Path of Exile 2: Explosive Grenade Gas Grenade Ranger Leveling Build Guide

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2), the much-awaited sequel to the beloved action RPG, continues the legacy of complex character builds and intense combat. Among the many potential playstyles, the Explosive Grenade Gas Grenade Ranger offers a unique and engaging way to clear mobs and face challenging endgame content. With its explosive area-of-effect (AoE) damage and poison-based debuff mechanics, this build is both satisfying and effective. Additionally, utilizing PoE 2 Currency efficiently to craft your gear and acquire the necessary resources can make the journey much smoother. This guide will walk you through creating a strong Ranger build focused on Explosive Grenades and Gas Grenades, two potent skills that allow for explosive AoE damage and crowd control.

Core Concept: Explosive Grenade and Gas Grenade Skills

The Explosive Grenade skill in PoE 2 launches a grenade that causes massive area damage upon impact. This damage scales with increased AoE and area damage modifiers, making it perfect for clearing large packs of enemies. The grenade also benefits from projectile scaling, so boosting projectile damage further increases its effectiveness.

The Gas Grenade works similarly, but with the added bonus of poison or chaos damage over time. Upon detonation, Gas Grenades create a lingering cloud of poison that damages enemies over a prolonged period. This additional DoT (damage over time) effect works well in tandem with your primary Explosive Grenades. While the latter offers burst damage, Gas Grenades provide sustained damage and allow you to keep enemies at bay, creating a dynamic synergy between burst and lingering damage.

Together, the Explosive and Gas Grenade skills form a powerful duo capable of clearing enemies swiftly while maintaining constant pressure on more resilient foes.

Leveling the Ranger: Early and Mid-Game

The early stages of this build will see you primarily relying on Explosive Grenades as your main source of damage. While the scaling of Gas Grenade can be a bit slower, it becomes far more powerful as you progress through the game and enhance your poison damage nodes.

Passive Skill Tree

As a Ranger, you'll want to prioritize the following key aspects when planning your passive skill tree:

Projectile Damage-This boosts the damage of your Explosive Grenade projectiles, making them hit harder.

Explosive Damage-Specifically designed for grenade builds, this node enhances your AoE damage, making each grenade more lethal.

AoE Damage-Increasing the area of effect ensures that your grenades cover more ground, hitting more enemies at once.

Chaos/Poison Damage-Gas Grenades rely heavily on poison damage, so scaling poison or chaos damage will significantly boost the effectiveness of this skill.

The Witch and Shadow ascendancy classes are ideal for a poison-based damage-over-time playstyle. Focus on nodes that enhance AoE radius and damage over time effects, as these will help both grenades hit harder and cover more ground.

Gem Setup

For Explosive Grenade, your primary skill setup should include:

Explosive Grenade + Multiple Projectiles (for wider spread) + Increased AoE or Concentrated Effect (to boost the grenade's impact).

This setup ensures that your grenades cover a large area and hit multiple enemies, making clearing swarms of mobs a breeze.

For Gas Grenade, you'll want to link it with:

Gas Grenade + Poison Support or Chaos Damage Over Time Support.

These gems augment the poison damage over time effects of the Gas Grenade, allowing you to deal sustained damage to enemies while the gas cloud lingers. The poison effect makes it easier to whittle down enemy health, especially when you're dealing with tougher foes in mid-game.

Defensive Layering

Rangers are not the tankiest characters in PoE 2, so survival is a priority. To stay alive while clearing large groups of enemies or fighting bosses, consider the following defensive strategies:

Movement Skills-Movement is key to survival. Dash or Flame Dash allow you to quickly reposition and avoid incoming damage.

Evasion-Focus on Evasion nodes in your passive tree to make it harder for enemies to land hits on you.

Energy Shield-While not as common in Ranger builds, investing in Energy Shield nodes can provide a decent buffer against enemy damage, especially in tougher encounters.

Additionally, equipping gear with high Evasion and Energy Shield will give you extra durability as you progress through the campaign.

End-Game Considerations: Scaling Damage and Surviving Bosses

As you approach the endgame content of PoE 2, the synergy between Explosive and Gas Grenades becomes incredibly potent when properly scaled. The key to success in the endgame is gearing up with items that enhance your Chaos Damage, AoE Damage, and Poison Damage.

Gear and Modifiers

Look for gear that boosts the following:

Chaos Damage-Vital for increasing the damage of your Gas Grenades.

AoE Damage-Boosts the area of effect of your Explosive Grenades.

Poison Damage-The more poison damage you can scale, the better your Gas Grenades will perform.

Cluster Jewels are a great option for adding additional damage and utility to your grenades. Look for ones that grant poison, chaos, or AoE-related modifiers. If possible, aim to find a Cluster Jewel that grants passive skills that enhance the specific aspects of your build. The more specialized your gear, the more powerful your grenades become.

Boss Fights and Endgame Strategy

Bosses in PoE 2 tend to have high resistance to damage, so you'll need to adapt your strategy when taking them on. Gas Grenades become a critical tool here, as they inflict poison damage over time, allowing you to keep the boss poisoned throughout the fight. Here are some tips for boss encounters:

Flask Mods: Equip flasks with mods that increase your Chaos Resistance and Movement Speed. This will help you withstand boss damage while staying mobile enough to dodge attacks.

Kite the Boss: While your Explosive Grenades will deal good burst damage, Gas Grenades will keep the boss poisoned. Use your mobility to kite the boss, maintaining distance while the poison damage slowly drains its health.

Maximize AoE: Since many bosses summon minions or create adds during fights, maximizing your AoE damage will help clear out these adds quickly, allowing you to focus on the boss itself.

Conclusion

The Explosive Grenade Gas Grenade Ranger build in Path of Exile 2 offers a high-explosive, poison-infused playstyle that's satisfying for both clearing swarms of enemies and taking on the toughest bosses. With careful passive tree planning, smart gem choices, and solid gearing, this build can become a powerhouse both in early and late game. Be ready to adapt your strategies depending on your enemies, and soon, you'll see the carnage unfold in your wake!

In the late game, gearing up with the right items and optimizing your skill gems and flasks can make a huge difference. If you're struggling to get the perfect gear, consider using PoE 2 Currency to buy valuable items or buy PoE 2 Orbs to craft the ultimate setup for your explosive Ranger build. With the right preparation, you'll be able to dominate both large packs of enemies and tough endgame bosses with ease. Happy hunting!