Realyn's release EK Marauder build. Tanky as Hell! Level 20 gem/gear update!

Hey Realyn, nice build mate :)

I took the liberty of making a variation with both block and spell block and will be levelling it from today. Instead of saffell and rare amu - Rathpith and SOL. SOL is easy to get early on and Rathpith can be acquired later, if not one can always use a rare or Lioneye, but it will max out SB.

Auras - tempest shield (extra dps !), purity, and hatred - I dont care for haste or armor (especially with all this block and hp - I think armor is heavily overrated, granite, charges and IC are enough), hence I dont need the reduce aura reserve cluster.

Let me know what you think mate, thanks in advance.

(Also I realise its 120 pts - but first off, one can take off whatever they dont need and leave some life nodes till the end, and also some res / int / dex nodes are extra and can be removed if you get enough on your gear)

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEAAnEEswUtDPcUTRUgFVAWbxkuGYUaMho4GtsbyB0UJIskqiftKMUqTSzpLdIxnjWSNuk6szrYOuE8LT0PPeI_J0MxSn1KyEw1TeNOKk99UFBRYFRJVcZW-lcNWGNaUluvXhNfP2BLZp5noGwWbqpwfXTteu98u4BWg9uE74d2iPGMz49GkAqQVZHOm12gtKIAplenCKeEqJqplaxZrK-18rZBtz6307ndu-3AGsOGxBXE9sWKxq7G2M5xz2XQ0NSP18vZYd0N42rnUudj55Hp1ew47g7vDvAf8i_yRfKX877z3fZI-tL7qvxL_MX-Cv6P

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Realyn wrote:

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Vodkaholic wrote:

Awesome, I've got a 71 Marauder I've been wanting to respec, this sounds like the perfect build for it, as I've never tried EK. Might let you know how it goes, if it goes well lol

Hey, nice to hear.

High level gems are very important for EK. It's a huuuge difference between lvl 16-20 EK/Viper Strike/Bear Trap. So don't get frustrated by the low dmg if you are using a lvl ~12 one.

So I finally got around to doing this. I was leveling an EK gem on my duelist when I found a q11 EK, so I was leveling that on my ST ranger, now it's level 15.

Here's my marauder's setup, level 72 (incomplete, still room to grow)


I tried on the marauder with a 5L as above (i moved the EK gem though). DPS is really crappy right now, around 1.9k but I can farm docks and city of sarn with it. It seems to me that increased cast speed is critical for this build, because 1-second casts with EK just feel painfully slow.

I have about 5.6k HP, maxed cold/lightning resists, and cold passes max with 4 endurance charges. Staying alive isn't a problem with life leach, but it will be even easier with more damage from say, a level 18 EK. Once I get it to 17 or 18 I may take this build to maps/dominus runs. What you said was right, gem level is really important for this, it might even be worth it to look for a +2 skill level weapon with a BIT of spell damage because the scaling is probably better.

In terms of gear, I'm aiming for cast speed/life/resist rings, a similar amulet with more spell damage, a shield with life/spell dmg/crit, a main-hand with spell damage and crit, and more life and resists on other armor pieces.

As for the skills, this is my plan for about level 83, with the crit nodes as luxuries. If I manage to hustle my way into a 6L, I'll probably just add increased critical chance, but it will probably have to be on a red/blue chest piece. After all that, I'll probably just continue adding life nodes and maybe that Shaper node for 1% life regen.

heya youre wrote that viper strike should be used with faster attacks and blood magic, but youre using it with LMP at the moment.

why/does it work with lmp?

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Atum84 wrote:

heya youre wrote that viper strike should be used with faster attacks and blood magic, but youre using it with LMP at the moment.

why/does it work with lmp?

it does not

he is just levelling it

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cocomoloco wrote:

well I think gem level really matters in this comparison, because while Faster Casting only improves from 20% increased casting speed to 29% at lvl 49, Iron Will not only gives you +50ish% increased Spell Damage with 250STR,the casting speed malus of the gem also decreases from -19% to -8% at lvl 49.

