Path of Exile 2: Deadeye Leveling guide (Easiest 0.3.0 League-starter)

Deadeye builds are the de-facto apex predators in Path of Exile 2's patch 0.3.0 meta. Despite a bunch of pre-patch nerfs to Bullseye (your source of Critical Weakness), Deadeye is still in a very strong spot to be the best endgame scaling Ascendancy, and on top of that, the leveling is really easy throughout the campaign.

If you have any prior familiarty with Path of Exile 1 or 2, leveling with LA Deadeye is likely to be an experience you already know by heart. However, just in case you're joining in for the first time in League 0.3, or just want an easy build to play through Path of Exile 2 free weekend, here's a complete guide on how to level a Deadeye build.

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How does the Lightning Arrow Deadeye play in Path of Exile 2?

The bread-and-butter of this build is a time-honored PoE 2 combo: shoot down Lightning Rods on a boss, and then shoot Lightning Arrows into the cluster to re-trigger them. While other Lightning Skills can chain into Lightning Rods, Lightning Arrow has an exclusive interaction where it doesn't have any trigger delay for the additional damage.

That's pretty much your main thing for this build, and this is how you will scale into the Endgame and go through T15 mapping in Path of Exile 2. At that point, you'll be using other Skills to aid and abet your Lightning experiments - Barrage, Tornado Shot, and so on. We will explain these as we go along the campaign.

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Deadeye leveling guide in Path of Exile 2 early-game (Act 1)

You get Lightning Arrow as your first guaranteed Skill out of the box, so what we'll get next is Contagion (temporarily) and Lightning Rod.

Lvl 1 - 5

Start with the Ranger class, kill the Miller, and once you get to the encampment, you'll get your first Uncut Gem. You want to take Contagion from the Occult category with this. Afterwards, sell off your all your loot gained from Miller - unless if it's a particular good bow, crossbow, or mace.

For the next couple areas, your mobbing combo will be casting Contagion on a weak enemy, and then killing it to also kill the monster pack around it. I personally pick up a white-rarity two-handed Mace here for single-target DPS. However, you can also do it easier with a crossbow or bow, or just Contagion + Lightning Arrow to some good effect.

You can pick up another guaranteed Uncut Gem from the abandoned stash in Clearfell, and then cut Lightning Rod from it. If you get this before the Devourer boss, kill it with Lightning Rod + Lightning Arrow, or just use plain regular attack DPS for that fight. After the Devourer, you get your first Uncut Support Gem by talking to Renly. Grab Lightning Attunement with it and stick it on Lightning Arrow.

Afterwards, kill Beira back in Clearfell, and continue to the Grelwood. Here, you want to hunt down Areagne Forgotten Witch first, which gives you both a set of new Flasks from the Cauldron, as well as your second Uncut Support Gem. With this one, you should get Rapid Attacks I and put it on Lightning Arrow again.

Gearing

After you're lvl 5, travel back to town and start shopping around for some early leveling gear:

• A Shortbow with extra flat physical damage, % physical damage, or lightning damage
• A pair of Gloves with the Adds x Damage to Attacks affix
• Boots with movement speed

For Gold, the main trick is to always identify weapons and trinkets before you sell them (don't do this with Magic Flasks). As long as you maintain good discipline with this, your finances should be good. If you get any crafting currencies like a lucky Exalt or Regal, you want to save it for later; early-game gearing is very transient in Path of Exile 2.

Check out: Complete Path of Exile 2 Crafting guide for beginners

Gem links by this point:

• Lightning Arrow: Rapid Attacks I, Lightning Attunement
• Lightning Rod
• Contagion

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Lvl 6 - 14

With your first Lvl 3 Uncut Gem, you want to get Stormcaller Arrow. This is a great single-target option for bossing till much later on, and you can also use it for mobbing too. With your next two Support Gem drops, get Mutlishot I and Concentrated Effect for this purpose.

