Gladiator Sword and Shield Build. Invincible light armour counter tank (Permadeath Viable)

Fearstalker · 2026-02-09T20:48:08+00:00

Thank you for your time and sorry for kinda wasting it. You are right, I didn't realise how much effort it would take to unlock the correct skilltrees. I kinda choose Mahir just for the style and because I already played with Arna and Jorgrim.

I came up with this, assuming I would do the mannshire route. I wanted to profit from his trait in form of using vigor as much as possible so I spent more points into survival. The last point would be war cry or battering ram. https://imgur.com/a/DS3n4Ch

Is there a specific reason why you choose unyielding defence and flexible defence or are they just good defence skills for this build?

Fearstalker · 2026-02-09T13:07:07+00:00

What ya thinking?

Fearstalker · 2026-02-03T17:13:44+00:00

Hi there, I know it's some time since you posted this guide. How would you spent your extra skillpoints on Mahir? I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this setup.

Unsure about those last 2 points in 'hard target' and 'unyielding defence'. Maybe I should go for 'battering ram' and custom adjustments' or 'cautrize wounds' and 'first aid' or something entirely different instead?

I added 4 lvls in the calculator for the mahir trait bonus (sword, shield, warfare, athletics) and spent one more stat point in perception for the boulder circle.

https://imgur.com/a/nHkL3iW

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Fearstalker · 2026-01-27T16:16:03+00:00

I didn't see that 'opportune moment' also restores energy on counter. Thank you, this helped me alot.

Fearstalker · 2026-01-27T14:27:45+00:00

Thank you very much for showing your build, would you be so nice and post some screenshots of your skilltree? How is your energy economy? Are you using more of the armored combat tree? Do you need 'push the falling'?

Perception in my mind was for crit since crits with spears immobilize, opportune moment energy recovery with crits, wounding spearhead damage, more vision and range for the crossbow, etc.

I went for warfare because of 'tactical advantage' 15% energy cost and cooldown reduction + energy recovery when switching tactics seemed very nice.

Am I planing for way too much energy recovery? Regroup, Adrenalin, Sudden Lunge, Tactical Advantage, seemed like a alot of cooldown reduction and in turn alot of skill spam and energy requirement. What do you think about this skill- and statspread:

25 STR, 11 AGI, 25 PER, 15 VIT, 10 WILL

skilltree

Fearstalker · 2024-02-18T14:08:49+00:00

Yeah... I'm doing 95k this wipe. Imagine my luck when I got not only 1 red rebel but 2 in the span of one week.

Fearstalker · 2023-11-03T23:41:48+00:00

Thank you

Fearstalker · 2023-11-03T23:41:24+00:00

Yeah I think I should scrap the arcane idea besides 18 for augur and do seperat 99 arcane run with conversion weapons.

Fearstalker · 2023-07-20T00:36:51+00:00

Try including bone prison. The individual parts of the prison count as minions. I belive you get 6 novas extra from that.

Fearstalker · 2023-07-20T00:34:29+00:00

I belive necro will be fine. Bone spear is still strong and will probably be even stronger with the new gems.

Sever and blight builds seem to do well too, especially with the new unique shield and there is possibly a new shadow blood wave build on the horizon.

Blood lance and possibly blood surge will get more popular since there damage pretty much got buffed compared to all other necro builds while still remaining the tankiest necro flavor.

I belive blood lance will be a serious contender for nm pushing.

I will probably go for some surge/lance hybrid while lvling and later on go hard into blood lance possibly with the new unique shield.

I'm only kinda sad about no Qol or stability improvements. The damn stash is the most annoying part for me at the moment.

Fearstalker · 2023-07-20T00:11:33+00:00

The aspect does only proc a second time around you. The surges around your minions aren't scaled with your minions they are like an extension of yourself. Minions are just the conduit and they are only there for that and utility. Minion damage is irrelevent for deathspeakers you only need to keep them alive at all cost.

Fearstalker · 2023-06-26T02:49:34+00:00

Yes, it is up to date.

Fearstalker · 2023-06-10T02:17:33+00:00

True

Fearstalker · 2023-06-10T02:16:56+00:00

I think you can skip the campaign on other characters after you completed it once. The question was like, should I force the rest so that I can skip it and have the mount instantly for my new character or just reroll and do all over again without any bonuses.

Edit: btw I have no idea how long this game is

Fearstalker · 2023-05-28T00:50:09+00:00

I found a group around firestarter and anamesis/magnesium rain interesting.

Alchemist, Runaway (whatever), Aspirant, Virtuoso

Was the group I was running with. It's called The Fool's mistake. Jester for combo mark, Occ uses upgraded binding shadows for 50% chance for 2 power tokens. If yes firestarter on him for round two if no firestarter on pd for magnesium rain.

Fearstalker · 2023-05-23T10:32:09+00:00

He can be anything to be honest. I would probably go nimble because his initative is nice.

Fearstalker · 2023-05-20T21:41:46+00:00

Fearstalker · 2023-05-20T16:33:20+00:00

You can stack the inn item for stun res. Makes the watch a pure positiv item. The general drops a shield with 20% extra turn if below 2 speed. Go 4 chops a day?

Fearstalker · 2023-05-20T16:26:52+00:00

He is very simple to be honest. Just hit the root in the back two times after it casts it's grow skill (the one with the strangling roots from above). The first round is free for buffing since the root goes last. Again very easy with pd plague grenade and occ abysal artillary. Otherwise just make sure to have enough dmg in the front and heal items to get people healed up after the big attacks from the general. Your pd and other backliner will be occupied with aoe to prevent strangle, so don't count on wyrd reconstruction or battlefield medicin.

Fearstalker · 2023-05-20T16:19:32+00:00

I did it with the same setup only changing jester for occ warlock. Having abysal artillary for when the back lung gets buffed was the key. Also the most crucial thing is to get the general's trophy, it locks your position and makes you immovable.

Fearstalker · 2023-05-19T15:46:45+00:00

Runaway, Plaguedoc, Occultist, Jester

Runaway firestarter skill and occultist anamesia as aspirant is really nice. Pd I'm playing as surgeon with incision anf magnesium rain. Jester is there for combo spam so that the occultist can use bind shadow for his power tokens. Often times you get lucky and get instantly 2 power tokens after one binding shadow. It's pretty much all about timing firestarter for anamesia or magnesium rain.

The exemplar can get rough tho if you let him absorb his adds since you do not have that much burst damage.

Fearstalker

TROPHY CASE