Path of Exile’s highly anticipated Gauntlet event returns with the 3.26 Merciless Gauntlet, promising a fresh challenge for both seasoned racers and casual players. With unique event rules, increased difficulty, and enticing rewards, participants are eager to find the most effective builds to tackle the event’s brutal content. Here’s a close look at what to expect in the Merciless Gauntlet, along with the top ascendancies and builds recommended by experienced players for this league.
What is the PoE 3.26 Merciless Gauntlet Event & How It Works?
The Merciless Gauntlet is a special 10-day event starting on July 31st PDT, featuring a Hardcore Solo Self-Found league with extra damage and life modifiers, boss ability changes, and a host of surprises. Organized in partnership with Zizaran and supported by community sponsors, the event runs as a unique league on PC, accessible to all players from the character selection screen. Points are awarded for leveling, boss kills, and select Maven Invitations, with exotic bounties and prize draws encouraging participation at all levels.
This Gauntlet iteration features custom ascendancies from the Fishia League, meaning players won’t have access to the usual class ascendancies. Doryani’s Prototype is disabled, and certain unintended interactions are prohibited. Boss encounters are much deadlier, with portal usage capped to three per boss for points eligibility. Every participant who defeats Hillock will receive a special Gauntlet Glove Effect, and campaign finishers are rewarded with a guaranteed Mystery Box. The prize pool is community funded, offering both random draws and achievement-based rewards. The campaign itself is expected to be the event’s toughest hurdle, with mapping becoming more manageable afterward.
PoE 3.26 Gauntlet Tier List - Best Ascendancies & Builds for Merciless Gauntlet
When choosing a build for the Merciless Gauntlet, prioritize survivability and defensive layers above all else, as the campaign features extra monster damage, additional projectiles, elemental penetration, and other deadly modifiers that make early progression especially punishing. Opt for builds that can handle high incoming damage, have reliable sustain, and don’t rely on expensive or hard-to-acquire gear, since the event is Solo Self-Found and bosses are more dangerous. Favor ascendancies and skill setups that offer tankiness, crowd control, and straightforward mechanics, so you can focus on staying alive rather than complicated rotations. Finally, consider how easily the build can recover from deaths or be quickly rebuilt, as repeated attempts may be necessary in the unforgiving Gauntlet environment.
1. Ancestral Commander
Ancestral Commander stands out as the most played ascendancy in hardcore SSF for the Gauntlet League. It offers endurance charges, which are very useful for overall damage reduction, especially early in the campaign when gauntlet modifiers are in play. Slams are particularly effective this league, with Earthshatter and Volcanic Fissure builds being excellent options. Expect to see many players choosing Ancestral Commander for their gauntlet runs.
Best Ancestral Commander Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
This is the easiest gauntlet build recommended by Zizaran. Earthshatter Ancestral Commander is a strong pick for the GAUNTLET event because it offers a tanky, straightforward playstyle with no required uniques and reliable defenses, making it one of the easiest builds to get to level 95 on. The ascendancy provides endurance charges, freeze immunity, doubled armor from body armor, and faster, stronger warcries, giving the build excellent survivability. Farming lab for gem quality and gear is both effective and commonly done, and crafting axes is easy with gold, letting you stay well-equipped. The build is mostly automated, simple to play, and Decoy Totem makes bosses much safer. With accessible gear, high damage, and strong defense, this build is a reliable choice for progressing through the tough GAUNTLET content.
- Check out how to set up the Anscetral Commander Earthshatter Slammer Build
A favorite among players aiming to finish the campaign and claim guaranteed rewards, this build uses the Ancestral Commander ascendancy with Explosive Arrow Ballista totems. Its primary strengths are robust defensive layers and a straightforward playstyle that doesn’t require expensive gear.
- Check out how to set up the Anscetral Commander Explosive Arrow Build
2. Servant of Arakali
Servant of Arakali offers strong early campaign power through the Envy node, which grants significant chaos damage and covers your damage needs throughout the campaign. This allows you to focus more on defense. Cobra Lash or Venom Gyre are good skill choices, letting you attack from range, chain hits, and make the most of the chaos damage. However, this ascendancy lacks defensive nodes, so you’ll need to compensate elsewhere. Despite this, it remains a popular and effective choice for progressing through the gauntlet.
Best Servant of Arakali Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The first build uses Poison Concoction with Servant of Arakali, a Shadow subclass. This setup provides a lot of damage and resilience. Even on a basic five-link setup, the build reaches about 3 million DPS. Survivability is also solid, with good evasion and notable physical damage reduction. Energy shield is on the lower side in the initial setup, but using Ghost Dance and better gear will increase it substantially. The build’s evasion rating is high, and while armor is low, physical mitigation is taken care of with Arctic Armor and Flesh and Stone, which are crucial for handling the dangerous physical hits in the gauntlet. Recovery is managed through life flask charges, life recovery on kill, and some leech. The build easily achieves 100% spell suppression using just the tree, making gearing smoother. Further improvements can be made with better gear or reallocating passive points.
