PoEVault's Lacerate Gladiator Build Guide (PoE Mirage 3.28)
Introduction
Lacerate is a skill that has often flown under the radar in the Path of Exile community. With 
Cyclone garnering a lot of attention, Lacerate has often taken a backseat to Cyclone’s 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.
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/6aPoNRN2E_1j
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
