The Glorious Viking Duelist Guide (also axes, blood magic and a ton of cleave)

30/3/2013 - Reworked most of the Build to incorporate some important things.
28/3/2013 - Merciless Skill Build uploaded.
28/3/2013 - Tweaks in certain areas of the build.
26/3/2013 - Added the guide with all the possible information.

In this section, I am going to explain what the build is about so everyone can check if it is any good for them.

-WEAPONS: Dual-wielding 1-Handed Axes ~ solid damage and attack speed, interesting accuracy
-ARMOR: A mix between Armour and Evasion ~ mainly a focus on armor as we will play melee
-SKILLS: Cleave, Dual Strike, maybe Cyclone and some Totems or Frenzy ~ Cleave though is core and a lot of lifesteal is very important
-KEYSTONES: Blood Magic ~ I think it is the only notable thing in terms of Keystones
-LIFE/REGEN: Fairly high, a lot of skill points spent in survivability
-ROLE: I suppose DPS for the most part, survivability is good though and you can crowd-control quite well

So you wash ashore in Twilight Strand and you stand on your feet. After talking to the Exile and getting your first kill, you will get:

This is going to be your bread and butter, your core skill. My opinion is that a spammable, used-a-lot skill shall go to the Right Mouse Button so that it is always very easy to use. So this is my suggestion if you are going to follow the guide.

Next skill you are going to be interested in (if I am not mistaken it is a reward for the Hillock Kill) is:

This is less important than Cleave, but a definite Core Skill in my opinion, especially for Boss Fights or certain Unique enemies. It is also one of the quite few skills that take full advantage of Dual-Wielding, while for example Heavy Strike would be a huge waste of your Off-hand. I tend to bind this Skill to "Q", but feel free to get it anywhere you see fit(I am not fond of Middle Mouse Button at all, bear this in mind).

Now as soon as you get to Lioneye's Watch, go get a couple of nice 1-handed axes (or alternatively you will pick up one or more quite soon). At this point you will already have leveled up at least once. This is where the next part will come in...

So, as I already mentioned, this guide is going to be as step-by-step as possible. So here goes the first 5 levels of the Passive Skill Tree and my reasoning.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAR35lTZkrq8W9gQ==
Early on, you focus on some Life and Physical Damage, which are plentiful in the Duelist area. You get a big nice increase in your Physical Damage, some HP and regeneration and that's about it.

You shall be level 6 by now, so up to level 11 (or maybe 10 supposing you do Dweller of the Deep), you will follow this:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAR35T31jbZU2E2YTvmSubg6vFvYE=
Two awesome notables in the Duelist area. The first one being "Master of the Arena" is a pretty solid skill for all Melee characters in my opinion. It grants some damage and Strength and extra range to your attacks. After that you spend in damage, attack speed and soon enough you get a second amazing notable, "Water dancing" which grants more damage and extra Dexterity. Up to this point, we made up for the lack of attribute nodes with two notables that are a very nice head start. Still, our last point is going to be spent in Strength in order to access the below area.

Meanwhile, you may wish to ask "What Skill Gems shall I get?". Don't get too scared of the amount of choices. I will only suggest you get one of these:

It ain't much in terms of battle importance, but its superior mobility can save you later on.Honestly I love Leap Slam's extreme mobility, because it can make a difference in Cruel or Merciless and save your from a -5% Experience. Also, it will allow you to catch up with your parties in certain places and allow you to jump gaps to get to monsters. Good choice.

Other choices may include a "Bear Trap" for soloing hard enemies and maybe a "Fire Trap" for extra crowd control. Some will strongly support getting a "Decoy Totem" as well, which can prove quite useful. These are totally based on your playstyle, I am only telling you what a core build is for now.

From this point on, we will focus on points spent and not on level, as level becomes a little irrelevant because of the extra passive points from Quests. I remind everyone here that "Dweller of the Deep" in "Flooded Depths" and the Quest for "Allflame" in "Ship Graveyard Cave" grant an extra passive on completion.

So, after that you will follow a linear path for your tree like this:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0n1Ud-U99Y22BLZU107XrvhNmE75krm4Orxb2BxFg=
16 points in, you are now a Tanky character, but still you already had some damage from notables, that scales with your new shiny weapons. At this point, we are concerned with building a pretty high life, so we can be quite sure we will not face any survivability problems. 28% extra life and 2.3% extra life regen are a suitable start and "Golem's Blood" really makes thing easy for Duelists with a very convenient placement.

