PoE 3.25 Perforate Build

Perforate is one of the most overlooked melee skills in Path of Exile. For a time, it did not have good damage scaling, so people opted to use other popular abilities like Boneshatter or Cyclone. The only thing going for it is that it has two different attack modes depending on whether you are in Blood Stance or Sand Stance.

However, Grinding Gear Games made a significant balancing pass on all melee skill gems in this league and Perforate got a huge damage buff as part of the adjustments.

Now, if you want to create a character that uses an unorthodox skill, then read this article to the fullest. This is our build guide for the Perforate Slayer in Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League!

Basics

The Perforate Slayer, as the name implies, is a build that utilizes Perforate as its main skill. This is a melee skill in PoE where you slam the ground and multiple spikes come out to damage your enemies.

What's interesting about Perforate is that it actually has two modes, which you can switch between using Blood/Sand Stance. When in Blood Stance, the skill's area of effect is considerably smaller but it deals better single-target damage. This mode is perfect when you are facing tough monsters or bosses.

On the other hand, if you are in Sand Stance, Perforate's spikes will thrust outwards, therefore hitting more enemies at once. This is the mode that you should use when you are mapping so that you can easily destroy multiple foes with a single click.

In case you were not aware, GGG made in Patch 3.25 pertaining to this skill. For one, Perforate got a significant damage boost, where its effectiveness of base and added damage has increased from 265% to a whopping 622%!

Another meaningful change here is that Perforate no longer has added physical damage and its "Physical" tag has been removed as well. This means that you can safely use a weapon with three elemental damage types and scale the damage with the appropriate mods.

Now, in case you do not know, GGG has deleted all melee totems in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. This means that Ancestral Protector and Ancestral Warchief are no longer available in the game. These totems provide you with increased attack damage and attack speed, so their removal from PoE 3.25 is definitely a big one. Despite that, however, this build performs admirably well because of the many different adjustments the company has made in the SoK expansion.

Take note that this build uses some expensive unique items, so it is not something you can use to start a new league. However, the Perforate Slayer is so fun and easy to use that every PoE currency you invest into it is definitely worth it!

You can improve the damage of this build by looking for any of these modifiers on your gear:

• Increased Elemental Damage
• Increased Attack Speed
• Increased Critical Strike Chance
• Increased Critical Strike Multiplier

Playstyle

The Perforate Slayer has a typical style of play to that of most melee builds in PoE. When you enter a new map, make sure that Sand Stance is activated, then just use Leap Slam to find juicy packs of monsters.

After you see a huge mob, go to the middle and use Perforate until you eliminate each and every enemy there is.

If you are fighting against tougher monsters, switch to Blood Stance to improve your single-target damage.

Ascendancy

This build is meant for pure offense and, as such, you will take the Slayer as the ascendancy class of choice. The Slayer has notable ascendancy passives that work really well with Perforate.

Impact should be taken as your first notable ascendancy passive. That is because it not only solves your accuracy early on, but also increases Perforate's melee strike range and area of effect. On top of that, you deal more damage when you are surrounded by enemies which, in this case, happens all of the time!

Brutal Fervour helps you stay longer on the battlefield. This is what most people refer to as the Slayer's "overleech" mechanic because life leech effects are not removed when your HP is full. It acts as a defensive node since you take reduced damage while you are leeching life from enemies as well.

Endless Hunger is a very useful ascendancy node because it grants 20% increased attack speed while leeching. This helps get back some of the attack speed that was lost by the removal of the Ancestral Protector totem in the Settlers of Kalguur expansion.

For your last notable ascendancy passive skill, Bane of Legends provides a significant damage increase for the build, so it's always a welcome addition.

Once you have enough currency, invest in Forbidden Flesh and Forbidden Flame Jewels with Masterful Form as the matching modifier. This actually increases your offense and defense because this node makes it so that your maximum Endurance Charges are equal to your maximum Frenzy Charges. Endurance Charges reduce the damage that you take by 4% per charge, while Frenzy Charges improve your attack speed and damage by 4% per charge as well.

Gear

To be honest, the full equipment for the Perforate Slayer is not cheap to put together. There are some pieces of gear that are quite expensive, particularly the body armor and the weapon. This is just a disclaimer so that you know what to expect moving forward.

Weapon

There are two viable weapons you can use for the Perforate Slayer. The first is Voidforge — a two-handed Infernal Sword that grants extra damage of a random element based on 700% of the weapon's physical damage. If you are going to use this sword, put physical damage modifiers on your other pieces of gear wherever possible.

Although the Voidforge can get the build started, you will eventually have to invest in a well-crafted Banishing Blade in the endgame. This is a rare sword that makes your critical strikes ignore monster elemental resistances, allowing you to dispose of your enemies pretty quickly.

