What Do The Top 10 Tier 2 Support Gems In Path Of Exile 2 Do?

As a classic melee Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2, Warbringer dominated the game early in Patch 0.5.0 with a build centered on Sadist's Mercy mace. With the launch of Patch 0.5.5, a few configuration tweaks allow this build to remain highly effective!

If you are looking to try a new melee build, or have been playing Warbringer but want to make a breakthrough in Forbidden Rites league, give this Brutus Strength-Stacking Warbringer build a try!

What are the pros of this build?

Specifically, the new PoE 2 0.5.5 Warbringer build switches to Brutus' Lead Sprinkler Morning Star mace to create a melee build based on strength-stacking.

By leveraging synergies between Warbringer passives, shield mechanics, and Turtle Charm, this build can easily stack block chance to 94% in actual combat.

This means that, aside from a few lethal Red Slams that require manual dodging, you can parry the vast majority of physical and elemental attacks from standard monsters and bosses.

Furthermore, combining this with Iron Reflexes allows you to convert all evasion rating into armor.

By supplementing Strength stats via gloves and boots, and utilizing modifiers that apply Armour to elemental damage, you can effectively mitigate elemental damage, resulting in superior survivability.

Most importantly, unlike other popular builds that require top-tier gear, the cost of acquiring and crafting the gear for this build is relatively low in terms of currency. It offers a high return on investment, making it an excellent choice when resources are scarce.

Core mechanic breakdown

To properly craft and utilize this build, it is essential to understand the specific sources of its damage and survivability.

As the absolute core of the build, Brutus' Lead Sprinkler mace not only provides a massive base health bonus but also directly converts your high Strength attribute into substantial added fire damage.

Compared to Lightning or traditional Critical Strike builds, fire damage offers multiple avenues to achieve 100% resistance penetration, reducing enemy resistances to zero or even negative values, giving it significantly higher potential value than other elemental types.

Meanwhile, Brutus Strength-Stacking Warbringer build centers on the aftershock mechanic of Earthshatter. By combining the Branching Fissure support gem with Splitting Ground passive skill, you drastically increase the number of spikes generated by a single attack.

Each subsequent Aftershock explosion not only deals massive mixed Physical and Fire damage but also reliably triggers Molten Shower skill inherent to Brutus' Lead Sprinkler, dealing widespread, multi-hit damage via a dense barrage of falling fire projectiles.

By allocating Roaring Cries passive, you can consistently generate Rage when using a Warcry, even without enemies nearby. Combining Enraged Warcry with Raging Cry allows you to consume Rage to completely bypass the inherent cooldowns of your Warcry skills.

Further incorporating Infernal Cry grants up to 57% additional Fire damage. At the maximum stack of 48 Rage, you gain an additional 48% bonus, resulting in a massive boost to your damage output.

Additional passive skills

Beyond the passives mentioned above, successfully crafting this build during Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.5 requires allocating all passives that enhance shield block chance and block effectiveness.

For instance, the node that restores life upon blocking provides exceptional survivability through frequent blocks.

Meanwhile, the passive node granting 30% block chance when enemies are nearby is crucial for pushing your block chance to its absolute limit.

Regarding offensive nodes, unlocking Jack of All Trades allows you to leverage the all-attribute bonuses provided by your gear for substantial overall gains; Lay Siege capitalizes on the mechanic where every 1% of block chance grants a 1% damage boost.

More gear options

Undoubtedly, Brutus' Lead Sprinkler mace is the core of this PoE 2 build, but selecting optimal items for other slots will further enhance combat efficiency.

For instance, equipping Constructing Command Viper Cap in the helmet slot, paired with Defy support gem, allows you to bypass mana costs and cast high-level skills more smoothly.

As previously mentioned, Turtle Charm works with Ascendancy passives to provide additional block bonuses. For rings, Vendor's Gamble is recommended to benefit from high health, Spirit, and bonuses to all three elemental resistances.

If you wish to further improve survivability while using Brutus' Lead Sprinkler, pair it with Svalinn Girded Tower Shield for exceptionally high block chance and cast speed.

