PoE 2 0.3 Mercenary Build - Explosive Lightning Witchhunter
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This is a Explosive Lightning Witchhunter Mercenary endgame build for mapping in Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2)'s The Third Edict Update. Check out the Explosive Lightning Witchhunter Mercenary endgame build, including its gear, socketables, skills, and playstyle!
List of Contents
Explosive Lightning Witchhunter Build Summary
Explosive Lightning Witchhunter Mercenary Build
| Build Setup | |
|---|---|
 Explosive Lightning Witchhunter |
 Ghost Dance Periodically Gain Ghost Shrouds. If you are Hit while you have a Ghost Shroud, it is immediately consumed to recover Energy Shield based on your Evasion.
 Herald of Thunder While active, killing Shocked enemies with Attack damage, will cause subsequent Attack hits to release lightning bolts which deals Attack damage to all surrounding enemies.
 Wind Dancer Grants a buff that gives you more Evasion per stage. Being Hit by a Melee Attack while you have this buff consumes all stages to damage and Knock Back enemies around you.
 Explosive Shot Loads your Crossbow with flaming bolts that explode on impact. The explosion will cause any Grenades in its area of effect to also explode.
 Voltaic Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that discharges an Electrocuting Lightning blasts when its fuse expires
 Emergency Reload Instantly relaods your active Crossbow Ammunition and Empowers the loaded bolts to deal more damage.
 Shockburst Rounds Loads your Crossbow with a clip of charged bolts which releases damaging pulses upon hitting an enemy affected by a lightning ailment. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
|
 High AoE and Single-Target DPS Excellent Mobility Great Survivability and Defences  Requires Shock Chance for Bossing |
|
This Explosive Lightning Witchhunter build focuses on spamming Explosive Shot to easily fast clear maps, together with Shockburst Rounds to melt down Rare Elites and Bosses.
Make sure you have at least 190 Spirit so you can equip all your Persistent skills to help you survive throughout high tier maps.
| Date | Changes |
|---|---|
| 09-19-2025 | Created Explosive Lightning Witchhunter build for endgame. |
Explosive Lightning Witchhunter Equipment
| Gear | Modifiers |
|---|---|
 Gemini Crossbow Gemini Crossbow Stats:
Damage - 28-112 Critical Chance - 5% Attacks Per Second - 1.60 Reload Time - 1.10 Requirements: Level - 78 Strength - 89 Dexterity - 89 Implicit Skill: Loads an additional bolt (Weapon) |
・Increased Physical Damage
・Adds Physical Damage ・Level of All Projectile Skills ・Loads an Additional Bolt ・Grants Life per Enemy Hit ・Gain Life per Enemy Killed Desecrated Modifier: ・Increased Physical Damage |
 Ancestral Tiara Ancestral Tiara Stats:
Energy Shield - 109 Requirements: Level - 80 Intelligence - 115 (Helm) |
・Increased Energy Shield
・Maximum Life ・Increased Rarity of Items Found ・Fire Resistance ・Cold Resistance Desecrated Modifier: ・Increased Energy Shield ・Maximum Life |
 Corsair Coat Corsair Coat Stats:
Evasion - 406 Requirements: Level - 80 Dexterity - 121 (Body Armor) |
・Evasion Rating
・Increased Evasion Rating ・Spirit ・Dexterity ・Life Regeneration ・Any Elemental Resistance ・Allocates Flash Storm |
 Valako's Vice Plate Gauntlets Valako's Vice Plate Gauntlets Stats:
Armor - 49 Evasion - 44 Requirements: Level - 46 Strength - 32 Dexterity - 32 Fixed Modifiers: ・ 50-100% increased Armour and Evasion ・ 5-10% increased Attack Speed ・ +20-30 to Strength ・ +20-30 to Dexterity ・ +30-50% to Lightning Resistance ・ 100% of Fire damage Converted to Lightning damage (Gloves) |
・Increased Armour and Evasion
・Increased Attack Speed ・Strength ・Dexterity ・Lightning Resistance ・Fire Damage Converted to Lightning Damage |
 Daggerfoot Shoes Daggerfoot Shoes Stats:
Evasion - 119 Energy Shield - 45 Requirements: Level - 80 Dexterity - 59 Intelligence - 59 (Boots) |
・Increased Movement Speed
