INTRODUCTION



3.4 Update: The build remains essentially the same with little to no change





With the changes to Vaal Double Strike in 3.3 giving almost double effects to the clones and with respectable damage from the normal gem itself, we can clear end game content on a meager budget.



Pro's & Cons



The Good

1. Decent damage & clear speed.

2. Vaal clones melt the boss's while you can sip tea.

2. Build is very cheap to start and get to end game with.

3. Doesn't require any specific unique at all, so very SSF viable.



The not so very bad

1. Pure melee build so need to get up close and personal.

2. Cannot do reflect maps. Every other mod is game.



SKILL TREE

Tree

POB Link

https://pastebin.com/SEwRGTU9

Lvl 95 Skill Tree



You can take Vaal Pact & Vitality Void over other nodes for better leech sustain.



Bandit: Kill All



Ascendancy

1. Worthy Foe

2. Unstoppable Hero

3. First to Strike, last to fall



If you find Adrenaline Unreliable you can go with Fortitude.



Pantheon

These can be switched according to the map mods/situation, but the ones that are activated most of the time for me are:

Major: Soul of Solaris

Minor: Soul of Tukohama



POB LinkYou can take Vaal Pact & Vitality Void over other nodes for better leech sustain.Bandit: Kill AllAscendancy1. Worthy Foe2. Unstoppable Hero3. First to Strike, last to fallIf you find Adrenaline Unreliable you can go with Fortitude.PantheonThese can be switched according to the map mods/situation, but the ones that are activated most of the time for me are:Major: Soul of SolarisMinor: Soul of Tukohama



PLAYSTYLE

Spoiler You jump into the mob using leapslam which applies Fortify buff and attack to clear them.

Release your clones (Vaal Double Strike) when facing high life/dangerous monsters to clear them safely.

Ancestral Warchief can be used to gain more damage or clear mobs from distance.

Make sure you use attack in place-Either hold shift or use the Num-Lock trick.





GEAR

Gear



My Gear





Important Stats you need on your gear

1. You need at-least 12-20+ dexterity on your gear.

2. Upwards of 70+ intelligence on gear.

3. #% of Phys Attack leeched as Mana (You can take a mana leech node on the tree until you can get this mod on your gear).



ARMOUR/CHEST

Any rare 5-6 link with Armour & life. A shaped +1/crit chance chest with those stats would be BIS.

Unique chest you can use is Belly of the Beast or Loreweave.



WEAPONS



Main Hand needs to be a One handed Sword with high PDPS

Other Stat's to look for:

1. Attack Speed

2. Crit Chance

3. Crit Multi



Offhand preferably a scepter(can use an Axe or Sword too) with gain phys as extra elemental damage. (This is a Shaper mod)

1. Gain #% of Phys Damage as exta fire damage

2. Gain #% of Phys Damage as exta light/cold or random element damage

3. Crit Multi



GLOVES & BOOTS



Any you want to to balance out your resistances/stats

Also best to stack some dexterity & Intelligence on these two to use some of our gems and gear.



HELMET



Once again any you want to balance your stats.



Enchant:

Any Double strike enchant is good but really not required if you can't manage one.







Highest DPS gain is with 15% Chance to double damage bleeding enemies.



The rest 3 give similar DPS but if we talk number's then the highest DPS in order would be from:







1. 90% Increased Double Strike Critical Chance

2. 40% Increased Double Strike Damage

3. 15% Increased Double Strike Attack Speed.

Once again any you want to balance your stats.Enchant:Any Double strike enchant is good but really not required if you can't manage one.Highest DPS gain is with 15% Chance to double damage bleeding enemies.The rest 3 give similar DPS but if we talk number's then the highest DPS in order would be from:1. 90% Increased Double Strike Critical Chance2. 40% Increased Double Strike Damage3. 15% Increased Double Strike Attack Speed.



RINGS

Preferably Diamond for increased critical chance with whatever stats you require for balancing your needs.



AMULET



I use a Carnage heart for extra stats, some resistances, leech and damage. Any rare with the stats you require can be used too.





BELT



You can use Perseverance, since we have almost permanent fortify we get permanent onslaught with this belt too. The rest of the stats ain't bad either.





But you can use a rare Rustic Stash or Stygian Vise to give boost to your resis & health too. You can use Perseverance, since we have almost permanent fortify we get permanent onslaught with this belt too. The rest of the stats ain't bad either.But you can use a rare Rustic Stash or Stygian Vise to give boost to your resis & health too.

FLASKS

1. A life Flask, Quicksilver & Diamond with Bleed/Freeze remove mods.

2. Lion's Roar Give's Huge Damage boost but knock-back can be annoying.

3. Sin's Rebirth is not really required but boost's both damage & defense. A cheaper alternative would be Atziri's Promise.

4. The new Soul Catcher Flask is great for our vaal clone's.





1. A life Flask, Quicksilver & Diamond with Bleed/Freeze remove mods.2. Lion's Roar Give's Huge Damage boost but knock-back can be annoying.3. Sin's Rebirth is not really required but boost's both damage & defense. A cheaper alternative would be Atziri's Promise.4. The new Soul Catcher Flask is great for our vaal clone's.



JEWELS



Mods to Look For



1. Increased Phys Damage

2. Critical Strike Multiplier

3. Attack Speed

4. Health



Sample search :





If you have the currency I would recommend a watcher's eye with increased crit chance.

Sample Search



This gives us a pseudo 7 link DS similar to adding increased crit chance gem. But it's quite expensive atm.

