10 Best Scion Builds in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur

The Scion is an interesting class in Path of Exile primarily because its ascendancy passive tree is quite different from the rest of the classes in the game.

You see, unlike the other classes where you have a few ascendancies to choose from, the Scion only has one: the Ascendant. But, even if this is the case, the Ascendant has access to many different nodes that are not found in others.

A typical Ascendant build requires a ton of investment; so much more than your average ascendancy class. So, unless you have a bit of PoE currency saved up, we recommend that you only go for the Scion (and ultimately the Ascendant) if you are willing to invest in it.

Are you still here? Good! If you are adamant about creating an Ascendant for your next character, then read further. For today, we are going to talk about the 10 best builds for the Scion in the 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League!

Why Scion?

Before anything, you might ask yourself: "Why choose Scion?" With the wealth of classes in Path of Exile, the Scion is certainly not something that is for everyone. It is a rather complex class that requires careful planning and investment, so really, why choose this over, say, the Deadeye?

Well, the Scion's ascendancy, the Ascendant, is the only class in the game that can have access to certain nodes on the passive tree depending on which notable ascendancy passive skills you take. For example, if you take the Path of the Ranger node, you can allocate passive skills from the Ranger's starting point.

Another reason why you should go for the Scion is that this class enables you to allocate a total of 128 passive skill points as opposed to the 123 points in other classes. This is why you see a lot of attribute-stacking builds that use the Scion: those five additional points really come in handy.

If you look at the ascendancy nodes available to the Scion, you will find that most of them are labeled with the names of the other ascendancy classes. The thing is, each of these notable passive skills provides you with different effects that allow you to come up with interesting build combinations.

In Patch 3.25, there are major changes to certain ascendancy nodes that are available to the Ascendant. For one, the Raider notable ascendancy passive has been renamed to Warden and it has completely different effects, such as +20% spell suppression, 8% elemental penetration, and the ability to apply one additional Tincture on melee weapons.

The Gladiator node also received plenty of changes. You now get 50% chance to block from an equipped shield rather than taking the shield's inherent block chance, which significantly improves your survivability.

In addition, you deal 1% more damage with hits and ailments for every two seconds a rare or unique enemy has been in your presence, up to a maximum of 50%. This is a cut-down version of what is available on the actual Gladiator ascendancy class, but this is still quite good, especially if you are planning to create a character that specializes in killing bosses.

There are a lot of interesting changes in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, which led to the creation of new and exciting builds.

Best Builds for Scion in PoE 3.25

Now that you know the reasons why the Scion (Ascendant) is great, you might wonder what build you should choose to get the most out of the class. Well, we have scoured the internet to see which builds are popular in the current league so you do not have to! So, without further ado, here are the best Scion Builds in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League:

10. Blade Vortex Ascendant

+Easy build to play

+Useful in farming Deliriums on a modest investment

-Did not gain a damage buff in Patch 3.25

The Blade Vortex Ascendant is a great mapper that has enough power to finish Delirium maps and Wave 15 Simulacrums. The primary skill gem for this build creates ethereal blades that orbit around your character for several seconds. It can gain up to 10 blade stacks, with each one granting 35% more damage.

Despite requiring you to be up close and personal with the enemy, Blade Vortex did not receive any damage improvement in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. This means that you have to rely on your gear to boost your damage output.

Since Blade Vortex is a physical spell skill gem in PoE, you can make it better by fully converting your physical damage to cold damage. This is done by crafting a pair of cold conversion gloves and taking the appropriate Cold Mastery to achieve the full 100%.

This build is played as an aura stacker in the endgame. The auras that you will activate include Zealotry, Grace, Hatred, Herald of Purity, Precision, and Herald of Ash. To enable all of these auras, you must get enough mana reservation efficiency. A well-crafted helmet with mana reservation efficiency on both the implicit and explicit modifiers is a good place to start.

Because you now deal cold damage instead of physical damage, you could also wear the Crystallised Omniscience unique amulet. This converts your attributes to a pseudo-attribute named Omniscience. The more Omniscience you have, the more damaging your Blade Vortex becomes due to the sheer amount of elemental penetration you can receive.

So, where does this build fall short? Well, it does lack in the damage department, particularly in the endgame. This is even more true when you look at the other Scion Builds that will be mentioned later.

Still, the main selling point of the Blade Vortex Ascendant is that it is beginner-friendly with good map-clearing capabilities. So, if this is something you are looking for, then this build is worth giving a shot.

9. Explosive Concoction Ascendant

+One of the most inexpensive builds for the Ascendant

+Good screen clear

+Great boss-killer on a budget

-Average damage output compared to other builds

Most builds for the Scion in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur are pretty expensive. However, if you want to get a feel for the ascendancy class, this next entry on our list is definitely worth the try.

