[3.5] SSF DHC Agony Block Gladiator (Shaper down in 3.4)

(3.5 EDIT: Nothing changes in 3.5 for this build.)

Hi! Just wanted to share the build I used to kill Shaper in SSF DHC. I had never fought him before, nor practiced the fight in Standard, only used 1 portal and made lots of mistakes during the fight, so that tells you something of the tankyness of the build! I think there are many versions of this build out there, this is just what I used.

The build can do pretty much any map mods, I rarely reroll a map, and do most corrupted. Currently have 136/159 Atlas completion and am at depth 260+ without any problems, and still going deeper. I've done Red Elder as well without problems.



Pros and cons:
Spoiler

Pros:
-no gear requirements
-extremely tanky, high block and high life pool
-instant leech due to high Life gain on hit
-can do any map mods

cons:
-Cyclone can be a bit clunky at times
-You don't kill stuff, only the crawler


POB link: https://pastebin.com/3qYaVdTA

Passive tree:


My current gear:
Spoiler




I used a Tabula until around lvl 88, and a Crest of Perandus shield until around lvl 92. This build doesn't really require any specific gear to function. Though I would recommend these for end game stuff:
Spoiler


Elder gloves with Poison and Faster Attacks. I crafted these with Fossils (Corroded and the one that gives Attack Speed modifiers, forgot the name)
This enables you to use Blood Magic and Fortify, which is really nice. I used ones with just Poison until around lvl 90 at which point I crafted these, and dropped Fortify.

For a claw you can use any that has high Attack Speed, and has +life gained on hit as implicit. The only stat you want on it is 20% chance to Poison, as this gives us 100% which is nice to have against bosses. Though this isn't even needed, you will just get stacks faster with it. The ideal claw would be a Elder claw with high AS, Life gained on hit as implicit, 20% chance to poison, Fossil crafted minion dmg and +Life gained on hit against blinded enemies (This is an Elder mod)

For a Shield you just want as high Block chance as you can get, and life.

For a helm you want a Fossil crafted Bone helm:

The mod "Nearby enemies take 9% increased Physical damage" is what you want. Its easy to craft with the physical modifier Fossil. I crafted this one with one try, using only that fossil. That being said, I used the one below until around lvl 92, and had no problems with damage:


For an amulet you want a Anvil, as it gives a nice amount of block and increases out max block. But any rare amulet with life and resists can also be used.


For rings you just want life and resists. Try to get some Chaos res here.



Gem links:
Spoiler

Herald of Agony - Dmg on Full Life - Minion Dmg - Pierce - Vicious Projectiles - Maim

Cyclone - Poison - Faster Attacks - Life Gained on Hit - Blood Magic - Fortify (Poison and Faster Attacks from Elder gloves)

Shield Charge - Faster Attacks - Blood Magic - Fortify

Cast when dmg taken (lvl 1) - Immortal Call (lvl 1) - Enfeeble (lvl 5) - Tempest Shield (lvl 1)

Cast when dmg taken (lvl 1) - desecrate (lvl 1) - Spirit Offering (lvl 8) (gems need to be linked in this order, so desecrate is cast first to generate corpses for Spirit Offering)

Convocation - Summon Holy Relic - Arctic Armor (these don't need to be linked)
I use Arctic Armor for the chilled ground, and chilling enemies when they hit me. Sometimes I switch Arctic armor for a Purity of Fire/Ice/Lightning for a specific Shaper or Elder guardian.

For the Shaper fight itself I used Molten Strike with 1 Threshold jewel, for better positioning. For everything else, including his Guardians I used Cyclone.


Pantheon:
Major: Soul of Arakaali
Minor: Soul of Shakari

Bandits: Kill all

Leveling:
Spoiler

Herald of Agony Leveling:
I leveled with Herald of Agony from level 16, but I already had a Tabula from another char. I got the Chance to Poison nodes to the right of the Duelist tree and used Static Strike - Lesser Poison - Faster Attacks - Life Gain on Hit to apply the poisons. It went really smooth.

tree to start with Herald of Agony:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.4.3/AAAABAQCAAUtDY0UdRjbGbQsZDklP2xDMUd-TP9OKluvXzlkpmVNapN07YAihNmK8JstqqSwq702vqfEgtrB_MU=

After you simply go to Resolute Technique, then the minion damage nodes, getting life nodes you pass by on the way. Drop the poison nodes as you get the Poison gem at lvl 31. You don't need to have 100% chance to Poison, 80% is enough. I only got the block nodes after I got all the minion damage nodes and a bunch of life.

Sunder Leveling:
You can also level with Sunder. Use Smite - Ancestral Call, until level 12, at which point you switch to Sunder and use that until Blood Aqueducts in act 9. There you can farm for Humility cards to get a Tabula Rasa.

