[1.3] Eternal Cleaver - 75k DPS RT + Vaal Pact

This build centres around using Carnage Heart and Vaal Pact to instantly leech life, and then min-max mitigation vs damage, taking advantage of the fact that increasing damage also increases survivability.

The combination of Soul taker, Resolute Technique and Unwavering Stance allows you to attack forever without interruption, constantly leeching life at a rapid and consistent rate; hence the name Eternal Cleaver.

This build is entirely possible with a 5L, but your clear speed will increase dramatically with the addition of Increased AoE as the sixth link.



The build at level 90 has 4,600 life and does 55k physical damage per second, so against a single target I'm leeching nearly 3,300 life per second with 15% leech, which is the leech rate of a 16.5k life build. This of course is multiplied for every enemy I'm hitting.

I have 21% chance to block and 7.6k armour which is increased to 32.6k with two flasks. Atziri's promise increases damage to 92k DPS, and adds more than 600 hp/s leeched per enemy.

Bandits
Normal - Oak
Cruel - Kraityn
Merciless - Oak/Eramir (I chose Oak)

The character got a huge buff in 1.3; more life, more DPS. Going forward I would take the Sentinel node, extra endurance charge, and finish the juggernaut cluster.


Skills
Cleave + Melee Physical Damage + Multistrike + Faster Attacks + Concentrated Effect + Increased Area of Effect - IAoE can be replaced with an IIR gem for bosses.

Grace/Haste + Hatred + Reduced Mana
Pretty standard aura setup, Grace or Haste depending on the map. Drop Grace/Hatred for a purity if you need the extra resists.

Vaal Grace + Vaal Haste
Vaal Haste increases my DPS to 85k, 103k with Atziri's Promise. Both are great for short bursts of extra damage and survivability.

CwDT(1) + Enfeeble + Enduring Cry + Increased Area of Effect
The curse here could be any of Enfeeble, Vulnerability or Warlord's Mark.

CwDT(20) + Immortal Call + Increased Duration
Immortal Call procs for up to six seconds for short bursts of phys immunity.

Blood Rage + Faster Casting + Blood Magic - this increases my leech rate from 15% to 25% which can be handy for bosses who have no friends to leech off. It's socketed into a weapon so weapon swap can turn it off.

Leap Slam + Faster Attacks + Endurance Charge on Melee Stun - for leaping everywhere.

Thanks for reading. my IGN is ArtemisTheEternal, feel free to talk to me in game =)

Updated for 1.3

Can you do 1h swor and soul taker variant?

Yeah of course, just swap the axe clusters out for generic ones, and maybe the By the Blade cluster:

Hi! Do you have some plan for update this build for v.2.0?

I'll hopefully have the build updated soon after release. I've come up with a preliminary tree, and in its current state it looks to have a slight nerf to both attack speed and damage with a couple of open jewel slots to help make it up, but the Vaal Pact change should be interesting.

Atziri and/or uber viable?

and why use abyssus with RT

We waiting for updating :)

I haven't actually rebuilt this character yet, as the changes to leech values on gear and vaal pact have effectively halved the leech of the build, and I'm not convinced this will be enough against spiky damage dealers like revenants...

Instead I've been working on a new character that takes advantage of new mechanics. I specced it from a Marauder base, but it's just as effective as a Duelist:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1315195