal to Strength and increases Attack Speed per Accuracy, which would be otherwise impossible to get in such quantities. Unflinching and Unrelenting grants durability with Endurance Charges, which this build can accommodate 7 of. These can be spent on Immortal Call and passively to mitigate damage. The last point should be spent on Unstoppable to be unstoppable. A big part of its defensive structure is taking all Cold and Lightning Damage as Fire, which is a process involving three expensive Jewels and restricting your Auras to Purity of Fire only, but it's probably mandatory. Overall, the build is extremely tanky with lots of Maximum Life (from Strength), Maximum ES (from Intelligence and Items), Maximum Elemental Resistance, very high Physical Damage mitigation, and capped Chaos Resistance. It also has decent Recovery with Divine Shield and high Life Regeneration. It has no weaknesses, but its weak point would be hits that inflict massive Poison Damage.

Overall, the build has extremely high damage, durability, and cost. It's a late-league project that requires many specific items. Not recommended for new players.

1. Gameplay

Heavy Strike and Leap Slam are bread and butter. All other skills are automated, so the gameplay is as simple as it gets. Immortal Call, Blood Rage, and Withering Step are linked with Automation. Assassin's Mark is triggered on Hit. Purity of Fire and Arctic Armour are your passive skills.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You should probably have a level 97 or so Juggernaut ready to dress up if you want to try out this build. Until then, you can play as any other Marauder that's currently best-performing or one that you're already familiar with, which could be Righteous Fire Chieftain or Molten Strike of Zenith Juggernaut.

Bandits:

An additional Passive Skill Point seems like the best option.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

109 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster or Unique Jewels)
123 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Undeniable
2. Unflinching
3. Unstoppable
4. Unrelenting

Pantheon:

Major God:  Soul of Lunaris: 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 6% reduced Elemental Damage taken if you have been Hit Recently

Minor God:  Soul of Tukohama: 3% additional Physical Damage Reduction per second you've been stationary, up to a maximum of 9%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Heavy Strike setup
	Heavy Strike of Trarthus - A Staff Strike that causes increases to Spell Damage to apply to its Attack Damage. With 500 Intelligence, it will always deal Double Damage. The Staff should add a level-10 Endurance Charge on Melee Stun. Lifetap should be imbued.
	Volatility Support - The Added Damage from Boots has a wide damage range, so Volatility is required.
	Void Manipulation Support - You deal only Chaos Damage, now more of it.
	Multistrike Support - Greater Multistrike will massively improve your Attack Rate, while lowering your damage only slightly.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - You should reach 100% Crti Chance, so additional Crit Multiplier makes sense.
	Ruthless Support - Every third Attack deals much more damage. It's good for bossing, but Greater Ancestral Call Support is better for mapping.

[UTILITY] Automation setup
	Automation - Linked eligible Spells are triggered automatically for you.
	Cooldown Recovery Support - Spells with Cooldown can be triggered much sooner.
	Lifetap Support - Linked Spells Cost Life instead of Mana, which you have very little of.
	Withering Step - Applies 9 stacks of Withered debuff on nearby enemies at Gem Level 21 and 20% Quality, and one more per 10% Gem Quality. The remaining Withrered stacks are applied via Unholy Might buff from the Overwhelming Malice notable on a Cluster Jewel.
	Immortal Call - Reduces the damage received for a short moment, but its duration is greatly improved when it consumes Endurance Charges.
	Blood Rage - Increased Attack Speed with Frenzy Charges on kill at the cost of slowly draining your Life. It can be replaced with Enhance Support if you don't wish to trigger it in this setup.

[UTILITY] Reservation setup
	Purity of Fire - With Tempered by War, Watcher's Eye, and Sublime Vision, you can shift all Cold and Lightning Damage to be taken as Fire. In such a case, you need only Fire Resistance and can only have Purity of Fire for an Aura.
	Arctic Armour - Reduced Fire and Physical Damage taken while Stationary. Freeze Immunity.
	Enhance Support - Quality adds Fire Resistance and increases Chill Duration on enemies from Arctic Armour in this setup.
	Empower Support - Gem Level improves every aspect of Arctic Armour and Purity of Fire.

