Path of Exile Slayer Build - Check Out This Powerful Melee DPS Class

Path of exile Slayer build 2019

The Slayer is a fighter class that focuses on dealing physical damage and fighting in close combat duels. The class is connected with marauder berserker because of his ability to maintain sustainability when fighting with minions and bosses. Thanks to his fighting abilities he can easily leech life from opponents, gain immunities for stuns or other crowd control effects or trigger passives like Bane of Legends which significantly boosts his damage output and survivability. His skill tree passives mainly increase attacks speed and attack bonuses for two-handed weapons. You can play this class as a typical damage dealer or AoE DPS tank. He can be a perfect party member or a very good solo farmer. Let's get into the Path of Exile Slayer Build and Guide.

This class is an excellent choice for newbie players who seek easy currency farmer that does not die a lot. Starting as well as end game gear is very cheap for this champion. The build does not require expensive unique or rare equipment so it is an additional reason why the champion is perfect for newbie players. His main defense abilities come from his passive skill tree so you can be sure that you will not invest any additional currency in order to boost his survivability more. All he needs in the late game are high elemental resistances and nice physical damage output. I recommend this class to start the league. His integrated life leech combined with high AoE damage makes him unstoppable when mapping or fighting with bosses. Now I will introduce the most powerful Slayer passives and shortly describe them.

PoE Slayer passive skills

Headsman - an offensive type of passive skill which increases your area of effect by 20% when killing enemies. Additionally, your character gains 20% more damage for each opponent you kill recently. The most important bonus from this passive is the fact that you do not receive damage from minions reflecting abilities. It is very useful especially when mapping.

Bane of Legends - a buff passive skill which gives you onslaught and culling strike on hit. There is a possibility to gain Onslaught buff for 20 seconds when killing unique or rare enemies. What is more, you instantly kill enemies which have 20% or lower health when you make a successful strike with your ability. Such passive is very useful when doing delve depths or mapping.

Endless Hunger - a passive skill which is mostly used for survivability. It boosts your life leech and gives you immunity to bleeding when you leech life from opponents.

Brutal Fervor - a passive skill which boosts your life leech and damage output when leeching.

Thanks to this passive skill the effects of life leech are not removed when you have a full life. Additionally, it increases your damage output when you leech life from opponents. What is more, your life leech recovery is increased by 100% per second.

Overwhelm - a passive skill with crowd control ability mixed with some survivability. It gives you the ability to stun enemies which are on a full life and 20% to make your stuns duration last twice longer. What is very important in this passive skill is the fact it gives you immunity for stuns. Thanks to that you are immune for main crowd control skill effect in the game.

Impact - a passive skill which makes your abilities deal splash damage to nearby enemies. A splash type of damage makes your abilities deal AoE damage. Very useful ability when you decide to focus strictly on mapping. Less useful when you are going to make bosses which you can meet in the late game like shaper or Atziri. Additionally, such passive skill increases your area of effect radius, so you can kill more enemies with one skill usage.

When you are building your character, you have to remember to choose proper passive skills in order to make your build efficient in every aspect. Every class has different passive skills which contain various types of bonuses for your character. From Slayer passive skills tree you can get nice damage output and tons of life leech which will help you in mapping and fighting with bosses. His passive skill set will be very offensive so you have to keep in mind, that every additional source of survivability will come from proper gear which will be described in the further part of the guide. The build which will be described in the guide is called 3.6 Starforge Cyclone Slayer.  It is mostly focused on using a two-handed weapon and physical damage output. Below, I will tell something about the build weaknesses and strengths.

Advantages of slayer

Life leech built in - you don’t have to look for the gear which will increase your life leech. Thanks to Slayer’s passive skill tree you have around 20% of life leech. Thanks to that you can focus on more offensive items which will increase your physical damage output or elemental resistances. Additionally, you will not need health potion or additional life regenerator.

Very enjoyable play style - when playing the build you do not have to click a lot. All you have to do is click one skill with potions and enjoy your character spinning around and killing everything he meets on his way to the end of the map.

Immune for stuns and bleeding - thanks to well-developed skill tree you will be immune for stuns and bleeding dot damage. It will be very useful especially in the late game and if you decide to make delve depths.

