Best Path of Exile 2 Mercenary build

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The best POE 2 merc build is focused on armor, evasion, frost and fire

Path of Exile 2 Classes
(Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

The best Path of Exile 2 Mercenary build takes the crossbow and grenades the character is known for and bolsters them to breaking point with frost and fire modifiers, resulting in one of most powerful builds in POE 2. This will handily carry any player through the early and mid game towards the Witch Hunter Ascendency, at which point you can really start flexing and experimenting with builds and loadouts accordingly. We'll go into the best POE 2 Mercenary Witch Hunter build below, and how you can make it for yourself.

Best Mercenary build in Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2 Mercenary build

(Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

The best POE 2 Mercenary build focuses on the following elements:

  • Elemental damage (mainly frost and fire) in crossbow and grenade skills
  • Focusing on defensive evasion, mobility and armor

With these elements you can then work towards the Witch Hunter ascendancy and all the prizes therein. We have to credit Mobalytics user FearlessDumbo for inspiring many of the choices behind this build, and providing the central point around which the build can be tested and experimented with.

The key here is that the Mercenary is capable of ridiculous damage at range, so by leaning into that with some clever skill synergies, not to mention protecting yourself from the melee enemies that manage to get through your barrage, you can pretty decisively prove why the Merc is top of the list in the Path of Exile 2 class tier list. If you want to build towards it yourself, here's the key skills, equipment for your loadout, and more besides.

  • Equipment
    • Weapon: Crossbow (Physical Damage/Attack Speed/Reloading/Fire/Frost)
    • Head: Helm (Armor/Evasion)
    • Body: Explorer Armor (prioritise evasion/energy shield buffs)
    • Hands: Mitts/Gauntlets (attack speed/health and mana leech/damage increase)
    • Belt: Max life/defense buffs
    • Boots: Sabatons/Leggings (movement speed/armor/evasion)
    • Amulet: Armor/Evasion/defense/Strength and Dex buff
  • Skill Gems
    • Crossbow Shot
    • Explosive Grenade: Frostfire/Primal Armament/Concentrated Effect/Eternal Flame/Searing Flame
    • Permafrost Bolts: Glaciation/Deep Freeze/Ice Bite
    • Explosive Shot: Wildfire/Nimble Reload
    • Flash Grenade: Brutality
    • High Velocity Rounds: Scattershot/Double Barrel/Execute
    • Galvanic Shards: Lightning Infusion/Pierce
  • Passive Skills
    • Work towards Reload Speed, Grenade effects, Crossbow buffs, Strength and Dexterity buffs
  • Ascendencies
    • Witch Hunter
      • Zealous Inquisition
      • Pitiless Killer
      • Witchbane

The way to play here is by keeping a constant distance and using your grenades and crossbow to hold the enemy at bay - frost to freeze them and fire to maintain damage. A near-constant barrage of fire should eventually be possible, while your armor should keep you safe from any that break through the line. Later on you'll want to lean even more into the freezing and ignition status effects, and make you know how to trade in Path of Exile 2 wisely - the right crossbow can make or break a build like this.

Want to go from long-range to close quarters? We've also got the best Path of Exile 2 Monk build for you to try out, based around sparking lightning damage and the Invoker ascendency.

© 12DOVE. Not to be reproduced without permission

Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.

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