Mods to Look For1. Increased Phys Damage2. Critical Strike Multiplier3. Attack Speed4. HealthSample search : http://poe.trade/search/iyehamahouohuk If you have the currency I would recommend a watcher's eye with increased crit chance.Sample Search http://poe.trade/search/udakiwokawoyen This gives us a pseudo 7 link DS similar to adding increased crit chance gem. But it's quite expensive atm.

1. You need at-least 12-20+ dexterity on your gear.2. Upwards of 70+ intelligence on gear.3. #% of Phys Attack leeched as Mana (You can take a mana leech node on the tree until you can get this mod on your gear).



GEM LINKS

Links



CHEST



Color's required:-

1. 4 Red 2 Green

2. 4 Red 1 Green 1 Blue

3. 5 Red 1 Green



Vaal Double Strike + Maim + Melee Phys Damage Support [These 3 should always be in setup]



+ Ancestral Call + Melee Splash [For mapping]



Although you can clear upto T15 boss's easy with the above 5 links but for pure single target switch the above 2 gems with



+ Multistrike + Chance to Bleed (or even Weapon Elemental Damage Support)



6th link can be either

Increased Critical Strike support

or

Culling Strike

or

Chance to bleed (when used as 6th link then use Ruthless as switch gem for single target.

or

Ruthless



GLOVES



Blood Magic + Leap Slam + Faster attacks support + Fortify



BOOTS



Your CWDT setup, I use



CWDT + Immortal call + Increased duration + Enfeeble(can use Ice Golem or Blood rage instead of curse)





HELMET



Ancestral Warchief + Maim + Melee Phys + Conc



AURA'S



Hatred--Always on

HOI--- For mapping

HOA--- For single target



Arctic Armour can also be used for extra phys defense



You can generally run 2 Aura's but can go 3 Aura's with a lvl3 enlighten support.



About Adrenaline (First to Strike, Last to Fall)



You can proc Adrenaline using either :-

1. Righteous Fire (slow but use's only 1 gem slot)

2. Using a 3 link setup:- Blood Magic + Blasphemy + Any curse



Either scenario, Activate/Deactivate to get 20sec Adrenaline boost, you can use life flask to recover your health back faster.





LEVELING TIPS & GEAR

Spoiler



LEVELING SUMMARY



Leveling should be should be pretty easy considering we get to use all our 4 main damage gems before lvl 20.



I started with straight up double strike. Later added melee splash, then Maim & finally Melee Phys. This 4 link should get you to upto lvl 50.



Make sure you lvl up your Ancestral call gem with the rest too. You can also switch between Maim & Ancestral call for extra AOE.



SKILL TREE PROGRESSION



With Skill Tree we follow the 3 way pattern



1. Upto lvl 30 we head left towards Marauder section.



Lvl 30 Tree



2. Upto Lvl 60 we head a little down towards our own Duelist tree & then move right towards Ranger section.



Lvl 60 Tree



3. After 60 we fill in the rest of the missing nodes & jewels(4 nodes) as we level up.





IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE DURING LEVELING



1. We will have insufficient Intelligence or Dexterity while leveling either for some gems or gear. So stack them on your gear. If you still feel need for more Intelligence then grab the "Wisdom of Glade" node along right side of our tree path.



2. Mana Leech is required to keep our attacks. Best to grab a mana leech node along the minor dexterity node's on our skill tree path. This is only until you get this mod on your gear somewhere.



Finally some swords you can use while leveling, and even 70+.







I might add more to this leveling guide if I find I missed something. Keep in mind this is not a definitive guide, you are free to make your own changes wherever necessary.

Leveling should be should be pretty easy considering we get to use all our 4 main damage gems before lvl 20.I started with straight up double strike. Later added melee splash, then Maim & finally Melee Phys. This 4 link should get you to upto lvl 50.Make sure you lvl up your Ancestral call gem with the rest too. You can also switch between Maim & Ancestral call for extra AOE.With Skill Tree we follow the 3 way pattern1. Upto lvl 30 we head left towards Marauder section.2. Upto Lvl 60 we head a little down towards our own Duelist tree & then move right towards Ranger section.3. After 60 we fill in the rest of the missing nodes & jewels(4 nodes) as we level up.1. We will have insufficient Intelligence or Dexterity while leveling either for some gems or gear. So stack them on your gear. If you still feel need for more Intelligence then grab the "Wisdom of Glade" node along right side of our tree path.2. Mana Leech is required to keep our attacks. Best to grab a mana leech node along the minor dexterity node's on our skill tree path. This is only until you get this mod on your gear somewhere.Finally some swords you can use while leveling, and even 70+.I might add more to this leveling guide if I find I missed something. Keep in mind this is not a definitive guide, you are free to make your own changes wherever necessary.



FAQ & END NOTES

Spoiler END GAME GOALS



1. A 350+ DPS Main Hand Sword with atleast 300pDPS on a Foil/Rapier base.

2. Offhand Scepter with 2 gain extra damage mods.

3. Helm with Double Strike Enchant.

4. Atleast 80k damage Tooltip for Double Strike with Aura's.

5. And finally atleast 5k+ Health.





FAQ













With the changes to Vaal Double Strike in 3.3 giving almost double effects to the clones and with respectable damage from the normal gem itself, we can clear end game content on a meager budget.1. Decent damage & clear speed.2. Vaal clones melt the boss's while you can sip tea.2. Build is very cheap to start and get to end game with.3. Doesn't require any specific unique at all, so very SSF viable.1. Pure melee build so need to get up close and personal.2. Cannot do reflect maps. Every other mod is game. Last edited by vvamic on Sep 12, 2018, 7:57:33 AM Last bumped on Dec 6, 2018, 9:28:43 PM