Path of Exile Top 7 Melee Builds
1. Molten Strike of the Zenith Champion (Duelist)
The best melee build on the list goes to the Molten Strike of Zenith Champion which has amazing damage potential.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 10/10
Build Guide
The Molten Strike of Zenith Champion can invert enemies' resistances with the recommended Rakiata's Dance weapon which gives it a significant edge on boss fights while still maintaining excellent clearing damage. Molten Strike of Zenith also has a wide spread area of effect attack with its projectiles which can trigger off of multiple enemies. If you would like to try the top rated build on our list you can find a guide for it here Molten Strike of Zenith Champion Guide.
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2. Boneshatter Slayer (Duelist)
The second place melee build on the list goes to the Boneshatter Slayer which has very high single target damage.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 9/10 Damage: 10/10 Safety: 10/10 Bosses: 9/10
Build Guide
The Boneshatter Slayer has a quick stacking damage buff that increases your damage and gives very high single target damage. Boneshatter also triggers an area of effect pulse whenever an enemy is stunned which makes it great for clearing groups of enemies. If you would like to try this build out you can find a guide for it here Boneshatter Slayer Guide.
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3. Shockwave Cyclone Slayer (Duelist)
The Shockwave Cyclone Slayer is a strong build both offensively and defensively and has great mobility.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 10/10 Bosses: 9/10
Build Guide
The Shockwave Cyclone Slayer is one of the strongest starter builds in the game and really starts to shine in the endgame once you have a strong staff. You will have Fortification to reduce melee damage taken, high block using a staff, and kill enemies with 20% of their life remaining with your ascendancy. Impale Cyclone Champion was omitted from this list because this build is a slightly stronger physical Cyclone build. If you are interested in trying out the Shockwave Cyclone Slayer build you can find a guide for the build here Shockwave Cyclone Slayer Guide.
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4. Rage Vortex of Berserking Cyclone Berserker (Marauder)
The Rage Vortex of Berserking Cyclone Berserker is a new Cyclone build that deals great damage on a budget.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 8/10
Build Guide
With this build you will generate a Ragestorm from the Rage Vortex of Berserking gem that drains your Rage while it is active. Fortunately you have an ascendancy that gives maximum Rage with the recommended unique Redblade Banner shield which gives warcries infinite power. This build is inexpensive to build and uses a low to middle cost one handed Paradoxica unique sword and the unique Redblade Banner shield and still does very high damage. If you would like to try out this build a guide for the build can be found here Rage Vortex of Berserking Cyclone Berserker Guide.
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5. Impale Flicker Strike Champion (Duelist)
The Impale Flicker Strike Champion excels at delve and heists and is the best melee build for speed farming.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 9/10
Build Guide
Flicker Strike teleports from pack to pack making it excellent at speed farming. The Impale Flicker Strike Champion is recommended because it has better defenses than the Cold Flicker Strike Raider and the Oro's Flicker Strike Raider while also dishing out some really great damage with a physical weapon. If you would like to try out the Impale Flicker Strike Champion you can find a guide for the build here Impale Flicker Strike Champion Guide.
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6. Cast on Crit Ice Spear Cyclone Inquisitor (Templar)
Ice Spear received a huge buff last season with the addition of Ice Spear of Splintering and moved up to sixth place.
Mapping: 9/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 8/10
Build Guide
The CoC Ice Spear Cyclone Inquisitor received a major buff last season with the addition of Ice Spear of Splintering making it one of the strongest clearing skills in the game. Ice Spear lost its 600% critical strike chance increase which was redundant for a cast on critical strike build, greatly increased the damage of Ice Spear, and now splits into multiple projectiles that target nearby enemies. Ice Spear also has solid single target damage. If you are interested in trying out the CoC Ice Spear Cyclone Inquisitor you can find a guide for it here CoC Ice Spear Cyclone Inquisitor Guide.
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7. Armour Stacking Smite Champion (Duelist)
This build is capable of excellent damage and has an extremely high amount of armour to help with survival.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 9/10 Heist: 8/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 10/10 Bosses: 8/10
Build Guide
The Armour Stacking Smite Champion uses Doryani's Prototype to give enemies your extremely low lightning resistances and makes armour mitigate your lightning damage taken. This build uses two build enabling Replica Dreamfeather weapons to greatly increase your attack damage with increases to your armour. If you would like to try out the Armour Stacking Smite Champion build a guide for it can be found here Armour Stacking Smite Champion Guide.
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HM. CoC Forbidden Rite Cyclone Occultist (Witch)
This build is extremely strong once you invest a very large amount of currency into it and takes the honorable mention.
Mapping: 9/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 8/10
Build Guide
This build excels at clearing enemies with the Profane Bloom ascendancy which makes enemies explode and deal a large amount of chaos damage to nearby enemies but also has middle of the road single target damage. This build is expensive to optimize but is excellent once you have 100% critical strike chance with Power charges, very high attack speed, and high increased spell damage. If you are interested in trying out the CoC Forbidden Rite Cyclone Occultist build you can find a guide for it here CoC Forbidden Rite Cyclone Occultist Guide.
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That's all for the Top 7 Melee Builds! For more on Path of Exile you can view the endgame guide here Endgame Guide.
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