Top PoE 3.25 Builds

11.09.2024 - 01:57:30
Game Guides , Path of Exile , POE build guides

Top PoE 3.25 Builds

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Grinding Gear Games has done a pretty good job of enticing players to play Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. This league is one of the most popular in the game’s history, with over 200,000 concurrent players on Steam enjoying what this expansion has to offer.

Now, it has been more than a month since PoE 3.25 was released, so this begs the question: Which of the builds are the best of the bunch? We at RPGStash are glad that you have asked that!

In today’s article, we are going to go over the builds that are considered the cream of the crop by the PoE Community. So, if you are thinking of creating a new character or you just want to learn the best ones out there, then read further. This is our comprehensive list of the top builds in PoE 3.25!

Top PoE 3.25 Builds

Build

Pros

Cons

PoB Links

Lightning Strike Slayer

+Plenty of variations

+Insane damage output

+Strong even in the early game

+Incredible sustain through life leech

-Expensive upgrades

POB

Hexblast Mines Trickster

+League starter

+Great for Sanctum farming

+Easy damage scaling

-Requires a lot of crafted gear in the endgame

-Mediocre survivability

POB

Flicker Strike Slayer

+Insane damage potential

+Received a massive damage increase in Patch 3.25

+Good sustainability through Slayer overleech

-Endgame items require a ton of investment

-Skill itself can be nauseating

POB 1


POB 2

Power Siphon Trickster

+Comfortable to play

+Can scale damage quite well

+Power Charge stacker ensures 100% critical strike chance

-Mageblood is pretty much mandatory

-Mine playstyle may not be for everyone

POB

Frost Blades of Katabasis Slayer

+Good damage during league start

+Scales really well into the endgame

+Great survivability

-Requires a Transfigured Gem

-Endgame weapons and rings are quite expensive

POB

Splitting Steel Trickster

+Huge energy shield pool prevents you from dying

+Does even more damage thanks to the buffs in Patch 3.25

-Not a league starter

POB

Ice Nova of Frostbolts Hierophant

+Decimates enemies with ease

+Cool interaction with Frostbolt spell

+Easily one of the best builds in PoE 3.25

-Needs certain items to make it more comfortable to play

POB

Righteous Fire Chieftain

+Noob-friendly build

+Burn enemies to a crisp

+Can tank almost everything

+League start viable

-Average single-target damage

-Boss-killing not its strongest suit

POB

Molten Strike of the Zenith Juggernaut

+Capable of dishing out huge amounts of damage

+Can clear maps with ease

+Easily takes down pinnacle bosses

-Requires a huge investment on endgame gear

POB

Lacerate of Haemorrhage

+Takes full advantage of Gladiator rework

+Destroy enemies with destructive bleeds

+Can tank even the most damaging hits

-Bleed damage is not necessarily stronger than spells

POB

The builds above are what the vast majority of PoE Players are using in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. Let's dissect each one, shall we?

Lightning Strike Slayer

When it comes to the best builds in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, the clear winner is none other than the Lightning Strike Slayer. This build is capable of demolishing anything and everything that dares come your way.

So, what makes this build special? Well, it can be built in a number of ways. You can start out with a crafted claw that has three elemental damage mods on it. Ultimately, you transition to the Banishing Blade — a two-handed sword that allows your critical strikes to ignore the enemy's elemental resistance.

If you want more survivability, there is a version of the Lightning Strike Slayer that utilizes a synthesized dagger, as well as The Squire. The said weapon has a few Shaper- and Elder-influenced mods, including Increased Critical Strikes, Faster Attacks, and Increased Critical Damage.

GGG actually made a balancing pass on almost all melee skill gems in PoE 3.25. For the Lightning Strike skill, in particular, it received a huge damage boost, where its effectiveness of base and added damage has increased from 225% to 456%!

The Lightning Strike Slayer is an incredible build that is fun and easy to play. It is no wonder that people really love it in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur!

Hexblast Mines Trickster

If you need a build that is known to sweep the Forbidden Sanctum clean, then the Hexblast Mines Trickster is definitely the one you are looking for!

This build is an amazing league starter that utilizes an interesting spell skill gem known as Hexblast. Unlike other spells that deal chaos damage, Hexblast takes into account the enemy's lowest resistance instead of its chaos resistance when calculating damage. Hence, you typically see those who play the Hexblast Mines Trickster using either Frostbite or Flammability along with cold exposure or fire exposure to maximize damage output.

While Hexblast is indeed powerful, it has one glaring downside: It has a 1-second cast time. In a fast-paced game like PoE, you need attacks and spells to deal damage immediately after use. To make this happen, you link Hexblast with High-Impact Mine Support. Doing so will turn the said chaos spell into a Mine Skill that you can throw on a whim.

To make this build a lot smoother to play, you will also use the combo of Detonate Mines and Automation Support. With this setup, all you have to do is throw the mines at your enemies and watch them die almost instantly!

Where does this build fall short, you ask? Well, its survivability leaves much to be desired. When you play the Hexblast Mines Trickster, you should always have the mentality of killing monsters first before they hit you. Otherwise, you end up dead.

Still, the Hexblast Mines Trickster is easy to recommend because of its potential and damage scaling on a budget.

Flicker Strike Slayer

Do you want to zoom through the map while killing monsters in the process? The Flicker Strike Slayer can do that and then some!

The Flicker Strike Slayer deals an insane amount of damage, but what makes it cool is the skill gem itself. When used, Flicker Strike teleports you to the nearest target, dealing damage, and potentially destroying multiple enemies at once.

As mentioned earlier, GGG has improved many melee skill gems in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion. We are happy to say that Flicker Strike has its damage effectiveness increased from 210% to 408%!

In terms of weapons, you have a couple of viable options. The first is a crafted Banishing Blade, preferably with a Shaper influence so that it can roll "+1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges."

The second weapon you could use is another crafted item; this time, it is the Anarchic Spiritblade. This weapon base type has a special property, where 100% of your physical damage is converted to a random element.

If you are going for the Anarchic Spiritblade in the endgame, you need to make sure that it has the "Socketed Movement Skills Cost No Mana" modifier. Otherwise, you will not be able to fully utilize it to the fullest extent.

Another mandatory item for the Flicker Strike Slayer is the Replica Farrul's Fur. This unique body armor allows you to have a permanent uptime of Frenzy Charges, so long as you complement it with a piece of gear that has the Aspect of the Cat skill on it.

Thanks to the Slayer's Masterful Form ascendancy node, you will have the same number of Endurance Charges as well. This is good because it improves your survivability, especially considering that Endurance Charges now significantly mitigate the elemental damage you receive.

Although this build requires an exorbitant amount of currency, the Flicker Strike Slayer is great and any investment is definitely worth it!

Power Siphon Trickster

The Power Siphon Trickster has a relatively safe playstyle where you just throw mines at the enemy and watch them die with powerful projectiles.

While Power Siphon can easily be cast yourself, most players link it with Locus Mine Support. This effectively turns Power Siphon from a projectile-based skill that you can cast manually into a Mine Skill.

In Patch 3.25, Power Siphon got a couple of incredible upgrades. For one, its base attack speed saw a 15% increase. But, the biggest change in this league is that Power Siphon now scales its damage better with spell damage rather than attack damage.

For that reason, you are going to use gear that improves spell damage wherever possible, mainly from your weapon and shield.

This build can survive almost all content in PoE thanks to the Chaos Inoculation keystone passive, as well as its insanely high energy shield. The latter is due to it being an INT stacker. Furthermore, the Trickster's Escape Artist ascendancy node grants more energy shield depending on the evasion rating of your equipped body armor.

That said, the Power Siphon Trickster is easy to pull off and its upgrades are not too expensive to obtain, making it an incredible choice for most PoE players.

Frost Blades of Katabasis Slayer

When you think about the word "melee," what comes to mind? If you are thinking about being up close and personal with the enemy, you are not wrong. However, the next build that we are going to talk about has a unique and interesting property that deserves some attention.

The Frost Blades of Katabasis Slayer utilizes a Transfigured Gem that allows you to hit enemies at a greater distance compared to its base counterpart. Besides that, this particular skill gem leaves a Chilled Ground that deals cold damage over time to enemies that step on it.

This build can actually be used as a league starter as it can operate with self-found gear. However, it truly shines whenever you obtain certain items. One such item is the White Wind — a unique weapon that grants a huge boost in cold damage when you do not have anything equipped in your off-hand.

Additionally, you can wear Southbound. These gloves have a unique effect where freeze duration on enemies is increased by 100%, though this comes at the cost of not being able to kill them with hits unless they are frozen. Not to worry, the Chilled Ground that is created by your primary skill gem should take care of the rest.

In the endgame, you have the option of using Admiral's Arrogance, which is a new unique pair of gloves that gives you consistent Rage uptime for maximum damage.

If you are wondering how this skill has improved in Patch 3.25, its effectiveness of base and added damage is now set at 409% (up from 225% previously).

With the Slayer's overleech via Brutal Fervour, this build is tough to kill. So, if all these things sound good to you, then be sure to give the Frost Blades of Katabasis Slayer a try!

Splitting Steel Trickster

There are many ascendancy classes in PoE that use Splitting Steel, but the Trickster takes it up a notch by electrifying every shard the skill produces. Unlike the other build variations that use this particular skill gem, the Splitting Steel Trickster deals lightning damage thanks, in large part, to the Ephemeral Edge.

The Ephemeral Edge is a unique one-handed sword that grants lightning damage equal to 20% of your maximum energy shield. As you can already tell, the Trickster is perfect for the job due to its Escape Artist notable ascendancy passive skill, which grants heaps of energy shield based on the evasion rating of your equipped body armor.

In addition, you can sustain energy shield by taking Soul Drinker. This ascendancy node allows you to leech energy shield with every attack. You also gain a considerable boost in attack speed while you're at it!

Although this build already functions really well just by having the Ephemeral Edge, there are a couple of upgrades that you can take later down the line that will make the Splitting Steel Trickster even more powerful!

Voice of the Storm ensures that you deal the most damage possible because lightning damage with non-critical strikes is always lucky when you have this unique amulet equipped.

Nimis is an incredible item for this build, primarily because this ring makes the projectiles that you fire to return to you after reaching their maximum distance.

If you are looking for a build that can comfortably survive in T17 maps and other pinnacle content in the game, then the Splitting Steel Trickster is a must-try for sure!

Ice Nova of Frostbolts Hierophant

Are you interested in a PoE Build that is deceptively tanky and has the power to obliterate any monster that is available in the game? Well, the Ice Nova of Frostbolts Hierophant certainly fits the bill!

This is a mana-stacking build that relies on a Transfigured Gem called Ice Nova of Frostbolts. Unlike its base version, this spell interacts with the projectiles that are fired by Frostbolt, where the circles of ice expand from the projectiles themselves rather than from your character.

Now, the reason why you stack mana as high as you can is that you will link Ice Nova of Frostbolts with Archmage Support. This support gem grants added lightning damage based on a percentage of your maximum mana. So in essence, the more mana you have, the more powerful your primary spell becomes.

You need a couple of items to make this build work as good as can be. The first is a crafted Profane Wand with mana, spell damage, and increased cast speed. The second is Kitava's Thirst — a unique helmet that automatically casts Frostbolt after spending 100 mana.

Despite Ice Nova of Frostbolts being a cold spell skill in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, the build actually scales lightning damage from Archmage Support. Other sources of lightning damage include Arcane Cloak and Sigil of Power.

So, how does the Hierophant factor into the equation? This Templar ascendancy class has access to a couple of nodes that make the build awesome, such as Divine Guidance and Sanctuary of Thought. The former greatly increases your mana pool, while the latter grants extra energy shield based on a chunk of your maximum mana, thus improving your chances of survival.

It goes without saying that any stacker builds in PoE require a heavy investment and the Ice Nova of Frostbolts Hierophant is no exception. Be that as it may, this build is fun to play and every currency you spend is worth it.

Righteous Fire Chieftain

This next build is perfect for those who want to just sit back, relax, and burn enemies to a crisp just by walking past them. The Righteous Fire Chieftain is an excellent mapper that has enough defenses to survive attacks from even the most formidable foes in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur.

While Righteous Fire has had many variations over the years, the Chieftain version offers incredible mapping prowess due to its ascendancy nodes. Hinekora, Death's Fury plays a huge role in that it allows you to get rid of monsters quickly by making them explode on kill.

The combo of Valako and Tasalio gives you a much easier time to cap your elemental resistances simply by scaling fire resistance alone. Sorting out your life regeneration also helps immensely, particularly from a survival standpoint.

With easy access to STR nodes due to the Marauder's starting point on the passive tree, this build is capable of achieving high amounts of HP without a heavy investment. Of course, you can acquire better gear along the way if you are satisfied with how the build works.

Admittedly, Righteous Fire is only great for mapping. Hence, you will supplement your damage by using Fire Trap as well. Fire Trap deals fire damage over time and is mandatory if you want to eliminate tough monsters and bosses.

Even though slaying bosses is not this build’s strong suit, the Righteous Fire Chieftain is still incredibly fun to play for both beginners and veterans alike!

Molten Strike of the Zenith Juggernaut

Many people in the PoE Community truly believe that the Molten Strike of the Zenith Juggernaut is one of the best builds in terms of damage output. This is a STR-stacking build that deals chaos damage thanks to some specific items.

The core item that makes this build possible is Original Sin. This unique ring virtually converts all elemental damage to chaos damage. Supplementing this is Replica Alberon's Warpath, which is another unique item that grants 1-80 chaos damage to attacks per 80 points of STR.

Another mandatory piece of gear for the Molten Strike of the Zenith Juggernaut is the Crown of Eyes. This helmet has a unique effect that is akin to the innate property of Power Siphon, where increases and reductions to spell damage also apply to attacks at 150% of their value. Thanks to the build's high STR value, as well as the effects of the Iron Will keystone passive, you will get a ton of value from Crown of Eyes.

Since Molten Strike of the Zenith is a melee skill gem, you are probably asking if it got buffed in Patch 3.25. The answer is a resounding yes! This skill gem has its effectiveness of added damage increased from a measly 130% to 239! The only downside here is that it no longer has a bonus in strike range, but that is something that can easily be rectified with gear.