You want to use Martial Tempo on Stormcaller Arrow's first slot, and switch between these two on the second slot when needed. For this purpose, I keep a Lightning Rod with Lightning Infusion + Multishot/Concentrated Effect, and then swap out the necessary support on Stormcaller Arrow on the fly. I don't really use Lightning Rod during this point, though.

Lightning Rod is just there for Gem-swapping on the fly (Image via GGG)

For mobs, you want to just keep firing Stormcaller Arrows with Scattershot, and as long as your bow is good enough, it should be fast. Grim Tangle will be a particularly rough patch with the hazardous narrow passages, so be extra careful if you're playing hardcore.

For bosses, you want to also Gemcut Frost Bomb and put the Rapid Casting I Support on it. Frost Bomb now also increases Lightning Exposure, so you want to land this on bosses once in a while. Other than that, Stormcaller Arrow + Conc Effect takes care of your DPS quite nicely.

Once you get to the Hunting Grounds, make sure to take the detour to Freythorn and defeat the King in the Mists to get your Gembloom Skull and first Uncut Spirit Gem, which will immediately be put to use for Herald of Thunder.

After you defeat The Executioner and head back to the town to continue the quest, you will get your first Lvl 5 Uncut Gem, and you want to spend this for a Freezing Salvo. Put Hourglass on it, because you'll only be using it ocassionally for burst damage on shielded enemies and Rares.

Gearing

Your bow is your entire damage scaling (Image via GGG)

At Lvl 11, you want to make your first big gearing attempt: a Warden Bow. You ideally want at least a couple of the following affixes:

• + added Lightning Damage
• + added Physical Damage
• % increased Physical Damage
• + Level of Projectile Skills

This Warden Bow is highly important, and you should be on the lookout for this when running through the areas, and frequently check Renly's wares. Vendor inventory resets on every levelup, so make sure to revisit every time you gain a new level. This bow will be your mainstay for the better part of Act 2.

From the Blank Rune that you gain off recovering Renly's Tools, you want to take a Storm Rune and stick it into the Warden Bow once you're sure you have got a good one.

Gem link by the point you finish Act 1:

• Stormcaller Arrow: Rapid Attacks I, Concentrated Effect / Multishot I
• Lightning Rod as placeholder
• Freezing Salvo: Hourglass, Magnified Effect I
• Herald of Thunder: Elemental Armament I
• Frost Bomb: Rapid Casting I

What to do with Support Gems that you aren't using? Simply stash it away for later. However, Uncut Support Gems start becoming a much more common monster drop going towards the end of Act 3, so you won't really need to be frugal with them once you get past Lvl 30.

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Path of Exile 2 Deadeye leveling guide: Act 2 gear swap

Before you proceed to Act 2, if you have any leftover Lvl 5 Uncut Gems, use it to get Barrage, a Spear Skill. You just need to equip a thorwaway spear to gemcut it. Stick the Cooldown Recovery I support on it, and use it beofre a Freezing Salvo on bosses and Rares.

Afterwards, your Gem stup doesn't change much till Lvl 28. You want to focus on getting Rings with added Attack Damage, and in general gear that adds Life for defenses. Once you get to Lvl 28, it's time to switch back to good old Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod. Why? Because we're now looking for the biggest game-changer of all: the Dualstring Bow.

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Dualstring Bow and gearing swap

Once you get to lvl 28, Dualstring Bows start dropping in the world, and you can also find them in vendor inventories in Act 2 after this point. Dualstring bows come with an implicit affix (meaning it's a guaranteed property): all Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow, which also works with attack Skills like Lightning Arrow.

This is such a massive increase in effective DPS that you'll be using it for the rest of the campaign. Unless PoE2 adds new Dualstring Bow variants in patch 0.3, you will be using this bow all the way up till mapping, and at lvl 55, which is when the Twin Bow drops.

