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Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2)
PoE 2 0.4 Mercenary Build - Explosive Shot Tactician
NEW: 0.4.0c Hotfix 23 | LIVE: Stash Tab Sale
☆ Fate of the Vaal ▶︎ The Last of the Druids
┗ Bonded Mods | 0.4 Mystery Box
★ Druid: Class Overview | Builds
☆ NEW: Disciple of Varashta Ascendancy!
★ Best Class | Best Builds | Leveling Builds
This is an Explosive Shot Tactician Mercenary build for endgame in Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2)'s The Last of the Druids Update. Check out the Explosive Shot Tactician endgame build, including its gear, socketables, skills, and playstyle!
 Attention! |
This 0.4.0 endgame build starts from Level 65 and above. If you want to see a build for leveling, check out our Leveling Builds! |
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List of Contents
Explosive Shot Tactician Build Summary
FGKorbyn21's Explosive Shot Tactician Build
This Explosive Shot Tactician endgame build is based on a build by FGKorbyn21 over at FGKorbyn21 (Youtube). The video includes details on how to gear up to get the build online. Check out FGKorbyn21's YouTube and Twitch channel for more Path of Exile 2 content and ask questions about the build!
Explosive Shot Tactician Build
 Explosive Shot Tactician |
 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.
 Scavenged Plating Uses fragments of armour scavenged from enemies to bolster your own. Fully Breaking an enemy's Armour grants you a stack of Scavenged Plating for a duration, and you gain Armour and Thorns per stack.
 Explosive Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a devastating fiery blast when its fuse expires.
 Blasphemy Turns socketed Curse skills into vile Auras, applying their effects to all nearby enemies.
 Rapid Shot Loads your Crossbow with a large clip of heavily modified that cause Heat build up on your crossbow, before unleashing a stream of flaming bolts that gain Fire damage based on your Heat. Heat also grants bonus damage to Grenades you fire, but dissipates rapidly when not building up. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
 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.
 Charge Regulation While active, you gain powerful Buffs based on your active Charges. However, maintaining the Buff consumes Charges every few seconds.
 Mirage Archer While active, dodge rolling will create a Mirage that uses socketed ranged Attacks for a short duration, then vanish. You cannot create another Mirage while one exists, or for a short time after one vanishes. Dodge rolling while you are unable to create a new Mirage will restart this timer.
 Mortar Cannon Raise a cannon Ballista Totem which uses socketed Grenade Skills, with significantly improved Cooldown Recovery Rate.
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 Extremely High Burst Damage Huge AoE Coverage Excellent Clear Speed FPS Drops Due to Explosions |
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This endgame Tactician build focuses on using Explosive Grenade to deal huge AoE damage that can proc multiple times, and Explosive Shot to instantly detonate the grenades. Take note that this build requires you to have at least 153 Spirit to equip all the necessary Persistent skills once you have the A Solid Plan ascendancy node.
| Date | Changes Made |
|---|---|
| 01/07/26 | ・Explosive Shot Tactician endgame build was created. |
Explosive Shot Tactician Equipment
※ The affixes shown below are arranged based on descending priority.
