Pillar of the Caged God - Spectral Throw Knockback Marauder

So, I'm a big fan of the idea behind Pillar of the Caged  God([url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Pillar_of_the_Caged_God[/url]), a unique staff that scales damage, attack speed, and Area of Effect off of Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence, respectively. I've seen a couple builds utilize it for things such as high AoE cyclone, but I wanted it to do better. With the release of 1.0.0 and the new ability Spectral Throw[url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Spectral_Throw[/url], some interesting ideas came into my mind: Spectral throw and Pillar may have been made for each other! Let me break this down into some sections ([b]Note[/b]- I know this is pretty long. I'll try and put up a simpler TL;DR at the end to get the gist of what's going on here.)

[b]Original Idea[/b]
* Wouldn't Pillar, which is a staff, be a great candidate for Spectral Throw, since it has a large melee range (from its weapon type) and can have fast attack speed from both +attack speed and +dexterity sources?
* Couldn't we take the keystone [Iron Grip][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Iron_Grip[/url] (which applies your strength bonus to physical damage to your projectiles as well as well as your melee) and use those strength nodes as bonuses to Pillar's base weapon damage [i]and[/i] to the damage done by Spectral Throw's projectile attack? Well, I'm here to do the math and find out. To start off with, we'll analyze Spectral Throw to see what weapon would work best with it, and what choices we have of that weapon type.

[b]Breaking down Spectral Throw:[/b]
> Throws a spectral copy of your melee weapon. It flies out and then returns to you, in a spinning attack that strikes enemies in its path.

We can make some obvious assumptions from this- the bigger the weapon, the bigger the attack range, and thus the larger of an area the throw will hit. Since all the "best" weapons for attack range will be two handers, we can compare the stats and mods on the different two-handeded weapons to decide which is the best option for us. Basically, what we want from Spectral throw is a high physical hit (explained further down), a large range, and the ability to scale with support gems.

[b]Picking the Best Weapon[/b]
Since Spectral Throw is a ranged attack using a melee weapon, It's ability to efficiently clear packs of mobs will be dependant on using a large weapon (and support gems like Lesser Multiple Projectiles) to clear the screen. Since the largest weapons are all two-handed (which are DPS focused), we want a two-hander that can produce the higest possible physical hit (so that it mitigates more armor- see [PoE Wiki's page on armor][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Armour[/url] for an explanation of armor's damage mitigation). So choosing a two-hander that can have a high max and min attack number would be ideal. A comparison of the two handed weapon base types showed these numbers as the highest for each weapon type:
* Highest Sword: [Vaal Greatsword][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vaal_Greatsword[/url]- 65-136
* Highest Axe: [Vaal Axe][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vaal_Axe[/url]- 82-137
* Highest Maul: [Terror Maul][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Imperial_Maul[/url]- 81-121
* Highest Staff (base stats) [Maelstrom Staff][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Maelstr%C3%B6m_Staff[/url]- 62-129

So, as far as highest base hit, The Vaal Axe takes the cake. But there are, of course, other factors to consider. Why don't we compare other stats, like the attack speeds and crit chances of these 4 two-handers?

* Vaal Greatsword: 1.1 aps (attacks per second), 5% crit
* Vaal Axe: 1.15 aps, 5% crit
* Terror Maul: 1.2 aps, 5% crit
* Maelstrom Staff: 1.1 aps, 6.68% crit

Not too much variation here as far as attack speed- Arguably the gains from the higher phys hit outweigh the fact that the Vaal Axe is only second fastest. But the crit chance is a little more interesting- on base stats alone, the Maelstron Staff is about 33% more likely to crit that the other weapons (in fact, all staves have higher base crit chances- an important thing to keep in mind a little later on). So we've got two options to investigate further- Axes and Staves. If we were to go into conventional high item level rare axes and staves, we could analyze things like how different attack speed mod tiers, crit chance, etc. affect each base type's performance in a physical dps situation- but to truly maximize a build based on a high-tier weapon, one needs many (perhaps dozens) of exalt and/or eternal orbs to trade or craft a top-tier weapon. And no matter which weapon you get, many items that would be beneficial to this build are going to be the same- which is to say, focusing on an expensive weapon is adding another cost in currency to the build which many will strugle with attaining. (I would also mention that I have planned this build on the Nemesis league, and since it is new high-tier weapons will be in shorter supply).

