It’s funny how something as simple as a shield bash can turn into a full-blown ladder-climbing strategy. Lexd’s self-found warrior run in Path of Exile 2 nailed this. Act 1 looked rough – slow fights, constant risk of stunning yourself – but by Act 2 the build started to flex. The way it works is straightforward: raise your shield, hold to block, then release for a bash that hits harder the more armour your shield has. Timing’s everything here. No flashy screen wipes, just heavy, single-target hits. If you’ve ever messed around with PoE 2 Currency, you’ll know the feeling of making gear work for you – that’s exactly the vibe this run carries.

Early support gems make or break the pace. At first, Pin was essential to stop mobs from locking you down, since self-stuns were a constant pain. Once Brutality II came online, the damage spiked in a big way – pure physical output with no magic fluff. Adding Bleed into the setup meant bosses started dropping a lot faster. The passive tree run is simple: head down the bottom-left path, grab stun threshold nodes early so you don’t take yourself out mid-fight. After that, focus on armour, block, and life. And then there’s thorns – block an attack, deal damage back instantly. Against big packs, half the work is just letting them hit you.

Gear upgrades in SSF can feel rare, but Act 2 brought the kind of jump that changes the game. Replacing a low-end 93-armour shield with a 192-armour monster wasn’t just a little boost – bash damage basically doubled, and boss fights felt way shorter. Finding thorns on rings and amulets sped up clearing trash mobs since they’d kill themselves hitting into your block. A lucky helmet with life and resists rounded out the defences, and while blocking, the effective HP was massive for that stage of the game. It’s that moment where you realise you can just stand your ground and control the fight.

The bosses in Act 2 came with their own quirks. Wrathbreaker and Rattlecage went down smoothly with the typical block-and-bash rhythm, but Zalmarath the Colossus? That was a grind – 22 minutes of chipping away with bleed and thorns. You’d wait for tiny openings, land a hit, block again. The Kabala Constrictor Queen was another endurance run, all about spacing and patience. There’s something satisfying about winning those fights without insane burst damage – pure defence and smart plays. Runs like this prove that shield bash isn’t just a joke build; with smart gearing and positioning, it’s a legit way to handle PoE 2’s roughest bosses. And yeah, if you’re thinking about gearing up for something similar, poe2 gold buy might save you a whole lot of time farming.