・Increased Evasion and Energy Shield ・Evasion Rating ・Maximum Energy Shield ・Cold Resistance ・Life Regeneration |
 Solar Amulet Solar Amulet Requirements:
Level - 30 Implicit:+10-15 to Spirit (Amulet) |
・Increased Maximum Energy Shield
・Maximum Energy Shield ・Spirit ・Fire Resistance ・Cold Resistance ・Lightning Resistance |
 Ruby Ring Ruby Ring Requirements:
Level - 8 Implicit:+20-30% to Fire Resistance (Ring 1) |
・Adds Lightning Damage
・Increased Lightning Damage ・Dexterity ・All Elemental Resistances ・Chaos Resistance |
 Prismatic Ring Prismatic Ring Requirements:
Level - 35 Implicit:7-10% to all Elemental Resistances (Ring 2) |
・Adds Physical Damage
・Evasion Rating ・Maximum Life ・Dexterity ・All Elemental Resistances ・Cold Resistance |
 Ultimate Life Flask Ultimate Life Flask Stats:
Flask Type - Life Recovered Life - 920 Charge Per Use - 10 Total Charges - 75 Duration - 3 sec. |
・Increased Amount Recovered
・Gain Charges per Second |
 Ultimate Mana Flask Ultimate Mana Flask Stats:
Flask Type - Mana Recovered Mana - 310 Charge Per Use - 10 Total Charges - 75 Duration - 3 sec. |
・Increased Amount Recovered
・Gain Charges per Second |
Weapons
Equip a Gemini Crossbow sa you can make use of the additional bolts for your Explosive Shot. As for your modifiers, focus on stacking Physical Damage and gaining higher Level of All Projectile Skills to help maximize your damage output in endgame maps.
Do note that we also recommend getting Life per Enemy Hit and Life per Enemy Killed as this should help with your survivability, especially in tight situations.
Armor and Accessories
The most important piece for the Explosive Lightning Witchhunter build is the Valako's Vice unique gloves since this converts all your Fire damage into Lightning damage for your Explosive Shot. The rest of your equipment should focus on stacking Evasion Rating, Energy Shields, and reaching the 75% resistance cap for maximum survivability as you progress through high tier maps.
Additionally, try to get the Allocates Flash Storm on your Body Armor using an Essence of Delirium to benefit from the Shock chance and Lightning resistance penetration.
| List of Armors | List of Accessories |
Runes and Soul Cores
| Equipment | Sockets |
|---|---|
| Weapon | |
| Armor |
Soul Core of Citaqualotl
Greater Iron Rune
Farrul's Rune of GraceFor your weapon, we highly recommend getting the Soul Core of Citaqualotl as this provides you with a total of 60% Increased Elemental Damage with Attacks once you have two of them slotted in.
As for your armors, your Boots should have the Farrul's Rune of Grace for faster movement speed while spamming your skills. The rest of your equipment should focus on slotting in Greater Iron Runes for Evasion Rating and Energy Shields to maximize your survivability in high tier maps.
| List of Runes | List of Soul Cores |
Belts and Charms
| Belt Modifiers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Utility Belt Utility Belt Requirements:
Level - 55 Implicit:1-2 Charm slots;20% of Flask Recovery applied Instantly |
・Maximum Life
・Strength ・Cold Resistance ・Lightning Resistance |
||||
| Charm Options | |||||
 Sapphire Charm |
 Golden Charm |
 Antidote Charm |
|||
We recommend equipping a Utility Belt for the added Flask Recovery applied Instantly so you can spam your flasks to heal yourself more efficiently.
As for your Charms, equip a Sapphire Charm and Antidote Charm to help combat against Chill, Freeze, and Poison ailments that can hinder your runs. Use a Golden Charm to increase the rarity of items found for better loot while mapping.
| List of Belts | List of Charms |
Explosive Lightning Witchhunter Skills
All Active and Persistent Skills
| Skill | Support Gems |
|---|---|
|
Explosive Shot Explosive Shot Loads your Crossbow with flaming bolts that explode on impact. The explosion will cause any Grenades in its area of effect to also explode.
|
 Nova Projectiles Nova Projectiles Supports Projectile Skills, making them fire extra Projectiles in a circle, at the cost of Damage. Does not support Skills which rain down Projectiles from above.