Cheap gear - equipment required for this gear is rather cheap. You will not have to spend all day on farming orbs to afford one piece of required gear. Some items can be obtained from drop when doing story maps.

High physical damage output - the slayer class is mainly dealing physical kind of damage. Thanks to that you do not have to be worried about elemental reflect. You will deal good damage to all opponents. You can have problems with enemies that have a high amount of armor.

Perfect for the start of the league - thanks to easy playstyle, cheap equipment, and very good potential for farming currency, this build is the ideal choice for starting the league. You will have everything you need for a good start: good damage output, survivability and life leech from minions.

Ability to stun on hit - thanks to the passive skill tree your attacks have the possibility to stun opponents. It is very useful when mapping and dealing with the storyline.

Path of Exile Slayer Disadvantages

Early game skill problems - in the early game you will have to start leveling with sunder skill which is not that effective as a cyclone. But you have to remember that it is not permanent. When you reach level 28 you will equip cyclone skill.

Problems with single target damage - the build is perfect at dealing AoE damage, but it has problems when it comes to high tier bosses. It might be a problem but if you build your char properly (additional helping totems which will increase your damage output) the damage will be still insane.

Melee build - because the build is totally based on melee damage, you always have to stay near enemies. Of course, you have the life leech but sometimes it can be not enough. Remember to keep that in mind.

Based on life leech = no health regeneration - in order to survive when mapping, you have to constantly deal damage. This can be problematic in some instances.

Equipment

Items play a very important role when you start building your character. In order to make your character clear all of the game content efficiently, you will need proper itemization. Without the proper gear, you will lack effectiveness, damage or survivability which are crucial aspects of the game. Since the path of exile is considered as grinding gear game, you have to keep in mind that you will be forced to switch itemization very often. Below, I will introduce the best possible itemization for Starforge cyclone slayer. Each item will be described in detail. Also, the explanation for each item will be included.

A) Weapon

For a game start, you will need a weapon which will increase your attack speed, physical damage and strength attribute. You can use one-handed Gorebreaker Spiked Club or Wideswing Poleaxe. It mostly depends on the decisions you make in the skill tree. You can specialize yourself in using one-handed or two-handed weapons. If you choose to use two one-handed weapons, remember that you will need to refund invested points in the late game. I highly recommend using Wideswing straight from the beginning.

When you reach 28 level, switch your poleaxe for Relentless Fury Decorative Axe. This weapon increases your physical damage and gives you culling strike on hit. It means that opponents with 20% health or less will be slain instantly. Also, it grants some additional life leech. Then, at level 45 you should invest in The Blood Reaper Headsman Axe. Such a weapon increases your physical damage even more and gives you additional points to maximum health.

At level 62 you take Sinvicta's Mettle Ezomyte Axe which boosts your damage output and gives a nice amount of attack speed. Additionally, the ax gives you rampage ability. Thanks to that, you gain a frenzy charge per 50 stacks on a rampage. In the late game, you have two options. The first one is Kitava's Feast Void Axe which is a budgetary option. As almost every weapon in this build, it increases your physical damage, life and mana leech and converts your single target abilities into area od damage abilities. The second option called Starforge Infernal Sword is rater recommended for the end game. Such a sword is mandatory for this build.

It is expensive but affordable in the end game. It gives you a 440% boost to your physical damage, attack speed and increases your damage from AoE abilities (in this case cyclone will be more effective). What is more, you can shock opponents on hit which will be very useful when doing delve depths or when mapping. Six linked starforge sword is must have if you want to use this build for efficient farming.

b) Helmet

If you are looking for a good starting helmet, you should choose the one which will boost your elemental resistances and your main attribute (in this build the main attribute is a strength). There is a possibility to buy a rare helmet with an additional amount of resistances (at least 25%) and some strength or you can buy a unique helmet called Goldrim Leather Cap. This helmet boosts your amount of elemental resistances by 35%. In the early game, it gives you a significant boost to survivability. Because of such a helmet, your survivability potential is highly increased and what is more, you will have a possibility to deal with all early game content.

