Path of Exile 2 | Warrior Build Guide

As I was creating this Warrior build, I was really looking to make one single, unstoppable boss killer, able to annihilate any foe with just one hard strike. After hours of tweaking and trying, I have finally settled on a Titan Warrior build, with a focus on heavy stun mechanisms, armor-breaking synergy, and a smattering of devastating critical strikes. 

It's well worth the payoff, if a bit slower in terms of gameplay: bosses just disintegrating in one strike is a pure, unadulterated delight. Well, I'll walk you through this build step by step, from mechanics and basic skills down to strengths, weaknesses, and equipment choices.

Core Mechanics: Heavy Stuns and Armor Breaks

What gets to the heart of everything here is the combination of heavy stuns and armor breaks. Every enemy in this game has a stagger bar beneath their health, and when this is full, that enemy is deeply stunned. For cases of bosses, this feature comes in great importance because it allows us to add enormous damage increases. 

As the ascendant of a Titan, one of my most important passives is Surprising Strength. It deals 40% more damage to an utterly stunned foe. This "more" multiplier stacks with other multipliers, like the passive Skull Crusher that adds another 20% damage while using a mace, all in all making sure the foes get startled and melt under the weight of my attacks.

Armor breaking is just as crucial. Enemies whose armor is completely broken are vulnerable to a guaranteed critical hit whenever I use Sunder, which is my primary source of damage. In order to effectively break armor, I use the support gem Devastate, which fully breaks armor when a full stun is applied. Overpower and Ruthless for increased stun generation, my basic attack sets up enemies properly for the finishing blow.

Passive Skill Trees and Support Gems

Sunder is really the heart and soul of the build. It just chews through the armor of targets and just makes sure a critical strike will land with tremendous area-of-effect damage. Then I slapped Upheaval in for more fissures in a greater AoE and Fists of War so that it would scale up in damage and size every couple of seconds. In this configuration, Sunder is an incredibly slow, devastating attack.

I use Mace Strike mostly for attacking. It is a simple, really heavy melee skill that, with the supporting gems Devastate, Overpower, and Ruthless, besides being given quick build-ups of stun, will reliably shred armor. Adding Close Combat with other supports increases even further.

I make my slams even more devastating with Seismic Cry, a type of war cry that gives the next slam attack another feature: the ability to cause Aftershock effects, drastically increasing Sunder damage and sometimes even coming in with as much as a third hit. Then the Premeditation support gem adds another increase in damage to Seismic Cry, making stuns, armor breaks, and war cries an indispensable part of the build flow.

Passive Tree Highlights

Passive tree focuses mostly on melee damage, stun building, and bonuses versus hugely stunned enemies. Skull Crusher is an important node, and this doubles the damage against stunned enemies. Split the Earth provides Aftershock bonuses, which work very well with Seismic Cry. I have also taken nodes of increased melee damage, two-hand damage, and stun building up just in case to be consistent against the more powerful ones.

For survivability, I have invested in Life and Resistance nodes, allowing me to take much damage while launching slow, deliberate assaults. Another very important node is Vocal Empowerment because doing so can make my war cry trigger an additional assault that makes it easier to clean up packs while the map runs.

Gear and Weapon Selection

Gear for this build is quite simple- survivability and raw physical damage. The build centers around a two-handed mace that does much physical damage. I use an Oak Great Hammer, offering 40% more Stun build-up, but any mace offering a high amount of damage and decent attack speed will do. Set Iron Runes in your weapon to better the physical damage it does, and remember to upgrade the quality with Whetstones.

The go-to choices for armor and other equipment are resistance, maximum life, and everything that increases physical damage. While offensive statistics dominate, you'll want strong enough defenses to survive the slower playstyle, especially once the crowded attacks begin or highly fast-hitting foes go your way.

Strengths and weaknesses

Its biggest value comes from the consistency with which it can one-shot bosses: the setup, stunned, breaking armor, war cries, and delivering a key slam, which is incredibly rewarding, both in the action and visuals involved. This is a build for the high-pressure moments: the elite mobs and bosses that require single-target damage.

But such a playstyle has some serious drawbacks: for one, the heavy attack animations leave it open to very easy interruptions or overtaking by fast enemies during map clearing. The setup for the whole combo takes some time, which may show itself a bit clunky in fast-paced battles. This is definitely not for the kind of fast farmers or fast progressions across maps. It's rather for deliberate and methodical gameplay.

Playstyle and Combinations

This is all about building up for that ideal combination. Give the fundamentals in a strike in order to fill up the enemy's stun bar and fully break their armor. With the enemies now shocked, defenseless, and unable to do anything, power up another slam with Seismic Cry. Follow up with Sunder now for a sure critical strike that should wipe out bosses or huge groups of opponents. On harder opponents, repeat this all while managing your positioning to dodge incoming assaults.

Clearing packs on the maps feels a bit slower with the wind-up time of Sunder, but I'd say you really want to try and clump as much as possible before hitting them with your big slams. It's definitely not efficient compared to a Sorceress or even a Deadeye, but slamming large groups in one go is just so satisfying and makes up for that somewhat slower clear speed.

Final Remarks

Most people malign the Warrior class in Path of Exile 2, and I can very well see why most of the skills he has just require such long wind-ups that make the early stages really punishing, at least for some players. Stick with it, though, and this class morphs into a real force to be reckoned with, truly capable of some of the most rewarding moments in the game. This Titan build, leaning on heavy stuns, armor breaks, and critical strikes, can be one of the strongest single-target specialists and very nice to play.

Well, consider this: the class for you if you enjoy raw strength, satisfying, crunching strikes, and you put in a bit of work to integrate online, which is well worth the rewards. Just remember, when possible, to upgrade to durability and assault speed upgrades since the animations can be a bit slow. Nothing replaces the feeling of actually setting up a perfect combo and then watching bosses crumble under your strength.

Also, check our Path of Exile 2 Review and other guides below:

• Path of Exile 2 Class Guide | Which Class Should You Pick
• Path of Exile 2 | Monk Build Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Beginner's Guide
• Path of Exile 2 | Witch Build Guide
• Path of Exile 2 | Ranger Build Guide
• Path of Exile 2 | Mercenary Build
• Path of Exile 2 | Sorceress Build Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Guide | How To Level Up Fast
• Path of Exile 2 | How To Farm & Use Uniques
• Path of Exile 2 | How To Craft Powerful Items
• Path of Exile 2 | How To Trade