This build originally uses Nimis for that returning projectile mechanic. However, in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, you can apply the "Attack Projectiles Return to You" enchantment on your weapon, thus opening up a ring slot for another accessory that grants strength and other good modifiers.

The Molten Strike of the Zenith Juggernaut is an expensive build to put up, especially because it requires some unique and expensive items. But, if you are able to obtain the necessary pieces, we promise you that this build will not disappoint!

Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator

A great league starter that is capable of incredible damage scaling in the endgame, the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator is a very awesome build that is definitely worth trying in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur!

In case you do not know, the Gladiator got reworked in Patch 3.25. GGG has replaced some of the neglected nodes with some pretty amazing ones. Jagged Technique, for example, is a new notable ascendancy passive skill that makes bleeds you inflict become aggravated. This means that you always deal triple damage with bleeds because this node treats your enemies as though they are moving!

The Lacerate of Haemorrhage skill gem itself got a substantial damage buff in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion. More specifically, it now has an effectiveness of base and added damage of 346% as opposed to just 120% prior to this update.

Even though this build can work on self-found gear, there is some equipment you can take as soon as you have enough PoE Currency. For instance, you can grab Olesya's Delight to boost your damage over time multiplier considerably. Do not forget Ralakesh's Impatience so that you still gain the effects of Frenzy Charges despite having Olesya's Delight equipped.

Jack, the Axe is an awesome weapon for the build. It allows you to easily apply the bleeding status effect on your foes. Plus, it grants Thirst for Blood, which allows you to deal more damage with bleeding for a short period of time.

With a newly reworked ascendancy class and a powerful melee skill gem to boot, the Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator is undoubtedly one of the top builds in PoE 3.25!

Best Duelist Builds in PoE 3.25

Now that you know the top builds for all classes in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, we are going to talk about the best ones for each class. Do take note that in the spirit of brevity, we are no longer going to mention those that have already been highlighted earlier. However, we will still put them on the table just so you know that they are one of the most-played builds in this league.

With that out of the way, we will begin with the Duelist because it currently sits at the top of the charts according to PoE Ninja. Here are the top Duelist builds in PoE 3.25:

Build

Pros

Cons

PoB Links

Lightning Strike Slayer

+Plenty of variations

+Insane damage output

+Strong even in the early game

+Incredible sustain through life leech

-Expensive upgrades

POB

Frost Blades of Katabasis Slayer

+Good damage during league start

+Scales really well into the endgame

+Great survivability

-Requires a Transfigured Gem

-Endgame weapon and ring are quite expensive

POB

Lacerate of Haemorrhage Gladiator

+Takes full advantage of Gladiator rework

+Destroy enemies with destructive bleeds

+Can tank even the most damaging hits

-Bleed damage is not necessarily stronger than spells

POB

Flicker Strike Slayer

+Insane damage potential

+Received a massive damage increase in Patch 3.25

+Good sustainability through Slayer overleech

-Endgame items require a ton of investment

-Skill itself can be nauseating

POB

Eviscerate Gladiator

+Utilizes Retaliation Skills to a great extent

+Impenetrable defenses make it suitable for all content

+Relatively affordable to put up

-May not be suitable for those who want a more consistent skill uptime

POB

Explosive Arrow Champion

+Viable league starter for many leagues now

+Safe playstyle makes it appealing to many players

+SSF-friendly

-Delayed damage due to reliance on totems

-Not suited for those who want to deal damage themselves

POB

Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator

+Fast mapper

+Tons of armor and good block chance

+Bleed explosions

-Single-target damage could be improved

POB

Cyclone Slayer

+Easy to play

+Skill covers a wide area, deleting multiple monsters in the process

+Damage scales well into the endgame

-May not be that great against uber bosses

-Only gets reliable at higher levels

POB

Sunder Gladiator

+Provides a comfortable mapping experience

+Great sustain via recovery on block

+Easy to gear

+Hardcore viable

-Weak to degens and damage over time

-Single-target damage only picks up in the endgame

POB

Ground Slam of Earthshaking Slayer

+Relatively easy to gear

+Most items this build uses can be crafted

+Immense physical damage

-Uses several warcries to bring the best out of the build, which may feel clunky for some people

-Cannot inflict critical strikes due to Precise Technique

POB

Eviscerate Gladiator

In Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, GGG introduced a new class of skills called Retaliation Skills. Most of them only become usable a few seconds after successfully blocking an attack, so you need a build that can consistently do that. Fortunately, the Eviscerate Gladiator does that with flying colors!

For the uninitiated, Eviscerate allows you to retaliate with an arcing slash that creates two waves of force. Monsters that are hit by these waves will suffer from bleeding damage, which the Gladiator excels at thanks to Gratuitous Violence and Jagged Technique.

Although this build is a league starter, it truly shines when you have access to certain pieces of gear. The main one you should invest in is an Elder-influenced Reaver Axe that has a couple of interesting mods, such as "+% to Damage Over Time Multiplier for Bleeding from Hits with This Weapon" and "Hits with This Weapon Have a Culling Strike Against Bleeding Enemies." Together, these mods aid in clearing the entire area of monsters in a matter of seconds!

With a significant amount of armor and a huge chance to block attacks and spells, the Eviscerate Gladiator is capable of facetanking all content in the game. So if you are looking for a build that you can comfortably play early on and well into the endgame, the Eviscerate Gladiator is a top contender!

Explosive Arrow Champion

For a long time now, the Explosive Arrow Champion has been a reliable league starter that can operate with self-found gear. In fact, this is one of the most SSF-friendly builds in PoE 3.25 mainly because you craft equipment yourself and it will go a long way.

Having said that, this build has been tweaked primarily to address the changes GGG has made in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion. For one, you no longer rely on the Champion's Unstoppable Hero and First to Strike, Last to Fall ascendancy nodes. Instead, you will be allocating points to Conqueror and Worthy Foe to give you the ability to taunt enemies and make taunted enemies take increased damage, respectively.

If this is your first time being acquainted with the build, the Explosive Arrow Champion heavily relies on Ballista Totems to deal damage. In fact, the Ancestral Bond keystone is an integral part of the build because it allows you to summon one additional totem for more damage. The only downside here is that you cannot slay enemies yourself, so your role is simply to drop totems on the battlefield and let them take care of the rest.

Now, if you like playing on SSF, you may have to dabble into crafting some stuff. Luckily, we have a dedicated crafting guide for all the information you need, so be sure to check it out.

You are probably wondering why you need Ballista Totems to maximize the build's damage output. Well, that is because of how your main skill gem works. You see, Explosive Arrow has two components: the arrow collisions and their eventual explosions.

Using Explosive Arrow prompts you to fire a projectile that sticks to the main target. This arrow will detonate after a short period, dealing fire damage to nearby monsters in the process.

The reason why totems are utilized here is that they shoot the arrows at a much faster rate than you do. For this reason, you will always stick the maximum of 22 arrows on your foes before they die in a series of fiery explosions.

The Explosive Arrow Champion is, without a doubt, one of the best SSF builds in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. Be sure to give it a whirl and let us know your experience.

Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator

Shields are often looked at as defensive items, but this next build on our list begs to differ.

The Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator (aka SST Gladiator) is a build that utilizes a well-crafted shield in a more effective way. This skill got buffed in Patch 3.25, where it now scales more damage depending on the armor and evasion value of your shield. That is why you typically see people using the Colossal Tower Shield (pure armor) or Cardinal Round Shield (armor/evasion) as the preferred off-hands for this build.

As to how the skill performs, it prompts you to throw a single spectral shield that splits into shard projectiles upon collision with an enemy or terrain. Due to the Gladiator's Gratuitous Violence ascendancy node, you can take advantage of bleed explosions to make quick work of the enemy.

Since you are wearing a shield, you have the option of utilizing Shield Charge to traverse vast areas easily.

In addition, the passive nodes you take focus on improving your damage while holding a shield. These nodes include Aggressive Bastion, Retaliation, and Defiance. When you have enough PoE Currency, you could take several points off so you can fit a Large Cluster Jewel (Physical Damage) for even more power.

This build is a fast and efficient mapper that is capable of clearing entire maps in under two minutes. Where it falls short is in its single-target damage, so you will need a well-crafted weapon in the endgame if you plan on taking on the pinnacle bosses in PoE.

Other than that, the Spectral Shield Throw Gladiator is perfect for those who want a good mix of offense and defense.

Cyclone Slayer

The Cyclone Slayer is a build that has survived the test of time. The skill gem itself actually got improved in Patch 3.25, where it now has 111% effectiveness of base and added damage compared to a measly 59% prior to the SoK League.

Cyclone is one of the most comfortable skill gems to use in Path of Exile mainly because you just hold its hotkey and watch as you spin to victory! It has a very high base attack speed, which is why it is often used as a means of triggering other attacks or spells with the help of Cast on Critical Strike or Cast While Channeling support gems.

While you have the option of choosing either the sword or axe, this particular Cyclone Slayer build prefers a crafted warstaff. This gives you the ability to use Shockwave Support for even more area damage.

Because you are attacking like a madman while you're channeling Cyclone, the Slayer is the perfect ascendancy class for the job. The Slayer has Brutal Fervour that provides consistent life leech as long as you are attacking enemies with your primary skill.

Aside from Shockwave, the build utilizes reflected physical damage via Impales. This is further improved by taking the Harpooner, Brutal Skewering, and Merciless Skewering nodes on the passive tree.

Unless you deck your character out with the right gear, we do not recommend this build as a reliable uber bosser. This is largely because its survivability is not its strongest trait.

Be that as it may, the Cyclone Slayer offers a fun and laidback playstyle with enough power to quickly eliminate enemies with ease.

Sunder Gladiator

The Gladiator's forte is to improve bleeding damage to a much greater extent. The only thing that you need to think of is what skill to use to administer the said debuff on your foes.

While Lacerate of Haemorrhage is the most popular due to its consistent application of bleeds, Sunder is actually not bad. And no, it does not inflict bleeds, per se. Rather, it is a skill that covers a much wider area, so the only thing that you have to improve is your chance to inflict bleeds on monsters that are hit by Sunder's AoE.

Sunder got a significant damage boost in the SoK League. More specifically, it now has a 629% effectiveness of base and added damage compared to just 325% in the previous expansion. Its mana cost per cast has increased from eight to 13, but this is something that can easily be addressed through gear.

Anyway, one of the main selling points of the Sunder Gladiator is that it has an incredible map-clearing potential on a minimal investment. In fact, you can cobble up some gear and this build will work just fine! Thus, it is one of the most SSF-friendly builds for the Duelist class in PoE 3.25.

Although this build does not require any unique items, there are certainly some that can improve it in more ways than one. Venopuncture is an incredible ring that not only improves your chance to inflict bleeds with Sunder, but also increases bleeding damage by a significant amount!

Ryslatha's Coil is another item that you can obtain while mapping. This greatly increases your damage just from a single unique belt, so its inclusion here is definitely worthwhile.

Aside from its impressive map-clearing ability, the Sunder Gladiator is no slouch on the defensive side of things as well. Thanks to Determined Survivor and More Than Skill, two ascendancy nodes available to the Gladiator, you can easily block incoming attacks and spells. You can even take things a step further by equipping a shield that recovers a portion of your life on block, greatly improving your survivability.

With great damage output on a budget and enough tankiness to survive even the harshest conditions, it is no wonder why the Sunder Gladiator is one of the top builds for the Duelist in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur!

Ground Slam of Earthshaking Slayer

As mentioned earlier, GGG made sweeping changes to most melee skills in PoE 3.25. The Ground Slam of Earthshaking, in particular, has its effectiveness of base and added damage increased to a massive 688% from a paltry 340% in the previous update.

What makes the said skill gem appealing is that it covers a pretty wide area, allowing you to hit multiple monsters with each slam. The only problem here is that it has a slower attack speed compared to its base version, so you will need to up your attack speed through your gear and passive nodes.

The Ground Slam of Earthshaking Slayer offers great offensive and defensive capabilities despite the choice of ascendancy class. Most of your equipment provides a good amount of armor, including the new Leviathan Gauntlets/Greaves and the Royal Plate. For your weapon, you will be using a two-handed axe, preferably a Vaal Axe for its high base physical damage.

Because you are utilizing a slam skill, you need to leverage several warcies to further improve your damage. Thanks to the new Autoexertion support gem, you can have a few warcries automated. You still have to manually press a few buttons, though, because Autoexertion prevents you from getting the other bonuses from your warcry skills.

For example, Seismic Cry increases the AoE of your next slams. However, when cast manually, you also gain more armor in the process. Additionally, Intimidating Cry empowers your next slams to deal double damage. But, casting it manually boosts your movement speed for a brief period as well.

The Slayer's Impact notable ascendancy passive skill is amazing because it increases your melee damage based on the number of enemies that surround you. Besides that, it greatly increases your accuracy rating, which can help you take full advantage of Precise Technique for a 40% more damage boost!

The Ground Slam of Earthshaking Slayer, as great as it is, does not come without flaws. It uses a slam skill that only reaches its true potential if you exert it with several warcries. Moreover, you cannot deal critical strikes due to the presence of Precise Technique.

Despite its shortcomings, the Ground Slam of Earthshaking Slayer is easy to recommend for its sheer power that is relatively easy to obtain.