For leveling, the ascendancy order starts with Marvelent Strands, granting the Envy skill for a huge early damage boost. Later, respecs are made for the final ascendancy, which includes Trans Spinner and Seal Dancer for synergies like Aspect of the Spider. This not only increases damage taken by enemies but also adds more defensive layers. Minions summoned by the build provide Wither on hit, automating poison stacking. This leads to a high uptime on Wither, which is very important for a poison-based build.
- Check out how to set up the Poison Concoction Servant of Arakali Build
3. Scavenger
Scavenger is also a top contender, frequently utilized during Phrecia. While the commonly used power siphon mines build was nerfed, Scavenger still offers strong performance, especially when paired with Cloak of Flames and straightforward damage scaling by the end of the campaign. Popular skills for this ascendancy include Poison Concoction, slam skills, and Smite. Players noted that while Scavenger may require a bit more effort to set up, it remains a top pick for pushing deep into the event, and builds like RF (Righteous Fire) Scavenger have proven both tanky and enjoyable.
Best Scavenger Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The Power Siphon Scavenger build is an excellent choice for the Merciless Gauntlet event because it is specifically designed for Hardcore Solo Self-Found play, emphasizing tankiness and a fast, smooth leveling experience without reliance on hard-to-farm gear. This miner build comes online quickly, allowing you to clear early acts and transition into maps efficiently, with a one-button playstyle that keeps gameplay comfortable and safe by detonating mines at a distance. The Scavenger ascendancy is highly flexible, enabling early defensive options like Cloak of Flame and offering power charge stacking for increased spell damage as you progress. The build uses accessible gear, prioritizes life and resistances, and makes use of suppression from the passive tree, ensuring that defenses can be easily capped. Although the early game can feel a bit rough due to limited damage nodes, once you hit level 31 the build becomes solid and requires minimal respecs to reach its endgame potential. With the ability to adapt into other powerful Scavenger variants later, and a straightforward, forgiving progression path, Power Siphon Scavenger stands out as one of the safest and most reliable starters for the event, ideal for players looking to secure rewards and progress deep into the Gauntlet.
- Check out how to set up the Power Siphon Scavenger Build
4. Daughter of Oshabi
For those seeking alternative approaches, Daughter of Oshabi offers an early defensive node called Oath of the Magi that effectively solves resistance and movement speed needs in the campaign. This ascendancy is particularly useful because you can respec out of it once your gear improves, making it a strategic pick for early progression even if it’s less common in the late game.
Best Daughter of Oshabi Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The Daughter of Oshabi Lightning Strike build stands out by using pure energy shield bases and the Oath of the Magi node, which doubles body armor defenses when no gems are socketed, allowing the build to reach 10,000 energy shield. By allocating Ghost Dance, it maintains consistent energy shield overleech, resulting in sustained tankiness. The ascendancy also provides random shrine buffs every 10 seconds for extra damage or defense. With Lightning Strike as the main skill, the build achieves fast clear, strong single-target damage, and enough durability to face-tank bosses and handle tier 17 maps. Physical hits are converted to chaos damage, suppression and resistances are maxed, and stun immunity is secured, creating a setup that is fast, powerful, and resilient throughout the Gauntlet event.
- Check out how to set up the Daughter of Oshabi Lightning Strike Build
5. Paladin
Paladin is another viable option, especially early on with Smite. This ascendancy provides a free level 30 aura, taunt on hit, and consecrated ground for improved defenses. Many players start as Smite Paladins and transition into other setups for the late game, with some leveraging a mercenary strategy and aura stacking for skills like Molten Strike or Kinetic Blast.
Best Paladin Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The Paladin Smite build is great for the Merciless Gauntlet event because it offers a fun playstyle with pretty high movement speed and reliable damage, making progress through maps smooth and enjoyable. Even with nothing fancy, just gear with life, resistances, and spell suppression, the build feels solid, and upgrades like fractured bases, Essences, and cheap anoints provide a lot of damage. The new Idol system adds variety and extra rewards, and activating mechanics like Delirium brings more monsters and loot. Over time, with improvements in gear, investment in flasks, and cluster and Timeless Jewels granting overleech, the build achieves much more damage and readiness for major bosses like Maven and Uber Elder. It's possible to keep upgrading and refining defense and offense, and the crafting process provides satisfying progress and flexibility throughout the event.
- Check out how to set up the Paladin Smite Build
6. Polytheist
Polytheist offers utility for those who want immunity to ground effects, hex reflect, and reflection, along with minimum charges for every charge type. Although its damage scaling is somewhat limited, it’s a solid defensive choice, especially for players starting on the left side of the tree who wish to avoid minion builds.
