This Shaman build focuses on the Bear form’s Rage mechanics, giving you titan‑tier clear speed and boss damage through Rampage channeling and Walking Calamity meteors. It’s designed to scale from early leveling through endgame mapping, leveraging Rage generation, support gems, optimized passives, and gear choices that synergize with heavy physical and elemental damage.
1. Shaman Build Overview
This setup turns your Druid into a high‑damage melee powerhouse that thrives in both clearing packs and crushing bosses.
- Rage is your core resource — generated through hits and buffs, and spent on powerful slam skills.
- Rampage provides a near‑constant clearing animation as you sprint and strike, making it excellent for maps.
- Walking Calamity unleashes a breathtaking meteor shower once Rage and Glory conditions are met, adding massive area and DoT fire damage.
You’ll balance Rage generation vs. Rage spend, keeping your resource topped up with skills like Ferocious Roar and the Shaman ascendancy skill Furious Wellspring.
2. Best Skill Gems for Shaman Build
Furious Slam Skill Gem
In Path of Exile 2, your skills define how your character interacts with the game world, determine your damage output, and shape your overall playstyle. For the Bear Shaman build, core skills like Maul, Rampage, Walking Calamity, and Furious Slam serve as the foundation of both Rage generation and devastating AoE damage.
Understanding the synergy between active skills and support gems is essential to executing this build effectively, as it converts basic abilities into high-impact attacks that make the Shaman one of the most versatile and powerful builds in Path of Exile 2.
2.1 Maul (Skill Gem)
Shapeshift into a Bear and rake enemies with your claws, generating Rage on Hit. Maul is your main Rage engine and should be used whenever Rage generation is needed, especially during prolonged fights or early in encounters.
Recommended Support Gems
- Rapid Attacks II – Increases attack speed, allowing faster Rage generation and smoother combat flow.
- Mana Leech – Converts Physical damage into Mana Leech, ensuring skill sustainability.
- Rage III – Grants additional Rage on hit and significantly increases attack speed while below maximum Rage.
2.2 Walking Calamity (Skill Gem)
While at maximum Rage, continued Rage generation builds Glory. At full Glory, you unleash a devastating meteor storm that deals massive Fire damage and regenerates Rage. This skill defines your primary damage window, especially against bosses and dense enemy packs.
Recommended Support Gems
- Elemental Armament II – Increases elemental damage output for stronger meteor hits.
- Prolonged Duration II – Extends the meteor storm duration for higher total damage.
- Hourglass – Greatly increases damage at the cost of a long cooldown, ideal for burst phases.
- Fire Attunement – Converts damage heavily into Fire, improving scaling.
- Concentrated Area – Reduces AoE size but significantly boosts damage per hit.
2.3 Rampage (Skill Gem)
Shapeshift into a Bear and charge forward, slamming the ground repeatedly while channelling. Rampage is your primary mapping skill, offering high movement speed and continuous AoE damage, extendable by spending Rage.
Recommended Support Gems
- Momentum – Increases damage based on distance traveled, perfect for Rampage’s playstyle.
- Aftershock II – Adds a chance to trigger secondary shockwaves for extra AoE damage.
- Burgeon II – Increases damage the longer Rampage is channelled.
- Hit and Run – Grants massive skill speed after moving a set distance.
- Fire Attunement – Further boosts Fire damage scaling.
2.4 Herald of Ash (Skill Gem)
While active, enemies you overkill explode and ignite nearby foes. Herald of Ash dramatically improves clear speed by chaining explosions through packs.
Recommended Support Gems
- Magnified Area II – Expands the explosion radius for better pack coverage.
- Cannibalism I – Restores Life on kill while active, improving sustain.
- Clarity II – Increases Mana regeneration for smoother gameplay.
2.5 Ferocious Roar (Skill Gem)
Roar to gain Rage and empower subsequent attacks to Break Armour instantly. This skill is essential for jump-starting Rage generation and amplifying damage against tougher enemies.
Recommended Support Gems
- Infernal Cry – Causes enemies to combust on death, adding AoE clear potential.
- Tireless – Gives a chance to preserve Warcry empowerment charges.
- Raging Cry – Grants additional Rage based on enemy power.
2.6 Furious Slam (Skill Gem)
Furious Slam Skill
Slam the ground to unleash powerful shockwaves. Spending Rage increases the size of the shockwaves and creates Jagged Ground, dealing persistent damage.