Best Shadow Builds in PoE 3.25

Amidst all of the melee builds that sprung up due to the massive changes implemented by GGG in Patch 3.25, the Shadow is actually the second class that comes really close to the Duelist in terms of popularity. Hence, we will go over all of the best Shadow Builds in PoE 3.25 next. Here is a rundown:

Build

Pros

Cons

PoB Links

Hexblast Mines Tricskter

+League starter

+Great for Sanctum farming

+Easy damage scaling

-Requires a lot of crafted gear in the endgame

-Mediocre survivability

POB

Power Siphon Trickster

+Comfortable to play

+Can scale damage quite well

+Power Charge stacker ensures 100% critical strike chance

-Mageblood is pretty much mandatory

-Mine playstyle may not be for everyone

POB

Splitting Steel Trickster

+Huge energy shield pool prevents you from dying

+Does even more damage thanks to the buffs in Patch 3.25

-Not a league starter

POB

Viper Strike of the Mamba Trickster

+Kill enemies efficiently with high poison damage

+Huge amounts of evasion and energy shield makes it easy to survive pinnacle content in the game

+Immune to chaos damage

+Endgame weapon is easy to craft

-Apart from the weapon, some endgame items are expensive

-Weak to degens

POB

Exsanguinate Mines Trickster

+Physical-to-Cold damage conversion for easy scaling

+Speedy playstyle due to automated mine detonation

+Easier to gear than Hexblast Mines

+Has better survivability compared to Hexblast Mines

-Relies on a good pair of crafted cold conversion gloves

POB

Spark Trickster

+Easily bombard the screen with Spark projectiles

+Crazy cast speed

+Quite tanky

-Super expensive

-Needs certain mods on gear to make the build work

POB

Penance Brand of Dissipation Assassin

+Amazing Sanctum runner

+Takes advantage of damage conversion mechanics

+Power Charge stacker, making it easy to achieve a high crit chance

-Extremely squishy

-Must kill enemies before they kill you

-Uses an awful lot of unique items, which makes capping resistances a chore

POB

Ice Trap Assassin

+Great at killing bosses

+Build's damage can go through the roof

-zHP build might not be to your liking

POB

Soulrend of Reaping Assassin

+Amazing map clear

+Surprisingly tanky

-Average boss-killing potential

POB

Blade Blast of Unloading Saboteur

+Screen-wide map clear

+Main skill interacts really well with Blade Vortex

+Incredible mapping efficiency

+Some upgrades require a relatively high investment

POB

Viper Strike of the Mamba Trickster

Builds in Path of Exile that deal poison damage typically choose either the Pathfinder or Assassin because these ascendancy classes have access to nodes that improve poison in various ways. Well, the Viper Strike of the Mamba Trickster offers something unique to the table. It not only has the power to effectively kill enemies with deadly poisons, but also has the survivability that allows it to survive any pinnacle content in PoE 3.25.

It should go without saying that the Viper Strike of the Mamba skill gem got a substantial damage increase in Patch 3.25, so we are not going to talk about that. Instead, we will focus on the mechanics of the build and how it differs from the Pathfinder or Assassin.

Simply put, the Trickster variant of this build scales critical strike multiplier because of Perfect Agony. For those who do not know, this is a keystone passive that increases damage over time with ailments equal to your critical strike multiplier. This is the reason why you see the aptly named Increased Critical Damage Support being linked to the Viper Strike of the Mamba.

Now, if you do not know how this Transfigured Gem works, it allows you to deal huge damage with poisons. The only problem is that you can only inflict poison on enemies once. To address this, you will link it with Unbound Ailments Support to increase the poison duration on enemies. After that, you exert your next attack with Ambush for a huge boost in critical strike damage (which is scaled by Perfect Agony).

Bino's Kitchen Knife, an iconic unique dagger from a bygone era, is being utilized by the vast majority of Viper Strike of the Mamba Trickster builds in the SoK League. Besides the fact that this weapon increases your critical strike damage, it spreads poisons to nearby enemies after killing a poisoned target as well.

In terms of survivability, you can scale energy shield to the moon with the help of the Trickster's Escape Artist ascendancy node. And, since you have plenty of energy shield to work with, you have the option of allocating the Chaos Inoculation keystone to make yourself immune to chaos damage.

Quick, effective, and deadly, are the words we would use to describe the Viper Strike of the Mamba Trickster. Go ahead and try it yourself. You will not regret it!

Exsanguinate Mines Trickster

Path of Exile is arguably the most complex ARPG out there. Part of the reason why is that this game has plenty of damage conversion mechanics, with physical damage converted to cold damage being the most common.

Having said that, the Exsanguinate Mines Trickster deals heavy cold damage that can eliminate map monsters with ease. All you have to do is throw a bunch of mines in a general direction and nearby monsters will be killed in the process.

Interestingly, Exsanguinate is not even a Mine Skill, but rather a physical spell skill that conjures blood tendrils. Those that are hit by these tendrils suffer from physical damage over time. It even interacts with chain modifiers to hit multiple targets in one cast.

To turn this physical spell skill into a Mine Skill, you will use the same tech as that of Hexblast Mines: High-Impact Mine Support. This support gem is typically used to circumvent the long cast times of certain spells. Exsanguinate, in particular, has a long cast time of 0.80 seconds, so using High-Impact Mine Support here just makes sense.

A common question that the PoE Community has when it comes to converting physical damage to cold damage is why is there a need for it? Well, that is easy to answer. You see, physical damage is the only damage type in the game that can roll a trifecta of similar mods on a weapon. This includes added physical damage, % increased physical damage, and % increased physical damage plus accuracy rating hybrid.

As to why physical damage is converted to cold damage and not the other elemental damage types, it is because there are just some incredible items that scale damage even further. Take a look at Heatshiver, for example. When you freeze an enemy (which you can do naturally by landing critical strikes with cold damage), you will gain extra fire damage when you have this helmet equipped.

People who play the Exsanguinate Mines Trickster often use the Kikazaru unique ring as well. This ring is great for survival because it significantly increases your life regeneration the higher your level is. Besides that, this ring reduces the effect of curses on you, so if you happen to be affected by Elemental Weakness, that should not last longer than a few seconds due to Kikazaru.

Since the said ring is cheap, you can use a Vaal Orb in the hopes of getting the corrupted implicit modifier: "Hatred Has % Increased Aura Effect."

Although this build is not as devastating as the Hexblast Mines Trickster, we see the Exsanguinate Mines Trickster as having more utility and survivability, making it a solid option for those who want to survive longer while mapping and bossing.

Spark Trickster

Do you want to fill the screen with a lot of flying projectiles in a matter of seconds? If so, the Spark Trickster is a must-try!

For a long time, PoE players go for the Inquisitor as the ascendancy class of choice when it comes to utilizing the Spark spell skill gem. However, the Trickster is just incredible from a survival standpoint that it has become a worthy contender.

The combination of Escape Artist and Soul Drinker notable ascendancy passives ensures that you stay on the battlefield longer even if you are surrounded by multiple enemies at once.

How about firepower? Is the Spark Trickster better than the Inquisitor in terms of overall damage? If you ask us, the answer is a resounding yes! You see, in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion, GGG introduced weapon enchantments via Runesmithing. There are a plethora of enchantments you can apply, but the one that you are looking for is "Haunted by Tormented Spirits." What does this do, exactly?

When you have that particular weapon enchantment, you will be haunted by Tormented Spirits upon entering a new map. This is a good thing because you gain 35% increased damage, movement speed, and cast speed while you are possessed. The result? You have a character that can create a boatload of Spark projectiles in just a few seconds!

That is improved even further because you are going to use a couple of Profane Wands with more cast speed, projectile speed, and spell damage. If these are not enough, you can wear some crafted Fingerless Silk Gloves with Slower Projectiles, Faster Projectiles, and Faster Casting Support mods. Refer to our crafting guide if you want to learn how to craft the Spark Gloves yourself.

It should go without saying that this build is super expensive, so much so that it may be out of reach for most people, especially for those who do not have the means to buy the necessary equipment.

However, the Spark Trickster is an amazing build; one that is worth the investment for sure!

Penance Brand of Dissipation Assassin

This next build is a Power Charge stacker that deals an insane amount of cold and lightning damage. The Penance Brand of Dissipation Assassin is billed as an amazing Forbidden Sanctum runner, capable of clearing multiple rooms in under 5 minutes with the right gear.

The Penance Brand of Dissipation Assassin uses the combo of Void Battery and Malachai's Loop to gain three additional Power Charges. It also takes advantage of the Badge of the Brotherhood to make its Frenzy Charges equal to the number of Power Charges it has.

In addition, a couple of Call of the Brotherhood rings should be worn to convert most of the lightning damage of the Penance Brand of Dissipation to cold damage. After doing so, you can wear a pair of gloves with the Alva Temple mod: "50% Increased Damage with Hits Against Chilled Enemies, +48% Cold Resistance."

For the main skill, you are going to use the Penance Brand of Dissipation. This allows you to attach a magical brand to the enemy that pulses every so often. Each successive pulse deals more damage than the last, so put some increased cast speed mods on your gear to improve the skill's activation frequency.

It is worth noting that this build is quite squishy. This means that if you are going to try it, you must have a "kill first" mentality. In other words, you have to eliminate your foes before they kill you.

A huge part of your defense comes from the Assassin's Mistwalker notable ascendancy passive skill, which grants the Elusive buff when Penance Brand of Dissipation deals a critical strike. Although Elusive's effect is amplified by Badge of the Brotherhood, it might not be enough when taking on the game's harder content.

Be that as it may, the Penance Brand of Dissipation Assassin is an incredible build to use for completing the Forbidden Sanctum.

Ice Trap Assassin

In Path of Exile, you can run a build that is solely focused on doing one thing. If you are looking for a competent boss killer, then the Ice Trap Assassin is definitely a great option!

This is one of those "zHP" builds where you scale your damage as high as possible without thinking about defense. Similar to the Penance Brand of Dissipation Assassin highlighted above, you should have the mentality of killing enemies first before they reach you.

Anyway, Ice Trap can unleash explosions when triggered, dealing cold damage to nearby monsters. Normally, you can only throw one trap at a time. But, with the help of the Architect's Hand unique gloves, you have a chance of throwing several additional traps in one go!

Since Ice Trap is a spell skill gem, it scales damage better than attack skills, especially at higher gem levels. For this reason, you will put Ice Trap into Dialla's Malefaction. This is a unique body armor that increases the level of socketed gems by two if they are placed inside red sockets.

A huge part of your overall damage is thanks to the weapon that you are going to use. The Annihilating Light basically lets your Ice Trap deal triple damage, though this comes at the cost of having your elemental resistances reduced by up to 70%.

With the other items you have equipped, it is nearly impossible for you to sort out your defenses. This is the reason why the Ice Trap Assassin is only great for killing bosses. If you want a good mapping character, then this is not the right one for you.

Soulrend of Reaping Assassin

The Soulrend of Reaping Assassin utilizes a Transfigured Gem that deals more damage than its base version, except that it no longer has a damage over time component to it. It does have a higher critical strike chance, however, which is amplified by some of the ascendancy nodes available to the Assassin, such as Unstable Infusion and Deadly Infusion.

Now, Soulrend of Reaping has a long cast time of 0.80 seconds. Because you cannot link it with High-impact Mine or Locus Mine Support, you will have to use a different support gem called Cast on Critical Strike. As the name implies, this support gem triggers Soulrend of Reaping automatically when you are able to land a critical hit on the enemy.

Having said that, this build also uses another Transfigured Gem — the Lancing Steel of Spraying. Unlike its base version, it fires more projectiles that naturally pierce those that are hit. The Lancing Steel of Spraying is here only to trigger Soulrend of Reaping via Cast on Critical Strike Support.

Even though Soulrend of Reaping deals chaos damage, it does not necessarily inflict poison on hit. However, thanks to the Assassin's Noxious Strike ascendancy node, you gain a considerable chance to poison enemies for even more damage!

Speaking of damage, The Covenant is the ideal body armor for this build. This is a popular unique item in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur due to that awesome level 29 Added Chaos Damage Support.

Asenath's Gentle Touch is an incredible piece of gear that causes cursed enemies to explode on kill, dealing physical damage to nearby monsters. These gloves are cheap, so it is best to corrupt them using a Vaal Orb for a chance to get a good implicit modifier like +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges.

In case you do not know, PoE has a curse limit where you can only apply one curse to an enemy at a time. Anathema lets you circumvent this limit, allowing you to apply multiple curses depending on your maximum Power Charges.

Other upgrades you can take later down the line include Olesya's Delight for more damage over time, the Replica Badge of the Brotherhood to gain some Endurance Charges, and a well-crafted weapon with chaos damage, attack speed, and critical strike modifiers.

The Soulrend of Reaping Assassin is an incredible mapper with items that do not break the bank. That is why it is one of the best builds for the Shadow Class in PoE 3.25!

Blade Blast of Unloading Saboteur

The only amazing build that uses the Saboteur ascendancy class on our list, the Blade Blast of Unloading Saboteur boasts an impressive map-clearing ability due to the choice of Transfigured Gem being used here.

Blade Blast of Unloading synergizes really well with Blade Vortex. More specifically, the ethereal blades created by Blade Vortex can be detonated in sequence by Blade Blast of Unloading, causing its AoE to get bigger and bigger with subsequent detonations.

That said, Blade Vortex is linked with Arcanist Brand so that its activation does not require you to press multiple buttons at once. Simply place the magical brand anywhere on your screen and it should use Blade Vortex for you.

So, how does the Saboteur factor into the equation? If you have noticed, Arcanist Brand is used to trigger Blade Vortex, right? The Saboteur's Perfect Crime ascendancy node allows you to summon two invulnerable minions that use Blade Vortex on their location every time it is triggered by Arcanist Brand. This interaction results in better screen coverage considering that these minions are spaced relatively far apart from each other.

What's more, the Saboteur's Bomb Specialist notable ascendancy passive skill grants a chance for your skills to deal 50% more area damage. When everything works as intended, you can see how amazing this build is!

The good news is that there are no mandatory items for the build. However, there are certain things you can invest in to improve its damage output like the Entropic Devastation, which allows you to inflict Impales on enemies with Blade Blast of Unloading.

Lightning Coil is a worthwhile upgrade as well. This unique body armor essentially converts half of the physical damage taken from hits as lightning damage. You can address its downside by also using a Topaz Flask.

It may take some time to get used to how this build is played, but once you have mastered its mechanics, the Blade Blast of Unloading Saboteur does not disappoint!

