It’s highly recommended that those reading this guide check out both the New Players Guide to POE, and the 3.0 Mapping Guide, in order to understand the basics that this new guide will build on. You should also check out the War for the Atlas Guide.
Intro & build description
There are new skill gems in the Bestiary league in Path of Exile and this build is made around one of the new gems – Tectonic Slam. The potential for a massive life pool and DPS with the right gear make it a durable mapper and boss killer. It’s a much cheaper build than the insanely high-priced top tier builds, mostly because the Uniques can be replaced with decent Rares if you’re hurting for currency.
The build should be very familiar to veteran players who’ve player other builds like a Slayer Cyclone. Using a pretty basic CWDT and Aura setup, the build works fairly well.
There are also very few mechanics at play in terms of sustaining the build. Managing your flasks and timing in order to survive burst enemy damage is key to staying alive. Generating your Endurance Charges to get that damage buff should be your other concern.
Build Pros
- Very cheap to start off and scales extremely well with some investment
- Very versatile in gear choices, for example, the build can use Kaom’s Heart, Belly of the Beast, a decent Rare chest piece etc.
- Can be swapped from Axes to Swords/Maces with only minor Tree adjustments
- Can be built very tanky while maintaining high damage output
- Excellent Uber Lab farmer
Build Cons
- As it is elemental conversion build, elemental reflect can be painful in no-regeneration maps
- Extended boss fights might be a bit slower due to limited Endurance Charge generation for Tectonic Strike (But still more than doable)
Passive tree(s)
Bandits
| Bandits Quest Choice |
| Kill all bandits (+2 SP) |
Ascendancy skill points
| Labyrinths | Skill point choice |
|---|---|
| Labyrinth 1 | Ngamahu, Flame’s Advance |
| Labyrinth 2 | Hinekora, Death’s Fury |
| Labyrinth 3 | Tawhoa, Forest’s Strength |
| Endgame Labyrinth | Ramako, Sun’s Light |
Skill gem setup
Helm
Hatred
Herald of Ash
Enduring Cry
Blood Rage
Body Armor
Ancestral Warchief
Elemental Damage With Attacks Support
Concentrated Effect Support
Melee Physical Damage Support
Maim Support
Ruthless Support
Gloves
Leap Slam
Faster Attacks Support
Fortify Support
Blood Magic Support
Boots
Cast When Damage Taken Support (Level 13)
Molten Shell (Level 17)
Summon Flame Golem (Level 14)
Warlord’s Mark (Unlinked)
2h Weapon
Tectonic Slam
Elemental Damage With Attack Skills Support
Concentrated Effect Support
Elemental Focus Support
Melee Physical Damage Support
Added Fire Damage Support
Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear
Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.trade
Helmet
Devoto’s Devotion is a great helm which is fairly inexpensive and gives you attack and movement speed.
If you don’t want that, get a Rare helm with at least 70 Life and Tri-Res.
For the enchantment look for 40% increased Tectonic Slam damage.
Body Armour
Ideally look for Belly of The Beast, however, at the beginning of the league 6-linked Belly will be very expensive. Just stick with a cheap 5-link Rare that has similar stats until you can afford it.
A decent Rare 5-link won’t have issues with the first few Map Tiers, so farming for currency should be simple.
Gloves
Spiked Gloves / Other armour based rare gloves
Ideally look for Spiked Gloves base for their implicit mod. If you have them, definitely do not use any glove enchantments from Labyrinth because they would be worse than implicit.
IF you can’t get that base, look for any other base with high Attack Speed and a Resistance buff or two to plug holes.
Boots
Two-Toned Boots / Death’s Door
Look for Two-Toned boots with high life, resistances and movement speed.
Because we are playing build with Endurance Charges, Death’s Door unique boots would be awesome for our build as well if you can afford them. They give us and extra Endurance Charge and immunity to bleeds which will help sustain the damage buff Endurance Charges grant to Tectonic Slam.
Left Ring
Opal Ring / Two-Stone Ring / Other Resitance Rings
Ideal rings for the build would have:
1.) At least 60 life
2.) At least 30% increased elemental damage with attacks
3.) Attack speed
4.) Resistances
But rings with all 4 of these stats will be very expensive for most of the league, so if you can, get the first 3 stats and get your resistances capped on other pieces of gear. Those stats will be a massive boost to DPS.
Right Ring
Opal Ring / Two-Stone Ring / Other Resistance Rings
Look for the same stat rolls as the ring above.
Belt
Stygian Vise / Darkness Enthroned
Look for Stygian Vise with at least 75 to maximum life and high resistances. Elemental Damage With Attacks is a great bonus but can be expensive. If you can’t get that, pick a Leather Belt Rare with similar stat rolls.
If you want to push build further, you could go for Darkness Enthroned Unique belt and get 2 well-rolled Abyss jewels with flat life, resistances and some damage mods. Buying these will be fairly costly though.
Amulet
Capping your resistances will be easy if you aim for it on off slots like the amulet. Also grabbing an amulet that aims for more Life and some damage buffs isn’t too bad either.
2Hand Weapon
Hezmana’s Bloodlust / Atziri’s Disfavour
Hezmana’s Bloodlust has pretty high damage and Blood Magic. Combining this with our high Life pool makes mana usage a concern of the past. With Hezmana’s you can comfortably clear endgame maps and when you want to push build further, get Atziri’s Disfavour which would be a huge upgrade in damage output.
Jewel
On jewels look for:
1.) Increased maximum life
2.) Increased physical damage / Area damage / Damage / Damage with 2handed weapons etc
3.) Increased Attack speed
4.) Increased Fire damage
5.) Resistances to plug holes for caps
Flask
Look for following flasks:
1.) Divine Life flask with instant recovery and bleed removal
2.) Divine Life flask with instant recovery and freeze removal
3.) Basalt Flask
4.) Granite Flask
5.) Atziri’s Promise / Lion’s Roar / Taste of Hate
(Swap out the fifth flask according to the primary damage types of the boss or area.)