You want to craft this weapon using any of the essences that guarantee flat elemental damage, such as Essence of Anger (Fire), Essence of Hatred (Cold), or Essence of Wrath). Spam the sword with these essences until you get all three elemental damage types on the weapon.

Next, lock your prefixes and then use a Veiled Orb. Head to Jun and unveil and select the veiled modifier that you want. After that, lock the prefixes again and use Augment Speed from the Horticrafting Station to put an attack speed mod on the weapon.

To finish the craft, put "+to STR/INT, 25% Increased Critical Strike Chance" from the Crafting Bench.

In Path of Exile 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League, you can put additional modifiers on your weapon via Runesmithing. For this particular two-handed sword, select "No Physical Damage, Has % Increased Elemental Damage" from the Runesmithing Table.

Body Armor

Replica Farrul's Fur is your endgame body armor for the Perforate Slayer. It basically gives you permanent uptime of your Frenzy and Endurance Charges, though you have to also pair it with a piece of gear that has the "Aspect of the Cat" skill on it. Don't worry, this will be discussed later in the build guide.

In the meantime, you can equip a crafted body armor with the veiled modifier that grants a 10% increased maximum life and mana. To do this, simply use any essence that guarantees a suffix until you get spell suppression and another useful suffix. Then, go to the Crafting Bench and lock suffixes. After that, use a Veiled Chaos Orb, put the attack block prefix from the Crafting Bench, and then unveil.

The beauty of crafted body armor is that you can use Eldritch Currencies to get some pretty useful implicit modifiers. Having said that, spam the body armor with Eldritch Ichors to get "Melee Hits Have % Chance to Fortify" and Eldritch Embers to obtain "+(24-25)% to Critical Strike Multiplier for Attack Damage."

We suggest that you use any of the new armor base types that GGG introduced in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur. The Conquest Lamellar, for example, is a great body armor that provides you with the highest amount of armor and evasion on a piece of gear.

Helmet

Since you will be using quite a lot of auras on the Perforate Slayer, you need to craft a helmet with a couple of mana reservation efficiency modifiers.

To do that, grab the new Haunted Bascinet helmet and spam it with the Deafening Essence of Loathing until you get other useful mods for your character, such as life, intelligence, and elemental/chaos resistance.

Once you are happy with the explicit modifiers, use Grand Eldritch Ichors to get another mana reservation efficiency mod. Finish the craft by spamming the Haunted Bascinet with Grand Eldritch Embers until you get a reduced mana cost of attacks.

Gloves

A pair of rare gloves can roll implicit modifiers that improve your accuracy and damage per Frenzy Charge via Eldritch Currencies.

If you want to go all out on damage, we recommend that you spam some Wyvernscale Gauntlets with Essence of Zeal (Attack Speed) until you get other useful mods, including chaos resistance, elemental resistance, spell suppression, and life.

Leave a prefix open so that you can bench-craft the mod: "43% Increased Damage While Leeching." Remember, with the Slayer's Brutal Fervour ascendancy node, you are always leeching life off of your enemies.

Boots

For the boots, you will craft a pair that has the veiled movement speed mod and the Aspect of the Cat skill for your Replica Farrul's Fur.

The Aspect of the Cat is needed to make Replica Farrul's Fur work. What it does is it grants you two alternating buffs; Cat's Agility and Cat's Stealth. For the said unique armor, you want Cat's Agility to have a considerably low duration so that you will have your maximum Endurance and Frenzy Charges up at all times. That is the reason why you also put Less Duration Support in the boots so that these buffs cycle much faster.

To craft the boots, use Essence of Envy (chaos resistance) until you get spell suppression. Make sure that you have an open suffix so that you can insert the Aspect of the Cat skill. Speaking of which, buy the itemized version of "Farrul, First of the Plains" from the trade website. Right-click on it and it should be added as a crafting option in the Menagerie.

With an open suffix, place your boots in the middle circle of the Menagerie and select Farrul. Defeat the monsters and the Aspect of the Cat Skill should be added to the boots.

You're not done yet! Go back to your hideout and lock the boots' suffixes using the Crafting Bench. After that, use a Veiled Chaos Orb and then go to Jun to unveil. Look for any of the veiled movement speed modifiers, preferably the increased movement speed mod when you are not hit recently, or the one with 100% freeze immunity.

If crafting the Onslaught Boots is out of the budget, you can opt for Ralakesh's Impatience in the meantime. This pair of boots grants the effects of Endurance, Frenzy, and Power Charges so long as you are wearing them.

