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Path of Exile 2 best Ranger buildHere’s a guide on how to nail your targets from afar as the Ranger
Here’s a guide on how to nail your targets from afar as the Ranger
Image credit:Grinding Gear Games
Image credit:Grinding Gear Games
Looking for the best Ranger build in Path of Exile 2?The Ranger is a highly capable straight shooter inPath of Exile 2with the ability to perform well with both regular bows and crossbows. She’s quite similar to the Mercenary, who’s more of a demolitions specialist, but she has greater Dexterity and elemental capabilities at the end of the day.
Playing well as the Ranger means becoming the best ranged specialist possible and maintaining the balance between solid damage and good mobility. In this guide we’ll dive intothe best Ranger build for Path of Exile 2’s Early Access,focusing on the Deadeye Ascendancy for a truly unlimited projectile spree that’ll deliver high DPS numbers like nothing else.
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Best Ranger build in Path of Exile 2
An ultimate markswoman with the ability to spam lots of shots in rapid succession, the Deadeye is the Ascendancy to choose. |Image credit:Grinding Gear Games
There’s a bit of crossover here with ourbest Mercenary buildguide, which focuses on a more varied selection of grenades. This is slightly due to my own personal bias, since I like the grenade-exploding skills that crossbow usage encourages. But our Ranger will be speedier than our Mercenary thanks to skills like Wind Dancer and Escape Shot, her effectiveness will be greater against single targets, and she’ll have flexibility to go back to her bow-based skills as needed if the gas + explosion combo isn’t working out. Since the Ranger also starts squishier than the Mercenary, it’s also important to veer south on thePassive Skill Treeand pick up nodes that amplify her Strength along with her Dexterity.
Ranger build: Best skills
The following skills are the ones you’ll use the most with this build. Remember that you’ll start with Lightning Arrow and other bow skills before making your way towards crossbow grenade attacks.
Lightning Arrow
Your starting skill, Lightning Arrow, will be a handy go-to through most of Path of Exile 2’s beginning. Build this one up and then swap to grenades around level 20 or so.
Lightning Rod
Lightning Rod shoots an arrow upwards that falls to the ground, creating a nice AoE burst. Fire a Lightning Arrow into this burst and you can make a chaining lightning effect that occurs multiple times. This combination becomes even more effective when you use the Scattershot support gem (see our support gem section below), which will cause more Lightning Rods to spawn.
Escape Shot
Freezing Salvo
Wind Dancer
Once you switch over to crossbows you won’t be able to use Escape Shot any longer, but Wind Dancer serves as a good means of making your Ranger somewhat tankier. This skill makes a buff that gives you multiple stacks of Evasion - whenever a melee attack hits you while Wind Dancer is active, all stacks will be consumed and you’ll knock back enemies.
Explosive Shot
Gas Grenade
Gas Grenade is the other pivotal skill in our setup. This fires a bouncing grenade that inflicts poison damage and leaves behind a poison cloud. Any burning or detonation effects will cause the poison cloud to erupt and deal additional damage in a super effective and undeniably deadly combo.
Oil Grenade
You’ll be less reliant on Oil Grenade as a Ranger as the Mercenary, but this is still a slick skill to have that drenches enemies in oil. Hit ‘em with your Explosive Shot and watch them ignite.
Ball Lightning
Once you reach Act 3, you’ll be able to cut some skill gems that use lightning and aren’t limited to bows. Ball Lightning is a powerful projectile that fires off lightning bolts at all foes within range. It’s slow but effective, and we’re going to use it as more of a mobility tool with our last skill below…
Lightning Warp
Use Lightning Warp in conjunction with Ball Lightning to teleport into a target’s body and cause it to explode. Alternately, you can also use it to teleport into the projectiles that Ball Lightning sends out. This will be your ultimate movement combination in Path of Exile 2’s endgame, ensuring that your Ranger is able to pop in and out of the playfield as she wishes, leaving behind trails of crackling electricity in her wake.
Ranger build: Best support gems
Martial Tempo
Use Martial Tempo alongside Lightning Arrow in the early game to give you 25% more attack speed. This will make a noticeable difference when it comes to defeating bosses quickly and increasing your Ranger’s survivability.
Lightning Conduit
Lightning Conduit is another vital support gem for Lightning Arrow that calls down additional bolts to attack all enemies in a cone in front of you. There’s also a useful mobility element here, as targeting enemies close to you causes your Ranger to jump back.
Scattershot
Scattershot supports all projectile skills, making them fire additional projectiles and lowering their attack and cast speed. This is a vital gem that works great with Lightning Arrow but also with Explosive Shot.
Magnified Effect
Nimble Reload
The Ranger can be squishy if she gets stuck in the middle of a wave or two of enemies, so Nimble Reload is an excellent support gem to take once you have to start fiddling with the reload feature of crossbows. Use it alongside Explosive Shot to ensure that you’ll never be waiting too long before letting off another burst of firepower.
Encumbrance
Use this with Oil Grenade and Wind Dancer. This gem works with any skills that inflict slow, and is a great assist to ensure that your Ranger is the fastest presence on the map.
Overcharge
Acceleration
Arcane Tempo
Last but certainly not least is Arcane Tempo, which lets you cast spells faster. This gem has a lot of uses, but I like to combine it with Ball Lightning to once again quicken the speed at which you’re firing off projectiles.
That’s all we’ve got on the best ranger build; now get out there and start shooting! For more on the mechanics that power Grinding Gear Games’ epic ARPG, see our guides to thePassive Skill Tree,Attributes, andcrafting. We’ve also got a look at thebest character class for beginners, as well as a list ofwhat to do firstif you’re just getting started with Path of Exile 2’s early game. And if you’d like to learn how to take your class to greater heights, see our guide on how to Ascend via theTrial of the Sekhemas.
