Best Ranger build in Path of Exile 2

Upon starting Path of Exile 2, you are given a choice of selecting one of six classes that are now available. Ranger is one of them, but the amount of options available for this build can often be overwhelming.

Grinding Gear Games outdid itself with PoE 2 by expanding the progression process of each class. During your journey, you will need to regularly select new active and passive skills, while also investing in specific Support Gems and items that boost your abilities and stats. There are dozens, if not hundreds of options in each of these areas, so picking the proper one is mind-boggling.

However, we think we have some solid piece of advice for you if you’re looking to properly build your Ranger.

Best Ranger build in Path of Exile 2

There is no best Ranger build in Path of Exile 2, objectively speaking. The class uses four different elements in the form of Poison, Lightning, Ice, and Fire, while also having a plethora of skills to use with non-elemental attacks. With that in mind, there are a few directions in which you may take your Ranger, which depend on your favorite playstyle.

The one build that has worked for us so far is the one that connects Lightning, Ice, and Poison elements to deal AoE damage, have some escape routes, and be able to focus on bosses with single-target damage.

Best Ranger active skills in Path of Exile 2

Bow Shot

This one is self-explanatory. You need Bow Shot to be able to release regular arrows from your bow of choice.

Lightning Arrow

One of the first skills you can get, and we highly recommend it. Combined with the Lightning Rod, the pair makes for arguably the best combination to clear groups of monsters in the blink of an eye. Lightning Arrow deals, you guessed it, lightning damage. After upgrading the skill, it can also deal AoE damage itself.

Lightning Rod

Lightning Rod allows you to drop up to three rods that interact with lightning damage around them. Once you place them, you can activate them by spamming Lightning Arrow. While this combo isn’t the best for bosses since their high mobility will often allow them to escape the area of Lightning Rods, it’s perfect for groups of monsters. If you have high armor, you can even lure many of them towards a small area and then take them all down with the Lightning Rod and Arrow combo.

Ball Lightning

We’ve explained one Lightning combo, so allow us to dive into another one, which starts with Ball Lightning. This skill is a powerful projectile that shoots Lightning missiles at enemies in its range. It’s quite slow on its own and not that helpful against less-demanding foes. However, it plays perfectly with the following skill.

Lightning Warp

If you played a bit of Ranger already, you know that movement and mobility are key, and that’s where Lightning Warp comes into play. This ability allows you to teleport into a target’s body and tear it apart if it has been touched by lightning earlier. Combined with Ball Lightning, it makes for a great combo to move around the battlefield, especially in lengthy boss fights.

Escape Shot

An absolute must-have for every Ranger. Escape Shots allows you to get out of every difficult situations, since it makes you jump backwards while shooting an icy arrow to where you were standing. It allows you to change position while also slowing down the enemies that were hunting you.

Freezing Salvo

On its own Freezing Salvo may not be the best, but when combined with Escape Shot, it’s quite strong. The skill creates ice missiles around you, which should be used after popping Escape Shot to clear any threat around you.

Wind Dancer

Once you progress in the story, you might have to replace Escape Shot with Wind Dancer. It’s not as mobile as the former, but it makes you tankier for a while by making you hit back enemies that attack you once it’s active.

Snipe

Snipe is a superb tool in many boss fights, though it’s not without flaws. Like the name suggests, the ability allows you to become a true sniper and channel energy to shoot an empowered missile towards a single enemy. These shots are often deadly for normal monsters and deal a lot of damage to bosses. However, it takes a few seconds to charge, so make sure to use it when there’s a fair distance between you and the enemy so there’s no way for them to disrupt your charging shot.

Gas Grenade

Like you might have already figured out judging by the skill’s name, Gas Grenade leaves area poisoned with a cloudy gas. On its own it may not be the best ability, but like with many skills in PoE 2, it takes two to create a perilous combo.

