Path of Exile 2 is shaping up to be a game filled with diverse and creative build possibilities. The latest Build Showcase highlights an innovative community build from Struth Gaming, featuring a Warrior that breaks away from the traditional melee archetype in favor of devastating crossbow attacks. This unique playstyle allows the Warrior to clear entire screens of enemies with a single volley, thanks to a clever interaction between armor breaking, explosive effects, and conversion mechanics.
Let's dive into the mechanics, itemization, and overall gameplay experience that make this build stand out.
Core Mechanics: How This Build Works
This build revolves around breaking enemies' armor repeatedly to trigger explosive chain reactions, wiping out groups of foes in mere seconds. The primary synergy comes from the combination of the following key components:
1. The Anvil's Weight Passive
• The build is centered around the Anvil's Weight Ascension passive from the Warbringer archetype.
• This passive ensures that every hit breaks an enemy's armor by an amount equal to 10% of the damage dealt.
• Since armor is constantly being broken, we can trigger explosions repeatedly for massive area-of-effect (AoE) damage.
2. Explosive Shot and Armour Explosion
• Primary Skill: Explosive Shot, a powerful ranged attack that delivers fiery bolts.
• Support Skill: Armour Explosion, which causes a fiery burst when an enemy's armor is fully broken.
• This interaction is the first step in the chain reaction that allows this build to clear entire screens.
3. Herald of Ice and Exploit Weakness
• Herald of Ice adds extra explosions when enemies shatter from cold damage.
• Exploit Weakness consumes broken armor, further boosting the damage output of these shatters.
• This combination ensures that every shattered enemy contributes to a chain reaction, spreading destruction across the battlefield.
4. Scattershot for Multiple Projectiles
• To enhance Explosive Shot, this build incorporates the Scattershot support gem.
• This modification makes Explosive Shot fire multiple bolts in sequence, significantly increasing the number of explosions per attack.
• Each of these bolts breaks armor individually, ensuring that the chain reaction continues across multiple targets.
5. Fire to Cold Conversion with Blueflame Bracers
• Since Explosive Shot deals fire damage, the build uses Blueflame Bracers to convert it to cold damage.
• This conversion is crucial because it allows enemies to be frozen, making them susceptible to Herald of Ice shatter explosions.
• The result? A devastating cascade of cold explosions across the battlefield.
How the Build Functions in Combat
This build excels at clearing large packs of enemies, thanks to its extensive AoE capabilities. Here's a breakdown of how it performs in different scenarios:
Clearing Packs of Enemies
1. Fire Explosive Shot into a group of enemies.
2. Each bolt breaks armor, triggering Armour Explosion.
3. If an enemy dies and shatters, Herald of Ice triggers another explosion.
4. The Scattershot support ensures that multiple enemies are hit and affected simultaneously.
5. The broken armor status is refreshed as new enemies are hit, keeping the chain reaction going.
With sufficient investment in area-of-effect, this setup allows the Warrior to obliterate entire screens of foes with minimal effort.
Single-Target and Boss Damage
While the crossbow setup excels at clearing groups, it does struggle slightly against tougher, single targets like bosses. To compensate, this build incorporates a two-handed mace as a secondary weapon for high-impact single-target damage.
1. Against bosses, the build switches to Hammer of the Gods, a devastating melee attack that delivers an overwhelming blow.
2. Since both the crossbow and the mace are two-handed weapons, the build benefits from passive tree investments that enhance two-handed weapon damage.
4. This setup ensures the Warrior can handle high-health enemies efficiently while maintaining incredible clearing potential.
Gear, Passives, and Skill Investment
Key Items for the Build
• Blueflame Bracers – Converts fire damage to cold, enabling Herald of Ice to trigger chain explosions.
• High Area-of-Effect Investment – Items and passives that boost AoE help maximize clearing efficiency.
• Two-Handed Crossbow & Mace – Ensures synergy with passive skill tree investments.
Passive Skill Investment
• Focus on two-handed weapon damage to benefit both melee and ranged attacks.
• Invest in cold damage scaling to enhance Herald of Ice and Exploit Weakness.
• Enhance projectile speed and damage to improve crossbow effectiveness.
• Prioritize area-of-effect nodes to maximize screen-clearing potential.
Pros & Cons of the Build
✅ Strengths
• Incredible Clearing Speed – One volley can clear entire screens of enemies.
• Satisfying Chain Reactions – Breaking armor leads to an endless cycle of explosions.
• Fire-to-Cold Conversion Synergy – Freezing enemies enable Herald of Ice for even more explosions.
• Hybrid Playstyle – Can switch to melee for single-target damage.
❌ Weaknesses
• Struggles Against Single Targets – Requires weapon swapping for bosses.
• Dependent on Specific Gear – Needs Blueflame Bracers and good AoE investment for optimal performance.
• Positioning Matters – Properly aligning crossbow shots ensures maximum explosions.
Final Thoughts
Struth Gaming's Warrior crossbow build showcases the creative potential of Path of Exile 2. By utilizing Explosive Shot in combination with armor breaking mechanics, shatter explosions, and conversion PoE 2 items, this build turns a traditionally melee-focused class into a ranged explosive powerhouse. While it has some weaknesses against single-target enemies, the seamless switch to a two-handed mace for Hammer of the Gods ensures a well-rounded playstyle.
For players looking to try something unique in Path of Exile 2, this build is an excellent choice. Are you excited to try this explosive crossbow Warrior in Path of Exile 2? Let us know your thoughts and any modifications you'd make to this incredible build!