Here, we’ll take an in-depth look at Chieftain Ascendancy Rework. This is coming in Path Of Exile 3.22 Trial Of The Ancestors. In the community and among other content makers, I notice a lot of conversation on this topic. I only wanted to comment and provide my viewpoint.
I wouldn’t compare this to the previous Chieftain because this is a fresh iteration of the Ascendancy classes. since I don’t think things will change back to how it was. I shall therefore briefly summarise each node’s functioning and my early impressions of it.
Table of Contents
Hinekora, Death’s Fury
So first we have Hinekora, Death’s Fury. This is an Explode node that gives enemies you kill a 5% chance to Explode, dealing Fire damage up to 500 max health.
Honestly, I think this is one of the weakest nodes in this new class. While Hinekora has a chance to kill monsters and collect a lot of POE Currency in a short amount of time, the chances are incredibly low. That might feel right for a handful of builds in the league start scene. It can help you get some clear maps at the beginning.
But most builds already have at least a 3% chance of having Fire Mastery. Compared with this node, the trigger chance of Fire Mastery is indeed much higher. So I think it’s pretty mediocre overall.
Ramako, Sun’s Light
Next we have Ramako, Sun’s Light. While you remain stationary, nearby enemies gradually lose Fire Resistance and take more damage. I have to say this is one of the weirdest notable Ascendancy passive skills in POE right now.
It provides Ignite, Fire Penetration chance, but no longer increases burn damage by 15%. Now increases Fire damage multiplier over time by 25%.
To me, this is probably the most striking aspect of the new Chieftain. I don’t know why they do this. Because it will reduce the enemy’s Fire Resistance instead, and you will get so many POE Orbs for staying stationary. It’s a very profitable business.
I mean, we rarely keep stationary in POE. It also absorbs a lot of damage if you’re playing a tanky build at this point. This is of great advantage.
Tawhoa, Forest’s Strength & Tukohama
Next we have Tawhoa, Forest’s Strength and Tukohama, War’s Herald. Since Tawhoa, Forest’s Strength is a four-point branch, it is likely to be the only remaining node of the old Chieftain. But it has now been changed so that when you attack with Non-Vaal Slam or Strike Skill near an enemy, it triggers Tawhoa’s Chosen Strike skill at level 20. It has a cooldown of about two seconds.
This attack unleashes your damage repeatedly. But it comes from Ancestors, and it does 100 more damage. The most important thing is that it casts an attack every two seconds. So it’s really helpful for these slow hitting skills to buy POE Currency.
Then we also have Tukohama, War’s Herald, which provides additional Support Gems for your body armor. And Ancestral Call will support these skills at level 30 and Fist of War at level 20.
But they won’t work in the same attack because Ancestral Call only supports strike skills, and Fist of War only supports slam skills. But Ancestral Call at level 30 provides 10+ damage in addition to the extra strike targets. Also, Fist of War boosts slam skills every 1.8 seconds, making them deal more damage.
But now Fist of War doesn’t apply to Tawhoa’s Chosen trigger skill in Forest’s Strength node. Because Fist of War only enhances your attacks, not those of other entities. This may change in the patch notes, though, to make it actually work with Forest’s Strength without triggers.
Ngamahu, Flame’s Advance
Next up is Ngamahu, Flame’s Advance. It makes Non-Unique Jewels affect the increase and decrease of other damage types in a large radius and converts to apply to fire damage.
So when you place any non-unique duel in a double slot on the passive tree, it will form a large radius around it. And it will change any other specifically increased or decreased damage type within its radius to fire damage.
I don’t think it will be that good because the skill tree has a nice slot for changing the generic damage type to fire damage. But I’m not sure how effective this is for the damage Ngamahu deals.
But in fact, even if you invest more POE Currency on Ngamahu, you will only get equal returns, not more multipliers. So I think that’s the point where it’s not going to be more profitable for us.
Arohongui, Moon’s Presence
Then we came to Arohongui, Moon’s Presence. This is actually the only totem node left on the new Chieftain. This is a purely defensive node, which I think will provide us with of recovery.
If you’ve ever used it in a totem building, you know that totem regeneration is powerful. Especially for the damage they take while regenerating health, regeneration is really important.
It’s an interesting concept to build. Whenever we take damage, you just drop the totem. Because the totem can tear enemies apart and explode, causing them to take fire damage. But overall, I’m not sure what to do with this new node, since there’s nothing else totem-related in Chieftain’s suite.
Tasalio, Cleansing Water & Valako, Storm’s Embrace
Finally, we have the best parts about the new Chieftain Tasalio, Cleansing Water and Valako, Storm’s Embrace.
Tasalio is another four-point branch modifier to Fire Resistance. It also applies to Cold and Lightning Resistance and is unaffected by Ignite. For Valako, the modifier for maximum Fire Resistance also applies for maximum Cold and Lightning Resistance.
Now I put these two together. Because I don’t think you’d ever play Chieftain without taking Valako with you. Because Valako is powerful. You only get the maximum Resistance and Purity of Fire at level 20 if you use the passive around the marauder starting position, and there is no Aura effect.
Not to mention the other synergies with Tasalio and stacked Fire Resistance. You can take full advantage of Fire Mastery, which grants you one regeneration per 1% of your uncapped Fire Resistance. You can also take advantage of Formless Inferno Unique Helmet, which also increases your armor with your excess Fire Resistance.
Conclusion
Overall, I think Chieftain is more Niche Ascendancy now than ever. And its defense against elemental damage is definitely very strong. But as an overall trade-off, it loses physical mitigation, which may dilute the advantage a bit.
At last, I would like to know what you guys think about this new Chieftain’s Ascendancy passive node. Hopefully, this new extension doesn’t disappoint us. We’ll just have to wait and see.