The Explosive Concoction Ascendant is a pretty good mapper and boss-killer relative to the amount of PoE Currency invested in a build. This makes use of a skill gem that does not require a weapon to be used because your flasks will do the damage.

The skill gem itself uses charges from Ruby, Sapphire, and Topaz flasks to deal further damage. In Patch 3.25, Explosive Concoction got a considerable damage boost across the board. For instance, the skill now has 1,203 to 1,805 added fire damage right off the bat. It also gains 466 to 707 added cold damage if charges were consumed from a Sapphire Flask. If charges were consumed from a Topaz Flask, the skill gets 105 to 1,083 added lightning damage. All these values are taken from the skill gem at level 20.

Because you do not need to equip any weapons, the Explosive Concoction Ascendant is pretty easy to put up. You just have to make sure that your elemental flasks have the right mods to ensure near-infinite flask charges.

To achieve that, you can take the Pathfinder ascendancy node. This allows you to gain three flask charges every few seconds. Furthermore, there is a 25% chance that your flasks do not consume any charges when used, which is quite helpful when you are spamming Explosive Concoction.

In addition, you could invest in a specific Brutal Restraint Timeless Jewel (Balbala) to get "The Traitor" keystone passive. This lets you gain several flask charges per empty flask slot every five seconds.

Now that you have the flask charges sorted out, what should you do next? For your next notable ascendancy passive, you will get the Slayer. This node ensures that life leech effects are not removed when your unreserved life is filled, meaning, you get your HP topped up so long as you are attacking the enemy.

Aside from that, the Slayer node grants Culling Strike, which slays enemies that are below 10% of their maximum life. This is beneficial for clearing map monsters and eliminating bosses that are on the brink of death.

Now, if there is one thing that you need to be aware of, it is that the Explosive Concoction Ascendant has an average damage output compared to the other builds that will be mentioned on this list. Be that as it may, it is definitely worth trying, particularly if you want to try the Ascendant out.

8. Armor-stacking Smite Ascendant

+Insane survivability and damage output

+Can destroy bosses with ease

-Needs a boatload of currency to put up

-Requires specific items

As you can probably tell by the name, the Smite Ascendant is a very tanky build due to its vast amounts of armor. This build utilizes many defensive layers, which allows it to take on whatever content is available in Path of Exile. It can tank and spank pinnacle bosses like their attacks do not mean anything. Seriously, this build is great! But, how does it work?

Let's talk about its defenses first. The Grasping Mail is an integral part of the build. This armor can come with some pretty awesome Breach-only modifiers, but the one you want contains the following:

• Armour is Increased by Overcapped Fire Resistance
• Evasion Rating is Increased by Overcapped Cold Resistance

You will actually scale both armor and evasion. Why? Because the evasion rating can be converted to armor anyway simply by taking the Iron Reflexes keystone on the passive tree. With the modifiers highlighted above, using Purity of Fire and Purity of Ice enables you to overcap your fire resistance and cold resistance so easily.

Now, armor typically mitigates the physical damage you receive, right? But the Smite Ascendant utilizes the Militant Faith (High Templar Maxarius) to gain access to Transcendence.

For the uninitiated, Transcendence is a keystone passive that makes it so that your armor reduces the elemental damage you take from enemy hits instead of physical damage. If that is the case, how do you address physical damage mitigation then?

Fortunately, there are things in PoE that can help you resolve that. The Dawnbreaker is an inexpensive shield that allows you to take up to 20% physical damage as fire damage. Taste of Hate is another item that makes 15% of the physical damage you receive and converts that to cold damage. There is also the Armour and Energy Shield Mastery, which makes 10% of physical damage from hits taken as chaos damage. Since you are going to allocate Chaos Inoculation on this build, you are actually immune to chaos damage because of it.

You probably have qualms about Transcendence for defense. We understand that; you are worried about the hefty "-15% to All Maximum Resistances." On the surface, that is indeed a heavy price to pay for the immense elemental damage mitigation it gives. However, you can address that downside by putting as many "Increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras" via your passive skills and jewels as possible.

If you still do not have the budget for a Grasping Mail, you could wear The Formless Flame for the time being. This is a unique helmet that grants armor based on your overcapped fire resistance. The only thing lacking here is the increased evasion you would get from a Grasping Mail, but this is a nice alternative nevertheless.

In terms of pathing on the passive tree, you can get some amazing notable passive skills, such as Influence, Sovereignty, and Leadership. You can also anoint Charisma (Opalescent Oil, 2x Golden Oils) on your amulet for an additional 6%.

For the jewels, you can obtain plenty of Small Cluster Jewels (Mana Reservation) and roll them using Chaos Orbs until you get these mods:

• + to All Elemental Resistances
• +% to Fire/Cold Resistance
• 35% Increased Effect
• Introspection
• Auras from Your Skills Have a 10% Increased Effect on You

The "35% Increased Effect" mod is only accessible on an item level 84+ Small Cluster Jewel. Each piece can be quite expensive to acquire, so be sure to have some PoE Currency on hand before making the purchase.