[b]What about Pillar?[/b]
Here's where the magic of Pillar starts to show itself- Pillar is considered a low tier unique (it starts dropping at monster level 13 and is not considered standard for any popular builds) and thus prices for it are usually scaled to how many sockets and links it has (note that Pillar has no randomly rolled mods- every Pillar has the same stats). Therefore, one can attain a Pillar of the Caged Gods and plan their build to utilize Pillar for much cheaper than one could farm for a progressively higher-tier two handed weapon. With this is mind, and knowing how Pillar's damage is directly a function of the player's stats, I started thinking about what class and gear would be best suited for handling this unique staff. Beyond anything else, we want a massive Strength number to increase our weapon's damage number so that we can do a massive physical hit and negate as much armor as possible. A secondary concern will be improving the attack speed of the Pillar- 1.25 is respectable for a two-handed weapon, but we shouldn't waste points specifically going for Dexterity when we could be grabbing more efficient attack speed or strength nodes. Lastly, we can (probably) ignore Intelligence- The increased AoE bonus from Pillar does not apply to the ranged attack of Spectral Throw, and since we already want to focus on Str (and then Dex), also maneuvering to increase Int in the tree would be spreading our valuable skill points too thin (We'd only need it for support gems- we'll discuss that in more detail in a bit).

[b]Picking a class and build[/b]
A focus on Strength with Dex lets us narrow down our class options- The standard Marauder and Duelist, or the new Scion. Your starting point is really going to be a matter of preference, but I did try starting from each of those three classes, and I felt the easiest Strength gain and survivability easily went to the Marauder. Arguments can be made for both the Scion and Duelist, depending on your playstyle, but the early surivability of the Marauder's life-side starting area, combined with the fact that it can easily branch into the Templar's heatlh and the two-handed nodes along the left/upper left (notably Pure Brutality and Blunt Trauma- which I'll discuss a little later) made it an easy choice. So, we want to focus on a high physical damage Spectral Throw that has surviveability and allows us to use the naturally high crit of the staff and the two-hander notables.

[b]The Ideal Gear[/b]
So we want a Marauder who utilizes Pillar of the Caged God with Spectral Throw for our AoE. What mods / other uniques will we be specifically looking out for in order to maximize our damage potential and avoid getting stuck? For low levels, the main problems will be getting the Int to equip Pillar (27) and the Dex to continuously level Spectral Throw (You need 39 by gem level 8 at character level 26, for example). The easiest choice is to pick up a Turquoise (Dex/Int) amulet starting at level 16 from Yeena, the act 2 miscellaneous vendor. Besides that, you may have to find a little more dex as time goes on through other equipment (it all depends on how quickly and safely you can get to the Marauder notable "Versatility" to give yourself 20 more, as well as the +30 Dex and Int notables between the Marauder and Templar starting areas- see my skill progressions below for more details). First we'll talk about the best mods to get in general, then we'll go through a more detailed slot-by-slot analysis of what's needed and what's ideal:

[b]A note about your first Pillar[/b]
Note that your first pillar will probably be a pretty low item level, as you should be focused on getting one as quickly as possible as opposed to getting one with a bunch of slots / links. If you can manage to grab one that's item level 28, you'll be able to 4 slot / link it yourself should you need the links. You can then later upgrade to a higher item level one if needed (note that you'd only need to do that to get a 5 or 6 link going- so you can start off with a "cheap" Pillar and later on get a "luxury" Pillar for extra sockets. You'll still save a lot of currency over the standard weapon upgrading that a non-Pillar character does.)

