One of THE BEST All Rounders I've Played! - 3.19 Steel Champ League Start Build Guide

---------------------------------------- WARNING WARNING WARNING ---------------------------------------- I will do my best to keep this PoB updated as needed with new items or strategies that present themselves. If you have any issues or need guidance on this build join my discord, linked in the description of every one of my videos. That being said they are not there specifically to help you. They play the game just like you do and if you want to be successful in Path of Exile you have to put the work in. Don't expect them to be Google for you. If you absolutely feel like you need 1 on 1 help, I have Patreon tiers for this, but please understand that I highly value my time. --------------------- INTRODUCTION --------------------- Please check the most recent build guide on my YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/c/bigducks Liking my Videos and Subscribing to my YouTube channel help me to keep bringing you more content like this, if you just grab the PoB please consider giving me a like to help me out, I appreciate all of your support! Keep in mind there may be multiple videos per build, always look for the most recent video. Splitting Steel / Lancing Steel This is an Impale build that heavily utilizes auras and clever game mechanics to deal large amounts of both single target AND clear damage. This build can clear extremely well with Splitting Steel and then with a gem swap to Lancing Steel becomes an effective boss character. These abilities give you an additional ability named Call of Steel, this is both a good source of AoE as well as our main way of gaining steel shards that our abilities need to do full damage. The more expensive versions of this build stacks Evasion / Armour heavily to achieve a significant amount of defenses. ------------ RATINGS ------------ GOOD -> Clearing, Bossing, Survival, Movement Speed, Elemental Damage Taken, Trade League, Softcore, Physical Damage Taken MEH -> Playstyle, Chaos Damage Taken BAD -> Cost, Solo Self Found, Damage Taken Over Time, Hardcore DIFFICULTY OF PLAY - HIGH This build has a 2 button playstyle and has MANY additional abilities. It also utilizes a TON of high level mechanics and balancing auras, stats, and such can be overwhelming for some people. If you are a brand new player, understand that this build may be a little difficult for you. That being said it is an extremely rewarding build that will teach you a lot about the game. ----------------------- CONFIGURATION ----------------------- The current configuration is set to reflect the damage you would do while clearing maps and then finishing off a map boss. It does not do any "PoB warrioring" and should reflect typical boss damage you could do during a map. You will need to adjust for any alt qualities that you don't have or your personal gem levels/qualities. For accurate damage on a boss account for turning flasks on/off. --------------------------------------------- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS --------------------------------------------- Q: Bandit? A: Kill All. --- Q: How do I fix my damage while leveling? A: You most likely are not accounting for the Precise Technique keystone, make sure your Accuracy is high enough. You also may not be Impale chance capped. --- Q: I can't find an item with those exact stats what do I do? A: This build takes a decent amount of shifting around stats and gear to be able to attain all of the stats we need. You will need to be clever with crafting or buying items to cover all of your bases. --- Q: How do I stop dying? A: BOSS SLAMS WILL KILL YOU ON ALMOST ANY BUILD. YOU CANNOT TANK BOSS ATTACKS IN PATH OF EXILE WITHOUT A *VERY* SPECIFIC BUILD. This build relies mainly on Evasion, Armour, and Spell Supression. It has excellent recovery but boss slams should not be tanked. This build has difficulty with Damage over Time, even moreso on the low-life versions. Life recovery is very powerful for low life petrified blood builds. --- Q: How do I do more damage? A: Spend more money. This build is hungry for currency and every little upgrade matters. Nowadays in Path of Exile you HAVE to keep investing into your build. You can't spend 50c and hope to complete the entirety of the game. Making currency is also easier than it has ever been. If you need guidance on how to make currency, consult some of my recent currency making videos on YouTube. --- Q: What about Clusters? Do I HAVE to use them? A: You absolutely should if the guide step suggests them. Clusters are extremely powerful and you should not overlook them. --- Q: Forbidden Flame / Flesh? A: There are like 10 different combos that work for this build, listed in relative order of power. Arena Challenger Headsman Overwhelm First to Strike Last to Fall / Inspirational / Master of Metal / Fortitude (just take the other nodes) Bane of Legends Outmatch and Outlast --- Q: My question isn't in here, what do I do? A: Double check that you have looked through the video and this PoB. If you can't find it you can join my discord, linked in the description of all of my videos. Please remember that the people in the discord channels are very helpful but it is not their job to assist you. This is a knowledge based game and you have to put in the work to be successful. If you absolutely feel like you need 1 on 1 help, I have Patreon tiers for this, but please understand that