PoEVault's Lacerate Gladiator Build Guide (PoE Settlers of Kalguur 3.25)

Introduction

This build guide was originally written, and intended, for newer players. It is simplified as much as we could, to ensure a new player would have an easy time playing and putting the build together.
With the reworks of 3.25, our topend is no longer as limited as it was before and we are much tankier. This means investing in the build is now advisable far past where it was before. A large amount of changes took place, and I can’t make this introduction extremely long. I will address the individual changes in their respective sections.
With that out of the way, a brief TLDR of new Gladiator is we FINALLY get to have ensnaring effect as melee! Hurray! We finally get actual block nodes worth taking, Hurray! We now get Lucky Block and I cannot overstate how absurd that truly is. On top of all of that they doubled our explosion mod. Overall we are looking juicy boys.

Lacerate is a skill that has often flied under the radar in the Path of Exile community. With Cyclone garnering a lot of attention, Lacerate has often taken a backseat to Cyclones prevalence in the melee world.
This is partially because Lacerate is not really a true melee skill — we hit things pretty far away from ourselves in a wide arch in front of us. We play at semi range and it can feel a bit awkward to some players.

Lacerate no longer scales into the proper end-game giant that could deal with virtually any boss and clear with ease. The bleeds the build takes advantage of give the skill a fresh element that few builds incorporate and allow it to scale without relying on conventional damage stats like Critical Strike. Our Lacerate Gladiator is Sturdy and extremely cheap to put together initially. It will require some slight investment to reach it’s midgame state, but most of that gear can be self-crafted and will just require a bit of investment on the players side.

That shouldn’t scare you off of giving Lacerate a try though, it is iconic for a reason. Due to the recent reworks, the build gets incredibly tanky early on. It’s damage will halt somewhat, but we can bypass that with investment and not dying feels great.
However, there are a few key items warrant special mention here due to their interaction with the skill.
First and foremost the dirt cheap Jack, the Axe. This cheap unique is borderline unbeatable for bleeds, and should be the first few chaos orbs you spend.
Secondly we have Ryslatha's Coil. This is essentially mandatory for the min max of any bleed build and is quite popular. Do not expect this to be cheap,especially now that bleed is meta, but it is well worth it.

Build Assessment

Pros

+ It is a checking chonker

+ Good league starter as it requires nothing to function

+ Very straight forward gear progression

+ Long range melee skill grants more options in how you engage enemies and bosses

Cons

– Melee build; despite its ranged advantage it still requires proper positioning on end-game content and bosses

– Melee build; being a melee build it does use a lot of buttons. Main skill, molten shell, blood rage, manual curse and war banner in later budgets.

– Does not scale indefinitely due to Resolute Technique; even with the best gear damage is unlikely to exceed ~5m DPS. This might be subject to change later in the league, but will require testing and will be very expensive

Path of Building

Path of Building data for this build can be found here: https://pobb.in/XAPkJUnsZZw4

Included in the Path of Building are skill trees, all gem links and possible variations, and an example set of gear with room for upgrades. Higher budget PoB is on it’s dedicated page.

We use the Path of Building Community Fork for all of our builds, which is highly recommended. If you are encountering errors importing the build, please ensure you are using the Community Fork.

Playstyle and Build Mechanics

While Lacerate itself is a fairly straightforward skill, this build has a few moving parts that keep it feeling energetic, such as the Blood and Sand aura. Using Leap Slam we can move through the map quickly, using Lacerate to quickly rip packs apart.

The Gladiator Ascendancy keystones play perfectly into the strengths of this build; Gratuitious Violence grants the unique ability to cause any bleeding enemy to explode for 20% of it’s maximum life. This carries our clear so hard.
Jagged Technique grants guaranteed application of the Aggravated Bleeding modifier which triples bleed damage
Determined Survivor allows us to ignore what block value our shield actually has, and instead sets it to a flat 50%.
More Than Skill causes our block chance for both attacks and spells to be lucky.

Early on Lacerate itself will do the work, it’s reasonably okay by itself but it is horrifically outclassed by its transfigured gem.
It is highly suggested that you stay in blood stance most of the time as Lacerate has a whopping 88% more damage with bleeding while in blood stance. If you start dipping into sand stance your damage is going to feel really bad.

Lacerate of Haemorrhage Should be acquired as early as possible. It provides a whopping 172% more damage with bleeding.

Passive Skill Tree

For more in-depth information on the ordering of skills and details and tricks about the tree be sure to check out our Passive Skill Tree and Gem Links page.

Passive Skill Tree and Gem Links

Gems

We go over all of the gem links this build uses in the end-game on our Gem Link page.

Passive Skill Tree and Gem Links

Ascendancy, Bandits, and Pantheon

Our Ascendancy, Bandit, and Pantheon Power page goes into detail about all the choices you need to make in these regards.

Ascendancy, Bandits, and Pantheon Powers

Gear Summary / TL;DR

These items strike a balance between power and cost-effectiveness. If you want more information, see recommendations about Jewels or Flasks, or get more information on the items, please ensure you read the Gear, Jewels, and Flasks page in its entirety.

Our recommendation:

Item Slot	Item Name
Head	Rare Helmet	We ideally want life and Resistance in low budget. Eva/
Amulet	Rare Turquoise Amulet	This is one of our best slots to look for “Physical Damage over Time Multiplier”.
Chest	Rare Astral Plate	Focus on getting high armour and decent resistances here. Life roll is acceptable above 100, if so cut 15% mastery
Gloves	Rare Titan Gauntlets	We just want attack speed and life. If you can get resistance here, that is amazing
Boots	Rare Titan Greaves	Our boots are there for Movement Speed, Life and Resistance. Nothing else.
Belt	Belt of the Deceiver OR Rare Stygian Vise	Ryslatha is our BiS belt, but it is likely far too expensive early
Ring	Amethyst Ring We want resistances and Life here.
Ring	Kaom's Sign	Witht the change to endurance charges this ring is goated. If it becomes very expensive, get an amethyst
Weapon 1	The valiant Jack, the Axe	Jack gives us amazing Dot multi modifiers for cheap
Shield	Rare Pinnacle Tower Shield	We mostly want the recover life on block mod here. In addition, amour rolls, life rolls or resistance rolls are bonuses. Any base works if it has this mod!.

This list goes over the low budget gear, consult medium state PoB for it’s gear. Do not over-invest in your early armour gear as you will want armour/evasion or evasion bases for spell suppression in higher budgets!

For much more detailed information on the best gear, jewels, and flasks to use, be sure to examine our Gear Page in its entirety.

Gear, Jewels, and Flasks Breakdown

Leveling

As a reminder, we have several guides to help you level up a character.

• Our step-by-step leveling walkthrough, which allows even more experienced players to save time and speed through the leveling process.
• Our guide to Unique Items for leveling, which helps you gear up your characters for the leveling process.
• Our beginner leveling guide which answers many of the questions new players might have and will set you on the right path.

Lacerate will feel horrible to play early on, as such we level as two hander with slams. We enable our signature skill after we finish merc lab around 68.

The PoB has a detailed act breakdown of which gems to use when, follow that.

FAQ

What Annointment Should I Use on My Amulet?

Skip anointing entirely early on. Once you have a good amulet, anoint Inveterate

Check out the rest of the guide for more information:

Passive Skill Tree and Gem Links

Ascendancy, Bandits, and Pantheon Powers

Gear, Jewels, and Flasks Breakdown