[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Physical Builds (3.20.2)

Updated:

24 Apr 2023

5 – Summon Reaper

While a very unconventional summoner, the Juggernaut is known for being a great carrier of solo Minion builds, like Herald of Agony/Purity, and it’s no surprise it can also do well with Reaper, the ‘waifu’ of Wraeclast.

What Summon Reaper Excels in:

Surprisingly quick Clearing with Asenath’s
Great single-target damage
Off-meta and thus cheaper than average.
Unique playstyle
Insanely Tanky

Pick Summon Reaper if you Like:

Having a buddy to clear your maps for you
Live out your ‘waifu’ fantasies
Command an army of one evil ‘mfer’

Summon Reaper full details:

As with all minions, increasing the gem level is the best way to scale its damage. There are several ways of doing that, but one of the best, combined with the perks of a Replica Maloney’s Mechanism, is through the use of a Synth Bow.
You can craft it relatively quickly. The hardest part is acquiring the base, as those can go over 20 divines, easily. You then spam faceted fossils, until you hit +1 Strength or +1 Intelligence gems, with open prefixes. You do some mumbo jumbo, and you can reach a +6 Bow, which means, with an Empower 4 (5 if you’re rich), you can reach a level 31 Summon Reaper easily.
You’ll also need to make sure you cap your minion’s bleeding chance, as that’s the source of your Reaper’s damage. And because we use a bow, we can abuse the borderline broken mechanic that is Ensnaring Arrow, to maximize our bleed dps.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/cashback/GraveWrought?time-machine=week-3&i=3&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DJuggernaut%26skill%3DSummon-Reaper%26sort%3Ddps

4 – General’s Cry Blade Flurry Berserker

A staple from a forgotten age, Blade Flurry can still pack a massive punch, even if outclassed mechanically by other skills (like VLS), and what a punch this build packs, with mighty and synergistic items and pure power it dishes out!

To make Blade Flurry shine, you’ll use it with General’s Cry, which summons a Mirage Warrior to make the attack perfectly for you!

What General’s Cry Blade Flurry Excels in:

Good clear
Auto Targeting
Insane DPS
Great for League Starting

Pick General’s Cry Blade Flurry if you Like:

Invulnerable Minions that kill your enemies for you
Spin to Win
Play a Melee Build without Being Melee.

General’s Cry Blade Flurry full details:

Abyssus is your go-to if you want to deal absurd levels of melee physical damage at the cost of survivability since it increases the physical damage you take by over 40%, and for body armor you can either go for the more budget option of Brass Dome, or you go big damage and comfortability by using a +1 Curse Body armour with as much Attack Crit as possible, making it easier to cap on critical strike chance for your Blade Flurry
Paradoxica is a tried and true BiS weapon, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything remotely half as good. No secrets here. As much Phys and Attack speed (Local!!) as possible. Rest is gravy.
The Redblade Banner is a coveted (and what makes the whole build work!) though fairly common and cheap, unique for all Berserkers, that allows you to instantly trigger War Bringer to its maximum capacity capping you of Rage. This enables you to use Berserk (the spell) to become nearly immortal and almost double your damage!

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/SILENCEGROOVE/TimeIsTheEnemy?time-machine=week-3&i=2&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DBerserker%26skill%3DBlade-Flurry%26sort%3Ddps

3 – Kinetic Blast Corrupting Fever Champion/Gladiator

KB CF is a fantastic build that can be played by multiple Ascendancies, though primarily Gladiator or Champion. Each specialises in different things and has variances in their ceiling and capabilities, but they are all fantastic mappers, extremely cheap and simple to play, and amazing League Starters.

What the Kinetic Blast Corrupting Fever Excels in:

Wonderful League Starter.
Can do most content on a budget.
One of the quickest mappers without investment.
Comfortable playstyle.

