Level 93 Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator^3.24

Notes

################## Ascendancy Order ##############################


You start with Arena Challenger and take Blood in the Eyes for Cruel Lab.
Then you take Gratuitious Violence for Merc Lab and Outmatch and Outlast for Uber Lab.

Not having the bleed explosion on Cruel Lab is not that bad since enemies will die anyway from the bleed. Arena charges just feel better in my opinion.



############################ Jack The Axe ###############################

Althought not compulsory, this axe is really good for the build. I included it in the BIG gear set. The other gear set has a 450 DPS axe crafted to show what to aim for. Our weapon requires a lot of good stats but is craftable.
Jack The axe reserves life with a special aura, so keep that in mind.


############################### Lacerate of Haemorrhage #################################

IMPORTANT 
This is a league starter guide so I cannot expect people to get this transfigured gem on SSF, it all depends on RNG and how much lab you are willing to run. However, it is simply better than the standard gem.
In trade, get it as soon as you can.
Normal Lacerate is still fine, just not as good damage wise. So even in SSF this should be fine to league start with.

############################### Leveling ################################################

You can start with Lacerate right after entering Merveil's Cavern as you get this gem from Nessa's quest reward. This is fine but I just like to wait later when we get more attack speed. Lacerate feels good with a lot of attack speed.
So either switch right after Normal Lab when you have Challenger Charges or at level 38 in Act 4 when you can get Multistrike from Dialla after killing both Daresso and Kaom.

I use Splitting steel at the start and then Sunder as soon as I can. I just really like Sunder for the early campaign.

Sunder - Chance to Bleed - Maim. Chance to bleed I keep at least up to Merveil. Bleed feels nice for her since she does not recharge her energy shield as quickly, thanks to damage over time.
Early on, before you get Resolute Technique, using Precision is good. Remove Precision once you have Resolute Technique, close to Normal lab usually.
War Banner is another gem to use early on.
Late game we do not have quite enough mana to fit it in. It might be possible with a lot of essences of loathing on both a chest piece and the helmet. 

Keep that link until you switch to Lacerate, adding Melee physical damage as another link. Replacing change to bleed with Rage is a good option. Rage early on feels great with the attack and movement speed it gives.

Sunder - Melee Physical Damage - Rage - Maim (Faster attacks if green socket is ok. On league start chromes might be hard to come by.)

Once you switch to Lacerate
Here are the links in order
Lacerate - Multistrike - Brutality - Chance to Bleed (unless you already have a 100% bleed chance, then Melee Physical Damage is better)
Links for late game are in order in the Skills tab.

Upon changing to Lacerate, Auras should be:
	Pride - Blood and Sand
Blood and Sand is important to be able to change stance to get Challenger Charges. You get them in sand stance on kill and in blood stance against bosses.

##################################### BRUTAL RESTRAINT #####################################

The main stat you are looking for is 8% Increased Effect of Non-Curse Aura from your Skills. The other ones that are nice are: 4% increased maximum life, Increased attack and cast speed  and gain alchemist genius on flask use.

################################ Skill Trees and Gear Sets #######################################


The way I make my guides is as follows:
	Select a gear set and then the corresponding tree. They have the same name. There is no gear set for leveling, only for when you're in maps. I make my trees stopat level 93, which is a fair level. I include however a tree for level 100 if you need it.
	Watch the video for more explanation on how this works if needed.

########################## Physical Damage Mitigation ###########################################

We are not using determination, and barely any armour. We get our mitigation from Arctic Armour, the Pantheons and some damage shifting on the helmet.

Arctic Armour is 20%
8% damage shifting
Pantheons: 
	Tukohama: 6% on average, up to 9%
	Solaris: 6% (For Bosses Only)
	Lunaris: From 1% to 8% when Mapping
Block also helps mitigate obvisouly.
Endurance Charges

I ran Tier 16 Maps, Maven's Invitation and Shaper at level 91, with the build not being complete and it was fine. Block is really strong.

##################################### Leech ##############################################

Both life and mana leech need to be on either a jewel or on gear. Getting leech on the tree is too much skill points for not much, especially for mana leech. There is a 1 pointer for life leech below the Hatchet Master wheel if needed.


################################# Stun Immunity ##############################################

If you find yourself struggling and dying a lot, it might be because you forgot to take Unwavering Stance from the skill tree. Getting stun is really bad on this build so I highly recommend taking that Keystone. 



##################################### Versatile Combattant, yes or not? ###############################



I say yes for one reason. The more we block, the more we trigger Vulnerability. Late game we could get a curse ring to automate it, or self cast if we want. But this is a really simple way to automate the curse in a league start setup.
You could go attack block only. But I prefer Versatile Combattant. Both are probably fine.



##################################### Corrupted Blood immunity ####################################


Unfortunately, on this build you need a jewel corruption as we are not taking any Protection Mastery. This is a drawback of needing a lot of points for block and bleed damage in general.



################################## Charge Generation ###########################################

We generate Endurance charges on block thanks to the Deflection Notable. I used to take the Call to Arms Keystone with Enduring Cry on Mouse Button 1, but this does not exist anymore as an option.

We do have 2 gem slots available but the mana cost feels just too high with the new changes, we would need lifetap.
For frenzy charges, I just use Frenzy on Bosses. Once you have them, you only need to frenzy once in a while. Not ideal but not as bad as it sounds. You can also take the Swagger notable (2 points) to generate them on block.



################################# Flasks ###################################################


This one is a weird one. We do not scale a lot of armour but getting some on flasks with a Granite and a Basalt is a good idea. It just helps a little with Physical Damage. However, the new Elemental Flasks might be better (Ruby, Topaz and Sapphire) They are now giving +5% to all maximum resistances.

This one I will have to test out but this might be a better option. I will keep you posted on this in an update  video.