S-TIER | BUILD GUERRIER SHIELDWALL SMITH KITAVA (@lundburgerr) | SAISON 5

Build Video

Build Overview

The Warrior Shield Wall with the Smith of Kitava ascendancy is probably the best league starter of Path of Exile 2 patch 0.5. This combination already dominated the leaderboards in 0.2 and at the start of 0.4, and with the crafting changes in the current patch, the gap with other builds has widened even further: Shield Wall works extremely well with very basic gear, while other archetypes struggle to get a decent weapon quickly.

The secret of this build is Smith of Kitava. As soon as you unlock your first ascend and switch to Shield Wall at Level 22, you become literally tanky to the point of near-immortality, with resistances and defenses that are almost free. This frees up your gear slots to stack rarity from the very first maps and farm your first fortune without needing to invest in defense. For the campaign phase, we level on the Rolling Slam + Bone Shatter combo (with an animation cancel rotation to master), then switch to Shield Wall once we pick up the Level 7 gem from Sarka in Act 2.

On the patch 0.5 side, the big news is that Fortifying Cry no longer shotguns: you lose up to 30% single target damage in the worst case after Act 3. But Shield Wall was already obliterating bosses in 0.4 with very little investment, so the nerf remains very manageable. In endgame, the arrival of Kaoms Madness and Ahns Citadel transforms the mechanic: walls now form along cracks in front of you, and when you detonate them, the entire pack ahead disappears. In short, this is the build to play for the first week of the season, while waiting for the community to discover exotic optimizations after patch 0.15.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Skill Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 8 progression steps from leveling to the final build. Select a step to see the corresponding gem setup.

Act 1 Rolling slam/Boneshatter Act 2 Before lvl 22 Rolling slam/Boneshatter Act 2 Shield Wall Transition Act 3 Act 4 Interludes Cartes Giga Endgame

Acte 1 – Rolling slam/Boneshatter

7 skills • 15 gemmes

Brise-osBoneshatter

Zone concentréeConcentrated Area

Fracas déferlantRolling Slam

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Intervalle stratégique IWindow of Opportunity I

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Acte 2 Before lvl 22 – Rolling slam/Boneshatter

7 skills • 16 gemmes

Fracas déferlantRolling Slam

Brise-osBoneshatter

Bombe de givreFrost Bomb

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Intervalle stratégique IWindow of Opportunity I

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Totem sismiqueShockwave Totem

Acte 2 – Shield Wall Transition

7 skills • 19 gemmes

Mur de boucliersShield Wall

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Marque glacialeFreezing Mark

Totem sismiqueShockwave Totem

Bond percutantLeap Slam

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Charge au bouclierShield Charge

Act 3

10 skills • 28 gemmes

Cri fortifiantFortifying Cry

Mur de boucliersShield Wall

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

Totem sismiqueShockwave Totem

Attrition

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Marque glacialeFreezing Mark

Charge au bouclierShield Charge

Bond percutantLeap Slam

Act 4

9 skills • 27 gemmes

Cri fortifiantFortifying Cry

Mur de boucliersShield Wall

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

Totem sismiqueShockwave Totem

Attrition

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Charge au bouclierShield Charge

Bond percutantLeap Slam

Interludes

9 skills • 32 gemmes

Cri fortifiantFortifying Cry

Mur de boucliersShield Wall

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Totem sismiqueShockwave Totem

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

Attrition

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Bond percutantLeap Slam

Charge au bouclierShield Charge

Cartes

9 skills • 34 gemmes

Cri fortifiantFortifying Cry

Mur de boucliersShield Wall

Armure de récupérationScavenged Plating

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Totem sismiqueShockwave Totem

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

Attrition

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Charge au bouclierShield Charge

Giga Endgame

9 skills • 38 gemmes

Cri fortifiantFortifying Cry

Mur de boucliersShield Wall

Armure de récupérationScavenged Plating

Héraut de la cendreHerald of Ash

Totem sismiqueShockwave Totem

Déferlement telluriqueSunder

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Charge au bouclierShield Charge

Berserk

Recommended Equipment

One of the great strengths of the build is that Smith of Kitava gives you defenses and resistances almost for free, freeing up your slots to stack offensive stats and rarity very early. You can literally start maps with simple equipment and progress painlessly.

• Weapons & shield : focus on bases suited to Shield Wall and Bone Shatter. No need to hunt for perfect weapons at the start of the season, the 0.5 crafting changes barely affect Shield Wall.
• Kaom’s Madness (core support mid-endgame) : this is what transforms the Shield Wall mechanic and causes walls to appear along fissures in front of you.
• Ahn’s Citadel : combined with Kaom’s Madness, completes the endgame rotation. When you detonate the walls, everything in front of you is annihilated.
• Uul-Netol’s Embrace : complementary support in deep endgame to further push burst damage.
• Thrillsteel : target this as soon as you hit the first maps to get permanent Onslaught, which boosts your clear speed.
• Stat priority : stack rarity very early, Smith of Kitava allows you to do so without breaking your defenses.
• Jewels : Rigwalds Ferocity and other targeted jewels in endgame, as indicated in the Mobalytics builder.

