[1.2.0] Dominus + All Maps MF Dual Striker

Intro: This build is similar to the Blender build, but it is focused on MF gear mostly for solo mapping and dominus (and whatever comes on the new patch, probably)


***Update note to gear: Since it seems like Bringer of the Rain has become very popular after the patch, it is better to skip it and get a IIR + Life + Resists helm instead, unless you got lucky and became very rich.

On the other hand, Soul takers have dropped price by a lot, and it is really awesome for this build. After you have 300+ IIR and farming dominus with ease, you should be aiming to get one.***



About the build: I came up with this variation of dual strike when I was looking for a build for the 1month league. I looked through the blender build and some others, and opted for the Cheap Atziri build using Wings of Entropy + Bringer of the rain.
However, while playing it early on the league, one thing that really bothered me was that the build was very slow, slow attack speed, slow movement speed, slow everything (but effective).
So I started re-thinking about the passive tree and decided not to farm atziri and go for a faster variation of the build, focusing on a lot of attack speed nodes to clear stuff fast (main source of movement = leap slam)

PROS
-Can be played on 3 different classes: Duelist(best option), Ranger and Marauder
-The build starts off cheap and can be improved by a lot if you have money to invest
-Great DPS early on leagues (20k when you get wings of entropy + bringer of rain)
-Great deffensive
-Great mobility (very fast with lots of attack speed for leap slam)
-Reflect packs dont hurt
-Can solo basicly every map on the game and dominus (less than 2 minutes per run on later stages)
-For me the best PRO on it: you dont need to share any loot, you dont rely on anybody

CONS
-Expensive for the later stages, since you rely on Soul Taker for getting 40K+ dps
-Cannot farm Atziri
-Can be hard to cap resists if you want to use all the mf gear

Gear:

My Gear:
On my previous thread you can see the gear I used on the 1month league and the gear update as the days passed: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/973467

My current standard gear:


Working on getting a second IIR+IIQ ring, crafting a life mod on amulet



Weapon: Wings of Entropy (the higher physical roll the better) - later replaced by Soul taker + rare offhand
Helmet: Bringer of the rain (later replaced by MF helm with defensive particular stats)
Body Armour: Only used on later stages. Belly of the Beast is probably the best option if you dont need a lot of resists on it. Or a rare (EV, AR , EV+AR) with Life + resists or stats if you need them.
Gloves: Aurseize - cheap and good option. Replace if you feel that you dont need the rarity on it and want to use particular stats
Boots: Goldwyrm - up to 20(30 in standard) + 40-50 fire resists on EV base boots, one of the best options for any MF build.
Belt: Rare belt with Life + resists that satisfy your needs (better on a rustic sash for more physical damage) later replaced by Perandus blazon for stats, item quantity and 20 fire resist
Amulet: Stone of Lazhwar - Block chance applied for spells (great with WoE + BoR), Int (for auras), Cast speed for your enduring cry if you choose to cast it manually
Rings: Rare rings with Life + resists or any mods that you might need (dont put stats that you need on them because you will be swapping them to andvarius for dominus 2nd phase)
Flasks: 2x Life flasks with mods you like (I like 1 instant recover flask and 1 fast recovery over time, one with remove bleeding and other with dispel Freezing, Divination MF flask, Rumi's Concoction Granite flask (for block after you replace WoE + BoR, Atziri's Promise (DPS + Leech) for dominus or Granite flask with mods you like for Maps for greater survivability



Gems setup:
The gem setup is quite simple.
WoE (or dual 1 handers) + rare helm and chest: Dual Strike, Multistrike, Melee Splash, Blood magic - Melee physical damage if 5L, added fire damage if 6L

WoE + BoR: using Bringer of rain for your main attack: Dual strike - Multistrike - Melee splash - Blood magic

Soul taker + BoR: Dual Strike - Multistrike - Melee splash - Added Fire damage

(Keep in mind that melee splash is for the aoe damage, if you want you can put another DPS gem for single target, but I just keep melee splash all the time)

Soul Taker + body armour: Dual Strike - Multistrike - Melee Splash - Melee physical damage - Added Fire damage (if 5L) - Faster attacks (if you have 6L)

Other gems:
- Leap Slam + faster attacks + Blood magic (if WoE), or only leap slam + faster attacks if soul taker
- Blood rage + blood magic (I like faster casting with it)
- Enduring Cry + blood magic + faster casting

Auras: once you can sustain 2 60% auras, Hatred + Haste (for dominus) or Hatred + Grace (for more survability on maps). Until then use whatever you need more.

