Perfect Strike Smith of Kitava build guide

POB - config is adjusted to fix some things that don't work in pob yet, remove if an update fixes them.

You can gradually scale this build all the way from act 1 to t4 pinnacles, I have poured a lot of divines into it but it can survive and clear t15+ maps with not much investment. Prioritize getting the strength needed to use giant's blood with a decent weapon (can use a lower level base until you have enough for the best bases) by getting gear with high tier fire res + strength suffixes, cap block and chaos res, get 90% all res with max fire res soul cores and jewels (or use infernoclasp), then get more life on everything. Also get Thrillsteel ASAP (super cheap unique), corrupt for an extra socket.

Increasing aps for Perfect Strike instead of slowing it down for more raw hit damage leads to better gameplay overall and also better dps in practice vs pinnacles. Accounting for infernal cry usage time we currently do about 1.5 mil dps vs t4 pinnacles which is more than enough given how much we can facetank, damage can go up further once I get a GG weapon.

Bear in mind the 'endgame' gear you see here has a weapon than only cost 4-5 divines iirc. I was comfortably clearing t17+ maps and bosses with a 1 div weapon. Be careful with other Smith of Kitava guides that make recommendations based on having a 40+ divine weapon (or two). Boneshatter is much better for clear than just using leap slam when you are using an average endgame weapon.

Before you can cap block using block chance mods on your max fire res + fire pen jewels just take some block nodes on the tree. Megalomaniac jewel is a lategame luxury, once you have some divines it's worth trying to livesearch for one with a couple of notables that you want.

Avatar of Fire is just a downside for any build using leap slam + boneshatter combo for clear and doesn't really do anything for Perfect Strike dps either, always check in PoB + tooltip if you are unsure. Losing leech and a lot of stun buildup for leap slam is not worth it.

Newly buffed Unwavering Stance (light stun immunity) feels amazing and IMO every warrior build should be running it alongside Thrillsteel + Parrying Motion. You will forget that dodge roll is even a mechanic in the game. I can reliably dodge Xesht hand slam with just movement speed alone.

Pinnacle content shown at the start is all t4 except for simulacrum which is t3 (waiting for them to adjust it). I had no experience with t4 King in the Mists before doing it on this build, hence things got a little sketchy towards the end, with more practice the fight will be easy. t4 Olroth is a cakewalk (can even juice him a bit with remnant mods if you want), t4 Xesht is comfortable. We do not oneshot t4 pinnacles but we clear them in a few minutes at most and have the tankiness and sustain not need to worry about oneshots. Arbiter is the only exception but that fight sucks ass so I don't care about it, the quest version is easy at least.