[Not quite 3.7] A Simple Cleaver (Beginner friendly, SSF-viable, Much Explanation)
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Hello! Thank you for this incredibly detailed guide! If there was an award for top-written guides this one would for sure be a 1st place contender :D
Do you think it needs any updating for 3.1? As far as I can tell it doesn't but I would like another opinion :) | |
" Thanks for the praise :) As far as I've seen, there is nothing changing for this build in 3.1. It may be possible to change some things a bit to include the new Vaal Pact, but as I, personally, do not like Vaal Pact and prefer a little bit of regeneration on my characters to counter e.g. Blood Rage without losing health, or regenerating between Labyrinth Traps, I'm not really inclined to do that. | |
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Hello
First of all thank you for this complete guide, I appreciate that you have taken so much time to explain stuff like gameplay mechanics and levelling tips, this is the kind of information that makes the build so enjoyable for me. So kudos for that. As for the build, I really enjoy it so far. Act 1 and 2 can be a little bit boring but after that it becomes smoother and smoother. Some thoughts: - I couldn't (or didn't want to) use Charged Dash. Didn't get the point, yes Cleave lacks AoE and damage at first, but Charged Dash made the character so clunky because of the charge mechanics, so maybe it's just that I played it wrong, how are you supposed to use it efficiently? The packs explode yes, but it felt so clunky having to charge/release...I end up playing with Cleave - Perfect noob question here but why should I put Chance to Bleed on Charged Dash instead of Cleave? If I decide not to use CD, should I put CtB on Cleave instead? - I get to your point with Whirling Blades and Leap Slam, but wouldn't it be better to just support WB with Culling Strike? It can save a gem slot...or is there something more important I am missing? Anyway thanks again, will follow this thread and your future builds because they're really useful for newcomers or returning players like me! Last edited by chartreuse on Dec 19, 2017, 3:49:38 AM
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" - Someone else also told me, that he did not want to use Charged Dash, and that's ok. I just personally found it fun to use until I got Cleave to a level I found just smooth enough. If you just can't find any fun in that, then it's totally ok. Also Charged Dash was kind of new for me, as it was freshly released. - The support gems for Cleave are in order of how much damage they give, so you should stick with those. If, on the other hand you have not access to all of those or do not have enough gems to fill the sockets you have for cleave, go ahead and put CtB in it. - If you look at my gear, you can see, that I have Whirling Blades in my Weapon, so I can have it 3-linked at most. I don't like Auras in my weapons, because for me it's annoying to recast them every time I switch weapons, that's why the are in my boots, leaving me with 2 sockets there, which I used for Leap Slam and Culling strike. My gloves where filled with ANcestral Protector and my Helmet was filled with Charged Das. If you want to use a 4-linked Item for Whirling Blades and don't have other uses for it, go ahead and support WB with Culling Strike. | |
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I'm a new player, currently leveling my second character following this build and I'm enjoying it. I'm finding it fast, fun and rather forgiving; I clear abysses in mere seconds and I have Cleave only on a 4 link. The only variations I'm using is not using Grace and instead Vulnerability with blasphemy support, which I find helps clearing greatly since for the moment I don't need the added survivability and I have to rely on crafted magic swords, and since I have so many unused gem slots I could afford to slot the old Cast when damage taken+enduring cry+immortal call+increased duration combo
Just a question though, the bleeding in this build is just to get the defensive perks and the exploding enemies, not for real damage, am I right? I was wondering if modifying it so the DoT becomes a major source of damage (taking crimsom dance and nearby nodes), which I imagine would be useful for bosses that require dodging, would be viable or even possible. Last edited by rowenstin2 on Dec 23, 2017, 3:16:32 PM
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" Forum ate my post... so now the short version: Blasphemy can't get up high, because you will be missing intelligence to push it up. Bleeding Damage is about 3k Damage without Investment 1,5k with Crimson Dance, but 8 Stacks bring you to 10k DPS. Using Vulnerability and not using Grace will bring you to about 20k Bleeding-DPS against bosses with 8 stacks of Bleeding. Getting 8 Stacks will take about 2 seconds of pure attacking (if you keep blood rage ond protector up) and last for about 4 seconds. You will not reach as high DPS if you invest into bleed, but get a decent amount of bleeding damage, so it most likely will shift your damage from pure to DoT. If you like the playstyle, you can make it work, but bleed can't be your main source of damage. Attacking will always deal more damage than pure Bleed in this build, but it can make manually dodging things easier. If you do not deviate too far from the build you can easly go back to the standard variant if bleeding does not work out for you. (Not many respec points are used and if need be a few orbs of regret are not that hard to come by) | |
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Awesome guide: easy to play and fun :D
I would like to ask you to add a "migration" section. As you have mentioned that this build(as far as I understand) is not viable for high level dungeons(?), it would be awesome if you added some info about making this works for high level. I mean changing gems, gear, maybe some perks in the skill tree to make it viable. |
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hi nice job!
i'm trying ur build (SSF). what gems do u think are best to carry on the second hand to try lv 21 in the late game? |
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I'm currently using something similar with the champion ascendancy and I've been tweaking and reworking since the last actual game wipe (2013 I think???) - passive reset time always gave me the chance to redo something. Mine's evolved to be built around a Soul Taker (so all my mana is reserved with Hatred and Determination and I spec into axes specifically) but I think I'll give this a try for my next duelist. I haven't really been much for guides so as such, it has taken me several years but this looks like it could be a fun variation on what I already love to do. Thank you!
Hi.
IGN: Lady_Serena |
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" This build can quite easily do maps. Red Tier Maps, even high level, are not much of a problem. The thing that does get problematic in higher tiers are the bosses. This build does not have an absurd amount of damage, so you will notice the high boss HP. Tier 11-13 is (or at least was, last league) not that much of a problem. T15 does a lot of damage and it takes a lot of dodging to whitle them down bit by bit. I could try making a "Migration Section", but bear in mind, this would be purely theoretical. I, personally, am not someone who puts absourd amounts of time to perfect a single character. I am also not someone to farm currency, as I prefer just to play and make do with what I find (trading for necessities or somewhat ok-ish gear). I never bought an item that's worth more than 1 Ex. But if you still would want a theorethical section about improving the build, I can try. " Thanks :) One Gem I would really recommend for leveling a copy with would be Grace. Simply because of the chance of it turning into a Vaal Grace when you try to corrupt it into Level 21. (And so far this has always happened to me). Cleave is also good to get to 21, as it gets +1 Radius at 21. Looking at Cleave support gems the order would be: 1. Maim 2. Melee Physical Damage / Brutality 3. Multistrike But aside from Grace and Cleave there is no real "jump" in power just because you got a gem to 21. Without some int investment on your gear (or in the tree) you can't push Arctic Armour high enough. That would gain +1% Damage reduction for fire damage, if that's something of interest. " This character was designed to be an easy to gear league starter, so I did not take into account anything that's even remotely expensive or hard to get, like a soul taker. So you can easily put your (more expensive) spin to it. E.g. you can still use soul taker and reserve all your mana. You can put the ancestral totem on blood magic and use determination or haste instead of arctic armour. Don't worry about taking your time with creating a build. I'm playing since open beta and it's my first actual build guide. I created so many builds... and failed so much, I can't remember how often. Still I never give up trying to improve. (and stick to my principles of using cheap items) :) |
