[3.1] The INVINCIBLE Sunder/Cleave Glad: Safe/Cheap (~10c), do all content, and map fast. HC Viable.
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Hello,
I just wanted to post up a guide for a brutality/phys based sunder/cleave gladiator. This has been one of the most enjoyable characters I've played in a while so I'd like to share it. We use sunder for mapping/clearing base content, and switch over to cleave to handle tougher boss encounters by utilizing permanent fortify with the Overwhelming Odds jewel. This build shines at mapping and farming lab. It is fast, extremely tanky, and safe. While we can handle all guardians without much issues (Barring some ridiculous mods), it isn't ideal for farming guardians because of how long it takes. You're better off farming maps/lab. This build is great as a league starter, or as a character that can scale to complete all content in general. It's very flexible. If you have any questions or comments, please post them in the thread and not on the youtube videos or in-game. I will check back and reply when I get the chance. Thank you! Credits: This build was inspired by mas_mariano's Unstoppable Gladiator build that I used in 2.6: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1647240 3.1 update
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Thankfully, it looks like nothing in the patch notes touched this build at all as far as nerfs are concerned so this build is almost exactly the same as last patch which means it is equally as viable. Some minor buffs were applied to the shield nodes according to patch notes, and VP was moved closer to the tree, but VP is not needed nor good for this build because losing your regen is terrible and you already almost never get hit due to the block chance of the build. Preface:
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Are you tired of having to play kiting-style evasion/caster characters that lose 1/5 of their life getting wacked by a basic blue/white mob?
Do you want to avoid playing a character that can't handle end-game content until huge investment is made on buying expensive gear? Do you enjoy aggressively charging into encounters to fight face to face while tanking everything that gets thrown at you? Do you want to play a cheap, fun build that can eventually scale to clear all of the content in the game? Do you want a build that is versatile enough to be able to play on any map layouts vs being pigeonholed into shaping your atlas a specific way? Do you hate dying to random 1-shots from physical hits? If that's the case, then I think I have the build for you. What's new with this build?
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The base skill tree is mostly unchanged, the only differences are that:
-This build opts to get 2 extra endurance charges which are consistently generated by using enduring cry. -The vitality void node is picked up to help sustain mana for skills and put less reliance on life flasks during longer fights. Skill-wise, this build does no elemental damage. It is pure physical running brutality so we do not use static strike. That also means we do not run Hatred or HOA although we keep arctic armour. Instead the aura run is determination for 51% MORE armour. Determination in combination with a granite flask gives you an INSANE amount of armour to help tank through heavy hitting bosses and massive mobs with no fear of being killed. Defense without flasks:  Defense with flasks:  What have I done with this build?
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Current Atlas:  Bosses: I have killed uber atziri, all guardians, and shaper (would not recommend trying shaper with this build). I am still in the process of trying to gear my character to clear hall of the grandmasters as a personal challenge to myself. I rolled through Xoph, but I have not had a chance to try other breachlords yet. Chayula will require me to change some gear to deal with the chaos damage, but I am confident it can be done very easily. I can run all map mods except reduced block chance, including phys reflect (Phys reflect requires patheon change and to keep your defensive flasks up when fighting to avoid killing yourself from the reflected damage you do not block). Videos
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More vids will be coming soon. I will upload my guardian kills + fast clearing linear maps such as atoll and gorge with high mods/sextants. Please let me know if you have any requests to see other content be uploaded.