Explosive Shot

And for that reason, we close the list with the Explosive Shot. It’s a direct, superb skill that deals a lot of damage on its own, and when combined with the Gas Grenade, can turn the entire battlefield into dead monsters in a matter of seconds. It’s available at the start of the second act, so if you’re eager to try it out but haven’t reached that part of the game yet, just grind some more.

There are a number of ways to level your character. This is the personal build we came up with on our first Ranger playthrough, and it did wonders, but if you feel like you’d like to switch a bit, feel free to do so.

Best Ranger Support Gems in Path of Exile 2

Another pivotal part of PoE 2 character building is Support Gems. These can be regularly swapped as long as you have one of those Gems in your inventory. Each of them does a different thing for a specific active skill, but looking at how these gravitate towards an aggressive playstyle, we picked our Support Gems similarly.

Neural Overload Support

This one allows you to electrocute enemies on hit, which elevates the lightning damage you do with your basic attacks and active skills.

Faster Projectiles Support

It increases your projectile speed by 30 percent, which is a huge number, especially if the battlefield you’re currently on is pretty tight.

Magnified Effect

This one is especially helpful in the early game, as it increases the range of your AoE skills by 40 percent. It’s brilliant for skills like Lightning Rod.

Arcane Tempo

This Support Gem turns you into a true Rambo by allowing you to cast spells faster. Sure, you’ll get rid of your mana quicker, but replenishing it shouldn’t be an issue with the proper assets, and releasing spells faster is always a good thing for any aggressive Ranger build.

Scattershot

This one is a brilliant Support Gem that allows you to fire more projectiles. It’s perfect for numerous Ranger abilities.

Best Ranger passive skills in Path of Exile 2

This is an area that is probably the most complex when it comes to building any class in PoE 2 because there are dozens of possible passive skills to use. Here are the ones we liked the most.

• Eagle Eye: 30 percent more accuracy rating, 10 percent more increased accuracy rating
• Maiming Strike: 25 percent more increased attack damage, attacks have 25 percent chance to maim on hit
• Proficiency: +25 Dexterity
• Clean Shot: 15 percent more chance to pierce an enemy, 15 percent more increased projectile damage
• Pierce the Heart: Arrows pierce an additional target
• Vile Wounds: Enemies affected with elemental effects take 33 percent more damage
• Electrocution: Enemies you electrocute take 20 percent more damage
• Cooked: 50 percent increased critical damage bonus during any Flask effect

Best Ranger items in Path of Exile 2

Most items in PoE 2 are generated by the game randomly, so instead of looking at specific items, you’d be better if you looked for specific stats. Here’s the list of the most important ones that you should look for in certain items.

• Helmets: Maximum life, Dexterity, Evasion
• Gloves: Maximum Life, Dexterity, Attack Speed, Evasion
• Boots: Movement Speed, Maximum Life, Dexterity, Elemental Resistances
• Belt: Maximum Life, Dexterity, Life and Mana per enemy killed
• Rings: Life and Mana per enemy killed, Maximum Life
• Amulet: Maximum Life, Dexterity, Life and Mana per enemy killed
• Armor: Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, Dexterity
• Charms: Maximum Life, Dexterity, Elemental Resistances, Attack Speed
• Quiver: Those which add elemental buffs to your attacks
• Weapon: Elemental Damage, Dexterity, Increased Physical Damage

Should you choose Deadeye or Pathfinder Ascendancy for Ranger in Path of Exile 2?

At one point in your journey, you will have to choose an Ascendancy for your Ranger. In the full game there are meant to be three to pick from, though in early access there are only two so far: Deadeye and Pathfinder.

Pathfinder allows you to elevate your utility, since it expands on Flasks and certain elemental skills. There’s lot of experimental fun to be had there. However, Deadeye makes you a true ranged monster by increasing your accuracy, speed, and damage, so we’d definitely pick this one.

The full version of PoE 2 is scheduled to go live in June 2025. Once it does, we’ll update this guide accordingly with everything new to the game at that point.