General Gravicius on Cruel Difficulty - Melee Marauder

Hey guys!

So I've recently run into a wall on Cruel Difficulty, up until this point, everything hasn't been too difficult, definitely not easy, but doable for sure (with the exception of Vaal Oversoul, he was really hard). The boss I'm up to is General Gravicius, for the quest "Sever the Right Hand" and I'm really stuck.

This is the build I'm using here:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEBBS0OPBQgFHEYkRkuGlUc5ySLJ-026DpSPQ9E51BHUFBUSVYEVw1YY18_YEthIWFSZKNqHmo7cql07XrvfLt82X31hO-GYIzPns2fy6IApzCoGKyqud3EFcT2xYrG2NIh2WHfv-dS7w7wH_Iv9kj3vg==

It's basically just as much HP as I could possibly get, because I heard that was very important for a Melee Character. The main single-target ability I use is Heavy Strike, but I think my DPS is very low for level 48. It does about 350 DPS, when linked to some support gems. I'm currently at about 1800 Life, with 200 of that reserved (Blood magic) for 2 damage auras I use. I also have the 75% fire resist because the boss seems to do mainly fire damage.

So anyway on Gravicius I just cannot DPS down his huge energy shield and then have enough flasks left to start chipping away at his life. Do you guys think I should grind a few levels? I've noticed these zones are a couple of levels higher than me, but that didn't seem to make too much difference until now. I'm also using a 1 handed weapon and a shield, would it be better to try and find a good 2-handed weapon for more damage?

Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Well... life isn't a point here, I guess. It's lack of damage.

It would be better if you said about your actual attributes and equipment you have, you can link it by use of character navigator (click on avatar of your character and click on items to post them).


For now though, I think that Viper Strike would be best choice of action, but you would need to get lvled one, since from 1st lvl It will be hard to get enough dmg

You sound like you are just undergeared in a big way.
I am at the same point in the game (That was my last completed mission) and my single target DPS is over 1000.
I only have 1 passive node to enhance my DPS which is the generic +15% attack speed node, I also fight sword and board style.
Hit up the trade forums and try to get yourself some better gear and support Gems. I also use Double Strike over Heavy Blow, that probably helps.

Thanks so much for the help guys, I grinded to level 49 and changed some support gems to get some more damage, and I just beat him! Had to use heaps of portal scrolls :D

Thanks again