Duelista - [2.5] [WIP] Champion Groundslammer for beginners: cheap, easy to play & gear - with video - Foro

Hello everyone,

this is my first guide that i decided to publish on the forums, also be aware that my english is rather bad, so sorry for all my mistakes and feel free to comment and/or correct me.

Note that this is still work in progress, i experiment with some things, change things and will upgrade my gear (still i don't plan to spend more than 2-3 EX on him). My char is now leveling smoothly and i plan to move him as far as i can go. I will update this guide from time to time.

About me:

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I'm veteran ARPG player, with thousands of hours in games like Diablo 2&3, Torchlight 1&2, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn and others. I started my adventure with PoE in 2013, but tbh it didn't catch me at first, so i had more than 2 years pause, and returned to the game after Atlas of Worlds update. Man, that was the best decision! :) From now on it's my only ARPG i play. I play mostly Standard.

About build:

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This build is intended to be a good introduction to the game for new players, i wanted something cheap, reliable, easy to play and very tanky, but still being MELEE and not lazy-style (build requires constant focus and actively uses 3 skills). It ISN'T a build created to clear maps ultra-fast or one-shoot everything. Still, it's very solid and well-rounded in my opinion. Because i play mostly Witch & spellcasters, i wanted something different (so: no spells, no mana, no frenzy/power charges, no crit, no proliferate etc.). I wanted to play melee char and utilize some mechanics that i rarely or never use on my characters, like Fortify and Endurance Charges. So for me, this is experimental build, even if more experienced players can say this is a generic build :P

Build in action:

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This section will be improved, as i will add more videos as my character progresses through Atlas.

Now i want only those new players to watch this to decide if this is build for them or not. Veteran players that knows Ground Slam may as well skip this :P

LvL 68 T1 map.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N20SAeNDkk8

Lvl 73 T6 map.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4nezZjNwmc

Pros and cons:

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Pros:

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- CHEAP build - u can easily play selffound/league starter, u DON'T need 6L or even 5L; they ofc still can help u
- no mandatory uniques - u can play with any rare two-handed mace, and rare armor/jewelry/belt
- blood magic - no mana, u cast your skills practically for free
- no life reserved, but still u can invest some currency and utilize one aura for free (Essence Worm ring)
- big life pool
- durable, thanks to life, armour and life leech
- u can ignore elemental reflect (only small portion of our damage is elemental damage)
- nearly all your skill gems u will find during your progress through acts
- u can completely ignore intelligence and nearly completely dexterity - it's STRENGTH based character and skills
- deals well both with groups and single targets

Cons:

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- not the quickest map clearing ever seen in this game, if u looking for this go for op Blade Flurry and hf ;)
- i'm not sure if it can do endgame content like uber-atziri, shaper etc. without big investments - we will see :P

Playstyle:

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Playstyle with this character is rather simple: we spam Ground Slam against anything that lives except bosses, for bossed we use Heavy Strike, that hits really... well.. heavy :P. From time to time we use Enduring Cry for these Endurance Charges, to mitigate incoming damage. We also use Leap Slam if needed.

The damage comes not only from our weapon and passives, but also from synergies with Fortify on the Champion ascendancy tree. I still did only Normal and Cruel lab with this character :P Also, my gems are on lvl 17 or 18, lol :)

The defense is based on high life pool, high physical damage mitigation, huge life leech and of course our Fortify buff & Endurance Charges.

Skill trees:

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Phase 1, 25 pts:

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In this phase u want to ensure u deal enough damage to level your character, we will also pick some life nodes. We still base on mana. Another nice sweeter is an Art of the Gladiator node, that removes penalty to movement speed from armour (we will be using heaviest armours available).

Tips: If u can, try to use Elreon's rings and/or amulets, until you hit Blood Magic keystone. Also don't be afraid to utilize 1-2 mana flasks in this phase, we will discard them later.

www.poeurl.com/XM4

Phase 2, 34 pts:

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Now that we have some life and dps, we want to cast our skills for free, so we rush to the Blood Magic keystone, grabbing some life leech nodes on the way.

Tip: Remove Elreon's jewelry after taking Blood Magic, and put some resist/phys damage jewelry for now. It doesn't really matters, just make sure you deal as much damage as possible and have around 40-50% resistances on normal, it's more than enough.

www.poeurl.com/XM6

Phase 3, 46 pts:

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You probably noticed by now, that some of your hits misses, we want to solve this problem permanently, so grab Resolute Technique keystone, and damage nodes nearby to further improve our dps. From now on remember: the more damage you deal, the more you heal, thanks to life leech.