| Gear | Affixes |
|---|---|
 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 Set 1) |
・Increased Physical Damage
・Adds Physical Damage ・Gain % of Damage as Extra Physical Damage ・Level of All Attack Skills ・Chance to Gain Onslaught on Killing Hits Desecrated: ・Increased Physical Damage |
 Siege Crossbow Siege Crossbow Stats:
Damage - 29-115 Critical Chance - 5% Attacks Per Second - 1.65 Reload Time - 0.75 Requirements: Level - 79 Strength - 89 Dexterity - 89 Implicit Skill: Grenade Skills fire an additional Projectile (Weapon Set 2) |
・Increased Physical Damage
・Adds Physical Damage ・Increased Attack Speed ・Level of All Attack Skills Desecrated: ・Grenades Have % Chance to Activate a Second Time |
 Constricting Command Viper Cap Constricting Command Viper Cap Stats:
Evasion - 136 Requirements: Level - 38 Dexterity - 54 Fixed Modifiers: ・ (80–120) to maximum Life ・ (10–15) to all Attributes ・ (8–12) Life Regeneration per second ・ Pin Enemies which are Primed for Pinning |
・Maximum Life
・All Attributes ・Life Regeneration per Second ・Require 5 Fewer Enemies to be Surrounded |
 Soldier Cuirass Soldier Cuirass Stats:
Armor - 534 Requirements: Level - 65 Strength - 121 |
・Armor
・Increased Armor ・Maximum Life ・% of Armor Also Applies to Elemental Damage ・Reduced Poison Duration on You Desecrated: ・Cold and Chaos Resistances |
 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 |
・Increased Armor and Evasion
・Increased Attack Speed ・Strength ・Dexterity ・Fire Damage Converted to Lightning Damage |
 Vaal Greaves Vaal Greaves Stats:
Armor - 219 Requirements: Level - 75 Strength - 101 |
・Increased Movement Speed
・Increased Armor ・Maximum Life ・Strength ・Cold Resistance ・Fire Resistance |
 Plate Belt Plate Belt Requirements:
Level - 24 Implicit:+100-140 to Armour |
・Armor
・Maximum Life ・Strength ・Chaos Resistance ・Lightning Resistance Desecrated: ・Dexterity and Intelligence |
 Amber Amulet Amber Amulet Requirements:
Level - 8 Implicit:+10-15 to Strength |
・Allocates Eroding Chains
・Increased Armor ・Level of All Projectile Skills ・Intelligence ・Cold Resistance ・Increased Global Defences Desecrated: ・Spirit |
 Ruby Ring Ruby Ring Requirements:
Level - 8 Implicit:+20-30% to Fire Resistance |
・Adds Physical Damage
・Increased Lightning Damage ・Maximum Life ・Fire Resistance ・Chaos Resistance Desecrated: ・Lightning and Chaos Resistances |
 Prismatic Ring Prismatic Ring Requirements:
Level - 35 Implicit:7-10% to all Elemental Resistances |
・Adds Fire Damage
・Adds Lightning Damage ・Dexterity ・Maximum Life ・Cold Resistance Desecrated: ・Chaos 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 Life Recovered
・Increased Charges |
 Ultimate Mana Flask Ultimate Mana Flask Stats:
Flask Type - Mana Recovered Mana - 310 Charge Per Use - 10 Total Charges - 75 Duration - 3 sec. |
・Increased Charges Gained |
Weapons
For your Weapon Set 1, equip a Gemini Crossbow for the Additional Bolt implicit as this benefits your Explosive Shot and Rapid Shot clips to help you spam them more consistently. As for your Weapon Set 2, we recommend equipping a Siege Crossbow as this allows you to Fire an Additional Grenade to further boost your damage output for all your Explosive Grenades.
Armor and Accessories
As for your Armor, we will be prioritizing Armor and Maximum Life as your main defensive capability since you will be scaling your Elemental Damage with your Armor amount. Make sure to get Attribute modifiers so you can meet all your Skill requirements, and max out your Elemental Resistances to meet the 75% cap during endgame content.
This build makes use of Valako's Vice to convert all Fire Damage to Lightning Damage, and Constricting Command with the Requires 5 fewer enemies to be Surrounded modifier so you can your Surrounded nodes activate at all times.
| List of Rings | List of Amulets |
| List of Armors | |
Runes and Soul Cores
| Equipment | Sockets |
|---|---|
| Weapon | |
| Armor |
For your Runes, we recommend slotting in Saqawal's Rune of the Sky on both of your Crossbows so you can benefit from the Extra 5% Damage across all elements.
Additionally, your Armor Runes should consist of 2 Greater Body Runes on your helmet for more Maximum Life and 2 Greater Iron Runes on your Body Armor for that increased Armor boost. For your Gloves, slot in The Greatwolf's Rune of Claws to maximize your Physical Damage, and Farrul's Rune of Grace on your Boots to passively give you Deflection Rating while moving.
| List of Runes | List of Soul Cores |
Belts and Charms
| Belt Modifiers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Plate Belt Plate Belt Requirements:
Level - 24 Implicit:+100-140 to Armour |
・Armor
・Maximum Life ・Strength ・Chaos Resistance ・Lightning Resistance Desecrated: ・Dexterity and Intelligence |
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| Charm Options | |||||
 Sanguis Heroum Staunching Charm Sanguis Heroum Staunching Charm Stats:
Flask Type - Charm Charge Per Use - 30 Total Charges - 40 Duration - 3 sec. |
 For Utopia Stone Charm For Utopia Stone Charm Stats:
Flask Type - Charm Charge Per Use - 20 Total Charges - 40 Duration - 3.00 sec. |
 Golden Charm Golden Charm Stats:
Flask Type - Charm Charge Per Use - 80 Total Charges - 80 Duration - 1 sec. |
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For your Belt, any Plate Belt with Armor and Maximum Life modifiers can work for the build. Make sure to max out your Elemental Resistances to reach the 75% cap and get the Strength modifier on it as well to boost your max life further.
