



INTRODUCTION



This is the build guide for my 3.7 Split Arrow / Puncture Gladiator. The build is very defensive, fast clearing as well as being fairly budget (2-3ex with room for luxury purchases).



Offensively, on a budget you are looking at around 1M single-target DPS, with potential to rise to 2-3M+ with extra currency and changes. At level 89 (without flasks), my build has 6k Life, 20k Armour, 24% Dodge, 77/76/76 resistances, Blind and a lot more other defensive layers.



With the +6 arrows from Split Arrow, +2-3 from the helm enchant, and +2 from Arborix, the AoE coverage is really great for this build.





VIDEOS









PATH OF BUILDING



https://pastebin.com/mfXs1f6v





SKILL TREE (GLADIATOR)





Passive Tree (For level 89)





SKILL TREE BREAKDOWN



This is the current skill tree for the build. This tree has gone through several iterations, and I believe the current one is the most optimal. You will notice that I am running several 2H melee nodes, but these nodes actually have increased ailment damage with 2H weapons, so it works, since bows are 2H.



The skill tree has around 187% increased maximum life, but you will likely need more if you are in HC. I'm also running 154% increased armour, which I recommend because it is your primary defensive layer and you can't deal DPS if you are dead.



For the keystones, I suggest Resolute Technique, because this is a non-crit build and Iron Reflexes, because armour is really strong now, in conjunction with Molten Shell. With regards to jewels, you need a Lioneye's Fall in the top left jewel slot and I also recommend running a Watcher's eye with 10% Dodge with Grace, because defense is important (optional). This tree runs a bit short on Intelligence and Dexterity, so you will need to make adjustments on gear to compensate. For bandits, you will be taking 2 Passives, but Oak is also fine.





PANTHEON



Soul of Lunaris + Soul of Yugul. Soul of Yugul allows you to run Phys Reflect maps if you drop Brutality from your setup. I definitely recommend getting all the upgrades for Soul of Lunaris, because it provides a huge defense boost to the build.





SCREENSHOTS





DEFENSE (No Flasks)









GEAR













GEAR EXPLANATION



Spoiler

Weapon



For our weapon, we use an Arborix. This bow has very high hit damage, bonus 2 arrows and a nice evasion boost, which is great for our build. It's effect also looks great on your character. If you are rich, I highly recommend crafting or buying a similar DPS bow with the mod "60% chance to Inflict 100% more bleed damage". This will effectively double your DPS against bosses.



Early on, you can use an Infractem or SliverTongue, until you can afford an Arborix. Keep in mind the 212 Dex requirement on Arborix.









Helm



For our helm, any rare helm will suffice, I highly recommend a helm with the +2-3 arrows to Split Arrows enchantment. Try to get Intelligence or Dexterity on this helm too, to alleviate the stats requirement for this build.









Quiver



BIS would be a Drillneck for the 50% damage boost, +1 Pierce, Phys Damage and Evasion/Life modifiers.









Chest



Any 6L chest is good. I recommend one with high evasion or hybrid, with dodge chance if possible. If you can afford it, a 6L "The Perfect Form" is optimal for Iron Reflex builds, but it is very expensive and hard to make up for the resistances.







Gloves and Boots



For Gloves, we need the vulnerability on hit corruption (unless you get it on your ring). Ideally, I would suggest a corrupted Blasphemer's Grasp, because it gives us great Dexterity, and nice Life + Damage. These are fairly cheap right now, so shouldn't be too difficult to acquire. But other gloves work fine too. For boots, any rare boots will suffice, but I highly recommend getting Dodge Chance on your boots, because Dodge + Armour is a fairly good combination for defense.











Amulet



For the amulet, you need to use a horned talisman for the pierce. The rest of the mods don't matter that much, but ideally you want stats, life, phys damage and resistances. You also need mana leech on one item of jewellery.









