Good morning, Exiles! With the first league of Path of Exile 2 Early Access nearing its end, it’s time to take a deep dive into what many players consider the strongest—and perhaps most broken—build in the game: the Gemling Stat Stacker. This build boasts insane damage, high mapping speed, and tankiness that borders on immortality. Whether you’re a veteran looking to min-max or a newer player seeking a powerful endgame build, this guide covers everything you need to know.

In this article, we’ll explore the high-budget version of the build, with a detailed breakdown of gear, skills, passive tree, and tips for maximizing both damage and survivability. Let’s get started!

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Why Play the Gemling Stat Stacker?

The Gemling Stat Stacker excels in every category: damage, speed, survivability, and even rarity bonuses for farming. With over 700 Strength, nearly 1,000 Dexterity, and above 700 Intelligence, this build capitalizes on high stats to fuel devastating attacks and impenetrable defenses.

Key stats include:

• Life: 4,400
• Energy Shield: 7,200
• Mana: 4,200
• Chaos Resistance: 22% (can be increased)

This build’s power lies in leveraging these stats to scale damage with Pillar of the Caged God and other stat-based gear.

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Core Mechanics and Skills

The main skill of the build is Tempest Flurry, offering a tooltip DPS of 1.66 million with an attack speed of 25 attacks per second. Support gems include:

• Inspiration for reduced mana cost.
• Rage for increased attack speed.
• Primal Armament for additional damage.

For mapping, the build uses a Pillar of the Caged God with attack speed enchants, while a swap to one with penetration supports maximizes boss damage.

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Herald Setup

This build features a powerful double-Herald setup:

• Herald of Thunder: Enhanced with Cold Infusion and Glaciation to clear packs effortlessly.
• Herald of Ice: Paired with Overcharge and Conduction for added AoE damage and energy shield sustain.

The synergy between these Heralds ensures that clearing speed remains high while maintaining energy shield recovery.

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Defense and Survivability

Despite the low Chaos Resistance, the build’s immense energy shield and life pool provide significant mitigation. The following defensive layers are used:

• Energy Shield Recovery: From Herald of Ice explosions.
• Elemental Resistances: Capped using Moror Invictus and attribute-based Jewels.
• Physical Damage Reduction: Achieved through high armor from stat stacking.

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Gear Breakdown

Weapon:

• Pillar of the Caged God with attack speed for mapping and penetration for bosses.

Helmet:

• Aseri’s Disdain for energy shield and resistances.

Amulet:

• Allocated Blurred Motion for mobility and dodge chance.

Rings:

• Focus on flat damage, mana, and rarity.

Boots and Belt:

• Prioritize maximum life and resistances to cap all elements.

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Passive Tree and Jewels

The passive tree focuses on maximizing Dexterity and Intelligence for damage scaling while incorporating nodes like:

• Deep Trance for attack speed and reduced mana cost.
• Martial Artistry for additional projectile damage.
• Against the Darkness and From Nothing for stat boosts.

Jewels:

• Adorned Jewels with attributes, energy shield, and critical damage.
• Corrupted Magic Jewels for chaos resistance and crit bonuses.

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Conclusion

The Gemling Stat Stacker offers an unparalleled combination of power and survivability. While this guide covered the high-budget version, it’s possible to achieve similar results with a more modest investment. If you’re looking for a build that makes the most out of every point of Dexterity, Strength, and Intelligence, this is the one to try.

Stay tuned for a potential low-budget version of this build and more Path of Exile 2 content. Until then, may your drops be exalted and your maps clear quickly!