Best Templar Builds in PoE 3.25

For a couple of leagues now, the Hierophant has been a steady fixture in the top builds in Path of Exile. Although spell skill gems are mostly untouched in the Settlers of Kalguur League, there is one build that is still quite popular to this day and that is the Ice Nova of Frostbolts Hierophant. Do not worry, we will discuss the other popular contenders in this section. Here are the best Templar Builds in PoE 3.25:

Build

Pros

Cons

PoB Links

Ice Nova of Frostbolts Hierophant

+Decimates enemies with ease

+Cool interaction with Frostbolt spell

+Easily one of the best builds in PoE 3.25

-Needs certain items to make it more comfortable to play

POB

Ball Lightning of Orbiting Hierophant

+Bursty damage

+Multiple defensive layers

+Kills bosses easily

-Inconsistent mapping experience

-Requires crafted weapons in the endgame

POB

Power Siphon of the Archmage Hierophant

+Can be built in two ways

+Ballista totems make quick work of the enemy

+Destroys map monsters and bosses easily

-Totem playstyle might not be your cup of tea

POB 1


POB 2

Siege Ballista Hierophant

+Shred enemies to pieces with a plethora of totems

+Affordable items

+Capped spell suppression

-A bit difficult to cap chaos resistance

POB

Penance Brand of Dissipation Inquisitor

+More well-rounded than the Assassin

+Can be used with Energy Blade for more damage

+Has easier access to Runebinder

-Needs a higher investment compared to the Assassin

POB

Hexblast of Contradiction Inquisitor

+Inquisitor ascendancy class is perfect for the main spell being used

+Easy to achieve a 100% critical strike chance

+Excellent mapper and Sanctum farmer

-Items for attribute stacking may become expensive as the league progresses

POB

Ice Spear of Splitting Inquisitor

+Great for mapping

+Spin to win with Cyclone as trigger

+Good survivability via energy shield

-Uses an awful lot of unique items

POB

Tornado of Elemental Turbulence Inquisitor

+League-start viable

+Does not require aiming

+Insane damage potential on a modest budget

-Tornadoes might not hit the intended target some of the time

-Needs the transfigured version of Tornado to work

POB 1


POB 2

Spark of the Nova Inquisitor

+Much easier to populate screen with Spark projectiles

+Has a viable Magic Find version

-Hard to cap resistances

POB 1


POB 2

Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Guardian

+Amazing map-clearing potential on a budget

+League-start viable

+Huge chance to block attacks and spells

-Transfigured Gem is mandatory

POB

Ball Lightning of Orbiting Hierophant

Archmage Support is pretty much a staple in most builds that utilize spells and the Hierophant ascendancy class. This is exemplified by this build we are about to talk about.

The Ball Lightning of Orbiting Hierophant uses a spell skill gem where the user is prompted to conjure a ball of lightning that moves in a spiral until it goes off-screen. Modifiers to the number of projectiles do not apply to this spell, so you are limited to only producing one ball of lightning per cast.

To circumvent that limitation, you will utilize a couple of Profane Wands that are crafted using Essence of Misery to gain increased cast speed both as an explicit and implicit mod. Other modifiers that make these wands great for the build include spell damage, spell crit chance, and maximum mana.

Speaking of which, the Ball Lightning of Orbiting Hierophant is a mana stacker because it leverages the added lightning damage provided by Archmage Support. The Hierophant is the perfect ascendancy class for the job mainly because of Divine Guidance and Sanctuary of Thought.

Despite being a mana stacker, this build is actually easy to put up. In fact, most of the items that it uses are pretty affordable. The general idea here is to put as many mana modifiers on your gear as possible.

Mana is not only used for offense in this build. In fact, it is utilized to bolster your defenses as well. The Ball Lightning of Orbiting Hierophant has the Mind Over Matter keystone allocated, where 40% of the damage you have received is taken from mana before life. Alternatively, you can also gain the effect of Mind Over Matter by wearing the Cloak of Defiance.

Additionally, you have the option of equipping the Mindspiral unique helmet. This grants extra energy shield based on 15% of your maximum mana. Furthermore, 20% of damage taken is recouped as life, which means that you will never run out of mana as long as you are constantly getting hit.

This build is very enticing for those who want to have a powerful spellcaster. The only disadvantage here is that mapping is not its strongest suit primarily due to the way the ball of lightning moves.

Be that as it may, the Ball Lightning of Orbiting Hierophant is easy to put up and is definitely a good one for all the spellcasting aficionados out there!

Power Siphon of the Archmage Hierophant

You might think that the Hierophant is a one-trick pony where it only shines at stacking absurd amounts of mana for maximum damage. But, that is just far from the truth, as you should soon see with the next build.

The Power Siphon of the Archmage Hierophant is a totem build that utilizes the transfigured version of Power Siphon. Unlike its base counterpart, Power Siphon of the Archmage grants added lightning damage equal to a sizable portion of your maximum mana.

On top of that, the said skill gem gains more oomph because it gets a huge attack damage boost when you increase your spell damage in any way; may it be from your weapon, certain nodes on the passive tree, and your other items.

Power Siphon of the Archmage, in this build, is linked with Ballista Totem Support, so all you have to do is lay down several totems, and watch as your enemies are destroyed shortly after!

So, how does the Hierophant work in this scenario? Well, it has a couple of ascendancy nodes that improve totems in a variety of ways. The first is Pursuit of Faith, which significantly increases totem placement speed and duration. This node also allows you to summon one additional totem, thereby improving your damage output.

The second is Ritual of Awakening — an ascendancy node exclusive to the Hierophant that grants 5% more damage for each totem you have summoned on the battlefield. Besides that, you gain a considerable increase in mana and life regeneration depending on the number of totems you have set up.

Having said that, the Power Siphon of the Archmage Hierophant can be built in a couple of ways. One version of the build uses Wilma's Requital and Doryani's Prototype. The former lets you summon one additional totem, while the latter makes your enemy's lightning resistance equal to yours. Therefore, to maximize Doryani's Prototype, you should lower your lightning resistance in whatever way you can. A good example is by wearing some mirrored rings that reduce your lightning resistance by a lot.

The other variant of this build uses the Indigon to gain huge amounts of spell damage based on the total mana you have spent recently. As you can see, this is the more devastating version of the Power Siphon of the Archmage, though this requires a much higher investment to pull off.

Whichever you choose, you can never go wrong with the Power Siphon of the Archmage Hierophant!

Siege Ballista Hierophant

The Siege Ballista Hierophant is a DEX-stacking build that relies on totems to shred enemies to pieces with ease. Despite increasing dexterity to insane amounts, this build is actually not too difficult to pull off mainly because the items it uses are relatively affordable.

Chief among them is the Iron Commander — a unique bow that allows you to summon one additional Siege Ballista per 200 points of dexterity. Moreover, this weapon increases totem life, attack speed, and totem placement speed, the latter of which synergizes with the Hierophant's Pursuit of Faith ascendancy notable.

Another core unique item for the Siege Ballista Hierophant is Fractal Thoughts. This unique helmet provides all of the good stuff, including more dexterity, elemental damage, and increased maximum life.

Wait, there is more! Briskwrap is very affordable, which is quite surprising given the bonuses it gives. Besides the percentage increase in DEX, you also gain 1% increased damage per 15 points of dexterity. Isn't that awesome?

To scale the damage of the Siege Ballista Hierophant even further, you are going to wear a pair of gloves with 60% physical-to-cold damage conversion. By taking the appropriate Cold Mastery, you will achieve a 100% full cold damage conversion!

In most PoE Builds, you typically allocate four notable ascendancy passive skills, right? However, in this case, you only get three, namely Pursuit of Faith, Ritual of Awakening, and Conviction of Power. The last two points are spent on the smaller nodes that connect to Divine Guidance and Arcane Blessing.

The Siege Ballista Hierophant is an incredible build that you can use to farm PoE Currency early on. If you are somehow not satisfied with it, you can always transition to another Templar Build in the future.

Penance Brand of Dissipation Inquisitor

By now, you should know how the Penance Brand of Dissipation works. It is a Transfigured Gem that enables you to attach a magical brand on the enemy that deals lightning damage, with each activation more devastating than the last.

Having said that, how is the Penance Brand of Dissipation Inquisitor different from the Assassin? Well, it is more well-rounded and a lot tanky than the Assassin, making it the better choice for those who want a good balance of offense and defense.

Just like the Assassin, this version can go the Power Charge-stacking route with Void Battery, Malachai's Loop, and Call of the Brotherhood. However, only the Inquisitor can utilize the Energy Blade for more damage.

Energy Blade is a spell that allows you to transform your weapon into a sword of pure energy. It provides added lightning damage based on 40% of your maximum energy shield, which is why you are going to use The Ivory Tower for this one.

On top of that, you will gain the effect of the Blood Magic keystone passive via Malachai's Simula unique helmet. With this keystone, every time you cast a spell, you are going to spend life instead of mana.

The notable ascendancy passive skills you are going to take vary slightly depending on the version you have chosen. For the Power Charge stacker, you take Sanctuary and Pious Path for a more improved Consecrated Ground.

On the other hand, the Energy Blade variant requires you to allocate points to Instruments of Virtue and Augury of Penitence. The former grants the effect "Battlemage" effect, where you gain added spell damage equal to the damage of your main hand weapon. The latter bolsters your defense against elemental damage.

No matter which version you go for, you will always end up taking Righteous Providence and Inevitable Judgement for improved critical strike chance and elemental damage penetration, respectively.

If you are on the fence on whether you should settle for the Assassin or Inquisitor version of Penance Brand of Dissipation, we would say to choose the latter for a more well-rounded character, and the former if you want a more bursty damage output.

Hexblast of Contradiction Inquisitor

This next build on our list is another one that utilizes a Mine Skill using the transfigured version of Hexblast.

The Hexblast of Contradiction Inquisitor is a powerful build that can conquer the Forbidden Sanctum and T17 maps with relative ease. The main question on your mind is: How is this Transfigured Gem different from the original?

Well, the Hexblast of Contradiction has three distinct qualities. First, it has a higher base critical strike chance compared to the base Hexblast spell. Second, it deals considerably more damage against enemies that are affected by hex curses. Third, this spell is resisted by the target's highest resistance and not the lowest.

Given those qualities, it makes perfect sense why the Inquisitor is chosen as the ascendancy class for this build. The reason is that the Inquisitor has Inevitable Judgement — an ascendancy node that ignores monster elemental resistances with critical strikes. Coupled with Righteous Providence, you can achieve a 100% crit chance easily just by stacking STR and INT.

Thanks to Inevitable Judgement, the target's elemental resistance is taken out of the damage equation, so there is only chaos resistance left. In Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, all enemies have a maximum of 30% chaos resistance, which means that you can just lower that with any item that has a "Curse Enemies with Despair on Hit" corrupted implicit modifier.

That said, this build shines when you stack strength, dexterity, and intelligence as high as you can. Some items that can aid you in this are the Cyclopean Coil, Eyes of the Greatwolf (with % Increased Attributes), and Split Personality, among many others.

Since you will link Hexblast of Contradiction with High-Impact Mine Support to turn the chaos-based spell into a Mine Skill, you have the option of wearing the Curtain Call unique helmet as well.

Curtain Call has a unique effect that allows you to throw up to two additional mines if you have at least 800 DEX and INT. This requirement is satisfied easily with the items mentioned earlier.

The Hexblast of Contradiction Inquisitor is an excellent mapper and Sanctum runner. It is no wonder why it is the second most-played Inquisitor build in PoE 3.25!

Ice Spear of Splitting Inquisitor

Cyclone is one of the best skills to use in Path of Exile, especially if you want to trigger certain spells via Cast on Critical Strike Support.

The Ice Spear of Splitting Inquisitor is an excellent mapper capable of deleting multiple enemies in quick succession. It utilizes a Transfigured Gem that fires a single icy projectile that can split to several targets upon collision.

As mentioned earlier, this build relies on Cyclone to trigger the Ice Spear of Splitting. If you can get a hold of the Cyclone of Tumult, that would bring much better results because this Transfigured Gem grants even more attack speed!

Similar to the other Inquisitor builds we have already talked about, this one also uses Energy Blade to gain huge amounts of spell damage with Spellblade Support. Additionally, you will see the usual items associated with Energy Blade, including The Ivory Tower, Rathpith Globe, and Shaper's Touch, among many others.

The only thing that might deter you from trying this build is that it uses an awful lot of unique items. This means that you cannot put this up a few days into the league unless you are willing to farm the necessary items yourself.

Despite that, you can never go wrong with the Ice Spear of Splitting Inquisitor!

Tornado of Elemental Turbulence Inquisitor

The Tornado spell only has one transfigured version but that is more than enough to make things a lot more interesting.

Introduced a couple of leagues ago, the Tornado of Elemental Turbulence has some stark differences compared to its base counterpart. For one, it cannot be hit by projectiles, therefore, it cannot reflect damage back to nearby enemies. Instead, you can summon two additional tornadoes that will rip monsters to shreds.

Another major difference is that the Tornado of Elemental Turbulence converts 100% physical damage to fire, cold, or lightning damage. Hence, your gear must consist of mods that improve elemental damage, spell crit chance, and critical strike multiplier to bring the best out of the build.

Anyway, the Inquisitor is a pretty good ascendancy class for this build, mainly because of Righteous Providence and Inevitable Judgement. These two ascendancy nodes allow you to destroy any foe you come across even early on in a new league.

This is so powerful that it is even viable for a league start scenario. However, you will need to farm the Merc Lab diligently until you get your hands on this particular Transfigured Gem.

One major appeal of this build is that it can work with self-found or crafted items. Prioritize the three modifiers mentioned earlier and you should be good to go. Of course, do not forget to sort out your elemental resistance and life.

When you have the means to purchase equipment, get Dialla's Malefaction so that you can put Tornado of Elemental Turbulence into a red socket to raise its level by two. Later on, you can switch to mostly crafted gear with better stats.

If you want to see enemies being torn apart by a few powerful tornadoes, then the Tornado of Elemental Turbulence Inquisitor is the right build for you!

Spark of the Nova Inquisitor

The Spark of the Nova Inquisitor is a slightly different take from the original Spark Inquisitor in that it has a viable MF version, which is perfect if you want to farm items yourself.

Anyway, Spark of the Nova is different from the base Spark spell in the way projectiles are fired. The base spell skill gem prompts you to unleash projectiles in front of you, while the transfigured version fires projectiles in a circle. This is the reason why we prefer Spark of the Nova because you can easily fill the screen with multiple projectiles in just a couple of seconds!

Now, there are a couple of variants to choose from depending on what you want to achieve with this character. The first is a build that utilizes The Annihilating Light for that triple damage with elemental skills. It also takes advantage of Replica Heatshiver, which grants extra cold damage per 2% Shock effect on the enemy.

The second is a Magic Find variant that gives you a significant chance to get more valuable loot. Instead of The Annihilating Light, you will be using two Nebulis scepters to increase your cold damage and lightning damage considerably. The reason why you need to improve your cold damage is that this version uses a couple of Call of the Brotherhood unique rings as well.

