Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2)

PoE 2 Cold Concoction Pathfinder Ranger Build

This is a Cold Concoction Pathfinder Ranger endgame build for Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2). Check out this Ice Ranger build, including its gear, socketables, skills, and playstyle!

Cold Concoction Pathfinder Ranger Build Summary

SiahZ's Cold Concoction Pathfinder Ranger Build

This endgame build is crafted by SiahZ. Check out all of their detailed guides on Path of Exile 2 and a variety of games over at SiahZ (Youtube)!

The video breaks down the build step-by-step, covering everything from skills, gear, and passives to use Shattering Concoction fully!

Cold Concoction Pathfinder Ranger Build

Build Setup
Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) - Pathfinder PortraitShattering Concoction Pathfinder
Shattering Concoction Icon Hypothermia Icon Lightning Warp Icon Ball Lightning Icon Eye of Winter Icon Ghost Dance Icon Grim Feast Icon Herald of Ice Icon Herald of Thunder Icon Wind Dancer Icon Cast on Freeze Icon Blink Icon Alchemist
Path of Exile 2 Build - Pro High Burst Damage

Path of Exile 2 Build - Pro Safety with Freeze CC

Path of Exile 2 Build - Con Requires Proper Setup

Path of Exile 2 Build - Con Requires Uniques

This is a Cold Ranger endgame build designed around utilizing the Shattering Concoction by boosting it with Shock and Critical Hit properties to reach 10,000,000 damage! Since freezing enemies is easy with this build, it also has solid survivability with its CC potential.

Date Changes Made
01/21/25 - Updated with SiahZ's January 18 Video for the 0.1.1 patch update.
- Changed some Equipment modifiers and socketables.
- Went from full Energy Shield to an Evasion hybrid.
- Updated the skill/support gems and passive tree.
01/08/25 - Shattering Concoction Pathfinder Ranger Build created.

Cold Concoction Pathfinder Ranger Gear Setup

Equipment and Modifiers

Weapon Set 1
Weapon Set 2
Gear Modifiers
Widowhail Crude Bow Icon Widowhail Crude Bow
(Bow)
・+% Increased bonuses gained from Equipped Quiver
Visceral Quiver
(Quiver)
・Increased Critical Hit Chance for Attacks
・+ to Level of all Projectile Skills
・Add Cold damage to Attacks
・Add Lightning damage to Attacks
・+% Increased Critical Hit Damage for Attacks
・+% Increased Critical Hit Chance for Attacks
・Dexterity
Atziri Atziri's Disdain Gold Circlet
(Helm)
・Damage taken bypasses Energy Shield
・Gain % of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield
・Dexterity
・Intelligence
Expert Waxed Jacket
(Armor)
・Add Evasion Rating
・+ Maximum Energy Shield
・+% Increased Evasion and Energy Shield
・Spirit
・Elemental Resistances
・Dexterity or Intelligence
Hand of Wisdom and Action Furtive Wraps Icon Hand of Wisdom and Action Furtive Wraps
(Gloves)
・Increased Attack Speed per 25 Dexterity
・Adds Lightning Damage to Attacks per 10 Intelligence
・Dexterity
・Intelligence
Expert Silk Slippers
(Boots)
・Movement Speed
・+% Increased Energy Shield
・Maximum Life
・Elemental Resistances
・Chaos Resistances
Fine Belt
(Belt)
・Flask Charges per Second
・Charm Slots
・Elemental Resistances
・Maximum Life
・Maximum Mana
Lunar Amulet
(Amulet)
・Maximum Energy Shield
・Spirit
・+ Level of all Projectile Skills
・+% increased Critical Damage Bonus
・Elemental Resistances
Unset Rings
(Rings)
・+1 Additional Skill Slot
・Intelligence
・Increased Lightning Damage
・Increased Cold Damage
・Resistances
・Evasion
Gear Modifiers
Random Bow ・Any Modifier
Random Quiver ・Any Modifier
Atziri Atziri's Disdain Gold Circlet
(Helm)
・Damage taken bypasses Energy Shield
・Gain % of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield
・Dexterity
・Intelligence
Expert Waxed Jacket
(Armor)
・Add Evasion Rating
・+ Maximum Energy Shield
・+% Increased Evasion and Energy Shield
・Spirit
・Elemental Resistances
・Dexterity or Intelligence
Hand of Wisdom and Action Furtive Wraps Icon Hand of Wisdom and Action Furtive Wraps
(Gloves)
・Increased Attack Speed per 25 Dexterity
・Adds Lightning Damage to Attacks per 10 Intelligence
・Dexterity
・Intelligence
Expert Silk Slippers
(Boots)
・Movement Speed
・+% Increased Energy Shield
・Maximum Life
・Elemental Resistances
・Chaos Resistances
Fine Belt
(Belt)
・Flask Charges per Second
・Charm Slots
・Elemental Resistances
・Maximum Life
・Maximum Mana
Lunar Amulet
(Amulet)
・Maximum Energy Shield
・Spirit
・+ Level of all Projectile Skills
・+% increased Critical Damage Bonus
・Elemental Resistances
Unset Rings
(Rings)
・+1 Additional Skill Slot
・Intelligence
・Increased Lightning Damage
・Increased Cold Damage
・Resistances
・Evasion

