PoE 2 Lightning Arrow Deadeye Build Guide

Ben Author

Created - 16.02.2025 Updated - 04.03.2025

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Do you want to breeze through maps armed with lightning-infused arrows to electrocute enemies to death in Path of Exile 2? If so, you might want to take a look at the Lightning Arrow Deadeye.

This build is capable of demolishing six-mod rare monsters and those that come from Breach quite easily thanks to a combination of skills and mechanics. The Lightning Arrow Deadeye is also strong against pinnacle content, so much so that it's often being used by Trial of the Sekhemas carries due to its insane power and mobility.

So, if you're interested in creating the Lightning Arrow Deadeye build in PoE 2, then join us! And, if you like to use all of the items that will be outlined in this article, head to our PoE 2 Store immediately!

Why Play the Lightning Arrow Deadeye?

The Lightning Arrow Deadeye has so much potential. You can play it as a starter build that will allow you to farm copious amounts of PoE 2 Currency to use on your other characters (if you wish to do so in the future).

This build utilizes two skills to eliminate the enemy. The first is, of course, the titular Lightning Arrow. This skill deals direct damage, converting 40% of your physical damage to lightning damage when it hits the enemy. After hitting the target, Lightning Arrow fires lightning beams that chain and hit nearby enemies in the process.

The second skill that you will use quite frequently is Lightning Rod. What this does is it prompts you to launch several arrows into the sky, which will land shortly after. Once they're on the ground, they create bursts of lightning whenever other skills chain to them. That said, to maximize the lightning bursts, you use either Lightning Arrow or Orb of Storms to do that.

Now, the Lightning Arrow Deadeye has two versions: non-crit and crit. This PoE 2 build guide will talk about the non-crit version because there are multiple avenues for item upgrades later down the line. The crit version is not bad at all. In fact, we recommend that variant for those who have a modest budget. So, it's really up to you which one you will ultimately choose because both of them work really well.

Take note that the Lightning Arrow Deadeye does require a bit of investment, especially when you add the more expensive jewels. Each piece of gear that's needed by this Path of Exile 2 build is going to be discussed further later in the build guide, so stick around to learn more! Check our PoE 2 Divine Orbs bundle if you need some currency to purchase gear.

This build utilizes skills that deal elemental damage, but why does it go for the Deadeye ascendancy class instead of the Pathfinder? Well, even though this ascendancy class does not have any elemental damage nodes, it does have passive skills that improve projectiles in some way.

Since enemies in Path of Exile 2 are more likely to get close to you, allocating Point Blank makes sense. This is because it increases your projectile damage significantly against targets that are within close proximity.

Endless Munitions is pretty much a no-brainer for Ranger Builds in PoE 2. Why? This ascendancy node just straight-up lets you fire an additional projectile without any downsides. Couple this with the Dualstring Bow and you'll be firing three lightning arrows and lightning rods at a time!

Gathering Winds enables you to gain a stackable buff known as Tailwind. This works a bit differently in PoE 2 than in PoE 1, where Tailwind provides 3% skill speed, 1% movement speed, and 15% evasion rating per stack, up to a maximum of 10 stacks. If you're wondering what skill speed is, it basically makes your skills work a lot smoother like being able to fire Lightning Arrow faster.

The Ranger class is a proficient mapper that is capable of eliminating monsters easily. However, it has one flaw—it’s a bit squishy compared to the Warrior or the Mercenary. Fortunately, the Deadeye can somehow rectify that thanks to Wind Ward, which is an ascendancy node that reduces the damage you take depending on your Tailwind stacks.

That said, you should take the ascendancy nodes in the following order:

1. Point Blank
2. Endless Munitions
3. Gathering Winds
4. Wind Ward

In terms of gearing the Lightning Arrow Deadeye, look for any of the following modifiers:

• Increased Physical Damage
• Added Physical Damage
• Added Lightning Damage
• Added Cold Damage to Attacks
• + to Level of All Projectile Skills
• Increased Attack Speed
• Bow Attacks Fire Additional Arrows
• Increased Critical Hit Chance
• Increased Critical Damage Bonus (Crit mods should only be when playing the crit version of the build)
• Increased Projectile Speed (with Feathered Fletching)
• Increased Evasion
• Increased Energy Shield (if wearing hybrid evasion-ES gear)
• + to Dexterity
• + to Intelligence
• + to All Attributes
• Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance
• + to All Elemental Resistance

Playstyle

The Lightning Arrow Deadeye is great for both beginners and PoE 2 veterans alike. You simply use Lightning Arrow if you want to kill regular map monsters. When you are surrounded, utilize Lightning Rod and cast Orb of Storms directly on top of the rods when they're on the ground. This will activate the burst of lightning damage from Lightning Rod, which should make quick work of any map monster out there.

