S-TIER | BUILD MERCENAIRE UNEARTH GEMLING LEGIONNAIRE (@GhazzyTV) | SAISON 5

Build Video

Build Overview

The Unearth Gemling Summoner is an explosive summoner build created by GhazzyTV (in collaboration with Mr. Lash) for Path of Exile 2 season 0.5. It revolves around Unearth, a spell that continuously summons a swarm of temporary minions that are extremely fast and ferociously aggressive. The result is a unique playstyle where it’s no longer you directing your minions, but your minions dragging you across the map: they rush at the nearest target, even off-screen, and by the time you catch up, everything is already dead and loot covers the floor.

The strength of this build lies in the Gemling Legionnaire ascendancy, one of the most technical in the Mercenary class. Thanks to the Adapted Capabilities node, your gems’ attribute requirements are satisfied by your highest attribute — so you stack strength massively while running Invocation gems that would normally demand heavy intelligence investment. On top of that, there is a strong focus on gem quality (which grants a bonus effect, here up to 102% additional minion attack speed) and the Virtuous Barrier system, which turns every fight into a stack of random defensive buffs.

In terms of results, the build ticks both boxes that matter: ultra-fast map clear and devastating single target that melts bosses. GhazzyTV has notably taken down the Arbiter of Ash and the Trinity fight with effortless ease. It’s a build that is simultaneously fast-paced, defensive (full armour/evasion) and deeply satisfying — one its author considers among his league favourites.

Strengths / Weaknesses

Skill Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 1 progression step from leveling to the final build. Select a step to see the corresponding skill gem setup.

Endgame

Endgame

15 skills • 53 gemmes

DilacérationShred

Pureté de la glacePurity of Ice

Offrande de douleurPain Offering

ExhumationUnearth

Déflagration d'ossementsBone Blast

BondissementPounce

Clercs squelettiquesSkeletal Cleric

Cri sismiqueSeismic Cry

Meute de loupsWolf Pack

Rage éternelleEternal Rage

SacrificeSacrifice

Virtuous BarrierVirtuous Barrier

BerserkBerserk

Cri infernalInfernal Cry

Armure arctiqueArctic Armour

Recommended Equipment

The equipment philosophy is straightforward: armour/evasion bases everywhere, maximum gem quality, and above all armour applied to elemental damage to turn your massive armour pool into versatile mitigation. Since attributes are largely covered by the tree, focus your affixes on life, resistances, and minion stats.

• Amulet: the centrepiece. Aim for a desecrated base (kurgle, via black blood omen + suffix omen), high spirit, and minion gem levels. No need to chase +4: a cheap +3 is enough to cap Unearth. On a very high budget, an Eternal Rage amulet provides passive rage regeneration.
• Sceptre: mana, « allies in your presence deal damage », spirit for more Skeletal Cleric, and a minion level suffix (+4 very cheap). Socket a prismatic idol for damage.
• Wand: Amanamu desecration (prefix omen) for the hybrid spell/minion damage prefix, mana, intelligence, and +5 physical gem levels (just a few exalteds). Socket the Hedge Witch’s Rune of Wisdom for an extra spell level.
• Body Armour: high spirit, armour/evasion base, armour applied to elemental damage. Socket a Fox Idol (bonded modifier → gem quality). A three-socket body armour lets you add Tecrod’s Gaze for life regeneration.
• Helmet: high hybrid armour/evasion, minion levels in place of the speed suffix, relic idol for reservation efficiency.
• Gloves: hybrid armour/evasion, life, resistances, armour applied to elemental damage.
• Boots: same base, plus movement speed.
• Belt: life and resistances; a « melee attacks splash » prefix is a nice bonus but not essential.
• Rings: life, resistances, and minion modifiers; an unset ring is ideal for gaining a gem socket and additional mods.
• Flask: a flask that grants life to minions, so you can use it even at full life to continuously generate rage.
• Jewels: the absolute priority is minion elemental resistance on each jewel. Also prioritise From Nothing passives (Ritual Cadence) for necrotic flesh and sustain.

