Path of Exile Slams Berserker

The Slams Berserker build in Path of Exile, also known as the Earthshatter Berserker Slams build, is all about using the Earthshatter slam as the main attack. The core idea is to use Earthshatter, spawn fissures, and then trigger spike explosions through exerted attacks and warcries. It is very effective for mapping and bosses and is suitable for both hardcore and SSF players as it offers a balance of offense, defense, and mobility.

PoE Slams Berserker Key Takeaways:

• The Earthshatter Berserker Slams is about slamming the ground to create fissures and spikes that detonate through warcries and exerted attacks, dealing massive physical burst damage.
• An easy-to-understand, melee build that combines warcry management, two-handed weapon power, and solid defenses.
• Fast mapping, strong boss damage, and beginner-friendly mechanics make it one of the most accessible league starters for Marauder.

PoE Currency

Get any currency you want in a just a couple of clicks!

Buy Now

4.9

PoE Slams Berserker Build Overview

PoE Slams Berserker is a melee build that is easy to pick up, fast for clearing maps, and still strong enough for bosses. The combination of warcries and exert mechanics makes the damage feel explosive and satisfying, while the build also has enough defense to survive most encounters if you keep an eye on positioning.

Slams Berserker is especially beginner-friendly, making it a great choice for hardcore or SSF players who want an effective melee build without a complicated rotation. Alternatively, if you want to try out another Marauder Build, our team is always ready to help you with that as well.

PoE Slams Berserker Build Pros and Cons

One of the biggest strengths of PoE Slams Berserker is how simple and easy it is to pick up. You get fast mapping and solid burst damage with Earthshatter, all while staying reasonably tanky. We recommend it as a great starter for hardcore characters because it balances damage and survivability so well early on.

On the flip side, mana can be a bit tricky to manage in the early maps, and if you go far into the endgame with a high budget, other builds might start to outpace it. Since it’s melee-focused, you also need to pay attention to positioning to avoid taking unnecessary damage from reflect or dangerous map mods. Here are the pros and cons of the Slams Berserker build in Path of Exile:

If you want to overcome the downside of tricky mana management, you can get Leveling Gear that will help you overcome these limitations. Our services will obtain the gear you need in the shortest time possible.

Slams Berserker Build Mechanics

Path of Exile Slams Berserker build is all about smashing the ground and letting the chaos do the work. As a PoE Berserker with this build, you will be using Earthshatter as your main attack, creating fissures that spawn spikes, which then detonate through exerted attacks and warcries.

Here are the key mechanics you should know about for the PoE Slams Berserker build:

• Spell Suppression: This mechanic can be very helpful for Slams Berserker build, but capping it requires extremely high-end hybrid armor/evasion gear. You will need Tier 1 suppression rolls on every item, small cluster jewels, and possibly a suppression anoint. This setup is very expensive and unrealistic for most players, so it’s not recommended early on. Don’t rush suppression cap, and only go for it when the rest of the build is done.
• Mana Management: Use an Enduring Mana Flask until you get a mana leech jewel and at least one Elreon craft. These are mandatory once you start mapping; otherwise, run one fewer automatic Warcry. With two Elreon crafts, all Warcries become free, letting you drop Lifetap from your Earthshatter supports.
• Warcry Management: Your Warcries trigger Earthshatter spikes, so stagger their gem quality to control timing (e.g., Intimidating Cry at 20%, Seismic Cry at 19%, etc.). Always get 20% quality on Earthshatter before starting maps.
• Endurance Charge Sustain: Early on, rely on Endurance Charge on Kill and manually cast Enduring Cry on bosses if you have an open socket. In the endgame, aim for an Endurance Charge implicit on your chest using a Grand+ Ember so your charges stay maxed at all times (avoid maps that remove charges).
  Keep an eye on Endurance Charge duration, and consider taking the small node near Devotion for extra uptime. You can also weapon swap to Redblade Banner with Enduring Cry before encounters to start with maximum charges and skip ramp time.

