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

Yeah, I've been trying to read into Blood Magic, not sure if I'll end up taking it or just using a gem, I'll see how that pans out.

On the topic of crit nodes, I double checked and couldn't find anything related to crits except two 15%s which reduced damage that I took from crits. Perhaps you were looking at a different tree?

Again, thanks for the help, I'll take the advice on slowing down my path-planning and maybe start playing a bit more instead of just theorycrafting xD

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acecow wrote:

Yeah, I've been trying to read into Blood Magic, not sure if I'll end up taking it or just using a gem, I'll see how that pans out.

On the topic of crit nodes, I double checked and couldn't find anything related to crits except two 15%s which reduced damage that I took from crits. Perhaps you were looking at a different tree?

Again, thanks for the help, I'll take the advice on slowing down my path-planning and maybe start playing a bit more instead of just theorycrafting xD

Man, I am tired, was playing 8+ hours. Really sorry, I though half the nodes in Ranger area were Crit, forget about it.

As far as blood Magic goes, it is on the side of the build, swap one node like this -> http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQBBS0R1RIgFHUXHRjbGlUb-iFgJd8n1TIJNYY26DiWOrM67UCgR35KfVPfVvpXl1jbW69ei2BBYEthIWSjZU1noGqHdEF07XTxd9d6738rhNmE74d2mSubLZuDnaqeuaQZq8W3F7nNvYG-p8APxFjP-NJN1e3Wit0N7078xRRxQar46_cycql82ayqJ-0ZLtSPud3yL-8OZ5spLsqQXznd48HYpzAUIFBH976DfKgHZ4B4SfGKJ09EgVz5GE2bau_jY3AB5w== and you got it out your tree, keeping all the core in it. I think, though, that not getting BM is a problem for two main reasons:
1) You got a pretty low mana pool, so you will have to look into getting a way to replenish it somehow or grow it larger. And with a low start pool, any X% will be a small boost. Especiallyy if you use a Cleave with 4 linked Supports, you can burn your mana too fast.
2) You will have to reserve at least 1 Flask slot for a Mana Flask. I find myself needing all of my 3 Health Flasks mostly because of big hits, not because of the cost of my Cleave. A 2 Support Cleave costs me around 22 health and I regenerate 30+ per enemy hit. So, you will need to rely on one less Health Flask in big boss battles and harder enemies. (The other two are almost always a Granite and a Quicksilver)
It's your choice if you will get it or not, I just want you to know my reasoning behind this choice, so you can keep it in mind. The fact is that with the Respec points you get from Quests you can swap it in and out very quickly and easily, I changed 12 points this morning and it is fine, so if you change 3 points around BM it won't hurt you a bit. ;)


EDIT: TO ANYONE READING, why the Hell is it so important to solo each and every map under whatever conditions? To get to that point, you pretty much need a perfect build, which therefore needs perfect gear and it also needs you BEING ABLE TO COME OVER THE FACT YOU ARE ANTI-SOCIAL AND TEAM UP WITH OTHERS in order to get the gear in the first place. Otherwise you would be playing a single-player game, right? So MY build is not aimed at ridiculous solo conditions, but rather a build to play with friends, strangers or occasionaly alone where you can, but not solo every endgame Boss and come here braggin about it. Just sayin'...

I have to agree with you there. Sometimes it's fun just to make an odd yet really fun and unique build. Thanks for your perspective as it reminds me to keep enjoying my few odd builds I've done

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SEOINAGE wrote:

I have to agree with you there. Sometimes it's fun just to make an odd yet really fun and unique build. Thanks for your perspective as it reminds me to keep enjoying my few odd builds I've done

I like to keep old characters with stupid builds that would only work up to level 30, because they remind me of my mistakes. But, with the last one I got serious and planned carefully and here comes my guide! :P By the way if you come by the thread again, can you tell me what you think of the final build I have in the original post? :)

Up it goes...
...And with some little general information in second post now!

