Overview
This build turns the Gemling Legionnaire into a relentless dual-mace bruiser anchored on Sunder. The ascendancy’s alt-quality manipulation is the whole point: stacking Integrated Efficiency and Advanced Thermurgy lets every support gem hand out extra damage and action speed, while Gem Studded shrugs off critical strikes from the predominantly red-gem setup. The result plays much like a classic Path of Exile melee bruiser — boots-on-the-ground, fast attacks, and big physical hits rather than a one-button screen-clearer.
The engine pairs Sunder’s built-in attack-speed bonus with War Banner and a heavy rage stack to reach absurd attack speed, then layers Herald of Blood plus bleed for pack clearing. Defensively it leans on deflection and evasion rather than raw life, prevented-damage nodes combining for nearly 9% damage prevention so it can eat a hit and keep swinging.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Very high, sustained attack speed once rage and leech are online
- Strong layered defense through deflection, evasion, and prevented-damage nodes
- Excellent leech sustain enabling Blood Magic on the main skill
- Clears juiced T15 maps and has downed endgame pinnacle bosses
- Plays like familiar PoE1 melee — satisfying, not a glass cannon
Cons
- Gear-gated: wants crafted twin maces with +levels, attack speed, and flat damage
- Many moving parts (multiple heralds, banners, curses, hammer setup) to manage
- Not a one-tap build; clear is good but not top-tier zoom
- Constricting Command deflection wants a minimum roll (ideally corrupted to 5) to stay fully active
Key Skills
- Sunder — main attack, linked for rage, brutality, and bleed to drive both single-target and pack damage
- Herald of Blood — bleed-triggered explosions for pack clear, scaled with poison and magnified area
- War Banner (Duresso’s Passion) — accuracy, attack speed, and damage aura, popped cheaply for the glory loop
- Hammer of the Gods — burst opener with persistent ground and jagged ground for slow/damage
- Blood Hound’s Mark — curse for stun build-up and extra damage on rares/uniques
Gear & Anointments
Built around twin maces — the creator swapped off Facebreakers because they’re too limiting on Warrior-style setups. Prioritize +levels, attack speed, flat physical, and leech on the maces; master-crafting is expected to hit a worthwhile +4 weapon. Harri’s Eye and an Idol of Osiris supply evasion and deflection scaling, with leech on both rings as a priority. The anoint is Fortifying Blood for increased leech and 40% increased evasion. Exact uniques should be confirmed against the source video.
Endgame Notes
The build is shown clearing six-mod juiced T15 maps and taking down endgame pinnacles, leaning on the deflection/prevented-damage stack to survive. Stun build-up and Perfect Opportunity are flagged as further upgrade paths if the player can make heavy-stun scaling work.
Credits & Source
Build credited to JorgenPOE. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: Become a Dual Mace HOOLIGAN!… Sunder Gemling Build.