If you are aiming for maximum damage output, you could opt for a damage-oriented unique shield, though this will reduce your block chance; proceed according to your build's needs and limitations.

When selecting or crafting boots, prioritize modifiers such as movement speed, Strength, base health, resistances, and armor that applies to elemental damage. For gloves, focus more on attack speed and added physical or fire damage.

Practical gameplay

Once you have assembled the basic Brutus Strength-Stacking Warbringer build in PoE 2 0.5.5 using the details above, you are ready for action, provided you execute the skills in the correct order.

Start with your primary damage skill, Earthshatter. Enhance it with Faster Attacks support gem to speed up execution, Branching Fissures to generate more spikes, and Fire Penetration to shred enemy fire resistance and maximize damage.

Simultaneously, utilize Warcry system: Infernal Cry provides extra fire damage, while Enraged Warcry / Raging Cry generates Rage based on the strength of nearby enemies or your own roar, allowing you to chain-cast Warcries by consuming that Rage.

Compared to Path of Exile 2 caster builds, where a barrage of special effects often obscures the player's view, this build features relatively clear attack trajectories, ensuring that visual effects do not excessively hide ground-based danger zones.

Furthermore, even when you are deep within a dense crowd of enemies, mechanics such as a high block rate combined with health recovery on block allow you to easily stabilize your health.

This creates a virtuous cycle where the more enemies there are, the higher your damage output, and the safer you become.

That covers everything for this build. If you're interested, why not craft it right away and use it to progress through version 0.5.5? Best of luck!

After completing the campaign of Path of Exile 2 Forbidden Rites and the subsequent Interlude, you will reach the endgame. The core of the endgame system is Atlas passive skill tree. It boosts item rarity and the number of rare monsters within maps, while also increasing Waystone drop rates - ensuring a steady supply of map resources as you progress from Tier 1 to Tier 15.

Patch 0.5.5 introduced a crucial change to Atlas progression flow. Previously, unlocking all Atlas passive points required defeating the Arbiter of Divinity five times; in Forbidden Rites, this requirement has been reduced to just two kills, significantly shortening the time needed to fully develop your Atlas setup.

Once you have completed the initial Atlas unlocks, you can shift your focus from map progression to maximizing profits much sooner. Let's look at how to efficiently plan your Atlas to boost your endgame returns.

Phase 1: Quickly Unlocking Atlas Passive Points

Starting Strategy: Don't Start at Tier 1

Upon entering the endgame, Doryani gives you a Tier 1 Waystone. However, if your build is already combat-ready, there is no need to slowly climb up from Tier 1. The game's experience penalty mechanics allow a level 64 character to kill level 71 enemies without losing out on experience gains, so you can absolutely start progressing using higher-tier Waystones right away.

Core Principle: Speed-Run Bosses, Skip Mechanics

While you are still working to unlock all your Atlas points, there is only one priority: complete maps as quickly as possible to unlock those points.

This means rushing straight to the boss upon entering a map, rather than clearing out every single monster. Also, remember not to use Tablet infusion mechanics, upgrade maps with Orbs of Alchemy or Regal Orbs, or spend time on league mechanics like Rituals or Breaches.

The reason for this is that, without the bonuses provided by Atlas passive points, the returns from these mechanics are extremely low. Take Ritual mechanic as an example: without specific Ritual passive points, the Favor you earn is insufficient to purchase rare items. You are forced to rely on Defer function - saving desired rewards for future Ritual encounters - meaning the actual return on investment is quite limited.

Second Kill of Arbiter of Divinity: Claiming All Remaining Atlas Points at Once

Another significant change in version 0.5.5 concerns the use of Origin Core.

After completing Precursor Fortress main questline, you must clear Patriarch Halls and Matriarch Halls to obtain Origin Spark and Origin Cradle, respectively. You then combine these two items to create an Origin Core and defeat Arbiter of Divinity.

There is a crucial mechanic here: defeating the boss for the first time using the quest-rewarded Origin Core does not immediately grant you all the remaining Atlas points. However, if you defeat Arbiter of Divinity a second time using a non-quest version of Origin Core, you can instantly complete the entire Precursor Fortress and claim all remaining Atlas passive points in one go.