In case you do not know, Greed's Embrace has been nerfed in that it no longer grants a bonus to item quantity in Patch 3.25. The good news is that it now gives you a 100% increased rarity of items found, which is a fair compromise.

The only issue with the Spark of the Nova Inquisitor is that it is a bit challenging to cap resistances. This is due to the items that you will use on this build. But, if that does not bother you, then we suggest you give this a whirl in the SoK League!

Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Guardian

The only entry that uses the Guardian ascendancy class, the Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Guardian is defense first before offense. However, make no mistake, this build boasts an impressive map-clearing potential by calling forth a few minions to do the dirty work.

We are going to say it right off the bat — this build is only possible with the Transfigured Gem, Summon Holy Relic of Conviction. The reason why this build won't work with the normal version of the skill gem is that it is fundamentally different.

You see, the normal Summon Holy Relic allows you to summon only one minion that triggers a physical damage spell around it when you hit an enemy with an attack. With the Summon Holy Relic of Conviction, you will be able to call forth an additional minion to deal damage.

Another stark difference here is that the transfigured version has the minions cast their nova spells around the nearest enemy rather than around them. Because monsters are usually bunched up together in PoE 3.25, this would enable your flying minions to kill them more efficiently.

Take note that the damaging nova deals physical damage. If you want to scale the damage of your minions, you can wear the Triad Grip — a unique pair of gloves that convert 25% of physical damage to a specific element depending on the color of the gem sockets.

Geofri's Crest is also a staple in Summon Holy Relic builds. This unique helmet basically allows you to call forth an additional holy relic minion for a total of three!

If you read the gem's description, you will find that the holy relics only trigger their damaging novas when you hit enemies with an attack. That is why the build utilizes the Lancing Steel of Spraying as well. This Transfigured Gem is ideal for this build simply because you fire a boatload of projectiles per cast and all them can pierce through targets.

The weapon you will use here is a crafted one-handed sword that has the trigger mod on it. The said modifier is needed so that Frostbite, Flesh Offering, and Desecrate are cast (in that order) every so often.

In terms of defenses, you can easily achieve the block cap of 75% thanks to the Guardian’s Bastion of Hope ascendancy node. Additionally, you will spend points to allocate Radiant Faith, which grants armor and energy shield based on the amount of mana you have reserved with your skills.

If the aforementioned Templar Builds are pretty expensive, you will be happy to know that the Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Guardian can work admirably well on a minimal investment!

Best Marauder Builds in PoE 3.25

If there is one class in Path of Exile that excels at utilizing melee skills to a great extent, it would be the Marauder. The three ascendancy classes available to it have notable passive skills that improve the melee archetype in various ways. Both the Chieftain and Juggernaut are ranked high in the SoK League, with the Berserker falling down from 4% at the start to just 1% five weeks after. With that out of the way, let's take a look at the best Marauder Builds in PoE 3.25, shall we?

Builds

Pros

Cons

PoB Links

Righteous Fire Chieftain

+Noob-friendly build

+Burn enemies to a crisp

+Can tank almost everything

+League start viable

-Average single-target damage

-Boss-killing not its strongest suit

POB

Molten Strike of the Zenith Juggernaut

+Capable of dishing out huge amounts of damage

+Can clear maps with ease

+Easily takes down pinnacle bosses

-Requires a huge investment on endgame gear

POB

Detonate Dead of Scavenging Chieftain

+AFK build

+Almost immortal

+Great at farming Simulacrums

-No room for other rings

-Needs certain mechanics to work

POB

Earthshatter Juggernaut

+Main skill interacts with warcries for maximum damage

+SSF-friendly

+Considerably tanky

-Slam skills have a lower attack speed compared to the other skills in the game

POB

Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Juggernaut

+The "safer" Boneshatter build

+Amazing in SSF

+Can work with a minimal investment

-Self-damage mechanic might put off some people

POB 1


POB 2

Lightning Strike Juggernaut

+STR-stacking build that uses a popular skill gem

+Has higher damage scaling compared to Molten Strike of the Zenith

-Expensive

POB

Vortex of Projection Juggernaut

+Burn enemies to a crisp despite choice of primary spell

+High HP pool

+Amazing survivability

-Requires a specific support gem to work

-Must have specific items to prevent dying from stuns

POB 1


POB 2

Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Juggernaut

+Make quick work of the enemy thanks to huge damage and fast attack speed

+Good dual-wielding capabilities

+Takes full advantage of the Undeniable ascendancy node

-Costly upgrades

-Transfigured Gem requires the use of two different weapon types

POB

Volcanic Fissure of Snaking Berserker

+Lots of damage due to Rage

+Does not need manual aiming due to Transfigured Gem

+Budget-friendly

-Not as tanky as the other Marauder ascendancy classes

POB

Ground Slam of Earthshaking Berserker

+Better damage scaling in the endgame compared to the Slayer

+Effectively more exerted attacks due to War Bringer

+Affordable upgrades

POB

Detonate Dead of Scavenging Chieftain

An almost immortal character that allows you to go AFK without worrying about death, the Detonate Dead of Scavenging Chieftain is an awesome build that you will surely love!

A huge part of the build is the Cast When Stunned Support. This is a support gem in Path of Exile that automatically casts the spells it is linked to whenever you are stunned. That said, Cast When Stunned Support is utilized to activate several spells, such as Detonate Dead of Scavenging, Cremation of the Volcano, Punishment, and Immortal Call.

Detonate of the Scavenging is a Transfigured Gem that deals considerably more damage with its secondary explosions, but it cannot be modified with spell damage, unlike the base version of the skill gem. Just by looking at the name itself, Detonate Dead of the Scavenging needs some corpses in order to be used. This is where the next Transfigured Gem comes in, which is Cremation of the Volcano.

When cast, Cremation of the Volcano spawns geysers that continuously spew out fire-based projectiles, dealing damage to nearby monsters. The cool thing about this is that it does not need corpses at all to be utilized.

Having said that, you need to be stunned for the aforementioned spells to be triggered, so how do you do that consistently? Well, you need to equip a specific ring called the Valyrium. This thing has a unique effect where your stun threshold is based on your energy shield instead of life. Without getting overly technical, it just means that you get easily stunned by enemies whenever you receive a damaging hit.

Of course, getting stunned is not a good experience at all. To avoid getting stun-locked to oblivion, you will also need another unique item known as the Immutable Force. This increases your stun recovery immensely when placed inside a jewel socket. If you have the PoE Currency, obtain one that has at least 961% stun recovery so that the stun animation is barely noticeable.

Now, you are probably asking how the Detonate Dead of the Scavenging Chieftain is able to take on whatever content there is in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. There are a couple of items that can make that possible.

The first is the Svalinn, which is a unique shield that was introduced in Patch 3.25. This unique shield greatly increases your chance to block attacks and spells. Furthermore, it triggers socketed elemental spells on block, allowing you to include a few offensive or defensive skills depending on your preference.

In addition, there is the Defiance of Destiny. This amulet recovers a small chunk of your HP before you receive any damage. With this build's high life pool, it is nearly impossible for your enemies to kill you unless they are able to land devastating hits in quick succession.

It is important to note that you cannot make the Detonate Dead of Scavenging Chieftain work without the items highlighted above. But, if you have obtained them all, then we highly recommend that you try this one out for sure!

Earthshatter Juggernaut

Slam skills in Path of Exile are generally slow, but this next build utilizes one that is a bit faster than the others.

The Earthshatter Juggernaut is a build that uses a newly buffed skill, with its effectiveness of base and added damage increased from 200% to 393% at gem level 20. What makes this particular slam skill special is that every time you cast it, several spikes can be seen visibly protruding out of the ground.

Whenever you follow it up with another slam or use any of your warcry skills, those protruding spikes will shatter, damaging the monsters that are nearby. Thankfully, builds that rely on slam skills are no longer as clunky as they once were due to the introduction of the Autoexertion support gem.

Autoexertion basically activates warcries whenever they are off cooldown. The downside is that you cannot gain their buffs as they only exert your next slam attacks. Fortunately, there is also the Urgent Orders Support, which significantly increases warcry activation speed. This is helpful if you want to gain, say, the effects of Seismic Cry for a slight boost in armor, though you will have to cast it manually.

Having said that, one of the warcries you will use is General's Cry. If you read its description, you’ll find that it does not exert your next attacks, so why include it here? The reason why it is a core part of the build is that it has the lowest cooldown among all warcries in Path of Exile. More specifically, it only has a cooldown time of three seconds as opposed to eight seconds in others.

Remember, the spikes created by Earthshatter will break when it interacts with any warcry skill, so General's Cry maximizes your damage output. This is automatically cast thanks to the aforementioned Autoexertion Support.

The Earthshatter Juggernaut is an SSF-friendly build because it does not have any mandatory items whatsoever. If you really want to min-max your damage, you could farm an Echoes of Creation unique helmet by defeating the Uber Shaper. This shouldn't be a problem considering that this build is incredibly tanky due to the Juggernaut's Unbreakable and Unrelenting ascendancy nodes.

Looking to create an SSF character in PoE 3.25 soon? Then the Earthshatter Juggernaut is a safe choice!

Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Juggernaut

Boneshatter is one of those unique skill gems available in Path of Exile. It is considered a bit different in the sense that it has a self-damaging component, where you also receive damage with each attack. This is because of the Trauma stacks that you accrue every time you land a successful hit on the enemy.

Having said that, the next build we are going to talk about here is similar to the original Boneshatter Juggernaut, albeit you are utilizing a transfigured version of it.

The Boneshatter of Complex Trauma is considered by many as the "safer" version of the skill. You see, unlike the original Boneshatter, this Transfigured Gem only lets you accumulate a total of 10 Trauma stacks. After reaching that number, the stacks that you have will reset, so you can never go above a certain level of damage.

As to why the Juggernaut is the best ascendancy class for the job, it is because of three notable passive skills it has access to. Unbreakable effectively doubles the armor value of your equipped chest armor, which helps mitigate the self-damage mechanic of Boneshatter of Complex Trauma.

Next, you take Undeniable — a notable ascendancy passive skill that allows you to gain huge amounts of attack speed based on your accuracy and STR. Since you only have a maximum of 10 Trauma stacks, having a fast-attacking character lets you reach the full stacks in a matter of seconds.

Untiring helps improve your survivability by improving your life regeneration rate considerably. It also has an effect where 1.5% of the physical damage prevented from hits in the past 10 seconds is regenerated as life.

The Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Juggernaut is also a league starter because it does not require specific unique items to work. You simply use the normal version of the skill gem until you can get the Transfigured Gem by farming the Merc Lab.

As soon as you are able, grab some suitable upgrades for the Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Juggernaut, including Arn's Anguish for a chance to deal triple damage, Ralakesh's Impatience for a consistent Endurance Charge uptime, and a well-crafted weapon that contains a trifecta of physical damage mods, among others.

Lightning Strike Juggernaut

The Lightning Strike Juggernaut is another STR-stacking build that is almost the same as the Molten Strike of the Zenith Juggernaut mentioned in the Top Builds of PoE 3.25 section above, except that it uses an entirely different skill gem.

Compared to Molten Strike of the Zenith, however, Lightning Strike gained a significant damage boost (225% previously, 456% now), which is why a lot of people use this particular skill gem in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur.

That said, we will only talk about the things that you can do differently on this build. For the ascendancy nodes, we recommend that you take Unflinching and then Unrelenting to give you a huge improvement in survivability. Once you have reached level 100, you can replace Unrelenting with Unyielding for more damage if you want to.

Aside from that, you can invest in The Balance of Terror unique jewel, specifically one that allows you to inflict Wither on hit after casting Despair. If you could grab one that makes you immune to curses, that would be even better!

With the changes GGG made to Lightning Strike Juggernaut in the SoK League, it is not hard to see why the said skill gem has become quite popular in Patch 3.25.

Vortex of Projection Juggernaut

Path of Exile is sincerely the most complex ARPG out there today. That is largely because of the many mechanics you can utilize to your advantage and the next build is a good example of that.

The Vortex of Projection Juggernaut uses a Transfigured Gem that naturally deals cold damage. However, by using Cold to Fire Support, as well as allocating the Avatar of Fire keystone passive, you can fully convert cold damage to fire damage on this build.

Aside from Cold to Fire Support, the Vortex of Projection Juggernaut uses multiple Cast When Stunned setups to activate other spells, including the Ice Nova of Frostbolts, Tornado of Elemental Turbulence, and Frostbolt.

Both the Ice Nova of Frostbolts and Vortex of Projection interact with the projectiles created by Frostbolt, thereby giving you the ability to rid the map of monsters simply by standing still.

Unlike the Detonate Dead of Scavenging Chieftain, this build also uses the Legacy of Fury, which is a pair of unique boots that you can obtain from The Maven. These boots apply an amplified Scorch debuff on nearby enemies, making them take increased elemental damage as a result.

Now, there are two viable options for this build. There is a version that enables you to utilize two different sceptres — one is The Dark Seer and the other is a crafted Oscillating Sceptre. The former applies Malediction on your foes, which weakens their defenses, making them take increased damage for a brief period. The latter, on the other hand, grants more elemental damage via the aptly named Elemental Overload keystone (via its implicit modifier).

The other version uses The Annihilating Light for that triple elemental damage modifier. This is a bit more challenging to put up because you need to sort out your elemental resistances to address the downside of the aforementioned weapon.

Whichever version of the build you will go for, the Vortex of Projection Juggernaut provides an interesting take on a cold spell skill gem.

Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Juggernaut

There are not a lot of builds in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur that dual-wield weapons, let alone two different weapon types. However, the Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Juggernaut breaks that mold for sure!

That is due to the choice of Transfigured Gem that the build uses called the Dual Strike of Ambidexterity. This is a strike skill that requires you to equip two different types of weapons.

The skill's damage calculation takes into account the main hand weapon you are using. For this reason, you want to use a one-handed sword, preferably the Paradoxica so that your attacks always deal double damage.

How about the off-hand weapon? Well, the Dual Strike of Ambidexterity's attack speed is based on the attack time of the weapon that you have equipped in your off-hand. That is why it is necessary to use a fast-attacking weapon like a crafted Imperial Claw with attack speed and critical strike modifiers.

