[2.3 HC] Gladiator Voidheart Facebreaker Shield Charge. Max block, DoT Boss Killer.

Before I start I want to give a shout out to Mathil for his guide on facebreaker shield charge and insobyr for his poison/bleed based earthquake duelist. I got the inspiration for this build from reading insobyr's guide and Mathil's guide was extremely helpful in understanding the mechanics behind the new shield charge. I will link both guides at the bottom of this introduction and I encourage you to check them out.

So, I made this build because I really wanted to try a damage over time based character using the new voidheart ring. After theory crafting I concluded that earthquake was probably the best delivery method for our DoT's (big initial hit that is easily scaled with many MORE multipliers). However, I hate the mechanics of earthquake and it felt very clunky to use for me. After looking at the new shield charge I saw that we can get up to a 200% more damage multiplier when using it. This intrigued me, and after some testing it ended up working out very well.

Shield charge provides a fast paced and mobile playstyle for map clearing, while the ancestral warchief lets us melt bosses with extremely large hits of physical damage to apply HUGE bleeds and poisons.

I unfortunately died at level 79 because I was being stupid while doing one of the map labyrinth trials. However, this character is solid and I would like to revisit it in the future. It clears maps super fast and I believe that with proper investment into gear it can be a very fun uber labyrinth farmer.

insobyr's poison/bleed earthquake guide: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1656138
Mathil's facebreaker shield charge guide: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1676598

Coming soon!

Pros:
-Max Block/Spell Block
-Corpse Explosion
-Big Damage over Time allows for kiting
-Mobile
-High Armor
-5-6k life

Cons:
-In Melee Range to do damage
-Has trouble with physical reflect
-Requires several expensive uniques

Level 77 Strand Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW3HmvmFSTk&feature=youtu.be

Level 78 Waste Pool Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIGoEp8suBw&feature=youtu.be

Unarmed Combat
Facebreakers are somewhat weird if you haven't ever used them. Basically they scale all sources of flat physical damage by a ton due to the 600-800% more unarmed damage mod. I won't go into detail on how facebreakers work but if you want to learn more check out this guide by KorgothBG: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/445390

Bleeding and Poison
This is what I decided to build around. Both bleeding and poison are applied when a target takes a hit from physical damage. The larger the hit the bigger the damage over time applied. Because of this, all damage nodes we grab "double dip" by giving us both a bigger initial hit and a bigger damage over time. Some nodes, like increased physical damage, "triple dips" with the bleeding due to it being a physical damage over time. Physical damage increases the initial hit, the size of the bleed DoT and the damage the target takes from the DoT. Double dipping is a fairly complex mechanic and if you have more questions please feel free to ask me in the comments. Insobyr's poison/bleed earthquake guide also does a good job of explaining it: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1656138

Pack Clearing
Shield Charge-Faster Attacks-Increased Area of Effect-Melee Physical Damage-Fortify

I am unsure about the sixth link. Added Fire, Blood Magic, and Life Leech all seem like solid options.

Boss Killing
Ancestral Warchief-Faster Attacks/Less Duration-Melee Physical Damage-Concentrated Effect

Our Ancestral Warchief will apply both the bleed and poison from voidheart. Because of this we want to scale the initial hit to be as large as possible.

Auras
Blasphemy + Vulnerability, Grace

Vulnerability is a large part of our damage. It scales both the initial hits from shield charge and ancestral warchief, as well as increasing the damage over time from bleed and poison. Finally, bleeding is physical damage so vulnerability scales that too. This curse triple dips damage from our bleeds and double dips damage on our poison. THIS IS NUTS!

Grace is used because we are iron reflexes. This is more flexible and could be replaced with things like arctic armor but I think the extra armor is crucial for this build, especially when we get our Abyssus.

Cast When Damage Taken Setup
CWDT (lvl 7)-Immortal Call (lvl 9)-Summong Chaos Golem (lvl 9)-Increased Duration

Chaos golem can be replaced with whatever golem you see fit. Flame golem would be great for scaling both our initial hit and our damage over time.

