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PoE 2 Build

Lightning Arrow Deadeye

Starter

Ranger

Deadeye

Creator

By Mobalytics

Updated on Dec 15, 2024

Dec 15, 2024

Build Overview

This build will focus on mid game progression with Lightning Arrow. For a pure leveling setup and endgame setup, you can refer to Fubgun's builds:

This version of the build is intended to stick with Lightning Damage for Mapping, and can be easier to transition to without strong gear.

The Endgame variant above runs Herald of Thunder/Ice for clear, but you need to balance Accuracy, Attributes, Evasion, Spirit, and more to get a full comfortable setup.

This build looks to be a comfortable Starter/Mapper Build that will work with minimal investment.

Equipment

Set 1

Set 2

Gear will be updated shortly. Look for a Bow with good damage stats like Flat Damage, %Physical Damage, Attack Speed, +x to Projectile Skills.

Make sure to pick up Runes and Socketed Items. Vendoring Socketed items will grant currency to add a Socket to your Equipment (up to 2 for Bow), which can be used to slot Damage Runes.

For Quivers you want to have more offensive stats like damage, levels, etc. The rest of your gear simply look for Life, Resistances, and Evasion to start out.

When you want to pick up Acrobatics, consider swapping your Body Armour for a high Evasion piece, even if there's less life.

Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 15

Dex 45

Int 25

Bow Shot

Item

Lightning Arrow

Lightning Rod

Herald of Thunder

Wind Dancer

Orb of Storms

Elemental Invocation

IMPORTANT: Elemental Invocation is an optional setup. To run this, you need at least 120 Spirit (+20 Spirit and drop Vitality / Clarity) and 95 INT for Ball Lightning.

This setup is extremely powerful for single target, as you put down Lightning Rod and Invocation will cast 10 Ball Lightning at once with max Energy. Against a tanky boss, the Lightning Rods will Shock super quickly and build your energy back up to full.

If you don't have the Attributes/Spirit to do so, you can use Orb of Storms as your single target setup. It requires less INT at lower level and is also a solid single target setup.

Passive Tree

main:

122

set 1:

set 2:

This tree has a simple progression that moves in one direction for the most part, allowing you to pick up nodes along the way. Travel down/right for good early nodes, picking up useful things along the way.

Early game, picking up some early increased damage nodes will help, along with Penetration.

Path downward first for more damage, then travel up for more Evasion, Dexterity (which can then replace your other travel nodes for Intelligence), & Attack Speed.

Lastly, you can spec into Acrobatics once you have enough Evasion to get over the 70% less Evasion downside. (recommend 15k minimum with Tailwind stacks, 20k would be ideal)

If you find yourself dying mostly to non-evadable attacks, you can try Acrobatics early to see if it feels good while mapping.

How it Plays

This build is a straightforward Bow character that invests mainly into offense rather than defense. However, in the late game, high Evasion + Acrobatics is extremely strong for defense.

The build looks to have high Movement Speed, Attack Speed, and Damage.

With the Deadeye Ascendancy, your main form of mitigation will be Evasion. This will help you evade attacks so you can maintain stacks of Tailwind.

Ascendancy Points

Point Blank
Endless Munitions
Gathering Winds
Wind Ward

How it Works

This build is straightforward in that it goes all in on Lightning Damage/Shock and the corresponding Bow Skill.

Lightning Arrow + Lightning Rod

These two are your bread and butter. Lightning Arrow (LA) will Chain Lightning on hitting an enemy/terrain, and Lightning Rod (LR) gives LA another target to Chain to.

When the Rod is chained to, the Rod will also deal a burst of Lightning damage in a small AoE around it.

Chain is an optional Support Gem for Lightning Arrow. I've played around with and without it, and for the most part, performance seems about the same. (When replacing Chain with a Damage Support Gem)

It's arguably comfier to play when Lightning Arrow deals more damage (without Chain) so you don't have to rely on Lightning Rod placement to carry your damage.

But it's quite satisfying to hear Lightning Arrow chain a million times across the Rods.

Herald of Thunder

Heralds will improve your clear speed tremendously, helping clear stragglers and deal more damage. In the Endgame farmer setup, the build looks to convert to a double Herald setup to make clear extremely fast.

Wind Dancer

Wind Dancer / Clarity

Wind Dancer is a must as the More Evasion buff is extremely strong. Late game setups with Acrobatics can become very tanky, and Wind Dancer is a big part of that. Round your 100 Spirit out with Clarity for mana sustain.

Orb of Storms

Orb of Storms triggers extremely fast, and is mainly used to trigger Lightning Rod rather than deal damage itself. The Support Gems are important to trigger faster and deal more damage.

It's also good because you can place Orb down and run around/dodge instead of attacking with Lightning Arrow.

Elemental Invocation

I explained this setup above in the Gem section, but to reiterate, this setup is completely optional. It's much much faster at triggering Lightning Rod than Orb of Storms, but requires 20 extra Spirit on top of INT stats.

If your gear can run it, I would consider using it as a comfy way to mow down bosses/rares.

Changelog

1.3

Herald + Infusion Nerfed. Heralds still good, but swapped to a more Lightning Arrow setup for clear and Orb of Storms/Invocation setup for single-target.

1.2