If you thought Lexd’s shield bash-only Warrior looked quirky in Act 1, wait until Act 2 in the Dawn of the Hunt league. That’s where the whole thing starts to click. No fancy meta gimmicks here—just a stubborn focus on Raise Shield as both defence and offence. You hold to block, let go to smash, and each hit scales off the shield’s armour. Sounds simple, but it changes your priorities completely. From the moment you start chasing bigger armour values, every drop feels huge. It’s like turning your gear into raw damage. Early on, Pin kept stuns under control, but later swapping to Bleed made boss fights smoother. The passive tree? Straight path to armour, block, and stun threshold. All the defensive stuff you’d expect, but it ends up hitting way harder than most people realise. Playing PoE 2 Currency solo self-found means every upgrade comes the hard way, so you notice the difference instantly.
By the middle of Act 2, you can really see the power curve. Lexd went from a shield with 93 armour to one with 192 armour, and it was night and day—bosses that took ages before suddenly melted in half the time. A lucky helmet drop patched holes in life and resists, which is massive for chaos-heavy zones, and simple vendor-crafted jewellery added thorns into the mix. That’s a sneaky part of this build: if your thorns are high enough, you can block a mob and watch them knock themselves out. The day you get a big thorn boost is the day your “clear speed” feels like it took a jump without ever swinging at trash mobs.
Most folks chase fast clears, but here the fun is in the grindy, almost chess-like rhythm. Fly into Wrathbreaker? Block every attack. Bash in sync till they drop. Try the Kabala Constrictor Queen—longer battle, lots of precise timing, but it’s doable without panic. The real monster was Zalmarath. That fight turned into a 22-minute game of patience. Constantly keeping him from landing hits, eking away with bleed ticks and thorns. Not everyone has the patience for that, but if you do, it’s weirdly satisfying watching the boss crumble because you simply outlast them.
The way this works is as much about mentality as mechanics—you’re not chasing speed, you’re building an unmovable tank that can slowly grind through anything. There’s no “burst it down” fantasy here, just a block, a bash, and a grin when you realise your high armour shield is basically your weapon. A player willing to stick with it will find that even the toughest encounters eventually fold. If you’re into that slow-burn satisfaction, this approach has its charm. And yeah, grabbing gear upgrades while poe2 power leveling makes the whole journey even better.
Welcome to the world of u4gm where paradise meets gaming Discover the hottest content the newest strategies and tips and a vibrant community of players No matter if you are just starting out or already a pro you will always find the game products made for you.
