There are a few different ways to level up a mercenary Path of Exile 2. You can use Galvanic Shards to chain lightning, freeze enemies in place with Permafrost Bolts, or set everything on fire with Gas Grenades. While it's not the fastest leveling build out there, throwing grenades wherever you go and watching enemies explode is pretty satisfying.
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Path Of Exile 2: Sorceress Build Guide
It is elementary.
The only downside to leveling up a mercenary with grenades is the multi-button gameplay. However, that can easily be fixed with some Uniques that are very cheap in Trade League — SSF is a different story. Here's everything you need to know about leveling up a mercenary with grenades in POE 2.
Act 1
Act–1 is probably the hardest one, since we have no AOE ready. Start with 
High speed rounds
paired with 
Double barrel
and Scatter shot
— this should be your only target DPS. When you unlock 
Galvanic shards
use it with 
Lightning infusion
and 
Pierce
as your main clearing tool. We also recommend placing the Flash Grenade to get out of a sticky situation.
If you don't like Galvanic Shards, you might too attempt 
Permafrost is pounding
paired with 
Ice Bite
. This will help you freeze enemies followed by a fragmentation that causes massive damage.
- High speed rounds: Double Barrel + Martial Tempo
- Galvanic shards: Pierce + Lightning Infusion
- Permafrost is pounding: Pierce + Ice Bite
- Flash grenade: Scattershot + Overpower
- Herald of Ice or Herald of Thunder
Act 2
When you reach Act-2 you will get 
Explosive shot
to detonate your 
Explosive grenade
, 
Gas grenade
etc. We also recommend switches to 
Herald of Ash
when you switch to this setting. You should also deposit 
Oil grenade
when you get it apply fire exposure and slow down enemies.
- Gas grenade: Fire Infusion + Fire Penetration
- Oil grenade: Endurance + Inspiration
- Explosive grenade: Fast forward + Magnified effect
- Explosive shot: Martial Tempo + Pierce
- Herald of Ash
Act 3 to mapping
You will get your first 
Lesser Jeweler's Orb
— use it on yours Gas grenade
. To use it you must provide a source to Ignite. One of the ways is to burn Oil grenade
using one Explosive shot
followed by spam gas grenades on top of the burning ground. Your rotations require you to press several buttons. But if you can get 
Birth of Fury
or 
Radiant sadness
you'll basically turn it into a construct with the push of a button — you just run around throwing gas grenades all over the place.
We too recommend to keep 
Flash grenade
placed somewhere, because it's a free get-out-of-jail card. Once you get more than 100 Spirit, link 
Clarity
and 
Vitality
with Herald of Ash. At this point, you should also use 
Wind Dancer
as it is a pretty good defensive layer. You should be able to take this exact setting on maps.
- Gas grenade: Scattershot + Immolate + Elemental Focus + Fire Infusion + Inspiration
- Oil grenade: Strip Away + Persistence + Encumbrance
- Flash grenade: Maim + Brutality
- Herald of Ash: Vitality + Clarity
- Wind Dancer: Unbreakable
Recommended unique
If you are in the Trade Unionthere is some unique which you can use to make your smoothing much smoother. Here are some of our recommendations:
|
Unique |
How to use |
|---|---|
|
|
The cheapest is Birth of Fury. These boots let you drop Ignited Ground during motion, which lasts for eight seconds. It completely removes need to manually light your gas grenades. Since you need to move to drop Ignited Ground, the loop is on find a package, fire your gas grenadesand roll into them to create a massive explosion. Apart from this you also get HPlittle of Fire resistanceand certain speed of movement. But some of you might find it annoying to play with less than 30% MSor rolls whenever you fire a gas grenade. |
|
|
A bit expensive compared to Birth of Fury Radiant Grief is a helmet that ignites all surrounding enemies. This makes the leveling process much smoother because you simply fire the gas grenades, watch everything explodeand move on to the next package. With the helmet you are free to use your best movement speed boots during the campaign. It also gives us some escape ratingwhich is one of our defensive layers. |
|
Death Rush |
Movement Speed is arguably one of the most useful stats in POE 2. As a mercenaryour only source of movement speed is on the boots. We don't have access to MS nodes on the passive tree and don't get Tailwind as a Ranger. If you have your elemental resistances sorted, we highly recommend with Death Rush like one of your rings. It will give you a lot HP leech, flat Evasion Ratingand Attack. |
Gear Stat Priority
Remember that when leveling check suppliers regularly for any gear upgrades. Sellers usually update their stocks after with a few levelsso it is generally recommended to visit them when you can. You too does not need a rare item in every slot. If you see a magic item with some HP, resistance, or attribute, keep it unless you get something better.
Crafting in Path of Exile 2 is nowhere near that complicated as it was in the first match. Make sure to do that use your Regal Orb, Orb of Alchemy, Exalted Orbetc. to meet something nice.
During the campaign you should just focus on getting HP, Elemental resistors, Manaand maybe some attributes on your equipment. Remember that your DPS dares directly with your weaponso always look for a better crossbow.
|
Gear |
Recommended base |
Statistics to look for |
|---|---|---|
|
Crossbow |
Bombard Crossbow, Expert Bombard Crossbow, Advanced Bombard Crossbow |
Increased physical damage, flat physical damage, flat elemental damage, attack speed |
|
Helmet |
N/A |
Radiant sadness |
|
Body armor |
|
Life, elemental resistance, armor, evasion |
|
Gloves |
|
Life, elemental resistance, armor |
|
Boots |
|
Movement speed, elemental resistance, life, attributes |
|
Calls |
Death Rush and an amethyst ring |
Elemental resistances, health, mana regeneration rate, attributes |
|
Belt |
Tool belt |
Elemental Resistance, Life, Armor |
|
Amulet |
Bloodstone Amulet |
Life, Mana regeneration rate, elemental resistances |
|
Runes |
N/A |
Elemental resistance, chaos resistance, increased armor and evasion, physical damage |
Rogue ArmorDon't forget to download articles with quality, Rune withdrawaletc. You can Save these items any city to get 
Artificer's Orb
, 
Armourer's Scrap
and 
The blacksmith's whetstone
.
Ascending order
Our choice of Ascendancy is Witch hunter. With this Ascendancy you get built–in explosions, Culling Strike, increased AOEincreased damage against inanimate enemiesand also some defenses. While doing the campaign, you will most likely complete the first two Ascendances. But if you want scale it in the playoffshere is the order of Ascendants you should take:
|
Dominance |
Effect |
|---|---|
|
Zealous Inquisition |
Explosions from this node will turn around smoothed out into a breeze. Try to get it as soon as you can. |
|
Compassionate killer |
This is coming increase your clear speed as well as only–target DPS. Culling Strike from this node will instantly kill enemies after them reach a specific HP threshold. |
|
Judge, Jury and Executioner |
This node gives you Decimating strikewhich lets your first hit hit an enemy at full HP remove some of their HP. This is incredible powerful against bosses. Note, however, that it does not work with so make sure you are not within range to apply an Ignite. |
|
Witchbane or compulsive rituals |
If you need defenseyou definitely should take compulsion rituals. Before you do it, but make sure to do it has about 10K combined Evasion and Armor. Alternatively, you can also choose Witchbane. |
Passive skill tree
The endgame skill tree can be seen in the screenshot above. But at the beginning of the campaign, travel to Instant Reload before anything else. After you unlock gas grenadesonly then take up nodes such as Cluster bombs, Repeated explosives, Volatile grenadesand Grenadier.
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Path Of Exile 2: Monk Leveling Build Guide
Get your monk through the campaign with this leveling build.