[b]Mod importance[/b]
Once you've gotten the stats necessary to run your weapon and gems, the next focuses (found on most items) will be:
* Added physical damage
The physical damage is of [i]utmost[/i] importance here- it directly adds to Pillar's base damage, which then receives the bonus that Strength applies to Pillar (another way to word it is that +physical damge from items like rings can be added to Pillar's base damage before it receives its bonuses from Strength, increased weapon damage nodes, etc.) The highest physical damage roll, 18-32, almost doubles the base damage of Pillar, so getting +physical from anywhere you can is fantastic!
* Resists
Obviously resists are a must for pretty much everyone. Not much explanation required here. Only important things to note are the Cold resist is important when facing Hailrake and Merviel, Lightning is important for entering Chamber of Sins 3 (and fighting Fidelitus), Fire is important for Crematorium (until you face Piety at the end, where Lightning is important), Fire and Lightning are important for Solaris Temple, Fire and Cold for the Docks, and all are important for Lunaris Temple (I haven't faced anything beyond Lunaris yet, but I assume all will be important). Of course, Chaos resistance is always important, so grab it when you can.
* Life
You are getting a great amount of increased life from life and strength nodes in the tree, and helping Oak in the Bandits quest on normal to get +40 life, so Life doesn't have to be top priority in your build here. Of course you won't want to skip it- it just means that you will sometimes be able to choose a lower life gear option that offers something like an increased physical damage number or a great resist amount.
* Critical Strike Chance / Multiplier
Pillar has a naturally high crit chance, and we are expanding on that with the passive tree. So further expanding it via gear choices will significantly increase your damage! It's also fairly important on gear because it will be difficult (from a stats and gem color situation) to maintain increased Critical Strikes / Multiplier in gear without spending a lot more.
* Strength
Once again, more strength will add to Pillar's damage and health. a +30 Strength bonus will be 54% increased physical damage to Pillar's base, as well as 15 life.
* Rarity / Quantity
These you will squeeze in where available. If you're very lucky or rich, and get all the recommended uniques to complement this build, you'll only have a few spots (rings, boots) to grab rarity and quantity on , so prioritizing that over, say, a max life roll or crit may be worth it to you.

* [b]Amulets[/b]
Of course, if you have the currency (or luck), you can avoid most early game problmes at level 20 by getting this build's ideal amulet- [Astramentis][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Astramentis[/url], which gives 90-110 to all attributes, which will effectively give up to 180% (the 2% inherit bonus damage from Str + the 16% bonus from Pillar) Pillar damage, 11% attack speed, 220 accuracy, and 55 health and mana (I ignored the evasion and es bonuses from Dex and Int because their's a very large likelihood that you'll be built entirely around armor).
* A couple of leveling options for those who can't find / afford Astramentis: First, (assuming you get Int elsewhere) would be [Karui Ward][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Karui_Ward[/url]- It's going to be going up in price thanks to the popularity of Spectral Throw, but it's still a relatively common unique that gives Dex, Strength, Accuracy, Projectile Speed, and Movement Speed. Another would be [Victario's Acuity][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Victario%27s_Acuity[/url], which gives a Dex and Int, and a chance to gain Frenzy and Power charges on kill, along with bonuses for those charge types (this would probably be best if you're gouping with someone who is charge-based and goes Conduit, as you won't reliably get or maintain Frenzy or Power charges for this to be very efficient).

* [b]Rings[/b]
One ring that would probably be very nice for leveling would be [Le Heup of All] [url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Le_Heup_of_All[/url], which provides elemental resists, increased damge, stats, and rarity- but it would not last into the late game (as added physical damage would far outweigh the %physical gain). Another option to look into is [Ming's Heart][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ming%27s_Heart)- We have a high base life (from strength) and a lot of life, so the 15% reduced doesn't hit us quite as hard, and a potential 50% chaos resist and 20% extra damage as chaos could be [i]huge[/i] (or not- remember that a high added phys roll will add directly to Pillar's base damage, so this would only be best if you can't get a ring with that roll or you're facing things that either deal a lot of chaos damage, or are weak to chaos). Otherwise you'd focus on rare rings that had added physical damage, resists, life, strength, attack speed, crit chance / multi, and possibly for later levels, mana leech.

