[3.25] Divine Retribution Gladiator | From Twilight Strand to Uber Elder
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The Divine Gladiator
 Morning guys Moorhuhn here. today we are takinga very deep dive into the Divine Retribution pool. In this guide we will look at the very beginning, go through the acts into early mapping, and finish it off with a big bang at super high budget options.  If you have any questions, ideas or anything else catch me live and just talk to me: https://www.twitch.tv/moorhuhnschlaechter Build explanation So first of all What is the build about: Divine Retribution is a retaliate skill. This archetype has been introduced into the game with the 3.25 patch. The idea of these skills is, to react on enemies hitting you, and often times you blocking them. You then unleash a strong attack or spell with a long cooldown to obliterate them. With a cooldown on our main skill there is one question remaining: How do we get rid of it? This is a very important question and one of the bigger parts we will talk about in a later section. Video Guide Section
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Leaguestart theorycrafting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyKKuyfd0Qs&t=33s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fRjUg6pW_8&t=2s First endgame update www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJptlHgidnU&t Tier 17 update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5rL3uSm4IM&t High budget gear changes https://youtu.be/Raec3HtgkYg Video Showcases
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Retaliate Cooldown Refund
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Working around the retaliation cooldown is one of the most important parts of the retaliate archetype. There is different options to use. 1: Use retaliation skill as secondary skill 2: Chance when you use a retaliation skill for a different retaliation skill to become usable 3: Reduce the cooldown heavily 4: Use multiple cooldown uses 5: Chance for retaliation skills to remain usable and not consume a cooldown use We do utilise option 3, 4 and 5 in different variations. 3: Generally we try to pick up a lot of cooldown recovery on the tree and some on the gear, where we have open suffixes for it. Belt slot is a solid option for this. Boots can be considered as well, though most of the time Death#s Door are the go to option. In addition Expert Retaliation can be used to half the cooldown after all reductions 4: Second Wind is a very good option for smooth gameplay. It does raise the mana cost by a lot however 5: A combination of the Ascendancy node Measured Retaliation and the No Forgiveness annoint make for 70% chance not to consume a cooldown. Combined with either Expert Retaliation or Second Wind makes for near full uptime during most encounters and mapping. Pro's and Con's
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Pro's: Extremely tanky No gear requirements Near infinite endgame scaling options Very good clear (7/10) Fluid gameplay most of the time ... Con's: Can not handle some content well like Legion and Blight due to enemies rarely hitting you Some bosses refuse to play along Lots of annoying map mods (Less CD, reduced flasks, reduce block, etc.) Can feel clunky at times Needs cruel lab to function as main skill well Skilltree and gearing
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Bandits Kill all / Help Oak
Path of Building
Poe.Ninja: https://poe.ninja/builds/settlers/character/incredibie/DivineDuelistHuhn?type=exp&i=0&search=name%3Dhuhn Here you can browse through various points of gearing the character and import any variant you like. Viridi's Veil Setup: https://pobb.in/dTwgLHylBgAk Devouring Diadem Setup: https://pobb.in/J8yAhLUIxXov Leaguestart PoB: Run these setups untill you are able to switch to one of the main pob's above. Note that you do not need the super high end items. Focus on getting your health up, resistances straight and the general idea of the setups right. https://pobb.in/rAdNQN_k0Q6f Leveling trees are in the PoB. You can access them by clicking on the button at the bottom left. 
Gear discussion
Current gear Boss Swap Ring
Weapon
For the weapon you don't really get around an oscillating sceptre. The points saved not to path to elemental overload are worth so much, no other sceptre can compete on non crit variant's. The guaranteed crit on every fourth cast from the Cruel Retort Notable allows for permanent uptime also. A guide on how to craft this type of sceptre you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti6HGTJPLzU
Shield
For the shield the most important part is the "Recover #% of life when you block" mod. There is a lot of good mods on shields. You can go either offensive, with a caster shield variant, or defensive with a pure armor version. The later variants also want to have the reduced reservation mod, due to it saving tons of points on the passive tree. A later upgrade can be a heat attuned shield, which I have not created a good version of myself yet. Mods on a dps version to look for: #% life on block +1 to physical spell skill gems #% spell damage flat life double damage resistances Mods on a defensive version to look for: #% life on block physical damage reduction flat life block spell damage
Helmet
For the helmet there is two big choices, that define how you want to play the build. Viridi's veil solves a lot of problems, gives huge defensive options with crit immunity, curse immunity, damage taken is unlucky, and a good chunk of resistances. But does force you to run a magic ring, which can be a problem in itself. The Devouring Diadem fixes all mana issues for the build, and can be versatile with its mods. Giving either resistsances, or attributes. It does allow for a rare ring to be used also, which has to be included in the comparison to Viridi's Veil.
