5 Best Build Path of Exiles | 2023

Path of Exiles

Path of Exile, an action RPG with complex character customization, offers various build options that can empower players to overcome its challenging content. This guide delves into one of the most robust and effective build archetypes: the Summoner. Summoning builds revolve around commanding hordes of minions, ranging from skeletal warriors to elemental spirits, to overwhelm enemies and control the battlefield. The flexibility of summoners allows for diverse playstyles, from tactical positioning to passive dominance. Embark on this comprehensive exploration of the Summoner build, a force to be reckoned with in the vast expanse of Path of Exile.

The cornerstone of any Summoner build is the choice of minions. Each minion type possesses unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Skeletons, for instance, provide a cost-effective frontline with their sturdy defense and reasonable damage output. Zombies, while slower, offer superior durability and can spread a debilitating infection upon death. Spectres, summoned from slain rare or unique monsters, inherit their abilities, allowing for diverse combinations and strategic adaptations. By carefully selecting and managing minions, players can tailor their army to suit specific encounters and playstyles.

Complementing the minion army is a robust arsenal of support skills. These skills empower minions, enhance their abilities, and provide utility. Minion Life and Minion Damage augment the durability and offensive capabilities of the undead horde. Convocation allows for swift relocation of minions, enabling tactical positioning and rapid response to changing battlefield conditions. Additionally, auras such as Hatred and Haste provide global bonuses to minions, further boosting their effectiveness. Mastery of these support skills is crucial for maximizing the potential of the Summoner build, allowing players to unleash a relentless tide of devastation upon their foes.

Path of Exile: Master the Ultimate Build

1. Choosing the Right Ascendancy Class

Embarking on your Path of Exile journey begins with selecting an Ascendancy Class, a pivotal choice that shapes your character’s fundamental abilities. Each class grants access to unique passive skills, empowering you with specialized strengths and playstyles. Consider your desired role in combat and the skill gems you plan to utilize when making this vital decision.

For those seeking unparalleled damage output, the Marauder or Witch Ascendancies offer exceptional options. The Marauder’s Juggernaut subclass boasts immense survivability, making it ideal for front-line combat. In contrast, the Witch’s Elementalist subclass excels in harnessing elemental power for devastating spellcasting. If balanced gameplay is your preference, the Ranger or Duelist Ascendancies provide versatile builds that can adapt to various playstyles.

To further assist your decision-making, below is a table summarizing the strengths of each Ascendancy Class:

Ascendancy Class	Strengths
Marauder	Excellent survivability, high physical damage
Witch	Powerful spellcasting, elemental damage specialization
Ranger	Versatility, dexterity-based combat
Duelist	Agile melee combat, high critical strike potential

Optimal Skill Gems for Elemental Devastation

To fully maximize the potential of an Elemental Devastation build, it is crucial to select the most effective skill gems. These gems enhance the character’s abilities and complement the core mechanics of the build. Here are some of the key skill gems that synergize particularly well with Elemental Devastation:

Flame Surge

Flame Surge is a potent single-target skill that unleashes a surge of fire damage upon an enemy. It has a good range and can pierce through multiple enemies, making it an excellent option for clearing out smaller groups of foes. Additionally, Flame Surge benefits greatly from increased elemental damage bonuses, which are a central focus of the Elemental Devastation ascendancy.

Lightning Tendrils

Lightning Tendrils is a channeling skill that releases bolts of lightning in a focused beam, dealing damage to enemies within its path. It has a high damage output and can be used to rapidly kill weaker enemies or deal sustained damage to tougher ones. Lightning Tendrils scales well with increased lightning damage and elemental damage, making it a valuable addition to an Elemental Devastation build.

Cold Snap

Cold Snap is a utility skill that deals cold damage to nearby enemies and applies a debuff that reduces their cold resistance. This debuff greatly amplifies the damage of subsequent cold attacks and spells, making it a valuable tool for increasing the effectiveness of other elemental damage abilities. Cold Snap’s low mana cost allows it to be used frequently, maximizing its damage-boosting potential.

The following table summarizes the key skill gems and their respective benefits for an Elemental Devastation build:

Skill Gem	Description
Flame Surge	High single-target damage, pierces enemies, benefits from elemental damage bonuses
Lightning Tendrils	Channeled damage beam, good against both weak and strong enemies, scales with lightning and elemental damage
Cold Snap	Applies cold damage debuff that reduces enemy cold resistance, amplifying damage of subsequent cold attacks and spells

The Art of Mana Management for Constant Casting

Mana Reservation

The most effective way to sustain mana for casting is to reserve a portion of your mana pool. Many skills have a “reserve mana” cost, which locks a set amount of mana into the skill. This mana cannot be used to cast other abilities, but it also means you will never run out of mana as long as you have enough reserved.

