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PoE 2 Build

[0.5.5] Grenades Gemling League Starter (Level 1 to Endgame)

Mercenary

Gemling Legionnaire

Starter

End Game

Speed Leveling

0.5.5 FR

Beginner

Verified

By DEADRABB1T

Updated on Sep 13, 2026

Sep 13, 2026

Build Overview

Build Video with Explanations

This Build is a Setup for the Gemling Legionnaire Ascendancy using Grenades all the way from Level 1 onwards and into the Endgame. This Build is especially suited as an incredibly effective League Starter due to its easy progression through the Campaign and very smooth transition into the early Endgame without having to rely on Gear at all.

Main Skills this Build utilizes are Explosive Grenade, Flash Grenade, Gas Grenade, Oil Grenade and Cluster Grenade which gets boosted heavily by Nodes on our Passive Tree like Demolitionist, Grenadier and Repeating Explosives.

The Gemling Legionnaire offers incredible Bonuses to this Build, especially with the Advanced Thaumaturgy Ascendancy Node.

Explosive Grenade gets up to 2 extra Projectiles

Flash Grenade gets Damage as extra Lightning

Oil Grenade gets extra Exposure

and Cluster Grenade gets -40% Detonation Time

On top of Advanced Thaumaturgy, the Gemling also provides us with Gem Studded, giving the Character complete immunity to Crit, 30% less Skill Cost and 40% less Movement Speed Penalty from using Skills while moving. The last Ascendancy Node is taken by Implanted Gems Gems, giving most of our Skills +2 to their Gem Levels.

Overall, this is probably one of the strongest League Starters in the Game, making the Campaign Playthrough as easy as it gets and the transition into the early Endgame super fast and smooth as well.

To stay up to date on this Build and if you ever have any Questions come visit my Twitch Stream at: twitch.tv/DEADRABB1T

Strengths and Weaknesses

Damage in both Campaign and Endgame
Fast and Tanky
Versatile
Cheap to Build

Visual Clutter

Build Variants

ACT 1

ACT 2

ACT 3/4

Interludes

Early Endgame

Mid Endgame

Uber Endgame

We start off Act 1 immediately by using Explosive Grenade for both Clear and Single Target DPS. Frost Bomb will also be used early on to apply Exposure to any Monsters. We also add Flash Grenade and Gas Grenade as soon as we get them.

Equipment

ACT 1

ACT 2

ACT 3/4

Interludes

Early Endgame

Mid Endgame

Uber Endgame

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Starting in Act 1, your Priority in terms of Gear always starts with your Weapon, make sure to always look for Upgrades to you Crossbow as often as you can.

Small Tip for Act 1: Make sure to click all the Weapon Racks in the Red Vale to get a Tense Crossbow

Other big Priorities in the early Stages of the Campaign here are your Boots, Gloves and Rings. Make sure to check Vendors as often as possible to get Boots with Movement Speed, Gloves with Flat Damage on them or Iron Rings with even more Flat Damage to massively boost your Damage early on.

Stat Priority on Gear during Act 1:

Crossbow: High Physical or Elemental Damage (Flat or %) -> +Level of Projectile Skills
Gloves: Flat Physical or Elemental Damage -> Maximum Life -> Resistances -> Attack Speed
Boots: Movement Speed -> Maximum Life -> Resistances
Body Armour / Helmet: Maximum Life -> High Armour -> Resistances
Rings: Flat Physical or Elemental Damage -> Maximum Life -> Resistances
Amulet: +Level to Projectiles
Belt: Maximum Life -> Strength -> Resistances

Heavily Focus on Armour Base Gear for the Camapaign since that is by far the strongest defensively.

