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

Updated:

30 Apr 2022

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

Chieftains are the spiritual brothers to the Hierophants. Where Hierophants excel in lightning and mana, the Chieftains master the fire and life. They hit hard and slow, and they dominate the battlefield with their Tukohama-blessed totems, spewing out mountains of fiery lava at their enemies!

And here are some of the best builds that exemplify that explosive nature!

5 – Discharge Ignite Chieftain

Discharge

What better way to kill mobs than to burn them into smithereens and forget their existence? Erased in a supernova to never be seen again? Without breaking the bank to do it? This build does just that, with nary an issue!

What the Discharge Ignite Chieftain Excels in:

Respectable single Target damage without much investment
Super easy to gear, no required uniques involved
Tanky with over 50k Armor and 6k Life
Nearly immortal with VMS up

Discharge Ignite Chieftain full details:

Discharge works by consuming Endurance, Frenzy, or Power Charges to deal the corresponding damage based on the number of charges consumed. We scale as many charges as we can, and we convert all our damage into fire, with Avatar of Fire, to use the damage from the other charges (Cold for Frenzy, Lightning for Power) and turn it into fire, to scale our Ignite Damage.
With the changes to Ignite in 3.16, higher hits are more important and as such, having a massive Discharge dealing absurd levels of damage only helps our Ignite DPS. Scaling a lot of Fire DoT Multiplier, both on gear and jewels/passive tree will go a long way toward pushing our damage to the stratosphere!
We generate our charges through a Farrul’s Fur, Enduring Cry, and having a Redblade Banner shield allows us to always have maximum Endurance Charges on cooldown. We achieve our Tankiness with 50/50 Block, over 50k Armor, 10k Molten Shell, a lot of life regen, 20% of Phys damage taken as Fire due to being a Chieftain, as well as being extremely beefy with over 6,5k EHP.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3220098

4 – Volatile Dead CwC Self-Ignite Chieftain

Countless Volatile Dead Orbs

Cyclone and Auto-aimed VDs. Spin to win without having to even care what’s happening, while being a massive tanky boi at the same time. You spin around throwing balls of evil fire around you that chase down your enemies and burn them to a crisp for you! They might not think so, but it is a blast!

What Volatile Dead CwC Self Ignite Excels in:

Absurdly Tanky with over 8,5k Life
Around 2 million DPS with proper gearing
Consistent damage
No Mana issues

Volatile Dead CwC Self-Ignite full details:

This works by self-igniting ourselves with Eye of Innocence, which causes us to take 100 fire damage when we ignite an enemy. Then, we get life back from Ngmahu’s Sign, and since we hit so often with Cyclone, we proc several instances Cast When Damage Taken, which is where our damage comes from.
We proc Desecrate to spawn corpses so that we can trigger Volatile Dead with our primary link. We also trigger Curses, Wave of Conviction to lower enemies’ resistance, and we proc more sources of ignite, to feed the loop further, with Blade Vortex, Firestorm, or Bladefall.
To deal with mana issues that came from the changes to trigger mechanics, we go Blood Magic to make everything be spent from our Life, which is massive and we have a ton of regen, making everything essentially free.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3180145

3 – The Warchief Facebreaker

Warchief Totem with the Iron Maiden MTX

Ever since the introduction of Ancestral Warchief Totems, people have gravitated towards making it work with Facebreakers, using the massive 800% damage multiplier, and having your totems do the brunt of the work. This hasn’t changed in all the years since and only gets better over time.

What the Warchief Facebreaker Excels in:

Tanky with over 6k Life
Can do all content and map mods
Safe behind totems which leech life for you
Respectable single target damage

Warchief Facebreaker full details:

Due to how Facebreakers works, we want as much flat physical damage from our gear, and as such, we stack items that grant us that, such as Abyss Jewels, Steel Rings, Abyssus, and even the more defensive chest-piece Loreweave, since it has a strong amount of Physical damage.
With Redblade Banner, our Enduring Cry can regenerate over 2,000 HP in less than a second, making it much stronger than any flask in the game, with a low cooldown. You can use that until you get a powerful +1 Totem Shield, to boost your damage further.
Always aim to get as much flat Physical damage in your gear, rings, and amulet, as that is what scales our damage the most.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1694250

2 – Righteous Incinerator

Righteous Fire with Divine MTX

If you want a build that you don’t have to worry about, that can use anything and everything available to you, and that will tank the whole game without so much as caring what you’re facing, this build is for you. The Righteous Incinerator is all about being relaxed and simple to play, without cracking your head over tiny things and specific items. Simple to play and perfect to enjoy.

What the Righteous Incinerator Excels in:

Very Tanky
Extremely flexible in gearing
League Start and HC viable
Can do most content in the game with proper investment

Righteous Incinerator full details:

Our main active damage comes from an Incinerate linked to Infused Channeling Support Gem (since it increases RF’s damage too), Immolate, Lifetap(removes any mana issues), and Faster Casting, to reach maximum stages as fast as possible.
Since RF doesn’t need, nor does it have many good links, a simple 4 or pseudo-5-Link is more than enough damage, since our damage truly comes from how much Life and Energy shield we have.
Our gear is flexible but we want as much life, life regen, life regeneration rate, resists, strength and, in certain pieces, Fire damage over time Multiplier, on gloves, scepters, and amulets. You can make a Pseudo 5Link with Conc Effect or even 6-Link in your helmet, or by using Essence of Delirium on your gloves and getting a Pseudo 5Link that way, to help boost RF’s damage.

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3187518

1 – One-Shot Tectonic Slam

Tectonic Slam

In most games, if not all, the concept of One-shot is a bit murky. Does it actually mean killing things with a single hit? Or a single combo? And what about preparation? Does that count? I’m of the mind that yes, to all the above. If the boss dies within the blink of an eye, even if it was a flurry of tiny hits, that’s still a one-shot for me. And if you prepare by buffing yourself beforehand, so you can deliver a single hit that kills the enemy instantly, that’s the same thing, with different steps. And this build does just that. It will demolish any and all enemies in a single slam that shatters the fabric of space-time and blows the enemy into smithereens.

What the One-Shot Tectonic Slam Excels in:

Extremely Tanky
Scales wonderfully with investment, from 3 million to 50 million DPS
One hit clears the entire screen
Safe since enemies can’t kill you if they’re dead. Off-screen
Can League Start if you know what you’re doing, and even if you don’t

One-Shot Tectonic Slam full details:

This build features all steps of budget for you, from League start, and less than 50 chaos budget to over 50 exalts in the budget, helping you know what to choose and when and how to acquire sensible upgrades.
You’ll need to get used to the gameplay, which is a bit slower and methodical, but it’s one of the most satisfying builds there is when you can buff yourself up and then blow everything up in a single hit. We stack Endurance charges, which grant us a lot of damage and physical mitigation, as well as a ton of life regen.
Our damage starts non-crit, just to get our feet wet until we can afford a Disintegrator and a crit body armor. Then, things start getting exponentially stronger, reaching over 10 million DPS without much investment (10 to 15ex), all the while getting key jewels to improve and close any holes you have in your gear.

For a thoroughly detailed breakdown, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2922828