[3.25] Community-crafted Pure Retal Gladiator | Sous-Vide the Atlas

***Disclaimer***: this build is not a finished archetype, and i like to take my time to test many things. I started with it because i have more than 10 years of PoE experience. If you are not confident, there are many other similar builds focusing on bleed maxing for 3.25. They are a lot safer.




My build was made on the fly with a lot of inputs of everyone posting here Current PoB(fork): https://pobb.in/Gl8XHwLQz8G1
Bandits : Kill all ; Pantheon: Arakaali + Tukohama/Abberath/Shakari
Estimated budget : 15 Divines (implicits can be costly)
A reminder that PoB is not capable of calculating the real dps of retal skills yet
Spoiler



Videos:
Maven Witnessed Memory map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I29okRaf6kM
T16 farming (medium budget gear):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JOoIhVrfXA

my build is capable of:
-All Pinnacles
-Any T16 (some bosses should be avoided though)
-T17 without crazy damage mods (monster speed is fine)
-Simulacrum but the final 2 waves gave me some headaches (kosis is kinda ass for pure retaliation)

This build is very nice for:
-Essences
-Delirium
-Abyss
-Ghostbusting + rogue exiles and so on

I don't recommend this build for:
-Blighted maps*
-Legion inside maps* (timeless conflict is fine)
-Sanctum (unless you are a total psychopath)
*You can do them inside maps with the keystones and some clever mob manipulation, not worth the effort imo. Penance mark is also bugged for "frozen legion"

About the playstyle (Bleeding Gladiator)
What my idea differs from others? Simply by using retaliation as a means of damage or procing effects, no bladestorm or CF for my variation. this is a tentative for a new type of gameplay and i must say that is kinda fun.

the idea is to hold your ground while blocking everything and lashing eviscerate...if the skill grays out, cycle with another retaliation like crushing fist to proc "Prepared Response passive" re-enabling the main skill from body armour. A higher attack speed also helps a bit with hits when you trigger the Gladiator Passive for not consuming a "cooldown state"
The great drawback is degen: if you start taking it you die fast because it is not a hit you can mitigate, also very rarely a big crit might "slip through the cracks" of lucky block, the block chance is never 100%
About bleeding DPS there are infinite ways to make it more reliable. i put olroth's charge to loop adrenaline with a flask for better clearspeed, but it is not mandatory. Many use Tempest Rising (uber sirus' boots) + venopuncture/Arctic armour while others prefer Crimson Dance. There are many other setups that works changing the gems linked.
if you are strapped for cash consider using deadly ailments, unbound ailments or expert retaliation depending on your color armour base
Most of times, even most of the bosses, you don't need Hateful Accuser though when needed you can simply swap mid-fight.
Through testing, Second Wind is the best for dishing out many retaliations in a row as the extra cooldown can also proc Measured Retaliation at the cost of a higher mana consumption.
Last edited by Dragoon_Diver on Aug 10, 2024, 4:16:47 PM
Last bumped on Aug 13, 2024, 4:39:34 PM
Reserved
if everything goes well, i can land a build of the week

Leveling tree for act rushing (not optimized) - https://pobb.in/r5IjbESLdy6b
i put some accuracy and crit because i will also test other melee skills
using the tree pob fork updated 22 Jul

Original discussion in the 1st post
Spoiler
Maybe i am jumping the gun here, but seeing the gladiator rework and investing heavily on cooldown passives and tattoos (if it is unchanged) i believe it is possible to reach a stable play with only retaliation skills
for what i know of Retaliation skills and can infer (because GGG didn't show in anywhere) is that there is no shared cooldown, so in the best scenario a single block can activate all slot skills, the downside is that there are cases where i need to play piano
The masteries and passives with "another retaliation skill being usable" infers that the retaliation can be activated without blocking, these are a must have for the build
i can only hope GGG isn't playing with semantics like "nearby"

For funsies i will league start a gladiator and try to reach at least all pinnacles, though i can't make any promises for t17, ubers or rippy valdo maps
i also won't discuss HC viability

P.S.: To avoid confusion, know that retaliation is not reflected damage. They are completely different mechanics.Remember that GGG has its own semantics and vocabulary that may cause confusion from other games.