As for your Charms, this build makes use of Sanguis Heroum for the life regen from Consectrated Ground, and For Utopia to provide you with 200% Armor once activated from being stunned. Do not forget to equip a Golden Charm as well with Increased Duration and Reduced Charges per Use modifiers to consistently increase your chances for good loot drops.
| List of Belts | List of Charms |
Explosive Shot Tactician 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.
(Weapon Set 1) |
 Arjun's Medal Arjun's Medal Supports Crossbow Skills, granting a chance to load a bolt into all Crossbow Ammunition on kill with Supported Skill.
 Fork Fork Supports Projectile Skills, making their Projectiles Fork.
 Defy II Defy II Supports Attack Skills you use yourself. Hit Damage from Supported Skills is Lucky and Insufficient Mana doesn't prevent Supported Skills from being used if you are Surrounded.
 Armour Break III Armour Break III Supports Skills that Hit Enemies, causing those Hits to Break Armour based on a portion of Physical Damage dealt. On Fully Breaking Armour with Supported Skills, you gain an Endurance Charge.
 Lightning Penetration Lightning Penetration Supports any skill that hits enemies, making those hits penetrate enemy Lightning Resistance.
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Explosive Grenade Explosive Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a devastating fiery blast when its fuse expires.
(Weapon Set 2) |
 Rakiata's Flow Rakiata's Flow Supports Skills that can cause Damaging Hits, causing those Hits to treat Enemy Elemental Resistances as inverted.
Defy II Defy II Supports Attack Skills you use yourself. Hit Damage from Supported Skills is Lucky and Insufficient Mana doesn't prevent Supported Skills from being used if you are Surrounded.
 Second Wind III Second Wind III Supports skills with cooldowns, giving them extra uses of that cooldown and causing them to restore Life on use. Cannot support instant or triggered skills, or modify the skills of minions.
 Payload Payload Supports skills which fire Grenades, giving fired Grenades a chance to activate again, but lengthening their cooldowns.
 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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Mortar Cannon Mortar Cannon Raise a cannon Ballista Totem which uses socketed Grenade Skills, with significantly improved Cooldown Recovery Rate.
(Weapon Set 2) |
Explosive Grenade Explosive Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a devastating fiery blast when its fuse expires.
Lightning Penetration Lightning Penetration Supports any skill that hits enemies, making those hits penetrate enemy Lightning Resistance.
Payload Payload Supports skills which fire Grenades, giving fired Grenades a chance to activate again, but lengthening their cooldowns.
 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.
 Urgent Totems III Urgent Totems III Supports Skills which create Totems, causing those Skills to place Totems much more quickly. Totems created by Supported Skills have increased Attack and Cast Speed.
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Rapid Shot Rapid Shot Loads your Crossbow with a large clip of heavily modified that cause Heat build up on your crossbow, before unleashing a stream of flaming bolts that gain Fire damage based on your Heat. Heat also grants bonus damage to Grenades you fire, but dissipates rapidly when not building up. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
(Weapon Set 1) |
 Rapid Attacks III Rapid Attacks III Supports Attacks, causing them to Attack faster at the cost of Damage.
 Efficiency II Efficiency II Supports any skill, making it cost less to use. Cannot support skills which reserve Spirit.
 Nimble Reload Nimble Reload Supports Crossbow Ammunition skills, causing them to Reload bolts significantly faster.
 Mobility Mobility Supports skills that can be used while moving, allowing you to move faster while using them.
Defy II Defy II Supports Attack Skills you use yourself. Hit Damage from Supported Skills is Lucky and Insufficient Mana doesn't prevent Supported Skills from being used if you are Surrounded.
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Mirage Archer Mirage Archer While active, dodge rolling will create a Mirage that uses socketed ranged Attacks for a short duration, then vanish. You cannot create another Mirage while one exists, or for a short time after one vanishes. Dodge rolling while you are unable to create a new Mirage will restart this timer.
