Build troubleshooting for newbie dualist earthquake

I am in need for a good place to learn how to troubleshoot builds. I am having difficulty going through even low-level maps. I am still rather new to the game, and still have difficulty understanding all the lingo and stats, even when trying to follow canned build guides.

Hell, I do not even know if this is the right way to ask, or if it is in the right forum.

Anyway, it seems I am "stuck" at level 84 - and start having difficulty at level 6 or so maps. I am looking at my build right now, and my best guess is I do not have enough resistances? The issue I am having is where to even start searching for the right rare gear to use. I have no idea what is a "max" roll for resistance, and the like.

(Puts on flame retardant suit)

Yeah, it´s the right place.

I have just looked at your char and I see some common mistakes.

You have finished only normal labyrinth. You´re missing lots of power not completing more difficult ones. As champion you should take fortitude to get permanent fortify (reduced damage taken).

Your tree, items and gems seems quite ok.
You are missing any leech though. High damage, leech with decent life (6k++) and capped resists (75 all except chaos in merciless, 135 as minimum in your HO) is a must for any good melee build.
Get Vitality void passive and all sockets near the path later (when you get nice jewels).

Your items are just fine but I would drop snakebite gloves though. Those are only good when you scale poison damage but you got some elemental damage passives/gems. You can get some nice rare Spiked Gloves with min/max damage, life, resists, mana leech.

You should link Leap slam gem with faster attack and fortify to get the "fortify buff" (less damage taken till you get fortitude from the ascendancy) and a bit faster moving.

Change the socketed jewel for something better (f.e. increased physical damage, 2h damage, life).

To get some information about item affixes (what´s the best possible roll on the items) check the wiki http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Item_affix

You need to get more practice by playing the game.

Thank you for the reply and helpful information. I grabbed some leech nodes. I gambled for a six socket belly of the beast. A six link should take some good luck.

I'll look for some decent mitts. Good rares tend to get very expensive, so time to grind.

Yeah, np

GZ to 6 socketed belly but 6 link is another story (it´s cheaper to buy 6 linked item most of the time unless you´re big lucker)

Perfectly rolled (or close to perfect) rares are the most expensive items in the game.
You don´t rly need perfect rares for anything (unless you´re perfectionist)
Just a little tip: are trires life gloves too expensive? Buy trires without life and craft life for yourself! (!to profit from that you need to know about prefixes/suffixes etc)

hf@gl