What is the best Path of Exile 2 Ranger build? The Ranger returns in Path of Exile 2, but this time with an emphasis on speed and agility. We’ll be able to move while shooting and also build out in either long or short-range combat, depending on what suits your playstyle.
Sometimes it’s chaotic to play a ranger with hordes of fast-moving enemies in an RPG game like Path of Exile 2, but seeing as the devs are aiming to have this ranger feel like Legolas, expect swift movement, high jumps, and quick getaways. As we look forward to the Path of Exile 2 release date, we’ve gone through all the skills and gems we’ve seen so far and what the best Ranger build could look like.
Path of Exile 2 Ranger overview
The Ranger uses different types of arrows and shots in combinations, making the most of the elements: lightning, poison, fire, and frost, as well as using plants and vines. While it depends on what kind of build you’re going for, each element and skill can be used to create powerful combinations. For example, you can use poison-based skills with plant skills, as the plants feed and grow more powerful from the poison.
By far the biggest change coming to the Ranger in Path of Exile 2 is the mount. The Ranger can mount Rhoas, firing arrows as the Rhoa moves about without receiving a movement penalty. You can also leap from its back using your vaulting skills and the Rhoa will join in the fight by attacking monsters.
There are two Ascendancies for the Path of Exile 2 Ranger:
- The Deadeye: A mobile and deadly threat, The Deadeye can fire multiple arrows with one shot.
- The Pathfinder: Able to create offensive chemical weapons from basic ingredients, The Pathfinder uses poison to defeat their enemies.
Path of Exile 2 Ranger abilities
The Ranger has skill shots, escape shots, and cooldown skills, utilizing elements like lightning to electrocute enemies (if you like close combat) and quickly vault away by shooting an arrow at the ground. Or if you want to keep it simple, the sniper skill shot can be used with freeze skills to inflict AoE damage. There are also poison, gas, and plant skills to consider, alongside powerful detonating arrows.
Here are the Path of Exile 2 Ranger abilities we know about so far:
- Lighting Arrow – Fires a shot of lightning.
- Frost Escape (escape shot) – Jump backward and shoot a freezing arrow at the ground.
- Sniper – Charge up and release a powerful shot that if on hit deals AoE damage.
- Lightning Rod – Shoots an arrow in the ground that attracts lightning.
- Stormcaller Arrow – Lightning bolts come from the sky and strike enemies, with a high shock chance, shocked enemies take 30% more damage.
- Barrage (cooldown skill) – This enhances your next attack to fire three times.
- Electrocuting rod – Slows enemies down by electrocuting them.
- Vine Arrow – Fire an arrow into the air that lands after a short delay, causing a plant to spring up at the impact location. Sprouts vines that latch onto nearby enemies, poisoning and slowing them.
- Poison Bloom Arrow – Creates plant bulbs that explode.
- Poison Burst Arrow – A poison arrow that bursts on impact.
- Gas Arrow – Fires an arrow that bursts on hitting an enemy or reaching the target location, this creates a gas cloud that applies poison to enemies inside.
- Plague Bearer – Store a portion of all poison damage dealt, released, and applied to all nearby enemies when using Plague Nova (uses spirit). The skill uses a poison counter, and once at 100%, releases to deal damage.
- Rain of Arrows – Long-range damage and AoE.
- Sniper’s Mark – Mark a target, causing the next critical hit to deal extra damage and grant a frenzy charge.
- Detonating Arrow – Build up power before firing a burning arrow, the arrow detonates on impact at max charge, causing an explosion in the surrounding area.
Path of Exile 2 Ranger skill support gems
Each skill has room for three support gems, with support gems matching the corresponding color on the skill. They can be swapped in and out or moved to other skills, as long as the color matches! These gems are where you’ll really build the Ranger into something unique and where we’ll have the most fun experimenting with deadly combos to get the most from our skills.
They essentially act as buffs, providing perks that when matched with the right skill, can create powerful effects, such as using Less Duration on the Stormcaller Arrow to send more waves of lightning.
Here are all the support gems we’ve seen equipped to the Ranger so far:
- Multiple Projectiles Support – Deal 66% less projectile damage. Fire two additional projectiles.
- Faster Projectiles Support – 30% increased projectile speed.
- Chain Support – Deals 50% less damage with each hit, chaining an additional time, plus an extra time for each chain from other sources.
- Less Duration – 20% less skill effect duration.
- Shock Proliferation – Hits from supported skills have a 20% chance to also shock nearby enemies in a 2.5 meter radius.
- Neural Overload Support – Electrocute primed enemies on hit.
- Frozen Nexus Support – 400% increased effect of chill on enemies. Create chilled ground for two seconds when they freeze an enemy.
- Deep Freeze Support – Freezes inflicted by support skills last an additional 0.50 seconds.
- Pierce Support – Pierce one additional target and deal 30% less projectile damage.
- Corrosion Support – Poison applied by supported skills also breaks armor equal to 3500% of poison damage dealt.
- Exploit Weakness Support – Supported skills deal 50% more damage to enemies with fully broken armor.
What is the best Path of Exile 2 Ranger build?
With so many combos and skills available, including gems to constantly switch out and play with, the possibilities of how to enhance your build seem endless. However, it’s clear from what we’ve seen of the Ranger that there are some cool effects from freezing the ground to creating large gas clouds that damage enemies. It does look like you’ll need to swap things around depending on what the situation calls for, from boss fights to taking on large swathes of enemies.
How do I use the best Path of Exile 2 Ranger build?
Personally, we love the look of the plant attacks combined with poisonous skills. This is also best if you prefer a longer range. You can use Poison Bloom Arrows to create plant bulbs that grow from the floor and deal poison damage to enemies (also great for AoE and crowd control).
Vine Arrows work similarly and are also aimed at the ground, but sprout vines that latch onto enemies, poisoning and slowing them down, with the vines themselves transferring any further poison to those enemies. Use these alongside Gas Arrows to create a gas cloud when you hit an enemy, and if aimed directly at the plants, it inflicts poison on both the enemy and feeds the plants for extra damage.
It works well in both boss fights and dealing with the waves of normal monsters. It can also be used with Corrosion Support to break the armor of tougher enemies or firing detonating arrows at the gas clouds to cause an explosion.
Now you’re caught up on the Path of Exile 2 Ranger. If you’re excited about this upcoming game, check out our Path of Exile 2 preview, our breakdown of the Path of Exile 2 Witch class, and a guide on the Path of Exile 2 Mercenary to learn more about the highly anticipated RPG.