Smiter/Aura Duelist - PvP/PvE

This is a little something I've been playing around with for the last while. High life/damage mitigation combined with a fast and hard hitting attack and max block.

Aim : Build uses shield charge to stunlock opponent and runs 6 auras + Tempest shield to gain a significant advantage.

Grabs :
Iron Reflexes to help mitigate damage
Unwavering stance to nullify block animations and stunlock
Celerity to Increase move speed
Inner Focus to maximize aura potentials.


Build (35)



Build (85) - Grabbing Inner Focus Last


Important points :
Attack speed on Shield Charge increases the movement speed of the attack animation, Thus, the players' base movement speed also affects the time between casts.

Picking up -20% Mana reserved in the passive section.
Mana Reduction supports give a maximum multiplier of 0.71, it will not be possible to run ALL of the % Based auras listed until the gems are sufficiently leveled.

Very important to note, with passives, tempest shield & crest of perandus you will have 74% Block rate until picking up inner focus.

Stats (In relation to the build)
Int: Fairly useless for the build, passives cover all int requirements for skills.
Dex: 1% Evasion per 5 points - Important for survival.
Str: Health & Melee Damage - Important for survival & DPS.



Skills

(4-6 Link Chestpiece) Primary attack : Shield Charge, Melee Physical Damage, Blood Magic, Faster Attacks, Weapon Elemental Damage, Added Fire Damage

(4 Link) Secondary : Cleave, Faster Attacks, Melee Physical Damage, Blood Magic

Auras :

(3 Link) Purity, Hatred, Reduced Mana Cost
(4 Link) Tempest Shield, Increased Critical Strikes, Elemental Proliferation, Reduced Mana Cost
(3 Link) Vitality, Determination, Reduced Mana Cost
(4 Link) Blood Magic, Grace, Wrath, Reduced Mana Cost

Equipment

Amulet : Karui Ward, Jade Amulet - Gives 10% Movement speed, Strength, Dexterity.

Helm : Any armor / evasion - Ideally gives +Life, High defense, resists.

Chest : Assassin's Garb - This Evasion chest provides a base +3% Movement Speed. Modifiers ideally have +Life, High Evasion, Resists.

Weapon : 1H Vaal Hatchet - Has high physical damage & IAS mods. Vaal Hatchet has the best rounded Damage : APS in the axe category. Axes also have the highest damage but no implicit.
(Keep in note, accuracy is note a factor for Shield Charge since it is 100% Hit rate)

Shield : Crest of Perandus - Helps max block, +Life, Life Leech. For PVP have Saffell's Frame unique on swap to combat spells.

Rings : Any - Have high resists, +Life, +Physical Damage/IAS.

Boots : Any - MUST have 30% Increased Movement Speed, don't worry about anything else.

Gloves : Slitherpinch gloves or rares with IAS & Life - Slitherpinch offers high dex (+evasion%) and some decent life leech.

Belt : Leather Belt - Has +Physical damage and High life roll.

General Play

For PvE I generally stick to cleave, since shield charge is not an AoE Skill cleave does the trick.

Tempest shield + Increased Crit/Ele Prolif help deliver lots of shock stacks increasing damage taken by enemies.

Depending on gear, Purity can be swapped for haste, to help maximize damage output. Don't sacrifice survival however.


End build!

SuoSmiter

I really like this build - keep me posted!
And Remember to have enough hp nodes(you skipped think skin and the 12% hp clusters in the middle of the three! HP>armor imho!)

Is this an actual leveled character or theorycraft. Cos you have so very little life nodes you are going to get one-shotted by anything. And rolling 5 red gems in a pure evasion armour is near impossible. And shield charge makes no sense in pvp, how are you going to charge when everyone is flicker striking, leap slamming and using whirling blades for mobility. Maybe you want to make a templar instead of duelist and roll energy shield on top of that life, I'm really not sure.

But anyways if you actually make this char keep us posted. Always interesting to read build threads.