Therefore, the primary goal of the second kill isn't simply to fight the boss again, but to secure the remaining Atlas points in a single step.

If you prefer not to traverse the world map again to hunt for Origin Spark and Cradle, you can simply use PoE 2 currency to acquire a finished Origin Core. This allows you to skip the material-gathering phase, proceed directly to the second Arbiter kill, and quickly max out your remaining Atlas points.

Phase 2: Mid-Game Mapping - Expedition and Delirium

Expedition: A Reliable Source of Divine Orbs and Perfect Jeweller's Orbs

Once you have maxed out your Atlas points, your mapping strategy should shift from speed-running to maximizing profit. The first mechanic worth prioritizing is Expedition.

You can unlock Expedition content at Ruins of Kingsmarch, located in the southeast section of Atlas. Completing the associated quests grants you access to Grand Expeditions.

Grand Expeditions have a critical Tier requirement: you must use Tier 14 maps or higher to ensure Vaal Monolith rolls the maximum possible modifier values. Using maps below Tier 14 results in significantly reduced rewards from Remnants.

In Tier 15 Grand Expeditions, Remnants can drop high-value items such as Divine Orbs, Perfect Jeweller's Orbs, and Masterwork Runes. Completing Expedition storyline also unlocks specific Expedition Atlas points, further enhancing the quality of rewards from Remnants.

Delirium: 200% Delirium and Liquid Emotions Returns

Once Expedition farming is stabilized, the next mechanic worth investing in is Delirium. Starting from Hilda's Campsite, head to Withered Willow to complete the Delirium encounter chain and unlock the corresponding Atlas passive points; then, challenge Simulacrum and Raven.

Running 200% Delirium is a highly efficient mapping strategy in PoE 2 version 0.5.5. Notably, city maps allow for the placement of four Tablets - one more than standard maps - making them key to maximizing returns. A common approach is to use a Grand Mirror to trigger the Delirium fog, gradually raise Delirium level to 200% using surrounding maps, and then farm this high-intensity map repeatedly.

Key rewards include Simulacrum Splinters, complete Simulacrums, high-value currency drops from extra monsters, and Delirium-exclusive Liquid Emotions. The latter often provides a significant source of additional income.

Additionally, you can combine Delirium Tablets with Expedition mechanics to reap rewards from both systems in a single map, balancing experience gains with extra loot.

Phase 3: Unlocking and Utilizing Masters of the Atlas

The endgame of PoE 2 version 0.5.5 features three Masters of the Atlas - Hilda, Doryani, and Jado - each offering 12 passive points. These points directly influence the types of loot you receive and the map's difficulty; proper configuration determines whether you are buried in mediocre spoils or consistently acquire high-value items.

Hilda

Unlocking Hilda is the most straightforward process: she awaits you at Hilda's Campsite, southwest of Ziggurat Refuge. She will mark the location of a Great Beast for you; simply travel there and defeat it to earn Hilda's Master passive points. Her passive tree focuses on enhancing rewards from bosses and powerful enemies, making it ideal for players who rely on boss farming as their primary income source.

Doryani

To unlock Doryani, you must complete Corrupted Nexus map. Doryani focuses more on enhancing Atlas itself and map control - such as boosting Waystone modifier effects, altering map zones, and improving map progression capabilities - making it ideal for players looking to optimize mapping efficiency and command over the Atlas.

Jado

Unlocking Jado requires clearing Anomaly Maps. Jado's passive nodes primarily enhance Strongboxes, map layouts, and Anomaly Maps, with some nodes also boosting the acquisition rate of high-value items like Uniques. If your goal is farming Strongboxes, Uniques, or Anomaly content, Jado is an excellent choice.

Overall, endgame progression in PoE 2 version 0.5.5 follows a clear trajectory: the early stage centers on speed-running maps to quickly unlock Atlas points; the mid-stage shifts toward high-yield mechanics like Expedition and Delirium; and once Atlas setup is established, you configure your Masters of the Atlas passives based on your specific farming objectives.

