[3.1] GLADIATOR 1H+Shield Max Block&Spell Block Tank + a BoR version

@MegaTen
Its just about efficiency and speed if you want to get anywhere high. You still get your "duels" against anything beefy - bosses and such :)

But then if you map at higher tier you start rolling some crazy hard stuff that just kills you outright in melee, but you could still run those affixes with semi-range. (I am currenty lvl89 hybrid of heavy strike + sunder)

As for your desire to be close and brutal, at first days of the league i was checking on gear of highest gladiators back then. One of them was BOR heavy strike-splasher using the unique gloves that reverse knockback. Pretty great concept, might test myself sometime.

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Wraeklops 님이 작성:

at lvl40... doesn't really matter which weapon, just get damage or mods you're lacking ;)

I'm trying my first block build and use this mace at lvl50:

Don't have any trouble but I just had a look into poe.trade and realized that this mace is kinda "meh" and I can get a better one for 1-3c... lol



Different question: what about molten strike?
It doesn't get mentioned here and I used it from start and somehow... I don't feel like changing to another skill. Earthquake seems slow and static strike has less dps (at least for me)
Anything I miss with molten strike? will it be inferior later?
(currenty looking for life on hit because it hits a lot with those orbs)

yes same, Moltren strike is perfect and fast to lvl up 1-28. Next Earthquake is more efficient (cont forget less duration...)

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MegaTen_IV 님이 작성:

Hi.

I am thinking about to start this build since I am already bored with my 80+ necromancer. I play PoE for a very long time and the Duelist was always my favorite. However, I dont need to tell you how it was with melee characters in the past and why almost noone played them. But now it looks like that with the Ascendancy passives the melees are stronger by a lot.

My only concern with melee's in this game was always that melee is not really a melee if you know what I mean. I really hate to use half screen covering AoE skills which destroys screen by screen, thats not how a melee should work in my opinion but thats just me. Melee's should face their threats face to face :-) Like Gladiators. You got my point, good... lets move on.

So looking at the skills you are suggesting like Earthquake and Ice Crash which for me comes completely out of the question, I dont know what skills are left to use. Could be a Double Strike viable ? Never used Static Strike, how about that ? Or maybe something else ? I am not saying that I want to kill monsters one by one, but if I want to play melee than I mean I really want to play melee.

infernal blow

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MegaTen_IV 님이 작성:

Hi.

I am thinking about to start this build since I am already bored with my 80+ necromancer. I play PoE for a very long time and the Duelist was always my favorite. However, I dont need to tell you how it was with melee characters in the past and why almost noone played them. But now it looks like that with the Ascendancy passives the melees are stronger by a lot.

My only concern with melee's in this game was always that melee is not really a melee if you know what I mean. I really hate to use half screen covering AoE skills which destroys screen by screen, thats not how a melee should work in my opinion but thats just me. Melee's should face their threats face to face :-) Like Gladiators. You got my point, good... lets move on.

So looking at the skills you are suggesting like Earthquake and Ice Crash which for me comes completely out of the question, I dont know what skills are left to use. Could be a Double Strike viable ? Never used Static Strike, how about that ? Or maybe something else ? I am not saying that I want to kill monsters one by one, but if I want to play melee than I mean I really want to play melee.

I am at lvl 34 with this build and got the essential build working now (just "missing" immortal call, which is utterly unnecessary at this point, and the Chaos Golem).

If you want the face-to-face feeling, I can recommend Static Strike without increased AoE.
I recently switched to Ice Crush (after asking what to switch to - see below) and in my opinion its main advantage over Static Strike is the "no aim needed"-factor.
The damage with Static Strike is good. It is good for groups but as opposed to other mob-group-viable skills its damage against bosses is really good in addition.

Now you have the movement factor left. Melee chars need a way to kill enemies quickly and easily, who keep running around and fleeing from you.
This build considers Leap Slam, but it's too slow for ghosts for example.

bottom line:
I had the most fun with this build with whirling blades, Static Strike, Herald of Ash and Warlord's Mark - might need more tankyness later on, but in this build's description there's plenty of options given for that. The mana management is not a big deal.

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ComradeSerge 님이 작성:

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Daskard 님이 작성:

Hi, I started this build today and have gone with Static Strike so far. Would you recommend a different attack for a group-oriented build?

