Path of Exile 3.25: Melee League Starters Analysis

Melee will dominate the upcoming Path of Exile league, with builds like Bleed Lacerate Gladiator and Elemental Hit Warden gaining attention.

### Top 5 Path of Exile 3.25 Melee League Starter Builds
* 🛡️ ** Bleed Lacerate Gladiator**: The Gladiator ascendancy was reworked, with the War of Attrition passive skill potentially offering **up to 100% more damage to rare and unique enemies after 100 seconds**.
* 🔥 ** Cleave of Rage Berserker**: The Berserker ascendancy was revamped to focus on **rage**, which was completely redone in this patch. The new rage mechanics make this build **more reliable and potentially powerful**.
* 💀 ** Bone Shatter Slayer**: With various buffs to melee skills and the Slayer ascendancy, **Bone Shatter is expected to deal significantly more damage**. The build's inherent tankiness and leech mechanics make it a **solid choice for hardcore play**.
* ❄️ ** Elemental Hit Warden**: The new Warden ascendancy is designed for elemental damage and offers powerful new nodes like **Oath of Spring** and **Avatar of the Wilds**. Changes to freezing mechanics make this build **particularly appealing**.
* 🔨 ** Sunder Chieftain**: The Chieftain ascendancy received a significant overhaul, with the new Sion Sun's Roar node providing **infinite power to war cries** and a **30% increased war cry buff effect**. This makes it a **strong choice for slam skills**.

it's a melee League. It's a melee League. It's a melee League. Oh [Music] yeah Al Moana Exiles welcome to another Path of Exile one video. With the release of the patch notes for 3.25 Settlers of calgar, nothing is certain besides one thing, and that's the fact that melee will be king in this league, and the balance is bound to be absolutely whack. While my league Starter video, which is always unhinged, won't be out until probably later this weekend or early next week, I knew I had to release a video talking about my early thoughts on what you and I should leag start in this absolute insane League. One thing's for certain, I'm going to have a fun and interesting League start unlike any before because I will be playing hardcore for the first time ever on stream, and I will be going melee, and I have a few builds cooking right now in the oven, and I'd like to talk about them today with you all after reading the patch notes. These are the ones that I

think are most interesting. We're going to go in them in order and look at the patch notes and see exactly why I think these five builds might be among my league starters and stuff. I will include in next week's absolutely unhinged video. Those are believe lead lacerate Gladiator, cleave of Rage Berserker, a throwback to Affliction League bone shatter Slayer, the classic Elemental hit Warden, the Newbie on the Block, and Sunder Chieftain, which might be the most busted build of the league thus far if you can go from the patch notes themselves and Captain Lance's very, very hype video that he put out earlier today. Let's talk about bleed last rate Gladiator first. Gladiator was bucked tremendously. The entire ascendancy was reworked. You can see it in the reveal trailer on screen right now. You can read it through the patch notes. It has a variety of new nodes that are absolutely ridiculous here, but the one that everyone is talking about is this one in particular.

no, it's not the Weapon Master one. No, it's not the Bleed Explosion one. Nope, it is the War of Attrition Ascendancy passive skill, which causes you to deal 1% more damage with hits and ailments to rare and unique enemies for each second they've been in your presence, up to a maximum of 100%. That's 100% more damage after 100 seconds. Now, this doesn't matter if you have Shaper levels of DPS, Shapers per second levels of DPS, but for the typical melee build with high defenses, say that requires a bit of an actual boss fight to bring down a pinnacle boss, this is insane, this is ridiculous, and this is almost solely causing me to consider going a Bleed Lacerate Gladiator on League start, that and the fact that some of these new notes here like Determined Survivor and Measured Retaliation in conjunction with some of the new retaliation skills that I want to try out. If I use a sword and a shield on a Gladiator, will I ever die? I don't think