You might be wondering: if you're on a tight budget in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.5 - or even relying solely on gear picked up along the way - is there a build capable of reaching the endgame? The answer is a resounding yes: Disciple of Varashta summoning build.

You'll start as a Sorceress and officially bring the build online once you complete your first Ascendancy at level 20–21 to become a Disciple of Varashta.

It doesn't rely on expensive core items; your minions handle the vast majority of the damage output, while your character simply needs to maintain command skills and key buffs.

Core Mechanics

To summarize the core mechanics of this Disciple of Varashta Summoner: you maximize the bonuses applied to Kelari, the Tainted Sands via your minion systems, stack Muster's more damage multiplier using a variety of minion types, and rely on the permanently active Archon of Undeath buff for burst damage.

In more detail: Kelari, the Tainted Sands counts as a minion during damage calculation, meaning it benefits from both minion damage modifiers and allies in presence deal increased damage bonuses.

Muster support gem grants 7% more damage for each distinct type of minion you have; therefore, the greater the variety of minions, the higher the damage output of Kelari, the Tainted Sands.

By allocating Dominion on your amulet, you can keep Archon of Undeath buff active almost constantly, ensuring Disciple of Varashta Summoner remains powerful throughout PoE 2 combat encounters.

Gear Choices

Weapon

Weapon selection is crucial for this build. You should prioritize a Rattling Scepter that features allies in presence deal increased damage, +1 to Level of all Minion Skills, and the ability to stack Puppet Master charges.

Helmet

For the helmet, aim for high Energy Shield, resistances, and +1 to Level of all Minion Skills.

Body Armour

The goals for the body armour mirror those of the helmet: prioritize high Energy Shield and resistances, while trying to secure +1 to Level of all Minion Skills.

Focus

High Energy Shield and resistances remain the priorities for Focus. Ideally, you want a Focus with +2 to Level of all Minion Skills, though this affix is ​​expensive, so your choice will depend on your PoE2 currency budget. 

Gloves

Continuing the approach used for other armor pieces, you should look for Energy Shield and resistances on your gloves, as well as any +1 to Level of All Minion Skills modifiers you can afford in Path of Exile 2.

Boots

Use Bones of Ullr boots; the primary goal is to gain Minion Reservation Efficiency while also providing some movement speed for your Disciple of Varashta setup.

Rings

For your two ring slots, prioritize a Topaz Ring to fill in any missing resistances. For the other slot, use an Evergrasping Ring, as it carries virtually no downsides within Chaos Inoculation system we are utilizing.

Amulet

As previously mentioned, remember to allocate Dominion passive to your amulet; ideally, look for stats like +1 to Level of All Minion Skills and Spirit.

Belt

The belt isn't a critical component for this Disciple of Varashta minion build, though for specific boss encounters, you might consider using one that grants immunity to Corrupted Blood.

Skill Setup

Boss Encounters

When facing bosses, your primary damage skills will be Kelari, the Tainted Sands and Kelari's Deception. Link these with Muster, Concentrated Area, Kurgal's Leash, Hulking Minions, and Bidding III (to improve cooldown recovery).

Kurgal's Leash grants your minions Unholy Might after you use command skills, while Hulking Minions provides a more damage multiplier to your support skills.

Mapping

When clearing maps in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.5, this Disciple of Varashta build can utilize Navira's Fracturing.

However, this skill only takes effect if enemies are standing on Chilled Ground. Therefore, you should pair it with Companion: Plague Harvester and its Trail of Ice skill, allowing the companion to automatically create Chilled Ground.

Minions

Regarding minions, aim to have at least one of each type active and equip Last Gasp support gem. The required skills are:

• Skeletal Warrior
• Skeletal Storm Mage
• Skeletal Brute
• Skeletal Cleric
• Skeletal Sniper
• Skeletal Arsonist
• Skeletal Frost Mage
• Skeletal Reaver

Pain Offering is reserved for boss encounters; link it with Prolonged Duration, Minion Mastery, Magnified Area II, and Danse Macabre support gems. 