Apart from those requirements, the Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Juggernaut has a lot of freedom when it comes to gear. In fact, you could wear mostly crafted items if you want to!

If you are looking for a build that hits fast and hard, then the Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Juggernaut does not disappoint in that regard.

Volcanic Fissure of Snaking Berserker

There is a lot to love about the next build because it has slightly been reworked to accommodate the changes that were made to Rage (the temporary resource that now grants more attack damage per point) in Patch 3.25.

The Volcanic Fissure of Snaking Berserker is another build that uses a slam skill, though it is much better from an offense standpoint. This is due to the ascendancy nodes available to the Berserker.

For instance, Crave the Slaughter and Rite of Ruin grant increased attack speed and increased effect of Rage, respectively. War Bringer effectively doubles the amount of exerted attacks, ensuring that you deal the maximum amount of damage at all times. Of course, you also have Aspect of the Carnage, which grants 40% more damage at the cost of 10% increased damage taken. Do not worry about its downside because it can easily be rectified by your gear.

Admittedly, defense is not the Berserker's strong suit, so you have to address that by doing some things. First, you can invest in a Glorious Vanity (Doryani) to gain access to the Corrupted Soul keystone. This ensures that half of the non-chaos damage you take bypasses energy shield. You might think that this is a downside, but that is far from it. In fact, it helps improve your survivability because the damage you receive will reduce your life and energy shield, rather than just life or energy shield.

In addition, you could purchase the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh jewels with Untiring as the matching modifier. This enables you to prevent physical damage and a small portion of that is regenerated as life.

Now, the Volcanic Fissure of Snaking converts some of your physical damage to fire damage. However, in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, you can apply the weapon enchantment: "Gain % of Weapon Physical Damage as Extra Damage of Each Element." With this tech, you can add Trinity Support as one of the gems that is supporting the Volcanic Fissure of Snaking. Do this to boost its damage and to gain elemental penetration as well.

Although the Volcanic Fissure of Snaking Berserker is league-start viable, it feels a lot better to use when you are able to obtain the items we have talked about just now.

Ground Slam of Earthshaking Berserker

If you have read the Slayer version above, you are already acquainted with the Transfigured Gem that this next build uses. Therefore, we will only highlight the major differences so that you can decide for yourself which one is more suited to your preferences.

The ace up the Ground Slam of Earthshaking Berserker’s sleeve is that it has a much better damage output in the endgame compared to the Slayer. This is, of course, due to Aspect of Carnage, Crave the Slaughter, and Rite of Ruin.

Moreover, the Berserker's War Bringer doubles the number of attacks exerted by your warcry skills. Believe us when we say that this is an awesome ascendancy node, especially if you invest in more attack speed later down the line.

Once you have enough PoE Currency, you can always purchase Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh jewels with any notable passive skill available to the other Marauder ascendancy classes.

Some of the ones we recommend are Sione and Valako from the Chieftain, as well as Untiring, Unbreakable, Unrelenting, and Unyielding from the Juggernaut.

With so many upgrades you can take, the Ground Slam of Earthshaking Berserker is definitely better in terms of scaling in the endgame.

Best Ranger Builds in PoE 3.25

The Ranger class has been quite interesting in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. The reason? GGG has decided to completely remove the Raider ascendancy class from the game. This is to replace it with an entirely new class: the Warden! Let's see if the new ascendancy class has taken some spots in the best Ranger Builds in PoE 3.25.

Builds

Pros

Cons

PoB Links

Lightning Strike Warden

+Utilizes Tinctures to a great extent

+Impenetrable defenses with high block chance and spell suppression

+Plenty of ways to scale damage

-Expensive gear due to its popularity

POB

Frost Blades Warden

+Gear is relatively affordable

+Easy damage scaling with Tinctures

+League starter

-You need to be close to the enemy to attack

POB

Elemental Hit of the Spectrum Warden

+Incredible map-clearing potential

+Uses multiple Manaforged Arrows setups for improved DPS

+League-start viable

-Mediocre survivability

POB

Tornado Shot Deadeye

+Can now be built in a number of ways

+Rips bosses to shred thanks to skill gem’s shotgun effect

-Skill gem’s unique property takes time to get used to

-All versions of the build are expensive

POB 1


POB 2


POB 3

Kinetic Blast Warden

+Obliterates enemies easily

+One of the best mappers using the Ranger class

-Can make your GPU cry due to the number of projectiles flying on the screen

POB

Elemental Hit of the Spectrum Deadeye

+Fire two additional projectiles simply by taking a certain ascendancy node

+Excellent mapper on a budget

-Just like with other bow builds, its survivability leaves much to be desired

POB

Lightning Arrow Deadeye

+The primary skill gem got a minor damage buff in PoE 3.25

+League starter

-Nimis is mandatory to improve damage in the endgame

-Low single-target damage early on

POB

Lightning Strike of Arcing Deadeye

+Projectile chains for more damage

+Easy to gear

+Can league start using the base version of the skill gem

-Transfigured Gem is fundamentally different from the base version. Therefore, items must be different when using the transfigured version

POB

Viper Strike of the Mamba Pathfinder

+Kill enemies effectively with potent poisons

+Good sustain thanks to certain ascendancy nodes

-Slow start without the right gear

POB 1


POB 2

Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder

+Comfortable playstyle

+Good early currency farmer

+Does not require expensive items

-Mediocre damage relative to the other Ranger builds

POB 1


POB 2

Lightning Strike Warden

If you are going to ask us who the better Lightning Strike build is between the Juggernaut and the Warden, we will definitely say the latter. This is because the new Ranger ascendancy class has access to plenty of amazing nodes, including ones that improve elemental damage and Tinctures.

While leveling your character, you can take Oath of Winter to keep the enemies frozen. Just make sure to put added cold damage on your weapon for this to work. Once you have reached the max level, you can switch to Oath of Spring for the amplified Shock effect on enemies.

Avatar of the Wilds is an incredible ascendancy node to take. This allows you to activate Unbound Avatar, granting 80% more elemental damage for 10 seconds. That is more than enough time to destroy anything and anyone foolish enough to come your way!

Tinctures have returned in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. The only problem is that it can only be applied to melee weapons. Not to worry, the Warden has a few nodes that address some issues with the Tinctures.

Enduring Suffusion lets Tincture effects linger up to a maximum of six seconds. Furthermore, it reduces the mana burn rate of Tinctures by 30%.

Normally, you can only apply one type of Tincture at a time. With Experienced Herbalist, you can have an additional Tincture active. Because of this, you could use a Rosethorn Tincture and Prismatic Tincture to greatly improve your critical strike chance and elemental damage, respectively.

Another reason to choose the Warden over the Juggernaut when utilizing the Lightning Strike skill gem is that the former lets you equip a Jewelled Foil for that critical strike multiplier implicit mod, as well as the new Svalinn shield for improved defenses. With the said unique shield, you can easily achieve a 90% attack and spell block, allowing you to take on even the pinnacle content in PoE 3.25.

It should go without saying that the Lightning Strike Warden uses incredibly expensive items. However, if currency is not an issue, then be sure to try this at least once in the SoK League!

Frost Blades Warden

Even though the Frost Blades of Katabasis is more popular, the base version of the skill gem is actually not bad. In fact, it is so great that you can play the Frost Blades Warden as a league starter, with plenty of upgrade options later down the line.

Part of the reason why you can start a new league with this build is that you can obtain a Prismatic Tincture for a huge boost in elemental damage. Take the Experienced Herbalist ascendancy node and you can add the Rosethorn Tincture as well.

The Frost Blades skill gem itself already converts 60% of your physical damage to cold damage. If you want to achieve full conversion, you can take the other 40% from the Cold Mastery. By doing so, you can invest in a crafted claw with three physical damage modifiers for maximum benefit.

The Taming and the Yoke of Suffering are two unique items that are quite affordable, especially as the league progresses. The Taming grants a huge boost in elemental damage and it allows you to inflict Shock and Ignite even though you are naturally dealing cold damage.

On the other hand, the Yoke of Suffering not only provides you with an increase in elemental resistance, but also boosts your damage against enemies that have more than one type of elemental ailment inflicted upon them.

While not as devastating as the Lightning Strike Warden mentioned before, the Frost Blades Warden definitely comes in second place in terms of damage potential.

Elemental Hit of the Spectrum Warden

For quite some time now, bow builds have reigned supreme in Path of Exile, at least, until the Settlers of Kalguur expansion came along and changed melee skill gems for the better. Despite the success of melee builds in the SoK League, there are some bow builds that are still quite amazing to this day. This is evidenced by the next build we are going to talk about.

The Elemental Hit of the Spectrum Warden uses a Transfigured Gem that gains 15% more damage for each type of elemental ailment there is on the enemy. In PoE 3.25, there are seven different elemental ailments, including Chill, Freeze, Shock, Ignite, Scorch, Sap, and Brittle. The first four is possible through normal means, while the last three can only be inflicted when you have The Interrogation unique jewel. Even if you rely only on the first four elemental ailments, that still translates to a whopping 60% more damage!

In terms of the weapon, you can craft a tri-element bow. This not only enables you to apply Chill, Freeze, Shock, and Ignite on your foes, but it also lets you use the Trinity support gem for even more elemental damage! Refer to our ultimate crafting guide to learn how to craft such a weapon.

Early on, you can use the Returning Projectiles Support to effectively deal huge amounts of damage on a budget. Later on, you can obtain the Nimis, which has the same effect as that of the previously-mentioned support gem, albeit without the damage penalty.

If you have played PoE for a long time, you might be wondering why the Warden is being utilized here instead of the Deadeye. In most bow builds, the Deadeye has always been the preferred choice due to additional projectiles and Far Shot.

However, the Warden allows you to take advantage of Tinctures via the Seasoned Hunter ascendancy node. Use a Prismatic Tincture while you are still gearing up your character and it should go a long way!

The Elemental Hit of the Spectrum Warden is amazing even if you do not have a lot of currency. Go ahead, give it a try!

Tornado Shot Deadeye

Most bow skills in the game are easy to use. You simply click on a target and press the hotkey to initiate the attack. However, this next build uses a skill gem that requires some time to get used to, especially if you want to maximize its damage output.

The Tornado Shot Deadeye has consistently been one of the best bow builds in Path of Exile for such a long time now, and we are happy to report that it still holds that crown even in the Settlers of Kalguur League!

What makes this skill gem special, you ask? Well, when the skill is used, it prompts you to fire several arrows that burst on impact, firing a plethora of smaller secondary projectiles in the process. This is what is often referred to as the shotgun effect because it can deal burst damage to unsuspecting victims.

Having said that, the Tornado Shot Deadeye can now be built in a few ways. This is possible due to the many changes GGG implemented in Patch 3.25.

The version of the build where you convert all of your physical damage to cold damage is still there. However, you can now safely go for a tri-ele bow, which is further boosted by the added lightning damage you can get via the Runesmithing weapon enchant.

Aside from those two, there is a new version that has become ever more popular as the SoK League progresses. This TS variant utilizes some gear that can only be obtained from The Abyss mechanic in PoE, namely the Lightpoacher and the Shroud of the Lightless.

The former gives you the power to fire additional projectiles that deal physical damage via Spirit Burst. The latter, on the other hand, boosts your life and mana depending on the number of Abyss Jewels you use.

Moreover, Shroud of the Lightless lets you use the Shade Form — a skill that makes you completely immune to physical damage for a few seconds. This unique body armor is great if you do not want to deal with the inherent squishiness of the build.

With all of the exciting changes in this league, you can never go wrong with the Tornado Shot Deadeye!

Kinetic Blast Warden

Do you want to play a build in PoE 3.25 that is so great that it can literally melt your GPU? If the answer is yes, then you should turn your attention to the Kinetic Blast Warden!

Kinetic Blast got a couple of powerful upgrades in the SoK League. First, its base attack speed got a 15% increase, which you can amplify further by investing in attack speed mods on gear and passive tree.

Second, and more importantly, any mods that increase spell damage also increase your attack damage at 200% of their value!

Anyway, the Kinetic Blast Warden harnesses the power of two crafted Imbued Wands with three added elemental damage mods, a couple of critical strike modifiers, and increased attack speed. But, it gets even better!

You see, in Patch 3.25, you can visit Kingsmarch and have your weapon enchanted with some pretty amazing mods. The one you are looking for is "Haunted by Tormented Spirits." To put it simply, this mod allows you to be possessed by Tormented Spirits, giving you a huge increase in damage and attack speed as a result!

When you have everything pieced together, you will have a build that is capable of obliterating enemies with ease. Keep in mind that its sheer power can also be seen as a disadvantage. Why? Since you can unleash a boatload of projectiles in a matter of seconds, you can populate the screen so easily that it can crash your system!

If your gaming system is capable enough to handle the screen being riddled with projectiles, then the Kinetic Blast Warden is interesting enough to warrant your time and attention!

Elemental Hit of the Spectrum Deadeye

By now, you should know how the Elemental Hit of the Spectrum performs, so we are only going to discuss the differences between the Warden and the Deadeye.

The Warden version lets you take advantage of Tinctures, mainly due to the Seasoned Hunter notable ascendancy passive skill. However, if you want to fire additional projectiles simply by taking a couple of nodes on the tree, then the Deadeye is the obvious choice.

That node in particular is Endless Munitions. Just by taking this ascendancy node, you gain the ability to fire two additional arrows without any downside whatsoever! Of course, you supplement your damage by grabbing Far Shot and Ricochet as well.

Gathering Winds increases your action speed via Tailwind. Even though this ascendancy node got nerfed in Patch 3.25, it is still a crucial part of the build due to the value that it provides.

If you want the OG ascendancy class for bow builds, then the Elemental Hit of the Spectrum Deadeye is the obvious choice.

Lightning Arrow Deadeye

A couple of leagues ago, the Lightning Arrow Deadeye was the best build in Path of Exile. Although it longer has that distinction in the SoK League, it is still considered one of the greats as far as bow builds are concerned.

Lightning Arrow got a slight damage boost in Patch 3.25. That might not mean much on the surface, but when you factor in the added lightning damage weapon enchantment, as well as the Nimis, you have a build that is an excellent mapper and boss killer. This is, of course, if you are willing to invest PoE Currency into it.