I'll ever die, and I'm playing hardcore, so this is something that I am definitely considering upon League start. The second one is cleave of Rage Berserker, and that's because rage was completely redone this patch. You can see that it's mentioned 111 times in the patch notes itself, and the Berserker ascendancy was changed drastically here to do with rage, but the actual in it benefits of Rage have completely shifted around, and you can see it's this yellow bubble right here. Oh my goodness gracious, essentially, rage is much stronger and far more reliable, and it's easier to build up this cleave of Rage Berserker than it was before. I'm super excited to try this out seriously because in Affliction League, I had the most powerful character I've ever had before in Path of Exile, and I'd love to play him again, just in a stronger manner, a more reliable manner because the thing with cleave of Rage in Affliction League was that it relied on

that which was taken, and the rage and war cry charms, which are no longer in the game. But with all these changes to rage and cleave of Rage, I think I might be trying, and the only thing that might be dissuading me is the survivability here, because I don't think that a cleave of Rage Berserker is that good of an idea to play in a hardcore League. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm crazy, let me know. Should I play Berserker in hardcore, or should I go with something like the good old bone shatter Slayer? And I'm not even going to go too deep into this one here, essentially bone shatters just been buffed. I think it's going to be doing two or three times more damage with all the melee weapon changes, with all the melee skill gem buffs, and you're more defensively powerful. And if you go Slayer, your leech is already insane on a Slayer, and now we have Val packed back to the way it used to be. I mean you have

to be melee, of course, but we're going to be melee bone shatters, a melee skill so I think right now bone shatter Slayer, or maybe even bone shatter juggernaut, with those crazy endurance charge changes, might be one of the best starters you can go with, but it's also one of the most lame because bone shatter has already been one of the most powerful melee skills for many years now. It's time to try something else. It's time to go on a bit of a journey. Maybe it's time to try something entirely new, and that of course is the elemental hit Warden. I think this might be one of the coolest builds of the league. The warden is a brand new ascendency class that is coming out with Poe 3.25. It's replacing it's replacing the radar rip Raider, but it is focused around Elemental damage. What is Elemental hit? Well, it's a bunch of Elemental damage in melee. We of course would be using it in melee, but with some of these crazy nodes right here like oath of spring, Avatar of the

Wilds, which is a buff that can give you 80% more AoE damage and have something like 60% uptime. This is going to be ridiculous. Oh, the winter too. Enemies you freeze remain frozen for at least 2 seconds. Hits that fail to freeze due to insufficient freeze duration inflict horror Frost, and horror Frost is ridiculous. Going, these changes are insane. This patch is going to be so imba. Everyone, it's going to be like a crazy DOTA update. Seriously, that's the vibes I'm getting from this particular patch. And remember, bosses as well had the way that they are frozen changed. Right here, Pinnacle bosses, Shaper Guardians, and Elder Guardians can now have up to 50% action speed reduction, previously 30%. That's a 20% increase. So, freeze is going to be more powerful on these bosses than ever before. I'm leaning toward an Ellie hit Warden. The only reason I might not is because I really want to make sure I'm defensively powerful, and I'm not sure how defensive a warden might be.

especially on League star I might just want to go the brain-dead approach with a shield and a sword on a bleed last rate glad or a bone shatter Slayer or if I want to go hard if I want to go big if I want to Bonk massively I would suggest you look into a Sunder Chieftain. Okay you might be thinking Chieftain slams isn't that so 2022 2021 maybe even before that why in the world would you go a slam build on a Chieftain and not something like a Berserker or even a juggernaut or a champion why would you go on Chieftain well there's one simple reason here everybody that's because once again Chieftain has gone through an overhaul here in the form of this particular node the arng guy Moon's presence ascendency passive skill has been replaced with the new Sion Sun's Roar ascendency passive skill which provides war cries have infinite power and 30% increased war cry buff.

effect previously I believe that was only on red blade banner, and that massively Buffs war cries, and with all the different multipliers that war cries now give slam skills, and how they're easier to obtain, and easier to sustain having this and being able to combo it with a big two-handed weapon is tremendous, and it's going to allow you to build a Slammer that will be remembered in leagues to come. Seriously, I think this might be a little broken. I think grinding your games is ready for some of these melee builds to be absolutely busted on launch, and I think that's exactly just what we're going to see. We're going to see a lot of busted builds win Poe 3.25 releases, but you know what, it's going to be fun, and that's what I'm really looking forward to. They're just going all out. They're saying f it, let's change up the meta, let's shake everything up. People have been asking for something super drastic for a long time, let's just go in, do it.

