The POE Ranger build is one of the most popular Path of Exile classes. And while each of its ascendancies has its own pros and cons, the Deadeye is arguably the best choice if you want a more direct approach to dealing projectile-based damage. Mix that damage with an element that gives much utility and you get the Ice Shot Deadeye. Time to spend those PoE Orbs–it’s time to start building!
Maintaining the Cold Chain
First things first, the Path of Exile tree build. For that, check out https://pastebin.com/4ffJddmr. Now let’s go to the two principles behind the Ice Shot Deadeye: physical to cold conversion and chain. The former is a part of the core skill, Ice Shot. And as the term suggests, it is all about turning your physical damage into cold damage. Aside from the elemental damage, enemies also get chilled, slowing them down in the process.
The other property projectiles have in the game is Chain. If a projectile has this particular property, it will bounce off to a nearby enemy after hitting the first target. This will continue until it hits the number of chains indicated in the weapon or skill that gives this property. When ranked by priority, chain is third, and what precedes it are pierce and fork. This means that if projectiles also get those aforementioned properties, they will behave according to those two properties first until it hits the number of enemies indicated; only then will the projectile stop chaining.
Not Just About Being Cool
With the build hinging on those two things, it’s no surprise that the core skill gem, Ice Shot, is supported by the following gems: Elemental Damage with Attacks, Chain, Added Cold Damage, Increased Critical Strikes, and Damage on Full Life. For even more damage, it has the buffs Herald of Ice, Grace, Hatred, and the Mirage Archer support, as well as the debuffs Assassin’s Mark and Curse on Hit support gem.
On the other hand, for spells related to utility, it has Inspiration, Scourge Arrow, and Immortal Call with Call When Damage Taken and Increased Duration support gems. Lastly, for mobility, it has Blink Arrow.
Geared for the Temperature
Now let’s move on to PoE Bows. The most important one is the Death Opus. Aside from increased physical damage, attack speed, critical strike chance, it also fires two additional arrows. For the body, Hyrri’s Ire is perfect. Aside from the bonuses to dodging, it also gives you more cold damage. Complementing it is the unique quiver Hyrri’s Demise as it gives 1 to 2 cold damage per dexterity as well as bonus attack speed and AoE.
For defensive reasons, use the Starkonja’s Head as it’s got increased global PoE evasion when low on life, evasion rating, and global critical strike chance. As for gloves and boots, pick Rare ones with bonuses to life, elemental resistances, and evasion or you can buy using PoE Currency. For the belt, the Headhunter is a good choice as it gives bonuses to strength, dexterity, life, increased damage to rare monsters, and will even allow you to get that monster’s modifiers.
For accessories, have the Gloomfang as your amulet. It increases elemental damage with attacks, and non-chaos damage as gain chaos damage per chain, but at the cost of losing 10 life for enemies hit by spells, and 22 life for those hit with physical attacks. For your ring, one should be The Taming, which will give you bonus elemental damage and resistances, chance to shock, ignite, and freeze, and extra damage to enemies under those ailments. The other should be a rare ring with bonuses to maximum mana, elemental resistances, elemental damage for skills, and life gained for every enemy hit.
Lastly, for flasks, have a life flask of staunching to prevent or cure bleeding, a quicksilver flask for increased movement speed, and a diamond flask for increased critical rate. For the PoE unique flasks, have Atziri’s Promise for chaos resistance and chaos damage, and Dying Sun for increased fire resistance and bonus projectile.
There you have it, the Path of Exile Iceshot Deadeye! Make sure to try it out because you’re sure to hit the mark with this one. Can someone say…bulls-ice?