Uber Lab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKqPQgDQLaE Bosses: Hydra Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xud5ZYG9JZE Minotaur Map (LONGGG fight because of more monster life): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-UenmkS4b8 Chimera Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku0STgaSvWE Phoenix Map (Using some better gear, but mechanics are the same): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9hQRgU1M-4 Map Runs: T13 Gorge Map w/ Breach/Sextant mods (Full Completion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgQbBEaAtiI T13 Gorge Map #2 (Without breach or boss completion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TWgBT9iYB8 T15 Abyss Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2ZhexG47mY T15 Shaped Courtyard Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLV1Ehlx1hU Pros: -EXTREMELY tanky with 74-78% spell/attack block. Running at ~15k armor without any flasks. ~35k with 1 jade flask of reflexes or granite flask of iron skin. -Great league starter/currency farmer for maps/lab. -Very safe/forgiving build in which you rarely find yourself feeling close to death -Very cheap build, uses Bringer of Rain so no need for chest armor. (Starting gear is ~10c) -90% phys mitigation fully flasked, ~80% running only basalt or granite flask. Laugh at anything that does physical damage. -Insane damage reduction (Enfeeble to reduce enemy damage by 21-25%, Fortify to further reduce by another 20%, and 5-6 endurance charges for another 20-24% phys mitigation stacking on top of armour + basalt + pantheon + arctic armour). -5 endurance charges (6 if you decide to buy a corrupted belt). -Very fast map clear (Not as quick as vaal power siphon, but not restricted by map layouts like VPS and WAY tankier). -Easy lab farmer -Hardcore viable Cons: -Slow boss killer, much lower ceiling for DPS compared to some other builds, but still very safe. -Not great for shaper or uber atziri. I'd say shaper is suicide because the lower DPS cannot save Zana from the adds/bullet hell until you get some really expensive gear to raise DPS, and uber atziri is doable but a huge challenge to your mechanics. -Low chaos resistance. I ran my character through everything with -60 chaos resistance. This is not as big of a deal as you might think as long as you're mindful and don't stand in caustic clouds and read/ID strongboxes. -Cannot tank big elemental hits because of low eHP (Stuff like phoenix's explosion or dominus' donkey punch). -Need to be much more careful on phys map bosses rolled with double ele mods i.e. extra damage as lightning + extra damage as fire. My current gear Starter Budget Gear:
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Uniques: Jack, the Axe - 1 alch (~250-270 pDPS) Bringer of Rain - 1 chaos Lioneye's remorse - 1 chaos Belt of the Deceiver - 1 alch Anvil - 1 alch Rares: Rare gloves w/ t2 life/resists - 2 chaos Rare boots w/ t2 life/resists - 2 chaos Ring w/ life/resists - 1-2chaos Ring w/ t1 intelligence, life - 1chaos Grand total = ~10 chaos The after this, I started purchasing some jewels like the ones shown in my gear section. They were each around 1-3 chaos because area damage is overlooked as a mod, but it boosts your damage for sunder, cleave, and gratuitous violence so there is moderately good synergy. POB tree: https://pastebin.com/QSpJtzSw Online skill tree: As you can see above, my gear is far from god-tier. I can still upgrade to steel rings, my axe is ~330 pDPS, I'm not using spiked gloves, and my jewels are suboptimal. Despite all of this, I am able to handle all game content without a problem. Based on plugging the numbers into POB, I could potentially double my current DPS if I decide to invest my currency into buying high tier equipment. Gem Links
