Overview
Sunder Titan turns the Warrior’s heaviest weapon into a repeatable clearing engine. Rather than committing to a single slow slam every few seconds, this setup stacks skill speed, attack speed, rage and armour break so that Sunder becomes the button pressed for almost everything — the shockwave rips forward through a pack, the fissures chain onward, and the screen empties in a straight line before most enemies close the distance.
The Titan ascendancy is what makes the archetype hold together in 0.5.5. Hulking Form multiplies the value of an already efficient passive tree, Colossal Capacity loosens the gearing squeeze, Earthbreaker feeds directly into the two slam skills the build actually presses, and Ancestral Empowerment turns the buff-and-burst window into a genuine boss killer. Mace-and-shield play stays defensive without going passive: the character is always moving forward behind block rather than backing off to wait on cooldowns.
Its main appeal is that it does not hinge on one perfect item or one fragile interaction. A weaker weapon still clears with Sunder, a dangerous map is survived behind the shield setup, and a tanky boss falls to the Earthshatter, Infernal Cry, Armour Break and Berserk rotation. Power scales smoothly with weapon upgrades rather than gating behind a single chase unique.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- One primary button carries mapping — very low execution load for the clear it produces
- Strong single-target burst available on demand via Earthshatter with Fist of War and Concentrated Area
- Genuinely tanky: shield block, Rage Shield, Time of Need and Magma Barrier stack into real survivability
- Titan ascendancy scaling means passive tree investment pays off harder than on most Warrior setups
- Scales linearly with weapon upgrades, so progress is easy to feel and easy to plan
Cons
- Weapon-dependent — a Sacred Maul with skill speed, attack speed and high physical damage is the whole damage budget
- Wants specific support pieces (Chain of Thoughts Pillar shield, Heart of the Well plus Grand Spectrum rubies) before it feels finished
- Mana sustain is a real failure point; skimping on recovery rolls makes the clear stutter
- Melee range means map mods that punish standing in packs still demand attention
Key Skills
- Sunder — the main clear and the button pressed most; supported with Rapid Attacks, Rigwald’s Cresty, Camas’ Madness, Heave and Atlas Bloodletting
- Earthshatter — the heavy burst slam for rares and bosses; Fist of War, Branching Fissures, Heave, Concentrated Area and Efficiency
- Armour Break — strips defences, generates rage and applies shock to open the damage window
- Infernal Cry — extra burst plus rage generation, run with Tireless, Raging Cry, Second Wind and cooldown recovery
- Berserk / Rage Shield / Magma Barrier — the offensive spike and the panic buttons, used around the boss rotation
Gear & Anointments
The weapon carries the build: look for a Sacred Maul with increased skill speed, attack speed, high physical damage, plus levels to melee skills and, if possible, reduced attribute requirements. The shield slot uses Chain of Thoughts Pillar, which is what lets the character push forward aggressively instead of kiting.
- Body armour — life, armour, strength, plus mana; a World Lord’s Cuirass base works well
- Gloves — attack speed, armour, dexterity, plus melee skills
- Boots / belt — movement speed, armour, life, resistances; the belt ideally adds charm slots to cover freeze and stun
- Rings — added physical, cold and lightning damage, since Sunder scales hard off flat damage
- Amulet — Finesse of Destiny for the defensive option, anointed toward Mystical Rage for crit scaling and smoother damage uptime
- Jewels — Heart of the Well as the premium diamond jewel, plus multiple Grand Spectrum ruby jewels
- Flasks — a strong life flask and a mana flask with real sustain rolls; ignoring mana recovery makes the whole build feel worse
Endgame Notes
The tree leans into shield and block notables alongside mace, slam and rage clusters, so armour stays meaningful in higher-tier maps rather than falling off. Boss sequencing is straightforward: build rage, apply Armour Break, fire Infernal Cry, drop Earthshatter for the burst, then return to spamming Sunder while refreshing the setup skills. Because Earthshatter benefits from the same fissure and slam nodes that push the clear, single-target strength grows naturally as the mapping build is scaled.
Credits & Source
Build credited to KaidGames2. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: MY NEW FUN & OP BUILD FOR POE 2 0.5.5! Path of Exile 2 Build Guide.