Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Gladiator - My League Starter! [PoE 3.29]

---------------------------NOTES--------------------------- Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Gladiator! PLEASE NOTE: At the top right, use the loadout dropdown to see the Tree, Skills and Items at different stages of progression. Act 1 to Red Maps POB is what I actually played as a 2 stone test run, so gear is not desirable but does the job! ---------------------------PROS/CONS--------------------------- Pros - Very strong league starter - SSF viable - Tanky (87% block) - True melee - Great single target (nearly 5m DPS on a 5 link with league start gear) Cons - A little weak to degen - Clear is just OK but improves with attack speed/additional strikes and Flicker Strike if you want to use this. - Phys max hit isn't that high. ---------------------------LEVELLING NOTES--------------------------- REFER TO ACT LOADOUTS TO SEE TREE, GEAR AND SKILL PROGRESSION Levelling regex: "(\w\W){5}|-\w-.-|(-\w){4}|(-\w){5}|-\w-|Runn|rint|Glint|Heav|s:.+(ax|sw|cl|da)" Weapon vendor recipe: Weapon + Magic/Rare Rustic Sash + Blacksmith Whetstone returns a % physical damage weapon, use this if you feel DPS is lacking. Brief notes: Act 1 - 3: Use your highest DPS two hand weapon (in game tooltip should be fine to check) you find and just keep upgrading this when you can (use spare gold at Faustus if weapon is lacking) Act 4+: Swap to Two Handed Axes only, because of the Axe wheel we take that grants Rage on hit and Onslaught. We also use Close Combat as a support from this point. Act 6+: Start to save good one handed axes and swords, in preparation for the Dual Wield swap. Act 7 - 8: Refer to the "Dual Wield swap" loadout and do your second lab, the build should start to get tankier at this point. Act 9 - 10: Continue to fill out block/dual wield nodes and in combination with your 3rd lab, you should be max block going in to maps! ---------------------------GENERAL PROGRESSION OVERVIEW--------------------------- Early on: Two handed Sword/Axe Frost Blades 2nd lab: Switch to Dual Wield (Axe and Sword) 3rd lab: Farm Dual Strike of Ambidexterity from lab and swap to this and Max block setup (build gets very tanky here). 4th lab: Crit swap (Dagger/Claw ideally but can do Sword/Claw as well if you have high pdps Sword) Endgame: Farm clusters to swap to Cluster Jewel tree (Quick and Deadly is a very important notable for the build) Further endgame: Paradoxica, Ryslatha's Coil ---------------------------PASSIVE TREE--------------------------- - Precise Technique - Impale at endgame - Block nodes to cap it (Easy with glad) Because we pick up the Precise Technique keystone, we need to make sure our Accuracy is always HIGHER than our Life pool to benefit from the 40% more damage. As a way to scale damage at endgame, we start to build in to Impale. Once we do our 3rd lab and pick up the Lucky Block node, we already have a major defensive layer which will carry us through maps (87/87 attack/spell block)! Lategame we drop Precise technique and build in to Crit. Try to pick up 2 large clusters with Quick and Deadly as this is the best way to scale our damage. ---------------------------GEAR--------------------------- Follow the loadouts to see Gear sets at different stages of progression. Once swapping to Crit after 4th lab, I think Dagger/Claw comes out ahead DPS wise because of the more crit chance provided by the ascendancy, especially if you can get a Mark of the Doubting Knight early. Once getting Huntleader (Einhar bloodline), I think Sword/Claw starts to pull ahead as you can scale a higher flat physical number. Also this sets you up for switching to a Paradoxica later on. -------------WEAPONS------------- Main hand: High physical damage roll is main priority here Before endgame, I craft a Platinum Kris/Legion Sword as this has the highest base phys roll (attack speed doesn't matter). Aim to get as much flat and % phys as possible. At endgame, pick up a Paradoxica with Increased % Phys damage with impale chance (main priority) and crit strike chance is 2nd best mod - Attack speed gives nothing here because of Dual Strike using offhand attack time. Alternatively you can get a high DPS Legion Sword with Crit Chance and Crit Multiplier. Off hand: APS is highest priority here, try to get t1 attack speed with as much phys as possible (Imperial claw base is ideal). IMPORTANT: When