Having a number of Small Cluster Jewels is good, but how exactly can you fit them all on your passive tree? The solution to this problem is none other than Voices. This is a unique jewel that enables you to insert up to three Small/Medium Cluster Jewels in one.

Now, it can roll with several nodes that grant nothing, so you want to invest in at least three "1-Passive" Voices. This is so that you only waste one skill point when taking the nodes on the Small Cluster Jewels.

Why is the "Increased Effect of Non-curse Auras" mod vital to the success of this build? If you recall, Transcendence reduces your maximum resistances. Without anything to hedge it, your max elemental resistances will only be set at 60%, which is quite unacceptable, especially in the endgame.

If you have a lot of the said modifiers, you effectively gain even more maximum elemental resistances. This is because the modifier amplifies the effects of your elemental resistance auras, such as Purity of Fire, Purity of Ice, and Purity of Elements. Of course, this boosts Determination and Grace as well.

Okay, now that the defenses are out of the way, let's talk about the damage this build is capable of. Smite is an attack skill that converts half of your physical damage to lightning damage. Every time you use the skill, you call down a lightning bolt from the heavens, smiting monsters in the area, and dealing an insane amount of damage in the process.

There is a reason why you are stacking all of that armor to begin with. That is because it will factor into your damage output thanks to Replica Dreamfeather. This unique sword grants you 1% attack damage for every 450 points of armor. With the gems, auras, and items mentioned before, you can achieve upwards of three million armor without a hitch!

On top of that, Smite got a pretty significant damage boost in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. What has changed? Well, its effectiveness of base and added damage has increased from 273% to a whopping 488% at gem level 20!

Moreover, if you use Vaal Smite, you will be happy to know that it now has its effectiveness of base and added damage massively increased from 430% to 753%! When you factor all of the things together, you will have a character that can decimate enemies with ease!

Pinnacle bosses like the Maven and Sirus are child's play. How about "The Feared?" Nope, no problem at all! Even if the bosses spawned all at once, you can just stand there and laugh as the damage they deal to you is infinitesimal.

Whew, what a doozy! Despite the various mechanics at play, the armor-stacking Smite Ascendant is an incredibly fun, easy, and tanky build that is definitely worth every PoE Currency you invest into it.

7. Hexblast Mines Ascendant

+Interesting take on a popular build

+Impressive damage output

+Great for Forbidden Sanctum runs

-Low HP version might not appeal to everyone

The Hexblast Mines Ascendancy is a rather interesting build that utilizes one of the most popular skills in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur.

For the uninitiated, Hexblast is a chaos spell that deals huge amounts of damage. Unlike other chaos spells in the game, though, Hexblast is resisted by the lowest resistance the enemy has rather than its chaos resistance. For this reason, it is often paired with either Flammability or Frostbite depending on one's preference.

Having said that, while Hexblast deals quite a lot of damage on its own, it has a relatively slow cast speed of one second. Yes, that is slow considering that PoE is a fast-paced ARPG. So, how do you address this?

Typically, Hexblast is paired with High-Impact Mine. This support gem converts Hexblast from a spell that you can activate on your own into a Mine Skill that you can lay on the ground. The good thing about this is that you can lay multiple mines on the ground for maximum damage.

There are at least several ascendancy classes that use Hexblast Mines as their primary skill gem, so how is the Ascendant different from them? Most ascendancy classes typically rely on Sandstorm Visage, which is a unique helmet that factors in the base critical strike chance of your equipped weapon when calculating your total crit.

With the Hexblast Mines Ascendant, you actually go for a crafted Helmet using the Archdemon Crown as the base. If you are wondering why this particular helmet is preferred, it is because it raises the level of socketed skill gems by two. In Path of Exile, spells scale more damage at higher gem levels. For this reason, using the Archdemon Helmet is a no-brainer.

Another important item for this build is the Rathpith Globe. This is a unique shield that grants a lot of spell damage and critical strike chance. The only problem is that every time you use Hexblast Mines, you sacrifice 10% of your HP per cast.

To alleviate the downside of the Rathpith Globe, you are going to use the Dissolution of the Flesh as well. This is a unique jewel that not only increases your maximum life significantly, but also ensures that any loss of HP is reserved for two seconds. This brief period should help you regain your HP back.

A good complement to the two unique items just mentioned is Kaom's Heart. In Patch 3.25, this unique body armor has been restored to its former glory in that it now gives you 1,000 HP just by wearing it!

Wait, where will you put your Hexblast setup if you are using Kaom's Heart? Good question! Hexblast, along with its support gems, will be socketed into the crafted helmet. This is because the helmet contains certain modifiers, including Hypothermia, Damage on Low Life Support, and increased spell crit chance.

