Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame has given Luminary Ascendancy a surprisingly strong position in the current meta, and Armor Stacker build is one of the best ways to fully utilize this characteristic.

Unlike traditional Armor Stackers that revolve around shields, Luminary Armor Stacker provides key buffs through the use of Permanent Mercenary, allowing players to stack a large amount of Armor, Energy Shield, and regeneration.

The ultimate goal is to create a build that combines extremely strong defensive capabilities with powerful dual-wielding offensive potential.

Below is a breakdown of the mechanics and detailed build strategy for this Luminary Armor Stacker build.

How it Works?

The key to understanding this Luminary Armor Stacker build lies in separating the responsibilities between the player and Mercenary. The player is primarily responsible for building the main defensive foundation, while Mercenary is mainly responsible for providing various buffs and support abilities.

The core of this configuration is Prismplate effect provided by Mercenary.

Because Prismplate allows a character's armor to participate in elemental damage reduction, granting this build a defensive layer beyond that of ordinary armor, a simple upgrade path emerges: Luminary → Permanent Mercenary → Prismplate → Massive Armor → Stronger elemental defense → Dual Wield → Higher damage.

It can also change how a character builds their defenses, allowing them to switch to dual-wielding weapons.

Secondly, Mercenary provides additional offensive and defensive support skills, including damage amplification, curses, culling strikes, and damage transfer.

Therefore, the core idea of the entire Luminary Armor Stacker in Path of Exile 3.29 is to utilize Mercenary to supplement the defense provided by the shield, and then use the freed-up weapon slots to increase damage.

Phased Build

Currently, building this Luminary Armor Stacker ranges from economical options to extremely expensive ultimate armor stacking solutions. For maximizing PoE currency efficiency, a better approach is a phased build mechanism.

1. Get Prismplate Working Reliably

Before pursuing maximum DPS for your character, prioritize ensuring Prismplate remains active.

To maintain the buff's duration, utilize cooldown recovery speed, skill effect duration, and other duration-related attribute bonuses. Your goal is to have a short enough Mercenary skill cooldown and a long enough buff duration to ensure Prismplate doesn't disappear between casts.

2. Start Stacking Armor

Once Prismplate is working reliably, focus on upgrading Armor.

Armor still helps reduce physical damage, but in this build, it also enhances the additional elemental defense provided by Prismplate. This makes every significant armor upgrade more valuable than on a normal character.

3. Solve Energy Shield Recovery

Armor reduces damage taken but doesn't restore your energy shield.

Therefore, in PoE 3.29, you should consider energy shield recovery a core part of your build, not an optional upgrade. For high-difficulty content, seek out gear with Energy Shield on Hit Watcher's Eye, paired with Instant Leech or other reliable energy regeneration methods.

Build Mercenary

As mentioned at the beginning, Mercenary builds should be considered another layer of character builds.

Besides providing Prismplates, attack buffs, and additional defensive support, Mercenary also mitigates some damage taken. Therefore, the roles of this Luminary Armor Stacker are clearly defined:

• Luminary: Armor, Energy Shield, Regeneration, Resistances, and Primary Damage;
• Mercenary: Prismplate, Attack Buffs, Additional Defensive Support;

Upgrading Mercenary is also more effective than spending a lot of Path of Exile Divine Orbs to improve overall character strength.

Gear Priorities

At the current stage of Path of Exile 3.29, players do not need perfect or mirror-tier gear to build a Luminary Armor Stacker.

• Weapons: Luminary uses two-handed weapons, ensuring their damage is sufficient for your primary offensive skills.
• Chest Armor: Prioritize high armor and energy shield, as this slot is crucial to your defensive setup.
• Helmet and Gloves: Utilize these slots to enhance armor, energy shield, resistances, attributes, and offensive affixes needed for your skill build.
• Footwear: Use March of the Legion for increased damage, or Ralakesh's Impatience for improved defense.
• Rings: Use rings to address resistances, attributes, energy shield, and resource requirements.
• Belt: Mageblood is a powerful late-game upgrade item, but not essential for early-game builds. A lower-priced belt can be used until other gear is acquired.

