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[3.7] Path of Exile 2H Lacerate Overleech Slayer

Path of Exile Legion

This particular Path of Exile build is centered around trying to make a truly monstrous melee skill, and POE Legion and patch 3.7 has seriously powered-up every melee skill in the ARPG. Good gear choices can take this build to the next level, and that what this build guide is here to do.

Lacerate got even stronger in the last several leagues, with no major downsides, it has arguably been one of the stronger choices since patch 3.5 when it got its first major buff.

POE 3.7 and Legion reworked both the melee skills and the way these mechanics play out. This build works very similarly to any other Leech-based Slayer. Once you’ve killed and you have your Overleech up, you can start using your combination of Flasks, Leap Slams to proc Fortify and other defensive layers to effortlessly mow through mob packs without concern for incoming damage.

The ability to stun enemies due to high DPS per Hit means you can decrease incoming DPS before it even reaches you, making this an equally strong defensive build. Bosses will be challenging though until you learn their patterns and dodge their attacks.

Build Pros

  • Great DPS makes it a good map farmer
  • Tanky enough and with good DPS, this build can easily handle Guardians

Build Cons

  • GG gear is pricey
  • Weaker AoE
  • Some map mods are extra dangerous, like Physical Reflect

Passive Tree(s)

Here is the Endgame Passive Tree

Here is the endgame passive skill tree.

Prioritize damage early onLater in the game when Life and Leech become more important, Vitality Void, Hematophagy and +% Max Leech are great buffs for defensive options.

Pantheon

Upgrade all of these.

Major God: Soul of Arakaali

Great defensive option for mapping. If facing some bosses lots of Stuns, Swap to Brine King

Minor God: Soul of Shakari

This is really useful as you’ll have a pretty big gap in Chaos Resistance. You could situationally swap to other Souls depending on the boss. Fire bosses, you should opt for Abberath, for example.

Bandits

Kill All for the bonus Passives

Ascendancy skill points

Slayer

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

Impact Endless Hunger -> Brutal Fervour -> Overwhelm

Enchants

Helmet:
x% Increased Lacerate Damage (Best)

Boots:
10% Chance to Freeze Shock and Ignite if you haven’t Crit recently

Gloves:
Commandment of Blades

You could also use these Corruptions on Gloves:

Curse Enemies with Level (10–12) Vulnerability on Hit
+1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges
(4–6)% increased maximum Life
(8–10)% increased Attack Speed

Leveling Items and General Tips

You’ll find a list of different Unique items down below for weapons and other gear slots. These are not necessary by any means. We included the list in this guide to give you a wide array of options to choose from.

Leveling Uniques:

Efficient Farm Locations:

Act 1: The Ledge

Act 2: The Fellshrine Ruins

Act 3: The Docks

Act 4: The Dried Lake

Act 5: The Chamber of Innocence

Act 6: The Ridge

Act 7: The Temple of Decay lv1-2

Act 8: The Harbour Bridge

Act 9: The Blood Aqueduct

Act 10: The Ossuary

Avoid these map mods:

* Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield

* Cannot Leech Life/Mana from Monsters

* Monsters reflect % of Physical Damage

* Monsters reflect % of Elemental Damage

Be careful of these map mods:

* Monsters have #% increased Critical Strike Chance / +#% to Monster Critical Strike Multiplier
With high evasion, attack should almost never crit you. Spell on the other hand can still hit hard.

* Monsters fire 2 additional Projectiles
Scary mod on some bosses and monster types. Some monsters are still able to spam out too many projectiles to handle.

* Area contains two Unique Bosses
Your goal to survive this mode is a combo of extreme DPS and Life. The faster you can down the bosses, the less threat they pose.

* #% increased Monster Movement Speed / #% increased Monster Attack Speed / #% increased Monster Cast Speed
Some bosses are going to be too fast to hit effectively, meaning you’ll spend more time than you normally should kiting them. This combination with Temporal Chains is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

* Players are Cursed with Vulnerability
Negated during mapping with a Warding Flask, but not against bosses. Bleeds from bosses can kill you easily.

