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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!
List of Contents
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.
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 |
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04/23/2025 | ・ Created Thorns Smith of Kitava build page. |
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.
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.
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 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.
The Briarpatch Laced Boots grants high Critical Hit Chance specifically for Thorns Damage, which is perfect for this build.
List of Armors
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.
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.
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・X% increased Thorns Damage ・X% increased amount of Life Leeched ・X% increased Physical Damage Reduction ・X% increased Life Regeneration Rate |
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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.
Equipment | Sockets |
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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 | |
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List of Runes | List of Soul Cores |
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・Increased Duration
・Increased Charges ・Recover Life when Used |
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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.
※ The Support Gems' priority are arranged in a descending order. The first one being the most important and the last being the least crucial.
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![]() Close Combat Supports Attacks, causing them to deal more damage to enemies based on how close they are to you.
![]() Exploit Weakness Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing them to deal more damage against enemies with Broken Armour but preventing them from Breaking Armour themselves. Cannot support skills that consume Broken Armour.
![]() See Red Supports Attack Skills. Bleeding inflicted with Supported Skills lasts significantly longer, but enemies you inflict Bleeding onto with Supported Skills will move and Attack faster.
![]() Culling Strike Supports Attack skills, causing them to Cull Rare and Unique enemies on hit.
![]() Lacerate Supports any skill that hits enemies, giving it a chance to inflict Bleeding.
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![]() Armour Breaker Strike with a forceful blow, knocking enemies back and weakening their Armour.
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![]() Lifetap Supports any skill, turning a portion of its Mana cost into a Life cost. Does not support skills which reserve spirit.
![]() Barbs Supports Melee Strike Skills. Supported Skills deal your Thorns Damage on Hit after you've Retaliated with Thorns Damage.
![]() Martial Tempo Supports Attacks, causing them to Attack faster.
![]() Unabating Supports Attack skills you use yourself. While using Supported Skills, you gain increased Armour, with the increase scaling higher the longer the Attack Time of the supported skill. Cannot support Channelling skills.
![]() Quill Burst Supports Melee Attack Skills. Supported Skill trigger Quill Burst, which deals your Thorns Damage in an Area around the target struck. Quill Burst can only be triggered on Hit after you've Retaliated with Thorns Damage.
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![]() Scavenged Plating Uses fragments of armour scavenged from enemies to bolster your own. Fully Breaking an enemy's Armour grants you a stack of Scavenged Plating for a duration, and you gain Armour and Thorns per stack.
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![]() Thornskin Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to deal increased Thorns Damage while the Supported Skill is active.
![]() Persistence Supports any skill that has a duration, making that duration longer.
![]() Physical Mastery Supports Physical skills, granting them an additional level.
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![]() Enfeeble Curses all targets in an area after a short delay, making them deal less damage.
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![]() Cursed Ground Supports Curse skills. supported skills no longer have an activation delay, instead creating areas which Curse enemies so long as they are within them.
![]() Heightened Curse Supports curse skills, magnifying their power.
![]() Magnified Effect Supports any skill with an area of effect, making it larger.
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![]() Herald of Blood While active, killing an enemy with Blood Loss will cause a bloody explosion that deals Physical Attack damage to surrounding enemies based off the life of the exploded enemy, destroying their Corpse in the process. The explosion also has a chance to aggravate Bleeding.
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![]() Haemocrystals Supports Attack Skills you use yourself which can cause Damaging Hits. Supported Skills Consume Bleeding on Hit to create explosive blood-filled crystals, but cannot themselves inflict Bleeding.
![]() Vitality Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to gain Life Regeneration while the skill is active.
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![]() Attrition While active, causes you to deal more Hit damage to Rare and Unique enemies the longer you've been fighting them, and gain Culling Strike against them once you've been fighting them for long enough.
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![]() Ancestral Warrior Totem Raises a Totem that uses socketed Mace skills.
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![]() Font of Blood Supports skills which create stationary objects. Objects created by supported skills generate a Font of Blood, creating an Aura which grants Life regeneration.
![]() Ancestral Urgency Supports skills which place Totems, causing those skills to place Totems much more quickly.
![]() Font of Rage Supported Skills which create stationary objects. Objects created by supported Skills generate a Font of Rage, creating an Aura which grants Rage over time, as well as preventing Rage loss.
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![]() Leap Slam Jump into the air, damaging and Knocking Back enemies with your mace where you land. Enemies you would land on are pushed out of the way.
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![]() Inspiration Supports any skill, making it cost less to use. Cannot support skills which reserve Spirit.
![]() Unyielding Supports Melee Attack skills you use yourself. While using Supported Skills, a percentage of Damage taken is Recouped as life, with the percentage scaling higher the longer the Attack time of the Supported Skill. Cannot support Channelling Skills.
![]() Holy Descent Supports skills that leap into the air, causing them to create Consecrated ground when you land.
