Level 9 Heavy Strike Marauder^3.21

Notes

*** Work In Progress ***

Vaal Ground Slam handles normal mobs with ease. Heavy Strike for single target DPS. Decoy/Rejuvenation Totem for bosses. 
Ascendancy, Determination, and Endurance Charges for tank. 

CAMPAIGN
 
Act 1 Priorities: 2H Axe/Gems -> Iron Rings -> Life Flasks -> MS Boots -> Jade Amulet & Leather Belt. 

You'll be slightly squishy in Act 1. Stay moving to avoid projectiles, use slam on grouped up mobs, and spam Decoy Totem on bosses.

Use 2H Axes until getting Skull Cracking skill at level 30 or you find a good rare mace. Axes have higher base damage/DPS at low levels. 

After Act 1, the main gear you need are weapon recipe, accuracy gloves/helmet, and ele res on gear. Vendor recipe for 2H maces is normal mace 
+ magic/rare/unique rustic sash + blacksmith whetstone. Upgrade weapon every time you get 1x transmutation and whetstone.

After getting Determination, drop Vitality. After getting Precision, drop War Banner. Before going lab, be sure to have Determination. It's crucial for 
phys damage from traps and Izaro's slams.

Once you reach level 65, get Tidebreaker. It increases your total damage 1.5 to 2 times more. 

When you get to maps and your HP is high enough (around level 70), link Precision to Arrogance, then use Herald of Purity. 

Good uniques for leveling: Karui's Ward (Dex, movespeed, accuracy). Mokou's Embrace after lab (cold res and huge attack speed)

Avoid: Totemic/Karui mauls, unless you have attack speed on weapon/gloves. They are slow (<1.2 APS). 

ASCENDANCY

I chose Chieftain just because it's easier to gear while leveling (110% fire res), gain endurance charges, and the nodes are great with slams. It's a 
good balance between offense/defense with no investment. But Jugg is also perfectly capable of doing the job, gets move speed, accuracy, and has 
a higher offensive/defensive ceiling with proper gear. Pick whichever one suits you best.

ACCURACY

The specific weakness of mace marauders is hit chance from lack of accuracy/dex nodes. Resolute Strikes is a fix, but weakens DPS on bosses.

War Banner provides enough accuracy until Act 3. Around level 30, you need acc on helmet/gloves until Precision. After Siosa quest swap War 
Banner for Precision.

In PoB, use Configuration -> Enemy Stats -> Level to find hit chance and how much you acc need (should be > 90% hit chance).

In Filterblade use the "Normal Magic Item Progression" filter to add all equippable magic gloves/helmets, ID'ing them for accuracy. 

RESISTANCES

You get +40% all resistances on tree, 12-16% from endurance charges, and 110% fire res from ascendancy. After Act 1, drop iron rings and look 
for cold/lightning res rings from vendors. Try to cap res before Act 6, it will drop after Kitava.

KITAVA

Some unique bosses have stun immunity and ignore Decoy Totem, notably Kitava in acts 5 and 10. It's slow but doable if you change Decoy Totem
for Rejuvenation Totem. Don't stand in place too long, move from side to side. You can tank most hits once but two will kill you. Keep RT up always 
to fully heal and you shouldn't die. Intimidating Cry to double attacks. Vulnerability can also help.


GENERAL TIPS & TRICKS

Planting a 50 stage War Banner gives 2.5 seconds of Adrenaline, a huge DPS boost great for early rares/bosses. But the uptime on 
Adrenaline is so low, the 10% mana reservation is not worth it once you get Determination and Herald of Purity.