At some point, right before fighting Merveil, you will be asked by Nessa to get a support gem. Get this:

This is the best Support Gem for Cleave, totally.Another core item you need is this Support Gem linked to your Cleave. It is your top priority at all times, so whatever equipment you have, make sure to have 2 red sockets linked in order to place Cleave and the linked Life Gain on Hit.

Next thing you are interested in is another Notable and finishing Act 1(estimated at around level 18 for me - farm Ledge with friends or strangers for the experience or do Merveil a couple more times):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0n1TIJQKBHflPfWNtgS2VNdO1674TZhO-ZK5uDq8W9gcRY704hYA==
Berserking significantly boosts your character's attack speed, compensating for the lack of extra damage at this point.This is my plan for Act 1 normal and the last one point in the Dexterity node is going to open up our path to the next spendings.

I know this is not the optimal way to separate skill builds, but it is a good way to take some notes and look at what we have accomplished so far.
So, for one, we have a significant amount of Health, which we can utilise to stay alive. Cleave must be around level 6 and Dual Strike around the same, with a life Gain on Hit linked to Cleave. Also, as suggested above, you are encouraged to use Leap Slam as your escape method and your way to initiate in groups. Damagewise, we are not yet killing machines, but we can chop some life (see what I did there? :P) pretty well.

Now, before anything else, let's talk about armor. Note that I will not be linking items here, because I barely have anything, but general guidelines will do.
-If possible, get some rings, amulets or a belt to increase Strength and Dexterity, as we lack a bit in Attributes for the time being. (See also: A. Item suggestions)
-Avoid Energy Shield, use Armor and Evasion to get used to what you will face later (Energy Shield from items is ok, as long as you don't use armors that are based on it).
-Use 1-Handed Axes, although we have not invested anything in them yet.
-Get 3 Red Flasks and 2 Blue Flasks. Try to keep the Mana ones up to your level, as you will be needing lots of Mana to spam Cleave for now (this is only temporary).
-Always remember to have 2 Linked Red Sockets to be able to use Cleave + Life Gain On Hit.

With this out of the way, I will show you the next step on the passives (27 points):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0SICFgJ9UyCUCgR35T31jbXotgS2VNdO1674TZhO-ZK5uDq8W9gcRYz_jvTmEhGlVkozbo
You get to improve your Dual Wielding significantly with a Notable for 15% extra damage. Ouch!First, you will invest in the 3 nodes for the Dual Wield (under the last node). Now you have "Gallantry" and a nice boost in damage. Go ahead and grab the rest, they are just part of the journey ahead.

Apart from your passives, you also need to make a signifcant decision concerning the fate of the three Bandits. My suggestion is to always kill them (in all difficulties), but many people say otherwise. So, killing all threee grants a passive point. If you help Kraityn, you will get +8% elemental resistances, pretty cool. Oak gives you a 40 life, decent in my opinion with all the boosts you will get from the passives. But avoid Alira, mana is useless and you will waste your time there, as we will go get Blood Magic in a while.

Skillwise, I suggest either one of the following three:
-Frenzy ~ sweet frenzy charges are good
-Warlord's Mark ~ decent curse in my opinion
-Enduring Cry ~ sweet endurance charges I guess
Anger can also be a honorable mention, but avoid Hatred as it is a percentage based reseve.
If you want my opinion on Support Gems, I would recommend getting "Additional Accuracy", though I personally do not use it a lot.

So, next instance of your Passives will look like this (36 points):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0SIBpVIWAn1TIJNug6UkCgR35T31jbXotgS2EhZKNlTXTtdPF674TZhO-ZK5uDnrmrxb2BxFjP-N-_704OPBRxpzAUIFBH
You get Diamond Skin and hop to Blood Magic plus some extra life. To ensure that Blood Magic will not be too tough for you, go get the "Diamon Skin" notable first (2 points required to reach and acquire, towards the right) and then make a rush for Blood Magic to get rid of your Mana. Right after that you will follow the weird path I carved and get the two life nodes, but it will all come together soon enough, trust me.

Around that time, you shall have finished Act 2 with the Vaal Oversoul dead on the top floor of his Ancient Pyramid and you will be entering the glorious City of Sarn.

