[Top 5] PoE Best Armor Sets for Gladiators That Are Powerful

Updated:

06 Oct 2022

[Top 5] PoE Best Armor Sets for Gladiators That Are Powerful

One of the more forgotten Ascendancies, this bleeding machine became fairly related to a certain niche and archetype, after everything else, it had become obsolete. And as such, there is a certain trend to the builds that play as Gladiators. And here are the best five in Patch 3.19 Kalandra League!

5 – Bleed Puncture/Split Arrow

A relic of the past that used to dominate the meta, pure Bleed Bow builds are some of the most satisfying builds to play that sadly got out-scaled by constant nerfs to player power and buffs to monster power. Still, some brave souls will try and breathe live to such an old archetype with a few notable uniques to make the playstyle better.

Helmet

Assailum is the bread and butter of any Bow ailment build, if you want to scale strong hits. The beauty is that Puncture, the selected skill for Single Target, has such a long duration that it makes it so you don’t have to constantly rely on applying bleeds on bosses and stronger rares.

Body Armour

Here you’ll want any regular Rare chest, though getting +1 curses, lots of life, resistances, spell suppression will go a long way to make you feel safer. It’s also a great place to pick a lot of Aura effectiveness with Eldritch Implicits.

Gloves

Another great place to pick a good rare with as much Damage over Time as possible, especially if you find ones with DoT Multi, as this is the best damage multiplier Bleeds have. Barring that, get Life, Res, Suppression.

Boots

If you aren’t using Purity of Elements, this is the best place to pick a lot of Elemental Avoidance, and you can get up to 67% with a lot of investment, but 55% is more than attainable, easily. Besides that, Spell Suppress, life, resistances, and crucially, Movement Speed.

Weapon

Bleed bows are unique because they don’t need attack speed, or crit, and want as much flat Physical Damage as possible, but also with as much Damage over Time Multiplier as possible. You can reach insane numbers with over 45 DoT Multi as well as a crafted 20% Phys DoT Multi. But the flat Damage is the most crucial stat!

Quiver

Maloney’s Mechanism allows you to automate Ensnaring Arrow, which makes it so the enemies count as though they’re moving, increasing the bleed damage manifold.

Amulet

You’ll want as much life, attributes and Damage over Time as possible here. Getting capped out on Resistances is also a bonus.

Belt

You could use a Mageblood, but any good Stygian Belt works quite fine. Getting as much Chaos Res and Life as possible is a good idea.

Rings

One you’ll want Vulnerability on Hit Warlord or Delve mod, with as much life and other attributes as possible. Cap Res as you need them. It’s also not a bad idea to pick up as much Flat Physical damage as possible, as that increases your bleed damage!

Build details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/OrganizmHD/QuiddityQtPuncture?time-machine=week-2&i=4&search=time-machine%3Dweek-2%26class%3DGladiator%26skill%3D!Corrupting-Fever%2C!Kinetic-Blast

4 – Lacerate Bleed

Also a strong contender for a long forgotten archetype, Bleed Lacerate can still find its niche even in such adverse waters that PoE has become for Melee characters.

Helmet

Here you can go in two ways. You either go with an Elder Helmet and get Nearby Enemies take X% Increased Physical Damage, or you go with scaling as much RME as possible, while also picking up some much-needed stats, like Accuracy.

Body Armor

You’ll want as much life and PDR as possible, and capping out on resistance as you need them. It’s also a great place to pick up some extra Block Chance if you’re missing those.

Gloves

Hands of the High Templar is a great item to pick up a lot of power in ways that not everyone will be keen to use. It’s one of the best ways to get Vulnerability on hit with a few extra benefits too.

Boots

You’ll want as much resistances as possible, and if possible, the highest Eldritch implicit for Faster Bleeding as possible, to help your damage significantly. Life, stats, Chaos res are also great choices.

Weapon

A very good and budget weapon, and easy to corrupt en-masse, and pick up some free Fortify Chance, Jack the Axe grants a buff that reserves a portion of your life but grants you a ton of life regen and 20% more damage with Bleeding. All it needs is some extra damage, and you’ll be peachy with it.

