why duelist is so unpopular?

I dislike the way the duelist looks, for this same reason in regards to the Marauder, Templar and Scion, I only roll Ranger, Shadow, and Witch. Simple as that for me.

Taking into account Legatus1982's information, which seems true as far as I browsed http://poestatistics.com/invasion/ , the gem choice (Reduced mana etc) argument doesnt seem to fit anymore.
Even the itemization argument isnt so strong anymore when we have more or less the same result for the 4 month hc race.

Looking at the results from Invasion league still has one big problem with it though: They're based on a league featuring mobs that have already been acknowledged as overpowered enough that they are being removed altogether after this season(and that even AFTER they were nerfed previously).

On the other hand, even looking at the Ambush ladder, the trend still seems to be there at the highest levels, so there might be something more to look into.

The shadow tends to be known as the squishy class. It's critical focused, and has less HP. I wouldn't necessarily expect them to be in the highest rankings. Dead or alive.

This season is interesting for 1 reason, the massive buff to fire damage overall. Many fire builds can keep at a distance. Which is a plus in high level play.

To me at least, the class differences are pretty darn close. Much closer than back in CB. So quite a bit of balance progress has been made. There will always be something better than others based on what the current meta is. Tweaking is always welcomed, however, I don't think we're that far off the target anymore.

I am still a heavy proponent of changing IR, and doing something to make CI builds differ in a significant way. Both would be difficult to change though.

I agree that the ranger-witch slice of the tree tends to be squishier than the rest, thanks to only ONE, ONE life regen node (Heart of Oak).

This thread has just made me make a dual-wielding duelist in Invasion. Thanks

Because no one's gonna play Detonate Dead or Searing Bond as Duelist.

It's a 2 week race, don't read too much into it.

Duelist has access to some good nodes but marauder and templar both have access to best nodes:

+max resist

Duelist ofc.can get them too but why bother if m/t can get them easier? Also better life and gem selection.

One thing that i really appreciate when playing duelist is leather and steel. This is an equivalent of a good ms boots.

Other than that templar is strongest imo. All paths are open for him maybe except dagger crit that is also possible but much cheaper if playing shadow.

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sidtherat wrote:

Other than that templar is strongest imo. All paths are open for him maybe except dagger crit that is also possible but much cheaper if playing shadow.

Pretty much that, templar really has kickass options. Seems if you like to build off-key you will pick either a templar or a scion, I haven't rolled a duelist or a ranger in a long, long time, only a few witches and shadows and one mara for the 2week league. And I reroll a LOT.

It's possible results are skewed in this infographics, but duelist had identity problems since a long, long time ago, whatever he can do other classes can do better.

I love playing the duelist, it's my favorite class in regards to how it looks and talks
(scion stands with her head weirdly tilted to one side, it annoys me greatly, and she talks too much).

I was also very surprised that the duelist was so unpopular in the two weeks race :(

When i look at the duelist tree,
i see a lot of dual wielding passives; so the duelist was probably meant to shine at dual wield.
May be it will now, with the latest DW change.

I don't have any duelist chars right now and the last one I rolled was only because of the "level to 65" challenge in Dom/Nem. Tho I almost always roll duelist in races.

As others have pointed out, neighbouring classes can excell in anything the duelist can, plus have better gem selection.

For me the "personality" of the class also plays a role, eg. for caster I prefer to roll witch rather than templar, even if it can be slightly gimping. For DW you can pick:

* a cool hulk-smash giant brute dimwit
* a sexy hetero blonde (tho fvkin annoying when she speaks)
* a sexy lesbian do-gooder in leather pants
* a casanova poser wearing a horrid red shirt that is visible through armor