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Bringer of Rain: Sunder - Brutality - Conc Effect - Multistrike. Your bread and butter. Main-hand 3-link: lvl 5 CWDT - lvl 10 Tempest Shield - lvl 8 Enfeeble Off-hand 3-link: lvl 20 CWDT - lvl 20 Molten Shell/Flame Golem - lvl 8 blood rage 4-link: shield charge - faster attacks (high quality % if you can get it) - fortify - culling strike (If you don't like culling strike, then you can use vaal haste/vaal lightning trap instead). other 4-link: socket determination, arctic armour, enduring cry, and ancestral protector. If you can find a good unset ring, then add in vaal lightning trap or vaal haste. Ascendancy order: Gratuitous Violence -> Painforged -> Versatile Combatant -> Violent Retaliation If hardcore, consider: Painforged -> Versatile Combatant -> Gratuitous Violence -> Violent Retaliation Pantheon: Major - Brine King or Lunaris. (I use Brine King). Minor - Soul of Tukohama or Soul of Gruthkul (I use Tukohama, and switch to Soul of Yugul if I decide to do a phys reflect map). I prefer to get Gratuitous Violence first because you clear through content much more quickly and map faster, but it is less safe than getting Versatile Combatant ASAP. If you're confident in your ability to handle boss fights, then go with Gratuitous, but if you're trying to play as safe as possible, go straight for VC. Spell block, while nice is not mandatory to surviving as long as you play smart, but once you have Versatile Combatant w/ good block, you can start going in and not worrying about tanking spells/hits. Quest Gem Rewards:
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Quests not mentioned are not relevant to the build. Pick whatever you want. Act 1: Enemy at the Gate - Molten Strike (If you have the currency, I prefer to buy and use ground slam which is available after killing Hillock. Personal preference). The Caged Brute - Leap Slam (Or buy and use shield charge) & Maim The Siren's Cadence - Nothing, pick anything, but buy sunder from Nessa and use it. Breaking Some Eggs - Ancestral Protector Act 2: Sharp and Cruel - Faster Attacks or Melee Physical Damage (Socket faster attacks with leap slam, and melee phys with Sunder. Buy the one you don't pick from Yeena, also buy Concentrated effect. Socket Conc w/ Sunder) Intruders in Black - Enduring Cry (defensive) or Herald of Ash (offensive) Act 3: Lost in Love - Hatred (Buy and use purity of elements instead if you're low on resists). A Fixture of Fate - Fortify (Socket w/ leap slam or shield charge) Act 4: The Eternal Nightmare - Multistrike (Buy brutality. Socket multstrike - brutality - conc effect - sunder, stop using hatred as you won't need it anymore). Instead of conc effect, you can also use melee phys if your int is not high enough or you're having trouble getting RRRB sockets). Breaking the Seal - Stone (Defensive), Chaos (Defensive), Flame (Offensive), or Lightning (Offensive). Starting out/Walkthrough guide: Leveling Trees:
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33 skill points allocated: https://poeplanner.com/AAkAAEkABwQYACG5HRXsivDpRsqQhNlHfr02ZU2-pwHcd-OpbsAaeA218jWS2L3-Crc-g8w8LcauxPZyqfcy_o9N46ZXOuHyRXzZxIIAAAAAAA== 65 points: https://poeplanner.com/AAkAAIkABwQYAEG5HRXsivDpRsqQhNlHfr02ZU2-py_Mtopi7MSCwYKE79rBdO0FLXrvAdx346luwBp4DbXyNZLYvf4Ktz6DzDwtxq7E9nKp9zJ82f6PTeOmVzrh8kVvO4Nf6hj462RSTjIX4Sb4E0x2rM9-rY2uPmeb5FFQR-8OFCDEFcGj4mEwd1n-AAAAAAA= 88 points: https://poeplanner.com/AAkAALcABwQYAFi5HRXsivDpRsqQhNlHfr02ZU2-py_Mtopi7MSCwYKE79rBdO0FLXrvAdx346luwBp4DbXyNZLYvf4Ktz6DzDwtxq7E9nKp9zJ82f6PTeOmVzrh8kVvO4Nf6hj462RSTjIX4Sb4E0xhIa5Q_msTyWWndqzPfq2Nrj5nm-RRUEfvDhQgwaPiYTB3Wf5AoMC_qZUM96yvBIePmTJOXz8aPvIvfuJ5OSFgdPGPYG8nmmrEFQAAAAAA 106 points: https://poeplanner.com/AAkAANsABwQYAGq5HRXsivDpRsqQhNlHfr02ZU2-py_Mtopi7MSCwYKE79rBdO0FLXrvAdx346luwBp4DbXyNZLYvf4Ktz6DzDwtxq7E9nKp9zJ82f6PTeOmVzrh8kVvO4Nf6hj462RSTjIX4Sb4E0xhIa5Q_msTyWWndqzPfq2Nrj5nm-RRUEfvDhQgwaPiYTB3Wf5AoMC_qZUM96yvBIePmTJOXz8aPvIvfuJ5OSFgdPGPYG8nmmoppfPdaGWXeSgqi0_2SIzPPfxYY6LqEuFGt9NvFHHZfIIH8kHEFQAAAAAA 115 points: https://poeplanner.com/AAkAAO0ABwQYAHO5HRXsivDpRsqQhNlHfr02ZU2-py_Mtopi7MSCwYKE79rBdO0FLXrvAdx346luwBp4DbXyNZLYvf4Ktz6DzDwtxq7E9nKp9zJ82f6PTeOmVzrh8kVvO4Nf6hj462RSTjIX4Sb4E0xhIa5Q_msTyWWndqzPfq2Nrj5nm-RRUEfvDhQgwaPiYTB3Wf5AoMC_qZUM96yvBIePmTJOXz8aPvIvfuJ5OSFgdPGPYG8nmmoppfPdaGWXeSgqi0_2SIzPPfxYY6LqEuFGt9NvFHHZfIIH8kG77ZHOGNumjXVOZfBybGxGMgnEFQAAAAAA
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Level up using ground slam or molten strike until you get to Cavern of Wrath and go back to town to pick up sunder. Use sunder the rest of the way.