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![]() Shield Charge Channel to charge in the target direction. You will crash into enemies on your path, stopping your charge and dealing damage to enemies in an area, and extra damage to the enemies you collided with. While charging, your Shield is raised and you will Block all incoming Blockable hits.
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![]() Unbreakable Supports any skill that you can use, making you harder to Stun while using it.
![]() Steadfast Supports Channelling Skills you use yourself, granting you increased Ailment Threshold while Channelling them.
![]() Mobility Supports skills that can be used while moving, allowing you to move faster while using them.
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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:
Ascendency Passive Nodes | |||
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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
※ Press on what type you are fighting for a more detailed explanation on the playstyle and skill rotation.
Type | Skill Rotation |
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Mobbing | |
Bossing | ![]() Ancestral Warrior Totem Raises a Totem that uses socketed Mace skills.
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![]() Enfeeble Curses all targets in an area after a short delay, making them deal less damage.
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![]() Armour Breaker Strike with a forceful blow, knocking enemies back and weakening their Armour.
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![]() Armour Breaker Strike with a forceful blow, knocking enemies back and weakening their Armour.
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For general mobbing, just spam Armour Breaker. Make sure to equip Herald of Blood while mapping for more AoE damage.
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:
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Other Build Guides | Dawn of the Hunt Leveling Builds | How to Make a Good Build |
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![]() Rolling Slam Slam the ground to Stun enemies and knock them away, then continue forward and perform a devastating second Slam. holding down the skill input allows you to change direction as you move.
![]() Perfect Strike Charge up your weapon while channelling. Releasing the moment you ECT STRIKE fully charge will release a wave of Fire.
![]() Leap Slam Jump into the air, damaging and Knocking Back enemies with your mace where you land. Enemies you would land on are pushed out of the way.
Focus: AoE, High Single Target Damage, Physical |
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![]() Boneshatter Attacks enemies with a melee Strike. The Strike will cause a Heavy Stun on enemies that are Primed for Stun. Upon causing a Heavy Stun it will also create a Shockwave, dealing a large amount of damage in an area.
![]() Infernal Cry Performs a warcry, Empowering subsequent Attacks. Consumes all Endurance Charges to Empower additional attacks. Enemies in the warcry's area are destabilised and will Combust on death.
![]() Herald of Ash While active, enemies you sufficiently Overkill with attacks will cause an explosion that ignites nearby enemies based on the Overkill damage dealt.
![]() Leap Slam Jump into the air, damaging and Knocking Back enemies with your mace where you land. Enemies you would land on are pushed out of the way.
![]() Overwhelming Presence While active, enemies in your Presence are easier to Stun and inflict Elemental Ailments upon.
![]() Shield Charge Channel to charge in the target direction. You will crash into enemies on your path, stopping your charge and dealing damage to enemies in an area, and extra damage to the enemies you collided with. While charging, your Shield is raised and you will Block all incoming Blockable hits.
![]() Earthshatter Slam the ground, sending out a fissure that deals area damage to enemies it passess under and thrusts a spike from the ground when it ends. Warcries performed near the spike will cause it to shatter, damaging surrounding enemies.
![]() Seismic Cry Performs a damaging Warcry, knocking Back enemies. If a Heavy Stunned enemy is hit, your next Slam is empowered to perform an additional aftershock. If not, this skills cooldown is reset. Only counts Heavily Stunned enemies for purpose of counting Power gained.
![]() Hammer of the Gods Entreats the Ancestors to crush your enemies, manifesting a massive hammer that falls from the sky of your target, Slamming into the ground after a short duration and dealing immense damage based on your weapon.
Focus: Burst, AoE, DoT, Stun |
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![]() Infernal Cry Performs a warcry, Empowering subsequent Attacks. Consumes all Endurance Charges to Empower additional attacks. Enemies in the warcry's area are destabilised and will Combust on death.
![]() Leap Slam Jump into the air, damaging and Knocking Back enemies with your mace where you land. Enemies you would land on are pushed out of the way.
![]() Overwhelming Presence While active, enemies in your Presence are easier to Stun and inflict Elemental Ailments upon.
![]() Earthquake Smashes the ground, dealing damage in an area and leaving behind Jagged Ground that slow enemies. The Jagged Ground erupts in a powerful Aftershock after a duration. Cannot create Jagged Ground on top of an existing patch, or if you already have the maximum number of active patches.
![]() Seismic Cry Performs a damaging Warcry, knocking Back enemies. If a Heavy Stunned enemy is hit, your next Slam is empowered to perform an additional aftershock. If not, this skills cooldown is reset. Only counts Heavily Stunned enemies for purpose of counting Power gained.
![]() Stampede Charges forward, cracking the earth and leaving a patch of Jagged Ground with every footstep. At the end of your charge, a massive leaping Slam damages enemies and causes all nearby patches of Jagged Ground to explode, damaging enemies standing on them.