Rings



For our rings, we want high life, stats, resistances and phys damage. You also need mana leech on one item of jewellery to sustain mana. If you can afford it, try to get Steel Rings. Some rings also have vulnerability on hit, so if you run that, you won't need corrupted gloves.









Belt



For the Belt, we want either a rare rustic sash, stygian belt, or vanguard belt. I recommend the vanguard belt, because it provides excellent defenses and armour for our build (due to Iron Reflexes).









Flasks



For flasks there is not much to recommend, go with your personal preference. I like to use a Seething Divine Life flask and an Eternal Catalysed flask. I'm also running 2x Alchemist's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline to go as fast as possible. A Jade flask is there for additional armour and synergy with Molten Shell.







For our weapon, we use an Arborix. This bow has very high hit damage, bonus 2 arrows and a nice evasion boost, which is great for our build. It's effect also looks great on your character. If you are rich, I highly recommend crafting or buying a similar DPS bow with the mod "60% chance to Inflict 100% more bleed damage". This will effectively double your DPS against bosses.Early on, you can use an Infractem or SliverTongue, until you can afford an Arborix. Keep in mind the 212 Dex requirement on Arborix.For our helm, any rare helm will suffice, I highly recommend a helm with the +2-3 arrows to Split Arrows enchantment. Try to get Intelligence or Dexterity on this helm too, to alleviate the stats requirement for this build.BIS would be a Drillneck for the 50% damage boost, +1 Pierce, Phys Damage and Evasion/Life modifiers.Any 6L chest is good. I recommend one with high evasion or hybrid, with dodge chance if possible. If you can afford it, a 6L "The Perfect Form" is optimal for Iron Reflex builds, but it is very expensive and hard to make up for the resistances.For Gloves, we need the vulnerability on hit corruption (unless you get it on your ring). Ideally, I would suggest a corrupted Blasphemer's Grasp, because it gives us great Dexterity, and nice Life + Damage. These are fairly cheap right now, so shouldn't be too difficult to acquire. But other gloves work fine too. For boots, any rare boots will suffice, but I highly recommend getting Dodge Chance on your boots, because Dodge + Armour is a fairly good combination for defense.For the amulet, you need to use a horned talisman for the pierce. The rest of the mods don't matter that much, but ideally you want stats, life, phys damage and resistances. You also need mana leech on one item of jewellery.For our rings, we want high life, stats, resistances and phys damage. You also need mana leech on one item of jewellery to sustain mana. If you can afford it, try to get Steel Rings. Some rings also have vulnerability on hit, so if you run that, you won't need corrupted gloves.For the Belt, we want either a rare rustic sash, stygian belt, or vanguard belt. I recommend the vanguard belt, because it provides excellent defenses and armour for our build (due to Iron Reflexes).For flasks there is not much to recommend, go with your personal preference. I like to use a Seething Divine Life flask and an Eternal Catalysed flask. I'm also running 2x Alchemist's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline to go as fast as possible. A Jade flask is there for additional armour and synergy with Molten Shell.



GEM SETUP





Split Arrow / Puncture Setup



For Split Arrow and Puncture, we want the Support gems Brutality, Vicious Projectiles, Chance to Bleed, Deadly Ailments, Swift Affliction (in that order of priority). For Puncture, I highly recommend getting as much quality as possible, try to go for a 21/20 Puncture if you can.



I also suggest having two separate setups for Puncture and Split Arrow. One in the bow and one in the chest, this makes mapping a lot smoother, since you won't have to switch gems each time for single-target (if you can afford it).



Utility Setup



CWDT(1) + Molten Shell(10) + Increased Duration, is very important for this build, I would say it is mandatory, simply because it provides such a huge defensive boost. I also run Bloodrage for Frenzy charges and Blink Arrow for mobility. I also suggest an Enduring Cry setup to generate Endurance Charges (optional).



Aura Setup



The aura setup is quite important. I run Grace for defenses, but you can choose to run Malevolence instead if you want for increased DPS. Depends on how much you value defense, but I would still suggest using Grace, since you can't deal DPS if you are dead. War Banner + Generosity is necessary because Generosity works well with War Banner, and we don't care about the accuracy boost. We also want Flesh and Stone for the extra defense, and the Sand Stance allows us to generate Challenger Charges.





