[3.15] 82% Block Dual Strike Impale Gladiator - 6M after 3.15 nerfs
 This is my first build please be kind :) Pros: 82% Attack and Spell block chance Literally loot while letting things hit you Great clear without melee splash One shot packs Very scalable One of the best helmet enchants in the game Flexible items NOT KILLED BY 3.15 Cons: Not very good at regaining life quickly (can be changed easily in the tree in return for some dps loss) Can not run physical reflect Dual strike namelock is a bit buggy and sometimes attack even though you're outside of its range, thus missing entirely (probably a bug ((If it really bothers you, anoint or path to bladedancer))) Possibly the most fun aspect of Dual Strike is the buffs it gains against enemies on full life, allowing it to one shot T16 rares like its nothing and slice off half a boss' life bar in one swing. 3.15 Changes UPDATE
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So yes, I've not updated the build since 3.9 up until now. I haven't played much in this time either, and as such I may have missed some pretty huge upgrades offered by mechanics added since then. Where to start on 3.15? We can no longer take Maim with Flesh and Stone as the reservation is massive, we have of course lost a hilarious amount of dps, though admittedly not so much in comparison to some poor poor builds. I have added Arn's Anguish, seemingly a pretty good item to boost our DPS without much of a hit on suriviability. Tentatively replaced Lion's Roar (Kitten's Yawn) with Replica Lavianga's Spirit, goodbye knockback! Saviour added as an obvious and huge buff to our DPS, it is effectively doubled. Unfortunately not in PoB yet, but I am heavily considering Ambush for this build, as it synergises extremely well with the high Crit Chance and Multiplier offered by Dual Strike on enemies which have Full Life. Defenses largely unchanged, we didn't stack Fortify effect and block is still nuts. 250k eHP to elements and 72k to Physical, though very freely changeable via removal of Imbalanced Guard and addition of a Basalt or Iron Reflexes. Impale changes are overall nice, no real DPS loss but more utility through having 20% more chance to impale, allowing us to use a weapon without it. In 3.11 the Might and Influence Jewel (the threshold jewel for Dual Strike) was changed substantially and now offers us a lot less benefit, most notably requiring a Mace in order to achieve the melee splash it used to provide. As a result the clear, while being in effect the same speed, feels a little worse by virtue of less cool explosions and AoE. This is made up for by the bois™ given by the Saviour (or an explodey chest). 3.9 Changes UPDATE
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Not many changes to the build from this update, some late game dps could be lost due to new armour/physical reduction mechanics but it is likely negligible with the full impale investment we have chosen. A few non-3.9 related changes have also been made to the build, with new levelling skill trees placed at 25, 50, 75 and 100 passive points respectively, as requested. In addition to this a small amount of nodes have been moved to life in order to improve survivability just that bit more. I have tested the build on Shaper with the new changes as well as his substantially beefier life pool, and we can still kill him with ease (about 20-30% life per second with buffs). I haven't had a chance to fight The Awakener yet, but will update (with a video) once I have. 3.8 Changes
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The Impale cluster has moved one away, that's about it. I recommend anointing Disembowling, Assassination, or Tribal Fury. If you struggle for the max block, you could also grab Gemini with anointing. Videos (3.8) - 3.15 coming one day
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[/span]Thanks to the jewel being changed in 3.11, your clear will look different to the 3.8 videos unless you choose to get an enemies explode chest, Melee Splash or something similar. Xoph (Scaeva) https://youtu.be/YxMXA2Git7M Minotaur https://youtu.be/lyj0z46Fnto Deathless Shaper https://youtu.be/nVkhJN6UyMM Tanking some scary attacks (and Tul kill) https://youtu.be/XIu0nwD8Qyw Tooltip in Hideout (3.8 - With flasks but doesn't include Flesh and stone, charges or curses) [spoiler]  [/spoiler]PoB Pastebin [spoiler]https://pastebin.com/T8W3prFr [/spoiler] Ascendancy [spoiler]  [/spoiler]Gem Setups [spoiler]Main Skill Dual Strike-(Awakened) Melee Physical Damage (Single Target)/Ancestral Call (Clearing)-Brutality-Fortify-Impale-Close Combat If you are considering any changes to support gems, you absolutely can and should, with 3.15's changes, everything