swapping off from the initial Axe/Sword setup, you need to swap out Close Combat support otherwise you won't be able to attack! BEFORE CRIT SWAP: I use an Axe in main hand and Sword in offhand for 30% more damage against enemies on low life and 25% more accuracy. This helps cap Precise Technique easier and use Leap Slam. CRIT SWAP: I switch to Dagger and Claw combo, which gives me access to instant leech, and I swap movement skill to Whirling Blades. A good early weapon to use is Mark of the Doubting Knight as it gives good flat phys damage and we don't care about attack speed on main hand. This also gives us more Crit chance from our ascendancy but please note that you will likely have to solve for accuracy if not using a Sword. Once you have the Farrul bloodline and improve gearing, swap to Sword/Claw combo. -------------ARMOUR------------- I opt for Armour/Evasion gear here, in combination with Granite/Jade Flasks this gives us some additional defensive layers alongside the block. You can either use Iron Reflexes to convert it all to Armour to help Phys max hit, or leave it unallocated for Block/Evasion layers which mean you barely get hit! Stats to look for: - Maximum life - Resistances - Armour/Evasion (flat and % increased) - Attributes if still short - Attack speed and flat phys on gloves - Life regen on armour besides chest (to take advantage of 15% life mastery) - We craft shock avoidance boots for the future Stormshroud usage for ailment immunity. Refer to the endgame loadouts for Eldritch implicits. In 3.29 they are introducing a unique Helmet called Subsume the Source which consumes 4 rare eye jewels and takes a mod from them. There are some potentially crazy combinations here, which could give you insane crit mulitplier, flat phys damage, chaos resistance, shock avoidance to get ailment immunity with Stormshroud etc. If you don't like Flicker Strike, you can drop this 4 link setup and experiment with this helmet as it seems like it could be like an Abyssus without the downside! -------------JEWELLERY------------- Look for these stats: - Resistances - Max life - Attributes - Flat physical damage Early game anoint: We go with Mark the Prey for more EHP and 10% more damage against marked enemy. Late game Anoint: Whispers of Doom so we can also self cast Punishment alongside Assassins Mark on hit. -------------JEWELS------------- - Quick and deadly notable on clusters are best in slot to scale DPS. - In trade, you can buy Megalomaniacs as well for the large clusters. - Normal rare jewels with % increased life and 1-2 relevant Crit Multiplier mods. At endgame, we pick up: - Watchers eye with impale last 2 additional hits - Light of meaning with % physical damage - Stormshroud for ailment immunity (assuming avoid shock boots have been crafted) Last min max we go with Forbidden Flame/Flesh Master of Metal set ---------------------------MAP MODS TO AVOID--------------------------- Regex for mods to avoid: "!efl|eec|ur$|gen|s rec" - Cannot leech - Cannot regen life/mana is annoying - Reduced chance to block Thankfully Phys and Ele reflect have been reworked so only should be the above that are a brick! ---------------------------BANDITS/PANTHEON--------------------------- Bandits: Kill all or help Alira Pantheon: Brine King/Tukohama ---------------------------Endgame scaling priority list--------------------------- - Crit swap: Well crafted Legion Sword and high attack speed/decent phys Imperial Claw - Cluster jewels with Quick and Deadly/Deadly Repartee - Paradoxica with Phys% and chance to impale, secondary mod Crit Strike chance if possible - Well crafted Armour/Evasion gear with Eldritch implicits and capped or close to capped Chaos Res - Ryslatha's Coil - Watchers eye with impale last 2 additional hits - Light of meaning with % physical damage - Rare boots with chance to avoid shock essence and implicit - Stormshroud for ailment immunity - 3 notable Cluster Jewels with Quick and Deadly/Deadly Repartee/Martial Prowess - Forbidden Flame/Flesh Master of Metal set - GG rolled synth Imperial Claw with % attack speed implicit. ---------------------------Aspirational/GG Scaling--------------------------- - I was able to do Ubers in 3.28 with the Phys variant, but if you truly want to go all in on this build (200d+ budget) I would look in to 2 different variants: - Traditional Strength stacker with Replica Alberon's - Ephemeral Edge/Essentia Sanguis ES Stacker