Amulet

You can start with a rare amulet that has a critical strike multiplier, some life, resistances, and the reduced mana cost for non-channeling skills from the Crafting Bench. Wear this until you can afford the next amulet, which is Replica Dragonfang's Flight.

Replica Dragonfang's Flight is a unique amulet in PoE 3.25 that raises the level of a specific skill gem by three. That said, purchase one that has "+3 to Level of All Perforate Gems," as well as a 10% increased reservation efficiency of skills for good measure.

To give you even more mana reservation efficiency, do not forget to anoint the amulet with Charisma (Opalescent Oil, 2x Golden Oils).

Rings

Unless you are using the Voidforge, you do not need any physical damage modifiers because of the removal of added phys damage from the Perforate skill gem itself in Patch 3.25. This gives you the liberty to use any ring bases that you want.

For example, if you still do not have your chaos resistance capped, you could opt for an Amethyst Ring to help you address that. If your elemental resistance remains to be an issue, go for Two-Stone Rings.

Whichever ring you choose, make sure to craft "Non-Channeling Skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost" from the Crafting Bench.

Belt

Early in the league, craft a Stygian Vise by using Essence of Envy until you get T1/T2 strength and another useful suffix. Make sure that the belt has an open prefix so that you can use a Hunter Exalted Orb for a chance to obtain the mod, "% Increased Maximum Life."

Of course, the endgame belt for the Perforate Slayer is none other than the Mageblood. This thing provides you with permanent uptime of your magic utility flasks, allowing you to solve any issues you may have with resistances, mana cost, and survivability.

Flasks

• Granite Flask
• Jade Flask
• Amethyst Flask/Silver Flask
• Quicksilver Flask
• Bottled Faith (Offense)/Progenesis (Defense)

Flask Mods

• 60% Increased Evasion Rating (of the Impala)
• 605% increased Armour (of the Armadillo)
• 55% Increased Critical Strike Chance (of Incision)
• 65% Reduced Effect of Curses on You (of the Owl)

Jewels

Watcher's Eye is always a good jewel no matter what build you are using in PoE. That said, look for any of these modifiers when you are shopping for one on the trade website:

• Precision
• +% to Critical Strike Multiplier
• % Increased Attack Speed
• % Increased Attack Damage
• Gain a Flask Charge When You Deal a Critical Strike
• Determination
• + to Armour
• % Additional Physical Damage Reduction
• You Take % Reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes
• Anger
• +% to Critical Strike Multiplier
• % Increased Fire Damage
• Damage Penetrates % Fire Resistance
• Purity of Elements
• % of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire/Cold/Lightning Damage
• +% to Chaos Resistance

You also have the option of adding at least two Large Cluster Jewels (damage with two-handed weapons) into the build. Use Harvest Reforge Critical until you get Martial Prowess, Feed the Fury, and Surefooted Striker.

For Medium Clusters (critical strike chance), you can use Harvest Reforge Caster to obtain Pressure Points and Quick Getaway.

Lethal Pride is another unique jewel that can greatly improve your damage, so long as you get the right one. Use the nifty Timeless Jewel Calculator to help you get the right mods when the said jewel is socketed near the Savagery notable passive. Some of the mods to look for are:

• 30% Increased Melee Critical Strike Chance
• +15% to Melee Critical Strike Multiplier
• Gain 1 Rage on Hit
• 4% Increased Maximum Life

While not mandatory, you could invest in the Intuitive Leap. This is a unique jewel that allows you to allocate certain notable passive skills without being connected to your tree. Place this on the right side of the tree so you can get the following nodes:

• Fervour
• +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges
• Aspects of the Lynx
• 20% Increased Attack Damage
• 5% Increased Movement Speed
• 20% Increased Critical Strike Chance for Attacks
• Heartseeker
• +30% to Critical Strike Multiplier
• Acuity
• 6% Increased Attack Speed
• +100 to Accuracy Rating
• 20% Increased Global Accuracy Rating

The remaining jewel sockets can be populated with rare base jewels. Use them to resolve any issues you may still have with the build. If you ask, here are some of the useful mods to look for:

• +% to Melee Critical Strike Multiplier
• % Increased Attack Speed with Swords
• % Increased Maximum Life
• +% to Chaos Resistance
• % Increased Damage
• % Increased Melee Damage
• +% to All Elemental Resistances
• Corrupted Blood Cannot Be Inflicted on You (corrupted implicit)

Gems

The Perforate Slayer has some room for flexibility when it comes to its gem setups. This means that you can freely swap some gems with the ones that you like to use.

