Cleave
Gladiator Build

Updated for Patch 3.19

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Cleave is one of the simplest Melee Attacks - available at level 1, it should be familiar to every player. If dual-wielding, the Attack is still performed once but the damage gets combined and reduced. It makes it good for this specific archetype - normally when attacking while wielding two weapons, it is performed in an altering fashion where you switch the weapon with each Attack, but here it's always 60% of the combined damage of both Swords or Axes. We're using two Paradoxica Swords with around 200 DPS (later doubled) each, but it is possible to get better weapons, one-handed Swords are generally known for their high potential DPS. We've settled on the Gladiator due to its Keystones that enhance the dual-wielding archetype, and other utilities. Outmatch and Outlast is the source of Endurance and Frenzy Charges on kill, more damage, and reduced physical damage taken most of the time. We also recommend the Arena Challenger for more Attack and Movement Speed. It's a non-crit Precise Technique build that deals only Physical Damage boosted with Impale.

There are many defensive layers this build can accommodate. We've pursued the Block Chance gimmick of Gladiator with its Painforged and Violent Retaliation Keystones. These not only grant high Block Chance but also provide much more Physical Damage via miscellaneous additions of Violent Retaliation. Versatile Combatant is an often-overlooked Keystone, but here it is a source of Spell Block Chance. You're able to reach a 50% Chance to Block both types of Damage, and that's on top of a very high Spell Suppression Chance and Armour - upgraded by Iron Reflexes, Endurance Charges, Determination, Fortify, and Defiance Banner. It's a very tanky build, able to withstand most of the Spell and Attack Hits. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to defend yourself against omnipresent Damage over Time, this type of damage can be eased with Flasks, Life Leech, and Pantheon choices.

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1. Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to that of every Melee Build, you're using Cleave to deal damage, and Ancestral Totems for more Damage and Attack Speed during tough encounters. Leap Slam or Dash can be used as a movement ability. For a Guard Spell use Molten Shell. For Life Leech and Attack Speed be sure to always have Blood Rage active. For Auras use Pride, Determination, Blood and Sand, and Defiance Banner. A Curse we recommend is Vulnerability. You're also able to generate Rage easily with Vengeance linked up with Rage Support.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Cleave is not particularly the most popular option during the leveling, but surely it can be used as such. In order to level up your Gladiator quickly you can refer to our in-depth Leveling Guide for Duelists using Melee/Impale Skills and if you want to use Cleave, you should be easily able to adjust your setup using the information included there.  Just make sure to use the corresponding Weapons it requires, add a secondary DPS source in form of Ancestor Totems for example, and try to refrain from allocating Critical Damage Passives as they not only offer negligible bonuses early on but are not the recommended route in this particular setup.

Bandits:

you should kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

28 Points Skill Tree
As you're using Splitting Steel, we recommend pathing through Fury Bolts, later to get more Maximum Life, Onslaught, Phasing, and Life/Mana Leech. Take the Jewel Socket if you have the Lord of Steel Jewel.

60 Points Skill Tree
Get more Maximum Life nodes, head for Reservation Efficiency, Merciless Skewering for Impale, Point Blank Keystone for damage, and then allocate Lethality and Blade of Cunning for more Critical Strikes Chance.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

117 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Unique Jewels)
117 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Arena Challenger
2. Outmatch and Outlast
3. Painforged
4. Violent Retaliation

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Cleave setup
	Cleave - Cleave deals Damage in front of your character using both of your weapons for a single strike.
	Multistrike Support - You attack with more Attack Speed but less Attack Damage, the Attack repeats additional times.
	Impale Support - Increases the Chance to Impale and its effectiveness, a very important game mechanics.
	Pulverise Support - Use it for more Area Damage and Area of Effect. It lowers your Attack Speed but it's still worth implementing. It can be replaced with  Close Combat Support if you like to stay close to your enemies.
	Brutality Support - Linked Skill deal much more Physical Damage, but is unable to deal Chaos or Elemental Damage.
	Melee Physical Damage Support - More Melee Physical Damage but lower Attack Speed.

[UTILITY] Molten Shell/Blood Rage setup
	Molten Shell - A Guard Spell that mitigates a portion of incoming Hit Damage for some time, it scales up with your Armour. We recommend the Anomalous version, especially if your Armour is high.
	Blood Rage - Grants Life Leech, Frenzy Charges on Kill, and increases Attack Speed. It drains your Life over time.
	Enhance Support - Increases the Quality of linked Skills. It's an optional, luxury addition.

[UTILITY] Ancestral Totems setup
	Ancestral Warchief - A Totem that grants you more Melee Damage.
	Ancestral Protector - A Totem that grants you more Attack Speed. You can use the Phantasmal version for an increased buff effect.
	Multiple Totems Support - You're able to place three totems for both Ancestral bonuses.
	Maim Support - Totems Maim the opponent reducing his Movement Speed and making it more vulnerable to Physical Damage.