The Hexblast Mines Ascendant is a great build to use if you are planning to conquer the Forbidden Sanctum. If there is one thing that might deter you from playing this, it would be its relatively low HP. Still, its damage output is more than enough to prevent you from worrying about survivability.

6. Flicker Strike Ascendant

+Zoom around maps while killing enemies in the process

+With enough investment, this build is a great mapper and bosser

+Huge damage increase in Patch 3.25

-Not a league starter

-Very expensive

Since the Raider has been deleted from Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, a few ascendancy classes have become even more viable when it comes to utilizing Flicker Strike. They are the Slayer, Trickster, and the Ascendant.

That said, the Flicker Strike Ascendant has added elemental damage penetration compared to the Slayer and Trickster due to its access to the "Inquisitor" notable passive skill. Besides that, the Ascendant enjoys the overleech and culling strike from the aptly named "Slayer" node

Another advantage of using the Ascendant is that this ascendancy class gives you easier access to jewel sockets. This is because you can take a couple of different paths on the passive tree by taking the right nodes. Because of this, you have the option of using The Adorned if you want to.

Now, even though The Adorned has been nerfed considerably in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion, it is still quite good. This is especially true if you can acquire one with the full 100% increased effect of corrupted magic jewels.

The Flicker Strike ascendant does not use the Paradoxica or the Forbidden Shako with a level 30+ Ice Bite. Instead, it utilizes the Anarchic Spiritblade, which is a Heist-only one-handed sword that converts all physical damage to elemental damage.

To improve the gems you have socketed into the sword, you are going to use The Squire as well. Any support gem that you insert into this shield will also support the skill from your main hand weapon.

Replica Farrul's Fur is always a staple in Flicker Strike builds. This is to ensure that you have a consistent uptime of Frenzy Charges. Don't forget to have "Aspect of the Cat" in one of your other pieces of gear, so that you can socket it with Less Duration Support.

Since you effectively do not deal any physical damage due to the weapon that you use, wearing the Heatshiver is not a bad idea at all. This helmet grants cold damage as extra fire damage when hitting frozen enemies.

While not mandatory, you could grab a 1-passive Voices unique jewel as well. This requires an exorbitant amount of investment, so be sure to have enough PoE Currency ready before you make the purchase.

Although the Flicker Strike Ascendant is quite expensive, this is one of the PoE Builds where each PoE Currency invested is definitely worth it!

5. Righteous Fire Ascendant

+Arguably the RF build with the most damage output

+Excellent mapper

+Impossible to defeat

-Hard to cap chaos resistances

-Needs a lot of unique items

Righteous Fire has always been one of the best skills in PoE. It is perfectly suited for those who prefer a laid-back playstyle; one that does not involve pressing more than two buttons at a time.

While the Inquisitor and the Chieftain are the ascendancy classes that people gravitate towards when it comes to using Righteous Fire, the Ascendant brings some amazing things to the table.

Before that, we must talk about RF. Righteous Fire got a significant change a couple of leagues ago where the vast majority of its damage comes from your maximum life and energy shield. What makes the Ascendant better than the Inquisitor and Chieftain is that it can scale life and energy shield insanely high for maximum damage output!

To achieve that, you will stack INT and STR by using Split Personality and Emperor's Mastery. These unique jewels should help you get a ton of these attributes provided that you place them as far away from the Scion's starting point on the passive tree.

Now, another interesting thing about this build is that you will actually allocate points to take the Blood Magic keystone, which makes it so that your skills use or reserve life instead of mana. The reason for taking this is that you are going to utilize The Ivory Tower to gain tremendous amounts of energy shield.

When done right, you can easily get more than 25,000 ES! Of course, as you can already tell, this requires a massive investment. Hence, the Righteous Fire Ascendant is not a league starter by any means.

Aside from The Ivory Tower, a huge part of your defense comes from Shaper's Touch as well. This unique pair of gloves grants 1% increased energy shield for every 10 points of STR that you have.

Despite the high amount of energy shield this build is capable of, Righteous Fire still suffers from single-target damage. Unlike other RF builds in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, you will actually be using Scorching Ray for this one.

Scorching Ray is a channeling skill that inflicts burning damage to enemies that are in front of you. This becomes even more devastating the longer you are able to channel the beam towards your foes, making it the ideal choice when fighting against the pinnacle bosses in the game.

For the ascendancy nodes, you have the Chieftain to give you a 10% boost in strength. The said node also gives you the ability to cover rare or unique enemies in Ash, causing them to take 20% increased fire damage from both Righteous Fire and Scorching Ray.