Shield

The Surrender is a fantastic source of Survivability as a melee and life-based character. When you’re fully block capped, as you should be as a Gladiator, this shield will make you almost entirely immortal to mapping damage, with only bosses and stronger rares being a threat.

Amulet

As much Life, Attributes, resistances and Damage over Time Multiplier as possible. Picking up some flat Physical Damage is also a great idea, since it scales supremely well with Lacerate’s high added damage and with Divergent Chance to Bleed Support.

Belt

Ryslatha’s Coil is a fantastic item for bleeding builds that use Crimson Dance, as it makes it so your high Rolls for Bleed are pushed to the maximum, and since Lacerate attacks so quickly, you can stack up to 8 high rolls quickly. It does bring a lot of variances in the damage, but that’s fine with Lacerate’s high damage and speed.

Rings

Getting a Circle of Guilt to scale Herald of Purity as much as possible is a great idea, since that Herald grants us a ton of flat Physical, as well as more Physical Damage as a whole! For the other ring, getting as much flat physical and stats as possible, and capping out on resistances is a must.

Build details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Tselikov_k/Chapp_Kharz_Kalandra?time-machine=week-2&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-2%26class%3DGladiator%26skill%3D!Corrupting-Fever%2C!Kinetic-Blast%26sort%3Ddps

3 – Bleed Spectral Shield Throw

Popularized in Patch 3.15, the ‘Captain America’ skill saw some heavy nerfs, but compared to the previous ones on this list, it’s not even close. It’s a strong and versatile skill that can be played in many ways, and scaled very differently depending on what you want. And it’s a good skill as any to scale Bleed Explosions and clear insanely quickly. It doesn’t hold the same power for single target as Lacerate, but has a substantially better clearing.

Helmet

Here you’ll want a helmet with as much Life, Spell Suppression, RME and Resistances as possible. Also, it’s very mandatory to have a helmet with the 3 Additional Shards Enchant, as that buffs the clearing massively.

Body Armor

This is where you’ll pick the most Spell Suppression for the build, and it’s also a fantastic place to pick up Ailment Avoid, in order to drop Purity of Elements and run an extra damage aura.

Gloves

Here you’ll want as much Suppression as possible, while also picking up Phys DoT Multi and crucially, Pierce. Otherwise, you won’t be clearing anything. Life, Res, Stats. The rest is gravy.

Boots

Here’s where another part of your Ailment Avoid will mostly come from. It’s also the best place to pick up Onslaught, Faster Bleeds and Action Speed, which scales everything you do. Life, Res, Attributes as you need them.

Weapon

Unlike most, if not all, skills, Shield Skills scale, you guessed it, based on your shield’s defenses. As such, you don’t need direct damage from it. You’ll want an essential ‘stat stick’, with as much DoT, DoT Multi, Phys DoT Multi, Bleeding Damage, etc.

Shield

Here’s your real ‘weapon’. You’ll want a shield with as much armor as possible, as that’s your source of DPS. Anything over 2k is great and going over 2,5k is very expensive, but worth it. It’s also the last place where you’ll get a bunch of Ailment Avoid, to cap you out.

Amulet

This can be a rare with as much Phys Dot as possible, stats, resistances, life, what have you. But The Eternal Struggle, with good implicits, can net you a lot of power, especially with the strong 15% free Cull.

Belt

Same as before, Ryslatha’s Coil is the best bleed belt in the game after Mageblood, and sometimes, even then.

Rings

One of them you’ll want Vulnerability on Hit, but the rest is pretty basic. Life, Res, Accuracy, Flat Phys Damage, etc.

Build Details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/xopek1990/Brenn_SST_Glad_Kal?time-machine=week-2&i=2&search=time-machine%3Dweek-2%26class%3DGladiator%26skill%3D!Corrupting-Fever%2C!Kinetic-Blast

2 – Shield Crush

The burlier and meaner brother to Spectral Shield Throw, Shield Crush is a very strong, though quite sleeper, in some ways, without as much notoriety as it probably deserves. Like its ranged counterpart, it’s a very flexible skill that can be played as Crit, Elemental, Bleed, Poison, Impale, or even Ignite. This variant is a Crit Impale full Physical version, using very synergistic items to achieve those goals.

