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PoE 2 Build

Skadoosh's Decompose Pathfinder

presentationRanger
presentationPathfinder
End Game
Starter
Verified
presentationStarter
Updated on Mar 18, 2025
Mar 18, 2025

Build Overview

Are you struggling to do ALL content? Items and 6-link too expensive? Monsters always on top of you? Look no further, this build might be the one for you. With the press of NO* buttons:

  • Gas clouds fill the screen
  • Kill monsters before they can spawn
  • Explode all corpses
  • Cast while walking
  • never press your mana flask
  • Double curse monsters, slowing them to a crawl
  • Delete bosses
  • *Manual weapon swap might be required
  • Hardcore viable

Explanation of Decompose (Corpsewade) and build: How It Works section at the bottom

Leveling strategy (1 to 58)

- Start with Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod with Scattershot. Get Orb of Storms when you can.

- Once you get your first ascendancy take Poisonous Concoction with Scattershot, Chaos Infusion and Close Combat. Equip a Widowhail and quiver with +2 to level of projectile skills. Get Master Fletching and any additional quiver effect for 50% breakpoints, as well as projectile damage

- Min-max speed leveling guide here: Poison Concoction leveling (Outdated)

- Corpsewade can be bought at a low level requirement and used early if you want

- Venoms(Quest reward): Stun threshold and all attributes

- Level 58 is required before you can start following the Starter variant of this build. Sacrifice unlocks at 58 and is mandatory

Please read the guide and FAQ

If you still have questions, you can contact me via Skadoosh_C twitch dm's, Youtube comment, or SkadooshPoisonWalk in-game.

Build Variants

This is the Endgame variant that expects a lvl 80+ character, check the Starter variant if you just got lvl 58.

Note that the high stats on gear shown are NOT needed to start this variant; it is only something to aspire to and build towards.

Endgame Variant

Select another Variant

Equipment

item
item
item
item
item
item
item
item
item
item
item
item
item

- Stat priority:

- Elemental Resistance (minimum 75%, don't need Chaos resistance)

- Attributes (skill gems/item requirements, also use passive tree)

- Energy Shield and Evasion

- Minion Skill levels

- Rarity

- Corpsewade Our main bread and butter and mandatory for the build to function. It provides the Decompose skill. Decompose can create gas clouds by consuming our minions with Sacrifice. For endgame we want a minimum level 16 version of the skill for 4 (MAX) support sockets

- Things that scale Decompose damage: Magnitude of poison, chaos damage, damage as extra chaos and Damaging Ailments deal damage faster. If you Decompose your Skeletal Brute then: Minions have increased maximum life and level of all minion skills. NOT spell damage

- Set 1 Shrine Sceptre is an example. Any sceptre will work (except Rattling Sceptre). This is our aura and buff set. Only stat that matters is spirit, everything else is bonus. Use Arcanist Etchers (quality to 20%) to get even more spirit. Minion levels is for Grim Feast scaling. 202 total spirit on sceptre is needed if you wanna use Blink

- Set 2 is our minion summoning set. Any sceptre will work. Main stats are level of all minion skills and Minion increased maximum life. Spirit is nice so we can summon more minions, but not required. Another shield option is Oaksworn for an extra brute, or Trenchtimbre for more minion levels (BUGGGED, disables Decompose when walking, must cast a spell first, minion direct or use the Faridun floating skin)

- All other items should follow the stat priority. Don't copy exactly what I have above, it is only example of good stats without resistance

- Sapphire/Emerald's with poison scaling: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Standard/O0y2zqKCE or Ruby's with block chance and minion life: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Standard/9brYMvyCK

- Venoms(Quest reward): Stun threshold and all attributes

- Amulet distilled emotion: I recommend Lasting Trauma lategame. Otherwise anything else that fills a problem, like Self Mortification

Endgame Variant

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Skill Gems

Support Gem Requirements:

Str 10

Dex 40

Int 70

Decompose

Decompose
supportconcentratedeffectplayer
supportdeadlypoisonplayer
supportextractionplayer
moredurationsupportplayer

Skeletal Brute

Skeletal Brute
supportmeatshieldplayer
supportminionmasteryplayer
supportphysicalmasteryplayer

Blasphemy

Blasphemy
despairplayer
temporalchainsplayer
supportcurseeffectplayer
supportritualisticcurseplayer

Withering Presence

Withering Presence

Shield Charge

Shield Charge
supportsecondwindplayer
supportfasterattackplayer

Plague Bearer

Plague Bearer
supportchaosmasteryplayer
supportastralprojectionplayer
supportmobilityplayer

Essence Drain

Essence Drain
supportwitheringtouchplayer
supportblindplayer
supportunleashplayer

Sacrifice

Sacrifice

Grim Feast

Grim Feast

Blink

Blink
supportcooldownreductionplayer
supportfastercastplayer

Cast on Minion Death

Cast on Minion Death
contagionplayer
balllightningplayer
supportoverchargeplayer
lightningwarpplayer