The Occultist is another specialty node you should take. This enables you to apply both Flammability and Elemental Weakness to easily burn monsters to a crisp. Additionally, the Occultist node increases your ES regeneration by 1.5%, as well as makes you immune to stuns while you have at least a point of energy shield left in the tank.

Even though this build can only be established with enough PoE Currency, it is not hard to recommend the Righteous Fire Ascendant, especially if you are the type of person who wants a reliable character that can take on whatever content there is in the game.

4. Kinetic Blast Ascendant

+Primary skill gem got a lot better in PoE 3.25

+Can take on any content in the game

+Plenty of choices when it comes to gearing options

-Upgrades are pretty expensive

-Needs some crafted gear to truly bring the best out of the build

By now, you have probably seen the trend of many Scion builds in Path of Exile. This next one is another attribute-stacking build; only this time, you will increase your Intelligence in any way you can.

The Kinetic Blast Ascendant is billed as a fantastic mapper designed to decimate enemies like they are nothing. For the most part, you will use Kinetic Blast to, well, blast your way to the map's boss. When you encounter the head honcho, you slay it with Barrage. That's right, you have two primary skills at your disposal that you can use depending on your current situation.

A huge chunk of your damage comes from a self-crafted, double-influenced wand that has two INT-based modifiers. They are:

• Adds 1 to 6 Lightning Damage to Attacks with This Weapon per 10 Intelligence
• 1% Increased Spell Damage per 16 Intelligence

Now, to reiterate, that is spell damage. You're probably baffled by that, considering that both Barrage and Kinetic Blast are attack skill gems. Well, the self-crafted wand is only part of the equation; you also need the Crown of Eyes for everything to make sense.

You see, the Crown of Eyes has a line that says: "Increases and Reductions to Spell Damage Also Apply to Attacks at 150% of Their Value." As long as you have this unique helmet equipped, any spell damage modifier from your gear and passive skills contribute to the damage enhancement of Kinetic Blast and Barrage.

In Patch 3.25, Kinetic Blast got a couple of nice upgrades. For one, its base attack speed has increased from 100% to 115%. But more importantly, it also has an effect that is similar to the Crown of Eyes, albeit the skill gem itself gains 200% rather than 150% from increases/reductions to spell damage.

The added lightning damage provided by the weapon and your INT stat is amplified even further by Sigil of Power. When you place the sigil on the ground, you should continuously put pressure on enemies by attacking. This is because the more mana you spend while in the sigil's area of effect, the more added lightning damage you receive as a result. If placing the Sigil of Power is too cumbersome for you, then you can just use it on bosses to give a bit more oomph to each of your attacks.

To get the most out of Kinetic Blast, you will put this attack skill gem along with its support gems in the 8-mod gloves similar to what Spark Inquisitors wear. You can refer to our ultimate crafting guide to learn how to craft this beauty.

While this build's main focus is on efficient mapping, its defense is actually not bad. One of the things that will ensure your survival is Atziri's Reflection. This unique shield gives you all of the good stuff that can benefit the build, including INT, evasion, energy shield, and elemental resistances. Besides that, the increased effect of curses granted to you by Atziri's Reflection makes Conductivity more terrifying. That is because monsters affected by the said curse will have their lightning resistance reduced considerably.

Alternatively, you could go the Power Charge-stacking route for more critical strike chance and higher critical strike multiplier. For this to work, you have to obtain a couple of key pieces of gear, such as Malachai's Loop and Ralakesh's Impatience.

This build is also capable of achieving full elemental ailment immunity via Stormshroud. But, this jewel requires you to have "% Chance to Avoid Being Shocked" modifiers, so how can you incorporate that into your character? Well, you can address that by crafting your own pair of boots using the Deafening Essence of Torment (60%) and the remaining 40% from Grand Eldritch Embers (40%, implicit modifier).

For the rest of your gear, aim to roll INT on each one to maximize your damage and survivability. Take note that the Kinetic Blast Ascendant is not cheap, but if you manage to put the necessary pieces together, it is an incredible build that is definitely worth your investment.

3. Lightning Strike Ascendant

+The tankiest LS build in PoE 3.25

+Skill gem got a huge boost in Settlers of Kalguur

+Unbeatable in terms of offense and defense

-Good positioning is key to maximizing the skill's damage potential

-Huge investment cost for gear

The core premise of this next build is almost the same as the armor-stacking variant Smite Ascendant mentioned above. The Lightning Strike Ascendant makes use of an attack skill gem that has been around for so many years.

In Patch 3.25, Lightning Strike got a huge damage boost. If you want to know the nitty-gritty details, the skill gem's effectiveness of base and added damage has increased from 225% to 456% at gem level 20. That is more than a 50% damage boost!

Now, it is important to note that the innate added lightning damage that the skill gem used to have is no longer available. However, this is pretty easy to address; you just have to use the right gear and support gems.

