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PoE 2 Build

0.4 Poisonburst Pathfinder Leveling Guide

presentationPathfinder
presentationRanger
Starter
0.4 TLotD
Verified
Updated on Dec 14, 2025
Dec 14, 2025

Build Overview

This is my leveling guide for Poisonburst Pathfinder, swap to the endgame guide after campaign.

You'll be leveling as poison from the very start with this build guide.

Vendor regex: "y: \+|ts: S|\d+% i.+mov|ward|phy.*att.*|uiv"
(You copy and paste this into your vendor window, to easily see items you might want to buy)

Build Variants

Equipment

item
1
item
3
item
3
item
2
item
5
item
6
item
Equipment Priority
+6

Early boss kill order for a smooth experience:
Devourer > cold witch > hut witch > rust king
Grab Concentrated Area after killing devourer and Escalating Poison as your 2nd support.

Act 1 support gem priority - Concentrated Area > Escalating Poison > Unleash > Swift Affliction I > Pierce I

To use Withering Presence in act 1 you'll need 1 piece of gear with + intelligence, it's fine if you don't meet the requirements right away as you'll get more attributes in act 2.

In act 1 it's very important to have gear with flat physical damage to attacks. At lvl 11 you want to get a Warden Bow, with %phys or flat phys. Use your free storm rune/artificer orb on the bow.

While flat elemental damage isn't ideal, it's still quite good for lvling because Toxic Growth does do a lot of hit dmg before you acquire all of your poison nodes.

Also look at the vendor in town every 1-2 lvls for flat damage gloves, every flat for the build is massive in act 1

Movement speed on boots is also extremely good if you can find them, try to search the vendor every 1-2 lvls. I would never swap out movement speed boots, only replace them with other boots that have movement speed.

Besides that you're just looking for life/resist on gear, but flat damage is the most important on gloves/rings.

!!!!Important!!!!!
Always salvage weapons with quality for whetstones and always salvage items with sockets for artificers orb, this is extremely important for gear upgrades throughout the campaign.

I also personally prefer to vendor all rares for gold to gamble in act 2 and act 3 for better gear.

Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 5

Dex 10

Int 10

Expand all
1

Lightning Arrow

Lightning Arrow
2

Poisonburst Arrow

Poisonburst Arrow
supportescalatingpoisonplayer
supportconcentratedareaplayer
3

Contagion

Contagion
supportunleashplayer
4

Vine Arrow

Vine Arrow
supportswiftafflictionplayer
5

Withering Presence

Withering Presence
prolongeddurationsupportplayer
Gem Priority
+5

Act 1 support gem priority - Concentrated Area > Escalating Poison > Unleash > Swift Affliction I > Pierce I

When not doing bosses in act 1, swap out Escalating Poison for Pierce I on Poisonburst Arrow

Quality prio: Toxic Growth > Poisonburst Arrow > Vine Arrow > Gas Arrow
Link prio: Toxic Growth > Poisonburst Arrow > Vine Arrow > Gas Arrow

Lightning Arrow is used for lvls 1-6 to clear packs easier, combo it with Contagion
(after The cemetery zone feel free to drop LA), it doesn't need any supports.

Poisonburst Arrow is your main skill for the whole campaign, early on you combo it with Contagion as it'll spread your poison to all nearby enemies.

Vine Arrow is used for bosses or rare monsters, place it on top of the boss so poisonburst arrow will both also hit it.

Take Withering Presence as your 1st spirit gem, but you'll want to replace it in act 2 with Herald of Plague which massively improves your clear. This also allows you to drop Contagion, saving you 1 less skill to use.
Plague Bearer is also fine to take, but you will still replace it with Herald of Plague

Passive Tree

main:
123
123
set 1:
20
20
set 2:
20
20

If you're lacking attributes in act 1 than give up Vile Wounds for small attribute nodes.

In general just use dexterity for your small attribute nodes. Use strength/int if you need it for gear or support gems.

You'll likely need to use 3 small attributes nodes for intelligence early on to use Withering Presence

Ascendancy order:
Overwhelming Toxicity > Path Seeker > Running Assault

How it Plays

Quest Rewards in Campaign

  • 1) Medallion: Increase charm charges gained
  • 2) Venom reward - Stun threshold
  • 3) Tattoo act 4 reward - Dex/Int/Fire resist(can also take str)
  • 4) Prison - life recovery from flask
  • 5) Interlude - Can choose Resist, MS or global defense (it's free to change at anytime)

Video Guide

Table of Contents

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