Intro & build description
Tanky marauder build with great damage and really good defense. Dark Pact is a chaos spell that removes some life from one of your Skeleton minions near you or the targeted location to deal chaos damage in an area around it. This effect will chain to your other nearby skeletons. If you have no skeletons near you or the targeted location, it will sacrifice your own life to deal damage instead. While fighting bosses use Vaal Summon Skeletons and start spamming Dark Pact, very straightforward gameplay.
Build Pros
- Very safe
- High life pool
- Instant leech due to Vaal Pact
- Cheap to start with
- Good damage
Build Cons
- Build takes a while to ramp up
Passive tree(s) and Path of Building
Leveling [39p] Leveling [76p] Full BuildBandits
Bandits Quest Choice |
Kill all bandits |
Ascendancy skill points
Labyrinths | Skill point choice |
---|---|
Labyrinth 1 | Crave the Slaughter |
Labyrinth 2 | Aspect of Carnage |
Labyrinth 3 | Pain Reaver |
Endgame Labyrinth | Cloaked in Savagery |

Skill gem setup
Helm
Wither
Spell Totem Support
Faster Casting Support
Increased Duration Support
Body Armor
Dark Pact
Spell Echo Support
Added Chaos Damage Support
Controlled Destruction Support
Void Manipulation Support
Increased Area of Effect or Concentrated Effect Support
Gloves
Shield Charge
Faster Attacks Support
Fortify Support
Culling Strike Support
Boots
Grace
Poacher's Mark
Blasphemy Support
Enduring Cry
2h Weapon
None
1h Weapon
Flame Dash
Vaal Lightning Trap
Increased Duration Support
Offhand weapon / shield
Vaal Summon Skeletons
Minion Life Support
Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance Support
Build uniques / Example rare gear
Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.tradeHelmet
Rare HelmetRare helmet with life as high as possible paired with elemental resistances. If possible, get strength as well to boost life pool even further.
Body Armour
Carcass JackBiS chest piece for Dark Pact, till you can afford Carcass, use rare chest with high life and resistances.
Gloves
Rare GlovesGeneric gloves, high life and elemental resistances. Best in slot setup would be gloves crafted with Essence of Insanity (Socketed Gems have 16% more Attack and Cast Speed) and placing Shield charge setup in there for fluid and fast movement.
Right Ring
Two-Stone RingBest way to boost chaos damage is crafting jewellery with essence of envy(23-26)% increased Chaos Damage). That is endgame goal and could be expensive to craft a decent one with life and resistances.
Amulet
Bisco's CollarGreat amulet for extra drops, if you can’t afford it – use any rare amulet with high life, elemental resistances and stats you need.
1Hand Weapon
Rare SceptreIncreased spell damage (60%+), attack speed (for fluid movement with shield charge) and cast speed.
Offhand
Rare ShieldShield with high life, cast speed and spell damage. If you are lacking elemental resistances, ditch spell damage or cast speed for more defensive shield.
Jewel
Jewels- Increased maximum life
- Increased damage
- Increased spell damage while holding a shield
- Cast speed
Flask
Flask Setup- Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching
- Chemist’s Silver Flask of Warding
- Experimenter’s Stibnite Flask of Heat
- Atziri’s Promise
- Chemist’s Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline
This looks really fun, how difficult would it be to get this going as a season starter, and are there any specific skills you would use for leveling until the build starts to get fleshed out?