5 off-meta builds to try in Path of Exile 2 Dawn of The Hunt

Path of Exile 2's Dawn of the Hunt league has brought about nerfs to a good number popular skills. With these changes came new meta builds that climbed the popularity board in a matter of days. But what if you don’t want to play the same build as everyone else, or have already completed the endgame for this league?

One of the best things about Path of Exile is the wide variety of builds you can choose from. If you don’t want to play the meta, you can opt for something fun and good enough to take you through most of the content.

Playing an off-meta build is ideal if you play the title casually at your own pace, rather than rushing to the endgame. This article lists five of the best off-meta builds to try out.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

Best off-meta builds to try in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt

Here are five off-meta builds you can try in Path of Exile 2 Dawn of the Hunt.

Note: These are simply build suggestions with skills and recommended support gems.

1) Explosive Shot Mercenary

Explosive Shot Mercenary (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Mercenary was one of the most popular classes upon Path of Exile 2’s release, thanks to the Crossbow and skills associated with the weapon. Among those skills, the Explosive Shot was quite powerful.

The gameplay loop is simple: Shoot an exploding arrow and let the effects from different Herald buffs take care of the group of enemies. Gear can mostly focus on survivability, barring the Crossbow.

Note that running multiple Herald buffs at the same time will require a decent amount of Spirit, so try to get an extra Spirit affix on your amulet.

Core Skills

Explosive Shot: Scattershot - Martial Tempo
Herald of Ash: Fire Penetration
Herald of Thunder: Lightning Penetration - Culling Strike
Herald of Ice: Cold Infusion - Cold Penetration

2) Spiral Volley Deadeye

Ranger gameplay (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

If you don’t feel like aiming, we suggest going with a Spiral Volley build. This is another skill for quickly clearing the entire screen — it was recently buffed to deal more damage with Frenzy Charges.

When paired with other skills like Stormcaller Arrow and Herald of Thunder, it is one of the best map-clearing builds in the game. There are, however, a few downsides, as the skill is only available after reaching level 52 and requires a good setup for single-target or boss damage.

Core Skills

Spiral Volley: Perpetual Charge - Ricochet
Combat Frenzy: Profusion
Stormcaller Arrow: Martial Tempo
Herald of Thunder: Lightning Penetration - Culling Strike

Also read: Path of Exile 2 Culling Strikes and Power Charges, explained

3) Fireball Icewall Stormweaver

Sorceress Fireball (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

The Fireball and Icewall combo is one of the easiest builds to get into, as both skills are available early. The gameplay loop consists of you dropping a Frost Wall and damaging it using Fireball until the wall breaks, as it is the main source of damage.

To make things easier, use Icicle to lower the wall's HP and use Frost Bomb with Spell Echo. Note that this build is on the slower side when it comes to clearing maps, but can deal good single-target damage.

Core Skills

Frost Wall: Icicle - Glaciation - Spell Cascade
Fireball: Scattershot - Unleash - Ricochet - Wildshards
Frost Bomb: Magnified Effect - Fast Forward - Spell Echo
Hypothermia: Persistence - Heightened Curse
Cast on Freeze: Comet - Impetus - Inspiration

4) Detonate Dead Infernalist

Detonate Dead Infernalist (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Detonate Dead was a very powerful build before the Path of Exile patch 0.2.0 — you could one-shot bosses like The Arbiter of Ash. Its power has been halved post-patch, which isn’t surprising, but the skill is still fun.

The normal gameplay loop consists of you casting Detonante Dead on a corpse and chaining the skill among a group of enemies. However, finding a corpse can be difficult during boss fights, so make use of Sacrifice to use your minions as corpses.

Core Skills

Detonante Dead: Arcane Tempo - Magnified Effect - Spell Echo - Corpse Conservation
Sacrifice: Clarity
Skeletal Warrior: Meat Shield - Minion Mastery
Skeletal Cleric: Ingenuity - Last Gasp
Soul Offering: Persistence - Ablation

5) Totem Warrior

Ancestral Warrior Totem (Image via YouTube @lytylisius || Grinding Gear Games)

Witches and Sorceresses shouldn’t be the only ones who get minions, and with Warbringer Ascendency changes, using Totem skills is now much more viable. You can have an army of ancestral minions using the Answered Call passive node.

Answered Call will summon an extra minion to deal even better AoE damage. For movement, use Leap Slam or Shield Charge, and to increase survivability, select Turtle Charm from the Ascendency passive.

Core Skills

Ancestral Spirits: Meat Shield
Ancestral Warrior Totem: Sunder - Heavy Swing - Heft
Time of Need: Fast Forward
Leap Slam: Holy Descent

Check out our other guides on Path of Exile 2:

About the author

Mayank Singh Rathour is an MMO writer at Sportskeeda. He graduated from college with a degree in Business Administration and has over two years of experience as an esports journalist.

Mayank was introduced to gaming at an early age and played Contra, Double Dragon, Castlevania, etc., on his Nintendo DS. When he was a little older, Counter-Strike — a title that majorly helped develop his passion for gaming — became his favorite pastime. Though he's played a bunch of games since then, his love of CS has remained strong. Shroud, a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro, is an inspiration to him. He's also a fan of series' esports scene, following teams like Vitality, NAVI, and The Mongols closely.

When Mayank has some free time, he plays basketball and helps people build PCs.

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Edited by Dinesh Renthlei