News Tag: POE 2 Exalted Orbs

Mercenaries excel at using Crossbow and have a few unique skills that make them a powerful force on the battlefields of Path Of Exile 2. This article will highlight the best Skill Gems for Mercenary builds and share how to maximize their potential by pairing the best Support gems with passive skills.

12. Armor Piercing Rounds

• Tier: I
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: Projectile, Physical
• Best Support Gems: Overpower, Ruthless, Armor Explosion, Chain
• Best Passives: Projectile Damage, Chain, Projectile Speed, Pierce

This skill focuses on breaking enemy armor, can penetrate multiple targets, and can be adjusted to bounce between targets for an AoE, making it a reliable partner for mercenaries.

When the skill is released, it will fire a series of fast-flying bullets that first penetrate the first enemy hit, and then deal decreasing damage to subsequent enemies. In addition, it will apply Armor Breaking debuff to enemies, causing enemies affected by this effect to take more physical damage.

11. Explosive Grenade

• Tier: I
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: AoE, Elemental
• Best Support Gems: Fire Penetration, Fire Infusion
• Best Passives: Grenade Damage, Grenade Fuse reduction, Fire Damage

Explosive Grenade fires Elemental Fire, which detonates after 3 seconds, dealing a medium AoE fire damage, and ignites Gas and Oil, making it great for clearing large groups of enemies and getting more POE 2 Currency drops.

If you change to Grenade Fuse Time Reduction, the grenade will explode faster, increasing its lethality against normal enemies. In boss battles, it can be paired with other grenade to form a strong AoE, continuously reducing the boss’ health and helping to clear summoned minions.

10. Galvanic Shards

• Tier: V
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: Projectile, AoE, Elemental
• Best Support Gems: Lightning Infusion, Ammo Conservation, Innervate, Conduction
• Best Passives: Lightning Damage, Elemental Damage, Shock Increase, Crossbow Reload Speed

Galvanic Shards are a cone-shaped area attack that causes cumulative Shock and Electrifying. Enemies that are electrified are more vulnerable to projectiles and lightning elemental attacks.

Combined with Herald of Thunder and Support Gems that increase Shock build-up and Lightning Damage, you can quickly clear out groups of enemies. It is even more effective when paired with a crossbow equipped with two Storm Runes.

9. Herald Of Thunder

• Tier: V
• Requirements: 30 spirit (base)
• Type: Herald, Buff, AoE, Elemental
• Best Support Gems: Magnified Effect, Maim, Blind, Conduction
• Best Passives: Herald AoE Damage, Herald Reservation decrease

Herald Of Thunder is a skill that should be unlocked first for Mercenary. It can enhance the shock damage after shocking the enemy, triggering a powerful range explosion. It requires 30 Spirit to activate, but the benefits are significant. It can use support gems to improve the effect, but it will increase the spirit cost. To balance the cost, you can choose Herald AoE Damage Passive Skill and Herald Reservation.

8. Rapid Shot

• Tier: V
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: Projectile, Elemental
• Best Support Gems: Ignition, Fresh Clip, Martial Tempo, Primal Armament
• Best Passives: Elemental Damage, Projectile Damage

Rapid Shot fires fire elemental projectiles after a short cooldown that can set targets on fire. Combined with Ignition, Fresh Clip, Martial Tempo, and Primal Armament support gems, it can quickly eliminate bosses and increase your efficiency in farming POE 2 Exalted Orbs.

Paired with Elemental Damage, and Projectile Damage passives and Emergency Reload, it can form high-frequency fiery darts that can easily melt powerful enemies. Rapid shot also generates Heat, which can enhance the power of Grenades and add Fire Damage.

7. Gas Grenade

• Tier: V
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: AoE, Elemental
• Best Support Gems: Bursting Plague, Primal Armament, Ingenuity
• Best Passives: Grenade Damage, Grenade effect duration increase

After launching a lob that bounces off a surface, it explodes in 2.5 seconds to form a cloud of toxic that continuously damages and poisons enemies. The poison still affects targets that leave the toxic cloud for a short time. Combining Bursting Plague, Primal Armament, and Ingenuity allow Mercenaries to cover the battlefield with poison gas and ignite it with Explosive Shot or Explosive Grenade for a powerful combo.

6. Explosive Shot

• Tier: VII
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: Projectile, AoE, Physical, Elemental
• Best Support Gems: Envenom, Wildfire, Primal Armament
• Best Passives: Elemental Damage, Fire Damage

Explosive Shot charges Crossbow with a powerful single shot that explodes on contact, igniting Oil and Gas and knocking back enemies. Spread Ignition status with Wildfire support gems, or apply Envenom to turn it into a Poisonous Elemental explosion.