* Players are Cursed with Temporal Chains
I would personally avoid this on high-tier maps.

* Hexproof
Swap one of your Rings for a Berek’s Grip to allow you to still have decent DPS. High-Tier maps might want to be rerolled.

If you are a brand new Path of Exile player, feel free to check out our various POE guides for noobs.

Final Skill Gem Setup

You’ll find recommendations for different attack skill setups for this build below. The basic buff and aura setups are down there too.

=== ATTACK SKILL ===
Lacerate -> Melee Physical Damage -> Maim -> Brutality -> Damage on Full Life -> Concentrated Effect

=== SECONDARY ATTACK ===
Vaal Ancestral Warchief -> Melee Physical Damage -> Brutality -> Bloodlust

=== MOVEMENT ===
Leap Slam -> Faster Attacks -> Fortify -> Blood Magic

=== CWDT ===
Cast when Damage Taken lvl 10 -> Immortal Call lvl 10 -> Increased Duration

Blood Rage

Herald of Purity

Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear

In this section you will find all the suggested items for this build. We always try to include optional gear in our listing, or try your own assuming you get similar stat rolls. Aim for high-quality Rares if you’re replacing Uniques. The Minimum/Optional requirements listed assume you’re using Rares as a replacement for listed Uniques (where possible).

Depending on your gear choices, you can go for either a lot more DPS at the expense of Life, or go for more defensiveness by sacrificing a portion of DPS. This is your choice. In most cases, I would prefer Life personally, as it’s just a bit more forgiving. If you’re a new player, this may the path for you.

Stat Priorities:

Life is super important for survivability, especially at end-game. Although be careful not to forsake too many damage mods for it or you won’t be able to kill mobs quick enough for your defenses to handle incoming DPS.

Physical Damage is your primary DPS, scale it in any way possible.

Attack Speed is a vital aspect of this build, especially for both dealing damage and applying Leech, scale it any way you can.

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Attributes are somewhat necessary as you’ll be lacking in Dexterity and Intelligence in later levels for the Level 20 Gems you need. Grab it on Amulets, Jewel Slots and if need be, Rings.

Resistances until you cap them off.

Mana Regen, Flat Mana and Increased Mana mods will be really important here, although once you get enough Leech, it becomes less important on gear, being replaced completely by Leech in end-game.

Weapons

This build is primarily built around Starforge, but a stop-gap Unique like Kondos will do well as a leveling item and early game farmer. The fact that you deal no Elemental damage with this means that you’re immune to a normally very dangerous map mod, assuming none of your other gear creates reflectable damage.


Helmet

Any Rare will work here as this is one of the most flexible slots in the build. The real key here is getting the Increased Lacerate Damage enchant on a good base and then crafting it to perfection. You’ll have to dump several Exalts into buying a base off the market most likely unless you want to farm it.

Min. requirements:
100 maximum Life
Increased Maximum Life
Resists
Optional affixes:
Increased Maximum Life Elder mod
Mana

Body Armor

A high-end Rare can do really well with this build. Aim for an Astral Plate or Glorious Plate base.

There are several ways to further increase the effectiveness of a Rare here, but they will massively increase the currency cost, as a high-end Armour that fits these parameters would be Mirror-service-worthy.

  • Socketed Gems are Supported by Maim
  • Socketed Gems have reduced total mana cost

Min. requirements:
100 maximum Life
Increased Maximum Life Elder Mod
Increased Life/Mana Crafted Mod
Uncapped Resists
Optional affixes:
Chaos Resistance
Reduced Attribute Requirements

Belt

Abyss Belts with Life and Resistances are a good option for more difficult end-game sections and bosses. Other Rares might do in a pinch, but not having good rolls can make you a lot more squishy than is tolerable. Abyss Jewels are also a great source for damage buffs as well. Buffing your damage and Life is the best bet here with Abyss Jewels.

