In today's deep-dive, we're taking a hard look at one of the most popular early builds in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt—the Crit Nato Amazon. If you've been slinging elemental tornadoes and watching bosses evaporate, you probably already felt the sting of the latest nerfs. But don't worry—we've adapted. While the build took a heavy hit to its damage scaling, it's still viable, powerful, and fun with a few critical adjustments.

Let's break down exactly what changed, what you can do to keep dominating maps and bosses, and how this still might be Huntress's best playstyle.

What Was Nerfed?

The biggest change is under the hood: your Twisters (aka Tornadoes) no longer exponentially scale elemental damage by stacking bonuses from ground effects.

The Old Behavior:

Each Twister projectile is used to gain +50% elemental damage from crossing over a ground effect—Cold, Fire, or Lightning. But here's the kicker: each additional Twister would gain that bonus again and again, stacking multiple times. So if you fired off 10 Twisters, you'd get:

• 1st Twister: +50%

• 2nd: +100%

• 3rd: +150%

• ...

• 10th: +500%

This absurd scaling made the build shred through content like butter. Too good, honestly.

The New Behavior:

Now, each Twister only gets a flat +50% damage from the ground effect, period. No exponential stacking. This Nerf hits hard—your endgame damage output took a nosedive, especially in prolonged fights.

How We Adjusted the Build

Despite the nerf, the Crit Nato Amazon can still tear through content with the right tweaks. Here's what's been changed to keep the build strong and satisfying.

Key Fix #1: Frenzy Charge Generation

After the Nerf, Twisters stopped freezing enemies, which was essential for generating Frenzy charges. Without those, your Barrage support fell apart, tanking your burst damage potential.

The Fix: Bushwick Boots + Combat Frenzy

• Bushwick Boots: We borrowed these from the Frenzy Deadeye setup. These boots give:

   o Physical damage pinning

   o Dex and evasion

   o 25% movement speed

• Combat Frenzy Support: Grants a Frenzy charge whenever you Freeze, Pin, or Electrocute an enemy.

With pinning and some added cold damage, you start reliably generating charges again. It's not quite as busted as before, but it brings back the build's rhythm and synergy.

Key Fix #2: Salvo Support Instead of Acceleration

Damage dropped, so we needed more projectiles. Simple solution: Salvo Support.

• What It Does: Sends out extra projectiles, creating multiple Twisters with each cast.

• Why It's Better:

   o Unlike Scattershot, it doesn't reduce total damage.

   o Helps with both bossing and mapping.

   o Works great in both open and closed layouts.

You'll now consistently flood the screen with tornadoes again, keeping that old visual chaos and pressure you loved.

Cold Ground Setup: Frostbolts with Scattershot + Wild Shards

To regain chilled ground, we're running:

• Frostbolts (low level, non-scaling)

• Scattershot: Widens spread.

• Wild Shards: 20% chance for omnidirectional shots, spreading cold ground further.

• Arcane Tempo: For faster casting.

This helps generate consistent ground effects, ensuring your Twisters are always converting to elements for that sweet +50% damage bonus.

Twister Gem Links

Here's how your Twister setup should look post-nerf:

• Salvo: For extra tornadoes

• Persistence: Extends Twister duration

• Retreat: +25% projectile damage

• Main Skill Gem: Twister

This setup ensures your tornadoes stick around, hit more often, and deal enough damage to remain effective even without exponential elemental scaling.

Whirling Slash Setup (for prep zones)

Whirling Slash is still vital to set up barrage zones, but we're no longer using it for damage.

New Gem Setup:

• Marshall Tempo: Faster stage generation.

• Font of Mana: +40% mana regen inside the zone (mana becomes a big issue).

• Magnified Effect: Increases area size—helps you dodge while staying inside the zone.

This change makes it way more forgiving, letting you move a bit during boss fights without constantly breaking and rebuilding your prep zone.

Barrage Setup (the Big DPS)

Barrage is your big-damage enabler.

Gem Links:

• Perpetual Charge: Faster charge generation.

• Premeditation: Boosts damage when fully prepped.

• Ingenuity: Boosts cooldown rate. You want every attack to be Barraged.

Never shoot raw Twisters—Barrage is too important now for maximizing single-target bursts.

Utility & Sustain

Combat Frenzy Setup:

• Profusion: Chance at additional Frenzy charges.

• Herbalism: Flask-based sustain.

Sniper's Mark (bossing only):

• Inspiration + Singled Out

   o Extra boss damage

   o Alternative charge generation if pin/freeze doesn't trigger

Movement Skill: Thunderous Leap

• Shocking Leap support adds a chance to create shocked ground.

• On crit, this helps amplify your elemental damage.

• Also acts as a gap-closer and dodge tool in hectic fights.

Passive Tree & Ascendancy Plans

Still a work in progress, but here's where we're heading:

Ascendancy Options:

• In for the Kill: Boosts movement and skill speed. Great for fluidity.

• Stalking Panther: Enables a hybrid Evasion + Energy Shield setup. Would require switching your body armor to an ES base.

Notable Nodes:

• Penetrate: HUGE damage scaling once you have god-tier weapons.

• Elemental Fusion: Seems good on paper, but beware—it doesn't let Twisters carry multiple elements. Only one element applies per Twister.

Quality-of-Life Observations

• Mana Sustain: Becomes an issue mid to late game. Font of Mana and good flask management are essential.

• Mobility: Salvo helps compensate for projectiles flying off-screen. The magnified effect helps you not feel punished for dodging.

• Cold/Pin Scaling: Cold damage from gear can help boost freeze potential. Pinning from Bushwick Boots is clutch.

Final Thoughts: Still Huntress's Best Build?

Even after the nerfs, the Crit Nato Amazon remains:

• Explosive ✔️

• Visually rewarding ✔️

• Boss-killing ✔️

• Map-melting ✔️

Sure, it lost its utterly broken scaling—but that's a good thing for the health of the game. The revised version is more skill-based, more interactive, and still incredibly fun.

If you're playing Huntress and want something that can handle everything Dawn of the Hunt throws at you—this is still the build to beat. Just make sure to adjust your setup for the new mechanics, Path Of Exile 2 Currency invest in gear with cold or pinning synergy, and don't sleep on Salvo.

Stay sharp out there, Exiles. If you're looking for more PoE 2 builds, patch analysis, or endgame strategies, let me know—I'd be happy to dive in.