Learn about the key leveling notes and campaign step by step for the Corrupting Fever Champion Build.
Leveling Section
Your Weapon is your most important upgrade! Always keep your Two-Handed Weapon up to date within ~7 levels of yourself. Make sure your Weapon either has % Physical Damage or Flat Damage. Here is an example of a good Weapon at Level 23: Double Axe
When deciding between two weapons to use for your build, you may hover your mouse over your main skill gem (Splitting Steel early on) to see which of two weapon choices provides the highest DPS. Besides picking up an Axe and identifying it, our primary way of getting a weapon is from using an Essence that adds Flat Damage on Two-Handed Weapons, whether its Physical, Fire, Cold or Lightning Damage. This method has the highest probability to create a good Weapon, especially early on.
When this method does NOT work, we use the Rustic SashVendor Recipe. When you sell a Rare Rustic Sash with a Blacksmith's Whetstone and a Weapon, the Recipe produces a % Physical Damage Weapon back! You may then use an Orb of Augmentation and pray that you land Attack Speed, a Resistance or a different (hopefully useful) stat.
After killing Brutus, return to town and choose Leap Slam. This replaces Dash.
Complete the quest The Marooned Mariner and grab the waypoint in Merveil's Caverns.
After killing Fairgraves and reaching the Waypoint in Merveil's Caverns, return to town and talk to Bestel for a Passive Skillpoint.
Talk to Nessa for Shattering Steel, then complete The Siren's Cadence.
Act 1 Tips
Splitting Steel gives a new skill called Call of Steel, which grants steel shards. Use Call of Steel to generate shards, cast Splitting Steel a handful of times to spend shards (if available), and then cast Call of Steel to finish enemies.
The proper rotation on packs is to cast Call of Steel for 12 stacks of Steel Shards, Dash forward constantly, place Ancestral Protector on packs of monsters, and use Splitting Steel until the pack is low.
War Banner is the build's first aura. Activating it causes monster deaths to store 50 charges. When released, it gives us the Adrenaline buff for a huge damage boost. This is best used on magic packs, rare monsters, or large packs of regular monsters.
Two handed weapons are a substantial DPS increase and help tremendously on Brutus. The recommended weapons here are either a Longsword at 8, or a Jade Chopper at 9.
Note that The Way Forward is an Act 1 quest that is only completable in Act 2.
Equip a Sapphire Ring for Merveil to mitigate her Cold Damage. Kill Merveil and move onto Act 2!
Act 2
Walk north into The Forest Encampment, sell all items you acquired from Merveil, then go to the right of town into The Old Fields and complete The Great White Beast.
Talk to Yeena and select the magic Quicksilver Flask reward.
At this point use two Life flasks, one Mana flask, and two Quicksilver Flasks.
Waypoint back to The Crossroads, complete the Trial of Ascendancy and finish the quest Intruders in Black in the Chambers of Sin 2.
Make sure to complete the Trial of Ascendancy in the Chambers of Sin 2.
Talk to Greust and select the gem Blood Rage.
Talk to Yeena and purchase the gems Herald of Ash and Herald of Purity.
Go left from the Town to complete the quest Sharp and Cruel in The Weaver's Chambers.
Talk to Silk and get the gem Faster Attacks Support.
Complete the quest Deal with the Bandits.
Waypoint to the Crossroads, go right to the Broken Bridge, kill Kraityn, and return to town.
Waypoint to the Riverways, go north to The Wetlands, and kill Oak.
While in the Western Forest, kill Alira and complete the quest The Way Forward.
After completing these quests, talk to Eramir for two Passive Skillpoints, then return to Lioneye's Watch to receive another Passive Skillpoint from Bestel.
Complete the quest Shadow of the Vaal by killing the Act 2 boss, Vaal Oversoul. After this, return to town and complete the Trial of Ascendancy in The Crypt. Once these are done, move onto Act 3!
Act 2 Tips
If you sell rare items identified they will give you Alteration Shards, while selling them unidentified gives you Transmutation Shards.
Your ideal weapon at level 13 is a Woodsplitter, and Poleaxe at level 18.
Blood Rage is a buff that gives attack speed, leech, and has a chance to generate frenzy charges on kill - which give more Attack/Cast Speed and damage.