You can also wear Ezomyte Peak Iron Hat which is a more offensive type of helmet. It boosts your physical damage by 20% and maximum health up to 50 points. In the late game, you have to choose between two uniques. The first one is Devoto's Devotion Nightmare Bascinet which increases your attack and movement speed by a certain amount. Also, the fact that it gives you dexterity is very important because you will need it in order to level up your gems. Additional evasion and armor boost your survivability. The second option is Starkonja's Head Silken Hood which decreases damage taken when your character has a low life. What is more, the helmet increases your critical strike chance, attack speed, and maximum life. I would rather take starkonja for the late game because it gives you more benefits.

c) Belt

The best starting belt should give you a boost to elemental resistances and your maximum amount of health. All these attributes you can roll in a rare belt. You can also wear Wurm's Molt Leather Belt which is mainly focused on giving you mana and life leech. Additionally, it gives you a nice amount of strength and intelligence which will help you in leveling the gems. At level 20 you replace your belt with Belt of the Deceiver Heavy Belt. This belt gives you a significant boost to your survivability by increasing your all elemental resistances by 10% and reducing damage taken from critical strikes by 30%. What is more, it boosts your physical damage by up to 30%. There is no better belt option you can buy in the mid-game. In the end game, you can choose between a defensive or offensive belt option. The defensive option is nothing more than well known Tempest Strap Stygian Vise. Remember to look for the one with the following attributes:

• increased cold resistance (40% or more)
• increased fire resistance (40% or more)
• increased lightning resistance (30% or more)
• maximum life boost (at least 80 points)

The more offensive option is The Retch Rustic Sash. It Increases your physical damage up to 30%, maximum health, and movement speed when using potions. Additionally, it converts 200% of leeched life into chaos damage dealt on every critical hit. For me, such a belt is mandatory for this build. Try to make up your resistance caps from other gear parts.

d) Gloves

In the early game, you should look for gloves which will increase your attack speed and elemental resistances. Additionally, your starting gloves should increase armor or evasion. All these attributes you can find in rare gloves on poe market. If you prefer more offensive option you can equip Lochtonial Caress Iron Gauntlets. It boosts your attack speed and gives you a chance to gain charges which can boost your damage or survivability. When you reach level 35, switch Lochtionals for Meginord's Vise Steel Gauntlets.

Such gloves give you a nice amount of strength, 10% increased physical damage. What is more, the gloves boost your armor by 60% and life regeneration. Universal gloves for the mid game which gives you not only damage but also survivability. At level 43 it is nice to get Haemophilia Serpentscale Gauntlets. It will help you with clearing „trash” mobs when doing story maps. These gloves give you a chance to cause bleeding and increase damage on bleeding targets by 35%. What is more, bleeding targets explode on a kill and deal the damage equal to 5% of their maximum health. In the late game, you will need rare gloves with the following attributes:

• increased resistances (cold, lightning, fire) - 40% is required
• increased damage with melee attacks - 20%
• increased attack speed - at least 15%
• increased maximum health - at least 50

E) Boots

In the early game, you should invest in boots with a nice amount of movement speed and elemental resistances. It is all you need in the beginning. You should focus on rare boots with 20% movement speed and at least 15% of elemental resistances. You can also consider wearing Wanderlust Wool Shoes which will give you mana regeneration, dexterity and increased movement speed by 20%. What is more, such boots makes you immune to getting frozen by enemies. A level 23 I suggest you getting Stormcharger Plated Greaves which give you an additional source of lightning damage. Such boots convert 30% of your physical damage into lightning damage. In the early game, it is a nice boost to your clear speed. In the late game, you can choose between two pairs of uniques or rare boots.

First unique recommended boots are Kaom's Roots Titan Greaves. These piece of equipment is drastically increasing your survivability. Can be used as a budgetary alternative of Bubonic Trail Murder Boots which are the second option of unique boots.  It boosts your damage by 10% by each abyss jewel you have in your build. If you are going to use stygian vise you will be able to wear up to 3 abyssal jewels so the damage can be increased by 30%. Additionally, these boots give you a 30% increased movement speed and 4% more life. With proper abyss jewels, your damage and survivability will be significantly increased. If you prefer boots with elemental resistances, you will have to invest in a rare one. Such boots should give you at least 35% of elemental resistances, movement speed and at least 70 to your maximum life.

f) Armor

In the early game, it is very important to get armor with six linked sockets in order to be able to put main ability gem and gems which will support it. Thanks to that you will have very good damage output and also it will allow you to level your gems straight from the beginning. There is a possibility to look for rare armor with proper sockets but it might be expensive and hard to get.

