Official Blender Post! Lets theory craft for 1.2! 123k Cleave DPS!

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SentryKing wrote:

How reliant is this build on CoDT? Worst case scenario, is this build still viable if CoDT is nerfed to uselessness?

CODT (Cast on Damage Taken) is a nice addition to this build mostly because it's a huge added layer of defenses. It's not entirely reliant on it but it makes life MUCH easier cause once your Totem drops, you have Enfeeble on the things and you have Endurance Charges you're a lot more survivable and everything is attacking your totem and not you. This gives you time to Blind everything (with BOR or a linked gem) which then makes you just that much more defensive.

I've tried running other things, such as Molten Shell, in for Decoy Totem and while that's fine in general the totem is much higher survivability.

Build seems ok, but you should warn people that got no saved currency at all that this build will be pain in the backside if they're starting from the scratch. First of all duelist survival is not exactly most amazing thing in game and imo their start out point is rather pathetic. What I would suggest them is simply pick up highest dps two handed weapon and go cleave around, if they got spectral throw thats what you should get. Untill lvl 30'ish spectral throw leveling is the way to go as duelist as you won't endanger yourself with close calls.

Though as you level past 35+ OP's build will become really great, there are certain walls that you will hit with lack of gear especially weapons around 65+ if you can't afford decent sword/axe.

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Destramo wrote:

Build seems ok, but you should warn people that got no saved currency at all that this build will be pain in the backside if they're starting from the scratch. First of all duelist survival is not exactly most amazing thing in game and imo their start out point is rather pathetic. What I would suggest them is simply pick up highest dps two handed weapon and go cleave around, if they got spectral throw thats what you should get. Untill lvl 30'ish spectral throw leveling is the way to go as duelist as you won't endanger yourself with close calls.

Though as you level past 35+ OP's build will become really great, there are certain walls that you will hit with lack of gear especially weapons around 65+ if you can't afford decent sword/axe.

I never once struggled with duelist being squishy. And if you want to level fast, leap slam and double strike 2h is the way to go.

Sidenote: lvl 72 map with flamebreath-casting dogs and +4 projectiles is really hard to survive, even with 75% resi :(

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kallell wrote:

So to anyone starting out without any currency, i don't recommend this build.

At 70, i hit a pretty big road block. The survivability to dps ratio is pretty bad without some decent items -- decent items you probably can't afford. Obviously this build works great with some of those items, but until that point, it's pretty mediocre and scary.

People that find this build hard to play need to rethink how they play melee characters.

we are melee so we will get hit. We have to do something to lower the damage. What is the most easy thing to do. Use a skill that no one mentioned: Enduring Cry. Yes - same skill that you use on your totem.

You should never wait for totem to cast it first. You can cast it even with one enemy next to you, then you get hit once or twice and your totem will recast it and you have at least 2 stacks ..... I have two Enduring Cry gems and one with totem and one for me to use when i need it. I always start my fight with casting it which gives me more defense then anything else. Not to mention extra resists which come in handy if you are not capped.

If your life leech is not strong enough use Warlords Mark to start with thru cast(or as i do on your totem). what it does it gives you superior life leech, recharges your flasks like there is no tomorrow and refreshes your Endurance Charges. When i get hit and have all 4 EC on my, my damage reduction is like around 70%. One more level and i will have 30% critical damage reduction and nothing will be able to one shot me (i hope :P). With WM i get so much life leach that i go back to full quicker then i get hit.


On weapons, long time ago I posted in another thread that i have a benchmark to know when i really need to upgrade my weapons. If you Dual Strike will not kill white mob within two skill uses then it means your weapons are too weak. This is one part of your gear you should never save currency on.
More DPS give you more life leeched (so less Life Leech is required from gear/skills), mobs die quicker so they do less damage to you.


Last thing on gear itemization. Sure it could be hard to get good gear if you are unlucky but you can use Alchemy orbs on some items to try and get nice weapons or armor. You also should aim at items with high ress and HP and only then look to improve them with added DPS prefixes/affixes. Only exception could be a belt here as Rustic Sash will give you straight DPS increase which does in fact helps you live longer as per above.

Also there is another thing. if your gear is mediocre, then don't try to stand there and hope you will not die. Dive in, Endurance Charge, Warlords Mark or Temporal Chains or Enfeeble, start hitting with your DS or Cyclone. If you see your life getting low just run away and wait for Life Leech to fill in your health. Once full dive in, Endurance Charge ........

I don't have uber items (only one lucky drop of BoR helm) but i have resists and health to do maps level 66-68 (blue) with no issues and i don't remember last time i died. You can see my items below and my DS with Blood Magic gem hits only for 18k (people here get it up to 40k).

This build is very solid even without BoR. As long as you have 5L you should be good if you don't over commit. If you are hitting roadblock - go back and farm a bit, save some curreny and improve your worst piece of gear. Docks/Archives/Gardens drop some good currency and you can get some maps there as well for later game play.

My Gear:

This "Build" is totally killin it for me. Thanks man!

thanks for this build! i wasnt sure what to do after infernal blow tank got ruined...

its nice to have a melee i can run that is quite beefy and also can run mf on him like my old build :).

current gear setup is this...


this is with mf gear on 226 iir and 25 iiq

ignore the gems in rats nest haha!, just doing some testing with misc gems... not sure what to run in it :P.



other gear i swap in n out :).



i severely need better jewelery but as it stands right now i can max res using andvarius.

I'm new to the game and want to know that is it possible to drop Heart of Oak? I mean is that +30% Chance to Avoid being Stunned really necessary? :(
I've seen many melee build without Heart of Oak and they're doing just fine(Even in HC) so that's why I'm curious. Thanks in advance.

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Rozerozz wrote:

I'm new to the game and want to know that is it possible to drop Heart of Oak? I mean is that +30% Chance to Avoid being Stunned really necessary? :(
I've seen many melee build without Heart of Oak and they're doing just fine(Even in HC) so that's why I'm curious. Thanks in advance.

i went unwavering stance passive (can't be stun)

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xenochaos1 wrote:

i went unwavering stance passive (can't be stun)

I don't think that's a good idea since US will entirely remove the use of Blind in BoR.

That's why i'm curious whatever I can drop Heart of Oak or not, 30% chance to avoid being stunned isn't seem much of a problem to me(At least many melee builds I checked don't need it).

Tho I'm new to poe so I'm not sure about my thought. Wish any experts answer my question. Is that okay without Heart of Oak in Merciless or even lvl75+ Map?