Path of Exile 2has a huge amount of mechanics that you can build characters around, and you can build multiple different characters around the same mechanic in very different ways. This makes for a huge wealth of character builds in the game, some sharing certain ideas and mechanics, and others entirely their own.

One mechanic that supports multiple different builds is Boneshatter, which can be the primary focus of both a Titan and a Warbringer.These two buildsdo share quite a few similarities, but there are going to be subtle differences in how they branch from each other, particularly once you get out of the first couple of Acts.

A character fights The Rust King in Path of Exile 2.

Act One

Boneshatter builds can start to work around their primary mechanic a little sooner than some other builds, and you cangrab Boneshatter as your first ability. It’ll help you build the muscle memory for your build that much quicker, and allow you to build upon that mechanic that much quicker.

Equipment

With this build, because of the Ascendancy skills that we’re going to be grabbing,you’ll want to bring along a shield.It’s up to you if you go one-handed mace and a shield, or get Giant’s Blood in the passive skill tree and go two-handed mace and a shield, but bringing that shield along is going to greatly improve your ability to stay alive.

While this and the Boneshatter Titan build are similar in certain ways, that build primarily functions without a shield. That should be a primary consideration when choosing between the two builds.

A character Boneshatters Draven, the Eaternal Praetor in Path of Exile 2.

When it comes to gear, you’ll want tostack as much armor as you possibly can. Health regen is going to be a nice secondary focus, and take some time to verify you’re collecting multiple pieces of gear that you can equip for different damage types; this will become important when fighting more difficult bosses.

Skills In Act One

Act One is going to seemost of your important skillsenter the fold before the Act is over. You’ll want to grab:

Support Gems

There’s quite a bit you’ll want to dowith Support Gemsin this Act, and it’s possible you won’t get enough Support Gems to do all of it in this Act. If you don’t, it’s no big deal, andcontinue following this section when you get more Support Gems in Act Two.

Some of these Support Gems aren’t strictly necessary, while others are going to be crucial. We’ll mention which ones are the most important; feel free to experiment with the others. You can always swap them out later.

A character fight Tor Gul, The Defiler in Path of Exile 2.

Impact Shockwave

Boneshatter

This is a pretty important one, essentiallyacting as a buff for Boneshatter, giving it enhanced area-of-effect (AoE).

Overpower

Mace Strike

Thisincreases the Stun effect of Mace Strike, which is required to activate Boneshatter. Another pretty important one, at least for now.

Ruthless

This onemakes every fifth Mace Strike deal increased Stun; it’s not as important, but if you’re looking for maximum Stun speed, pick it up.

Martial Tempo

Shockwave Totem

This is going to essentiallyincrease the damage-per-second of the Shockwave Totem, allowing it to deal damage in quicker succession.

Jagged Ground

This is going to letthe Shockwave Totemcreate more instances of Jagged Ground for it to exploit, enhancing the damage.

Execute

Perfect Strike

This lets Perfect Strike act as a finisher,dealing extra damage to enemies below 35%. This is very helpful against bosses.

Window of Opportunity

If you feelcomfortable with the timing windowin Perfect Strike,this is only an improvement to the ability. If you struggle hitting the window, you’ll want to pass on this.

Raging Cry

Infernal Cry

This is going to give you Rage for each enemy in the radius of Infernal Cry,acting as a temporary damage buff.

Life Thief

In the early going, you won’t have as many tools at your disposal for survivability.Life Thief will heal you for a portion of the damage that you deal, and can be helpful particularly against boss enemies, especially until you’ve Ascended.

Skill Rotation

You’ll want tobuild up Stun effect on enemies as quickly as you can; depending on the situation, you can open withMace Strike, orEarthquake>Shockwave Totem. In full, you’ll usually be running betweenMace Strike > Earthquake > Shockwave Totem > Boneshatteras needed.

You won’t needInfernal Cryall the time, but if you’re particularly surrounded or need some extra damage,throw it in before Boneshatter.Perfect Strike is generally going to be saved for high-health enemies; using it on lower-health enemies isn’t necessary.