Despite being billed as a league starter, the Lightning Arrow Deadeye does suffer from poor single-target damage early on. You could address this by using the Artillery Ballista and some Manaforged Arrow setups.

If you are still not satisfied with its damage output, you could purchase the Crystallised Omniscience for a huge increase in damage via elemental penetration. Be sure to put as many flat attributes on your gear as possible if you are going this route.

With melee builds getting all the praise and attention in the SoK League, it is nice to know that the Lightning Arrow Deadeye is competent enough to stay relevant in this day and age.

Lightning Strike of Arcing Deadeye

The normal Lightning Strike skill gem fires several projectiles when used, which deal a set amount of damage each and every time. So, what makes its transfigured version different?

Well, unlike its base counterpart, the Lightning Strike of Arcing only prompts you to fire a single projectile. However, once it comes into contact with an enemy, it chains to nearby monsters, dealing 10% more damage for each time this skill has chained.

So, how does the Deadeye factor into this equation? Well, only firing a single projectile can be too limiting, particularly when it comes to map clear. That limitation only applies to the skill gem, so if you increase the number of projectiles you fire through other means, you will still unleash more than one.

The Deadeye's Endless Munitions notable passive skill allows you to fire two additional projectiles without strings attached. Another way to add projectiles into the build is by allocating the Multishot notable skill on the passive tree. The Dying Sun is also a viable option early on.

You can add another two by investing in a couple of Large Cluster Jewels (Claw Damage) that have the Fan of Blades notable passive skill. All things considered, you can potentially unleash eight projectiles in total despite the Transfigured Gem's inherent limitation!

Most projectile-based builds in PoE 3.25 are squishy, but that is not the case for the Lightning Strike of Arcing Deadeye. It does not require any unique items, so you can easily sort out your resistances and spell suppression.

Additionally, the Dawnbreaker is an inexpensive unique item that converts cold, lightning, and physical damage to fire damage, thus improving your survivability.

The only thing you need to remember here is that this build does require a Transfigured Gem. This means that you have to settle with the base skill gem until you can get your hands on the transfigured version.

If the idea of chaining multiple projectiles appeals to you, then the Lightning Strike of Arcing Deadeye is great in that regard!

Viper Strike of the Mamba Pathfinder

Poison damage in Path of Exile can potentially become even more lethal when you leverage the right mechanics, items, and passive skills. That is why the Pathfinder is the best in this regard, particularly when you are using the Viper Strike of the Mamba.

The Transfigured Gem allows you to deal significantly more damage with poison, with the only problem being that you can only inflict poison once on the enemy. Not to worry, there are some things that you can do to still deal a lot of damage.

Master Toxicist synergizes really well with Viper Strike of the Mamba because it lets you deal significant amounts of poison damage. You have to bring a Life Flask with you in order to have a good uptime of this ascendancy node's effect.

The Low Tolerance notable passive skill that you can find on some Medium Cluster Jewels provides a similar effect to Master Toxicist, albeit it is so much better given that you can add multiple cluster jewels with the same node for the maximum benefit!

You can start with this build by dual-wielding a couple of crafted claws. Make sure to put physical damage, critical strike, and a chance to poison on hit modifiers to give you a much more comfortable time playing the Viper Strike of the Mamba Pathfinder.

Ultimately, you will end up using the Pneumatic Dagger as your main weapon. This allows you to inflict poison consistently, alleviating the need for "Chance to Poison on Hit" modifiers.

When you have all of the stuff sorted out, the Viper Strike of the Mamba Pathfinder has the potential to slay any pinnacle boss in the game.

Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder

This is yet another poison build, only this time, it is a bit more accessible given that it can function with just self-found gear.

The Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder does not rely on weapons to deal damage. Instead, the bulk of the damage you deal comes from your flasks. That said, this skill gains added chaos damage based on the recovery amount of your Life Flask. With this in mind, have a good Life Flask early on to deal considerable amounts of poison damage onto your foes.

Now, unlike its base counterpart, this Transfigured Gem only prompts you to fire a single projectile. This projectile then bounces to nearby enemies, providing you with a more relaxed playstyle.

To ensure that you have a good uptime of your flasks, you have to allocate Nature's Adrenaline from the Pathfinder's ascendancy tree. Since Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing deals chaos damage, you want to weaken your enemy's defenses by inflicting Wither stacks on them. This is possible with the Pathfinder's Nature's Reprisal ascendancy node.

You can pretty much make this build work with any gear that you can find (so long as they have the appropriate mods, of course). However, if you want to take things a step further, you could invest in Olesya's Delight for more damage over time.

Additionally, you could grab the Fury Valve so that your poisonous concoction will bounce a couple more times for a much smoother mapping experience.

The Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder is good at farming PoE Currency in the first week of a new league. So, if this is what you want to do, then you might as well give it a bounce!

Best Witch Builds in PoE 3.25

The Witch ascendancy classes remain unchanged in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. This is both a good thing and a bad thing in that the builds in the previous league are still viable to this day. But, when you compare some of them relative to melee builds, they do lag behind in terms of overall damage. Be that as it may, if you are interested in the Witch class, then here are the best Witch Builds in PoE 3.25:

Builds

Pros

Cons

PoB Links

Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Necromancer

+League starter

+Damage can scale abnormally high

+One-button playstyle

-True damage can be felt and is not reflected in POB

POB 1


POB 2

BAMA Necromancer

+Summon minions that bombard enemies with a boatload of arrows

+Build destroys everything with lightning damage

-Might struggle to survive early on

POB

Hexblast Mines Occultist

+One of the best Sanctum runners in the game

+League-start viable

-Not the best for mapping

-Subpar survivability

POB

Poison SRS Necromancer

+Considered the endgame version of SRS

+Incredibly tanky

+Great boss-killing potential

-Requires certain pieces of gear for optimal damage

POB

Ice Nova of Frostbolts Occultist

+More up close and personal than the Hierophant version

+100% crit chance easily achievable

+Spin to win playstyle

-Needs a much a higher investment

-Need to attain certain parameters for maximum damage

POB

Blade Vortex Occultist

+Excellent mapper on a budget

+League starter

+Profane Bloom blows enemies up to oblivion

-Cold damage conversion is a must to scale damage in the endgame

POB

Forbidden Rite Occultist

+Insanely fast mapper

+Laid-back playstyle

+Almost unkillable

-Mageblood is pretty much mandatory

POB

Death Wish Elementalist

+Summon a minion army and have them explode with Death Wish

+Has good damage potential

+Tanky enough to survive pinnacle boss encounters

-Not a league starter

-Will not work without a specific helmet

POB

Explosive Arrow Elementalist

+League starter

+Huge Ignite damage thanks to Elementalist nodes

+Can be taken well into the endgame

-Heavy reliance on ballista totems for damage

-Cannot deal damage yourself

POB

Herald of Thunder Elementalist

+Autobomber build lets you kill enemies while you run around the map

+Great mapper

-High-budget build

-Only great for mapping

POB

Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Necromancer

The Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Necromancer is one of the most overpowered minion builds in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. It is so broken that damage can scale to absurd levels. Whether you want to go farm T17 maps or take on the pinnacle bosses like the Uber Shaper or Uber Maven, this build is capable of that and then some!

It is similar to the Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Guardian, except that this build focuses on dealing poison damage. That is the beauty of it because poison damage can really pile up, especially if you have the right passive skills.

The Necromancer's Unnatural Strength ascendancy node fully converts the holy relics' physical damage into chaos damage, with a considerable chance to apply Wither on hit as well.

Commander of Darkness is a really great node to take because of the increased damage and attack speed it provides to all of your minions. Do not forget to allocate Mistress of Sacrifice so that you can gain the effects of Offering Skills too!

As for gear, the Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Necromancer is a league starter, meaning, it can work with just about any gear that you can find. However, if you want to bring the best out of the build, you can invest in some items in the endgame.

One of the biggest upgrades you can get is the Geofri's Crest, which allows you to summon three holy relic minions on the battlefield at a time. Then, go for the Replica Dragonfang's Flight, specifically one that raises the level of Summon Holy Relic gems by three.

From there, you could opt for the more defensive approach with the new Svalinn shield or a more offensive one that uses a rare spirit shield with minion damage and +1 to minion skills.

Whatever pieces of gear you use, the Summon Holy Relic of Conviction Necromancer is an awesome build with amazing damage and survivability to boot!

BAMA Necromancer

If you have played Path of Exile for at least a couple of leagues now, you may have heard of the BAMA Necromancer. This is one of those unusual builds that just works.

The reason why it is called "BAMA" is that it uses two different skill gems: Blink Arrow (BA) and Mirror Arrow (MA). These skills have separate cooldowns, which is why they always go hand in hand.

Having said that, you will actually use transfigured versions of those skill gems. One is the Blink Arrow of Prismatic Clones and the other is Mirror Arrow of Bombarding Clones. The former lets you summon minions that deal elemental damage using Elemental Hit, while the latter enables you to call forth minions that bombard enemies with projectiles using Rain of Arrows.

To maximize the damage of the BAMA of Prismatic Clones, you are going to put two Combat Focus jewels on the passive tree. This is to force the minions to only deal lightning damage, which is a lot easier to scale in the endgame.

In this build, your minions will do all the attacking, so you just focus on surviving on the battlefield. Fortunately, the Necromancer has Bone Barrier and Plaguebringer — two notable ascendancy passive skills that grant damage reduction.

On top of that, you can use the combo of The Fourth Vow and the Divine Flesh keystone passive. The Fourth Vow has a unique effect where the physical damage mitigation provided by armor also applies to chaos damage taken from hits.

Divine Flesh, on the other hand, mitigates elemental damage by taking half of what you receive from a recent attack/spell and taking that as chaos damage. And oh, this keystone raises your maximum chaos resistance by 5% as well.

If there is one thing that might hold you back from using this build, it would be the relatively huge investment to obtain the necessary items. However, if that does not deter you, the BAMA Necromancer is one that you should consider trying at some point!

Hexblast Mines Occultist

The Forbidden Sanctum is one of the best and fastest ways to earn currency, especially early in a new league. The Hexblast Mines Occultist is great in terms of damage output and scalability, even beating the other ascendancy classes out there that use this particular skill.

Unlike the Trickster version mentioned earlier, the Hexblast Mines Occultist is focused on dealing huge amounts of damage. We are talking about damage output that can reach 100 million DPS and above!

So, how is that possible? Well, the notable ascendancy passive skills available to the Occultist play a huge role in that. This is a Power Charge-stacking build and the Occultist';s Forbidden Power ascendancy node increases your damage by 6% per charge, not to mention that it increases the AoE of your Hexblast Mines as well.

Void Beacon reduces the chaos resistance of nearby enemies by 20%. The notable ascendancy passive skill next to that, Withering Presence, allows you to deal 15% more chaos damage. Besides that, you inflict the Wither debuff on the monsters in your vicinity, causing them to take even more chaos damage as a result.

It is worth noting that if you are to choose this build over the Trickster variant, you have to be willing to deal with its very low survivability. In fact, it has been a running joke that your defensive layers consist of insane amounts of damage and six portals.

Kidding aside, the Hexblast Mines Occultist is incredible for its sheer power alone.

Poison SRS Necromancer

If you like Summon Raging Spirits enough to want to scale its damage a lot higher than the Guardian, then the Poison SRS Necromancer is for you. As you can tell by the name, this version relies on poison damage to make quick work of the enemy.

This build is quite expensive because it needs certain items for optimal damage. First, you must get your hands on United in Dream to significantly boost your minions' chance to poison enemies. It also provides the "Envy" buff, which grants added chaos damage.

Next, you have Amanamu's Gaze — a unique jewel that increases the damage over time multiplier of your minions by up to 30%. Since poison deals DoT damage, including this in your setup just makes sense.

You want to socket your Summon Raging Spirits skill gem into The Covenant because of that level 29 Added Chaos Damage Support. The damage boost it provides is just too hard to pass up.

Additionally, the build is incredibly tanky due to the Aegis Aurora. This shield grants energy shield on block, so even if your ES value is not that high, it still contributes to your overall survivability.

Apart from some mandatory items, the Poison SRS Necromancer is a great minion build that is known for having good amounts of damage and tankiness, which allows you to take on even the toughest monsters and bosses without fear.

Ice Nova of Frostbolts Occultist

Do you love using the Cyclone skill gem but also want to deal insane amounts of damage? Well, this next build is right for you!

The Ice Nova of Frostbolts Occultist can cast one of the most damaging spells in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. However, the manner it is cast is different compared to the Hierophant in that you are actually using Cyclone to trigger it.

To make that happen, you will link Cyclone and Ice Nova of Frostbolts with Awakened Cast on Critical Strike Support. Make sure to take the Critical Mastery that raises the level of all critical support gems so that you gain increased cooldown recovery, which is crucial to the build’s success.

If you do not know, cooldown recovery rate and your attack speed with Cyclone should match in order to optimize the trigger rate of Ice Nova of Frostbolts. Ideally, you want both of those to be at 10.10. You can only see this when you use Path of Building, so use this third-party software for this purpose.

Cospri's Malice is another core part of the build. This unique sword is where you will put the Frostbolt skill gem, which will be cast automatically whenever you start spinning.

The Ice Nova of Frostbolts Occultist also has good survivability. This build is not only immune to chaos damage (Chaos Inoculation), but it is able to achieve a 75% block chance via Glancing Blows.

So, if you are looking for a much tankier version of Ice Nova of Frostbolts, then this one is a winner.

Blade Vortex Occultist

There are not a lot of league starters in PoE 3.25 that you can comfortably play without dying. But, the Blade Vortex Occultist begs to differ because it deals so much damage that enemies cannot even go near you!

When activated, Blade Vortex creates ethereal blades that spin around you, dealing physical damage to those who come close. The Occultist's Profane Bloom is an excellent node to take because it causes cursed enemies to explode, thus greatly improving your mapping experience.

While Blade Vortex is good on its own, it gets even better when you convert all of your physical damage to cold damage. You can grab the Hrimsorrow early on, which should help you with this. However, you will need a well-crafted pair of gloves with full cold damage conversion if you want to elevate the build's damage to the next level.

Once you have the cold damage conversion gloves, you will take both Void Beacon and Frigid Wake to significantly improve your damage output with Blade Vortex. Simply walk past enemies and see them die in an instant!