Make sure you pick up a cleave gem from the vendor and store it on swap to level up as you go through the game. Use poe.trade to find better weapons to switch to. Brightbeak/Gryphon are good uniques to consider. Using a mace over an axe early game is not a big deal as long as you forgo the axe damage nodes if you decide to use brightbeak and get them later when you switch out to an axe. Both of these weapons can allow you to clear all of the acts and get to end-game mapping. If you can't afford a weapon to trade, use the vendor recipie instead. Buy the strongest pDPS axe you can find from the vendor and then sell it back to a vendor with a blacksmith whetstone + rare/magic rustic sash to get a %ED weapon. If you have any spare essences you don't plan to use as you level up, use it on a white rustic sash if you can't find a rare one from drops. Pick up melee phys and added fire in A1. Pick up concentrated effect in A2. Links: Sunder -> Melee phys -> Added Fire -> Conc effect You can use this 4-link setup until A4, then swap added fire for multi-strike, and if you're not using HOA/Hatred, swap melee phys for brutality. Buying a tabula is not that important. Rather, you're better off buying a good, cheap unique armor like briskwrap, viper scales, or wall of brambles that helps you level faster so you can put on the BOR. Leveling gems on swaps:
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Put 2 weapons or weapon/shield on your swap and place gems to level them up. I recommend you run 1 copy of multistrike/brutality/conc effect and as many copies of sunder/cleave as you can get.
The reason for this is because when your main multistrike/brutality/conc effect hits 20, you will want to vendor it with a gemcutter's prism to get a 20% quality gem and then level it up back to 20. While this is happening, you'll use the supports that were in your swap as your main so you don't lose damage. The reason you want to run as many copies of sunder/cleave as possible is because you'll do the 20% quality trick with them, and then try to vaal the gems when they are 20/20 to try to vaal them into level 21. This can take a lot of tries, so you want as many copies of sunder/cleave as possible. As soon as you can get one after equipping BOR helm (Since BOR will negate your armor), purchase any garbage six socket strength armor that is all red (If not, use a chrome on it only if it's strength base) and wear it before equipping BOR. Use this armor as a shell to wear more cleave/sunder effect gems to level up and upgrade to 20 quality and try to vaal to level 21. The more you have the more tries you'll get and the sooner you'll have your 21/20 without having to pay an arm and a leg. The upside is if you get an extra 21/20 sunder or cleave, you can sell it for boatloads of currency on the market so there is no harm in doing this. Pick up overwhelming odds in A5 as your reward for defeating the overseer. Once you can use it, buy Jack the Axe. It's super cheap and a very strong weapon. (Turn off dialogue sound in options if you hate the voice like me). With the setup of BOR + Anvil amulet + Jack the Axe + Lioneye's remorse, you should easily be able to clear all content up to T9 maps. Farm these zones until you can start upgrading your gear and progressively work your way up to higher maps. It's not THAT huge to get your multistrike/brutality/conc effect to level 21, but it certainly helps. The biggest damage boost comes from leveling sunder/cleave to 21. Earliest/most noticeable upgrade is to buy a higher pDPS axe. You can find a 300+ rare pDPS axe for cheap, it is only when you start going into the 350+ pDPS range that prices start to skyrocket. I paid ~100c for the 370 pDPS axe I'm using now, vs paying 250c for a 390. A trick I found if your Elron is level 7 is to search lower pDPS axes that have bad crafted rolls i.e. 11% IAS or low added phys then scour off the crafted mod to reroll for a higher one. Rolling a 11% to 15% can raise your pDPS by 10-15 on the weapon. I would only do this for 350+ pDPS axes, as it's not worth investing the currency on anything lower. You could potentially roll a 370 pDPS to a 385 and save yourself hundreds of chaos by doing this. Next is to buy decent jewels. Because of how tanky you are already, you can forgo trying to get max life % on your jewels. Yes, max life is great to have if you can get it, but it's also very expensive and this build is lacking in DPS, so I prefer running 4-damage mod jewels. Jewel hunting:
