[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Ascendant Builds That Wreck Hard!

Updated:

04 Feb 2022

[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Ascendant Builds That Wreck Hard!

The Ascendant. The Jack of All Trades of Path of Exile. The Bane of Balance. A class that is always the best choice or the worst choice, depending on the patch. Sadly, we’re in a ‘bad’ patch for her, have been for a long time now. That said, there are still a few builds that have stood the test of time and as such, they’re my picks for this list!

5 – Glacial Hammer Shieldmaiden

Herald of Ice Glacial Hammer AoE Clearing

The skill that generated memes for years (This is a buff 4%) and is as controversial as anything has any right to be, and yet, it’s a solid, usable skill that survived many nerfs and meta changes. And with Scion, it can still shine and clear most of the game!

What the Glacial Hammer Shieldmaiden Excels in:

Extremely Tanky
Slow but reliable clear
Enough Single-target to face-tank and kill most bosses in the game
Cheap to start with and scales well with investment

Glacial Hammer Shieldmaiden full details:

We achieve our tankiness by stacking as much block and spell block as possible, reaching 80/75 Attack and Spell block, 15k armour, 25k evasion, and over 6k life!
Our Damage comes mostly from gems and the weapon, which grants us permanent double damage. Unless you invest mountains of exalts, you’ll hit a soft cap in damage of around 2 million, but you’ll consistently freeze and crowd control bosses, so it’s a very safe bosser.
Your area comes from Winter Burial unique jewel, which gives Glacial Hammer some splash damage, but unless you use Ancestral Call, the clearing will be on the slower side. You’re essentially immortal, though, so that isn’t a problem at all.

For a thorough breakdown, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3218085

4 – Andreshki’s Blood Queen

Illustration of the Blood Queen

Blood skills were introduced in 3.14 and they’re here to stay! Due to where certain physical dot masteries are located, Scion is the best class to grab them quickly and have a fantastic leveling experience with them, and the damage never plateaus. You’ll drench mobs in blood and make them burst in a gory fest with this build!

What Andreshki’s Blood Queen Excels in:

Near immortal
League Starter viable and extremely cheap
Scale superbly well with proper investment
Quick and Gauntlet-ready
Very satisfying to play

Andreshki’s Blood Queen full details:

We achieve our tankiness through a few mechanics. First, we’re capped blocked for both Attacks and Spells. Secondly, with The Devouring Diadem, our ES gets transferred to protect our Mana, and with Mind over Matter, this means that 30% of the damage we take gets taken out from the ES. As such, we can use all our mana to reserve Petrified Blood, making it so 45% of the damage we take be staggered, which means we need a lot of life regen.
Our damage comes mostly from gem levels, and they’re really easy to get with two Cold-Iron Point daggers, for a whopping +6 All Physical Spell Gems, as well as Empower 3 or 4 (for another 2 or 3 levels) and +1 or +2 Amulets, reaching over level 30 Exsanguinate easily.
We increment our damage with a Pseudo 5L Corrupting Fever, on a pair of Delirium Gloves for the 30% More DoT. Since we’re Low Life because of Petrifying blood, we get easy access to Block from Daresso’s Courage, easy damage mitigation from Lori’s Lantern that grants unlucky damage taken, and of course, 30% More Spell Damage from Pain Attunment.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3085369

3 – Babezerker Dual Strike Brutus’ Lead Sprinkler

The Ascendant Dual Wielding two Brutus Lead Sprinkler

This is what The Ascendant is meant to be. The missing link between impossible builds, bringing everything together uniquely and interestingly. Combining elements from the other side of the passive tree with the Berzerker, and having more points than knowing what to do with them!

What the Babezerker Dual Strike Excels in:

Fairly tanky, with capped Attack Block and over 5k life
Great clearing for a melee skill
Over 10 million single-target DPS!
Cheap and simple to gear and start!

Babezerker Dual Strike full details:

As this is a strength-stacking build, there’s a soft ceiling you have unless you invest a LOT of currency into Split Personalities and several cluster jewels. That said, this build can respectably achieve over 1500 Strength without a single cluster jewel!
We make use of two Brutus’ Lead Sprinklers, to get over 600~1050 fire damage, with then Dual Strike combines both and amplifies it by 110%, and with their Threshold jewel, all that damage is splashed while used with a mace, so you don’t have to care about clearing, since that’s taken care of by itself!
We go Berserker for the massive 15% more damage boost and free Rage, stun immunity and we snag Assassin for our secondary ascendancy since it gives Elusive (fantastic for clearing and is a defensive buff by itself) as well as helping cap off our Critical Strike Chance, with a flat 0,75% Crit (sounds little, but it’s very much impressive), as well as giving free Power Charge generation and reflect immunity (when criting).

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3180732

2 – Freeze Battlemage

Illustration of the Freeze Battlemage

This is a more supportive build, which is often how people prefer using the Ascendant, and in this case, it’s a crowd-control warlord. With some really simple and yet effective mechanics, you can freeze bosses for over 15 seconds with a single attack, and protect your party from any sort of damage. Bosses can’t hit you if they’re a popsicle!

What the Freeze Battlemage Excels in:

Party Play
Easy to gear and cheap to get into
Good clearing with proper investment
Freeze anything and everything forever

Freeze Battlemage full details:

The way this build works is by making use of a few unique interactions and synergies. First, Glacial Hammer’s inherent ‘freeze enemies as though dealing 400% more damage’, then multiplying that with Pain Seeker’s Unique glove, for another 200% multiplier, and then finally with Expedition’s End for another 90%+ multiplier. This, with a lot of increases to ailment effect on the passive tree and duration, can increase any freeze duration by over 50 times, and the only enemies that won’t be frozen are the immune ones (which there aren’t many in the game).
While you can play this build solo, with a Crest of Desire, either with Herald of Ice or Thunder, or whatever other form you want (you just need to freeze with the Glacial Hammer), this is mostly for party play, so you can protect your team by freezing everything so they kill the monsters!
You can start with just a few items and grow from there and it’s a fantastic build for doing Bighted maps, since you can freeze whole lanes in just a second with your trusty Hydrosphere!

For more information, click here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3193479

1 – Holy Flame Totem Hiero/Chief

Two Holy Flame Totems

HFT was once the best leveling skill, and while still being very solid for most totem builds as a leveling, it fell out of favor for flashier, quicker totem builds. But as with every other build for the Ascendant, she can work miracles with lesser-used skills, bridging the gap needed to bring skill into viability, and HFT is no different!

What the Holy Flame Totem Excels in:

Very Tanky
Totem playstyle is simple and comfortable, though it takes some getting used to
Can clear most of the game with cheap gear
HC, Gauntlet, League Starter Viable.
Very cheap and scales extremely well with currency

Holy Flame Totem full details:

We stack as much life as possible, and our totems, thanks to Chieftain’s ascendancy, heals us for a % of the damage they deal, as well as taunting enemies near our totems. This, combined with how safe the totem playstyle is, allows us to avoid the most dangerous encounters by simply hiding behind our totems or walls!
The damage is solid and can be scaled with several items, and if you want to push the envelope, you can get Cowards’ Legacy, Viridi’s Veil, and a Soul Mantle, to achieve massive damage, while still being very tanky thanks to Viridi’s Veil curse immunity and unlucky damage mechanic!
With over 7k life and several totems doing the work, taking part of the damage you’d take, taunting and leeching life to you, they’re your biggest offense and defense at the same time, and all this power is from the passive tree, making it a fantastic league starter build!

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3146104