As a slow but powerful attack, it is recommended to invest in the Elemental Damage and Fire Damage passives in the skill tree and equip a crossbow that deals Fire Elemental Damage. Use an Artificer Orb and Desert Runes to optimize Explosive Shot’s damage output.

5. Ripwire Ballista

• Tier: VII
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: Totem, Physical
• Best Support Gems: Overabundance, Lockdown
• Best Passives: Totem Duration, Pin Down Debuff Duration

This is one of the most useful Mercenary Skill Gems, creating a totem that generates a Ballista, which periodically fires arrows attached with chains. At 100%, the enemy is immobilized for 5 seconds, giving Mercenary time to deal damage. With Overabundance modification, 2 Ballistas can be summoned. The duration is halved but Pin-Down accumulates faster, and Lockdown is completed at the same time.

Related: Path of Exile 2 Currency Free Giveaways & Promotions

4. Stormblast Bolts

• Tier: IX
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: Projectile, AoE, Elemental
• Best Support Gems: Lightning Infusion, Ingenuity, Innervate, Conduction
• Best Passives: Lightning Damage, Elemental Damage

This is one of the most complex skills in Mercenary, but it can be a significant change if you master it. It fires arrows at a designated area, which creates a link when they land, and can be detonated by Exploding Arrow or Galvanic Shards, dealing powerful area-of-effect electric damage.

Choose Lightning Infusion, Ingenuity, Innervate, and Conduction, and pair it with the extra Lightning Damage and Elemental Damage from equipment and passive skills to maximize the effect.

3. Oil Grenade

• Tier: IX
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: AoE, Debuff
• Best Support Gems: Ingenuity, Encumbrance
• Best Passives: Grenade Effect Duration Increase, Cooldown Reduction

Fire a grenade that explodes on contact, releasing sticky oil, slowing enemies and increasing their vulnerability to Fire Damage and Ignite effects. Oil can be ignited by Grenades or Explosive Bolts, creating a short-lived fire curtain.

It is recommended to use Ingenuity to shorten the cooldown, Grenade Effect Duration to extend the slow/vulnerability effect, and Encumbrance to increase the slowdown effect. Combined with Gas Grenade, it can create a deadly trap for monsters and bosses.

2. Emergency Reload

• Tier: XI
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: Buff
• Best Support Gems: Ingenuity, Premeditation
• Best Passives: Buff Duration, Buff Effectiveness

This skill instantly reloads your crossbow with the latest arrows and increases damage by 15%. Very dangerous when combined with skills like Rapid Shot or Galvanic Shards. It is recommended to use Skill Gems and Passives to reduce the cooldown. With two Premeditation runes, it can increase damage by an additional 30%, which is deadly.

1. Plasma Blast

• Tier: XIII
• Requirements: Crossbow
• Type: Projectile, Charged, Elemental
• Best Support Gems: Lightning Infusion, Martial Tempo, Innervate, Conduction
• Best Passives: Lightning Damage, Elemental Damage, Projectile Damage

This skill fires a powerful laser beam that deals high lightning damage and knocks back enemies. It takes 2 seconds to charge and exposes the player. Pairing it with Martial Tempo Skill Gems can solve the exposure problem. Choosing Gem Studded passive in Gemling Legionnaire Ascendancy can reduce the charge time by 25%, greatly improving efficiency.

In summary, we have introduced the best Skill Gems for Mercenary in POE 2 and the best Support Gems and Passives to match them in great detail. This information is essential for players to build a powerful Mercenary and can help you maximize your potential on the battlefield. Finally, you can enter IGGM Discord to join POE 2 Orbs giveaway event. We will draw 10 players on December 20th to share 100 Exalted Orbs, 100 Chaos Orbs, and 200 Regal Orbs!

In the early access of Path of Exile 2, which was released on December 6, you can experience a wealth of game content through the three acts and six classes it provides. Among them, each act has many quests waiting for you to complete, and their difficulty and the amount of POE2 Currency rewards are also different.

And it is worth noting that you must complete the last or most critical quests in each act of POE 2 in order to enter the next act and smoothly advance the game’s progress. Therefore, these quests are always difficult. In Act 2, Jamanra, the Abomination stands out the most.

As the main final boss of Act 2, Jamanra, the Abomination will be found on Dreadnought Vanguard when you are with Asala. Although you will have a short battle with Jamanra early in Act 2, the main battle takes place at the end of the act, when he will become Jamanra, the Abomination.

