Path of Exile 2 Totem Earthshaker Build

In this Path of Exile 2 article, we’ll be taking a look at how to put together the Totemic Earthshaker build for getting into the late game or endgame. Path of Exile has become notorious for the sheer number of skills and build possibilities available, and the sequel follows suit with an extensive skill tree and a multitude of skill gems. This guide is here to help you get through all that and lay out a path to follow as you reach the end of the campaign and prepare for your Cruel playthroughs or endgame.

Introduction

The Totemic Earthshaker is a Warrior build utilizing the Warbringer Ascendancy to summon powerful totems that deliver devastating slam attacks from a safe distance.

This build focuses on melee totems, particularly Earthshatter or Ancestral Totemscombined with warcries to exert attacks, boost damage, and maintain control over combat.

The totems allow the player to remain mobile while they inflict large-area physical damage, benefiting from exerted effects and rage generation.

Starter Class

Firstly, for this build, our base starter class is the Warrior, which is one of the seven currently available.

On the expansive skill tree, the Warrior class starts on the southwest side. This side of the tree mainly consists of passives related to armor, stun buildup, totems, and flat melee damage—all of which contribute to bringing this build together.

Passive Skills

Early progression emphasizes totem placement speed, duration, and life, alongside basic physical damage and Strength scaling.

As you progress down the southwestern part of the tree, you’ll notice two main paths—one increasing armor and the other increasing melee damage.

For this build, we’ll focus on the melee damage path to ensure our damage doesn’t fall off in the long run. You can opt for the armor branch later, but it’s not necessary early on.

As you level up and reach around level 28–30, you’ll unlock the first core passive group that greatly enhances your totems. Out of that group, the most important node is Ancestral Artificewhich increases your maximum number of totems—a crucial feature for this build.

Another useful group of passives includes the Carved Earth node, which boosts your totem damage output. These are shown in the skill tree image and are very helpful to pick up.

Although totems are the primary focus of this build, investing some points into stun buildup also helps tremendously due to the skills we’ll be using.

We will be choosing the Warbringer Ascendancy for the Warrior.

This is because it provides Ancestral Spirits from the Answered Call node, which summons an Ancestral Spirit whenever you place a totem.

These spirits offer various utilities on the battlefield, from rooting enemies to tanking incoming projectiles—especially helpful during boss fights.

Active Skill Setups

For active skills, we’ll be using a mace weapon—either two-handed or one-handed works fine, so pick whichever you prefer. The skill rotation is simple and relies on abilities available from early on.

We’ll begin with the Earthquake skill, a key damage source for this build. It creates jagged ground that slows and damages enemies, followed by an automatic aftershock that delivers burst damage.

The real strength of the build is when this is paired with Shockwave Totem.

The totem repeatedly slams the ground, triggering Earthquake’s aftershock and dealing huge area damage. Since this damage scales with Strength and benefits from area and attack damage nodes, the combo scales well into the late game.

The third skill is Boneshatterwhich helps finish off large groups.

It sends out a shockwave that amplifies your damage considerably, delivering extreme burst damage.

These three form the main damage core of the build and are excellent for both clearing mobs and fighting bosses. Once you reach the endgame, you can add Ancestral Warrior Totemwhich summons a spirit that uses your equipped mace skills—laying down more jagged ground and working in tandem with Shockwave Totem to dominate the battlefield.

Another useful skill is Stampedewhich lets you charge through enemies while leaving jagged ground that Shockwave Totems can trigger for more aftershocks, helping you build stun quickly and deal massive AoE damage.

Gear and Equipment

This build prioritizes a high-physical-damage two-handed mace and armor-based gear with Life, resistances, and Strength.

Rare items with +1 to totems are ideal, but gear with +1 to melee skills or increased stun duration also reinforces the build’s effectiveness.

Support Gems

The build revolves around a Totem Slam skill like Earthshatter or Ancestral Slam, supported by damage-enhancing and utility gems.

Level 1 Support Gems:

• Overabundance is the most important support gem, granting you one extra totem—great for area coverage.
• Jagged Ground Support Gem boosts effectiveness by increasing the chance of spawning more jagged terrain with Shockwave Totem.

For Earthquakeequip:

• Encumbrance – boosts the slow effect from jagged ground.
• Martial Tempo – increases attack speed, making movement and skill rotation smoother.

These gems improve battlefield control and quick mob clearing. You can complement them with Boneshatter using:

• Impact Shockwave – increases the shockwave from heavy stun.
• Execute – finishes off enemies whose stun bar is already filled.

For Ancestral Spiritswhich are more for utility than damage, use:

These increase their durability and elemental resistances, allowing them to soak up damage for you.

Leveling Guide

Level smoothly by using Earthquake and Shockwave Totemfinishing off mobs with Boneshatter after their stun bar is filled. This combo handles most encounters unless you get cornered by overwhelming numbers.

Putting points into stun buildup and area of attack makes handling groups easier by enabling heavier stuns with Boneshatter. As you level up, consider investing in either Armor nodes for more survivability or Rage nodes for enhanced mobility and offense.

Mapping and Bossing

Bossing is a major strength of this build. Set up jagged ground with Earthquake and trigger aftershocks with Shockwave Totem for consistent boss damage while you dodge mechanics.

During mapping, multiple totems triggering aftershocks clear mobs efficiently. Keep moving and placing totems to maintain momentum.

Avoid maps with modifiers like:

• Reduced totem duration

• Reduced warcry cooldown recovery

• Physical damage reflection

These significantly hinder the build or can pose a lethal risk.

Endgame Scaling and Optimization

Endgame scaling is enhanced through cluster jewels that increase:

• Totem Damage

• Area of Effect

• Attack Damage

You can have 3–4 active totems via passives, gear, and Ancestral Bond. The build scales well with investments into either Warcries or Rageand benefits greatly from high-Strength gear for more life and melee damage.

This build performs well in SSF and Hardcorethanks to its indirect damage and high durability. It’s not reliant on expensive uniques and offers a great balance between safety, damage, and tactical play.

So, this wraps up my guide for the Totem Earthshaker build for Path of Exile 2. I hope you found this guide helpful, and if you have any suggestions or tips, feel free to leave them in the comment section.