Weapons

The Widowhail Crudebow is the main weapon of this build since it defines Shattering Concoction's damage potential by massively boosting the Quiver's level and critical modifiers. As for the second weapon set, remember to link both Lightning Warp and Ball Lightning so it automatically swaps when setting up the Shocked Ground!

The Visceral Quiver's base effect gives the build a flat percentage increase to Critical Hit Chance, ultimately increasing this build's damage output. This build will also focus on min-maxing the Quiver as its source of scaling level and damage, given that Widowhail boosts all of its modifiers by a significant amount!

List of Weapons

Armor and Accessories

The Atziri's Disdain Gold Circlet further amps this build's defenses by converting your Maximum Life to additional Energy Shields. The massive boost in Energy Shield allows Grim Feast to have a higher cap than it initially has.

The Hand of Wisdom and Action Furtive Wraps turn the build's high innate attributes into a massive DPS boost by relatively increasing Attack Speed and Lightning Damage the higher your Dexterity and Intelligence are!

Since the build utilizes Energy Shield as an additional means of survivability, the Lunar Amulet's increased maximum Energy Shield is a substantial boost. If a Lunar Amulet is not available, find an amulet with additional levels to all projectile skills and spirit!

The Unset Rings allows for the build to slot in another Skill Gem, for which Blink and Ghost Dance is included to improve the build's overall comfort and survivability.

Apart from the specific equipment listed, stack as many Energy Shield, Evasion, and Elemental Resistances modifiers as possible to help survive in the higher Atlas tiers.

Additionally, get at least as much Spirit on your armor and amulet since this build utilizes multiple Spirit Skills!

All Armors and Accessories
List of Armors List of Accessories

Socketables

Jewels

Note: The modifiers listed are arranged according to priority.

POE 2 - Against the Darkness Time-Lost Diamond Against the Darkness Time-Lost Diamond ・Notable passive skills in radius also grant gain 4% of damage as extra lightning damage
Optional:
・Notable passive skills in radius also grants +1% to maximum elemental resistance
POE 2 Time-Lost Emerald Time-Lost Emerald ・Notable passive skills in radius also grant increased Critical Damage Bonus for Attack Damage
Optional:
・Notable passive skills in radius also grant Increased Attack Speed
・Notable passive skills in radius also grant Increased bonuses from equipped Quiver Effects
POE 2 Emerald Emerald ・Increased Effects from Quivers
・Increased Critical Damage Bonus
・Increased Projectile Damage
・Increased Attack Speed
・Increased Attack Damage

The build utilizes Against the Darkness Time-Lost Diamond and a Time-Lost Emerald. With each Notable Passive inside their radius, these jewels should provide Lightning and Critical Hit Damage bonuses indicated in their modifiers.

Most of the jewels you slot in will be Emeralds that provide you with attack damage and critical hit modifiers for maximized damage.