"

kadrek91 wrote:

I really like this build - keep me posted!
And Remember to have enough hp nodes(you skipped think skin and the 12% hp clusters in the middle of the three! HP>armor imho!)

Yes absolutely agree with you as far as Armor<Life.
I have been considering scrapping Inner Focus for the Life wheel in the middle of tree.
I will keep updating the build as I progress with my duelist.

"

drakar8888 wrote:

Is this an actual leveled character or theorycraft. Cos you have so very little life nodes you are going to get one-shotted by anything. And rolling 5 red gems in a pure evasion armour is near impossible. And shield charge makes no sense in pvp, how are you going to charge when everyone is flicker striking, leap slamming and using whirling blades for mobility. Maybe you want to make a templar instead of duelist and roll energy shield on top of that life, I'm really not sure.

But anyways if you actually make this char keep us posted. Always interesting to read build threads.

This is an In-Progress character, partial theory craft as it is not complete yet. I am currently at level 52.

LIFE - Guaranteed from Items, Levels, Strength, Passives, Auras.

2.5% Life Regen + (1.7%~ * 1.30 [Inner Focus]) Vitality [~2.0%] = ~4.5% Life Regeneration

30 Life + Strength (Base 22 + 310 Passives + 20 Karui Ward + X From Items) + Life Per level
Strength [352] -> Life [5 per 10 Strength] = 352 * 0.5 = 176
Levels -> Life [+6 per level] = 69 [Lv.70-Lv.1] * 6 = 414
Guaranteed Life from Items - +70 Crest of Perandus

0 Base Life from Rares , 0 Passive % increases = 590 [414+176+30+70]

78% Life from Passive Increases.

590 * 1.78% = 1050 (Rounded Down)

1050 Base Life, Guaranteed.

3% Life Leech [Slitherpinch] + 1% Life Leech [Crest of Perandus] = 4% Life Leech

Since this build is not bound to uniques and doesn't require specific rolls on armor it allows the player to push to what they feel they need the most. With 7 free item slots to pick and choose form, all items should easily be able to attain +70~ Life (Worst case scenario).

Giving at worst, another 490 * 1.78 = 872 Life.

I am currently sitting at 2.5k life with ample room to improve items.

Continued

Damage Reduction - Guaranteed from Buffs, Passives, Dexterity, Levels, Items.

Armor/Evasion
Grace - 1000~ Evasion * 1.30 = 1300 Evasion
Items - Helm 500, Gloves 300, Boots 500, Chest 1000, Shield 50 = 2350 Evasion.

Evasion = 3650 - Worst case rolls.

Armor%/Evasion%
Determination - 40% * 1.30 = 52% (Multiplicative)
Passives - 52%
Dexterity (30 Karui Ward, 40 Slitherpinch, 90 Passives) - 160 * .2 = 32%
Dexterity -> Evasion = 10 -> 2%

136% Armor Increase.

3650 * 2.36 = 8614 Armor at WORST case scenario.


Why Shield Charge :

Shield charge ALWAYS hits and will kill on first hit, giving a 200% Increased damage at max distance, superior mobility and lots of stun.

Whirling blades is easy to combat as they will be hit if they try to attack you with it.
Flicker Strike has a cooldown (If I recall correctly) making it easy to deal with as opponents will have to use frenzy and spend frenzy charges if they want to continue spamming it.

I would like to see someone land remotely close to me with leap slam, If someone ever does, I will screen shot for you.

Thanks for the feedback!

2 more things - you will never have the time to activate all auras in pvp, from what I can tell you can straight up run to your opponent in the time it takes to cast 2.

Stun only works vs characters not build for pvp, everyone on bottom side of tree will go unwavering stance, everyone on top will go eye of chayula. Since that ammy is in short supply it still works against most people, but that will not be the case in open beta.

If you want to test a few rounds, I have 3 chars a 68 duelist with frenzy/flicker stiker. A 60 glacial hammer templar and a 60 critical wand witch. Neither is built for pvp so it should be a relatively even match I think. Hit me up if you are ever online, ign wanderwitch.

i need a new skill tree 4 this plz