Herald of Ash is an Aura that gives 15% of Physical Damage as extra Fire Damage, and also helps smooth out clearing packs. This gem takes priority over all other auras at this point.
Herald of Purity gives more Physical damage, and also summons some minions to help out while clearing or fighting a boss.
If you are struggling to fit in all three auras, prioritize them in the following order: Herald of Ash > Herald of Purity > War Banner.
Use a Ruby Ring for Vaal Ruins as the monsters casting Explosive Arrow are scary.
Act 3
Waypoint to the City of Sarn, kill the Guard Captain, and talk to Clarissa. Complete Lost in Love.
Complete the Trial of Ascendancy and obtain Tolman's Bracelet.
Talk to Clarissa to obtain the Sewer Keys.
Talk to Maramoa and choose Vulnerability.
Complete the quests Victario's Secrets, The Ribbon Spool and The Gemling Queen.
Choose the rare Jade Amulet as a reward.
Ensure that you complete the Trial of Ascendancy from The Catacombs at some point during this cycle.
Complete the quests Sever the Right Hand and Piety's Pets.
Aim for at least level 27 before killing Piety. After killing her, return to town.
Talk to Hargan for a Passive Skillpoint (from the quest Victario's Secrets).
Talk to Grigor to get a Passive Skillpoint.
Complete the Trial of Ascendancy in The Imperial Gardens.
While fighting Dominus, avoid getting slammed when he raises his fist. Kill Dominus and move on to Act 4!
Act 3 Tips
Use Vulnerability on magic and rare packs, and all boss encounters.
Farm The Docks if you are behind in XP. You can reset a zone by holding down Ctrl and left clicking on either a zone entrance or Waypoint.
Any of the two-stone ring bases, such as Two-Stone Ring, are the best type of rings you can equip. Despite this, always prioritize stats over basetype. For example, Coral Ring is superior to Two-Stone Ring
Gems can level up in any socket, including your off-hand!
Try to get your Fire, Cold, and Lightning resists close to 75%.
The best crafts are from the Crafting Bench in your hideout. Use the 16-20% of a single resist craft, which only costs an Orb of Transmutation.
Act 4
Complete the quest Breaking the Seal, and farm Dried Lake until at least level 30.
Complete the quest An Indomitable Spirit.
Reach the Waypoint in the Crystal Veins and complete the normal Labyrinth.
Ascend as a Champion and choose First to Strike, Last to Fall.
Ascendancy
First to Strike, Last to Fall causes all of your hits to apply Intimidate, which causes monsters to take 10% increased attack damage. The really important part of this ascendancy node however is when you reach 50% or lower Life, you will proc Adrenaline. Adrenaline gives 100% increased damage, 25% increased attack, cast, and movement speed, on top of granting 10% additional physical damage reduction. The most reliable way of getting to 50% life is to use Corrupting Fever linked to Lifetap Support. Even though Corrupting Fever already costs life, using Lifetap causes the skill to cost 300% more health, ensuring you will consistently reach low life early on.
Do not progress past Crystal Veins without being at least level 32. Farm Dried Lake if you need to catch up.
Complete the quest The Eternal Nightmare by killing Daresso and Kaom.
Kill Piety, then complete the quest Corpus Malachus.
Talk to Piety again, go kill Malachai, and move on to Act five!
Act 4 Tips
Act 4 is when the game strains your resistances, and playing below 75% is extremely dangerous. Start to overcap resists in this Act as you are aiming for at least 105% by the time you kill Act 5 Kitava.
Keep identifying rare items to find high Life and Resistance gear.
Do not switch your build to Corrupting Fever Wander unless this is your second character of the league, as Corrupting Fever wand glad requires an extremely large amount of sockets. Additionally, do not attempt to swap until at least level 38.
However, this does not stop us from looking for items with the colors we need! So start looking for the following:
R-R-B-G: Corrupting Fever - Brutality Support - Efficacy Support - Swift Affliction Support
R-R-B-B: Exsanguinate - Brutality Support - Spellslinger - Controlled Destruction Support
R-R-B-G: Kinetic Blast - Lifetap Support - Life Gain on Hit Support - Greater Multiple Projectiles Support
Act 5
Complete the quest Return to Oriath and talk to Lani for a ring matching the resists you need the most. A Two-Stone ring is superior to any of the single-resist rings as they are easier to replace later.