PoE Slams Berserker Build Ascendancy

If you decide to use the Berserker ascendancy, the recommended order for points is Crave the Slaughter first, followed by Aspect of Carnage, then Rite of Ruin, and finally War Bringer. This setup helps you maximize the build’s damage and synergy with warcries and exert mechanics. So, you should go for this Ascendancy order:

1. Crave the Slaughter: Each point of Rage grants additional attack speed and delays the start of natural Rage decay. The attack speed bonus scales with Rage effect modifiers.
2. Aspect of Carnage: Massively increases your damage but also causes you to take more damage from all sources.
3. Rite of Ruin: Increases Rage effect but causes Life loss per second for each point of Rage while Rage isn’t being consumed. The loss is not considered damage and cannot be mitigated.
4. War Bringer: Doubles the number of exerted attacks provided by your Warcries.

If you struggle with this build early on, when you don’t yet have passives available, our Power Leveling service can help you skip the early game tedium.

Passive Tree for Slams Berserker Build

Slams Berserker passive tree focuses on increasing life, physical damage, and two-handed weapon damage. The most important keystones are Resolute Technique, ensuring attacks never miss at the cost of crits, and passives that generate and consume Rage through warcries. Slams Berserker build also incorporates nodes enhancing melee area damage, rare and unique damage, and other warcry/cry mechanics. Here you can find a PoB Link for each stage of the build.

If you want to check out links for passive trees you should use during each stage of your gameplay, you can find them here:

Early Game Passive Tree

Early Game Slams Berserker Passive Tree

Midgame Passive Tree

Midgame Slams Berserker Passive Tree

Endgame Passive Tree

Endgame Slams Berserker Passive Tree

PoE Slams Berserker Keystone Passives

Here are the Keystone passives you should look out for when building an endgame Slams Berserker in PoE:

1. Resolute Technique: Your hits can’t be evaded. Never deal Critical Strikes.
2. Eternal Youth: 50% less Life Regeneration Rate, 50% less maximum Total Life Recovery per Second from Leech Energy Shield Recharge instead applies to Life.
3. Divine Shield: Cannot Recover Energy Shield to above Armour 3% of Physical Damage prevented from Hits Recently is Regenerated as Energy Shield per second.

Slams Berserker Mastery Passives

Here you can take a look at the list of the Mastery passives that suit Slams Berserker playstyle the best:

• Rage Mastery (2): +7 to Maximum Rage, Inherent loss of Rage is 20% faster, Warcries grant 1 Rage per 5 Enemy Power, up to 5.
• Armour Mastery (1): +1% to all maximum Elemental Resistances if Equipped Helmet, Body Armour, Gloves, and Boots all have Armour.
• Warcry Mastery (1): Warcries have a minimum of 10 Power.
• Life Mastery (1): 15% increased maximum Life if there are no Life Modifiers on Equipped Body Armour.
• Mana Mastery (1): 12% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills.
• Two Hand Mastery (1): 40% increased Damage with Hits against Rare and Unique Enemies.
• Leech Mastery (1): 5% of Leech is Instant.

PoE Slams Berserker Gems

The Slams Berserker Build in PoE uses Earthshatter as the primary damage-dealing skill. This two-handed slam generates fissures and spike explosions, which are triggered by exerted attacks. Pulverise is also a viable melee option for additional physical damage. Exerted attacks are supported by Overexertion Support, which also acts as a warcry that helps trigger exert mechanics automatically.

Gem Setup for Leveling (Levels 1 to 20)

Here we have prepared a list of PoE Slams Berserker gems that you should prioritize during the early game and leveling:

