[2.6] The Sentinel - Double Strike Multistrike Life Leech Duelist

This is my Double Multi-strike, endless life leech, high run speed Duelist.



But Xeno, why a Double Strike Duelist?

I've always been fascinated with a build that can get an attack speed so high that the skill just looks like a blur when used. A build is more than just a neat mechanic, so I sat down and looked over the ascendancies and passive tree and thought to myself this is possible with the right defensive mechanic.

Thus life leech with the slayer was chosen because leech doesn't stop at full life and even if an attack missed the target another one was right behind it.


Pro's
-High attack speed
-Good Clear Speed
-Main weapon can be swapped to different types
-Life leech queues up life for the next hit at full life


Con's
-Doesnt handle spike damage very well
(There I said it, that is one of the most ugly truths.)
-Needs a few uniques to REALLY start showing it ability
-Only one Jewel Socket
-Not Vaal Pact so a certain threshold of incoming damage will kill you (Eventually)


What Uniques are Required
These items just make the build work, without them you will find it hard (if not impossible) to make up for their bonuses with Rare gear.


Ever since this was added to the game it has been loved by any build using Endurance charges. You will see why with the next required unique.


This will get us extra damage just for doing what we do best, pounding enemies in the face. Also has a very much appreciated movement and attack speed bonus.


Nice life roll and movement speed bonus, coupled with a very nice Evasion, er, Armor bonus with this build.


Recommended Uniques
While not required these items are very nice to have, but Rare gear can be used since their bonuses can be found elsewhere.


This chest has some great bonuses for this build. High life with great Armor and Evasion (which becomes more Armor), it also has increased life leech per sec which this build loves.


Also a nice piece with the Dexterity, movement and attack speed rolls and high Armor and Evasion (again becomes all Armor for us). Even with reduced physical damage the attack speed bonus will result in a gain in dps.


Gems

Double Strike
Double Strike -

4 Link
- Double Strike
- Multistrike
- Melee Splash
- Fortify

5 Link
- Melee Physical Damage

6 Link
- Endurance Charge on Melee Stun (Swap for Added Fire Damage for bosses)

The main four gems are obvious to support the build itself, the fifth link just adds some damage, and the sixth link will give you the ability to change your curse from Warlord's Mark to Punishment.


Totem
Ancestral Protector -

4 Link
- Ancestral Protector
- Melee Splash
- Melee Physical Damage
- Fortify

5 Link
- Added Fire Damage

6 Link
- Weapon Elemental Damage

Or 5L/6S
- Blood Rage

Our totem is here to serve as an increased attack speed buff but also takes some aggro away. He also shares our leech so he can be quite hard to kill if enemies don't focus or volley him. The sixth link isn't needed if you don't want to spend the currency, he does just fine without it. Same for the Blood Rage, it isn't needed but it does help if you have it. (Keep in mind our totem can't use added fire support if you are using a Starforge, you can swap for Faster Attacks).


Leap Slam/Aura
Movement and Aura -

Movement
- Leap Slam
- Faster Attacks
- Fortify

Aura
- Arctic Armour

Pretty self explanatory, everyone needs a movement skill and Arctic Armour will give us extra physical and fire damage protection.


Vaal Double Strike/Aura
Vaal Double Strike and Aura -

Vaal
- Vaal Double Strike
- Faster Attacks
- MultiStrike

Aura
- Hatred (or Grace)

Our make believe friend and most trusted companion. This guy can hit just as fast as you and loves to do it. You cant have three out at the same time but you can very quickly and easily use the skill again to call him back out. Hatred is another obvious choice because of the extra cold damage based on the phys damage. Grace can be swapped in for areas you need extra armor for fights like Uber Lab.


Golem/Curse
Golem and Curse -

- Cast when damage Taken - level 3
- Punishment -level 7
- Flame Golem - Max
- Enduring Cry - Max

This will cast our Punishment curse for extra damage and attack speed and our Flame Golem for his increased damage. If you can't get a six link chest or weapon you could swap out Punishment for Warlord's Mark to generate your Endurance charges, it also has a bit of extra life/mana leech as a bonus (Not that you will need it).