If you are looking for a competent league starter who uses one of the Witch's ascendancy classes, then the Blade Vortex Occultist is a solid choice!

Forbidden Rite Occultist

The Forbidden Rite Occultist works much the same way as the Ice Nova of Frostbolts Occultist where you will use Cyclone in order to trigger your primary spell. However, one major difference here is the weapon you will use. You do not need Cospri's Malice for this one, so you could equip a crafted runic dagger with +1 to level of all chaos spell skill gems, attack speed, spell damage, and critical strike mods for maximum benefit.

Achieving a 100% critical strike chance is easy on this build because of the fact that it is a Power Charge stacker. Because of this, you might as well put a Militant Faith jewel (High Templar Dominus) for that Inner Conviction keystone.

Now, Forbidden Rite is a chaos spell that does not require any aiming at all. When it is triggered by Cyclone, the projectiles that are produced will seek out nearby monsters, with a chance of hitting a single target twice.

Take note that the said spell has a self-damaging component. Fortunately, you can address this by simply taking the Chaos Inoculation keystone to effectively make you immune to chaos damage.

With the way the build works, the Mageblood is pretty much mandatory to cover all of the bases, including damage, defense, and viability. Without it, the Forbidden Rite Occultist is just not comfortable to use.

In addition, you have to keep your trigger rate at 10.09 if you want to maximize this build's potential. Refer to the previous section (Ice Nova of Frostbolts Occultist) for more details about this.

Death Wish Elementalist

If there is one build that cannot work without a specific item, the Death Wish Elementalist is definitely one of them.

Death Wish is not a spell skill gem in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. Instead, it is a spell that is granted by wearing the Maw of Mischief unique helmet. What does the spell do, exactly? Why is this one of the top Witch Builds in PoE 3.25?

Well, Death Wish is a channeling spell that causes your minions to explode, dealing huge amounts of damage to nearby monsters. The explosion will only occur after you have stopped channeling, so there is a level of control if you want to time things right.

The damage of Death Wish relies on a considerable portion of the minion's life. Therefore, you have to get modifiers that improve minion life wherever possible; may it be through gear or some nodes on the passive tree.

One way to maximize the damage of this build is by taking advantage of Raise Spectre coupled with the Bitterbind Point. For those who do not know, Bitterbind Point increases the maximum life of spectres by a significant amount, making it an awesome shield to use for the Death Wish Elementalist.

If you want, you could take advantage of the Meatsack — an itemized corpse you can obtain by farming Ritual Altars. Right-click on it and you should find a corpse on the ground. Use Raise Spectre to bring it to life and you have a minion that has stupid amounts of HP; perfect for blasting with Death Wish.

As far as the Elementalist is concerned, get Shaper of Storms, Shaper of Flames, Mastermind of Discord, and Heart of Destruction for a huge boost in elemental damage.

Although it has a unique playstyle, the Death Wish Elementalist is a pretty good build in PoE 3.25.

Explosive Arrow Elementalist

Also known as the EA Ballista Totem build, the Explosive Arrow Elementalist leverages numerous totems to apply multiple explosive arrows on the enemy in an efficient manner.

This build heavily relies on ballista totems to do the dirty work. This is because totems naturally fire faster than any character in Path of Exile ever could. The reason why you need to attack fast is that Explosive Arrow has a short fuse.

In order to maximize your damage output, you have to stick about 22 arrows on a single target before they detonate. This can be achieved rather easily with the help of the totems. You simply link Explosive Arrow with Ballista Totem Support and that is it.

Keep in mind that you cannot deal damage yourself because you will be allocating the Ancestral Bond keystone. However, that is fine considering that you can drop several totems at a time, provided that you have taken the notable passive skills highlighted in the POB.

Since you will not be able to deal damage, your primary goal is to stay alive. The Doppelganger Guise is a great way to bolster your defenses because it grants a huge physical/chaos damage mitigation while you are sane.

Dyadian Dawn is great for offense since it causes the Ignites your totems inflict upon the enemy to deal damage significantly faster. Plus, it gives you some life, fire resistance, and cold resistance!

A competent league starter that can be taken well into the endgame, the Explosive Arrow Elementalist is popular for these reasons and more.

Herald of Thunder Elementalist

If the thought of just running around the map and seeing enemies die shortly after appeals to you, then you will surely love the Herald of Thunder Elementalist!

This build is classified as an auto-bomber because you simply run around the map without doing anything else. Of course, you need to have Herald of Thunder active for this to work.

Herald of Thunder creates a storm that zaps enemies with lightning. That is not special on its own, but with the right items, it will be! In fact, this build is not possible without the aid of several unique items.

Storm Secret is one of the core items of the build. This not only creates additional storms when you shock a monster with Herald of Thunder active, but also makes these storms hit enemies more frequently.

Inpulsa's Broken Heart significantly improves your map-clearing ability because it causes shocked enemies to explode upon death. Wear Voice of the Storm to always force the storms’ lightning strikes to deal the most damage.

Of course, The Annihilating Light is an awesome addition to the build, primarily because it lets you deal triple damage with elemental skills.

You are not done yet! Add Calamitous Visions as well. This unique jewel allows you to allocate the Lone Messenger keystone passive, which greatly increases the damage of Herald of Thunder.

It should go without saying that this is a build that requires a relatively high investment. However, if you are able to pull it off, the Herald of Thunder Elementalist is a fun build for sure!

Best Scion Builds in PoE 3.25

The Ascendant is a pretty interesting ascendancy class in Path of Exile. You see, the Ascendant can actually gain the watered-down effects of certain notable passive skills available to the other ascendancy classes in the game.

For example, the "Juggernaut" node grants accuracy rating and 5% increased damage per Endurance Charge, similar to the Undeniable and Unyielding nodes from the Marauder ascendancy class of the same name.

Aside from that, the Ascendant is the only one who can allocate skills from two different starting areas in the passive tree. Of course, you would have to select the appropriate ascendancy nodes to achieve this, but what we are just saying here is that it is possible to do so.

Anyway, here are the best Scion Builds in PoE 3.25:

Builds

Pros

Cons

PoB Links

Lightning Strike Ascendant

+Armor-stacking variant is impossible to kill

+Best Lightning Strike build for bosses

-Crafted items are expensive

POB

Molten Strike Ascendant

+Another armor-stacking build, this time with a twist

+Better mapping experience compared to Lightning Strike

-High-budget build

POB

Wardloop Ice Spear Ascendant

+Run around the map and see enemies die

+Bombard enemies with multiple icy projectiles

+Can be hard on modest systems

+Not beginner-friendly

POB

Kinetic Blast Ascendant

+The better Kinetic Blast build

+Good all-arounder

-Needs some expensive unique jewels to take off

POB

Smite Ascendant

+Yet another armor stacker that boasts incredible damage

-Really expensive

POB

Power Siphon Ascendant

+The cheapest Ascendant build on this list

+Utilizes Power Siphon in a different yet satisfying way

-Damage may not be up to par with the more expensive Ascendant Builds

POB

Flicker Strike Ascendant

+Hit fast, strike hard

+Incredible level of versatility due to Ascendant’s notable passive skills

-Items that grant Frenzy Charges are expensive

POB

Lightning Strike Ascendant

Since Lightning Strike has already been mentioned quite a few times in our best builds list, we will only go over the details of what makes the Lightning Strike Ascendant different.

Before anything, all Ascendant builds require a ton of investment, which is why you cannot see any viable league starters that have the Scion's ascendancy class at the forefront.

That said, the Lightning Strike Ascendant can be built in a couple of ways, but the one we are going to discuss here is the armor-stacking variant. This is possible with the use of Replica Dreamfeather – a unique sword that grants 10% increased attack damage per 450 points of armor.

Where do you get that high amount of armor, you ask? Well, you will need a rare body armor with the Breach-only modifier, "Armour is Increased by Overcapped Fire Resistance."

The good thing is you do not have to farm it yourself. All you have to do is buy a Grasping Mail on the trade website with the said modifier. Then, head to Kingsmarch and use the Recombinator. Place the Grasping Mail on one end, as well as a good base armor on the other. After that, press the button and hope that the desired modifier will be carried over to the resulting piece of gear.

When you have the necessary equipment, simply increase your fire resistance by any means necessary. A good place to start is by activating Purity of Elements and Purity of Fire.

Part of the Ascendant's appeal is that it has five more skill points compared to other ascendancy classes. For this reason, you could add a few Voices jewels on the passive tree. This enables you to put as many small cluster jewels (Mana Reservation Efficiency) as possible that have Introspection on them. This notable passive skill increases the effect of auras by 10%.

The Lightning Strike Ascendant is capable of eliminating even the pinnacle bosses in PoE 3.25 with ease!

Molten Strike Ascendant

The Molten Strike Ascendant works nearly the same as the Lightning Strike Ascendant mentioned earlier, but with some stark differences. The first is the skill gem, Molten Strike. This provides a much better mapping experience simply due to the nature of the skill gem itself.

The second is actually a twist. Despite dealing primarily fire damage with Molten Strike, the said skill gem is linked with Awakened Lightning Penetration Support. Why is that? The presence of the said support gem enables Molten Strike to apply Lightning Exposure.

You see, Lightning Exposure weakens the enemy's resistance to lightning damage. Where does the lightning damage come from? You have guessed it, from Vaal Smite! To further improve the damage of this particular skill, you will put it inside the March of the Legion Boots. Do not forget to use the Vaal Skill whenever you need more firepower.

You will still stack armor on this build because you are using two Replica Dreamfeathers. It should go without saying that you need the Breach-only mod to increase your armor exponentially.

The Molten Strike Ascendant may be a bit unorthodox, but what you will end up with is a build that can obliterate enemies without a hitch.

Wardloop Ice Spear Ascendant

Another "Auto-bomber" build, the Wardloop Ice Spear Ascendant utilizes certain mechanics that would allow you to kill enemies simply by running around the map.

Basically, the action revolves around the use of multiple Cast When Damage Taken setups to cast numerous spells, including Ice Spear, Freezing Pulse, and Creeping Frost.

You will need some specific items for this to work, such as the Heartbound Loop, the To Dust unique jewel, and the Olroth's Resolve unique flask. With these items, every time one of your minions die, you will receive enough damage to trigger the CWDT setups. This is with some safeguards, of course, to prevent you from dying due to the mechanics.

That is just a short idea of how this build works. If you are interested in learning everything there is to know about the Wardloop Ice Spear Ascendant, be sure to refer to our dedicated build guide.

Kinetic Blast Ascendant

The Kinetic Blast Warden might be good for those who do not have a lot of PoE Currency to work with. However, if you want the best version, in our opinion, then look no further than the Kinetic Blast Ascendant.

Remember that the Scion is the only class in Path of Exile that allows you to allocate points on different areas in the passive tree. Since you can technically go and allocate points in the middle, you could put a Lethal Pride Timeless along with two Transcendent Flesh jewels for a boost in critical strike multiplier. Additionally, you could invest in a couple of 12-passive Large Cluster Jewels (Spell Damage) for even more damage!

For the ascendancy nodes, you will take the Occultist so that you can apply an additional curse, as well as the Assassin node for improved critical strike chance. If you have some currency to spare, obtain the Forbidden Flesh and Forbidden Flame jewels with Deadeye as the matching modifier. This allows you to fire an additional projectile, with increased action speed thanks to Tailwind as well.

All in all, the Kinetic Blast Ascendant is the endgame version of a build that uses one of the most popular skill gems in PoE 3.25.

Smite Ascendant

Does the thought of achieving damage numbers of over 100 million appeal to you? If it does, then perhaps you can give the Smite Ascendant a try.

This is yet another armor-stacking build with the usual items, so we won’t go over them here. However, major emphasis should be given to increased effect of non-curse auras because Smite just happens to be a strike skill with an aura tag on it.

The Smite Ascendant requires a ton of PoE Currency to pull off. But if this is not an issue for you, we promise that this build is just amazing, so much so that it warrants every Divine Orb or Mirror of Kalandra you invest in it.

Power Siphon Ascendant

While Power Siphon can certainly be used as a regular projectile skill, this next build turns it into a Mine Skill via Locus Mine Support.

The Power Siphon Ascendant employs a different playstyle in that you throw a few mines in quick succession to eliminate any monster foolish enough to come close to you. Doing it this way actually is actually a lot better, both in terms of the skill’s destructive power, as well as saving your system from processing too many projectiles flying around at the same time.

While turning Power Siphon into a Mine Skill is not new, this particular version deals chaos damage for better scaling. Besides that, this build wears several pieces of gear that provide Ward for an additional layer of defense.

As for the ascendancy nodes, you can go about it in any way you want. You could take the Deadeye node for that additional projectile and increased effect of Mark Skills. If you opt to use the Svalinn unique shield, taking the Gladiator is great for that greatly increased block chance. The Juggernaut ascendancy node is not bad at all since you are immune to stuns.

With some level of versatility, the Power Siphon Ascendant is a great way to use the Scion's ascendancy class that does not break the bank.

Flicker Strike Ascendant

The Ascendant's incredible flexibility is in full display with the last build on our list. The Flicker Strike Ascendant has access to ascendancy nodes that make it great. The Champion ascendancy node grants can permanently Intimidate enemies, causing them to take increased damage from your attacks. It also grants fortification to bolster your defense, which most Flicker Strike builds sorely lack (except this one).

The Juggernaut ascendancy node grants accuracy rating, which makes gearing your character a lot easier. It also grants Endurance Charges if you have been hit recently.

Since this build deals elemental damage, you could invest in the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh jewels with Inquisitor as the matching modifier as well. This gives you 8% elemental penetration. Enemies that are within your vicinity also take 10% increased elemental damage.

Of course, the Flicker Strike Ascendant is a high-budget build. But the good news is that it is not as expensive as any of the armor stackers mentioned earlier.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it! These are the top builds in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur for each class. We have provided you with the information you need, as well as the POB links for each one so that you can try them out for yourself.

Most of the endgame builds are quite expensive to put up. If you do not want to go through the hassle of farming items yourself, do not worry. We've got you covered!

We at RPGStash have a collection of amazing items that let you go from zero to hero in a jiffy. We also offer PoE Currency if that is what you want. So, if you do not want to go through the arduous grind, head to our amazing PoE Store today!

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