 Double Barrel III Double Barrel III Supports Crossbow Ammunition Skills, causing them to load an extra bolt at the cost of reload speed. Supported Skills will also automatically reload when they Heavy Stun an enemy.
 Fork Fork Supports Projectile Skills, making their Projectiles Fork.
 Innervate Innervate Supports attacks you use yourself. Killing a Shocked enemy with supported skills infuses all of your attacks with Lightning damage for a short time.
 Shock Shock Supports any skill that hits enemies, making it more likely to Shock.
|
|
Shockburst Rounds Shockburst Rounds Loads your Crossbow with a clip of charged bolts which releases damaging pulses upon hitting an enemy affected by a lightning ailment. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
|
 Lightning Attunement Lightning Attunement Supports attacks, causing them to gain Lightning Damage but deal less Cold and Fire Damage.
 Elemental Armament II Elemental Armament II Supports Attacks, causing them to deal more Elemental damage.
 Elemental Focus Elemental Focus Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing it to deal more Elemental Damage but be unable to inflict Elemental Ailments.
 Rapid Attacks II Rapid Attacks II Supports Attacks, causing them to Attack faster.
 Nimble Reload Nimble Reload Supports Crossbow Ammunition skills, causing them to Reload bolts significantly faster.
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|
Voltaic Grenade Voltaic Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that discharges an Electrocuting Lightning blasts when its fuse expires
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 Multishot II Multishot II Supports Projectile skills, making them fire extra Projectiles. Also lowers Attack and Cast speed of supported skills, as well as lessening their damage.
 Magnified Area II Magnified Area II Supports any skill with an area of effect, making it larger at the cost of damage.
 Short Fuse I Short Fuse I Supports skills which Detonate after some amount of time has elapsed, shortening the time before Detonation.
 Cooldown Recovery II Cooldown Recovery II Supports skills with Cooldowns, increasing the rate at which those Cooldowns Recover. Cannot modify the skills of minions.
Shock Shock Supports any skill that hits enemies, making it more likely to Shock.
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|
Emergency Reload Emergency Reload Instantly relaods your active Crossbow Ammunition and Empowers the loaded bolts to deal more damage.
|
Cooldown Recovery II Cooldown Recovery II Supports skills with Cooldowns, increasing the rate at which those Cooldowns Recover. Cannot modify the skills of minions.
 Prolonged Duration II Prolonged Duration II Supports any skill that has a duration, making that duration longer.
|
|
Herald of Thunder Herald of Thunder While active, killing Shocked enemies with Attack damage, will cause subsequent Attack hits to release lightning bolts which deals Attack damage to all surrounding enemies.
|
 Concentrated Area Concentrated Area Supports any skill with an area of effect, causing that area to be smaller but any area damage it deals to be higher.
Lightning Attunement Lightning Attunement Supports attacks, causing them to gain Lightning Damage but deal less Cold and Fire Damage.
Elemental Armament II Elemental Armament II Supports Attacks, causing them to deal more Elemental damage.
Elemental Focus Elemental Focus Supports any skill that hits enemies, causing it to deal more Elemental Damage but be unable to inflict Elemental Ailments.
 Deadly Herald Deadly Herald Supports Herald Skills, making their triggered effectsn deal more damage at the expense of higher spirit cost.
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Wind Dancer Wind Dancer Grants a buff that gives you more Evasion per stage. Being Hit by a Melee Attack while you have this buff consumes all stages to damage and Knock Back enemies around you.
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 Blind II Blind II Supports any skill that Hits enemies, causing them to Blind on Hit with increased effect.
 Maim Maim Supports Attacks causing them to Maim enemies.
 Punch Through Punch Through Supports Melee Attack Skills. Supported Skills apply Easy Target when Knocking Back Enemies, causing the next Projectile Attack Hit they take to deal increased Damage.
 Knockback Knockback Supports any skill that Hits enemies, causing it to Knock Back enemies.
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|
Ghost Dance Ghost Dance Periodically Gain Ghost Shrouds. If you are Hit while you have a Ghost Shroud, it is immediately consumed to recover Energy Shield based on your Evasion.
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 Compressed Duration II Compressed Duration II Supports any skill that has a duration, making that duration shorter.
 Cannibalism II Cannibalism II Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to recover Life on kill while the skill is active.
 Vitality II Vitality II Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to gain Life Regeneration while the Skill is active.
