[3.1] Gladiator Reave | Slayer Cyclone | Oni-Goroshi | Budget & Beginner Friendly

Update Video+Mapping video: https://youtu.be/Sf2l9sFktuY

Shorter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8keyerixGI

Longer: https://youtu.be/Ww19EpIGw5A

6k life with this and around 300k-400k tooltip.
Total costs: 30c or under (chest costs 1c, farmed Oni-Goroshi)

1. Concept
2. Pros and Cons
3. Bandits
4. Ascendancy and Pantheons
5. Skill Tree
6. Leveling
7. Gear and Upgrade paths
8. Abyss Jewels
9. Reserved for Videos if requested

We're playing a Gladiator which offer lovely utility towards the bleed mechanics. Frenzy generation that offers a more damage multiplier, very high chance to bleed per hit, lots of increased damage, blood explosions, and block. Very solid ascendancy offensively. Note that other ascendancies are totally viable here like Slayer, but I have a personal preference towards Gladiator.

We can also pick Slayer which offers insane defenses and boss-utility in the form of increased leach as well as Leech not stopping at full HP. This allows us to treat Her Embrace as a raw buff with no downside.


Reave is a skill that hits an area in front of you, and every time it hits an enemy, it gains a stack granting increased range. This eventually can reach the size of your entire screen when utilizing the Vaal Reave interaction with stacking.

Cyclone is the other option that just hits an area around you and acts as a movement skill. Really strong skill, solid and easy to use.

We then scale damage with lots of crit and bleed stacking (thanks to the Crimson Dance node).

Our weapon of choice is very easy to farm, though it is a bit of a time sink being Oni-Goroshi.


This scales really really easily with level. You get it by farming Twilight Strand on a new character (took me 8 hours to get two). Most of the time is spent on getting the new characters to level 7 in the Twilight Strand, and then afterwards the swords just come in within a shorter period of time.

Note that THIS IS NOT NECESSARY. If you don't want to farm Oni-Goroshi, or purchase it, you can spend around 2c-5c on dual wielding this.

If you choose to dual wield please keep in mind that you'll need to look at the variations for passive tree. My current one is for Oni-Goroshi, but there is a dual wield one.


Lightpoacher, Lightpoacher, LIGHTPOACHER. Probably one of the strongest additions to the game in Abyss League. Abyss jewels are strong so its 1-2 Abyss sockets are lovely. But what's important here is "Trigger Level 20 Spirit Burst when you use a skill while you have a spirit charge". Spirit Burst sends balls out in a nova around you that automatically pierce enemies and travel very far.



We use a handful of Abyss Jewels (which are very cheap) in this build so we have no trouble stacking the spirit charges to get a series of Spirit Bursts to happen very consistently.

Lightpoacher combined with Reave and Whirling Blades makes for really quick and consistent map clear. Along with satisfying explosions with Herald of Ice.

Pros:
+Budget-friendly. Startup cost is under 25c for solid functionality
+High-DPS when fully buffed up
+Very easy to play
+Versatile in terms of build path
+Very high-end upgrades available so you'll never get stuck
+Reaching 8 stacks with Vaal Reave makes Reave clear entire screens
Cons:
-Has a wind-up when you have no stacks or charges
-Not the tankiest build around
-Need to counteract degen if using Oni-Goroshi

We help Alira. Straightforward there.

Ascendancy:
1. Gratuitous Violence
2. Blood in the Eyes
3. Outmatch and Outlast (IF you're using Ahn's Might, take Painforged instead)
4. Painforged (if you're using Ahn's Might, take Outmatch and Outlast only after you replace it).

Note that you can also do:
1. Gratuitous Violence
2. Painforged
3. Outmatch and Outlast (IF you're using Ahn's Might, take Versatile Combatant instead)
4. Versatile Combatant (if you're using Ahn's Might, take Outmatch and Outlast only after you replace it).


