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PoE 2 Build

[0.3] Dreamcore's Gas Grenade Pathfinder - Simulacrum 3 Farmer

0.3 TTE

Ranger

Pathfinder

Starter

Verified

By Dreamcore

Updated on Nov 20, 2025

Nov 20, 2025

Build Overview

FULL VIDEO GUIDE HERE

Standard Pathfinder Poison-stacking setup utilising Gas Grenade & Plaguefinger.

Content: Great at farming Simulacrum, Ritual, Overrun Abyss Maps & Pinnacle Bosses where you can pre-stack clouds to fish for high damage/crit.

Build Showcase:

Build Updates:

Current Character Snapshot (poe2.ninja) - Click dropdown snapshots to view character progression

Overview:

Gas Grenade creates Poison Clouds, area ground surfaces that constantly apply Poison to Monsters within. The Pathfinder Ranger ascendancy has Contagious Contamination, making it the premier choice for solving map clearing. Pathfinder's Overwhelming Toxicity doubles the amount of Poison stacks, helping to solve single target Damage.

Main Combo

The playstyle is very straightforward, just drop Gas Grenade to apply proliferating Poison to Monsters. Against tanky targets, use Despair followed by Toxic Domain, then stack Gas Grenade Poison Clouds on the mob.

Supporting Skills & Defences

Despair will lower Monster Chaos Resistance, making them take more Chaos Damage from Poison. Withering Presence applies Wither to nearby Monsters, making them take increased Chaos Damage. Toxic Domain provides an additional single-target damage boost.

For the crit variant, you can also place down Dark Effigy to inflict extra stacks of Critical Weakness.

This build invests into both Evasion and Energy Shield, making use of Wind Dancer and Ghost Dance for a fairly stock-standard defensive setup for a build on the right-hand side of the Passive Skill Tree.

See FAQ below for more information

I will be updating this guide as I progress my character in 0.3 - please check the changelog below for the most recent changes.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Great clearing with Contagious Contamination
Good damage after ramping
Good defences with gear

Delayed Damage (Grenade Fuse)
Not the fastest mapper

Build Variants

Endgame

Act 1-3

Gas Grenade Swap ~Lv40-44

3rd Ascension ~Lv60-65

Equipment

Endgame

Act 1-3

Gas Grenade Swap ~Lv40-44

3rd Ascension ~Lv60-65

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Gloves

Plaguefinger

Main Hand

Siege Crossbow

Boots

Daggerfoot Shoes

Left Ring

Amethyst Ring

Right Ring

Ruby Ring

Amulet

Gold Amulet

Helmet

Ancestral Tiara

Body

Rambler Jacket

Belt

Fine Belt

Note: Attributes and Resistances shown on the gear above are examples, they don't need to be exact. Focus on capping your Elemental Resistances first, then Chaos Resistance.

Gear information:

Siege Crossbow with high tier flat added Elemental Damage, increased Elemental Damage with Attacks OR increased Grenade Damage, added Projectile/Attack Gem Levels and flat added Critical Hit Chance modifiers
Plaguefinger (look for Corruption +1 Socket)
Pure Energy Shield Helmet with high total Energy Shield
Boots with good Movement Speed
Rings with as much flat damage as you can get
Amulet with Attributes for gearing requirements, +Projectile gems levels, Anoint Overwhelming Strike
Cursecarver (Despair) and Effigy of Cruelty (3 Stacks of Crit Weakness) for your offhand weapon set
Other gear & sockets: prioritize EVA/ES bases with Defence Prefixes and focus on capping Resistances
Jewels: look for Sapphires with a combination of 'increased Magnitude of Ailments you inflict', 'increased maximum Energy Shield', 'increased Critical Hit Chance', 'increased Critical Damage Bonus', 'Damaging Ailments deal damage faster' etc.
As much 'increased Rarity of items found' as possible on any slot where you can fit it in (don't exceed 150%)
Use a normal Life Flask instead of Blood of the Warrior before you have a good amount of Energy Shield, as this Flask provides very low Life recovery and relies on Energy Shield to absorb Damage and recharge

Endgame Upgrades

Prism of Belief Gas Grenade levels
From Nothing (Chaos Inoculation) to allocate Pure Chaos and Wither Away
Exceptional Plaguefinger corrupted for 3 sockets

Skill Gems

Endgame

Act 1-3

Gas Grenade Swap ~Lv40-44

3rd Ascension ~Lv60-65

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 45

Dex 30

Int 40

Expand all

Gas Grenade

Ghost Dance

Wind Dancer

Despair

Withering Presence

Toxic Domain

Dark Effigy

Support gem swap for bossing:

In 0.3 you'll no longer be able to use 2 copies of the same Skill gem outside of Meta Skills, therefore we'll swap a few gems for static boss encounters (Xesht, Arbiter etc.)

Gas Grenade: Swap Encroaching Ground for Elemental Focus

Weapon Sets:

Gas Grenade and Toxic Domain should be linked to your 1st weapon set
Despair and Dark Effigy linked to your 2nd weapon set

Passive Tree

Endgame

Act 1-3

Gas Grenade Swap ~Lv40-44

3rd Ascension ~Lv60-65

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

After 3rd Ascension Section:

Focus on filling out defensive nodes immediately following the 3rd Ascension tree. Take Immaterial and Shimmering first, then path to Mindful Awareness. If you have a high Energy Shield helmet you can take Subterfuge Mask mask before these nodes, otherwise take it after.

Once you've filled out the defensive nodes, you want to begin to focus on splashing into Critical Hit scaling. Take the Struck Through wheel first, then Moment of Truth and True Strike. If you have Mana issues at any time, make sure you prioritize getting Conservative Casting.

FAQ

Q: Why Gas Grenade over Gas Arrow?

A: Gas Grenade has much higher effective damage for inflicted poisons (almost 3x).

Q: My chance to hit is low, why no accuracy scaling?

A: Gas Grenade's Poison Cloud bypasses the chance to hit calculation, it does not need Accuracy.

Q: Why no Escalating Poisons Support for extra poison stacks?

A: The support makes it harder to maintain maximum Poison stacks, and scaling damage for the existing stacks is more comfortable. We do utilise the support in our Toxic Domain link for single target.