Rage Totems Shaman Endgame Build

Build Introduction

This is a tanky, one-button build that’s very strong and fun to play. It is 100% casual-player friendly and simply smashes. This is an all-rounder build that and can comfortably handle all content in Waystone 15 and 16 maps. It’s also great for farming rippy content, such as Simulacrum and all the pinnacle boss encounters in the game.

[Read!] Before considering this build, you need to understand that it uses two mandatory uniques! The Redflare Conduit with the Corrupted modifier “Gain a Power Charge every second if you haven’t lost Power Charges recently” and the Flesh Crucible jewel with the “Resonance” Keystone variation. If you don’t have these two items, you should not attempt to make this build! The starting budget for this build is around 70 Divine Orbs, so keep that in mind as well.

If you’re looking for a way to level a Shaman, the following build will take you into endgame maps and can be used until you’re comfortable swapping into this build.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

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Gameplay Showcase

You can find the latest video build guide for Patch 0.5 (Return of the Ancients) here:

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Build Mechanics

This is a totem-based build. We place totems that target and kill enemies for us. We also don’t need to worry about Mana since we are using Atalui’s Bloodletting in our main setup and Lavianga’s Spirits that helps sustain our other utility skills. For this build, we scale our damage greatly via Physical Damage, Gem levels, and maximum Rage stacking. Since Patch 0.3.0, Ancestral Warrior Totem requires Endurance Charges in order to work. We get them fairly easy with the Redflare Conduit used alongside a Flesh Crucible Jewel that has the “Resonance” keystone. The body armour constantly generates Power Charges, which are then converted into Endurance Charges via the Resonance Keystone.

As for defenses, since we don’t benefit much from the body armour, I opted for a rare shield with a lot of armour and “additional physical damage reduction”. We then further boost that armour value by stacking “increased defences from equipped shield” modifiers from an anoint, rare jewels, and skill tree points. This helps us greatly in reaching close to 90% physical damage reduction. The Shaman ascendancy will also give us great extra defensive layers to round the build out.

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Skill Rotation

The skill rotation is pretty straight-forward. You place the totems and run in circles until everything dies. This build is very easy to play!

1. Ancestral Warrior Totem. This will be your main damage source.
2. Shockwave Totem. These are support totems that apply debuffs.

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Gameplay Tips

For general mapping, try to spread the totems out. Avoid summoning them in the same spot, as this improves clear speed and helps them survive.

Always stay on the move while your totems attack. Moving around is a natural defense. This is a good practice that can help with maps that have very deadly modifiers.

Summoning totems instantly heals you back to full life! Never forget this and use it to your advantage during deadly fights.

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Skill and Support Gems

Our build revolves around the Ancestral Warrior Totem, supported with Sunder. Make sure to increase both the level and quality of both of these gems. (You need to level up and apply quality on both Ancestral Warrior Totem and Sunder!)

[Pro Tip] Try corrupting a few Sunder skill gems in an attempt to hit a +1 level corruption. Remember to apply 20% quality before slamming them with a Vaal Orb (in Path of Exile 2, corrupted gems can still gain levels). Also, keep in mind that Jeweller’s Orbs are not required here!

Shockwave Totem Will be used as support to break armour, increase the physical damage taken by our enemies, and cull low-life targets. Astral Projection will make the totems attack anywhere on the screen.

The following Support Gems are listed in order of socket priority for each Skill.

Spirit Gems

The Spirit Gem setup requires 100 total Spirit. Completing the campaign rewards 100 base Spirit.

Note! If you are using a Flesh Crucible jewel with the Less Spirit modifier, then you will need to take 30 Spirit on your rare amulet.

For the Magma Barrier Spirit Gem you need to apply 20x Quality. Magma Barrier will passively boost our block chance.

We use Clarity II and Clarity I support gems to further boost our Rage Regeneration. Check the “Furious Wellspring” Shaman ascendancy notable; it converts mana regeneration into Rage regeneration.

Mapping Spirit Gems

Bossing Spirit Gems

*If you have the currency, feel free to replace Clarity II with “Her Declaration” Lineage Support Gem (It will Intimidate nearby enemies – they take 10% increased damage and deal 10% reduced damage )

**If you have the currency, feel free to add Dialla’s Desire Support gem to Berserk (It will further boost your Rage effectiveness.)

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Ascendancy

For our Ascendancy, we will choose Shaman. It provides additional defensive layers and is ideal for our Rage-stacking setup. Furthermore, the Shaman’s starting location is close to all our essential totem nodes on the Skill Tree.

The ascendancies should be unlocked in this order:

1. Reactive Growth
2. Avatar of Evolution
3. Druidic Champion
4. Furious Wellspring

The first two Ascendancy notables will give us extra defensive layers, helping us become tankier. Pathing towards Furious Wellspring will grant us +13 Maximum Rage and Passive Rage generation, which is great since we are stacking a lot of Rage with this build to boost our damage. For the build to function as intended, you will need to have all Ascendancy nodes unlocked.