(Weapon Set 2) |
Explosive Grenade Explosive Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a devastating fiery blast when its fuse expires.
Lightning Penetration Lightning Penetration Supports any skill that hits enemies, making those hits penetrate enemy Lightning Resistance.
Payload Payload Supports skills which fire Grenades, giving fired Grenades a chance to activate again, but lengthening their cooldowns.
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.
 Elemental Armament II Elemental Armament II Supports Attacks, causing them to deal more Elemental damage.
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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.
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 Magnified Area II Magnified Area II Supports any skill with an area of effect, making it larger at the cost of damage.
 Deadly Herald Deadly Herald Supports Herald Skills, making their triggered effectsn deal more damage at the expense of higher spirit cost.
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.
 Longshot II Longshot II Supports Attacks, causing them to deal more damage from farther away.
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Blasphemy Blasphemy Turns socketed Curse skills into vile Auras, applying their effects to all nearby enemies.
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 Enfeeble Enfeeble Curses all targets in an area after a short delay, making them deal less damage.
Magnified Area II Magnified Area II Supports any skill with an area of effect, making it larger at the cost of damage.
 Heightened Curse Heightened Curse Supports curse skills, magnifying their power.
 Rapid Casting II Rapid Casting II Supports Spells, causing them to cast faster.
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Scavenged Plating Scavenged Plating Uses fragments of armour scavenged from enemies to bolster your own. Fully Breaking an enemy's Armour grants you a stack of Scavenged Plating for a duration, and you gain Armour and Thorns per stack.
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 Prolonged Duration II Prolonged Duration II Supports any skill that has a duration, making that duration longer.
 Physical Mastery Physical Mastery Supports Physical skills, granting them an additional level.
 Cannibalism II Cannibalism II Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to recover Life on kill while the skill is active.
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Charge Regulation Charge Regulation While active, you gain powerful Buffs based on your active Charges. However, maintaining the Buff consumes Charges every few seconds.
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 Herbalism I Herbalism I Supports Persistent Buff skills, causing you to gain increased Life recovery from Flasks while the skill is active.
 Precision I Precision I Supports Persistent Buff Skills, causing you to gain increased Accuracy while the skill is active.
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Your main damage skills will consist of Explosive Grenade for Bosses and Elites, and Explosive Shot for mapping and clearing large packs of mobs. Make sure to use Rapid Shot in between your explosives to gain that additional Fire Damage, while Mortar Cannon is best used against Bosses to keep your grenades consistent throughout the fight.
As for your Persistent skills, use Herald of Thunder for faster AoE clear and Mirage Archer to let you summon a mirrored version of you that can also shoot out grenades. Blasphemy should help with your survivability since Enfeeble can reduce enemy damage, while Scavenged Plating and Charge Regulation are additional layers of defense due to the added Armor and Endurance Charges it provides.
Explosive Shot Tactician Passive Tree
Passive Tree Progression
| Ascendancy Passive Nodes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Passive Nodes | |||
| Footage taken from Path of Building. |
※ Legend: Red = Weapon Set I | Green = Weapon Set II
The passive tree for the Explosive Shot Tactician build focuses on stacking Damage and Grenade nodes, as well as gaining more Armor that can also translate to more Elemental Damage. Your most important nodes consist of Cluster Bombs and Repeating Explosives to bring your grenades online, while Frantic Fighter and Thrill of Battle are only useful once we have Constricting Command equipped.
Additionally, we want to get Iron Reflexes to convert all our Evasion Rating to Armor which in turn, provides us with increased Elemental Damage. Make sure to get Passthrough Rounds to further increase your Armour Break and allow you to easily gain Endurance Charges.
Passive Skill Tree Guide and List of Passives
Jewels
 Megalomaniac Diamond
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・Allocates Supportive Ancestors
・Allocates Crushing Verdict |
|---|---|
 Heart of the Well Diamond
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・Chance to Inflict Bleeding on Hit
・Reduced Slowing Potency of Debuffs on You ・Gain % of Damage as Extra Cold Damage ・Gain % of Damage as Extra Lightning Damage |
 From Nothing Diamond
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・Passives in Radius of Pain Attunement Keystone can be Allocated without being Connected to your Tree |
Heart of the Well Diamond is the best damage jewel you can get so try to look for one with Gain Extra Lightning and Cold Damage, increased Attack Speed, and Increased Armor from Equipped Body Armor if you can.
