[3.12] A Comprehensive SSF Earthshatter Guide [EASY ALL CONTENT]

Is level 68 (3rd lab) the earliest you get fortify? feelin pretty squishy leveling


thanks!

I started this as my 3rd SSF toon so I had lots of resources already.
Moved from leveling to doing heists and been doing up lvl 82 white ones. Didn't do any mapping/delve with this one yet.

Seems pretty tanky with good damage, despite many close calls this toon miraculously hasn't died yet(lvl 81 now)

I am not too happy with the clear speed and the clunkiness of the playstyle and even considered switching to some other skills like ground slam and cyclone.

Any ways to make the playstle/clearing smoother?
Some people use the eternal apple shield to auto trigger cries and it looks really good on videos for QOL (at the price of damage/tankiness(don't have it yet))


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LowvPEh--LI

Thanks for the inspiration! I've actually started my first SSFHC run and really loving it.

I would like to ask you about the flesh and stone.. you have to be in blood stance in order to be able to apply the maim, right?

I am using it for the sand stance to be a bit more tanky, so no reason for me to take that maim, right?

Hi Guys! Sorry for the delay! Was just very into Quinn's Ethical League, and had a pretty nice ride. Ripped now on lvl 89 on my Conc Path Chieftan (if I just got 90 for the possible prizes.. xD). Anyway, now that I've died I tought i should come here to compensate for the time is was away.

So, without further ado,

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Thanks for the inspiration! I've actually started my first SSFHC run and really loving it.

I would like to ask you about the flesh and stone.. you have to be in blood stance in order to be able to apply the maim, right?

I am using it for the sand stance to be a bit more tanky, so no reason for me to take that maim, right?

Yes, you're indeed correct. Since on late game the build is pretty good at physical damage metigation, I've switched to blood stance. But keeping on Sand is good early mapping.

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Any ways to make the playstle/clearing smoother?
Some people use the eternal apple shield to auto trigger cries and it looks really good on videos for QOL (at the price of damage/tankiness(don't have it yet))

Yes, eternal apple is a very good way to make the build very smooth. I've also seen some people using reduced duration nodes and stuff, but I didn't personally liked that myself, since its a bit hard to get down to a reasonable amount.

To me, I just have enough AoE for a full screen explosion, and faster warcry speed, and I don't feel much clunkyness.

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Is level 68 (3rd lab) the earliest you get fortify? feelin pretty squishy leveling

Slady, yes. The best way I found to be tanky while leveling is steelskin or molten shell, and using Enduring Cry mostly to proc the skill.

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So I'm trying to roll/craft a good 2H axe and recently landed on the below (note, this is the hybrid mod, as it adds 42% increased phys damage in addition to the culling strike). Is Culling Strike on the weapon, either as just "Culling Strike" or as "Culling Strike against Bleeding Enemies" a good mod to go with? Is this worth multimodding, or should I keep going for one of the T1 mods (increased phys, added flat phys, or attack speed) first? Thanks!

On SSF I've made a personal decision to just heavy-craft an item if it's insane. So I would not continue to craft this one because of the flat fire and life leech. Also, Culling Strike agaisnt bleeding enemies just depends on your bleeding chance. Usually Culling Strike alone is better.

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This is probably obvious but I can't figure out where you are getting life leech anywhere to use soul tether? Can someone explain for me please.

I'm personally not using, because I have not found it. But you can get pretty easily on jewels, rings, amulets, tree, etc.

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I searched a long time for a pure ssf guide for ssf beginners. Sc bored me too much and so i started my ssf career with the positive thing of getting used on leArning the crafting thingi here. First thanks for your work and giving ssf beginners a startguide.
Is this build still tanky and going? I want to start with it.

Cheers! Good to hear it. The build is a pretty solid starter, and have a lot to space to min-max it late game, and customize as you like it.

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I added Blunderbore + The Gull + Soul Tether together with vulnerability ring.
Sitting still on 8.2kHP + 650ES and dwarfing my hideout crew. The damage is still solid.

Nice! Another option to do. Thanks !

