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PoE 2 Build

Pathfinder Poison Explosion Build

0.3 TTE

Ranger

Pathfinder

Creator

By Perra

Updated on Sep 26, 2025

Sep 26, 2025

Build Overview

This is a build relying entirely on poisons.

We apply poisons via Poisonburst Arrow and Toxic Growth. They go boom, poison spreads itself via Contagious Contamination and we pick up loot.

Why Pathfinder? It sucks, no?

Pathfinder is probably the most underrated ascendency in the game. Not only is it the only true poison ascendency, but it also has access to absolute gems when it comes to ascendency points.

To name a few, we have Relentless Pursuit which you can run on any chilled ground or temporal chains maps to become immune to slows, or you can use Sustainable Practices to get upwards of 70 % damage reduction against elemental hits. Overall, just one hell of an ascendency.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Great mapper
Poisons are cool
Budget friendly

People will ask you why you're not playing deadeye

Build Variants

Surrounded

Ultra Budget

This version is relying on Constricting Command to gain movement speed, evasion, damage and most importantly - no mana costs. It's a bit more expensive than a pure budget variant, but definitely worth the investment for a huge quality of life.

Equipment

Surrounded

Ultra Budget

Set 1

Set 2

Equipment Priority

Helmet

Constricting Command

Left Ring

Breach Ring

Right Ring

Breach Ring

Body

Slipstrike Vest

Gloves

Sirenscale Gloves

Belt

Rawhide Belt

Boots

Cavalry Boots

Amulet

Stellar Amulet

Craft the bow for 1-2 div: https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/profile/perra/guides/crafting-a-high-dps-physical-bow

Mana leech is not needed with Constricting Command, any mod is fine.

You scale your damage via Physical and Chaos modifiers.

So look for items with flat phys first. Then, get "Gain as extra chaos" in the passive tree and in your rune sockets. With this mod, you can scale increased chaos damage as well. Because this mod does not scale your poison damage otherwise.

Skill Gems

Surrounded

Ultra Budget

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 50

Dex 75

Int 35

Expand all

Blasphemy

Ghost Dance

Vine Arrow

Ravenous Swarm

Rhoa Mount

Tornado Shot

Toxic Growth

Wind Dancer

Poisonburst Arrow

Gem Priority

+32

Blasphemy - chaos penetration on pinnacle bosses.

Ghost Dance - your main source of energy shield generation, used when mapping.

Vine Arrow used for additional poison damage on bosses.

Ravenous Swarm spreads blind for extra defence and culls rares/bosses.

Rhoa Mount - wanna be fast af.

Tornado Shot - huge poison burst on bosses. You get 5 arrows via Nova Projectiles and this thing doubles it.

Toxic Growth - main burst on bosses/rough elites. You drop it, shoot Poisonburst Arrow at it, and it explodes. Having Nova Projectiles makes sure that all of the postules explode at once.

Wind Dancer - defence, mainly when mapping.

Poisonburst Arrow - your main damage dealer when mapping, and used for triggering Poisonburst Arrow and Vine Arrow on bosses.

Passive Tree

Surrounded

Ultra Budget

main:

123

set 1:

set 2:

Unique Jewels:

From Nothing grab one with Eternal Youth. Use this to grab Spectral Ward and the evasion/energy shield nodes (not the recharge ones).

Heart of the Well - Gain #% as extra chaos damage and any useful mods such as attack speed or defensive mods.

Against the Darkness - Gain #% as extra chaos damage and any useful mod (I'm using extra max fire res personally but you can grab any cheap one).

Rare jewels best stats:

Companions deal %extra damage.

Magnitude of ailments.

Increased duration of ailments.

Attack speed.

How it Plays

Mapping:

Press Poisonburst Arrow as often as possibly. Toxic Growth on rough elites or when needed.

During rituals, you can drop a Tornado Shot for extra clear.

Bossing:

Jump off your Rhoa and activate weapon set 2. Here, you want to have Blasphemy on weapon set 2 to reduce the boss chaos resistance.

Then, drop down 2x Vine Arrow on top of the boss along with a Tornado Shot. Then, you alternate between using Poisonburst Arrow and Toxic Growth.

1x Poisonburst Arrow -> 1 Toxic Growth -> repeat.

How it Works

You scale your poison damage via Physical and Chaos damage. The calculation takes your Hit physical and chaos damage, then transforms both of them into its own multiplier (Poison = another type of chaos damage). To understand more, read this: https://poe2db.tw/us/Poison

Since everyone wants lightning damage everywhere, you now have a cheap way to scale your damage. Because another man's bricked items, are your top tier items.