Ron Perlman voice
Legit trades. Legit trades never changes…
That’s an awesome help! Thank you again. Now, if I could only figure out how to transition from my leveling build to this with self-found gear…
more so than MI, some builds that are marketed as HC glad, running around with 10k hp and no circuit breakers. those do not look at all legit hc to me 
Well, at least I personally don’t advertise any builds as HC. HC requires quite a different approach to the playstyle and I think that people who choose this path should know themselves what are the criteria for a solid HC build.
In HC, farming last waves of Gladiator Crucible is POINTLESS! You’re just playing russian roulette, no matter how strong and tanky you are. And you can get the same rewards farming Challenger (just a bit slower), but being almost 100% safe with right build.
About 2-h Forcewave.
I’ve beaten Gladiator crucible several times with this setup:
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/pZrlm712
(Crucible of the dead + extra spawn, Vanguard Banner, Amatok/Empirion buffs from 120-130 wave) No tribute loss (buffs last long enough for 120-150 and then 130-150 farm).
The biggest issue is skill disruption. When i got touched by some skill-disrupting shit, i can do nothing but run/reposition. It seems, Leggings of Arcane Harmony are must-have, but i need really good MI ring to fix chaos resist and OA in that case…
Also, hitting Fabius in Blade Barrier is really painful.
Iron Maiden isnt a problem with 63% physical resist (with better rolls can be 66%), Mad Queen isnt a problem (can kite it easily), etc.
P.S. massively overcapped resists really DO MATTER in Gladiator Crucible! I had to put 2x Black Tallow and shitty augment just to not be decimated by Bloodlord Thalonis/Sharzul, or something like that…
This weapon is better than Myth Stonefist Rebuke or you just don’t have it yet?
As I experienced so far, skill disruption is caused by something put under your feet, so you just have to reposition a bit. There are like 3-4 enemies who do this, if you recognize them, you just have to focus them.
I believe that well-rolled Stonefist Rebuke is better due to massive cast speed, but it doesnt drop for me yet. I had to waste 4+ devotion points just to grab some cast speed here and there…
Rolls do matter on weapon, though. My Leviathan is kinda well rolled (450% damage, 19% phys resist).
100% safe farming is extremely boring. What the point of farming if you cant face hard content? What the point of playing on HC if you dont feel the thrill of close death?
I think that “hardcore” players just copy over the backup save when they die, or at least try to quit the game instead of facing their faith. 
The same shit as “legit” items and “legit” trading. Hardcore in this game is pointless at all. I hardly believe that there are any legit hardcore players, the content is really hard, even a well geared well built tanky character can die in a second sometimes.
Playing hardcore is EXACTLY THAT! DONT FEEL THE TRILL OF DEATH, not even close! Because if you do, it means that you’re doing something wrong - you arent tanky enough, or you trying to beat content that is too hard for you. If you wont hear those “deadbells”, you will lose your character very quickly (of course, i assume you’re playing HC “legit”, not just reloading backup save every time you fail).
If you want to “feel the thrill of death”, and take risks trying hard content, play SOFTCORE.
I don’t mean to be a jerk, but that aether DK build looks very unoptimized. On paper at least, the damage seems considerably lower than mine, which is able to clear glad cruc w/ extra spawn, and does so in a very safe and facerolly way.
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/DV95myaV
I have more AS, Crit Damage, flat damage, OA, RR, res caps, and health, and the only real downside seems to be less DA and lifesteal, which I don’t need, considering that I can do glad cruc with extra spawn, and I haven’t died doing it yet.
You have your own fun, i have my own. Back in time, when PoE was actualy good ARPG, and not progressquest-fap simulator ive played crit-flickers, trapers and stuff on temp leagues and usualy survived to lvl 90 or so http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/2017-11-24_153519.1511526999.jpg Doing past lvl 85 mostly unedentified maps. Oh, i miss these days so much :tears:
I think that “hardcore” players just copy over the backup save when they die, or at least try to quit the game instead of facing their faith. The same shit as “legit” items and “legit” trading. Hardcore in this game is pointless at all. I hardly believe that there are any legit hardcore players, the content is really hard, even a well geared well built tanky character can die in a second sometimes.
You can think whatever you want. Dying is a part of HC experience if someone cant take it, he shouldnt even play HC. No one in sane mind would revive dead character on HC, it defie the purpose on playing it >_>
I remember we discussed your forcewave build earlier. So it’s performing well? Ok, I’ll put it on the list of builds I’m going to try.
The build in the initial post was meant to defeat Ravager, that’s why he sacrifices a lot of damage to get that DA and phys res.
Here is my version for crucible:
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/4NOQqzXV
At first glance I have more HP, OA, DA, life leech than you, 20 more phys res. You have a bit more attack speed because of green ring, but Albrecht’s Duality gives a chance for CDR, so more blitz using for me.
Your shield provides a bit more damage overall due to conversion, but mine has 20% phys res which is a huge deal.
In devotion you have Rat instead of Bat, why? Rat’s bonuses are useless for this build, while bat at least gives 3% leech and a healing proc (not too useful though, but still better than nothing).
Anyway, I don’t find all these differences meaningful. A good player is always able to tune a build for himself.
I personally don’t concentrate on tiny improvements, I test build concepts.
I just figured that it being the case that you were posting the builds on the metric of clearing crucible fluently, it’d be better to post a build that can clear it faster and still had no concerns for survivability.
Tried it a few times now to start a build and bring it through all 3 difficulties… Failed so far. Any advice for a build which is easy to play, not that much gear dependent, can clear all 3 difficulties and have an “okay”-clearspeed at least?
Guide and /or GrimCalc-Link would be awesome.
You’ll be amazed how high can crucible’s spikes in difficulty be. I’ve done gladiator crucible hundreds of times and I’ve seen some real shit. Today, for example, I was testing a great DW build, which was doing very good (no problems with Rashalga etc), but on wave 150 I hit a jackpot: monster OA buff mutator+double Iron Maiden+Fabius. Well, I was drowned gloriously.
Shield build can pass even through that I suppose, but mark my words: when you’ll meet something like triple Valdaran with nasty mutators you’ll praise every piece of defence you’ve got.
They say overconfidence is a slow and incidious killer.
I usually recommend build 2 and build 5 in melee section. They satisfy all your requests and have leveling guides. In general, something based on Soldier mastery is best choice for beginners. I believe this mastery was on purpose made overpowered so new players didn’t get hard time from the start.
Yes, i can reliably farm Gladiator, even despite there is big space for improvement in my gear, as well as my playstyle (it’s my first time i could reliably farm Gladiator in AoM).
You’re absolutely right about that.
Yesterday, met 2x Valdaran and Moosilake, looks like nothing extraordinary (beaten harder setups without taking a breath), but suddenly i started receiving retarded DoT damage (~4-5k HP loss per second), had to use every defensive consumable i had on my skillbar (in rotation) to survive through that. Barely.
Not sure what that was, i had no time to look around and check mutators/debuffs. And my resistz are heavily overcapped!
Also, skill disruption is incredibly annoying and dangerous, if you dont have 80% resist to it (and it means Possession or Leggings of Arcane Harmony or GTFO). And to fit those pants in my build, i need really great MI ring.
In combat, i usually watch not on enemies, but on my skill bar to notice skill disruption quckly. That says a lot…
Imagine IM with -%DA +%Crit dmg mutator and with Notched bone. :oouch: =)