Mana Reservation Mechanics

Mana reservation is calculated as a percentage of your maximum mana pool.
Skills with higher mana costs have a higher mana reservation percentage.
You can reserve up to 100% of your mana pool, but this will prevent you from using any other skills that also require mana reservation.
There are several ways to reduce mana reservation, such as passive skills on the skill tree or unique items.

Mana Reservation Calculation

To calculate the mana reservation cost of a skill, simply multiply the mana cost of the skill by the reservation percentage. For example, a skill with a mana cost of 10 and a reservation percentage of 50% would reserve 5 mana.

Skill	Mana Cost	Reservation Percentage	Mana Reservation
Fireball	10	50%	5
Lightning Bolt	15	75%	11.25
Arc	20	100%	20

Defenses Unbreakable: Forging an Impregnable Fortress

In the perilous realm of Path of Exile, where every step brings new horrors, forging an unbreakable defense is paramount for survival. This guide will delve into the art of creating a fortress-like character, impervious to the onslaughts of enemies.

4. Ethereal Bastion: The Alchemy of Divine Protection

The Ethereal Bastion archetype revolves around the manipulation of auras, which provide powerful buffs to your character and allies. These auras not only enhance damage output but also fortify defenses, granting bonuses to resistances, health regeneration, and armor. By investing in the Revelation and Divine Inspiration passive skill clusters, you can further amplify the effects of these auras, creating an impenetrable shield against enemy attacks.

	Aura
Herald of Purity	Summons sentries that provide physical damage reduction and critical strike avoidance.
Grace	Increases evasion, making it harder for enemies to hit you physically.
Determination	Increases armor and physical damage reduction, bolstering your overall defensive capabilities.

Combining these auras with the Guardian Ascendancy class further enhances their potency, granting access to the Radiant Faith keystone. This keystone strengthens aura effects, providing even greater protection and sustain.

Mobility Unleashed: Swift Strikes and Elusive Escapes

Quicksilver Flask and Phase Run for Blistering Speed

The Quicksilver Flask and Phase Run skill provide a substantial boost to movement speed. Quicksilver Flask grants a burst of speed when activated, while Phase Run enhances your movement for a short duration. This combination allows you to traverse vast distances quickly and outpace pursuing enemies.

Whirling Blades for Swift Battlefield Navigation

Whirling Blades is a melee attack skill that propels you towards your target, dealing damage along the way. It serves as an exceptional mobility tool, enabling you to leap across short distances and maneuver around obstacles.

Flame Dash for Targeted Leaps

Flame Dash is a ranged spell that allows you to teleport a short distance towards an enemy or location. It provides precise mobility, enabling you to bypass obstacles and reach desired positions.

Leap Slam for Vertical Mobility and Damage

Leap Slam is a melee attack that launches you into the air and slams down at your targeted location, dealing damage. This skill offers vertical mobility, allowing you to reach higher or lower levels. Additionally, it deals substantial area damage, making it a potent offensive tool.

Shield Charge for Defensive Mobility

Skill	Effect
Shield Charge	Charges forward, damaging enemies and granting Endurance Charges
Faster Attacks	Boosts attack speed, including Shield Charge
Fortify Support	Grants Fortify after using Shield Charge, which reduces physical damage taken

Shield Charge is a unique mobility skill that combines offensive and defensive capabilities. By charging forward, you deal damage to enemies and gain Endurance Charges. Additionally, Faster Attacks and Fortify Support enhance its mobility and protective benefits. This skill is particularly effective for building characters with high armor and endurance.

Delving into Rare Items for Legendary Power

Identifying Rare Items

Distinctive colors indicate rare items: blue for magic items and yellow for rare ones. Magic items have one random modifier, while rare items have two or three.

Affix Mechanics

Item modifiers are known as affixes. Prefixes enhance specific attributes (e.g., increased strength) while suffixes provide general improvements (e.g., +maximum life). Modifiers are rolled randomly within certain ranges.

Unique Items

Unique items are incredibly powerful and often define meta-builds. They have specific names and fixed modifiers, making them highly sought after by players.

Rerolling Item Modifiers

The Orb of Alchemy transforms a magic item into a rare one. The Orb of Augmentation adds a prefix or suffix to a rare item, but it can also remove an existing one.