[UTILITY] Assassin's Mark setup
	Assassin's Mark - Hits against the marked enemy have increased Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier.
	Mark on Hit Support - Mark is applied automatically with any Attacks.
	Lifetap Support
	Enhance Support

[MOBILITY] Leap Slam setup
	Leap Slam - The mobility skill we use here to move faster and jump over obstacles.
	Faster Attacks Support - Attack with Leap Slam faster to move faster.
	Power Charge on Critical Support - Grants Power Charge on Critical Strike, sometimes.
	Lifetap Support - Interchangeable with Rage Support, depending on what you have imbued in Leap Slam.

5. Gear Setup

The most important aspect of a Strength-stacking build is to get Strength. This Attribute grants flat damage via Replica Alberon's Warpath, increases damage via inherent damage boost, and increases it again with Iron Will with increased effectiveness. It grants flat Armour via Armour mastery, increases Attack Speed via Helmet and Undeniable passive, and has many other positive benefits from other rate items. Intelligence is also important, but only 500 of it. It's enough to encourage you to increase the flat Energy Shield on your gear, to be increased with an inherent boost and recovered with the Divine Shield Keystone. It's more important than flat Life, which you get from Strength. Since you need all your Suffixes to grant you Attributes, you won't have a lot of opportunities to get Resistances. That's why we need to shift all incoming Cold and Lightning Damage to be taken as Fire by combining specific versions of Watcher's Eye, Sublime Vision, and Lethal Pride. Then, only Fire Resistance will affect your Elemental Damage taken. You have lots of flat Accuracy, which grants Attack Speed, so try to increase it (globally), rather than going for flat Accuracy. Nothing Mana-related will be needed since all our things are linked with Lifetap. Rage on Hit comes from the Tree; Withered, from Cluster Jewel and Withering Step. Note that only increases to Spell Damage will affect your Attack Damage (MORE Spell Damage won't). Strike Range and additional targeting for Strikes will help.

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - On a Helmet, you will need a set of specific Hunter and Warlord mods to take full advantage of your Strength. For a base, get Energy Shield.

Min. requirements: 1% increased Critical Strike Chance per 10 Strength; Gain Accuracy Rating equal to your Strength (Elevated Warlord Suffix) Optional affixes: Nearby Enemies have -9% to Chaos Resistance (Hunter Suffix) #% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage (Warlord Prefix) Strength Maximum Life

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - The body Armour is basic - Chaos Resistance, Maximum Life, Strength Armour, and Energy Shield. For the Eldritch mods: Less Damage taken per Strength and Maximum Fire Resistance.

Min. requirements: +120 to Maximum Life 30% Chaos Resistance high Armour and Energy Shield Strength increased Attributes (crafted) Optional affixes: Intelligence Additional Physical Damage Reduction

(Weapon) Rare Staff - You need a Staff with Shaper and Elder influences for the mods listed here. The rest can be crafted on a Bench. The damage of this weapon is irrelevant. Important thing if you want to craft it yourself: it has to be a Staff, not a Warstaff.

Min. requirements: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 10 Endurance Charge on Melee Stun (Elder Prefix) Socketed Skills deal 20% more Attack Damage (Shaper Prefix) 1% increased Spell Damage per 10 Strength (Elder Prefix) Optional affixes: Strength and Intelligence Increased Critical Strike Chance increased Attack Speed

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves must have Chaos Resistance, Maximum Life, Strength, maybe Intelligence, Attack Speed, and basic defences. For the Eldritch mods: increased damage per Strength and additional targeting for Strike Skills.

Min. requirements: +90 to Maximum Life 30% Chaos Resistance (Essence of Envy) high Armour and Energy Shield Strength (Essence of Rage) Optional affixes: Intelligence increased Attack Speed +0.1 metres to Melee Strike Range (crafted)

(Boots) Replica Alberon's Warpath - These Boots are essential to have any flat damage. One of the main reasons to stack Strength.

(15-18)% increased Strength +(180-220) to Armour +(13-19)% to Chaos Resistance 25% increased Movement Speed Cannot deal non-Chaos Damage Adds 1 to 80 Chaos Damage to Attacks per 80 Strength

(Belt) Rare Belt - Get a Cord Belt and then Synthesise it for an Implicit that increases Strength. It should be high in Maximum Life, Strength, Chaos, and Fire Resistance. Other Affixes are not very important.

