The Grenade Mercenary Build in Path of Exile 2 is about players who love to see enemies burst into flames and shrapnel with every click. With this build, it’s just an explosive playstyle that jams in a lot of area-of-effect damage, adds some crowd control, and chaos-finishes probably one of the most satisfying builds in Path of Exile 2. This Grenade Mercenary build will be full-on action, full of explosions, stuns, and debuffs. Watch as you turn everything into a spectacular explosion!
4.9Grenade Mercenary Overview
Path of Exile 2 Grenade Mercenary build ends up being one of the best Mercenary builds for players on Witchhunter looking to clear waves of enemies with a resounding explosion grenade damage and beat up bosses with ease. Nothing gives one chance to get into the explosive world of Path of Exile 2 as much as one continuous explosion! Below are three basic skills that make this boom part of the Grenade Mercenary build gameplay:
- Flash Grenades: These handy grenades are your go-to tool for crowd control. These grenades will blind and stun enemies, giving you the time you need to move, reposition, or deal damage without worrying about being overwhelmed. They’re perfect for keeping the pressure off you during chaotic fights.
- Explosive Grenades: This is where the real fun begins. Explosive Grenades create devastating area-of-effect damage, especially when combined with Oil and Gas fields. These grenades will make packs of enemies disappear in seconds, while you stand safely in the chaos. Expect massive damage output that clears whole areas with ease.
- Gas Grenades: These grenades release toxic gas clouds that debilitate enemies, reducing their effectiveness and dealing with ongoing damage. When paired with Explosive Grenades and Flash Grenades, the Gas Grenades create an overwhelming synergy that makes it difficult for enemies to fight back.
The Grenade Mercenary actually plays rather explosively and is quite versatile, from rifting through packs of monsters and handling bosses to keeping your enemies in stun. This build can also be referred to as the Gas Grenade Mercenary or Gas Grenade Witchhunter build, and this is one of many varieties with which Mercs take on the still-evolving meta of Path of Exile 2. We can create any Custom Build for you, tailored to your preferences and improvements, so you won’t waste time and can jump into the game with an optimized Mercenary build.
Grenade Mercenary Pros and Cons
Like any build, the Grenade Mercenary in Path of Exile 2 comes with its advantages and drawbacks:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ High AoE and burst explosive damage | ⛔️ Low single-target damage without gear |
| ✅ Easy to gear | ⛔️ Requires good positioning |
| ✅ Effective crowd control | ⛔️ Can be mana-hungry at times |
Grenade Mercenary Skills
The Grenade Mercenary build in PoE 2 relies on key Skill Gems that make the gameplay powerful and satisfying. These skills revolve around explosions, crowd control, and damage debuffs, all of which will help you clear mobs and take down bosses efficiently. Here’s a breakdown of the essential Skill Gems and Skill Support Gems to use in your build.
| Skill Gem | Support Skill Gem | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Explosive Shot | Martial Tempo | Pierce | Nimble Reload |
| Oil Grenade | Persistence | Strip Away | Encumbrance |
| Flash Grenade | Scattershot | Overpover | Heft |
| Explosive Grenade | Fire Infusion | Primal Armament | Payload |
| Gas Grenade | Corrosion | Armour Explosion | Break Posture |
| Overwhelming Presence | Clarity | Vitality | — |
| Time of Need | Clarity | Vitality | — |
Grenade Mercenary Active Skill descriptions:
- Explosive Shot — Charge your Crossbow with a single shot flaming bolts that explode on impact. The explosion also makes any Grenades within its explosion radius explode.
- Oil Grenade — Throws a grenade that bursts and deals damage, greasing with oil all enemies and the ground in its coverage area. It Can be ignited for extra damage.
- Flash Grenade — Fires a bouncing Grenade that unleashes a Blinding, Stunning explosion when its fuse expires. This explosion can Blind both Allies and Enemies.
- Explosive Grenade — Launches a bounced Grenade that releases an intense explosion in a fire when its fuse is out.
- Gas Grenade — Fires a grenade with poison damage that releases poison gas, damaging enemies and leaving a poison cloud that can explode if ignited.
- Overwhelming Presence — While active, enemies in your Presence are easier to Stun and inflict Elemental Ailments upon.
- Time of Need — Invokes divine blessings, periodically healing you and removing Curses and Elemental Ailments from you.
Grenade Mercenary Skill Rotation
To fully optimize the PoE 2 Grenade Mercenary build, it is important to understand the proper timing of skills. A fitting laying of grenades with CC skills lets you clear mobs sooner and stay in control during fights. The following are the skills rotations relevant to the Grenade Mercenary build:
- Use Flash Grenades to blind and stun enemies, giving you control over the crowd and protecting you from incoming damage. This buys you time to set up the rest of your skills.
