[3.3] Unstoppable Gladiator 78% Max Block/Spells. Best Low Budget League Starter

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J0hn_L wrote:

Someone probably asked this in the last 70 pages...but I'm not going to read that many xD

Have you (or anyone in this thread) tried this with a legacy Soul Taker? I just so happen to have one, and haven't used it in about 12 patches... thinking about dusting it off for this build, but I'm accustomed to very high dps... if I could reach 350-400k with legacy, I'd totally try this build xD

Legacy Soul Taker will improve your damage a lot, but this is not a very high DPS build. Nevertheless, damage is good enough for all end game content (with the exception of Shaper).

Counting Static Strike explosions, fully buffed I reach 240K easily with decent gear, not even fully upgraded. Counting that legacy axe, you will have much more damage, but I can't say how much you will get finally. Of course I don't have a legacy ST and I prefer to use spreadsheets just at work. ;)

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eviL_Bison wrote:

Please note, I tried to explain how the leveling process works. I do not post any leveling trees so far.

@mas_mariano something like this is what i meant yesterday. :)

I get what you mean... :)

In time I will try to put together a more exhaustive leveling section. Thanks for your detailed description of your leveling process, will help a lot.

Great build! I've been looking for a proper melee build to play because I was kinda bored with BV, warchief and WI. Many thanks for putting this up, you've done an awesome job mariano!

I don't know why the leveling guide's so complicated though, you only need a facebreaker and (maybe) a deep one's hide if you can afford one. Those two are dirt cheap, and was and is my default go to setup to level any Marauder or Duelist based builds. After looking at your tree and overall progression guide, I'd say there are several benefits to level using Shield Charge+Warchief w/ Facebreaker, esp. for newer players.

- It's cheap, facebreaker goes for 1-3c atm, and you can sometimes get one for free because there are so many of them drops.
- You only need one thing, and it can carry you up til Act 4 Merciless and up to cruel merc, without even having to have any of the necessary uniques needed for this build (Soultaker/BoR).
- Everything else are either sold by the npc, the gems are all quest rewards or very cheap (Shield Charge, Melee Physical Damage, Faster Attacks, Added Fire, Inc.AoE, Fortify, Ancestral Warchief). You only need Iron Rings crafted with Essences you grab all over the place.
- You can use exactly the same skill tree as the final build, for both the ST or the Varunastra variant. No respec is needed. Just delay grabbing anything unrelated to life/res/flat phys dmg/phys dmg with shield/attack speed
- It's fast, I can argue that Shield Charge + Facebreaker for leveling is the fastest leveling setup there is, even compared to Flicker. You'll blaze through areas like nothing, while killing stuff on the way.
- Simple setup : 3/4L(Shield Charge - Added Fire Damage - Melee Physical Damage - (optional)Inc.AoE/FA) + 3/4L (Ancestral Warchief - Added Fire Damage - Melee Physical Damage - (optional)FA)
- You can delay using The Anvil and/or upgrading your gear even until mid Merciless due to the nature of the main damage skill being a mobility skill. This would give you various benefits, it'll save you money from having to buy the same things repeatedly for upgrades, you can run labs with it, even merciless without having to equip BoR or ST. Heck you can even do low tier maps with it providing you have enough flat atk stacked up. (I actually leveled to 55, did normal lab naked just with tabula, facebreaker, 2 essenced Iron Rings I got from Nessa and a crappy helmet and shoes I've had since lv 16 + random essence I've found, I've since actually bothered to shop for gear now lol)

Really glad you like it!

Thanks for sharing how to level with Facebreaker, definitively I need to give it a try!

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mas_mariano wrote:

Really glad you like it!

Thanks for sharing how to level with Facebreaker, definitively I need to give it a try!

I've done research on some other posted melee builds in the forum and youtube, most of them are either too flashy with no defenses, or unnecessarily tanky for no reason. I have little experience with melee builds so I'm not gonna try making my own just to spend hundreds of regrets later on. Yours is a really balanced budget endgame build, there aren't a lot of those around.

Yes, I definitely recommend new players especially to level this build with facebreaker, even for those who does not have ST or BoR yet, since Shield Charge and/or Warchief w/ Facebreaker actually scales very well with this build's skill tree and the gear setup. You can even farm Dried Lake or T1-2 maps with it until you can afford the other stuff in this build.

I do have a question though, I have both Varunastra and ST at medium roll (I'll grab a good one from trade later after I've decided on which to go), I'm planning on going Varunastra but still wondering why the majority of people in this forum still opted for ST instead. Am I missing something important?

Making this build at the moment.

Do you not use a golem with it?

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sarahschneider wrote:

I do have a question though, I have both Varunastra and ST at medium roll (I'll grab a good one from trade later after I've decided on which to go), I'm planning on going Varunastra but still wondering why the majority of people in this forum still opted for ST instead. Am I missing something important?

ST's Unique Mod which allows to reserve 100% mana and do attacks without bloodmagic.
Varunastra has this downside, but offers way more damage.

Thats why.

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eviL_Bison wrote:

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sarahschneider wrote:

I do have a question though, I have both Varunastra and ST at medium roll (I'll grab a good one from trade later after I've decided on which to go), I'm planning on going Varunastra but still wondering why the majority of people in this forum still opted for ST instead. Am I missing something important?

ST's Unique Mod which allows to reserve 100% mana and do attacks without bloodmagic.
Varunastra has this downside, but offers way more damage.

Thats why.

So being able to do 3 auras > damage output?

Honest question btw..

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sarahschneider wrote:

So being able to do 3 auras > damage output?

Honest question btw..

Yes and no, beeing ab le to cast 2 50% auras or 3 aura's is a benefit for usability and survivability. With ST you don't rely on leech or other mechanics, you can still use your attacks. Means here no regen/no leech map mods for example are a joke where most other builds struggle. Its just the most comfortable weapon out there, but not the strongest.


I hope this answers your question Frau Schneider (sorry I had to)



@Tizer full reservation of your mana means there's no mana, you need to link a golem to blood magic, CWDT or turn of an aura before cast. Its possible but uncomfortable tho. And we're lacking sockets.

Hello, amazing build having a blast so far! but I have a few issues regarding damage, I currently use static strike and my tooltip says 57k I am not sure if thats enough for endgame. Here is my gear

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I know the rings miss life, but what else can I improve? Thanks