[1.2] "The Crusader" - A 2h Sword Build by wraithe_au

This is not a guide but a showcase of my latest project.

My aim was to make the most powerful 2h sword build ever produced.

The attack used is Cleave and in this case its at level 16. A 20/20 gem will produce a higher result.



487pdps




GEMS:

Cleave 16/0
Melee Phys 20/20
Multistrike 20/20
Concentrated Effect 20/0
Faster Attacks 20/20
Blood magic 19/20

109 point tree

Passive skill tree breakdown

Health

126% increased maximum Life
62 to maximum Life
15% increased Life Recovery from Flasks
2.5% of Life Regenerated per Second

Mitigation

64% increased Evasion Rating and Armour
54% increased Armour
25% to all Elemental Resistances
16% increased Evasion Rating
8% to Fire Resistance
4% additional Chance to Block while Dual Wielding or holding a Shield
1% to maximum Fire Resistance

Damage

140% increased Critical Strike Chance with Two Handed Melee Weapons
110% increased Critical Strike Chance with Swords
32% increased Critical Strike Chance
60% increased Critical Strike Multiplier with Swords

104% increased Accuracy Rating
52% increased Accuracy Rating with Swords
16% increased Accuracy Rating with Two Handed Melee Weapons

220% increased Physical Damage with Swords
125% increased Physical Damage with Two Handed Melee Weapons
51% increased Melee Physical Damage

30% increased Attack Speed
28% increased Attack Speed with Swords
15% increased Attack Speed with Two Handed Melee Weapons

Other

270 to Strength
160 to Dexterity
50 to Intelligence
12% increased Radius of Auras
10% reduced Mana Cost of Skills
8% chance to Avoid Elemental Status Ailments
8% increased maximum Mana
5% increased Effect of Buffs on You
4% reduced Mana Reserved
2 to Melee Weapon and Unarmed range



Pros:
- Nice damage from a 487pdps sword. With a mirrored sword, the dps could reach 300k+
- Despite using 6L Belly and Acuity, the sword itself was a cheap 2ex sword. If my budget was higher i would get a 6L weapon and use a Koam's Heart.
- Uses Blood magic gem so no mana concerns.
- Uses 3 auras: Hatred, Grace, Herald of Ash for 99.9% reservation

Cons:
- No block so very squishy under certain circunstances
- No unwavering stance in this build. It is possible to choose the keystone but i prefer to avoid situations where i would get stunlocked.


Notes:

I have tested a full 6L dps setup with mana leech. Unfortunately, grace and hatred reserves too much mana to sustain attacks so I was limited to using grace + herald of ash. The dps of the blood magic setup was actually higher because of being able to reserve 99.9% of mana.

What's next:

I will update this build as my character gets better.
Koam's heart and a 6L sword will be next.
Thinking about mirroring a weapon for this build, I will see if that step is worth taking.

Thanks for reading

Hi I hope you don't mind but I altered your tree to this one With this tree you get a lot more life, and more DPS at least I hope, one I respec into this form my old build I'll confirm the DPS I get. Also can you do Atziri with this build ?

Your tree looks magnificent.

I like your use of the bottom highway, I should've concentrated less on armour and eva and more on life.

After testing my tree for a while, i have come to the conclusion that Atziri's Acuity isn't very good for this build as the crit chance is too low for the leech to be effective. Your choice of Vaal Pact may be way more useful.

I'd like to see your results when you have them.

My final thoughts on my own build:

I didn't test Atziri because i have found 2h Swords to to be overly squishy for my liking.

I put this down to lack of block. A 1h+shield or DW build has at least 30%-75% block, 2h swords get 0. This means a 2h sword character will receive 30%-75% more physical damage than 1h builds, add this to the Abyssus and you get a basically defenceless character.

I have since respecced out of this build, but if were to try again i would drop the Abyssus for a rat's nest, and used a Kaom's for the chest.

Defences aside, the power you can get from those crit nodes is immense and the dps blows any other 2h weapon away (cept maybe staves)