*1.2 Update: Hatred + purity of Ice works too for dominus, but I prefer Haste for more attack speed (dps and faster leap slams)

For general I really like Vaal cyclone with life on hit and reduced duration (so you dont keep trapped spinning forever)


Passive trees:






Build Stages:

1: Creating the character
What character to choose?
The build is better for Duelist, because it goes to both sides of the build. However, it can be played by Marauder or Ranger by connecting the 2 sides spending one extra passive point (8% mana node between the 2 starting sides of the duelist)


2: Getting to the needed level to start farming
Leveling can be different for everyone. When I made the build, I used dual strike with swords and axe all the way until I got the core items to start farming, which was level 78.

I believe that level 75 is a good level to start farming dominus if you have the items (or just do maps until you can afford them)


3: Making money
Okay, lets say you got to level 75 and you got the core items you need to start farming: Wings of Entropy (you dont need 5 or 6 links for the item, 4L are enough), Bringer of Rain, Stone of Lazhwar, Aurseize gloves, Goldwyrm boots (swapping for Wheel of the Stormsail or Reaper's pursuit for culling with IIR gem). These are the items you should be looking for before start to farming dominus.
Rings + belt: any that will help you improve your survivability (Life + resists).

Once you get some money, buy 2 andvarius to swap for dominus phase two and a Divination Flask, these will improve your MF by a LOT.

then, FARM A lot! Specially on new leagues that many of the unique drops have a great value for selling (lightning coil, cloak of defiance, geoffri's crest, carcass jack, etc etc..)

If you ever become bored of doing dominus runs, running some maps and do some more leveling will help you to release some of the stress.


4: Improving the build
As you farm and get more and more money, you can improve the build by buying some better items that will help you farm faster and faster.

Replacing Wings of Entropy:
Once you have enough money, buy a Soul Taker and a good offhand, the more dps the better (best option is a 1 handed axe, so you can put more axe nodes since you already will be using soul taker). This will greatly improve your build by:
1: DPS wise (you should be running blood magic gem for your dual strike before it, you will no longer need it)
2: Mobility: Soul taker is a faster weapon than wings of entropy and with all the attack speed nodes you will get from the passive tree, your leap slam will be much faster, allowing you to run faster to dominus and do more runs over time.
3: By having your mana zero while attacking (considering you have a little mana left after using Hatred and Haste/Grace, your divination flask (you should have one by now) will be running for the full duration

By replacing your wings of entropy, you will be losing some block. Then, get a Rumi's Concoction Granite Flask to make up for the block loss (this will be enough after you replace your bringer of rain too).
At this point, you can also change your Amulet for anything that you might need such as resists for capping, life, int for running gems, IIR + IIQ ( I always try to have the maximum possible IIR and IIQ )

Replacing your Bringer of the Rain:
Bringer of the Rain can probably be the last item you want to change for some reasons:
1: It gives a really good DPS by supporting your main skill with Faster attacks, melee physical dmg and blind, flat phys damage, specially on new leagues that your gems will not be 20/20 so soon.
2: Block - 15% block is HUGE! and so is the life on it.
3: you dont need to worry about getting a body armor piece early.

However, as it is a MF build, you always want MORE mf! Either IIQ + IIR or just IIR if you are playing a new league.

Also, if your gems are good leveled already, you can try getting a 5-6L body armor and improve your DPS by a lot with soul taker.

