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Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2)

PoE 2 0.2 Warrior Build - Thorns Smith of Kitava

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This is a Thorns Smith of Kitava Warrior build for Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2)'s Dawn of the Hunt Update. Check out the Thorns Smith of Kitava Warrior build, including its gear, socketables, skills, and playstyle!

Thorns Smith of Kitava Build Summary

Entori's One Button Thorns Build

This Smith of Kitava Thorns build is made by Entori. Check out more of Entori's builds and content over on Youtube and Tiktok! The video provides an overview of the build, including the gear and playstyle.

Thorns Smith of Kitava Build

Build Setup
Path of Exile 2 (PoE2) - Smith of Kitava IconThorns Smith of Kitava
Ancestral Warrior Totem Icon Scavenged Plating Icon Enfeeble Icon Leap Slam Icon Armour Breaker Icon Attrition Icon Shield Charge Icon Herald of Blood Icon
Path of Exile 2 Build Pro Simple Gameplay

Path of Exile 2 Build Pro High Survivability

Path of Exile 2 Build Con Monotonous Gameplay

The Thorns Smith of Kitava walks through enemy packs, and all those who attack fall almost immediately.

During the endgame, this build makes use of Armour Breaker to weaken every enemy you hit, and persistent buffs such as Attrition and Herald of Blood to further boost damage.

Date Changes Made
04/23/2025 ・ Created Thorns Smith of Kitava build page.

Thorns Smith of Kitava Equipment

Equipment
Flanged Mace Icon Weapon 1 Crown of the Pale King Cultist Crown Icon Helmet Braced Tower Shield Icon Offhand
Iron Cuirass Icon Body Armour
Atziri Gloves Double Belt Icon Belt Briarpatch Laced Boots Icon Boots
Ultimate Life Flask Icon Health Flask Amethyst Ring Icon Ring 1 Crimson Amulet Icon Amulet Ruby Ring Icon Ring 2 Ultimate Mana Flask Icon Mana Flask

Weapons

One-Handed Mace and Shield

Use a One-Handed Mace with a lot of Attack Speed and Accuracy since you will need to spam Armour Breaker a lot. For the shield, use one with Increased Block Chance, Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, and Thorns Damage.

List of Weapons

Armor

Use Normal Body Armour

You will need to use Normal Body Armour because of Smith's Masterwork. Thus, the Ornate Plate is a great choice since it has a high Armour stat even in its base form.

Atziri's Acuity Moulded Mitts for Gloves

The Atziri's Acuity Moulded Mitts is a great option for this build since you focus on Thorns and Crit. Aside from the high Critical Hit Rate it gives, the passive is also incredibly useful for survivability because you leech life instantly from crit hits.

Crown of the Pale King Cultist Crown for Helmet

Crown of the Pale King Cultist Crown allows you to deal Thorns Damage by Retaliating against all hits, not just melee attacks. With this, almost every enemy that hits you will now get damaged.

Briarpatch Laced Boots for Boots

The Briarpatch Laced Boots grants high Critical Hit Chance specifically for Thorns Damage, which is perfect for this build.
List of Armors

Accessories

Use an Amethyst Ring and Another Elemental Resistance Ring

In general, use rings that have the most elemental resistances, armour, or damage modifiers. The Amethyst Ring will boost Chaos Resistance, which you cannot get as easily. For the second ring, use a Ruby Ring for more Fire Resistance, which boost other resistances because of your Ascendency Passive, Coal Stoked.

List of Rings

Use an Amulet with Life, Defense, or Attribute Modifiers

Though the type of Amulet you use can be flexible, make sure to look for stats such as Maximum Life for tankiness, Critical Damage Bonus for extra damage, and Spirit to accomodate the support gems used in persistent buffs. Elemental Resistances are also a great boost for survivability.

List of Amulets

Socketables

Ruby Jewel.pngRuby ・X% increased Thorns Damage
・X% increased amount of Life Leeched
・X% increased Physical Damage Reduction
・X% increased Life Regeneration Rate

It is recommended to equip Ruby Jewels to further boost your damage or defenses. For damage, look for modifiers that boost Thorns Damage, while modifiers related to Life Leech, Life Regeneration Rate, and Physical Damage Reduction are very useful for extra tankiness.

List of Jewels

Runes and Soul Cores

Equipment Sockets
Weapon
Armor

For your weapon, use a Soul Core of Quipolatl for more Attack Speed to spam Armour Breaker more easily. Use Greater Rune of Tithing on all your armour to maximize Thorns Damage.

All Runes and Soul Cores
List of Runes List of Soul Cores

Charms

POE 2 - Antidote CharmAntidote Charm ・Increased Duration
・Increased Charges
・Recover Life when Used

The Antidote Charm is the build's primary charm, as many enemies use in the endgame use Poison and you will most likely have decent elemental resistances through other equipment.

