Explosive Poisons Pathfinder Build

This Pathfinder Ranger build for Acts 1-3 in Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) combines the synergy between Poison, Fire, and Curses to detonate disease and pus-filled areas. Check out this Pathfinder build, including its gear, socketables, skills, and playstyle!

Attention!

This is a build pieced together for the early stages of the campaign. We'll be updating the build as we progress further in the game.

Explosive Poisons Pathfinder Build Summary

Explosive Poisons Pathfinder Build

Early Game

Mid Game

Build Setup
Poison Curse Ranger
Consistent DPS and Mobbing Armor Strip Mediocre Burst Damage High Mana Usage Squishy

Build Setup
Explosive Poisons Pathfinder Ranger
Consistent DPS and Mobbing Armor Strip Burst Capabilities High Mana Usage Spirit-reliant Squishy

This is a Pathfinder Ranger build for Act 1-3 that combines both Poison and Curses for the initial stages, then attempts to integrate Fire spells later down the line to have better overall DPS. Clear enemy mobs with Poison and Occult DoTs, then burn them down by igniting Gas Arrow!

Early on, this build utilizes the Poisonburst Arrow, Contagion, and Enfeeble to set up multiple DoTs on enemies. As the game progresses, it transitions to use Gas Arrow alongside Toxic Growth and Flame Wall to repeatedly proc AoE (Area of Effect) damage!

Explosive Poisons Pathfinder Gear Setup

Equipment and Modifiers

Up until Act Three, getting specific gear should not be your main focus, but try to get as much Evasion with your gear as possible. Instead, focus on getting modifiers that answer this build's mana problems!

For another priority apart from Mana, get at least +35 Spirit on your amulet to slot in the Clarity support gem on Wind Dancer while having the ability to slot in Contagion on Cast on Ignite!

The second priority modifier would be Increased Physical Damage and Add to Physical Damage because it contributes to the amount of Poison Magnitude, meaning that each tick will deal more damage as you stack up Physical Damage.

As for the auxiliary modifiers, get Accuracy Rating to consistently hit enemies even from afar. For your defenses, focus on Energy Shield or Evasion since you will be stacking Dexterity and Intelligence to scale the build off of.

As for the optional modifiers, get an Increase in Intelligence or Increase in Dexterity since you will need these core stats to get the necessary skills onward!

For the runes, it is fine to adjust depending on the problem you are facing. However, the best rune to slot in should be Iron Runes as it significantly increases the damage of your Poison stacks! You can also utilize them to increase your Evasion Rating, improving your survivability.

In terms of Charms, adjust depending on the boss you are facing and equip elemental resistances and immunities to make fights more to your advantage.

Explosive Poisons Pathfinder Skills and Passive Tree

Active Skills

Early Game

Mid Game

Skill	Support Gems
Poisonburst Arrow	Comorbidity Corrosion
Contagion	Magnified Effect
Enfeeble	Decaying Hex Concentrated Effect
Toxic Growth	Bursting Plague
Barrage	-
Vine Arrow	Encumbrance Scattershot
Plague Bearer	Clarity

Skill	Support Gems
Gas Arrow	Comorbidity Scattershot Swift Affliction Envenom
Flame Wall	Fortress Arcane Tempo
Despair	Focused Curse Heightened Curse
Toxic Growth	Bursting Plague Corrosion Demolisher
Barrage	Second Wind Ingenuity
Wind Dancer	Clarity
Cast on Ignite	Contagion Hinder

Upon getting Tier 7 Skill Gems, the build will replace Poisonburst Arrow with Gas Arrow as its main basic attack. Having support gems such as Comorbidity, Envenom, and Scattershot allows you to stack poisons quickly while setting up multiple spore clouds and get boosted damage with Swift Affliction. Even if the cloud disappears after exploding, the radius of the cloud will still proc Toxic Growth!

When Gas Arrow is set up, repeatedly cast Toxic Growth for consecutive explosions! Its support gems attempt to amplify its damage by inflicting plague with Bursting Plague while Corrosion and Demolisher allows you to melt bosses fast by breaking their armor.

To access the explosive reaction, Flame Wall is included. When ignited, all of your Gas Arrows will deal a ton of damage with every individual shot. Even with the Gas Arrow nerfs, it still performs well through Act 3!

Barrage is there to increase this build's overall burst damage and armor break by adding more projectiles to your Toxic Growth!

The build will also be utilizing two Persistent Skills, those being Cast on Ignite and Wind Dancer.

• Cast on Ignite - Allows you to use Hinder enhanced Contagion as a means to spread Despair without manual input, increasing all Chaos Damage you inflict!
• Wind Ranger - Increases your survivability by adding Evasion while increasing Mana regeneration through Clarity.

