[3.6] Champion Crit Claw Reave / Double Strike (cheap / SSF)

Hi,

As old as the skill Reave is, i never played it until the Delve league. And i must say i'm not disappointed. Lately i'm doing my own builds, with always one thing in common : being cheap. Delve league was the first i decided to do in SSF, tired of trading even if it was mostly to sell stuff rather than buying anything.

Version history (3.4-3.7) :
3.7 Note : Melee hype o/. I'll not update this build however so if you're new, i'd suggest to check a 3.7 Reave build you should easily find. Basically, buffs everywhere. You'll want to impale (ez 100% chance now), drop Fortitude ascendancy node for Master of Metal, put Fortify on main skill, etc. Have fun! If you want, here's mostly my Cyclone Berserker build for Legion.
3.6 Note : A reasonable leech change that nerf Bloodseeker unique a bit. With our attack speed it still should be decent.

Demo video of the build in a Ghetto Map (T13)

Not the best demo, but you'll get a good idea despite i wasn't optimizing at all (90% of the time at 4 stacks, lulz).

A quick "how the build works optimally" : Hatred and Herald of Purity activated. Blood rage started. Buffing flasks up (Diamond flask, freeze/bleed/curses immunities, etc.). Whirling Blading everywhere, using Reave to clear packs of mobs, you'll use Vaal Reave as soon as possible in a pack to get 8 stacks instead of maximum 4 to reach your maximum AoE radius. Rinse and repeat. On bosses, you can switch Reave with Double Strike to destroy them while also putting an Ancestral Protector in there.

You can see my character in 3.5, HaReaveast, or the one from 3.4, HaReavest.
Path of Building link
No charges / onslaught activated as you'll not get them against bosses mostly, and it's set on Shaper/Guardian setting. I prefer to lower my expectations than putting too much buffs you wouldn't get when it matters the most.
DPS output with Reave is at 270k shaper dps.
DPS output with Double Strike is at 591k shaper dps (just replacing Reave by Double Strike in the setup, nothing more ; if you'd replace also Chance to Bleed by Bloodlust letting Ancestral Protector makes a boss bleed, it'd be 796k shaper dps).
Passive Skill Tree (lvl 93) : On the official website - PoEPlanner link
Ascendancy priorities : Since you can get Fortify relatively easily on your movement skill. I'd first go for Conqueror and Worthy Foe so you'll never miss a hit. Then take Unstoppable Hero and Fortitude.
Bandits : Kill all.

Gems (74 int, 163 str, 303 dex from the tree ; you may need some int on your gear) :

• Main skill (6l) : (Vaal) Reave / Double Strike + Melee Physical Damage + Maim + Multistrike + Ruthless + Chance to Bleed / Bloodlust. GRRRRR. Reave for clearing, Double Strike for single target. You could only use Reave but Double Strike is crazy for single target, so as you want. Bloodlust could be a second gem to swap for bosses, with Ancestral Protector applying the bleed.
• CwDT setup (4l) : Cast when Damage Taken (14) + Immortal Call (16) + Molten Shell (18) + Phase Run (16). RRRG. You want Phase Run to be the last gem to trigger (see the link if needed). Molten Shell is a gem i like for different reasons, but it's replaceable by Summon Lightning Golem, Increased Duration or else.
• Auras (no links needed) : Hatred, Herald of Purity, Dread Banner. GRR. Great damages increase, and good defense increase from the banner with less accuracy rating to nearby enemies, and the Fortify Effect increased but it's very short (2.5s at max stages). You may want to use an Increased Duration Support (R) on the banner.
• Movement skill (3l) : Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks + Blood Magic. GGR. Until you get the last ascendancy notable skill Fortitude, you can put Fortify instead of Blood Magic there, or use a 4l for it to use both.
• Utility (4l) : Ancestral Protector + Melee Physical Damage + Damage on Full Life + Chance to Bleed. RRRR. Great attack speed / damages increase, it also applies bleed for us if we want to use Bloodlust on bosses.
• Utility (no links needed) : Flame Dash (1), Blood Rage, Summon Lightning Golem. BGB. Flame Dash is very useful to simply teleport. Blood Rage is a great utility skill offering attack speed, frenzy charges while clearing (aka great damages increase again), and leech (though it's not needed here as we get it in the tree already). Lightning Golem is a little damages increase, but who wouldn't want a bit of additional attack speed ?

Gear :
As always, priority is to get some life and resistances, and 25/30% movement speed on the boots. When you'll start mapping 135% all elem resists is mandatory and i'd recommend to have 169% asap so you'll be capped even with an Elemental Weakness curse on you from a map mod or else. In your hideout since the -60% are taken into account now you want 109% (75% + the 34% Elemental Weakness removes in high tier maps).

For this build, there's nothing mandatory. We're dual wielding claws though.

For the flasks, you definitely want a Diamond Flask, the rest is related to preferences, even if a flask like Stibnite gives us a great defense. I usually always roll them to get lasting immunity to freeze / bleed and curses. Here are mine :

A lot of "Surgeon" prefixes, but also not really that needed. Still try to get at least one somewhere.