is up in the air and you should experiment. Defensive Setup Summon Ice Golem (Level 5)-Cast When Damage Taken (Level 3)-Immortal Call (Level 5)-Increased Duration You can choose what level you would like the gems at, though I find this to be a good spot to have them at. You could change Ice Golem for whichever golem suits your taste, if you feel that you don't have enough regen stone golem is a very good choice provided you do not mind the marginal dps loss. Auras/Buffs Pride-Ancestral Protector-Enlighten-(Optionally) Precision Only use precision if you can support the Mana Reservation, extremely good if you can get a nice Watcher's Eye with Attack Speed or Crit Multiplier, as it activates these buffs for a relatively tiny amount of Mana. Ancestral protector can be any totem you want, I personally prefer protector but all are helpful (Even Rejuvination if you feel you need more survivability). Vaal Haste-Dread Banner-Flesh and Stone-Blood Rage While levelling sand stance is very helpful, though at maps I recommend mostly being in blood stance as it is our source of maim and evasion isn't doing all that much for us. You could consider changing Blood Rage for Bladestorm and using it intermittently while clearing on sand stance, while switching to blood and using it as a buff for bossing. Movement This section is flexible, and is more down to what you like the feel of. My setup is as follows Faster Attacks-Leap Slam-Power Charge on Critical If you have a sword with Faster Attacks as a support, you can change faster attacks for Culling Strike, Power Charge on Critical may seem like an odd choice, however it adds up over the course of a map and you end up clearing with 3 power charges almost all the time provided you leap slam towards most packs. [/spoiler] Gear [spoiler]Required Items The Anvil Anvil increases our maximum block chance by 3%, the implicit is quality of life to more easily reach the block cap, but if you can do so without the implicit, try to get +1 curse so that you can use gloves with temporal chains on hit as well as an on hit ring (or any other mix you'd like, for example vulnerability on hit gloves). Main or off-hand with block chance The easiest method of achieving this is to use a Scaeva in your off-hand, otherwise it is a suffix on Shaper one hand swords. If you can get two swords with 8% each and sufficient dps, you could remove some block% nodes on the passive tree and take more survivability or crit. If crafting your own sword, try to get crit multi, chance and phys damage. Attack speed/faster attacks support is also great for your movement skill links. With changes made in 3.15, Scaeva off-hand is close to being as good as a moderately well crafted jewelled foil. If you're truly crazy but want more DPS, finding a way to achieve max block efficiently while using Saviour+Paradoxica will be valuable. Abyssus Not as imperative as the other items, however it heavily bolsters our damage, adds a huge crit multiplier, and has less of a downside than usual seeing as we block 82% of hits. Typically with endurance charges you should expect over 50% physical damage reduction (or exactly 50% with Imperfect Guard) as well as the 82% block chance, as such the downside is mostly negated. The most important stats to get rolled well are 40% increased damage taken and 125% crit multi. The most helpful helmet enchantment to get is without a doubt crit chance for dual strike, though damage or attack speed will get the job done. Past these items you can choose what you feel fits your playstyle best, I personally use though this leaves little room to get the remaining resistances on your rings, so if you find this too restrictive you can freely choose a rare body, boots or even a belt. Cyclopean coil provides freeze immunity so it is recommended, however you could similarly use a very good rustic sash or stygian along with rare boots with cannot be frozen. With 3.15 changes, a belt with "Your Critical Strike Change is Lucky while Focussed" is invaluable if Arn's Anguish isn't your style. If you can manage to find some, boots of your choice with +1 Maximum Endurance Charges as a corruption will allow you to negate more damage with Immortal Call (as well as overall being more tanky), or have extra Triple Damage chance with Arn's. Go for +1 maximum Frenzy Charges on gloves, or +2 to level of duration gems as berserk along with any curses socketed will get nicely buffed from it. It is extremely important to have a form of mana leech on one item, a ring is a good choice if you are using Shaper weapons, otherwise a blue socket on a Scaeva will do you just fine. Stat Priority for crafting/Jewels [spoiler]Weapon Physical Damage->Critical