Gladiator actually got WTF buffed giga hard and almost everyone else got massively pwned

Not only is the ascendancy even stronger than before but also the passive tree is way too favorable for Duelist, on a level that you seriously want to consider picking it for Scion for just it's starting position.

Gladiator
- Gladiator damage buffed by 30%
- Gladiator's standard path has cannot be stunned, corrupted blood immunity & +3% max all res for a total of 6 points.
- Violent Retaliation is probably the biggest DPS % increase node in the whole game at 30 - 50% more damage depending on the enemy.
- 85% block and ~40% spell block is better than 75% block and 75% spell block because there are 20x more attacks thrown at you than spells.
- Gladiator gets almost max effective armour for a nominal investment while armour is being buffed as defence by almost a double.
- 3 point pathing + set Steelskin on left click for 1 gem slot.


Only builds which could compete previously
- Traps damage nerfed by 50%
- Minions early game nerfed by 50%
- Aura stackers don't exist
- EE & EO trolled
- Clusters are less effective compared to passive tree
- Everyone who used dodge before( half of the builds) lost ~ 20% of their total defenses which need to be compensated for

I was really hoping to not go Gladiator again but goddamn they just keep buffing him.

Scourge is THE LEAGUE for most of all Gladiators, rest of the duelists and Marauders, both shield and 2H.
Wanders & poison might also be very good now.

Can't wait to see a buildguide from you then. ;-)

Violent Retaliation is super underrated but I dunno about losing all that spell block. 87% attack block with nothing but ascendancy and +2% from shield mastery is pretty neat.

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Perry_Hotter wrote:

Can't wait to see a buildguide from you then. ;-)

Yeah, I spent 2 hours yesterday working on other builds but this is just too much. Unless something super genius sparks up, I'll be on my Reave / BF again for 7th or 8th league now. I really don't see anything cost-efficiency wise competing with it before 100 EX.

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DiabloImmoral wrote:

Violent Retaliation is super underrated but I dunno about losing all that spell block. 87% attack block with nothing but ascendancy and +2% from shield mastery is pretty neat.

People don't understand what "Lucky" really means.
It's basically a free permanent pre-nerf Diamond flask except it works on even non-crit attacks, making it way stronger at around 25-45% more DPS depending on the weapon.

The spell block is not a problem at all and it never was that important. There's spell suppression and plenty of spell block to get from different sources - you get 25% spell block back from Tempest Shield already.

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DiabloImmoral wrote:

Violent Retaliation is super underrated but I dunno about losing all that spell block. 87% attack block with nothing but ascendancy and +2% from shield mastery is pretty neat.

Don't forget The Anvil, and you're at 90%. That amulet may be new HC favourite ;]

Anyway that Versatile Comabatant is a serious nerf from 75/75 to 50/50.
And for builds with 50% and less block it does nothing. And later it always sacrifices attack block for spell block.

As Kiss_Me_Quick mentioned - Tempest Shield at lvl 20 and max rolled T1 suffix on shield and you have 40% spell block already. So taking VC keystone here makes no sense, as you gain only 10% spell block and sacrifice 25% of attack block.

The only reason I see now that someone wants to take that keystone is when the build has no any source of spell block at all (e.g. mana is filled with something else than Tempest Shield, and shield is good but has no spell block suffix - like uniques). And you want to sacrifice that ~25% attack block for 50% spell block.

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artisanix wrote:

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DiabloImmoral wrote:

Violent Retaliation is super underrated but I dunno about losing all that spell block. 87% attack block with nothing but ascendancy and +2% from shield mastery is pretty neat.

Don't forget The Anvil, and you're at 90%. That amulet may be new HC favourite ;]

Anyway that Versatile Comabatant is a serious nerf from 75/75 to 50/50.
And for builds with 50% and less block it does nothing. And later it always sacrifices attack block for spell block.

As Kiss_Me_Quick mentioned - Tempest Shield at lvl 20 and max rolled T1 suffix on shield and you have 40% spell block already. So taking VC keystone here makes no sense, as you gain only 10% spell block and sacrifice 25% of attack block.

The only reason I see now that someone wants to take that keystone is when the build has no any source of spell block at all (e.g. mana is filled with something else than Tempest Shield, and shield is good but has no spell block suffix - like uniques). And you want to sacrifice that ~25% attack block for 50% spell block.

The Anvil is not worth it - it's very easy to get +10-15% more damage + life on amulet for 1 EX these days.

The Versatile Combatant isn't worth it either because normal block is way more important than spell block and you won't be reaching 75%+ block on non-block classes and if you do then you probably won't path there.

Spell block might not be that useful now-IF you can get 100% spell suppression.

IF.

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Kiss_Me_Quick wrote:

The spell block is not a problem at all and it never was that important. There's spell suppression and plenty of spell block to get from different sources - you get 25% spell block back from Tempest Shield already.

I hope it's right.

I wouldn't say less important, I would say "occasional".

Try fighting an Eradicator (Elder Boss), you'll see that on this occasion, all the attack block will be totally useless and you'll regret not having used another class / ascendancy.

The Violent Retaliation rework is definitely better for normal maps and especially bossing. For Reave's "ranger/Melee" style, let's say it's a lot more stable for 100% delirium.
But for pure Melee style, it will probably be worse. It was possible to easily get over 60 stacks, often 80-100 in a properly configured delirium, which is well over 40% more damage.

.

Wtf is this?

I'm actually considering playing melee for the first time since breach league?