Act 3 does not offer a lot of choice in new Skill Gems, but you can pick up a couple more gems around there. What you shall aim for is to find, buy or otherwise acquire:

{IMAGE MISSING -LIGHTNING STRIKE-}
This is going to be your safe-hitter in later levels. A nice Strength skill with a decent DPS and some range, which you rarely get in your skillset. I consider it another core skill, although one can live without it even for quite a while until it drops in a later area.

For the rest of this Act, there is nothing really special to point out, you will get a total of 3 Skill Points before Cruel and you shall get to around level 38-40 before leaving your comfortable Normal zone to go to Cruel.

Passives (48 points):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0SIBpVIWAn1TIJNug6UkCgR35T31jbXotgS2EhZKNlTXTtdPF674TZhO-ZK5uDnrmrxb2BxFjP-N-_704OPBRxpzAUIFBHmy0XHVeXYEER1b6nJd8b-qQZ0k3AD9Xt
Steel Skin, Leather and Steel and Acceleration.First off, get 3 points in the very close to the start Armor area for a total of +52% extra armor to be more tanky. Then, go back to the very start and start fleshing out the left branch of the right tree (see the Tree to understand what I say) until you hit Acceleration. Right after that invest the last 3 points to the Evasion/Armour area to get a nice Evasion and Armor boost.

Level up to 38-40 in "Docks" and go enter Act 1 Cruel.

Back to Square One, but this time the square has spikes and lava and you have a solid character to face it with. So far you shall have a decent idea of what this build is about and how it works. But still, I will keep explaining my mindset.

If you follow this guide, you will be using Cleave with Life Gain On Hit, Dual Strike with maybe Life Gain On Hit or some Life Leech in either of the two etc. At this point I will give a run-up of the Core Skills yet again(one dash is core, two dashes is highly recommended):
-Cleave + Life Gain On Hit ~ used instead of Attack as it will not only spend no Life, but on the contrary replenish some
-Dual Strike (additional Life Leech, Life Gain On Hit or Additional Accuracy can be used) ~ your big fat hit for bosses and Unique monsters
-Lightning Strike (link as you please, Life Gain On Hit or Life Leech suggested) ~ ranged skill to save you some trouble
-Leap Slam (probably no link) ~ almost essential to properly escape, high mobility
=Frenzy/Enduring Cry/Warlord's Mark ~ maybe two of these are fine, nice extras
=Cyclone ~ maybe a little bit too heavy on Life Cost, but can prove handy if you link a Life Gain On Hit and use in big groups of monsters, still requires some clever and careful use

So next is the passive for maybe a little after Act 1 Cruel(56 points):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0SIBpVIWAn1TIJNug6UkCgR35T31jbXotgS2EhZKNlTXTtdPF674TZhO-ZK5uDnrmrxb2BxFjP-N-_704OPBRxpzAUIFBHmy0XHVeXYEER1b6nJd8b-qQZ0k3AD9XtGNtbr90N_MVW-nRBFHU67Q==
Congratulations, you are ambidexterous.Not much here, only making your way to "Ambidexterity", a pretty nice Notable for your Dual Wielder plus you open the way for things to come.

At 60 points:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0SIBpVIWAn1TIJNug6UkCgR35T31jbXotgS2EhZKNlTXTtdPF674TZhO-ZK5uDnrmrxb2BxFjP-N-_704OPBRxpzAUIFBHmy0XHVeXYEER1b6nJd8b-qQZ0k3AD9XtGNtbr90N_MVW-nRBFHU67XfXfyvWijqz
Dodge projectiles and build some Strength. The Might node goes without saying, but what is interesting here is another Keystone by the name of "Arrow Dodging", that signifacantly helps you against ranged enemies (which I faced a lot of trouble with up to this point).

Around there, you will find out, that if you can get your hands on an item with 2 red and 1 green socket all linked together, you can add this for your Cleave:

You are dual wielding and you also have a significant attack speed that you might as well show off a bit. The important thing is that this Support Gem allows you to ignore the need to improve your Cleave gem using GCP (Gemcutter's Prism), as what this would do is only add attack speed. So you do this more effeciently and more heavily. Plus it is quite easy to find these 3 linked sockets.