Transmutation and Alteration Orbs

The Orb of Transmutation and the Orb of Alteration change a magic item’s base type and modifiers, respectively. This can be useful for tailoring items to specific builds.

Essence Modifiers

Essences add specific modifiers to items. For example, the Essence of Dread adds increased physical damage modifiers. Using multiple Essences on the same item can stack powerful effects.

Master Crafting

Masters can add specific modifiers to items through Master Crafting. This is a more targeted approach to crafting, but it requires significant time and resources.

Tiered Crafting

Tiered Crafting is an advanced technique that allows players to create items with multiple high-tier modifiers. This involves manipulating item levels, using specific crafting orbs, and potentially sacrificing other modifiers.

Item Crafting Table

Crafting Orb	Effect
Orb of Alchemy	Transforms a magic item into a rare item
Orb of Augmentation	Adds a prefix or suffix to a rare item
Orb of Transmutation	Changes a magic item’s base type
Orb of Alteration	Changes a magic item’s modifiers
Essence	Adds specific modifiers to items

Crafting Mastery: Shaping Destiny with Anvil and Forge

Power of Empowerment: Crafting a Path to Legendary Status

In the realm of Path of Exile, crafting holds the key to unlocking the true potential of your arsenal. With the tools of an artisan, you can transform mundane weapons and armor into instruments of devastation. The Crafting Bench and the Forge serve as your sacred workshops, where you can wield the power of empowerment to forge legendary items.

Essence of Essence: Shaping Your Crafting Destiny

Craft essences, potent vials distilled from the very essence of monsters, play a pivotal role in shaping the outcome of your creations. These mystical elixirs bestow unique properties upon your items, guiding their transformation towards your desired specifications. Experiment with various combinations and concentrations to unlock a myriad of possibilities.

Etched in Blood: The Art of Currency Crafting

Crafting currency, the lifeblood of item enhancement, enables you to refine and optimize your creations. Utilize orbs of chance, chaos, and divine to randomize, reroll, and fine-tune your items. With each application, you refine their stats, increasing their efficacy in combat. Mastering the intricate balance of crafting currency is a skill that separates the masters from the apprentices.

Chisels and Whetstones: Precision for Perfection

Chisels and whetstones serve as the artisan’s scalpel and whetstone, allowing you to meticulously shape and refine your creations. With surgical precision, these tools enable you to increase the item level of your gear, unlocking access to higher-tier affixes and mods.

Awakening the Enigma: The Essence of Annulment

The essence of annulment is a potent force in the hands of the skilled crafter. This ethereal orb has the power to obliterate any random affix from your item, leaving behind a blank canvas upon which you can paint anew. Careful consideration and a steady hand are required when wielding this volatile reagent.

Adept’s Influence: Harnessing Veiled Orbs

Veiled orbs, enigmatic relics of ancient power, grant you the ability to manipulate the veiled modifiers hidden within your items. By unveiling these shrouded affixes, you can unlock potent bonuses and synergistic combinations that elevate your creations to new heights.

The Divine Touch: Crafting the Flawless

Divine orbs, the pinnacle of crafting currency, bestow the ability to reroll the numeric values of any affix on your item. With each divine application, you can fine-tune your creations, striving for perfection in every aspect. Mastery over divine orbs is the hallmark of a true master crafter.

Crafting Currency	Function
Orb of Altering	Reroll random prefix
Orb of Augmentation	Add random prefix
Orb of Transmutation	Reroll random suffix
Orb of Scouring	Remove all affixes
Orb of Binding	Disable item modification

Atlas of Worlds: Navigating the Cosmic Labyrinth

Awakening the Atlas

Upon slaying Kitava, the Atlas of Worlds awakens, opening an endless labyrinth of maps representing Wraeclast and its celestial realms.

Voicing Maps

Obtainable as drops, maps can be modified using Orbs to alter their layout, monsters, and rewards.

Atlas Progression

Completing maps reveals Watchstones, which expand the Atlas by connecting new regions and granting access to higher-tier maps.

Conquerors and Guardians

Defeating Conquerors and Guardians on designated Atlas maps unlocks new tiers and Atlas bonuses.

Map Tier System

Maps are grouped into escalating tiers, with higher tiers offering greater rewards but also tougher challenges.

Shaping the Atlas

By Sockeing Watchstones into the Atlas, players can shape the distribution of map tiers, focusing on specific regions or rewards.