and see what happens. Maybe it lasts for a few leagues. Maybe the balance is whack for a while. And if that's the case, well, so be it. At least they went in with some wild changes and they just embraced the madness. That seems to be the design philosophy of the game director on Path of Exile 1 right now, Mark Roberts. And I am all here for it. Right now, it might come with some wild balance changes necessary in the first two weeks or even mid-league. But the fun that is going to arrive with it is more than worth it. So everybody, leave a comment below. What are you thinking about League starting right now? I couldn't put it in me to let out a video today on the best five League starters or the most wicked five League starters because I'm still mulling it all over. I'm still reading through the patch notes. I'm still reading people's analyses of this. Soon, it'll come out, and I think one, two, three, maybe four of these will be in that list. And yes, it's

almost all melee isn't that insane. To think about melee League starters being viable, what kind of timeline are we living in right now? I think it's the best one. I seriously think it's the best one, and I cannot wait for League launch next week. So, Exiles, if you liked the video, make sure to hit the like button, subscribe to the channel for more Path of Exile 1 and 2 content, and make sure you watch all my upcoming videos on this league, which will be hitting day after day after day in the lead-up to launch. And of course, that big 12-hour launch live stream in which I will be playing hardcore for the first time ever in any video game. It's going to be a wild time. Thank you all so much for watching. Have a wonderful day, Exiles.

PoE 3.25 League Starters - MELEE Builds Are BROKEN In Path Of Exile Settlers League...Right?

Path of Exile's most positive and unhinged content creator.

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25 Settlers of Calgar: Melee League Early Thoughts

25 is expected to heavily favor melee builds, with significant changes to the Gladiator ascendancy, making Bleed Lacerate Gladiator a strong contender for league starters.

The reworked ascendancy now includes a powerful passive skill, War of Attrition, which can potentially provide a significant damage boost for prolonged boss fights.

Additionally, the introduction of new nodes like Determined Survivor and Measured Retaliation, combined with the use of retaliation skills, is making the prospect of playing a Bleed Lacerate Gladiator even more enticing for the upcoming league.

Changes to Path of Exile Classes in the New Patch

The Berserker class has become much stronger and more reliable due to the revamp of the rage mechanic, making it an exciting choice for the upcoming league.

The new and improved rage benefits have made the cleave of Rage Berserker a more viable option, although there may be concerns about its survivability in hardcore mode.

Alternatively, the bone shatter Slayer has been buffed, offering significantly increased damage and defensive power, making it a compelling choice, especially with the insane leech and the restoration of Val pact to its previous state.

The Potential of the Elemental Hit Warden in Poe 3.

The Elemental Hit Warden is being considered as one of the best starter builds for the new patch due to its focus on elemental damage and powerful nodes.

The Warden's abilities, such as Oath of Spring and Avatar of the Wilds, offer significant AoE damage buffs, making it a promising choice for players.

The upcoming patch is also introducing significant changes to boss freezing, increasing the power of freeze effects, which adds to the appeal of the Elemental Hit Warden build.

The Power of the Sunder Chieftain Build in the New PoE 3.

The Chieftain's overhaul with the new Sion Sun's Roar passive skill provides a significant buff to war cries, making it ideal for a powerful Sunder build.

The combination of the buffed war cries and two-handed weapons allows for a tremendously strong Slammer build, which is expected to be highly impactful in the upcoming PoE 3.

The update is anticipated to bring about a major shift in the meta and introduce a wave of potent melee builds, offering a fun and exciting change for players.

The Unconventional Design Philosophy of Path of Exile 1's Game Director

The game director, Mark Roberts, is embracing wild changes and a madness-driven design philosophy for the upcoming Path of Exile 1 league.

The new league is expected to bring wild balance changes, with a focus on melee starters and a promise of a unique and exciting experience for players.

The game director is building anticipation through patch notes and analyses, leading up to a 12-hour launch livestream for the league.