[0.5.5] Skadoosh's Corrupting Cry Totem Warbringer

CHECK OUT VERSION ON GEMLING IN 0.5!

Stack melee levels for Fortifying Cry to hit everything on screen with damage over time Paquate's Pact, that also explodes everything that dies. Stack spirit with Ancestral Bond to summon Ancestral Warrior Totem's that attack with Earthshatter. Detonate the spikes by spamming Seismic Cry, recovering massive amounts of life and applying Howling Beast for big crits

Read the How it Works section for a detailed description of the build

Early Leveling (1 to 33)

- Please check out my Full Early Leveling Guide which has step by step sections to help gearing, selecting passives and new player tips

- Venoms(Quest reward): Stun/Elemental ailment threshold

- Corrupting Cry I is required before you can start following the leveling variant of this build. That's also when you should have your second ascendancy: Warcaller's Bellow

Please read the guide and FAQ

If you have questions, @Skadoosh_C on twitch or SkadooshCorruptingArmy in-game

T3 Simulacrum (Hardest)

Uber Arbiter kill

Max level Xesht kill

Old Full Build Overview, Steelmage campaign gameplay, Steelmage build overview, T4 Simulacrum

Frequently Asked Questions

- I can't use my weapon set passive points, why?

You first need normal passive points before you can split them with the weapon set points. So to apply the max 24 weapon points for each set, you first need 24 normal passive points available to use.

- How come I can't move while using Seismic Cry?

This is most likely due to the fact that you are using click to move controls instead of WASD controls. You cannot have seismic cry on left click if you use the same button to move your character.

- Is it ok to keep Seismic Cry low level?

Yes, and you should until you get Second Wind III

- How do you recover life with Titanrot Cataphract ?

Urgent Call, Flip the Script, Ultimate Life Flask, (Second Wind III unintended but OP), Gain x life per enemy killed on set 1 weapon, weaving in Fortifying Cry

- My Shockwave Totem's die too easily, what do I do to fix that?

The level of the totem is what governs it's base life. As such, getting as much "+ levels to melee skills/attack" will help a lot. There is also totem life nodes leading to Watchtowers now. If that dosn't solve the issue or it's too costly to get more levels from a 19/20 gem, then you can socket Hardy Totems II instead of another support

- Why is X doing so little damage?

Make sure that the skill your using is selected to work with teh correct weapon set. Ancestral Warrior Totem and Shockwave Totem should always be on set 2 with your 2-hander, and warcries like Seismic Cry on set 1

- I don't see Shockwave Totem jagged ground explosions?

Don't use Persistent Ground III or Persistent Ground II with Earthquake, it disables Shockwave Totem explosion

This build is built around the support gem Corrupting Cry. It can be linked to warcries such as Seismic Cry and Infernal Cry. Every time a warcry that is supported by Corrupting Cry affects and enemy, it apply's one stack of corrupted blood.

Corrupted blood does 25% of our total strength as physical damage per second for 5 seconds. Corrupted blood can stack to a max of 10 on one enemy, meaning a total 250% of strength per second. Each additional stack refreshes all previous stacks. Often confused with bleed due to it's similarity, it is NOT bleed, and won't scale with any bleed related effects (except blood loss).

Seismic Cry and Infernal Cry have a base cooldown of 8 seconds. Which means it would take a long time before we could stack corrupting blood with Corrupting Cry to 10. That's where our ascendancy comes in with Warcaller's Bellow, as it allows us to ignore the cooldown entirely.

The reason we use Seismic Cry instead of Infernal Cry with Corrupting Cry is because it has: Lower cost, stuns enemies, does damage, knocks back and eventually breaks armour via Shattering Blow.

Once we get several sources of warcry speed it becomes easy to apply several stacks with Corrupting Cry. But, we also start draining our mana like crazy as warcrys have very high mana costs. To circumvent this issue we get Urgent Call and Blood Magic on the passive tree. As well as the new (unintended?) interaction with Second Wind III, allowing for insane life recovery each time we warcry. Due to strength inherently giving 2 life per point, it means the relative life cost stays manageable as we level up.

Corrupting Cry starts to fall off in single-target fights as we reach the endgame. That's where Shockwave Totem and weapon swapping gets into the picture. By using our weapon set points, we can take passives that relate to warcrys and shields on set 1, and passives related to totems on set 2.

