Smith of Kitava Ascendancy Guide (Patch 0.2.0g) – Path of Exile 2
Introduction
Smith of Kitava is the third Warrior Ascendancy, introduced in the Dawn of the Hunt expansion of Path of Exile 2. It offers a unique hybrid playstyle that merges fire-based melee damage, minion summoning, and powerful scaling from wearing only Normal Body Armours. Unlike the Titan or Warbringer, Smith of Kitava demands a specialized gear approach but offers massive rewards in both survivability and damage.
Playstyle Overview
Smith of Kitava is ideal for players who want to combine melee attacks, fire damage, and minion utility into a single toolkit. The Manifest Weapon skill and body armour node synergy allow for powerful layered offense. While you give up access to magic/rare body armours, you gain strong scaling bonuses for sticking to normal gear, especially when tailored to fire damage, regeneration, and resistance stacking.
This ascendancy plays best as a frontline bruiser: triggering fire spells on hit, summoning weapons to fight alongside you, and boosting survivability through powerful defensive armour-based nodes.
Ascendancy Node Breakdown
Below are all the passive nodes in the Smith of Kitava Ascendancy, with analysis of their use and synergy:
Core Skill Nodes
Living Weapon
Grants Skill: Manifest Weapon
Summons a melee weapon minion to fight alongside you. This scales with minion damage nodes and provides extra clearing power, especially early-game.
Against the Anvil
Grants Skill: Temper Weapon
Empowers your main-hand weapon. Great synergy for melee-focused builds using slow, high-damage weapons. Temporal empowerment pairs well with fire-based builds.
Heat of the Forge
Grants Skill: Fire Spell on Hit
Triggers a fire spell every time you land a melee hit. This passive effectively turns your melee attacks into dual-threat damage dealers. Especially strong for builds scaling elemental ailments like ignite or shock.
Armour Synergy Nodes
These nodes scale your Normal Body Armour, with effects that are otherwise unavailable through gear:
Smith’s Masterwork
Core mechanic enabler. Locks you into wearing Normal Body Armour, but allows all other passives to work.
Kitavan Engraving
15% increased maximum Life from your body armour. Extremely powerful for survivability.
Flowing Metal
Grants +5% to Maximum Fire Resistance. Very rare stat that significantly improves elemental mitigation.
Dedication to Kitava
Armour also applies to Chaos Damage Taken from Hits. Huge boon against rare chaos sources, usually hard to mitigate.
Molten Symbol
25% of Physical Damage taken as Fire. Synergizes with high Fire Resistance, especially when boosted by Flowing Metal.
Heatproofing
Unaffected by Ignite. Excellent QoL, especially in ignite-heavy maps.
Heavy Bracing
100% increased Stun Threshold. Helps prevent you from being stunned when under pressure.
Internal Layer
50% reduced Critical Damage Bonus taken. Major defensive boost against crit-focused bosses.
Leather Bindings
Regenerate 5% of max Life per second. Strong sustain, especially in DoT-heavy environments.
Support Straps
20% increased Strength. Scales both offense and life.
Elemental and Resistance Scaling Nodes
Coal Stoker
Fire Resistance also grants Cold/Lightning Resistance at 50% value. Allows you to heavily focus fire res on gear and still hit elemental caps.
Forged in Flame
Maximum Fire Resistance bonuses also apply to Cold and Lightning. Synergizes directly with Flowing Metal, pushing maximum resist cap to 90% for all elements.
Tantalum Alloy / Lead Lining / Padded Plates
+75% to Fire, Lightning, and Cold Resistance respectively. Stack these with Coal Stoker/Forged in Flame for massive mitigation.
Generic Damage Nodes
Melee Damage
20% increased Melee Damage.
Fire Damage
20% increased Fire Damage.
Minion Damage
20% increased Minion Damage.
Summary of Strengths
- High survivability through maximum resistance scaling and fire conversion
- Hybrid damage profile (melee + minion + spell)
- Strong sustain via regen, armour and life bonuses
- Excellent synergy with Strength stacking
- Uniquely rewards sticking to Normal Body Armour
Weaknesses
- Limited gear flexibility (locked into Normal Body Armour)
- Slower start if not properly scaling Fire or Minions
- Requires heavy investment in fire res gear to unlock full power
Recommended Builds for Smith of Kitava
- Boneshatter of Kitava – Heavy melee slam with Fire Spell on Hit, scaling Fire Resistance to 90% and converting phys to fire with Molten Symbol.
- Manifest Legionnaire – Uses Manifest Weapon to summon fast, hard-hitting minions while the player supports with Fire Spell and Temper Weapon.
- Tempered Two-Hander – Focuses on slow, high-damage two-handers empowered by Temper Weapon and max res stack for survivability.
Each of these builds benefits from different subsets of the ascendancy tree, but all leverage the synergy between Body Armour scaling and hybrid offense.
Conclusion
Smith of Kitava offers one of the most unique identity kits in Path of Exile 2. With proper investment into resistance stacking and commitment to Normal Body Armour, it can offer top-tier defense and versatile offense. Especially in Patch 0.2.0g, where resistance stacking and hybrid playstyles are meta-relevant, this ascendancy is more than viable—it’s dominant when built correctly.
Smith of Kitava Builds
ethugamer- Ascendancy, Dawn of the Hunt, Path of Exile 2, Smith of Kitava
- April 6, 2025
