Would a Support Champion be viable?

Hey guys, I played last league as an Aurabot Support Guardian for my girlfriend, but for the next league we'd like to switch roles. However, she doesn't really like the playstyle of auras and/or curses and we wanted to try a different kind of support, but I haven't really found any guides or discussions about it.

When looking at the changes for the Belt of the Deceiver and Vigilant Strike coming for 2.6, I wondered if it would be viable to make a tank Champion support centered around Blocking, Endurance Charges, Fortify and Taunt. The reason behind Champion choice are the notables Inspirational, Conqueror, Worthy Foe and Unstoppable Hero. It could also deal some DPS and maybe squeeze some auras/curses in.

The main skills would be Enduring Cry along with Conduit, Vigilant Strike + The Vigil, a linked Reckoning and some other attack/movement skill (maybe Frenzy for some group frenzy charge generation?).

After doing some research, I think some uniques that could fit this playstyle would be Redblade Banner, Advancing Fortress, Deidbellow, Kingsguard, Kaom's Way, Restless Ward, Death's Door, Wyrmsign and Veruso's Battering Rams.

So, do you guys think a build like this would be viable? I don't expect it to support as much as other support builds, nor deal as much damage as other dps builds, but I think it should be fun to play and fit the fantasy of the Champion as a leader. Any suggestions/thoughts about items and how I should build the tree? Thanks in advance!

I'm actually running a Champion Melee/Summoner Hybrid that is very similar. My character's main purpose is to act as the tank and decoy for the summons while also providing some damage, and it works relatively well. I've gotten as far as Tier 9 maps.

Like you've mentioned, I'm using Conqueror and Worthy Foe for its taunt-based interaction with Enduring Cry (which is also used to fuel CWDT + Immortal Call). I've tested Diebellow, but the duration of the buff (4 seconds) is, in my opinion, way too low for practical use (unless you're willing to cast Enduring Cry every four seconds). On the contrary, the new Belt of the Deceiver is good for a bit of extra damage, and although I don't have a Redblade Banner yet, its 2.6 changes seem desirable too.

In regards to skills, I'm using Cleave and I hope to acquire the new Overwhelming Odds jewel for Fortify on-hit. I've actually tested Vigilant Strike + The Vigil, but it's rather difficult to maintain the endurance charges, particularly against bosses. I've also tried a heavy stun-invested variant [with Endurance Charge on Melee Stun], but it, according to my experiences, has still been difficult against bosses, even with Enduring Cry and Warlord's Mark for supplemental charge generation.

Nevertheless, remember that not all of your allies will be within range of the effect from The Vigil; since we can assume some of them will play ranged builds, this effect may only be of complete use with a full melee- or mid-range team. Furthermore, if you want to be purely support, I'd suggest stacking as much damage mitigation as possible since you'll be at melee range. Mind Over Matter might be easy to maintain if you change Enduring Cry to Rallying Cry and use Spirited Response.

Overall, I do believe Champion can make a decent supporter. However, its support is more about redirecting damage away from allies and increasing the damage enemies take (rather than, say, being an aurabot). It's a different type of support, but I'm sure it has a niche in team play.

Thanks for the response!

I was thinking about using shock to combo with the increased damage taken from the passives/items and had an idea, but i'm not sure if it will work. I thought about linking:

- Reckoning + Increased AoE + Curse on Hit + Enfeeble + Conductivity + Phys. to Lightning

This paired with max block chance. The problem is that maybe the damage won't be enough to shock enemies consistently. Maybe using Wrath to buff up the lightning damage?

Another thing, would Iron Reflexes be worth taking in this case?

Unfortunately, I don't think it'll be enough lightning damage to actively trigger and maintain shock. Unless you're also stacking crit chance and crit multiplier, I can't see shock being too applicable for a pure support Champion. The only exception might be using Innervate with a super fast-attacking skill (but even then, its viability seems situational). Building on this premise, you won't be doing much damage with Reckoning. As such, I believe it's best to use Reckoning to apply debuffs to enemies. Effects like dual cursing, Blind, and Stun + Endurance Charge on Melee Stun might be useful.

In regards to Iron Reflexes, it surely has its uses with a Champion. Since you'll be taunting everything, you definitely want to mitigate as much incoming damage as possible. However, do note that with Iron Reflexes, the minor nodes in the Champion tree (the ones that add bonuses to both armor and evasion rating) only apply once - there isn't a double-dipping mechanic involved. So if you have gear that is hybrid armor and evasion rating, Iron Reflexes will convert all of the evasion rating to armor first, then the minor nodes from the Champion will only apply the bonuses to armor. Nevertheless, you could use something like Grace + Determination to give yourself a ton of armor (and you can stack the plethora of armor-based nodes near the Marauder starting area).

