Ancients Leveling Guide - Strike of the Ancients

This guide is work in progress and more updates are coming in as we get more information closer to the Lord of Hatred launch.

This may be the strongest leveling build out there. This will utilize the new Summon Ancient mechanics paired with a ton of mobility skills to make this a fast paced, Ancient slaying build.

Please read through the How it works section of the planner and if you have further questions you can join me live on Twitch, YouTube, TikTok and X. If you have questions while I'm not live, join Discord. We have a team and community ready to answer all your questions! You can also check out Cliptis.com for a collection of all my How-To guides.

For a complete and comprehensive leveling strategy, watch this video: The Ultimate Leveling Guide (All Classes)

Lunging Strike Gameplay Loop

• Because this is a Basic Skill Build you don't have to worry about Fury.
• Hold down Lunging Strike it will bounce you to the next monsters.
• Cast Leap to move to enemies and summon Ancients
• Cast Charge to push enemies, close gaps, gain unstoppable and summon Ancients
• Cast War Cry to gain Berserking, increase your damage and summon Ancients
• Cast Challenging Shout to gain damage reduction and summon Ancients
• Cast Call of the Ancients to gain damage, attack speed and summon Ancients

• If you would like to learn how to set your weapon selection watch this video: How to Select Weapons

Arsenal Selection

This build will be running on a TBD as your Arsenal selection

Defenses

• Aspect of Might will proc the Damage Reduction by hitting an enemy with Lunging Strike. This has to happen once every 2 to 10 seconds, depending on how good your Aspect of Might is.
• Aspect of Disobedience gives you armor by attacking enemies with any form of damage or by taking damage from enemies. You'll need to do damage at least once every 4 seconds to maintain the extra Armor it gives you.
• Aspect of Numbing Wrath gives you Fortify for each point of Fury you generate over max. If you have 100 Fury and you use Lunging Strike and it generates 10 Fury you'll gain 10 Fortify. Fortify gives you 15% Damage Reduction. If you combine Lunging Strike with Rallying Cry any damage you do, will generate Fortify for the extra Damage Reduction
• Aspect of Bul-Kathos will not only cast an Earthquake when you Leap, it also gives you increased Damage Reduction while in an Earthquake and for 4 seconds after even if you don't use Leap
• To maintain all of your defenses, you'll need to cast Lunging Strike at least once every 4 seconds.

If you want to learn how to set your defenses up, watch this video: How to avoid getting one-shot

Offense

• Edgemaster's Aspect increases the damage of your next skill cast based on how much Fury you have.
• Aspect of Inner Calm gives you a pass buff to damage even if you are moving.
• Rapid Aspect will give your Lunging Strike more Attack Speed
• Needleflare Aspect is a fun combination with Death Wish Aspect until you find aspects to replace them.
• Bear Clan Berserker's Aspect will help reset your cooldowns of Ground Stomp, War Cry and Leap
• Aspect of Anger Management will allow you to maintain Berserking all the time, as long as you're about 50 Fury.
• Aspect of Ancestral Echoes is just here to add a chance to spawn more Ancients with Leap and also increases the damage of your Ancients.
• Aspect of Ancestral Charge will add Ancients to your Charge and increase the damage to all your Ancients.

If you want to learn the basics about Multipliers watch this video: Addative vs. Multiplicative Damage.

Found a Mythic and want to know if it's useable? Is this Mythic usable with my build?

Leveling Walkthrough Document

Season 13 Leveling Strategy

Testing and Research Documents

• Level 2: Lunging Strike
• Level 3: Save point
• Level 4: Challenging Shout
• Level 5: Lunging Strike
• • Fury Generation: lunging strike generates 1 fury for each enemy you lunge through
• Level 6: Save point
• Level 7: Challenging Shout
• • Top modifier: TBD
• Level 8: War Cry
• Level 8: Leap
• Level 8: Charge
• Level 9: Lunging Strike
• • Berserking: Lunging Strike grants berserking for 3 seconds when it Critically Strikes | Lunging Strike grants 5%[+] Critical Strike Chance
• Level 10: Save point
• Level 11: Save point
• Level 12: War Cry
• • Top Modifier TBD
• Level 12: Leap
• • Fury Generation: Leap now generates 20 fury
• Level 12: Charge
• • Unstoppable: You are unstoppable during Charge
• Level 13: Challenging Shout
• • Bottom modifier: TBD
• Level 14: Lunging Strike
• • Skewer: Lunging Strike deals 75%[x] increased damage and an additional 5%[x] increased damage for each target it lunges through up to 100%[x]
• Level 15: Save point
• Level 16: Save point
• Level 17: War Cry
• • Bottom Modifier: Unknown
• Level 17: Leap
• • Pull: Leap now pulls enemies in upon landing
• Level 17: Charge
• • Cooldown Reduction: Charge's cooldown is reduced by 1 second for each enemy hit, up to 3
• Level 18: Challenging Shout
• • Talic: Challenging Shout summons Talic who spins in a whirlwind rapidly attacking enemies for damage
• Level 19: Call of the Ancients
• Level 20: War Cry
• • Krolic: War Cry summons Krolic who leaps at enemies dealing damage
• Level 21: Leap
• • Mosh: Leap summons 3 ancients that leap at a random enemy and deal damage
• Level 22: Call of the Ancients
• • Attack Speed and Damage Bonus: Whenever you cast Call of the Ancients you gain 15%[+] increased attack speed and 20%[x] increased damage for 6 seconds
• Level 23:
• Level 26: Charge
• • Phalanx: Charge summons two ancients to charge with you and swing for damage
• Level 24: Call of the Ancients
• • Damage Bonus: You and each of your Ancients summoned from this skill increase each others damage by 7%
• Level 25: Call of the Ancients
• • Empowered: Your Ancients are empowered
  • Krolic creates an earthquake and deals physical damage over 4 second
  • Talic leaves behind dust devils that deal damage while he whirlwinds
  • Madawc ignites the earth, burning enemies for an additional damage over 4 seconds when he upheaves the ground
• Level 26: Call of the Ancients
• Level 40: Call of the Ancients
• Level 41: Lunging Strike
• Level 54: Lunging Strike
• Level 55: Charge
• Level 68: Charge
• Level 69: Leap
• Level 70: Leap + All remaining Seasonal Rank points

27-Apr-2026 updated and optimized for Season 13