Gladiator vs Slayer vs Champion – Best Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Ascendancy? | PoE 3.28 Mirage

---------------------------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 - League starter (Non crit/easy gearing) - SSF viable (Rares to 2 stones) - Tanky (87% block) - True melee - Solid single target Cons - True melee - Weak to degen - Clear is just OK but improves with attack speed ---------------------------LEVELLING NOTES--------------------------- REFER TO ACT LOADOUTS TO SEE TREE, GEAR AND SKILL PROGRESSION Levelling regex: "(\w\W){5}|-\w-.-|(-\w){4}|(-\w){5}|g-[gr]-r|r-[gr]-g|g-r-g|r-g-r|g-r|r-g|Runn|rint|ll g|s:.+(ax|sw)" 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! Maps onwards: Continue to upgrade main hand weapon to your highest phys dps axe, and your offhand to a high APS thrusting sword with phys dps as second priority! ---------------------------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--------------------------- Refer to the "Endgame" loadout for aspirational gear. -------------WEAPONS------------- Main hand: High physical damage roll is main priority here Before endgame, I craft a 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. Off hand: APS is highest priority here, try to get t1 attack speed with as much phys as possible (Imperial claw base is ideal). 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 Sword and Claw combo, which gives me access to instant leech, and I swap movement skill to Whirling Blades. -------------ARMOUR------------- I opt for Armour/Evasion gear here, in combination with Granite/Jade Flasks this gives us some additional defensive layers alongside the block. Because I'm not running Determination/Grace (besides Determ on Aul's Uprising version) I prefer a balanced split here to get 10k+ Armour/Evasion with flasks up. Once Ele resistances are capped, we aim to get positive Chaos Resistance as soon as possible, with the ideal situation being to cap this at 75% also. 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. -------------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 - Phys reflect - Ele reflect if you have any flat ele rolls - Cannot regen life/mana is annoying - Reduced chance to block ---------------------------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.