As a side-note, you could also use other defensive setups. For example, a low-level CWDT + Arctic Breath + Greater Multi Projectiles + Chain creates a veritable field of chilled ground, which reduces animation speed of enemies by a considerable amount. Another example is a high-level CWDT + Molten Shell for bursts of physical damage mitigation. You can also use Vaal Cyclone or even Shockwave Totem + Increased AoE inside Empire's Grasp for more crowd control. Lastly, remember that Stibnite flasks might be perfect for a melee-ranged supporter; the blind applied by the smoke cloud from a Stibnite flask will reduce an enemy's chance of hitting you by half.

I also quickly put together a tree: [Here]. I'm sure it's not the absolute best tree for a support Champion (and, based on the number of points used, it's certainly a tree for an end-game build) but it could help you with ideas on how to develop one. Here are some notes about it:

* Iron Reflexes was chosen to convert all evasion rating to armor. Assuming you also use Grace and Determination, this will give you a lot of armor rating. Since Iron Reflexes eliminates evasion rating from Dexterity, Unwavering Stance was also chosen to gain stun immunity.

* The tree also picks up maximum mana nodes to increase the mana pool. Rallying Cry + Spirited Response and the notable passive "Battle Rouse" will ensure 13% of the damage you take is recovered as mana, thus helping sustain Mind Over Matter. Furthermore, you can use two Essence Worm rings so Grace and Determination reserve no mana at all.

* The notable passive "Whispers of Doom" gives you dual cursing. The curses will depend on what kind of build your girlfriend [or anyone in your party] will be using. However, Enfeeble and Temporal Chains are undoubtedly the best defensive curses in the game and are useful for most situations.

* Since a support Champion will most likely be reliant on specific uniques, there might be a lack of Dexterity to support green gems or evasion-based gear. As such, the notable passives "Proficiency" and "Agility" add 60 Dexterity to help alleviate gem/gear requirements.

Woah thanks for the tree! It really helps. I was thinking about getting Conduit to generate all the charges for allies (using Frenzy and Romira's Banquet) and getting dual curses from another unique, but maybe I'd have the problem of not getting enough intelligence too. What do you think?

Conduit is definitely a great way to support others. Also, since the build in question is for support, you won't need to worry about allocating Resolute Technique since losing all power charges on a crit from Romira's Banquet will have little to no effect on the build. If you decide to go with Conduit, then the warcry of choice is certainly Enduring Cry.

For dual curses, getting an item that grants one additional curse (i.e. Windscream, Doedre's Damning, or a corrupted amulet) will be greatly beneficial since you don't have to spend as many passive points to get "Whispers of Doom." Heck, you can even go with Windscream + Doedre's Damning + corrupted amulet + "Whispers of Doom" for a five-curse setup. Probably not optimal, but this is theorycrafting after all ;)

If you're really hurting for stat points to cover gear/gem requirements, don't forget about the notable passives that grant a flat +30 to a stat; they're a simple and easy way to mitigate the aforementioned requirement. Alternatively, you can get something like Astramentis to pretty much cover most of your gear/gem requirements, thus allowing you equip nearly any other desired unique without compromising those requirements (after getting the necessary life, resistances, etc. stats, of course).

Oh, also forgot to mention that if your DPS build is using one or two elements, your girlfriend's support build can use Elemental Equilibrium to trigger -50% elemental resistances; just something extra to consider.

Thanks for all the support! I'll end up building this character myself and will share what I learn over here.

Hi !


I'm trying a Gladiator support this league (actually lvl 50) in HC.

Champion could be a good supp, 'cause of Inspirational and Worthy fee from Ascendency, but i think Fortify isn't worth when you build tons of armor.

I only took Gladiator for the block spell chance that bring a lot of survavibility and is core to my build. With Anvil, my blocks are maxed to 78%.

My build idea is this :
Go to the enemies, using my blocks to generate curses and to help my team with some auras, to heal others with enduring cry and to share my frenzy/endurance charges.
Also, i have a taunt setup (enduring cry, stone golem) and a high controle (vaal cyclone).


Why blocks over taunt ?

When i created my character in HC league, i wanted to make a build that use vengeance, riposte and reckoning. But i realized that had really slow clearspeed.
I chose to think to an other build than dps build to use at least one of those skill.
Then i found curse on hit support gem.

I'm thinking about using vengeance. At max quality, it haves 40% chance to trigger each time you are hit. You can use 2* Doedre's Damning to reach 4 curses.
The setup : Vengeance + CoH + 4 curses on a 6L (3 on a 5L).



I will try to build auras too :

I have 22% from the tree + 8% from Alpha's Howl Sinner Tricorne.
I will be able to run the 3 Purities+Artic armour.

Other skills useful are frenzy to generate frenzy charges, shield charge to move quickly.

I share you my tree : www.poeurl.com/9BX



Hf & GL with your Champion :).