Intro & build description
Cyclone was reworked in 3.7 and it is still in great position, especially when combined with Slayer ascendancy.
Build Pros
- High damage - can go over 1 million DPS with just Cyclone alone
- Great clear speed
- You can forget about reflect
- Tanky - can go over 7000 life + insane life leech
- Doesn't require a lot of items to get going
- A huge area of effect
Build Cons
- Starforge will definitely be expensive this league
Passive tree(s) and Path of Building
[3.7] Skill Tree [3.8] Skill TreeBandits
Bandits Quest Choice |
Kill all bandits |
Ascendancy skill points
Labyrinths | Skill point choice |
---|---|
Labyrinth 1 | Headsman |
Labyrinth 2 | Endless Hunger |
Labyrinth 3 | Brutal Fervour |
Endgame Labyrinth | Impact |

Skill gem setup
Helm
Blood Rage
Herald of Purity
Blood and Sand
Enduring Cry
Body Armor
Vaal Ancestral Warchief (Use Regular version when you are out of souls)
Bloodlust Support
Concentrated Effect Support
Melee Physical Damage Support
Pulverise Support
Multiple Totems Support
Gloves
Cast When Damage Taken (Level 1)
Immortal Call (Level 3)
Vaal Haste (Level 20) - We only use Vaal version
Pride
Boots
Leap Slam
Faster Attacks Support
Fortify Support
Blood Magic Support
2h Weapon
Cyclone
Close Combat Support
Melee Physical Damage Support
Increased Area of Effect Support (for clearing) / Concentrated Effect Support (for single target)
Infused Channeling Support
Pulverise Support
1h Weapon
None
Offhand weapon / shield
None
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
Devoto's DevotionDevoto’s is a classic helm for cyclone builds because of its attack and movement speed bonuses.
It will probably be a bit pricey at the beginning of Legion, so any rare helm with life and resistances will work just fine until you can get Devoto’s.
Ideal enchants for the helm would be 40% increased cyclone damage, cyclone attack speed or 40% increased Ancestral Warchief damage.
Body Armour
Belly of The BeastBelly is a solid defensive body armour for any melee build. Another great defensive option would be Kaom’s Heart, however you would lose Ancestral Warchief,
If you want to go more offensive route, you can use Loreweave or Carcass Jack.
Gloves
HaemophiliaHaemophilia is a great choice for gloves slot – it gives us potent way to apply bleeding on our enemies.
It’s great because Ancestral Warchief is linked with Bloodlust which gives 60% more damage against bleeding enemies.
When you acquire some more currency, you should aim for Haemophilia gloves with “Curse enemies with Level x Vulnerability on Hit” corrupted implicit.
Boots
Rare Two-Toned bootsLook for generic rare Two-Toned boots with at least 80 life, 30% movement speed and some resistance.
As an enchantment, go for “16% increased Attack and Cast speed if you’ve Killed Recently”
Left Ring
Rare Steel RingLook for 2 rare steel rings with high life, adds #-# physical damage to attacks and some resistances.
Use crafting bench to craft attack speed on top of those stats and you have yourself an insane ring.
Amulet
Daresso's SaluteDaresso’s Salute is a perfect option for this build.
This amulet gives us plenty of damage, movement speed, area of effect, free resistances and we are unaffected by its downside.
Belt
The RetchThe Retch is a great option for leech builds, albeit quite expensive.
It has life, life leech, 60% increased flask duration, increased movement speed and extra damage – all the mods are extremely useful for this build.
If you cannot afford or don’t want to use this belt, Stygian Vise with high life and resistances is a great option as well.
2Hand Weapon
StarforgeStarforge is a priority item this build should focus on getting as soon as possible.
Since this is purely physical build, Starforge works perfectly due to its high physical damage and ability to shock enemies without dealing lightning damage.
While you are saving up for a Starforge, other alternative weapons you could use would be:
1.) Kaom’s Primacy
2.) Sinvicta’s Mettle
3.) Kitava’s Feast
Keep in mind, if you are using an axe, you should not choose Blade Master/Razor’s Edge and go for Slaughter/Cleaving nodes on the skill tree instead.
Jewel
Jewel SetupOn jewels look for following mods:
1.) Increased physical damage with swords / Two-Handed Melee Weapons
2.) % Increased Maximum life
3.) Increased attack speed / increased attack and cast speed
4.) Increased Area Damage / Melee damage / Increased damage
5.) Resistances / Attributes that you are lacking
Flask
Flask SetupBuild uses following flasks:
1.) Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline
2.) Silver Flask with freeze removal
3.) Sin’s Rebirth
4.) Basalt Flask with curse Removal / Atziri’s Promise
5.) Blood of The Karui
Just wanted to mention that your skill tree is for 3.6
It’s a 3.7 Skill tree, but for some reason Path of Exile website shows that it’s 3.6. You can see this exact tree on this poeplanner link.
