In this guide, I will show you an insane build for Berserkers by using the new Transfigured Cleave of Rage in Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction League.
Welcome to this newest build guide for the Berserker class. The new Transfigured Cleave of Rage quickly generates your Rage with every hit and grants immense bonuses to its radius for every 3 Rage you have, allowing you to cover the entire screen with your swings.
How It Works
To use this skill, you have to dual wield a sword and axe. It greatly rewards you for scaling maximum Rage, so the Berserk Ascendancy is the obvious choice as it grants additional Rage and triples its bonuses.
You will also want to use certain unique POE Items to boost it up for 120 of that resource. Ramping up from the start takes a bit of time, but once you accumulate it all, you will become unstoppable. The dual wielding requirement is not that bad. You would want to use the Regal Savage area anyway since it grants 25 to maximum Rage.
The Saviour is undoubtedly the best choice for your sword. It creates 2 clones that copy your damage, which is much more than a regular rare sword could provide. To boost your physical damage, you can make use of the Impale mechanic. You will essentially deal more damage with every next hit up to a limit. It can double your damage against bosses, but you have to get enough Impale chance and effectiveness.
Your Rage will greatly improve your attack speed and damage, so you only have to worry about getting enough Accuracy and Critical Strike Chance. You will use 2 unique weapons, so you should try to add physical damage to your attacks from other sources. And, if you can buy POE Currency a lot, it maybe more helpful for you.
You can have a lot of Spell Suppression, a high amount of armor rating, up to 26 stacks of Fortify, excellent Life Leech, and a bit of Evasion. The greatest defense comes from insane mobility and the long range of your Cleave.
The clear speed is absurdly good for a melee build, but the Rage wind-up can be a bit annoying. The damage against bosses is also very good, with high range and uptime on your clones being impactful.
Unique Items
You will need certain unique items and decent rares to play this build comfortably. You will need the rage-related Uniques. Other Uniques are very strong at improving your character but not vital for the build functionality. You don’t particularly need The Saviour sword, but it is simply too powerful not to use it. This axe deals decent damage and grants you 25 maximum Rage while wielding a sword. You should get one with Corrupted implicit that grants you a chance to fortify on hit.
The reflection skill granted by this sword causes you to summon 2 Mirage warriors on critical strikes, which will double your single-target damage and improve the clear speed.
The Bear’s Girdle belt grants you a lot of damage as 20 maximum Rage and bonus physical damage per Rage. The Crush is also useful but not very impactful. You can look for one with corrupted implicit for extra damage and Resistance.
The Ralakesh’s Impatience is a very useful pair of boots that grant you the effect of all your charges, as well as some Resistance and movement speed. You can easily generate charges with Assassin’s Mark, Mark Mastery, and Enduring Cry, but those boots make it easier.
A very strong jewel that grants you bonuses based on the auras you use—the most damage would come from the additional Impales you can inflict while using Pride, but additional Spell Suppression or Flask Sustain is also good.
The Thread of Hope Jewel with a medium-sized ring allows you to pick up very powerful axe notables, Life Leech, and some damage with one-handed weapons without wasting points on the traveling nodes. You can also take the Diamond Skin notable to cover the Resistance penalty.
The Abyssus is the epitome of a glass cannon. It grants an insane amount of damage and helps with attribute requirements but makes you more vulnerable to physical damage. You can use it to get an early boost but should be replaced later.
Rare Items
You can improve your damage by utilizing Critical Strike multiplier, Accuracy rating, attack speed, or increasing the chance to Impale.
To bolster your defenses, you will need a lot of maximum life, Spell Suppression, Resistance, and a bit of Attributes. Only POE Orbs with an Evasion rating can grant you Spell Suppression, so you should use hybrid pieces with Evasion and armor ratings.
You should obtain lots of mana reservation efficiency, and it should also have Spell Suppression Chance, maximum life, and Resistance or Attributes. Look for the empty prefix so you can craft the physical damage taken as an elemental modifier. Eldritch modifiers are very useful here.
The Psychotic Axe has a special Heist-only base that grants you 20 Rage. It will cost a large number of POE Currency to craft one that grants more damage than the Rigid Savage array, but it is certainly possible. Do not bother with it until your build is fully functional.
Look for Hunter-influenced armor with additional Critical Strike Chance for your attacks, a high amount of Spell Suppression, and potentially additional curse. You can skip the Life Modifiers and use the Life Mastery to save some POE 3.23 Currency. On the other hand, you can include physical explosions, but it may be very expensive on a pair of rare boots.
You can get a lot of maximum life, Spell Suppression Chance, and Resistances or Attributes. You can also get the chance to gain Onslaught on kill, which will further improve your clear speed. Movement speed is not that important as you will use the leap slam most of the time.
On your gloves, you should seek maximum life, Spell Suppression, attack speed, and lacking Resistance or Accuracy rating. It is also a good place to get the Mana Leech.
