Level 100 Vaal Domination Champion^3.22

Notes

Currently my preferred leveling strategy is

R-R Double Strike - Chance to Bleed

G-R Splitting Steel - Chance to Bleed
G-G-R Splitting Steel - Chance to Bleed - Momentum
R War Banner
R Ancestral Protector
G Sniper's Mark
G Dash
o R Steelskin (most speed runner's don't bother with this, but it cleanes bleeding and a fair amount of enemies in the early game use Puncture)

G-G-R Splitting Steel - Chance to Bleed - Faster Attacks (can also use Pierce)
R War Banner
R-R Ancestral Protector - Maim
G Sniper's Mark
R-G Leap Slam - Faster Attacks
B Frostblink (keep at a level you have the INT for)
o R Steelskin
o R Vitality (keep at level 3, this can help offset the damage from Blood Rage when you get it in Act 2, or if you choose to link Leap Slam or another skill to Lifetap)
o G Precision (only level as high as you need to in order to keep your Accuracy above 80% or whereever you feel comfortable, any lower than that and you will start to notice how often you miss)

You can drop Precision as soon and you allocate Resolute Technique on your passive skill tree.

you can switch to Shattering Steel or Spectral Helix once you get to Merveil's Cavern in Act 1, however there are some unstable larvae in The Cavern of Anger that can just waltz
up to you can explode before you can get Helix going so I don't recommend swapping to it until you are walking into Merveil's Lair. Note there are also some enemies in
 The Western Forest of Act 2 that run up to an explode after a small delay which are also hard to deal with for Spectral Helix. I mostly walk through that area as Leap Slamming
or Frostblinking into a pack of them can get you instantly killed.  

Swords or Axes?

Swords typically do less damage but have implicits that give Accuracy and have higher base attacks peed.  So I tend to use sword's for the first few levels and switch to Axes later. 

Corroded Blade >  Longsword > Woodsplitter > Poleaxe > Double Axe > Shadow Axe > Timber Axe > Headsman Axe > Labrys > Abyssal > Sundering Axe > Ezomyte Axe > Despot Axe

You won't have the resources to upgrade every axe that you come along.  Just try to get one of the bases listed above and upgrade it with the vendor recipe

Axe + Whetstone + magic/rare rustic sash.  

You can upgrade normal rustic sashes to magic with a transmutation or to rare with an orb of alchemy/essence/or and orb of binding (but don't use an orb of binding unless you
are desparate).  

its nice to use a rare rustic sash, but put the rare rustic sash on your character if it is any good (life + a resistance or two, bonus points if it has a flask mod)

If you find that your damage is low you can pick up nodes like Martial Experience, which has a mastery 40% Increased Damage against Rare and Unique Enemies

Also good are Fury Bolts, Bastion Breaker, Hatchet Master (but be sure you are using an Axe!)

However the more of these your allocate the more you will have to respec later (you get 20 respecs in total if you do all the skill point quest, plus some optional quests which only give respec points)

Also the longer it takes you to get to Resolute Technique.  

Some people skip Mana Flows on the Passive Skill tree, but it give you INT, % increased  mana, and mana regeneration, all of which are sorely needed in the early game, especially since we won't be picking up any
mana leech or mana gained on hit nodes (because GGG in their infinite wisdom does not have any of those in the Maurader area of the Passive Skill Tree).  You'll also need some INT to even equip Frostblink and you can
either get it here or pick up a Lapis amulet, but DEX is going to be a bit of an issue as well, espeically if you try to level up Haste after you get it in Act 3.  

Act 2

G-G-R Splitting Steel/Shattering Steel/Spectral Helix - Chance to Bleed - Faster Attacks (can also use Pierce with the first two, but don't use it with Spectral Helix)
R War Banner
R-R-G Ancestral Protector - Maim - Culling Strike
G Sniper's Mark
R-G Leap Slam - Faster Attacks
B Frostblink (keep at a level you have the INT for)
R Herald of Purity or Herald of Ash (Herald of Ash is better for clear speed)
G Blood Rage
o R Steelskin
o R Vitality (keep at level 3, this can help offset the damage from Blood Rage when you get it in Act 2, or if you choose to link Leap Slam or another skill to Lifetap)
o G Precision (only level as high as you need to in order to keep your Accuracy above 80% or whereever you feel comfortable, any lower than that and you will start to notice how often you miss)

But I do not have enough sockets

G-G-R Splitting Steel/Shattering Steel/Spectral Helix - Chance to Bleed - Faster Attacks (can also use Pierce with the first two, but don't use it with Spectral Helix)
R War Banner
R-R-G Ancestral Protector - Maim
G Sniper's Mark
R-G Leap Slam - Faster Attacks
B Frostblink (keep at a level you have the INT for)
R Herald of Purity or Herald of Ash (Herald of Ash is better for clear speed)

Will be your core. In Act 4 when you have a 4 Link you can use Vicious Projectiles or possibly Iron Grip if your STR is high enough that it does more damage than Vicious Projectiles.

Vicious Procitles has the annoying line of text Supported Skills Have 10% LESS Projectile Attack Speed which can make your skill feel sluggish.  (Look up Increased and Decreased and Less and More in the PoE wiki)

So it can be a case of WOW the damage looks great in POB, but it feels bad to use.  Most characters that end up using it build enough attack speed that they eventually don't notice the Attack Speed loss.

You can swap to Dominating Blow in Act 3 however when I tested it it feels SO much better to swap near the very end of Act 4 when you gain access to Multistrike and Brutality.