Frenzy / Cleave DW Duelist Build

Just writing this as a warning for anyone using this spec or playing a duelist in general.

As you approach merciless try and spread out and all the health nodes by about 50. It sucks to skip damage nodes but it is incredibly important. I am struggling a little bit in merciless even though I have taken a fair few life nodes I am still only sitting at 1300 health after auras. I do have 6k armor and capped resists but it is still possible to get 2 shot quite easily.

May seem obvious but I thought I would be fine leaving some life nodes for later but that isn't the case.

@Hokkie - My problem with Blood Rage is that you only get the attack speed bonus on low life. Were it flipped around, and the attack speed bonus were constant and life leech was the low life function, I'd probably have it in the build. Right now, I feel like it's only alleviating the need to left-click a target once every twelve seconds and trading pretty much all of my regen for life leech. Try it out for yourself, since it's certainly a comfortable fit in this build, I just wasn't crazy about it.

@furiouslol - Yes, it is pretty much essential as a melee to branch into your life nodes quickly. There's just no getting around it with the current balance of the game. That said, I feel like there's some really efficient damage nodes you can afford to snag on the way while filling out your defensive bonuses (Berserking, Bravado line, Dervish line, Ambidexterity, Water Dancing line), and between that and getting solid gear your damage will be plenty to carry you into the 70s.

Hello Wallach,

I've been watching this thread and trying to build a char like yours since the beginning of OB. I like the fast play very much and have some questions now that I almost hit 50.

1) Can you please elaborate on where I should head next with this build? I'm 49 now and I was thinking of taking Bravado and then moving towards the life nodes toward the ranger side like you did in your first posted build. Is that a correct approach? When should I be getting the armor nodes near berserking and duelist starting area?

2) I've been using frenzy(added fire-LoH), dual strike(added melee-faster attacks), cleave(LOH, faster attacks), grace and anger(with reduced mana), whirling blades(faster attacks) and warlord's mark. That leaves one spot open and only skill I found thats worth using atm is Molten Shell. However I dont like the 1 sec cast so I often dont use it while in the middle of a pack. What do you use as your last skill? I thought you mentioned Leap Slam but I dont want two utility skills (whirling blades is enough i think). Should I maybe add a faster casting gem on Molten Shell and keep using it as it gives decent armor and dmg once in a while?

3) LoH on Cleave is a no-brainer cause it hits many targets. However would it be more efficient to use life leech on Frenzy maybe since its a single target attack. Or should I add in life-leech to Dual Strike just for added help on bosses and champ packs?

4) My gear is very subpar atm and I'm starting to feel that I should up my resistances now that I've reached cruel act3. I'm using two swords with 1.70 atck speed and I dont like the axes nor the slower attack speed swords because they just seem slow compared to the rapiers. Is using rapiers a good approach? Furthermore, i'm looking for +life, +evasion or armor, +res on armor most of the time. Is there specific stats that I should be looking for in gear while upgrading?

Thank you.

@csahlan - I think your path is looking pretty good. I would pick up Bravado, follow up with the Armor island closer to the starting area (since it is 2% more Armor than the one near Unwavering Stance), then either branch right to the 5 Life nodes or get the Might notable to get to the 3 Life nodes behind it.

For your second question, I'm honestly still playing with options. I do think Leap Slam is worth slotting if only for the ability to leap gaps and height levels; there are times when not being able to change heights can make it extremely hard to navigate a room that has a lot of casters or archers balled up far from stairs access. Especially painful in areas with Necros sometimes. I haven't had the chance to play with Molten Shell, but I suspect I'll feel the same way about the cast time, but the Armor bonus is nice for hard-hitting slow attackers, where you sometimes need to back out anyway. Decoy Totem is another decent choice since there's always a use for Decoy when trying to penetrate a nasty room of ranged or just to get some breathing room.

Life Leech versus Life on Hit for Frenzy is going to depend on your Frenzy damage. Dual Strike will probably benefit from Life Leech more than Frenzy. Since Frenzy scales so much off Frenzy Charges, once you're rocking 6 charges Life on Hit stays competitive as you'll be swinging like a madman with fast weapons.

As far as gear, you've basically got the right idea. Rapiers and other fast (1.5+) 1H weapons will serve you the best when it comes to your Life on Hit returns as well as boosting your flat elemental damage sources. Be careful not to pass up a nice sword that has only a moderate physical damage % modifier, because on fast weapons the flat physical bonuses (like +xx-xx Physical Damage) can be worth more than 75-100% of a percentage mod. Flat elemental damage bonuses also are very strong with fast weapons; all of our primary attacks scale great with these damage sources (including ones from jewelry). Accuracy bonuses are also attractive on weapons or jewelry. Armor wise you're already looking for the right gear; Life, resistances and Evasion/Armor (favoring Evasion) are your priorities.

"

furiouslol wrote:

Just writing this as a warning for anyone using this spec or playing a duelist in general.