Bodyarmor
Depending on your helmet choice, your body armour does change too. Early on you can run a Brass Dome or any rare that gives life and resistances. With a Viridi's Veil I would go for a pure armour piece with lots of defensive stats. You could include mana reservation essence mods also if needed. With The Devouring Diadem I would go for a hybrid armour, energy shield version. Including the reduced extra damage taken from critical strikes per endurance charge mod from the essence of horror. Crafting this I would start with a life fracture and use Glyphic+Jagged+Deft fossils for the suffixes. Then use suffixes cannot be changed reforge chaos for the chaos resistance. The prefixes can be finished with suffixes cannot be changed veiled orb, attack block craft and then unveil either spell block or %life. Craft the other after.
Gloves
For the start you just want life and resistances. Nothing fancy to look at. Going a bit up with the budget, a lot of opportunities come to light. The temple mod #% increased damage with hits against chilled enemies is a very strong source for damage. Using a combination of a conversion craft/veil and eldritch implicits, allow us to change the physical to lightning support for a proper damage support also. For the conversion it is very important to combine lightning and cold conversion to make trinity very easy to proc. You want more or less a 50/50 split on cold/lightning. Resulting in a very strong slot to improve our dps. The exarch implicits however are lacking heavily on the build. Usually unnerve would be a good choice, we do however get unnerve from awakened controlled destruction already.
Boots
The boots are a nobrainer if you do not intent to throw multiple hundred divines at rare boots. Death's Door are solid as rock and the go to option for the build.
Belt
The belt slot I like to use to cap resistances. Especially with permanent flask uptime on most encounters, we can use the very strong essence mod +50% to chaos resistance during any flask effect mod. A mageblood variant of the build can be created. and would be a strong upgrade certainly. Would need so many gear changes however, that I will not cover a mageblood version in this guide. In short. Get melding. Get lots of resistances. Be tankier and faster.
Rings
For the rings we have quite a few options again. First of all I want to mention the elephant in the room. The Hateful Accuser. While I do not use it in my main setup, it is a good ring to always having around to swap in for bosses that refuse to attack you like uber olroth in t17. Then again Viridi's Veil changes the ring slot drastically. For the magic I would recommend either a Vermillion ring or a synthesised ring with +1 endurance charge. The vermillion variant is way way cheaper however and slightly worse only. For mods I would go with t1 life + t1 life recoup or a stat you need to fix at the time Your second finger option for a ring is a corrupted kaom's sign with hatred effect. Hatred effect +1 something aren't too expensive often times also. For the Devouring Diadem variant I would advice to go for a +1 endurance charge or very well rolled vermillion ring + kalandra's touch. Later upgrade can include multi synth implicits with curse on hit and dual curse from some source.
Amulet
The amulet is very straight forward for a long long time. To make a better amulet than Replica Dragonfang you need a lot of currency and a very good plan. A Simplex or Focused amulet can be a good option later on.
Jewels
For jewels we have quite a few options. The big three are: 1: 12 point Large Cluster to gain tons of stats and hold the build together. These can be expensive, but are extremely strong. The cast speed is massive, the damage increase is nice, and the stats free up a lot of stats on gear. Here you can choose to go with either all attributes or all resistances. Both hold more or less the same slot value. 2: A large Thread Of Hope for the bottom mid slot. It enables a lot of strong notables to be picked freely. Get this as soon as you can afford it and your build is in a halfway decent state. 3: A lethal pride. You can choose to either use the bottom left or the middle left slot for it. Aim for 2-3x double damage and fill the rest with other useful stats, such as life, resistances, or gain physical as extra fire. After that, I would aim for an Impossible Escape with either Chaos Innoculation for dual curse or Glancing Blows for easy access to reduced cost, life and block + all max res. Forbidden Flame/Flesh with either Headsmen, Bane of Legends, First to Strike Last to Fall, Fortitude, or Brutal Fervor. All of these are great options and have their own up and downsides. I personally very much like headsman, but it looses tons of value against some bosses and high energy shield holding enemies. Fill empty jewel sockets with useful stats such as life, spellblock, max resistances, damage, and resistances or stats.