What I recommend is buying Tabula Rasa Simple Robe which gives you everything you need in the early game. This armor grants you unspecified six linked sockets in which you can put any gem you want. It is cheap so even newbie players will be able to afford it. The tabula rasa robe can be used to the moment you decide to change your armor for something more powerful. In the late game, as always, you will have multiple armors to choose with. The first one is Bronn's Lithe Cutthroat's Garb.

It is a typical offensive type of armor. It boosts your cyclone gem level and increases your damage with cyclone ability by 50%. Additionally, it gives you 10% more of movement speed and attack speed. Unfortunately, it does not boost your survivability at any instance. The second option is Carcass Jack Varnished Coat. This type of armor is perfect for the build which is using AoE skill type. It increases the area of effect by 20% (your skill radius is increased) and also area damage up to 50%. It is better than armor mentioned before because it also boosts your survivability by adding elemental resistances to your build.

The third option is Atziri's Splendour Sacrificial Garb which is the type of full defensive armor. It boosts your armor by even 400%, all elemental resistances by 25% and gives you more life and mana leech. Thanks to this armor you will have an additional 100 health and 100 mana per minion kill. Very good armor for this build. The last option is Belly of the Beast Full Wyrmscale which increases your maximum health by 35% and armor by 200%. It is a budgetary option because now it costs 20 chaos orbs with 6 linked sockets.

g) Amulet

For the best starting amulet, you should equip the one which has two important attributes. These attributes are elemental resistances and additional attributes (for this build the most important is a strength). In the early game, the rare amulet will do the job. At level 16 Daresso's Salute Citrine Amulet will be the best choice. It boosts your dexterity and strength which will be needed to increase the level of your gems. What is more, your resistances will be boosted by a minimum of 35%.

Additionally, your melee damage and movement speed are significantly increased when you have a full life. For this build, this amulet is perfect even in the late game. There is also the possibility to wear Carnage Heart Onyx Amulet. It increases all of your attributes so you will not have to be worried about leveling your gems. Also, it is perfect for our build because it boosts our damage when leeching from opponents by 30%. In the late game, you can still use Daresso’s amulet or change it for a rare one. The decision is simple. If you have enough resistances and survivability from other items, you take Daresso’s or Carnage amulet. If you lack resistances, you take rare amulet with the following attributes:

• additional physical damage to your attacks
• boost to your Maximum life (60 would be nice)
• physical damage converted as extra elemental damage
• non-chaos damage converted as extra chaos damage
• increased Elemental resistances (at least 40%)

h) Rings

When it comes to choosing perfect starting rings you should focus on the most important early game affixes which are resistances and attributes needed to level up your main ability gems. You can buy rare rings or take unique Le Heup of All Iron Ring for one ring slot. This ring gives you boost to all attributes and elemental resistances. It is rather cheap and very useful in the early game.  At level 45 you should start looking for Sibyl's Lament Coral Ring. This ring increases your physical damage up to 30% and adds some fire elemental damage to your basic attacks.

In the late game, you can wear Thief's Torment Prismatic Ring in one slot. It will boost your survivability by increasing all elemental resistance. What is more, your life and mana leech will be increased. This ring gives you mana and life per each enemy hit with your attacks. Additionally, it decreases the effect of any curse on you. Thanks to that your t16 mapping will be much easier. The only problem is the fact that you will be able to wear only this ring. If you prefer to wear two rings, you should invest in two rares with a nice amount of resistances, maximum life, physical damage and additional attributes required to level up gems. In order to have a perfect rare ring, it should have the following attributes:

• increased physical damage with attacks
• maximum life boost
• increased elemental resistances (at least 40% or boost to all elemental resistances at least 10%)
• physical damage conversion to any of elemental type of damage 

i) Potions

Path of Exile is a very well developed MMO game. The game allows you to use five potions which give you many additional bonuses. Some potions are used to regenerate your life when your life drops to a critical amount. Other potions are mainly used to boost your elemental resistances or damage output. Every build requires different potions in order to farm efficiently. In Cyclone Slayer build, you will mainly focus on potions which increase your damage output. The build is focused on life leeching so health regenerators are not necessary. The only potion which will be necessary is Atziri’s potion.  Every potion in this build is rather cheap. The best way to obtain required potions is the path of exile market.