Gameplay Tips

• Act 1 — Rolling Slam + Bone Shatter: use only the first slam of Rolling Slam (the one with stun buildup), then animation-cancel into Bone Shatter. You can also pivot mid-movement (full 180°) to hit a large pack from an angle, especially against ranged mobs.
• Act 1 (Level 14) — Perfect Strike: a high-timing skill. Well-timed = massive damage, mistimed = nothing. If you’re not feeling it, keep Mace Strike instead.
• Act 2 — Traders Passage: skip Balbala (very hard to kill with Perfect Strike), grab the free barrier from the Shard. Do the trial once you have Shield Wall in hand — it’s much easier.
• Act 2 — Gem pickups: after Jamanrah, grab Sarka’s Level 7 gem for Shield Wall. Go to Mausoleum Badlands first, then the Cath area to guarantee a second Level 7 gem (from Cath’s snake boss) which you’ll socket into Freezing Mark.
• Act 2 — Level 22 = swap: respec into Shield Wall, add Infernal Cry and Shield Charge to break your walls and clear packs.
• Act 3+ — Boss rotation: mark the boss as long as you don’t have armor break from other sources (Mark for Death + Mark of Siphoning for armor break and life/mana leech), summon a Shockwave Totem, fire off your war cries, then spam Shield Wall. Sunder is an additional option once armor is broken.
• Maps — War cries are mandatory: your attacks should always be empowered by Fortifying Cry or Infernal Cry, ideally both. Since Fortifying Cry no longer shotguns, you can freely alternate between the two.
• Maps — Stack rarity now: Smith of Kitava lets you stack rarity very early without any downside. Also buy Thrillsteel for permanent Onslaught.

The Rolling Slam + Bone Shatter Combo in Act 1

Many players struggle with this rotation at the start of the campaign, yet it becomes extremely satisfying once mastered. Rolling Slam actually has two slams: the first with a large stun buildup, the second with increased damage against stunned enemies. But you only want the first slam, because it’s Bone Shatter that delivers the real damage afterward.

The technique is to animation-cancel: click Bone Shatter as soon as you see the end of the first slam, interrupting the animation and directly triggering the Bone Shatter burst on the stunned enemies. Patch 0.5 slightly buffed the attack speed of Rolling Slam, so the combo feels even smoother. Another tip: you can steer Rolling Slam mid-movement and perform a full 180° turn — useful for hitting a pack from an angle, especially against ranged mobs.

Smith of Kitava: The Borderline Immortal Tank

The Smith of Kitava ascendancy is what makes this build so dominant at the start of the season. Most classes need to invest heavily in defense to survive in maps: armor, resistances, max life, etc. Smith of Kitava, on the other hand, gives you defenses AND resistances almost for free through its ascendancy tree, which means you can free up your gear slots and passive tree nodes for other things.

Concretely, the moment you unlock Shield Wall at Level 22 and complete your first ascend, you become borderline immortal. You can push into content fearlessly, and above all, you can stack item rarity very early — something no other ascendancy can do as quickly. It is precisely this property that makes Smith of Kitava + Shield Wall the ideal combo for farming your first fortune at the start of a season.

The Transition to Shield Wall (Act 2)

The shift from the Rolling Slam/Bone Shatter combo to Shield Wall begins as early as Act 2. First step: skip Balbala in Traders Passage. She is very difficult to kill with Perfect Strike, and you don’t need to fight her. Your free Shard barrier lets you move on, and you can do the trial later, once Shield Wall is equipped, under much easier conditions.

After killing Jamanrah for the first time, you receive from Sarka a Level 7 skill gem, which you immediately place on Shield Wall. Then, route through Mausoleum Badlands first, then the Cath area: this guarantees a second Level 7 gem dropped by the Cath snake boss, which goes on Freezing Mark. You then support this mark with Mark for Death and Mark of Siphoning to get armor break and life/mana leech on bosses. At Level 22, you respec into Shield Wall, you add Infernal Cry and Shield Charge to shatter your own walls while clearing, and the transition is complete.

The Endgame Step with Kaom’s Madness and Ahn’s Citadel

This is the moment where the build literally changes its core mechanic. Kaom’s Madness is the central support: combined with Ahn’s Citadel (and Uul-Netols Embrace in deep endgame), it makes your Shield Wall walls now spawn along cracks that appear in front of you, instead of forming classically around you. And when you detonate those walls with Infernal Cry or Shield Charge, everything in front of you is instantly annihilated.

Visually it’s incredibly satisfying, and mechanically it’s what transforms Shield Wall into a full endgame build capable of tackling all content. You can comfortably farm all Maps, and it’s with this setup that you’ll be able to farm your first serious wealth of the season. Keep in mind, however, that the build will eventually be out-scaled by more exotic configurations the community will discover after patch 0.15 — so Shield Wall remains ideal for the first week, or even the first two, after which you may want to swap.

Adapting to the Fortifying Cry Nerf in 0.5

Patch 0.5 brought a significant change: Fortifying Cry no longer shotguns. In practice, after Act 3, you can end up with up to 30% less damage on single target in the worst case. Before 0.5, we absolutely wanted to stack Fortifying Cry to maximize boss burst. Now, the priority shifts.

The new logic: you no longer need to prioritize Fortifying Cry. You can use any of the war cries (Fortifying Cry OR Infernal Cry), as long as your attacks remain always inspired by at least one of them — ideally both. You alternate freely, which simplifies your rotation. And even with this nerf, Shield Wall was already obliterating bosses in 0.4 with very little investment, so you’ll be just fine at the start of the season.

Skill Tree