Passive Tree and Cluster Jewels

The priority of Passive Tree should align with the priority of your gear. Players should focus on the following:

• Armor
• Energy Shield
• Aura and reservation efficiency
• Leech
• Damage scaling
• Attributes for gear requirements

Regarding Cluster Jewels, prioritize Bloodscent (for Rage generation) and Fuel the Fight (for Mana Leech). You can also choose Storm Drinker and other life-restoring options depending on your final build.

When to Upgrade?

Upgrade your weakest link in your character's build, rather than blindly spending Path of Exile currency on expensive gear.

Early Budget

At this stage, focusing on Prismplate uptime, basic Armor, Energy Shield, and resistances is sufficient.

Mid-Game Budget

Once you've accumulated a certain budget through grinding and completing events, you can upgrade Watcher's Eye + Cluster Jewels + weapons + Mercenary equipment. These will improve your Luminary Armor Stacker's defensive rotation and damage output.

Late Game Budget

By the late game of PoE 3.29, most players have a sufficient budget. At this point, they can invest heavily in Chaos Orbs and Divine Orbs on Mageblood, high-end weapons, optimized jewels, high-grade Mercenary gear, and rare items that maximize stats.

Overall, Luminary Armor Stacker is a powerful endgame option. Its biggest advantages are extremely high durability, strong regeneration, and a very high damage ceiling.

Players should treat it as a gradual, incremental build, rather than trying to immediately replicate an expensive ultimate character. Start with a manageable budget and continuously upgrade to adapt to different difficulties in Path of Exile 3.29.

There are many ways to farm currency in Path of Exile Patch 3.29, including Atlas, Scarabs, and various Boss Rush runs. Omnitect Rush, however, receives far less attention and has a relatively low entry cost.

The gameplay is simple: get a Chronicle of Atzoatl, enter Temple of Atzoatl, follow the route, quickly reach Apex of Atzoatl, kill Vaal Omnitect, and then start the next Temple. The entire process basically doesn't require any prior Atlas Tree setup or Scarabs; the main cost is Chronicle itself.

Omnitect Rush has recently become popular mainly because of its high earnings. At maximum efficiency, the hourly rate can reach approximately 50 Divine Orbs/hour. However, this is more likely a figure achievable during peak periods; the actual earnings depend on map speed and market prices.

Why is Omnitect Rush Profitable?

Ambition is one of the main sources of income for Omnitect Rush in Curse of the Allflame, with a drop rate roughly estimated at 10%.

As long as its price remains around a few Path of Exile Divine Orbs, this drop alone is already quite substantial. If you can complete a Temple run in an average of 90 seconds, that's nearly 40 runs per hour, easily boosting your earnings.

In addition, Omnitect also drops various Vials, rare Astrolabes, and Rare Items with Incursion-modifiers.

These Rare Items are especially prone to being underestimated because the rooms present in Temple can affect which Incursion modifiers Omnitect can drop.

With a good base item or a high roll, the price per item can be significantly higher than expected.

How to Choose the Right One?

When choosing Chronicles for Omnitect Rush, saving time is the priority. First, make sure Apex of Atzoatl is already connected.

If Apex isn't connected, you'll need to find Explosive Charges and manage your route after entering a Temple. The difference might not be noticeable after one or two runs, but after farming dozens of Temples in PoE Curse of the Allflame, these extra steps will significantly slow down your progress.

When getting Chronicles, it's best to filter Area Level to 83. Incursion Rare has its own Item Level; since you're farming gear with special affixes, there's no need to lower the item level to save on map costs.

Also, it's best to exclude Throne of Atziri. Some Temple layouts force you to pass through Atziri, wasting time and causing problems for builds without Reflect Immunity.

As for Locus of Corruption and Doryani's Institute, while the rooms themselves are valuable, they usually inflate the price of Chronicles as well.

When specifically farming Omnitect Rush, there's no need to specifically target these expensive rooms. Instead, prioritize Chronicles with reasonable prices and possessing Toxic Grove, Crucible of Flame, or Apex of Ascension. As long as there's no significant price markup, these Temples are more suitable for bulk rushes.