Hey just started playing this game tonight and I picked duelist, and this was the best looking thread with a lot of good comments on it and boy the skill trees are just insane! I love em, but a bit overwhelming at first so I have decided after looking at a few builds that I think I like this one.. I like the dual wield and the strength.. and of course the idea of viking-smashing everything & pillaging through stuff.
Was a little worried when I seen someone refer to it as a unique & weird build if I read right? As this being my first character ever in the game, do you think this build going to be pretty difficult for me as I don't have anyone to really play with atm? I'm only level 8, and I am splitting the tree up right away kinda evening them out reading ahead on your build template as I level up.

Good looking stuff!
Chron

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Chronixxx wrote:

Hey just started playing this game tonight and I picked duelist, and this was the best looking thread with a lot of good comments on it and boy the skill trees are just insane! I love em, but a bit overwhelming at first so I have decided after looking at a few builds that I think I like this one.. I like the dual wield and the strength.. and of course the idea of viking-smashing everything & pillaging through stuff.
Was a little worried when I seen someone refer to it as a unique & weird build if I read right? As this being my first character ever in the game, do you think this build going to be pretty difficult for me as I don't have anyone to really play with atm? I'm only level 8, and I am splitting the tree up right away kinda evening them out reading ahead on your build template as I level up.

Good looking stuff!
Chron

Thanks a lot! :)
The build is not unique and weird, but only very specific to its goals and equipment. Bear in mind that all melee based character are quite gear dependent at higer levels, so expect yourself working on your gear at some point. I stick with axes, but you can changes around those few points and make something else out of them if you wish. The build works very very well for all of Normal and Cruel Act 1 at the very least. If you find difficulties after that level, feel free to tweak it to your liking. Only thing you will really want is the "Araku Tiki" amulet as soon as you can find one, because it is a very nice unique that will keep your survivability very high. If you need to get in parties to level up and get your gear, do not worry, there are plenty and half the community is mature players willing to give up gear the pick up and not use that ou may need (worry about the other half). Lastly, if you want to put the points in another order, feel free to do so, but pay attention to when I get to certain Keystones like Blood Magic to get them at around the same time, as they are planned very specifically to minimize problems.

PS: Whatever you need, ask away, I will be around! ;)

UPDATE:
Not that anybody cares but I can confirm that the build is fully viable without crazy gear dependecies. What you need is, except for an amulet similar to my "Araku Tiki", just a simple chest armour plate forged to hold both Dual Strike and Cleave and also with extra life and armour. In fact it also provides you with some elemental resistances. What is it? This little beasty over there:

Now people in chat told me I could have gotten a much better roll (which I kinda knew), but with this thing and kinda bad gear otherwise (only one HP boost item with very low boost), I default to 3800ish armour and have a damage reduction of 35%. If I get the rest of my gear improved, I can be a beast. Just got "Heart of the Gladiator" in my passive tree and have 2190ish life. At level 66 with average rools on my gear, I can stay alive in 69 maps with two people (which I did today). Seems alright to me. ;)

Your final build looks fine to me, I'd get less damage and more hp personally, like the hp in the marauder area, but maybe you will do that next. Looks similar to my ranger but I don't think I will hit marauder area, it's up in the air still for me. When I level up some hit me up, IGN: Seo. Would be fun to run around smashing faces with double dual wielders.

Thank you very much for this guide. This is how I like them, thought through and explaining choices.

I have 1 question though. Your path to Blooddrinker is throught the bottom line, while the path through the upper line is 1 step faster. I decided to take the upper path because I would hit the 2x12% life faster (which gives way more hp then 1 strength) and could use the 6% attack speed on the dex line faster (gives higher dps than 1 strength).

Here is my build so far so you can see what I mean:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAAecFLRIgGlUb-iFgJd8n1TIJNug6UkCgR35T31ivWNtei2BLYSFko2VNdO108XrvhNmE75krmy2bg565pBmnMKvFvYHEWM_437_i6u9O974=

Does this choice sound right (in theory)?