Complete the quests In Service to Science, The Key to Freedom, and reach the Chamber of Innocence.
Return to town and talk to Lani for a Granite Flask.
Talk to Vilenta for a Passive Skillpoint.
Complete the quest Death to Purity.
Complete the quests The Ravenous God and Kitava's Torments.
Kill Kitava, and move onto Act six!
Act 5 Tips
Get at least 75% resists in Fire, Cold, and Lightning - but aim for 105%, as you lose 30% from killing Kitava.
Put every armor and jewelry piece you're using into the crafting bench in your hideout to see if it has space for a Fire, Cold, or Lightning resist craft. This is only usable if the item has an Open Suffix (hold Alt on an item to check).
In softcore, it is acceptable if your elemental resistances are around 50%.
Once you enter the Chamber of Innocence, farm this zone until at least level 40. You can reset a campaign zone by holding down CTRL and clicking on the zone or Waypoint.
When Kitava closes his fist, he spawns orbs that hone in on your location in an X formation, exploding in the center. Avoid any slams and abilities from the large unique monsters that spawn.
Act 6
Go out to The Coast and get the Waypoint, then go to the Mud Flats and complete the quest The Father of War.
Once at the Ridge Waypoint, take it back to The Coast and complete Bestel's Epic.
Use a Portal Scroll and complete Fallen From Grace.
Talk to Lily Roth for 2x Passive Respec Points. This vendor gives access to all gems in the game, and can be accessed from your hideout. Talk to her to Purchase Exsanguinate, Corrupting Fever, and Spellslinger. Level these in your off-hand weapons.
Talk to Bestel for either a rare Leather Belt or Citrine Amulet, depending on which slot needs a bigger upgrade.
Talk to Tarkleigh for a Passive Skillpoint.
Travel to The Lower Prison and complete the Trial of Ascendancy.
Finish Essence of Umbra by killing Brutus and Shavronne. Grab the Spell Damage craft after the fight.
Kill Abberath in Prisoner's Gate for The Cloven One.
Grab the Waypoint in The Riverways, then go north to The Wetlands and kill Ryslatha for The Puppet Mistress.
Return to town and talk to Bestel for a Passive Skillpoint.
Talk to Tarkleigh for a rare Fencer Helm and a Passive Skillpoint.
Complete the remaining questline to defeat The Brine King, then move onto Act 7.
Act 6 tips
If entering Act 6 at 42, you don't need to farm any XP past this point until Act 9. Remain within 6 levels of your current zone.
Entering this Act without 75% all resists is perfectly fine (in softcore!). The elemental damage you take here depends on which part of the Act you are in. The Mud Flats and the Tukohama fight requires Fire res, the Shavronne fight Lightning res, and the Brine King Cold and Lightning res. Using this, it’s okay if your resists initially look like 75% Fire, 50% Cold, and 50% Lightning (again, in softcore). In hardcore, ensure that all resists equal 75% or more.
Go to your hideout and throw each piece individually at the crafting bench to see if you can craft a Fire, Cold, or Lightning resist on them for 1 Orb of Transmutation each. Obviously only craft the types of resists you need!
You may skip Abberath and Ryslatha until late Act 7 if your character is too weak at this point.
Select the Brine King Pantheon (the Keybind is Y by default) after killing The Brine King.
Act 7
Complete the quest The Silver Locket.
Travel to The Crypt for the Trial of Ascendancy and the map for Essence of the Artist.
Waypoint back to The Crossroads, travel north to the Chamber of Sins, and complete Web of Secrets.
Do the Trial of Ascendancy while in the Chambers of Sin 2, and complete The Master of a Million Faces.
Gather the seven fireflies for the quest Lighting the Way, and kill Greust for the quest The Master of a Million Faces while in The Dread Thicket.
Exit The Dread Thicket and travel to The Causeway for Kishara's Star.
Get to the Waypoint in the Vaal City and talk to Yeena there, then return to town.
Select the Pantheon Ralakesh, Master of a Million Faces.
Talk to Eramir for two Passive Skillpoints.