Talisman Drops

Maps can drop Talismans, which provide temporary bonuses when equipped in the Atlas Passive Tree.

Influence and Sextants

Defeating Conquerors and Guardians spawns their respective influence on nearby maps, granting special bonuses. Sextants can be used to enhance these bonuses or create specific map combinations.

Influence Type	Bonus
Elder	Increased Rare Item Quantity
Shaper	Increased Map Tier
Crusader	Increased Leguion Encounters
Warlord	Increased Breaches and Incursions
Hunter	Increased Number of Monster Packs

Endgame Strategies for Unrivaled Challenges

The Sirus Grind

Sirus, Awakener of Worlds, poses an insurmountable challenge. To conquer him, equip oneself with a staunch build, ample resources, and an unwavering resolve.

The Maven Trial

The Maven’s trials test the limits of one’s dexterity and strategic prowess. Master dodging her attacks, deciphering her cryptic whispers, and harnessing the power of her echoes.

The Uber Elder Saga

Uber Elder, the formidable guardian of the Shaper realm, demands unparalleled finesse and preparation. Assemble a raid party of skilled allies, each fulfilling a specific role to overcome this arduous encounter.

The Atziri Trilogy

Vanquish Uber Atziri and her treacherous daughters to claim valuable treasures. Study their attack patterns diligently and exploit their weaknesses with precise execution.

The Guardians of the Void

The Guardians of the Void, guardians of the Elder’s domain, present a formidable challenge. Conquer them sequentially to unlock access to the heart of the Elder’s realm.

Synthesis and Glimmering Shrine

Delve into the labyrinthine depth of the Synthesis Nexus, manipulating memories to craft potent items. Explore the Glimmering Shrine to enhance your build’s capabilities.

The Delve Depths

Descend into the unfathomable depths of the Azurite Mine, facing increasingly challenging monsters and unlocking access to valuable fossils.

The Breach Lord Dominion

Confront the formidable Breach Lords and navigate treacherous domains to acquire unique Breachstones, granting access to realms teeming with loot.

The Legion Domination

Muster your army and conquer vast legions of monsters, reaping generous rewards including valuable Legion Splinters and powerful Generals’ Cry.

Reward	Zone	Challenge
Valuable Currency	The Wealthy Man’s House	Massive Mobs
Powerful Items	The Solaris Temple	Tough Champions
Unique Fragments	The Theocrat’s Domain	Complex Boss Fights

The Community’s Wisdom: Harnessing Shared Knowledge

Path of Exile, known for its vast and intricate gameplay, has fostered a thriving community of players eager to share their knowledge and expertise. Here are the key resources to tap into:

Path of Exile Wiki

The official wiki is a comprehensive encyclopedia of all aspects of the game. It provides detailed information on skills, items, quests, and mechanics.

Official Forums

The official forums are a hub for discussions, questions, and community feedback. Engage with other players to gain insights and resolve queries.

r/PathofExile

The subreddit is a vibrant community where players share builds, strategies, and general game knowledge. Participate in discussions and ask questions to connect with fellow enthusiasts.

Gamepedia Wiki

An alternative to the official wiki, Gamepedia offers additional information and resources. It includes build guides, item databases, and community-created content.

PoEDB

PoEDB is a comprehensive database of all items in Path of Exile. It allows you to search for specific affixes, mods, and unique items.

Build Guides

Numerous build guides are available online, providing detailed walkthroughs on specific character builds and playstyles.

Streamer and Content Creators

Follow popular Path of Exile streamers and content creators. They often showcase their builds, share gameplay strategies, and provide insights.

Leagues and Community Events

Participate in temporary leagues and community events to interact with other players, test new builds, and earn exclusive rewards.

Discord Communities

Join Discord communities dedicated to Path of Exile. These communities provide real-time discussions, build sharing, and group activities.

Trading Forums

Use trading forums such as the Path of Exile Trade Site to connect with other players and facilitate item exchanges.

Best Build Path of Exile

With its vast array of customizable options, Path of Exile offers players an incredible amount of freedom to tailor their gameplay experience. However, for those new to the game, choosing the best build for their playstyle can be a daunting task. To help you on your way, here are some of the best build paths for Path of Exile:

**For beginners:**

– **Melee:** Duelist as Marauder, Templar or Ranger

**For experienced players:**

– **Ranged:** Ranger or Shadow
– **Caster:** Witch or Templar
– **Summoner:** Witch or Necromancer

Ultimately, the best build for you will depend on your personal preferences. However, these suggestions provide a solid starting point for both new and experienced players alike.