Shockwave Totem has a base duration of 12 seconds, that can be further scaled with duration passives such as Protraction. This means that we can automatically weapon swap when putting down Shockwave Totem's, and weapon swap back via Seismic Cry to the safety of our shield. Essentially getting the full benefit of a two-hander without the downside of losing our defenses as our totems will be active even after we swap back to our shield.

To get the full benefit of multiple Shockwave Totem's, we need Jagged Ground via Earthquake. This jagged ground can overlap with the help of Encroaching Ground, allow for mupltiple explosions per Shockwave Totem. Forge Hammer (detonated via Seismic Cry) is another skill that synergizes, as each Shockwave Totem triggers the fissures it creates, and it also "snapshots" with set 2. We can boost our damage even more by exerting Forge Hammer with Infernal Cry and Seismic Cry, and putting down a War Banner.

Patch 0.2.0 notes changes:

• Turtle Charm is now 25% less block (was 35%, so we now have MORE block chance)
• Warcaller's Bellow scales with warcry stats now (Bigger POPS)
• 20% more physical hit damage against fully broken armour
• Polymathy now gives 7% (was 10%) attributes
• Mana cost of all warcries/attacks reduced
• Seismic Cry lost up to 38% warcry speed
• Brutality nerfed to 25% more damage (was 35%)
• Swift Affliction nerfed to 30% more damage (was 35%)
• Against the Darkness changed to medium radius (was large), 3% strength per notable is now max (was 4%). Several sockets also got removed, so longer viable in the current build.
• Morior Invictus no longer gives max life or attributes, so not useful
• Sceptres now grant the aura it gives to allies, such as Purity of Lightning (free resistance)
• Cast on Block now 10 times better at triggering spells (from Svalinn)
• Overcharge not worth using (50% less shock effect)

Patch 0.3.0 notes changes: (24.08.2025)

• Many Supports now have multiple tiers, buff (Brutality, Corrupting Cry, etc.)
• New warcry gem Fortifying Cry
• Attribute Requirements lowered by ~25% (Gems and items)
• Scavenged Plating now has 4% More armour per stack (was 7% with quality)
• Giant's Blood now halves the amount of Life granted by Strength
• The Deepest Tower removed from the game
• Low level Enfeeble skill won't affect high level mobs
• Ancestral Warrior Totem now uses your equipped weapon (+ melee levels isn't the only stat we need anymore).
• Ancestral Warrior Totem now has no totem limit. Requires 3 Endurance Charges to place
• Block has old Turtle Charm effect by default (can block AoE hits), block cap is 50% (was 75%)
• Swapping weapons is now instant (massive buff!)
• Warcry nodes Warcaller's Bellow and Greatwolf's Howl combined (Can now use Corrupting Cry after first ascension)
• Answered Call now has +1 totem, and Ancestral Spirits are much better
• Renly's Training now has 35% base block (was 40%)
• Jade Heritage no longer loses stacks when you get hit (10% PDR)
• Giant's Blood now halves the amount of Life granted by Strength
• Scavenged Plating now has 4% More armour per stack (was 7% with quality)
• Seismic Cry no longer resets it's own cooldown by default. Lost 40% warcry speed quality

Patch 0.3.1 notes changes: (24.08.2025)

• Ancestral Warrior Totem now capped at a max of 10
• Second Wind III no longer works with no cd warcrys

- Added first version of build (10.12.2024)

- Patch 0.4.0 notes changes: (05.12.2025)

• Ancestral Warrior Totem Buffed! No longer has 25% less attack speed (33% DPS buff)
• Constricting Command cannot bring surround below 1, must be close to an enemy to get buffs
• Hateforge didn't receive a change, but other builds might want it now. Expect it to be expensive
• UPDATED PATCH NOTE (09.12.2025): Hateforge now only gives 1 charge, and has a 3-6 second cooldown before it can give charges again. (It's killed, Uber endgame variant dead for now)

- Forgot to remove Second Wind III from Endgame variant (20.12.2025)

- Added strength desicrated suffix to Ruby jewels (20.12.2025)

- Full build revamp to account for everything changed in 0.5 (12.09.2026)