So, why is it called a "hybrid" attack skill gem? Well, that is because Lightning Strike has two components. The first attack is done in melee range. However, the bulk of the damage actually comes from the projectiles that spew right after the initial strike.

Despite the fact that Lightning Strike has a "melee" tag on it, the resulting projectiles do not count as a melee strike. Therefore, to increase the projectile damage, you must focus on modifiers that affect projectile damage and not melee damage.

The Lightning Strike Ascendant is a bit different now compared to how it was built in the previous league. For instance, you are no longer forced to wear the Grasping Mail because of the return of the Recombinators in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur.

Instead, you could grab the new Twilight Regalia and use that as the primary crafting base for a huge amount of energy shield. Put a Grasping Mail on the other slot with the "Armour is Increased by Overcapped Fire Resistance" mod and hope that it gets carried over to the resulting body armor.

Once successful, you have the option of fracturing the said modifier using a Fracturing Orb. If you are able to do so, you can craft your endgame body armor using any essences that you need.

The reason why you should opt for the Twilight Regalia, which is a pure energy shield-based body armor, is because you will take Chaos Inoculation on this build. This essentially puts your maximum life to 1, with only some energy shield and armor to keep you alive.

In addition, March of the Legion is helpful here as you will socket not only the Grace aura, but a Smite skill as well. Why do you think Smite is included in the setup?

If you recall, Smite grants a buff shortly after use which gives added lightning damage. March of the Legion has a unique effect that raises the level of socketed aura gems by five. If you put two and two together, Smite gains a huge level boost when socketed into the said pair of boots.

While a non-corrupted March of the Legion will suffice, you should invest in these boots with the following corrupted implicits:

• +1 to Level of Socketed Gems
• +2 to Level of Socketed AoE Gems
• +2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems

The last two corrupted implicit mods are ideal, but they cost an exorbitant amount of PoE Currency to obtain. Just throwing it out there to give you some options if you want to upgrade later down the line.

Of course, the common denominator here is the Replica Dreamfeather. If you recall from the Armor-stacking Smite Ascendant mentioned above, this unique one-handed sword grants 1% attack damage per 450 points of armor.

Do you know what's different here, though? You could invest in a Nimis ring for the Lightning Strike Ascendant. This unique ring makes it so that your projectiles return to you after reaching their maximum travel distance, effectively dealing damage twice.

The projectiles that come back to you do not suffer from the damage penalty that you get from the aptly named Returning Projectiles Support, which makes Nimis an invaluable upgrade later down the line.

Now, how is this build played, exactly? Use your preferred movement skill and scour the map for monsters. When you encounter a tough cookie, drop your Ancestral Protector totem, cast Conductivity, and then use Smite once. When you have everything set up, simply spam Lightning Strike until the enemy dies. Rinse and repeat!

If you want a build that uses a pretty reliable attack skill gem in PoE, then we can wholeheartedly recommend the Lightning Strike Ascendant for sure!

2. Molten Strike Ascendant

+Magma projectiles can shotgun for more damage

+Almost immortal

+Can eliminate bosses without a hitch

-Crazy expensive like the other armor-stacking builds in PoE 3.25

-Cannot switch to Transfigured Gem

If you have visited our previous list of the Best Scion Builds before, you know that this next build is great and interesting. Well, it is now even more so, especially with the changes GGG made in Patch 3.25! The Molten Strike Ascendant is another armor-stacking build. But, before you click away, this has some very cool mechanics that we're sure you are going to love.

We are not going to expound on the armor-stacking side of things because it has been explained in greater detail before (see Smite Ascendant for information about the core principles of such builds). Instead, we are going to talk about Molten Strike and the unique accessories that make this build special.

Molten Strike is another attack skill that is similar to Lightning Strike in terms of being a hybrid skill gem. It consists of a melee attack (initial damage) followed by the projectiles (resulting magma projectiles). The latter part of the attack does the bulk of the damage of this build.

What makes Molten Strike more damaging than Lightning Strike, in our opinion, is the way the projectiles move. If the lightning projectiles move in a straight line, the magma projectiles bunch up together, causing enemies in an area to receive even more damage as a result.

In the Settlers of Kalguur expansion, Molten Strike now has its effectiveness of base and added damage increased from 126% to 329%! This is quite amazing from an overall damage standpoint because of how the magma projectiles behave.

One core component of the build is Nimis, which is a unique ring that you can get by defeating the Eater of Worlds (Uber). Nimis is a staple among many projectile-based skills primarily because of the returning projectile mechanic. In this case, the magma projectiles return to you after they have traveled their maximum distance, thus inflicting damage twice. The "Projectiles Are Fired in Random Directions" is not a problem here since the magma projectiles do not veer too far anyway.