You will use the same rotation when fighting bosses as well. However, before the boss fight starts, establish numerous lightning rods on the ground. Once the encounter begins, cast Orb of Storms and see the magic happen!

For improving mobility, the cheapest option is to equip a shield and then just use Shield Charge to traverse the map. If you are going to do this, bind Shield Charge to weapon set 2 only so that every time you use the skill, it automatically changes your bow and arrow into a shield to perform it.

If you have enough Spirit, you can use Blink. Don’t forget to activate Blink whenever you slot it into your skill gems. Blink effectively replaces your Dodge Roll with a short-range teleport. You need about 60 Spirit to enable this. Read our PoE 2 Spirit Guide to learn more about how to get more of this resource.

Lightning Arrow Deadeye Gear Recommendations

When it comes to gear, you can make the Lightning Arrow Deadeye work admirably so long as you have the right modifiers. We will tell you which modifiers you need to look for so that you'll get the most out of this PoE 2 build.

Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to copy the exact same modifiers on each item; just a combination of several modifiers should be enough for a piece of gear to be viable. Furthermore, if you really want the best mods available, you will need a ton of PoE 2 Divine Orbs for that, so temper your expectations if you don’t have an unlimited budget.

Another thing to take note of is that we are going to tell you the items needed for the non-crit version of the build since this is what the vast majority of players are using.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the best items for the Lightning Arrow Deadeye:

Weapon

Despite the many bow types available in Path of Exile 2, you'll still end up using the Dualstring Bow. This particular weapon has that incredible implicit modifier that allows you to fire an additional arrow with every attack. When you have the Dualstring Bow on hand, you will always fire more lightning arrows and lightning rods as a result!

Having said that, you want your Dualstring Bow to have a couple of physical damage modifiers along with some added lightning damage. The reason why this weapon should still have physical damage modifiers is that Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod convert physical damage to lightning damage with every use. This means that the higher your total physical damage is, the more devastating your primary skills become.

For the suffixes, you want attack speed, level of projectile skills, and mana per enemy killed. The last mod is a lifesaver, especially when mapping. That’s because utilizing Lightning Rod, Orb of Storms, and Cast on Shock can severely deplete your mana pool in a few seconds if you don’t have the said modifier.

Take note that the projectile skills mod also raises the mana cost of your skills. So, if you find yourself struggling to maintain mana, you can replace that mod with dexterity instead.

The Expert Dualstring Bow is your endgame weapon for the Lightning Arrow Deadeye. The only weapon that can rival its power is a corrupted Widowhail that has more than 290% increased bonuses gained from your equipped quiver. It goes without saying that you need to get an equally good quiver if you want to get the most out of the Widowhail.

Quiver

What constitutes a good quiver for the Lightning Arrow Deadeye? Well, this quiver must have attack speed, projectile speed, and cold damage to attacks. Projectile Speed is turned into bow damage due to Feathered Fletching. If you have a 45% increased projectile speed on your quiver, for example, that translates to a proportional increase in bow damage!

If you are asking why there is a cold damage to attacks modifier on the quiver, the answer is you need some of that to proc Herald of Ice more consistently. When you have Widowhail or a bunch of jewels that improve the bonuses you get from your equipped quiver, then you don’t need the modifier anywhere else on your gear to make HOI work.

This quiver also has “+2 to Level of All Projectile Skills.” That number is increased beyond two whenever you populate your passive tree with jewels that increase quiver bonuses gained. If you have trouble with the commensurate increase in mana cost when utilizing your skills, then the “Gain Mana Per Enemy Killed” modifier becomes even more important.