Thanks for your efforts :)

Infernal Blow is quite useful as it takes care of corpses, which are often a nuisance or a threat (Necrovigil magic mobs, detonated dead boxes, necromancers etc). But if you find you're lacking DPS with it, go with Ice Crash or Earthquake.

Thank you for your recommendation. I feel like those corpses are rare enough and should be handled by our caster (he can wear a zombie gem around and switch if necessary ^^). I disliked Infernal Blow's area of effect, but that's just my opinion. Ice Crush is working well so far, as I don't need to deal the most damage. However, as stated above, Static Strike felt more versatile.

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erol1234p 님이 작성:

hello im level 82 right now with this build and its pretty epic but i have a question. right now im using lioneyes remorse instead of aegis it gives me 8k armor and i have 15k armor with it. i plan on buying an aegis but i will lose A LOT of armor and around 200 hp AND right now i have 26 es from random equipment and even with aegis ill probably have 150-200. how and why is it worth refilling 150-200 es instead of having 8k more armor?the hits you take will deal at least 1k damage to you anyways. i read ur explanation about aegis in the guide but i still dont really get why this shield is that good.

You are wrong, and I can tell you are not that acquainted with the intricacies of poe mechanics. With over 10k armour (which you will have with aegis), most hits do between 100-1000 damage. You won't have 8k more armour, and if you use the gear specified + one hybrid ar/es piece, you will have 500ES. Why is it so good? If my explanation isn't good enough for you, check this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d5P_X2zLms&feature=youtu.be
or this
https://youtu.be/lIJtX5u844M

That would NOT be possible with Lioneye's. Lioneye's makes you safe ONLY against physical damage, and that only partially and WORSE than Aegis. Aegis, on the other hand, makes you even MORE tankier against physical damage because it will absorb 80% of most hits which are based on ALL damage types, not just physical. It is superior in every possible and imaginable way to Lioneye's also because of "diminishing returns" (google it) which is what happens with armour after a certain amount.

If you still don't understand why Aegis is better after all this, please go spawn Abaxoth in a 78+ map and facetank him, and then tell me how many times you ripped. Or, I should say, how quickly you spent all your map portals. -.-

Serge in your opinion where would be the best spots to take for the last 10 points if I wanted to increase my dps the most.

Using earthquake as the main attack skill.

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hvergi 님이 작성:

Serge in your opinion where would be the best spots to take for the last 10 points if I wanted to increase my dps the most.

Using earthquake as the main attack skill.

Any pure phys nodes, if none are left (which I believe is the case), then elemental nodes if using an ele conversion skill.

Hi serge, I've been improving my duelist since your last answer, but I have some questions, the main one: (I guess is pretty basic but just in case)

I notice that weapon elemental dmg, if I switch for add Fire dmg it boost my dmg like 4K, any reason to still using weapon ele dmg?

And as a lasts question, again maybe pretty basic answer; what to do at the end of laberynth? I mean I didn't take the reward because I don't know what to do. I have to do again the laberynth to get this reward? And can I get this reward if I do the laberynth again?

Sorry if it's too obvious.

Could be nice if you upgrade the main post with your current gear too. Thanks for the build, pretty nice, have a good one guys!

ele dmg support also depends on other sources like hatred, heralds or gear. Pure physical damage benefits most of added fire. I try to fit in both of these suports (but I'm no expert ;))


With labyrinth reward you mean the enchantment? Yeah, you have to do it again, as soon as you leave it (disconnect, portal, whatever) it is reset. But you can enchant the same piece of gear multiple times until you get what you hope for

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Wraeklops 님이 작성:

ele dmg support also depends on other sources like hatred, heralds or gear. Pure physical damage benefits most of added fire. I try to fit in both of these suports (but I'm no expert ;))


With labyrinth reward you mean the enchantment? Yeah, you have to do it again, as soon as you leave it (disconnect, portal, whatever) it is reset. But you can enchant the same piece of gear multiple times until you get what you hope for

I'm using the recommended auras of the OP, I want to be sure about the gem, because apparently add fire damage gem is better for me, bet because he don't recommended make me doubt,

Thanks about the enchantments, I guess it give me a new stat on the item, like on the craft bmaster benches.