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

Updated:

13 Feb 2023

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

In a world dominated by Champions, Elementalists, Inquisitors, and Deadeyes, the Marauder lost a bit of the spotlight in 3.17, but some builds stood the test of time (and the nerfs) and remained as strong as before, if not more, while others surged from the ashes with the new mechanics and items. And here are some of the best Chieftain Builds in Patch 3.17 Archnemesis League!

5 – Righteous Incinerator

Righteous Fire against City Square's Bosses

With the massive buffs to spells in this league, Incinerate wasn’t forgotten, and got a whopping ~45% DPS boost! And with Eldritch Influence, gearing for certain harder mods to hit just got massively easier, like Unnerve on Hit and Action Speed. This build, due to how simple and effective it is, is a recurring build suggestion because of its flexibility, and 3.17 just made it better by far.

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

4 – The Warchief

Warchief Totems against Shrine Boss

Like the previous build, this next one has been featured before, and it remains mostly the same in regards to power, without having been overtaken by anything. While it didn’t receive any direct buffs or nerfs, the fact that we now have access to Eldritch Influence and Forgotten Jewels brings a breath of fresh air to the build!

What the Warchief Facebreaker Excels in:

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

Warchief Facebreaker full details:

Due to how Facebreaker 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. And with Forbidden Jewels, if you can get the Berserker’s 40% More Damage for a steep price, you’ll magnify your damage immensely!

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

3 – CI Bladefall/Blade Blast

Bladefall and Blade Blast MTX against The Minotaur

While quite outside the meta and even the regular approaches to Chieftains, stacking strength is still the Chieftain’s powerhouse, and making use of clever mechanics, this build can achieve impressive levels of tankyness with respectable damage, able to ignore most threats and delete most bosses with a one-two punch!

What the CI Bladefall/Blade Blast Excels in:

Tanky with over 9k ES
Immune to Chaos Damage from being a Chaos Inoculation Build
Around 6-10 Million Single Target DPS
Respectable and simple clearing

CI Bladefall/Blade Blast full details:

We get a massive ES pool by using Geoffrey’s Sanctuary unique body armour, which grants us 2 Energy Shield per 5 Strength, and when you have over 2,000 Strength, that translates to over 800 Flat Energy shield, which then gets scaled by the rest of the passive tree and gear. We also enjoy the extra Strength, making use of Doon Cuebiyari to boost our damage by 1% per 8 strength.
Beyond that, with Eldritch implicits, it makes it quite easy to get some extra damage and more Mana reservation, to squeeze out an extra aura, and get a nice chunk of more ES too.
Most of our tankiness comes from a substantial amount of Armor, reaching over 25k, being Ailment Immune from Purity of Elements, and reaching over 10k ES. This, combined with being immune to Chaos Damage means that we’re massively tanky and can withstand a ton of damage without folding over!

For more information, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3245235

2 – One Shot Tectonic Slam

Tectonic Slam against The Feared

Yet another build that makes a comeback is the OneShot Tectonic Slam. With the introduction of Forbidden Jewels, we can milk even more single target damage by ‘stealing’ Berserker’s Warcry Node, and getting over 50% more damage, and with the Eldritch Influences, the barrier of entry is much lower and easy to gear.

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. With Forbidden Jewels, you can get War Bringer, the Berserker Warcry node, and boost your damage even further!
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

1 – Fire Reap Chieftain

Reap against The Cortex Boss

One of the new builds that came strictly from the use of new items is the Fire Reap with Crystalized Omniscience. By stacking a lot of attributes, the Strength stacking Ascendancy is amazing at providing with tons of extra damage as well as easy Physical to Fire conversion for both Spells and Attakcs, and with how cheap some of the key Awakened gems are in this league, Reap is easily one of the strongest single target builds! Having played it myself this league, and deleting every boss in the game with it with one or two casts, I strongly recommend it!

What the Fire Reap Chieftain Excels in:

Supremely Tanky (Can reach 90% all Ele Res and 40k Armor)
Properly geared, you can deal over 40 Million HIT damage with a single Cast
Easy and straightforward to play
Gearing is super easy with Omniscience since you don’t need to care about Res
Reaching over 1,500 Omni is easy, and will grant you 150% Elemental Pen!

Fire Reap full details:

As an Omni build, the most important stats you want are Attributes. Rings and Belts with 2 to 3 flat 50+ Atributes, as well implicits with % Attributes will make the build truly shine. We also use a Circle of Anguish to boost our Herald of Fire, as it is a great way to easily get more %Phys added as Fire for our Reap.
We convert 100% of our Reap’s Physical Damage, caring only about the Hit part. With Awakened Unleash and Awakened Spell Cascade, we can, with a single cast, unleash 20 Reap blades that are overlapping, if the enemy is large enough, essentially multiplying our damage. So getting as much AoE is vital for damage!
Our tankiness comes from using the new jewel Melding of the Flesh and getting a single Maximum Resistance to the maximum (90%). While the guide uses Fire, with a +1 Spell Gems and +4 Max Fire Res shield, I went with Aegis Aurora in order to become tankier through Max Block. This isn’t a cheap Build, and levels are the most important thing for Reap, so getting a level 29 or 30 Reap is crucial!

For more information, check here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQARxZCxBvs&t=2s