Best Temple Rooms to Add

Toxic Grove

Toxic Groves are primarily about "Tacati's" modifiers. Valuable ones include Trigger a Socketed Spell on Wands. The price of this type of gear varies greatly on PoE market. A regular base might not be worth much, but a good base with a high roll can fetch several Divine Orbs.

You don't need to specifically enter and open chests every time you farm. As long as Toxic Grove in Patch 3.29 exists in a Temple, Omnitect has a chance to drop Rare items with Tacati Modifiers. Check it out if it's on your way, but skip it if it's too far from the main route.

Crucible of Flame

Crucible of Flame can also generate significant additional income, primarily because of the special incursion modifiers on Claws for Chilled, Shocked, and Burning Enemy. Even with mediocre base items, these Claws can sell for 20-40 Chaos; with better base items or higher rolls, the price will continue to rise.

Therefore, when running this farm, it's best not to hide all Incursion Rare items. Some ordinary yellow items in PoE might actually be more valuable than loose currency. If you're unsure about prices, keep good base items and high rolls, then gradually lower the price to avoid selling too low from the start.

Sanctum of Immortality and Conduit of Lightning

The former can produce Mask of the Spirit Drinker, while the latter produces Dance of the Offered. These two rooms don't offer particularly high individual returns, but if they're near the route, it's worth opening them.

How to Run Each Temple Faster?

Speed ​​is key when running Omnitect Rush. Upon entering a Temple, open Temple Map to see the connection between the entrance and Apex, then proceed along the shortest route. Deal with Toxic Grove, Crucible of Flame, or Apex of Ascension if they're conveniently located along your route; otherwise, skip them.

The biggest mistake when farming this is repeatedly taking detours to access regular rooms. Taking an extra half-minute just to make a few dozen Chaos Orbs can actually lower your hourly profit. A good layout takes less than a minute, while a less ideal one takes close to two minutes. Across 100 runs, the average was about 93 seconds per Temple.

If each Temple takes three to four minutes on average, the earnings will naturally be difficult to approach 50 PoE Divine Orbs/hour. Boss DPS, movement speed, and familiarity with Temple layouts all directly affect the final Divine Orbs per Hour.

Is Omnitect Rush Worth Farming?

If your build is fast and can kill Omnitect easily, this strategy is definitely worth trying. Its biggest advantage is its simplicity; no need to change Atlas or research Scarab combinations, you can start farming immediately after getting Chronicles. If you're tired of regular map farming, this can also offer a change of pace.

50 Divine Orbs/hour isn't a number you should expect to maintain consistently, but Omnitect Rush is still highly profitable in PoE Patch 3.29 market.

Omnitect Rush is still worth running while Chronicles stay cheap, Ambition holds its price, and Incursion Rares continue to sell. If any of those starts moving the wrong way, the profit can fall off pretty quickly.

Exiles, have you tried the most explosively profitable Rogue Exiles and Mercenaries hunting strategy in Path of Exile 3.29? We'll explain the details of this strategy from start to finish, but before you jump in, ask yourself: can your character withstand hordes of Rogue Exiles and Wild Mercenaries?

There are risks and rewards. Think it through, and let's begin the hunt!

Core Strategy

The core of our farming strategy lies in utilizing the synergy between Scarabs and Atlas Passive Tree to transform Rogue Exiles and Mercenaries into a stable source of high-value items.

Players need to add many Rogue Exiles to the map using specific Scarabs, giving them a high probability of carrying Mercenaries, then forcing all Mercenaries' equipment to become unique, while using passives to ensure that these Mercenaries drop at least two items upon death, or even all of their equipment.

Building upon this, Rogue Exiles also boast a higher PoE currency and Scarab drop rate.

Profitability

This strategy excels in the current PoE 3.29 because it not only provides stable returns but also offers surprising rewards.

Besides acquiring many Divine Orbs and special Scarabs, you have a greater chance to directly obtain top-tier unique Heavy Belts like Mageblood.

More importantly, the map will feature a large number of Infamous Mercenaries - if you primarily play as a Luminary, you can use this to specifically hunt powerful Mercenaries such as Combatant, Manyshot, or Kineticist. These top-tier Mercenaries can fetch hundreds of Divine Orbs or even Mirror-level prices on the trading market.