List of All Charms

Thorns Smith of Kitava Skills

※ The Support Gems' priority are arranged in a descending order. The first one being the most important and the last being the least crucial.

Mace Strike.pngMace Strike
Armour Breaker IconArmour Breaker
Scavenged Plating IconScavenged Plating
Enfeeble IconEnfeeble
Herald of Blood IconHerald of Blood
Attrition IconAttrition -
Ancestral Warrior Totem IconAncestral Warrior Totem
Leap Slam IconLeap Slam
Shield Charge IconShield Charge -
Raise ShieldRaise Shield

This build is meant to play around Thorns and spamming Armour Breaker. You will need to switch between Attrition when bossing to boost damage and Herald of Blood when mapping for more AoE damage. Ancestral Warrior Totem is meant as a secondary buffer, providing Life Regeneration and Rage within the totem's radius. Leap Slam and Shield Charge are used as movement abilities, great for engaging or escaping enemies.

The support gems used are set up this way for the following reasons:

  • Mace Strike - Built as a secondary damage source, and used mainly for Exploit Weakness.
  • Armour Breaker - Increase Atttack Speed for spamming and to deal even more Thorns damage.
  • Scavenged Plating - Used often since enemies will most likely have broken armour from Armour Breaker, and passively grants Thorns damage boost.
  • Enfeeble - Built to have a wide space where enemies deal less damage, providing better survivability.
  • Herald of Blood - Boost AoE damage for better mapping.
  • Ancestral Warrior Totem - Built as a secondary buffer, providing Auras that give Life Regeneration and Rage.
  • Leap Slam - Great movement ability with some built in utility.
  • Raise Shield - Further strengthen as a defensive move.

List of Skills

Thorns Smith of Kitava Passive Tree

Passive Tree Progression

Ascendency Passive Nodes
Coal Stoker, Forged in Flame, and Smith's Masterwork (Molten Symbol, Flowing Metal, Support Straps, and Kitavan Engraving
Passive Nodes
1. Battle Fever 2. Vulgar Methods and Barbaric Strength
3. Relentless Vindicator and Cruel Fate 4. Goring
5. Wide Barrier and Offensive Stance 6. Retaliation
7. Thornhide 8. Vengeance and Unwavering Stance
9. Cruel Methods 10. Brute Strength and Unnatural Resilience
11. Aggravation and Deep Wounds 12. Bloodletting and Lay Siege

In general, you will focus on increasing Physical Damage, Thorns Damage, and Critical Hit Chance to kill enemies faster, Elemental Resistances and Block Chance for survivability, then eventually focus on nodes related to Bleeding for even more damage.
Passive Skill Tree Guide and List of Passives

Thorns Smith of Kitava Playstyle

Skill Rotations

※ Press on what type you are fighting for a more detailed explanation on the playstyle and skill rotation.

Type Skill Rotation
Mobbing
Armour Breaker Icon Armour Breaker Icon Armour Breaker Icon
Bossing
Ancestral Warrior Totem Icon Enfeeble Icon Armour Breaker Icon Armour Breaker Icon

Mobbing

For general mobbing, just spam Armour Breaker. Make sure to equip Herald of Blood while mapping for more AoE damage.

Bossing

For bossing, you will have to use all debuffs available while still spamming Armour Breaker. Aside from this, you will not do much since majority of your damage comes from getting hit. The combo is as follows:

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Related Guides

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List of All Builds

Dawn of the Hunt Best Builds

Rank Build
S tier Icon
A tier Icon
B tier icon
Path of Exile 2 (PoE2) - Smith of Kitava IconThorns Smith of Kitava
C Tier Icon

Dawn of the Hunt Leveling Builds

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All Build Guides

List of Builds by Class
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Path of Exile 2 - Witch Builds Witch Path of Exile 2 - Sorceress Builds Sorceress Path of Exile 2 - Warrior Builds Warrior
Path of Exile 2 - Ranger Builds Ranger - -
Other Build Guides
Dawn of the Hunt Leveling Builds How to Make a Good Build

Warrior Leveling Builds

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Focus: AoE, High Single Target Damage, Physical

Warrior Endgame Builds

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Focus: Burst, AoE, DoT, Stun
Slam Bleed TitanSlam Bleed Titan
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Flaming Smith of KitavaFlaming Smith of Kitava
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Warrior Class and Ascendancy Guides

Base Class
Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) - Warrior Portrait Warrior
Ascendancies
Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) WarbringerWarbringer Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) TitanTitan Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Smith of KitavaSmith of Kitava

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