Created for Patch 3.25
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Guide notes |
August 22, 2024 -Created for Patch 3.25 |
Build Overview | |||
Tags: [ELEMENTAL] [BLOCK] [LIFE] [ATTACK] | |||
Budget: Defenses: |
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Boss DPS: AoE: |
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The newly introduced Retaliation Skills offer great initial AoE, insane Damage Effectiveness, and a guaranteed chance to Hit, but have a pretty hefty requirement to be usable: they can be only used after you Blocked an Enemy's hit, and have a short Cooldown. With this setup, you can rely entirely on the Retaliation Skills as your main form of dealing Damage. As a Gladiator, you will easily Block 90% of the incoming Damage, have a 70% chance for your Skills to be usable again immediately, and a 35% chance to make them usable when you use a different Retaliation Skill. You will use two Skills alternately: the Eviscerate which creates two huge waves and a Crushing Fist which causes a powerful slam. They hit very hard, but slowly. Thanks to the high chance to reset Cooldown, you will often be able to use them a few times in a row, which will be enough to take down most Enemies in the game in an instant. You will also occasionally use Smite while waiting to be Hit by Enemies to get the bonus Lightning Damage Aura.
With the return of Reflective Mist, the Doryani's Prototype Armour is a very powerful way to scale your Damage again. You can quite easily lower your Lightning Resistance down to -200%, which will also apply to nearby Enemies. It will make you more vulnerable to Lightning Damage too, but not as much as your Enemies. You will shift half of the incoming Elemental Damage to be taken as Chaos Damage instead with the Divine Flesh Keystone, and the remaining 50% of the Lightning Damage will be reduced by your Armour. You can also use the Watcher's Eye modifier to take 20% of Lightning Damage as Fire or Cold, but it is rarely noticeable.
To capitalize on the negative 200% Lightning Resistance the Enemies now have you will use the Paradoxica Sword that grants a 100% chance to deal Double Damage and source your flat Damage from the Smite and Wrath Aura. Your every 4th Hit with the Retaliation Skill is guaranteed to be a Critical Strike, but you should aim to have a 100% Critical Strike Chance anyway for more consistent Damage. The Block-related Notables on the Cluster Jewels are also surprisingly well matched for this setup, as the Precise Retaliation Notable grants you a 30% Critical Strike Multiplier if you have Blocked recently. You can fit in 3 of such Notables in your Setup.
You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List
Use Smite to gain extra Lightning Damage Aura for a few seconds. Use the Retaliation Skills when they are available, which should happen all the time. The Crushing Fist can deal more Damage, but the Eviscerate is much faster and covers a larger Area. Your Curse and Guard Skill will be triggered automatically. For movement used Shield Charge and Frostblink.
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PROS |
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CONS |
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The Retaliation Skills are quite bad during levelling - you won't have enough Block Chance, and there are not enough Enemies. We recommend the other Gladiator's speciality to level up - the Bleed Damage. It will easily carry you through the campaign and early maps until you get all the necessary Items and Passive Points to transition into the Crit Retaliation version. You can check out our Bleeding Gladiator Guide for PoE to see more tips!
Bandits:
Kill all Bandits to get an additional Passive Tree Skill Point.
Final Skill Tree:
98 Points Final Passive Tree
118 Points Path of Building (PoB) link
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in this order:
Pantheon:
Major God: Soul of Arakaali: 10% reduced Damage taken from Damage Over Time; +40% Chaos Resistance against Damage Over Time
Minor God: Soul of Garukhan: 60% reduced Effect of Shock on you; Cannot be Blinded, You cannot be Maimed
[DPS] Eviscerate setup socketed in Thunderfist Gloves |
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Eviscerate - performs a quick slash that releases two damaging Waves, hitting the close Enemies twice. It can be used after Blocking a Hit. |
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Expert Retaliation Support - greatly reduces the Cooldown of your main Skill. |
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Volatility Support - lowers the minimum Attack Damage but greatly raises the maximum Attack Damage. |
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Pulverise Support - slows down your Attack Speed but greatly improves your AoE and Damage. |
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Added Lightning Damage Support - provided by Thunderfist Gloves, grants a lot of base Lightning Damage. |
[DPS] Crushing Fist setup | |
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Crushing Fist - summons a giant Fist that slams the ground in front of you, dealing massive Damage in the Area. |
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Pulverise Support - greatly improves the AoE of your Skill. |
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Volatility Support - the lightning Damage has a broad range of Damage, so lowering it won't affect your DPS at all. |
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Fist of War Support - nearly doubles your Damage and AoE with a Slam Skill, but this effect has a short Cooldown. |
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Added Lightning Damage Support - use the Awakened version to get more flat Lightning Damage. |
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Expert Retaliation Support - reduces the Cooldown of your Skill. You can also use the Elemental Damage with Attacks Support to increase its one-shot potential. |
[UTILITY] Autoexertion setup | |
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Determination - a defensive Aura that greatly improves your Armour Rating, which is also used to reduce incoming Lightning Damage in this Build. |
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Wrath - an offensive Aura that grants you a lot of Lightning Damage to Attacks. |
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Flesh and Stone - being in Sand Stance reduces the Damage you take from nearby Enemies. You can also use Blood and Sand to improve your AoE and Damage instead. |
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Enlighten Support - you will need this Support to reduce the Mana Reservation of linked Auras. |
[UTILITY] Curse setup | |
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Assassin's Mark - a Mark Skill that increases your Chance to Critically Strike your Enemy and improves your Critical Strike Multiplier. It also generates Power Charges for even more Crit chance. |
