[2.2] Iron Maiden - Super Tanky Ranger that packs a punch

Introduction

So what's this build about?
Defense. It's about starting to kill a boss then mid fight deciding you need to get up for a drink. This girl is not built for clearing speed, she's here to get hit in the face over and over, and she loves it!
Don't get me wrong, she can hit back. She only uses one active skill and the rest of the damage is reactive, Riposte and Reckoning are both counter attacks triggered when she blocks.

There's a video link at the bottom, sorry for copy paste but it just refused to edit right!

Pros:
Nearly invincible!
Fun, if your play style is a lot of face tanking and not a lot of running away.
Convenient for when real life needs you in a hurry.
Can use most melee skills depending on what you like, making it an easy leveling build.
Reflect maps don't make a difference.

Cons:
You are slow.
Corrupting blood and staying in poison still hurts....but you have plenty of time to think about hitting a potion and then deciding to hit said potion.
Your friends will hate that they died and you didn't.


Level 76 map just to show the trigger attacks until I got impatient. I was afk until you see the dirt start to fly.

Now let's look at the tree.

Passive Tree


Gear and Gems

The most important pieces of this build are the Shield, Neck, Helm and Boots for their huge block chance. I have legacy pieces but obviously not required.

Skill Gem Breakdown


Bandits
Kill All-Kill All-Oak for Endurance Charge

Character Sheets

I've played tons of games with CallMeDel while she was on this Ranger and I can definitely say it's nice to have her run ahead into a boss fight or room to scope things out face first to see if it's safe for the rest of us trying to hold onto that 10% xp. We have a rule when we play with her in the group that if she gets hurt we just all portal out. I'm not getting hit by whatever hurt her.

I'm following this guide in the Perandus Flashback event. Kind of hard without uniques or even easy access to strenght gems. Wish me luck ;)

Sending all the luck your way!

Level 51 and it is working wonders even without the uniques. Most powerful build I have played since dual flame totem marauder.

I rolled a couple of very powerful weapons while leveling, an axe and a mace, it is nice not being dependant on the weapon type. Also got word of war on my gloves. So basically, when mobs die to retaliate damage, minions are created and they in turn kill ranged mobs or spell mobs that are too far away or do not proc counterattacks.

I am using wild strike as my main attack but I might change when ele resist mobs are more common. May use sunder like you or maybe earthquake. I don't like sunder very much because I think the clearing damage is overkill and the single target damage is lacking.

ANYWAY TWO THUMBS UP TO THIS STUFF.

Awe awesome!! I'm glad you like it! I used ice crash before sunder and reave with a poniard before that. I do love the flexibility this allows. Its a tweaked version of an older build that no longer has a page or I would cite it for its awesomeness! At any rate, feel free to pm me in game if you ever have a question or whatever.

OMG OMG OMG I found a Cadiro offering it! :_) *oscar award speech tears*

I just went hug all my family and they don't even know why.

By the way, have you considered getting the fortify cluster? would you recomend it if using fortify on leap attack?
Also, I think I am going to try switching to pathfinder once the event is over (it is not allowed during the event). It has a couple of interesting defensive nodes, plus the poison node which does not sinergize particulary well with the build offensive power but it adds up and this is the "I can wait" type of build. I mean, we don't need to kill fast to avoid damage.

Surely having alot of defence leads to having some drawbacks on DPS and shit clear speed, surely that gets boring that you cant kill bosses quick enough

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CryMexis wrote:

Surely having alot of defence leads to having some drawbacks on DPS and shit clear speed, surely that gets boring that you cant kill bosses quick enough

Well, I am still in early merciless but I am one-hitting packs with earthquake at the moment. Bosses do not "melt" as they do with more offensive oriented builds but I don't feel like they take too much time at all. I personally find entertaining the gameplay, because it allows you to make tactical decisions, like when to sip potions or when to jump to boss mobs to get endurance/frenzy charges.
Also with other builds I have played I would wait to have just gained a level to face a boss without fear of losing exp. This is not a problem here and it compensates for the slower exp gain.
Finally, the build truly shines when in a party, taking pressure off the more squishy characters.