Utlity
Flame Dash (moving over cliffs and walls)

Reckoning (free damage, not at all necessary)

Enduring Cry (endurance charge generation and life regen)

Blood Rage (extra attack speed and life leech, generates frenzy charges which are super important for scaling our damage higher and increasing our clearspeed.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQCAAHnBLMFLQaLCiYLYQz3FCAUTRXsGJEY2xo-GlUblxv6IOMhYCXfKaUshS4jLlMvzDJONug8BTwtQKBFqUd-TUZQR1cNWhpan18_X9phIWLsZU1mtmebaGVo8mzYdO108XaseTl673zZfuKCB4Nfg8yE2YTvivCTmZ7Nn8uf36IApBmnMKmVrK-tja4-r2y2LLc-uR27nryfvTa-eL6nwGbAv8GCxq7KkM9-0iHTb9i92WHZfNrB5FHpRunV6hjt1-8O73zwH_Iv8kHzm_cy_Ev-Cg==?accountName=hectichippo&characterName=BlockEmSockEmRobots

Normal Lab: Gratuitous Violence: This node inspired me to choose gladiator so naturally I chose it first. You could get it later if you want but it is a nice clear speed boost. Once you have voidheart it is amazing and helps make up for the smallish AoE of your shield charge. The larger the pack the more likely you are to just one shot the whole thing.

Cruel Lab: Pain Forged: Nothing too special about this node, it is simply on the way to the Versatile node. However, the free 40% damage when we haven't been hit is nice and scales both the initial hit and the damage over time of our skills. The 8% block chance is a nice little defensive boost if we do find ourselves in a bad situation.

Merc lab: Versatile: 100% of block chance applied to spell block! Nothing much to say here, this node is awesome.

Uber lab: I have not completed the uber lab yet because I died at level 79. However, the extra ascendancy points are great for gladiator and will be a welcome addition to our build. Blood in the Eyes: gives us a chance to maim enemies as well as a nice 30% increased damage (since enemies are always going to be bleeding). Outmatch and Outlast: is interesting since we won't be gaining any of the charges due to being unarmed. However, we will get 10% more physical damage at max frenzy charges and 10% reduced physical damage taken at maximum endurance charges which is nice. Violent Retaliation: is the choice that I would go with. It gives us a stacking damage and movement speed buff to bolster our clear speed, in addition to a massive 80% damage buff on blocking spells from bosses. Overall I think they are all great options though!

Normal: Help Oak for +40 life
Cruel: Help Oak for +16% phys damage (double dips)
Merciless: Help Kraityn for extra frenzy charge

Current Gear

My current gear was pretty bad but it worked out. Specifically my chest sucked and should have had at least 1000 armor (preferably 1500+). Same goes for the shield.

Required Gear


Facebreaker is our "weapon" and is required if you are going to be following this build.

Voidheart gives us 100% chance to bleed and poison which is required since our build is built around bleeds and poisons.

Arguably Required Gear

Facebreakers scale off of flat physical damage and there is no bigger boost to our damage than Abyssus.

Meginord's is simply the best in slot belt for facebreakers due to the flat physical damage on it and the life is also very nice.

My specific ring and amulet are not required but you do need to get as much physical damage on your ring and amulet as you can. Additionally you want to get as much intelligence and dexterity on your jewelery as you can so that you can fully level your vulnerability, blasphemy, and increased area of effect gems.

Everything Else


For your chest you probably want to use an astral plate to help cap your resistances. Because of the unique items we use our resistances are very low. Try to roll as much life, armor (preferably over 1000), and resistances as you can on your chest.

Your shield will act similarly to your chest piece. Try to get as much armor (at least 1000), life, and resistances as you can get on it. In addition, high block chance is nice but not essential. You want to try to hit around 50% block chance between your tree and shield so that a Rumi's Concoction can cap out your block chance.

Finally, your boots should just have as much movement speed (at minimum 20%), life, and resistances as you can get.

Flasks

1. Bubbling/Seething Divine Flask of Staunching. (Your oh shit button, instant health)
2. Rumi's Concoction (Armor and caps out your block chance)
3. Basalt Flask of Iron Skin (Extra Armor and Physical Mitigation, pretty much essential when using Abyssus)
4. Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline (Zooming around the map even faster)
5. Mana Flask/Utility Flask(need a mana flask until you can get mana leech on either a piece of gear or a jewel).

Jewel Stat Priority
1. Life
2. % Increased Damage, Melee Physical Damage, Attack Speed
3. Resistances, Dexterity and Intelligence.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQCALkdFewGi754ivAg42zY6UZf2oGbypAKJj0AhNlHfi_MvTbBgmVNTUa-p2LshO_awWEhLlN07RpV028FLTboWp9674ZgRmlFqUCgYVI6UvNvZrbAvyFgxVOTqLyfDjxJ1amVBId08dwyirMYkfxLFHEJuwz3j5kY20h4V1QUTdl8-OusrzJOLiMFPIIH6hjz3S0w8kF2rPcyaGXt189-cql82buerY3E9sauC2GuPjwtr2xnm4Nfg8xo8uRRtz7wH1BH_gqiAO8O8kXYvQSzFCA64cBmXz-mVzwFGj72SDGen9_vfH7i8i-Mz3k5Pfzp1VhjxBU=