Duelista - [3.22] Lightning Damage Reave Gladiator | Not a Guide more Like Sharing what I did with it - Foro

Hello,

First time making a thread for a build. My goal is to make public what I learned while playing with this concept and hopefully give the community something they can use for better builds. I also want to get feedback to see if there are alternatives to make this version better for a moderate price.

DISCLAIMER: I do not recommend this build for beginners or anyone expecting to find the next sleeper Meta Build

BUILD CONCEPT:

We play a ""MELEE""TM"" build with Reave that zooms through the map with Whriling Blades hitting the whole screen while being quite tanky. Even bosses will fall fast and getting SHOCKS with +49% effect
It is NOT a 1 button build and requires some skill rotation

-In POB in its current state the build has 4million Shaper DPS (with no flask)
-Its effective Hit Pool is 80K without Steelskin and 100K with Steelskin
-Its current form has an estimated cost of 42 divines
-I started farming tier16 with Searing Exarch altar, Harvest and Delirium confortably when I invested 6.5 divines

POB:
https://pastebin.com/1zm7r0zi

If you think something in the PoB seems weird ask away!

ABOUT POB "SHOCK" :

Spoiler

It put it 15% effect of shock in the POB. If you think it is too low or too high then be free to modify it
In my test against regular pinacle bosses I can conclude that it is pretty normal to get a shock above this value. Sometimes I get 45% shocks, most times I get 30%, sometimes it goes as low as 10% lol. I add this picture of the fight against regular Shaper that I was able to screen

The novelty of the build is that our damage is based on these: A lof of Flat Lightning Attack Damage + Volatility Support + Lucky Buff + SHOCKS + High Attack Speed + Crits

Explanation:
Ligthing Damage in this game has low minimum damage and a really high maximum damage.
The Con to this is that it makes our DPS to have a lot of variance. Sometimes things die really fast and sometimes they take a few more hits

The Pro is that this variance allows it to have a unique synergy with the following things:

Spoiler

1) The new Volatility support gives more MAXIMUM attack damage and LESS minimum attack damage. With Lightning damage this becomes almost completly and upside (like a pure +58% more damage) because our minimum damage is almost zero

2) Lightning damage can SHOCK. This ailment increases the damage our enemies takes. The value of the ailment is dependent on how big was the hit that inflicted it compared to the targets maximum life. Due to our high maximum damage rolls, some increased ailment effectiveness and PURE lightning might we can inflict large shocks on even Pinacle Bosses

3) The VERY RARE "Lucky" buff allows the damage from our attacks to be rolled twice and choosing the highest result (if you play DnD you should be familiar with the concept). This works better when there is high variance with our damage rolls.
In this build we get "Lucky" from the "Violent Retaliation" ascendancy node from the GLADIATOR.

Why Reave?

Spoiler

To use Volatility and "Violent Retaliation" we need an attack Skill.
I chose REAVE because I wanted to play this skill for a while because it allows for a fun screen clear playstyle while mapping.

It can do bosses decently with practice because it can get good "range" when at full stacks.

It has a high attack damage multiplier, works with 1handed swords (explanation later) and has decent attack speed.

Why Gladiator?

Spoiler

We want the Lucky buff and "Violent Retaliation" has it. This is the main reason to pick Gladiator.

We could use a different Duelist class and steal this node with Forbidden unique Jewels, but the node has the condition that we need to BLOCK. And the other nodes from Gladiator help a lot with block, so for an "easier" version of the build I sticked with it.

Challenger Charges (from Arena Challenger") synergise really well with Reave. They grant both more movement speed and more attack speed that Reave needs to help keep high stacks and keep clearing the maps

The other nodes will be around BLOCK, which will be our main defense layer

Why Swords?

Spoiler

The sword nodes that give critical strike chance, multiplier and block are really close to the Duelist starting location.

The sword mastery that gives Frenzy Charges allows us to keep them maxed even againsts bosses. Their more damage and attack speed is a very significant multiplier for us.

Thrusting swords have 4 important stats for us: High base attack speed, critical strike multiplier implicit, decent base critical strike chance and the highest weapon range for 1handed weapons (this last one works well with Reave that has a lot of increased area of effect).

Finally, there are two uniques that I could use for this build that are swords: Fidelita's Spike (for starting the build) and Paradoxica

PROS:

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- Fast build with whirling blades and +90% movement speed with no Quicksliver Flask
- Good AoE coverage. With Vaal Reave and Vaal Smite it is easy to clear the entire screen
- Legion, Harvest and Delirium in regular maps are really easy with this build (this were the ones I tried the most too)
- Defenses are great for HITS. Almost 10k armour with no determination, 85% block and 60% spell block, 100% suppresion. When there are lots of enemies it also has 3 endurance charges
- The entry cost for farming tier16 is under 7 divines
- It has an active playstyle which can be fun (it is for me)

CONS:

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- Maps mods it cannot run: Reduced block chance , Cannot Leech, elemental reflect (until you get a Awakened Elemental Damage support) and maybe Physical Reflect
- Has a bit of ramp up due to charges, reave and lucky mechanics. Due to its high attack speed it is almost never an issue but it is important to note
- Life is kind of low for my taste. Even at current build it only reaches 4.6K life
- Degenerations are the most dangerous thing for this build. For example Shaper beam is not tankable. Thats why it is important to invest in life regeneration and leech
- There is quite a bit of damage variance even with our high attack speed and lucky. Sometimes you will feel like bosses take no damage for 1-2 seconds. Sometimes they drop like flies
- The Lucky buff is conditional to Block. This means that we need to tank something every once in a while. During mapping is always on but can be hard on bosses.
- It has an active playstyle which can be hard to master. Stance switching, using Smite, Curse and Totem on bosses, evading some attacks and tanking others for the LUCKY buff

HOW TO PLAY:

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1. Enter a map, make sure you are in Sand Stance, press flasks and start wacking with Reave at melee range

2. Whirling blades for movement

3. Put Blood Rage in left mouse click for automatic activation when moving

4. Use Smite/Vaal Smite for extra damage. The buff last ~7 and ~14 seconds respectively (with increased duration support)

5. Use Vaal Reave as fast as you can to get to 8 reave stacks. Then use it again when needed for the stacks or when wanting to attack all around you

6. When fighting a tough enemy, change to BLOOD STANCE first, curse it with Conductivity and place Ancestral Protector for extra damage and culling. This three things are not always required and depends on how tough is the enemy

7. Use life flask when corrupted blood , bleeding, taking a lot of degen or when taking a large hit

IMPORTANT: FOR elemental reflect maps, you can do them if you have Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks Support in your 6link. BUT you cannot use Smite/Vaal Smite because they will not be linked to it. You will kill yourself if you use them

HOW MUCH IT COSTS?

I made a table in Excel for every piece I bought for the build. Both when I started tier16 maps and currently
It is not perfect because I may misremember some prices and the crafting costs can vary depending on luck. So only use it as reference.
If I learn how I will put a link for web spreadsheet for the details

Spoiler