You can get a lot of Impale chances with the Eldritch Implicit. The amulet is a substantial source of Critical Strike multiplier, added physical damage, and maximum life. It should also have bonus Resistance or Accuracy ratings. If it has an empty prefix, you can craft mana cost reduction for your skills. Try to use an amulet base that grants you intelligence.
On your rings, look for Critical Strike multiplier, maximum life, and lacking Resistance, Attribute, or Accuracy rating. They can also grant you flat physical damage for your attacks. You can craft them using the Essence of Scorn or contempt on a fractured base. This method can be used for your amulet too.
You can use your rare jewel to improve your maximum life, Critical Strike multiplier, attack speed, or fix your Resistance and Attributes. It can also add a bit of mana reservation efficiency, or grant mana Leech.
The Bottled Faith is a very powerful Offensive Flask for this build in POE 3.23. It drastically improves your Critical Strike Chance and damage against enemies standing in the consecrated ground it creates upon use. You can enchant it to trigger when you hit a rare enemy or use it manually with an increased effect for the remaining Magic Flasks.
I recommend using Granite Flask with armor rating bonus, Jade Flask with Evasion rating bonus, Life Flask with bleeding removal, and a Diamond Flask with Critical Strike.
Skill Gems
The main focus of this build is the Transfigured version of Cleave. It generates Rage with every hit and improves its radius based on the amount of Rage you have. It requires dual-wielding an axe and sword.
The support gems are quite flexible in this build as their power depends on your gear status. You can consider using the Impale or increased Critical Strike supports if your respective chances are still low.
Determination grants a lot of armor rating and helps improve it further. Armor is the major form of mitigation in this build. Pride increases the physical damage taken by nearby enemies. The effect starts low and rises over 4 seconds. The range is similar to the radius of your Cleave.
Blood and Sand change your stance and grant area damage or radius bonuses depending on your stance. You can also use the Herald of Purity if you dislike changing stances.
Dread Banner increases your chance to Impale enemies and lowers the Accuracy rating of nearby foes, which makes even small amounts of Evasion rating useful.
Precision grants plenty of Critical Strike Chance and Accuracy rating. You can keep it at a low gem level or link it with the Arrogant support if it reserves too much mana. You should link your most mana-reserving auras with Enlightened support. The Precision Aura will reserve a lot of mana if it’s fully leveled.
The Ancestral Protector is a mandatory totem for every melee build. It increases your attack speed while it’s active. The Ancestral Warchief is another important totem. It increases your melee damage. You can use the Vaal version for an even stronger buff. Use the multiple totem support to increase the summon limit. You only need to link it with the Ancestral Protector.
Leap Slam performs a fast jump to the targeted location. It has no cooldown, but the first use is faster. It also stuns enemies in full life. You might need the Life Tap support if you don’t have mana reduction on your jewelry. You can also use the Endurance Charge on Stun support to generate charges during regular mapping.
If you use rare boots, Assassin’s Mark improves your Critical Strike Chance and damage against marked enemies. It also generates power charges with hits. Use the Mark on Hit support to automate this process. It still consumes your mana, so the Life Tap can be useful, too. If you have a source of additional curse, you can use the Vulnerability to further increase the physical damage enemies take from your attacks.
You can use this buff to gain an insane burst of damage for a short duration, but you will have to build up your Rage again once it ends. The Blood Rage increases your attack speed and grants Life Leech. It deals with physical damage over time to you, so use it with caution.
The Molten Shell is a very strong guard skill that creates a protective barrier based on the amount of armor you have. It also increases your armor during the duration. You can opt for the Call to Arms Keystone and use this Warcry to instantly regenerate a large amount of life and generate enduring charges.
Bandits & Pantheon
Killing all Bandits for 2 additional passive points from Eramir is the best option. Without rare boots, you have no source of freeze immunity, so you should pick up the Soul of Brine King as your major Pantheon power. It will also prevent stun locks. As your minor Pantheon power, we recommend taking the Soul of Shakari, which considerably reduces the damage you take from chaos damage.
Cleave of Rage is available for use right from the start. The Rage generation will be a great boost at that level. You can use any weapons with the highest physical DPS for your level. Initially, it will be tough to scale crit, so the best approach is to utilize the Precise Technique to amplify your damage. The insane benefits of Rage, further boosted by the Berserk Ascendancy in Affliction League grant you a lot of attack speed and damage.
Passive Tree
On the passive tree, you should pick up all aspects the Rage does not cover. You will need Accuracy, Impale, and Critical Strike Chance. The axe notables are not very effective, considering it applies only to one of your weapons. However, certain notables increase your maximum Rage or grant you a chance to intimidate enemies on hit.
As a Berserk, you have to take extra care of your defenses. On the passive tree, you will find some bonuses to maximum life, armor, and Evasion rating, fortify, or mana reservation efficiency.
Since there is only one Spell Suppression cluster in range, you must source most of the Spell Suppression from your gear. If you are playing in the POE 3.23 Affliction League, you can use charms to further improve your Critical Strike Chance, Spell Suppression, have more maximum Rage, or generate Rage with Warcries.