List of Jewels

Charms

Note: The modifiers listed are arranged according to priority.

POE 2 - Thawing Charm Thawing Charm ・Increased Duration
・Increased Charges
・Recover Life when Used

The best charm to slot in would be the Thawing Charm since it prevents you from being frozen, which is essentially a death sentence on higher tiers. If you have an extra charm slot, you can use the Stone Charm to negate stun effects.

List of All Charms

Runes and Soul Cores

Equipment Sockets
Weapon
Armor

The best slot-in for your weapon here is the Soul Core of Azcapa since this build is highly reliant on high Spirit. If you can equip the Persistent Skills even without the additional Spirit, opt to use Soul Core of Ticaba to increase your Critical Damage!

The best Runes to slot in for the Waxed Jacket should be Iron Runes to further increase its Evasion and Energy Shield. Slot in extra Soul Cores of Tacati to cap out on Chaos Resistance.

All Runes and Soul Cores
List of Runes List of Soul Cores

Cold Concoction Pathfinder Ranger Skills and Passive Tree

Active Skills

Skill Support Gems
Shattering Concoction IconShattering Concoction
Hypothermia IconHypothermia
Lightning Warp IconLightning Warp
Ball Lightning IconBall Lightning
Eye of Winter IconEye of Winter
Herald of Thunder IconHerald of Thunder
Grim Feast IconGrim Feast -
Herald of Ice IconHerald of Ice
Cast on Freeze IconCast on Freeze
AlchemistAlchemist's Boon
Wind Dancer IconWind Dancer -
Ghost Dance IconGhost Dance -
Blink IconBlink -

Shattering Concoction is the skill that this build revolves around, as it can dole out massive amounts of Cold damage when specced into correctly. When using the necessary critical and damage-enhancing support gems on Shattering Concoction, you will be dealing up to 3,000,000 damage to bosses with this combo when set up with Hypothermia and Voltaic Mark.

Lightning Warp and Ball Lightning allow the build to have an additional means of setting up this build's damage by setting up Shocked Ground to debuff enemies quickly. Eye of Winter hones in on this build's emphasis on criticals by applying Critical Weakness to enemies.

Blink is included to increase the build's mobility while adding an auxiliary panic button when cornered. The build will also utilize six Persistent Skills, those being ① Cast on Freeze, ② Herald of Thunder, ③ Herald of Ice, ④ Grim Feast, ⑤ Wind Dancer, and ⑥ Alchemist's Boon.

  • Cast on Freeze exploits this build's ability to easily Freeze enemies with a high enough magnitude by casting Voltaic Mark, adding consistency and potency to the Shock status while providing additional mob clear with the nova.
  • Herald of Thunder makes dead Shocked enemies release lightning bolts upon subsequent attacks, further increasing DPS and AoE capabilities. Pairing it with Cold Infusion will help it synergize well with Herald of Ice.
  • Herald of Ice provides an additional source of damage upon Shattering frozen enemies by causing an icy explosion. Pairing it with Lightning Infusion will help it synergize well with Herald of Ice.
  • Grim Feast is another source of survivability alongside Evasion by replenishing and reaching over the maximum Energy Shield upon gathering remnants.
  • Wind Dancer increases your survivability by adding increased Evasion and pushing enemies away upon getting hit.
  • Alchemist's Boon is essentially your means of ammunition for Shattering Concoction since it helps you gain more flask charges per second!

List of Skill Gems

Passive Skill Tree

Ascendancy Passive

Shattering Concoction and Enduring Elixers
Passive Nodes
1. Honed Instincts and Master Fletching 2. Catalysis and Acceleration
3. Coming Calamity and Struck Through 4. Throat Seeker
5. Spectral Ward and Eternal Youth 6. For the Jugular
7. Patient Barrier 8. Glaciation
Weapon Set 1 Nodes
1. Maiming Strike 2. Bestial Skin
3. Flurry 4. Deadly Force
5. Thin Ice 6. -
Weapon Set 2 Nodes
1. Frazzled 2. Power Conduction

Passive Tree Pathing

The passive tree priority for overall DPS is to take nodes that grant Projectile Damage, increased Quiver Effects, Attack Damage, Elemental Damage, Cold Damage, Critical Hit Rate/Damage, and Attack Speed.

