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Ancestral Warchief is the most potent Melee/Totem skill and has been extremely popular for quite some time now. We have decided to make a build that will be the most suitable as a League starter and beginner's friendly build. It is one of the very few Ancestral Warchief builds that require zero specific unique items, provides insane defenses and scales well into the late game. Chieftain class offers unparalleled Life Leech and Regeneration. Those combined with Endurance Charges, high Physical Damage mitigation, and very high Life, make you nearly immortal.
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Ancestral Warchief Chieftain is a Totem build, which revolves around summoning Ancestral Warchief Totems to deal damage for you. Ancestral Warchief's DPS is based on your character's stats including your weapon's damage, and Attack Speed, which makes it a perfect choice to use a powerful two-handed weapon for this build. On the other hand, this builds defenses revolve around Endurance Charges, very high Life, and excellent Physical Damage mitigation. This build also utilizes the very powerful, but somehow not very powerful, Kongor's Undying Rage unique mace. On top of very high DPS, it makes your hits never miss, and grants the Onslaught buff.
0:06 Tier 15 Sunken City |
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Leveling with Ancestral Warchief is smooth and easy. You get all the important DPS and Life passives from your Skill Tree early on. Your core leveling DPS setups (Cleave/Sunder, Ancestral Warchief) require as little as four links and deal very good damage even with self-found rare equipment. We suggest using a melee attack (Cleave, replaced later on by Sunder skill) until level 60 or so. From our experience, this has proven to be a bit faster in clearing areas and questing.
Suggested leveling Gem setups:
Cleave/Sunder setup | |
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Cleave - the first Attack Skill Gem you should get for the leveling phase after completing the first quest (you need to use an Axe or Sword for it, start using Maces after replacing this gem with Sunder at level 12) |
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Sunder - Sunder is one of the most popular Melee leveling skills. It provides better damage and AoE compared to Cleave and should be used from level 12 (as soon as you can socket it in your gear) |
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Faster Attacks Support - grants increased Attack Speed |
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Melee Physical Damage Support - increases Physical Damage of supported attack skills |
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Added Fire Damage Support - good support Gem that scales with your weapon's Physical DPS |
Ancestral Warchief setup | |
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Ancestral Warchief - your primary DPS source |
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Faster Attacks Support |
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Melee Physical Damage Support |
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Added Fire Damage Support - this Gem scales extremely well with Weapon Elemental Damage Support Gem and passives on your Skill Tree |
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Multiple Totems Support - allows you to summon two additional Totems and doubles the number of Totems summoned with each cast |
Leap Slam setup | |
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Leap Slam - your mobility skill. Is great for its' speed and allowing you to jump over cliffs and obstacles |
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Faster Attacks Support |
Utility Gems setup | |
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Stone Golem - grants increased Life Regeneration per second |
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Herald of Ash |
Bandits:
Kill all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points. Helping Oak for extra Physical Damage mitigation is also a proper choice
Leveling Skill Trees:
33 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Born to Fight 2) Butchery 3) Amplify 4) Catalyse 5) Devotion
57 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Blunt Instrument 2) Bone Breaker 3) Skull Cracking 4) Constitution 5) Ancestral Bond
Recommended leveling items:
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45% increased Stun Duration on Enemies (140-200)% increased Physical Damage +10 to Strength 15% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold 1% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life (40-50)% increased Stun Duration on Enemies |
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30% increased Stun Duration on Enemies (80-100)% increased Physical Damage Adds 5 to 25 Physical Damage +(25-50) to all Attributes +10 Life gained on Kill Enemies killed explode dealing 10% of their Life as Fire Damage |
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Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks 5% increased Physical Damage Adds 1 to 3 Chaos Damage to Attacks +(20-30) to maximum Life (2-4) Life Regenerated per second 10% chance to Cause Monsters to Flee |
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+(25-35) to Strength (15-25)% increased Global Physical Damage You take 30% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes +(30-40) to maximum Life +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances Nearby Enemies are Intimidated |
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Adds 10 to 20 Physical Damage to Attacks +(20-30) to Strength +(20-30) to Dexterity +(200-300) to Armour 20% increased Melee Damage Cannot Leech when on Low Life |
Final Skill Tree:
114 Points Final Skill Tree
114 Points Path of Building(PoB) link
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
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%
[DPS] Ancestral Warchief | |
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Ancestral Warchief - your primary DPS skill |
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Melee Physical Damage Support - core Support Gem for every Melee/Physical Skill |
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Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - since this is a full elemental conversion build, this Support Gem is mandatory |
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Multiple Totems Support |
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Combustion Support - increases Fire Damage and reduces Fire Resistance of enemies Ignited by Support Skill |
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Concentrated Effect Support - reduces AoE but increases your DPS |
[MOBILITY] Leap Slam setup | |
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Leap Slam - your main mobility skill |
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Faster Attacks Support |
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Fortify Support - grants the Fortify buff on melee hits with your Leap Slam |
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Blood Magic - makes supported skills spend Life instead of Mana |
[UTILTIY] Herald of Ash & Anger | |
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Herald of Ash - grants great DPS buff |
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Anger - another great DPS aura |
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Enlighten Support - reduces the amount of Mana reserved by supported Gems |
[GOLEM] Stone Golem | |
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Summon Stone Golem - Stone Golem grants increased Life Regeneration per second. If you are using Kaom's Heart and lacks free sockets, you can use the Golem in the Redblade Band |
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Cast When Damage Taken Support - if you have spare sockets, you can optionally link your Golem to CwDT Gem |
[UTILITY] Warcry | |
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Enduring Warcry - grants increased Life Regeneration and Endurance Charges |
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Blood Magic Support |
[UTILITY] Curse | |
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Flammability - recommended Curse for this build. Depending on your item choices you can cast it manually or use the following Curse on Hit setup |
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Blood Magic Support |
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Curse on Hit Support |
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Orb of Storms |
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Our Ancestral Warchief Chieftain is a very budget-friendly build. It does not require any expensive uniques, and Kongor's Undying Rage which is the only recommended unique is very inexpensive. This build, at the same time, scales extremely well into end-game. Investing in Kaom's Heart, Opal Rings and Xoph's Blood makes your DPS sky-rocket.