Decompose

Decompose
supportextractionplayer
supportdeadlypoisonplayer
supportspellechoplayer
supportincreasedareaofeffectplayer

- Set 1 skills: Blasphemy, Withering Presence, Grim Feast, Plague Bearer, Essence Drain, Shield Charge, Raise Shield, Blink

- Set 2 skills: Skeletal Brute, Sacrifice, Cast on Minion Death. Skeletal Brute requires that you specifically set the amount summoned per set. Put it at the max possible (ideally 3) for set 2, and 0 for set 1

Tips

- Decompose has two versions only to show both single-target (top) supports and normal mapping (bottom) supports

- Use Essence Drain to stack wither to 70% on bosses

- Shield Charge, Essence Drain, Contagion, Ball Lightning and Lightning Warp can be as low level as possible, to conserve mana, we only care about their utility

- Extraction in Decompose ONLY if you have Chaos Inoculation

- Only have Ball Lightning, Lightning Warp in Cast on Minion Death if you have 3 Skeletal Brute's. Make sure that when you Decompose all Skeletal Brute's that you cast all the spells, if not then level/quality Cast on Minion Death or just solely run Contagion

- Blink requires a sceptre with 202 spirit (if Blasphemy has 20% quality) and a Unset Ring

- Quality priority: Skeletal Brute > Blasphemy > Plague Bearer (Rest is preference)

SELECTING WEAPON SETS!

To ensure that a skill is only used with one particular weapon set, you need to configure it in your skill menu (G by default)

Check out this guide to see how you do it for each individual skill (gem section): Dual Specialisation

Endgame Variant

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Passive Tree

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

Red lines are weapon Set 1
Green lines are weapon Set 2

- Ascendancy order: Contagious Contamination > Overwhelming Toxicity > Traveller's Wisdom > Running Assault

- Acrobatics is one of the last things you wanna take. You should have good gear and a lot of evasion. Aim for 50% evasion with it

Endgame Variant

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Atlas Tree

This is what I'm currently using.

Don't do this until you can sustain Tier 15 waystones

How it Plays

Full Build Overview video with gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxBMauB7a-4&t=0s

Tier 4 simulacrum wave 13-15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQWlqZHVMo0

Tier 15 delirium + breach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGu1ucnWEEk

Tier 4 breach Xesht boss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa6ujU-Xmjw

Frequently Asked Questions

- I can't use my weapon set passive points, why?

You first need normal passive points before you can split them with the weapon set points. So to apply the max 24 weapon points for each set, you first need 24 normal passive points available to use.

- How come I can't summon Skeletal Brute's each time I swap weapons?

When one of our Skeletal Brute 's die, it start the minion respawn timer. Normally takes up to 11 seconds before they can spawn again. When outside combat, weapon swapping bypasses this timer, and always spawns your minions instantly. When in-combat however, a weapon swap still bypasses the timer, but only after waiting 4-5 seconds.

- Why aren't my Skeletal Brute's summoned when I swap to set 2?

First thing to check is the skill gem section of the current variant you are playing. Each skill should only be active on one of the two sets.Skeletal Brute requires that you specifically set the amount summoned per set. Put it at the max possible for set 2, and none for set 1. This is all done in the skill specific stat window. First access skill gem menu (default G), then click the small arrow on the right side next to the DPS number for a particular skill and then on the menu that appears bottom right checkboxes. Refer to Dual Specialisation gem section.

Another rare bug is that if your Skeletal Brute is closer to the bottom of your skill gem menu, it for some reason thinks it does not have the available spirit to summon them. Just move the Skeletal Brute gem to the top of the menu.

- Why is my Plague Bearer doing so little damage?

The higher the level of Plague Bearer, the significantly more damage it can deal. Physical Mastery also works to increase its level by 1. Focus this over other intelligence gems early, and keep those low level to keep the intelligence requirement relatively low while focusing on dexterity.

- Why aren't my Skeletal Brute's being consumed by Decompose?

This is most likely due to a bug with Trenchtimbre, it disables the automatic consumption of corpses with Decompose on step. I don't recommend this mace due to this bug, but a workaround is the minion command key-bind, casting a spell or the P2W Faridun floating skin, it will make Decompose work while walking.

- What do I do when my Decompose clouds keep exploding/burning?

The most common source for the Decompose clouds exploding often is burning ground, this builds kryptonite. This is found on waystones as a suffix mod called "Area has patches of Burning Ground". Avoid it if you can, and just run other waystones instead. If you can't avoid it or Deadly Evolution has added burning explosions to the rares/boss then standing close to enemies and weapon swapping is your best bet. Contagion and Herald of Plague help with clearing as well.

If it happens frequently, like every zone/enemy, it's probably because you are playing with a friend who is igniting enemies or using skills that detonate poison clouds. Don't play with those friends (/s) or force them to use something like Elemental Focus or The Three Dragons.