To finish Cruel, I suggest to get as close to this build as you can (72 points):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0SIBpVIWAn1TIJNug6UkCgR35T31jbXotgS2EhZKNlTXTtdPF674TZhO-ZK5uDnrmrxb2BxFjP-N-_704OPBRxpzAUIFBHmy0XHVeXYEER1b6nJd8b-qQZ0k3AD9XtGNtbr90N_MVW-nRBFHU67XfXfyvWijqzNYadqrnNZ6CHdkp9aodBqvjr9zJyqXzZ
A lot of life and some Chaos Resistance plus Resolute Technique. Take advantage of the convenient location and improve your life and also pick up that little node for Chaos Resistance. 8% might not seem much, but trust me, it helps. Now another big deal is to go get Resolute Technique, an important Keystone for the build. I cannot decide whether you shall get all the life boosts first or RT first or maybe half life then RT, but sure it is good to have when you have reached 72 points.

As far as Act 2 Cruel is concerned, I would still suggest a Skill Point, but you can either help Kraityn (6% attack speed) or Oak (12% physical damage), but again avoid Alira as you will not need her bonus.

Well, washed ashore yet again, are we? This time around things are a little bit more serious, though and you have to take this into consideration. Most of my skill gems build fell apart at this point, as I realised I had a lot of problems to counter.
First off, I found out that my Frenzy and Rejuvenation Totem were more of a burden rather than a useful piece in my build. So I decided to tow around with what I had in my stash. I found out a pretty decent Aura to add:

{IMAGE MISSING - Grace -}
Trade some life for Evasion, it makes a differnece. Apparently, it is nice and easy because it is Value-based and not Percentage-based, which means that when it hits level X, it will cost Y life, you counter it with adding this life via items and you are done. If it was percent-based, the more life you had, the more it would reserve. Apart from that, I think it also benefits from the "Leather and Steel" area nodes and also works for Arrow Dodging, which make a huge difference in how well you can survive in battle (especially in areas like the Ledge where you fight a ton of skeleton archers).

Another useful thing to add to the build is a little Totem to draw some attention away and split the groups you are fighting:

It just helps you split groups in two. I was not too fond of either Shockwave Totem or Rejuvenation Totem, not to mention Devouring, so I ended up going with a simple Decoy Totem that will help me run and regenerate when things go a little South.

For the rest part, I made some decisions prior to questing. I would go get two "Added Cold Damage" support gems from quests to boost my Cleave and my Dual Strike. This would help a lot with both crowds and single targets. So my plan for the skill gems is as follows:

~Cleave + Life Gain On Hit + Faster Attacks + Added Cold Damage (optional + Life Leech)
An amazing small area AoE with enough regen from hits to keep you running, spammability to its maximum and cold damage to better fight groups. The optional is just some more life leech in case you can find a nice shiny 5-Link and want to use it to its maximum potential.
~Dual Strike + Life Leech + Faster Attacks + Added Cold Damage (2 optionals: + Life Gain On Hit and/or + Melee Physical Damage
Dual Strike was aimed at single targets, especially tough monsters like rares and uniques and maybe even some bosses. So what you want is to leech life based on its damage and get its DPS boosted with extra spammability and attack speed. Cold Damage helps with boss fights and if you decide adding the optionals (especially if you get a 6-Link), you can rock very hard.
~Leap Slam + Life Gain On Hit
Leap Slam is a good way to initiate plus it can be used to escape from sticky situations. Life gain on hit can be good for both tasks. If you get many linked sockets and wanna use them for this one, I can suggest Life Leech and maybe Added Cold Damage, but it is so unimportant the way I play, that I just think you should avoid boosting Leap Slam that much.
~Lightning Strike + Life Gain On Hit (optional: + Faster Attacks)
Lightning Strike is your way to shout 'I am not dead yet!' when you need to fall back and regenerate in a party or when fighting some slow creature and you get wounded. In order to make it even more useful for getting your health back up to literally Leap into melee again, I suggest to boost it with life gain based on targets hit to pump your health gain. Optionally, add Faster Attacks to be able to spam it.
~Decoy Totem
Decoy Totem serves as your last stand in case you get overwhelmed and need a way to get out. I did not add any support to it, merely because I have no idea what works with it, but I suppose the best investment in it is to get the Gem improved and make it have more life to tank a little longer.
~Grace (optional: + Reduced Mana)
The bold idea to cut Health in favor of Evasion works suprisingly well and can help you out in tough places. If you can get your hands on one Reduced Mana gen, you can have Grace running on really low costs, without you noticing it at all. Remember to use gear that adds life, as the application of passives on it will very easily make the cost of Grace really unnoticable.