For the first potion in this build, I recommend is Atziri's Promise Amethyst Flask. This potion converts your physical damage into extra chaos damage. What is more, such potion gives your additional life leech. In the late game, this potion gives you an additional source of damage and increases your survivability. This potion is mandatory if you think about fast mapping or doing the uber lab.

The second potion which you should have in your inventory is Lion's Roar Granite Flask. This potion significantly boosts your physical damage which is the main source of your dps. Additionally, the potion knocks back enemies when used, so it can save your life when there are too many enemies nearby. What is more, it has 75% to cause flee on opponents when you use a potion. it is very cheap and can be used on level 27. Remember to buy such potion it as fast as it is possible. In the early game, I will help you a lot with story bosses.

Next flask I highly recommend for this build is The Wise Oak Bismuth Flask. Some potential of this potion will be wasted because we are not using elemental damage, but still, survivability it gives will please you in the late game. Thanks to this potion you gain an additional boost to your elemental resistances. It will be very useful when you decide to invest in a more offensive type of gear which will lack elemental resistances.

For the fourth potion, you should take the one which will give you more movement speed. The potion called Experimenter's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline will be perfect for this build. What plays the crucial role here is the fact you should look for the one which increases your movement speed by at least 60%. What is more, potion charges should be regenerated with every critical strike you deal to the opponents. This potion will fasten your mapping potential and in some situations, it will help you to escape from stronger minions or bosses.

For the last potion, you should have in your gear set Sin's Rebirth Stibnite Flask. It strongly increases your damage by giving you unholy might during flask effect. Unholy might is a buff which converts 30% of your physical damage into extra chaos damage. It will perfectly cooperate with atziri promise flask because both potions have a similar effect. Thanks to these potions you gain up to 45% converted chaos damage. It will be very useful especially when grinding on t16 maps.

j) list of gems

Armor gems

Armor – six linked sockets are mandatory for this build (five red sockets and one blue)

Ancestral Warchief - a summoning gem which gives you an ability to spawn supporting totem.  The totem deals additional AoE damage to nearby opponents. What is more, it buffs your physical damage when you are standing close to it. If you choose to use corrupted warchief, the totem will move to the opponents and deal physical damage. It will help you in fights especially with bosses.

Bloodlust support - a support gem which increases damage output against bleeding enemies. Thanks to the passive skill tree, you have a chance to cause bleed on opponents. It gives you up to 70% increased attack (when you increase quality to the maximum level). It is very important not to link this gem with cyclone skill because it removes the possibility to cause bleed on target.

Melee physical damage support - a support gem which increases your physical damage output by 50% on the maximum level. Remember to increase the quality for an additional 10% increased physical damage.

Brutality support - the second support gem which increases your physical damage. It gives you 60% more physical damage but makes it impossible to deal elemental or chaos damage. Since our damage output is based on phys. damage the gem will work perfectly.

Damage on full life support - the third support gem which increases your totem physical damage output but this time when you have a full life. It can increase your damage by up to 50%. By increasing the gem quality, you gain an additional 10% of physical damage.

Concentrated effect support - a support gem which increases your area damage but the radius of your AoE skills. It gives you up to 55% of area damage. Remember to increase the quality in order to get an additional 10% damage.

weapon gems

Weapon  six linked sockets are mandatory for cyclone slayer (one green socket, one blue socket, and four red sockets)

Cyclone - a spinning ability which deals damage to nearby enemies. It is your main skill gem which will be used to kill opponents. It deals 55% of your base physical damage. Additionally, the gem increases your attack speed by 50% and decreases your movement speed by 30%. This is why you will need movement speed potion and boots with a high amount of such attribute.

Increased area of effect support - a support gem which increases attack radius of Cyclone skill gem. A very useful gem for skills which deal AoE damage.

Melee Physical Damage Support - a support gem which adds 50% more physical damage to your Cyclone skill on the maximum level. It is important to increase the quality of the gem to gain an additional 10% of physical damage.

Concentrated effect support - a support gem which increases your area damage but the radius of your AoE skills. It gives you up to 55% of area damage. Remember to increase the quality in order to get an additional 10% damage.

