[2.4] How to smash Heads. Extremely detailed guide about the Facebreaker gloves and builds!

This build has literally blown me away, although I suppose it should for the cost! I have 5 characters around level 80, and my Facebreaker Duelist is easily the tankiest of the bunch. He's also the most powerful, barely beating out my budget mace Marauder (the "barely" part will change once Domination ends and I'm able to purchase a legacy Facebeaker). I can finally solo level 72 maps (I haven't gotten anything higher yet), and the only boss that's given me trouble so far is The Wicked One from the level 71 Temple Map. She seriously owned me with her balls of lightning.

I'd like to suggest an alternate Bringer of Rain build. I didn't realize at first the potency of the BoR 15% chance to block. Because of that extra 15%, it was easy for me to reach 75% block chance. At level 80 I felt like I was swimming in points, in part because I took skill points as bandit quest rewards in Cruel and Merciless (which I highly recommend). Here's my setup:





I do enough damage that I prefer to use Hatred and Haste instead of running Infernal Blow off of mana, and I have just enough mana to run Decoy Totem (and Lightning Warp) without Blood Magic. For more damage I can easily swap out Melee Splash for Added Fire Damage, and it doesn't even feel like I take a huge AoE penalty.

It is tricky to get your dex/int high enough, at least when you're on a budget. You need 153 dex to run Haste at level 20 and 109 int to run a level 20 Faster Casting (I haven't bothered trying to reach 151 int for a level 20 Lightning Warp). Resistances are also tricky with gear alone, but luckily we have access to a ton of resistance nodes.

It might seem like I wasted points to get to Celestial Walker, but I stand by that decision. My AoE is huge because of it, and I'm happy to boost fire damage with those elemental nodes. I'm still a bit slow, and this build isn't going to get you far if you like high rarity on gear, but sheer power and survivability totally make up for it. I had so much trouble mapping before this character, and now I feel like I'm in a great place to make progress.

Thanks again!

I don't need any advise or sth., I just want to say THANKS!
I started my BreakDem when Anarchy had started. It carried me through the whole time, and it's still my best charakter. Not because it has the highest dps (though the dps is reeeealy high :D), but because it combines tankyness with damage.
Currently I'm at lvl 85, didn't level it for like 1-2 month, but I'm using it to farm dominus with a friend who have mf - perfect combo btw.

For newbies these info's are maybe helpful, maybe not:
- I played this char till 80 WITHOUT one of the helmet's, I was a very poor man, so I only had a 5L Chest - but it was enough ;). So Don't be afraid to try this build, without one of the helmet's or a lot of currency.
- There are so many possibilities to make the tree, there's not the correct one, so try out what's the best for you!

My gear


My Tree


I chose the more defensive way, but if you like to go more dps, you can do this, as I already said, there's not the right tree :)

Hi, thanks you for your build, it's a great one ;)

I have a (stupid probably ^^)question, if we go infernal blow, isn't avatar of fire a good choice ? plus the node lava lash, it should be great no ?

hi
i have facebreaker at 748%
pay 10 chaos for Adds 9-22 Physical Damage on armult
or try get better facebreaker maybe 850-900?
which one better ?

newbs question:

if i somehow have 20 and or 40 GCP, which gem is better to increase its quality in order?

Just want to say thanks for this build... I am in progress of morphing a build into a facebreaker.

I am going a mildly different route with skills and gems because this is 'all I got'. And I am trying to get some IIR/IIQ.

My current gear:


My passive tree:


My commentary:

My gear is a work in progress...
I need to reallocate some points... I was not running facebreakers until recently. I only run determination and clarity.

I am using dominating blow a much as possible which is mana hungry... so I took a mana regen node and am running clarity. I can spam dominating blow with multi/splash/IIR off mana.
Dominating blow is amazing defense in the sense that most stuff isn't attacking you so all of your survivability matters a little less. Less problems with reflect also.

Cyclone: I like using it with life gain on hit, faster attacks, and mana leech. one spin across a pack of mobs can heal you to full pretty fast. Also good synergy with dominating blow as cyclone moves you 'through mobs'... with a army of minions and mobs some spaces can resemble a mosh pit at a Van Halen concert, so cyclone is nice. Good against reflect mobs because damage and healing come in small amounts.

I got good deals on my facebreaker (1.5 EX) and Abyssus(1.2 EX)... thanks to the folks that gave me the deals.