[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Archer Builds That Wreck Hard!

Updated:

02 Nov 2021

[Top 5] Path of Exile Best Archer Builds That Wreck Hard!

Archery is and has always been a staple archetype in any RPG or computer games, in one shape or another, and Path of Exile, that isn’t different, but PoE has so much more interesting and unique traits compared to their more conventional counterparts.

Here are some of those archetypal archers with a PoE spin that will completely melt your enemies!

5 – Caustic Arrow Raider

Caustic Arrow being fired.

The Raider by nature is a very fast, evasive, and safe build, boasting the title of fastest ascendancy in the game in raw stats. Combining that speed and safety with a deadly skill that doesn’t require you to sit down and focus fire makes it a deadly combo, especially from afar.

What the CA Raider Excels In:

Fantastic league starter;
Easy to play and to gear;
Nigh unkillable with proper investment;
Flexible and capable of clearing all game content.

Caustic Arrow Raider full details:

Due to the nature of being both an archer and a DoT build, combined with Raider’s agility, you can dodge or evade most telegraphed attacks, as well as being just as elusive in raw status. You have an extremely quick clear while zooming around your maps, making CA Raider a wonderful League Starter build;
Because of how CA scales its damage, from levels and not from gear, you can skip a lot of the hurdles most archers in PoE suffer during leveling, which is a lack of good gear progression. This makes CA a fantastic skill to play both Solo Self-Found and League start, but it requires a lot of investment to scale your damage to the endgame;
The build is extremely flexible in gear slots, making it great for SSF since you don’t require any specific uniques to work properly, and every other item is craftable by yourself, with some knowledge. This build boasts an easy 6k+ life with several layers of defense, beyond even just outpacing almost every other build in the game.

For more informations about the CA Raider, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2077932

4 – Donkster5’s Toxic Tank Champion

Lotus Toxic Rain Skill effect.

In a similar spirit to the previous build, this one focus heavily on DoT bow attacks, but with a caveat: it makes heavy use of Ballista Totems to output hundreds of Toxic Rain pods and overlap the damage to the stratosphere!

What the Toxic Tank Champion Excels In:

SSF and Hardcore Viable;
You can League Start with it easily;
Simple and fluid playstyle of shooting and running, without stopping to check or double-tap;
Ridiculously tanky;
Can clear all content.

Donkster5’s Toxic Tank Champion full details:

Champion, with his permanent Fortify, alongside heavy evasion and armor, on top of Steelskin and fully ailment immunity, makes for a massively tanky character, with over 5k life.
It has no required uniques to function, though some are great, like the Scorpion Call, which boosts your AoE insanely high as well as provides some defensive stats and a lot of attack speed. The build suffers a bit from mana, but everything can be fixed with proper gear and mana flasks.
The build uses two Toxic Rain setups, one for self-cast and another for your totems. You clear with your own attacks and whenever you find a Unique or Rare boss, you pop up your turrets to rain down holy chaos on their heads.

For more information about the Toxic Tank, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3078246

3 – Ice Shot Deadeye

Herald of Ice's shattering Gloom MTX effect.

Unlike the previous entries, this build deals its damage upfront and has one of the fastest clearing skills in the game. It’s also one of the most comfortable and simple builds to slot in a Headhunter if you’re that rich.

What the Ice Shot Deadeye Excels In:

Fantastic clear speed;
Fairly cheap to start;
Good single target;
Satisfying screen-wide freezes.

Ice Shot Deadeye full details:

Due to being an archer build, you have the benefit of having two 6-links available in most builds, enabling you to use a fully linked skill to clear and another for single-target damage, with Barrage.
The single-target damage also gets boosted very highly by the Voidfletcher Quiver, which provides Void Charges detonation on-hit based on the number of extra arrows your character has.
Your clear skill, Ice Shot, has several chains and ricochets off the walls, making it great even for indoor maps, though you’ll want the satisfaction of open layouts to fully see the glory that is Ice Shot clearing hordes upon hordes of monsters.

For more information about the Ice Shot Deadeye, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2954336

2 – Scourge Arrow Poison Proliferation Pathfinder

Ranger firing an arrow.

Like I said before, PoE has some unique takes on how archers should function, and the Scourge Arrow is the epitome of that. It’s fast, tanky, simple, and extremely satisfying. You can just shoot and run and never look back as your enemies’ health bars melt into oblivion!

What the Scourge Arrow Poison Prolif PF Excels in:

Great Clearing with the Poison Prolif from PF;
Absurdly tanky with several layers of mitigation, elemental, physical, and chaos;
Good League Starter;
Can scale up to clear all content.

Scourge Arrow Poison Prolif PF full details:

Pathfinder has two big archetypes as its core mechanics. Poison proliferation and permanent flasks. And this build uses both to its fullest effects. Scourge Arrow deals so much damage with just one pod, when it explodes, that enemies near it die and proliferate the poison damage in a cascade of death.
With the use of Divine Flesh keystone, you mitigate half of the elemental damage taken, and, combined with the rest of the defenses, you can reach nigh unkillable status.
Fairly easy to gear at the start, and only requires Darkscorn for the build to feel great. It takes some getting used to the playstyle, but it’s fluid and very forgiving. You can do most maps, it’s very flexible and has a very satisfying arrow sound.

For more information on the Scourge Arrow Poison Prolif PF, check here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2551841

1 – Crimson Bow Gladiator Rain of Arrows + Puncture

Rain of Arrows with Celestial MTX.

Unlike the rest of the builds I’ve shown, this one is a pure physical build that deals damage over time in the form of Bleed. It’s tanky, clears extremely fast, and can scale to the heavens in single target damage.

What the Crimson Bow Gladiator RoA + Puncture Excels in:

Solid single target and clear speed;
Satisfying and strong bleed explosions;
Over 6000 life;
Cheap to start with and scales wonderfully with proper investment.

Crimson Bow Gladiator Rain of Arrows + Puncture full details:

The build works by using RoA to do its clearing, with screen-wide Area of Effect to pop most monsters instantly, and their subsequent bloody deaths exploding the rest of the monsters while using another 6-link Puncture to deal heavy bleed damage, as well as a Snaring Arrow to buff up your bleeding damage;
Makes fantastic use of Ryslatha’s Coil to boost the physical damage even further and requires some fine-tuning to make it perfect;
The final form of the build uses the Assailum Unique Helmet, which turns Puncture into a channeling skill that deals substantially more damage at the cost of standing still to fire it. You can also use Ballista Totems to automate cursing and Ensnaring Arrows for you, to give you time to channel the Snipe Skill (Assailum).

For more information on the Crimson Bow Bleed Gladiator, click here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2247655