The recommended gear in this guide will:
Stat priorities on items:
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50% reduced Damage when on Low Life +(50-70) to Dexterity 10% increased Attack Speed 25% increased Global Critical Strike Chance (100-130)% increased Evasion Rating +(80-100) to maximum Life 150% increased Global Evasion Rating when on Low Life |
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Min. requirements: 90 maximum Life 40% Cold Resistance 40% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: Life Regenerated per second |
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Helmet enchantments: 40% increased Ancestral Warchief Totem Damage |
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30% increased Stun Duration on Enemies Adds (43-56) to (330-400) Physical Damage (30-40)% increased Critical Strike Chance +(15-20)% to all Elemental Resistances Hits can't be Evaded Your Critical Strikes do not deal extra Damage You gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Critical Strike |
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30% increased Stun Duration on Enemies (80-100)% increased Physical Damage Adds (94-98) to (115-121) Physical Damage +(25-50) to all Attributes Recover 5% of Maximum Life on Kill Enemies killed explode dealing 10% of their Life as Fire Damage |
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Min. requirements: 400+ Physical DPS Optional affixes: increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills chance to deal Double Damage increased Attack Speed |
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Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life 2000 Armour Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances increased Maximum Life Elder mod |
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Has no Sockets +500 to maximum Life (20-40)% increased Fire Damage |
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+(25-35) to Strength (15-25)% increased Global Physical Damage You take 30% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes +(30-40) to maximum Life +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances Nearby Enemies are Intimidated Corrupted implicit modifier: +1 maximum Endurance Charges |
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Has no Sockets Cannot be Knocked Back +(150-200) to maximum Life You cannot be slowed to below base speed Unwavering Stance |
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Boot enchantments: Adds 45 to 68 Fire Damage if you've Killed Recently 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently |
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Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 35% Cold Resistance 35% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: added Fire Damage to Attacks Mana gained on Kill |
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Glove enchantment: Commandment of Reflection Commandment of Fury |
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Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life 40 maximum Mana Added Physical/Fire Damage to Attacks Optional affixes: Attributes Elemental Resistances |
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+(10-16) to all Attributes Adds (20-24) to (33-36) Fire Damage +(50-70) to maximum Life +(20-25)% to Fire Resistance 1% of Life Regenerated per second 100% reduced Flammability Mana Reservation Gain Maddening Presence for 10 seconds when you Kill a Rare or Unique Enemy |
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+(20-30) to Strength 10% increased maximum Life +(20-40)% to Fire Resistance 10% increased Strength Damage Penetrates 10% Fire Resistance Cover Enemies in Ash when they Hit you Avatar of Fire |
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Min. requirements: Added Fire/Physical Damage to Attacks 70 maximum Life 40 maximum Mana 25% Cold Resistance 25% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes |
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Has 1 Socket Socketed Golem Skills have 25% chance to Taunt on Hit Socketed Golem Skills have 5% Life Regenerated per second +3 to Level of Socketed Golem Gems +(30-40) to Strength (20-30)% increased Fire Damage +(30-40) to maximum Life |
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Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life increased maximum Mana increased Generic/Totem/Physical/Fire/Melee/Area Damage Optional affixes: increased Attack Speed Attributes |
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Knocks Back Enemies in an Area on Flask use 75% chance to cause Enemies to Flee on use 20% more Melee Physical Damage during effect Adds Knockback during Flask effect |
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Other suggested Flasks:
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We are looking forward to your feedback and suggestions for our next build. You can leave those in the comments below.
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