This is such a perfect build holy fuck im excited for 3.7 now. I was crushed when I had my heart set on molten and they raped it.
Same man, can’t wait for the league to start! Cyclone is going to be insane.
Hmmmm caps out at 96,524 DPS on Path of Building with basically perfect gear. I wonder what’s wrong…
That definitely cannot be the right number.
Is there a PoB link or did I overlook it?
I have PoB link for this build since I plan to play it at the league start – here. PoB still doesn’t have the new gems in it.
Would be happy if you Update PoB overtime while playing if its possible, Starting this build aswell.
I did a version of this build, with crit instead, still pretty tanky, but imo more damage, Take a look and decide for yourself. Its not fully optimal atm.. its just an idea
Overall I think it looks good! Could use a few more life nodes, and personally, I would go for Belly still, because essentially you would do 2x the damage to the bosses due to Warchief.
Lol forgot to link it … Here you go https://pastebin.com/9mr7wB3k
Im really intressted what you guys have to say about this build, Its the first one i ever made.. It looks pretty decent, but i might be completly clueless thats why im asking for opinions 🙂 Thank you.
Why dont you recommend multiple totem support for the totem?
I haven’t tested it personally, so I cannot give you a good answer to this. Will test it in Legion, theoretically it could work pretty well.
Hi,
I wish you can make a step by step tech tree.
First station will be “resolute technique” ..and then?
I am really not sure were i have to go next.
Until lvl 100 it will be a long long way …(i never reached before)
Hey! While you are leveling and after taking the Resolute Technique, the best idea is to get damage nodes, since the monsters don’t hit that hard yet. Go for Blade Master, Razor’s Edge, Executioner, Wrecking Ball. After that, go for some life nodes and just follow the tree in whichever direction you want – it matters less than you’d think.
Hey, i was wondering what your thoughts on kondo’s pride are for an alternate weapon until starforge
I think it’s an excellent weapon until you get Starforge!
Is vaal Haste level 20 supposed to cast when damage taken? Because you say to have it level 20 but then it looks like it would have to self cast
Its only there because we have limited amount of sockets, its supposed to be self-cast.
after playing a bit would you still link all the same gems for the cyclone setup?
I don’t understand how your supposed to use cyclone with 95% of mana reserved is there something i missed ?
The build reserves 85% of the mana, leaving plenty to work with. Due to mana leech nodes, we will never run out of mana for Cyclone as long as we are hitting something.
Brutality is the biggest dps increase in pob why didnt you use it here?
Also pob shows belt of the deciever as better dps than the retch with AND without brutality support, wtf?
Yes, Belt of The Deceiver might be a better damage option, but The Retch is absolutely awesome on this build. Not only we get 10-second Quicksilver flask duration, but it also gives us extra movement speed which is a rare stat for the belt slot.
The problem with Brutality for me was the fact that it prevents the build from doing chaos damage. I have Sin’s Rebirth + Atziri’s Promise, and altogether it nets more damage than Brutality.
Interesting but that leads me to another question, doesnt starforge prevent chaos damage? So are you using axe then?
Also retch does chaos damge does that not get negated by starforge, or are you using axe?
Starforge only prevents us from doing elemental damage, which chaos isn’t.
so, which flask setup do you reccomend now then?
Sin’s Rebirth and Atziri’s Promise for more damage, Basalt / Granite for more defense.
Hey, I might be missing something, but what is the reason for Immortal call to be lvl 3 and CWDT to be only lvl 1 ?
Thanks
Hey. Low-level CWDT has a smaller damage threshold, so it procs way more often and on smaller hits.
Can’t get my aura’s active at once. Can’t get pride, blood and sand, and haste active at once. What can I do to resolve?
Make sure there are no support gems linked to any of your auras, that might be the problem.
All my gems are just like your build guide. And linked on each piece of equipment as you described.
Hello, what is the cap of intelligence in Ur opinion for this build, because of the 3 blue gems? And how do U reach it?
Hey. You can grab a 30 int node on the tree, there are also a few nodes near the Templar area. If you still lack int, get it on jewel or 2.
Why enduring cry when we lose to regen
Hp not to
just wanted to check back in for a 3.8 update on this. I ended up using this build as my main character, leveled it to 100 before even thinking about another build, wonderful character. I swapped chest with a kaoms and just dealt with lower dps until gear caught up. Did well over 100 ubers for challenge and boss service with it so single target was fine