LEVELING



Passive Tree (For level 30)



Passive Tree (For level 60)



Passive Tree (For level 89)



Early on, use Puncture + LMP to level. Use Silverbranch, Death's Harp, then transition to Infractem + GMP. With this build, leveling will be a breeze.



Ascendancy Order



Blood in the eyes > Gratuitous Violence > Arena Challenger > Outmatch and Outlast.





THE END

This is the build guide for my 3.7 Split Arrow / Puncture Gladiator. The build is very defensive, fast clearing as well as being fairly budget (2-3ex with room for luxury purchases).Offensively, on a budget you are looking at around 1M single-target DPS, with potential to rise to 2-3M+ with extra currency and changes. At level 89 (without flasks), my build has 6k Life, 20k Armour, 24% Dodge, 77/76/76 resistances, Blind and a lot more other defensive layers.With the +6 arrows from Split Arrow, +2-3 from the helm enchant, and +2 from Arborix, the AoE coverage is really great for this build. https://youtu.be/TNLGkTdh7a4 (Forge of the Phoenix Run)This is the current skill tree for the build. This tree has gone through several iterations, and I believe the current one is the most optimal. You will notice that I am running several 2H melee nodes, but these nodes actually have increased ailment damage with 2H weapons, so it works, since bows are 2H.The skill tree has around 187% increased maximum life, but you will likely need more if you are in HC. I'm also running 154% increased armour, which I recommend because it is your primary defensive layer and you can't deal DPS if you are dead.For the keystones, I suggest Resolute Technique, because this is a non-crit build and Iron Reflexes, because armour is really strong now, in conjunction with Molten Shell. With regards to jewels, you need a Lioneye's Fall in the top left jewel slot and I also recommend running a Watcher's eye with 10% Dodge with Grace, because defense is important (optional). This tree runs a bit short on Intelligence and Dexterity, so you will need to make adjustments on gear to compensate. For bandits, you will be taking 2 Passives, but Oak is also fine.Soul of Lunaris + Soul of Yugul. Soul of Yugul allows you to run Phys Reflect maps if you drop Brutality from your setup. I definitely recommend getting all the upgrades for Soul of Lunaris, because it provides a huge defense boost to the build.For Split Arrow and Puncture, we want the Support gems Brutality, Vicious Projectiles, Chance to Bleed, Deadly Ailments, Swift Affliction (in that order of priority). For Puncture, I highly recommend getting as much quality as possible, try to go for a 21/20 Puncture if you can.I also suggest having two separate setups for Puncture and Split Arrow. One in the bow and one in the chest, this makes mapping a lot smoother, since you won't have to switch gems each time for single-target (if you can afford it).CWDT(1) + Molten Shell(10) + Increased Duration, is very important for this build, I would say it is mandatory, simply because it provides such a huge defensive boost. I also run Bloodrage for Frenzy charges and Blink Arrow for mobility. I also suggest an Enduring Cry setup to generate Endurance Charges (optional).The aura setup is quite important. I run Grace for defenses, but you can choose to run Malevolence instead if you want for increased DPS. Depends on how much you value defense, but I would still suggest using Grace, since you can't deal DPS if you are dead. War Banner + Generosity is necessary because Generosity works well with War Banner, and we don't care about the accuracy boost. We also want Flesh and Stone for the extra defense, and the Sand Stance allows us to generate Challenger Charges.Early on, use Puncture + LMP to level. Use Silverbranch, Death's Harp, then transition to Infractem + GMP. With this build, leveling will be a breeze.Blood in the eyes > Gratuitous Violence > Arena Challenger > Outmatch and Outlast. Last edited by monstahz on Sep 20, 2019, 10:00:24 PM Last bumped on Dec 22, 2019, 8:29:49 PM