Maim Support - a support gem which the main job is to maim enemies. Thanks to that they will receive more physical damage. What is more, it increases supported skills physical damage by 30% and penetrates opponents physical defense by 15%.

Damage on full life Support - another booster to your cyclone physical damage. It works only when you have a full amount of life. Since your build is based on life leech you will have full life all the time.

Gloves - 4 linked sockets (three red sockets and one green socket)

Leap Slam - an attack skill gem which makes you jump toward targeted enemies, dealing damage and knocking them back. It is a very useful ability for mapping because it makes you move faster. The ability deals 122% of your base physical damage.

Blood Magic Support - a support gem which makes linked abilities consume life instead of mana. If there is any mana reserve skill gem, it converts mana for life reservation. Very useful skill gem in this build.

Fortify Support - a buff gem which gives a player the possibility to gain fortify buff when dealing damage to opponents. The fortify buff reduces incoming damage from opponents by 20%. It strongly boosts your survivability angst bosses. What is more, melee physical damage of linked skill is highly increased.

Faster Attacks Support -  a support gem which makes the usage of leap slam ability faster.

Boots 4 linked sockets (three red sockets and one green socket)

Vaal Haste - an aura gem which increases casting speed, attack speed, and movement speed when activated. It gives you 31% of attack or casting speed and 13% of movement speed. The buff affects you and your allies.

Immortal Call - the second buff gem which makes your character immune for physical damage when activated. It lasts 1 second when is supported by proper gem (increased duration support). Remember to increase the quality in order to get an additional 20% of attack speed.

Cast when damage is taken (keep it at level 1) - the very important gem which causes aura and buff gems to trigger when you take a certain amount of damage. This gem helps you to focus on fighting instead of triggering buffs and auras during combat.

Increased duration support - a support gem which increases the duration of linked skill gems. It makes your casted buffs last 64% more. If you increase the quality of gem, you gain an additional 20% more time of your buffs.

Helmet 4 linked sockets ( two red sockets and one green and one blue socket)

Herald of Purity - a buff gem which boosts your physical damage when active. When the buff is active you have a chance to summon sentinel of purity which will fight on your side. Thanks to this aura gem your clearing potential is significantly boosted.

War Banner - an aura gem which allows you to carry a banner which increases you and our allies accuracy. What is more, this aura increases physical damage penetration on enemies. Also, you gain adrenaline buff per killed enemy. Adrenaline is the buff which increases your physical damage by 100%, attack and movement speed by 25% and physical damage reduction by 10%.

Blood Rage - a buff gem which increases your attack speed and life leech but at the same time deals physical damage to the player. Thanks to your passive skill tree and life leech you will not feed the negative effect of this buff.

Cast when Damage Taken (link it only with Blood Rage) - a gem which triggers linked buff gem when a player takes a certain amount of damage. It is very important to not level it up higher than 1 level.

k) Skill Tree (also viable in Synthesis league)

Skill tree for Starforge Cyclone Slayer with the ascendancy

l) Bandits

In order to use the maximum potential of this build, you should kill all of the bandits. Thanks to that you will gain two additional points in the skill tree. You can also help Alira in order to get some survivability and damage boost, but having more points in skill tree is a better option.

m) Pantheon

main God - Soul of Arakaali - a blessing from Arakaali is perfect buff for this build. It gives you a nice amount of survivability by increasing health regeneration and reduction of damage. You can also consider taking Soul of Lunaris because it has a similar effect.

minor God - Soul of Ralakesh - a blessing from Ralakesh is an additional boost to your survivability. It reduces physical damage taken when moving by 25%. Since you are using cyclone skill gem which effectiveness is based on movement, this buff is one of the best possibilities.

n) Jewels

In normal jewels you should look for:

• increased maximum health (at least 60)
• boost to your physical damage output
• increased melee damage
• increased area damage
• increased damage with particular kind of weapon (in this case two-handed weapons)
• if you need resistances it is also a possibility.
• increased attack speed
• boost to your life leech

In abyssal jewel (abyssal jewels can be socketed in the stygian vise) you should look for:

• Maximum life boost
• increased damage if you have killed recently
• life leech boost
• a chance to blind enemy while damaging
• increased area damage
• increased physical damage