Naturally, for something that you'll be using for 25 levels, getting a good Dualstring Bow is highly important. If you are playing a trade League, this is where you want to spend your Exalts and Regals to try and grab a good Dualstring Bow off the market. There's async auto-trading in Path of Exile 2 since patch 0.3, but you can't access it till Act 4.

• Open the Market Panel (default keybind is / ) and then select "Instant Buyout Only".
• In Search, enter "Dualstring Bow"
• In Trade Filters, select "Exalted Orb", and then set your max to whatever your budget is. I recommend trying to save at least 5-6 Exalts so you can afford a good enough bow. However, the prices will vary depending on how old the economy is by the point you're reading this guide.
• Select "Search" and sort by Physical DPS. I recommend getting something with at least 75 Physical DPS without any socketed Runes. Other than the Market Panel, you can also use the official Trade Site for Path of Exile 2; the steps are the same.
• If you're short on budget, settle for buying bricked gear like Corrupted stuff for lower prices, since you can always just get a second one after you progress the campaign in Path of Exile 2.

If you are playing Solo Self-found, you'll have to be far more proactive in looking for your new gear to transition into Act 3. In this case, a good practice is to Disenchant all your Rares to pile up Regal Shards, since Regal Orb drops are rarer than Exalts in the current Path of Exile 2 patch (at least in my experience).

Always identify every Dualstring Bow you find as ground loot, and check vendor inventory regularly. The other option is gambling with Gold. In any case, you are looking for at least three of the following affixes again:

• + added Lightning Damage
• + added Physical Damage
• % increased Physical Damage
• + Level of Projectile Skills (Note that this may cause Mana problems after a point)
• % increased Attack Speed

Otherwise, your gearing is simple - you want Quivers with added Lightning Damage, a boot with Movement Speed on it, and Elemental Resistances, Life, and Mana on the rest of your gear as you move into Act 3 and onwards.

Gem link after you switch back to Lightning Arrow (with Dualstring Bow):

• Lightning Arrow: Rapid Attacks I, Pierce II (switch to Chain I when bossing), Lightning Attunement, Elemental Armament II
• Lightning Rod: Concentrated Area, Elemental Armament II, Multishot II, Lightning Attunement
• Freezing Salvo: Hourglass, Magnified Effect I
• Herald of Thunder: Elemental Armament II, Elemental Focus
• Frost Bomb
• Barrage: Cooldown Recovery I
• Tame Beast: Elemental Army, Meat Shield I

Once you progress further into the campaign, you should replace the tier-I Gems with stornger variants, e.g. Rapid Attacks II (but not Rapid Attacks III), and Meatshield II.

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Why we use Tame Beast, and which Rare to capture?

Tamed beast with Haste Aura (Image via GGG)

Once you get to Act 3 Infested Barrens, Gemcut Tame Beast with a Lvl 9 Uncut Gem. Bind it to a key, and then look for Rare mobs with the Haste Aura. Specifically, these are very common on the Antlion Chargers found in the Infested Barrens and sometimes in the Chimeral Wetlands. There's one guaranteed spawn of beasts like this on a fresh Infested Barrens instance thanks to the abandoned camp side-objective.

Once you've captured it, this gives you some extra movement and attack speed when you're in its vicinity. However, the other main reason you want to keep a companion is because of the new Companion-specific damage-boosting clusters on the Passive Tree. We have discussed this in greater detail in the passives section below.

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Playstyle/rotation with the Lightning Arrow Deadeye build in Act 3, Act 4, and Interlude acts:

• With regular mobs, you want to have Projectile Acceleration III or Pierce II on Lightning Arrow, and then just spam Lightning Arrow. If Lightning-resistant Magics come about, get them with a Barrage + Freezing Salvo combo.
• On Rares, cast some Lightning Rods on where the monster will be in another second, and then pelt them with Lightning Arrow to trigger the Lightning Rods.