I'll put my gear here, the same you'll find in the PoB link above. You'll find Death's Hand as offhand though stat sticks are no more since 3.5, you'll need two decent claws :

This build works great with trash tier stuff, but can be improved by a lot with proper stuff.
As for uniques :

• (top tier) An Abyssus (helmet) would be the biggest DPS increase (+60%).
• (top tier) Then you've flasks like Lion's Roar, Atziri's Promise or Taste of Hate.
• (top tier) A Belly of the Beast as body armour for a decent life pool increase, or something like Loreweave.
• As your weapons, at first i wanted Bloodseeker (claw) for instant leech but i didn't loot it so that's why i'm with The Wasp Nest (claw). Any claws with ~240+ pdps will be fine.
• If a map has physical reflect, an easy way to do it if you really want to is to use something like Hrimsorrow gloves and switching Reave by Frost Blades for a 100% elemental conversion. Hrimsorrow is a relatively common unique.

That's pretty much it.
For your leveling i'd recommend to use the link below (PoE Roadmap) to see when and where you'll be able to get the gems listed above. Reave is a level 12 gem, in the meantime you can level up with Cleave, Frost Blades or any attack skill gem you'd like. Even past level 12. I used Cleave for a while until i had a decent weapon to do the switch.
Regarding the passive skill tree. I never liked to do different trees per level / points spent. I rather like to have the tree i'm aiming for and taking the nodes that i find will help me the most in the current situation. For instance, i'd suggest to not take any claw node during leveling until you get two very good claws and you'll stay with claws only. Try to balance between life and damages. You mainly want to open ways. Getting towards the life nodes in the Scion area while not taking them all, to take more life when you'll need it, while continuing towards top right (Shadow area) to be prepared to take claw nodes & crit ones while taking life nodes on the way as well as generic physical damages / attack speed. Jewel slots are optional until you actually get one or more decent ones.

Feel free to ask any question.

Additional links :

• My previous build : Inquisitor (Non-)Crit (MoM) Lightning Tendrils (cheap). Should be suitable for Divine Ire with little to no adjustments.
• Poe RoadMap or "Where to get the gems during the leveling"

Changelog :

Thanks for this guide! I'm going to take it for a spin in SSF tomorrow (don't like playing spellcasters)!

You're welcome. I'll replay Reave this league, also in SSF. I liked it too much in Delve but didn't have enough time to enjoy it fully so i hope i'll have more time in Betrayal. The AoE radius, the speed, the damages even with low tier gear, it's quite strong imo. Definitely not god tier, but enough to clear every content.

With the stat sticks changes there's still a few things that may change a bit but i'll need to check the numbers in Path of Building once it'll be updated with all the new 3.5 stuff.
For instance i'd like to verify how good would be Master of Metal. And if it may be viable to drop the taunt ascendancy part for something else. But i'm not sure it'd be better since we're crit and not caring about accuracy is just too good in addition with the 20% inc. damages taken to enemies.

"

Harest wrote:

You're welcome. I'll replay Reave this league, also in SSF. I liked it too much in Delve but didn't have enough time to enjoy it fully so i hope i'll have more time in Betrayal. The AoE radius, the speed, the damages even with low tier gear, it's quite strong imo. Definitely not god tier, but enough to clear every content.

With the stat sticks changes there's still a few things that may change a bit but i'll need to check the numbers in Path of Building once it'll be updated with all the new 3.5 stuff.
For instance i'd like to verify how good would be Master of Metal. And if it may be viable to drop the taunt ascendancy part for something else. But i'm not sure it'd be better since we're crit and not caring about accuracy is just too good in addition with the 20% inc. damages taken to enemies.

Why will you consider dropping taunt ascendancy, when you can simple drop fortitude and add fortify gem to your WB?

"

monoriee wrote:

Why will you consider dropping taunt ascendancy, when you can simple drop fortitude and add fortify gem to your WB?

For the comfort to always have Fortify on. But that's also a possibility for anyone to do so indeed. I just know i'll not, as i like it too much.

Is this somehow viable to level or will i go the multistrike route until lvl 80?

hi
is this build close\like to DonTheCrown champ?

"

RainbowRay33 wrote:

Is this somehow viable to level or will i go the multistrike route until lvl 80?

Cf. what i say in the leveling part : "Reave is a level 12 gem, in the meantime you can level up with Cleave, Frost Blades or any attack skill gem you'd like. Even past level 12. I used Cleave for a while until i had a decent weapon to do the switch.".
I'm also not sure why you're opposing viable and multistrike which is a support gem. Though i don't really like multistrike early on, especially if you don't have a good attack speed already.
I don't remember when i switched to Reave, but it's mainly a matter of feels. While you're leveling with any skill you took, if your current weapon allow you to and you're lvl 12+, try Reave vs the skill you're using and see how it goes.

"

lordfratos wrote:

hi
is this build close\like to DonTheCrown champ?

I had to check his guide but yeah, quite similar. It's just Blade Flurry is used instead of Vaal Double Strike for single target. He also use Swords instead of Claws here, and take a little different path in the skill tree to the Melee Crit nodes. Both are good imo.

Hey! Nice build! Just about to start levelling this as a first league character!
Quick questions tho, which ascendancy nodes do you prioritise? Going left or right first?

"

eXs7azY wrote:

Hey! Nice build! Just about to start levelling this as a first league character!
Quick questions tho, which ascendancy nodes do you prioritise? Going left or right first?

Hey, thanks. Have fun with it.
Cf. the build : "Ascendancy priorities : Since you can get Fortify relatively easily on your movement skill. I'd first go for Conqueror and Worthy Foe so you'll never miss a hit. Then take Unstoppable Hero and Fortitude."
So it's right first and left after. If you prefer more survivability early on you can also go for the fortify buffs that the left gives. Betrayal uniques are hitting hard.