[1.2] Generic Melee Combatant (no Keystone Duelist/Marauder/Ranger)
 Introduction:
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After shitloads of theorycrafting and playing complicated characters I realized that I never had a somewhat classic and generic medieval combatant and that I sometimes want to just cut stuff. So I threw together a simple melee build and since it turned out quite well while being newbie friendly, I decided to share it.
The build is quite straightforward, passives and skills are more or less obvious. If you want to try melee or just tired of all that fancy combintaions, this build is for you. Pros and Cons:
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Pros:
- decent balance of damage, mobility and survivability, - easy to understand, - easy to play, - swagger points for no Keystones Cons: - weak to heavy magic damage - needs unique amulet Stone of Lazhwar to do well on 70+ maps Passive Tree and leveling:
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Only Generic stuff: Melee, Sword, Life, Block, Defence and no Keystones. Quite newbie-friendly.
20 points Leather and Steel to save you some real time, Mana Flows to help keep mana up; Golem's Blood for better stability in long fights. 40 points Deadly Dilettante for damage, Razor's Edge for damage and beef Thick Skin for HP, Tetsudo for block 60 points By the Blade for damage Slashing Comeback for damage and block Herbalism for HP 80 points Refund Mana Flows, you should have some Mana Leech on gear at this point. Versatility and Accuracy+Reduced Mana Cost for Int requierements and overall smoothness. Wisdom of the Glade for Int requierements. Born to Fight, Finesse, Aspect of the Panther for damage. Weapon Artistry for damage and Block Precise Interception for Block Heart of Oak and Warrior's Blood for HP and regen 100 points Fencing and Fatal Blade for damage, Bloodless, Life nodes and block nodes for survivability; 112 points (finished build) That's it! As you can see, Marauder and Ranger can be built with almost no difference, but Duelist just fits the "generic medieval dude" theme better than others. Gem setup:
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[R-R-R-G-(R-R)] or [G-R-R-G-(R-R)] [R-R-G] [G-G-R] [R-R-R-R] [R-R-B] Main skill [G-R-R-G-(R-R)]: Cleave -Multistrike -Melee Physical Damage -Faster Attacks (5L)-Added Fire Damage (6L)-Weapon Elemental Damage Main skill [G-R-R-G-(R-R)]: Reave -Multistrike -Melee Physical Damage -Faster Attacks (5L)-Added Fire Damage (6L)-Weapon Elemental Damage Movement skill [R-R-G]: Leap Slam -Blood Magic -Faster Attacks Auras [G-G-R]: Grace Hatred -Reduced Mana Passive 1 [R-R-B]: -Cast when Damage Taken (level 1) Enduring Cry (level 5) Enfeeble (level 5) Passive 2 [R-R-R-R] -Cast when Damage Taken (level 20) Immortal Call (level 20) Decoy Totem (level 20) -Increased Duration (level 20) Most gems are rewards for early quests. When consideriong Quality, first look for Immortal Call and Increased Duration for longer passive Phys Immunity Bandit Rewards:
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Normal: Oak
+40 HP is realy good. No brainer. Cruel: Oak Not a big difference here, but slower hits are better due to armor mechanics and for keeping mana up. Merciless: Kill all You are not relying on charges, so a skillpoint is our choice here Gear:
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Offensive mechanics
Due to nature of Armor in PoE, Physical Damage should be delivered by slower but harder hits. On the other side, that makes you vulnerable to reflect. To keep balance, use slow swords with 1.20-1.30 base attack speed. You'll have enough attack speed from gear, passives and supports. Also, 1-2% of Life and Mana Leech on gear is mandatory to keep you in fight. Defensive mechanics Due to diminishing returns, the higher armor/evasion you have, the harder it became to improve its real value. So I decided to try to keep two defensive stats on decent level. Keep things balanced, look for shields with high block, get yourself Stone of Lazhwar for spellblock. Weapon Best base items are Legion Sword and Vaal Rapier. Aim for high single strike physical damage, then attack speed, critical strike chance and multiplier, accuracy and leech. Shield Your choice of Armor, Armor/Evasion or Evasion. This piece of gear can have Block Chance. Aside from above, aim for typical things: HP, Resists (can have all elemental) and defence. Amulet Stone of Lazhwar. That's it, you need the Stone to have a chance against endgame casters starting from Merciless Dominus. Fortunately, it is easy to find/cheap to buy. High Int and Mana rolls will help you with mana management which can be problematic from time to time. Helm Your choice of Armor, Armor/Evasion or Evasion. Aim for typical things: HP, Resists and defence. Cuirass Your choice of Armor or Armor/Evasion (pure Evasion chest will give you troubles with sockets' color). Aim for typical things: HP, Resists and defence. Gloves Your choice of Armor, Armor/Evasion or Evasion. This piece of gear can have Mana Leech. It is extremely important to have at least 1-2% total between Rings and Gloves. Can also have Attack Speed and Life Leech. Aside from above, aim for typical things: HP, Resists and defence. Boots Your choice of Armor, Armor/Evasion or Evasion. This piece of gear can have Movement Speed, but due to relatively high Attack Speed, you'll move by Leap Slam, so movement is not that important. Aim for typical things: HP, Resists and defence. Belt Rustic Sash is the best base item. Aim for typical things: HP, Resists and defence Rings Theese pieces of gear can have Life and/or Mana Leech. It is extremely important to have at least 1-2% total on your gear. Can also have Attack Speed, Physical Damage and Accuracy. Aside from above, aim for typical things: HP, Resists and defence. Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. Last edited by Sarganis87#5959 on Sep 4, 2014, 10:51:10 AM
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My current stats and gear:
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Stats:
Gear: Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. Last edited by Sarganis87#5959 on Sep 4, 2014, 9:45:14 AM
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If you want Leap Slam to cull, make it a 4-Link and add "Item Rarity", otherwise there's no real reason for Culling Strike.