Min. requirements: +100 to Maximum Life 80% total Chaos and Fire Resistance Strength Optional affixes: Armour Maximum Energy Shield Flask mods

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - The BiS Amulets for a Strength-stacker can get very expensive. Ideally, you want a Shaper-Warlord Simplex Amulet with increased Strength, increased Attributes, and increased damage per Strength. If that's out of your price range, get some of these mods with basic Strength, Maximum Life, and Chaos Resistance.

Min. requirements: increased Attributes (Shaper Suffix) 1% increased Damage per 15 Strength (Warlord Prefix) increased Strength (Warlord Suffix) Optional affixes: Attributes Maximum Life Fire and Chaos Resistance

Recommended Anointments: Force of Darkness Tribal Fury Heart of Darkness

(Ring) Rare Rings - You want either a Helical or a Synthesized Ring with increased Strength. We recommend increased Global Accuracy rating mods to gain increased Attack Speed. Elder Ring would be the best since it can roll increased Accuracy and additional Crit Multiplier. Remember to add Attributes. Such a Ring can be expensive, so copy it with Kalandra's Touch.

Min. requirements: increased Global Accuracy Rating (Elder Suffix) Strength (Essence of Rage) Intelligence (Essence of Spite) increased Global Accuracy Rating; 10% increased Light Radius Global Critical Strike Multiplier (Elder Suffix) Optional affixes: Maximum Life Fire and Chaos Resistance

(Jewel) Lethal Pride - Lethal Pride is used to get Tempered by War Keystone and Strength. Upgrade notables with increased or added Strength and maybe Rage on Hit. Socket near Vigour.

Commanded leadership over (10000-18000) warriors under <Akoya • Kaom • Rakiata> Passives in radius are Conquered by the Karui Historic

(Jewel) Bound By Destiny - You only need "15% increased Strength if 2 Warlord Items are Equipped". Your Warlord items are the Helmet and the Amulet.

<One each of:> <Random 2x influence item bonus> <Random 4x influence item bonus> <Random 6x influence item bonus>

(Jewel) Forbidden Flesh & Flame - Ngamahu is the passive to strive for. It grants Strength.

Allocates <random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifier on Forbidden Flame Allocates <random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifier on Forbidden Flesh

(Jewel) Split Personality - Split Personality must grant Strength and Intelligence; otherwise, you won't reach the 500 Int requirement. Socket in a Cluster Jewel near Point Blank Keystone.

This Jewel's Socket has 25% increased effect per Allocated Passive Skill between it and your Class' starting location <Two random modifiers>

(Jewel) Sublime Vision - If you cannot afford a Sublime Vision with "30% of Cold and Lightning Damage taken as Fire Damage while affected by Purity of Fire", you won't be able to do the 100% Elemental-to-Fire shift, thus making this build much harder to assemble.

<Aura bonus modifier>

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Jewels should have Suffixes with Strength, Intelligence, or Maximum Fire Resistance and Prefixes with Maximum Life and Crit Multiplier.

Recommended affixes: increased Maximum Life Maximum Fire Resistance Strength Intelligence Critical Strike Multiplier

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - The "20% of Cold and Lightning Damage taken as Fire Damage while affected by Purity of Fire" is required. That's the highest roll.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Get the "Staff/Mace" Cluster Jewel with Overlord for Fortify on Hit, Weight Advantage, and maybe Martial Prowess. You should get a second one with Chaos Damage for notables like Unspeakable Gifts, Overwhelming Malice, and Touch of Cruelty.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Overlord 1 Added Passive Skill is Weight Advantage 1 Added Passive Skill is Martial Prowess 1 Added Passive Skill is Unspeakable Gifts 1 Added Passive Skill is Overwhelming Malice 1 Added Passive Skill is Touch of Cruelty

(Flask) Bottled Faith - It's hard to reach Crit cap without Bottled Faith, which should be triggered on hits against tough enemies.

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Effect

(Flask) Progenesis - Progenesis is expensive and good in all builds with good recovery, and if you plan this build, it's a drop in the ocean of expenses.

+35% to Chaos Resistance (20-10)% reduced Charges per use (-35-35)% increased Duration When Hit during effect, 25% of Life loss from Damage taken occurs over 4 seconds instead

Other suggested Flasks and Tinctures: Life Flask with immunity to Corrupted Blood Diamond Flask with increased Critical Strike Chance Silver Flask with increased Movement Speed or reduced effect of Curses Basalt Flask with increased Armour

If you have any other build requests, please leave that in the comments below.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.