Chance->Multiplier->Chance to block While Dual Wielding(Pretty much required on at least one of your weapons, try to get at least 8% between them) Jewels Critical Chance->Multiplier->Life->Attack Speed/Global Phys If you are struggling for resistances or attributes, suffixes on jewels are a great place to fix some of that, you can get a jewel with three relevant damage mods as well as int if you are short, the same goes for maximum life, resistances etc. Look for Crimson Jewels or Murderous Eye Jewels primarily. The Dual Strike threshold jewel is very important, and it is highly recommended to get a jewel with a corruption making you immune to corrupted blood. [/spoiler] Flasks This is a reasonable dps setup. With poor life regen Blood of the Karui becomes a real life saver, and is still extremely helpful if you are tankier. As stated above in the 3.15 changes section, the fifth flask is up to you, I am trying out Replica Lavianga's Spirit, but in the long term Basalt may prove more useful. Cinderswallow Urn is unbelievably broken (even post 3.15) , try to get one with Critical Chance as its veiled mod. Ideally you're looking for "Surgeon's" as the prefix to any non unique flasks, as well as something along the lines of Warding, Staunching, Heat etc. for suffixes. [/spoiler] Bandits [spoiler]Kill all is the best choice, though Alira or Oak are also valid choices.[/spoiler] Pantheon[spoiler]Major - Solaris or Lunaris, both serve a similar purpose though I prefer Solaris. Minor - Gruthkul, we intend to get hit a lot so what better than bonus phys reduction for free. Upgraded Tukohama can also be pretty beneficial thanks to the regen.[/spoiler] Levelling [spoiler]Tabula, Goldrim etc. are as always extremely useful. A few relevant upgrades throughout the levelling process are gorebreaker, flesh-eater, brightbeak, innsbury edge (remove brutality support if using this), and scaeva. Don't restrict yourself to swords when levelling until you start taking relevant sword nodes. A few notable boots are nomic's storm, redblade tramplers and literally anything with movespeed. If you can get hold of a belt of the deceiver it is a great belt for general levelling use. [/spoiler] Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy the build and please leave any constructive criticism in the comments! If you try the build please feel free to mention any interesting tweaks you make. Last edited by Tojozomi#5149 on Aug 2, 2021, 5:18:26 PM Last bumped on May 19, 2020, 3:36:42 PM
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Just switched to this :D its pretty sick so far, dont even have all the gear set up yet LOL
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" Wow, thanks for giving my build a go, I appreciate the kind words! Hopefully it continues to serve you well as you improve the gear. If you have a huge budget I have considered a change to impale (currently testing on my character). |
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nice!i just 6linked abelly, guess im lvling this tomorrow! consindering integrating vaal dual strike?
Last edited by Ztink#0013 on Jun 28, 2019, 6:53:31 PM
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" Dual strike =/= double strike, though you could still consider trying a four linked vaal double strike somewhere. It would unfortunately have to take precedent over some buffs like war banner or even the increased duration on the CWDT setup. You could try putting it on an unset ring? Check the post in a few minutes and the impale version will be up, with a bigger budget it can go really far! Also congrats on the 6-link! I hope you enjoy the build. Last edited by Tojozomi#5149 on Jun 29, 2019, 8:43:51 AM
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" how's going the build now mate? xD deleted or u playing mf or cyclone ? xD |
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" Thanks for the answer, why not take bladedancer for more range? |
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" The DPS on bladedancer is lacking in comparison to similar 3 point sword clusters, and unfortunately the issue with dual strike doesn't seem to lie in its range but the game thinking its range is longer than it is. It isn't a problem anyway thankfully, it's just noticeable when you switch to your ruthless/close combat a few enemies before a boss encounter. When bossing the range issue doesn't apply! Last edited by Tojozomi#5149 on Jun 29, 2019, 3:41:56 PM
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" Great point, thanks agin for the answer. and a fun build, lvling it has been a breeze. already at 78% block chance at lvl 65.(with end charges) |
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