What if you don’t want the additional projectile skill levels? If you are playing the non-crit version of the build, you can go for DEX instead. For the crit version, the increased critical damage bonus modifier is awesome.

Body Armor

A pure evasion body armor like the Expert Studded Vest is actually very good for the Lightning Arrow Deadeye. You can have a couple of evasion mods here, as well as elemental or chaos resistance.

Some players like to have some energy shield as an additional defensive layer. After all, having high amounts of evasion does not guarantee that you don’t get hit; it just makes you less likely to get damaged by the enemy’s attacks.

If you want some energy shield on your Lightning Arrow Deadeye, you can go for an Expert Waxed Jacket that has life, evasion/ES, and resistance modifiers. This thing can also roll intelligence, which works well with the gloves you’re going to wear in the endgame.

Helmet

Grab a high evasion helmet like the Expert Hunter Hood. Ideally, this piece of gear contains life, evasion, and some resistance mods (whichever you need for your character). The last modifier can either be dexterity for more damage or increased rarity of items found for improved quality of loot.

If you're leaning towards more energy shield, a hybrid evasion/energy shield-base is preferred. The Expert Tribal Mask offers the most EV and ES values, so obtain that helmet base for sure. The modifiers on this helmet are the same as the pure EV helm mentioned above.

Gloves

A corrupted Hand of Wisdom and Action is the best-in-slot for the gloves. You want the gloves' unique modifiers to be corrupted to either "4% increased attack speed per 25 DEX" or "Adds 1 to 12 lightning damage to attacks per 10 INT" (or both if you can afford it).

Until you have enough PoE 2 Currency to purchase the HoWA, stick to rare gloves that have added physical damage, cold damage, and elemental resistance.

Boots

The boots for the Lightning Arrow Deadeye are not special. However, they do have modifiers that affect survivability, such as increased evasion, maximum life, and elemental/chaos resistance. Increased movement speed is non-negotiable, so you get 35% for the endgame boots without a doubt!

Amulet

The amulet is the only slot on the Lightning Arrow Deadeye that contains additional Spirit, so make it count! Besides Spirit, you can have increased item rarity, life, and intelligence on the amulet as well.

If your budget permits it, the amulet can roll "+3 to Level of All Projectile Skills." This modifier is not mandatory at all. However, it is definitely something that you can work towards, especially if you like playing this Path of Exile 2 build.

So, what notable passive skill should you instill in the amulet? Well, there are several amazing options, including:

• Blurred Motion
• 5% Increased Attack Speed
• 10% Increased Accuracy Rating
• 5% Increased Dexterity
• Distilled Despair, Distilled Paranoia, Distilled Ire
• Pure Power
• 2% Increased Lightning Damage per 10 Intelligence
• Distilled Suffering, Distilled Guilt, Distilled Suffering
• Doomsayer
• Herald Skills Have 30% Increased Area of Effect
• Herald Skills Deal 30% Increased Damage
• Wild Storm
• 15% More Maximum Lightning Damage
• Distilled Isolation, Distilled Fear, Distilled Isolation

Rings

Chaos resistance is often a common problem among people who play the Lightning Arrow Deadeye. So, to help address that, you can wear a couple of Amethyst Rings that also have chaos resistance on their explicit modifier.

In the endgame, switch to a Breach Ring that has dexterity, intelligence, and a modifier that provides all attributes. The ring's prefixes must contain at least cold damage to attacks and life. Physical damage is not too important, though still welcome for improving the damage of Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod.

Don't forget to spam Adaptive Catalysts to improve the attribute modifiers on the Breach Ring.

Belt

A standard rare Linen Belt with life, mana recovery rate, and some resistance mods are ideal. You can also have STR on this belt, so if you are using a lot of red support gems, you can get some strength on here too!

You have the option of acquiring Ingenuity in the late game. If you have played Path of Exile 2 for a while now, you know quite well what this belt can do. Just make sure to equip two Breach Rings to maximize what Ingenuity can do.

Flasks

If you don't want to invest too much of your PoE 2 currency on flasks, the Ultimate Life Flask and Ultimate Mana Flask with "Increased Amount Recovered" and "Increased Charges" will suffice.