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Mark on Hit Support - automatically applies linked Mark to Rare and Unique enemies you Hit with your Attacks. |
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Lifetap Support - turns your Mana Costs into Life Costs which are much easier to sustain. |
[UTILITY] Movement setup | |
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Shield Charge - your main Travel Skill, it is a swift charge towards the targeted location. It doesn't have a Cooldown but can't cross terrain gaps. |
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Faster Attacks Support - makes your Shield Charge faster to perform. |
[UTILITY] Guard setup | |
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Molten Shell - when used it creates a flame barrier around you that absorbs incoming Damage and improves your Armour. . |
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Cast when Damage Taken Support - triggers the Molten Shell when the Hit passes through your Block. |
[UTILITY] Other utility setups | |
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Frostblink - allows you to instantly teleport a short distance, which is useful to dodge incoming threats or cross terrain. |
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Vaal Smite - deals a small amount of Damage in Area and creates an Aura that grants you bonus Lightning Damage to Attacks for a few seconds. |
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The main Damage scaling comes from two Unique Items, namely Doryani's Prototype Armour which allows you to reduce Enemy Lightning Resistances down to -200%, and a Paradoxica Sword which always deals Double Damage. The Thunderfist Gloves are also very useful, as they allow you to use two main setups more efficiently. The Glorious Vanity can grant you the Divine Flesh Keystone which helps greatly with the Lightning Damage you take. To fully utilise your Armour you will also need special Rare Rings and an Amulet that grant you negative Lightning Resistance. Other than that, you will need the usual defensive modifiers such as maximum Life, all Resistance except for Lightning, and some Elemental Damage for Attacks and Critical Strike Multiplier.
Stat priorities on items:
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(150-200)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +(60-90) to maximum Life Deal no Non-Lightning Damage Armour also applies to Lightning Damage taken from Hits Lightning Resistance does not affect Lightning Damage taken Nearby Enemies have Lightning Resistance equal to yours |
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Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +30% to Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes Resistance % increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills % increased Area of Effect |
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+25% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Attacks with this Weapon deal Double Damage Recommended veiled modifiers: (28-32)% increased Critical Strike Chance (70-79)% increased Lightning Damage Attacks with this Weapon Penetrate (14-16)% Elemental Resistances |
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Min. requirements: Recover 5% of Life when you Block +100 to maximum Life Optional affixes: Attack Speed Resistance Chance to Block Spells |
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Min. requirements: +90 to maximum Life 30% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills +50% to Elemental and Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: % increased maximum Life Attributes Cooldown Recovery Rate |
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Min. requirements: +30 to maximum Life Optional affixes: Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you Added Lightning Damage to Attacks Attributes Resistances |
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Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life 80% to Elemental and Chaos Resistance 30% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: 100% chance to Avoid being Frozen Attributes |
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Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 30 Added Lightning Damage 100% increased Effect of Lightning Ailments 10% increased Attack Speed (150-200)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield |
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Min. requirements: +150 to maximum Life -50% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: % increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Attributes Chaos Resistance |
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Min. requirements: +150 to maximum Life -50% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: % increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Attributes Chaos Resistance |
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Min. requirements: increased maximum Life Recommended affixes: % to Critical Strike Multiplier with One-Handed Melee Weapons % to Melee Critical Strike Multiplier % to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Resistance Attribute |
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Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Heavy Hitter 1 Added Passive Skill is Precise Retaliation 1 Added Passive Skill is Prodigious Defence |
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Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Basics of Pain 1 Added Passive Skill is Precise Retaliation |
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Passive in Radius of Vaal Pact can be Allocated without being connected to your tree | |
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Passive Skills in Radius also grant 6% increased Lightning Damage | |
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(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana Recommended Aura modifiers: +(600-1000) to Armour while affected by Determination +(5-8)% Chance to Block Attack Damage while affected by Determination (70-100)% increased Critical Strike Chance while affected by Wrath (40-60)% increased Lightning Damage while affected by Wrath |
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Bathed in the blood of (100-8000) sacrificed in the name of Xibaqua Passives in radius are Conquered by the Vaal Historic |
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(30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Effect |
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Suggested Flasks:
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If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.
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