• Ground Slam: Slams the ground in front of you, creating a wave that travels forward and damages enemies with an increased chance to stun. The wave deals more damage to closer enemies.
• Ruthless: Supports melee strike or slam skills. Every third time you use a supported attack, that use of the skill will be more powerful.
• Chance to Bleed: Supported Attacks have a 25% chance to cause Bleeding and deal (10-29)% more Damage with Bleeding
• Frost Blink: Teleport to a location, damaging enemies and leaving Chilled ground in an area at both ends of the teleport. Shares a cooldown with other Blink skills.
• Decoy Totem: Summons a totem that taunts nearby monsters to attack it.
• Blood and Sand: Casts a buff that grants different bonuses to melee skills depending on your stance. Using the skill again alternates between Blood Stance and Sand Stance.
• Leap Slam: Jump through the air, damaging and knocking back enemies with your weapon where you land. Enemies you would land on are pushed out of the way.
• Faster Attacks: Supported Skills have (20-44)% increased Attack Speed
• Intimidating Cry: Performs a warcry, taunting nearby enemies to attack the user and exerting subsequent attacks. The user and nearby allies gain a buff that grants movement speed.
• Shield Charge: Charges at a targeted location or enemy, pushing away enemies in your path and repeatedly dealing off-hand damage in a small area in front of you. You deal damage in a larger area when you reach the target. The further you travel, the more damage you deal, and the greater your chance of stunning enemies.
• Momentum: Gain 1 Momentum when you use or channel a Supported Skill.
  Lose all Momentum if you move. Supported Skills have (15-20)% increased Attack Speed per Momentum. When you reach (3-5) Momentum, lose all Momentum and gain Swiftness for 1.5 seconds. Swiftness grants 15% increased Movement Speed per Momentum lost.

Midgame Gem Setup

After you progress to the midpoint of the game, these gems should become a priority for Slams Berserker build:

• Earthshatter: Slam the ground, sending out rectangular fissures that deal area damage to enemies and thrust a spike from the ground when they end. Warcries or other Slam Attacks performed by you or allied players near any spike will cause them to shatter, damaging surrounding enemies.
• Pulverise: Supported Skills have (25-34)% increased Area of Effect, 15% less Attack Speed, but deal (35-49)% more Melee Area Damage
• Overexertion: Supports melee attack skills, which can be exerted. Cannot modify the skills of minions. Vaal skills and channelling skills cannot be exerted.
• Melee Physical Damage: Supported Skills deal (30-49)% more Melee Physical Damage, 30-49% more damage with Bleeding and Poison caused by Melee Hits, but have 10% less Attack Speed.
• Brutality: Supported Skills deal (25-39)% more Physical Damage, but deal no Chaos or Elemental Damage.
• Fist of War: Supports slam skills, providing a powerful boost when they’re used, with a delay before they can be boosted again. Cannot support Vaal skills or triggered skills. Cannot modify the skills of minions. Only skills you use yourself can receive the boost.
• Autoexertion: Reserves mana based on the supported warcries to cause those warcries to be repeatedly triggered.
• General’s Cry: Performs a warcry, taunting nearby enemies to attack the user, and summoning Mirage Warriors from nearby corpses. The Mirage Warriors each use a linked attack skill once before dissipating.
• Intimidating Cry: Performs a warcry, taunting nearby enemies to attack the user and exerting subsequent attacks. The user and nearby allies gain a buff that grants movement speed.
• Rallying Cry: Performs a warcry, taunting nearby enemies to attack the user and exerting subsequent attacks. Nearby allies gain a buff based on the damage of your weapon.
• Leap Slam.
• Faster Attacks.
• Infernal Cry: Performs a warcry, taunting nearby enemies to attack the user and exerting subsequent attacks. The user and nearby allies gain a buff that grants a portion of their physical damage as extra fire damage. In addition to being taunted, enemies are inflicted with a secondary debuff, causing them to explode when they die, dealing fire damage in an area.
• Seismic Cry: Performs a warcry, taunting nearby enemies to attack the user and exerting subsequent slam attacks. The user and nearby allies gain a buff that increases their armour and stun threshold.
• Battlemage’s Cry: Performs a warcry, taunting nearby enemies to attack the user and exerting subsequent attacks. The user and nearby allies gain a buff that boosts critical strike chance.
• Vulnerability: Curse all targets in an area, causing them to take increased physical damage. Attacks against the cursed enemies have a chance to inflict bleeding.
• Frostblink.
• Vaal Molten Shell: Applies a buff that raises your armour, and takes some of the damage from hits for you before being depleted. Each second, the skill deals reflected damage to surrounding enemies based on the damage taken by the buff in that second. When the buff is removed, the skill deals reflected damage to enemies around you based on the total damage that was taken by the buff. You cannot have the buff at the same time as any other Guard skill.
• Cast when Damage Taken: Each supported spell skill will track damage you take and be triggered when the total damage taken reaches a threshold. Cannot support skills used by totems, traps, or mines. Vaal skills, channelling skills, and skills with a reservation cannot be triggered.
• Blood Rage: Adds a buff that deals Physical Damage over time, while increasing Attack Speed and Life Leech. Killing an enemy while this buff is active refreshes the buff duration and can grant a Frenzy Charge.
• Herald of Purity: Grants a buff that lets you deal more physical damage. When you kill an enemy while you have this buff, this skill will summon a Sentinel of Purity, or refresh the duration and life of an existing one instead if you have the maximum number of them. The Sentinels of Purity have a single-target melee attack and an area melee attack.

