Below is a practical guide to understanding its mechanics and building around its strengths.

Core Mechanics: How Holy Hammers Works

1. The Initial Slam

Holy Hammers is a weapon-based attack skill that requires either:

Staves

Maces

Sceptres

When activated, your character slams the ground, calling down a Holy Hammer from above. This initial impact deals area damage around the slam point and acts as the trigger for further effects.

Because it scales from both Strength and Intelligence, it naturally supports hybrid builds that combine physical scaling with elemental or holy-themed damage conversion.

2. Cascade Effect - Your Primary Clear Tool

The defining feature of Holy Hammers is its Cascade effect.

When a summoned Holy Hammer hits an enemy:

It triggers additional hammers.

These secondary hammers strike nearby enemies.

The effect chains through monster packs.

This makes the skill particularly strong for:

Mapping

Breach-style encounters

Delirium-type density

League mechanics with clustered enemies

Instead of relying solely on area-of-effect scaling, the cascade mechanic effectively "jumps" damage through packs, allowing efficient screen clearing without excessive AoE investment.

3. Power Charge Burst - Scaling the Attack Range

Holy Hammers introduces a resource cascade system similar to mechanics seen in Path of Exile 2.

By consuming one Power Charge, the skill:

Summons additional Holy Hammers

Creates extra slams on either side of the initial impact

Greatly increases horizontal coverage

This transforms the skill from a standard slam into a wide-lane clearing tool. With consistent Power Charge generation, you can maintain near-maximum coverage in combat.

In practice, this turns Holy Hammers into:

A high-density clearing skill

A powerful pack initiator

A scalable endgame mapper

Suggested Build Structure

Weapon Selection

Since the skill is restricted to Staves or Maces/Sceptres, your choice affects scaling:

Staves

Naturally synergize with critical strike chance

Offer staff-specific Power Charge nodes

Better suited for crit-based builds

Maces/Sceptres

Often provide strong base physical damage

Can lean into elemental conversion

More flexible for non-crit variants

For most optimized setups, a high-crit staff is likely the strongest option due to synergy with Power Charge scaling.

Maintaining Power Charges

Since consuming Power Charges is central to maximizing performance, charge uptime is critical.

Reliable Power Charge Sources

Staff talent nodes that grant Power Charge generation

Power Charge on Critical Support

Critical strike investment in passive tree

Ascendancy-based charge generation

A crit-focused setup is generally the most stable way to maintain charges in sustained fights. The higher your critical strike frequency, the more consistently you can trigger additional hammer cascades.

Without consistent Power Charge uptime, the skill feels noticeably narrower and less explosive.

Best Ascendancy Pairings

Hierophant - Resource Stability and Charge Access

Hierophant is expected to be one of the strongest pairings due to:

Improved charge generation

Hybrid scaling (Strength/Intelligence synergy)

Strong defensive layering

This ascendancy supports sustained Power Charge cycling, which keeps your Holy Hammers operating at peak width and efficiency.

Best for:

Consistent mapping

Hybrid defensive builds

Sustain-oriented playstyles

Inquisitor - Holy Damage and Critical Scaling

Inquisitor enhances:

Elemental and holy-themed damage

Critical strike performance

Damage penetration mechanics

If you want to maximize burst and boss damage, Inquisitor offers superior scaling potential. Critical strikes become highly impactful, especially when combined with Power Charge consumption.

Best for:

High-damage crit builds

Endgame bossing

Offensive-focused playstyles

Strengths and Playstyle

Holy Hammers shines in:

Dense monster environments

Hybrid scaling builds

Crit-based charge cycling setups

The playstyle revolves around:

Engaging packs with a slam

Triggering cascades

Maintaining Power Charges

Repeating in fluid motion

It rewards aggressive positioning and precise targeting to maximize cascade chains.

Final Thoughts

Holy Hammers in Path of Exile: Mirage is a mechanically satisfying hybrid slam skill that blends weapon-based melee with cascading holy projectiles. Its identity revolves around three pillars:

Slam initiation

Cascade chaining

Power Charge amplification

With proper Power Charge maintenance and either Hierophant or Inquisitor ascendancy, the skill scales cleanly from mapping into high-end content.

For players who enjoy impactful ground slams but want more dynamic screen coverage and buy POE orbs scaling depth, Holy Hammers offers a powerful and rewarding build path worth exploring in Mirage.