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Passive Skill Tree and Path of Building

Before considering this build, you need to understand that it uses two mandatory uniques: Redflare Conduit with the Corrupted modifier “Gain a Power Charge every second if you haven’t lost Power Charges recently” and the Flesh Crucible jewel with the “Resonance” Keystone variation. If you don’t have these two items, you should not attempt to make this build! The starting budget for this build is around 70 Divine Orbs, so keep that in mind as well.

Build Setup

For the Gem Enthusiast notable (Skill Tree), you need a total of 10 red and 10 green Support Gems across your gem setups to gain the 5% increased maximum life and 5% increased movement speed bonuses. You can use random gems to meet this requirement.

The PoB link: This is the recommended setup. Remember that the “PoB Community Fork” program for Path of Exile 2 still needs some work. It might not track everything properly.

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Gear

The preferred gear for the “Build” is listed below with affixes ranked in order of importance. Prioritize gear with the correct base stats and beneficial explicit affixes.

Equipment Slot and Base Stats	Affixes	Notes
Helmet Thrillsteel (2 sockets!)	1. With two sockets	In one socket add “Tzamoto’s Soul Core of Ferocity” (+4 Maximum Rage), in the other add “Idol of Alira” (Helps us generate more Endurance Charges via our body armour and the Resonance Keystone) This helmet grants us permanent Onslaught, which increases both our movement speed and our totems’ attack speed.
Body Armour Redflare Conduit	Corrupt: Gain a Power Charge every second if you haven’t lost Power Charges recently	The Redflare Conduit must have the following vaal modifier: “Gain a Power Charge every second if you haven’t lost Power Charges recently”. If you decide to go for corruption, look for an extra socket or “#%additionalphysical damage corruption” Socket “Idol of Eramir” (mandatory; helps with charges sustain). Fill the remaining sockets with “Soul Core of Jiquani“(3% Maximum Life)
Gloves (Armour)	1. +2 to Level of all Melee Skills (Mandatory) 2. Maximum Life 3. Strength 4. Resistances 5. “+#% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage” or Strength or adds # Physical damage to Attacks or % Attack Speed (Optional)	For the rare armour items, prioritize those with a lot of armour values, high life, strength, resistances, and, if possible: “+#% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage” If you decide to go for corruption instead, look for an extra socket. (Optional)You can socket the “Cadigan’s Epiphany” rune to get one extra jewel socket instead.
Boots (Armour)	1. Movement Speed 2. Maximum Life 3. Strength 4. Resistances 5. “+#% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage” or Strength (Optional)	For the rare armour items, prioritize those with a lot of armour values, high life, strength, resistances, and, if possible: “+#% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage” If you decide to go for corruption, look for an extra socket. (Optional)You can socket the “Cadigan’s Epiphany” rune to get one extra jewel socket instead.
Weapon (two-handed rare mace)	1. A lot of physical damage DPS 2. +# to Level of all Attack Skills/ OR melee Skills	The weapon is very important for our damage. Look for one with a lot of physical damage and Skill Gem level (Ideally +5 Melee Skills). The more, the better! We are able to use a two-handed mace because of the “Giant’s Blood” Keystone. Tip#1: If you lack Strength on your character, look for one with a lower Strength requirement or buy your rare items with added Strength. Tip#2: You can add “Vaal Infusers” at the end to reach 30% weapon quality. This step is OPTIONAL.
Shield (Armour)	1. A lot of Armour! (1000+) 3. “+#%Additional Physical Damage Reduction” 3. Maximum Life, Resistances or Strength (Optional)	Most of our defenses will come from the shield. Therefore, you’ll want one with a lot of armour. We are using certain tricks in the skill tree to greatly bump up the shield’s armour values. +#% Additional Physical Damage Reduction is another modifier you’ll want here. If you can’t find one with life added, that’s fine. If you decide to go for corruption, look for an extra socket.
Amulet	1. +3 to Level of All Melee Skills (can also buy with +4!) 2. Maximum Life 3. 30+ Spirit ( only if you have the “Flesh Crucible” jewel with less spirit variation )	The amulet must have +3 to Melee Skills. Keep in mind that since Patch 0.5, it is possible to obtain amulets with +4 to Melee Skills For the amulet, instill/anoint Core of The Guardian. This is a cheap instilment that will double the armour value from the shield.
Rings	1. Maximum Life 2. Adds # to # Physical Damage to Attacks 3. Resistances 4. All Attributes or Strength	Know that flat physical Damage to Attacks works with our totems. Remember to apply calatysts on your rings to further boost your stats.
Belt	1. Maximum Life 2. Resistances 3. Strength 4. 200+ Armour (Optional)	For the belt we use a rare belt with armour, life, and resistances The best in slot belts would be Headhunter or Mageblood If you decide to go for corruption, look for “+1 to Maximum Endurance Charges”

For your rares, you want Armour base items. If you have multiple hybrid pieces (Armour / Evasion), then you can allocate the “Iron Reflexes” Keystone that will turn all Evasion into Armour. Sometimes getting hybrid bases is cheaper, but you should avoid Energy Shield bases since we don’t get any benefit out of that!