For the defenses, take nodes that grant bonuses to both Energy Shield and Evasion Rating as this build will rely on a healthy mix between the two for its survivability. Given that this build has a high Energy Shield and has access to Enduring Elixirs, Eternal Youth keeps your Energy Shield tapped out at all times.

The ascendancy group nodes for the Pathfinder Ascendancy, Brew Concoction, and Enduring Elixirs are priority inclusions. Brew Concoction allows the build to access the Shattering Concoction skill. Enduring Elixirs allows our Energy Shield to be tapped out since the effects of the Life Potion will always be active!

When progressing through the attribute highways, invest in Intelligence since the equipment you need to equip will require high amounts to be fitted while also scaling Energy Shields. Make sure to dedicate some points on Strength and Dexterity to equip the necessary support gems!

Passive Skill Tree Guide and List of Passives

Cold Concoction Pathfinder Ranger Playstyle

Bossing Rotation

The build safely bursts down bosses by setting up Shocked Ground with Lightning Warp and Ball Lightning. While following a playstyle revolving around properly sequencing your skills to maximize damage, the skill rotation should be:

  1. Send out Ball Lightning and use Lightning Warp to set up Shocked Ground.
  2. Cast Hypothermia to lower the boss's Cold Resistance
  3. Cast Eye of Winter to apply Critical Weakness on mobs.
  4. Throw Shattering Concoctions to proc Cast on Freeze, applying Voltaic Mark on the boss.

Mobbing Rotation

This build deals with hordes by mainly using Shattering Concoction. While following a playstyle revolving around repositioning with blink, the skill rotation should be:

  1. Throw Shattering Concoctions to proc Cast on Freeze, applying Voltaic Marks on enemies.
  2. Proc both Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder to clear mobs.
  3. Use Blink to reposition.

Path of Exile 2 Related Guides

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Ranger Builds

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Temporal Chains Icon Vine Arrow Icon Ghost Dance Icon Rain of Arrows Icon Wind Dancer Icon Despair Icon Alchemist Poisonous Concoction Icon

Focus: Mobbing, DoT, Curse Damage
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Explosive Grenade Icon Flash Grenade Icon Gas Grenade Icon Wind Dancer Icon Oil Grenade Icon Voltaic Grenade Icon

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Focus: Burst Damage, Lightning, Energy Shield
Shattering Concoction PathfinderShattering Concoction Pathfinder
Hypothermia Icon Lightning Warp Icon Ball Lightning Icon Eye of Winter Icon Ghost Dance Icon Grim Feast Icon Herald of Ice Icon Herald of Thunder Icon Wind Dancer Icon Cast on Freeze Icon Blink Icon Alchemist Shattering Concoction Icon

Focus: Burst Damage, Cold, Concoction

Ranger Class and Ascendancy Guides

Base Class
Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) - RangerRanger
Ascendancies
Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) - PathfinderPathfinder Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) - DeadeyeDeadeye

Comment

3 Toukohabout 2 months

Ok I understand. So the objective it's to find a nice "bow/quiver" who synergize well with Lightning Warp and Ball Lightning. I hope they will fix the weapon assignment for concoction. I see a lot of posts where people complain about it. Like a spell (doesn't require a specific weapon), the concoction should be assignable to a weapon set. Thank you very much for your answer PS: I see the build has been updated, nice!!! I think there is a mistake with the support gem on Herald of Ice

2 Walkthrough Teamabout 2 months

Thank you for using SiahZ's build and our guide for your build! - First, it allows the build to apply the weapon set passives that strengthen the Shocked status. Secondly, it allows the build avoid manually swapping weapons. The secondary bow does not need to be an Expert Dualstring Bow; it is okay to use a random one. - Since Concoction skills cannot be linked to weapon sets, work around this by linking Eye of Winter to your first weapon set as it is used before Shattering Concoction.

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