SHIELD CRUSH! League Starter Act 1 to 10 Leveling Guide | PoE 3.25 (Pre-Patch Notes)

Key Changes Teased so far (this is pre-patch notes so more will likely change): - Multiplicative changes to quality meaning that it is very likely this skill could be getting buffed due to potential buffing for the emperors vigilence shield - Potential melee buffs will also land this build in a great position in 3.25 (if the assumptions are correct), if not, this build should work just fine Key Notes: - This is a slower scaling build - Campaign completion time on League start without any leveling gear will be around 11-12 hours - If you were considering Bonestatter, this skill is a little slower but scales up pretty well into the endgame similar to boneshatter - This build is a little slower for leveling than most other but ramps up in the end game as you progress gear to the endgame tree - Make sure you are always on the lookout for a better shield while progressing through leveling (more shield armour = more damage); by the end of Act 10; ideally something with 1000+ armour (possible solution Lionseye Remorse or Magna Eclipse are two really good options before you get your endgame shield) - Focus on capping resistances ASAP before getting to endgame maps for a much more defensive experience - Mana sustain is achieved by using clarity reserved to life using arrogance; this should overcome any mana issues early on if you are running into a bottleneck LEVELING GUIDE: \\ACT1: - Leveling using Smite from Lvl 1; Equip a 2 handed axe ideally initially or if you want more defence, a siege axe and shield. (Smite + ancestral call) - Equip Ancestral Protector to buff up attack speed (pending if there are any changes to totems which might have been teased) - Equip Precision Aura - Equip Blood and Sand Aura - Equip Warbanner - Equip Vitality - Equip Enduring Cry (self trigger when needed) - By the end of Act 1 you can choose to switch to Shield Crush + attack speed support + lifetap or you can keep using smite until you unlock multistrike in act 4 **Progression Speed: Moderate, not the fastest but its ok; clean run from a league start scenario is about 55mins if you're RNG is bad. \\ACT 2: No major changes to setup, look to scale up to a 4 link and add impale support to your Shield Crush setup. **Progression Speed: Moderate, not the fastest but its ok. \\ACT 3: To get the below gems, go to the Library and complete the quest in this area to get access to the below: - Also equip call to arms + enduring cry to auto trigger your warcry - Add Automation + molten shell to auto trigger your defense skills - Add arrogance to your clarity setup to reserve life and fix mana sustain - Add Flesh and Stone if you can fit it into your aura setup **Progression Speed: Moderate, not the fastest but its ok. \\ACT 4: - Make sure you Ascend asap; take Undeniable for a significant Speed Increase to attack speed - You can now drop warbanner from your setup and switch to dread banner for additional impale - Once you get access to Multistrike; you can choose to switch to Shield Crush if you were not using this previously and still leveling with smite; this will give you a significan increase to attack speed and damage - Shield Crush Setup: (Shield Crush + Impale + Melee Physical Damage + Multistrike) - You can now add in Clarity and reserve Life instead of Mana with Arrogance to sustain mana **Progression Speed: Starts to slow down until Act 7 or so \\ACT 5: - Add in Assassins Mark now (Assassins Mark + Mark on Hit + Life Tap) to start marking enemies and increasing damage against them in in preparation for "Marked for Death" on skill tree - Rebalance Aura's to the following (drop all other auras): - Bloods and Sand - Flesh and Stone - Determination - Vitality - Clairty + arrogance (if you are having issues balancing this, for now leave out Flesh and Stone until you get the nodes on Champion of the Cause) **Progression Speed: Starts to slow down until Act 7 or so \\ACT 6: - No changes - If you have had some Chaos drop; on trade league look to purchase an early set of Tanu Ahi Gloves which will give you onslaught, leech and adrenaline (we will use this instead of the old focus setup I used to use before the MB1 nerf in 3.24) **Progression Speed: Starts to slow down until Act 7 or so \\ACT 7: - Acend and pick up Untiring; this will provide a big boost to defense **Progression Speed: Build now starts to speed up a bit before getting to Act 10 when the next hurdle is \\ACT 8: - No adjustments, just keep leveling; look for better shields as you go. \\ACT 9: - No adjustments, just keep leveling; look for better shields as you go. - If you are not level 65 by the end of Act 9; farm Blood Aquaduct until you reach lvl 65 as you will be under level for Act 10 and you will have some issues in the last act of the game before you reach mapping where you to progress gear much more easily with mapping drops and currency - Ascend again going for 'Unstoppable'' \\ACT 10: - Focus on maxing out resistances at this stage - Progress through the Act10 - Early Mapping trees - Farm for the below uniques below Sources of Power Spikes ine early mapping once gear bceomes available: + Seething Fury Verdian Jewel ( you can also try and corrupt veridian jewels that drop to get this item early on yourself if you were playing SSF) + Emporer's Vigilence Shield - this will increase damage hugely + Replica Dreamfeath - this will increase damage hugely (this can be farmed out of Heist if need be) + Fourth Vow Final Acendencey one you obtain an offering of the goddess from maps: Unbreakable \\Beyond T3 Mapping: - refer to the endgame tree and build towards this; this will be a gradual process; as I will be playing this build, I will be releasing updates on the build as I progress it through endgame First Target Items one you get into Maps (Tier 1 - 5 Grinding) in order or sequence: 1. Emporer's Vigilence 2. DawnStrider, Vaal Greaves 3. Devoto's Devolution/Abyssus Helm 4. Seething Fury 5. Replica Dream Feather 6. Fourth Vow