Map Selection

This strategy doesn't have strict requirements regarding map selection for Path of Exile, but players should prioritize terrain they can complete quickly.

Maps like Mesa and City Square, which are open and have relatively simple paths, are highly recommended.

Second, Tropical Island, Dunes, Beach, and Strand will also work.

However, Jungle Valley is not recommended because pairing it with Templar Astrolabe requires killing the boss, slowing down your farming pace.

Our core goal is speed farming, clearing each map in under two minutes as quickly as possible, so avoid situations requiring boss kills.

Scarabs Configuration

Regarding Scarabs, three are mandatory:

• Trarthan Scarab of Infamy
• Trarthan Scarab of Renown
• Trarthan Scarab of Surprising Alliances

We need to use Trarthan Scarab of Infamy to transform the main Mercenary in PoE map into an Infamous Mercenary and add two additional random Mercenaries.

Trarthan Scarab of Renown is key to our entire farming strategy - it forces all Mercenaries' gear to become unique, laying the foundation for the subsequent loot mechanics.

The third Trarthan Scarab of Surprising Alliances grants a 50% chance for all Rogue Exiles to be accompanied by a Wild Mercenary.

While these three Scarabs aren't cheap (approximately 15 to 35 Chaos Orbs each), with the help of Atlas Passive Tree and loot drops, we can essentially be self-sufficient, making this strategy entirely worthwhile.

Furthermore, if you invest two more Anarchy Scarabs, each adding five extra Rogue Exiles to the map, you can increase that by ten.

And these ten Rogue Exiles also have a 50% chance of triggering an accompanying Wild Mercenary. Combined with the two Mercenaries from Trarthan Scarab of Infamy, this brings the total to approximately seven Wild Mercenaries.

Theoretically, you could add a third Anarchy Scarab, but based on actual testing in Path of Exile 3.29, two Anarchy Scarabs are already sufficient to provide enough PoE currency.

Atlas Passive Tree Configuration

To cater to different character strengths and preferences, this Rogue Exiles and Mercenaries farming strategy offers two Atlas Passive Tree configurations.

High-Risk Configuration

The core objective of this first high-risk configuration is to maximize the drop potential of Rogue Exiles and Mercenaries.

In Mercenary-related nodes, select Contract Killers to allow your allied Mercenaries to deal double damage to both Rogue Exiles and enemy Mercenaries.

Simultaneously, you should acquire all nodes that increase the chance of "dropping all items," especially Loot and Pillage, which provides a 10% chance for Mercenaries to drop a full set of items.

Loot and Pillage node, combined with Trarthan Scarab of Renown's mechanism that converts all gear into unique items, allows you to obtain a complete set of unique gear at once triggered.

For Rogue Exiles, Ruckus node is essential, as it has a chance to generate an additional 20 Rogue Exiles. While this significantly increases the difficulty, the rewards are also dramatically increased.

Exiled Will node makes Rogue Exiles even more powerful and profitable, and is recommended in this high-risk Atlas Passive Tree configuration.

Royal Guard node ensures a chance of Rogue Exiles appearing in the map's boss room and is also worth selecting.

As for the remaining points, you can invest in nodes related to Astrolabe, such as Synthesized Stability and Speaker of the Dead, to increase the output of PoE currency, Scarabs, and Divination Cards.

Low Difficulty Configuration

The second low-difficulty configuration focuses on reducing the risk in Path of Exile, guaranteeing only a 90% Mercenaries spawn rate, and then supplementing it to 100% through two blocker nodes.

Because map affixes are few or nonexistent, we don't need to allocate points to any map affix effects. Instead, we should allocate points to Shrines-related nodes to increase movement speed and damage output, thus clearing maps quickly.

Simultaneously, we should forgo Exiled Will option from the first approach to reduce the threat posed by Rogue Exiles.

Furthermore, allocating points to Sulfite Infusion allows us to accumulate Sulfite needed for Delve while clearing PoE maps, providing a supply for later Delve gameplay.

While this approach sacrifices some Scarabs and unique drop bonuses, it still provides a stable fixed drop reward of Mercenaries and Rogue Exiles on White maps, with a very low investment required.

