With seemingly every class casting magic, raising minions, and getting stealthy backstabs, is there a role for a character with all strength and no intelligence or dexterity in Path of Exile? Can a class decide to go with all meat and no vegetables and still expect to survive? Is there a place in the world for raw tanks, wild barbarians, and pure physical damage to flourish? The Marauder answers that question with a resounding "Yes!"
Yet for many people first playing the Marauder, it feels more like a resounding "No!" Though the Marauder focuses mostly on strength and physical skills, this does not mean that he's simple. In fact, there appear to be more builds for this class than almost any other in the game. Messing up a build, even a little bit, can turn the experience into a catastrophe. Here are some tips from the pros in Path of Exile so that the Marauder lives up to his fullest potential.
Updated on May 3rd, 2023 by Hodey Johns: Since first writing this article, Path of Exile has had several major updates, buffing and nerfing certain class options in order to bring a better balance to the gameplay. The Marauder, being a martial powerhouse who can focus on any mix of damage and tanking, has thus been at the forefront of many of these changes. Player power is still a guiding light for the game and the same builds that were viable before are still viable now to varying efficacies. This has been updated to give players some points but it does not take a stance on how to play the class. Marauders enjoy a myriad of builds, these are simply some points to consider while customizing the class.
10 Get A Minimum Amount Of Dexterity And Intelligence
Certain aspects of the game can be infuriating. But, like a pill, the Marauder must do what is right and get it out of the way before doing anything fun. There are healthy minimums to meet before going all out or pursuing a specific build.
Gear and gems require upwards of 100 dexterity and 100 intelligence to use, and that includes some that are useful for the Marauder. So pros recommend getting these secondary statistics up to 100 apiece. After that, it's all strength going forward.
9 Only One Guard Skill Gem Is Necessary
Whether going for a tank or DPS build, it's good to have one guard skill gem. However, only one guard skill gem can be used at a time and they each share a cooldown, so pick a favorite, stick with it, and don't spread around the levels.
If the best guard gem for the Marauder doesn't drop by Act 3, consider learning the ropes of trading to bargain for it. Completing Maven's questline is much more doable for players that have the right guard skill gem in place.
8 Health Is Not A Shield
Without too much effort, the Marauder will have the most health of any class in the game even when focusing on damage. But if the game were all about stacking raw health, the process would be too simple and Path of Exile would not be one of the best free games on the Steam Deck.
Use gear statistics to max out spell resistance at 75%. Stack up armor buffs in the passive skill tree. Experts do not advise going out of the way to take any skill that buffs health after getting about 200% in health buffs; a Marauder with full resistances and 3,000 health is easily better than a Marauder with 10,000 health.
7 Stay Melee
Gamers are going to be getting more and more creative with their builds as they try out the Forbidden Sanctum (which isn't truly a roguelike experience). Yet there are limits to what the class has in its toolbox.
Though it can be tempting to use a bow for physical damage, the passive skills that boost the bow are on the opposite side of the skills that boost physical damage. Plus, melee damage boosts are right in front of the starting location. Don't overthink it.
6 Probably Pick The Chieftan
When experts get together and rank the Anscendancies, the Juggernaut and Berserker are always toward the bottom. The Juggernaut's damage is just too weak and the Berserker tends to kill himself. Gamers should feel empowered to play their way with any of the free games in the Epic Games Store, but there is one particular ascendancy with a higher ceiling.
The Chieftan adds a lot to the player's toolbox: warcries, totems, fire damage, life leech, and more. This gives the Marauder some much-needed complexity in fights that aren't as straightforward as doing damage or taking damage.
5 Pile On The Fire Damage
On the surface, many elemental effects and ailment appliers look good on the Marauder. While veterans are off doing Ruthless mode, it can be easy for rookies to lose focus and mix elemental effects all together.
Because spellcasting isn't a strength of the Marauder, it's best to limit the focus to a single element and then go wild with it. Because of the benefits of the Chieftan Ascendancy, fire is by far the preferred choice of high-tier players.
4 Get Blood Magic
It happens to every amateur Marauder player; they'll be so close to finishing off a tough boss. Then, suddenly, their mana will run out during the last half. Marauders have some great spells, they're an excellent solo class to play, but it's no good if they can't cast their skills.
Blood Magic borrows from the life pool and removes the mana pool entirely. While this might seem dangerous, consider that the Marauder has a huge pool of life and numerous ways to leech that health back. Generally speaking, it's worth the investment.
3 A Warning About The Crit Build
Critical strikes are usually thought of as a Witch, Ranger, or Shadow thing. There's a reason for that. Those classes have lots of natural boosts for getting critical strikes and dexterity and intelligence help the odds of scoring a critical blow. Critical hits can help gamers capture beasts.
Those who want to do a crit build with the Marauder must build their gear, passive skills, and gems in a way that stacks attack speed and not other usual Marauder statistics. This is a valid build, but it will require more work before catching up to the other classes that have a natural advantage in this department.
2 Try Area Of Effect Support Gems
Although most area of effect support gems are tied to intelligence active skill gems, plenty will also support strength active skill gems. These are incredible for the Marauder as Earthquakes, Sweeps, and other surrounding spells are highly recommended.
The Duelist, Shadow, and Ranger are all naturals at single-target physical damage. When in a group, the Marauder, as either a tank or damage participant, will be in charge of taking out mobs and groups. With one of the game's most overpowered builds, it's a delightful role to play.
1 Lead The Way
Barring a ridiculous Templar or one of the best Witch builds, the Marauder is the toughest member of the group. Being up front is critical to success. Spellcasters and squishy classes will find themselves getting pulverized without somebody strong taking the attention of the enemies.
This positioning is advantageous to the Marauder as well, as several of his advantages rely on being involved in combat. Lastly, by wiping out the smaller mobs before the rest of the party arrives, Marauders will reduce fights down to only a few easy-to-manage units and keep the group from being surrounded. Even as a damage dealer and not a tank, the more enemies focusing on this character, the easier it is to dish out damage.
Path of Exile is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.