[2.2] Full Block Earthquake with Varunastra + Aegis (Gladiator)

I plan on this being my first melee character, so I am not familiar with what makes sense and have some questions.

That being said, wouldn't Immortal call (either manually used or on CWDT) be good with how reliably we are generating endurance charges with both Enduring Cry and BoR?

What does flicker strike do exactly? We use whirling blades for movement and earthquake for damage. Seems like a waste of a slot, but I haven't even rolled a melee before so I'm probably missing something.

If it turns out my points are valid, I would remove flicker making it 3Link so that I can make a 4Link CWDT setup of Immortal Call-Tempest Shield-Molten Shell. Should the CWDT still remain level 1, be maxed, or is there a sweet spot? I normally keep it that way, but that is because I don't normally generate much endurance charges so I don't know if its worth leveling both IC and CWDT to benefit from the scaling duration increase from endurance charges and I don't know if the increased damage needed to proc CWDT is actually something that could count as a benefit to us. Less likely to proc on pointless hits, more likely to proc on near death hits, and not consuming endurance charges as much. As well molten shell and tempest shield get stronger.

Sorry if I asked a lot, but like I said first melee character so I'd appreciate answers and feedback on my proposals.

What bandits choices are best ?

"

demondied1 wrote:

Leveling the build, can you give some quick info as to what route to take? I am guessing you probably leveled as 2h then switched to 1h and shield later, if not can you tell me what I should level with please.

I used a lot of different skills with different weapon.

I think I used around 4-5 unique weapons while leveling.
Used Cleave early, reave a bit, sunder, etc

whenever I felt slow in killing, I searched for a new weapon.

Sorry, not much helpful eh

"

Chuck57841 wrote:

I plan on this being my first melee character, so I am not familiar with what makes sense and have some questions.

That being said, wouldn't Immortal call (either manually used or on CWDT) be good with how reliably we are generating endurance charges with both Enduring Cry and BoR?

What does flicker strike do exactly? We use whirling blades for movement and earthquake for damage. Seems like a waste of a slot, but I haven't even rolled a melee before so I'm probably missing something.

If it turns out my points are valid, I would remove flicker making it 3Link so that I can make a 4Link CWDT setup of Immortal Call-Tempest Shield-Molten Shell. Should the CWDT still remain level 1, be maxed, or is there a sweet spot? I normally keep it that way, but that is because I don't normally generate much endurance charges so I don't know if its worth leveling both IC and CWDT to benefit from the scaling duration increase from endurance charges and I don't know if the increased damage needed to proc CWDT is actually something that could count as a benefit to us. Less likely to proc on pointless hits, more likely to proc on near death hits, and not consuming endurance charges as much. As well molten shell and tempest shield get stronger.

Sorry if I asked a lot, but like I said first melee character so I'd appreciate answers and feedback on my proposals.

any other 4 Links/3 links other than the earthquake are all optional and personal preference.

I wasn't really planning on using flicker strike, but I just had 1 empty slot with green so I used it, since it was evasion based gloves. Flicker strike was pretty good than I thought on mobility, like jumping over the wall, so I just kept using it.

for immortal call, I wouldn't really suggest it since physical damages aren't that much problem later.
If I would pick for the 4th link on cwdt from my setup, it would probably a stone golem or chaos golem.

All these are just my opinions, so you don't have to follow them :D

"

EzBreesy wrote:

What bandits choices are best ?

I wrote them on the passive side, but

Normal: Life
Cruel: Passive
Merciless: Passive (If you are used to spamming enduring cry, I also suggest enduring charge)

"

GeGuRi wrote:

any other 4 Links/3 links other than the earthquake are all optional and personal preference.

I wasn't really planning on using flicker strike, but I just had 1 empty slot with green so I used it, since it was evasion based gloves. Flicker strike was pretty good than I thought on mobility, like jumping over the wall, so I just kept using it.

for immortal call, I wouldn't really suggest it since physical damages aren't that much problem later.
If I would pick for the 4th link on cwdt from my setup, it would probably a stone golem or chaos golem.

All these are just my opinions, so you don't have to follow them :D

You made me realize I completely forgot about golems and they would be worthwhile for sure.

I actually have been mulling over 3L/4L setups for a while and came up with
CWDT-Molten-Tempest-Golem
Reckoning-CoH-Curse-Fortify
Blood Magic-Whirling-Faster Attacks

We lose damage from the Reckoning/Vengeance setup but gain a lot of curse effectiveness and free up the 4L for level 20 CWDT.

I'll have to see if this makes sense in practice. Thanks for the tips.

For PHC, which build is more defensiv?
Etup's 2H Earthquake Champion with perma Fortify
Or this Full Block Earthquake build?
And what Build can focus for higher damage?

[/quote]

You made me realize I completely forgot about golems and they would be worthwhile for sure.

I actually have been mulling over 3L/4L setups for a while and came up with
CWDT-Molten-Tempest-Golem
Reckoning-CoH-Curse-Fortify
Blood Magic-Whirling-Faster Attacks

We lose damage from the Reckoning/Vengeance setup but gain a lot of curse effectiveness and free up the 4L for level 20 CWDT.

I'll have to see if this makes sense in practice. Thanks for the tips.
[/quote]

The reason for a low level CWDT is so it will always proc tempest shield in the least amount of time possible. If you have a high lvl CWDT u wont reach block cap with tempest shield until u take a bunch of dmg. Also since you're blocking all the time it will hardly ever go off.

Also, reckoning/vengeance can't proc fortify because they're considered trigger gems. Would be great if they could. The curse on hit is very good though with trigger gems, i highly recommend it. I switch between Vuln and Enfeeble depending on the map. Vuln has crazy good synergy with EQ and the Gladiator bleed nodes.

For IC, this build has quite a lot of physical mitigation. IC just isn't necessary. Crazy I know bc i run IC on every other build being in HC. The reason is this build aims to get as much armour as possible for the Aegis regen per block, so this build will use 2-3 defensive physical flasks such as a Jade, Granite, and not to mention ToH for that Aegis max cold res synergy, combined with IR and very high base armour, you're set.

Build looks amazingly fun. I'm working on it as we speak as a matter of fact. Quick question. In the merc lab run video when you go to enchant your helm at the end it is obviously BoR, however it appears you are also wearing a chest piece. I'm slightly confused, though BoR prevented you from wearing chest armor. Thanks.

Currently building a similar character after getting a Bringer of Rain and Varunastra for cheap last week. Aiming at full block, 7 endurance charge and improved fortify cluster for high damage mitigation. Will probably also use a combo of Stibnite+Basalt flask for bosses. I'll post some update in here when I get to endgame.

Hadn't thought about Aegis Aurora, don't have much experience with the item; is it still worth it if I'm going for Iron Reflexes?