Gameplay Tips

• Follow your minions: never try to move in the opposite direction from the pack, or you will have to resummon everything. Let them guide you.
• Boss loop: cast Unearth on your Skeletal Cleric without killing all of them (the survivors resurrect the others), then leap onto the boss with Pounce as soon as it becomes attackable to apply Predator’s Mark, then chain Infernal Cry and Pain Offering.
• Manage your rage: spam the life flask at the start of a map to build up rage, then maintain it with Infernal Cry. As soon as it starts dropping (after 7–8 seconds), a single flask use is enough to top it back up.
• Evil resummoning: while clearing, cast Unearth behind you, on your Skeletal Cleric, so they resurrect one another (synergy of Essence Harvest + notable Gravedigger node).
• Play in WASD: moving while casting Unearth behind you is significantly more comfortable than click-to-move.

The Gemling Legionnaire Ascendancy in Detail

The Gemling Legionnaire is arguably the most confusing ascendancy to explain in the Mercenary, but that is precisely what makes this build so unique. The core node is called Adapted Capabilities: it allows you to satisfy the attribute requirements of your gems using your highest attribute. In practice, you stack a mountain of strength while keeping very little intelligence, even though gems like Pain Offering would normally require a lot of it. You no longer need to worry about attributes for your gems — only those required by your equipment.

The second pillar is Virtuous Barrier. Every 1.55 seconds, you gain a random mode: strength modes grant +2% maximum life each, dexterity modes grant armour and energy shield, and intelligence modes grant 7% life and mana regeneration. A clever detail: slotting a few single-attribute gems (even useless ones, such as a low-level Seismic Cry or a Snipers Mark) increases your maximum number of modes. You lose a random mode each time you take a hit, making this mechanic a dynamic survival shield. Finally, the « quality grants an additional effect » orientation pushes you to maximise quality everywhere (oiling the passive tree with Ferocity, Isolation, Despair), which translates on Unearth into a colossal +102% multiplicative minion attack speed.

How the Unearth Minions Work

Unearth summons temporary minions with a massive aggro radius and incredible movement speed. They leap onto anything that moves, including targets outside your field of vision. The trade-off is that they disappear if they stray too far from you — so the game becomes about following the pack rather than directing it. In practice, you rush toward where your minions have already gone, and all that is left behind is loot.

For single-target, the trick revolves around Sacrifice and the Skeletal Cleric. Sacrifice allows you to use your minions as corpses; by casting Unearth on your clerics without destroying all of them, those you did not hit will resurrect the others, continuously generating an army of unearthed minions for you. You can thus permanently maintain 30 to 36 Unearth minions plus a squad of clerics — a volume that instantly saturates Predator’s Mark (via Pounce) to massively multiply damage against bosses.

The Rage System at the Heart of the Build

Rage is the damage engine. Thanks to the notable Blood of Rage node, using a flask grants you rage — which is why you equip a flask that heals minions, so you can activate it even at full life. Every 5 rage grants minion attack speed, and each rage point grants them additional damage. The goal is therefore to cap rage permanently so your minions benefit from it at all times.

At the start of a map, you ramp rage up with a flask, then sustain it with Infernal Cry (paired with Astral Projection, Magnified Area, and Echoing Cry). Dedicated nodes delay rage decay, giving you even more leeway before needing to pop a flask again. In the endgame, Berserk amplifies the rage effect (at the cost of maximum life that must be compensated with a flask), and an Eternal Rage amulet can even make this entire management automatic in very high-end versions.

Leveling and Progression

Unearth requires a large number of travel points in the tree, making it impractical to play during the campaign. GhazzyTV therefore recommends leveling with the Gemling Legionnaire grenade build (available on PoE Vault), then swapping to Unearth once the campaign is complete. The recommended ascendancy order: Essence of Virtue first, then Advanced Theurgy (or the strength node if you are leveling this character as an alt), Adapted Capabilities third — the most important — and finally Advanced Maturity.

Budget-wise, the build remains accessible: most of the key pieces (a +5 physical gem levels wand, a +4 minion levels sceptre) cost only a handful of exalted, and the Hedge Witch’s Rune of Wisdom trades around 30 exalted. High-end versions (Uul-Netols Embrace, high-tier prisms, a sanctified sceptre, or even switching to a shield) push performance further, but the build is already excellent with a moderate investment.

Skill Tree