PoE 3.25 Chain Hook Berserker Build

1. Build introduction
2. Build Mechanics
3. Ascendancy, Pantheon and Bandits
4. Gems
5. Leveling + Passive Skill tree
6. Items
7. FAQ

Build introduction

This build features a Berserker with the main skill being Chain Hook! It is an amazing clearing skill that also doubles as a boss killer. While not particularly intended for bossing it performs quite well as displayed below. The build is quite simple, you chain hook around simulating a flicker build that can deal with bosses without resorting to a secondary skill.

Pros

• 2.5M+ DPS
• Flicker-Style Map clearing
• Deals with most bosses
• Excellent starter build
• SSF viable
• A lot of room for upgrades (Ryslatha's Coil, Tombfist gloves,...)

Cons

• Rage mechanic - tough to deal with bosses with many invulnerability phases
• Maintaining Rage + Blitz Charges
• A slow start until you get enough attack speed
• Missing with your Hook can feel bad

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Elder

Sirus (A6)

Chain hook is a skill that you don't see around too often, but that doesn't mean it's bad. As evident this build is quite good with dealing with endgame as well as clearing. The main feature is that it's really cheap to get it rolling, it uses two Ahn's Might blades, a Belt of the Deciever and a Belly of the beast chest piece. All of these items can easily be replaced by rares without destroying any of the builds capabilities. As such it is also an excellent option for SSF characters. Although the build has a somewhat clunky leveling process the end result is satisfying. The build is intended as a starter that doesn't require immense investment. Of course that PDPS on your weapons matters and the gear matters but the only real baseline is your attack speed that determines how smooth the gameplay will feel. As mentioned before it uses cheap uniques that can be replaced by regular rares. The build is very easy to play, as it is very similar to flicker builds once you reach the appropriate attack speed. You hold your mouse button and cleave through packs of enemies, you reach a boss, switch to Blood stance, Place a totem, Pop Berserk and watch it melt in 1 or 2 seconds. Rinse and repeat. It's a very fun build that is not commonly seen being used. The budget version of the build is estimated to around 2ex-5ex. This includes all of the items that your character would have as a minimum. The price estimates a 6L Belly that would nicely prepare you for mapping along with all of the other rare items you will without a doubt need to get. The next best upgrade would definitely be getting proper Ahn's Might blades that might cost up to 1ex depending on how much PDPS you wish to aim for. For reference the Ahn's Might blades used in this build had around 380 pdps and cost around 80c each. The min-max cost of this build is around 10-14ex (depending on the current economy). This cost comes almost entirely from the Ryslatha's Coil Belt, a good 6L Elder Body Armour or a 6L Belly of the Beast and a decent Watcher's Eye. Alongside those you would also need to get the 2 socket Tombfist Gloves to get the Intimidate proc and that would be that. The rest of the gear is fairly cheapand requires much less investment. Path of Building Pastebin - https://pastebin.com/KWgLQLCR- Everything is inside: Skill tree, Gear, Pantheon, Configuration and all of the leveling trees.