Passive Skill Tree

For Disciple of Varashta summoning build, players should first prioritize Energy Shield-related nodes, such as The Fourth Teaching, Energy Shield, and Sacred Rituals.

Minion damage is also a key consideration, making nodes like Spell and Minion Damage, Growing Swarm, and Restless Dead top priorities.

If you wish to boost your minions' critical strike damage, nodes such as Minion Critical Chance and Grip of Evil offer excellent bonuses in Path of Exile 2.

Additionally, you can invest points into nodes affecting a minion area of ​​effect, Puppet Master stacks, Archon of Undeath buffs, elemental resistances, and movement speed, finally rounding out the build with Chaos Inoculation.

The overall strategy is to maintain Archon of Undeath uptime while relying on Energy Shield to anchor the build's defenses.

As your PoE 2 currency budget grows, you can further scale your Energy Shield and minion skill levels, making Disciple of Varashta summoning build feel increasingly smooth and powerful in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.5!

In almost every Path of Exile 2 league, certain builds or classes rise to prominence, defining the meta-game for that period. As of Patch 0.5.5, Gemling Legionnaire has emerged as the most popular Ascendancy class.

Prior to the release of Patch 0.5.0, this Ascendancy was relatively unpopular; however, PoE 2 implemented mechanical optimizations specifically to address this, quickly making it a player favorite.

This shift resulted in Gemling Legionnaire dominating the player base even after the launch of Forbidden Rites league, creating a somewhat unbalanced meta for Patch 0.5.5.

In this article, we analyze the current state of Gemling Legionnaire, the reasons behind its rapid rise in popularity, and the changes needed to balance the meta before the official 1.0 launch.

Current state of Gemling Legionnaire

Since the launch of Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.5, over 30% of players have chosen to play Gemling Legionnaire, whereas the runner-up, Martial Artist, accounts for only 9% of the player base.

Meanwhile, many established or non-core Ascendancy classes, such as Invoker, Smith of Kitava, and Ritualist, have seen their play rates drop to below 1%.

This extreme disparity in usage figures isn't simply because Gemling Legionnaire is stronger than other classes; rather, it highlights deeper differences in Ascendancy design within the current version.

In other words, PoE 2 Gemling Legionnaire isn't just about high damage numbers; its mechanical design offers unprecedented fun and freedom in build crafting. By comparison, older classes that haven't received updates feel increasingly stale.

What makes Gemling Legionnaire so powerful?

The class has managed to retain a massive player base since Patch 0.5.0 release in May largely due to the development team's successful rework, specifically, the adjustments made to Advanced Thaumaturgy Notable Passive.

This passive ensures that skill gem quality provides more than just minor percentage bonuses; it now grants entirely new, additional effects.

Take Explosive Grenade skill as an example. In a standard design, increasing gem quality might only yield a slight boost to its radius or a marginal increase in damage.

However, with Advanced Thaumaturgy enhancement, gem quality translates directly into additional projectiles.

The benefits become significant once quality reaches +6. If you stack quality even higher through gear and resource investment, the projectile count explodes, resulting in final damage output that far exceeds expectations.

This fundamental shift in mechanics renders traditional grenade-focused classes, such as Witchhunter and Tactician, obsolete. While these classes have their own merits, they pale in comparison to the bonuses provided by Advanced Thaumaturgy.

Reasons for the decline of certain classic Ascendancies

Compared to the high damage output and mobility of Path of Exile 2 Gemling Legionnaire, other Ascendancies have fallen out of favor not only due to a lack of updates but also because their underlying mechanical flaws have become increasingly apparent.

Take Smith of Kitava for instance. The class's core issue lies in the lack of effective synergy and rotation between its mechanics.

For one, the mechanic involving forging weapons on an anvil is virtually never used, and the signature skill Manifest Weapon is consistently ignored. There is also a mechanic that triggers fire spells on hit, yet there are no truly effective fire spells to synergize with it.

The only viable playstyle for Smith of Kitava involves combining Whirling Assault with Detonate Dead, dealing damage based on a corpse's maximum health by detonating it.