Flasks
Flasks again have tons of options. First of all you want a potent life flask in most versions. Aim for additional recovery while low life, instant recovery while low life, or half instant recovery. All of these options are good and are up to personal preference mostly. For utility flasks you have some options. I like some speed so I go with an onslaught flask. The rest I fill up with defensive flasks. And a sulphur flask for a good middleground with increased damage and life reg through consecrated ground. To top the flasks off, you want to finish it with a Progenesis. As most builds would. This however should be a very late upgrade due to its hefty price. For the Viridi's Veil variant, you will most likely need either a mana flask or a replica sorrow of the divine, to make the mana cost not overwhelm your capabilities. I'd go with either of these options. Sorrow does feel much better during clear, but has uptime issues on some bosses. Gems
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Offensive Setups: The main setup consists of these 5 gems you should use as soon as you have empower 4 and conversion gloves. Note the damage split explained in the glove section on cold/lightning for trinity. For cooldown management use one of the following. You need either one for the build to feel fluid. For single target or until you have level 4 empower, you could use conc effect over one of the others. However conc effect might not have great results on all enemies. See these tests: https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1ekk95n/divine_retribution_overlap_calculations/ Before having the conversion gloves you need Physical to Lightning to go full elemental and for a big damage boost. Movement Shield charge + Frostblink. My most favourite combo. Also, shield charge uses the attack speed from the 12 point cluster, which makes it fairly quick. Defensive/utility setups Arcanist Brand with curse + hydrosphere provides a good damage boost against bosses. You will need lifetap on them, while not running EB Enduring Cry provides a big boost in life regen and makes it easier to keep your charges during prolonged boss fights Righteous Fire is a huge huge damage buff. As soon as you can sustain it, you should use it. You want about 300-500 reg above your degen to not feel like dying too much and feel stuck with damage taken. Auras and Buffs Your main aura setup consists of hatred, petrified blood, and purity of fire. You might want to check different slots for purity of fire, depending on your reservation capabilities. You might be able to run it through your life and get higher max res out of it. Viridi's Veil is a very good helmet to run a low enlighten with due to +2 levels. The Devouring Diadem provides huge reservation efficiency for socketed skills, so you want to put your big auras here. Your second most important setup is Tempest Shield and Vitality. Both add crucial defenses to the build. Buffs I have added when getting better gear and more efficient with the reservation were Arctic Armour for tons of defense and freeze immunity, and Flesh and Stone. For even more defense against hits. Other setups A guardians blessing setup can be a strong alternative when you are not able to run all the auras. It does require a megalomaniac however to keep your spectre alive for a bit. You want a perfect dark marionette for it to work smoothly. For me it was too annoying to keep up however, so I didged it. Another interesting setup is an overcharge setup to apply big shocks on enemies. It did not result in big enough shocks for my tasting however. So I didged it also. Leveling
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Going through the acts can be a challenge with the build, if u want to use divine retribution from the get go. While you do get the skill at level 16, I would advice against using it as your main source of damage untill after curel lab. You do want Determined Survivor, and Measured Retaliation before consider using it. I would recommend to get your replica dragonfang with the No Forgiveness annoint ready. It can be used at level 56, which should be around your cruel lab completion. From then on you are good to go. FAQ Q: How much Currency should i have to start your Build to take on Uber Bosses? A: Very much depends on the bosses. Though I would not create this build as an Uber killer. There is much much better builds for that. The reliance on enemies to attack you can be a big annoyance in high end boss fights Q: A: Q: A: Q: A: Thanks for reading Changelog 1. Clawbased supp + carry guide https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2116480 Molten strike brightbeak nonsense guide https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2067539 Last edited by incredibie on Aug 10, 2024, 4:24:16 PM Last bumped on Sep 6, 2024, 3:43:15 AM
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Placeholder first reply
Clawbased supp + carry guide
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2116480 Molten strike brightbeak nonsense guide https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2067539 |
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Looks interesting.
How much Currency should i have to start your Build to take on Uber Bosses? | |
" Very much depends on the bosses. Though I would not create this build as an Uber killer. There is much much better builds for that. The reliance on enemies to attack you can be a big annoyance in high end boss fights Clawbased supp + carry guide
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2116480 Molten strike brightbeak nonsense guide https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2067539 |
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Have you tried playing Sanctum with this build? I had a similar idea, and thought having to be hit was gonna be a problem, but worse than that, the retaliation skills never seem to become usable. I wonder if you just cannot block in Sanctum? :/
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" I have not tried it :D Discarded running Sanctum when I decided I want to get hit Clawbased supp + carry guide
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2116480 Molten strike brightbeak nonsense guide https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2067539 |
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Going to be very interested in trying this.
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Thanks for making this. I would have never guessed that my build of the league would be Gladiator spellcaster. You can also build this in many ways, and you are not pigeonhold to a specific set of items to make it work. Currently i'm using a complete jank version with Svalin for automation (wave of conviction, hydrosphere, crackling lance of disintegration) and Skin of the Lords with Pain Attunement. It's been a blast.
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" Yea. Tons of versions available. An update on my youtube will cover a mageblood variant with doryanis and stuff soon. Clawbased supp + carry guide
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2116480 Molten strike brightbeak nonsense guide https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2067539 |
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Do you think you can make this build on Ruthless? Currently debating trying it.
IGN: WhatPullOutGame
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