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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.