The problem, however, is that Detonate Dead is quite weak against bosses; furthermore, if you intend to play Whirling Assault, Martial Artist is a far superior choice.

Reasons for the success of other promising classes

Although the player base for Martial Artist doesn't quite match that of Gemling Legionnaire, it still significantly outpaces other PoE 2 Ascendancies. Its success stems from its unique, driver-style mechanics.

Martial Artist's Hollow Form allows you to create powerful clones that fight alongside you; when combined with other AoE skills, this enables instant screen-clearing.

In contrast, Invoker, which shares the same base class, offers only marginal Spirit gains, elemental effects triggered by critical hits, or chilled ground created upon freezing enemies.

These incremental stat bonuses pale in comparison to the screen-clearing power offered by Hollow Form.

How should the current meta be adjusted in preparation for the 1.0 launch?

While Gemling Legionnaire is currently performing exceptionally well, its dominance in player attention could prove detrimental to the future of Path of Exile 2, particularly regarding game balance post-launch.

First and foremost, a simple, blanket nerf to Gemling Legionnaire is not the answer; instead, the developers should preserve its core identity while making reasonable numerical adjustments to the bug-tier stacking mechanics that exceed intended design parameters.

As the 1.0 launch introduces additional classes and Ascendancies, early-game options should be reworked sooner rather than later to highlight their unique characteristics and ensure they remain viable and engaging choices.

For builds centered around specific themes, the development team should implement clearer and more powerful mechanical support within the relevant Ascendancy passive trees following the 1.0 release.

In short, while Gemling Legionnaire has caused a slight imbalance in the current PoE 2 meta, it demonstrates a strong player appetite for playstyles driven by the unique mechanics of Ascendancies.

By using this insight to guide the optimization and reworking of other classes, the developers can ensure that the combat experience in Path of Exile 2 becomes both balanced and richly varied upon the game's full launch.

In Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.5 Forbidden Rite League, Ritual has received some additions from the developers. Although the changes are not particularly significant, Ritual is still a source of valuable Crafting Omens and Jackpot Uniques.

In Forbidden Rite League, Ritual Tablets are not particularly valuable, so you can easily run this strategy. Below are the details of the required passives and the basic process for running it.

How to Run Ritual?

In Forbidden Rite League, Ritual replaces Expedition and appears in every area. After completing a Ritual, the button in the bottom-right corner no longer appears. You must complete all Rituals and click the final Ritual site to collect the full set of rewards.

There are mainly two types of Rituals you will encounter on each map: regular Rituals and Rite of the Nameless.

Regular Rituals appear on every map. Clear the map first and then complete Rituals, keep and purchase valuable items, check through all the pages, and finally hand the remaining Tribute over to the boss.

Rite of the Nameless is slightly more complicated. You need to give Tribute to the king and convert it into an Audience with the King. Then, defeat the boss, take Head of the King, and use it to anoint a map area.

Rite of the Nameless

When farming Atlas maps, if you have an Audience with the King in your inventory, you will see some locations that can reveal Crux of Nothingness as you explore outward from the starting fortress. This consumes one Audience with boss.

You must be close enough to the target before you can place it, and there are usually several maps between you and the target. Doryani's Hidden Patterns Perk can help you skip maps and find the final boss faster.

Head of the King is worth approximately 1 Divine Orb, so farming Rituals for an Audience with the King, defeating the boss, and then selling Head of the King is also a viable way to generate currency.

You only need to enter Caer Tarth, anoint it with Head of the King, and then choose a chain consisting of 6 maps. Head of the King is not consumed until you select the 6 maps. Cleansed Areas or Cities are recommended. Cleansed Areas increase the number of monsters, which is exactly what Ritual needs because more monsters mean more Tribute.

Across these 6 maps, the modifiers and rewards increase. For example, you may get modifiers that reduce the cost of rerolling Favours, increase Tribute, or cause Ritual Altars to provide 20% more Favours.

Map Bosses carry over from one map to the next. By the 5th and 6th maps, you may face five or 6 Map Bosses at the same time and gain a large amount of Tribute.

