S-TIER | BUILD WARRIOR SUNDER HERALD CHAIN (@Perra Gaming) | SEASON 4

Build Overview

The Sunder Titan is a Warrior build that combines monstrous area coverage with devastating boss damage. The concept revolves around Sunder and its Branching Fissures, which allow you to literally cover the entire screen and beyond through massive area of effect stacking.

But the true secret of this build is the Herald of Ice chain. By combining Armour Break and Armour Explosion within Herald of Ice, the build creates a chain reaction capable of clearing entire screens of enemies in an instant. This is made possible by the Polar Circle ring, which allows frozen enemies to shatter immediately.

The build uses a smart Weapon Swap system: Set 1 is dedicated to mapping with Sunder for fast clearing, while Set 2 focuses on bossing with Earth Shatter and Forge Hammer for absurd concentrated damage. Thanks to Giant’s Blood, the character can equip both a two-handed weapon and a shield simultaneously, providing exceptional survivability while maintaining massive damage.

Build Strengths

• Gargantuan clear: Sunder with Branching Fissures covers the entire screen, and the Herald of Ice chain clears whatever remains. Mapping is extremely smooth and fast.
• Formidable boss killer: The Earth Shatter + Forge Hammer + War Cries combination can one-shot virtually every boss in the game within seconds.
• Very tanky: Giant’s Blood allows combining a two-handed weapon with a shield. With block, massive armour, and Scavenged Plating, the character is nearly immortal.
• Budget-friendly: The build can start with around one Divine worth of gear. The map weapon is easily crafted with a Perfect Essence.
• Smooth progression: 5 progression steps available from Act 1 all the way to the final build, with budget and optimised versions.

Build Weaknesses

• Earth Shatter bug: The skill has been bugged for several months. Near terrain, spikes sometimes disappear without exploding, which can be frustrating during mapping.
• Requires Polar Circle: Without this ring, the Herald of Ice chain does not work. The build loses a large part of its clear without this item.
• Weapon Swap management: Switching between Set 1 (mapping) and Set 2 (bossing) requires some practice, especially managing persistent buffs like Overwhelming Presence.

Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 5 progression steps from leveling to the final build. Select a step to see the corresponding gem setup.

Acts 1-3 Act 4 & Maps Sunder Low Budget Sunder Endgame High Budget Sunder

Acts 1-3

4 skills • 11 gems

Fracas déferlantRolling Slam

Brise-osBoneshatter

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Act 4 & Maps

8 skills • 42 gems

Marteau de forgeForge Hammer

Cri sismiqueSeismic Cry

Pieux telluriquesEarthshatter

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Bond percutantLeap Slam

Héraut du sangHerald of Blood

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

Sunder Low Budget

10 skills • 40 gems

Attaques rapides IIRapid Attacks II

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

Armure de récupérationScavenged Plating

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Marteau de forgeForge Hammer

Cri sismiqueSeismic Cry

Pieux telluriquesEarthshatter

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Présence accablanteOverwhelming Presence

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Sunder Endgame

9 skills • 40 gems

Armure de récupérationScavenged Plating

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Cri sismiqueSeismic Cry

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Présence accablanteOverwhelming Presence

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Marteau de forgeForge Hammer

Pieux telluriquesEarthshatter

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

High Budget Sunder

10 skills • 47 gems

Attaques rapides IIRapid Attacks II

Régulation des chargesCharge Regulation

Armure de récupérationScavenged Plating

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Cri sismiqueSeismic Cry

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Marteau de forgeForge Hammer

Pieux telluriquesEarthshatter

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

BerserkBerserk

Recommended Equipment

The build relies on three mandatory items; the rest of the equipment is flexible and focuses on strength, life, resistances, and armour.

• Ring — Polar Circle: Absolutely essential. Allows frozen enemies to be instantly shattered, triggering the Herald of Ice chain. Buy several and corrupt them to get a useful implicit (item rarity or increased damage).
• Weapon — Two-Handed Mace: The top priority is having the « Gain as Extra Physical Damage » mod (Perfect Essence mod). This mod is what allows Herald of Ice to deal physical damage and thus trigger Armour Break. Check Perra’s crafting guide to replicate this weapon easily.
• Ring (other slot): Look for a Life Leech roll. Without it, you will need to socket Life Leech into your Sunder, which reduces your damage.
• Armour / Shield: Prioritise armour on the chest piece (scaled via the passive tree) and the shield (shield armour is converted into damage via Great Defense). Fix resistances and stats on the rest.
• Amulet: Melee ranks first. You can save a lot of currency by not buying Spirit on the amulet and using Weapon Swap for your persistent buffs.
• Gloves: Melee ranks, then flat damage, and finally Attack Speed if the budget allows.
• Soul Core: Soul Core of Cholatal if you have strength requirement issues. Combined with « All Attributes » on gear, all requirements are easily covered.

