[3.13] Scarfuncle's Shield Charge Impaling Gladiator -Max Block, Great speed, Pack Explosions

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Scarfuncle wrote:

This was my league starter and it works great as one. Many people did this as league start for Harvest.

SSF is untested, but I have played a little SSF and can make some assumptions. I don't see anyone completing the new buffed shaper in SSF without some real time into the grind. I'm certain in SSF you could do T16 maps though.

SSF is always better for spells in my opinion. The damage scales on the gem rather than on the "weapon." The weapon in our case is the shield. You'd have to find a way to get an Ilvl 86 Colossal shield and I think you'd need boxes in a t16 map to get that. The battle with this character is the damage (max block protects from so much) and SSF will nerf you quite a bit for damage.

It only has to be i86 for the T1 armour roll, which is something for far later in the game. T1 shock/chill are i75 and are strong but aren't a high priority since you're aiming for the highest armour possible first and foremost. You don't have any block on the shield or your gear so hitting max block isn't a problem (probably going to run the anvil for when I run i83 labs though). Could also just use shaper scarabs on my t17 maps (+1 level watchstone) to get an i84 shaper shield so I can hit T2 %armour.

Early on it might even be better to run an elder shield because of the massive amount of flat armour on your shield if you've blocked recently which can provide up to double the amount of flat armour you can get normally on a shield (up to 800). More inconsistent but also potentially stronger. Edit: Forgot this doesn't actually give local armour but global armour so it's not good.

I planned on running a wand to start and using "Wandslinger" as an anoint for spell damage to attack but before that just corrupt random weapons to get RT. I think this will help a decent amount with damage leading up to the end-game and not demand a corruption on a unique I might find only a couple times. I think the clearspeed will suffer without Great Old One's Tentacles but you're also not running The Impaler so it might not be that substantial.

I'm mostly worried about the campaign through T5 maps since that's when I'll be my weakest and will have to fight a handful of conquerors before going to yellows.

My thoughts on what you said - The shock/chill on block isn't needed. The most important thing is flat armor on shield. Yes, I agree with you that armor on block is also not your friend because it won't add to your damage.

The double corrupt primatic eclipse is not doable in SFF. You should tray for a fortify on hit or a resolute technique sword (i'd even be doing rare hook swords/sais/claws). Leveling, you can probably find an Aurumvorax through einhar and that will take you through the acts.

I did use the impaler while leveling. I suggest you do too. Once you get 100% impale chance and higher attack speed you should drop it because it hurts your DPS because it prevents you from impaling once you're hitting fast.

Leveling is easy with this build once you get the first ascencion. The boost to attack and movement speed from Arena Challenger makes a big difference. You won't have any issues getting to t5 maps in SSF. See the other posters that speak to how good the leveling experience was. I will use shield charge to level all my gladiators because it is just speedier than the alternatives.

Hey hey! We had chatted a bit about this build earlier in the league (Guild: Mission), finally getting around to trying it!

Looking forward to the Glad goodness and all of the uber gear available at the end of the Harvest.

Update on the build progress - just finished the Acts and am able to easily clear white and yellow maps after picking up/crafting a few bits of gear.

The ~4k health feels good, especially with Fortify, and the damage from a basic Colossal Tower Shield (~2k Armour) is really impressive.

What do you think about Wildslash Awl? With the +movement dmg and speed for movement spells?
Love the guide man! One of the funnest builds I've played.

Hi there CJC!

I ran the numbers - Wildslash adds 2.3% damage. It comes with some big downsides though.

1) Claw corruptions are not as good as swords. We lose Resolute technique on the sword as a corrupt implicit, meaning we need to spend 2 more passive points. 2 passive points are precious - not worth 2.3%.

2) We lose 30% global attack speed by taking Wildslash. Attack speed helps keep shield charge feeling good and speeding along. Low attack speed would mean you get hit more since you can't move fast.

3) Claw corruptions mean we lose fortify on hit - you'd have to swap pulverize for fortify support which is AOE and DPS lost.

Keep thinking of ways to make the weapon better! I love the ideas. If someone makes a critical version of the build, Wildslash might work!

As for what's new, I'm thinking a champion Berserker version of the build for next league. It can't be as tanky as the gladiator, but what if it works?

Hey Ho,
first things first.
The build is a lot of fun, charge through the mobs and see them die.
Easy, safe and quite fast to lvl through the acts.

As promised earlier this league, my experience in SSF.
Didn't play that much SSF, though, only after the first Sirus with 20 Watchstones.
I don't really count this as a harvest experience, because I only used harvest "on the fly", 'till I changed mid-league to trade league with a new toon.

I made a tweak for the shield, farming a Lioneye's Remorse in Act 6 Mud Flats, which carried me to Sirus A4. I'm sure, it would have carried me for quite some more progress.

I think, the build can be played rather well in SSF. Given the right amount of luck for the endgame.

As for my luck: found my Carcass Jack in T5 maps and double corrupted Prismatic Eclipse with %inc phys dmg / %fortify on melee hit

I'm planning on running this league start.

Any thoughts on the new alternate quality gems?

Shield Charge Default 20% increased Movement Speed
Alternate Quality 1 20% increased Damage
Alternate Quality 2 20% more Damage with Hits at Maximum Charge Distance

20% increased damage seems like a straight upgrade for this, but I don't know how important the 20% movement speed is important for the build.

Impale Support Default Supported Attacks have 10% increased Impale Effect
Alternate Quality 1 Supported Attacks have 10% chance to Impale Enemies on Hit
Alternate Quality 2 Supported Skills have 5% chance to inflict an additional Impale on Enemies they Impale

Dread Banner Default 10% increased effect of Aura
Alternate Quality 1 60% less Skill Effect Duration
Nearby Enemies deal 2% less Damage
Alternate Quality 2 You and nearby Allies have 5% chance to Impale Enemies on Hit with Attacks

Do we need more impale chance or is the impale damage more important?

Hello there Tilde, OP here.

I'm all over these new gems and have mapped out the ones that are better. I'll be posting a new section just on quality gems and will most certainly include a new PoB.

Shield Charge - Increased damage
Impale support - additional impale
Close combat - 40% increased effect of close combat on other skills
Flesh and stone - Buff grants 20% increased damage if you've change stance recently
Pride - Either alt gem is an improvement.
Reckoning - 40% chance to debilitate OR 20% increased cooldown
Riposte - 20% chance to gain onslaught
Tempest shield - 1% increased shield block
Ruthless - 10% increased attack speed

I'll work on this tonight, but there are still some unknowns. Call of steel may be good for this build since we impale so much and it gives good AoE and combines with punishment. I'll post all the changes to the changelog.

To answer your question, you get 60 impale chance from impale support, 20 from the gloves, 20 from dread banner, and 20 from the forceful skewering node group. We don't need more impale chance.

I'm excited to report that 3.12 brings us 10% more damage than 3.11 even without alt quality gems or new uniques. I'm thrilled that we can have another league of shield chargers!