4 Best Builds in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt
18.03.2025 - 15:54:47
Game Guides , Path of Exile 2
GGG is set to release Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt on April 4. While the company has already revealed the new support gems, unique items, and other things that are coming in Patch 0.2.0, they still haven’t disclosed any new information with regard to the balancing changes.
Still, this did not stop us from speculating about the possible best builds in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.2.0. So in this article, we will provide you with what we believe to be the cream of the crop builds in the next major update of the game.
But before that, we invite you to go to our PoE 2 Store, where you can get your supply of various PoE 2 currency, uniques, and rare items! If you buy multiple items, you will get exclusive discounts that you cannot get anywhere else! So, what are you waiting for?
Best Builds in PoE 2 Patch 0.2.0
Stampede Titan
The first entry on our list is the Stampede Titan. This thing is a monster when it comes to mowing down enemies. Stampede itself might be clunky to use at first, but you will certainly get the hang of it over time.
Now, why do we think the Stampede Titan is one of the best builds in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt? Well, we truly believe that there is a huge chance the Herald Skills—particularly Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder—are going to get nerfed next patch. That is because almost all PoE 2 builds use it due to their power to clear enemy packs with relative ease.
We’ve been fans of the original game for quite some time and if there’s one thing we know about GGG, it is that the company vehemently dislikes mechanics that are too overpowered.
Despite the impending nerfs to Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder, we believe that Stampede only gets better from here on out. Why is that, you ask? Well, we have a couple of theories.
First, Stampede is already doing great from a damage standpoint, but its performance in that department is affected by its rather clunky movement. In case you don’t know, Stampede has a split-second delay before you go rushing forward.
Second, it is a bit hard to maneuver your character when you move with Stampede. Hence, mastering the skill does require you to get used to its mechanics.
The issues that plague Stampede right now are fixable. There’s a huge chance that they will be resolved in Patch 0.2.0 given that Jonathan Rogers—one of the game directors for Path of Exile 2—loves playing the Titan ascendancy class more than anything.
Another reason why we think the Stampede Titan will be one of the best builds in PoE 2 Patch 0.2.0 is due to the addition of Battershout. This new support gem allows you to trigger physical damage explosions when you use a warcry near enemies with fully broken armor. If you want to learn more about Battershout, we highly recommend that you read our new support gems in Patch 0.2.0 article for more information.
Battershout does not work on its own because it can only cause explosions when nearby monsters have their armor fully broken. Fortunately, Stampede can be enhanced by Splinter Support, which enables you to break the enemy’s armor quickly and easily!
If that still does not wow you, wait until you see the addition of The Hammer of Faith. This is a new unique item in Patch 0.2.0 that provides a random shrine buff every 10 seconds. You couple that with another rare two-handed mace with a high amount of physical damage and you have a melee powerhouse that can deal with any threat!
Galvanic Shards Witch Hunter
The Witch Hunter ascendancy class holds a lot of promise but is currently being overshadowed by his brethren, the Gemling Legionnaire. We think that will no longer be the case in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt because the Witch Hunter can utilize a new unique item in the form of The Deepest Tower.
For those who do not know, The Deepest Tower is a new unique item in PoE 2 Patch 0.2.0 that causes enemies near you to be considered as “being on low life.” You might think that this is pretty useless but wait until you see why that particular condition can help the Witch Hunter rise to the top.
You see, there are certain nodes on the passive tree that significantly increase your damage against low-life monsters. For instance, the “Finishing Blows” notable passive skill increases your damage by 60% and stun build-up by 30% against enemies that are on low life. If that is not good enough for you, the small nodes found in this cluster provide a 30% damage increase each!
Nodes that have a similar effect can be found in the Witch Hunter’s ascendancy passive tree as well. The minor nodes leading to “Pitiless Killer” and “Judge, Jury, and Executioner” grant an additional 35% increased damage for each one!
Okay, those are good and all, but why Galvanic Shards? If this is your first foray into Path of Exile 2, Galvanic Shards was actually a pretty good leveling skill until people understood how attribute-stacking works.
Galvanic Shards is an awesome clearing ability, which is able to defeat multiple enemies quickly thanks to its fast firing rate and good damage output. Now, imagine if this Witch Hunter wears The Deepest Tower. There is no enemy—regular monster or pinnacle boss—that can stand in his way!
Just outfit the Galvanic Shards Witch Hunter with a couple of Breach Rings that have increased lightning damage and an Ingenuity belt for maximum benefit! Supplement this with the Hand of Wisdom and Action and you’ll have a Galvanic Shards Witch Hunter who can clear all content!
Detonate Dead Infernalist
The Skeletal Sniper, with its ability to destroy enemies even off-screen, has a huge chance to be nerfed in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt. Do you know what skill in the Infernalist's arsenal is less likely to suffer the same fate next patch? Detonate Dead!