Now, you are probably wondering if this build can also switch to the Transfigured Gem, Molten Strike of the Zenith. Unfortunately, that is not possible with this configuration simply because the said Transfigured Gem requires a two-handed weapon to use. The Replica Dreamfeather is indispensable for this build, which is why Molten Strike of the Zenith is out of the equation.

Even though most of the damage comes from the magma projectiles, you can still benefit from Tinctures because Molten Strike is considered as a melee skill gem at the end of the day.

That said, you can either go for the Prismatic Tincture for a huge increase in elemental damage or the Oakbranch Tincture so that you can gain five points of Rage. The latter is good because each point of Rage now grants more damage in PoE 3.25.

Plugging your character into the POB does not do it justice because although you are seeing considerably lower damage numbers compared to the previous build, the Molten Strike Ascendant is definitely a tier higher in terms of clear speed and boss-killing potential.

1. Wardloop Ice Spear Ascendant

+Run around the map and see enemies die in your wake

+One of the best Scion Builds in this league

-Not beginner-friendly

-Certain requirements have to be met in order for the build to work

With the massive changes GGG implemented in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur, you can never go wrong with any of the builds mentioned on this list. Now, if you have played PoE for quite some time, you are probably already familiar with this one. But if you are relatively new, strap yourself in. The things that make this build work require explanation to fully understand.

Before anything, have you ever wondered why this build is called "Wardloop" Ice Spear Ascendant? There is a reason for that; the damage part of this build is played in a loop and that is all possible thanks to Cast When Damage Taken Support.

You see, Cast When Damage Support (aka CWDT) triggers any socketed attack or spell skill gem automatically whenever you receive enough damage. Obviously, having enemies attack you is quite cumbersome and clunky, so you have to receive damage in a more consistent and deliberate way. That is where the Heartbound Loop and Summon Skeletons come into play.

The Heartbound Loop is a unique ring in Path of Exile that causes you to take physical damage upon minion death. On the other hand, Summon Skeletons is a skill that enables you to call forth minions that have a set duration.

By using several To Dust unique jewels to achieve a 74% reduced duration, your summoned skeletons will only last 0.2 seconds, thereby causing you to take damage via the Heartbound Loop. Now, to ensure that you receive enough damage to trigger CWDT, you supplement that with a level 3 Forbidden Rite as well.

With that out of the way, how do you actually start the loop? For that, you will use two different weapons on this build: The Annihilating Light being the main one, and the other is a self-crafted dagger using Essence of Insanity.

The Essence of Insanity guarantees that the weapon will have the mod: "Triggers Level 20 Spectral Spirits When Equipped." The reason why you will swap to this (and then back to The Annihilating Light) is so that you "kill" the spectral spirits, thus causing the loop to begin.

The Heartbound Loop does not discriminate. You will take damage whether the minion that has died is a skeleton, a spectral spirit, or a zombie. That is why the weapon swapping part of the build is necessary for the damage loop to commence.

Okay, so we have discussed the damage portion of the Wardloop Ice Spear Ascendant, but how about its defenses? Can this build take a punch or is it a glass cannon? Of course, it can take a beating! However, the defense does not come from stacking absurd amounts of armor. Your survivability hinges on, you've guessed it, the Ward!

Ward is a defensive layer in PoE that can be obtained by wearing the "Runic" gears from Expedition. The specific equipment you are going to wear are the Runic Crown, Runic Gauntlets, and Runic Sabatons. You can craft them using Deft Fossils until you get a flat amount of Ward and the "% Increased Ward" prefix.

How the Ward works as a defensive layer is akin to energy shield, where it absorbs a set amount of damage before going on cooldown. But, unlike energy shield, Ward recovers to the maximum and will not be interrupted by taking damage. Moreover, Ward ensures that your HP will not be reduced so long as you have at least some Ward left.

Now, pay attention to this part: you actually have permanent uptime of Ward thanks to a unique flask called Olroth's Resolve. So long as the flask's effect is active, you do not have to worry about receiving damage at all! Although this flask received a nerf in Patch 3.25, it still works nearly the same as it did in the previous league, so there's nothing to worry about.

If you want more Ward, you can wear the new Ynda's Stand unique belt. Introduced in the Settlers of Kaguur Expansion, Ynda's Stand has a unique effect where you gain additional Ward based on 50% of the armor or evasion values from your equipped body armor. Along with Olroth's Resolve, you become an impenetrable fortress that has the power to destroy anything in your path!

So, you are probably wondering how you can keep Olroth's Resolve active. There are a couple of easy things that you can do. First, you will take the "Pathfinder" notable ascendancy passive skill, which enables you to gain three flask charges every few seconds. On top of that, you have a 25% chance to not consume any flask charges when using Olroth's Resolve.

Second, you are going to use a Brutal Restraint Timeless Jewel, specifically one that has the line: "Denoted Service of # Dekhara in the Akhara of Balbala." When placed on the passive tree, it will transform the nearest keystone into "The Traitor." This lets you gain four charges per empty flask slot every five seconds.