--- There's no point in grabbing each and every starting node of Marauder, Duelist and Ranger. Take one of the three (depends on preference), but I wouldn't consider it very strong to take them all. In example, as a duelist I would stop at "Finesse" in Ranger and "Warrior's Blood" in Marauder. This frees up 10 skillpoints (which is a LOT endgame). --- There's no point in neither taking "Resolute Technique" nor any Crit Node whatsoever. If you want to work with Accuracy, that's fine, but make it worth it. Grab at least a little bit of Crit Multi/chance. If you take RT, you have a much easier time gearing up. 3.5 build: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2299519 Last edited by Peterlerock#5171 on Mar 11, 2014, 4:43:30 AM
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Thanks for detailed input.
" THis build only has 33 Int, so can't use Item Rarity without gear. And that's something I would like to avoid. Culling is just for last 10% of rare/unique/boss HP to save a little bit of time. I have quite some free sockets after all. " I wanted to have a finished build at around 105-107 points. With that in mind, I see no other way to have that much % Increased Max Life and defensive stats. " There are some Crit nodes at Ranger side (Pressure points) and between Mara and Duelist (Cruel Blade). They can easily be taken after general build is finished. " I don't use RT due to flavor reasons (no Keystones build). But on other side of gearing, it's a pity to loose possible stats on gear. I didn't stack accuracy intentionally, it just happen to roll on gear and is naturally included in passive tree (I will later describe why notable passives like Versatility are taken). The same is true for Dex, Crit Chance, Crit Multiplier, Mana/Mana Regen (no Blood Magic. either Gem or Passive), Stun/Block recovery (no Unwavering Stance). Basically, I wanted to minimize the number of useless stats on gear and passives. Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. Last edited by Sarganis87#5959 on Mar 11, 2014, 6:21:57 AM
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Updated gem setup.
Updated gear guidelines. Added leveling. Learned to make (a little crappy) videos. Facetank Kole and Piety for now... English in not my native language, so sorry for possible grammar errors and thanks for reading. Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. Last edited by Sarganis87#5959 on Mar 11, 2014, 6:21:36 PM
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I've only been playing PoE for a couple of weeks and using this build has really allowed me to have fun. I only died once going through Normal mode and that was because I went /afk in a stupid spot. Heavy magic users can be a bit worrisome, but I just use Shield Charge & Leap Slam to smash them down. I'm coming up on some +resist nodes & I'm working on upgrading my gear, so that should help. All in all, a really fun build - thanks!
Last edited by BonsaiRanger#4793 on Mar 21, 2014, 8:30:50 PM
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how are you doing with this build guys? Is it good for endgame?
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I massively changed the character, got Bringer of Rain, Stone of Lazhwar and lots of other stuff.
Unfortunately, the build still does not hold itself very well versus strong caster bosses. But with Bringer's DPS and Block and Stone's Spell Block situation got from absolutely craptastic to almost normal. Currently testing different gem combinations. Here's current passive tree: click Oh, and the upside is the cool gladiatorish look:
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 EDIT: Massive changes are in. Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. Last edited by Sarganis87#5959 on Jul 22, 2014, 7:35:21 PM
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Build is updated for 1.2.
Most noticable changes: Lower HP No Bringer of Rain Better DPS and higher Crit Chance. Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.
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