Forge Hammer Titan Leveling Build

Build Introduction

This build is specifically catered to leveling using the Titan Ascendancy. It combines the heavy-hitting damage of Leap Slam and Rolling Slam, and synergizes by triggering the fissures that activate when Forge Hammer is hit by a slam or aftershock.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

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Ascendancy

You will be able to select your Ascendancy after completing the Trial of Sekhemas during Act 2. This build makes the Trial extremely easy, so get it out of the way as early as you unlock it. This leveling build was made specifically for Titan; if you wish to use another Ascendancy, Path of Exile 2 now allows you to respec, and it can be done at any point after completing the initial Trial during the campaign.

Titan

The two major nodes we’ll be taking for Titan are:

• Earthbreaker – 25% chance for Slam Skills you use yourself to cause Aftershocks. This is paramount for increasing our damage output. Not only will the Aftershocks continue to damage enemies by themselves, they’ll also trigger the fissures off Forge Hammer every time they activate.
• Ancestral Empowerment – This makes it so every other slam attack is Ancestrally Boosted. Not only does this provide a massive spike in damage, but it also means that it frees up an entire socket on our slam skills to add in another more damage modifier. Eventually you will socket in the Support Gem Fist of War III in order to get double gains from the Ancestrally Boosted buff.

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General Leveling Advice

We can not stress enough how important it is to check vendors for gear. Getting a good mace will make all the difference in the world for your leveling experience. Vendors reset their inventory every time you level, so check back frequently to see if there’s an upgrade. Alternatively, use the gamble vendor to see if you can pull a good weapon that way, if you have spare gold.

Ensure you’re completing all important side quests. It’s very easy to pass up free passive points while running through campaign maps. In case you need a list of all permanent stat boosts during the campaign, you can find those on our guide using this link!

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Leveling Passive Tree

The Passive Tree below can be followed through to the end of the Interlude and into early maps. Beyond that point, you should swap to an endgame setup. Follow along as you level using the arrows on the left and the right of the progression slider at the top of the Passive Tree.

The initial priority for nodes is to gain access to as much Aftershock chance as possible. Following this, survivability becomes paramount. We fulfill this need by targeting Armour increases and nodes that force our Armour to apply to Elemental Damage. Major nodes are listed below.

• Split the Earth – 10% chance to create an Aftershocks from slams. One of the only nodes in the passive tree to do this.
• Behemoth – 5% chance to create Aftershocks from slams. This also adds an extra 3% of Life to your health pool.
• Guided Hand – Eventually, we’ll remove the lower tiers of Fist of War I and instead rely on our Ascendancy passive, Ancestral Empowerment, to proc them. Guided Hand just provides an extra boost to our attacks when fighting tougher enemies.
• Light on your Feet – Even though this is at the end of the passive tree (you won’t unlock this until around Level 60), this is massively important to dealing with endgame maps. Hinder is a fairly common modifier you’ll find on Rares, and it slows you down by 30%. The worst thing that can happen to a melee character is they’re hit by a slow. It renders you nearly useless. Momentum should be mentioned as well, as this is a 5% Movement Speed buff for us. The entire cluster here is extremely important for making sure your entrance into endgame maps is as smooth as possible.
• Blood Magic – Without taking this, mana costs are extremely expensive. Just make sure you have Life on Hit/Kill on your ring or Physical Leech on your weapon to negate this entirely.

On top of these, we’ve left certain nodes unallocated due to them being slightly conditional. Unnatural Resilience can be pathed to if you need more resistances, while Ignore Pain may prove useful if you want to take advantage of Rage. Until this league starter has been updated with the new passive tree, feel free to take some liberties depending on what you need.

Skill Gems

Listed below are all Skill Gems that should be used during the leveling process. There may be a slight variation depending on which Act you’re currently progressing through. Notes for each Act will be listed below the Skill Gem tool.

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Act I Notes

The beginning area will force Rolling Slam onto us, but we’ll carry this with us all the way into endgame. Use this as your main damage source. It’s a bit slow (for now), and will move your character forward, so take care when aiming this that you won’t be rolling into an AoE.

Once you enter Clearfell Camp, you’ll be handed a Skill Gem that should be used to unlock Boneshatter. Adding this to your skill bar will show you when enemies are “Primed for Heavy Stun” by placing a glowing white symbol above enemies’ heads. Use Rolling Slam to lower enemy health and build up stun, then smash them with Boneshatter to deal heavy AoE damage.

Mace Strike is your go-to for single target when you either want to conserve Mana, or you don’t want to move around for fear of rolling into an AoE. This is the strongest default attack in the game, so don’t be fooled by the fact it’s attached to your Mace from the start.

Your first Spirit Gem will come from the Freythorn zone. Grab Herald of Ash as your choice in order to make your map clearing much faster.

