This incredibly tanky and flexible build offers lots of potential for mapping and boss fights in Path of Exile. This build has now been updated for POE 3.7 and Legion, changing how it works a fair bit. Dominating Blow also got a sizable buff this patch, making it even more viable.
Combining this with a high life pool makes this build very easy as a league starter and for newer players. Minions also offer a really safe playstyle that can really blitz through pretty much any Maps, Delves or other endgame content. And since Minions are really easy to scale in terms of DPS, your gear choices remain very flexible. But no matter what you choose, you get plenty of defensive layers and tons of DPS.
Not only is this an extremely simple build to level, mapping with a character running this setup is fast and efficient, just like any good POE player wants. Let’s dig in.
Build Pros
- Very versatile build able to clear most content
- Great Life Regen/Leech
- Speedy mapping
- Very flexible defensively, very tanky
Build Cons
- Expensive gear costs for optimal gear
- Mediocre single-target damage
Passive Tree(s)
Leveling skill-tree, 37 points
Leveling skill-tree, 51 points
Leveling skill-tree, 88 points
Pantheon
Upgrade all of these.
Major God: Soul of Lunaris
No real other options aside from this for this build because of defensive synergy.
Minor God: Soul of Ryslatha OR Gruthkul
Ryslatha is a situational useful minor god, I use it for any end game boss encounter. It’s great for labyrinth as well or overall best choice if you don’t want to look at pantheon ever again.
Gruthkul is also great option for defence during mapping. The damage reduction can get you out of some tight spots.
Bandits
Kill All for the bonus Passives if you’ve capped resistances, otherwise go for Alira for Resists/Regen.
Ascendancy skill points
Guardian
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
- Radiant Crusade
- Unwavering Crusade
- Harmony of Purpose
- Time of Need
Enchants
Dominating Blow can summon 3 additional Magic Sentinels of Dominance
% increased Dominating Blow Duration
% increased Dominating Blow Damage
Boots:
x% Increased Elemental Damage with Attacks
Damage Penetrates x% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven’t Killed Recently
x% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you’ve Killed Recently
Gloves:
Commandment of Fury/Reflection
You could also use these Corruptions:
Curse Enemies with Level (10–12) Elemental Weakness on Hit
(4–6)% increased maximum Life
(8–10)% increased Attack Speed
Leveling General Tips
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.
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. This build has been tested with the most common Bow skills, and it works will with any multiple projectile build, as long as you maximize the number of projectiles with support gems.
=== ATTACK SKILL ===
Dominating Blow -> Maim -> Ancestral Call -> Melee Physical Damage -> Faster Attacks -> Damage on Full Life/Culling Strike
Swap between DoFL and Culling Strike, Culling Strike helps with mapping speed, DoFL is better for bosses.
=== SECONDARY ATTACK ===
Herald of Purity -> Faster Attacks Support -> Maim -> Minion Damage
=== MOVEMENT ===
Leap Slam-> Faster Attacks Support -> Fortify Support
=== AURA/UTILITY ===
Smite -> Faster Attacks -> Generosity -> Hatred
Holy Relic -> Increased Area of Effect -> Stone Golem -> Blind
=== CWDT ===
Cast when Damage Taken -> Increased Duration -> Convocation
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.
Armor is your secondary defensive stat, but you should prioritize Life above this.
Physical Damage is your main scaling and your primary DPS. So maximizing damage with Physical first, followed by buffs to more general damage types. Area Damage on Jewels for example.
Minion Damage is vital to scaling your summoned minions to make boss kills much easier.
Resistances until you cap them off.
Attack Speed means that you simply attack faster the higher it is. This stat becomes vital for scaling overall DPS. Attack Speed is great for your movement skill to keep Fortify up.
Weapons
This build can run with multiple different options, as long as they gain Attack Speed buffs. The best choice for most players, especially when running this build as a League starter is to use Brightbeak with a good shield.
You can also run this build as a two-hander if you want, but make sure you get plenty of Attack Speed and damage that scales with your main damage type.