We want to get Megalomaniac with the Supportive Ancestors and Crushing Verdict passives to help max out your damage output. You can also opt for getting Heavy Ammunition, Coming Calamity, or Singular Purpose for a more reliable damage boost in case you need it.
Lastly, make sure to get Pain Attunement on your From Nothing Diamond so you can slot in Swift Claw, Molten Being, and Mental Perseverance to further boost your damage and survivability.
Explosive Shot Tactician Playstyle
Bossing Skill Rotation
When against Bosses, you will mainly be stacking Vine Arrows and Toxic Growth pustules. The rotation is as follows:
- Dodge to activate Mirage Archer and spawn a mirrored version of you.
- Summon a Mortar Cannon for more grenades.
- Shoot Rapid Shot to build up at least 15 Heat for more damage.
- Spam Explosive Grenade underneath the Boss.
- Use Explosive Shot to instantly detonate the Grenades for huge damage.
- Rinse and repeat.
Mobbing Skill Rotation
When against large packs of mobs, you will only need to spam Explosive Shot to quickly deal huge AoE damage in a large area. The rotation is as follows:
- Spam Explosive Shot to deal AoE Lightning damage to your surroundings.
- Rinse and repeat.
Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Related Guides
0.4 Best Endgame Builds
| Rank | Build |
|---|---|
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Explosive Shot Tactician NEW |
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0.4 Leveling Builds
All Build Guides
| List of Builds by Class | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Huntress |
 Mercenary |
 Monk |
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 Witch |
 Sorceress |
 Warrior |
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 Ranger |
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| Other Build Guides | 0.3 Leveling Builds | How to Make a Good Build | |||||||||
Mercenary Leveling Builds
 Lightning Mercenary
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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.
 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.
 Galvanic Shards Loads your Crossbow with a clip of charged bolts that fragment in flight, releasing Chaining Lightning beams when they Hit enemies. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
Focus: AoE, Fast Clear, Lightning |
| Grenadier Mercenary
NEW |
 Herald of Ash While active, enemies you sufficiently Overkill with attacks will cause an explosion that ignites nearby enemies based on the Overkill damage dealt.
Explosive Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a devastating fiery blast when its fuse expires.
 Flash Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a Blinding, Stunning explosion when its fuse expires. This explosion can Blind both Allies and Enemies.
 Gas Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that causes a burst of Poison gas when its fuse expires, damaging enemies and leaving behind a growing Poison cloud. Burning effects or Detonator skills will cause the cloud to explode in a fiery blast.
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.
 Oil Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that bursts in a spray of Oil when the fuse expires or when it impacts an Enemy, dealing minimal damage but covering the ground and nearby enemies in Oil. Oil created this way can be Ignited by Detonator Skills or Ignited Ground.
Rapid Shot Loads your Crossbow with a large clip of heavily modified that cause Heat build up on your crossbow, before unleashing a stream of flaming bolts that gain Fire damage based on your Heat. Heat also grants bonus damage to Grenades you fire, but dissipates rapidly when not building up. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
Focus: AoE, Fire, Grenades, Burst Damage |
Mercenary Endgame Builds
 Bleed Bow Witchhunter
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 Barrage Ready a volley of arrows or spears, Empowering your next Bow or Projectile Spear Attack to repeat multiple times. Consumes your Frenzy Charges on use to add additional repeats.
 Snipe Channel to charge up your bow before releasing a powerful shot. Releasing the moment you fully charge causes the arrow to explode on impact for a guaranteed Critical Hit.
 Sniper's Mark Marks a target. The next Critical Hit the target receives consumes the Mark to deal extra damage and grant you a Frenzy Charge.
 Rain of Arrows Fire arrows into the air, causing them to rain from above. Consumes your Frenzy Charges to fire more arrows.
 Spiral Volley Loads your Bow with a volley of enchanted arrows and fires them in a circle as you spin forward, firing directly at targets if possible. Consumes Frenzy Charges to cause the arrows to deal more damage and Chain to other targets. Each target can only be Hit once.
 Combat Frenzy While active, grants you a Frenzy Charge when you Freeze, Electrocute, or Pin an enemy. This can only occur once every few seconds.
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.
Focus: DoT, Burst Damage, Bossing, Mobbing |
| Fire Grenade Witchhunter
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Herald of Ash While active, enemies you sufficiently Overkill with attacks will cause an explosion that ignites nearby enemies based on the Overkill damage dealt.
