[3.12] Perforate Gladiator: DW Max Block | 90m+ DPS | Boss Destroyer!

To play this build it is required to understand how Perforate works as an ability. Perforate acts differently depending on what stance you are in. If you are in sand stance then perforate will create an attack with a large AOE that will attack everything near you. This is what you will want to be doing while running through maps. If you are in blood stance then perforate will create an attack with a very small AOE that creates multiple spikes that all hit the target. This is what you will want to do for any unique mob or boss. With Perforate in blood stance every spike that we spawn increases our damage in a multiplier fashion. So the more spikes that you are creating the more damage that you can push out. Perforate has a base spike count of 7. If you have the helm enchanted with Perforate creates +2 spikes then our total becomes 9. Lastly if you have changed stances recently your spike count goes up another 2 which puts us at a max spike count of 11. This means that for four seconds, which is how the term "recently" is defined in POE, we are doing 11 times our base damage. So when you are going to fight a boss and you want to burst them down here is what you need to do.

1. Make sure you are in sand stance
2. Place your Ancestral Warchief and Vaal Ancestral Warchief totems
3. Activate your three offensive flasks
4. Change your stance to blood stance

This will take some getting used to, but once you have mastered this you will be able to nuke/phase any boss almost instantly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNxS_iCmJ7A 3.12 Uber Elder Deathless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaMTISZKpdk 3.12 T16 Minotaur Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4jnETfDLvo 3.12 Sirus A8 Deathless

Here I am going to talk about how I prefer to setup the gems and links for most of my melee characters. There are many things that can be changed here depending on preference, but for now I will focus on how I prefer everything.

Be sure to pay attention to all the new alternate qualities that have been introduced in 3.12. There are a lot of good options that really help the build reach higher numbers than it should be able to.

Alternate Qualities


Main 6-Link

Perforate - Multistrike - Brutality - Fortify - Melee Physical Damage - Impale

Here is a core damaging six link which is the core of the build. I have chosen these links because they offer the most damage for our ability Perforate. Fortify is the only ability that technically isn't best in slot for damage, but because we spec into "Rampart" on tree it ends up giving us quite a bit damage and it is a great defensive for our non defensive build. Also when you can be sure to purchase the awakened versions of the gems listed. Multistrike, Brutality and Melee Physical Damage all have awakened versions that do more damage.

4-Link Auras

Pride - Flesh and Stone - Maim - Enlighten

Here are the bulk of the auras that we use in the build. All add a ton of damage and Pride allows us to get a Watcher's Eye that allows our Impale to last 2 additional hits. For this build to function with all the auras I have listed the Enlighten needs to be at least level 2 since that is when you start to gain a benefit from it as it reduces the mana multiplier by a small amount when linked to auras.

2-Link Auras

Blood and Sand - Dread Banner

Here we have our other two auras Blood and Sand and Dread Banner which help increase damage.

4-Link Block/On Hit

Vengeance - Riposte - Culling Strike - Power Charge on Critical

Since we are a block build I have decided to use Riposte and Vengeance to gain power charges and to also help kill bosses with Culling Strike. This is the only 4 Link I'm not sure how to make better.

3-Link Mobility/Heal

Enduring Cry - Second Wind - Dash/Smoke Mine

Here we have our main mobility skill Dash which can be replaced with other mobility skills such as Leap Slam, Flame Dash or Smoke Mine. We also have Enduring Cry which heals us for almost 2k and gives us endurance charges which mitigate damage and extend the duration of our Immortal Call. We connect Second Wind to both of these to reduce their cooldowns and to give Dash a second charge so that we can move more often.

Totem Setups Used Together

Ancestral Protector - Multiple Totems

Vaal Ancestral Warchief

Here we have our two totems that help us increase our stats and do a little bit of damage. When engaging a boss we will place one Vaal Ancestral Warchief totem and one Ancestral Protector totem. This way we get stats from both of them. Also worth noting is connecting multiple totems to Ancestral Protector so that you can have both a Protector Totem and a Warchief totem. If you use Multiple Totems Support be sure to not connect the Vaal Ancestral Warchief to it because you will burn both Vaal charges if you do. Culling strike could also be put on one of the totems if you did not want it with the Block/On Hit links.

2 Link CWDT

Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call

This build does not take a lot of damage because of how much it blocks, but when it does take damage it is nice to make sure we don't take a second hit right away without some mitigation. I currently have these leveled at Cast When Damage Taken level 7 and Immortal Call level 9, but this can be changed to preference as long as you make sure Immortal Call is still triggered by Cast When Damage Taken.

Here I am going to talk about what gear I have equipped and what stats you should be looking for on gear when trying to build this character for end game. It is worth noting that we do not use any abilities that require a lot of armour or evasion rating so the base of our gear is not that important for most of the pieces. In each category I will be listing the stats in order of importance. I am leaving out resistances and standard stats because depending on budget you will need to decide where it is easiest to get those.

Weapons


Helm


Body Armour


Gloves


Boots


Amulet


Rings


Belt


Jewels


Flasks


Budget

Save Alira!
The main reason we save Alira is for the Critical Strike Multiplier that she gives. The resists are also a nice quality of life as well especially when you first start mapping.

For our Ascendancy we choose Gladiator so that we can spec into these nodes... Painforged, Versatile Combantant, Violent Retaliation, Arena Challenger. This is the order I would get them in.

We take Painforged, Versatile Combantant and Violent Retaliation so that we can get to max block as easily as possible for a super strong defensive build.
We take Arena Challenger to gain the ability to get Challenger Charges which gives us both attack and movement speed.

Major God: Soul of Lunaris/Preference
Minor God: Soul of Shakari

For the Major God all of the options are honestly really good for different reasons. Since we are block we have a lot more flexibility and you can adapt the Major God to your liking. I take the Major God Lunaris to prevent as much damage as I can from spikers.

We take the Minor God Shakari to primarily deal with Hunter and some of the smaller enemies in maps that deal crazy poison damage.

Endgame: Disemboweling
Cheaper Endgame: Command of Steel
Double Curse: Whispers of Doom
More Life: Discipline and Training
Life and Damage: Tenacity
Cheap: Gemini

POB with 25, 50, 75 and 100 point trees. https://pastebin.com/J4nEZD3i

Here are links to the trees as well.
25 Point Tree
50 Point Tree
75 Point Tree
100 Point Tree

It is worth noting I do not put points into the jewel sockets till the end game because I do not know if people will have jewels worth putting in. Feel free to take the jewel sockets sooner if you have good jewels to put in!