The 5 Best Builds of the Sentinel Season in Path of Exile

Path of Exile’s Sentinel league continues to deliver intense action, and staying competitive requires optimized character builds. This guide covers three exceptional builds that dominate content with explosive effects and efficient clearing capabilities. Each section provides comprehensive details on vital components to ensure your success throughout the season.

1. Skeleton Mage

Class – Witch

Ascendancy – Necromancer

Starter Viable – Yes

Difficulty – Super Easy

Beginner Friendly – Yes

Budget

Clear White Maps – 4 Links with budget equipment require approximately 56 chaos orbs, while mid-tier setups demand 100 chaos orbs with 5 Links.

Complete Atlas – Efficient Atlas completion necessitates quality gear with 6 Links and roughly 4 Exalted orbs investment.

Required Gear

The foundation begins with Flesh Crafter necromancer silks, a minion-focused chest piece that transforms maximum life into energy shield. Your summoned creatures gain chaos damage reduction, accelerated energy recharge rates, and bypass enemy energy shield defenses when they maintain their own shields.

Dead Reckoning represents the second critical acquisition, providing elemental resistance bonuses for minions while enabling summoning of up to 15 skeletal mages.

Alberon’s Warpath soldier boots constitute the third essential item, contributing chaos damage to attacks, movement speed enhancements, and additional statistical improvements.

Pros of Skeleton Mage Build

• Economical construction costs

• Impressive minion swarm capabilities

• Extraordinary single-target damage against bosses

• Enhanced survivability through minion protection mechanics

• Excellent leveling experience with minion-focused progression

Cons of Skeleton Mage Build

• Continuous skeleton summoning required after each cooldown cycle

• Endgame optimization requires two unset rings

• Three specific unique items are mandatory for optimal performance

• Gem swapping becomes necessary for uber boss encounters

• No life or mana leech capabilities available

Skill Levelling

Initiate your journey using Fireball until reaching level 4 for rapid early progression. From levels 4-49, Summon Raging Spirit serves as your primary damage source. Upon achieving level 50, transition fully into Summon Skeletons to maximize build potential.

Summary

This build delivers exceptional entertainment value through constant summoning mechanics, achieving remarkable clear speeds. However, the casting animation temporarily immobilizes your character, creating potential vulnerability windows. The minions possess innate boss damage mitigation while simultaneously dealing massive damage output.

Strategic positioning becomes paramount as you’ll frequently reposition while your minion army functions as protective barriers. The build proves exceptionally beginner-friendly once you master its rhythmic combat patterns.

• 2. Lightning Arrow

Class – Ranger

Ascendancy – Raider

Starter Viable – Yes

Difficulty – Not so easy

Beginner Friendly – Yes

Budget

Clear White Maps – 4 Links with inexpensive gear require 30 fewer chaos orbs than the Skeleton Mage equivalent. Mid-range equipment demands approximately 120 chaos orbs with 5 Links configuration.

Complete Atlas – Successful Atlas completion necessitates quality equipment with 6 Links and roughly 5 Exalted orbs investment.

Required Gear

Death’s Opus Death Bow serves as the primary unique weapon, providing additional arrow projectiles, enhanced critical strike chance, damage amplification, and attack speed improvements. For challenging boss encounters, Chin Sol Assassin Bow becomes essential due to its proximity damage multiplier mechanics.

Pros for Lightning Arrow Build

• Exceptional mapping velocity and efficiency

• Ranged combat safety with exhilarating sniper-like gameplay

• Substantial boss damage capabilities when properly geared

• Straightforward construction process with excellent leveling experience

Cons for Lightning Arrow Build

• Inpulsa’s Broken Heart chest armor becomes mandatory for optimal clear speed performance

• Close-range positioning required for maximum boss damage output

• Some players may find bow leveling less engaging than alternative playstyles

Skill Leveling

Split Arrow functions as your primary skill until reaching level 70, effectively eliminating most enemies. Beyond level 70, Lightning Arrow becomes your primary endgame damage source.

Summary

The build delivers incredible satisfaction through mob clearing as lightning-chained arrows trigger multiple explosive effects. For boss elimination, Chin Sol combined with Galvanic Arrow delivers sufficient damage to rapidly defeat challenging targets.

A significant consideration involves maintaining proximity to bosses for maximum damage application, potentially exposing your ranger to dangerous situations during intense encounters. Proper gear selection provides adequate defensive layers to ensure survivability throughout all content tiers.

• 3. Lightning Strike

Class – Duelist

Ascendancy – Champion

Starter Viable – Yes

Difficulty – Not so easy

Beginner Friendly – Yes

Budget

Clear White Maps – 4 Links with budget equipment require approximately 65 chaos orbs, while mid-tier setups demand 120 chaos orbs with 5 Links configuration.

Complete Atlas – Efficient Atlas completion necessitates quality gear with 6 Links and roughly 4 Exalted orbs investment.

Required Gear

Perseverance Vanguard Belt represents the first mandatory unique item, providing damage scaling based on armor and evasion values while enhancing fortify effects through stun mechanics.

Yoke of Suffering Onyx Amulet constitutes the second critical component, delivering substantial statistical improvements, elemental resistance bonuses, shock application capabilities, and increased damage from ailments against enemies.

Pros for Lightning Strike Build

• Extremely cost-effective construction

• Enhanced entertainment through explosive enemy elimination during mapping

• Superior single-target damage against boss encounters

• Permanent Fortify uptime through gear optimization

• Exceptional durability combined with evasion mechanics that simultaneously boost damage output

Cons for Lightning Strike Build

• Initial leveling phase may discourage some players due to slower progression pace

• Farming for optimal attribute distributions can require significant time investment

• The unique weapon requirement exceeds typical budget constraints

• Gem swapping becomes necessary for uber boss elimination

Skill Levelling

During levels 1-12, Splitting Steel serves as your primary damage source. From levels 12-78, incorporate Spectral Helix into your rotation, and beyond level 78, Lightning Strike becomes your definitive endgame skill.

Summary

Mapping efficiency proves excellent due to rapid attack speed and explosive enemy mechanics that generate additional projectiles for collateral damage. This proves particularly advantageous during boss fights where shock effects enable Yoke of Suffering to amplify damage significantly.

As detailed in the equipment section, Fortify mechanics significantly enhance Champion durability throughout extended combat scenarios.

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