Build Mechanics

The build uses Chain Hook to efficiently sweeps maps and kill bosses. Chain Hook is a fairly unique skill that can clear maps almost like any flicker build and kill bosses at the same time without having the need to switch gems. By using the skill the character throws out a hook that attaches to an enemy grappling the player towards the enemy and striking it. Imagine flicker but not instant. The difference is that it can properly stand still on top of a target instead of flicking around it making it much more consistent in surviving boss fights. The build also uses the Multistrike and Fortify support gems focusing on a smoother and safer gameplay experience.The cornerstone items of this build are two Ahn's might, Midnight blades and a Pacifism, Viridian Jewel. In combination these items are a potent combo for dishing out damage. Not only can they provide 380+ pdps each but they also give in total +100% global critical strike multiplier. Furthermore, by having the pacifism jewel they also cap you out on accuracy. All other items are more or less rares that you pick up from the ground. Note that even the blades and the jewel can be replaced by rares but it will be much harder to reach this amount of damage and utility for so little investment.If you wish to further amplify the build you can use items such as: Ryslatha's Coil paired with the Tombfist gloves, a good Watchstone, a Vulnerability on hit ring, 6L Elder chest with -15 mana cost of skills and bleed explosions, multiple ex worthy weapons, etc. It is recommended to at least have the Vulnerability curse on hit ring as it will amplify your damage against all content. For Mapping and Bossing use a 6L Chain Hook with the appropriate gems inside. An alternative for bossing can be Cleave as it does do more damage than Chain Hook. For Bosses with many invulnerability phases (such as Sirus), it is recommended to use a Rage Support gem, to be able to properly gather rage after each Invulnerability phase. Supplemented with the innate Chain hook ability of generating rage and a Helmet enchant, you will have rage up most of the time. It is important to try and keep your rage above 25 as that is the threshold for some of the bonuses from the Berserker ascendancy. Delving can be a bit iffy as is the case with any flicker build since it can sometimes lead you into the dark. Nevertheless the build does feature more control than a regular flicker and as such can delve to certain depths.

Ascendancy, Pantheon and Bandits

Ascendancy

Berserker is the ascendancy of choice for this particular skill. Mainly because of the attack speed bonuses Blitz charges and Rage provides. Another advantage is the Stun Immunity that you get when over 25 rage, meaning you can keep Chaining until you've killed everything in your path. A solid bonus is also the skill Chain Hook provides. Additional Rage on hit and you can supplement that with a helmet mod that gives you even more rage per hit. This way your berserk will last extremely long and bosses will be easier to deal with because your rage will be up quicker.

Berserker Ascendancy - Priorities

1st node - Crave the Slaughter- the primary Rage generator, Rage speaks for itself. Attack damage, attack speed and movement speed per rage point are all useful things

2nd node - Rite of Ruin- rage effects are tripled and rage grants stun immunity after hitting 25 Rage, a must have when going for rage mechanics

3nd node - Flawless Savegery- Critical strike chance, Global Crit Multiplier and Raw damage, everything this node gives is gravy

4th node - Blitz- Blitz charges that make this build feel smooth and responsive, you get more attack speed when you crit, it does give less damage than Aspect of Carnage but it doesn't have a detrimental effect and makes the build feel much smoother to play.

Bandits

For the bandits it is highly recommended to help Alira. Killing Alira is a must for this build, the build uses critical strikes, all of the other bonuses are extremely helpful and passives points are plenty enough for the passive tree to fill out properly.

Pantheon

Soul of Lunaris, fully upgraded. This gives us another layer of defensive stats that will most likely save you a couple of times. Soul of Shakari is the optimal minor god choice as we have no defensive stats for chaos damage. It is recommended to upgrade this minor god as well since it will grant poison immunity.

Gems

This section covers all of the gem setups. The"( )" provide additional information about the links for each item and the recommended levels for each gem.

Primary Gem Setup (Body Armour)

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Note: Gems are shown in order of priority.

Body Armour - Belly of the Beast (6L) - Chain Hook Setup

The same setup is used for bossing and mapping. The only viable alternative would be swapping Brutality for Rage during bosses with many invulnerability phases such as Sirus.

Rest of the setup

Note: Try to equip these gems by the end of act 6. If not then then at least before doing maps. There is no defined priority for these gems, find a way that works for you until you have everything necessary for your character (auras, specific gear, gems etc.)

Ahn's Might (3L)

Ahn's Might (3L)

Gloves - Rare (4L)

Helmet - Rare (4L)

Boots (4L)

Actively used gems are:Chain Hook, Leap Slam and Berserk + Ancestral Warchief (during bosses). Make sure to at least have these gems setup. Cast when damage taken setup is also recommended for survivability and at least 2 auras to make sure your build is dishing out proper DPS.