Weapon

• Perforate
• Awakened Multistrike
• Increased Critical Damage
• Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks
• Pulverise
• Inspiration Support

Perforate is your main attack skill for this build. It has two modes that you can activate depending on which stance you are currently on. For the most part, use Sand Stance for that increased area of effect. Only switch to Blood Stance if you encounter tough monsters and bosses.

Awakened Multistrike is a support gem that repeats the initial cast of Perforate about three additional times. This alleviates the need to spam the attack button just to eliminate the enemy. But more importantly, you deal progressively more damage starting with the first repeat all the way to the third one.

Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks not only increases your elemental damage by a lot, but it makes it so that you do not suffer from reflected damage as well.

Inspiration Support grants more elemental damage and increased critical strike chance to Perforate. Moreover, In Patch 3.25, this support gem now significantly reduces the mana cost of the skills it supports. This is further enhanced by the mana cost reduction mods on your helmet and rings.

Pulverise is an incredible support gem for this build because it increases the area of effect and area damage of Perforate. Even though it reduces the attack speed of Perforate, this downside is rectified by your gear and passive skills.

Body Armor

• Anger
• Precision
• Determination
• Herald of Ice
• Purity of Elements
• Enlighten (lvl 4)

This is your main aura setup for this build. Anger is the preferred elemental damage aura here because it grants a considerable amount of fire damage when activated.

Herald of Ice, on the other hand, allows you to deal a sizable amount of cold damage with Perforate. This presupposes that you use either the Voidforge or the crafted Banishing Blade.

Precision is pretty useful because it gives a good amount of accuracy and critical strike chance, making your attacks more potent.

Of course, Determination and Purity of Elements are there to improve your survivability. The latter has the added benefit of making you immune to all elemental ailments, such as Chill, Freeze, Shock, and Ignite.

Because of the bevy of auras you have active, the Watcher's Eye jewel you can obtain can really help the build flourish.

Helmet

• Blood and Sand
• Enlighten Support
• Molten Shell (lvl 7)
• Cast When Damage Taken (lvl 1)

Perforate interacts with Blood and Sand, which is why its inclusion in the build is a no-brainer. Use Sand Stance while mapping and Blood Stance for improving single-target damage.

Molten Shell grants extra armor. This is automatically used whenever you receive enough damage thanks to CWDT.

Gloves

• Vaal Haste
• Leap Slam
• Faster Attacks Support
• Rage Support

Because the Ancestral Totems have been deleted from the game in PoE 3.25, you have to recoup the attack speed that was lost somehow. Fortunately, Haste and its Vaal Skill can aid you in that regard. Haste is an aura that boosts your movement speed and attack speed. The same goes for its Vaal skill, albeit it provides a higher increase.

The rest of the gems actually work pretty well together. Leap Slam is your primary movement skill here. Every time you hit enemies when you land, you gain Rage as a result of the aptly named Rage Support. Faster Attacks Support is just there to make Leap Slam feel a lot smoother to use.

Boots

• Frostblink
• Assassin's Mark
• Mark on Hit
• Lifetap

Frostblink is a complementary movement skill for this build. Use it whenever you are in a rough situation.

Assassin's Mark increases your chance of landing critical hits on the enemy that is affected by the said Mark Skill. This is automatically applied due to Mark on Hit Support. Lifetap is just there so that you do not have to rely on mana to use Assassin's Mark.

Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Ngahamu Warrior
• 5% Increased Fire Damage
• Tattoo of the Rongokurai Warrior
• 6% Increased Armour
• Tattoo of the Tukohama Warmonger
• 5% Increased Melee Damage
• Tattoo of the Arohongui Warrior
• 5% Increased Cold Damage
• Tattoo of the Tasalio Scout
• 4% Increased Effect of Your Marks

Passive Tree

POB

Perforate Slayer

Final Thoughts

The Perforate Slayer is definitely a build that you must try, especially if you love using melee skills in PoE 3.25. It is unique in the sense that you can switch stances to alter how the said attack skill works.

If you need to obliterate monsters quickly while mapping, activate Sand Stance. Conversely, if you're fighting tough enemies or bosses, you can switch to Blood Stance for improved single-target damage.

Although the build requires some mandatory uniques, some of which are expensive, it is quite tanky and deserving of every PoE currency you invest into it!

If you are looking for a build in Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur that is something out of the ordinary, then definitely give the Perforate Slayer a shot!

PROS

• Deals a ton of damage when properly geared
• Can switch between stances to alter how the skill works
• Incredibly tanky due to multiple defensive layers
• Fun and easy build to use
• Fast mapper
• Competent bossing build
• Damage buffed significantly in Patch 3.25

CONS

• Requires some mandatory uniques
• Can be quite expensive to put up, especially when it comes to endgame gear