Based on this, we will introduce you to how to defeat this terrible boss.

Preparation Before The Battle

Before facing this boss, you need to keep your character level around 33-36. Regarding the enemy, Jamanra is afraid of cold damage, so if you are a Sorceress or Monk and use frost skill builds, you will have an easier time. In addition, fire damage of any other profession or poison damage of Ranger is also good.

In addition, we recommend that you equip as many items that can resist lightning as possible to offset Jamanra’s powerful attacks. The lightning resistance amulet in Act 1 and the lightning resistance Topaz Ring that can be found in Act 1 or Act 2 can do this, but their drops are random. Or you can try to farm lightning resistance equipment in Dreadnought or Deshar in Act 2. But this method is more luck-based and requires you to persist for a while.

Also, if you have enough POE 2 Exalted Orbs, we recommend that you enhance the rare equipment you have by adding random affixes so that you can get extra damage when facing this boss in addition to being able to effectively resist lightning.

How To Pass The First Stage?

In the battle with Jamanra, the Abomination is divided into two stages, and the first stage may be more difficult than the second stage. During this initial phase, Jamanra’s two main attacks are a lightning melee attack that hits directly in front of them, and a spear throw when fighting at a distance.

His melee attacks won’t do as much damage to you, and you’ll have more flexibility in when you dodge. Circle around Jamanra and stand next to him to keep triggering melee attacks.

When fighting at a distance, you’ll find that Jamanra’s spear attacks are difficult to dodge. But before launching this attack, they will have spears on both sides of their shoulders and will swing their arms forward to foreshadow you so that you can find the right time to dodge. But if you dodge too early, you will be hit by the follow-up spear when you recover.

In addition, you need to use range attacks or single target attacks as much as possible, because Jamanra doesn’t move around the arena very often, and walls of fire, totems, poison bottles, frost fields, etc. can all reduce Jamanra’s health. Similarly, strikes, slams, etc. are also useful and can allow you to deal a lot of damage to this boss.

Towards the end of the first phase, if there is still a large group of enemies, you can crawl around the arena, dodging Jamanra’s spear while using spells to kill them. Once Jamanra’s health drops to 60% and he returns to the altar he was on at the start of the fight, your cart will be destroyed and the next phase of the fight will begin.

How To Win The Second Phase?

During the second phase, the only main attack Jamanra retains is a melee attack. They can perform another small melee attack with their arms, which you can avoid by dodging or backing away. And Jamanra will always cast a whirlwind that spins around the map to attack, and they will move randomly around the map. But as long as you avoid stepping on them, you will be fine.

Related: Path of Exile 2 Currency Free Giveaways & Promotions

It is worth noting that during the second phase, Jamanra will also use two swords for continuous attacks. The first is a slash that hits the area in front of him, and to avoid it you need to roll to the direction the boss is attacking, which is to his right - as he swings the spear over his head, a bolt of lightning hits the spear, signaling that the slash is coming.

The second attack takes longer to prepare, but does more damage. Jamanra will create a gigantic sword, hold it behind him, and slam it into the ground after a second of preparation to damage you. When you see him swing this sword over his head, you can roll to the side to avoid it, as the attack will hit in a straight line from Jamanra’s position.

Jamanra moves faster during this phase, so your area attacks will be less effective. While this doesn’t mean they’re not worth using, attacks that track enemies or bounce off walls will be more effective during this phase. Specifically, to deal damage, just keep casting skills on the boss while avoiding whirlwind or sword attacks.

When Jamanra’s health drops to about half, he will start to drop lightning pylons into the ground. These towers don’t move, but can block routes around the arena to limit your movement.

Based on this, the best strategy is to move around the arena in a circle, dodging attacks as they occur. This type of movement can provide you with an escape route when Jamanra is following you, or allow you to dodge a whirlwind or lightning field launched by the boss when needed.

In fact, good positioning is the key to this battle. The more times you try to fight while continuously depleting Jamanra’s health, the better your positioning ability will be to avoid these attacks. And when you win and the battle is over, you can enter the third act of Path of Exile 2, there is even a chance to get some POE 2 Regal Orbs.

Hopefully, with these tips and methods we have provided, we can help you successfully defeat Jamanra, the Abomination, and complete the game as soon as possible. In addition, enter IGGM Discord now, You can join POE 2 Orbs giveaway event here. We will draw 10 players on December 20th to share 100 Exalted Orbs, 100 Chaos Orbs, and 200 Regal Orbs! Hurry up and join in!