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I go on poe.trade and use the mod filter. Here is the link to my poe.trade search at its strictest setting: http://poe.trade/search/sitanonagotaro To search down, remove the min values for each mod, then after that if things are still too expensive, change the count value from 4 to 3. The prices should be very reasonable if not dirt cheap. This is the least strict filter I would use to find jewels: http://poe.trade/search/atesesimoyohuo Bookmark the search link so you can go back to it any time without having to re-enter all of the mods again. I used the jeweler's bench trick to get the RRRB colors for BOR (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kXPc8IomRI). Trying to get RRRB can be hard using chromes, I spent over 200 chromes on my BOR last patch to get RRRB and < 100 jeweler's for 3.0. Bandits Kill all bandits, or help Oak. Both are valid choices. The 2 skill points would go into an extra endurance charge, but Oak's 2% phys reduction, life regen, and physical damage are very powerful benefits as well and rival having an endurance charge. I chose to kill the bandits and get another endurance charge with the points but if I were to remake, I would probably go with Oak because the phys mitigation on the build is extremely high so getting a little less phys mitigation in exchange for regen/DPS is a good compromise. Other considerations/alternatives
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The Anvil Amulet:
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I used anvil amulet for a long time and it carried me through all of the content, but I wanted higher DPS output so I switched my amulet out for a an amulet with a 4% block corruption. Basically, any amulet with a 4% block corruption will be higher DPS than anvil because you regain the lost attack speed. Any other stats you get on top of that are a bonus.
I got lucky and found the bloodgrip I'm using for cheap on poe.trade, and I like it a lot because I get double heals (2k+) instantly from my life flasks. It has saved me from dying on many occasions. You don't need to use bloodgrip if you can't get your hands on it, any 4% block ammy with phys damage is good. If you can find one with +life and attack speed, that would be great. Suffixes such as resists or int/strength would be good as well. As mentioned, if you can't find a good amulet, you can easily stick to anvil and never switch out, there is nothing wrong with that. Anvil is a GREAT amulet and dirt cheap. You will be at 78% block rather than 74% and have more armor + life on block, the only downside is that you will clear end-game bosses a bit slower but also be much tankier. Off-hand 3-link notes for starting out:
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Instead of CWS - molten shell - blood rage, if you're looking for a more offensive setup, switch molten shell w/ flame or lightning golem. Also, at lower levels CWS will not trigger consistently. If you're looking for a better feeling setup, I suggest you use CWDT instead of CWS because CWS is based on a % chance to trigger when you are stunned or block a stun and that % is very low at lower levels. If you decide to get surrender, you can switch flame golem w/ maim if you want. Rumi's Concoction:
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This is a good item to consider to make up for any missing block before you get all of your skill points or if you decide to not use anvil or a 4% amulet. Bisco's Leash:
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When mapping on linear layouts such as gorge/atoll, I prefer to run a bisco's leash for the rampage. You clear insanely fast with rampage, and doubling back to pick up items is not a big issue. If you don't like backtracking after clearing, then don't run biscos.