Use Sunder - Melee Phys dmg - Maim - Added Fire dmg/Faster Attacks/Onslaught (any of these work)
Also use Herald of Purity and Herald of Ash, as well as War Banner. Don't use Herald of Agony, as it doesn't do much for Sunder. Either use 2-handers or dual wield 1-handers. As of 3.5 both weapons will be used if you dual wield, so keep that in mind (There is a hidden dual wielding bonus in PoE: 20% more phys dmg and 10% more Attack speed).
Sunder Leveling tree:
https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.4.3/AAAABAQCAAHcBS0R1RQgKCpDMUd-UEdXl185Xz9gQWNwZU107Xasd-N5aHzZhNmFUorwi0-XeZstm2qpbq2NsKu9Nr6nwQTEgs9-2WHaweRR6hjvDvcy

After you have the above tree, just continue the same as above, getting the minion damage nodes (as they also apply to you) and get life. When you switch to Herald of Agony, respec out of the above tree. Most of the tree is the same anyway, so it won't be much to respec.

Ascendancy order: Painforged - Versatile Combatant - Violent Retaliation - Blood in the Eyes


Let me know if you have any questions or if I missed anything :)

Last edited by FxRebel on Dec 7, 2018, 9:55:58 AM
Last bumped on Feb 3, 2019, 4:56:25 AM
reserved.
I'm not playing HC, but litterally the same build.

I did a few things different with the items (what I found so far) and the gems.

lvl 92 5.966 life



Yes I'm running with 2 Ventors and Perandus Blazon. I want Bisco's Leash, but wasn't lucky. I was slow this league. I'm only at tier 13 maps and around 200 depth into the delves.

My Idea was using Herald of Agony at the start of the league, but I found an inspiration here. I made it with SSF in Mind and its a real successor. I alch & vaal my maps an run everything. I farmed a few rips tho... but 160% quant T11 maps can be bitchy :D


Once my fusings love me again I'll use my belly.
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a leveling guide would be awesome for me. I want to test a block char on hardcore and this looks promising. (for a noobie like me )
"
eviL_Bison wrote:
I'm not playing HC, but litterally the same build.

I did a few things different with the items (what I found so far) and the gems.

lvl 92 5.966 life



Yes I'm running with 2 Ventors and Perandus Blazon. I want Bisco's Leash, but wasn't lucky. I was slow this league. I'm only at tier 13 maps and around 200 depth into the delves.

My Idea was using Herald of Agony at the start of the league, but I found an inspiration here. I made it with SSF in Mind and its a real successor. I alch & vaal my maps an run everything. I farmed a few rips tho... but 160% quant T11 maps can be bitchy :D


Once my fusings love me again I'll use my belly.


Nice MF gear. I think your best upgrade would be to get Elder gloves with Faster Attacks/Poison so you can add Fortify, that will help you survive. But overall nice gear :)
"
a leveling guide would be awesome for me. I want to test a block char on hardcore and this looks promising. (for a noobie like me )

I will try to make a small leveling guide, but in short its probably easiest to just level with Sunder to Blood Aquesducts in act 9, and farm for a Tabula via the Humility div cards.
edit: Added a short leveling guide.
Last edited by FxRebel on Oct 12, 2018, 7:07:19 PM
"
FxRebel wrote:
"
a leveling guide would be awesome for me. I want to test a block char on hardcore and this looks promising. (for a noobie like me )

I will try to make a small leveling guide, but in short its probably easiest to just level with Sunder to Blood Aquesducts in act 9, and farm for a Tabula via the Humility div cards.
edit: Added a short leveling guide.



Thank you mate. Couls you please add boss killng videos or mappng vdeos for visual reference.
Hi

I am playing this build on Hc delve, i love it but having 1 problem, i lack boss killing power
What can i improve? ( cant lose my kaoms armor btw cuz of HC)
Would a helmet with +3 minion lvl be better than my current helmet?

My char is Ynmortal on HC delve if you could check him please

Ty
"
Camaron wrote:
Hi

I am playing this build on Hc delve, i love it but having 1 problem, i lack boss killing power
What can i improve? ( cant lose my kaoms armor btw cuz of HC)
Would a helmet with +3 minion lvl be better than my current helmet?

My char is Ynmortal on HC delve if you could check him please

Ty


There are several things you can do: pick up the minion dmg nodes by Templar, as you don't have any minion dmg nodes. You can also get minion dmg on your jewels. And also: get a lvl 21 Herald of Agony. A lvl 21 HoA gets an extra 40% Attack Speed and 40% increased dmg at max stacks, plus the added flat dmg, so a lvl 21 gem is a huge dps boost over a lvl 20 gem.

I'd also recommend getting elder gloves with Poison or Attack Speed, or both (look at my gloves for reference), so you can link Withering Touch Support to your cyclone.

Otherwise I'd recommend getting a Belly of the Beast so you can have a 6L, I would have 8k hp with a 40% Belly, so life isn't really a problem. Hopes this helps :)
Last edited by FxRebel on Oct 18, 2018, 2:53:11 PM
yes it helps a lot thx, gona get that 21 hoa gem and some dmg nodes

On the helm, whats best helm to get? + minion level or minion dmg or the one i have that gives 50% of physical dmg as added lighting

One last question the crawler does physical dmg only?

Ty

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