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For the helmet, using Pristine + Corroded locks out most of the Crusader suffixes, leaving just +Fortify Effect and +Chance to Block Spell Damage, which increases the odds of hitting it. The only downside is that it locks out all elemental mods, so I wouldn't be able to get %Phys Damage taken as Lightning. Is that an acceptable trade-off for increasing the odds of landing +Fortify Effect, or should I just spam Pristine Fossils and hope I land a good life/fortify/phys as lightning combo?

It really depends onn how much currency you have to burn. Since on SSF things are pretty scarce, I usually to with pristine+corroded.

Thanks for the reply! I've managed to level all the way to 97, which is pretty impressive for me at this point in the league.

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On SSF I've made a personal decision to just heavy-craft an item if it's insane. So I would not continue to craft this one because of the flat fire and life leech. Also, Culling Strike agaisnt bleeding enemies just depends on your bleeding chance. Usually Culling Strike alone is better.

Gotcha. So really you have to hit a good Increased Phys Damge/Flat Phys/Attack Speed mod first, and if you land culling on the augment/regal then cool, but it's not something that's worth investing in on its own, correct?

And if I land T1 Phys/flat phys/attack speed, do I need to hit a second good mod before it's worth multimodding? I've gotten those mods before, but I always end up with something lame like added fire damage or stun duration on my augment, so I reroll it. Is the below worth multimodding? Only bummer is it has 2 suffixes already so I might need to beastcraft it to remove suffix/add prefix and hope it moves the bleeding in order to get the +Str/Qualtiy mod on it. Should I continue or just reroll?



Thanks!

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Gotcha. So really you have to hit a good Increased Phys Damge/Flat Phys/Attack Speed mod first, and if you land culling on the augment/regal then cool, but it's not something that's worth investing in on its own, correct?

Yes, especially because currency is hard to get on SSF. If I really want a GGG Weapon, I usually just farm delves and spam fossils. Within 30 crafts you usually get something really nice. But doing it with Alterations is fine as well, if you have the crafts unlocked. It is even better if you have the imprint beast, to save your item.

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And if I land T1 Phys/flat phys/attack speed, do I need to hit a second good mod before it's worth multimodding? I've gotten those mods before, but I always end up with something lame like added fire damage or stun duration on my augment, so I reroll it. Is the below worth multimodding? Only bummer is it has 2 suffixes already so I might need to beastcraft it to remove suffix/add prefix and hope it moves the bleeding in order to get the +Str/Qualtiy mod on it. Should I continue or just reroll?

It is fine to go on, just depends on how perfect you want it to be. The way it is, I would say is fine enough to go on. BUT, just so I can add a little bit of insight, I think going for a facebreakers variant of the build is better, since you need like 700+ pDPS weapon to compete with it. By going facebreakers, you can be even more tanky with a shield (or even drop some defensives nodes on the tree and go for more damage), and is not really hard to gear for it on the end game, just craft 2 steel rings and a decent enough ammy.

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BUT, just so I can add a little bit of insight, I think going for a facebreakers variant of the build is better, since you need like 700+ pDPS weapon to compete with it. By going facebreakers, you can be even more tanky with a shield (or even drop some defensives nodes on the tree and go for more damage), and is not really hard to gear for it on the end game, just craft 2 steel rings and a decent enough ammy.

Thanks again for the tips. This is the closest I've come to a decent axe, so I might just finish it out, play with it for a bit, and then try and sell it for a profit.

I might have to give Facebreakers a try. I figured it would be easy to get a good weapon, but my bad crafting luck (I miss Harvest) and steep prices on trade, trying Facebreakers is looking more appealing by the minute.

I'll go back and re-read that section so I know what to gear for, but basically we want added flat phys on both Steel Ring slots and ammy, correct? And as for corrupted implicits to aim for, are there any particularly good ones to get?

Thanks!

OK, so I've made the switch over to Facebreakers and have been playing around with it. What I've noticed so far:

- It's faster. With some added attack speed it feels a bit less slow/clunky in maps (haven't done many heists yet).
- Still need to get flat phys on one ring, but other than that the switch was pretty easy.
- Going from Leap Slam to Shield Charge helps it feel a bit more zippy. The only problem is that Shield Charge can't clear gaps so I'm wondering if I need to find a slot for Flame Dash...
- Haven't noticed much of a DPS increase or tankiness increase, but incoming damage does seem to be a bit smoother.
- Feels a bit weird to lose 3 gems slots, but I honestly haven't noticed much difference. I'm trying to land a "Curse enemies with Vulnerability on hit" corrupt mod on a good Facebreakers, which is really the only thing I miss. Don't notice much of a drop from losing Ancestral Warchief, since that was mainly just for bosses and my DPS already feels pretty good.