A good combo that I like is a Belly of the beast (easy to get colors you need for dual strike and great for 1.2) + helmet (better being EV or AR+EV) with Life, Double IIR Rolls, Chaos resist(for blood rage, since) Int (need Int for IIR gem, specially when you replace stone of lazhwar). You can also get some resist that you might be missing.

Replacing your belt: At this point, once you get a good body armor piece, you should have some resists on it (10-15 all if you have belly of the beast) you can get a Perandus Blazon belt for 8(12 on standard) quantity + 20 fire resist + 20-30 attributes, which is great if you dont need more resists



Gameplay videos:
Spoiler
Standard dominus runs(second run under 2 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zNwGZy50_k

Casual 75 map fast clear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW6_fVafez8
IGN: Pedrikosa or Pedrikoza
Last edited by pedrike on Sep 15, 2014, 1:00:54 AM
added some gameplay videos, gonna add some 1.2 videos when i have some time
IGN: Pedrikosa or Pedrikoza
Trying the build for rampage. In ambush I played a infernal blow murader. Can you make a post for all the skills of the build and they're support gems. Also the stats on gear to look for it'd help me alot
post an updated skill tree pls
"
skytime24 wrote:
Trying the build for rampage. In ambush I played a infernal blow murader. Can you make a post for all the skills of the build and they're support gems. Also the stats on gear to look for it'd help me alot


I will put some gems setup on the main post

"
moniek909 wrote:
post an updated skill tree pls


I updated the skill tree for level 75 duelist and my current build as a level 94 ranger
IGN: Pedrikosa or Pedrikoza
I've got a 76 Duelist with a reset and I'm in the market for a new build. What are your thoughts on going straight to an MF helm and skipping BoR? I've made some other investments, so exa's a bit short at the moment.

I'd also love to know what your strat is for navigating the Upper Sceptre. The location of the stairs seems semi-random, and with a lot of dead ends + big mob density (especially now - could they have made Sceptre any more annoying?), I tend to run into a hell of a lot of desync.
"
ConsPark wrote:
I've got a 76 Duelist with a reset and I'm in the market for a new build. What are your thoughts on going straight to an MF helm and skipping BoR? I've made some other investments, so exa's a bit short at the moment.

I'd also love to know what your strat is for navigating the Upper Sceptre. The location of the stairs seems semi-random, and with a lot of dead ends + big mob density (especially now - could they have made Sceptre any more annoying?), I tend to run into a hell of a lot of desync.


I think going for a mf helm isntead of BoR first is a very bad idea, specially if you are not rich.

The reason why is because without a BoR, you need more gems to make the same DPS as you would have with it, a 5L with all gems 20/20 or even a 6L

Bor makes things easier because already supports your attack with Faster Attack and melee physical damage.

By using BoR you dont have to worry about chestpiece. Also the block on it is a really good stat for the build.

About navigating the Upper Scepter, its about getting used to it, knowing how to avoid some desync situations, like walking a bit to the side when you leap slam near a pillar. I usually go straight from the first door I see and do square-shaped turns until I find the stairs.
IGN: Pedrikosa or Pedrikoza
Do u think this would be viable in the Beyond league?

Nice build tho :)
"
iDecibel wrote:
Do u think this would be viable in the Beyond league?

Nice build tho :)


I dont think it would, the build is squishy if you dont play right with flasks, a lag/desync sometimes result in death
IGN: Pedrikosa or Pedrikoza
Thanks for very nice build, filled gap in my thoughts on what Ranger build to create for 65 lv challenge on Rampage and needed some farm one.Attack speed and dps boost in beginning is very nice.

For progression on new characters can reccomend Viper Strike gem for bosses and elites, as you will be using swords for a while, which can be switched to axes about lv20, then you can add Melee Splash on Dual Strike when it becomes obsolete. Focus on getting to Resolute Technique node as soon as possible, also taken Beef passive (+30 Str) to get to Axes sooner, but will undo it later, can be also bypassed by gear, pure optional. Claws also worked fine for very few first levels until they got their Int requirement, made start bit less squishy with life gains.

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