However, if you don't mind spending, we suggest a couple of unique items. The first is Olroth's Resolve—a unique flask that adds a defensive layer called "Guard" that absorbs damage based on how much excess life it recovers when using it.

One problem with playing the Lightning Arrow Deadeye is that its primary skills are mana-intensive, to say the least. That's why purchasing the Melting Maelstrom is a good idea because this flask recovers all your mana upon use!

Jewels

Rare Emerald Jewels have the mods that work great for the Lightning Arrow Deadeye. When purchasing an Emerald from the trade website, look for any of these modifiers (which are arranged in order of importance):

• Increased Bonuses from Equipped Quiver
• Increased Attack Speed
• Increased Attack Speed with Bows
• Increased Damage with Bows
• Increased Attack Damage
• Increased Lightning Damage
• Increased Projectile Damage
• Increased Accuracy Rating with Bows
• Damage Penetrates % Lightning Resistance
• 2% Increased Movement Speed
• Increased Critical Damage Bonus for Attack Damage (only if crit version)

Once you have farmed enough PoE 2 Currency, we recommend that you start investing in some unique jewels. Begin by getting Against the Darkness which has extra lightning damage and extra cold damage. Insert this in the jewel socket near "Storm Surge" on the passive tree.

Next, get a Megalomaniac with any two of these notable passive skills:

• Insightfulness
• Spaghettification
• Wild Storm
• Essence of the Storm
• Polymathy
• Mental Toughness

If you want to sink more PoE 2 Currency on this build, we recommend that you get Emerald Jewels that have "15% Increased Bonuses Gained from Equipped Quivers." These are very expensive and having several of these require a ton of investment. However, they are pretty much worth every Divine Orb you spend, so you will never regret your purchase.

Skills

• Lightning Arrow
• Martial Tempo
• Primal Armament
• Inspiration
• Heft
• Ice Bite
• Lightning Rod
• Scattershot
• Concentrated Effect
• Overcharge
• Close Combat
• Rising Tempest
• Note: Switch Rising Tempest with Primal Armament from Lightning Arrow when fighting bosses
• Orb of Storms
• Chain
• Persistence
• Overabundance
• Unleash
• Cast on Shock
• Ball Lightning
• Deceleration
• Impetus
• Energy Retention
• Note: Swap Ball Lightning with Eye of Winter when playing the crit version of this build
• Herald of Thunder
• Cold Infusion
• Glaciation
• Longshot
• Cold Penetration
• Lightning Mastery
• Note: The reason for the cold support gems is that it helps with proccing Herald of Ice. Herald of Thunder cannot shock enemies anyway, so why not use it to freeze enemies instead?
• Herald of Ice
• Lightning Infusion
• Conduction
• Magnified Effect
• Innervate
• Lightning Penetration
• Note: The same goes for Herald of Ice. This skill cannot freeze enemies, though its condition for the cold explosion does require monsters to be frozen. That’s why Herald of Thunder has cold support gems, while Herald of Ice has lightning support gems.
• Cast on Freeze
• Voltaic Mark
• Lifetap
• Note: Only activate this while bossing. Disable Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder to get enough Spirit back to activate Cast on Freeze
• Wind Dancer
• Blind
• Clarity (if you still have Spirit left)
• Grim Feast
• Note: Only use it if you have energy shield as an added defensive layer as well. Otherwise, skip this in favor of another skill gem of your choosing.
• Shield Charge
• Note: This is an optional skill for moving about. Must have a shield in the second weapon set to use this.

Passive Skill Tree

As mentioned earlier, this PoE 2 build guide talks about the non-crit version of the Lightning Arrow Deadeye. We focused on improving lightning damage and cold damage so that you can take advantage of notable passive skills, such as Harness the Elements, Unbound Forces, and Storm Swell, among others.

We have designed the passive skill tree for this build to have as many as eight jewel sockets, thus allowing you to populate them with Emerald Jewels that have increased quiver bonuses each. You can save a slot for Against the Darkness, though, because the boost in damage it provides is too steep to be denied.

This build also has several evasion nodes allocated to give you enough evasion rating for Acrobatics. Nodes like Catlike Agility, Escape Velocity, and Beastial Skin are taken to greatly improve your overall evasion.

