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The Dual Strike of Ambidexterity was probably the strongest Melee Skill in the previous Patches due to its insane scaling potential with very fast Attack Speed from the offhand and powerful-but-slow Main Hand Weapon. Additionally, in the newest version of the game, it will be far easier to get a decent amount of Block Chance while Dual Wielding Weapons, which will greatly bolster your defense. The biggest problem with this Skill is its simplicity. It is a very basic Strike Skill with no additional effects or built-in AoE components, which can slow down your Clear Speed, especially if you don't have sources of additional Strike Targets from Gear or Passive Tree.  

For the full Guide, you can check: Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Slayer

Cleave of Rage is the opposite of the previous Skill when it comes to Clear Speed. The transfigured version of the Cleave gains massive amounts of Area of Effect per point of Rage you have. The amount of Rage you can get is significantly lower than before, but its bonuses are significantly stronger, especially on the Berserker Class which further boosts its effectiveness. It is not famous for its durability, but it is definitely the fastest Ascendency right now. The Buffs to Dual-Wielding Notables will be especially useful here in that regard. Although Berserk benefits the most from Rage, other Ascendency choices are also much more appealing than before. All 3 Duelist Ascendencies provide something valuable for this Skill, or you can even opt for full Elemental Conversion and try out the new Warden Ascendency. 

For the Guide please check: Cleave of Rage Berserker

If you prefer to wield a powerful 2-Handed Weapon, then the Molten Strike is just for you. This Skill received a bigger Buff than other Melee Skills, as it always relied on the massive amounts of Projectiles it creates, thus Ancestral Warchief didn't affect it anyway. With the Transfigured version of the Zenith your every 5th Attack will deal an outstanding 1000% More Damage and release 5 additional Projectiles for a massive Burst. The Champion remains the most balanced Ascendency in terms of Offense and Defense, but you can also choose the Warden Ascendency for the stackable Shocks, doubled Scorch, and guaranteed Freeze. 

Full Guide: Trinity Molten Strike Champion

The reworked Gladiator also looks very promising. Thanks to this Ascendency all your Bleeds will Aggravate, which removes the need for Crimson Dance Keystone or Ensnaring Arrow to get the most out of your Bleeds. The Gladiator lacks powerful Damage Multipliers commonly found on other Ascendencies, but instead, it provides an insane amount of Block Chance and Explosions which will greatly help with your Clear Speed. With the Lucky Block Chance, you will have close to 90% Effective Chance to Block incoming Hits, which you can easily apply to both Attacks and Spells. In the past, the Lacerate of Haemorrhage with Crimson Dance had the best Single-target potential, but you can easily adapt the Build to any other Physical Attack you prefer. 

Full Guide can be found here: Lacerate Gladiator  

The Gladiator is also a very good option for the Shield Skills, which base their Damage on Armour and Evasion of your Shield. Doing so will allow you to equip the Varunastra Sword to benefit from all the modifiers of the Weapon Master Notable, without the downside of Varunastra's low base Damage as you Attack with your Shield after all. The Buffs to the Quality and Base Items will also affect this Build in a good way. As your 4th Notable you can pick the War of Attrition which slowly builds up to Doubling your Damage against Bosses, or the Measured Retaliation which allows you to use Retaliation Skills more often, although their usefulness is yet to be tested. 

Full Guide can be found here: Shield Crush Gladiator

The Doryani's Fist is a common Unique Glove that saves you a lot of Currency on a proper Weapon or 6-link Setup. It adds tons of Lightning Damage to your Attacks and grants the Unique Skill that now has 1000% Effectiveness of Added Damage, can be Exerted by Warcries, and never Misses. With the return of Kalandra's Reflecting Mist you can lower your Lightning Resistance to absurdly low amounts and apply them to nearby Enemies with the Doryani's Prototype Armour. The Berserker's Warbringer no longer improves the Damage of Exerted Attacks, but doubles the number of Exerts you gain for performing the Warcry, which greatly increases the comfort of your gameplay. The loss of Attack Speed from Rage is not as impactful for Slam Skills, the More Damage Multiplier is much more useful here.  