I highly value my time. ------------------ LEVELING UP ------------------ Prioritize The Gems you need immediately, Main Links > Movement > Auras > Utility. Check the "Skills" tab for which gems to grab. Levels 1 - Endgame || Splitting Steel / Shattering Steel + Lancing Steel Splitting Steel and Shattering Steel will carry you through the campaign easily. You can also use Spectral Helix, but you will have to account for impale chance. I prefer Steel Abilities. Gearing - Update your weapon constantly with the Recipe: White 2H Sword (Quality if You Can) + Blacksmith's Whetstone + Rare Rustic Sash - Augment and Regal and then Craft AS / Added Phys etc. - Focus on getting Movement Speed boots, Gear with the Links that you need, Life and Resists as well as Sapphire Rings for the Merveil fight. - Remember that keeping your Accuracy above your Life is important for Precise Technique's damage multiplier. - Pick up Blue/Yellow items and sell them unidentified to the vendor for Transmutation Shards and Identified for Alteration Shards. - Focus on topping off your resists early on and re-checking them after the Act 5 Boss and Act 10 Boss, grab as much life as you can. - Do not ignore links, if you feel your damage is lacking it is 100% because you are not setting up your links properly. Every ability is important, and you should be prioritizing links in softcore. You can run a few white pieces of gear with resists crafted on them from the bench in your hideout (talk to helena in act 2) with proper links until you can get your items together. - Don't ignore Essences, they can be very powerful for turning white pieces of gear that have proper links into resist / life gear. - Don't forget about your flasks, update your life and mana flasks consistently and make sure to stay on top of getting new flasks as they become available to you. Tips - You NEED to keep your sword updated, if you are lacking damage, look at your current weapon and main links. Also don't be afraid to use Call of Steel consistently to help clear. - If you need upgrades for your gear as you level remember that you can turn mediocre gear into great leveling gear by using the crafting bench in your hideout. ------------------------------ GENERAL PLAYSTYLE ------------------------------ The video guide will be MUCH better at showing how to do this but I will give you some basics. - Activate Bloodrage - Use Splitting Steel to Clear and occasionally use Call of Steel to refill your Shards and kill large packs - For easy bosses (maps) drop your Ancestral Protector and Swap to Blood Stance if using Flesh and Stone - For harder bosses also swap Splitting Steel for Lancing Steel. --------------------------- BUILD TRANSITIONS --------------------------- This build has multiple versions. Early on going mostly damage and skipping on some survivability is probably the best use for this character. It can get you some easy boss kills as well as be a pretty solid mapping character. Transition to the Terminus Est Crit Tree when you obtain Terminus Est and have the regrets to do so. Swap into the Spell Suppression Tree as soon as you obtain enough Spell Suppression gear to cap. Swap to the Mid Game tree as you obtain the items shown in the Mid Gear section + Clusters. When you are able to obtain a decent Paradoxica and The Saviour you can make the transition to Dual Wield, which is the intended playstyle. ------------------- ASCENDANCY ------------------- Champion - The premier do it all Aura / Impale / Fortify ascendancy. Master of Metal - Provides +1 Maximum Impales as well as a significant amount of damage PER impale on enemies. We scale added damage extremely well and this has tons of it. Also Armour. Unstoppable Hero - Gives us Stun Immunity, Attack Speed, and Armour / Evasion while we are Fortified... unfortunately we can't get Fortify until we obtain the next point. Fortitude - Provides 20 Stacks of Fortify and enables Unstoppable Hero. 4th Ascendancy Point Depends on the Version of the Build First to Strike, Last to Fall - Provides us significant damage and defenses, while also enabling us to more easily go low life / Petrified Blood. Inspiration - Significantly improves the effectiveness of our Auras and makes our Banner Free. -------------------------------------------------- CRAFTING AND OBTAINING THE GEAR -------------------------------------------------- REMEMBER that you can always just buy all of the final pieces from the trade website. Crafting most of the time is cheaper. Typically leveling items or items in the "Budget" section that are just Life / Resists and that are not hard to obtain will not be included in this section. There will be items that simply aren't in need of detailed crafting notes, I will mention that in those cases. Weapons / Offhands This build mainly uses Unique Weapons Terminus Est - A VERY solid leveling sword, should be extremely cheap and can carry you for a long time. Paradoxica - You're looking for %Physical Damage + Impale Chance and Attack Speed + Dex/Int Ideally but this is a very expensive version. You can use Phys / Crit versions or whatever is cheap early on. Drops from Safehouses in Betrayal but good luck finding one. Buy it. The Saviour - Drops from Sirus, not SUPER rare but not common. Helmet Obtain a +1 to Lancing Steel Projectiles base on an Armour / Evasion helmet, HAS to have Evasion on it for Suppression Chance Mastery. Use either Chaos Resist or Intelligence Essences until you land