- Why is my Grim Feast ES overflow depleting each weapon swap?

In the most recent patch a bug/change was made that makes it so that we lose the overflow from Grim Feast when we weapon swap IF there is a significant change in maximum energy shield. So to minimize this, you want to have 2 shields, one on each set, with similar ES values. Also, ensure you don't take any increased maximum ES on the passive tree with the weapon set points. This includes Charge Infusion, so get enough spirit to have it active on both sets if possible.

- How come my Eye of Winter is not applying wither?

The likely scenario is you skipped reading the guide. The Withering Touch support gem specifies that you need to deal chaos damage before it applies wither on hit. Eye of Winter does not do chaos damage by default. That's why in the Uber Endgame variant of the build I mention that the Against the Darkness jewel is mandatory. 2-4% damage as extra chaos means Eye of Winter will now do enough chaos damage for Withering Touch.

- My game is CRASHING when I weapon swap at the start of a map, fix?

Fix has been found! Move the Cast on Minion Death skill gem to the very bottom of your skill menu (default G). Courtesy of Avirr L on Youtube, thank you very much for your testing and comment!

- Where can I find the answer to a question that's not in the FAQ?

A likely scenario is that the question is already answered in the main bulk of the guide. Please read it fully, I'm begging you. If you still can't find the answer, then you can contact me via Skadoosh_C twitch dm's, Youtube comment, or SkadooshPoisonWalk in-game (just /w).

How it Works

This build revolves around the Decompose skill that gets cast every time you take a step with Corpsewade boots equipped. It automatically targets dead enemies around you (corpses), consuming them to create poison clouds that slowly expand. It does chaos damage based on the life of that enemy before it died, meaning it scales with monster level.

Sacrifice allows Decompose to trigger on our own skeleton minions (Skeletal Brute), meaning we can spawn poison clouds without needing to kill something first. Thus Decompose will do more damage the more life the Skeletal Brute has.

To spawn Skeletal Brute's to create poison clouds when we need them, we use weapon swapping. This way we can have all our de-buffs and buffs active on Set 1, minions and Sacrifice active on Set 2, thus effectively doubling our usable spirit. So when we swap to Set 2 our minions instantly spawn next to us and Decompose targets them as we step.

Each Skeletal Brute targeted by Decompose will spawn it's own poison cloud. Each cloud applies one poison per second up to a maximum poison capacity. With Snakebite, Stacking Toxins, Building Toxins and Overwhelming Toxicity our maximum poison capacity becomes 8. More poison clouds = more poisons per second, NOT more damage. It just means you reach the poison capacity faster, and stay at max longer.

When one of our Skeletal Brute's die, it will start the minion respawn timer. Normally it can take up to 11 seconds before they can spawn again. When outside combat, weapon swapping bypasses this timer, and always spawns your minions instantly. When in-combat however, a weapon swap still bypasses the timer, but only after waiting ~4 seconds (this might be a bug).

During maps, we don't want to wait for this timer before we can spawn clouds, so we use Plague Bearer instead for killing packs of monsters. As long as a couple monsters survive, Decompose will target the corpses of stuff we kill and poison those remaining monsters. This refills our Plague Bearer instantly meaning we can use it again for the next pack of monsters. When targeting Plague Bearer with Astral Projection make sure to hit several packs of monsters, we don't want to kill everything with one cast, Decompose should clean up stragglers.

Plague Bearer will only gather poison when using Set 1. Make sure to stay in Set 1 whenever possible, as our de-buffs such as Blasphemy with Temporal Chains and Despair are only active when that set is equipped.

Changelog

- First created (23.12.2024)

- Swapped out Comorbidity with Persistence for single target on Decompose. Added in Cast on Minion Death shock ground tech. Blink on Set 1. (03.01.2025)

- Added Contagion to Cast on Minion Death (10.01.2025)

- Replaced Withering Presence with Herald of Plague (15.01.2025)

- Swapped out the Build Overview video with a new FAQ video (19.01.2025)

- Updated Endgame and Starter tree. Moved my contact info to the end of the FAQ (20.01.2025)

- Added Current character PoB, all damage calculated with config (20.01.2025)

- Updated Sapphire link with weighted sums (24.01.2025)

- Removed Olroth's Resolve (didn't work) (25.01.2025)

- Possible fix for Prism of Belief added to item. Skeletal Brute corruption tech in skill section (29.01.2025)

- Fix to Energy shield enemies not giving xp/loot in patch! (05.02.2025)

- Replaced my Charge Infusion tech with xx zz's that utilizes Profane Ritual in Cast on Minion Death with Resonance (18.02.2025)

- Herald of Plague does NOT stack with Contagious Contamination. It's just a tooltip bug. Withering Presence is back on the menu! (20.02.2025)

- Replaced Ghost Dance with Contagion in Starter Variant (13.03.2025)

- Added info about P2W Faridun floating skin fixing Trenchtimbre bug (18.03.2025)

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