[2.2] Champion RT Dual Strike with Dual Varunastra Perandus HC

Choosing Dual Strike as the preferred skill as Cyclone is pretty weak right now and I don't like Cleave too much. Also Dual Strike acts as a traditional melee skill that I very much enjoy.

I want to use 2 of these weapons. Hopefully it works out okay and they aren't expensive or rare.
Other alternative weapon choice - Soul Taker / Rare weapon (sword/axe/mace/whatever) / Rigwald's Command / Rigwald's Savagery.

Skill choices to use for levelling: 2H - Cleave, Leap Slam, Earthquake, Cyclone
WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DUAL WIELD LEVELLING. I will probably level with Earthquake, picking up Less Duration in Act 3 along with the regular melee set up.

Just use a 2 hander for levelling, using the OP uniques if possible. The one handed uniques are not nearly as strong as using for example, a Geofri's Baptism. Also, aim to get Resolute Techniques as soon as possible as this removes the requirement of accuracy which is problematic for melee early on. Having a dexterity amulet is very handy for levelling too for gem levelling.

Eventually swap to dual wield whenever you can get your hands on a 5L so that's around level 60+ and of course your weapons.

So I just wanted to touch on the Labyrinth. For me personally I will not be doing the labyrinth as soon as possible and instead will most likely run the Normal and Cruel difficulty labyrinth when I am better geared. Considering I've levelled plenty in the past pre-Ascendancy, I don't see much difference in rushing the new content.

As a brief update, I did Normal Labyrinth at level 50, Cruel at 65~ish and Merciless at level 80.

Due to having permanent fortify from the Ascendancy class, you can now freely utilise Weapon Ele damage as a link. In order of priority:

Dual Strike // Melee Splash // Multistrike // Melee Physical Damage // Added Fire // Weapon Elemental

Try and get quality Dual Strike (increased attack speed) and quality Melee Splash (increased area of effect) and they will massively help your clear. I rate melee splash highly because this is your main AoE eventually and so you want to maximise your AoE.

Other things needed is Immortal Call setup (no automated endurance charge generation so it's not too reliable), Whirling Blades (weapon counts as a sword so it works), Auras (Hatred and Herald of Ash. Can use Arctic Armour if using Soul Taker off hand). I use Riposte and Vengeance with Life Leech just for added safety in times when I might not be hitting.

Note: I've actually dropped my Immortal Call setup in favour of keeping Endurance Charges up.

Oak-Kraityn-Oak

I chose Kraityn in Cruel because you need more attack speed to prevent yourself being locked in multistrike animation. Can go Kraityn in merciless for the frenzy charge.





- 229% Max Life, 8% Life Regen
- 17% Block (can use Rumi's most likely so 45%~ block)

This is my preliminary tree that I had in mind. Deadly Dilettante is crucial for the build although it is a little out of the way. Rest of the tree is fairly typical for a melee tree.

This is the current gear and setup I had;



One of the key components is the Lightning Coil and Taste of Hate combo which provides heavy physical damage mitigation. Aim to get Flask Duration effect on a belt so that your Taste of Hate and other flasks last longer however I personally don't have this yet.

Other key gem choices are Vaal Grace for bosses - extra chance to dodge attacks and spells is just an added bonus to help with survivability.

Whirling blades is the obvious choice for movement skill. I also have a Leap Slam to jump ledges (which is helpful for Labyrinth runs).

I'm personally not using an Immortal Call setup and instead prefer to keep the 4 Endurance Charges up as much as possible. I'm also running a Stone Golem for some added regen if I need it.

I guess I should talk about stat priorities.

STAT PRIORITY

Obviously a bleed and anti freeze flask is necessary. Bleed is often a common status effect. Anti freeze is 95% of the time used against strongboxes.

My other choices are Taste of Hate - because you're playing melee in a hardcore and it's near 100% essential to have one. Definitely worth the investment for a build like this. Gives a small DPS increase too. Has been nerfed since the previous leagues however I still think it's strong.

Granite and Basalt flasks for added armour and damage reduction. With all the defence flasks active, you are very tanky.

Can bring elemental flask (ruby and topaz) depending on boss of maps.

Can do the majority of map mods. For example -max and no regen is possible, you've just gotta know your limits and play it safer. For reflect you can swap out Melee Phys or Weap Ele for Life Leech as a precaution. Don't run blood rage in no regen.

For Academy boss remember to take out Vengeance and Riposte.

Overall I think this is an okay build. In comparison with my Rigwald's Weapon Dual Strike this one is weaker and potential lacks the same survivability as this one has less block. However I am still 5L'd at the moment and so there is decent potential here.

It's a good clear speed (for a melee build) and reasonably safe, however I feel progressing towards t12+ maps you may be vulnerable because there's a chance of being one shot or just unable to leech fast enough due to just being a melee build. Something like cyclone doesn't really have this problem because they're not locked into position.