![]() Hammer of the Gods Entreats the Ancestors to crush your enemies, manifesting a massive hammer that falls from the sky of your target, Slamming into the ground after a short duration and dealing immense damage based on your weapon.
![]() Time of Need Invokes divine blessings, periodically healing you and removing Curses and Elemental Ailments from you.
![]() Berserk While active, strengthens your Rage and grants you Life Leech based on your Rage, but causes you to lose Life while Raging.
Focus: Aftershocks, Stun, Bleed |
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![]() Solar Orb Creates a fiery Orb that periodically releases fiery pulses. Enemies that are very close to the Orb are Ignited.
![]() Infernal Cry Performs a warcry, Empowering subsequent Attacks. Consumes all Endurance Charges to Empower additional attacks. Enemies in the warcry's area are destabilised and will Combust on death.
![]() Leap Slam Jump into the air, damaging and Knocking Back enemies with your mace where you land. Enemies you would land on are pushed out of the way.
![]() Overwhelming Presence While active, enemies in your Presence are easier to Stun and inflict Elemental Ailments upon.
![]() Shockwave Totem Raises a Totem that Slams the ground around it, repeatedly damaging nearby enemies. Jagged Ground erupts when hit by this Slam, damaging enemies standing on it.
![]() Seismic Cry Performs a damaging Warcry, knocking Back enemies. If a Heavy Stunned enemy is hit, your next Slam is empowered to perform an additional aftershock. If not, this skills cooldown is reset. Only counts Heavily Stunned enemies for purpose of counting Power gained.
![]() Hammer of the Gods Entreats the Ancestors to crush your enemies, manifesting a massive hammer that falls from the sky of your target, Slamming into the ground after a short duration and dealing immense damage based on your weapon.
![]() Time of Need Invokes divine blessings, periodically healing you and removing Curses and Elemental Ailments from you.
![]() Berserk While active, strengthens your Rage and grants you Life Leech based on your Rage, but causes you to lose Life while Raging.
Focus: AoE, Mobbing, Stun, Fast Clear |
![]() NEW |
![]() Rolling Slam Slam the ground to Stun enemies and knock them away, then continue forward and perform a devastating second Slam. holding down the skill input allows you to change direction as you move.
![]() Boneshatter Attacks enemies with a melee Strike. The Strike will cause a Heavy Stun on enemies that are Primed for Stun. Upon causing a Heavy Stun it will also create a Shockwave, dealing a large amount of damage in an area.
![]() Herald of Ash While active, enemies you sufficiently Overkill with attacks will cause an explosion that ignites nearby enemies based on the Overkill damage dealt.
![]() Perfect Strike Charge up your weapon while channelling. Releasing the moment you ECT STRIKE fully charge will release a wave of Fire.
![]() Leap Slam Jump into the air, damaging and Knocking Back enemies with your mace where you land. Enemies you would land on are pushed out of the way.
![]() Time of Need Invokes divine blessings, periodically healing you and removing Curses and Elemental Ailments from you.
![]() Fire Spell on Hit Gains X Energy per Power of enemies you Hit with Melee Attacks, modified by the percentage of the enemy's Ailment;Threshold the Hit will deal X% increased Energy gain;Can only socket Fire Spells;Triggers all socketed Spells and loses all Energy on reaching maximum Energy
Focus: AoE, High Single Target Damage, Physical, Tank |
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![]() Infernal Cry Performs a warcry, Empowering subsequent Attacks. Consumes all Endurance Charges to Empower additional attacks. Enemies in the warcry's area are destabilised and will Combust on death.
![]() Perfect Strike Charge up your weapon while channelling. Releasing the moment you ECT STRIKE fully charge will release a wave of Fire.
![]() Leap Slam Jump into the air, damaging and Knocking Back enemies with your mace where you land. Enemies you would land on are pushed out of the way.
![]() Overwhelming Presence While active, enemies in your Presence are easier to Stun and inflict Elemental Ailments upon.
![]() Shield Charge Channel to charge in the target direction. You will crash into enemies on your path, stopping your charge and dealing damage to enemies in an area, and extra damage to the enemies you collided with. While charging, your Shield is raised and you will Block all incoming Blockable hits.
![]() Earthshatter Slam the ground, sending out a fissure that deals area damage to enemies it passess under and thrusts a spike from the ground when it ends. Warcries performed near the spike will cause it to shatter, damaging surrounding enemies.
![]() Seismic Cry Performs a damaging Warcry, knocking Back enemies. If a Heavy Stunned enemy is hit, your next Slam is empowered to perform an additional aftershock. If not, this skills cooldown is reset. Only counts Heavily Stunned enemies for purpose of counting Power gained.
![]() Time of Need Invokes divine blessings, periodically healing you and removing Curses and Elemental Ailments from you.
Focus: AoE, Ignite, Stun |
Base Class | ||
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Ascendancies | ||
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PoE 2 0.2 Warrior Build - Thorns Smith of Kitava
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