- Throw Oil Grenades next to cover the area with oil. This will set the stage for your Explosive Grenades, amplifying the damage when combined with the oil effect.
- Use Gas Grenades to weaken enemies, lowering their resistance and making them more vulnerable to explosions. This synergizes perfectly with Oil Grenades, creating a toxic cloud that persists and adds additional debuffs.
- Finally, throw Explosive Grenades to deal massive area damage. The oil and gas clouds will enhance the explosion, making it even more devastating.
- Repeat the sequence as needed, ensuring you keep enemies controlled with Flash Grenades while maximizing damage with Oil Grenades and Explosive Grenades.
Grenade Mercenary Passives
Your Path of Exile 2 Grenade Mercenary build will rely on key passive skills on the passive skill tree to maximize your damage, survivability, and efficiency. The passive skill tree should focus on area damage, physical damage, and mana sustain. Some notable passive clusters will increase your damage output while ensuring you don’t run out of resources during battle.
| Build Passives | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Remorseless | Cluster Bombs | Repeating Explosives | Perfect Opportunity |
| Colossal Weapon | Grenadier | Sand in the Eyes | Smoke Inhalation |
| Curved Weapon | Adrenaline Rush | Giantslayer | Incendiary |
| Overwhelm | Volatile Grenades | Cull the Hordes | — |
| Hard to Kill | Distracting Presence | Authority | — |
| Battle-hardened | Polymathy | Crushing Judgement | — |
Grenade Mercenary Ascendancy Passives
Witchhunter is the best Ascendancy for Grenade Mercenary build in PoE 2 and provides many different support options for any additional damage bonus and ways to defend oneself. Zealous Inquisition and Pitiless Killer are the two Ascendancy passives on the Passive Tree you will definitely need for your AoE damage to increase and get those pesky low-life bosses killed instantly. The Witchhunter Ascendancy will also allow you to scale explosions and give you some much-needed flexibility to the Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2.
- Zealous Inquisition — This Ascendancy passive provides massive area-of-effect damage, especially when you’re clearing packs of monsters. It makes Grenade Mercenary Build packs melt with satisfying explosions.
- Pitiless Killer — With Culling Strike, this passive ensures that bosses at low life are instantly killed. This is especially effective against Rares, Magic, and Normal enemies. No more struggling during the final moments of boss fights — just a clean, explosive finish.
Grenade Mercenary Gear
Picking the right equipment in Path of Exile 2 for your Grenade Mercenary will significantly help scale damage and survivability. Look for gear with physical damage, movement speed, life, or resistance. Emphasize evasion and armor to scale defensive capabilities, and consider crafting items with mana on kill for resource sustainability. If you don’t want to waste time choosing and searching for Grenade Mercenary gear, the easiest option for Leveling Gear is to reach out to our team. We’ll quickly and easily provide you with gear that has the right stats and effects while you focus on other things.
- Crossbow: Look for increased Physical Damage and add Physical or Elemental Damage. Attack speed and reload speed. Combining physical damage modifiers is the most effective for this build.
- Movement Speed on Boots: Movement speed is crucial for survivability, so use Orb of Transmutations and Orb of Augmentations to craft boots that give increased Movement Speed.
- Life and Resistances: Make sure to balance life and resistances. It’s better to sacrifice some damage for life and resistance when needed.
- Evasion and Armor Gear: Prioritize Evasion and Armor for better defense, though great pieces with Energy Shield are acceptable if they meet other priorities.
Grenade Mercenary Atlas Passives
The Atlas in PoE 2 is a sophisticated world system that uncovers the endgame content and the rarest gear. In addition to this, the Atlas allows for almost unlimited gameplay improvements through the use of Atlas passives. It is quite hard to define which of them will be definitively good for Grenade Mercenary players. However, some skills tend to perform better than others, so the optimal choice for Grenade Mercenary build would be the following popular Atlas Passive Skills. Here are the skills:
- High Road;
- Quantity of Waystones Found;
- Increased Monster Pack Size.
Grenade Mercenary Tips
This section will explore the best practices and tips for mastering your PoE 2 Grenade Mercenary build.
How to Solve Attributes Problem?
The solution to your Grenade Mercenary’s attribute problems is to invest most of your talent points into Dexterity to equip the gear you need. Once you have enough Dexterity, you can focus the rest on Strength to increase your maximum health.
How to Solve Mana issues?
The best way to solve your mana issues is to find a good mana flask, use gear with strong mana regeneration, and clear mobs as quickly as possible. That way, you won’t have any mana problems!
4.9This Grenade Mercenary build is for players who just love blowing things up. This Witchhunter build is very impactful, has fast clear times, and finishes off bosses without too much hassle. Very approachable for new players and League starters in Path of Exile 2, Grenade Mercenary really has simple gearing and is fast, and rewarding to play.
