[3.3] Unstoppable Gladiator 78% Max Block/Spells. Best Low Budget League Starter

I played a similar build in Harbinger HC. Died at lvl 89 to a nasty corpse explosion. Really smooth play, melting through mobs and pretty solid damage against bosses too (with flasks on).

A major change I did was replacing The Anvil with Carnage Heart. Rationale:

-> +55 to all attributes makes it really easy to level our dex/int gems (Hatred, Conc. Effect, ...) without having to waste points on tree or forcing us to get stats on gear

-> huge life leech! a very powerful extra layer of defense, works great in combination with our high attack speed. also lets us avoid going for 'Splitting Strikes' on tree

-> +19 to all resists is quite nice too, giving us more flexibility in remaining gear

=> The major downside is that we lose +8% Block and +3% Max Block. To get back to 75% block chance, I took the +1% Block node by Solidity and used 4 Jewels with +1% Block. The most effective solution would be using the Red Nightmare Jewel, but it was just insanely expensive in HHC - still around 25 Exalt now, and more in earlier weeks.

I also went for the Belt of the Deceiver, which is cheap (maybe in part due excessive Ancient Orb usage to get HH?) and quite nice both offensively and defensively, in my opinion. But this seems to be a common adjustment nowadays.




Skill Tree:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQCAAHcBIcEswUtBosKJgthDPcTTBQgFHEV7BfhGNsaOBo-IOMhYCb4Jy8ppS5TL8wwdzIJMk41kjrhPAU8LUCgR35N404yUEdZ81n-Xz9f2mLsZFJlTWXwZ5toZWjybEZs2G87cmxyqXTtdPF1Tnasd-N4DXk5eu982X7iggeDX4PMhNmE74rwj5mQVZL3ogCmV6aNqW6playqrK-tja4-r2y18raKtz65Hb02vni-p8AawGbAv8GCwaPEgsT2xq7KkM9-02_Yvdl82sHiYeRR6Ubp1eoY7w7vfPAf8i_yRfPd9kj3MvgC-Ov-Cv6P?accountName=DUALANAL&characterName=GAY__EMPEROR

All content cleared with slight tweaks for this build.


Gear used to do so

Trying to maximise this build so always trying all ideas.
Carnage heart is a great Amulet but the increased % damage while leeching stat is not working with this build. Unless we are taking consistent damage we are not leeching so Carnage heart damage multiplier is not working. I tried it on numerous maps and all i ever got was millisecond damage spikes - thus millisecond increased life leech. Hitting 5 times per second makes those figures look ordinary.
So now we get to dropping "Splitting Strikes" - personally think this tree is a must for axe users so i cannot understand why you suggest dropping it simply because of the "supposedly" sustaining life leech given by Carnage Heart.
Seriously not trying to blast your post but as i said i am trying to maximise this build.

The only questions i have left to answer are:

1:Best single target damage skill - sunder or static strike - need positive proof cause static strike explosions don't figure into calculations so cannot be compared.

In a distant time in a distant galaxy i will run real time trials on these 2 skills to see what wins.
Will use white map Minotaur and white map Chimera as test benches.

Maim support is another possibility but i will leave that task (hopefully} to someone else.
Cheers.

Thanks for your constructive comment.

Regarding Carnage Heart, I agree that the Increased % Damage While Leeching is barely useful. However, I considered the % of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life as quite powerful -> up to 2%, combined with 50% Increased Life Leeched per Second effectively up to 3%.

After reading though previous posts in this thread, I thought the main point behind taking Splitting Strikes was to get the 0.4% Leech, which appears quite meager compared to Leech from Carnage Heart. Am I missing something? My thinking is that with an alternative Leech source, we can spend the 5 skill points more constructively, maybe going for extra life or attack speed. What do you think?