* [b]Helmets[/b]
Early leveling options can includ [Ezomyte's Peak][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ezomyte_Peak[/url] and [Goldrim}[url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Goldrim[/url], which are great for offense and defense, respectively. The absolute dream helm, however, is [Abyssus][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Abyssus). Just look at that physical damage! Abyssus alone will add more damage to your build than any other 2 items combined! The increased physical damage taken will of course be something we have to pay attention too, but it's entirely manageable. Of course, Abyssus is expensive, so another (admittedly also expensive) option is Bringer of Rain- you can place your single-target attack in it (I recommend Heavy Strike- I'll explain that in a bit)

* [b]Gloves[/b]
Early leveling your gloves will probably be dictated by what stats you can find on gloves (especially dex and Int), as well as sockets / links / colors. We've got 3 options to look at for their potential to be ideal gloves: [Deshret's Vise][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Deshret%27s_Vise), [Maligaro's Virtuousity][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Maligaro%27s_Virtuosity), and [Thunderfist][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Thunderfist). Unfortunately, I'm not rich enough to own any of these, and I didn't spend too much time calculating out the DPS for each, but I would have to assume that Maligaro's would be the best. (Note, though, that if you find a nice rare gloves with +phys damage, +attack speed, some leech, and resists, those will be fantastic in their own right. Gloves are going to be the most subjective here- you might want to just keep on a pair of Slitherpinch for the leech, for example, or you may find a pair of Deshret's and decide those work best.)

* [b]Belts[/b]
Ideally, you'll be going for [Meginord's Girdle][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Meginord%27s_Girdle), as it gives added physical damage, [i]10% increased life[/i] (a whole node for free!), Strength, cold resist, and flask recovery rate. Another (lesser) option to look into would be [The Magnate](http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/The_Magnate), as it provides strength and increased physical damage, but it's stricly a consolation prize here, as it doesn't compare to the added physical or life from Meginord's.
A good leveller belt would probably be [Wurm's Molt][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Wurm%27s_Molt), as the mana and life leech will be great at keeping you topped off, and it has strength and life. If you can't procure either of these, you'll want to grab a Heavy Belt with life, armor, and resists.

* [b]Boots[/b]
I looked over the unique boot options and the only one that held any real appeal to me was [Lioneye's Paws][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Lioneye%27s_Paws)- up to 60 Strength and Dex, 20% move speed, 20% Block and Stun recovery, and Cannot be Stunned on Low Life. You may instead want to find boots with better resists (as many of the uniques listed here don't have any), better movespeed, and life instead.

* [b]Chest Piece[/b]
I suppose if you have great Chaos resist, you could take a look at [Death's Oath][url]http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Death%27s_Oath), which provides all stats, attack speed, life leech, chaos damage over time, and a triggered chaos damage debuff on kill, but I wouldn't consider it until you are at or very near max resist- which will be very tough. Otherwise you'll go for the armor standards of flat and % armor, resists, life, etc.


[b]The gems[/b]
Unless you start a Scion to grab Spectral Throw and then dump it in your stash, you will not see it as a Marauder. It really is only about 3 minutes of work to start a Scion, grab the gem, kill Hillock, and enter town to deposit the gem (and any scrolls you picked up) in your stash. Then, once you've actually started your Marauder, you can focus on a few things that are best to have in place before you rely solely on it- namely, survivability and dexterity. (The build guide below will detail how and when to pick these up- we'll discuss the ideal gems for Spectral throw with the assumption that you follow the guide).

Spectral Throw in order of importance:
[i]Spectral Throw - Lesser Multiple Projectiles - Faster Projectile - Knockback - Added Fire Damage - Increased Critical Strikes*[/i]
*(Note: Critical Strikes will probably depend on if you've found / bought an Astramentis. If so, give it a go. If not, you could try adding in Slower Projectiles in addition with Faster for the extra projectile damage, or something like added cold damage.)

The idea here is that you will throw 3 projectiles across the entirety of the screen that have a high chance to knockback, get added damage from added fire damge, and have increaesd chance to crit (and therefore also knockback with the passive we take) to damage and cc large groups of enemies. However, the first support gem you will be able to get ahold of naturally as a Marauder will be Added Fire Damage, which you may want to switch between your Heavy Strike and ST as needed depending on your mana costs, what sockets you have available, etc. Note that Marauder is only naturally given Knockback and Added Fire damage of the ones listed here, so you'll either have to earn these gems on another character or trade for them. I was pretty lucky in that I found faster projectiles and got a good deal on LMP- you may have to dedicate yourself to playing your "start Scion" until "Sharp And Cruel" in Act 2 Normal to get ahold of a copy of LMP.

