[3.1] GLADIATOR 1H+Shield Max Block&Spell Block Tank + a BoR version

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brakthir wrote:

So uh, still kind of new to Awakening. Level 85 in Warbands now using your build, loving it but how do I get to the jewel slots? I've noticed you haven't actually taken any in your build path.

Take a better look, there's one taken below duelist :) if you want another one, you can easily take it, cause it's right to the path we take left of marauder

Added in the guide:
Full list of required gems by colour:
Ice Crash/Static Strike/Infernal Blow
Melee Physical Damage x2
Weapon Elemental Damage
Multistrike (for Static Strike and Infernal Blow)
Melee Splash (for Infernal Blow)
Added Fire Damage
Determination
Herald of Ash
Blood Magic x3
Immortal Call
Vaal Molten Shell
Increased Duration
Reckoning
Endurance Charge on Melee Stun
Warlord's Mark
Enduring Cry
Leap Slam
Fortify

Faster Attacks
Hatred

Increased Area of Effect (for Ice Crash and Static Strike)
Tempest Shield
Summon Chaos Golem

be mindful that if you take unwavering stance and use BoR, Blind gem is wasted. Even with iron reflexes you still have min 5% chance to evade which is a lot against blinded mobs, even after the nerf. I think it's around 60ish chance to evade, or rather for them to miss so it's a good defense even thou you have less armour.

I don't know how much life and block chance OP has, but with my legacy BoR and his tree (I took axe nodes, more damage imho) I have 70/50 block chance and legacy BoR has 15% block chance, not 6% so idk if I would be ok with 55/25 block...kinda low and not quite the 'real thing'. Idk why they nerfed all that, you could still easily die even with maxed out block...

anyway, nice guide, I will have to look into these skills, I haven't been playing my aegis blender for ages and my double strike setup seems to be fine as it is, even better maybe with another melee damage gem now - fortify! :) both offense and defense.
I use en/ charge on stun gem on leap slam to gain endurance charge, and fortify on my BoR double strike to gain...fortify...:D

Good point :)

Nice build!

Thanks! :)

For Bringer of Rain owners, this is how I modified OP's build:



I am using legacy BoR (15% block, 200+ life), legacy Rainbows, and obviously Axe, but you can spec into sticks if you prefer/have one already. I am not using additional E. Charges since 3+ Fortify is enough for now, will take more when I level up.

My armour is ~8700 (was ~7200 with original tree from OP) and there are plenty of nodes to cover your resists with a few points. I am using 3, 1 for flat fire res, and other 2 give a ton of armour +15% all res.

Movement speed with this tree sucks though, only 20%. I used to spec towards the ranger part and take a bunch of MS there + block chance. I might try and rework the build to that again but it won't be as tanky as this build is, though, Malachai managed to one shot me with....something (it was something ranged that probably was a crit too) My life is ~5100.

Really very tanky build, other than Malachai I just face tank everything, including Dominus and torture chamber boss laser (spell block, mitigation + blind on bosses).

My only gripe with this build is that compared to my ranger it takes forever to kill some stuff even with 38K dps static strike. I guess that that cannot be helped without more life regen then add bloodrage for frenzy charges and some offensive curse.

To OP: It is not my intention to "hijack" your thread, just giving a bit better tree for BoR users, small changes really, adding resists and 36% more armour and evasion in 2 nodes that are on the way to Iron Reflexes anyway.

Again, thak you for the build (I hate brainstorming after tree resets so I look for threads like these), the "meat" of the build is all yours buddy :)

Cheers!

PS. I should mention, armor value of ~8700 is with hatred and herald of ash. With defensive armour aura it would be over 10K for sure but I need my mana and blood magic gem in main attack takes away a lot of damage (read: you can use damage support gem instead) so I run lvl 5 clarity on blood magic and have virtually no mana problems for some ~120 life cost on top of my ~5100 life.

From my testing, Infernal blow is very good, leaves a lot of phys dps (read: you leech more) but melee splash skyrockets the cost so I opted for static strikes. My plan is to return to infernal blow if possible at some point because dps may read lower in tooltip but pdps is PURE damage and kills faster unless you can muster the shock chance somehow (there are at least 2 viable ways but you would sacrifice either the rare belt or skill points).

Always glad to see people improvise :)

Great block chance for projectiles until you can get that aegis or the cheaper sheild.

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SimmondsDan wrote:

Spoiler

Great block chance for projectiles until you can get that aegis or the cheaper sheild.

Disagre. You can buy for like 1c. And it works much better with this build imo. (block chance, armour, life...)