Vendor Regex: "!(uiv)" "cross|mov|[egdl] da.* to a"

Skill Gems

ACT 1

ACT 2

ACT 3/4

Interludes

Early Endgame

Mid Endgame

Uber Endgame

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 10

Dex 20

Int 5

Explosive Grenade

Frost Bomb

Flash Grenade

Gas Grenade

Herald of Ash

Pounce

Gem Priority

Skill Gem Order:

Explosive Grenade (Level 1 Skill Gem from Renly's Quest)
Frost Bomb (Level 1 Skill Gem from Mysterious Campsite in Clearfell)
Flash Grenade (First Level 3 Skill Gem)
Pounce (Second Level 3 Skill Gem)
Herald of Ash (Spirit Gem from Freythorn) (You can also use Attrition if you want)
Gas Grenade (Level 5 Skill Gem from Leitis Quest)

Support Gem Order:

Multishot I -> Explosive Grenade
Elemental Armament I -> Explosive Grenade
Multishot I -> Flash Grenade
Multishot I -> Gas Grenade
Elemental Armament I -> Gas Grenade
Magnified Area I -> Herald of Ash
Swift Affliction I -> Herald of Ash

Skill Gem Level Priority:

Explosive Grenade
Flash Grenade
Gas Grenade

If you have enough Intelligence, you can also Level up Frost Bomb to keep applying exposure until you get Oil Grenade later on.

Pounce is mainly used for faster Movement, but will later on also be utilized to apply a Mark Skill to get more Damage and Mana Leech later on.

Passive Tree

ACT 1

ACT 2

ACT 3/4

Interludes

Early Endgame

Mid Endgame

Uber Endgame

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

For Attributes, get as much Dexterity and Intelligence as you need to satisfy all your Attribute Requirements for Gear and Skills and put the rest all into Strength.

Quest Rewards

Check which quests you’ve completed on your character

Clearfell — Beira of the Rotten Pack

+10% to Cold Resistance

Freythorn — The King in the Mists

+30 to Spirit

Ogham Manor — Candlemass, the Living Rite

+20 to maximum Life

Hunting Grounds — The Crowbell

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Ogham Farmlands — Una's Hut

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Valley of the Titans — Medallion

30% increased Charm Charges gained

+1 Charm Slot

The Spires of Deshar — Sisters of Garukhan

+10% to Lightning Resistance

Keth — Kabala, Constrictor Queen

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Deshar — Final Letter

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Venom Crypts — Venom Draught

25% increased Stun Threshold

Jiquani's Machinarium — Blackjaw, the Remnant

+10% to Fire Resistance

The Azak Bog — Ignagduk, the Bog Witch

+30 to Spirit

Jungle Ruins — Mighty Silverfist

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Aggorat — Blood Sacrifice

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Whakapanu Island — Great White One

+30% increased Global Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield

Eye of Hinekora — Navali's Rest

5% increased Maximum Mana

Halls of the Dead — Tawhoa's Test

+5% to Lightning Resistance

Abandoned Prison — Goddess of Justice

30% increased Mana Recovery from Flasks

Halls of the Dead — Tasalio's Test

+5% to Cold Resistance

Halls of the Dead — Ngamahu's Test

+5% to Fire Resistance

Journey's End — Captain Hartlin

Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Skill Gem(Lv 13)

Delirium Drop

Halls of the Dead — Yama The White

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Khari Crossing — Molten Shrine

5% increased Maximum Life

Qimah — Tabana's Pillar

3% increased Movement Speed

Kriar Village — Lythara, the Wayward Spear

+40 to Spirit

Wolvenhold — Oswin, the Dread Warden

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

The Khari Crossing — Akthi and Anundr

Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Howling Caves — The Abominable Yeti

Grants Two Weapon Set Passive Skill Points

Comments

WorthyCrown•9h ago

Explosive grenades are ramping up to around 80k but for whatever reason I think have a bug where I'm not doing any damage. It doesn't seem exposure related or anything else I can see visible damage from pretty much every other grenade but the highest damage grenade seems to do nothing for maybe 70% of the fight and only hitting once in a while? is this a spamming or count issue, anyone else run into this? Somewhere around lvl 75 when I swapped to the uber endgame build and surrounded mechanic i went from 1 or 2 shotting everything to a complete slog

IronKey•1h ago

Never noticed this, I had a pretty consistent damage ramp all the way, can run 16 mod level 81 city maps no worries. Can you link your build? You didn't accidentally click utility ordinance did you? Or an accidental weapon swap? Double check all skill gems, potentially you swapped in something that nerfs damage?

