Class: Ranger Witch Duelist Marauder Shadow Templar

This PoE 3.16 Scourge Duelist Shield Crush Gladiator build is intended as a starter build for all types of players, including those brand new to the game.

 

Pros & Cons

+ Easy, Effective League Start to get off the ground (only need a high armor shield)
+ All content viable (verified thanks to Raiki_PoE)
+ Tanky (about 100k eHP) with lots of ways to keep your defense up (Versatile Combatant Max Block, Armor, Endurance Charges, Vaal Molten Shell, etc)
+ SSF Friendly. No Uniques Required.
+ Fast mapping utilizing Leap Slam tied with Challenger Charges.
+ Offensive, Defensive, and Flask Flexibility to make this build your own

- Not a one button build (Totems, Blood Rage, Tempest Shield, Leap Slam, Shield Crush buttons)
- Levelling will feel a bit crappy until first Ascendancy due to speed
- Weak to DoT damage early on (natural weakness of block builds, we patch this with Pantheon)
- Average Bossing
- No Physical Reflect Maps. Reduced Block Chance maps are dangerous but doable.
- Slight Dexterity/Intelligence Starvation without Carnage Heart

 

Skill Tree

Ascendancy: Arena Challenger > Painforged > Versatile Combatant > Blood in the Eyes

Pantheon: 

MAJOR: Soul of Arakaali - Block builds are weak against DOT effects. This is the best major keystone to help us mitigate that

Honorable Mentions: Soul of Solaris - Big Bossing (Maven, Sirus, etc)

MINOR: Soul of Shakari - More DOT and Chaos Damage mitigation

Bandit: Kill all

Passive Tree & PoB

Note the changes in 3.16 skill tree, please wait for the update after 3.16 is released 

Path of Building Link: https://pastebin.com/BPDbRHi5 (3.16)

 

Gems Setup

Key: (20/X) = Level/Quality. If you see X on quality, it can be whatever quality.

Shield Crush

6L - Shield Crush R R G R R R

Shield Crush (21/20) - We want 20 Quality on this for area of effect increase. This is top priority.

Brutality (20/20) - Raw damage. No chaos or elemental damage though.

Impale (20/20) - Impale Support

Multistrike (20/20) - Faster attacks, also makes mana leeching easier.

Melee Physical Damage (20/20) - Basic damage addition

Pulverise (20/20) - Area of Effect + Area Damage

Gem Alternatives:

Anomalous Shield Crush for more attack speed over area of effect

Divergent Multistrike for more attack speed

Shield Crush Awakened Supports

6L - Shield Crush Awakened Supports R R G R R R

Anomalous Shield Crush (21/20) - Anomalous version for increased attack speed.

Awakened Brutality (5/20) - Raw damage. No chaos or elemental damage though.

Impale (20/20) - Impale Support

Divergent Multistrike (20/20) - Faster attacks, also makes mana leeching easier

Awakened Melee Physical Damage (5/20) - Basic damage addition. This also gives us intimidate at level 5, which makes rolling Lethal Pride much easier.

Pulverise (20/20) - Area of Effect + Area Damage

4L Totems

4L 1 - Ancestral Protector + Vaal Ancestral Warchief R R R R

Vaal Ancestral Warchief (20/X) - Quality doesn't really matter here. We want the buff.

Ancestral Protector OR Phantasmal Ancestral Protector (20/X) - You want 20 quality if you are using the Phantasmal Ancestral Protector variant.

Multiple Totems Support (20/X) - For Multiple Totems to use both Protector and Warchief

Maim Support (20/X) - Maiming enemies for more damage for all of our build

4L Auras

4L 2 - Auras R R R R

Pride (20/X) - Raw damage increase

Blood and Sand (6/0) - Area damage + Challenger Charge Support

Herald of Purity (20/X) - More Damage and slight defensive benefits from Sentinels (they do draw aggro)

Flesh and Stone (20/X) - Maim Damage + Blind Support while Mapping.