Skill swapping sunder/cleave:
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When you fight a boss, swap out sunder for cleave before you enter the arena. Also swap in overwhelming odds if you want to min/max. I prefer to keep overwhelming odds in because I'm lazy.
For some boss encounters, it is better to keep sunder in the socket rather than use cleave because of the range you get. I have gone through and made notes in the section below about specific encounters I found difficult on my first try and how I deal with these encounters today. Flasks:
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Jade Flask of Reflexes can be switched for Granite Flask of Iron Skin if we get Iron Reflexes. Get whichever one is cheaper on poe.trade. I have found that running all 3 flasks (basalt, granite, jade) is overkill when you have determination. You'll pop to over 50k armour and have 90% phys mitigation, but it's totally unnecessary so I prefer to have a lion's roar for increased DPS instead.
What I usually do is alternate my flasks such that I only have 1 active at any point in time. If I see a huge hit coming which I cannot dodge, I will pop a basalt + granite. It allows me to tank basically any physical hit. Immortal Call:
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Immortal call is unnecessary and I think more of a liability. I used to run immortal call and found that having endurance charges up constantly was better for fights.
Crimson Dance:
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It does raise your DPS for bossing/guardians/shaper, but only if you make some drastic changes to the build. With blood letting, and crimson dance the damage improves significantly only if you change your bringer of rain helm to a RRRR from RRRB. You remove concentrated effect + multistrike and switch both with ruthless + chance to bleed because conc effect + multi do nothing for bleed damage. In order to get crimson dance + blood letting, I unspecced out of both endurance charges + a life node + cloth and chain in order to get the points. The build feels a little less tanky, but still durable. It's really up to you to decide if you want to go with this version of the build. When you are mapping, you can switch chance to bleed or ruthless for multistrike or just switch helms alltogether but this can become a very tedious process. I don't think the build is worth doing without ruthless + chance to bleed. If you don't use these gems, the damage increase is not noticeable and you sacrifice the defense for nothing. With that said, BOR simply does not have enough sockets to really optimize the damage and it works much better on a 6L body armor. But if you're going that far, you might as well just play a different build alltogether. This build was made for mapping/farming currency. However, if you want to try it, here is the skill tree I used to kill shaper with crimson dance and it was noticeably faster doing so with this method. Level 94 117 points: https://poeplanner.com/AAkAAPEACQQAAHW5HRXsivDpRsqQhNlHfr02ZU2-py_Mtopi7MSCwYKE79rBdO0FLXrvAdx346luwBp4DbXyNZLYvf4Ktz6DzDwtxq7E9nKp9zJ82f6PTeOmVzrh8kVvO4Nf6hj462RSTjIX4Sb4E0xhIXasz36tja4-Z5vkUVBH7w4UIMGj4mEwd1n-QKDAv6mVDPesrwSHj5kyTl8_Gj7yL37ieTkhYHTxj2BvJ5pqKaXz3Whll3koKotP9kiMzz38WGNGt9NvFHHZfIIHGNumjXVOZfBybGxGMgnEFRpVWp_t12a2XhPvTmFSRZquUHt0ZacAAAAAAA== Video (Not deathless LOL): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Xb7SHQYPw "Eventual" upgrades:
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While the following upgrades are by no means mandatory for the build, they do make a noticeable improvement although they can be rather expensive. Do not feel pressured to get any of these items. The build is fine as is in its budget form. Not only that, but some of these upgrades require you to give up something in another area usually. Higher pDPS axe: Well, this one I have no argument about being a great improvement. Getting a higher damage axe is all upside, no downside, the only thing stopping me from getting a 450 pDPS axe is currency. 4% block amulet: Yes, you lose 4% block dropping the anvil, but if your amulet has a T1-T2 added phys roll, it's totally worth it because of how much faster you kill bosses (One of the big weaknesses of this build). You can also make up the missing 1% block through a jewel which puts you at max 75% block. +1 endurance charge belt: No explanation needed for this. The Surrender: You lose some life switching from lioneye's remorse, but you gain life gain on block, movement speed, and armor on block. This is definitely a great shield, and something to buy if you have too much money that you have no clue what to buy, but by no means would I say it's 100x better than lioneyes, probably not even 2x better, but price wise it costs almost 100x lioneye's