Gameplay Flow

Upon entering the map, our primary goal is to head straight for the boss and quickly defeat it to trigger any Rogue Exiles that may be present in the boss room.

During your clearing journey, if you find a Mercenary carrying high-value items but not worth recruiting, kill them to claim all their loot. If they have no particular value, you can capture them to temporarily become allies and help you clear the remaining enemies.

The ultimate goal is to clear as much of the map as possible, as each Rogue Exile and Mercenary within the map has its own unique loot drop opportunities.

Patience is crucial in this farming strategy; don't expect bursts of loot on every map. Good luck hunting Rogue Exiles and Mercenaries in Path of Exile 3.29, and may you reap your desired spoils!

There are no balance changes in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.5, so if your Minion build performed consistently well in Patch 0.5.0, you can continue using it.

Of course, you can also switch to stronger Minion builds. However, since they use different types of Minions, the overall gameplay experience can vary significantly, so you can choose one based on the playstyle you prefer.

Tier S

Spirit Walker Zookeeper

Spirit Walker has a clear advantage during the early leveling experience. During the campaign, you can use Twister as a transition skill until you obtain Bear.

After completing your second Ascendancy, you can unlock the ability to tame beasts and switch to Mighty Silverfist. It has a 25% base critical hit chance, along with 100% increased critical damage, giving it extremely high damage that can help you clear the campaign with ease.

However, finding and taming Mighty Silverfist is a long and troublesome process. Once you have tamed it, your build is basically complete. From that point onward, your main job is positioning, while most of the damage is dealt by your monkey.

Spirit Walker Zookeeper is less efficient at clearing maps during the mid-game than Gemling Legionnaire Unearth, but if you can invest more PoE 2 currency into it, its ceiling is higher.

Since Mighty Silverfist has very high base stats, you can save a large number of gear affixes for improving survivability. You can also invest more resources into equipping it with aura support gems, further improving Mighty Silverfist's map-clearing efficiency.

With an extreme budget, Spirit Walker Zookeeper can already match the map-clearing efficiency of Gemling Legionnaire Unearth while offering slightly better single-target damage and maintaining extremely high survivability.

Gemling Legionnaire Unearth

The core idea of this build is to sacrifice your Skeletal Clerics to create corpses, then use Unearth to summon large numbers of fast and powerful Bone Constructs from those corpses, forming an army of skeleton-like constructs.

Gemling Legionnaire typically uses Crossbow Grenade setup while leveling. This playstyle may not appeal to every player, but its efficiency is genuinely high. Although the overall leveling experience is less smooth than Spirit Walker, it makes up for that with consistency.

Immediately after completing the campaign, Gemling Legionnaire Unearth has significantly faster map-clearing speed than Spirit Walker's Mighty Silverfist,

Its single-target damage is comparable to the monkey setup, while its damage scaling requires relatively fewer resources. More importantly, you do not need to tame your Minions. Once you obtain the skill, you can start using it immediately.

At the high budget stage, Gemling Legionnaire's Defensive Layers can match or even surpass those of Spirit Walker.

Although Spirit Walker has advantages in the number of beasts it can tame through Ascendancy passives such as Loyalty and Path of Brilliance, Gemling Legionnaire is by no means inferior when it comes to survivability.

Once investment reaches the super high budget stage, the damage gains of Gemling Legionnaire Unearth begin to plateau, leaving it somewhat behind Spirit Walker Zookeeper.

Tier A

Acolyte of Chayula Minion

The main Minions used by this build are usually Skeletal Reavers. They deal high damage, are highly aggressive, and can make excellent use of Chaos damage increases you provide.

Your core Ascendancy passive, Into the Breach, periodically causes Flames of Chayula to spawn around you.

You need to actively walk over and pick up these remnants. Combined with Ascendancy passive Choice of Power, the remnants you collect will grant you and nearby Minions stacks of Chaos Remnants.

Each stack of Remnants grants additional Chaos damage to your Minions. At level 90, the maximum effect of 10 stacks can provide more than 180% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage.