You also gain an additional Reroll on each map, giving you around seven Rerolls by the end. This is ideal for hunting for high-value Omens and Legendaries.

Ritual Passive Tree

The Invigorated Sacrifices node on Ritual Passive Tree is extremely powerful because it allows Ritual Altars to offer more selectable items. This node increases Ritual skill damage by 50%, but the skill itself deals very little damage, so its negative effect can be almost completely ignored.

Between Two Worlds node can generate a Wildwood Wisp. It creates a small white circle, and killing Ritual monsters inside the circle grants 30% more Tribute. This is another very powerful node, but if your build cannot stand in one place while dealing with monsters, you should avoid taking it.

Another core passive is Tainted option on Traveller's Woe. Its damage is easy to avoid, while it increases the chance of Unique Belts, Charms, and Flasks appearing. In other words, it also increases the chances of finding Mageblood and Headhunter.

Ritual Tablet

Ritual Tablets are the most important part of the setup. Use four Tablets when running Cities and three Tablets for regular maps.

Tablets with a modifier that allows Ritual Altars to reroll Favours an additional 1 to 3 times are extremely valuable. If the prefix is good, such a Tablet can even be worth dozens of PoE 2 Divine Orbs. You can choose to sell it or use it yourself to gamble for Mageblood and Headhunter.

The suffix that reduces Tribute cost of rerolling Favours is also very strong because each reroll normally costs 1,000 Tribute. You can stack this modifier, and once it reaches 100%, you can reroll for free.

The modifier that reduces Tribute cost of Deferring is also useful, but Patient Devotion node on the passive tree already provides a 50% reduction, so having this modifier on at most one Tablet is enough..

Modifiers that increase the chance of Omens appearing are also excellent, since Omens are one of the main sources of income for this strategy. Some Omens only appear through Ritual, and they can be worth several Divine Orbs.

Prefixes are not particularly important. You can choose modifiers related to Rare Monsters, Effectiveness, Item Rarity, and so on. They can provide some additional basic currency, but they are not mandatory.

Maps

For maps, mainly use Tier 15 Waystones, roll them to 6 modifiers, and then Corrupt them. 8 modifiers are also good if you can get them. If a Waystone becomes Tier 16, it is better to save it for another strategy.

This strategy does not care much about monster effectiveness, item rarity, and similar modifiers. It prioritizes rare monsters, pack size, and additional monsters instead, allowing more enemies to spawn during Rituals and generating more Tribute.

In PoE 2 Forbidden Rite League, Ritual may not be the fastest strategy, but it is fun to run and can also deliver big jackpots, providing large amounts of currency and valuable rewards. The difficulty is also relatively low, making it suitable as a main farming strategy during the early and mid stages of the league.

PoE 2 Forbidden Rites event league has been live for a few days now, how are you finding it? While the novelty might not last all the way until the 1.0 launch, it's certainly engaging enough for a solid month of play!

Although Patch 0.5.5 lacks sweeping balance changes, meaning traditional builds remain dominant, Poison Bow Acolyte of Chayula build stands out. Thanks to its unique mechanics and high damage output, it can definitely elevate your experience in this patch!

What is the core mechanic of this build?

The build's massive damage boost stems from Remnant mechanic within Acolyte of Chayula Ascendancy tree, combined with PoE 2 current weapon-swapping mechanics.

You achieve this by allocating all passive nodes related to Remnants and pickup radius, and setting up specific gear in your secondary weapon slot. When entering an area, if you start with your secondary weapon active, the game registers that specific pickup radius for Remnants.

Once the mechanic is active, any Remnants (generated by killing monsters or specific mechanics) are automatically drawn to and instantly absorbed by your character. By taking the core passive Choice of Power, your character can absorb high-tier purple Remnants.

Each stack of purple Remnants grants a 7% extra chaos damage bonus, stacking up to 10 times. With additional modifiers that boost Remnant effects, this damage bonus is amplified significantly.

