[Archnemesis Duelist] PoE 3.17 Gladiator Reave League Starter Builds

Ths is starter gladiator reave build that has evolved through hundreds of patches - always capable of playing the hardest content cheap, fast and safe!

Pros & Cons

• Boss killer, Simulacrum, Blight, league farmer & a mapper - all in one.
• Uber Elder, AW9, T19 100% Delirious maps deathless!
• One of the strongest league starters!
• Very flexible - will not shatter under market pressure even if it's popular!
• Pseudo-melee on steroids - the biggest melee AOE in the game.
• A skill and playstyle which is fun & engaging! I've played it myself for 8 leagues already.
• A build where you can feel the power & progress!
• 5M DPS with 2 EX budget gear - up to realistic 50M in league!
• 75% block, Overleech, Fortify, 79% all res, Maim, Blind, Steelskin, Endurance charges, Off Screen AOE, 6.5K HP & more!

Skill Tree

Ascendancy: Impact - Brutal Fervour - Bane of Legends - Headsman

Pantheon: Arakaali & Ryslatha

Bandit: Alira

Passive Tree & PoB

Levelling this build in acts is very easy as there are a lot of 2-hander nodes nearby and two-handed weapons are dirt cheap even on the first day of the league. Two-handers are also extra strong with Warcries early on. 4 links and two 1C physical weapon upgrades is all you need to complete the acts without any struggles.

Detailed acts leveling guides: Here

Path of Building Link: https://pastebin.com/5iG6TVQi

Gems Setup

Always set your Reave, Vaal Reave, Vaal Double Strike and totems as attack without moving.

Always set your Steelskin on your left click and make sure to put it back there if you swap gems as it automatically removes itself from that slot.

If the gem has Awakened or alternative quality, you may choose the normal version before buying the more expensive one.

Body

Vaal Reave - Impale - Awakened Brutality - Multistrike - Awakened Melee Physical Damage - Rage

Use Vaal Reave if you're at 4 stacks to push the range to 8 stacks.

Vaal Reave can also be used during mapping for a quick burst of even more damage as Vaal Reave itself has 2x the damage of a normal Reave.

Helmet

Tempest Shield, Ancestral Protector, Steelskin, Vaal Ancestral Warchief

Steelskin goes on left click.

Gloves

Leap Slam, Reckoning, Life Gain on Hit

This helps generate Power Charges very reliably, especially with alternate quality Power Charge on Critical and helps applying on hit effects while providing another source of life.

Boots

Vaal Double Strike, Melee Physical Damage, Brutality, Multistrike

Use this 0.5 seconds before engaging the boss. It essentially doubles your DPS for the amount that the clones are doing their work.

So if your character does 30M Reave Damage, then for 6 seconds you'll be doing 60M damage.

Weapon

Blood Rage, Dread Banner, Blood and Sand

Blood Rage needs to be refreshed mid fight at bosses if you want to use it at bosses. It's also reasonable to not use it at all to increase life leech. I also suggest not using Blood Rage at the Maven boss at all.

Shield

Pride, Arrogance, Blood Rage

Purity has to be unlinked or it will reserve your life.

Gear Setup

Weapon & Shield

1 Exalted Orbs

+5% chance to Suppress Spell Damage
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+30% chance to Suppress Spell Damage
14% Chance to Block Spell Damage
124% increased Evasion and Energy Shield
+73 to maximum Life
+35% to Chaos Resistance
17% increased Stun and Block Recovery

Must have HP, Block and Spell Block or Suppression for general progression.

Other often found and good mods are

• Spell Suppression
• Spell Block
• Chaos Resistance
• Accuracy

An interesting boss DPS shield.
Start fights with 15 - 20%+ more damage.

3 Exalted Orbs

Even a badly rolled Paradoxica is better than a good Ahn's Might.

If Paradoxicas are expensive, use Path of Building to potentially buy a rare sword instead. Normally a 410 pdps foil with Critical Strike Chance can beat the worst Paradoxica.

20 Exalted Orbs

The best Paradoxica has

• Increased Physical Damage
• Increased Attack Speed( not unique monster conditional)
• Impale( better for bosses) or Blind( better for maps)
• Intelligence and Dexterity or Blood Rage

An upgrade from this weapon would be a foil with 650+ physical DPS & critical strike chance and crit multi which normally go for 60 - 100 EX which is not worth it unless you're in mega endgame.

Body

Buy Cheap Tabula To Start

8% increased maximum Life
Regenerate 1.1 Life per second
+8% to Fire Resistance
You can apply an additional Curse
Attacks have +1.39% to Critical Strike Chance
+82 to maximum Life

Life, Additional Curse, Attacks Have Crit.

These are very easily found and are very cheap this league. You can buy these bases for 1 EX and 6L them with the oven for a few dozen chaos.

Could be improved further with

• Chaos resistance
• Spell suppression
• Spell block
• Non-Curse Aura Effect
• Gem levels
• Maven Orbs

Helmet, Gloves & Boots

Abyssus

You want below 42% increased physical damage taken and at least 110 critical multiplier. Don't bother with helmet enchants unless you're willing to divine it to below 41% and 120+%.

If you do bother - Blood & Sand effect, Reave Radius, Reave damage, Ancestral Warchief effect, Dread Banner effect are worth it.

Considering how tanky the build itself is, I don't suggest any other helmet. If you die too much, remove some damage nodes and take some more life. For XP ROTAs equip any rare helmet with some HP.

Vaal Caress gloves
+2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems
Curse Enemies with Vulnerability on Hit, with 48% increased Effect
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+2 to Level of Socketed Vaal Gems
135% increased Armour and Evasion
+69 to maximum Life
+40% to Cold Resistance
You gain Onslaught for 5 seconds on using a Vaal Skill

Boot

+89 to maximum Life
+47% to Cold Resistance
+42% to Lightning Resistance
+33% to Chaos Resistance
19% increased Movement Speed
11% chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill

You want Chaos Resistance and as much Elemental resistances as possible with as high life as possible. If you can craft Onslaught on boots you can save a passive point.

Belt, Rings & Amulet

Ryslatha's Coil: The MAXIMUM stat is far more significant than the MINIMUM - try to buy or divine MAXIMUM to as high as you can.

Has 1 Abyssal Socket
+32 to maximum Energy Shield
+82 to maximum Life
+45% to Cold Resistance
23% increased Stun Duration on Enemies
+20% to Fire and Lightning Resistances

Get as much life and resistances as your budget allows, this is a good belt to avoid high expenses on resistances in league start.

Aul's Uprising (Pride has no Reservation): It's absolutely and totally worth it. This allows you to swap over to Purity of Elements.

Rings: Curses, physical damage and life.

Other Choices: 15%+ Global Multiplier is highly suggested - can be crafted only with Elder influence or essences! 22% on both rings is a total of 16% MORE damage!

Jewels

Watcher's Eye
6% increased maximum Energy Shield
6% increased maximum Life
5% increased maximum Mana
Impales you inflict last 2 additional Hits while using Pride
Unaffected by Conductivity while affected by Purity of Lightning

You want 2 additional impale hits. One of the strongest Watcher mods - around 20% more damage, worth it. Always divine the life to 6% as the impale mod cannot change.