Axe and board Gladiator Bleed Lacerate; millions of dps while being tanky AAF

Greetings,

I've never done a build guide, so forgive the poor lay out and formatting. This build is not a copy from any particular player, guide or thread, and is what I came up with, and consider done. I am stomping all over everything including t16 Metamorphs. Yellow mobs in t16's are literallykilled with one button press.
No doubt is has been done before, but in any case it has been largely forgotten of late.
Last time it was in the spot light was with Mathils crit sword bleed Lacerate, which I don't approve of. It sacrifices survivability and wastes travel points getting to Perfect Agony.

This isn't your typical max block Gladiator that occasionally gets one shotted because all he's got going for defenses is block. The (very) occasional hit that gets through does very little as we have a good bit of damage reduction, and it is strong enough to not die, and bounce back from the most dangerous situations.

Lets get to the just of it.
The goal is to aim for scaling your bleed damage, while not gimping your hit damage. We do this by using support gems such as Brutality, Ruthless, Melee Phys , Multistrike and Fortify. Deadly Ailments for example, while offering a HUGE more multiplier to your bleeds of 60%, does nothing for your hits, and actually makes them worse.
PoB:https://pastebin.com/NwsJPKsU
Going up to Devotion may or may not be worth it, depending on if you need the Intell with the jewel socket up there. Otherwise you will spend your points on the Scion life wheel. The "Tireless" wheel is also a consideration, but I have no mana issues. Either way results in the same HP give or take.

The support gems:

Awakened versions of Melee Phys and Brutality are of course not necessary but offer nice damage perks.

Your weapon: Aim for as much raw base phys damage as you can get, with attack speed. Crit does not matter. And %60 chance for bleeds to deal 100% more damage ( fossil mod) is HUGE HUGE HUGE dps.


Shield: This is a "soft cap"max block build with a 75% chance to block attacks and 75% chance to block spells. 82% block is hard cap but requires a Anvil unique amulet. You could go for Violent Retaliation but you'd be sacrificing bleed explosions and 25% MORE damage with bleeding. Dual Wielding does virtually nothing for us but add some attack speed. We're fine there Lots of armour, life, life on block and free level 30 Reckoning! juicy.


Helm: Fossil crafted with nearby enemies have - Physical resistance

Amulet: Malevolence Aul's for free Malevolence

For some raw damage scaling, I've chosen to go with Herald of Purity Circle of Guilt

Chest: We would be short on health without a GG crafted chest with lots of flat life as well as a % life roll, or a Belly of the Beast. I opted for Belly of the Beast. With this, we will hit 7khp by level 95.


The rest of the gear is pretty basic. % block chance on gloves to hit 75% cap when Painforged Ascendancy procs.

Jewels:
Watchers eye with Damaging Ailments deal damage 15% faster. Huge dps. Mine also has 25% impale chance which I put to use with a Thread of Hope. Thread of Hope ( with a VERY LARGE RADIUS, this is important) is used to hit Hematophagy, Swift Skewering, Retaliation and Deadly Draw. Deadly Draw is for bows! you say? Damaging ailments deal damage 15% faster is huge dps.
And finally a rare jewel with mana leech is needed.

There ya have it. Took me all league to be 100% happy. I even played with Double Strike and a Saviour+ Paradoxia. this....is better.
Any questions feel free to ask. I don't pretend to have come up with this, but it is a mish mash of a good dozen ways to do it.

Why do you use impale?

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plaguefear escribió:

Why do you use impale?

40% chance for the cost of one passive, why not use it is the question? But for sure, you can not bother with it.

25% chance on my Watchers eye, and Swift Skewering is on the radius wheel with Thread of Hope.

This build doesn't ignore the hit portion of Lacerate, and impale will most definitely add some damage to it. But if you don't use Thread of Hope, and /or don't have 25% chance on your Watchers Eye, definitely ignore this.
Thread of Hope is primarily for Hemotophagy, Deadly Draw and Retaliation nodes. The Watchers Eye is for faster bleed. Impale just kinda...worked it's way in for me. Just a little extra damage.

Thanks for asking

I see we have very different builds :D

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plaguefear escribió:

I see we have very different builds :D

There are small but key differences I do. They all add up to at least make me happy. Not sure about anyone else :)

A quick look at yours tells me we went a more similar route then different ones.
I choose not to scale bleed at the expense of the hit portion ( Deadly Ailments). Deadly Ailments would replace Fortify, then I'd have to rely 100% on leap slam + Fortify, which I'd rather not do.

And I view the chest slot as for life and lots of it. The Crab chest doesn't do it for me. The stacks fall off without using the other piece/s, and I was aiming for 7k life by 95. This game is all about opportunity cost. To make full use of the Crab stuff you want to use the other pieces...and then we're just talking a whole other build.

Also, block cap is important for me. The more block chance you have, the better block is. I can live with 75% instead of 82% with the Anvil, but not less :P.

Lethal Pride is...up to you. RNG is a bitch is all I'm gonna say. Also, using it instead of Thread of Hope would cascade into a few changes, generally not for the better IMO.

Sirus down! Deathless. Was Awakener lvl 7

Quite a easy fight with this guy. And I'm happy to say this build does what I set out to do. Tanky + good damage. So many builds are one..or the other, not both.

Did you craft your axe or buy it? If you crafted, how did you go about it? Corroded and Jagged? Is it ever worth it to throw in a sanctified fossil?

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Trenmonster escribió:

Did you craft your axe or buy it? If you crafted, how did you go about it? Corroded and Jagged? Is it ever worth it to throw in a sanctified fossil?

I bought mine. Largely because I've tried to craft one like it...it doesn't go well lol. Yes it would be jagged and corroded. It's expensive unless you luck out. I could be wrong, but I don't believe Sanctified fossils would be worth it.

If I had currency to burn, I would take a hunter base axe, ( not a Elder one cuz honestly, the intimidated mod is meh considering you get it on Awakened Melee Phys), for the faster bleeds mod, and spam jagged+ corroded. Hope for 100% more bleed damage, faster bleeds, and either t1 phys % or t1 flat phys.

Yaaay really nice build, so awesome! Can u do a step by step leveling tree guide?

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BunnyOfTheDead escribió:

Yaaay really nice build, so awesome! Can u do a step by step leveling tree guide?

Not really necessary XD. It's a very linear and smooth leveling experience. Simply come out of Duelist, go down, then left. Level with Sunder, or Doublestrike and melee Splash.