Gear Sockets

Body Armour: Use “Idol of Eramir” (mandatory; helps with charges sustain) and “Soul Core of Jiquani“(3% Maximum Life)for the remaining sockets.

Helmet: Use “Tzamoto’s Soul Core of Ferocity” (+4 to Maximum Rage) and “Idol of Alira” (Helps us generate more Endurance Charges via our body armour and the Resonance Keystone)

Boots: If you have boots with 35% Movement Speed, socket “Farrul’s Rune of the Chase” (5% Movement Speed).

Weapon and Shield: Use “Greater Iron Rune” (Increased Physical Damage/ Increased Armour).

“Soul Core of Tacati” (11% to Chaos Resistance) can be also used to fill in missing stats.

Jewels

For the rare jewels, look for Rubies with #% increased defenses from equipped shield. This one is essential. For the other modifiers look for useful things such as Increased Attack Damage, Totem Damage, melee damage, increased life regeneration, increased armour, or maximum Rage. These all appear on the Ruby Jewel.

You can also add a Prism of Belief Diamond with +# to Level of all Sunder Skills.

You can also add a Megalomaniac Diamond with two useful Skill Tree Notables ( tons of possibilities here! – utility, damage, defenses – It all depends on your budget and what you need. )

Later, you will want to add a From Nothing Diamond with the Blood Magic Keystone variation. This is a very powerful upgrade! You can allocate the following five notables without them being connected to the tree:

Later, when you have more currency, you may add a Headhunter or a Mageblood belt to the build for fun. Yes, these unique belts work with totems! Also consider the unique charm Rite of Passage, looking for either Spirit of the Bear (best), Spirit of the Boar, or Spirit of the Ox.

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During the acts, there are some quests that activate additional bonuses for your character:

• Valley of the Titans (Act 2)
  • 30% Increased Charm Charges Gained.
• Venom Draught (Act 3)
  • Stun Threshold. Since Time of Need helps us with the Elemental Ailment removal and because we don’t use mana in our build, for the first Vial Quest, our best pick will be “25% increased Stun Threshold”.
• [New!] Shark Fin Quest ( Act 4 ) – RAKIATA’s LESSON (Armour also applies to Elemental Damage)
• Tattoos (Act 4)
  • All Blank Tattoos should be elemental resistance.
• Qimah Pillars (Interlude)
  • Your choice, these can be changed whenever.

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Flasks and Charms

• Life: Ultimate Life Flask.
• Mana: Lavianga’s Spirits (try to get a good roll).
• Charms: Thawing Charm (Mandatory), Amethyst Charm (helps us with Chaos resistance; if you are Chaos Resistance Capped you can replace it with something else), Dousing Charm (if you farm a lot of Abyss) // If you are rich consider buying a Rite of Passage charm with any of the following three Spirits: Bear (best), Boar (good), Ox (budget). This is a very powerful unique charm!

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Common Mistakes

• The player forgets to level up their main skill gems. You need to level up both Ancestral Warrior Totemand Sunder! The player forgets to upgrade their items. The player doesn’t use Perfect Jeweller’s Orbs in order to add maximum support gems to their main skill (most common issue).
• The player hasn’t unlocked all their ascendancy points. The player has taken the wrong ascendancy class!
• For the Endgame Phase – The player doesn’t have their Fire, Cold, and Lightning resistances capped! These should always be at 75% for the endgame. Additionally, aim for a good Chaos Resistance too. Around 60% Chaos Resistance is more than enough for this build.
• The player forgets to complete all the campaign side-quests! They give 24 Passive Tree nodes, free Resistances, and Spirit up to 100. This is a very common issue! Be careful.

Waystone Modifiers You Should Avoid

This build can do all the Waystone modifiers, but you should play more carefully when you see the following modifiers.

• Players have 60% less Recovery Rate of Life and Energy Shield. (Deadly; try to avoid)
• Monster Damage Penetrates 25% Elemental Resistances. (Deadly; try to avoid)
• -15% maximum Player Resistances.
• Monsters have 400% increased Critical Hit Chance and +45% to Monster Critical Damage Bonus.
• Monsters deal 40% of Damage as Extra Chaos. (If you have Chaos Resistance 75% you are fine!)

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Changelog

June 13th, 2026: Build updated for patch 0.5. The Vertex replaced with Thrillsteel.
January 2nd, 2026: Build created.