As you approach merciless try and spread out and all the health nodes by about 50. It sucks to skip damage nodes but it is incredibly important. I am struggling a little bit in merciless even though I have taken a fair few life nodes I am still only sitting at 1300 health after auras. I do have 6k armor and capped resists but it is still possible to get 2 shot quite easily.

May seem obvious but I thought I would be fine leaving some life nodes for later but that isn't the case.

So after achieving "Blood Magic" my main priority should be getting "Thick Skin" and the Life Notes behind "Might" as well as "Blood Drinker" and the near +12 Life Nodes?

I originally thought to choose the Armor Nodes first, to gain SS...

@Wallach

Thanks for the answers. So you are saying to get life and armor nodes before delving into say sword specializations and twin towers nodes. Also when should I be getting the +1 frenzy charges? I really want to get to at least 5 charges of frenzy however it looks like with armor and life nodes I won't be spending anything on offence till around 65ish. Is that wise?

Furthermore today I found a 1.31 attack speed sword which is a huge upgrade over my 1.7 rapiers (dual strike gains +400 dps, cleave gains around 200) so for the first time I'm using something besides rapiers. The difference is huge regarding attack speed and it makes swinging cleave less smooth but I have much more damage so I'm gonna stick with this 1.31 atk speed sword for a while I guess.

"

csahlan wrote:

@Wallach

Thanks for the answers. So you are saying to get life and armor nodes before delving into say sword specializations and twin towers nodes. Also when should I be getting the +1 frenzy charges? I really want to get to at least 5 charges of frenzy however it looks like with armor and life nodes I won't be spending anything on offence till around 65ish. Is that wise?

Furthermore today I found a 1.31 attack speed sword which is a huge upgrade over my 1.7 rapiers (dual strike gains +400 dps, cleave gains around 200) so for the first time I'm using something besides rapiers. The difference is huge regarding attack speed and it makes swinging cleave less smooth but I have much more damage so I'm gonna stick with this 1.31 atk speed sword for a while I guess.

I just finished the Twin Terrors line at 66, and I picked up the Frenzy node and duration node earlier (sometime in Cruel I think). I will probably get the final Frenzy node soon on the way to my last Fitness node. Here's where I'm at in my tree: Link

I'm not entirely sure my route has been totally optimal, but it's done pretty well for me. There's actually a fair amount of offense in the tree already; I've taken the starting 5 (14% spd & 12% dmg), Dervish (10% dmg), Water Dancing line (3% spd & 15% dmg), Berserking (15% spd), Bravado (15% dmg), Ambidexterity (4% spd & 18% dmg) and the Twin Terrors line (16% acc & 125% crit chance). I'm not even sure I should have picked up Twin Terrors yet and may pull it for now (if not altogether) since I'm not sure it's performing all that well for 5 points.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0OrRHVFFIXHRjbIWAotTSTQKBDnEd-U99Xl1jbYEFgS2NwdO108XrvhNmE75stm4OeuavFvqfvTu_j

Above is my current passive skill status:
Could you advice how should i advance from here?

My current gem using is :

Hatred
Whirling Blade
Flicker strike
Add cold damage
Life gain on hit
Cleave

Could Wallach advice? Thanks!

I'm only level 34 with my duelist, following more or less this build - I've been playing a lot with the passive tree trying out some different stuff, and wonder what you think about this variant Wallach? (Picks up the two 10% phys dmg. nodes at the beginning - these seem pretty efficient, and then goes up into the marauder starting area for an additional diamond skin, an additional troll's blood, 30% reduced crit dmg from enemies, and several life nodes (including the 13% one).

88 points

Past there, I was thinking of picking up some more of the dmg / sword nodes like so:

110 points

I have been following this build on my dualist and i just picked up frenzy from a drop and it both became alot harder and funnier i am only lvl 22 but i have a few questions about gems,

Is it worth leveling whirling strikes? i made a shadow just to get the skill and deleted him leveled skill to lvl 3 then one droped just as i said i made a mistake in leveling it that high, now i keep it at lvl 1 so that it dosen't cost that much mana to use. From what i can see that skill is mostly to get into position to cleave a perfect cleave but if it dosen't cost much at higher levels it might be usefull to level it up.

I have also noticed that frenzy is hard as hell to keep up but i guess you learn to use it as you use it, can't be the best unless you practice.

Then i got a question about life leech vs life on hit gems when is the one better then the other? i found a someone who showed a calculator on it but it made no sense.

i would like some advice on how to move in the passive tree, now i don't pick up any %armor nodes i just rush IR since im running pure evasion armor then ill be rushing into BM to have more survivability now i run 1 health flask and 4 mana flasks and rare/boss monsters are hard to kill when other mobs around since i only get 2 health charges before im out of charges and i think BM will help since i can drop the mana flasks and use more health for those situations. The fastest way for me to get more survivability now would be to get more acc and damage but those nodes will come closer to level 30.

Appriciate all advice very new player but for the first time the once class/build im running that just get more fun rather then getting borring i have played so far. (not gotten past lvl 35 but all other have been builds have not been this fun at this level as this one is and it keeps getting funnier to play. Just suprissied i would love an assasin type build more then a ranger/unstoppable warrior build :D)