Acolyte of Chayula build has almost no significant weak period throughout its progression. Once you enter Early Mapping, its efficiency does not drop at all, and it can still tear through almost every type of content.

However, it is not as effortless to play as Spirit Walker Zookeeper, and its endgame ceiling may also be somewhat lower.

Infernal Legion Builds

The core idea of this playstyle is to use Infernal Legion Support Gem to make your Minions continuously burn themselves, dealing Fire damage to nearby enemies.

This playstyle was nerfed in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0. Not only was the highest-damage Infernal Legion III Support Gem removed, but the base Burning damage was also reduced from 20% to 10% of Minion's maximum Life.

To make up for the lost damage, the current version of this build looks for a Tame Beast with extremely high base Life. Through gear and passive skills, the goal is to maximize the pet's Life and skill level.

There are two mainstream variants of this build:

• Using Elephant as the core.
• Using Chimera as the primary damage dealer.

Both variants perform very well, with solid single-target damage that can be raised to a respectable level with further investment. Although they still fall short of S-Tier builds, they are more than capable of handling most content.

The map-clearing efficiency of this build relies on a somewhat cumbersome playstyle. You need to repeatedly press the weapon swap key while progressing through maps to increase your damage.

Tier B

Specters Builds

With Bind Spectre skill, you can resurrect elite monsters killed in specific maps or areas as permanent Minions. These Spectres retain their original forms and skills, and they can benefit from all Minion bonuses provided by your passive tree and gear.

You can copy a Spectres build template across multiple classes, and it can work well on all of them. Based on the mainstream builds in PoE Patch 0.5, several Spectres stand out:

• Gargantuan Wasp
• Vaal Guard
• Starlit Harvester
• Powered Zealot

You can choose different Spectres based on different situations. The main advantage is its flexibility, although its ceiling is not particularly high.

If you simply want to progress through the early game quickly, Acolyte of Chayula is the most recommended choice in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.5. If you prefer traditional Minions, Spirit Walker offers a smoother leveling experience. Overall, there are no balance changes to Minion builds in the current version, so just choose the build you enjoy.

Although Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.5, launching on September 4, is not a full standalone update, Forbidden Rites event league it introduces will trigger an economic reset, meaning progression within the league starts from scratch.

Therefore, to quickly complete the new challenges and encounters in Forbidden Rites and unlock further progress and rewards, utilizing proven league-starter builds is essential.

While the league-specific content isn't fully detailed yet, we can infer which builds will excel in Patch 0.5.5 based on known information regarding Trial of Chaos and endgame optimizations. These include:

• Bone Cage Oracle Build
• Bleed Bow Blood Mage Build
• Smith of Kitava Ancestral Warrior Totems Build
• Martial Artist Melee Build
• Shield Wall Titan Build

Bone Cage Oracle Build

This build relies on the cast on critical strike mechanic. Its core gameplay loop involves casting a vine-based skill to trigger a critical hit, which in turn activates Bone Cage skill, dealing massive damage to enemies.

The build offers straightforward damage output and has modest gear requirements, making it ideal for the league-start phase.

Even if you plan to take it into the endgame, you don't necessarily need to acquire new items; simply investing PoE 2 currency to upgrade your existing gear will suffice.

In combat, the build delivers fast map-clearing speeds while maintaining a reliable source of Energy Shield to ensure your survivability.

In other words, whether you are a newcomer trying Path of Exile 2 for the first time with Patch 0.5.5 or someone planning to dive in at the 1.0 launch, Bone Cage Oracle Build is a viable choice.

Of course, the build isn't without flaws; its main issue is high mana consumption, which may require you to reroll specific item modifiers or carry sufficient consumables to manage your resources.

Bleed Bow Blood Mage Build

This build is expected to function primarily based on Essence Drain and Contagion during the early league-start phase of Patch 0.5.5, before transitioning into a Bleed Bow playstyle in the later stages.

The essence of Bleed Bow build lies in accumulating massive physical damage to trigger bleeding; this bleed effect deals additional damage over time based on a percentage of the initial physical hit.

Building on this foundation, you can leverage Blood Mage Ascendancy class to boost elemental damage and gain converted bleed damage, resulting in explosive power capable of instantly eliminating enemies.

