[3.3] Unstoppable Gladiator 78% Max Block/Spells. Best Low Budget League Starter

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Harnellas wrote:

I was theorycrafting a varunastra reave build with the new shield, 6L belly, and abyssus. Even with the relative safety provided by reave's reach you think abyssus is just too much of a drawback?

I played for quite some time this build based on Varunastra with Reave during Perandus league. At that moment, I tested Abyssus trying to make it work on this build but imo you can't avoid random deaths at highest tiers.

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calavera_ wrote:

Someone asked this some pages ago, about the links on the shield. Actually you CAN link stuff to The Surrender, the Reckoning skill will proc it. Curse on hit + enfeeble linked to it seems to be the best, other link may be life on hit for more leech goodness, or riposte, or more damage support to reckoning. This opens up a slot to your cast when damage taken (maybe a fire golem?).

I was mistaken then, thanks for the info! That shield is such a nice addition for this build.

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HateTheWorld wrote:

I will say BIG THX for this very nice build/guide. I played much builds but with no one i had so much fun. I`m lvl 82 and with the Surrender Shield i farm T10 maps so easy.

I have a couple of question

Q1.0 How you guys make Endgame Lab? Life, Dmg, Tactic :)

Q2.0 How we can improve the build?

Q2.1 I have enough currency for example Varunastra Sword.
Make it so much better Damage to warrant the price of 5 Exalted?


Q2.4. Is the new Jewel (Red Nightmares) variant whereof many mates here talking better?
If so can any one post me/us a tree, gem configuration and items if anyone
play with it or when anyone have a good theory build draft would be very nice :).

Q2.5. What do you think about Red Nightmare Jewel + Varunastra? If it works.

Glad to read that! About your questions:

Q1.0 - Uber Lab is quite easy to do. Imo, only thing that could hit you hard is the pulse Izaro throws and I can't be sure of this, but seems that damage got increased if you're far away from him. My tactic is simple, just facetank him all the time and try to be extra careful on flask usage.

Q2.0 - Improvement on this build beyond getting the best gear/jewels you could buy is going for the new The Surrender shield imo. Varunastra version is too expensive for the little improvement you get and Aegis+6L version is fine, but still, I think I prefer the BoR+Soul Taker version of the build with The Surrender.

Q2.1 - Stated before, no. Stay with Soul Taker, that price is not worthy.

Q2.4 - That jewel gives so much additional block chance that allows you to change a lot of things on this build. I didn't have the time to theorycraft good choices with it, but one thing for sure, maybe is a nice upgrade but doesn't fit with the idea behind this build: cheapest possible build for all end game content.

Q2.5 - Again, Varunastra is not worthy imo. This build was created on Perandus league, based on Varunastra, because was a cheap unique during that league that fits perfect. After that, Varunastra only comes in the form of divination cards and price got increased a lot. During that time, a lot of people wanted to play with it anyways, so I made that alternate section for those who were interested.

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valkangel wrote:

Hi, fairly new new to PoE. Just have a qurstion. Can this build be replicated by lets say a scion? If so, how do i go about it? Already started a scion using part of your build btw, just wanna know if it's viable late game before i continue (still at lvl 20 atm)

No, because this build is based on full block attacks/spells and for that you need Versatile Combatant ascendancy point from Gladiator class.

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How's this build for the Shaper?

I don't think Shaper is possible with this build. I tried once during Essence league and there's so much damage that cannot be blocked that I wasn't able to sustain the fight and run out of flask quite fast.

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RoworStak wrote:

How much of a difference would this BoR make for the dps of the build?

I am unsure to go with this build or a totem one with marauder.
If a go for the marauder build I'll just sell the BoR xD

Static Strike explosions have a delay, so after the hit, the explosion occurs after 0.75s. That reduction applies to that delay, but this will not increase the damage because the amount of the explosions will be just the same: 1 hit = 1 explosion.

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sultangurde wrote:

I personally play Cleave variant of the build, but i did loads of research before the league to incorporate Blade Flurry into this Gladiator build. I decided to drop it because simple it didnt do enough single target damage on guardians.

Totally agree, imo, Static Strike and Cleave are the best options for the build. I personally prefer Static Strike (plus considering the great buff it got on 2.4).

Edit: also answer to:

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Recovary wrote:

So what's better this league? Cleave? Static strike? Sunder? Earthquake?

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sultangurde wrote:

Played a lot with cleave, but since i am grinding from 93 to 94, exp per hour became an issue.
So i decided to try Static Strike again for maps 13-16 and exp per hour went from 18kk to 24kk.
I play Static Strike without PhysToLighning gem, so i can proc explosions. With 10-12 attacks per sec it is melting mobs and bosses quite fast.

Btw which head enchants would be best for Static Strike?
Damage looks neat, but since i build so many stacks wouldnt reduce static strike be better?
Anyone tested it?

I'm really glad to read this. I found Static Strike the best choice but after more than 110 pages of Q&A I can assure you that not much people like it. Without PtL, clear speed is good enough and for single target damage is better than any other option.

About enchants, I think the best is damage increase. I think reduce duration is pretty poor because only affects the delay of the explosion, so you still deal the same damage, just a little bit "faster" considering the first hit. Basically explosions depends on the hit, so you still have the same amounts of explosions because you deal the same amounts of hits.

PS: gratz on that ladder rank, impressive!

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Greymane2k wrote:

EDIT: So I went and did Uber Lab on an easy mod day (Gargoyles, Lieutenants, 1h Dual Wield) and did a full key run. Had same stats as mentioned above. I managed to kill Izaro, but I didn't seem to be able to block his "Radiant Slash" ability where he sends out that wave attack - out of the ~10 or so he did during the Lab fights, every single one seemed to hit me, and for a LOT of damage (about 70-80% of my life pool) which was scary. Besides that though his other attacks and mechanics didn't seem to hit or do much of anything. One mistake I made was that I forgot to swap in Conc Effect for AoE (had only been mapping with the character and for mid level map bosses dont need to switch, so wasn't thinking of it on Izaro). So with the Conc gem and now with my final two Ascendancy points allocated (in Violent Retaliation) I will have a lot more damage for subsequent runs. I plan to try farming it a bit today. As for my low damage mentioned in the first part of this post, ~1.7k tooltip Flurry, heavy stacking poison/bleed through double-curse and double-dipping as much as possible, it felt surprisingly adequate. A little slower than my last leagues BV Pathfinder, but I was expecting far worse and Izaro actually died in each phase within ~15 seconds or less I would say. I still have a ton of room for gear improvement as well.

That pulse from Izaro is pretty dangerous. I don't know if I'm wrong because basically I just do lab for the ascendancy points and never again run it. I personally hate labs beyond any possible explanation. So I can't imagine playing on HC uber lab one time and again.

But, I got the impression that the pulse do more damage as you're far away from Izaro. Like the opposite of Freezing Pulse skill. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but I never got hit from the pulse when I stay facetanking Izaro, it happened to me when I try to move to avoid it. Again, maybe I'm totally wrong, I can't assure you this.

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Kazarack wrote:

Guys - i am only getting 4% from Gladiator not 6%

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+6% from Ascedancy points.

So that gives me 76% not 78%..everything else is 100% copy of his build

You got 6% from ascendancy point after uber lab. From start to Painforged you got 2%, then from Painforged to Versatile Combatant another 2% and the final 2% from Painforged to Violent Retaliation.