[UTILITY] Mana Reservation setup
	Pride - Pride makes nearby enemies take increased Physical Damage, this effect is doubled after four seconds.
	Blood and Sand - You can switch between having more Area of Effect and less Area Damage and vice versa, depending on the Stance.
	Determination - Adds more and increases your Armour.
	Enlighten Support - Linked Spells have increased mana Reservation Efficiency.

[UTILITY] Vengeance setup
	Vengeance - After getting Hit it has a 40% chance to deal damage to all nearby enemies, but can't be used manually.
	Rage Support - Grants 1 Rage on Melee hit. Rage increases your Attack Speed, Movement Speed, and Attack Damage.

[MOBILITY] Leap Slam/Curse setup
	Leap Slam - Leap Slam is a great movement tool to move faster and jump over obstacles. You can also use  Dash, but it doesn't Hit and won't be able to apply Curses via Hextouch.
	Hextouch Support - It applies Hex Curse on Hit, which is Vulnerability in this case.
	Lifetap Support - Linked Curse and Movement Skills cost no Mana, but Life instead.
	Vulnerability - Cursed enemy takes increased Physical Damage. If you're able to cause this Curse via Ring Affix, put the  Faster Attacks Support here instead.

[UTILITY] Defiance Banner
	Defiance Banner - Increases Armor and Evasion, nearby enemies have reduced Critical Strike Chance.

6. Gear Setup

It is a Precise Technique Build, meaning you won't deal Critical Strikes, and your Accuracy must always be higher than the Maximum Life for the damage bonus. Most of the Items, if not all of them, are of Rare Quality. It allows you to easily cap Elemental or even Chaos Resistances and gain extra Spell Suppression chance. Accuracy can be found mostly in Gloves and a Helmet. Added Physical Damage can be gained from Jewelry. There's not much more you can do to gain more damage from the regular gear pieces, most damage comes from Weapons. You can go for the Paradoxica Weapon or Rare Swords with high base Physical Damage. You won't need any Cluster Jewels, but after reaching level 90 or so it will be the best option to gain more Damage. Remember to get a 100% chance to Impale, and if you can't fit all your Auras, be sure that you've tried to increase the Spell Reservation Efficiency by allocating masteries and nodes on your Skill Tree first. We've decided to use Swords and not Axes. If you happen to find good Physical Axes you can use them, but it would alter the Skill Tree significantly.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - A regular Helmet can provide a lot of Maximum Life, Resistances, Accuracy Rating, and Spell Suppression Chance - these are the most valued modifiers to look for.

Min. requirements: +80 to Maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances +400 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: increased Global Accuracy Rating Nearby Enemies take 9% increased Physical Damage Chance to Suppress Spell Damage Chaos Resistance

(Helmet) Devoto's Devotion - A very cheap Helmet that can get you a lot of useful offensive modifiers with Chaos Resistance, Movement Speed, Dexterity, Evasion, and Armour. It does not grant Life or Elemental Resistances.

+(50-65) to Dexterity 10% reduced Global Physical Damage 16% increased Attack Speed (150-200)% increased Armour and Evasion +(15-25)% to Chaos Resistance 20% increased Movement Speed Mercury Footprints

Helmet enchantments: Cleave enchantments

(Weapon) Rare Swords - You can get a Rare Sword with a lot of Physical DPS, there seems to be no limit on how good a weapon you can craft. Look for increased or added Physical Damage, Attack Speed, and Accuracy Rating.

Min. requirements: around 400 Physical DPS Optional affixes: increased and added Physical Damage Attack Speed Accuracy Rating Quality

(Weapon) Paradoxica - Look for modifiers for increased Physical Damage, increased Attack Speed, increased Damage per Endurance/Frenzy Charge, chance to deal Double Damage, and Accuracy Rating. It's not very expensive but can still be comparable in damage to a good rare weapon.

+25% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Attacks with this Weapon deal Double Damage Veiled Prefix Veiled Suffix

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - The basic Maximum Life and Elemental Resistances are the most important, you can get a lot of them on a Body Armour. Extra Curse and Spell Suppression Chance are also very good.

Min. requirements: +100 to Maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chance to Suppress Spell Damage increased Maximum Life You Can Apply Additional Curse Socketed Attacks have -15 to Total Mana Cost Enemies you Kill have a chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their maximum Life as Physical Damage

(Body Armour) Farrul's Fur - It's one of the best Armours for Melee builds, it makes Aspect of the Cat reserve no Mana, provides you with constant Power and Frenzy Charges, a lot of Maximum Life, and Phasing. You can go for the Replica version too, it might be even slightly better for this build. Just be sure that you have the Aspect of the Cat Suffix somewhere.

(100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(80-100) to maximum Life Aspect of the Cat has no Reservation +2 seconds to Cat's Stealth Duration Gain up to your maximum number of Frenzy and Power Charges when you gain Cat's Stealth You have Phasing while you have Cat's Stealth

(Boots) Rare Boots - Boots are very basic, just get the Movement Speed, Life, Resistances, and some extra modifier like the Freeze immunity or Onslaught on Kill.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed +60% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Cannot be Frozen chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill Chance to Suppress Spell Damage

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves can grant you Maximum Life, Resistances, Accuracy Rating, Attack Speed, and Damage. Spiked Gloves could be good here, these increase your Melee Damage.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances +400 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: Adds Physical Damage to Attacks Chance to Suppress Spell Damage increased Melee Damage increased Attack Speed increased Damage while Leeching (crafted)

(Belt) Ryslatha's Coil - It is by far the best Belt, it gets you not only a lot of Damage but also Maximum Life, and that's all you need. Remember to look only for ones with good rolls.