NOTE: We need the Mana Reservation cluster fully completed in order to use all the Auras mentioned in this build. Please make sure to take a look at the levelling section to see what Auras you should use during the levelling process.

Leap Slam + Enduring Cry

4L 3 - Leap Slam + Enduring Cry R G R R

Leap Slam (20/X) - Typical Movement Skill

Faster Attacks (20/X) - Always put this with Leap Slam.

Lifetap (1/X) - We keep this at level 1 for a free 20% increased Life from Flasks because of Lifetap. Nifty.

Enduring Cry (20/20) - Endurance Charge generation against bosses + Life regeneration boost on demand.

CWDT

3L 1 - Shield - CWDT + Vulnerability R R R

Cast When Damage Taken Support (CWDT) (6/X) - Take 1000+ damage, it activates. Tinker with the level as you see fit.

Vaal Molten Shell (13/X) - We are an armor build, this is the best defense for us. Vaal skill can be used on demand. You can use Immortal Call instead if you want, but I prefer the Vaal skill when I need it.

Vulnerability (9/X) - Quality gives us slightly more chance to bleed, which we don't care for. Your decision on if it's CWDT or not. I prefer CWDT.

Weapon Gems

3L 2 - Weapon - FILL G G B

Explanation: Culling Strike support once we get the space + Blood rage socket. Once we free up gem slots and find other ways to leech mana, prismatic eclipse will be G G G colors.

Blood Rage (X/X) - Level this as high as you can, as we're slightly Dexterity starved.

Frenzy (20/X) - Frenzy gives us easy Frenzy charge generation during bosses since we attack so fast.

GGG sockets: Culling Strike (20/X) - Culling Strike support for killing bosses at 10% or lower hp. Very nice against bosses like Maven, Sirus, and Catarina.

OPEN (X/X) - This slot remains open while we look for other ways to get mana leech. You can place a gem like Portal here if you'd like.

Note: Since we are using Prismatic Eclipse as our main weapon, you want the sockets to be 1 Blue, 2 Green. 2 Green for attack speed, 1 Blue for Mana leech.

UNSET RING - War Banner

 

Gear Setup

NOTE: There are endgame options for both Amulet and Body Armor slots. YOU DO NOT NEED BOTH.

Shield

+18 to maximum Life
----------------------------------
+397 to Armour
129% increased Armour
+18% to Cold Resistance
+41% to Lightning Resistance
11% increased Stun and Block Recovery
+21 to Strength
+18% to Quality

Budget - Lioneye's Remorse

Explanation: A crafted shield will be very easy to do because of Essences. Using Essence of Dread, we can force up to +400-440 FLAT armor on our shield. This is big because this is actually higher than the T1 flat armor roll on a shield.

Weapon

Priority - Prismatic Eclipse with G G B sockets

Budget - Stat Stick Weapon (Resistances and on-hit effects)

Endgame - Corrupted/Scourged Prismatic Eclipse with G G G sockets and Resolute Technique or added physical damage

Helmet

Priority - Crown of the Inward Eye

Budget - Defenses Rare Helmet

40% increased Shield Crush Damage
------------------------------------------------
+6 to Armour
+94 to maximum Life
+30% to Fire Resistance
18% increased Stun and Block Recovery
Nearby Enemies take 9% increased Physical Damage
19% increased Armour
+16 to maximum Life

Endgame - Elder Helmet w/ 'Nearby enemies take x% increased physical damage'

Body Armor

Priority - 6L Armor Item (preferably Astral Plate) OR Belly of the Beast

Budget - Tabula Rasa (+2 to AoE socketed gems option)

+12% to all Elemental Resistances
----------------------------------------------
+1 to Level of Socketed Strength Gems
+1 to Level of Socketed Active Skill Gems
+22 to Strength
+71 to Armour
+16% to Fire Resistance
+82 to maximum Life