Heavy Strike in order of importance:
[i]Heavy Strike - Added Fire Damge - Melee Physical Damage - Endurance Charge on Melee Stun - Faster Attacks - Multistrike*[/i]

Heavy Strike is all about bringing the huge hit. Once again, early on you'll get access to Added Fire damage, which is a %increased damage to attacks. Your next gem to grab will be Melee Physical Damage, as it's a multiplicative bonus to your damage, which is a huge boost since you have a high physical hit. Next I added ECoMS- It's a nice way to keep Endurance Charges up if you're whittling down a rare after taking out its pack or a boss. Next I plan to add faster attacks, as the faster I can hit, the more damage... obviously.

[i]Why not Multstrike / Melee Splash / Other?[/i]
Multistrike has two distinct drawbacks in this build. For 1, it includes a "less" damage modifier, which is inefficient in our high phsyical-focused single target ability (note that all the other supports we use directly increase the damage with no starter penalty), and 2, since Heavy Strike causes Knockback on hit, a multistrike will actually push the monster out of your attack range, wasting the last hit in most cases (until you get Master of the Arena- which is fairly late). Melee splash also starts off with "less" damage, and we are using Heavy strike strictly as our single target ability- if you have multiple monsters you need to deal with, use your AoE ability!

Other Abilities:
[i]Leap Slam - Faster Attacks:[/i] This is your mobility. Be careful about leaping directly into / out of packs- it's better for landing next to them (since your ST needs to aim in one direction to hit them all efficiently anyways)
[i]Vitality - Reduced Mana:[/i] I'll admit, I chose Vitality over Determination simply because I want to believe that it can be great. We have such a high health stat compared to others of our level that Vitality will have the most (relative) benefit to us, but it's hard to say whether the bonus armor from Determination will work out to be more effective HP. I've been happy with it so far, so I'm sticking with it.
[i]Cast on Damage Taken - Enduring Cry - Immortal Call:[/i] This is of course the big combo that everyone's been talking about for trigger gems. It's hard to argue with what works. Too bad I don't have a CoDT gem yet.
[i]Enduring Cry:[/i] Even if you do get the CoDT combo up and running you'll still want a copy of Enduring Cry that you can use at will.
[i]Warlord's Mark - Enfeeble[i] One or both of these curses to help with your sustainability.
[i]Decoy Totem:[/i] I personally find that Decoy Totem can be useful sometimes for luring enemies around corners or through tight doorways that might otherwise cause you to desync, or to go into a room with too high a monster density. You might think of other abilities that you prefer.


First I'll show you the complete 118 point build (We'll be helping Oak in the Normal bandit quest for the extra 40 life points, as well as helping Kraityn in Cruel to get the 8% attack speed. Whether you want to grab the Endurance charge in Merciless from Oak, I leave to you.) and then I'll break it into possible leveling scenarios.

> [118 point build][url]http://goo.gl/ZtY2B5[/url]
The overall idea of the build is to get every strength node along the way to our other essentials: Iron Grip, Endurance Charges, the left-hand side two-hander crit and stave nodes, the templar health and strength, the center-left life circle, and the duelist health and endurance charge. Note that 3 noteables were picked up specifically because we went for staves: "Whirling Barrier", which gives +10% block chance for staves, "Blunt Trauma", which increases crit chance and adds knockback on crit for staves, and "Pure Brutality", which adds even more crit chance. We also grabbed 3% life leech from two different nodes, and quite a bit of accuracy from accuracy / dex combo nodes. Note that we did [i]not[/i] go for Resolute Technique- we were already grabbing many dex / accuracy combo nodes, not too mention that one of the strengths of Pillar is it's (relatively) high base crit chance and the fact that Marauder starts near some potent two-handed crit circles. (This can also come into play when we get ready to choose support gems- if you have the int to support Increased Critical Strikes, it will synergize with this.)