What i will focus on:
-max block (duh)
-cooldown mitigation
-physical damage
-new gladiator ascendancy
-Swordstorm as a primary boss killer (DW only -> it sums the damage from both weapons)
-Impale as a starter
-Heavy Kalguuran crafting
-Trade league (can't miss Faustus) -> No plans for SSF
-Cluster jewels, at least 1 large

Exploration needed to decide viability:
-new passives (focus on strength side of the tree)
-reworked melee
-rage
-new and reworked uniques
-tattoo maxing and new bases attribute requirements -> hard to balance
-Dual Wielding or board + sword?
-new support gems
-What is the best movement/travel skill for this archetype?
-is bleeding OP enough now?
-still not clear if attack speed interferes with the skill duration
-Retaliation Masteries
-Skill Duration (Is retaliation stackable?)
--New Keystone "Arsenal of Vengeance" -> SW of duelist area, re-enables used retal skill every sixth hit (maybe enabling perma retaliation?) i have mixed feelings about this as it opens the possibility of retaliation without blocking, but this is a deterministic approach thus making the gameplay slower instead...maybe

To do ONLY if some new broken AF interaction appears:
-Elemental conversion, added %ele from %phys
-Two handed
-Adorned (too big of a nerf)
-Tinctures -> wait and see how mana burn behaves

Uniques - New and Reworked - worth looking for:
1-Lethal Pride
2-Dancing Dervish (swap slot tech?) scratch that GGG gave up on this
3-Surrender
4-Meaning of light -> Just perandus pact transplanted into TWWT
5-Soul Taker -> seems mandatory for tinctures
6-Squire (later endgame)
7-Varunastra -> obvious but expensive BIS item for the new ascendancy point
8-Paradoxica (replica and original) -> will the DD bonus apply for overall damage with swordstorm?
9-Megalomaniac clusters can be juicy with varunastra -> did i stumble upon a new meta?
10- Elegant Hubris (Caspiro) -> supreme ostentation
11-Hateful Accuser -> using penance mark to create a blocking-retaliating loop for long boss encounters (new hidden tech?) i call dibs for this discovery
12-Forbidden jewels set - also for late endgame
13-Skin of the Lords with Arsenal of Vengeance (AV) Keystone

too early to decide about flasks for now

if anyone have any ideas or something i missed i can put them together too
i will start doing math and planning after looking at the new tree
Last edited by Dragoon_Diver on Aug 10, 2024, 10:01:31 AM
Was interested in this as well, will follow your updates
As someone who also wishes to play Retaliation starter but is very smooth brained. I will follow this thread with interest
damn the pressure is on :D

to clarify, it is kinda impossible to start as a pure retal build...it will be a melee or exsanguinate skill and then slowly phase them out

i hope i don't end like this
Last edited by Dragoon_Diver on Jul 20, 2024, 9:51:44 PM
Well tbh i think it is possible to start as pure retal build.
I've done that in Necropolis...on HC...when retal build was considered dead.
It was not that fast as other builds but it was smooth enough to enjoy.

I've died due to my mistake on very rippy mob. But build itself was very tanky due to max block.
Fellow smoothbrain retaliation enjoyer following along
Really interested in this build and love the new SwordStorm Gem do you think it's possible to have SwordStorm & Eviscerate at the same time? or could they possible counter each other with the cooldown?
"
DSDTibbles wrote:
Really interested in this build and love the new SwordStorm Gem do you think it's possible to have SwordStorm & Eviscerate at the same time? or could they possible counter each other with the cooldown?

that's what everyone wants to know
from the videos, when you block you see a little circle in the skill button indicating the time you have to activate the skill
but they didnt show a char with more than one retal skill
also, there is a possibility of triggering retal skills but there is no confirmation for the attack skills (divine retribution cannot be triggered)
about the question for swordstorm you need DW, eviscerate needs shield AND sword/axe
so the only way to have both is to swap slots, i don't know how the duration and activation will behave when you swap your gear...that's a nice line of investigation

"
Anaroin wrote:
Well tbh i think it is possible to start as pure retal build.
I've done that in Necropolis...on HC...when retal build was considered dead.
It was not that fast as other builds but it was smooth enough to enjoy.

I've died due to my mistake on very rippy mob. But build itself was very tanky due to max block.


when i say retal build is using the new skills with retaliation tag
the counter skills which are no more were purely passive and very limited
also phys and ele reflect mods on items are not considered retaliation, VMS or whatever

and that's why i said i won't touch HC because the gameplay is too risky, HC chars can benefit from retal skills, but they need to pair with other skill types for better survivability
Last edited by Dragoon_Diver on Jul 21, 2024, 9:25:22 AM

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