If you decide to go for the crit version, all you have to do is replace the nodes at the bottom of the tree with those that improve crit in some way. You can take Moment of Truth, Careful Assassin, and Heartstopping to give you a considerable amount of critical hit chance. Besides that, instead of a Primed Quiver, go for the Visceral Quiver and replace the projectile skills mod with increased critical hit chance for attacks.

Tips and Strategies

Before firing up Path of Exile 2 and playing the Lightning Arrow Deadeye, read these useful tips to make your journey with this Ranger Build quite enjoyable:

Sustaining Mana Easily

A lot of people struggle with keeping their mana at a healthy level when playing the Lightning Arrow Deadeye in PoE 2. If you don’t want to experience this, the first thing that you can do is to have the “Mana per Enemy Killed” modifier wherever possible. This modifier can roll on the weapon, quiver, and ring.

When you have the budget, we suggest that you get a couple of unique items. Thief’s Torment is a unique ring that allows you to recover mana by attacking enemies with Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod. If you have this already, wear this ring when fighting bosses because this is typically the situation where you lose quite a bit of mana before the encounter ends. You can purchase the Thief’s Torment for roughly 50 PoE 2 Exalted Orbs at the time of writing.

Melting Maelstrom is another answer to your mana-sustain conundrum. This unique flask recovers all of your mana, making it a worthwhile investment for a build that’s so mana-intensive.

If you can’t afford the said unique items yet, you can add a couple of Sapphire Jewels that have “Recover 2% of Mana on Kill.” Take note that this mod is only helpful when mapping because bosses in the game rarely summon enough minions during the fight.

Move Around with Blink

Blink is such an awesome movement skill that replaces your Dodge Roll with a teleport. The only problem here is that you need 60 Spirit to activate it. If you are going to use Blink, you may have to get body armor with Spirit as well. Alternatively, you could deactivate Cast on Shock while mapping and re-enable it when fighting bosses, but we assume that this is something that you wouldn’t want.

Is the Crit Version Weak?

Most people play the non-crit version of the Lightning Arrow Deadeye because the passive skills that would have been invested in crit nodes can be used to take more jewel sockets instead.

However, the crit version is still viable for those who have a modest budget. If you decide to go for the crit version, you also have the added incentive of replacing Cast on Shock with Cast on Critical. When you have more than 45% crit chance, Cast on Critical procs more frequently than Cast on Shock relative to the mana spent in using Lightning Arrow or Lightning Rod.

Is Added Cold Damage Mandatory?

If you are going to use Herald of Ice on a PoE 2 build that primarily deals lightning damage, then yes. Having added cold damage, especially on the rings, is huge because it makes HOI work more frequently. Plus, you can greatly enhance the modifiers on your rings when you have Ingenuity equipped.

Use Barrage or No?

Barrage is actually not bad. For those who don’t know, this is a temporary buff that allows you to unleash a few instances of Lightning Rod or any other skill. Some Lightning Arrow Deadeye players love using it because it allows them to load up Lightning Rods quickly and efficiently.

The only reason why we did not include it in our skills setup is that there are better skills to use than Barrage. Blink, for example, makes clearing maps a lot easier to do. You can also incorporate Grim Feast if you want a way to recover energy shield while mapping.

Having said that, if you like to use Barrage instead of the aforementioned skills, then by all means!

POB

Lightning Arrow Deadeye

Final Thoughts

All Path of Exile 2 builds can map, though there are some that truly stand out above the rest. The Lightning Arrow Deadeye is an exceptional mapper capable of finishing maps in under five minutes.

In boss fights, this build is quite reliable as well. Just use Lightning Rod several times, cast Orb of Storms to activate their lightning bursts, and Cast on Shock will help deplete the boss’ health in no time!

Now that you know what makes the Lightning Arrow Deadeye work, will you play this particular build? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments!

Don’t forget to visit our PoE 2 Store if you need help with your endgame bow, quiver, and rare/unique jewels!

PROS

• One of the best mappers in the game
• Quickly eliminates monsters with endgame gear
• Can be used as a starter build

CONS

• May struggle sustaining mana without the right mods
• A bit squishy against boss slams