Sunder alternatives

[C0DEx]

So I've checked most melee skills, and as far as I can tell, nearly all of them are completely useless compared to the raw damage output of sunder.
I like sunder, but after two lvl 85 marauders I'd like to have a change.
Even Earthquake, with less duration support, istn even close the sunder's damage.

So my question is, is there any other AoE melee attack skill (for strength) that is compareable to sunder, or is this really the only useful strength skill?
Would be pretty sad if it was so.

Pretty sure there are guys who tried out different setups so jeah. There's my question.

Any advice?

[CyberDown]

Might be

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Active_skill_gem

couple attacks with higher damage modifications however

i think sunder is the best blend of aoe and damage right now though, unless you count cleave as an aoe because its small range, i dont think cleave loses damage modifier on the aoe part like sunder does and therefore is stronger...i really think sunder is the best longer range melee str based skill right now.

If you want high dps melee check out the green side of the game

[jbridso]

In terms of AoE sunder will be king due to the fact that the damage scales up exponentially with the number of targets hit. ie) 1 target = 1x, 2 targets = 2.2x, 3 targets = 4.8x, 4 targets = 6.4x base dmg, etc...

It's even comparable to all other single target melee attacks due to it's high damage multiplier. The only real drawback is the slower attack speed, but this is more than offset by the fact that it's basically a ranged attack and innately AoE. So it overcomes the biggest issues of melee and saves you a support gem slot too... which equates to more damage approximately another 1.5x multiplier.

[Drake]

Sunder is the skill that has the highest damage multiplier for melee attacks. You won't find any other aoe skill with that potential (there is heavy strike, but it's single target and dual strike but single target and dua wield only). EQ is better only because of the aoe allowing a better fexibility and warchief because you can have 2 or more of them.
The only issue with sunder is that it's for staff/mace/axe and you can't attack with both hands, so you have to pick an other skill if you use stuff like starforge.

[C0DEx]

Hmm. So pretty much all the other strength skills are actually useless ...

[CyberDown]

Originally posted by C0DEx:

Hmm. So pretty much all the other strength skills are actually useless ...

no they have other uses, look at the marauder builds in the class section of the official forums to see....yes some skills are useless under 3.0 changes, it rotates with balance updates and next patch sunder could suck, though they usuallly keep some of the basic starter skills very useful so new players can have an easier time getting into the game.

as far as straight melee aoe attack sunder is king right now, but there are other possibilites if you want to get more complex.


sunder is one of those basic attack/build skills that does really well without much complication or requirement for gear, every starting point (class) has a couple basic builds that do well, based on an active skill that is extremely powerful without much effort, however more poweful combinations can exist though creative building.


Sunder is awesome but super boring and basic, if your getting bored with it consider rolling a new character and find an interesting build on the official forums. many exist.

[C0DEx]

Jep I thougt of a freezing pulse templar build. Should be pretty nice with two of these first snow jewels.