[GGG] Gladiator needs serious rework - 0.5%

Poeninja states only 0.5% of players choose this class.
What is the reason I wonder? Here is my take of the current state of this class.

[1] The rework / nerf of block mechanism hit gladiator too hard. Blocking is still an RNG defence mechanism, while spell suppression was reworked into a reliable mechanism, which caps out at 100%. Too many passive skill points are needed to raise block attack damage and block spell damage is totally separate now, which requires even more passive points. Yet, gladiator ascendancy travel nodes and passive tree nodes still only offer 2-3% block chance. While spell suppression small nodes provide 5-8% and large nodes provide 10-15%.

[2] Not enough defence is offered in the ascendancy nodes. The only defence gladiator gets from the class nodes is the block mechanism, which as stated above is unreliable and requires too many passive skill points to increase compared to other defence mechanisms. This should be looked into and possibly offer other defence nodes, too.

[3] Not enough damage is offered in the ascendancy nodes and what is offered is too specialised. Ascendancy nodes do not provide general buffs. They specialise in a very specific build, so choosing 8 ascendancy nodes that focus on one build is almost impossible.

Outmatch and Outlast - specialises in dual wielding but offers very little to sword and board or two-handed weapon builds.
Blood in the Eyes and Gratuitous Violence only buff bleed builds.

SOLUTION

- rework travel nodes and ascendancy nodes on the left side with block. no more than 4 nodes should be dedicated to this (2 travel nodes, 2 large nodes)
make block spell damage equal to block attack damage or a percentage of that, e.g. 80%
also rework the RNG block mechanism completely and make it 100% reliable similar to spell suppression, block chance should be capped at 100% but take some portion of the blocked attack damage
adjust the block chance values both in the ascendancy nodes and the passive skill tree similar to the spell suppression values: small nodes 5-8%, large nodes 10-15%. also could adjust the block chance affix values on items to match spell suppression values. Right now the value is way too low.

- with the remaining two nodes on the left side offer some other defence mechanism, e.g. increased evasion and armour, permanent ward that refreshes every second, permanent fortify with increased effect, some other form of defensive layer that stacks up. this new defensive layer could be about physical and elemental damage mitigation, % chance of elemental ailments avoidance stacking up to 100% at which level it resets but offers immunity for a short period of time

- rework outmatch and outlast to offer buff to all builds regardless of what weapon the gladiator is wielding
also provide charge generation with on-hit mechanism rather than on-kill

- rework blood in the eyes and gratuitous violence in a way that it applies buffs to almost all builds not just bleed builds. Blind, slow or weakened debuff could be applied on hits for example rather than on bleeding enemies.

- gladiator is also a versatile fighter having experienced professional close combat fights for years. I would love to see some node that boosts damage for all builds and applies all weapon damage nodes from passive skill tree to gladiator regardless of the weapon type he is wielding. e.g. can take sword weapon nodes while wielding an axe.

The only decent node right now is Arena Challenger, which is versatile and offers buff to all builds.

EDITED

What is the solution to melee builds in ruthless? Melee build damage scales off with weapon base damage. Every 3-4 levels the weapon has to be upgraded to keep up somewhat with spell gem scaling. In ruthless this seems impossible.