on Life + 1 Good Resist, craft anything you have room for. (Int, Suppression, Mana for Aura Issues) Use Eldritch Currency to Apply Increased Mana Reservation and Reduced Mana Cost of Attacks, upgrading the tier of MRE is powerful but can get expensive. Body Armour Your goal is to obtain an Eva / Arm+Eva base with T1 Spell Suppression and Chaos Resist (another resist is nice as well). You can do this through buying one off the trade website (probably easiest) with the mods already on it, you can try to get one with one of those mods fractured as well. Alternatively you can use Chaos Resist Essences until you land T1 Suppression. If you don't have a 3rd suffix you can attempt to add one of your liking through Meta Crafting (Suffixes cannot be changed and any harvest craft etc you like). Once your Suffixes are set, craft Suffixes cannot be Changed and hit it with a veiled chaos orb, (if your prefixes are full you can use an eldritch annul). You're looking for either %Life or Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments. Craft the one you don't get. Add Determination Effect / Aura Effect through Eldritch Currency. (Pride Effect / Grace effect are okay too, check PoB) Gloves Gloves must have Evasion for Spell Suppression Mastery Easiest way to obtain these is to look on the trade website with T1 Chance to impale + any other Hunter mod. Look for bases that already have other mods that you want. Once you have your base hit it with a Maven Orb and hope the 50/50 goes in your favour. Craft Whatever it is missing after. Alternatively you can take the significantly more expensive route and obtain Elevated Impale Gloves and then Awakener Orb them together with Elevated Projectile Damage (doesnt have to be elevated, but if you're doing this you might as well). Try to make one of the bases Gripped or Sinestral Gloves. If you get a 3rd bad Prefix you can craft Cannot Roll Attack mods and Annul until it hits the bad prefix. If you REALLY hate yourself you can fill 2 of the suffixes, craft prefix cannot be changed, and then hit it with a Reforge Life+ until you hit a good life roll in the 3rd prefix, use the cannot roll attack mods step to remove bad life rolls. Once you have your Prefixes set you can lock prefixes and reforge speed for Attack Speed and then craft suffix. If you have an additional open suffix you could slam chaos for chaos res but you might get Chaos DoTM. Lightning Slam is the only "Safe" one. Boots Boots must have Evasion for Spell Suppression Mastery. Grab some Fractured Spell Suppression Evasion boots and hit them with Ele Avoidance Essences until you get a good resistance roll. Suffixes cannot be changed, Veiled Chaos orb for Movement Speed. Craft Life. Amulet Aul's Uprising is the endgame amulet for this build. With the change to the Reservation mastery this is the only way we can run Pride without issues. You can attempt to make use of Ashes of the Stars but you need a VERY good one to beat out Aul's and it will be insanely expensive this league. Rings Buy ilvl 84+ Steel Rings, I'd grab like 3 or 4 of them. You can look for Steel Rings with Int, Chaos Res, or Life Fractured on them. Quality to 20 with Attack. Use Essences of Contempt until you obtain a solid ring with a combo of Life / Resists / Chaos Res / Int. At least one of your rings will need -mana cost of non channeling crafted on it so make sure to account for that. Belt Perseverance is best for any time youre stacking Arm/Eva but Ryslatha's is also okay, the Magnate is solid if you get the strength for it. Corruptions are pretty easy on Perseverance, %Life or Aura Effect are best. Cluster Jewels Large Clusters Attack rerolls work here but good luck, buy it is better. - You're looking for Fuel the Fight and 2 other good mods. Chaos Res or Int is good as an additional Stat. Hit and Run is solid to cap Spell Suppression. If you're using the Low Life version the best DMG mod is Feed the Fury. Medium Clusters Projectile Clusters with specifically Eye to Eye and Repeater are VERY high damage mods, but this build has a ton of points on the tree it wants. Specifically the low life non Arm/Eva stack version can use them. Jewels This build can use basically all of the random powerful Unique Jewels Forbidden Flesh & Flame - Refer to the Q&A section for ideas. Watcher's Eye - +2 Impales with Pride is the main modifier here, LGoH Vitality along with that is good, if you can't afford it try to get added life on hit elsewhere (rings, Poacher's Mark etc). You can also go Spell Suppression /w Grace to help cap Spell Suppression. Lord of Steel - Best place for Corrupting Blood Immunity, go for Use Speed / Reflected DMG Massive Thread of Hope - Extremely powerful in the bottom slot of the tree, drops off Uber Sirus, GL Impossible Escape - Conduit is really powerful here but you COULD do Supreme Ego (not cheap) and annoint Sovereignty. ------------------------ FINAL THOUGHTS ------------------------ A build that I have a soft spot for, powerful bosser, powerful clearer, and now also pretty damned tanky. If you have suggestions or just want to hangout with the community make sure to join my discord linked here -> https://discord.gg/aDtqeDC Thanks for taking the time to read through all of this! If you enjoy the build make sure to let your friends know about my YouTube Channel / Twitch Stream and have them join the discord server! Thanks, have fun and stay safe out there in Wraeclast, and I'll see you all next time!! ---