As you upgrade your gear, your character's survivability (tankiness) will also increase, as this playstyle offers ample opportunity to stack maximum health.

Smith of Kitava Ancestral Warrior Totems Build

This build is based on a variant of PoE 2 Smite skill, utilizing Ancestral Warrior Totems combined with Sunder to deal massive area-of-effect damage, allowing for rapid currency and XP farming during the early game.

Generally, you can use Shield Charge as a transitional skill before fully committing to the totem setup once the totem skills are unlocked.

By choosing Smith of Kitava Ascendancy, you can allocate specific passive points to grant your body armor a 30% Spirit bonus.

Furthermore, unlocking Ancestral Bond keystone passive allows you to sacrifice your own direct damage output in exchange for superior totem capabilities and deployment options. Of course, opting for this playstyle depends on your personal preferences.

Martial Artist Melee Build

This build relies on various wind-based skills, centered around Whirling Assault, to achieve excellent screen-clearing efficiency.

Specifically, equipping Decree of Flight leggings and a Duality Warding Quarterstaff allows you to maintain a permanent guard state, ensuring reliable survivability. Additionally, allocating Deflection passive node increases your effective hit pool.

To map more quickly with this build, incorporate Tempest Flurry skill and either swap Duality staff for one with the highest possible attack speed or reroll Duality staff's attack speed modifier.

Shield Wall Titan Build

The advantages of this PoE 2 build are clear: Shield Wall skill provides substantial armor, ensuring robust defense throughout the campaign and making the leveling process much smoother.

You will also need to continuously upgrade your shield and ensure that any attack speed modifiers on your main-hand weapon apply globally. Additionally, pay attention to the balance between survivability and damage output when selecting your gear.

Regarding specific gear choices, prioritize finding and equipping a shield with high armor values and gloves that provide damage bonuses. For other gear slots, focus on attributes such as life regeneration and armor.

As for skill gem setups, this build initially utilizes Rolling Slam and Boneshatter. The former requires support gems like Fist of War and Fire Attunement, while the latter needs Impact Shockwave.

Another crucial skill is Infernal Cry, as it ultimately enables you to deal higher slam damage.

Once you unlock Shield Wall, you can replace the initial dual-skill setup with it, fully transitioning into a dedicated shield-based build. Furthermore, incorporating Leap Slam will enhance your ability to handle groups of monsters.

The builds mentioned above are recommendations based on known changes in Patch 0.5.5 and past Path of Exile 2 league-start experiences; their actual performance in Forbidden Rites event will depend on the specific mechanics of the event itself.

Additionally, once Patch 0.5.5 goes live, you can adapt other PoE 2 builds you enjoy to suit the new league's progression!

Path of Exile 2 1.0 will officially launch on December 11th, bringing with it a new class - Duelist.

Duelist is the game's second hybrid Strength/Dexterity class. Its passive skill tree starts at the bottom center, in the same area as Mercenary. This advantageous starting position allows Duelists to easily specialize in various talent nodes such as armor, evasion, melee, and projectiles, providing players with a high degree of build freedom.

Weapons and Combat Style

Duelist's signature weapon is the sword, which can be chosen as follows:

• One-handed sword: Dual-wielding/Single-wielding (with shield or staff)
• Two-handed sword: For higher damage output

The core of swords in Path of Exile 2 lies in stance switching and a smooth combat experience. Players can seamlessly switch between different skills, weaving together various stances to create chained, coordinated combos.

Notably, swords possess a unique Parry mechanic - the ability to parry when dual-wielding swords. This mechanic provides Duelists with a crucial defensive tool, allowing them to unleash powerful attacks in melee combat while also deflecting fatal blows at critical moments.

Unlike other melee classes in PoE 2, Duelists have a complete stance system. Combat isn't simply about pressing skills and waiting for cooldowns; it revolves around switching between ready stance and blood/sand stance.

Many sword skills have different effects in ready stance, and the performance of subsequent skills changes upon entering blood/sand stance. This stance-driven design gives Duelists a higher skill ceiling and greater combo depth.

