Cyclone Slayer Build Guide (PoE Secrets of the Atlas 3.26)

June 13th, 2025, 15:19

Introduction & Expectations

I expected this skill to perform a lot better than it is in your guide. Why is this?

Because it is impossible to cater to everyone, I choose not to overcomplicate things. As a rule of thumb, this means you get to be confident you can obtain your first two Voidstones, an otherwise full Atlas completion & have a great mapping experience in T16 maps with moderate amounts of juice.
This implies you will most likely be looking for some help or further investments to obtain your last two Voidstones. This is due to the fact that fighting these bosses on acceptable amounts of gear requires an enormous amount of game knowledge, fight practice & mechanical skill. Trying to compare your playing experience to those who’ve done nothing but play for years, tends to lead to disappointment.

Therefore, take your time & appreciate the fact that some content can be harder for you, and the characters powerlevels you’ve managed to acquire, than for others. There’s no shame in this.

What to Expect

🔸 T16 Maps ✔️
🔸 T16 Maps w/ a few Atlas Mechanics or some scarabs ✔️
🔸 Pinnacle bosses when playing well ✔️
🔸 T17 Maps ✔️
🔸 Uber Content ❌
🔸 Uber Content when investing well beyond the guide ❗

Cyclone

Cyclone Cyclone is one of Path of Exile’s most iconic skills. It introduces us to a long-loved Spin to Win playstyle, which ARPG Fans have always thoroughly enjoyed. Whilst Cyclone Cyclone in itself is worth playing, its transfigured version Cyclone of Tumult is a ton of free damage, as long as you can counteract its downsides, which is the Less Movement Speed modifier. We counteract this by using either Replica Stampede or Regular The Stampede. It doesn’t matter which one you get; just get the cheapest one.

Playstyle

This build is extremely enjoyable to play because you get to spin around while just holding down right-click. Because you do damage while moving, this makes it very enjoyable. Because it does decent damage, it also introduces a decent amount of survivability, making it super fun!

Build Assessment

Pros & Cons

➕ One of the best playstyles in the game
➕ Goes from early to endgame fairly efficiently
➕ Good damage & defenses

➖ Relies on weapons
➖ Requires some specific gear to fix resistances & attributes
➖ Incredibly level-hungry
➖ Limited ability to scale into super endgame

Viability in Numbers

🔸 Ease of Transitioning: ★★★☆☆
🔸 New Player Friendliness: ★★★★☆
🔸 Playstyle: ★★★★★
🔸 Ease of Gearing: ★★★☆☆
🔸 Easily Executable: ★★★★☆

Map Modifiers to Avoid

While certain combinations of modifiers are generally just bad, such as, for example, a couple of damage modifiers combined with Critical Strike Multiplier, these are things you are supposed to get a feel for yourself and test out. Just make sure not to combine too many crazy things. Modifiers that the build cannot run are listed here.

❗No Leech
❗Physical Damage Reflect
❗Reduced Recovery

Damage & Defenses

Mechanics

This build is a pure Physical Damage build which uses Staves because it enables the Shockwave Support. Whereas before, going for Staves introduced problems to get early game weapons, Staves are now at a powerpoint where they will do fine until you get to craft your endgame weapons and introduce so many other benefits. Outside of Cycloning around, it doesn’t require many button presses. Outside of a single press of your Pride Aura, which is linked to Guardian's Blessing Support and dropping a War Banner on bosses or tough rares.

Scaling & Layers

This build layers a lot of conditional mitigation to mostly avoid getting hit for relevant damage. These layers are combinations of the following attempts to avoid taking relevant hits:

🔸Reasonable Armour
🔸65/65 Block & Spell Block
🔸Six Endurance Charges
🔸Steroid Fortify

Build Resources

Leveling the Build

Leaguestarter or Transitioning

This build has the Leaguestarter tag. This means we will be holding your hand right from the get-go until you reach the pinnacle of your power and finish the guide. To maximise your experience, please make sure to follow the Path of Building levelling sections accordingly. We will be providing multiple skill trees & gem sets to ease your progress to endgame maps.

*You can find the Path of Building link on the Path of Building Page *

Starting out

While levelling it is really important to upgrade your weapons as much as possible. Path of Exile has an interesting vendor recipe to do so. You want to find a good base (in this case, any 2-handed Maces, Staffs, Axes), use a Blacksmith's Whetstone if you have one and sell the weapon to the vendor combined with a Rustic Sash of Magic (blue) or Rare (yellow) rarity and a Blacksmith's Whetstone. The weapon becomes better with a Rare Rustic Sash than a magic one. So, ideally, you want to save a Magic or Rare Rustic Sash for when you feel like you need a Damage Upgrade.