Vengeance
Slayer Build

Updated for Patch 3.22

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

It's one of the more unique builds in the game. Not only It's a Trigger Melee build but it also delivers damage sourced mostly from the Quality of various Gems and Jewels. Besides Vengeance, there are two other Counterattack Skills - Riposte and Reckoning. These are much harder to trigger as fast and reliably as one can Vengeance. Vengeance has a chance to trigger each time you take damage. It has a cooldown of 1.2 seconds and low base damage so it is rarely considered for any build at all. The Anomalous version increases its Cooldown Recovery Rate alongside its Quality so that it can be triggered every ~0.7 seconds now. To benefit from it you also have to damage yourself equally fast. Use Cyclone with Scold's Bridle which causes you to take small Hit Damage based on your Cyclone's Mana Cost, which is around 5 a second. Vengeance will still be triggered this way.

Vengeance, socketed in Atziri's Disfavour, will be supported by Anomalous CoC which grants 50% more Damage, and Divergetn Pulverise which supplies you with nearly 100% more Damage. With such high damage, even performing this Attack at a speed lower than 2 Attacks per second is justified. It also has great AoE for you can benefit from modifiers to bonus Weapon Attack Range, which your Weapon has, and increased Area of Effect. You also have to allocate Gladiator's Painforged passive. As of 3.22, Gladiator is not in a good spot so pick Slayer instead and get this passive via a pair of Forbidden Jewels. Slayer is the best choice with its Impact for more AoE, Overwhelm for more Crit Chance and Damage, and Bane of Legends with Headsman passives which makes this class so good at fighting bosses. You can reach 100% Crit Chance here which results in a lot of damage. Allocate Unwavering Stance to be Stun-immune. You have to be immune to Stuns, a lot of Hits can Stun you and Interrupt your Cyclone because the build is not very tanky, it hosts no Determination Aura. It's more of a glass cannon build for fast mapping as it excels at that.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Spin around with Cyclone, it will trigger Vengeance even if you're not Hitting any enemy. Cyclone will supply you with various boons on Hit, so be sure to do that once in a while. During boss fights, activate Berserk and Ancestral Warchief. Make sure your Blood Rage is on too. Assassin's Mark is triggered on Hit with Mark on Hit Support. For a Movement Skill pick Leap Slam. For Auras - Pride, Precision, Blood and Sand, Herald of Purity, and Dread Banner. If you can apply two Curses, select Vulnerability as your second option.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Use our detailed Duelist Leveling Guide with Melee/Impale. The build is too specific and requires certain gear pieces, Gems, and a high enough Character Level to function properly. We recommend switching to it at around levels 80 to 90.
 

Bandits:

you should kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

23 Points Skill Tree
Get the Maximum Life and the various nodes near the Point Blank Keystone.

68 Points Skill Tree
Allocate more Maximum Life, 2-hand damage nodes, Accuracy, Reservation Efficiency, and Fortify mastery.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

101 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster nor Timeless Jewels)
120 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Impact
2. Bane of Legends
3. Headsman
4. Overwhelm

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Vengeance setup socketed in Atziri's Disfavour
	Anomalous Vengeance - It has a Cooldown of 1.2 seconds, but the Anomalous Quality increases its Recovery Rate by 50% when we include Ashes of the Stars. It deals damage to all enemies around you as you damage yourself with Scold's Bridle. It costs nothing.
	Anomalous Cast on Critical Strike Support - It grants 50% more Attack Damage due to the improved Anomalous Quality when socketed in Atziri's Disfavor. If you can't afford or get it, replace it with Close Combat, Impale Support or simply check in PoB which other Gem will grant the highest DPS here
	Brutality Support - It's a purely Physical build so it fits here well. It gives you more damage.
	Pulverise Support - Use Divergent Pulverise to deal more Damage. It will reduce your Attack Speed but it does not apply to Trigger Skills.
	Melee Physical Damage Support - It reduces your Attack Speed, which is not an issue, and grants you more Damage.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - Your Crit Chance should be high. Use it for more Critical Strike Multiplier.

[UTILITY] Cyclone setup
	Cyclone - It is a source of self-damage with Scold's Bridle. It will also generate Rage, Fortify, and Power Charges.
	Infused Channelling Support - This makes you take less Physical Damage while granting you more damage as you Channel Cyclone.
	Rage Support - Cyclone grants Rage on Hit now. It is valuable.
	Fortify Support - Cyclone Fortifies you. While Fortified you take less Damage from Hits.
	Faster Attacks Support - Makes you Attack Faster to trigger Vengeance more often and gain more Rage or Power Charges.
	Power Charge on Critical Support - Has a chance of providing you with Power Charges on Critical Strike.

