Intro & build description
EA Pathfinder build is very easy to play, ย once you get Explosive Arrow as quest reward in Act 3, you will start dominating content withย any bow. Finding or buying Quill Rain will make things even easier. Quill Rain is best in slot bow for this build because it allows us to stack up 5 explosive arrows stacks really quickly and move to next pack of mobs while previous one explodes. Great build for newcomers to Path of Exile.
Build Pros
- Very high life pool (we are talking 7k-9k life)
- Very tanky, uses block while being archer
- HC viable
- Extremely cheap to start with
- Insane clear speed
- HC viable
Build Cons
- Single target damage is low if you don't ignite
Passive tree(s) and Path of Building
Leveling tree Full BuildBandits
Bandits Quest Choice |
Help Oak |
Ascendancy skill points
Labyrinths | Skill point choice |
---|---|
Labyrinth 1 | Nature's Boon |
Labyrinth 2 | Master Alchemist |
Labyrinth 3 | Nature's Adrenaline |
Endgame Labyrinth | Master Surgeon |

Skill gem setup
Helm
Blink Arrow
Summon Stone Golem
Decoy Totem
Culling Strike Support
Body Armor
Gloves
Curse on Hit Support
Greater Multiple Projectiles Support
Frenzy
Flammability
Boots
Cast When Damage Taken Support
Increased Duration Support
Immortal Call
Molten Shell
2h Weapon
Explosive Arrow
Greater Multiple Projectiles Support
Slower Projectiles Support
Fire Penetration Support
Less Duration Support
Chance to Ignite Support
1h Weapon
None
Offhand weapon / shield
None
Could you post lvling tree?
Which weapon should I use with this build? I don’t see in this topic
Yes, thank you for notifying us, there was a mistake in description, it’s now fixed. For this build you should use Quill Rain bow.
I would really appreciate a leveling tree
Thank you for the input – leveling tree added to the build.
ty
could u suggest levelling uniques and jewels we should use please also could u imply a easy way to get fusings and such please thank you
Well for weapon I suggest you get Quill Rain as soon as possible, Goldrim is extremely good option for defense while leveling. Mokou’s Embrace ring(s) is/are good offensive option(s) early. For fusings, make sure you clear fast and pick up inventory with rare items, identify them and sell to vendors – that way you will get a lot of Orbs of Alteration. After you have lots of Alterations, you can convert them to Jeweler’s Orbs using vendor and convert Jeweler’s Orbs to Fusings. Pick up all the 6 socketed items as they sell for 7 Jeweler’s Orbs to vendors.
ok also the jewels for passive tree?
Look for jewels with following mods: %increased attack speed, %increased maximum life, %increased fire damage, %increased damage, %increased area damage.
Hi !
First of all, thx for the build !
But there is something i don’t understand, I looted a Quill Rain … Wouhouuu ! … but this bow can have 3 sockets maximum…
how am i supposed to put 6 gems into it ?
Or is there something i miss in your explanation ?
Quill rain can have 6 sockets maximum ๐ make sure that itemlevel is at least 50 though by pressing alt and viewing item, you can roll 6 sockets only on items with itemlevel 50 and higher. If you have lower level Quill rain, just buy one with at least itemlevel 50, they are cheap anyways ๐
Oh ok, good to know ! thx a lot !! ๐
why is there a curse on hit in ur gloves?
To apply curses with linked active skill.
To apply Flammability curse when hitting monsters with Frenzy (generating frenzy charges).
currently day 5694 still trying to 6 link the quil rain and save up for kaoms heart im in desperate times please help this is soooooooo troubling
because trying to save 5.5 ex for a 6link and 15ex for kaoms heart id prefer to farm for 101 chaos
but first i need to get to merc which seems hard as this build as there isnt any stats specified for the armours you can use so ive been just getting stuff that adds Damage and elemental damage
a kaoms heart is only 50 chaos and a 6 link qull rain is about 3ex, cheaper if you’re on hardcore.
Hey,
Great build, loving it so far. But there’s one thing I don’t understand, and thats the 4 gems in the gloves:
Curse on Hit Support > Greater Multiple Projectiles Support > Frenzy > Rain of Arrows.
Curse on hit without a curse linked to it?
Hi. Yes, there was a mistake with gem links, it has been fixed now (Rain of Arrows substituted with Flammability).
Why slower projectiles?
Slower Projectiles has one of the highest damage modifiers to projectiles (20%-29% MORE projectile damage).
looking at the video, you have this blue skill mapped on the M5 or V key, what skill is this?
That is Frost Wall.
Hi!
I’d want to know how does this build handle reflect maps
Best way to handle reflect is to raise your Fire resistance as high as possible, so using Ruby Flasks is a good option.
Any special flasks to aim for with this build?
Sulphur flask is good in terms of damage, you can also use Dying sun for dmg and Taste of Hate for defense. Granite + Basalt flask combination is always great for physical dmg mitigation.