Recommended Support Gems
- Fist of War II – Periodically grants a massive damage boost.
- Aftershock II – Adds a chance for secondary shockwaves.
- Cold Attunement – Adds Cold damage for hybrid scaling.
- Rapid Attacks II – Increases slam speed.
- Heft – Boosts maximum Physical damage of hits.
2.7 Shockwave Totem (Skill Gem)
Summons a Totem that repeatedly slams the ground, damaging nearby enemies and creating Jagged Ground. This skill adds consistent background damage while you focus on movement and positioning.
Recommended Support Gems
- Overabundance II – Increases the number of active Totems.
- Urgent Totem III – Faster placement and higher attack speed.
- Rapid Attacks II – Improves slam frequency.
- Prolonged Duration II – Extends Totem uptime.
2.8 Pounce (Skill Gem)
Shapeshift into a Werewolf and leap to a target location, dealing AoE damage and automatically triggering Predator’s Mark or a socketed Mark. Pounce is essential for mobility, repositioning, and target prioritization.
Recommended Support Gems
- Mark of Death II – Breaks enemy Armour through Physical damage taken.
- Mark of Siphoning II – Marked enemies leech Life and Mana to you on hit.
3. Best Passive Skills for Shaman Build
Shaman Passive Skills
A strong passive tree ensures your character scales efficiently through Rage, physical damage, elemental conversion, area damage, and survivability. Unlike skills, passives provide permanent boosts, so choosing nodes that maximize your damage while keeping you alive is critical.
3.1 Guardian of the Wilds – Core Attribute & Elemental Scaling
Guardian of the Wilds grants Strength and Intelligence, directly scaling both melee damage and spell-based effects. The added percentage damage and extra elemental damage provide excellent hybrid scaling, making this passive one of the most efficient early and midgame damage boosts.
3.2 Resilient Soul – Sustain & Recovery Layer
Resilient Soul enhances Life regeneration and introduces Life recoup from damage taken, creating a powerful sustain layer during prolonged fights. This passive is crucial for offsetting Rage costs, Life-converted mana costs, and sustained enemy pressure.
3.3 Harbinger of Disaster – Area & Critical Damage Amplification
Harbinger of Disaster increases overall damage, area damage, and critical damage bonus. This passive significantly improves pack clearing efficiency and boosts burst damage during Walking Calamity and Furious Slam windows.
3.4 Personal Touch – Melee Damage & Crowd Control
Personal Touch focuses on attack damage and Immobilisation buildup, helping lock enemies in place while you unleash high-impact AoE attacks. This passive synergizes well with stun-based mechanics and close-range Bear form combat.
3.5 Piercing Claw – Elemental Resistance Penetration
Piercing Claw allows your damage to penetrate enemy elemental resistances while shapeshifted. Since this build heavily converts damage into elemental types, this passive provides a massive effective DPS increase, especially against bosses and high-resistance enemies.
3.6 Singular Purpose – Two-Handed Weapon Scaling
Singular Purpose boosts damage and stun buildup when using two-handed weapons, at the cost of a slight attack speed reduction. The damage trade-off strongly favors heavy-hitting Bear skills, making this passive ideal for Shaman builds focused on raw impact.
3.7 Crushing Verdict – Heavy Hit & Stun Specialization
Shaman Druid Gameplay
Crushing Verdict further amplifies attack damage and stun buildup, reinforcing the build’s ability to stagger enemies and control fights. While it slightly reduces attack speed, the overall damage per hit increases significantly.
3.8 Impact Force – Area Damage & Stun Synergy
Impact Force increases attack area damage and stun buildup, directly improving clear speed and crowd control. This passive pairs exceptionally well with Rampage, Furious Slam, and Walking Calamity.
3.9 Blood Rush – Speed & Resource Conversion
Blood Rush increases skill speed and converts a portion of mana costs into Life costs. This passive enables smoother rotations, reduces mana pressure, and synergizes perfectly with high Life regeneration and recoup mechanics.
3.10 Tempered Defences – Armour-Based Elemental Mitigation
Tempered Defences strengthens your Armour and allows a portion of it to mitigate elemental damage. This passive provides a crucial defensive layer, making the build far tankier against elemental-heavy encounters.
3.11 Druidic Champion – Rage-to-Damage Conversion
Druidic Champion converts every 2 Rage into 1% more spell damage, turning Rage into a direct damage multiplier. Since Rage is constantly generated in this build, this passive offers massive, always-on scaling for Walking Calamity and other elemental skills.