[MOBILITY] Leap Slam/Curse setup
	Leap Slam - The movement Attack that you can use to move faster and jump over the ledges.
	Lifetap Support - All linked Skills cost Life instead of Mana.
	Assassin's Mark - You're more likely to Hit the cursed enemy with a Critical Strike, and you deal more Critical Damage to them.
	Mark on Hit Support - Mark is applied automatically on Hit against Rare and Unique enemies.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Blood and Sand - It allows you to select between more Area Damage and less Area of Effect, or vice versa.
	Pride - If affects enemies around you, they will take increased Physical Damage.
	Dread Banner - Increases your Chance to Impale and the effect of it. Nearby enemies have less Accuracy Rating.
	Herald of Purity - It simply grants you more Physical Damage.

[UTILITY] various gems
	Ancestral Warchief - Grants you more Melee Damage as it stays active.
	Blood Rage - Generates Frenzy Charges on Kill and gives you Life Leech with Attack Speed. It drains your Life, and the buff is refreshed with each Kill.
	Berserk - You can use it to consume your Rage and receive a short-lived boost to your damage and durability.
	Precision - Increases your Critical Strike Chance and Accuracy Rating.

6. Gear Setup

It's a simple Melee Build with only one caveat - it uses a Trigger Attack Skill so it doesn't need Attack Speed. Your Cyclone has plenty. You still need Accuracy and Impale Chance so be sure you can get them from gear if you haven't done so in your Skill Tree. Aim for a 100% Crit Chance. To reach such a high Crit Chance, you need good items and specific conditions like Power Charges and Consecrated Ground from Bottled Faith. Try to reduce the Mana Cost of Cyclone, get at least positive Chaos Resistance, and a lot of Armour. It will be needed on top of around 4k of Maximum Life and capped Resistances. Area of Effect is important too but it's scarce. What is usually a problem in CoC Cyclone builds is their low movement Speed. A lot of such builds use Stampede, but here we have chosen to pick Silver/Rotgut and Quicksilver Flask with Berserker, Rampage, and Rage The required Unique items are Scold's Bridle, Atziri's Disfavour, and a pair of Forbidden Jewels.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Scold's Bridle - You will damage yourself with Cyclone by using this Helmet. This Damage will trigger Vengeance with high frequency.

(80-100)% increased Spell Damage 15% reduced Cast Speed +(30-60) to maximum Mana Your Skills deal you 400% of Mana Spent on Upfront Skill Mana Costs as Physical Damage

Helmet enchantments: Vengeance enchantment

(Weapon) Atziri's Disfavour - It gives you Attack Range for a much better clear speed and Quality to Support Gems socketed in here. It is a major upgrade with the selected Gems of Alternate Quality. It has decent stats for a weapon, although it's a bit outdated.

25% chance to Maim on Hit +30% to Quality of Socketed Support Gems Adds (310-330) to (370-390) Physical Damage (12-16)% increased Attack Speed 25% chance to cause Bleeding on Hit +1 metres to Weapon Range

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Here you would focus on Maximum Life and Resistances first. Second, look for a modifier for an increased Crit Chance accompanied by other, rare modifiers.

Min. requirements: +100 to Maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chance to Suppress Spell Damage Attacks have +#% to Critical Strike Chance increased Maximum Life You Can Apply Additional Curse

(Boots) Rare Boots - Your clear speed is tied to your Movement Speed, Prioritize this stat. Armour, Maximum Life, Resistances, and Brittle Ground as an Eldritch Implicit will be good too.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Armour

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Get a lot of Armour, Maximum Life, Resistances, and Accuracy if you need it. There are tons of useful Eldritch modifiers that can get you more damage or fix your Impale or Hit Chance.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances up to 600 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: increased Melee Damage Armour increased Damage while Leeching (crafted)

(Gloves) Shadows and Dust - These are great for fast-paced mapping due to the Rampage. It's also a source of Critical Strike modifiers and Mana Leech.

(20-30)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance +(20-30)% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier (100-130)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield 0.2% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana Creates a Smoke Cloud on Rampage Gain Unholy Might for 3 seconds on Rampage Rampage

(Belt) Ryslatha's Coil - It is one of the best Belts for all Melee builds. It gives you a lot of Maximum Life, Damage, and Life recovery on Stun.