When looking at similar Wardloop Scion builds out there, you will find that most of them do not have a fifth flask, and the Brutal Restraint (Balbala) is the reason why. You can even take things a step further by only using three flasks, but that is not needed.

With everything set, all you have to do is enter a map, and then quickly press "X" twice to switch between weapons, and the loop should begin shortly. After that, simply walk around and see enemies die on a screen that is riddled with icy projectiles!

Although the mechanics of the build are a bit complex, the Wardloop Icespear Ascendant is a very popular Scion Build in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur primarily because of its "autobomber" nature. Activate the loop, run around, and kill enemies quickly and easily!

Tips

The Ascendant is the definition of "Jack of All Trades, Master of None." This is the only ascendancy class that has access to nodes that are similar to the ones found in other classes in the game.

That being said, if you wish to create a Scion (and ultimately an Ascendant) very soon, then do put these things into mind before anything else:

Be Prepared to Invest

As you may have seen in our recommendations for the best Scion Builds in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League, each build requires a ton of investment, even more so than other ascendancy classes.

About a huge percentage of Ascendant builds use some sort of "stacking" mechanic, like STR/INT-stacking and the ever-popular armor-stacker. The items that are required for these builds to work cost a lot of PoE Currency.

Therefore, only think about creating an Ascendant if you are willing (and able) to invest in it for the long term.

Study the Passive Tree Carefully

When you take a look at Path of Exile's passive tree, it is pretty daunting, isn't it? But, what makes the Scion special is that it is the only ascendancy class that can traverse the tree pretty well, provided that you take the appropriate nodes.

Study the passive tree carefully so that you can plot a course on where you should spend your skill points next. That or just follow a dedicated build guide to hold your hand during the entire process.

Use Other Classes First

There is a reason why the Scion cannot be selected the first time you play PoE. You actually have to go to the Upper Sceptre of God in Act 3, where you will find her locked inside a cage.

You see, the Scion is a complex class that requires a bit of knowledge before you can really enjoy it. That is why it is best that you start with the other classes so that you will have a feel for how the game is played.

Moreover, you will have a firm understanding of certain mechanics, which can be helpful when you are putting up the pieces of an Ascendant build together.

Get Acquainted with Conversion Mechanics

If you have read any of the armor-stacking builds mentioned in this article, you will find that they use the "Transcendence" keystone passive for survivability. While it is good that armor mitigates elemental damage to a significant degree, it no longer reduces the physical damage you take because of the keystone.

So, in order to take a beating, you have to convert physical damage to any other damage type (these being fire, cold, lightning, and chaos damage). To do that, you have to be acquainted with the conversion mechanics in Path of Exile.

Damage conversion can be found in many items and passive skills in the game. For instance, The Dawnbreaker unique shield can convert 20% of physical damage to fire damage. Additionally, the Armour and Shield Mastery allows you to convert 10% of the physical damage you receive and take that as chaos damage.

The mechanic does not only revolve around defenses because some attack or spell skill gems in the game also have some form of conversion baked in. Some of the examples include Lightning Strike, Molten Strike, and Smite.

Don't Be Afraid to Craft

Aside from the passive tree, crafting is another daunting aspect of Path of Exile that you have to come to terms with. Unless you have some uniques with sick corrupted implicit modifiers, crafting is the only way for you to get god-tier items.

Having said that, there are multiple ways to craft an item. You can either spam any Essence of your choosing or indulge in Fossil crafting and utilize a special combination of fossils until you achieve the desired outcome.

Fortunately for you, we have a dedicated crafting guide here at RPGStash, which provides you with all of the information you need about the ins and outs of crafting equipment in the game. Be sure to bookmark this for future reference!

Download POB

Path of Building, more popularly known as POB, is an important software that you must download and install right away. The reason why is that the program gives you more accurate information compared to the item and gear tooltips in the game.

It also gives you a full-fledged passive tree, which you can use to your heart's content. Utilize it to plot a course for your next build, including any of the Scion builds mentioned above.

We have included some PoB links for each build. Just click on the link and it should lead you to a website, where you can copy a special code. This code can be pasted in Path of Building by clicking on New -> Import/Export Build -> and then right-clicking on the blank field under the text: "To import a build..."

Conclusion

So there you have it! You will never go wrong with any of the 10 best Scion Builds in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur mentioned here. The good news is that there is only one ascendancy class you have to worry about. The not-so-good news is that you will need to have boatloads of PoE Currency to acquire the items necessary for some of the builds to work.

Be that as it may, the Scion is a very interesting class and is certainly one that you can use whenever you are acquainted with the various mechanics in Path of Exile.

With all of that said, good luck on your adventures in Wraeclast, Exile!