Endgame Gem Setup

Here is a full list of endgame gem skills that you should go for if you are going with the Path of Exile Slams Earthshatter Berserker build:

• Pulverise.
• Overexertion.
• Fortify: Melee Hits from Supported Skills deal (10-19)% more Damage with Ailments caused by Melee Hits, as well as (10-19)% more Melee Damage.
• Awakened Melee Physical Damage: Supported Skills deal (50-54)% more Melee Physical Damage, (50-54)% more Damage with Bleeding and Poison caused by Melee Hits, have a (0-10)% chance to Intimidate Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit, but have 10% less Attack Speed.
• Awakened Brutality: Supported Skills deal (40-44)% more Physical Damage, but no Chaos Damage. They have a (0-10)% chance to Crush Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit, but deal no Elemental Damage.
• Leap Slam.
• Faster Attacks.
• Autoexertion.
• General’s Cry.
• Frostblink.
• Rallying Cry.
• Urgent Orders: Supported Skills have (50-69)% increased Warcry Speed.
• Infernal Cry.
• Seismic Cry.
• Battlemage’s Cry.
• Intimidating Cry.
• Vulnerability: Curse all targets in an area, causing them to take increased physical damage. Attacks against the cursed enemies have a chance to inflict bleeding.
• Vaal Molten Shell.
• Cast when Damage Taken.
• Blood Rage.
• Herald of Purity.

PoE Slams Berserker Skill Rotation

Slams Berserker rotation starts with activating Blood Rage for offensive buffs, followed by using Leap Slam to engage in a fight. You should keep warcries active, such as Rallying Cry, to maintain exerted attacks. Then, Earthshatter should be spammed to maximize fissure and spike explosions. For bosses or difficult fights in general, you should use Enduring Cry to generate endurance charges if gear does not provide sufficient defensive bonuses. Positioning is also important to ensure fissures have space to spawn and detonate efficiently. In short, your Earthshatter Berserker rotation should look like this:

1. Blood Rage.
2. Leap Slam.
3. Rallying Cry.
4. Earthshatter as long as you have exerts.
5. Enduring Cry (if survivability is needed).

Your warcries trigger the Earthshatter spikes, so it’s a good idea to stagger their quality—for example, you might have Intimidating Cry at 20% quality and Seismic Cry at 19%, and so on. Before you start mapping, make sure your Earthshatter itself is at 20% quality to get the most out of your damage. If you need more help in learning how to play this build, we offer Coaching Services as well.

PoE Slams Berserker Gear

Choosing the right gear is key to staying alive and hitting hard with Earthshatter Berserker Slams build. Your two-handed weapon is the most important piece—it needs high physical damage and decent attack speed to make your Earthshatter hits feel powerful.

Leveling Gear

You might not have access to the gear required later when starting out, so this basic kit should do the trick until later in the game.

Midgame Gear

This set of gear is similar to what Slams Berserker players will use in the endgame, but items are easier to come by.

Endgame Gear

The helmet, Echoes of Creation, is incredibly strong, but don’t put it on until your defenses are solid, or it can actually kill you from self-damage. For armor, focus on pieces that give plenty of life, armor, and resistances. Gloves, boots, and other accessories should boost life, resistances, movement speed, and melee damage. Flasks are a must; life flasks are especially important.

