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PoE 2 Build

Explosive Shot On Steroids

0.4 TLotD
presentationRanger
presentationPathfinder
End Game
Creator
Updated on Jan 28, 2026
Jan 28, 2026

Build Overview

This is a build relying on the massive AOE generated by Explosive Shot when combined with area of effect scaling and Herald of Ice / Armour Explosion chaining.

For bossing on the other hand, we rely on spawning a bunch of Explosive Grenade manually, via Mortar Cannon and Mirage Archer, followed by blowing them all up at once for millions of DPS.

Strengths and Weaknesses

  • Screen wide clear
  • 200 % MS
  • Fun as hell
  • Visual clarity

Equipment

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Equipment Priority
+9

You want a 'Mana leech' roll on your ring, as this combined with 'Gain as extra physical damage' will ensure you regain your mana when bossing. When mapping it doesn't really matter, as you don't spend mana, but this is important on bosses.

You need a Polcirkeln for the herald chaining to occur, and also ideally a 'Gain as extra physical' roll on your weapon, as to trigger Armour Break III. If you don't have this, then you need to use Uul-Netol's Embrace and stack 'Gain as extra chaos damage' instead as these are the two main ways of causing the herald/armour explosion chaining.

Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 50

Dex 60

Int 50

1

Crossbow Shot

2

Mortar Cannon

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3

Wind Dancer

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4

Ghost Dance

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5

Mirage Archer

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Elemental Weakness

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7

Explosive Shot

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8

Herald of Ice

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9

Explosive Grenade

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Gem Priority
+35

Explosive Grenade and Mortar Cannon = only set 2. The rest of the skills are used in both sets.

You want to ensure you're using crossbow shot from weapon set 1 as this is our mapping setup, whereas the set 2 is our grenade setup for maximum damage.

Elemental Weakness should be as high lvl as possible if you don't have Rakiata's Flow slotted into your Explosive Grenade.

Passive Tree

main:
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set 1:
20
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set 2:
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20

Passive tree is showing that set 1 is lacking one point - this is incorrect, it's just not allowing me to select the first node in set 1. For reference just go to the video guide and check the passive tree if it doesn't add up.

Quest Rewards

Check which quests you’ve completed on your character
ClearfellBeira of the Rotten Pack
Not Specified1 choice
Hunting GroundsThe Crowbell
Not Specified1 choice
FreythornThe King in the Mists
Not Specified1 choice
Ogham FarmlandsUna's Hut
Not Specified1 choice
Ogham ManorCandlemass, the Living Rite
Not Specified1 choice
KethKabala, Constrictor Queen
Not Specified1 choice
Valley of the TitansMedallion
Not Specified2 choices
DesharFinal Letter
Not Specified1 choice
The Spires of DesharSisters of Garukhan
Not Specified1 choice
Jungle RuinsMighty Silverfist
Not Specified1 choice
The Venom CryptsVenom Draught
Not Specified3 choices
Jiquani's MachinariumBlackjaw, the Remnant
Not Specified1 choice
The Azak BogIgnagduk, the Bog Witch
Not Specified1 choice
The Molten VaultThe Molten Vault
Not Specified1 choice
AggoratBlood Sacrifice
Not Specified1 choice
Journey's EndCaptain Hartlin
Not Specified1 choice
Eye of HinekoraNavali's Rest
Not Specified1 choice
Halls of the DeadYama The White
Not Specified1 choice
Halls of the DeadTawhoa's Test
Not Specified2 choices
Abandoned PrisonGoddess of Justice
Not Specified2 choices
Halls of the DeadTasalio's Test
Not Specified2 choices
Halls of the DeadNgamahu's Test
Not Specified2 choices
WolvenholdOswin, the Dread Warden
Not Specified1 choice
The Khari CrossingAkthi and Anundr
Not Specified1 choice
The Khari CrossingMolten Shrine
Not Specified1 choice
QimahTabana's Pillar
Not Specified7 choices
Kriar VillageLythara, the Wayward Spear
Not Specified1 choice
Howling CavesThe Abominable Yeti
Not Specified1 choice

How it Plays

Mapping

For mapping, you spam Explosive Shot and sprint inbetween packs since you're immune to stuns as a pathfinder.

If you run into any mini bosses, then you can use Explosive Grenade and explode it via Explosive Shot.

Bossing

For bossing you want to drop down Elemental Weakness onto the boss, to reduce its resistances and gain the Rising Tempest bonus.

Combine that by dropping Mortar Cannon and evade for Mirage Archer to generate additionalExplosive Grenades.

Then, you alternate between Explosive Grenade and Explosive Shot to detonate them and regain your mana, along with spamming your mana flask if needed.

How it Works

This build works by stacking as much AOE as possible, and combining it with Herald of Ice chaining. We do this by stacking cold damage, and coverting our damage types to cold via Embitter. We then follow this up with Polcirkeln to ensure we shatter all chilled enemies, which triggers herald of ice, and in turn also Armour Explosion as long as we have either Armour Break III or Uul-Netol's Embrace.

Since Explosive Shot has great AOE by itself, this pairs nicely with herald chaining. The only downside is that it only really deals fire damage, which is why we need the Embitter and damage conversion.

This skill does however have weak single target damage. But we can solve this by incorporating Explosive Grenade, and boost its damage via weapon swapping and boosting grenade damage. Doing this also makes for some fun interactions when paired with Mortar Cannon and Mirage Archer for extra Explosive Grenade, as we can cover the whole screen in explosions.

Video Guide

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