Best Skill Gems For Warrior Builds In PoE2

Summary

• Warrior class in Path of Exile 2 focuses on melee damage and defense with unique skills.
• Earthshatter and Rolling Slam are effective for mob clearing in Warrior builds.
• Herald of Ash and Perfect Strike can enhance fire damage build for Warriors in Path of Exile 2.

The early access period for Path of Exile 2 has been popular among fans of the first game and new players alike. Each class has its own playstyle and strengths, and players have been getting to know each ascendancy and their endgame clearing capabilities. For now, there remain a few stand-out choices for the most effective class, but this is likely to change as more things are added and balanced throughout the game’s early access phase.

The Warrior is designed as a pure Strength character, focused on melee damage and relying on high max life and armor for defense. Players are free to build characters how they like in Path of Exile 2, but the Warrior’s start on the passive skill tree gives them the easiest access to melee area damage, armor-boosting nodes, and strength-focused stat nodes. For skill gems, players are best mostly sticking to Mace skills if they want to build toward the class’s strengths.

1

Earthshatter

Exploding Earth Spikes

• Skill gem level: 7
• Requires: level 22, 52 Strength, Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 98%
• Effect: Slam that deals AoE damage in a line and creates a spike at the end

Earthshatter isn’t a high-damage move on its own, but the earthen spikes it creates can be detonated by other slam moves, making it a great combo move for a Warrior build.

This greatly benefits from the addition of the support gem Upheaval, which reduces the base damage of the skill but creates more fissures, and thus more spikes for the player to simultaneously detonate with another slam. Comboing these explosions with a higher damage slam move like Leap Slam or Rolling Slam can give a Warrior build some very high mob clearing potential.

2

Rolling Slam

Slam And Stun

• Skill gem level: 1
• Requires: Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 80% + 160%
• Effect: Slams to stun and knockback enemies, then rolls forward for a more powerful slam

Rolling Slam is a basic but effective skill for Warriors. The initial slam deals stun and knockback and follows-up with a higher-damage slam that travels in a direction controlled by the player.

This can be great for Warrior mobility in the early game before players can access Leap Slam, as Rolling Slam is a level 1 skill. The stun buildup from Rolling Slam can also be used to prime enemies for stun and combo with Bone Shatter for heavy stun shockwaves that can deal high AoE damage.

3

Sunder

Rolling Shockwave

• Skill gem level: 9
• Requires: level 31, 72 Strength, Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 237% + 119% (shockwaves)
• Effect: Rolling fissure that hits areas in sequence, enemies hit may release shockwaves

Sunder is a powerful melee slam move that creates a rolling fissure that hits areas in sequence, dealing relatively high area damage as it travels. On top of this, some of the enemies hit by the fissure will also release shockwaves that can damage other nearby enemies.

Since the fissure rolls, the damage of the move isn’t instant, and will take a while to hit distant enemies. That means it can be difficult to use on mobile, ranged foes, but it’s still a highly effective skill.

4

Boneshatter

Heavy Stun

• Skill gem level: 1
• Requires: Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 100% + 250% (shockwaves)
• Effect: Hit enemies primed for stun to cause heavy stun, heavy stun creates a shockwave

For Warrior builds that want to focus on stun buildup, Boneshatter will help with area damage and mob clearing. When enemies accrue enough stun buildup from other Warrior skills and effects, they become “primed” for stun.

Hitting a primed enemy with Boneshatter deals heavy stun and releases a shockwave that deals 250% base damage in an area. This means that Warriors focused on this type of damage can focus on stunning single targets, and rely on this skill to spread the damage to multiple foes.

5

Hammer Of The Gods

Unavoidable Burst Damage

• Skill gem level: 13
• Requires: level 52, 119 Strength, Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 1441%
• Effect: Manifests a large hammer that falls from the sky, dealing high AoE damage

Hammer of the Gods is one of the strongest moves in the Mace skill tree. The 24-second cooldown of the skill is offset by an absolutely huge base damage multiplier of 1441%.

Using the move manifests a giant hammer above the target area, which falls after a short time, dealing massive AoE damage. The activation delay does mean that enemies can move out of the target area and avoid damage, so the skill has to be used wisely, but the damage can’t be evaded based on just enemy evasion rating.

6

Herald Of Ash

Fire Damage Build Assistance

• Spirit gem level: 4
• Requires: level 10, 25 Strength, any martial weapon
• Base Damage: N/A
• Effect: Enemies that are overkilled will explode, dealing fire damage and igniting enemies

Since every character will have at least 30 spirit to play with after defeating The King in the Mists in Act 1, even Warriors should have a persistent buff skill active. The most helpful persistent buff for the Warrior is probably the Herald of Ash. It’s more effective for builds that spec into fire damage, but any Warrior can use it.

This buff causes enemies that are overkilled (hit for additional damage equal to at least 20% of their max life value when killed) to explode and deal fire damage in an area that can also ignite foes. Since Warriors will often focus on high single-target damage, this can be very useful for spreading damage and elemental ailments around when mobbing.

7

Volcanic Fissure

Molten Slam

• Skill gem level: 9
• Requires: level 31, 72 Strength, Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 109%
• Effect: Creates a winding fissure that deals AoE fire damage and persists for a short duration

Volcanic Fissure is another combo slam move that works in a similar way to Earthshatter. Volcanic Fissure is fire damage-focused, creating a winding fissure that deals AoE fire damage as it travels.

Fissures stay on the ground for 12 seconds, and hitting them with another slam attack creates aftershocks which also spread to other connected fissures. This move works well for area damage if players are focusing on fire damage for their Warrior build.

8

Leap Slam

Damage And Mobility

• Skill gem level: 7
• Requires: level 22, 52 Strength, Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 188%
• Effect: Leaps and deals AoE damage and knockback where the slam lands

Leap Slam is a move that anyone who’s played a Warrior, Barbarian, or any other melee slam specialist in any ARPG will recognize. It’s as straightforward as players would assume, causing the Warrior to leap toward a target area and slam the ground, dealing AoE damage and knocking back enemies.

The damage isn’t quite high enough to use this move as a main damage-dealer, but the additional mobility that Leap Slam provides is great for getting the Warrior to where they need to be to deal their melee-focused damage.

9

Supercharged Slam

Wind-up Knockout Slam

• Skill gem level: 11
• Requires: level 41, 95 Strength, Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 111% + 100% per stage
• Effect: Charge for an AoE slam dealing more damage per stage and creating aftershocks

The charged slam of Supercharged Slam is a channeling move that gains stages the longer the button is held. At 3 max stages by default, this takes the damage of the resulting slam to 444% base damage when fully charged. Fully charged slams also release aftershocks for additional area damage.

This makes Supercharged Slam a very high-damage move in circumstances where the player has time to charge it. The long charge time for maximum damage makes this one difficult to use in a lot of PoE 2 boss fights for single target damage, though.

10

Perfect Strike

Charged Fire Waves

• Skill gem level: 5
• Requires: level 14, 34 Strength, Mace (2H or 1H)
• Base Damage: 142% / 570% (perfect timing)
• Effect: Charge and release with perfect timing to create a wave of fire with high AoE damage

Perfect Strike is a high-damage potential move, but it takes some practice to pull off the perfect timing consistently. Channeling the move and releasing at the moment of full charge causes a wave of fire that deals 570% base damage, with 80% of physical damage converted to fire damage.

However, mistiming the move deals a normal fire wave with less range, that only deals 142% base damage. This is a very strong move for fire-based builds in Path of Exile 2, but only if players can master the timing.