[2.6/3.0] Generic 2H Axe RT Earthquake Champion League Starter [HC Viable]

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Pros:
- Easy to gear
- Tanky
- Clears yellow maps with minimal gear investments
- Beginner friendly

Cons:
- Less AoE as of 2.6
- Not Flameblast Totems
- Not very flashy

The tree for 2.6 and the beta are virtually the same hence why I will only link one final tree as I'm playing it on the beta right now.

Final Tree

We are traveling from the Duelist area to the Marauder part of the tree via the middle highway which isn't very point efficient and delays RT but it also allows us to pick up another axe wheel and Unwavering Stance. You can use a different path to travel and respec later if you want.

Final Gem Setup

If you want to invest into this build and push far into red maps get a 6-link Disfavour, add Rapid Decay as a 6th link and match the aftershock delay with your attack rate. You can use a 2nd Concentrated Effect and swap it in for Increased AoE during boss fights.

A 5-link Kaom's Primacy is all we need for the purpose of this build.

For the chest armour I like going with the Belly of the Beast but any decent rare does the job, we also only really need a 4-link on our chest which makes getting a good one a lot cheaper.

I like having the Belt of the Deceiver, they're usually pretty cheap but any decent rare you can get is fine.

Your boots should have 25% - 30% movement speed and a nice life roll on them.

The rest of your gear should have nice life rolls on it while covering all your resistances and stat requirements.

The only unique flask worth picking up is Lion's Roar if you can get it cheap, you will also want an instant life flask of staunching, a granite flask if you don't have Lion's Roar, a basalt flask and a quicksilver flask the rest is up to you. Make sure that you have at least one freeze removal, one shock removal and one curse removal flask.

Jewels can be used to give dps, %life, stat requirements and resistances. If you find a nice one use it, don't go out of your way to acquire one before you haven't gotten all your other gear.

Endgame Gear:

- upgrade your Kaom's Primacy to a 6-link Disfavour
- get jewellery with as much flat phys as you can
- get spiked gloves, flat phys, attack speed or the Vulnerability on hit corrupt are all great
- upgrade your chest armour to a 6-link as well and have your Warchief Totem deal more damage
- add a Taste of Hate to your flasks, you'd have to drop a utility flask to run Atziri's Promise as well.
- use jewels that have multiple dps mods in addition to the %life

Champion because I'd rather play an EQ Witch than Slayer.

Ascendancy nodes should be picked up in this order:

Unstoppable Hero is really nice except you don't have permanent Fortify yet so you will have to get it by replacing Endurance Charge on Melee Stun with the Fortify gem until you get your next two ascendancy points.

Fortitude is a great permanent way to mitigate hits, it also let's you fully take advantage of Unstoppable Hero so you don't have to use the Fortify gem anymore.

Inspirational, the only reason I am taking this third is because of the quality of life the extra movement speed adds because I personally hate using Leap Slam to move around.

First to Strike, Last to Fall is pretty similar to Inspirational damage-wise but it has some wonky low life stuff that isn't all too great. With this we are also kind of doubling down on the Intimidate effect which isn't necessarily what you'd call ideal either as they don't stack. Because of Herald of Ash and glove enchants however First to Strike, Last to Fall won't be able to intimidate all mobs 100% all of the time and I really like the reduced crit multi.

2.6 - Oak/Kill/Kill

3.0 - Kill all

No point in helping any of the Bandits in 3.0 unless their rewards get buffed, if you want Alira's all res just pick up Diamond Skin next to Warrior's Blood and respec once you have gear upgrades.

Tree 1
Pathing from the starting point to Golem's Blood, pretty standard.

Tree 2
I like pathing straight to RT, nothing more infuriating than not hitting the mobs you're clicking on.

Tree 3
The big axe wheel close to RT and Heart of the Warrior is what I like to pick up next.

Tree 4
Templar AoE, the 2h wheel in the Duelist area and some leech.

Tree 5
Pick up the rest of the life nodes on the tree.

Pick up jewel sockets, and charges as you see fit.

You can craft yourself blue leveling axes using the Rustic Sash recipe.
Once you start mapped get yourself a white 5-link axe and use the recipe or try to alt spam or hope for a lucky alc.
The rest of the gear should be used to try and cover resistances as best as possible and give flat life.
Once you have the currency upgrade your axe to a 5-link Kaom's Primacy.

Use Cleave until you get Sunder and replace Sunder with Earthquake in Act 3.
While leveling you will only need 2 sockets for your aura and buff, as many sockets as you have at your disposal for your Earthquake, a slot for Ancestral Warchief and a 3 or 4 link for your Leap Slam setup.
Level the rest of the gems in open sockets on your gear and in the secondary weapon setup.