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

Champion has always been a good all-around class that never really peaked except for some niche builds or edge-cases for Impale archetypes. This all changed in 3.16 with the rework of defenses, in particular Armor and Evasion, and how well it synergizes with the Champion. And as such, here are some of the best builds for this patch with this tank monster!

5 – Toxic Rain Champion

Toxic Rain Pods overlap

There’s nothing that embodies Flavour of the month as well as this build. Due to Lightee and Zizaran’s videos (two very well respected and knowledgeable personalities in the community) over how amazing the Champion would be with the changes, and how Toxic Rain is unparalleled at League start, this blew up to absurd levels of popularity!

What the Toxic Rain Champion Excels in:

• Uber Tanky.
• Fantastic for all modes, HC, SSF, Gauntlet.
• More than enough damage to deal with all content in the game.
• Fast and deadly.

Toxic Rain Champion full details:

• As all Toxic Rain builds, you’ll need a quick (preferably a Short/Thicket Bow) bow with as many Gem Levels as possible, +3 being ideal, and +1/+2 Support gems and Empower is the way to go. Combining it with Chaos DoT Multiplier and global DoT Multi, for massive damage. Also, getting a +2 amulet is a must for massive damage increase, since TR scales wonderfully well with levels.
• For speed, you’ll want a Queen of the Forest, reaching the cap of 75% Inc Movement speed with ease. Since we use both Determination and Grace, hitting high numbers of Evasion and Armor is trivial, while also making us supremely tanky.
• For survivability, we are Spell Suppressed at 100% chance, Permanently Fortified at 20+ stacks, over 25k Armor and 40k Evasion, more than 6k EHP, infinite mana with Devouring Diadem, Curse on hit ring, and Maloney’s Mechanism for Mapping (with a DoT Quiver for Bossing).

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3192629

4 – Versatile Combatant Impale Shield Crush

Shield Crush during a Ritual

The changes to Gladiator in 3.16, and the introduction of Versatile Combatant into the passive tree (albeit very nerfed) made it extremely easy to have a solid amount of Attack and Spell block with next to no investment. Combining it with the ease of getting a lot of flat damage and impale effect, as well as the inherent tankiness, it makes the Champion a fantastic choice for pure Physical Shield skills.

What the Versatile Combatant Impale SC Excels in:

• Fantastic League starter that scales well and easily
• Can clear all content in the game
• Ridiculously Tanky with several layers of defense
• Quick Mapping

Versatile Combatant Impale Shield Crush full details:

• Versatile Combatant grants us 2% Spell Block chance per 1% Attack Block chance that is over the limit (which is 50% while having Versatile Combatant), so all we need is either 75% Attack Block or just about 25% Spell Block chance in gear/passive and using Tempest Shield for the other 25%.
• Champion gives us a lot of flat physical damage, as well as an extra impale, which is MASSIVE for impale builds, especially if you’re rich and can use the Watcher’s Eye Pride Impale mod.
• You’ll want as much armor in your shield as possible since Shield Crush scales based on the amount of armor that it has. It’s also a unique Attack skill because it scales really well with levels up until a certain breakpoint. At 24 gem Level, you can get a lot more damage per point of armor. If you want to clear fast, either a Haemophilia or Asenath’s Gentle Touch gloves is a must.

For a full breakdown, click here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3148278

3 – Doryani’s Prototype Smite

Elder fight

Doryani’s Prototype became flavor of the month a few weeks into Scourge league because of Scourged modifiers that can easily help you get to nearly minus 200% Lightning Resistance, which is the foundation for how the Chest Piece works.

What Doryani’s Prototype Smite Excels in:

• Great and fast map clear.
• Respectable single target damage (over 10 million DPS.
• Insanely tanky with over 450,000 armor!!.
• Somewhat cheap to start, but can scale to infinity with proper investment.

