PoE Dominating Blow Build 3.25 – Path of Exile: Settlers of Kalguur

The Dominating Blow build in Path of Exile is a powerful and unique melee setup that combines direct attacks with summoning minions. This build leverages the power of the Dominating Blow skill to dominate the battlefield by turning slain enemies into powerful Sentinels of Dominance. This guide will provide a comprehensive overview of how to optimize a Dominating Blow build in the 3.25 patch, ensuring you maximize your damage output, minion effectiveness, and overall survivability.

Key Features of Dominating Blow

Dominating Blow (Level 20):

• Attack, Minion, Duration, Melee, Strike: Dominating Blow is a melee attack that applies a debuff to enemies. When a non-unique enemy dies while affected by the debuff, a Sentinel of Dominance is summoned from the corpse.
• Mana Cost: 10 mana.
• Attack Damage: 458.7% of base.
• Effectiveness of Added Damage: 458%.
• Requirements: Requires Level 70, 98 Strength, 68 Intelligence.
• Duration Mechanics:
  • Base debuff duration is 1.00 second.
  • Base secondary duration for Sentinels is 20.00 seconds.
• Minion Mechanics:
  • Minions have 40% increased cooldown recovery rate.
  • Maximum 9 Summoned Normal Sentinels of Dominance.
  • Maximum 3 Summoned Magic Sentinels of Dominance.
  • Maximum 1 Summoned Rare Sentinel of Dominance.
  • 25% chance to summon a Normal Sentinel of Dominance on hitting a unique monster.

Building Around Dominating Blow

1. Weapon Choice:

• High Physical Damage Weapons: Prioritize weapons with high base physical damage, attack speed, and added physical damage to maximize your melee strikes and minion damage.

2. Passive Skill Tree:

• Focus on nodes that enhance melee damage, minion damage, attack speed, life, and physical damage mitigation. Specific clusters to prioritize include those near the Marauder, Duelist, and Templar start areas.
• Consider pathing to nodes that increase minion life, minion duration, and defensive attributes.

Ascendancy Choices

1. Guardian:

• Radiant Crusade: Provides increased damage and defense when you have at least five allies.
• Unwavering Crusade: Increases the effects of auras from your skills.
• Bastion of Hope: Grants a block chance when you or your allies are critically struck.
• Time of Need: Provides life regeneration and removes ailments every few seconds.

2. Necromancer:

• Commander of Darkness: Increases the effects of auras from your skills and grants increased damage and attack speed to you and your minions.
• Mistress of Sacrifice: Enhances minion life and provides additional defensive benefits.
• Mindless Aggression: Increases minion damage, attack speed, and movement speed.
• Unnatural Strength: Grants additional levels to all minion skills, boosting their effectiveness.

Support Gems

1. Main Skill Setup:

• Dominating Blow: Primary attack and summoning skill.
• Support Gems: Melee Physical Damage, Multistrike, Minion Damage, Ruthless, Feeding Frenzy, and Fortify.

2. Secondary Skill Setup:

• Ancestral Warchief: Totem skill to enhance melee damage.
• Support Gems: Multiple Totems, Melee Physical Damage, and Brutality.

3. Utility Skills:

• Leap Slam / Shield Charge: For mobility.
• Steelskin / Immortal Call: For defense.
• Flesh Offering: To boost minion attack and movement speed.
• Dread Banner / War Banner: Additional banners to provide various bonuses.

Armor and Accessories

1. Armor:

• Body Armor: Prioritize armor with high life, resistances, and physical damage reduction. Consider options like Belly of the Beast for increased life and resistances.
• Helmet, Gloves, and Boots: Look for items that boost melee damage, minion damage, life, and resistances. Consider using items with increased minion duration and defensive attributes.

2. Accessories:

• Amulet and Rings: Focus on items that enhance melee and minion damage, life, resistances, and critical strike chance. Look for mods that increase minion life and defensive attributes.
• Belt: A Stygian Vise with life, resistances, and increased physical damage is ideal.

Flask Setup

1. Life Flask:

• Instant Recovery: For emergency healing.

2. Utility Flasks:

• Granite Flask: For increased armor.
• Basalt Flask: For physical damage reduction.
• Quicksilver Flask: For increased movement speed.
• Jade Flask: For increased evasion.

Combat Strategy

1. Engaging Enemies:

• Use Dominating Blow to apply debuffs to enemies and summon Sentinels of Dominance upon their death. Maintain high uptime on your minions to maximize your damage and defensive capabilities.

2. Utilizing Ascendancy Passives:

• Leverage the Guardian or Necromancer passives to enhance your defenses and minion effectiveness. Use Guardian for increased aura effects and defensive support, and Necromancer for boosting minion damage and life.

3. Managing Buffs and Debuffs:

• Maintain high uptime on Flesh Offering and banners to enhance minion speed and damage.
• Use your flasks to boost damage, resistances, and survivability during combat.

Example Builds

1. Guardian Dominating Blow Build:

• Focus on aura effects and defensive support.
• Utilize Radiant Crusade and Unwavering Crusade to maximize aura effects.
• Use support gems that enhance melee and minion damage.

2. Necromancer Dominating Blow Build:

• Focus on minion damage and life.
• Utilize Commander of Darkness and Unnatural Strength to boost minion effectiveness.
• Use support gems that enhance minion damage and duration effects.

Conclusion

The Dominating Blow build for Path of Exile 3.25 offers a powerful and unique playstyle for players who enjoy combining melee combat with summoning minions. By focusing on maximizing melee and minion damage, attack speed, and defensive capabilities, players can effectively dominate both single-target and group encounters. Proper gear selection, passive skill tree planning, and strategic use of ascendancy passives will ensure that you unleash the full potential of this powerful skill. Equip your weapons, prepare your flasks, and command your army of Sentinels with the formidable power of Dominating Blow.