remorse. The build is already ultra tanky and doesn't need this shield. I bought one for my character just to try it out and because I had a bunch of chaos sitting around. While it was an improvement, it wasn't game-changing in any way. Hard encounters that could kill my character still could kill him. The big thing you gain from this shield is the ability to AFK and kill map bosses. You can walk into the boss room for certain encounters and walk away to make dinner and come back to find the boss dead. Is that cool? Yea. Is it really something you need for this build? No, not really. Steel rings: If I owned some good ones, I'd link them here XD. Unfortunately, I still don't have the currency to buy steel rings, and I'm not sure if I would. The stats on my current rings are so specific, getting the same rolls on a steel ring would cost at least 8-10 exalts. This is probably one of the last upgrades I'll be getting if I even bother. Special notes on difficult encounters:
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Certain map bosses require a change in playstyle: Necropolis map - Replace in leap slam for shield charge for this boss. If he uses his bone prison on you, simply jump out and keep fighting him. Doing this, the entire encounter becomes trivial. If you don't use leap slam, you'll die because of his DOT which triggers after bone prison. It will absolutely demolish you if you don't have a way to escape. Excavation map - This map consists of a trio of bosses, and you can only damage 1 boss at a time which has a circle surrounding it. You will need to keep sunder in slot because this encounter requires a lot of kiting around and using cleave is very awkward. Also, one of the bosses (The skinny one) explodes upon killing him. I'm not sure if you can tank this (unsure about the damage type), but I wouldn't doubt it if it kills you in 1 hit even if it is physical. Atoll map - The boss is very rippy in this. He casts a cold nova which can 1-shot you at close range. I would recommend you keep sunder for this fight because the frost bolts are easy to dodge and won't kill you in 1 shot. Putrid Cloister - Use sunder and kite the attacks. Not easy to tank this boss. Plaza Map (The Goddess) - This is an easy fight except when the goddess uses her life drain beam on you. You can't tank this, so shield charge away to break the beam and charge back in to fight. High Gardens Map - You need to keep sunder for this boss and kite around because you can't tank her DOT beams. Dominus (Palace/Residence) - His 'touch of god' attack cannot be tanked because the lightning damage it does is enormous, unless you want to switch in purity of lightning + topaz flask. I prefer to just get out of the way. Also, you want to keep sunder in slot for this guy because the lightning stream hurts as well and is not something I would recommend trying to face tank. Rigwald (Lair/Dark Forest) - You cannot fight Rigwald in his wolf phase. Simply run away and kite him around the terrain until he changes back. Also, have a bleed flask for the fight (You should have one anyway for stuff like corrupted blood mobs). Guardians: Phoenix Guardian - You need to keep sunder in slot because his phoenix adds hurt like hell due to the elemental damage and they are too annoying to deal with using cleave. You can tank everything the phoenix does EXCEPT his fire explosion + the phoenix adds attack. Elemental damage hurts like hell, unless you switch in purity of fire + rise of the phoenix + ruby flask. I prefer to simply use sunder and kite around, but if you find yourself having trouble dodging the phoenix adds attack, then use purity + rise of the phoenix shield. Even with these equips, I don't think you can facetank the guardian's explosion. Chimera Guardian - This entire encounter is trivial except for 1 part which is the snake phase. These snakes hurt like hell because they do chaos damage, and this is the only part of the entire fight you can die. The solution is to wear some chaos resistance or use an amethyst flask w/ poison removal/immunity and TP back to town to refill it when you run out. A good unique is ming's heart, try to swap out a resist ring, and keep your endurance charges at max for other encounters to deal with the lost resistance (Fire damage from goats/dogs). Ming's heart is not necessary as long as you're willing to TP back to town to refill your amethyst/poison flask, or run more than 1 amethyst/poison flask. "Doable", but not recommended: Shaper - This entire fight is hard as hell because your DPS is super low compared to other builds. I would not recommend trying shaper with this build. I managed to beat him once mainly for pride, but this is the most difficult encounter I've ever faced. I got extremely lucky the one time I beat him by blocking a majority