PoE Slams Berserker Stat Priority

When it comes to stats, the most important things to focus on are maximum life and elemental resistances. Armour and physical damage reduction come next, helping you survive tougher hits, while chaos resistance and maximizing elemental resistances further improve your defenses.

Attributes like Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence matter for meeting gear and skill requirements. Life regeneration can help you stay topped up between fights and when you use the helmet. Here is how your overall stat priority on items should look:

1. Maximum Life.
2. Elemental Resistances.
3. Armour.
4. Physical Damage Reduction.
5. Chaos Resistance.
6. Maximum Elemental Resistances.
7. Attributes.
8. Life Regeneration.
9. Mana Reservation Efficiency.
10. Reduced Mana Cost of Skills.
11. Attack Speed.

You can check out our Marauder Build Kits to pick up some gear if you need to compensate for the lack of stats.

The Best Slams Berserker Flasks

When it comes to choosing flasks for Slams Berserker in PoE, we would recommend the following set:

• Flagellant’s Granite Flask of the Armadillo: Gain 3 Charges when you are hit by an Enemy. 58% increased Armour during the effect.
• Flagellant’s Ruby Flask: Gain 3 Charges when you are hit by an Enemy.
• Flagellant’s Topaz Flask of the Owl: Regenerate 3% of Life per second during the effect.
• Flagellant’s Sapphire Flask of the Cheetah: Gain 3 Charges when you are hit by an Enemy. 14% Increased movement speed during the effect.
• Bubbling Divine Flask of Alleviation: 36% reduced amount of Life recovered. 135% increased recovery rate. 50% of the recovery applied instantly. Grants immunity to Bleeding for 11 seconds if used while Bleeding. Grants immunity to Corrupted Blood for 11 seconds if used when affected by Corrupted Blood.

Pantheon and Bandits

Here we have prepared the best pantheon options for Slams Bersker build in PoE:

When it comes to bandits, either kill all of them for an extra Passive Skill Point, or help Alira in the early game and then respec as you approach the endgame. Alira’s ability gives some extra base resistances, which will be helpful to survive the early game, but becomes less important as you progress with your build.

PoE Slams Berserker Tips

The Earthshatter Berserker comes with some quirks that you need to keep in mind if you plan to go for it. You have to learn how to manage self-damage and keep your warcries active at all times. Here we have compiled some tips that will help you stay alive and make the most of your damage.

• Be careful with the helmet: Don’t equip Echoes of Creation until your damage suppression is high. Without proper defense, it can kill you with self-damage.
• Damage suppression is expensive: Reaching the suppression cap requires some of the best armor and high-tier items. Do not rush this early and just focus on solid defenses first.
• Learn how to manage your mana: Use an Enduring Mana Flask until you have a mana leech jewel.

PoE Slams Berserker FAQ

The Earthshatter Berserker is a strong and beginner-friendly build, but it comes with a few quirks. In this FAQ, we will address some of the most common questions to help you get started.

Is Slams Berserker Build Good for Hardcore or SSF in PoE?

Yes. It’s beginner-friendly and fast for mapping, which makes it a good pick for Hardcore or Solo Self-Found players.

How to Manage Slams Berserker Mana in PoE?

Use an Enduring Mana Flask until you can get a mana leech jewel.

What to Prioritize in Maps as Slams Berserker in PoE?

Focus on maps that don’t heavily punish melee. High monster density is great for proccing fissures and spikes. Avoid maps with excessive elemental reflect or chaos damage unless your defenses are strong.

PoE Boss Services

Kill any PoE Boss as many times as you need without stress!

Buy Now

4.9

The Earthshatter Berserker is an easy-to-play melee build that is relatively easy to pick up. Once you have your gear and defenses in place, managing warcries, endurance charges, and positioning becomes easier. This build is a great option for beginners, Hardcore, or SSF players who want a high-damage, reliable melee character without complicated mechanics.