> [The first 30 points][url]http://goo.gl/n36JFP[/url]
After you get the starting life and ele resist nodes, you'll probably want to follow the strength connectors north until you can grab both the +30 Int and +30 Dex, which will help you with the stat requirements to equip Pillar and level Spectral Throw. After you have the stats you need, head back east from where you turned north to the armor notable (Armour Mastery), then head west and south down to Iron Grip. I expected mana to be a serious problem, which is why I took the southern path to Iron Grip (to keep Blood Magic close) but Spectral throw was efficient enough that I only needed to run 1 pot to keep topped up. (Note that if you do start to get unmanageable mana, and you can't correct it by being a little more sparing with Spectral Throw, BM is just one connector node away.) As far as health, the starting life felt like more than enough for me to go straight for I.G. before having to take the 2 12% circles on the way, or the 2% life leech (as 2% isn't anything to brag about at these levels). I got ahold of my Pillar of the Caged God at ~ 17, a few points before getting to I.G. (Which seemed to give me about 9% dps boost after taking it). Keep in mind that for the bandit quest you will be helping Oak to receive the +40 life points. This is what I would call the "baseline" for Spectral Throw (note that a problem depending on whether you immediately did the +30 dex node is you haven't reached any dex yet- to level the gem past 3 you'll need dex from gear, or you'll have to delay Iron Grip until you reach the +30 circle north of the Marauder start). Of course if you get completely unlucky at getting the required stats to switch to Pillar (or start leveling Spectral Throw), and you haven't reached the +30 Int and Dex nodes yet, you can sub in old staples like Ground Slam, Sweep, etc. until you're able to find decent Torquoise or Onyx amulets.

> [31-60][url]http://goo.gl/UudnKY[/url]
Now you've got a choice- if you haven't been challenged as far as survivability (as in my case) you can finish up the lower part of the marauder start area, grabbing the notables Butchery and Versatility. If, however, you are worried about the challenge of staying alive, you should grab the 12% life nodes and 2% life leech node on the way to Iron Grip (if you haven't already), then head up to the Templar area. Follow the near-left side str highway up (notice we haven't taken Elemental Adaptation yet, as your resists are probably not capped, thus they don't need to have the max raised). Continue on the marked path to grab the Templar's bottom life circle, followed by [i]both[/i] the templar weapon notables (as they both give 20 strength, which translates to even more damage for Pillar) as well as Precision. Then finish up the path you didn't take to round out your first 60 points.

> [61-90][url]http://goo.gl/Ws4m66[/url]
Another choice- if you're ok with your life total, you can fill in some gaps from before, like getting Elemental Adaptation, the 2 endurance charges and their buffs, the "Whirling Barrier" staff noteable (an extra 10% block chance- this is significant!), then casually make your way over to the duelist area for the armor circle / endurance charge / center-left life circle. If you're more worried about your life, you can beeline to the life instead, skipping the filling in until after you've take the life nodes you want (A note on this- Using Heavy Strike with Pillar provides some insane single target DPS, so using the support gem "Endurance Charge on Melee Stun" has been quite effective, meaning another way to boost your surviveability would be to take the endurance charges [i]first[/i] and be studious on keeping your charges up.) There is an extra +30 Dex node on the way to Duelist- grab that if you need dex for Spectral Throw or any support gems (this may be the case if you don't have any +dex gear and haven't picked up an Astramentis amulet yet). Also note that we grabbed "Master of the Arena" in the duelist area for the strength- the bonus to melee range does not affect Spectral Throw (though it will affect Heavy Strike). Mainly this section is about buffing your surviveability and utility in preperation for serious mapping, so you want to make sure going through these 30 points that you are feeling great about your defense- if something feels weak, you may need to spec out of some of the damage you took previously to get to life / armor nodes faster. Also keep in mind the point I made earlier about your mana- if it gets to be problematic you can turn on the Blood Magic (Note: Many people have solved their mana problems by using a leech unique like Wurm's Molt or Slitherpinch, or by using the Blood Magic support gem and making sure they have life leech. Whatever suits your taste / budget.)