Gameplay Tips

• Mapping: Sprint through the map and spam Sunder. Herald of Ice takes care of the rest. Use Earth Shatter + Infernal Cry on resistant rares if needed.
• Bossing (combo): Place Forge Hammer → 2x Earth Shatter → Infernal Cry → 2x Earth Shatter → Infernal Cry. The boss should be stunned or nearly dead. Then switch to spamming Seismic Cry since Enraged War Cry removes the cooldown (costs 15 rage, Raging Cry generates 20).
• Weapon Swap: Set 1 = mapping (both Heralds active). Set 2 = bossing (Overwhelming Presence active, one Herald disabled for spirit). Place your persistent buffs accordingly.
• Investment: Spend your currency on the bossing weapon, not the mapping one. Crafting a mapping weapon is easy, but for bossing you need maximum damage — buying it directly is often cheaper than crafting it.
• Forge Hammer: On tanky rares, place Forge Hammer, detonate it with a War Cry, then spam Sunder or Earth Shatter on top. Molten Fissure cracks trigger on every slam hit.

The Herald of Ice Chain Explained

The Herald of Ice chain is currently one of the most powerful clear mechanics in the game. The principle is simple: Herald of Ice cannot trigger other Heralds, but Armour Explosion is not a Herald skill. By socketing it into Herald of Ice, a loop is created:

Armour Explosion deals enough cold damage to freeze enemies (thanks to Cold Attunement), which triggers Herald of Ice, which in turn triggers Armour Explosion again. This chain reaction clears entire screens in an instant.

For this to work, Herald of Ice needs physical damage (otherwise Armour Break does not apply). This is where the « Gain as Extra Physical Damage » mod on the mace comes in. Perra also uses the Dangerous Blossom anoint to double this source of physical damage. Uruk Smelting eases the process by lowering the Armour Break threshold, and Magnified Area amplifies the area of effect of the entire chain.

Giant’s Blood and the Build’s Defense

Giant’s Blood is the keystone that makes this build possible. It allows equipping a two-handed weapon AND a shield simultaneously, which is normally impossible. In exchange, the character consumes life instead of mana thanks to Blood Magic.

The shield is not just a defensive accessory. Thanks to the Great Defense passive node, shield armour is converted into damage, making high-armour shields doubly useful. Combined with block, Scavenged Plating (40% additional armour), and the defensive clusters in the passive tree (Polished Iron against stuns, Blade Catcher against critical hits), the character becomes extremely resilient.

If you lack defenses, Perra recommends swapping the offensive ascendancy nodes (Earthbreaker + Ancestral Empowerment) for Stone Skin and Mysterious Lineage for even more armour and maximum life.

Weapon Swap System

The build uses two weapon sets with very different objectives. Set 1 is the mapping set: it activates both Heralds (Ash and Ice) for maximum clear, and focuses on Sunder for movement speed and map clearing.

Set 2 is the bossing set: Overwhelming Presence is active to quickly stun bosses, while one Herald is disabled to free up Spirit. The passive tree for Set 2 focuses more on raw damage with additional offensive clusters.

This separation means you do not need Spirit on the amulet, saving a lot of currency. Simply place persistent buffs on the correct weapon set and swap according to the situation.

Bossing Rotation and Earth Shatter

The bossing rotation follows a precise combo to maximise damage. First, place Forge Hammer on the ground. Then place two Earth Shatters on top. As soon as the boss spawns, trigger Infernal Cry to detonate everything simultaneously. Place two more Earth Shatters and recast Infernal Cry.

At this point, the boss should be stunned or nearly dead. Switch to spamming Seismic Cry: Raging Cry generates 20 rage points, and Enraged War Cry only consumes 15 to remove the Seismic Cry cooldown. This cycle is infinite as long as you have rage.

You can have up to 6 active fissures at the same time, plus 2 additional ones from Branching Fissures. Each slam hit triggers the Molten Fissures from Forge Hammer for absurd cumulative damage. Fissures last 8 seconds, and few bosses survive that long.

Alternative: if you have Chaoum’s Madness, you can use only one Earth Shatter at a time but with reduced attack speed. Test both approaches and keep whichever suits you best.

Passive Tree