The Path of Exile 2 Explosive Shot Deadeye is a beginner-friendly crossbow end-game build designed to destroy enemies with massive explosions. This guide will show you Explosive Shot Deadeye’s essential skills, pros and cons, rotations, gearing, and Atlas passives. This knowledge will help you annihilate hordes of enemies and defeat bosses in a whirlwind of explosions and arrows.
4.9Explosive Shot Deadeye Overview
This Explosive Shot Deadeye Ranger build leverages unique shock mechanics to amplify amounts of damage capabilities and ensure fast clear speed. By using AoE skill Explosive Shot for clearing packs, Shockburst Rounds craziest DPS skills for single-target damage, and a nice skill Voltaic Mark to enhance shock application, you’ll dominate both maps and bosses with precision and efficiency. The Explosive Shot build’s reliance on ailments makes it a unique and fun playstyle that scales incredibly well into the late game.
For this Explosive Shot Deadeye build, The Three Dragons helmet is absolutely essential. This item synergizes perfectly with the chosen skills and gives you a massive damage boost.
We can provide you with any item you desire through Leveling Gear. We’ll find the right gear for your build. For example, obtaining The Three Dragons is effortless for our pro players — we’ll secure it for you while you focus on other tasks.
Explosive Shot Deadeye Pros and Cons
This section details both the strengths and weaknesses of Explosive Shot Deadeye in Path of Exile 2. Understanding each of these will be very important in determining whether or not this particular build is for you.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Incredible single-target and AoE damage | ⛔️ Requires The Three Dragons to function |
| ✅ Beginner-friendly and intuitive gameplay | ⛔️ Reliant on shocks for optimal damage |
| ✅ Good boss damage | ⛔️ Squishy without proper defensive layers |
| ✅ Effective even with budget gear | — |
Explosive Shot Deadeye Skills
Here you will find a list of Skill Gems and their ideal Support Gems and Projectile Skills. Each skill enhances the Explosive Shot Deadeye build’s synergy and maximizes its effectiveness in different scenarios in PoE 2.
| Skill Gem | Support Gems | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Explosive Shot | Scattershot | Conduction | Martial Tempo | Fire Penetration | Fire Infusion |
| Shockburst Rounds | Concentrated Effect | Primal Armament | Lightning Infusion | Heft | — |
| Herald of Thunder | Ice Bite | Innervate | Glaciation | Lightning Penetration | — |
| Herald of Ice | Magnified Effect | Cold Infusion | Cold Penetration | Cold Mastery | — |
| Herald of Ash | Fire Mastery | — | — | — | — |
| Wind Dancer | Blind | — | — | — | |
| Overwhelming Presence | — | — | — | — | — |
| Emergency Reload | Premeditation | Ingenuity | Persistence | — | — |
| Voltaic Mark | — | — | — | — | — |
Explosive Shot Deadeye skills descriptions:
- Explosive Shot — Loads your Crossbow with flaming bolts that explode on impact. The explosion will cause any Grenades in its area of effect to also explode.
- Shockburst Rounds — Loads your Crossbow with a clip of charged bolts that release damaging pulses upon Hitting an enemy affected by a Lightning Ailment. Using this skill again reloads the clip.
- Herald of Thunder — While active, killing Shocked enemies with Attack damage, will cause subsequent Attack hits to release lightning bolts which deal Attack damage to all surrounding enemies.
- Herald of Ice — While active, Shattering an enemy with an Attack Hit will cause an icy explosion that deals cold damage to surrounding enemies.
- Herald of Ash — While active, enemies you sufficiently Overkill with attacks will cause an explosion that Ignites nearby enemies based on the Overkill damage dealt.
- Wind Dancer — Grants a buff that gives you more Evasion per stage. Being Hit by a Melee Attack while you have this buff consumes all stages to damage and Knock Back enemies around you.
- Overwhelming Presence — While active, enemies in your Presence are easier to Stun and inflict Elemental Ailments upon.
- Emergency Reload — Instantly reloads your active Crossbow Ammunition and Empowers the loaded additional bolts to deal more damage.
- Voltaic Mark — Marks a target, making them more susceptible to being Shocked. When the Marked target dies, a Lightning nova erupts from their corpse. This nova does not use your Weapon Damage type but instead uses this base Attack Damage. Can make shock debuff on enemy mobs and can shock bosses.
Explosive Shot Deadeye Skill Rotation
The Explosive Shot Deadeye Ranger build depends on comprehension of its rotation to achieve maximum damage output in Path of Exile 2. This explanation is about how skills work in different situations. Here is a deadly combo:
- Voltaic Mark: Apply it to the target first to be able to use the shocks for massive additional damage.
- Explosive Shot: Can stun the target and give pretty great AoE damage.