It is worth noting that benefiting from secondary weapon passives without actually switching weapons is essentially an exploit within Path of Exile 2. However, even if this is patched out in the future, the build can still function effectively through other methods.

You will need to stack Pickup Radius modifiers on gear or allocate Crimson Further passive node to increase your Remnant pickup range by 50%.

Afterward, you can reallocate the passive points originally used for the weapon-swap setup to focus on mobility and utility, using the weapon-swap action itself to trigger massive movement speed boosts and apply additional damage effects.

Focusing on chaos damage scaling via gear

This build does not limit its damage output to raw chaos base damage; instead, it maximizes chaos damage scaling by converting other damage types into chaos damage via the purple flames known as Remnants.

Gear selection is crucial for achieving this, and you will need to swap out certain items as you progress through the league.

Initially, Blightlord Bow serves as your base weapon. While its attack range is somewhat limited, Poison Bow Acolyte of Chayula build relies on Poison Burst detonating in a concentrated area at close range to achieve peak stacking and explosion efficiency.

Later, you can switch to Splinter Heart bow to accelerate your leveling. It boasts excellent projectile speed and base damage, providing enough power to tackle high-level maps.

Regarding weapon affixes, focus on boosting added base damage to enhance the conversion effect of the purple remnants. If rerolling yields poor results, it's best to buy PoE2 currency to fund further attempts.

For other gear pieces, if there is spare room in the prefix slots, you can supplement Remnant Effect stat; however, there is no need to over-stack it, as the passive skill tree already provides a sufficient baseline.

Additionally, in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.5, socketing specific variants of Soul Core into your melee weapon or off-hand slot grants up to 25% Poison Power, a damage-boosting mechanic that poison builds simply cannot afford to overlook.

Skill synergies

The reason this PoE 2 build achieves a perfect balance between highly automated map clearing and the ability to instantly eliminate single targets lies primarily in the synergy between its various skills.

For map clearing, Poison Bow Acolyte of Chayula build relies on a self-sustaining chain reaction involving Poisonburst Arrow, Herald of Blood, and Herald of Plague.

First, use Poisonburst Arrow to inflict Poison and Bursting Plague on enemies; the latter also applies the bleed status.

When a bleeding monster dies, Herald of Blood triggers, detonating the target simply because it is bleeding. The resulting explosion deals damage that applies further poison and works with Herald of Plague to spread the effect to surrounding enemies.

When facing single targets, Toxic Growth serves as your primary skill, firing toxic projectiles.

You can then incorporate Withering Touch to apply Wither effect. When the target is poisoned, it triggers additional poisoning and instantly detonates all Toxic Growth projectiles, dealing a burst of poison damage.

Finally, Archon buff provides excellent Wither uptime and an additional tornado. Through amulet anointing and unlocking minion-related passives, the skill's cooldown recovery period can be further eliminated.

Passive skill tree setup

For this build, unlocking Acolyte of Chayula passive node should be done in stages. In the early game, focus on poison mechanics by prioritizing Leeching Toxins, Escalating Toxins, and Building Toxins to establish an efficient poison cluster.

In the late game, once you have high-stat Path of Exile 2 gear, you can invest more points into critical strike and critical strike damage nodes, as critical strikes benefit both the initial hit damage and the poison DoT.

How to improve defenses?

While the content above focuses primarily on the build's damage output, that does not mean its defensive capabilities are weak.

The build utilizes a hybrid defense system combining Life and Energy Shield. Since Energy Shield normally takes double chaos damage, high chaos resistance is crucial; Chayula's Gift synergizes with this hybrid setup to neutralize the threat of chaos damage.

Hollowkeeper notable passive allows for easy chaos immunity, while other passives provide movement speed bonuses and significantly reduce the slowing effects of movement-impairing debuffs.

The right side of Acolyte of Chayula passive tree also offers abundant Deflection bonuses. With a finalized gear setup, the character can easily reach the 80% Deflection cap, drastically reducing incoming direct damage.

That covers everything for this guide. If this PoE 2 build matches your preferred playstyle, give it a try, it might just offer a unique experience for your Forbidden Rites league journey!