[3.28] Need help with my Bleed Ignite Poison Swordstorm Gladiator build

Hello!

I am working on a build with the following concepts:

1. Using Wings of Entropy for Fire damage (Ignite), Chaos damage (Poison), Physical damage (Bleed), Dual Wield and Block;
2. Using Gladiator for max Block + Retaliate skills;
3. Using Dual Strike + Crushing Fist to apply all 3 Ailments, as well as Combustion + Cruelty;
4. Dual Strike helps when I don't have Crushing Fist active, and it also has 100% More Critical Strike chance vs enemies on Full Life (for an easy and big Ignite, as well as a big Bleed) + 90% More damage with Hits and Ailments vs enemies on Full Life (while also working perfectly with Dual Wielding to apply all damage types in a single hit);
5. Crushing Fist is used for a really big hit due to its high numbers to apply a large Ignite and Bleed);
6. Using Alchemist's Mark since we are Igniting and Poisoning (with the Mercenary's Lot gloves to spread the Mark);
7. Finally, using Swordstorm (only usable while Dual Wielding) with Bloodlust, Immolate & Vile Toxins Supports to benefit from all 3 Ailments applied for a massive hit.

However, I am facing the following problems that I need some help with:
1. Low Max Hit (especially Physical). While the 87.5% effective Block chance certainly helps to avoid most deaths, the occasional hit leaves a big dent in my head.
2. Adding to the above point (and combining with the next one), I struggle to see what passives would be appropriate to drop on the tree to get more Life (only 93%) and Defenses.
3. Unsure how to scale the damage higher. I understand Wings of Entropy is a big bottleneck, but it gives me exactly the stuff I want - all 3 damage types. And the same goes for the passives on the tree, which I invest in the 3 Ailments.
4. Also unsure how to get higher Ignite, Bleed & Poison chance. Sadly, the Fire Mastery that refreshed Ignite duration on Critical Strikes has been removed, which would have helped greatly (but the new one granting 100% increased damage with Hits against Ignited Enemies is pretty good here, despite losing the guaranteed Ignite on a Critical Strike). I use Bleed passives to increase my Critical Strike chance, but even then it's pretty low (the weapon has a really low base crit chance). And there's no Poison chance passives nearby.
5. I know I can roll all 3 Ailment chances on Jewels, but just like in the previous points, I don't know if I can give up points for those.

Some notes to add:
1. I am aware scaling all those things is not a good idea, which is why the damage is lacking. I am not looking for the build to do tens of millions of damage or kill Ubers, just to make the idea work decently in Red Maps.
2. Ambush, sadly, does not work in this, because Wings of Entropy is a Two-Handed Weapon (despite counting as Dual-Wielding) and Ambush required using a One-Handed Weapon.
3. Unfortunately, Swordstorm does not work with Wings of Entropy in PoB (if anyone knows how to simulate it, let me know). Hence, I cannot see its damage, which is by far the highest in the build as it benefits from the Ailments set up by the other 2 skills. Hopefully that will be fixed in the future.
4. The PoB says I have 70% Hit chance. However, that's only for Dual Strike since Crushing Fist and Swordstorm cannot be Evaded and they are the bigger hitters. Dual Strike is only for when I don't block (I have 87.5% Effective chance) and between the occasional Cooldown of the Retaliation skills (since I have 50% chance for them to not go on CD when used). It really doesn't hurt having 70% Hit chance in those situations. It sucks for the Poison part because I need a decent amount of stacks, but the Ignite and Bleed don't care for that; just for a single, bit hit. Also, Swordstorm hits 8 times, so it will apply some Poison stacks as well.

I know there is a lot of tech that can help me, I am just not aware of it all.

PoB:
https://pobb.in/279yeaUSqPVa
Last edited by Azrash#6785 on Mar 13, 2026, 4:48:03 PM
Last bumped on Mar 17, 2026, 2:30:55 PM
I like the idea, but I think Elementalist with Daggers would be better for it, here's why:
1) Physical damage already innately contributes to bleeding and poison and Elementalist enables ignites with this damage type, while also making your hits always ignite
2) Dagger notable, Adder's Touch, guarantees poison on critical hit. Combined with Elementalist's guaranteed ignites, we only need to worry about chance to bleed.
3) Daggers can build crit easily, gain a ton of crit multi from Nightblade and that all works well with Perfect Agony, giving us a ton of dot multi
Downside of this solution is that we path mostly away from block and retal nodes, which will require to either stretch tree wide and thin or give up on some stuff.
Can't do the pob atm, but you definitely inspired me, thank you for this post.

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