Elder/Shaper variants are good too, assuming you can get a good combo of Life and Resists on them. A good option here is a Rare with Reduced Flask Charges Used to sustain Writhing Jar a bit better. An Increased Damage Craft is a good choice here too, combine it with the same crafts on Rings and other open affixes for maximum effect.

Gloves

Gloves can be one of the more flexible gear slots while leveling, pick any Unique Gloves which focus on buffing needed Attributes or damage types and you’ll be fine for leveling. Once you hit end-game, opt for a high-end Rare ASAP. If you need help choosing Unique Gloves, refer to the leveling items section above, or go to this list.

Once done leveling, it’s time to switch to the Haemophilia as the bleed potential and Vulnerability application is all but essential for this build. The Bleed DPS added with this pair of gloves and a few other additions is huge.

Rare Gloves with buffs to main damage types are great. You can also get Leech here as well. If you’re using a Rare, you need to find one with exceptionally high rolls for Physical DPS in order to Leech enough. Replace these Rares after you have enough currency to afford the other Uniques though.

Min. requirements:
60 maximum Life
7% Attack Speed
Physical Damage Buffs
Optional affixes:
Elemental Resistances

Boots

To goto Unique here is Kaom’s Roots, the loss of gem slots is a bit hard to overcome in the early game, but the immunity to extreme slows will save you in the later maps.

Rare boots with max rolled Life, Resists and Movement Speed are great as a generic choice, but you may find yourself a bit more prone to taking hits than you would like. This one is more of a personal judgment call. Here’s the basic requirements for Rares in this slot.

Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
30% increased Movement Speed
Any Uncapped Resistances (>25%)

Amulet

If using a Rare, Get a Shaper/Elder and stack as much Life as you can on your Amulet to prevent feeling too squishy. Extra flat added damage of multiple types is good here too. Grab some Resists and Intelligence here as it’s an easy get. Another excellent option is to get one that contains the mod X% of Maximum Life per second to Maximum Life Leech.

Min. requirements:
60 maximum Life
10% All Elemental Resistances
% of Physical Damage Leeched as Mana
Optional affixes:
Added Physical Damage Mods

Rings

Rare Two-Stone Rings are great for this build and it’s Physical Damage with the right mod combo. Use the stats below as a guide for that. An Elder/Shaper that applies more overall Damage is good, grabbing one that applies Aspect of the Spider can really help with survivability as well. Steel Rings with multiple Physical Damage mods can be good too, with the right Resists.

Min. requirements:
60 Maximum Life
X% Increased Attack Speed
Physical Damage Buffs
Uncapped Resistances (>25%)
Increased Damage Crafted Mods

Flasks

Lion’s Roar – A great defensive boon when things get hairy while ripping through mob packs.

Writhing Jar – This flask is vital to sustaining Leech on many bosses, use it sparingly and carefully.

Other Flasks:

  1. Basalt Flask of Dousing (Burning Removal)
  2. Ample Quicksilver Flask of Warding (Remove Curses)
  3. Diamond Flask of Curing (Poison Removal)

You can swap these mods around if needed due to RNG.

Jewels

Your Jewels slots, will be a primary source for extra damage and attributes. The PoB link has some example jewels, but you should generally aim for a bit of Dexterity and Intelligence as an additional Affix. That leaves plenty of room for added buffs to Physical Damage and other buffs.

Abyss Jewels that have a chance to gain Onslaught can also be used in a slot for a damage increase.

Rare Jewels can run with the following stats:

Recommended affixes:
5-7% Increased Maximum Life
Attack Speed Buffs (Focus on Swords)
X% Increased Global Physical Damage
X% Increased Melee Damage
X% Increased Area Damage

Optional affixes:
Attributes (Dexterity/Intelligence)

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