Talk to Weylam Roth to select the Quartz Flask and a Passive Skillpoint.
Talk to Helena and select the rare Soldier Boots.
While most builds will do the Cruel Labyrinth at this point in the campaign, the second lab for Champion, Unstoppable Hero, will not provide anything until you have the third node Fortitude.
Finally, Waypoint back to The Vaal City, travel to Temple of Decay 2, and kill Arakaali. Avoid the cone of poisonous bolts, as well as the purple orbs that spawn far away and travel towards the boss. After this, move onto Act 8!
Act 7 Tips
A faster way to complete the cycle in late Act 7 after killing Greust is to place a portal outside of the Dread Thicket, go through The Causeway for Kishara's Star, get to the waypoint in Vaal City, then take the waypoint back to town and go through your portal. This is not included up above as portals expire if you are too slow.
Continue to look for the following colors:
R-R-B-G, R-R-B-B and R-R-B-G
Act 8
Kill Doedre for the quest Essence of the Hag, then go to the right towards The Quay.
Complete the quest Love is Dead, then travel to the Grain Gate to complete The Gemling Legion.
Continue to the Solaris Temple and get the waypoint in Solaris Temple 1.
Complete the quest Solar Eclipse and return to town.
Talk to Clarissa for a Passive Skillpoint.
Talk to Hargan for whichever Two-Stone ring reward you need the most.
Talk to Maramoa for a Passive Skillpoint.
Go back to Solaris Temple 1, travel to the Solaris Concourse, through Harbour Bridge, then Lunaris Concourse.
Go to the Lunaris Temple 2 and complete Lunar Eclipse.
Travel to the Lunaris Concourse and kill the Twins Solaris the Eternal Sun and Lunaris the Eternal Eternal Moon. Stand behind Solaris when she throws her Fire Spear and move away when Lunaris fires Cold Rain from the Sky. Afterwards, continue onwards to Act 9 and the best zone in the campaign for farming - the Blood Aqueducts!
Act 9 (Skip to build specific below)
Farm the Blood Aqueducts until character level 64 for gear, gem levels, and currency.
Get your elemental resists to be close to 105% when killing Act 10 Kitava as you receive another 30% penalty to resistances. Mapping with ~60% resists is fine for softcore, but is a definite no-go in hardcore.
While farming Blood Aqueduct you might find Humility cards, which sell for approximately 2 Chaos Orb at the start of a league.
Go back to Lunaris Concourse in Act 8 to get the Trail of Ascendancy in the Bath House and complete the Reflection of Terror in the High Gardens. Return to town and talk to Hargan for a Passive Skillpoint.
Complete the quest The Storm Blade. Return to town then talk to Petarus and Vanja for Teak Round Shield.
Talk to Sin for the next quest item, then Petarus and Vanja again. Return back to the Vastiri Desert waypoint and complete the quest Queen of the Sands. Return to town and talk to Irasha for a Passive Skillpoint.
Kill The Basilisk in the Boiling Lake.
Complete the quest Fastis Fortuna.
Complete the Trial of Ascendancy in The Tunnel.
Complete the Ruler of Highgate, then return to town and talk to Irasha for a Passive Skillpoint.
Finish the quest Recurring Nightmare by killing Act 9 boss The Depraved Trinity. Avoid the boss' slam, and avoid getting hit by the scorpion ads that spawn. Next, move onto Act 10!
Act 9 Build Specific:
It is finally time to swap! Upon entering Blood Aqueduct (At level 54 or above) try to swap over to Kinetic BlastCorrupting Fever gladiator. It is perfectly okay to not have all of the socket links at this point of the campaign! In fact, it is not expected that you do.
R-R-B-G: Corrupting Fever - Brutality Support - Efficacy Support - Swift Affliction Support
R-R-B-B: Exsanguinate - Brutality Support - Spellslinger - Controlled Destruction Support
R-R-G-B-: Kinetic Blast - Lifetap Support - Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - Life Gain on Hit Support
Taking these down to 3 links makes gearing substantially easier! Remove the last link in every list if you do not have the required 4-link.
Continually identify rares and use essences on gear.