Splitting Strikes takes 5 Skill Points and provides:

62% Increased Physical Damage
6% Increased Attack Speed
0.4% Physical Damage Leeched as Life
10% Increased Leech
10 Strength

OK i'll spend some regrets.
With splitting strikes i have .77% main hand life leech + 10% life leech modifier. The .77% comes from .4% from splitting strikes and .37% from my glove enchant.
Using a carnage heart will give me an extra 1.8% life leech and 50% life leech modifier.
Total of 2.57% main hand life leech and 60% life leech modifier.
What life leech is considered good? Is there a cap?
Remember with static strike i am hitting 10.5 times per second.

Using the anvil i have 110k dps - 5875 life - 15380 armor (66% reduction).
Using carnage heart i have 114k dps - 5921 life - 14172 armor (63% reduction).

Using red nightmare jewel gets me to 75% block (legacy bor) but i loose 150 life and 1100 dps.

Spending the 5 points on life and attack speed gave me an extra 310 life and 2300 dps (15% life - 7%speed).

Probably a better use of the 5 points would be to get the jewel slot just below Faith and Steel.
Good jewel gives me 140 life and 3k dps.

Another option would be to go for an extra endurance and frenzy charge but i'm not clever enough to work out if that would be better or not.

Now the big thing i feel about the anvil is it's ability to enable an extra 3% to blocks. May not sound much but in a previous post someone did the math and it works out that 3% is actually quite an improvement to defence. Check out my build - dual curse i feel is very good and Culling strike is amazing.

Now to level so i can go test Static strike v Sunder on guardians.

If anyone can answer what is a "good" leech rate it would be appreciated remembering 10 hits per second.

Thanks.

Nice analysis. Indeed, I would also like to know what is the 'optimal' life leech for this build.

I checked your character and it looks very strong. I have a few ideas/questions:

1) Dual curse seems nice. However, by linking Tempest Shield and two curses to CWDT, you had to drop Blood Rage and I cannot see how you generate frenzy charges. Blood Rage can be a huge damage boost, lvl 20 with 3 charges up should give you:

27% Increased Attack Speed
12% More Damage
1.2% Leech (-> 1.8% with Carnage Heart boost)

Do you find that it works good enough without Blood Rage?

2) I am not sure about the Warchief setup, with Increased Duration/Culling Strike. Sockets are pretty precious on this build and I feel there are better options. If you were using Sunder, I think the best Warchief link would be Main. Maim effectively makes enemies take 14% more damage and also slows them by 30%.

For Static, if you want to keep the Increased Duration, maybe you could move it to your boots and go something like Warchief - Increased Duration - Culling Strike - Vaal Haste. Since both Culling Strike and Vaal Haste are green, you could easily swap Culling Strike for a second Vaal Haste when appropriate.

3) What is the point of Damage on Full Life in your Shield Charge setup? I would drop it and instead 4 link your Warchief.

4) By the Blade might not be the best spent 3 Skill Points. It only gives you 48% Increased Physical and a bit of evasion. Maybe pick up Devotion instead? 20% Increased Life, 40 Strength and a small Hatred boost for 5 Skill Points looks like a good deal to me. But I guess I might be too fixated on life since I only play HC.

Thanks for the help. Obviously lost my way regarding Blood Rage and because i use a legacy BOR i don't require Tempest Shield block so keeping 2 curses is easy. I have also put in a Vaal Haste instead of Damage on Full life as you recommended. Will have a good look at Devotion later on when i have time but i have to thank you for sorting me out. Back to Sunder and will try Maim also as recommended - cheers.

Regarding using Devotion instead of By the Blade i loose 6.5k dps and gain 434 life, is it worth it?
I would also have to drop a jewel node on my tree which gives me 16% increased armour + jewel stats so i think i will stick with By the Blade. If i ever get to 100 (unlikely) then Devotion would definitely an option. Thanks again.

For the Ascendancy points, should I go for violent retaliation or blood in the eyes, since they removed immunity to bleeding on bosses?

Dropping "splitting strikes" for "bloodletting" and using "blood in the eyes" may be a very good option.
Wish i could effectively use "path of building" to answer that. I may just use some respec points and find out myself.