Warrior build talk. Also how does stun work?

Alright to preface I do NOT have any experience with the original POE, this game is my first experience and I'm loving it. However I am trying my best to work down the warrior tree and find a cool build. I settled on stun because I've seen it pop up more and more throughout the tree and hey, big hammer should do big hits. I'm in Act III trying to polish the build up before getting into new game, and I'm noticing a few nuances with the stun mechanic. Earlier in the game I was using the rolling strike a lot for damage but my boneshatter ability seemed to be better for CC and boss phases to knock them down. While playing with friends I also noticed that the circle (stun) icon for the boneshatter would appear more frequently and sometimes would be there at all times, allowing me to constantly heavy stun an enemy. This made it seem like there WAS a way to reduce an enemies stun threshold even though there are no passives to do so. Wondering if maybe it's based more on base damage/damage boost from passives than any actual stun requirement or buildup. I've tried putting points into stun buildup, but that seems to just instant-stun enemies with normal hits before I meet a threshold for my heavy stun or boneshatter ability, and now the heavy stun icon never pops up. If anyone has some insight or has done some testing like I have to figure this out I would love to know. Right now I'm more inclined to believe that you do NOT want to build up an enemy's stun too much before using boneshatter but rather have so much base damage that the game just lets you stun because 1 hit is more than enough.

So you should look to pair stun with damage to stunned and enemies. Ideally you should be heavy stunning; breaking armor; buffing damage; and then triggering additional aftershocks all at once. I forget the name of the shout but there is one that creates aftershocks on stunned enemies. But basically the stun is the starting point for a damage ladder of other stacked opponent debuffs and stacked buffs for you. Hope this helps.

I’ll also add that I don’t think bone shatter is good for a stun build bc like you said you end up over stunning and can’t shatter. It is counterintuitive and maybe will change as you progress but I had the same issue and just dropped bone shatter. Sunder or some other aoe skill fits a heavy stunning better imo.

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MushyMeerkat935#5063 wrote:

I’ll also add that I don’t think bone shatter is good for a stun build bc like you said you end up over stunning and can’t shatter. It is counterintuitive and maybe will change as you progress but I had the same issue and just dropped bone shatter. Sunder or some other aoe skill fits a heavy stunning better imo.

That's understandable I suppose but I guess my main question here is how enemies actually become 'primed' for stun. As I mentioned when running around with buddies, every enemy (for some reason) was primed for stun before myself or the team did any damage to them. I enjoy Sunder but the use time for the skill is not ideal and it only works in a cone for the direction you're facing (though the aoe explosion will spread nonetheless). The boneshatter and the inferno passive (probably not the name but the passive that makes enemies explode to deal fire damage on kill) seemed like a great combo for later game with enough passives to boost element and melee damage. I could just run up to a group primed for stun, hit my BS, then they all explode with the effects of the boneshatter ability AND the flame with overkill to clear entire rooms out. Also it may just be that the game is still in early access, but the boneshatter's main draw is that it will (when the enemy is primed for stun) guarantee a heavy stun on that hit. I don't see that option with any other abilities, only increased stun buildup

Primed for stun I think is just a percentage of the stun build up. Check your ascendancy; there is a passive (crushing strikes) that makes it impossible to prime to stun (you auto heavy stun instead). That may explain why primes are popping up in groups but not solo. Just a guess.

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MushyMeerkat935#5063 wrote:

Primed for stun I think is just a percentage of the stun build up. Check your ascendancy; there is a passive (crushing strikes) that makes it impossible to prime to stun (you auto heavy stun instead). That may explain why primes are popping up in groups but not solo. Just a guess.

This was it. The whole time it has been the crushing blows denying my heavy stun chance. I don't have enough to revert my build to what it was before to test and see if I can instant stun enemies but now I am receiving the icons again. Thank you for the feedback and I may update with some results of my reverted build if it works out the way I want it to.

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KnittedPubes#8980 wrote:

…I've tried putting points into stun buildup, but that seems to just instant-stun enemies with normal hits before I meet a threshold for my heavy stun or boneshatter ability, and now the heavy stun icon never pops up…

I think you're confusing terms and states in general.

So, let's get everything in order :)

There is a Stun - it's a very (like, actually very) short state, which allows you to interrupt any actions that enemy is performing. We could say it is somewhat similar to Knock Back, but without displacing the mob. You or mob is stunned if the hit power, so to say, is surpassing your/enemy's stun threshold.

There is a Stun Buildup - this is a bar (you can see it right under health bar) which is being filled up by, essentially, any damage by default even without any passives. Then physical and melee damage have 50% increased bonus build up each.

Next, there is Primed for Stun - it's a state in which specific skills can put the enemy directly into Heavy Stun (Bonashatter, or crushing blows, etc.), or in other words - those skills can instantly fill Stun Buildup bar. It is depends on Stun Buildup bar thresholds, which are different based on mob rarity: for normal enemies it's 40%, for magic - 60%, rare - 70%, and for unique - 80%. When bar is filled more than this value current enemy will be in Primed for Stun state for the rest of the bar, and exactly this state is being indicated by shiny white orb over the enemy's head.

Finally, Heavy Stun - this state enemy being put into when Stun Buildup bar is fully filled, and enemy counts as Immobilised (it cannot perform any actions). It doesn't matter whether you filled the bar by using Boneshatter/crushing blow/any other skill that interacts with Primed for Stun state, OR you just filled it naturally by dealing damage - this state is still the same.

Now, benefits can vary, depending on how you're using your kit.
Let's say if you use Boneshatter without any support gems on a Primed for Stun enemy, which will Heavy Stun it - for this enemy result will be exactly the same, as if you would cause Heavy Stun by just filling stun buildup bar naturally - it will be just Heavy Stunned.
But if you would use Boneshatter with Devastate support gem on a same Primed for Stun enemy, it will not only cause Heavy Stun, but also will instantly Break Armour, which will be much better, than just Heavy Stun alone. And so now you can work with two debuffs - Heavy Stun and fully broken armour.
And so on :) There are a lot of different interactions between various skills, support gems, passives, etc.

This is SUPER helpful. I have been doing a warrior on couch play with my husband and could not find such a clear explanation of how "Primed for Stun" actually works. Thank you for this.

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MushyMeerkat935#5063 wrote:

I’ll also add that I don’t think bone shatter is good for a stun build bc like you said you end up over stunning and can’t shatter. It is counterintuitive and maybe will change as you progress but I had the same issue and just dropped bone shatter. Sunder or some other aoe skill fits a heavy stunning better imo.

Is this why I cannot get the glowy ball to show up over enemy heads even though i have put in so many points on stun buildup? have a ton of it and only rarely get the glowy ball graphic to appear. I am using the leapslam consecrated ground option to build up stun, with a bit of earthquake, hoping for the glowy ball to boneshatter. level 42 titan.

you over-stunned, that's why. Either drop some damage or stun buildup will solve. or just progress to maps I guess, things maybe better because you won't overpower enemies than in campaigns.I'm a lv60 warrior.