Suggestion or advice for a " wanna be Tanky Marauder "

Hi guys , this is my first post here but I've read some posts before and dont find a answer to my doubts so I hope you guys can help me. I have some questions about my "Tanky Marauder" , first of all here is my actual passive tree build :



I play with some friends , we all start togheter and my idea was to be the tanky one, the one that jumps into a wave of monsters and taunt'em while my friends make all the damage without any problem. I'm trying to get as much elemental resistences as I can , cause as I go on leveling up my character I feel that there are more elemental damage-based enemies around there . Apart of the elemental resistences I wanna get as much life as I can and life regen % or life leech ( I've seen that life leech helps me to keep my life pool up cause I'm using Blood Magic ) and of course armor for physical damage reduction and those things.

So my questions are :


1- I am doing it good like that ? its something missing around my build ? If I'm doing it wrong , what I'm doing wrong and how can I fix it ?

2- It's Blood Magic a good choice for me ? before lvl 30, I've felt that my mana pool goes down so fast ,so I picked Blood Magic cause my life pool didnt go down as fast as the mana pool was. I wanted to use at least one aura ( Determination or maybe Vitality ) but with Blood Magic it takes around 40% of my life instead of the mana and if im lvl 41 atm with idk 1k HP , I just can have 600 hp with the aura on so its a huge difference.

My stats with my shitty gear atm are :

ACT 2 - CRUEL

Level : 41
Life : 1.115
Mana : no mana , using Blood Magic
Armor : 1662 without Molten Shell, Determination and the flasks that gives armor.
Fire Resistance : 80%
Cold Resistance : 80%
Electricity Resistance : 69%
Chaos Resistance : 14% without the Amethyst Flask that gives me 35% more chaos resist.
Block Chance : 31%
Life regen/second : 29.8

Hope someone can help me or give me some tips to improve my character stats. Sorry about my english its not my first lenguage and thanks in advance for your help.

I am new to this game...about one week and I only have a level 49 Ranger and a level 27 Marauder. I made some mistakes on the Ranger...although not too many and none that will have a huge negative impact. With that said I have been VERY cautious building my Marauder, to the point where I have about 11 skill points I haven't used and I'm only halfway done with Normal Ac3. I have been reading a lot about tank builds and there are a lot out there. Some that use BM and some that don't. I haven't gotten it yet but I have been planning on it (have enough points just haven't pulled the trigger) and seeing your issues brings up some more research.

Now, what I can tell you bout your Marauders issues with Auras and whatnot. From what I understand you don't want to be using BM with Auras. You should be using and leveling your melee and support gems like crazy but no auras. I have heard Iron Reflexes and Grace aura are good to combo and I've seen builds that include BM and grace+iron skin.

But if you're playing with friends you shoulda told them to get some clarity gems so no one has to worry about mana. 41 is quick to get to, especially if you have a group to run you. Easy thing to do would be to start a new Marauder and research builds out the ass til you find something you like.



But someone that knows more than I do, please give some input on the BM aura issue. I would like to know more as well.

Well , first of all thanks for your reply , it's a little sad to hear that I have to make a new marauder but if I have to do it , I will. As you said , its not a big deal to get to lvl 41 and with help its easier , but even like that I will wait to someone else to answer to this post , just to know if there's a way to fix my actual build or its messed up and I have to restart.

The thing about the BM and auras its a little bit odd , I've seen nodes in the passive tree that grants you a -5% mana reserved consumition but I dont know if it applies to life too when you have BM. I've seen 2 points near my actual build so maybe I can take'em and see if its a good choice but I dont know if just a 10% reduction its enough to keep the aura up and still alive being hitted with enemies and bosses.

Anyway thanks again for your fast reply and let's wait if someone else can help us about all this stuff.

I Just noticed you took shield skills. So you are using a one handed weapon with a shield? That might be your first problem. Shield tanks are okay but it seems like Marauders are better off with two handed weapons.

If you do keep the shield, get the shield buffs top left of the templar tree (although your resistances are really high right now) because they are very helpful.

Just FYI, I have a level 44 marauder using ground slam and heavy strike with a 2 handed maul. Have most of my points in HP, HP regen, resistances, BM, endurance charges and duration.

What you could do is just stop using Auras or use Auras that use FLAT mana, not percentage. Again, combining the Grace Aura with Iron Reflexes with give you TONS of extra armor for very little health sacrifice.


Another thing...it doesn't seem like Marauders are the best class suited to running Auras. Most of the good auras that help out other classes require dex or int. I'd recommend getting rid of the auras and focus on endurance charges and using immortal call. No reason you should be using auras as a Tank. Tell your asshole friends to start using Auras.

1h shield mara

here's my cookie-cutter shield mace build that you can look at and take form it what you will.

as for auras and BM, ive ran about 3 auras at times with BM some damg. and some defensive. as long as you don't use the % auras and have a reduce mana gem with them you'll have enough life that reserving around 350 or so life will not be a problem for you.

i have made 2h and 1h marauders before and i like to use IR with the 2h cause of no shield armor and i don't use it with 1h cause for me i like having some evade and i get about the same amount of armor with a shield that i would with IR and no shield, and i do see a differences in how much im not hit with having some evade chance and i like it, but thats just me.(not saying its better or worse either way, just what i like)

You seem to be on the right track imo. However after getting your first diamond skin i would lay off of the other resist and instead get another 15 through a 2nd diamond skin at the bottom of the tree and another 30 from shield skills. You want a high block with unwavering stance. This is what i would recommend.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEADjwUIBRxGS4aOCftKS46Uj38UEdQUFRJVw1YY1nzXz9yqXy4fNmMz5BVns2gtKcwp4SsqrndwBrG2NIh2WHfv-dS7w7yL_MG8932SPuq7Dg62Hy7xYrwHwSzFE2iAGaeqZVRYBoygFZPfYZgVgRhUp_LYIgote9OQKAFLWBLeu907YTvm4NT36yv55HDhljbhNlHfmVNFFKrxSFgdPGeuRjbQ5wOrSmlW6_dDTqzNYadqrnN_MVnoId2Sn0l3xv6pBlVqZe0rLrUj3B9

The remaining points you can allocate to further armor and dps nodes or just dps. Whichever you prefer. However, I feel obligated to tell you that I am currently leveling a Marauder along this path and it is so slow that I had to take a break and roll another class. But, imo this = best tanky build. Hope you enjoy, gl.