This build requires a wand to use the skill Kinetic Blast. For our wand, we only care about identifying either +1 to Physical Spells, or +% Physical Damage over time. A combination of these two would be an insanely lucky find. Your best bet for acquiring one of these is selling a wand to a vendor PLUS enough skill gems with the Physical Tag with quality adding up to 40%.
Example: Selling a wand with a 13% Cyclone, 10% Divine Ire, and 17% Ethereal Knives (13+10+17=40%).
This produces a Magic Wand with +1 to level of all Physical Spell skill gems. Use an Orb of Augmentation and a Regal Orb for a 2nd and 3rd affix. Next take it to the crafting bench and craft anything useful on it (Ideally % Physical Damage over time multiplier, % Damage over time multiplier, % Damage over time, or % Attack Speed).
Act 10
Kill Plaguewing and complete the quest Safe Passage.
Place a portal in the middle of the Ruined Square, and go to the waypoint in the Control Blocks (left).
Take the waypoint back to town and talk to Lani in town for a Silver Flask.
This Flask gives a buff called Onslaught, which grants 20% increased attack, cast, and movement speed.
Don't complete the quest Vilenta's Vengeance in the Control Blocks at this time if your character feels weak. Instead, go through your portal that you placed earlier and go to the right this time towards the Ossuary.
Complete the quest No Love for Old Ghosts and the Trial of Ascendancy in the Ossuary.
Complete the Cruel Labyrinth and choose Unstoppable Hero. This node provides some reasonably good buffs while fortified such as 20% increased atack speed, +500 armor and evasion, and cannot be stunned. The only reliable source of fortify for this build comes from the next lab though, so do it now.
Complete the Merciless Labyrinth and choose Fortitude.
Go a bit slower than normal in Merciless Labyrinth as there is a difficulty spike. Stop for dark shrines, and try to get extra keys if they are along your path. Merciless lab can provide a lot of currency and gear at this stage.
Fortitude provides 20 permanent stacks of Fortify, which causes the player to take 1% less damage from hits per stack of Fortify. This causes you to be incredibly tanky, while also causing the prior lab to provide some very nice benefits.
Kill Avarius to complete the quest Death and Rebirth, then return to town.
Talk to Bannon with the The Staff of Purity in your inventory.
Talk to Lani for a Blood Raiment.
Talk to Weylam Roth for 2x Passive Respec Points.
Travel back to the Ravaged Square, talk to Innocence, and complete the quest An End to Hunger.
Kill Kitava, and move onto the mapping section below - congratulations on completing the campaign!
Note that killing Kitava reduces your overall resistances by 30% again. Prepare for this by obtaining gear with as high resists as possible. Aim for 75% Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resists for mapping.
Mapping Preparation
You're done with the Campaign and are ready to take on the Path of Exile Endgame. Priority #1 is to ensure your Elemental Resistances are capped (75%) and you have sufficient Attributes to continue leveling your Skill Gems. Use Essences you have gathered on any items that are not Magic or Rare already. Items with an open modifier slot can be crafted on. Head to the Crafting Bench and craft Life and Resistances wherever possible according to what you need.
Recommended Farming Content
After completing the campaign the first step is to progress through the Atlas following our Atlas Progression Guide. Focus on the mechanics listed below depending on what level of content your character can complete QUICKLY. If you're struggling in higher tier content it is always recommended to step back and farm up more Currency and Gear in the previous tier. Clicking the League Mechanics below for an Explanation Guide or a detailed Currency Farming Guide based around maximizing profits from that mechanic.
Always re-roll or avoid running the following modifiers when they appear on your maps.
Monsters reflect x% of physical damage
Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield
Consider re-rolling or avoiding the following modifiers when they appear on maps:
x% Monster physical damage Reduction
Players have x% reduced effect of Non-Curse Auras from skills
Monsters have a X% chance to avoid Poison, Impale, and Bleeding
Pantheon
Corrupting Fever Pantheon
For information on the Pantheon read our Pantheon Guide!
For Major Pantheon, select Brine King to gain Immunity to Freeze and Reduction of Chill Effect. This bonus is not baseline and needs to be acquired with a Divine Vessel.
For Minor Pantheon, select Garukhan and upgrade it. This gives 60% reduced Effect of Shock on you and you Cannot be Maimed.