> Your final points- see full build
Once again, you'll take life / armor / etc when neeeded- the other things left are the 3rd endurance charge, "Beserking" (the 15% attack speed on the way to the center-left life circle), and grabbing things like the Scion Evasion / armor notable and "Diamond Flesh" in the Duelist area if needed. Note that I did include the "Knockbat on hit" in the lower left (just above Blood Magic)- you can work that in whenever you have a few points you don't need to spend on surviving.

[b]Just calculate the f**king stats for this already[/b]
Alright- no need to be hasty! I will give stats based on a few "keystone" levels, where you pick up uniques for this build if you have the currency. Note that I add in the current stats for the character (from known gear) to help more accurately calculate the damage. (Note that any decimals will be floored (rounded down) at the end of each set so that we don't overestimate anything)

Source:         Base    Adds Phys   Strength        Dex
---Lvl 20:                          162             44
Pillar:         20-33   -           -               -
Meginord's:     -       10-20       50-65 (57.5)    -
Astramentis:    -       -           90-120  (105)   90-120 (105)
Total__________________________________________________________
                                    324             149
Pillar's Minimum Hit Damage:
> Total min base damage * (%Increased Damage + %Quality)
> (20 + 10)             * (1 + ((324*1.8) / 100) + .20)
> (30)                  * (1 + ((583.2) / 100) + .20)
> (30)                  * (1 + (5.832) + .20)
> (30)                  * (7.032)   = 210.96

Pillar's Maximum Hit Damage:
> Total max base damage * (%Increased Damage + %Quality)
> (33 + 20)             * (1 + (324*1.8) / 100) + .20)
> (53)                  * (1 + (583.2) / 100) + .20)
> (53)                  * (1 + (5.832) + .20)
> (53)                  * (7.032)   = 372.696

Pillar's DPS:
> ((Min + Max) / 2) * (Base Attacks Per Second * Increased Attack Speed)
> ((210 + 372) / 2) * (1.25 * (1 + ((149 * .1) / 100)
> ((582) / 2)       * (1.25 * (1 + (14.9 / 100))
> (291)             * (1.25 * (1 + .149)
> (291)             * (1.25 * 1.149)
> (291)             * (1.43625)     = 417.94875

Source:         Base    Added Phys  Strength    Dex
---Lvl 60:      -       -           422         104
Pillar:         20-33   -           -           -
Meginord's:     -       10-20       50-65       -
Astramentis:    -       -           90-120      90-120
Abyssus:        -       40-60       20-25       20-25
Rings:          -       16-32       30          10
Total__________________________________________________________
                                    607         231

Pillar's Minimum Hit Damage:
> Total min base damage * (%Increased Damage + %Quality)
> (20 + 10 + 40 + 16)   * (1 + (607*1.8) / 100) + .20)
> (86)                  * (1 + (1092.6) / 100) + .20)
> (86)                  * (1 + 10.926 + .20)
> (86)                  * (12.126)      = 1042.836

Pillar's Maximum Hit Damage:
> Total max base damage * (%Increased Damage + %Quality)
> (33 + 20 + 60 + 32)   * (1 + (607*1.8) / 100) + .20)
> (145)                 * (1 + (1092.6) / 100) + .20)
> (145)                 * (1 + 10.926 + .20)
> (145)                 * (12.126)      = 1758.27

Pillar's DPS:
> ((Min + Max) / 2)     * (Base Attacks Per Second * Increased Attack Speed (Dexterity Bonus + Kraityn Bonus))
> ((1042 + 1758) / 2)   * (1.25 * (1 + (231 * .1) / 100 + .08)
> (2800 / 2)            * (1.25 * (1 + (23.1 / 100) + .08)
> (1400)                * (1.25 * (1 + .231 + .08)
> (1400)                * (1.25 * 1.311)
> (1400)                * (1.63875)     = 2294.25!!!!

WOW! 2294 DPS- absolutely crushing anything else available! (Also note that we haven't calculated things like crit, inherit attack speed bonus from the passive tree for two-handed weapons, or miss chance- miss chance, for example, is based on the monster level and I haven't tallied all the accuracy bonuses yet, nor do I know the evasion numbers of the monsters to calculate the hit chance anyways. We also didn't include another possible unique like Maligaro's Virtuosity, Thunderfist, or Deshret's Vise.)