Best Polytheist Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The Pyroclast Mine build on Polytheist offers a lot of damage and comfortable mapping thanks to the two additional projectiles node, which allows Pyroclast Mine to hit the same enemy multiple times from a single detonation. Minimum frenzy, power, and endurance charges are pretty useful, and the astral projector ability makes the main skill very comfortable during mapping since positioning mines isn't a concern. The build’s damage is good enough for mapping, and early access to six links makes the game a lot easier. Survivability improves with upgrades and switching to gear focused on evasion, spell suppression, energy shield, and life recovery. In the endgame, plans for chaos inoculation, unique armor to ignore 25% elemental damage, and a unique shield for energy shield recovery set up the build for even more defense and reliability, making it much more enjoyable and comfy to play in the Gauntlet event.
- Check out how to set up the Pyroclast Mine Polytheist Build
7. Puppeteer
For minion enthusiasts, Puppeteer provides extra strength for defense, converts life to energy shield, and buffs minions to take aggro. The ascendancy is particularly interesting now that Animate Guardian has been buffed, and its unique node makes it more appealing for those looking to play minion-heavy strategies.
Best Puppeteer Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The Raise Zombie Puppeteer build is a strong choice for the Merciless Gauntlet event because the new ascendancy points make us twice as strong and it's now much easier to reach 1,000 strength in the early days of the event. With plus 4 levels, we already have level 34 zombies in the endgame, and their movement speed is in sync with ours, allowing them to move faster and keep us safe. There are 10 loadouts to use as you progress and the Animate Guardian setups offer both budget and endgame options. The build provides a great experience to watch your children thrive and is really fun to put together, with the option to upgrade specters as you go and the flexibility to pursue even more defense or summon additional zombies with specialized gear.
- Check out how to set up the Raise Zombie Puppeteer Build
8. Herald
Herald is a more niche choice, typically selected to address damage needs by scaling Herald of Agony and Herald of Purity. While it ranks lower due to its higher risk, it remains an option for those seeking to maximize damage while leveraging the tree for defenses.
Best Herald Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The Herald of Agony Witch build is great for the Merciless Gauntlet event because it solves the usual issues of not getting enough virulence or damage, offering up to 40 million DPS on an endgame tree and handling even Ubers with much lower DPS in previous leagues. The build features a level 33 Herald of Agony crawler that is immortal and can never die, scales up quickly with gem levels and virulence stacks, and clears maps efficiently since you almost one-hit everything with several million DPS. Max block and overcapped resistances provide defense, while minion skills take aggro off you, and the setup with twin Cold Iron Points and accessible gear allows easy early progression. The build is also flexible, letting you add more minions for extra defense or swap out gems for your preferred playstyle, and minions make the leveling process fast and smooth.
- Check out how to set up the Herald of Agony Witch Build
9. Wildspeaker
Wildspeaker rounds out the list as an early campaign damage ascendancy, with spectral wolves providing early support. However, concerns about the wolves’ survivability in higher content mean this ascendancy is less favored for deep progression in the gauntlet but can serve as a stepping stone in the early game.
Best Wildspeaker Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The Crit Flicker Strike Warden build is great for the Merciless Gauntlet event because it offers a fast-paced and fun playstyle with massive single-target and map-clearing damage, boasting theoretical numbers up to 405 million DPS. The setup achieves 100% spell suppression, high resistances, and solid armor for physical reduction, while stacking 13 frenzy charges and using strong items like Paradoxica for double damage. The build takes advantage of frenzy charge generation, aspect of the cat, and efficient scaling from flat lightning damage, making it powerful for both bosses and packs. Even though some items are aspirational, the build serves as a strong template that you can modify and budget as needed, allowing you to enjoy the core strengths of Flicker Strike, speed, high damage, and dynamic gameplay, throughout the event.
- Check out how to set up the Lightning Flicker Strike Wildspeaker Concept Build
10. Antiquarian
Finally, Antiquarian is worth mentioning for its unique ward-based defense. This ascendancy grants significant boosts to global defenses and enables extremely fast ward restoration, granting permanent adrenaline and strong survivability if paired with the right gear. However, damage scaling remains a challenge, and it may be best suited for those willing to experiment with block, evasion, and ward synergies in the endgame.
Best Antiquarian Builds for PoE 3.26 Gauntlet
The Dual Strike Antiquarian build is great for the Merciless Gauntlet event because it provides fast clear speed and high single-target damage, allowing you to pretty much one-shot most monsters and bosses even in challenging maps with extra monster life. The build uses a combination of body armor scaling for ward, capped spell suppression, multiple curses for both damage and survivability, and instant leech for reliable recovery. With movement speed and attack speed making map clearing enjoyable, strong defenses from endurance charges and aura choices like Determination and Grace, and the ability to adapt gear and passive tree setups, this build is both effective and fun to play through tough event content.
- Check out how to set up the Crit Dual Strike of Ambidexterity Antiquarian Build
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