At 80 points(play-tested up to here, the build is ok):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQABS0SIBpVIWAn1TIJNug6UkCgR35T31jbXotgS2EhZKNlTXTtdPF674TZhO-ZK5uDnrmrxb2BxFjP-N-_704OPBRxpzAUIFBHmy0XHVeXYEER1b6nJd8b-qQZ0k3AD9XtGNtbr90N_MVW-nRBFHU67XfXfyvWijqzNYadqrnNZ6CHdkp9aodBqvjr9zJyqXzZWK_iYTB3lZtlpyb4txc4lg==
5 DPS boost points and an easy Notable. Well, what can I say, I suppose the investment in the big Axe area is worth the 5 points. As for the last two, they are spent to get an easy notable to the right, because it would be a huge waste not to.

The Big 100 points (this build is only a plan, it needs a lot of tweaking, use at your own risk):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQBBS0R1RIgFHUXHRjbGlUb-iFgJd8m-CfVMHcyCTWGNug4ljpSOrM67UCgR35KfVPfVvpXl1ivWNtbr16LYEFgS2EhZKNlTWWnZ6Bqh3RBdO108XfXeu9_K4TZhO-HdpWbmSubLZuDnaqeuaQZq8W3F7nNvYG-p8APxFjP-NJN1e3Wit0N37_iYe9O_MUOPBRxQar46_cycql82ayqJ-0ZLtSPud3yL-8OZ5spLsqQXznd48HYpzAUIFBH976DfKgHZ4B4SfGKJ08=
You get a pretty much complete build. We invest 3 points in the beggining brances for a 10% damage and some attack speed, we get "Celerity" for move speed and "Blood Drinker" for lifesteal, another "Diamond Skin" for elemental resistances and "Heart of the Gladiator" for some extra Health, "Armour Mastery" for the extra armor, two small 1-Handed damage nodes and I think I did not forget to mention anything. That's it, your survivability is quite fine, you boost your DPS and you get a beastly character. Future plans will be revealed later on!


As far as Act 2 goes, maybe getting Frenzy Charges from Kraityn is an option, I stick with a Passive so that my build goes to be finished at a nice round 80 level, which is easy enough to accomplish for the average player.

Essential to the build is, in my opinion, an amulet like mine (with other values rolled maybe):

It is a unique, but if you get it you will see how much it adds to your build. Plus it looks funny!

As far as item properties are concerned, I strongly recommend:
+For weapons:
-Physical damage (flat) ~ extra damage is always welcome
-Physical damage (%) ~ check the above one
-Attack Speed ~ DPS boost and will also make you attack like a crazy berserking Viking
>DO NOT GET: Accuracy and Critical - beacuse of Resolute Technique

+For armor and accessories:
-Extra Armor/Evasion ~ always nice to have boosts in these to be able to stay alive longer
-Extra life ~ obvious need to be able to survive
-Life regeneration ~ same as above
-Life gain on hit/death/life leeched ~ you want to make the most out of your damage
-Strength/Agility ~ raw attribute boosts
-Elemental Resistances ~ survivability
-Chaos Resistance ~ survivability at its finest
>LESS IMPORTANT:
-Reflect Damage ~ make them feel your pain
-Increased rarity of items found ~ makes loot hunting easier

Now, I will show you my accesories of choice, as they are something you can keep for a while compared to armors and weapons:

They are not too special, but you know what to look for and what they shall look like if you happen to stumble upon them.

So, I have mentioned my skills a lot, but I will do a quick run-down here as well.

+CLEAVE ~ Your main DPS skills, preferrably mapped to Right Mouse Button, good to boost with Faster Attacks, Life Gain On Hit, Melee Physical Damage, Added Cold Damage and/or Life Leech
+DUAL STRIKE ~ Single target DPS, good to use against big enemies and bosses, good to boost with Faster Attacks, Life Gain On Hit, Melee Physical Damage, Added Cold Damage and/or Life Leech
+LEAP SLAM ~ Your way out and a good initiation skill, good to boost with Life Gain On Hit
+LIGHTNING STRIKE ~ Essential ranged skill, allowing you to pick enemies from a distance or finish them off while leaping away with low health, good to boost with Life Gain On Hit
+GRACE ~ Especially important Aura that can run on very low life cost, good to boost with Reduced Mana
+DECOY TOTEM ~ Interesting way to draw some attention away from you, useful for tanking and also keeping you alive