Helmet

Here’s a great place to pick up some reduced mana cost of skills, as Shield Crush has a hefty mana cost. It’s also where you can get a lot of Spell Suppression and life, as well as Res and Attributes as you need them.

Body Armor

This is where you’ll get a big chunk of Life and Spell Suppression, too. Resistances as you need them, but here’s where you’ll get a bunch of Aura Effect, which is great to scale both damage and defences at the same time!

Gloves

Any regular rares with as much life, SS, attack speed and resistances as you need them will make your life much better.

Boots

Spell Suppression, Life, Movement Speed, Attributes, and it’s also a great place to pick up free and simple Onslaught, for quicker mapping.

Weapon

Like the previous build, as a Shield skill, you’ll be using a ‘stat stick’ and in this case, it’s a Prismatic Eclipse. Ideally, you’ll want 3 Green Sockets to scale your attack speed as much as possible.

Shield

A recently mega-buffed shield, the Emperor’s Vigilance grants a bucket load of Armor and Energy Shield, which then enables some cool mechanics for Divergent Shield Crush, since it scales its crit damage with ES on shields.

Amulet

Any rare with as much Attributes, Life, Res, and Accuracy as possible.

Belt

A rare, preferably Stygian Belt with as much Life as Possible, and resistances as you need them.

Rings

Rares with life, resistances, attributes, and, if possible, Elreon Craft for Minus Mana cost.

Build Details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Kroohpyyh/MirroredShieldBonker?time-machine=week-2&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-2%26class%3DGladiator%26skill%3D!Corrupting-Fever%2C!Kinetic-Blast

1 – Tornado Shot Corrupting Fever

The best for last. This is by far the most played build for Gladiators, and with a good reason. Being one of the fastest and strongest meta builds, surviving nerf after nerf, while still being king of clearing, and being substantially tanky, there’s not much this build can do, map-wise. Just don’t try to do Uber Bosses with it. Or any bosses, really.

Helmet

As much RME, life, Attributes, and resistances as possible. Picking up a +1 AoE Gems to scale your auras is also a good idea.

Body Armor

You’ll want to go for as much Life as possible, resistances, and if you can fit it in, Spell Suppression. That’ll be hard with the nerfs, but worth the hassle. It’s also the best place to scale your Aura Effect sky high, and where you’ll want some chunk of your Ailment Avoidance!

Gloves

Here’s where you’ll pick up a lot of Spell Suppression as well as a chunk of Phys DoT Multi. Life, Res, Attack speed are all gravy.

Boots

You’ll want to go for Essence of Loathing Spamming, in order to reach Ailment Avoid cap, combined with your chest piece and a Unique jewel that gives another 10%. You can reach up to 67%, with the boots alone, so it makes everything all that more comfortable. Life, Res, Stats, and Onslaught on Kill is amazing to round it off.

Weapon

This is a tried-and-true crafting method that, at best, costs you up to 7 Divines. It can go over, however, depending on your luck and market prices. It’s by far the best way to scale your damage, though, since Corrupting Fever LOVES gem levels.

Quiver

Just like the Bleed Bow, we use Maloney’s Mechanism, but this time, only to automate Frenzy, to generate free Frenzy Charges.

Amulet

This is where it starts to get expensive, as if the Bow wasn’t already. Ashes of the Stars, arguably the best unique amulet in the game, makes this build truly shine and rounds everything off perfectly.

Belt

Mageblood. The most insane and broken and coveted item in the game, with prices at current time (Week 2 of KSC) reaching over 1.5 Mirrors!!!

Rings

You’ll want one with Vulnerability on Hit, and the other with DoT Multi, from the Essence of Delirium Craft. Try to get as much damage, life and resistances as possible from them.

Build Details: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/pneu227/BestagonsCF?time-machine=week-2&i=2&search=time-machine%3Dweek-2%26class%3DGladiator

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Bruno C.

Bruno comes from the rainforests of the Brazilian jungle, battling beasts and seeking wonders, he has developed a thirst for adventure and a need to chronicle his findings!

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