A character fights desert creatures in Path of Exile 2.

Act Two

Act Two is going to be a little bit quiet, though one very important (and quite fun) skill is going to be added to the rotation. Like many other builds, this Act is largely going to be spent upgrading your existing skillsand getting more familiar with when and where to use each skill.

Skills In Act Two

The only skill you absolutely need to grab in Act Two isLeap Slam; this is going to launch you into a group of enemies, dealing damage and Stun where you land. This is going toprime whole groups of enemies for Boneshatter immediately, especially later on once we’ve got it upgraded and supported.

Try not to level up Leap Slam past where you unlock it; leveled too high, and it’ll move past where it primes enemies for Boneshatter, and actually be a hindrance.

A character Boneshatters a group of enemies in Path of Exile 2.

You might not have gotten enough Support Gems to fill out the ones from Act One; if not, grab them here.Leap Slam’s most valuable Support Gem can’t be grabbed until Act Three, so there’s nothing too important to put on there for now.

Apart from that,feel free to experiment. Adding any kind of AoE effect onto a skill is going to add to the idea of the build, and improving the single-target damage is going to help against bosses. There are plenty of new Support Gems you’ll unlock soon, so it’s worth trying the lower-tier ones here.

A character explodes a group of enemies in Path of Exile 2.

Act Three And Cruel

Act Three isn’t going to be too eventful for our build when it comes to active skills, but we will bechanging our Support Gems around quite considerably. Past Act Three and into the Cruel Acts, we’ll beunlocking new skills entirely, adding to our possibilities.

Skill In Cruel Acts

In Cruel Acts, we’ll be picking up a couple more skills:

These are going to be a part of their own little combo, though it’s going to mesh well with what we’ve already got going for us.

The Smash passive skill in Path of Exile 2.

Hammer of the Gods is going to be thesecond step for enemies/groupsof enemies that survive your initial Boneshatter combo. Typically, these enemies wouldn’t have been stunned by the initial combo, and any damage they took was AoE damage from the combo hitting the others.

Get them stunned andSeismic Cry > Hammer of the Gods. Seismic Cry is going to amplify the damage for you here, so using it first is going to be worthwhile.

There are a few things you’ll want to do here, and plenty of options for things that you could do. As always,experiment to see what works best for you; we’ll provide suggestions on some proven methods.

Brink

Leap Slam

Brink is going toensure that Leap Slam does not over-Stun enemies. This means that Brink will prime enemies for Boneshatter far more often, allowing you to get into the combo that makes this build work without hiccups.

Heavy Swing

Hammer of the Gods

This is going toincrease the damage by about one-third at the cost of 10% attack speed; for a skill like this, the trade-off is more than worth it.

Lacerate

If you find you don’t need both Stun-inducing Support Gems on Mace Strike, Lacerate can be agood way to inflict a damage-over-time (DoT) effect, adding a bit to your single target damage.

Passive Skills And Ascendancy

You’ll be gainingpassive skills as you level up, andAscendancy points as you complete trials. Both of these are going to have a massive impact on your build, and the Ascendancy is where you’re build will make use of the Warbringer factor.

Passive Skills

For passive skills, the only thing you have no choice in isspecializing in Strength. This isgoing to be a requirement for much of your gear, and is going to increase your overall health. Many different health regen stats increase your health by a percentage of your maximum, meaning increasing your health increases your regen-per-second, as well.

For specific skills, here are some that could be helpful:

you may respec passive skills points for gold at The Hooded One, so don’t be afraid to try new things out.

Ascendancy

We’ll be going with theWarbringer Ascendancy for this build, and primarily, this is going toincrease our survivability greatly. We’re going to be attacking exclusively at melee range, meaning we’re usually in the thick of it when it comes to getting damaged.

Spending the four points to get toTurtle Charmis going tomake your shield significantly more valuable. Apart from that, moving through thevery bottom tree will improve your Warcries, which will make Seismic Cry and Infernal Cry more valuable. Or, you canimprove your ability to break enemy armor in the top tree.