[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Duelist Builds That Wreck Hard! (3.20.2)

Updated:

16 Feb 2023

5 – Vaal Flicker Slayer

While not for everyone, Flicker is a fantastic clearing skill, and with the new the new Vaal version, we can chain through the map in instants. And with the new and improved Voidforge, we are dealing a ton more damage, especially while using the reasonably new Kaom’s Spirit to freely generate Rage!

What Vaal Flicker Excels in:

Fantastic Clearing.
Strong Single Target.
Mostly Immortal while mapping.
Insane One-shot potential with Vaal Flicker.

Vaal Flicker full details:

Not cheap at all, but this build can take you to the endgame like you’re on a cruise instead! While you can use other chest pieces, even a non-Replica, the BiS is a Replica Farrul’s Fur to generate with Frenzy Charge Sustain and for Endurance Charge. That said, you can make do with other mechanics. For example, Enduring Composure would take care of Endurance Charges generation, and you can get a % Chance to Gain a Frenzy on Hit chest piece, and then supplement that with other things.
For weapon, you’ll want the buffed Voidforge, which gives you 700% of your physical damage as a random element (cycling between the three) so it’s perfect for Trinity.
You’ll also use Kaom’s Spirit, which converts your Life Regen into Rage Regeneration, for near-permanent Berserk upkeep. We don’t mind losing all that Life regen simply because of Slayer Leech, which boosts our survivability while mapping.

For a full breakdown, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/sc0tt_park/LALA_LAND?time-machine=week-3&i=10&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DSlayer%26skill%3DVaal-Flicker-Strike%26sort%3Ddps

4 – Explosive Arrow Ballista Champion

Definitely one of the strongest in the meta that seems to avoid all nerf-hammers. A simple build to play that doesn’t require a lot of skill to play, but allows you to move around and dodge things while your payload takes care of everything. And you can use the skill right from the start and cruise through all content with nary a care in the world.

What the Explosive Arrow Ballista Ignite Excels in:

Insanely high single target Ignite Damage.
Clears reasonably well.
Can do all content.
League Start, HC, SSF viable.

Explosive Arrow Ballista Ignite full details:

The single most important stat you want is Attack Speed. As such, you’ll want the quickest bow possible to be able to stack 20 EA Fuses, increasing your damage exponentially.
Since our ballistae attack by themselves, we can focus on dodging and avoiding enemy damage. Unlike most attacks, EA scales exceptionally well with Levels, and as such, you’ll want at least a +3 bow with extra stats, preferably attack speed and fire dot multi.
Our defences come in the form of 100% Spell Suppression and lots of Evasion and Armor, as well as having our ballistas taunting and absorbing part of the damage we take instead.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/marvel907/pavelbonk?time-machine=week-3&i=3&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DChampion%26skill%3DExplosive-Arrow%26sort%3Ddps

3 – Kinetic Blast Corrupting Fever Champion/Gladiator

KB CF is a fantastic build that can be played by multiple Ascendancies, though primarily Gladiator or Champion. Each specialises in different things and has variances in their ceiling and capabilities, but they are all fantastic mappers, extremely cheap and simple to play, and amazing League Starters.

What the Kinetic Blast Corrupting Fever Excels in:

Wonderful League Starter.
Can do most content on a budget.
One of the quickest mappers without investment.
Comfortable playstyle.

Pick Kinetic Blast Corrupting Fever if you Like:

This build has a hard ceiling in its single target damage. While it is possible to clear most content, the investment required to achieve that is quite substantial. As such, most people who use this build will focus mostly on mapping, and what a fantastic mapper it is. You’ll want as many Levels to Physical Gems as possible, and to boost your single target a bit, you can use a double 5L with Exsanguinate (or Poet’s Pen to get there).
You can get a lot of damage by using a +2 Amulet, +2 wand, Dialla’s Malefaction, after its buffs, for a +4, while using an Empower, to reach over level 30 on your CF!
Explody is by far the best way to improve your clearing, so you either want a Haemophilia or Asenath’s Gentle Touch (if you’re doing Champion), or spec into Gratuitous Violence from Gladiator.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/devildanger/BLEEDING_MAN?time-machine=week-3&i=3&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DChampion%26skill%3DCorrupting-Fever%26sort%3Ddps

2 –Static Strike Shockwave/Frozen Legion Slayer

A build that though not discovered by him was made popular by Palstrom, Static Strike Shockwave Strength stacking, to easily proc the shockwaves while also double dipping on CDR, and having a relatively chill mapping experience and big single target hits. It’s strong, tanky, can deal a lot of burst damage, but also does not keel over a single blow.

What Static Strike Shockwave/Frozen Legion Excels in:

Buttery smooth Clearing.
Great single target if properly positioned
Very fun to min-max, where every point and item makes a noticeable difference.
Quite Tanky.

Static Strike Shockwave/Frozen Legion full details:

One of the core tenets of any strength stacker nowadays is getting an Iron Fortress, and in combination with Battlemage’s Cry and Iron Will, it will make it so your strength bonus, which only increases melee damage becomes general attack damage, but not only 2% per 10, but now 4,5%. This is a massive damage boost for Str stackers, who will usually get anything from 1800 to 2500 Str.
Alberon’s Warpath is what makes the build, a build. It’s where we get all our flat damage from. Replica Alberon’s Warpath grants 1 to 80 Chaos Damage per 80 Strength. Though it has a massive variance of rolls, it’s still insanely strong and the bulk of our damage. So always aim to have enough strength to roll over one of the multiples of 80 for optimal damage.
You’ll want % Increased attributes or Increased Strength on all your jewellery, and then craft those with essences to get as high Str as possible and some Int. For example, on the Amulet, besides getting life (always try to get life), you’ll want Crit Multi, Spell Damage, and Attributes.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/ahmadau/ahmadquinbuild?time-machine=week-3&i=0&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26skill%3DStatic-Strike%26sort%3Ddps

1 – Armor Stacking Smite Champion

Quite an old build by now, but one that is gloriously strong still to this day, and made better with the introduction of Vaal Smite, which is bonkers for clearing, helping out the old issues Smite has. This is the sort of build that truly can scale to infinity if you have the budget for it.

What Armor Stacking Smite Excels in:

Being supremely tanky, reaching anywhere from 500,000 to 2,000,000 armor.
Great damage as an aura stacker.
Insane clearing with Vaal Smite.
Quite fun to play.

Armor Stacking Smite full details:

You’ll be dual-wielding Replica Dreamfeather, which gives 1% increased damage per 450 Armor you have. And when you have over 1 million armour, that translates to over 5000% Increased damage in two items.
Ashes of the Stars enables this build to function well, giving us a lot of Reservation Efficiency and buffing our Alt Quality gems, in particular, Determination, Defiance Banner, Ancestral Protector, and Smite. It boosts our damage a thousand-fold by massively increasing our damage and survivability, all thanks to insane amounts of Aura Effect Stacking.
Doryani’s Prototype used to be the FOTM body armor in Kalandra league but has been essentially forgotten. It shouldn’t, however, because it’s as strong as before. You may not easily get -200% Lightning resistance, which caps out your damage to the maximum, making the enemy have that resistance against you, but you can get really close. And to make things better, your armour becomes your lightning resistance, so with a lot of armor, you will not only be dealing a lot of damage but also be highly tanky against Lightning damage.

For more information, check here: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/allanz25210/DuelyDuelist?time-machine=week-3&i=4&search=time-machine%3Dweek-3%26class%3DChampion%26skill%3DSmite%26sort%3Ddps