[3.11] Shattering Steel Gladiator - tanky & solid mapper - crazy boss dps - all content

-> 26.07.20 - update for 3.11 / class change to Gladiator
-> 18.04.20 - initial thread

Main Link:
4 Link
Shattering Steel - Impale - Vicious Projectiles Support - Brutality Support - Support




5 / 6 Link
Increased Critical Strikes / Increased Critical Damage / Maim Support : Best DPS Options

Pierce / Fork / Greater Multiple Projectiles : Clear Options

Aura Setup:
Pride: 50%
Pride is a good way to go for a pure physical build.

Flesh and Stone: 25%
Gives us blind so we are at least 50% evasive. You can go for Iron Reflexes and profit from the armour buff.

Precision:
I use it to boost my Accuracy / Crit. Just adjust the level to your mana needs.

Link those 3 to Enlighten Support



Dread Banner:
Boosts our Impale effect and gives some defence.



Utility:
Blood Rage:
Leech, Frenzy Generation, Attack Speed.



Leap Slam - Faster Attacks - Blood Magic - Enduring Cry
Movement setup. I use my movement more positional and don't want to have the need to charge in a group just to proc Fortify.

Enduring Cry with Call to Arms is pretty strong for every build. Just use it on left mouse button and profit.





Steelskin - Cast when damage taken
Lazy defensive boost



Flexible Setups:

Ancestral Protector - Culling Strike Support:
Gives a boost on bosses.




Phase Run:
Phasing is Quality of Life. You can trigger Beltimbers while standing still.

Weapon:
Beltimber Blade is crazy for this build.


2 Additional Projectiles and reasonable Physical Damage for almost no investment cost. Also Accuracy and some extra defense while moving is nice.

Alternative:
Paradoxica + The Saviour Rare Foils. Greater Multiple Projectiles is needed as one of your links.




Chest:
Crafted Astral Plate
- Crusader Mod with explode
- reduced Mana Cost to Skills
- Attacks have +% Critical Strike
- Consecrated Ground while stationary
- Power Charge on Crit

Pick some combination you like.


As a Prefix craft i use +7% Block

Alternative:
Lioneye's Vision.
Always a good chest for Projectile Based Attacks. Pierce is a nice multiplier and you get a ton of armour.

Yriel's Fostering (Rhoa).
This chest is a bit underused in my opinion. Good amount of life, crit & attack/movement speed, intimidate as multiplier.


Amulet:

Rare with Physical damage, life, Resist, Crit Chance, Crit Multiplier.
Use a base with Intelligence.


Annoint:
Command of Steel. Hard to beat 79% increased Damage.

Ring:
Just 2 rares with alot of Resist and Life.
You can also aim for mana leech, physical to attacks.

As a base i would use Steel rings vs Coral/Vermillion. Either you want more damage or a bit more tankiness.

I use one mastercrafted Prefix for -9 Mana cost

With Warlord influence you can try to fit vulnerability on hit here, otherwise check for glove corruptions.


Belt:
Stygian Hunter Belt with Life, %Life and Resist

Eye Jewel with Life + Onslaught on Kill


Alternative:
A Hunter Leather Belt should be really cheap and give even more life. But you missing out a jewel.


Gloves:
Rare Gripped Gloves with Life, Attack Speed, Resist

Crusader can give you crit.



Alternative:
Hand of the High Templar with good corruptions
Haemophilia, Explosions help with clear


Glove Corruptions. Vulnerability on Hit, Attacks X to Critical Strike Chance

Boots:
Rare Boots with Life, Resist, Movement speed.
With Harvest it's super easy to get Tailwind on a pair of hunter boots.



You can also get things like Pierce on boots. But multiple mods can get expensive need some more crafting

Helm:
Rare Helmet with Life, Resist.
I would use the Fortify helmet enchant as it gives you solid uptime. Otherwise you can use +1 Projectile and use Fortify on Leap Slam.


With an Elder Base you can get -physical resist modifier. You need ilvl 85. With only 1 Suffix open and Augment Phys you are guaranteed to get it.


Jewels:
We just use 3 normal Jewel Slots.

Watcher's Eye: 2 Additional Impales is awesome. If you have the money go for it.
But there are also some really cheap Pride / Precision mods that give good damage boosts.

Rare Jewels:
Look out for
- Maximum Life / Physical Damage / Crit Multiplier / Crit Chance

Thread of Hope: Medium range.
In the pastebin there is a alternative for this Jewel. You can grab some really nice nodes.

Flasks:

Bubbling/Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching
Instant heal flask as in most of life builds with bleed removal.

Alchemist's Quicksilver Flask of Heat
Going fast. Freeze Removal

Diamond Flask of Warding
Flask is mandatory for any crit build.

Experimenter's Granite Flask of Iron Skin
The Iron Skin suffix boosts our armour by a ton. Great flask for Molten shell

Dying Sun
2 Additional Projectiles is great for this build. Helps a lot on mapping.

Bottled Faith
Best dps flask if you can afford it.

Prefix are changeable.

Arena Challenger -> Painforged -> Versatile Combatant -> Violent Retaliation

Help Alira

Major:
I often take Lunaris on my characters for some extra movement / defense in most situations.

Arakaali is strong on this character, as Damage Over Time is a weak point and i run no Grounding Flask

Switch to Solaris if your doing crit map / delve

Brine King is not useful as Stuns are no issue.

Minor:
You could swap this regarding the encounter you do.

I'm lazy and just run Shakari for Poison and Chaos reduction.

Currently the best leveling for any melee character is just move outwards to a cluster jewel. Put One With Nothing in and take Hollow Palm Technique. Now just Brain afk with something like Smite until Maps.

Otherwise there are some really good Bladestorm leveling guides on youtube e.g. tyty.

Shotgun effect:
Shattering Steel is one of the few skills who can shotgun the enemy. That means if you are standing directly in front of the enemy and fire e.g. 5 projectiles all can hit the same enemy. so you dealing 5 times damage. The new Path of Building fork has an option "All Projectiles Hit". But keep in mind projectile stacking is not infinite. The more you get the harder it is to hit even bosses with all of them. I would aim for 7-10 projectiles.


My gear:
I linked most of my gear in the item section. Also my profile is public and you can just click on my account. Character: paLeChallenger

I will try to answer questions from the thread in here.

Path of Building - pastebin

Youtube: Shattering Steel Gladiator - Caldera Showcase - Reworking old forum guide

Youtube: Shattering Steel Gladiator - Conquerors / Awakener Level 8 - Showcase