3.12 Wisdom of the Maji – Gear & Buff Amplification
Wisdom of the Maji unlocks Bonded modifiers on Runes and Idols, significantly improving the effectiveness of your gear-based bonuses. This passive scales extremely well into endgame, where optimized Runes and Idols provide substantial power spikes.
3.13 Reactive Growth – Adaptive Elemental Defense
Reactive Growth allows your character to adapt to the highest elemental damage taken, granting reduced damage of that type. This creates dynamic survivability that shines in endgame maps and boss fights with mixed elemental threats.
4. Best Ascendancy for Shaman Build
Shaman Ascendancy Nodes
The Shaman Ascendancy class gives this build a unique edge: it enhances Rage sustain, spell/attack hybrid damage, and defensive utility tailored to Bear form. These points drive your core mechanics and are critical to performance.
4.1 Key Ascendancy Nodes (Priority Order)
The Shaman Ascendancy is the backbone of this build, and selecting the right nodes determines both your damage output and survivability. Each node has a specific role: some sustain Rage, some amplify elemental or physical damage, and others enhance utility through buffs or hybrid effects.
- Furious Wellspring – This is your primary Rage sustain. It stops inherent Rage loss and regenerates Rage each second, enabling Rampage and Walking Calamity uptime. Regen scales with mana regen and costs +5 Rage on non‑auto attacks, but your Rage build handles this easily.
- Druidic Champion – Converts every 2 Rage into 1% Spell Damage — huge damage boost for your elemental meteors and hybrid damage output.
- Wisdom of the Maji – Gains additional Bonded modifiers on Runes/Idols, elevating your buffs and gear effectiveness.
- Reactive Growth – Provides elemental damage reduction and physical conversion buffs, improving survivability.
- Sacred Flow – Grants extra Spirit from empty charm slots, useful for hybrid or minion‑focused setups if you adapt this build.
5. Shaman Build Leveling & Progression
A good leveling path ensures your build doesn’t fall apart early. Start with simple Rage generators and scale into your full kit as you unlock Rampage and Walking Calamity.
5.1 Early Levels
In the early stages, your main goal is to establish reliable Rage generation, sustain, and consistent damage, while learning the flow of Bear form combat.
- Start with Maul + Ferocious Roar – Use Maul for steady melee attacks and Rage generation, and Ferocious Roar to instantly refill Rage and empower your attacks. This combination ensures you can handle early packs and tough enemies without running out of Rage.
- Add Furious Slam early – Introduce Furious Slam to deal splash damage to multiple enemies and to handle high-health single targets more effectively. Spending Rage on Slam at this stage accelerates mob clearing.
- Use Pounce – Employ Pounce to bridge gaps between enemies, reposition during fights, or dodge dangerous mechanics from ranged or AoE attacks. This skill helps you maintain mobility and survivability in early encounters.
5.2 Mid Game (Acts 3–5)
During mid-game, your focus shifts to high AoE damage, efficient mob control, and enhanced Rage management. Rampage becomes your primary clearing skill, supported by Herald of Ice for screen-clearing synergy.
- Unlock and pivot to Rampage – Rampage becomes your main AoE clearing skill. Channel through clusters of enemies to deal continuous damage, apply knockback, and maintain Rage generation efficiently.
- Add Herald of Ice – Equip Herald of Ice to boost crowd control and shatter low-health enemies. This skill synergizes with Rampage, allowing you to clear screens faster and maintain a smooth combat flow.
- Focus on passive and gear upgrades – Begin investing in Rage sustain, elemental conversion, and survivability through passive nodes and mid-game gear. This ensures your Shaman remains strong as encounters grow tougher.
5.3 Endgame
In the endgame, your primary objective is to maximize uptime on Walking Calamity, maintain Rage for continuous Rampage and Furious Slam usage, and deal consistent high damage to bosses and large packs.
- Maximize Walking Calamity uptime – Keep Walking Calamity active whenever possible to unleash massive AoE meteor damage across maps and during boss fights.
- Prioritize Rage sustain from gear and passives – Equip items and select passive nodes that increase Rage generation, efficiency, and damage, ensuring uninterrupted Rampage and Slam rotations.