Disfavor and Feast
If you have both Atziri's Disfavour and Kitava's Feast you can set your Double Strike in those weapons each with their own set of gems. Feast having a built in Melee Splash makes for a great clearing weapon and Disfavor's raw power makes it a great single target weapon.

Kitava's Feast-
- Double Strike
- Multistrike
- Fortify
- Melee Physical Damage
- Added Fire Damage
- Endurance Charge on Melee Stun

Atziri's Disfavour-
- Double Strike
- Multistrike
- Fortify
- Melee Physical Damage
- Added Fire Damage
- Faster Attacks

(Gems in order of importance)





Bandits

Oak is your bro, just give him drinks and party with him through the whole game.


Ascendancy

For this build we will go Slayer. Points listed in order of importance.

Endless Hunger - The builds defining attribute, leech doesn't stop at full life.

Brutal Fervour - More leech rate and you CANNOT be stunned or bleed while leeching. Basically all the time.

Bane of Legends - Onslaught for 20 secs on killing a rare or unique and culling strike when the enemy reaches 20% life rather than the gem's 10%.

Headsman - More damage and AoE (Melee Splash) if you've killed recently and the best part is 50% less phys reflect damage taken.



Max Trees


From here you will chose one of three paths, Axe, Maul, or Sword. The trees aren't very different but who likes respecing points.








My Current Gear



You could sub out a life flask for a damage flask I just like the extra protection I have available if I ever need it since I do just fine in the damage department. I can clear up to T15 maps (depending on mods) and it has been put through the Uber Lab with minimal issue. I have finished a Forge of the Phoenix with a Lacerate swap in for my Double Strike. Atziri run was very easy, as long as you know the fights.


Videos
Normal Atziri - https://youtu.be/AQT0A8S35SM
I intentionally did this run as unsafely as possible to show its leech power and ability to still handle the bosses. Normally, I would spawn both Vaal bosses at the same time because they can be burned down so easily and I can cull them at the same moment. The Atziri fight I would not normally take any hits from Flameblast because it does put me in an awkward position to be ganked by another attack.
Last edited by Xenovenom on Mar 1, 2017, 11:03:44 PM
Last bumped on Apr 6, 2017, 12:38:42 AM
2.4 Edits
Edit 1: Swapped Herald of Ash for Arctic Armour as the damage increase was not as good as the extra protection. Updated the Hatred/Grace gem swap for dependence on needs. Updated map tier and uber lab notes in "Current Gear" section.

Edit 2: Added Starforge information under the "Sword Max Tree" section and updated "Current Gear" with the three weapons I recommended and a few new and better enchantments.

Edit 3: Found a way to squeeze Blood Rage as an option in a weapon with an extra socket. Updated under "Gems" section and "Weapon" sub-section.

Edit 4: Added an Atziri video to show it's Atziri Viable. More will come as I have time to do them.


2.5 Edits
Edit 1: Added Enduring Cry to the Golem/Curse links to generate Endurance charges in places where you couldn't or had issues. Added a section under gems for a weapon swap for Disfavour and Feast and added Feast to the recommended axes section under Axe max tree.


2.6 Edits
Edit 1: Removed Optional gem swaps, Updated Passive Skill Trees (Should make the build perform better), Removed leveling details in each of the passive tree drop downs, and placed the tree right next to a +30 Intelligence node for those who would rather use a point for that than dump currency into gear.
Last edited by Xenovenom on Mar 1, 2017, 11:02:22 PM
I heard rumor that with DS u have two instances of leech, is this right?
"
Bash wrote:
I heard rumor that with DS u have two instances of leech, is this right?


According to the leech changes, each hit will generate an instance of leech. Since double strike hits twice (or six times with multistrike), it will generate two (or six) instances per enemy hit.
How do you handle reflect? (Not trying to be a wise ass - I like your build).
"
Makivante wrote:
How do you handle reflect? (Not trying to be a wise ass - I like your build).


