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There are a huge variety of ways to set up a character inPath of Exile 2, even when it comes to characters of the same class. When it comes to Warriors, there are a few different ascendancy choices, one of which is Warbringer. This ascendancy is going to make a slight impact on your build the further it goes along.
Shockwave Totem Warbringers revolve largely around the Shockwave Totem ability, though that isn’t the only ability of importance in their repertoire. They are absolute masters of area-of-effect (AoE) damage, with their damage spreading over huge areas due to the multiple totems they can sustain at once.
The PoE 2 0.2.0 patch nerfed Totem damage significantly; this makes this build challenging in general, but particularly challenging in the harder content in the game. This is not arecommended build for a newer player, nor is it a recommended build for someone looking to tackle the hardest content.
Act One
It’s going to take a little bit to really get this build up and running; it relies on multiple different factors strengthening different aspects of your totems, and in particular, your Shockwave Totem. That’s not to say this build is impossible in the beginning, just thatwhat you’re doing in Act One is going to look very different to what you do later on.
Early Equipment
As far as equipment goes, you may get away with using aone-handed or two-handed weapon, depending on your preference. A one-handed weapon will allow you to use a shield, though this totem build will ideally mean you don’t need to attack up-close with your weapon quite as much.
A two-handed weapon will meanyou won’t be able to block, but it will mean a damage increase.
Later on, you’ll have access to the Giant’s Blood passive skill, allowing you to dual-wield two-handed weapons, and this is going to be a good option.
In regards to armor,stacking both armor and mana regeneration is going to be important. This is a very mana-hungry build, so getting that increased in whatever way you can is going to be important, especially as this build starts to struggle.
Skills In Act One
You won’t be using Totems for a short while - until you unlock them, at least. Before that, you’ll be usingRolling Slam and Boneshatter. In full, you’ll want to unlock the following skills in this Act:
Support Gems
There is onesupport gemin particular that’s integral to this build that you’ll get in this act. Apart from that, some of these are optional:
Overabundance
Shockwave Totem
This is really amust-have support gemif you’re looking to use this build, as itincreases the amount of Shockwave Totems that you can have out at the same timeby one. It does reduce their duration, but the damage-per-second boost is worth it.
Lacerate
This is really only going to be used if you use the following support gem, as well. But thisdoes cause your totem to inflict bleeding.
Bloodlust
Rolling Slam
Rolling Slam hits multiple enemies at once, and with Bloodlust,bleeding enemies are going to take extra damage. This is a good way to boost your damage past what the totems can do on their own, and is a low-maintenance interaction.
Overpower
Thisincreases the stun that Rolling Slam causes. This doesn’t particularly matter apart from the Boneshatter possibilities, but again, that will boost our damage.
Impact Shockwave
Boneshatter
This is going tocause Boneshatter to deal increased damage as an aftershockaround an enemy, after heavy stunning them.
Rage
Mace Strike
This one is really only here for bosses. But, for a boss, this build is going to struggle, particularly in the early going before our totems are very beefy.Building up Rage with Mace Strike is going to slowly increase our damage, provided we keep attacking with it.
Skill Rotation
Once you get the Shockwave Totem, you’ll want toget accustomed to making sure it’s out at all times. There will be some trial and error when it comes to learning where to place it; enemies will attack the totem, but it also needs to be near enemies to damage them.
For lower-health enemies, you may simply place the totem in the middle of them, and your skills combined with the totem will take care of them.
For bosses, you’ll want totry to keep the totem on the side opposite of the boss from you. This ensures that, whichever direction a boss is sending their attacks, they aren’t hitting both you and the totem.
Largely, you’ll want to go in the order ofShockwave Totem (twice)>Rolling Slam>Boneshatter. Continue putting out totems every time they disappear, andRolling Slam>Boneshatteras often as you can, while the totems do their thing.
Act Two
Act Twoisn’t going to develop our build too much in terms of new skills, but instead, it’s going to betime spent improving the skills that we’ve already got. Things are going to get a little tough here with the nerf to totems, but with a combination of different skills centered around the totems, you may make it work.