It's clear that Duelists' high build freedom is reflected not only in the skill tree but also in weapon combinations. For players who want to explore diverse combat styles using different swords, Path of Exile 2 currency reserves are equally important. After all, a complete build requires not only a suitable weapon but also proper equipment and continuous enhancement to truly unleash its full potential.

Core Skills Explained

Bloodied Blade

Bloodied Blade is the key skill for entering Blood Stance. Using this skill after parrying an enemy will apply bleeding to the target. If Frenzy Charge is consumed, each hit will apply bleeding to all targets hit. The character will automatically enter Blood Stance after the attack ends.

Sand Scour

Sand Scour is one of the primary means for Duelists to enter Sand Stance. Using this skill causes the character to step back slightly and inflict a heavy stun on armored enemies. A successful hit will enter Sand Stance.

If Frenzy Charge is consumed, Sand Scour gains additional effects. In combos, this skill is often used in conjunction with Engage (mentioned later) to create a rhythmic cycle of stepping back and then dashing forward.

Cyclone

Cyclone is one of the most iconic skills in PoE. In Duelist's two stances, Cyclone is presented in two distinct versions:

• Blood Stance: Presented with a red effect, focusing on damage output and granting additional attack bonuses.
• Sand Stance: Presented with a yellow effect, it fires sand discs while rotating, increasing area-of-effect damage.

This stance-switching design gives the classic Cyclone different tactical values ​​in different scenarios - switch to Blood Stance for maximum damage against bosses, and switch to Sand Stance for efficient clearing of mobs.

Perforate

Perforate is a classic skill from PoE 1, but it has been redesigned. Unlike the original version which stabs the ground to summon spikes, the new version stabs enemies, penetrating the target and striking all enemies behind it. The skill performs three rapid, consecutive stabs, with the final strike always inflicting bleeding.

In Blood Stance, multiple spikes erupt from the ground, hitting enemies multiple times; in Sand Stance, the spikes spread outwards. However, using this skill in a ready stance allows you to skip the first two thrusts and directly deliver a higher-damage, guaranteed-bleeding finishing blow.

Earth Rend

Earth Rend can be understood as a sword-based version of Earth Shatter from PoE 1. Upon use, it creates a fissure in front of you, ending with a blade. If used in a ready stance, blades will be generated along the entire path of the fissure.

While the skill itself doesn't deal high damage, its true value lies in its synergy with other skills - the generated blade can be detonated, enhanced, or converted by subsequent skills, making it a cornerstone of the entire sword combo system.

Blade Conduit

Blade Conduit infuses the blade generated by Earth Rend with lightning damage. When used, the character uses their sword as a lightning conduit, summoning a surging nova around themselves and leaving shocked ground. This skill converts 100% of physical damage into lightning damage.

Blades enhanced by Blade Conduit gain additional lightning damage. Furthermore, Shocked Ground works exceptionally well with Cyclone - causing a shock with every spin.

Blade Plunge

Blade Plunge is the ultimate combo skill with the highest damage potential in the entire sword skill tree. Similar to Earth Rend, it plunges the sword into the ground, creating three fissures around the character, each ending in a blade. You can channel to detonate all blades - not only those generated by Blade Plunge itself, but also those generated by Earth Rend.

Extending the channel time grants supercharge to the blades, further increasing their damage and area of ​​effect. Crucially, this skill utilizes stance synergy:

• Blood Stance: Creates a Blood Pool at each blade location, dealing continuous damage.
• Sand Stance: Creates a Sand Disc at each blade location, dealing continuous damage.

Since the area-of-effect damage from multiple blades stacks, this combo's single-target burst damage is already terrifying.

Summary

As a major addition to Path of Exile 2 version 1.0, Duelist offers players who enjoy melee swordplay a new option that combines depth of gameplay with flexible build options. Its unique stance switching mechanism and rich sword skill set allow for high versatility in clearing maps, single-target burst damage, and survivability.

For players who love melee combat and pursue the ultimate in skillful gameplay, Duelist will undoubtedly be one of the first features to experience upon the official launch of Path of Exile 2. As more game content is revealed, we look forward to seeing this class shine even brighter on the continent of Wraeclast.