Once you get the Uber lab points you reduce all phys reflect by 50% and your leech should easily handle the rest, though you do have some leech dedicated to that so enemy damage will start to hurt more. Elemental reflect shouldn't hurt too much assuming have hatred giving you somewhere around 30% of phys as extra cold and you leech heavily off your phys damage.

Until you get those last two points from Uber its a matter of just being aware of any mobs that have reflect and making sure you flask and use double strike slowly until you see how you do.

I haven't noticed any huge problems with reflect even in maps with phys reflect aside from having less leech to protect me from enemies attacks.
I love the look of this build. Slayer leech builds always looked appealing, and I think this is the one that I'll start experimenting with.

Do you know if this is Uber Atziri and Shaper viable? Have you tried, and if not, what do you think?
"
BlimpAtomic wrote:
I love the look of this build. Slayer leech builds always looked appealing, and I think this is the one that I'll start experimenting with.

Do you know if this is Uber Atziri and Shaper viable? Have you tried, and if not, what do you think?


I haven't tried either yet, but Im very confidant I could take on Uber Atziri. Shaper map I don't know very much about and the only guardian I have done is Phoenix, but I believe Minotaur would be easy for this build. The last two guardians might be a bit much but I will have to try them if I can get my hands on their maps.
Thanks for posting the build Xeno. I was looking for a good non-Vaal Pact leech build and this has been it. So far I have been really amazed at the pace of leech without Vaal Pact, and with pretty decent regen and leech that doesn't stop at full health, it doesn't feel as "Oh sh%$ I need to hit something to survive" as my VP character does.

The build has forced me to find some creative ways to come up with endurance charges, as I do not have a six link and did not want to take up a socket on my five link, and warlords ED on kill does not help much on bosses with few spawns. I have been using vengeance and riposte with ED on stun and stun support for a while now and it seems pretty effective. I also use Hegemony's Era and took the Elementalist staff node that gives 10% to get endurance charge on crit, which helps in longer fights against bosses with fewer/slower attacks. The most creative way to generate them I have come up with (taking inspiration from the worm blaster builds) is using low level CWDT with low level blade vortex and an increased crit strike or power charge on crit support. The number of crits I get from this augments those from the primary double-strike attack and feels like it fills up endurance charges quicker.


The power charges and block chance are an added bonus of the staff and staff nodes, so I inadvertently made a crit and block version of your build.

Do you find yourself ever needing to hit enduring cry, or do you always run with ED on stun in your primary 6-link?

Lots of fun. With the leech, endurance charges, arctic armor, regen/endurance charge, 20% cull and overall amazing damage from 2H, this is the most fun, fastest and most survivable build I have played so far.

Once I get dumped back in standard, I might play around with different weapons and options, but so far, the staff is working great. Starforge seems incredible, but is likely a long time away for me. Kongor's maul looks quite nice, and I have a pretty decent one, so I might try that next as it also voids the necessity of accuracy in nodes or gear.

Thanks again for the great build.

"
sgoer wrote:
Do you find yourself ever needing to hit enduring cry, or do you always run with ED on stun in your primary 6-link?

Lots of fun. With the leech, endurance charges, arctic armor, regen/endurance charge, 20% cull and overall amazing damage from 2H, this is the most fun, fastest and most survivable build I have played so far.


I actually can't remember a time when I have ever needed Endurance charge on stun in a boss fight during my time leveling but I also never considered Enduring Cry as an option. I do plan to do this again in hard core when the next temp league goes up so I will get a chance at feeling the leveling process again and will make any changes from there. I've also had a buddy come in behind me and try doing this build with less than what I have and he hasn't mentioned any fights that charges would have changed.

Without the Starforge I have swapped out Endurance charge on stun for Added fire and since I've shouldered the Starforge I been trying out Melee damage on full life since elemental damage is useless and it seems to be a viable option as you could see in the Atziri video I posted (even though I was normally under severe damage to show tankiness).

I think I might try swapping that Increased Duration in the gloves section with Enduring Cry and testing how much I use it though, so I will thank you for that idea.

I'm glad you are enjoying the build, its always nice to have feedback on your builds to make sure they keep working the way they are described to work and fixed when they aren't.

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