PoE Heavy Strike of Trarthus - Path of Exile

Heavy Strike of Trarthus is a melee attack skill that strikes an enemy using a staff. Each hit has a chance to deal double damage, with the chance scaling based on the user's Intelligence. Additionally, modifiers to spell damage influence the total damage dealt by the skill.

This is the Trarthan variant of the traditional Heavy Strike skill.

Tags: Attack, Melee, Strike. Level: (1–20). Cost: (7–12) Mana. Attack Speed: 85% of base. Attack Damage: (224–553)% of base. Effectiveness of Added Damage: (224–553)%.

Requires Level (1–70), (10–155) Str. Requires Staves, Warstaves.

Attacks enemies with a forceful blow. Requires a Staff.

• Increases and Reductions to Spell Damage also apply to Attack Damage from this Skill at 150% of their value
• 2% chance to deal Double Damage per 10 Intelligence
• Additional Effects From Quality: Increases and Reductions to Spell Damage also apply to Attack Damage from this Skill at +(0–20)% of their value

Place into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.

How to get it?

• Heavy Strike of Trarthus has restrictions on where or how it can drop. This item is a Trarthan gem. It can be obtained by taking this item from a Mercenary with this item offered as a reward after winning a duel.

Changes from Heavy Strike

Unlike the original skill, this version can only used with a staff. It does not have reduced enemy stun threshold, but increases and decreases to spell damage will increase or decrease the damage dealt with the skill. The skill's chance to deal double damage is based on the user's intelligence rather than a static amount based on gem level. Gem quality grants increased magnitude of increased/decreased attack damage from spell damage instead.

Why Use Heavy Strike of Trarthus?

Unlike traditional strike skills that scale solely with melee modifiers, Heavy Strike of Trarthus rewards Intelligence and Spell Damage — a rare mix for melee builds. This makes it ideal for creative players looking to mix tankiness, staff combat, and caster-style gear.

Key Benefits:

• Double dipping: Spell Damage boosts your melee output.
• High Intelligence = high double damage chance.
• Excellent synergy with unique items and ascendancies designed for hybrid play.

Skill Interactions and Mechanics

• Spell Damage Scaling: Only increases and reductions to Spell Damage apply (at 150% value). "More" and "less" multipliers do not. This makes support gems and passive nodes that increase spell damage extremely valuable.
• Double Damage Cap: The 2% per 10 Intelligence bonus is capped at 100%, which means 500 Intelligence will give the full bonus.
• Crown of Eyes Interaction: The spell-to-attack damage conversion does not stack with similar effects like Crown of Eyes. Only the highest applicable conversion is used.

Recommended Build Concept

Class: Hierophant (Templar)

Hierophant offers powerful synergies with Intelligence, Mana, and hybrid caster-melee mechanics.

Main Gear Highlights:

• Staff: 
  Look for a high spell damage staff with added physical damage or double damage chance. Agnerod East and Pledge of Hands are viable early options.
• Helmet: 
  Avoid items like Crown of Eyes due to stacking limitations.
• Armor/Gloves/Boots: 
  Stack Intelligence, Life, Resistances, and % Increased Spell Damage. Items like Shaper-influenced gloves can roll hybrid mods.
• Rings/Amulet: 
  Prioritize Intelligence, Spell Damage, and added Physical/Elemental Damage to Attacks.

Passive Tree Focus:

• Intelligence stacking (e.g., Deep Wisdom, Instinct, Melding)
• Spell Damage nodes (e.g., Arcanist's Dominion)
• Staff clusters (e.g., Stave Mastery, Smashing Strikes)
• Life, Armour, or Energy Shield depending on defense preference

Suggested Gem Links

6-Link Staff Setup:

• Heavy Strike of Trarthus
• Inspiration
• Elemental Damage with Attacks (if converted) or Brutality (if pure phys)
• Spell Echo (does not apply) – use Faster Attacks instead
• Added Lightning/Cold/Fire (if elemental scaling)
• Fortify or Pulverise (for AoE/melee scaling)

Defensive Options

• Mind Over Matter with Hierophant is great for mana-based defense.
• Use Determination or Grace depending on armor/evasion setup.
• Tempest Shield can protect against elemental ailments.

Playstyle Tips

• Position well: as a melee skill, you must stay close.
• Build around Intelligence: consider stacking 500+ INT for 100% Double Damage.
• Don’t overinvest in “more” spell damage nodes—they won't affect this skill.

Heavy Strike of Trarthus is a powerful and flexible melee skill for those who want to merge high-Intelligence caster builds with staff-based close combat. With the right setup, it can deliver consistent, hard-hitting blows with impressive double damage uptime.