- Shockburst Rounds: If your target is shocked, follow it up with this for devastating single target damage.
- Emergency Reload: If you run out of ammunition, use this to instantly refresh it along with a temporary additional damage bonus.
- Explosive Shot: Reapplies Shock if it has expired.
- Shockburst Rounds: Kill the target, or kill them again if necessary.
Explosive Shot Deadeye Passives
Passive skill chain is a significant part of scaling your Explosive Shot Deadeye Ranger for additional damage, reload speed, and survivability in Path of Exile 2. The following Passive Skills are several options available in an Explosive Shot Deadeye build. Our pro player will be able to provide a Custom Build based on your preference and needs. The section below will cover which nodes to prioritize for the optimal performance of your Deadeye Explosive Shot.
| Passive Skills | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Projectile Damage x4 | Escape | Coming Calamity | Instant Reload | Full Salvo |
| Honed Instincts | Falcon Technique | Maiming Strike | Emboldened Avatar | Polymathy |
| Vile Wounds | Proficiency | Acceleration | Forces of Nature | Authority |
| Catlike Agility | Enhanced Reflexes | Catalysis | Flash Storm | Crushing Judgement |
| Blur | Beastial Skin | Exploit | Lightning Rod | — |
| Freedom of Movement | Acrobatics | Careful Consideration | Giantslayer | — |
Explosive Shot Deadeye Ascendancy Passives
You can use those Passives of Ascendancy that are required to scale up the core identity of the PoE 2 Explosive Shot Deadeye build. They greatly increase your physical damage, survivability, projectile skills damage, and utility, and hence are a requirement for mapping and bossing. Take the following passive nodes:
- Gathering Winds: Increases the speed of movement and attack while increasing evasion.
- Point Blank: Inflicts heavy physical damage to the targets that are near the caster while it keeps its distance from them.
- Endless Munitions: More projectiles, better clear, better single-target damage.
- Wind Ward: Adds survivability by reducing the damage taken. Quite useful, especially on higher-tier maps.
Explosive Shot Deadeye Gear
Gear plays a significant role in the success of this Explosive Shot Deadeye build in Path of Exile 2. Below we highlight the items to use in every slot, to ensure maximum damage and survivability.
| Slot | Recommended Gear stats |
|---|---|
| Weapon | High-physical damage crossbow with added elemental damage and critical strike chance. |
| Quiver | Focus on critical strike multiplier, added elemental damage, and life. |
| Helmet | The Three Dragons are absolutely required for this build and for converting ignites to shocks. |
| Body Armour | Look for life, resistance, and critical strike chance. |
| Gloves | Aim for flat elemental damage, attack speed, and life. |
| Boots | Prioritize movement speed, life, and elemental resistances. |
| Accessories | Rings and amulets with elemental damage, life, and critical strike multiplier. |
| Belt | Life, resistances, and increased elemental damage with attack skills. |
Explosive Shot Deadeye Atlas Passives
The Atlas Passive Skills become available once you complete the main campaign in Path of Exile 2. These skills will help in tailoring the game world according to one’s liking. This Explosive Shot Deadeye Passive Skill Tree description is all about choosing how to maximize your build.
| Atlas Passives Tree | ||
|---|---|---|
| Precursor Influence | Deadly Evolution | Crumbling Walls |
| Rising Danger | The High Road | Unearthed Anomalies |
| Seasonal Blessing | Crasping Hands | Legendary Battles |
| Magic Packs | Rising Pyre | — |
Explosive Shot Deadeye Tips
This section provides practical advice to optimize your Explosive Shot Deadeye build experience in PoE 2. Following these tips will help you get the most out of your build.
How Do You Get More Than 100 Spirits After a Campaign?
For this Explosive Shot Deadeye build, you need an extra +50 Spirit (150 in summary). The best way to get this Spirit is to receive an amulet and body armour with extra Spirit stats.
How Can You Get More Survivability?
To get more survivability on Explosive Shot Deadeye, focus on maintaining distance and using your evasion mechanics to avoid hits. Use gear with a high Evasion Rating. Focus on your Body Armour because you want the most value from Beastial Skin. Remember to cap resistances at 75% and patch up gaps with Runes. Do not use Acrobatics until your evasion is at least 13,000–15,000 with Tailwind up. And, as always, avoid Burning Ground maps.
4.9The Explosive Shot Deadeye is a fantastic Ranger endgame build for players who enjoy massive explosions and precise, high-damage gameplay. With all the knowledge from this guide, including skill mechanics, pros and cons, rotations, gearing, and Atlas passives, you’ll be well-equipped to annihilate hordes of enemies and dominate bosses as a Ranger Deadeye Explosive Shot.