Gas Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that causes a burst of Poison gas when its fuse expires, damaging enemies and leaving behind a growing Poison cloud. Burning effects or Detonator skills will cause the cloud to explode in a fiery blast.
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.
 Incendiary Shot Loads your Crossbow with flaming bolts that fragment in flight, damaging and igniting enemies on hit and in a small cone behind their final target.
Blasphemy Turns socketed Curse skills into vile Auras, applying their effects to all nearby enemies.
Oil Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that bursts in a spray of Oil when the fuse expires or when it impacts an Enemy, dealing minimal damage but covering the ground and nearby enemies in Oil. Oil created this way can be Ignited by Detonator Skills or Ignited Ground.
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.
Focus: DoT, AoE, Mobbing |
 Gunslinger Gemling Legionnaire
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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.
 Fragmentation Rounds Loads your Crossbow with Piercing bolts that fragment in flight. Bolts that hit a frozen enemy consume the Freeze and cause an explosion of Shrapnel. Bolts that hit an Ice Crystal cause it to explode.
 High Velocity Rounds Loads your Crossbow with Piercing bolts that can consume Fully Broken Armour on enemies to deal extra damage.
 Herald of Plague While active, killing a Poisoned enemy spreads its Poison to other nearby enemies, and has a chance to also Hinder them.
 Attrition While active, causes you to deal more Hit damage to Rare and Unique enemies the longer you've been fighting them, and gain Culling Strike against them once you've been fighting them for long enough.
 Cast on Freeze While active, gains Energy when you Freeze enemies and triggers socketed spells on reaching maximum Energy.
Emergency Reload Instantly relaods your active Crossbow Ammunition and Empowers the loaded bolts to deal more damage.
Galvanic Shards Loads your Crossbow with a clip of charged bolts that fragment in flight, releasing Chaining Lightning beams when they Hit enemies. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
 Withering Presence While active, periodically Withers enemies in your Presence.
 Blink Replaces your dodge roll with a short-cooldown Spell that allows you to tunnel through space, instantly reappearing a medium distance away.
Focus: DoT, Crowd Control, Bossing |
| Grenadier Gemling Legionnaire
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Explosive Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a devastating fiery blast when its fuse expires.
Flash Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a Blinding, Stunning explosion when its fuse expires. This explosion can Blind both Allies and Enemies.
Gas Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that causes a burst of Poison gas when its fuse expires, damaging enemies and leaving behind a growing Poison cloud. Burning effects or Detonator skills will cause the cloud to explode in a fiery blast.
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.
Attrition While active, causes you to deal more Hit damage to Rare and Unique enemies the longer you've been fighting them, and gain Culling Strike against them once you've been fighting them for long enough.
Oil Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that bursts in a spray of Oil when the fuse expires or when it impacts an Enemy, dealing minimal damage but covering the ground and nearby enemies in Oil. Oil created this way can be Ignited by Detonator Skills or Ignited Ground.
 Cluster Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade That explodes when it's fuse expires, throwing out a nova of mini Grenades that explode when they come to a stop.
Focus: AoE, Burst Damage, Crowd Control |
| Ballista Tactician
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Herald of Ash While active, enemies you sufficiently Overkill with attacks will cause an explosion that ignites nearby enemies based on the Overkill damage dealt.
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.
 Armour Piercing Rounds Load your Crossbow with a clip of bolts that can be fired rapidly and Break enemy Armour. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
Oil Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that bursts in a spray of Oil when the fuse expires or when it impacts an Enemy, dealing minimal damage but covering the ground and nearby enemies in Oil. Oil created this way can be Ignited by Detonator Skills or Ignited Ground.
 Ripwire Ballista Deploys a Balista Totem that fires Pinning bolts which Maim enemies.
 Artillery Ballista Deploys a Ballista Totem that fires bolts skyward, to explode a short time after landing.
 Siege Cascade Loads your Crossbow with enemy-seeking payloads which are fired into the air, dropping a bolt near every enemy in the target area. These bolts lodge in the ground and explode after a short delay .
Focus: Totem, Physical, Fire, Mobbing, Bossing |
| Ballista Banner Tactician
|
 Frost Bomb Creates a pulsing Orb of Frost. Each pulse inflicts Cold Exposure on nearby Enemies. When the Orb's duration ends, it explodes, dealing Cold damage to 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.