of hits which I was unable to avoid that would have otherwise one shot me. I managed to survive 2 bullet hells in a row without Zana because the adds kept killing her. Seriously, there are better builds to do Shaper lol. You can try though, it's not a test of skill so much as luck because the entire stage gets filled with orb novas by stage 3 and you have nowhere to stand. Uber Atziri - Super hard encounter as well. I had to completely rework my gear for this fight and still could not do it deathless. Same as with shaper, there are better builds to try this with that get 500k+ DPS. The longer this fight drags out, the more dangerous it becomes. The biggest problem with uber atziri is the split phase, you really need high DPS to kill the splits because the entire stage becomes a warzone and it's near impossible to constantly dodge everything with how wide the AOE is and how crazy fast everything is getting dished out on repeat. I think for the above 2 encounters, I've had a much easier time when my DPS was in the 500k+ mark. This build tops out at ~200-300k DPS with top-tier gear. You could try to rework the skill try to go crit, but then the other parts of the build begin to suffer. This build is meant for mapping, it can handle 99% of map mods and face tanks physical dmg. Encounters which dish out heavy spell damage/DOTs are where this build has a difficult time. I tried to do all of these encounters mainly to see if I could, but it took multiple attempts and a lot of planning/reworking of gear in order to accomplish it. Really, it's not worth the trouble because I had to invest a lot of currency into buying specific gear just to do these 2 achievements and got very little return out of it. Once again, I'd only try this for the achievement value, there is no real upside to doing it otherwise because the fights take way too long and are way too difficult to be viable as farming maps. RIP mods: Outside of reduced block chance, there is are some combination of mods you should be wary of: Stuff like increased crit chance + crit multi + extra damage as element + elemental weakness is one combination you should avoid on higher tier maps/stronger bosses such as guardians. I say this from experience in getting 1-shot by a random lucky crit that wasn't blocked. Lightning in particular is bad because the hit will apply shock and instagib you, and other mods such as monsters poison on hit is also problematic as well due to the -60 chaos res. Just something to keep in mind as you're mapping. Last edited by ironstove on Dec 9, 2017, 3:59:24 AM Last bumped on May 2, 2018, 1:28:18 AM
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I got a chance to upload some videos and made some further edits.
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Hey can you post a leveling tree?
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" Leveling tree has been added to the guide. | |
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Update:
-Added a section going into detail on specific boss encounters -Added a minotaur video In-progress: -Will upload other 2 guardians -Will upload shaped courtyard + shaped atoll map that was recorded Internet connection is really bad, so sorry about the delays. | |
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Hello Again Gents~!
Here's the update for today: -Added an uber lab video (Runs usually take about 6-8 min on this char) -Added T15 Abyss map video -Updated/Modified some existing content for better formatting If you have any thoughts on the guide, or ideas for how to improve the guide, please feel free to share them here :) Last edited by ironstove on Sep 16, 2017, 12:59:55 AM
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Nice build! Partied with you and saw you solo a 5 man Uber malachai Core map.
The survivability is pretty legit as well. | |
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This is very nice build, I think.
As a beginner to this game, I dreamed of only high DPS, but after a series of deaths, I realised that I need a build to go through every map without any great difficulties, and I found it. Hope many people enjoy this build. | |
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was done with the softcore league for now and decided to make a gladiator to try the new encounters in hardcore aswell, and this honestly looks like a very safe bet. Havent played a pure phys char in ages, and this looks really solid (and on that budget!) , thx alot sir.
Joined: Jul 31, 2012
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Have you tried to take crismon dance and some bleed nodes like bloodletting and red Storm? You lose a gem by taking the bottom path but I feel like it really can improve damage on bosses with bleed?
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