Macing talents¶
The Macing tree is a per-weapon offensive-only tree for any BaseBashing weapon (club, mace, maul, war hammer, smith's hammer, etc.). It synergises with the Crush PvM special — a 10% baseline on-hit proc baked into every mace strike against creatures.
No defensive lane
Macing / Swords / Fencing trees ship as offensive-only. See Melee Defensive for shared survivability nodes.
The Crush baseline¶
Every Macing-skill weapon hit against a creature has a 10% chance to proc Crush:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Proc chance (baseline) | 10% per hit |
| Damage multiplier on proc | 1.5x (×1.5) |
| EAV-0 bonus | If target's VirtualArmor + VirtualArmorMod ≤ 0 when the proc fires, the multiplier stacks to 2.25x (1.5 × 1.5) |
| Effective Armor reduction | -25 to VirtualArmorMod while crushed |
| Crush duration | 8 s on the fastest maces, scaling up to 16 s on the slowest |
The bigger the maul, the longer the armor stays shattered.
Offensive path¶
T1 — Crushing Blow¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 5 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect / rank | +5% macing damage vs creatures |
| Rank | Total bonus |
|---|---|
| 1 | +5% |
| 2 | +10% |
| 3 | +15% |
| 4 | +20% |
| 5 | +25% |
T2 — Bone Shatter¶
Prereq: Crushing Blow.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 5 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect / rank | +4% Crush proc chance AND +2% flat macing damage |
| Rank | Crush proc | Flat damage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14% | +2% |
| 2 | 18% | +4% |
| 3 | 22% | +6% |
| 4 | 26% | +8% |
| 5 | 30% | +10% |
T3 — Skull Smash¶
Prereq: Bone Shatter.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive (consumed follow-up) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Trigger | Crush proc lands |
| Effect | Your next macing strike on the same target deals +50% damage AND sends a 1-tile shockwave splashing 30% of that damage to every adjacent creature. Mark window: 6 seconds. |
Tuned 2026-05-25: added 1-tile shockwave (30% splash). The follow-up strike now hits surrounding creatures too — Cleave-style AoE on macing's T3, tighter radius (1 tile vs Cleave's 2).
T4A — Stunning Strike¶
Prereq: Skull Smash. Branch-exclusive with Earthen Hammer.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active (primed) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Cooldown | 30 s (starts on consume) |
| Prime window | 15 s |
| Effect | Primes your next macing hit. On consume: +50% damage AND stuns the target (Frozen + Paralyzed) for 3 seconds. |
| Hotbar verb | stunningstrike |
Cooldown timing (updated 2026-05-25): the 30 s cooldown begins when the primed strike actually lands damage, not when you prime. If the 15 s prime window expires without a hit, you've spent nothing and may re-prime immediately. Re-firing the verb during an active prime is a no-op — the window can't be extended.
T4B — Earthen Hammer¶
Prereq: Skull Smash. Branch-exclusive with Stunning Strike.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive (on crit) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Effect | Macing critical strikes deal +25% damage and briefly stun the target for 1.5 seconds. Stun won't fire on an already-stunned creature (no chain-lock), but the damage bonus always applies. |
Tuned 2026-05-25: added +25% damage component; stun extended 1 s → 1.5 s. Was utility-only (stun-only) before — now matches Headsman / Pirouette as a real offensive T4B.
T5 — Titan's Crush¶
Prereq: Stunning Strike OR Earthen Hammer. Capstone.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 3 pt |
| Cooldown | 60 s (starts on consume) |
| Effect | Primes your next macing strike (15-second window). The primed hit detonates a concussive smash dealing 500% of your weapon's max damage AND stunning the target for 2 seconds, PLUS a 3-tile shockwave dealing 50% of that damage to surrounding creatures and stunning them for 1 second. |
| Hotbar verb | titanscrush |
How to use: trigger titanscrush from the hotbar (or chat command) to prime the strike. Your next successful swing with a macing weapon within the 15-second window consumes the prime and unleashes the full smash + shockwave — the 60 s cooldown begins at that moment, not at prime. If the window expires without a hit, you've paid no cost and may re-prime immediately. Re-firing the verb during an active prime is a no-op.
You can swap to a non-macing weapon during the prime window without losing the prime — the consume only fires while a macing weapon is wielded, so swapping back within the window is fine.
Tuned 2026-05-20: damage 200% → 500%, cooldown 120s → 60s. Now a true capstone hit on a 60s cycle.
Tuned 2026-05-25: added 3-tile shockwave AoE (50% damage + 1 s stun on splash targets). Matches Bladestorm / Eviscerate as a "wow that capstone" moment — Titan's Crush now levels the entire pull, not just the focused target.
Refactored 2026-05-25: changed from target-cursor-fires-now to a primed-next-strike delivery (matches Stunning Strike). Removes the awkward "click talent → click monster" two-step for a more fluid melee feel.
Build notes¶
- Crushing Blow 5/5 + Bone Shatter 5/5 + Skull Smash is the canonical 12-point opener: +35% direct damage, 30% Crush chance, +50% guaranteed follow-up after every Crush.
- Stunning Strike vs Earthen Hammer: pick Stunning Strike if you fight large hard-to-interrupt elites (3-second stun on demand). Pick Earthen Hammer if you're crit-heavy and want passive lock-down at fight pace.
- Titan's Crush damage scales off the weapon's MaxDamage stat, not your skill — invest in the highest-tier weapon you can swing for the biggest hit.
Naming history¶
- 2026-05-25 — the baseline PvM special was renamed Pierce → Crush to better fit the blunt-weapon flavor (piercing doesn't read right for a maul). Mechanics unchanged: same 10% on-hit chance, same -25 EAV debuff, same 8-16 s duration, same +50% damage multiplier with the EAV-0 stack. The Skull Smash follow-up, Bone Shatter scaling, and Titan's Crush capstone are all unchanged — only the in-game messaging and tooltip text say "Crush" now.