Early Game

During the early game, simply set up Toxic Growth before activating the pustules with Poisonburst Arrow or Plague Bearer. This should give you enough damage in the earlier stages of the game until you reach Gas Arrow!

Passive Skill Tree

Early Game

Mid Game

Passive Nodes
1.	Honed Instinct and Clean Shot	2.	Crippling Toxins
3.	Lasting Toxins and Stacking Toxins	4.	Projectile Damage

Ascendancy Passive
Contagious Contamination and Overwhelming Toxicity
Passive Nodes
1.	Honed Instinct and Clean Shot	2.	Crippling Toxins
3.	Lasting Toxins and Stacking Toxins	4.	Projectile Damage
5.	Building Toxins and Escalating Toxins	6.	Combat Alchemy and Lasting Concoctions

Full Tree Sample

As you are starting with the Poison build, it is essential to stack Projectile Damage as much as possible since again, Physical Damage scales up Poison Magnitude. Focus on taking the Projectile Damage path and take the Honed Instincts and Clean Shot notables as your notable passives.

After that, make a short extension to take Cripping Toxins for your second node to get your first few damage increases on Poison along with some slows. Take Lasting Toxins and Stacking Toxins for the third group nodes to and increase the amount of Poison you can stack while overwriting the negative Duration.

For the Fourth Group Node, just get the additional Projectile Damage to further strengthen your damage output! Finally, the fifth group node takes a lot of levels to reach, but is perfectly worth it to get an additional Poison Stack with Building Toxins and some more duration with Escalating Toxins

However, when you find that it is rather hard to avoid damage, you can take some detours by getting the early Evasion and Flask nodes to increase your survivability. If you are going to remove anything, it should be the second group nodes!

The ascendancy group nodes for the Pathfinder Ascendancy, Contagious Contamination, and Overwhelming Toxicity further increase the potency of all Poison procs by spreading itself on enemy kill while doubling the amount of Poison stacks the build can do!

As a general note when progressing through the attribute highways, make sure to dedicate one +5 Strength to equip the Demolisher support gem. After that, split between Dexterity and Intelligence depending on the attribute requirements of the skills/spells!

Explosive Poisons Pathfinder Playstyle and Skill Rotation

Normal Rotation

Naturally, this build is equipped to deal with hordes and bosses with the Gas Arrow, Toxic Growth, and Flame Wall combination. This is further supported by having convenience with Cast on Ignite.

While following a playstyle revolving around kiting the enemy and melting them down with explosives and DoT, the skill rotation should be:

1. Use Flame Wall to ignite enemies.
2. Cast on Ignite should proc and spread a Hindering Contagion, slowing down opponents to keep them at bay.
3. Cast Barrage to enhance Toxic Growth to spread numerous pustules. The gas clouds, even if ignited, should proc the pustules pretty consistently to break their armor!
4. Use Gas Arrow on ignited enemies to repeatedly proc explosive arrows.
5. Repeat from step one.

Early Rotation

During the early, the playstyle for this build revolves around properly setting up enemies before raining down toxins. The combo here is to set up Vine Arrow to an area you will lure the mobs in to lessen their mobility, and then cast Contagion alongside Enfeeble to set up AoE debuffs before spreading a Barrage-enhanced Toxic Growth to burst enemies!

1. Use Vine Arrow to a location you will kite to.
2. Cast Contagion and Enfeeble on the nearest enemy.
3. Cast Barrage to enhance Toxic Growth.
4. Use Poisonburst Arrow to proc the pustules and spread AoE poison.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 while cycling through Contagion/Enfeeble when necessary!

Path of Exile 2 Related Guides

List of All Builds

All Path of Exile 2 Builds

List of All Builds
Permafrost Grenade Mercenary Focus: Burst Damage, Crowd Control	Charged Tempest Flurry Invoker Focus: DPS, Crowd Control
Fiery Explosion Warrior Focus: Burst, AoE, DoT, Stun	Explosive Poisons Pathfinder Focus: Mobbing, DoT, Curse Damage
Ember Fusillade Sorceress Focus: DoT, Mobbing	Minion Summoner Witch Focus: Minions, Crowd Control, DoT
Bleed Bow Witchhunter Focus: DoT, Burst Damage, Bossing, Mobbing	Lightning Comet Invoker Focus: DPS, Burst Damage, Bossing / Mobbing
Gunslinger Gemling Legionnaire Focus: DoT, Crowd Control, Bossing	Cold Comet Stormweaver Focus: Burst Damage, Crowd Control