EDIT/NOTE: If you do go Facebreakers, make sure you open up the Options menu, then go to UI and scroll down to the bottom. Uncheck 'Auto-equip' so you don't by accident pick up a weapon, which makes Earthshatter either not work or hit for very little. Was wailing on a map boss and wondering why my damage was so low. Don't be like me!

okay so ive leveled up this build a few diffrent times on my private league now

now ive gotten to a point where i kinda wonder where do i get more damage gains from

i can clear t15,16s altho bosses tank quite abit

this is my current POB https://pastebin.com/Cd7ySMch
i know of a few obvious upgrades


Helm: can be upgraded but since its SSF and HC Abyssus isnt an option
not sure what to do

Amulet can get upgraded: altho minor upgrade dmgwise from what i see

Rings: both steel rings are maxed out Flat phys not sure how i could upgrade them besides getting Vulnerability or a curse on hit steel ring altho not sure how id do that

Armour: can be upgraded big time i know but once again no real DMG upgrade there

Shield: Saffels i could corrupt for something i suppose untill i can craft a good 5%Life on block shield

Boots well same there more or less only stat upgrades


Anyone got suggestions on where i should focus first where can i get more damage without sacrifising survival


as for whenever im mapping i just respec 2 points into the Impaler and slap on call of steel, Ground slam, Lord of steel jewel works suprisingly good for clearing especially blight maps

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Anyone got suggestions on where i should focus first where can i get more damage without sacrifising survival

So, there's a couple of things you can do. Getting you gems to 20/20. It's like 60k POB DPS, and considering the damage overlaps on some explosion, may be even more. This is especially true if you manage to get some alternate quality from heist like Pride and Fist of War for example.

You can also try to get curse on hit, by corrupting your gloves or getting a ring. Corrupting gloves can be hard because of SSF, maybe it's hard to get many facebreakers, but you can easily get the ring with Vulnerability from Delve in a few hours.

You can also drop Art of the Gladiator, which will help you keep your Fist of War up, so you won't acutally loose some damage, just mobility with shield charge and movespeed, Combat Control by crafting the mod on your jewelry, and getting 1 more level. By doing this you can drop Dread Banner, spec into Swift Skewering to use blood and sand. This tradeoff may not be worth to you, but it helps to mention.

Also, you can Divine your facebreakers to highers rolls. If you manage to get more life on your chest, your can switch some life nodes into damage, and still be as tanky as you were.

You can also enchant your boots with attack speed, and dropping art of the gladiator as well, if your attack speed get too high.

There is also a better annointment for you amulet.

The min-max from here on now will be tough, but thats SSF. There is Legion Boss Fights to do, Bosses to kill, and try to min-max around legion jewels, and -min % phys from helmet, etc. Andm you can indeed get more damage from you body armour. Here is some influence mods that may help you:

+1 to level to socked active skills
+1 to level of socket support gems
% increased strenght
enemies you kill explode
nearby enemies are blinded (extra defense, can maybe trade from some defense on tree?)
socket attack have -15 to total mana cost (and go all-in in mana reservation)

Or, you could gather 50 rare unique rings (is not that difficult on late game), get loreweave and drop saffel's.

Hope I helped!

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I'll go back and re-read that section so I know what to gear for, but basically we want added flat phys on both Steel Ring slots and ammy, correct? And as for corrupted implicits to aim for, are there any particularly good ones to get?

Yes. The only very good Implicit I recommend is the 2% life regen ammy. Is good if you have your stats figured out.

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OK, so I've made the switch over to Facebreakers and have been playing around with it. What I've noticed so far:

Thanks for the tips! I'm sure it'll help people coming in.

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So, the Ziz gauntlet is coming in, and I'm thinking of rerolling a staff version of this build. I'm not yet sure if I will', but if I do i'll make sure to update the guide.