If you're running Slayer:
1. Endless Hunger
2. Brutal Fervour
3. Bane of Legends
4.
Pantheons:
I don't pay Pantheons as much mind, but I am currently using:
Soul of Solaris
Soul of Shakari

Regardless of whether you're running Oni-Goroshi or Dual-wielding, pick up Frost Blades, Molten Strike, and Ancestral Call Support ASAP. Just use these until you transition into Reave/Cyclone (I did this at around 68).

I had Frost Blades, Molten Strike, Ancestral Call, Multistrike, Elemental Damage w/ Attacks and Faster Attacks linked while leveling.

Note that these trees are only Guidelines
Take attribute(dex/int) nodes, life nodes, life/mana leech nodes until you feel comfortable with how you are leveling.

(Reave)6 Link - Reave + Multistrike + Ruthless Support + Melee Physical + Increased Crit Strikes + Increased AoE/Conc Effect swap for bosses
(Cyclone)6 Link - Cyclone + Increased Critical Strikes + Maim + Melee Physical + Elemental Damage with Attacks + Increased AoE/Conc effect swap for bosses

Lightpoacher 2 Sockets - Greater Multiple Projectile + Volley
Lightpoacher 3 Sockets - Greater Multiple Projectile + Volley + Phys to Lightning conversion OR just whatever lone gem you want to fit in that doesn't support Lightpoacher.

Pick 1 of the two:


3 Link - Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks + Fortify Support

Lone gems (no links needed) - Hatred, Ancestral Protector/Warchief (drop this down during bosses), Ice Golem(optional)

I dropped Lightpoacher because Cyclone does enough damage to clear on its own.
3L - Vaal Cycylone+Life Gain on Hit+Increased AoE
Lone gem - Blood Rage

(Reave)6L- Reave + Multistrike + Ruthless Support + Melee Physical + Increased Crit Strikes + Increased AoE/Conc Effect swap for bosses
(Cyclone)6L - Cyclone + Increased Critical Strikes + Maim + Melee Physical + Elemental Damage with Attacks + Increased AoE

DROP INCREASED AoE IF RUNNING A 5 LINK

2L - Cast When Damage Taken(Level 3) + Immortal Call(Level 5)
Lone gems- Hatred, Herald of Ash

4L - Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks + Blood Magic + Fortify Support
Can run Leap Slam instead.

The two contenders for Heralds in this build are Herald of Ice and Herald of Ash.
Herald of Ash gives you more raw damage, the the overkill burn is always nice for clear.
Herald of Ice gives less raw damage, but it allows you to shatter, has a very satisfying explosion (especially with gloom herald effect) and allows you to run a Curse on Hit setup with Assassin's mark for Power Charge generation. The difference in DPS is negligible between 3 power charges+Herald of Ice and just Herald of Ash (Ash wins slightly). But it depends on if you prefer the utility of the Curse on Hit or the raw damage provided by Ash. Note that using Herald of Ash does open up two sockets for whatever utility it is you need. Also makes it easier to run Kaom's heart.

Using Vaal Reave will provide you with Reave stacks, that overlap with normal Reave stacks. Reave normally reaches 4 stacks on its own giving it respectably AoE, but Vaal Reave can reach 8 stacks. These stacks are then maintained by normal Reave until you can't hit anything anymore, which means you can probably Vaal Reave again.

Abyss Jewels are strong, cheap, and help increase our spirit charge count for Lightpoacher. A neat little package.
The stats we care for the most are:
Maximum Life
%increase Damage if killed recently
%increased Crit Strike Multiplier if killed recently

NOTE
If none of your rings or amulet have any added fire damage to attacks, you want at least one of your jewels to have a fire damage added to attacks or fire damage added to sword attacks roll, replacing any of the preferred stats listed above. So for example:


and then for every other jewel socket:

Cyclone Mapping- https://youtu.be/Sf2l9sFktuY

DPS Tooltip actually becomes quite high, but you need your buffs, charges and flasks. In town I have a very small tooltip of around 20k dps, but then in maps I get:

Weapon swapping will turn off Her Embrace and make you stop taking damage. If you're unable to leech and are just taking free degen damage, just weapon swap back and forth really quick to preserve life.