Blasphemy Turns socketed Curse skills into vile Auras, applying their effects to all nearby enemies.
 War Banner While active, killing enemies with attacks or standing near a Unique enemy generates Valour. using this skill consumes Valour to place an inspiring Banner with an Aura that grants you and nearby allies Attack damage and accuracy while Banner lasts. The Banner cannot gain Valour while placed, and you cannot place a Banner while you already have a Banner placed.
 Defiance Banner While active, killing enemies with attacks or standing near a Unique enemy generates valour. Using this skill consumes its Valour to place an inspiring Banner with an Aura that grants you and your nearby allies Armour, Evasion, and Movement speed while the banner lasts. The Banner cannot gain Valour while placed, and you cannot place a Banner while you already have a Banner placed.
 Dread Banner While active, killing enemies with Attacks or standing near a Unique enemy generates Valour. using this skill consumes its Valour to place an Inspiring Banner with an Aura that grants you and nearby allies Stun Threshold, Elemental Ailment Threshold, and Flask charges while the Banner lasts. The Banner cannot gain Valour while placed, and you cannot place a Banner while you already have a banner placed.
 Tame Beast Conjure Azmeri wisps to engulf a Rare Beast for a duration, Hindering them. If you defeat the Beast while it is engulfed in wisps, it will be captured by this gem, transforming the gem to instead allow you to summon the Beast as a Reviving Companion.
Mirage Archer While active, dodge rolling will create a Mirage that uses socketed ranged Attacks for a short duration, then vanish. You cannot create another Mirage while one exists, or for a short time after one vanishes. Dodge rolling while you are unable to create a new Mirage will restart this timer.
Mortar Cannon Raise a cannon Ballista Totem which uses socketed Grenade Skills, with significantly improved Cooldown Recovery Rate.
Focus: Totem, Burst, Lightning, Mapping, Bossing |
| Galvanic Shards Gemling Legionnaire
|
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.
 Stormcaller Arrow Fires an arrow that embeds where it lands for a short duration. At the end of the duration, a Lightning bolt strikes the arrow, disintegrating it and damaging enemies with a high chance to Shock.
 Voltaic Mark Marks a target, making them more susceptible to being Shocked. When the Marked target dies, a Lightning nova erupts from their corpse. This nova does not use your Weapon Damage, and instead uses its own base Attack Damage.
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.
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.
Galvanic Shards Loads your Crossbow with a clip of charged bolts that fragment in flight, releasing Chaining Lightning beams when they Hit enemies. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
Mortar Cannon Raise a cannon Ballista Totem which uses socketed Grenade Skills, with significantly improved Cooldown Recovery Rate.
Focus: Lightning, Burst, Attribute Stacking, Mobbing, Bossing |
| 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.
Focus: Burst, Lightning, Mobbing, Bossing |
| Explosive Shot Tactician
NEW |
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.
Scavenged Plating Uses fragments of armour scavenged from enemies to bolster your own. Fully Breaking an enemy's Armour grants you a stack of Scavenged Plating for a duration, and you gain Armour and Thorns per stack.
Explosive Grenade Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a devastating fiery blast when its fuse expires.
Blasphemy Turns socketed Curse skills into vile Auras, applying their effects to all nearby enemies.
Rapid Shot Loads your Crossbow with a large clip of heavily modified that cause Heat build up on your crossbow, before unleashing a stream of flaming bolts that gain Fire damage based on your Heat. Heat also grants bonus damage to Grenades you fire, but dissipates rapidly when not building up. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
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.
Charge Regulation While active, you gain powerful Buffs based on your active Charges. However, maintaining the Buff consumes Charges every few seconds.
Mirage Archer While active, dodge rolling will create a Mirage that uses socketed ranged Attacks for a short duration, then vanish. You cannot create another Mirage while one exists, or for a short time after one vanishes. Dodge rolling while you are unable to create a new Mirage will restart this timer.
Mortar Cannon Raise a cannon Ballista Totem which uses socketed Grenade Skills, with significantly improved Cooldown Recovery Rate.
Focus: Armour Break, Lightning Damage, AoE, Burst Damage |
Mercenary Class and Ascendancy Guides
| Base Class | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mercenary
|
||
| Ascendancies | ||
| Witchhunter |
Gemling Legionnaire |
 Tactician |
Comment
Author
PoE 2 0.4 Mercenary Build - Explosive Shot Tactician
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