(20-30)% increased Stun Duration on Enemies +(20-40) to Strength (30-40)% more Maximum Physical Attack Damage (40-30)% less Minimum Physical Attack Damage Adds 1 to (15-20) Physical Damage to Attacks +(80-100) to maximum Life Gain 50 Life when you Stun an Enemy

(Belt) Rare Belt - If you can't afford good Ryslatha's Coil yet, just get a Stygian Vise or Leather Belt with a lot of Maximum Life and Elemental Resistances.

Min. requirements: +100 to Maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Maximum Life Strength increased damage

(Amulet) Rare Amulet  - Rare Amulet is the most common choice, it has a huge variety of modifiers, and a lot of them are very useful. Maximum Life, Resistances, Accuracy, and added Damage are frequent and easy to obtain. For the luxurious mods seek increased Mana Reservation Efficiency for Pride and reduced Mana Cost of Skills.

Min. requirements: +60 Maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Adds Physical Damage to Attacks Accuracy Rating increased Melee Damage Non-Channelling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost Pride has #% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency

(Amulet) Uul-Netol's Vow  - If you happen to get a copy of this Amulet with high rolls, or ones that won't hamper your Resistances, you can use it to accommodate one extra Support Gem, like  Close Combat.

Has 1 Socket Socketed Support Gems can also Support Skills from your Body Armour +(-30-30)% to Fire Resistance +(-30-30)% to Cold Resistance +(-30-30)% to Lightning Resistance +(-23-23)% to Chaos Resistance

(Amulet) Impresence (Physical)  - Impresence can be good if you're using one Blasphemous Vulnerability Aura. Full Power version which drops from Uber Uber Elder can be used to cast one extra Curse for free in the same fashion. It has good stats but provides you with no Resistances. Maddening Presence slows down and reduced damage of the enemies nearby.

+(10-16) to all Attributes Adds (12-16) to (20-25) Physical Damage +(400-500) to Armour +(50-70) to maximum Life (30-40)% increased Stun and Block Recovery Vulnerability has no Reservation if Cast as an Aura Gain Maddening Presence for 10 seconds when you Kill a Rare or Unique Enemy

Recommended Anointments: Merciless Skewering Dark Arts Constitution Weathered Hunter Charisma Vanquisher

(Ring) Rare Rings - Use Rings for Life, Resistances, Accuracy, added Physical Damage, and Vulnerability on Hit if you prefer to have it cast automatically. Steel or Vermillion Ring would be the best here.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +40% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Adds Physical Damage to Attacks Chaos Resistance Accuracy Rating Non-Channelling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost Curse Enemies with Vulnerability on Hit

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Life, Resistances, Accuracy, or specific modifiers for added or increased Physical Damage can be found on Jewels.

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life Accuracy Elemental Resistance Chaos Resistance Increased Physical / Sword / Dual-wielding Damage

(Jewel) Brutal Restraint - Brutal Restraint can be used for extra Dexterity and additional modifiers for Notables in Radius. Some of them can be very useful. For the same reason, you can use Lethal Pride instead.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of Nasima Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame & Forbidden Flesh - Nearly all Duelist's Keystones, especially that of a Slayer are great, and it'd take too much time to list them all here. We've used Fortitude for permanent Fortify.

Allocates <<Random Ascendancy Notable>> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh Allocates <<Random Ascendancy Notable>> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Your Auras are Pride and Determination. "Impales you inflict last 2 additional Hits while using Pride" Is by far the best modifier.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - There are tons of Notables to get from a Large Cluster Jewel, you're looking for a 6-node one with a base increasing Sword Damage, Physical Damage, Attack Damage, or Attack Damage while dual-wielding.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Vicious Skewering 1 Added Passive Skill is Feed the Fury 1 Added Passive Skill is Fuel the Fight 1 Added Passive Skill is Smite the Weak 1 Added Passive Skill is Force Multiplier 1 Added Passive Skill is Devastator 1 Added Passive Skill is Combat Rhythm 1 Added Passive Skill is Martial Prowess 1 Added Passive Skill is Martial Momentum 1 Added Passive Skill is Master the Fundamentals 1 Added Passive Skill is Hit and Run

(Flask) Lion's Roar - A Granite Flask you can use for more physical Damage and to knock enemies back on Hit.

+1500 to Armour Adds Knockback to Melee Attacks during Flask effect Knocks Back Enemies in an Area when you use a Flask 75% chance to cause Enemies to Flee on use (7-10)% more Melee Physical Damage during effect

Other suggested Flasks: Quicksilver Flask with random ailment removal Basalt Flask with increased Armour Silver Flask with increased Attack Speed Life Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.