Frenzy / Cleave DW Duelist Build

Oh yeah, before I forget. Do I level up all of the skill gems required as I see fit or should I keep specific ones at a specific level?

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Marineux wrote:

Oh yeah, before I forget. Do I level up all of the skill gems required as I see fit or should I keep specific ones at a specific level?

The only thing I can think of is that you need to mind your INT requirements on Anger (or Hatred if you're using that before Anger); you can get gear-locked INT-wise if you level Anger with a piece of INT gear early then try to upgrade to something without any INT. Once you pick up your Savant node (or if end game some of your best gear has the INT to cover you) it's mostly a non-issue. Otherwise offhand I can't think of any reason not to level your gems.

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Wallach wrote:

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Marineux wrote:

Oh yeah, before I forget. Do I level up all of the skill gems required as I see fit or should I keep specific ones at a specific level?

The only thing I can think of is that you need to mind your INT requirements on Anger (or Hatred if you're using that before Anger); you can get gear-locked INT-wise if you level Anger with a piece of INT gear early then try to upgrade to something without any INT. Once you pick up your Savant node (or if end game some of your best gear has the INT to cover you) it's mostly a non-issue. Otherwise offhand I can't think of any reason not to level your gems.

Awesome, I really appreciate these thorough and concise answers from you! Hopefully this build will prove to be one of the best ones available ^.^

I'm going to upload another vid, this one on Broken Bridge since it's a harder side quest map and the archers there can have Explosive Arrow which is really nasty. Especially when you don't have max Fire Resist. Also gave me a chance to play with some recording settings so this one should be in 1080p.

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Wallach wrote:

As for armor, I have 6 armor nodes in my build, but they are the normal armor and not the Leather and Steel nodes. Leather and Steel is not efficient once you take Iron Reflexes because the evasion rating bonus doesn't apply (Iron Reflexes removes the evasion rating it would have multiplied).

Are you sure about that? The bonus dodge from Dexterity still applies when you have Iron reflexes (making evasion armor much better then armor or armor/evasion pieces).

What im getting at:
% Armor increase is calculated from all your armor AFTER Iron Reflexes
% evasion from dexterity is calculated BEFORE Iron Reflexes

if % evasion from passivs also comes BEFORE IR that could mean:
Lets say you have 500 armor and 1000 evasion. now you get IR and 24% armor/evasion passive.
If % evasion from nodes works the same way as from dex this will increase your evasion to 1240, then it gets added to your armor for a total of 1740 and then that will be increased by 24% for a total of 2158 Armor, compared to 1950 you would have from a 30% armor passive

This is absolutely speculative, maybe tomorrow ill find the time to test this.

hi

im living in korea

im very very interset your build

i think your build is best in Duelist build

so now i copy that

but i have question!

can you tell me how setting the gem??

1. active gem

2. support gem

3. aurora gem

my english is not good T.T

plz help me

Yeah gem setups would be a nice thing to add to the build so we have more direction of where to progress towards when leveling up. Like pointing out some useful gems to pick up would be nice that is all.

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Rouven wrote:

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Wallach wrote:

As for armor, I have 6 armor nodes in my build, but they are the normal armor and not the Leather and Steel nodes. Leather and Steel is not efficient once you take Iron Reflexes because the evasion rating bonus doesn't apply (Iron Reflexes removes the evasion rating it would have multiplied).

Are you sure about that? The bonus dodge from Dexterity still applies when you have Iron reflexes (making evasion armor much better then armor or armor/evasion pieces).

What im getting at:
% Armor increase is calculated from all your armor AFTER Iron Reflexes
% evasion from dexterity is calculated BEFORE Iron Reflexes

if % evasion from passivs also comes BEFORE IR that could mean:
Lets say you have 500 armor and 1000 evasion. now you get IR and 24% armor/evasion passive.
If % evasion from nodes works the same way as from dex this will increase your evasion to 1240, then it gets added to your armor for a total of 1740 and then that will be increased by 24% for a total of 2158 Armor, compared to 1950 you would have from a 30% armor passive

This is absolutely speculative, maybe tomorrow ill find the time to test this.

Please do test this if you can ! I have fingers crossed here that your hypothesis is correct, as i've invested points into Leather and Steel before finding this guide.

As for Wallach, thanks a lot for your guide mate, it's the best i've seen in these forums. Waiting for your next video.

Iron Reflexes doesn't remove evasion but converts it. Realise the difference. So Leather and Steel IS effective.



Now I'm testing 1-handed+shield duelist. Think it would be nice (especially Iron Reflexes+Unwavering Stun) :) Any suggestions about this kind of skillbuild?

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Brakan wrote:

Iron Reflexes doesn't remove evasion but converts it. Realise the difference. So Leather and Steel IS effective.

Yes, however my understanding of the calculations is that both Armor and Leather and Steel nodes are calculated such that it comes after Iron Reflexes. I am pretty sure this is intentional because if it did not then there would be no real choice in weighing armor versus evasion rating, evasion would simply be superior in 100% of cases where Iron Reflexes was taken (because it would multiply your evasion, then it would convert and then get multiplied again).

Once I am in Merciless and have my final skill refund points, I am going to test both Leather and Steel, Grace and Frenzy Charge Evasion nodes for their interaction together with Iron Reflexes fully so I'll post those results when I can. For now, I would not assume that Leather and Steel nodes are useful to this build.

As for gems, I think once I am finished with Merciless I am going to revamp the OP into a more fully featured guide. For now, I recommend some of the following notable combinations while leveling:

Cleave - This is your primary link concern. You want to get this attached to Faster Attacks and Life on Hit as a priority, especially around the time you invest into Blood Magic. If you have additional links, then Melee Physical Damage, Added Fire Damage, Culling Strike and Increased Area of Effect are all good choices. Note that Increased Area of Effect has a significant INT requirement so if you want to run this gem you'll have to account for that somewhere.

Frenzy - Life on Hit is again your primary link concern here. There will be a lot of times where you'll be using something like Dual Strike for pure DPS on single target so buffing the damage of this skill is not a priority for some time. You just want to offset this skill's cost since it is quite high for a single target attack. All of the other gem recommendations for Cleave also apply here if you have more links (except Increased Area of Effect obviously), but be mindful of the mana cost multiplier while you're lower level.

Dual Strike - More damage is your main concern for this skill. Faster Attacks, Melee Physical Damage, Added Fire Damage, etc. You want this skill to hit fast and hard. Life Leech can also be useful, but you also have Cleave and flasks for recovery so that should be considered a luxury and not a priority.

Grace & Anger - Really the only thing you need for these two gems is Reduced Mana, because this will cut down on the amount of Reserved Life you need to run these auras.

Warlord's Mark - You can either attach this to the same Reduced Mana for your auras if have a 4L, or move it to a different armor slot. Truth is the cost isn't that crazy even at higher levels; if you have the INT to support it, consider running Increased Area of Effect for this just to increase the number of targets hit per use (which increases your ability to curse targets out of line of sight).

Finally, I added another video to the OP - same level, but a much harder map. Partly an excuse to switch to 1080p, but partly to show a more interesting (and easier to see) map. Explosive Arrow is crazy on this map.