Full Guide: Doryani's Touch Berserker

The changes to Warcries, better Defences from Body Armour, improved Melee Skills, and Endurance Charges that reduce Elemental Damage will put the Consecrated Path of Endurance Juggernaut on a pedestal. It's a Slam Attack, exerted by four or five Warcries linked to the new Autoexertion. With Echoes of Creation Helmet, each Warcry will add up to 15% more damage to the already-boosted Slam. As a Juggernaut, you will probably reach a six-figure Armour Rating. Combined with Endurance Charges you will also take vastly reduced Elemental and Physical Damage. The new patch pushes Armour to be the best response to Physical Damage, which this build excels at. You won't even need expensive items - Tidebreaker and Brass Dome will be fine choices during the early to mid-game.

Full Guide: Consecrated Path of Endurance Juggernaut

Trickster is in a really good spot right now - the high Evasion Rating and Energy Shield from a Body Armour, which they usually went for to reap the benefits of the Escape Artist, is now even more potent. The new armor bases and higher defense stats on them will make you even more likely to evade attacks while bolstering the Maximum ES. Combine it with capped Spell Suppression Chance and Ghost Dance to get one of the tankiest starters in general. Cold Exsanguinate Mines are the most accessible damage source that let you take advantage of the Physical to Cold to Fire Conversion while gaining some extra damage sourced from the other types along this chain of Conversion. It's a very fast build that will let you quickly clear T16s on day one, but you may succumb to large Physical Hits and will struggle with the toughest bosses.

Full Guide can be found here: Cold Exsanguinate Miner Trickster

The Perfect Agony Keystone has been reworked, and as it upholds the playstyle of inflicting stronger Ailments with Critical Strikes, it now copies your Critical Strike Multiplier and applies it to Damage over Time Multiplier, which starts at 150% and can only be increased further. It has no damage penalty and makes you unable to inflict Ailments with non-critical Hits. That's a major boost in damage as long as you can reach 100% Crit Chance, which is trivial on an Assassin. The Assassin also has the Toxic Delivery passives tailored to suit this archetype. Boost your damage with Noxious Strike and various cheap items accompanied by the abundant (and roughly twice as powerful as DoT Multiplier) Critical Strike Multiplier stats from the Passive Skill Tree, Items, and Gems. The build requires a lot of adjusting for the new patch, for as the Perfect Agony change may seem minor, it alters how you build the character big time.

Full Guide can be found here: Blade Vortex Poison Assassin

Elemental Hit of the Spectrum is great, and now it's even better with its upgraded added damage, albeit it's not a huge buff. It was the second-most popular Skill to use on a Deadeye - the most popular ascendancy in the game. It's an obvious pick for a lot of players because it's fast and ranged, offering the best clear speed there is. It will work on a budget just fine and you won't need any Unique Items to enable it. This particular version of Elemental Hit can only be used with Bows or Wands from now on, which should make it less sought after, but it will probably be the most expensive Transfigured Gem in the first few days of a new league, so keep that in mind. You will have to start with Lightning Arrow or Ice Shot because of that. The build also lacks defences, but that's not a big deal since it kills anything before it can kill you, most of the time.

Full Guide: Elemental Hit of the Spectrum Deadeye

Fire Trap of Blasting is the Ignite build for an Elementalist that we recommend. It's great against bosses early on making it excellent for collecting all 4 stones and completing the Atlas in record speed. The build requires Eye of Malice, Profane Proxy, and maybe other Unique Items that will most likely be relatively expensive during the first few days after the league starts. The Transfigured Gem is not required, you can start with a regular Fire Trap and switch later. As for the clear speed - the build uses Frostblink as a secondary ability that kills minor enemies and doubles as a movement skill, making you faster than most Trap builds. It's lackluster in terms of durability but it has Bastion of Elements, Spell Suppression, and Evasion Rating which is enough to comfortably run even T17.

Full Guide: Fire Trap of Blasting Elementalist

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