[b]Calculating Spectral Throw's Damage[/b]

At level 20 (Spectral Throw (lvl 6) + Lesser Multiple Projectiles (lvl 1) + Faster Projectiles (lvl 3):
Minimum Damage  * (%Increased Damage) * Multiplicative damage modifiers:
210             * (1 + .15 + .11) * .6 (ST base damage) * .7 (LMP Damage effectiveness)
210             * 1.26 * .6 * .7            = 111.132 (per projectile, 3 total)

Maximum Damage  * 1.26 * .6 * .7
372             * 1.26 * .6 * .7            = 196.8624 (per projectile, 3 total)

Spectral Throw DPS (Level 20, with LMP + Faster Projectiles)
Min Hit + Max Hit   / 2 * Weapon Attacks Per Second * (%Increased Attack Speed (Dex Bonus))
111 + 196           / 2 * 1.25 * (1 + ((149 * .1) / 100)
307                 / 2 * 1.25 * (1 + (14.9 / 100)
307                 / 2 * 1.25 * (1 + .149)
307                 / 2 * 1.25 * 1.149      = 220.464375 (Per projectile, 3 total)

At Level 60 (Spectral Throw (lvl 16) + Lesser Multiple Projectiles (lvl 16) + Faster Projectiles (lvl 16):
Minimum Damage  * (%Increased Damage) * Multiplicative damage modifiers:
1042            * (1 + .45 + .30 + .17) * .6 * .7
1042            * 1.92 * .6 * .7            = 840.2688 (per projectile, 3 total)

Maximum Damage  * 1.92 * .6 * .7
1758            * 1.92 * .6 * .7            = 1417.6512 (per projectile, 3 total)

Spectral Throw DPS (Level 60, with LMP + Faster Projectiles)
Min Hit + Mat Hit   / 2 * Weapons Attacks Per Second * (%Increased A.S. (Dex Bonus + Weapon Passive A.S. Bonus (~.02) + Kraityn Bonus (.08) )
840 + 1417          / 2 * 1.25 * ((1 + (231 * .1) / 100) + .02 + .08)
2257                / 2 * 1.25 * (1 + (23.1 / 100) + .02 + .08)
2257                / 2 * 1.25 * (1 + .231 + .02 + .08)
2257                / 2 * 1.25 * 1.331      = 1877.541875 (per projectile, 3 total)

I know 1877 may not sound like the best number in the world, but keep in mind that you're throwing 3 projectiles that can hit every .3 seconds across the whole screen (with faster projectiles), and with respectable health gear, you will have [i]much[/i] more health than even other life melee characters. Plus this is only 3 links- by this level you'll easily have a 4th (and possibly 5th) link to play around with, for something like Added Fire Damage, Life leech, or Knockback (the large AoE of ST + the knockback passives I took + a knockback gem is quite hilarious)

[b]My Experience so far:[/b]
Well, I was easily rolling through normal, including Piety, (even though the only Unique I hae so far from this build is the Pillar- my only extra +phys damage are my rings and a rare ammy) and stepped into Scepter of God expecting the same. Unfortunately, the new unique boss Caliga had different plans. I succumbed to his lightning traps and had to continue my journey in Standard League. I'm currently level 51, having just completed everything up to Scepter again in cruel (I defeated Piety 3 levels under, for example) and I feel better about this character than any of the others I've made- which includes 2 high 70's characters who both did low-end mapping. My ability to do AoE damage and knockback to most of the screen, combined with my ability to smash and knockback single target, and my mobility with leap slam allows me to quickly find and destroy mobs with great ease.


[b]TL; DR:[/b]
Pillar of the Caged God, used on a Marauder who can focus on life, strength, Iron Grip, knockback, and massive single target via Heavy Strike is -insane-. The upgrades to Pillar in 1.0.0 have easily moved it out of the low-grade unique tier most people saw it as and into the upper echelons of build-enabling uniques. I highly recommend this build and believe that if Caliga hadn't suprised me with multi-trap, that I'd be happily plowing my way through Nemesis league still.

If you have any questions, comments, or corrections, feel free to post here. Also if anyone is selling a Meginord's Girdle, Astramentis, or Abyssus in Standard League, I'd of course be interested.