The Best Ranger Builds in Path of Exile 2 Early Access: Deadeye and Pathfinder
If you're diving into Path of Exile 2 early access as a Ranger, you're in for a treat. The Ranger is a versatile class that excels at ranged attacks, offering a unique mix of speed, damage, and mobility. Whether you prefer critical hits, projectiles, or poison-based damage, the Ranger has a build for you. In this article, we'll explore the two best Ranger builds in PoE 2 early access: the Deadeye and the Pathfinder. Each of these builds brings something special to the table, and we'll break down the weapons, gear, skills, ascendancy choices, and passive skill tree allocations for both.
Read other PoE 2 Build guides:
Witch Builds
Warrior Builds
Sorceress Builds
Monk Builds
Mercenary Builds
Read other PoE 2 Build guides:
Witch Builds
Warrior Builds
Sorceress Builds
Monk Builds
Mercenary Builds
Deadeye Build – Crit-Based Ranged Damage
Overview
The Deadeye is the go-to choice for Rangers who love scaling their damage through critical strikes and projectiles. If you're into fast, high-damage attacks that hit multiple enemies, this build is perfect. Deadeye specializes in enhancing projectile damage, increasing critical hit chance, and boosting attack speed. This build excels in both single-target and AoE damage, making it versatile for clearing maps and taking down bosses.
Weapon Choice
For the Deadeye, your primary weapon should always be a bow. Bows excel at scaling projectile and crit damage, and there are a few options to consider:
- Longbows or Recurve Bows are ideal choices, as they provide a balance of attack speed and damage.
- Bow Stats: Aim for Increased Critical Strike Chance, Increased Attack Speed, and Projectile Damage on your bow.
Gear
The right gear will make all the difference in maximizing your damage output and survivability.
- Helmet: Look for life, resistances, and critical strike chance or attack speed.
- Body Armour: Go for a rare body armour with life and resistances. If you want something unique, consider using "The Green Nightmare" for extra elemental damage.
- Gloves: Life, resistances, and critical strike multiplier are key mods to aim for.
- Boots: Prioritize life, resistances, and movement speed for better mobility.
- Amulet: Crit chance, crit multiplier, and elemental damage are all great choices here.
- Rings: Focus on crit chance, crit multiplier, or resistances.
- Belt: Life, resistances, and damage mods.
For flasks, make sure you have:
- Critical Strike Flask (like "Silver Flask" for crit chance)
- Life Flask for sustain
- Quicksilver Flask for increased movement speed
- Atziri's Promise for increased elemental damage
Skills and Gems
The Deadeye thrives on projectiles, so your main skill will revolve around hitting enemies from a distance with fast-moving projectiles.
Main Skill: Tornado Shot or Volley are the best skills for this build. Both scale excellently with crits and projectile damage.
Gems:
Tornado Shot: Added Cold/Fire Damage, Elemental Damage with Attacks, Increased Critical Damage
Volley: Greater Multiple Projectiles, Added Cold/Fire Damage
Secondary Skills: For clearing groups, try using Vaal Lightning Trap. For mobility, Dash is a must. If you want extra attack speed, Blood Rage is a good choice for life leech.
Ascendancy: Deadeye
The Deadeye ascendancy focuses on boosting projectiles and critical hits. Here are the key ascendancy points:
- Far Shot: Increases projectile damage at long range, helping you deal more damage from a distance.
- Ricochet: Your projectiles hit additional targets, significantly boosting your AoE damage.
- Gathering Winds: Provides increased movement speed and more damage for projectiles.
- Tailwind: Increases attack speed and damage when you're moving, which synergizes perfectly with your fast playstyle.
Passive Skill Tree Allocation
When allocating points in the passive skill tree, focus on:
- Critical Strike and Projectile Damage nodes.
- Attack Speed for quicker projectile release.
- Life nodes for survivability.
- Movement Speed for better positioning during combat.
Make sure to prioritize Deadeye's ascendancy nodes and path through Critical Strike, Projectile Damage, and Attack Speed clusters.
Pathfinder Build – Elemental Ranged Damage with Poison
Overview
The Pathfinder is all about elemental damage, poison scaling, and flask usage. This build is great for players who want to deal damage over time with poison and elemental effects, while also leveraging flasks for extra buffs. With the right setup, a Pathfinder can easily melt through enemies while maintaining high survivability thanks to efficient flask use.
Weapon Choice
Like the Deadeye, the Pathfinder also relies on bows. However, the focus here is more on scaling elemental damage and poison rather than pure projectile crits.
Short Bows or Recurve Bows are your best options, as they offer fast attack speeds, ideal for stacking poison damage quickly.
Bow Stats: Prioritize Elemental Damage, Poison Damage, and Critical Strike Chance on your bow.
Gear
Here's what you'll want to wear:
Helmet: Life, resistances, and poison-related mods (consider a "Belly of the Beast" for extra life).
Body Armour: Life, resistances, and increased elemental damage.
Gloves: Life, resistances, and mods that enhance poison damage, like those on the "Slitherpinch" unique gloves.
Boots: Life, resistances, and movement speed.
Amulet: Elemental damage, poison chance, and crit chance.
Rings: Elemental damage, life, and resistances.
Flasks:
Divine Life Flask for instant healing
Silver Flask for increased critical strike chance
Quicksilver Flask for speed
Atziri’s Promise or Witchfire Brew for extra elemental damage and chaos damage.
Skills and Gems
The Pathfinder excels with elemental damage and poison-based skills. Here's how to build your gem setup:
Main Skill: Poison Arrow or Tornado Shot are excellent choices for this build.
Gems:
Poison Arrow: Added Chaos Damage, Void Manipulation, Faster Projectiles for poison stacking.
Tornado Shot: Added Fire/Cold/Lightning Damage, Elemental Damage with Attacks, Poison.
Secondary Skills: Use Flame Dash for mobility, Vaal Poison Arrow for stacking poison damage on bosses, and Herald of Ash or Herald of Purity for boosting elemental damage.
Ascendancy: Pathfinder
The Pathfinder ascendancy is all about elemental scaling and efficient flask use. Key ascendancy points include:
Master Toxicist: Increases poison damage and extends poison duration.
Nature’s Reprisal: Adds chaos damage as extra elemental damage, further boosting your damage output.
Way of the Poacher: Grants increased attack speed and crit chance when flasks are active.
Bottled Faith: This increases flask damage and chaos damage, significantly boosting your DPS.
Passive Skill Tree Allocation
For the Pathfinder, your focus should be on:
Elemental Damage, Chaos Damage, and Poison Damage.
Flask Nodes for boosting the effectiveness of your flasks.
Critical Strike Chance/Multiplier to increase your overall damage.
Make sure to path through Elemental Damage and Poison Damage nodes, then focus on Flask Usage and Chaos Damage scaling.
Both the Deadeye and Pathfinder builds offer powerful ways to play as a Ranger in Path of Exile 2 early access. The Deadeye is perfect for players who love crit-based projectile damage, while the Pathfinder caters to those who enjoy elemental and poison damage over time with a flask-based playstyle. Each build brings its unique advantages, so choose the one that fits your preferred playstyle.
If you’re looking to upgrade your gear or need some extra help with currency, SSEGold is a fantastic resource for purchasing PoE 2 currency and items. They offer fast and reliable services, ensuring you can get what you need to enhance your builds quickly. Happy hunting, Exile!
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