Detonate Dead is a fire-based spell that deals quite a lot of damage. Despite its power, it is locked behind a condition where you can only use it on corpses. Well, you are playing Path of Exile 2, so you know that there are some quirky interactions that you can take advantage of!
By leveraging the aptly named Sacrifice Skill, you can use Detonate Dead on your minions! In this case, you will be sacrificing the Skeletal Brute since they have the highest amount of HP among other minion skills. Detonate Dead's damage calculation, for those who do not know, is based on 20% of the corpse's maximum life. Hence, you need something that has a relatively large HP for maximum damage output.
In addition, there is another unique item called the Prism Guardian, which will be available in Patch 0.2.0. This unique shield grants one point of additional Spirit per 50 of your maximum life. So, if you have 4,000 HP, that translates to 80 Spirit! With this shield, you can summon one more Skeletal Brute and a couple of Skeletal Clerics to make this build run smoother than before!
Of course, you will need a competent rare sceptre, preferably with a high amount of Spirit, "+5 to All Minion Skills," and "Allies in Your Presence Have % Increased Maximum Life." Luckily, you can buy such a sceptre in our PoE 2 Store!
Flicker Strike Invoker
The Ice Strike Invoker and Tempest Flurry Invoker are two incredible builds in Path of Exile 2 right now, specifically if you are playing the Monk Class. The main reason why they are quite popular is that they can easily destroy even large packs of monsters with the help of Herald Skills like Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder.
Now, the Flicker Strike Invoker also uses those herald skills, but the thing that you have to realize here is that the build does not heavily rely on them. In other words, you can easily deactivate Herald of Ice, for example, and the Flicker Strike Invoker will still work absolutely fine.
You are probably wondering why we are confident in that assumption. Despite GGG's penchant for nerfing overpowered skills, we believe that Flicker Strike is safe from getting nerfed for a few good reasons.
For one, Flicker Strike is a highly conditional skill because of its reliance on Power Charges to hit additional enemies. Since this requires some build-up prior to the use of the said skill, it is unlikely to get obliterated by negative balancing adjustments.
Apart from that, Flicker Strike's true power comes from the right quarterstaff and the Polcirkeln ring. The quarterstaff must have increased attack speed, critical hit chance, and critical damage bonus as its explicit mods, which makes the weapon expensive. If this is relatively out of reach for the majority of players, then GGG won't have a compelling reason to nerf Flicker Strike to the ground.
And lastly, the skill itself can be nauseating, especially when used on a large group of enemies. You need to acquaint yourself with the skill before you become immune to how crazy it looks as you zoom around the map!
While we get that there is a huge chance that GGG will nerf some aspects of the Invoker, we still believe Flicker Strike to be an awesome skill nevertheless.
For instance, if "Lead Me Through Grace" would require a bit more energy shield or evasion to get a point of Spirit, which leads to the inevitable decrease in your overall Spirit resource, you can safely deactivate Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder and the build will still perform really well.
How about the massive damage increase when activating Unbound Avatar? What if that gets rebalanced? Fortunately, Unbound Avatar is like icing on the cake, meaning, it's just utilized to complement the already amazing capabilities of Flicker Strike.
The only thing we can think of that would gimp the performance of this build is if GGG would replace some of the nodes with entirely new ones. Until then, we truly believe that the Flicker Strike Invoker is one of the best builds in PoE 2 Patch 0.2.0!
Final Thoughts
With Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt just a couple of weeks away, we think that the four builds we have discussed in this article will rise to the top.
The Stampede Titan will most likely get favorable balancing adjustments, especially considering that one of the game’s directors plays this particular ascendancy class. Stampede just requires a couple of tweaks to be truly awesome, and we think those are coming in Patch 0.2.0.
Because of the addition of a new unique item in the game's next major update, we might see the resurgence of the Galvanic Shards Witch Hunter in Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt. The Mercenary’s easy access to nodes that provide "increased damage against enemies on low life" will allow him to decimate any monster in the game, including pinnacle bosses like Xesht and The King in the Mists!
Detonate Dead is an already damaging skill right now and it only gets better in Patch 0.2.0. The Prism Guardian, which is one of the unique items in the game, can give the Infernalist additional Spirit, thus enabling her to summon even more minions to do her bidding! That means, for this build in particular, you can summon another Skeletal Brute that you can explode with DD, and a couple of additional Skeletal Clerics to bring them back to life shortly after.
Then, there’s the Flicker Strike Invoker. With the inevitable nerf to Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder, this build should still perform admirably well, provided that you have the best items equipped.
Speaking of which, you can always head to our PoE 2 Store to get all of the items that you need. Do bookmark it so that you can easily revisit us in the future!
With that said, do you agree with our picks for the best builds in PoE 2 Patch 0.2.0? If so, which build are you going to use and why? Do let us know in the comments!