With bosses, you want to slot Chain II on to your Lightning Arrow. Pre-cast some Lightning Rods on where the boss starts the fight, and then try to get a Tornado directly on top of the boss. As the fight starts, do a Barrage + Lightning Arrow combo. With correct overlap betwen Tornado, Lightning Rod, and Lightning Arrow, all campaign bosses should melt in seconds. For multi-phase fights, refresh Lightning Rod and Tornado as neeeded.

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Best Passive Tree for Lightning Arrow Deadeye build in Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2 has a massively overhauled Passive Tree in 0.3.0, and overall, there are more lucrative nodes that a traditional Deadeye build should beeline towards. My Passive Tree is still not fully min-maxed, but the general idea here is to look for nodes that add Projectile Damage, Attack Speed, Attack Damage, Elemental Damage with attack Skills and Hits, and Ailment proc rate.

The Attribute nodes should be taken as needed according to requirements for Support Gems. Mainly, you just want DEX other than that - because Evasion works against all hits now, and alongside the new Deflection mechanic, it's a solid natural defense to cover you till T4 mapping or higher.

For your Ascendancy passives once you unlock Deadeye via Trial of the Sekhemas in Path of Exile 2, you want to take Gathering Winds, and after you do the Chaos lab, go for Projectile Proximity Specialization (Point Blank). Afterwards, go for Endless Munitions, and then Wind Ward with your final set of Ascendancy Passive points.

By the end of Act I, here's what your Passive Tree should look like:

Sample Passive Tree for early-game pre-patch (Image via GGG)

Pathing through the Passive Tree, and important Notables: Take the increased projectile damage nodes, and get Honed Instinct as your first notable. Afterwards, you want to take Vile Wounds and path through the travel (Attribute) nodes, taking 2 points in INT and 2 in DEX. (Tip: use the search function on the Passive Tree to find the notables that we recommend here, and read through each node so you get a sense of how it fits into the build goal.)

Afterwards, you want to take:

• Harness the Elements
• Primal Sundering
• Path through the Jewel Socket, and get Catalysis
• Maiming Strike
• Next, you want to travel to the edge of the Passive Tree, and beeline for Pierce The Heart. Get this after you make the Lvl 28 Dualstring Bow swap.
• Coming Calamity
• Inspirint Ally

Inspiring Ally converts all companion damage-boosting small passives to also provide an equal damage boost to you. In other words, the "Damage and Companion Damage" nodes leading up to it effectively provides a total of 88% extra global Damage.

• Pick up Escape Velocity to get an easy-to-access Evasion Rating boost
• Your damage should be more than enough at this point, so you want to go for Enchanced Reflexes and Bestial Skin next.
• The Wild Cat
• Acceleration
• Master Fletching
• After this point, follow the travel nodes below Catalysis, and pick up Exploit
• Move further down, and pick up Forces of Nature
• Another reason to venture this far south is to pick up the Companion Damage nodes opposite the Forces of Nature branch.

Eventually, you'll want to get the travel nodes below Acceleration and connect to Forces of Nature from here, and then respec out of Exploit, and lose the travel ndoes there. Pathing through the edge here will allow you to get another Jewel Socket, Enduring Deflection, and The Spring Hare. Here is my current Lightning Arrow Deadeye Passive Tree at Lvl 70:

Deadeye Passive Tree at the end of campaign (Image via GGG)

Eventually, my plan is to pick up Subterfuge Mask and pair it up with a high-ES endgame Helmet. However, Evasion + Deflection is plenty strong with the buffs in this Path of Exile 2 League. As long as you get your resistances capped out through your gear (don't forget Chaos Resist), you should be in decent shape for mapping.

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Check out our other guides on the game:

• Path of Exile 2 Defense guide: Energy Shield, Armor, and Evasion explained
• Path of Exile 2: Skill Gems and Gemcutting guide
• Path of Exile 2 tier list
• 5 biggest changes in PoE2 patch 0.3, The Third Edict
• 5 Deadeye builds to try in Path of Exile 2 The Third Edict (0.3)
• Path of Exile 2: League starter Blood Mage build guide (0.3.0)