Marauder 2h Sword Iron reflex build.

Hi Folks ,

(quick note on me; im a relatively new player. not too familiar with the exact mechanics of the skills and passive tree yet)

My intent with this build is to emulate a similar Duelist Iron Reflex build build focusing on armor, evasion and health but to take advantage of the increased base strength of the Marauder as well as the increase access to armor, health and 2h nodes from the Marauder tree. This build is still achievable as a Duelist (In terms of access to nodes). I have only taken this build to lvl 35 so it may not work in later game

Play style

The basic play style of this build up in the face of packs of mobs using cleave as the main AoE damage dealer and Glacial hammer as single target damage
I havent put much thought into the more complex factors such as support gems ect


First 30 points



The first 30 points are relativity simple. However I find that the first 30 points are best taken in a balanced way. ie taking damage, armor and health nodes intermittently.

Up to 60 points



The next 30 points is all about getting towards IR although you need not take it straight away. Picking up some health evade and mana on the way is also useful. Also picking up Diamond skin from the marauder tree adds a decent amount of resist but is optional at this point.

The rest of the points



I havent actually gotten this far in this Char but my intent is to pick up extra damage, evade and resistance nodes to finish out the build.


Notes.

You might notice there is an extremely high level of dex for a Marauder in this build but dex gives evasion which IR then converts to armor so it works well.

This build also has very low intelligence but at lvl 35 i havnet had any major mana issues due to mana efficiency nodes. may become an issue in later game

If im going for a defense and health build why not use a shield?
My thinking is that the amount of points i would usually put into a shield can instead go into evasion and be converted to armor via IR hopefully offsetting the defensive benefits of a shield

Why use a 2H sword?
Simply due to the availability of sword damage nodes in the Duelist passive tree



Okay guys thats my 2h Sword IR build.

as i said my knowledge of the game isn't great so feel free to tear my build apart. If you have any suggestions on how to improve this build please let me know
Also if know a reason why this build would just not work in endgame please let me know

Gotta get that life total up, man!

You have far too few life nodes, you'll be dying a lot with the build as is. A lot of new players to the game tend to focus more on damage reduction in this game, but the thing is, damage reduction doesn't help that much against large hits. Even with a crap load of armor you can still take 2K-3K (or more) damage spikes in maps, and the only thing that will save you is a large health pool and good reflexes (and instant potions!). I would cut down a lot on the evasion nodes. You don't really need all that to get good armor from Iron Reflexes, just run the grace aura, that will give you a ton of evasion to convert.

Never, never, never, get resistance nodes that aren't called Diamond Skin, Body and Soul, or Nullification. They're just inefficient and not worth the talent points invested. Also, cut down on some of the damage nodes and pick up more survivability. In this game, damage nodes aren't really that important, most of your damage will come from your gear and gems. That's not to say skip ALL the damage nodes, but defense is definitely way more important to get from the tree.

In, essence, less bad resistance nodes, more health nodes, less evasion nodes, health, health, health!

Have fun!