Skill Rotation:

1. Use Mace Strike to chip away at trash mobs.
2. Use Rolling Slam to finish off most mobs, and build up stun on healthier mobs.
3. Finish off enemies with Boneshatter who are Primed for Stun to Heavy Stun them and proc the explosion.

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Act 2 Notes

Lesser Jeweler Gems start dropping from mobs during this Act, but they’re rare. We’ve included a couple third Support Gems as an option; however, do not feel like these are necessary just yet! They’re just extra in case you’re lucky.

You’ll gain access to a new tier of Skill Gems with Act 2, allowing you to slot in Leap Slam and Infernal Cry. Leap Slam is huge and provides a lot more mobility to the build. This lets you chase down agile bosses and progress maps much faster. Infernal Cry will get much more used in Act 3, but for now, it adds some useful AoE and empowers our other attacks with extra fire damage.

Towards the end of Act 2, you should be able to start finding Level 9 Skill Gems. This occurs no earlier than Level 31. Take advantage of this to add in Forge Hammer. Not only will the initial hit benefit from being Ancestrally Boosted, it pairs extremely well with any Warcry you use while the hammer is lodged into the ground. Shouting near it will cause the hammer to explode into spiraling fissures which can then be slammed onto to create more explosions. This also applies to Aftershocks created by your slams!

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Act 3 Notes

From here on out, your rotation should look similar to what is listed below.

• Throw your Forge Hammer.
• Shout with your Warcry (currently Infernal Cry)
• Alternate between Leap Slam and Rolling Slam in order to trigger fissures.

This rotation is fairly expensive when it comes to Mana. Around this point is when you should be taking the Blood Magic Keystone. This gets rid of the exceedingly high Mana costs and allows you to focus your affixes into Life gain.

After killing Ignagduk and gaining more Spirit, Herald of Ash should be augmented to provide Health gain on kill (Cannibalism I).

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Act 4 and Beyond

The playstyle going forward does not change much. The difference here is you’ll have access to Seismic Cry, opting to drop Infernal Cry. Seismic Cry has much more synergy with the build, popping stuns after you throw your hammer, and eliminating most white mobs from Wraeclast entirely by doing so. You’ll also gain an extra Aftershock from your next slam after using this warcry, which is very useful for clearing large clumps of enemies.

Once you gain your final 40 Spirit, Time of Need should be added to the build to provide passive healing and cleansing.

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Rotation

• Use Forge Hammer and aim for the middle of a group of enemies.
• When within range, shout with Seismic Cry to pop stuns and make your hammer explode.
• Jump into enemies with Leap Slam, then follow up with Rolling Slam. Repeat the process if Forge Hammer has expired and enemies are still alive.
• Finish any lingering enemies off with Mace Strike. For bossing, Mace Strike works well during periods where the boss is stunned, helping to conserve Mana while keeping damage consistent.

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Gearing Progression

You’ll want to use a two-handed Mace to level with this build, however towards the end of the campaign and into endgame maps you will almost surely want to swap to a one-hand and shield. As you climb map tiers, or maybe you get some really poor modifiers, surviving may pose a real issue. Grabbing a shield and allocating passive points into block nodes will resolve this.

Offensive Modifiers

• +Levels to Melee Skills
• Added or Increased Physical Damage
• Attack Speed
• Increased Stun Duration
• Physical Damage Leeched as Health

Defensive Gear

• Armour
• Maximum Life
• Resistances

Runes

The main priority for sockets will be to keep your resistances as close to, or above, the resistance cap as possible. Armour does a lot of work against Elemental Damage, but Resistances are still paramount for survival.

Weapon sockets should be used for increasing Physical Damage.

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Campaign Buffs

• Valley of the Titans Altar (Act 2)
  • 30% increased charm charges gained. This can be swapped later.
• Venom Draught (Act 3)
  • The Venom Draught selection should be made based on what you plan on playing for endgame. Mana Regeneration is nice, but not all builds use Mana and it could be wasted.
• Halls of the Dead (Act 4)
  • Largely up to the player, these are permanent. Our suggestion is to take the elemental resistance for all three.
• Qimah (Interlude 2: The Stolen Barya)
  • 15% Global Defenses. This can be swapped later.

For more details, check the guide on Campaign Difficulties and Permanent Stat Bonuses.

Flasks and Charms

While leveling, you will find several flasks and Charms. Upgrade your flasks as you go along, and if you fail to find flask upgrades, check vendors to buy them with gold.

Modifiers to look for on your flasks and charms:

• Health and Mana Flasks
  • Prefix: Increased Amount Recovered
  • Suffix: # Charges gained per second
• Charm
  • Staunching Charm
  • Stone Charm.

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Changelog

December 10th, 2025: Prepped for Patch 0.4 The Last of the Druids.
October 4th, 2025: Altered the leveling experience to account for SSF. Avatar of Fire removed in favor of more general increases to damage. Build now operates entirely without help of leveling Uniques.
September 8th, 2025: Guide created for Path of Exile II Patch 0.3.