Tip: Remember that at lvl 57 u can start using Marohi Erqi mace, don't forget about it, it's usually worth using even if u don't have 5L/6L, it's possible to beat the damage with rare maces, but they usually cost you 1+ EX. So buy cheapest Marohi u can buy, make it 4L, and be happy ;P

www.poeurl.com/XNe

Phase 4, 76 pts

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Now we want to complete core of our build, so we grab some more life nodes (starting with the ones behind Blood Magic), more damage, some resist and armour and boosts to our Fortify. At the end of this phase you should be able to do normal and cruel lab, and grab permanent Fortify, so u can discard Vigilant Strike or whatever u used to generate this buff. How sweet is that -20% damage mitigation AND more damage for u at the same time? ;)

www.poeurl.com/XM7

Phase 5, 84 pts

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We now add precious defense with more Endurance Charges nodes, and some flexibility with 2 jewel sockets (we will pick 3rd final jewel socket later).

Tip: You should be at the end of Merciless now, remember to fill missing resistances! When you reach Dread Lake farm there until around lvl 68-70, or go straight to the maps and start your progress through Atlas.

www.poeurl.com/XNa

Phase 6, final build, lvl 85

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I finish this on level 85, honestly i rarely level my characters behind this level. If you reach lvl 100 :P, feel free to fill missing nodes as u like.

www.poeurl.com/XM9

Leveling gear:

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I strongly recommend to use some of these items (ignore gems inside sockets), they speed up leveling process greatly by giving you more movement speed and damage and make it smooth (u can do it without them too, it's just slower).

Skills and links:

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Tip: if your are new to the game, don't worry u don't have these gems: 90% of the gems needed you will grab during your leveling: as quests reward or simply from the shops, after finish certain quests.

Main skill: Ground Slam - we will use this for clearing packs and this is our bread and butter. This skill has good AoE, good damage and you can start using this on lvl 1 and level up with it.

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(in order of importance)
Ground Slam - Melee Physical Damage Support - Multistrike - Life Leech - Added Fire Damage (5L) - Your Choice (6L); Empower lvl 3+ can be great, also consider Increased AoE, IF u can handle the Intelligence cost :)

Tip: You don't have acces to the life leech and multistrike on early levels, use Life Gain on Hit instead with Added Fire Damage. When u finish Normal, you must work towards 4-Link and use the setup above, with Multistrike and Life Leech.

Tip 2: If you have only one 5-Link on your gear, use it for Ground Slam setup, not Heavy Strike. If you have Marohi Erqi mace with 5L, use Ground Slam on it (it increases AoE greatly).

2nd Skill for single target: Heavy Strike - don't put Melee Splash Damage on it, we have GS for AoE, here u want hit as hard as possible to quickly deal with single targets.

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(in order of importance)
Heavy Strike - Melee Physical Damage Support - Multistrike - Life Leech - Added Fire Damage (5L) - Your Choice (6L); Empower lvl 3+ can be great, also consider Faster Attacks

Tip: You don't have acces to the life leech and multistrike on early levels, use Life Gain on Hit instead with Added Fire Damage. When u finish Normal, you must work towards 4-Link and use the setup above, with Multistrike and Life Leech.

Mobility: Leap Slam, we use this because it's Strength based, change to something else (i didn't wanted to use Whirling Blades because it's BORING and Leap Slam looks so cooool :))

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Leap Slam - Faster Attacks

Endurance Charge Generation: Enduring Cry - we cast this manually, which i personally love. With improves on the tree, you need to cast this only once for around 14 seconds. We have 7 charges total with completed tree, so keep this buff up, and you will have a powerful tool to mitigate damage and fight with uncapped resists when leveling (you shouldn't have uncapped resists in merciless, but... ;))

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Enduring Cry - Increased Duration.

Fortify buff generation: Vigilant Strike - we use this skill only for leveling, and honestly i used this only for bosses/tough rares. It hits like a truck, and gives us Fortify, unfortunaly it has also a cooldown. Anyway great skill, but we will of course discard this as soon as we complete Cruel Lab, when we receive permanent Fortify.

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Vigilant Strike - whatever u want, it's here just for Fortify buff

Tip: you can also skip VS and use Fortify support with Leap Slam, to generate Fortify buff.

Defensive/Utility setups:

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Note: i still experiment with these, to find what works best for my character. Also these setups DO NOT use Immortal Call, simply because i want to have these sweet Endurance Charges and not consume them :P So i worked around and found this (but feel free to change that or use IC if u want):

Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 1), Increased Duration, Phase Run - gives constantly small speed boost to our character; remember to NOT level your gems behind maximum usable level of CWDT!

Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 4) - Warlord's Mark - Molten Shell - gives nice autocast curse for these damaging bastards, and also defensive shield.

Bandits:

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Normal: Oak - +40 max life
Cruel: Oak - +16% physical damage
Merciless: Oak - +1 Endurance Charge (or you can kill them all for passive, but still it's hard to replace +4% physical mitigation and 4% elemental resistances with 1 node on the tree).

Ascendancy:

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I suggest this order:

Unstoppable Hero - Fortitude (crucial for our build!) - First to Strike, Last to Fall (more damage 95% of the time and more defense during hard times) - Inspirational (more damage, friend will love you)

Gear:

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Weapon: Two handed mace.

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You want mace with as much physical damage as possible. You DON'T want elemental damage on your weapon. Look for maces that have both %increased physical damage AND flat physical damage.

Or you can buy cheap 4 or 5-link mace with only one of this stat, and craft another with master.

Or you can do it even cheaper, by buying normal (white) 5-link mace (around 1-2c), and use Essence of Contempt on it (essences that add flat physical damage). With a little luck & crafting you can craft yourself a really nice weapon. Remember to improve your weapon to 20 quality ALWAYS.

Stats on weapon: flat physical damage, % increased physical damage, attack speed, rest

Armour:

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I still use rare armours, they are fine for me because i still didn't decided if i want to invest more currency in this character :P

What u want here is an armour with as much armour rating as possible and life + resists. If u have additional mods, like speed on boots or physical damage / attack speed on gloves, the better. But basically EVERY piece of your gear except for weapon should have life on it, and resists if you are uncapped.

Try to avoid armours that are evasion / energy shield based, this is nearly useless for us.

Stats on armour: life, resists, speed (boots), physical damage / attack speed (gloves), trength/dexterity if needed, rest

Jewelry:

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I still use rare rings/amulet, with life, resists and other luxury mods like flat physical damage. The rest is in fact unimportant.

Feel free to choose what fits you best here, remember about your resists! - jewelry is usually the easiest way to improve missing resists.

Flasks:

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On my characters i usually use 2 quicsilver flasks and 3 other flasks (health in this case).

Try to roll nice mods on them, that increases movement speed or gives charges faster (adrenaline, amplify, perpetual, chemist), but remember to have at least:

- 1 flask that removes freeze/chill
- 1 flask that removes bleeding
- 1 flask with instant life recovery (your panic button)

And don't be noob like me and upgrade your flasks regularly :)))

Jewels:

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We have 3 jewel sockets, and what u want in them are jewels with:

- two handed maces or two handed weapons damage %
- melee damage %
- increased damage %
- life %
- missing resistances

Try to get a jewels with at least 2 or 3 of these mods, my jewels currently sucks, but i'm too lazy to search poe.trade for upgrades :P Maybe later, when i will know exactly what i misses.

Try to upgrade your jewels last, as they are really expensive if they had good mods and rolls.

Suggested uniques:

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First good news is, u can do this build 100% based on rares, no uniques is required. But still, u can improve your character by using some of them, IF u remember to do it only when you have your resistances capped, and life pool allows you to feel comfortably.

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The most important unique, and your endgame goal is a 5-link or 6-link Marohi Erqi mace. This is awesome weapon, which makes basically 5-link a 6-link, and 6-link a 7-link, thanks to it's AoE ability.

If u don't have currency to buy a 5-link ME, try to buy one with as much % physical damage as possible, and start working on your fuses :P When u have 150 fuses, improve your weapon to 20 quality, use some jewellers to make 5 sockets (not that hard as u may think, it's around 1,5% chance if i remember correctly), and use Vorici. Done, u have 5 link :)

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Another nice piece of gear, if u have your resistance capped and looking for more damage, is an Essence Worm ring. It allows you to use one aura completely free, as an aura i suggest of course Hatred. This gives us around 30% more damage. Not bad, eh? (BTW, i still don't use it, even if i have Essence Worm, i want to simply check how far i can go with this build without it :P )

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Finally, you can use other items, if u have your resistances capped (yeah i know i'm boring, but it's really important), like:

...or use items that everyone use and love (i don't) like Kaom's Heart, Daresso's Defiance and others. Feel free to ask if u have some exalts and don't know what to to with them ;P

My current gear:

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My gear is now very average tbh, i still don't use Essence Worm, don't use Meginord or other good %phys damage belt, so i can improve my damage easily with some changes. Currently i'm in mid-tier maps and doing so well that i don't feel i need to change anything :P

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