5 Deadeye builds to try in Path of Exile 2 The Third Edict (0.3)

With each new Path of Exile 2 update, there’s a common question in everyone’s mind: What's the build to play this League? There are many new Skill and Support Gems coming to the game, along with several reworks of the old ones. If you saw the changes to Deadeye Ascendancy and are planning to build around it, we may have some suggestions.

Deadeye is one of the most popular Ascendancies for a League starter that excels in clear speed and damage at the cost of defense. That issue may also go away in Path of Exile patch 0.3 with the addition of the Deflection mechanic.

Note: These are not build guides. Furthermore, the suggestions are based on the writer's opinions.

---

Best Deadeye builds to try in Path of Exile 2: The Third Edict

Lightning Spear and a few other popular skills from the Dawn of the Hunt update are getting nerfed. With upcoming changes, several builds remain viable as a League starter for Deadeye. Here are our picks:

1) Lightning Arrow Deadeye

Lightning Arrow (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Ever since the game’s release, Lightning Arrow has been the best leveling build in Path of Exile 2 and can take you to the endgame without any issues. If you’ve never played as Deadeye, we highly recommend this build due to its ease of setup and low investment.

Main skills used in the build:

• Lightning Arrow
• Lightning Rod
• Barrage with Snipe

Together, Lightning Arrow and Rod can easily clear a group of enemies, and with patch 0.3 getting support for multiple copies of Support Gems, the build can be even stronger.

For bossing, Barrage will empower your Snipe to hit the boss like a truck. If you consume a Frenzy Charge, which is also getting much easier to generate with Deadeye, it can even one-shot several map bosses.

---

2) Lightning Spear Deadeye

Lightning Spear (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Lightning Spear was the most popular skill in patch 0.3 and is getting nerfed along with its go-to weapon, Tangletounge. The Skill was nerfed after dominating the Dawn of the Hunt update and does not gain any benefits from expending Frenzy Charges now, but the new Skill Gem, Ice-Tipped Arrows, may bring back the meta.

Main skills used in the build:

• Lightning Spear
• Heral of Thunder and Ice
• Ice-Tipped Arrows

Ice-Tipped Arrows empower the next barrageable bow or projectile spear attacks to create Ice Fragments. It is a new cold-based gameplay mechanic that detonates after a short duration, dealing damage in an AoE. The Frenzy Charges that seem useless for the build can reset this skill’s cooldown for more Fragment generation.

The signature weapon for Lightning Spear, Tangletounge, also received a nerf to its base critical chance from 10-20% to 5-8%. While massive, you can likely craft a better weapon using the new higher-tier currency coming with patch 0.3.

---

3) Ice Shot Deadeye

Ice Shot (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Since its release, Ice Shot has been outshone by other bow-based skills since freeze wasn’t as rewarding as other elemental ailments. However, that may change due to upcoming changes to the freeze debuff and the Ice Fragment mechanic.

Main skills used in the build:

• Ice Shot
• Snipe
• Freezing Salvo with Herald of Ice

Freezing Salvo is also getting a buff that lets you fire additional arrows based on the number of Ice Fragments on the ground. Additionally, the extra arrows will shoot towards the location of the fragments, giving you limited control over where the projectiles land.

Snipe consumes freeze on enemies to gain more damage, the bonus for which is more effective against bosses. With how easy it will stack freeze, each shot can take out a large chunk of health from bosses.

---

4) Spiral Volley Deadeye

Spiral Volley (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

While Warrior or Duelist players may have to wait for Grinding Gear Games to add Cyclone, Ranger already has a spin-to-win Skill Gem. The Spiral Volley fires arrows in all directions and deals additional damage when paired with Frenzy Charges.

Main skills used in the build:

• Spiral Volley
• Snipe
• Sniper's Mark

The basic idea is to get surrounded by enemies and fire Spiral Volley while you have Frenzy Charges to deal additional damage. Paired with Thrilling Chase Ascendancy passive, you get the benefit of two from one when the Skill consumes a charge.

As for Snipe, it is there for boss damage, as more than half of your projectiles from Spiral Volley will fly in random directions. While Path of Exile 2’s patch 0.3 is taking away the guaranteed critical hit from the skill, it is receiving a massive damage bonus. Stack critical chance from external sources for giga damage.

---

5) Explosive Shot Deadeye

Explosive Shot (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Bows aren’t the only thing a Ranger can use in Path of Exile 2. A little investment in Strength stat will allow you to wield a Crossbow and use Explosive Shot. Deadeye’s Ascendancy passive applies to all projectile-based attacks, allowing any Crossbow build to also benefit from nodes like Endless Munitions.

Main skills used in the build:

• Explosive Shot
• Explosive or Cluster Grenade
• Armour Piercing Rounds

A special ability of Explosive Shot is to detonate any grenade it hits. When paired with Support Gems like Magnified Effect, it will have a bigger AoE that can explode all your Explosive or Cluster Grenades with Long Fuse support. With a proper build paired with Armour Piercing Rounds, you should be able to nuke bosses.

The process of setting up grenades and exploding them may take some time. However, with patch 0.3 removing the movement penalty during reload and changing munitions, the overall gameplay should be much better. Use modifiers like increased Crossbow Reload Speed for mobbing.

---

Check out our other guides and articles on Path of Exile 2:

• Path of Exile 2: 5 biggest changes in patch 0.3, The Third Edict
• Path of Exile 2 The Third Edict: 0.3 walks back all the Skill nerfs in 0.2, and then some
• Path of Exile 2's Support Gem rule change in 0.3 is a big buff to all builds
• Path of Exile 2 The Third Edict: Biggest expected features that didn't make the cut
• Path of Exile 2 Rise of the Abyssal League mechanics, explained