Act 2 of Lexd’s Shield Bash-only Warrior run felt like watching someone drag a half-broken car through a rally and somehow win. You can forget the flashy builds with fancy rotations — this was just raw timing, muscle memory, and one stubborn lad with a shield. The setup couldn’t be simpler: keep Raise Shield up to block, drop it at the right second, and smash. Damage comes straight off the shield’s armour, so every upgrade feels like Christmas morning. Early on, dealing with stuns was brutal, but Lexd kept things moving. Starting with Pin helped control trash mobs, then swapping to Bleed for bosses gave that extra edge. Paired with Brutality II for a clean physical boost, the build finally had teeth, showing the world it’s not just a meme — it’s a grind. If you’re looking for a wild way to play, this might be your ticket into PoE 2 Items.
His passive tree basically bee-lined to the bottom-left, grabbing anything that made him harder to move or easier to tank a blow — stun threshold, block chance, stacks of armour. No ascendancy perks here, just the plain, reliable perks of a Warrior loaded up on life and resistances pulled from whatever the SSF grind tossed his way. The gameplay’s almost meditative: block, step in, bash, step out. You’re not rushing anything. You wait for openings and clear packs like peeling an onion — layer after layer until there’s nothing left.
The gear chase told its own story. Going from a scrawny 93 armour shield to a chunky 192 armour slab meant damage doubled almost overnight, and bosses melted fast. A helmet drop brought some badly needed life and chaos res, turning dangerous zones into manageable ones. Rings and amulets rolled with thorns, adding that delicious “hit me and die” vibe. With block up, his effective health was somewhere around five thousand — pretty bonkers for Act 2 in SSF. Every item felt earned; nothing was handed over easy.
Boss fights were a mix of quick demolitions and dragging slogs. Rattlecage folded in under three minutes, but Zalmarath the Colossus? That was a twenty-two minute war. Bleed and thorns did most of the talking while Lexd played the patience game — one mistimed block could’ve ended it. The Trial of Sekhemas, infamous for deleting melee characters, ended up being a highlight. Perfect block timing wasn’t just useful; it was the only way out alive. By the end of the act, it was clear Shield Bash didn’t just work — it dominated. Now, the path to Act 3 is littered with wrecked mobs, and it’s hard not to wonder if the next step won’t just level him up, but prove this build is a proper contender. For anyone chasing the same thrill, grabbing u4gm PoE 2 Items for sale could be the best way to start the grind right.