Doryani’s Prototype Smite full details:

• Doryani’s Prototype makes it so your Lightning resistance is mirrored by the surrounding enemies, and as such, you’ll want to have as lowest as possible Lightning resistance, to the cap of -200%, in order to deal massive amounts of damage, since negative resistance works as a multiplier to your damage. This comes with the obvious issue of being just as susceptible to Lightning damage as the enemies, and Doriany’s Prototype gives us an escape from that by making our Armor defend against Lightning damage, but only for hits. We can still easily die from Lightning DoTs, like the Shaper Beam or the Squid Boss’ laser.
• We also use two Replica Dreamfeathers to increase our damage based on how much armor we have, which then makes it so all our defenses will also boost our damage. And since we can achieve 200,000 to 1,500,000 Armor with proper investment, that means a massive amount of increased damage.
• We want to scale Determination as high as possible, and as such, we stack 6 Introspection Small Cluster jewels, as well as raising Determination’s level with Alpha’s Howl as high as possible. And if you’re a millionaire, you can also use Mageblood to achieve over a million armor (and over 70 million DPS).

For a full breakdown of this build, click here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3205729

2 – Bergerbrush’s Impale Cyclone

Cyclone with Celestial MTX

Cyclone, as always, is a fantastic clearing skill that works with many, many archetypes and concepts. But of the most basic yet still fantastic uses of Cyclone is by going Pure Physical with Impale. And since Champion is the king of Impale, that’s the go-to for this build.

What Bergerbrush’s Impale Cyclone Excels in:

• Can clear all content.
• Buttery smooth playstyle and clear.
• Instant life leech/Life gain on Hit.
• League starter and SSF viable.

Bergerbrush’s Impale Cyclone full details:

• With the Unique Bloodseeker claw, any damage we deal with it is leeched instantly and with our main damage dealing claw, we also get a ton of life gained on hit, and since Cyclone hits so often, we’re essentially immortal unless for massive hits.
• We have over 20k Armor, more than 6,000 life, a chunky Molten Shell, and Permanent Fortify to help us deal with one-shots, as well as substantial amounts of Elemental Resistance from the Passive tree, making us very tanky.
• The goal chest piece is having a -15 Total Mana Cost of Socketed Skills, to negate all of Cyclone’s cost and make it free, so we can run all map mods. You’ll also want Channeling Cluster Jewels and an Impale Pride mod Watcher’s Eye, to further boost your damage. It’s so impactful that just that jewel alone can increase your damage to more than 1 million DPS.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2775438

1 – CheapBunny’s Petrified Blood Low Life Aura Champion

Cycloning during an Ultimatum

What better way to use the reworked Evasion and Armor stats than with Champion, to scale both our damage and defense into a Petrified Blood LL playstyle while still being massively tanky, and capable of millions of damage?

What CheapBunny’s PB LL Aura Champion Excels in:

• Can virtually use any sword attack
• Flexible gearing, making it great for any budget
• The tankier we get, the more damage we deal
• Scaling Life gives us flat physical damage while scaling Eva/Ar gives us % damage
• Permanent Adrenaline

CheapBunny’s Petrified Blood Low Life Aura Champion full details:

• Petrified Blood makes it so nothing except life flask can refill your life pool to over 50%, forcing you to be constantly at Low Life. In exchange, it makes it so over 45% of the damage you take from hits to be spaced out for a long while, so you can mitigate and overleech/over-regen the damage you’d take in one hit instead.
• Combining it with some clever mechanics, you can also achieve Slayer Overleech tech, where you’re always leeching and can stack leech to infinity. You’ll also make use of Bloodthirst Support Gem, which grants 2% of your Life as flat physical damage, as long as you’re in Low Life range (which is always). Not only that, but whenever you get to low life, you trigger Champion’s Adrenaline, which grants 100% increased damage, 25% attack, cast and movement speed, and another 10% reduced physical damage taken. And you can essentially always have Adrenaline with just a flask use and spending some life as skill cost.
• We make use of Prism Guardian for free Auras to make sure we can stack many auras, most importantly Pride, Grace, and Determination, but also Petrified Blood, Banners, Flesh and Stone, Precision and Vitality. With proper investment, you can get over 4 million damage with almost any attack and it’s extremely flexible to fit whatever playstyle you want.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3194071

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