 Clarity I Clarity I Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to gain increased mana Regeneration while the skill is active.
|
 Plasma Blast Plasma Blast Loads your Crossbow with unstable that require a lengthy charging period to fire but deal devastating damage, Pierce through enemies, and explode upon hitting terrain.
(Optional) |
Multishot II Multishot II Supports Projectile skills, making them fire extra Projectiles. Also lowers Attack and Cast speed of supported skills, as well as lessening their damage.
Lightning Attunement Lightning Attunement Supports attacks, causing them to gain Lightning Damage but deal less Cold and Fire Damage.
Elemental Armament II Elemental Armament II Supports Attacks, causing them to deal more Elemental damage.
Concentrated Area Concentrated Area Supports any skill with an area of effect, causing that area to be smaller but any area damage it deals to be higher.
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Your main skill will be Explosive Shot that is converted into Lightning Damage for better scaling and give you a small chance to inflict Shock. Pair this with Nova Projectiles for AoE coverage, Double Barrel III to load more bolts and auto-reload on Heavy Stun, and Fork to add more projectiles for damage and AoE.
On the other hand, Shockburst Rounds will be your main skill for dealing with Elites and Bosses as this deals huge single-target DPS especially against Shocked enemies. Additionally, Plasma Blast is an optional skill you can use for dealing huge burst damage and easily inflicting Shock against Bosses.
For your Persistent skills, prioritize getting Herald of Thunder for the additional lightning bolt procs with your Attacks. Wind Dancer and Ghost Dance will be your failsafes to help you survive through high tier maps.
Explosive Lightning Witchhunter Passive Tree
Passive Tree Progression
| Ascendency Passive Nodes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Passive Nodes | |||
| 1. |  |
2. |  |
| 3. |  |
4. |  |
| 5. |  |
6. |  |
| Screenshots taken from Path of Building | |||
※ Legend: Red = Weapon Set I | Green = Weapon Set II
The Ascendacy passives for the Explosive Lightning Witchhunter build make use of Judge, Jury, and Executioner to proc Decimating Strike to instantly shave off up 30% Life from enemies. Zealous Inquisition is used for more AoE explosions to clear mobs faster, while Witchbane should make enemies cast their skills less often so you can avoid their high damaging attacks more efficiently.
The rest of your passives should focus on gaining more damage such as Heavy Ammunition and Spray and Pray. Movement speed is important for this build as well so get the Blur, Escape Velocity, and Shimmering passive nodes.
In terms of survivability, you will be stacking more Evasion and Energy Shield through the use of Beastial Skin, Subterfuge Mask and Spectral Ward.
Passive Skill Tree Guide and List of Passives
Jewels
Note: The modifiers listed are arranged according to priority.
 From Nothing Diamond |
・Passives in Radius of Eternal Youth can be Allocated without being connected to your tree |
|---|---|
 Emerald |
・Increased chance for Shock
・Increased Shock Duration ・Increased Elemental Damage ・Increased Attack Damage |
To start off, prioritize getting an Emerald jewel that has Shock chance and Shock Duration so you can inflict Shock easier and spam your Shockburst Rounds much longer than usual. The rest of the modifiers should focus on increasing your damage and can be adjusted based on your preferences.
Make sure to slot in a From Nothing Diamond that has Eternal Youth as their modifier so you can allocate Spectral Ward and Electrifying Daze for the bonus Energy Shield and Lightning damage respectively.
Explosive Lightning Witchhunter Playstyle and Skill Rotation
Mobbing Rotation
For mobbing and mapping, you will be spamming Explosive Shot most of the time to easily clear large packs. The rotation is as follows:
- Load Explosive Shot and start spamming it to clear mobs.
- Use Shockburst Rounds against Rare Elites that are Shocked to easily wipe them out.
- Rinse and repeat.
Bossing Rotation
For Bossing, you will be using Shockburst Rounds once you have inflicted Shock to deal high single-target damage. The rotation is as follows:
- If you have Plasma Blast, charge it up to max and shoot it once to inflict Shock.
- If you do not have Plasma Blast, spam Voltaic Grenade and Explosive Shot until you inflict Shock on the boss.
- Switch to Shockburst Rounds and keep spamming it until the Shock duration has expired.
- Rinse and repeat.
Path of Exile 2 Related Guides
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