MMOEXP- This melee attack causes Area of Effect (AoE) damage
Path of Exile Boneshatter Juggernaut Build Guide
Path of Exile (PoE) has cemented its place as one of the premier action role-playing games, with its expansive skill tree, intricate item system, and rewarding combat mechanics. Among the many powerful builds available in PoE, the Boneshatter Juggernaut stands out as a powerhouse capable of dishing out enormous damage while maintaining incredible survivability. This guide will delve into the details of optimizing the Boneshatter Juggernaut, covering essential gear, skill gems, and strategies that make this build one of the most formidable in the game.

The Juggernaut Class: A Tanky Powerhouse
In Path of Exile, choosing the right class is critical to your build’s success. The Marauder class, known for its melee prowess and tankiness, offers several viable options for builds, with the Juggernaut standing out due to its extreme durability and damage mitigation. Juggernauts are built to withstand tremendous punishment while dishing out brutal blows in return, making them ideal for Path of exile currency  players who want a mix of defense and offense.

Juggernauts are not only great at surviving but are also designed to become stronger the more damage they take. They excel in soaking up damage, thanks to their high health pool, resistance to status ailments, and the ability to convert damage into power through abilities like Unflinching, Unflinching, and Unflinching.

One of the most devastating skills for this class is Boneshatter. This melee attack causes Area of Effect (AoE) damage when an enemy is stunned, and its damage scales with the number of trauma stacks you accumulate. However, these trauma stacks also inflict damage on the player, meaning Juggernauts must be able to withstand this self-inflicted harm while still leveraging Boneshatter's potent damage output.

Understanding Boneshatter
Boneshatter is a unique skill that is especially well-suited for Juggernauts. When you hit an enemy with Boneshatter, it causes AoE damage around the target and generates trauma stacks. These trauma stacks increase the damage of Boneshatter exponentially, but they also cause the player to take damage in return. The damage you deal to enemies grows with each trauma stack, creating a devastatingly powerful effect when you can stack multiple traumas.

As the Juggernaut, you have the advantage of being able to stack these trauma effects without worrying as much about your own health, thanks to your high life pool, resistances, and defensive buffs. The Boneshatter Juggernaut build thrives in being able to absorb massive amounts of trauma while delivering massive AoE damage in return.

Key Gears and Items for the Boneshatter Juggernaut Build
To optimize your Boneshatter Juggernaut build, selecting the right gear is essential. The following items provide critical stats for the Juggernaut’s survivability and damage potential, ensuring your character remains strong while inflicting massive pain on enemies.

1. Despot Axe (Weapon)
The Despot Axe is a two-handed weapon that increases physical damage by 60%, boosts accuracy, and improves your attack speed. These stats are essential for ensuring that your attacks land reliably while also ramping up your damage output. The axe also comes with a high chance to impale enemies, a mechanic that allows you to deal additional physical damage, further increasing your total damage.

The combination of attack speed and physical damage makes the Despot Axe a top-tier weapon for this build, enhancing both your offense and your ability to generate trauma stacks quickly.

2. Royal Burgonet (Helmet)
A helmet that converts 9-10% of physical damage taken into life is crucial for maintaining your health while stacking trauma. The Royal Burgonet also increases your maximum life and provides significant resistance to cold, fire, and lightning damage. These resistances are important when facing enemies with multiple sources of elemental damage, ensuring you can tank through their attacks while stacking trauma and dealing damage.

3. Devout Chainmail (Body Armor)
The Devout Chainmail is a powerful armor piece for the Boneshatter Juggernaut, offering up to 250% increased armor and energy shield. This armor also provides additional chaos resistance and health regeneration, which helps sustain you through long battles and mitigate the damage you take from trauma stacks. The increased armor ensures that you can withstand heavy physical hits, while energy shield acts as an extra layer of protection.

4. Amethyst Ring (Ring)
The Amethyst Ring is another essential item for this build, providing a significant boost to chaos resistance, accuracy, and life. These stats improve your ability to avoid damage from chaos-based attacks and ensure that you can reliably land your Boneshatter hits. The added life also increases your survivability, giving you more room to accumulate trauma stacks without dying.

5. Turquoise Amulet (Amulet)
The Turquoise Amulet provides bonuses to dexterity and intelligence, both of which are crucial for boosting your accuracy and life. The increased life ensures that you can withstand additional trauma damage, while the added accuracy ensures that your attacks land more reliably, further boosting your offensive potential.

6. Tanu Ahi Gauntlets (Gloves)
The Tanu Ahi Gauntlets offer a variety of defensive and offensive benefits. These gloves increase attack speed, armor, and evasion, all of which contribute to your overall survivability and damage output. Additionally, the gauntlets convert damage dealt into life, helping to sustain you throughout long encounters.

7. Stygian Vise (Belt)
The Stygian Vise is a powerful belt for the Boneshatter Juggernaut build, offering increases to maximum health and resistance to chaos and fire damage. The added health gives you more room to take damage from trauma stacks, while the resistance bonuses provide protection from elemental damage.

8. Vaal Greaves (Boots)
The Vaal Greaves provide increased life regeneration and shock resistance, both of which are invaluable for surviving intense combat situations. These boots also grant movement speed, allowing you to reposition and escape dangerous encounters if necessary.

Skill Gems to Pair with Boneshatter
To maximize the effectiveness of your Boneshatter Juggernaut, the right skill gems are essential. Below are some of the best skill gems to pair with Boneshatter for optimal performance:

1. Divergent Boneshatter (Main Skill Gem)
This variant of the Boneshatter skill boosts both AoE and physical damage, while also increasing the damage you take per trauma stack. Although this may seem like a drawback, the Juggernaut's natural resilience allows you to withstand the increased damage while significantly increasing the potency of your Boneshatter.

2. Ancestral Protector (Totem Skill)
The Ancestral Protector totem increases your attack speed while dealing melee damage to enemies. This skill is invaluable for increasing your DPS in boss fights and large packs of enemies, where faster attacks can dramatically improve your damage output.

3. Determination (Aura Skill)
Determination is one of the most important defensive skills for the Juggernaut build. It significantly boosts your armor and that of your allies, increasing your survivability and durability during tough encounters. The aura also helps in reducing incoming damage, which is crucial for managing trauma stacks.

4. Phantasmal Leap Slam (Mobility Skill)
This skill provides not only an escape mechanism but also a means of dealing damage to enemies. The Leap Slam knocks enemies back, providing you with the mobility needed to reposition or escape tricky situations. This gem is excellent for both combat and positioning.

5. Cast When Damage Taken (Defensive Skill)
This gem automatically activates linked skills when you take damage, offering excellent synergy with defensive skills like Immortal Call or Steelskin. This passive trigger ensures that you’re always protected without needing to manually activate defensive abilities.

Conclusion
The Boneshatter Juggernaut build is one of the most powerful and versatile setups in Path of Exile, offering high damage output alongside unmatched durability. By focusing on survivability through armor, life regeneration, and resistances, the Juggernaut becomes a formidable force capable of tanking through the most challenging encounters while obliterating enemies with devastating Boneshatter strikes.

With the right combination of POE currency for sale gear, skill gems, and strategic use of PoE Currency, players can craft an unstoppable Juggernaut that can take on bosses, clear maps efficiently, and survive even the most demanding scenarios. Whether you're farming loot or taking on the game's hardest challenges, the Boneshatter Juggernaut build is a top-tier choice for players seeking a high-impact, tanky powerhouse that can thrive in Path of Exile's dangerous world.