Rare Weapon
Min. requirements:
50%+ Increased Physical Damage
Increased Attack Speed
+ to Level of Socketed Gems
Optional affixes:
Socketed Gems are supported by Elemental Damage with Attacks (Shaper)
% chance to gain an Endurance Charge on Kill (Elder)
Gain % of Physical as extra Fire Damage (Shaper)
Rare Shield
Min. requirements:
50%+ Increased Physical Damage
Added Physical Damage
% Increased Armour/+% Chance to Block
Optional affixes:
Uncapped Resistances
+% to all Maximum Resistances (Shaper)
% Increased Damage per 1% Block Chance (Elder)
Chaber Cairn – The increased Gem levels and damage buffs make this a good stop-gap Unique
Helmet
Devoto’s Devotion grants really good Life bonuses and increased Attack Speed. It’s an OK choice for this build as a cheap early end-game pickup. Replace it with a high-end Rare with relevant Lab enchants later in mapping though.
Min. requirements:
80 maximum Life
Uncapped Resistances(40%)
% Increased Armour
Optional affixes:
% Increased Maximum Life (Elder)
Recover % of Maximum Life on Kill (Elder)
Body Armor
Belly of the Beast – always a solid pick for defensive purposes. Belly of the Beast is always one of the best Body Armours for all Life build
Brass Dome – This is a super-situational Armour with tons of Phys reduction, use for certain high-end bosses in combination with Quicksilver. Make sure you’re not taking on bosses that Shock.
Tabula Rasa – This is a great leveling choice as well.
If using a Rare, use the following Stats as a baseline.
Min. requirements:
100 maximum Life
% Increased Armour
Uncapped Resistances
Optional affixes:
+ to Level of Socketed Support Gems (Elder)
Increased Maximum Life (Elder)
% Increased Strength (Elder)
Belt
Belt of the Deceiver can be a good starter Unique for really cheap. The stats on it are great all around for getting through the beginning of end-game content. Switch it out fairly quickly though as you’ll need more Damage and Life later on.
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 Jewels.
Elder/Shaper variants are good too, assuming you can get a good combo of Life and Resists on them.
Min. requirements:
50 maximum Life
Added Physical Damage
Uncapped Resistances
Optional affixes:
Added/Increased Physical Damage
Reduced Flask Charges Used
Gloves
Rare Gloves with buffs to main damage types are great. You can also get Leech here as well.
Min. requirements:
Adds Physical Damage to Attacks
60 maximum Life
Increased Attack Speed
Optional affixes:
Elemental Resistances
Boots
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.
Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
30% increased Movement Speed
Any Uncapped Resistances (>25%)
Amulet
Sidehebreath – this is BIS as the bonuses to Minion Damage and aspects of Mana are super useful.
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. Gain x% Physical as Elemental or Elemental Penetration work great in this slot as well.
Min. requirements:
80 Maximum Life
Attributes (Intelligence/Dexterity)
Added Physical Damage
Uncapped Resistances
Optional affixes:
Added Elemental Damage
Rings
Rare Steel/Opal Rings are great for this build and it’s Physical Damage. Use the stats below as a guide for that. You may need to use an Unset Ring to fit your support skills like Clarity in a socket.
Min. requirements:
50 Maximum Life
Added Physical Damage to Attacks
% Damage Leeched as Mana
Uncapped Resistances (>25%)
Optional affixes:
Attributes (Strength/Intelligence)
Minion Speed (Crafted)
Flasks
Writhing Jar – This utility Flask is a great addition for a quick buff to your skills and minions.
Atziri’s Promise – Chaos Resistance is always a challenge, but the added Leech can help you stay alive as well.
Other Flasks:
Catalyzed Life
Granite
Quicksilver
Other Needed Mods:
Bleed Removal (Staunching)
Curse Removal (Warding)
Freeze Removal (Heat)
You can swap these mods around if needed due to RNG.
Jewels
Rare Jewels can run with the following stats:
Recommended affixes:
5-7% increased Maximum Life
9–13% increased Minion Damage
*8–10% increased Melee Damage