- Chain core skills efficiently – Continuously alternate Rampage, Furious Slam, and Walking Calamity for optimal AoE and single-target DPS. Use Pounce for positioning and Ferocious Roar to refill Rage when needed, maintaining high effectiveness throughout encounters.
6. Best Gear for Shaman Build
Shaman Build Gear
Gear complements skills and passives, ensuring your Rage generation, damage output, and survivability remain high. Proper gear ensures that your Rampage and Walking Calamity rotations are effective without interruptions. These are the best stat priorities to look for in helmets, weapons, armor, and accessories to boost your Rage for Shaman.
|
Gear |
Equipment |
Effects |
|
Masked Greathelm |
Helmet |
13 Life Regeneration per second +54 to Armour +40% to fire resistance +45% to cold resistance +119 to maximum Life |
|
Cruel Talisman |
Talisman |
+60 to accuracy rating Adds 24 to 42 physical damage Adds 97 to 149 fire damage Adds 57 to 88 cold damage +5 to the level of all melee skills |
|
Stone Cuirass |
Armour |
+224 to Armour +37% of Armour also applies to elemental damage +30 to strength +30% to lightning resistance +119 to maximum Life |
|
Ancient Mitts |
Gloves |
+20% to fire resistance +20% to cold resistance +39 to maximum Life +14 to maximum Mana |
|
Long Belt |
Belt |
(15-20)% increased charm effect duration +195 to Armour +20% to fire resistance +35% to cold resistance +40% to lightning resistance |
|
Warlock Leggings |
Boots |
+42 to Armur +40% to fire resistance +25% to cold resistance +10% to lightning resistance +149 to maximum Life |
|
Gold Amulet |
Amulets |
(12-20)% increased rarity of items found +123 to accuracy Rating +59 to maximum Life 32% increased Armour |
|
Amethyst Ring |
Ring |
(7-13)% to chaos resistance +23% to chaos resistance Adds 15 to 26 physical damage to attacks Adds 15 to 24 cold damage to attacks 49% increased mana regeneration rate |
7. How To Play a Shaman Build in POE 2
Shaman Build Gameplay
The skill rotation defines how efficiently you use Rage and apply damage. In this Shaman build, rotation is flexible but optimized for mobility, AoE clearing, and single-target burst. Understanding when to trigger Rampage, Walking Calamity, and Furious Slam ensures you never run out of Rage and maximize DPS.
- Open with Ferocious Roar – Start combat by casting Ferocious Roar to instantly generate a large amount of Rage. This not only fuels your Bear form skills but also empowers your attacks to break enemy armor, increasing damage from Rampage and Maul. Use it when entering a pack of enemies or engaging a tough target to ensure your subsequent attacks hit harder.
- Use Maul for consistent Rage gain – Immediately follow up with Maul to steadily build Rage and Glory. Focus on positioning to hit multiple enemies at once while avoiding being surrounded. Maul serves as your main Rage generator between cooldowns of Rampage or Furious Slam and keeps your resource pool topped up for your more powerful skills.
- Channel Rampage to clear mobs – Once you have enough Rage, start channeling Rampage into enemy clusters. This skill deals continuous AoE damage, applies knockback, and keeps enemies controlled. Movement-based support gems like Momentum and Heft increase damage the farther you travel while channeling.
- Activate Walking Calamity at max Rage/Glory – When both Rage and Glory are full, trigger Walking Calamity to unleash a devastating meteor storm centered on your position. This skill deals massive AoE fire damage while also regenerating Rage, allowing you to immediately chain into other skills without downtime. Position yourself carefully to hit the most enemies possible and maximize the effect.
- Use Furious Slam for additional burst damage – After activating Walking Calamity, use Furious Slam on heavily armored enemies or bosses. Spending Rage amplifies the damage and creates jagged ground, adding persistent AoE damage on the battlefield. Time this skill to hit enemies already weakened by Rampage or meteors to maximize overkill effects.
- Use Pounce for mobility and positioning – Employ Pounce to leap to advantageous positions, escape dangerous areas, or close gaps to high-priority targets. If linked with a Mark support, it also triggers Predator’s Mark on enemies for additional damage. Use Pounce between Rampage channels or while repositioning for boss fights to maintain optimal uptime and safety.
- Repeat and maintain Rage – Continuously loop this rotation, alternating Maul, Rampage, Walking Calamity, Furious Slam, and Pounce as needed. Refill Rage with Ferocious Roar when low, and always prioritize keeping Rage high to sustain your damage output.