Skills In Act Two
The priority here is going to be toget the skills that we’ve already got as leveled as we canwith the gems that we get. But, if you find you’rehaving trouble with single-target damage,you can grabPerfect Strike, which is going to be a primarily single-target damage move.
If you’d like tofurther support your totems, pick upEarthquake. This is going to create more Jagged Ground, which will erupt with extra damage when your totems deal damage. This essentially acts as adamage multiplier to the totems, provided the Earthquake is well-placed.
If you did happen to pick up Perfect Strike,ExecuteandWindow of Opportunityare both perfect additions to the ability. Executeincreases the damage to enemies below 35 percenthealth, while Window of Opportunityincreases the damage if the move is released in the perfect window.
These two support gems on Perfect Strike are going to help you massively in single-target situations, but always make sure to pair them with the focus of this build, your Shockwave Totems.
you may useFire Infusionon Earthquake to give it a boost of fire damage, as well.
Act Three And Cruel
Act Three and Cruel are where you’re going to beadding another totem to your build, and really capitalizing more on the totem focus than before.
Skills In Act Three
Act Three is going to give usSunder; we’ll be getting our other totem later on, in the Cruel Acts. Sunder is going todeal quite a bit more area-of-effect (AoE) damage for us, on top of what we’ve already got.
We can also swap out Rolling Slam altogether or switch it out for Leap Slam. Sunder is going to fill a similar role, though it isn’t going to combo with Boneshatter as much as the others.
Pre-update, this build didn’t usually keep the Boneshatter mechanic around into the later stages because it wasn’t needed. Now, the totems do less damage, and while they’re still the focal point of the build,supporting it with some extra damagefrom things like Boneshatter and Perfect Strike can helpkeep the single-target damage from dropping quite so severely.
You’ll also need to pick up theAncestral Warrior Totem, which is the other totem we’ll be using. This totemcan be equipped with certain abilities, Sunder being among them. You won’t get this until you’re into the Cruel Acts, but once you are, swap Sunder into the Ancestral Totem.
We’re going to beadding a few support gems hereand possibly swapping them around, depending on what you’d like to do with them.
Fist of War
Sunder
This is going to Ancestrally Boost Sunder occasionally, giving itextra damage and a wider AoE.
Leap Slam
This isonly relevant if you’ve swapped out Rolling Slam for Leap Slam, but if you have, be sure to swap Bloodlust onto Leap Slam, as well. If you’re foregoing both of these abilities, you can put Bloodlust onto Sunder for now, but you’ll likely need to get rid of it later on in the build once you’ve got Ancestral Warrior Totem.
This would be used on the Shockwave Totem in a certain use case, that being if you’vegotten rid of both Leap Slam and Rolling Slam, and you’vegained the ability to spawn an extra totem in the passive skill tree. This will enable the Shockwave Totem to prime enemies for Boneshatter.
Ancestral Warrior Totem
Once you’ve got the extra totem spawn from the passive tree, you shouldmove your Overabundance gem onto this totem, instead.
As mentioned in the opener, this build has been severely lessened in damage potential, and you will definitely want toensure you are not relying 100 percent on your totems for damage. Thetotems are going to provide a solid and consistent damage baseline, and you can use your other abilities to amplify it.
Passive Skills And Ascendancy
You’llunlock passive skills each time you level, and the passive skill tree can look overwhelming when you first take a look at it. But, our needs for this build are pretty simple.
Along with that, you’ll beunlocking Ascendancy toward the end of Act Two. This essentially acts as you choosing a specific tree of passive skill points that you’ll be locked into, likepicking a class.
Passive Skills
We’ll be working towards a few different specific passives, mostly revolving around out totems.
Ascendancy
We’ll be taking the Warbringer Ascendancy. This Ascendancy specifically has totem bonuses, such asAncestral SpiritsandWooden Wall. Ancestral Spirits is going to essentiallyincrease our damage, while Wooden Wall willincrease our own survivability.