Endgame - Warlord's Astral Plate w/ +1 socketed active and +1 socketed strength mods

Gloves

Priority - Rare Sinistral Gloves with Life, Attack Speed, and Added Physical

Budget - Rare Spiked/Sinistral Gloves (or General Gloves) with Life and Resists

Mapping - Haemophilia

25% reduced Attack Damage with Main Hand
47% increased Attack Damage with Off Hand
---------------------------------------------------
3% Chance to Block Attack Damage
15% increased Attack Speed
52% increased Evasion Rating
+57 to maximum Life
11% increased Rarity of Items found
+14% to Lightning and Chaos Resistances

Endgame - Warlord's Sinistral Gloves w/ Culling Strike or Block Chance

Boots

Priority - Rare Armor boots with Life, Resists, and 30% Movement Speed

Budget - Rare Armor boots with an open prefix to craft Movement Speed

Amulet

Priority/Budget - Carnage Heart

Allocates Ambidexterity
+23 to Dexterity and Intelligence
------------------------------------
+39 to Intelligence
21% increased Spell Damage
Adds 13 to 22 Physical Damage to Attacks
+73 to maximum Life
+25 to Strength and Dexterity

Additional Option - Turquoise Amulet

Allocates Ambidexterity
+23 to Dexterity and Intelligence
------------------------------------
+29 to Strength
26% increased Rarity of Items found
+32% to Fire Resistance
+1 to Level of all Physical Skill Gems
+1 to Level of all Strength Skill Gems
+53 to maximum Life

Endgame - Warlord's Turquoise Amulet with +1 Strength Skill and Physical Skill Gems

Rings

Priority - Life and Resist Rare Rings (Vermillion or Two-Stone or Prismatic). One ring must be Unset if you do not have a Vulnerability on Hit ring.

Budget - Two-Stone Rings with Life

Mana Problems - Praxis

Endgame - Circle of Guilt (% increased buff effect / % increased Physical damage while affected by Herald of Purity) and Vulnerability on Hit rare ring.

Belt

Priority - Stygian Vise or other belt with Life and Resists, Hunter Influence for more Life if you want. Increased global physical damage is also an option (Delve).

Budget - Standard belt with Life and Resist

Abyss Jewel

Priority - Life, Increased Attack speed or increased physical damage

Budget - Life and Resistances/Attributes

Flasks

Divine Life Flask of Staunching (Corrupted Blood + Bleeding) TOP PRIORITY
Basalt Flask
Quartz Flask of Heat (Freeze) PRIORITY FOR MAPS
Sulphur Flask
OPEN SLOT

Levelling: Quicksilver Flask of Heat

Jewels

Timeless Jewel: Lethal Pride
Priority: Viridian Jewels with %life and 1 or 2 of the mods listed below:
Increased Attack Speed
Increased Attack Speed while holding a Shield
increased Melee damage
increased attack damage while holding a shield

Honorable Mentions: % of attack damage leeched as mana (You do not need this if you have a blue socket Prismatic Eclipse or if you are using another form of mana leech)

Corruptions to keep in mind: Corrupted Blood Immunity

Cluster Jewels

LARGE:

Priority: 8 Passive Feed the Fury and Fuel the Fight Jewel (increased attack damage or increased attack damage while holding a shield)
Martial Prowess as the 3rd slot if you want to invest.

SMALL (OPTIONAL):

Priority: 2 Passive Adrenaline or Fettle Jewel

Enchantments

Helmet: 'Blood and Sand has X% increased effect' OR 'Ancestral Protector gives X% increased attack speed while active' OR 'Blood Rage gives X% increased attack speed' OR 'X% increased Shield Crush Damage' OR 'X% increased Shield Crush Attack Speed'

Boots: 'X% increased attack and cast speed if you have killed recently' OR 'X% chance to avoid stun if you have killed recently'

Gloves: This doesn't matter. Do what you like. The damage increase is so minimal that it doesn't matter too much.