Duelist Help

I've been playing splitting steel champion and just hit 96 and have killed all the non uber pinnacle bosses.

Ive been looking at the upgrades for spiltting steel and most people are swapping to crit and running the nimis ring and level 4 enlighten with some extreemly expensive jewels. I have close to 40div right now and these upgrades just feel extremely expensive. I was thinking of swapping to a different duelist build that isnt so expensive to scale. I just have alot of questions, id say im in intermediate player.

Is splitting steel just a extreemly expensive build? Or am I just not seeing it in other builds.

What would be other build options for duelist that are good this league for around 40-50div? (I like bossing and want to kill all the ubers and being tanky and enjoy active playstyle dont love totems or minions)

Thanks for the help!