Choose whichever you like/can afford to use, I’d go for 2x instant life flasks, Quicksilver flasks, Dying Sun and Granite.
It would be great if you had the time to add what type of stats you would want to get on the different pieces of gear, I’ve seen it in some other builds and it would help alot when searching for upgrades ๐
I wonder how Elemental Equilibrium can help me in early game? I have level 50 currently and it seems that EE only gives a “Resists Fire & Vulnerable to cold, lightning” mod to the enemies, is it because my amulet adds a bit of fire damage to my attacks?
Added fire damage on amulet is probably the reason – to take advantage of Elemental Equilibrium make sure you hit them with something that is cold or lightning first so best option would be to get rid of adds x-x fire damage to attacks on your jewelry and get cold or lightning instead.
Sorry questions..how do you make sure you health is not going down as now we use life instead of mana, and how come you have some passives (under Full build) that are for +maximum mana or
ive got a question what chest plate shall we use if one cant afford kaoms heart plate yet? also i find that u dont have high DPS but when u use frenzy the flammibilty curse will help u destory single targets if needed u can use a sulpher flask that when use places down health regen aura thingys cause it helps spam EA as it currently consumes 78 mana but im blood magic so -78hp every 0.20 secounds thats fast so all the regen u can get to spray it
Any rare chest with high life, armour and res will do just fine.
Hi,
can you explain, how does curse on hit trigger the curses in 2.6. In my setup it only works with an attack? Need I a specil Point in passiv or in a item?
You just need to hit them with frenzy and curse will be applied.
Hey, I recently Vaaled my Rearguard and I got +1 arrow. Should I drop my GMP setup down to LMP?
You could do that, yep.
if you get dying sun it’s even better, you won’t need a multi projectiles gem at all and you can replace it with conc effect for insane single target damage + spam dying sun for area clear.
Can we get a list of Stat priorities for each piece of gear?
There isn’t hard stat priority, mostly look for life + resists and armor on top of that, for jewelry fire damage is good bonus to have on top of life and resists.
Hey
I’m very curious why do you use Elemental Equilibrium if there is only fire damage in this build?
It’s good to have other damage to attacks on ring or amulet – hit mobs with frenzy to proc EE with for example #-# cold damage to attacks on your amulet, hit them with Explosive Arrow for more damage as their resistance to fire is lowered by applying cold damage.
How do u build endurance charges? I cant seem to figure out why you have immortal call.
Immortal call works without endurance charges.
Uber atziri/shaper viable? Tempted to try out the build
Yep, people have been known to kill Shaper while playing this build ๐
potion cen me send with one you use on yours build i dont know i do right thanks
Is the Rearguard essential for survival or could it be replaced by an Drillneck?
Why +int on the helment?
Hi,
Thanks for the great guide, I’m brand new to POE and this has been great fun and helped me learn while still having a viable character.
I’ve got a lot of questions, It’d be phenomenal if you could answer some.
1) I was wondering if any gems should be left low level, and what gems I should get %Quality on.
2) How overcapped should I be on my resists, I currently am 50 overcapped and am considering getting a devotos helm and a essence worm as I can afford to drop some.
3) How useful is immortal call without a way to generate endurance charges easily, and how useful is stone golem when it just repeatedly dies and you have to keep casting it? Should I put the stone golem on the cast when damage taken setup?
4) I’ve read some other Explosive arrow builds that recommend having a single target explosive arrow quill rain and an AOE one, and using the snapshotting of the explosive arrow to hit them with 1 fuse of single then 4 easy shots of the AOE to deal a lot more damage. What gem setup would you recommend for both Single and AOE?
Thanks so much, Switch
1.) Yes, should have Cast When Damage taken gem left at LVL 7-9 for it to proc often, also the gems that are supported by it shouldn’t be past level requirement to be triggered. (Increased duration can be leveled to LVL20 though).
2.) If you want to have capped resists in map with Elemental Weakness mod, you should be looking at 170% resists when in hideout.
3.) It is very useful, even without charges, can save your life more than you think. Golem in CWDT setup would be pretty good if you don’t want to self-cast it often, yes.
4.) This setup works fairly well for single target damage I think, maybe concentrated effect switched out with one of the gems would work better but I haven’t really tested it out. One more way is having Vaal Lightning trap to drop on top of the boss and create shocked ground for it to stand on and take more damage.
Hello, I like your build. And, I was wondering something.
What if I change Explosive Arrow for Vaal Burning Arrow?
Skill Tree would be the same.
I would change Quill Rain for Xoph’s Nurture. (Bow)
I would change Less Duration Support for Added Fire Damage Support. (Support Gem in Bow)
The rest would be identical until I found something more useful.
Please let me know what’s your thought about it.
Thanks!!
I’d suggest you go with Raider and this tree (it seems better for Vaal Burning arrow exclusively) http://poeurl.com/7sf .