Path of Exile’s newest league, Heist, includes an entirely new endgame activity for players to embark on. These Heists, while buggy at times, offer a massive amount of currency for those that can brave the overturned guards within.
Since the enemies tied to Contracts and Grand Heists are so tough, many players are looking for builds that can dish out tons of damage and can take an equal amount of punishment. No build in Path of Exile is perfect — not without being extremely expensive, at least. Thankfully, there are quite a few top-tier builds that vary in price and playstyle that players should keep in mind. Here are ten great builds players can try in Path of Exile’s Heist league.
10 Poison Blade Vortex Assassin
Blade Vortex is a fantastic spell that can rapidly strike targets that surround the player. Since it attacks so quickly, it is a perfect skill to use alongside a poison Assassin. Since Assassin can stack poison stacks to ludicrous levels, this build has a great amount of single target potential once players have decent gear and gem links. While this build has top-tier clear speed and has plenty of headroom for upgrades, it’s tough to league start or level with.
For those interested in playing a Poison BV Assassin, check out Aanton’s build guide here.
9 Archmage Ball Lightning
Despite Ball Lightning getting nerfed in 3.12, its damage output is still so insane when coupled with Archmage that it is still a top-tier build. This build works by obtaining a Forbodding Mana Flask and drinking it as much as possible. After a few seconds, the player will repeatedly regain thousands of mana a second, allowing Archmage to consume a player’s entire mana pool to grant millions of damage per second.
As for Ascendancy, there are a few options. Hierophant is a good option due to its permanent Arcane Surge and miniature Mind over Matter mechanic. If players pick Hierophant, do not grab Sanctuary of Thought as it lowers damage output. Alternatively, an Ascendant can multiclass as a Pathfinder and Inquisitor. Pathfinder helps maintain flask charges while Inquisitor grants extra damage.
A Hierophant build by Aniki_Leads_people can be found here. Big Ducks has an Ascendant Ball Lightning build that can be viewed here.
8 Aurastacking Ethereal Knives
Aurastacking is one of the most overpowered mechanics in Path of Exile and is only kept in line due to how expensive it is to get going. Players must focus on obtaining reduced mana reserve and increased aura effect on their gear. Fortunately, Cluster Jewels can provide aura effect and both items and jewels can provide for mana reserve.
The goal is to use as many auras as possible to help support any skill. Most players choose Ethereal Knives due to its great clear speed. The best Ascendancies for this build are Necromancer for increased attack and cast speed per aura, Guardian for more survivability, and Ascendant for a blend of Necromancer and Guardian traits. Regardless of choice, this build is one of the tankiest and highest-DPS builds in the game. Unfortunately, this build requires 50 to 100 Exalts to truly get going. If players can fund the build, prepare to be nearly unstoppable.
KobeblackmambaTTV has a build guide that can be viewed here.
7 Cast On Crit Cyclone Assassin
Assassins are the best Ascendancy for Cast on Critical Strike builds in Path of Exile. Due to the Assassin’s inherently high critical chance and Power Charges, they go great with any skill that can critically strike frequently.
Most Cast on Crit Assassins tend to use Cyclone with the Cast on Critical Strike support gem or a Cospri’s Malice Unique sword, sometimes both at once. For Heist league, many players are using Cyclone supported with Cast on Critical Strike and Ice Nova to destroy groups of targets in an instant. Vaal Ice Nova makes for a fantastic clearing skill against Legions, Breaches, and high pack size Heist Contracts. Focus on increasing Cold damage and critical strike multipliers to make this build hit even harder.
A detailed guide for this build has been made by wishdropper and can be viewed here.
6 Toxic Rain Pathfinder
Some of the most popular league-start builds in Path of Exile involve damage-over-time skills. Toxic Rain Pathfinder is a great example of this. While this build relies heavily on flasks for defenses, the build makes up for that with phenomenal clear speed and incredibly high damage. Pathfinder’s poison proliferation and flask uptime make Toxic Rain a top-tier bow build for either league start or for clearing Tier 16 Delirious maps—as long as players have top-tier gear.
Remicaster1 has a new player friendly guide for this build that can be viewed here.
5 Essence Drain Contagion Trickster
The gold standard of league starters, Essence Drain and Contagion prove to be an unstoppable combination for most Path of Exile content. Players throw down an Essence Drain orb and follow that up with a Contagion cast, spreading the Essence Drain effect to all nearby targets. This results in a wave of poison spreading through hordes of foes.
To improve survivability and damage, Trickster is the best Ascendancy one can choose. ED Contagion Tricksters require almost no gear to play as well, although be prepared to spend dozens of Exalts getting this build to tackle Awakener Eight Sirus or Delirious Tier 16 Maps.
For a detailed build guide, check out Darkxellmc’s Path of Exile forum guide here.
4 Steel Skill Champion
Steel skills have seen an overhaul with Heist league, now utilizing impales and enemy weapons as ammo. While this sounds clumsy as a mechanic, it works fine in practice when paired with chance to impale and the new Call of Steel skill.
No character can dish out impales as deadly as the Champion Ascendancy. Navigate the tree to grab as much life, impale effect, and damage as possible. Utilizing Champion’s taunt and impale effects, this character is equally tanky and adept at clearing content. Splitting Steel is best for clearing while Lancing Steel is great for single-target DPS. Shattering Steel is also a good option.
DonTheCrown has a YouTube guide around this build that can be viewed here.
3 Toxic Rain Miner Trickster
Instead of using a bow to use Toxic Rain, players can instead support them with mines to quickly apply multiple poison stacks on a target. Compared to the Pathfinder selfcast variant, the Trickster miner variant is much cheaper and less reliant on flasks for defense. This comes at the cost of some damage when compared to a geared Pathfinder, but the damage difference is negligible in most cases.
YouTuber Crouching_Tuna has a league start variant of this build that can be viewed here.
2 Raise Spectre Necromancer
After Redemption Sentries were nerfed in 3.12, Spectre builds have been looking for new enemies to reanimate. There are plenty of solid options, but the star of this league thus far has been Syndicate Operatives from Betrayal. These enemies can be found in Syndicate Safehouse missions. Other solid options for Spectres include Redemption Sentries, Frost Auto Scouts from Heist Contracts, and Slave Drivers for players on a budget.
Regardless, nearly every Spectre is built around Cold damage. Use four green socket Triad grips to convert a minion’s physical damage to cold. This will let Hatred’s aura double-dip in effectiveness while making Frost Bomb and the Frostbite Hex invaluable for weakening tough foes.
Kay Gaming has a large roster of budget-friendly and endgame Spectre builds players can view on her YouTube channel here.
1 Carrion Golem Elementalist
Some players might have noticed that golem-related gear has become much more expensive in Heist. This is due to a surge in players league starting as a Carrion Golem Elementalist, a powerful minion build that can take down all content with minimal investment.
Carrion Golems wipe the floor with virtually all foes thanks to their fantastic damage that ramps up as more minions are summoned. Increasing minion damage is enough to get these golems working for league start, but players that enjoy the playstyle can pursue aura cluster jewels and mana reservation to give these golems some extra power.
WaffleT’s forum guide on a Carrion Golem Elementalist goes over all of the build’s gearing and gem options, which players can view here.
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