(20-30)% increased Stun Duration on Enemies +(20-40) to Strength (30-40)% more Maximum Physical Attack Damage (40-30)% less Minimum Physical Attack Damage Adds 1 to (15-20) Physical Damage to Attacks +(80-100) to maximum Life Gain 50 Life when you Stun an Enemy

(Belt) The Torrent's Reclamation - This Belt gives you more Cooldown Recovery Rate, Life Recovery Rate, and speeds you up with the Harbinger. It's good for damage and to move faster.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery Grants Summon Greater Harbinger of Time Skill (10-15)% increased Attack and Cast Speed (10-15)% increased Energy Shield Recovery rate (10-15)% increased Life Recovery rate (15-20)% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate Debuffs on you expire (15-20)% faster

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars  - As expensive as it is, Ashes is the Best Amulet due to the Anomalous Quality of Vengeance that translates to more damage. It also grants Reservation Efficiency.

+(10–16) to all Attributes (5–10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems (10–20)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20–30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

(Amulet) Hyrri's Truth  - It's the cheap alternative to Ashes of the Stars. It grants you a lot of Dexterity, Accuracy, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, and Culling Strike.

+(20-30) to Dexterity Grants Level 30 Precision Skill +(40-80) to Dexterity +(25-50)% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Bow Attacks have Culling Strike Precision has 100% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency

Recommended Anointments: Titanic Impacts

(Ring) Rare Rings - Get some Maximum Life and Resistances on our Rings. These are by far the most important stats here. You should also craft the Prefix to lower the Cost of Cyclone, a Channelling Skill. Vengeance is free.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +80% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Adds Physical Damage to Attacks Channelling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost Attributes

(Ring) Circle of Guilt - It improves your Herald of Purity. Go for the increased Buff effect for more Damage, and increased Physical Damage.

<One to three random Synthesis implicit modifiers> +(10-20) to all Attributes Adds (8-10) to (13-15) Physical Damage +(350-400) to Armour <Two Random Herald of Purity modifiers>

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Maximum Life and Critical Strike modifiers will be the most impactful modifiers on a Jewel. You should have gathered Resistances and Attributes from a Rare gear already.

Min. requirements: increased Maximum Life Elemental Resistances Critical Strike modifiers increased Damage with Two Handed Weapons Attributes

(Jewel) Lethal Pride - Lethal Pride grants more Strength and improves Notables in its radius. These are often good for a Melee build like this. Socket it near Savagery Notable.

Commanded leadership over (10000-18000) warriors under (Akoya-Kaom-Rakiata) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Karui Historic

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame & Flesh - You need Gladiator's Painforged. It quite literally doubles your damage and gives you a 10% Chance to Block Attacks.

Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - The Pride modifier that lets you Impale enemies two more times the most valuable one. Precision may also be useful with its Critical Strike mods.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Physical-oriented or Two-hand Cluster Jewels are exceptionally good. We have used one such Jewel with Graceful Execution, Fuel the Fight, and Martial Prowess.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Battle-Hardened 1 Added Passive Skill is Fuel the Fight 1 Added Passive Skill is Graceful Execution 1 Added Passive Skill is Force Multiplier 1 Added Passive Skill is Devastator 1 Added Passive Skill is Iron Breaker 1 Added Passive Skill is Martial Prowess 1 Added Passive Skill is Master the Fundamentals

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - We have used two such Jewels with Vast Power and Magnifier for an increased Area of Effect and Crit Multiplier. The build is expected to be good at fast mapping.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Magnifier 1 Added Passive Skill is Vast Power

(Flask) Lion's Roar - It gives you a lot of Damage and Armour. The Chance to Flee and Knockbacks are good in Trial of the Ancestors.

+1500 to Armour Adds Knockback to Melee Attacks during Flask effect Knocks Back Enemies in an Area when you use a Flask 75% chance to cause Enemies to Flee on use (7-10)% more Melee Physical Damage during effect

(Flask) Bottled Faith - One of the best Flask for Critical Strike builds. It improves your Damage, Crit Chance, and causes Consecrated Ground.

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Effect

(Flask) Rotgut - It's a major bonus to your Movement Speed during mapping, as you should have a lot of Frenzy Charges constantly. You can use Magic Quicksilver Flask instead.

40% increased Movement Speed 50% chance to gain a Flask Charge when you deal a Critical Strike (30-50)% increased Duration Consumes Frenzy Charges on use Gain Onslaught for 3 seconds per Frenzy Charge on use

Other suggested Flasks: Silver Flask with increased Armour Diamond Flask with increased Crit Chance Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed Life Flask with instant Life Recovery and Bleed Immunity

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.