BoldRobot•9h ago

in the beginning you talk about advanced thaumaturgy, but then it shows for me to not take it. Am i missing something?

PrettyShield•2d ago

Why do you put both "Persistent Ground III" and "Ignite III" into oil grenade? You can't burn the oil with that support. This build guide is terrible, build itself is ok.

-1

MaxKiller•2d ago

what is the correct option?

View 1 reply

IronFlower•7h ago

Go back to your Legos, wee man

WorthyRobot•3d ago

Закрыл этим билдом со шмотом на 7 диванов убер арбитра. Работяги пользуйтесь

DeadlyGun•3d ago

Is there an item filter for this build?

IronKey•3d ago

Playing this deep into red maps, have more or less the gear in the endgame recc short of the headhunter and the unique golden charm. Some variants that I find work well....

If still using the cannon, putting mana leech + phys mods in the basic grenade attack is great if you get drained from an elite affix.

When switching back to the big siege crossbow:
Put Mortar Totem in the spare jewel socket, run it with cluster grenades + mag area + duration + multi shot. Really nice because there's quite a few mechanics where you can "Set up shop", such as rituals, breach, bosses with an intro anim. +20 qual means I can have 3 ballistas up throwing cluster grenades. They are pretty cheap on mana also. I had to take just 1 int node in the tree to balance the 14/14/14 jewels of each type. Seems to do enough damage without wanting to find further + totem skills or affixes.

CoolCrown•4d ago

WHY CAN I NOT RUN THREE SPIRTS SKILLS

-2

CoolCrown•4d ago

HAVE 100 SPIRIT

-2

View 1 reply

GrimShadow•3h ago

In order to achieve this i would level mirage to 20% quality w/ 4 prisms and get your third ascendancy so you can get the maximum spirit reservation efficiency on the skill. The way it is normally is herald takes 30, barrier takes 30, and mirage takes 60 which = 120 spirit. if you can do what i said youd have 12 spirit left over which may give you the ability to use the life flask recovery skill gem, your mileage may vary as i personally aleways run a bit of extra spirit cause the persistent gem supports are really powerful.

same thing with the legendaries like i wouldnmt switch till you have your resistances maxed elsewhere and till you get the surrounded notables. a few things on this build could be explained better but imo its helpful being as direct as OP is. Yall really need to read your skills/gear and play the game too, 99% of all the thinking and work is already done for you here.

StoneGun•4d ago

Is oil just used for exsposure?

GrimShadow•3h ago

essentially yes but i still would not bother with multishot, if anything id just place the other supports early if you can but mostly all of your damage is coming from cluster, mirage, and explosives after you set oil and gas.

WorthyShadow•4d ago

Should be noted that both Volatile Grenades and Cluster Bombs are currently not working correctly. Cluster Bombs is only providing the additional projectile and Volatile Grenades isn't providing a 25% reduction to detonation time.

PrettyShield•2d ago

Tooltip doesn't show change, but I just tested and the actual detonation time changes.

View 1 reply

CoolCrown•5d ago

how you running 120 sprit?

CoolCrown•5d ago

losing it!

View 1 reply

Skald•4d ago

Mirage Archerhas hidden reservation efficiency from additional quality effect.

View 3 replies

GrimShadow•3h ago

Even before you have the quality from prisms and the third ascendancy you can just get spirit rolled on both your ammy and chest and youd have more than enough. shouldnt cost more than 10-20 ex total if you drop the amount of +life to 100 and you could even drop the armor to ele damage in favor of a defensive roll cause thats a min//max afffix at the end of the day, it will just make your life alot harder when you try to switch to the legendaries.