Pick Kinetic Blast Corrupting Fever if you Like:

This build has a hard ceiling in its single target damage. While it is possible to clear most content, the investment required to achieve that is quite substantial. As such, most people who use this build will focus mostly on mapping, and what a fantastic mapper it is. You’ll want as many Levels to Physical Gems as possible, and to boost your single target a bit, you can use a double 5L with Exsanguinate (or Poet’s Pen to get there).
You can get a lot of damage by using a +2 Amulet, +2 wand, Dialla’s Malefaction, after its buffs, for a +4, while using an Empower, to reach over level 30 on your CF!
Explody is the best way to improve your clearing, so you either want a Haemophilia or Asenath’s Gentle Touch (if you’re doing Champion), or spec into Gratuitous Violence from Gladiator.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/devildanger/BLEEDING_MAN?time-machine=week-3&i=3&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DChampion%26skill%3DCorrupting-Fever%26sort%3Ddps

2 – General’s Cry Shield Crush

Shield Crush has a few variants of how it deals damage, similar to Spectral Shield Throw, as it scales based on your shield attributes. It can also get a ton of Crit, if you have a lot ES from your shield, and if you have some specific items, like Ashes of the Stars or Dialla’s Malefication.

What General’s Cry Shield Crush Excels in:

Insanely Tanky.
Great clearing.
Fantastic Bossing.
Can do all content.

Pick General’s Cry Shield Crush if you Like:

Shield bashing your enemies into Oblivion
Have minions rise from the ground and kill your enemies for you
Clear as you Shield Charge away

General’s Cry Shield Crush full details:

Shield Crush works in two ways. First, it’s one of the few attacks that scales exceptionally well with levels, and as such, it’s a great league start skill to pick. Secondly, all the damage is based on your shield. The more armour or evasion your shield has, the more damage you’ll deal. Getting any 2k+ armour shield will easily carry your damage to over 4 million at late game, on a budget!
The Emperor’s Vigilance grants a bucket load of Armor and Energy Shield and enables some excellent mechanics for Divergent Shield Crush since it scales its critical damage based off ES on shields. When combined with Ashes of the Stars and Dialla’s Malefaction, it increases both its base level (needs a +4 total to reach the next damage threshold) and increasing its quality, which grants Crit Multi.
You’ll also want Corpse Walker boots, as it generates corpses for your General’s Cry to work everywhere without having to cast Desecrate all the time.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/dbdbdbdbdbdbdb2/%E9%98%B3%E5%85%89%E5%B0%84%E4%B8%8D%E5%88%B0%E7%9A%84%E5%9C%B0%E6%96%B9%E6%AC%A7%E5%B0%BC%E9%85%B1%E5%8F%AF%E4%BB%A5?time-machine=week-3&i=4&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DBerserker%26skill%3DDivergent-Shield-Crush%26sort%3Ddps

1 – Boneshatter Juggernaut

One of the last bastions of “true melee”, Boneshatter is a fairly notorious skill for the previous abuse cases with duration, immortality, and Mantra of Flames stacking indefinitely. Though most of it got removed or tuned down, the skill remains a staple for STRONK melee satisfaction that is sorely lacking in PoE nowadays.

What Boneshatter Excels in:

Unbelievably tanky
Ridiculously high damage, for a melee, chonky character
Respectable clearing, though click intense
True melee

Pick Boneshatter if you Like:

Going back to the true Melee Roots
Hit and stun enemies on the head multiple times, traumatizing them, and yourself
Self-damaging builds that deal more damage the more they hurt themselves.

Boneshatter full details:

Boneshatter works because it gets increasingly more damage based on your Trauma Stacks. And with Divergent Boneshatter, you also gain 1% attack speed per Trauma. Which then gets scaled by Ashes of the Stars, doubling that effect. And when you can easily reach over 200 stacks of Trauma, this is a massive amount of damage.
It doesn’t come without a cost, though, and it’s why almost entirely, Boneshatter builds are relegated to being Juggernauts, with a few exceptions. For each Trauma stack you have, you take increasingly more damage, reaching over 300 Trauma damage per Trauma each time you gain a Trauma Stack (meaning, when you attack).
As such, you need insane levels of Physical damage mitigation through armour, generic PDR, or even Transcendence. And that’s why Jugg is so great at dealing with that because it is by far the tankiest class in the game for Physical damage.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Tenyasha1/Gopstoper?time-machine=week-3&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DJuggernaut%26skill%3DBoneshatter%26sort%3Ddps