Leveling + Passive Skill tree

Leveling

As soon as you start out keep using Molten strike. This skill gem will help you clear most of the packs with ease and will deal decent damage to bosses. Once you kill Brutus support Molten Strike with Added Fire and Ancestral Call. You will also be able to purchase Leap Slam at this point which will help you traverse gaps. As soon as you enter Merveil's Caverns you will be able to purchase Chain Hook. Support it with the Added fire you already have and you can add Increased Critical Strikes or Chance to Bleed for now (no need for Ancestral call anymore). Also make sure to pick up these auras: War Banner and Blood and Sandin act1. If you have the option it is recommended to place Chain Hook inside a Tabula rasa, this way you wont have to worry about socket colors or links. From here on out you will clear everything with your Chain Hook, bosses and mobs. At Act 2 pick up Melee Physical Damage and Close Combat and use these supports instead of the ones you got in act1. Also pick up Herald of Purity. Make sure to keep upgrading your weapons (1h swords) during leveling and you will be dealing proper damage. At act3 replace your War Banner with Dread Banner and pick up Fortify and Impale from the library side-quest. If you don't have enough links you can replace Close combat with any of these gems as Close combat that has the least priority on the gem support list. At the end of act 4 you will be able to pick up Brutality and make your CWDT setup. Make sure to complete the normal labyrinth before killing Malachai as it will make you stronger for the fight. The next most important thing to pay attention to is your Life and your Resistances. It is optimal to have 75% with Fire, Cold and Lightning resistances. You don't have to worry about chaos, it's more of a luxury stat. Just make sure to have decent Life and capped Elemental resistances.

Leveling Uniques

Recommended starting gear for every new character:

These uniques require some currency to acquire so you probably wont have them with your first character. The amazing thing is that you can use them from level 1! Another good leveling item that's beneficial for every character. It's usable from lvl 22 and it will solve all of your mana issues. This item is a bit of a necessity if you're using a 6L early on because Chain hook is fairly expensive to cast so this ring will help mitigate that problem.

Alongside these items it's recommended to use any high pdps swords.There are some unique sowrds but they will usually just be rares with decent damage which can be purchased from players for 1alch or 1c. Make sure to follow the skill tree as it is displayed below and keep upgrading your gear along the way and you should be golden.

Passive Skill Tree

The skill trees are listed below. The reason there's multiple links is so you can correctly allocate your passive points as you are leveling. This ensures you don't rush for something that's not necessary in the beginning and it shows which Ascendancy points you should prioritize. Normal Lab Skill Tree (~lvl35) Cruel Lab Skill Tree (~lvl55) Merciless Lab Skill tree (~lvl 68) Endgame Skill Tree (lvl94)

Items

FAQ

I am not doing the same damage as the guide is showing, why? Have you imported your character into PoB and ticked all of the appropriate configuration options? Are you sure you are using the same items, jewels and flasks? What is the pdps of your swords? There are many checks that you can do but the easiest way is to import your character into PoB and then open side by side and compare. This is the best check that you can do.Can this build Delve? It can but to some extent. It's a flicker-esque build so there will be occasions where you get pulled into the dark. As long as the darkness damage is not high enough there should be no problems. Can this build do all content? At the time of the testing the only place where it was somewhat lacking was the league content Simulacrum. It made it to wave 18/20 where it fell off. Considering this is a starter build and fairly flexible I'd say that is pretty good. Also as shown in the gifs above it can do all of the content that is in the game by default. Be it Metamorphs, Sirus or Shaper. It cannot do Physical reflect maps because it's a pure physical build. Why use Ahn's might blades instead of?When comparing Ahn's Might blades with any other one handed weapon, most of the other weapons fall short. Even a 400 pdps rare would be worse than a 360 pdps Ahn's might. It's because of the unique properties Ahn's might blade carry. And that is 50% crit multi each and around 450 accuracy each. This quality of life and damage cannot be found elsewhere without cashing out multiple Ex for each weapon.