0.10.0! - 2H Sword Frenzy Duelist

Nice one! Please keep us updated.

Why are you getting so much elemental damage stuff when your only elemental damage is from AFD?

Where are you pulling these numbers like 75% chaos res from? We all want that but it's impractical to put that down as if you actually have it. If you do I'd love to see your gear.

You build too much off theory, like all your other builds this one is ok at best and built off the idea you can get perfect gear. I mean really who writes out what they'll link for 2 6ls? Someone with only 4l now has to decide what skills are more important.

I've been testing this build and recently got to level 31. I'm enjoying it a lot, thank you Struyk.

It's among the best "true melee" builds I've tested (considering they all have a hard time). I understand OP aimed for nearly perfect stats and gear, but it levels up and scales quite well.

This is my current passive:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0OrRRSGNsb-iFgJd8ppSz7QKBDnEd-W69fOWBLYSFlTXTtdPF674TZhO-HapBsmSueuaQZqZSrxb6nypDdDd3j

Game got quite easy at around level 15 (corrected level, req is 14) when I bought this:


So I pretty much single shotted my way through act 2 and hardly ever used Decoy Totem. At the end of Act 2 and now in Act 3 I'm having a bit of a harder time, mostly because I need a new sword and better gear. But it's still doing very good.

I don't care too much for PvP, but I have to say it's a very good build for that, at least at lower levels. Only fight I ever lost with it was to a guy 10 levels above me, and I still won 4 rounds. You can use flicker to get near then Heavy Strike your foe in 2 or 3 shots.

I use Flicker Strike (with +Melee on Full Life) as an opener then Heavy Strike (with Added Fire) for single target or Frenzy+Cleave (with Added Fire) for Mobs.

Pros:
- Very good boss killer.
- Good AoE with Cleave - high dps from 2h makes up for the dmg decrease.
- Iron Reflexes fits quite well in duelist, with all the +Evasion/Armour nodes available. Also plenty of Life nodes nearby.
- Good attack speed with Frenzy.

Cons:
- Need high resistances and armour rating. Not as good tank as other builds.
- Average mana issues. Nothing that flasks can't handle, but before using clarity and having better gear, mana will be an issue.

Here's where I plan to be at around level 60:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0OrRRSGNsb-iFgJd8ppSz7QKBDnEd-W69fOWBLYSFlTXTtdPF674TZhO-HapBsmSueuaQZqZSrxb6nypDdDd3jkAr8xWegh3ZKfe9OXQAotWCIYVKfyzIJ1e3STcAPOrM1hp2quc3UUgbul3BjF8EH1340Nc5n

If anyone has a better leveling plan, please share.

Thanks!

Ok guys I just want to give a follow up on my testing of this build.

I'm currently at level 40 and this is my passive tree:


I'm still having a lot of fun with it. As I mentioned before, things got very easy at level 15 with Shiversting. Then at mid act 3 things got hard again, but nothing unmanagable. I only died once throughout act 3, and wasn't really to a boss. So considering it is a 2h duelist build and I have crappy gear (only things found by playing it), killing Piety and such in first attempt should mean I'm on the right track.

As far as Struyk's guide go, I'm following it well, but I stopped using Frenzy. I actually would ask what are the good reasons to use it, since I get plenty of charges from Blood Rage and attacks like Heavy Strike deal a lot more DPS for less mana...

My current stats are (still in act 1 cruel, but mostly because I'm doing every single quest and taking my time, no farming done yet):
Life: 900 (regen per sec: 28)
Mana: 300 (regen per sec: 7)
Physical Reduction: 48% (unbuffed)
Elemental Resistances: F-56% / C-64% / L-45% (I'm still reimproving resistance)

DPS (considering Hatred aura and 3 frenzy charges):
- Heavy Strike: 900
- Cleave: 400
- Flicker Strike: 800

HS and Cleave are still linked to Added Fire. Flicker linked to Melee Damage. Since I'm still having mana issues, I'm not worring about more support gems yet.

As for mana, still an issue, but I'm still not thinking about Blood Magic. Going to stick to OP's plan.

For next levels I plan on getting Unwavering Stance, more life nodes, stacking resistances in gear and improving my armor a bit. Also need Molten Shell and some better Auras.

Think I'm all set for cruel, but the game might surprise me.

Thanks!

just switch to duelist and will follow this guide. really thanks for your effort =)

Not sure if this was mentioned or not, but Iron reflexes does not get benefit from Leather and Steel type passives. So, iron reflexes basically makes those nodes 50% worthless. Is it worth the boost in overall armor?

Leather and Steel used to be much better, yeah. However, 24% is still pretty good. Steel Skin (30%) is better, and should be priority, but the idea behind the end-game build is to grab ALL armour AND evasion nodes you can reach anyway.

I went for the really easy Leather and Steel near duelist, but won't get the other one in the bottom part until end-game (will focus on armor).

But another good question came up on armour. I talked to some guys that say that you really don't need all those armour nodes with IR. By finding good gear, using endurance charges and molten shell, you can reach physical reduction cap easily. Maybe throw in grace so that when your charges are down, you still have some decent reduction. It made me think about it, and since I'm planning on getting 5 endurance charges, yeah, that's 25% reduction right there.

So what do you guys think about it? Is it better to focus even more on life (I'm focusing a lot lol) and leave armour/evasion to gear, grace, endurance and molten?

*** A quick update on last post (level 40). I did change from Frenzy to Blood Rage in the end of normal mode, but now at the end of act 1 cruel I'm switching back to Frenzy as main charger. The deal is that you get more chaos damage as difficulty increases (20% in cruel), making it very risky to use Blood Rage without proper gear. Since I plan to avoid many deaths, Frenzy is just safer. I still use Blood Rage when I see a huge mob that doesn't scare me - in those cases, blood rage + flicker Strike leads to an incredible maihem).

VERY low HP, ie VERY gear dependent. I want to see this faring in Merciless.
The 2nd Eva/Armor tree is garbage if you go Iron Reflexes, might as well grab the 10/10/30/10/10% Evasion tree, *should* be more efficient.
Edit: Also, wtf with the bandits bonuses if your build is for 111 points? Should be 109 points in that case.

i edited your builds slightly because the only thing keeping you alive besides endurance charges against big hits is life so i made these three builds feel free to edit or correct them.


I really like this one with a big emphasis on life armor and evasion with 20 points left over.

Tyber,

The second spec is similar to the one I'm following but I get Iron Reflexes and Unwavering Stance. I understand that double evasion from ranged attacks is good, but imo IR and US fit very well in this build, nearly a necessity.

Thanks.