So in the end we are comparing +29% Casting Speed to +50% Spell Damage and -8% Casting Speed.

yeah, in fact i noticed that my ek is only level 15.

i have actually tried this using a templar running from mana.

not as tanky, but don't need blood magic. not sure if it's going to work but i know this for sure. with a level 15 ek and level 3 iron will it's definitely not going to work :-)

so humorously i find that i'll probably need to grind merciless fellshrine just to level up the gems...

Just had a character following this build die at level 53, Cruel Kole.

It was a true pleasure playing, and I was extremely tanky all throughout (3260 life when I died, and I think I had roughly 2000 on normal Dominus) - Ethereal Knives felt kind of slow and unresponsive however, and I think it might be worth it to prioritize cast speed over spell damage, as it'll increase mobility and hopefully let you live when you would have otherwise died.

In any case, great build, love it, RIP AstralSong

Well, Realyn, here's an update from me.

Was melee till I got blood magic and life leech. Leveling was smooth sailing till 60 or so.

Things after Lunaris Temple got hard, mainly Barack's forward.

I did do piety runs and killed piety but it was really slow and tedious and exhausting, using 10 portals or more a fight.

I just got a crappy 5 link and 4 linked a helm in 2 fusings and the runs got SO -SO- much faster with faster casting and the cast on damage taken engine going, here are the items.



Got that armor for 7 chaos, but it was so hard to get 3 off color sockets, took me 130 chroms, I had 160... ended up with 31. Insane. But well, WELL worth it.

I am thinking of mapping next log in, I have 5 atm or maybe a few pietys/catacombs before them.


My question for you, is should I try to get a Stafford's Frame next? How bad is not blocking melee attacks?

Here are my items I am considering upgrading, but wana know what should be my first priority. I am thinking the sapire ring into a spell dps orientated ring, but give me some perals of wisdom?




Let me know, thanks bro! And I am just astonished how simple and face roll it got with the upgrades I got!!

I am so glad it solo's really, REALLY well!

When is it best to switch to EK? I'm level 37 and its like im throwing tooth brushes :/

Decided to lvl smurf with this build, made transition from ST to EK at lvl 37, and it feels so clunky and weak compared to ST. White packs needs 4-5 EK to kill, with 200 dps 4L EK, rares takes forever to kill with BearTrap. Thinking about getting 5L with faster casting asap, mb it will become smoother. Little upset, always wanted to make EK char!

EDIT: with ST i almost made to act 3 cruel at sick 36 lvl, all solo! And with EK i can hardly farm cruel ledge now. Something wrong :C

I leveled sort of using a slight variant of this build (Took none of the Shield node variants) and also used leap slam with a Shiversting easily until the low 30s... just demolished things with leap slam, so it was a hard transition. Needed the right auras and spell dmg on gear to make it work.

Transitioning to EK requires a few things. You should immediately have a 4L ready with blood magic, added fire, life leech, and EK. Otherwise it will be a huge drop off in dmg. Short term, you will need a wand + spirit shield that gives you a good amount of spell dmg. You will transition out of the spirit shield later but short term you NEED this. Finding a wand with 50 total spell damage is easy using one of the forum scraper pages and it should only require a few chaos at most. Hatred Aura is required at all times! Had some rings with +Phys dmg early on but moved to Life/resist rings later.

Once you have those two things, I continued to level all the way to 71 on still only a 4L. Took some offensive nodes instead of the shield nodes. Took the Elementalist node, which seems silly but does buff hatred quite a bit, plus the arcane potency wheel, also took the 2 8% increased aura effect nodes in the aura wheel, which not only buffs grace, but also dmg to hatred too. I've moved things around sometimes as I level (Resistances when I needed them, etc) but works really well with the gear I have. Still have no cast speed or spell damage on my rings, but do have spell damage on my neck. Still no issues except with a couple map bosses but otherwise I can clear almost anything half-asleep

After the 1.0.1 patch, I changed my Cast When Dmg Taken gems to
LVL1 CwDT -> (lvl 5 enduring cry, lv 8 ice nova, lv 8 decoy totem)
LVL16 CwDT -> (lvl 16 Molten Shell, lv 10 Enfeeble)

The enduring cry procs often and I get my charges, the ice nova slows or freezes enemies for free at times, and the decoy totem works just fine as usual. As for the high level CwDT, My molten shell is there when I need it. I just removed Immortal Call for now.