Path of Exile (PoE) is one of the most beloved action RPGs (ARPGs) in the gaming world, known for its intricate skill trees, vast loot systems, and complex combat mechanics. In its upcoming sequel, Path of Exile 2, players can look forward to a new slate of classes, revamped mechanics, and exciting skill builds. Among these classes, the Huntress stands out as one of the most anticipated.

The Huntress, a dexterity-focused class, specializes in ranged combat and agility. She is adept at using bows, traps, and other devices to deal damage while maintaining distance from her enemies. In this article, we'll explore some of the best skills for the Huntress class in Path of Exile 2, analyzing their abilities, strengths, and how they can synergize with the class's core attributes.

1. Arrow Barrage

Arrow Barrage is a skill that has made an appearance in Path of Exile before and is expected to remain a staple in Poe 2 trade. As a multi-shot skill, Arrow Barrage fires a series of arrows in quick succession, overwhelming enemies with a rain of projectiles. It offers high damage output, particularly when the Huntress is in a position to capitalize on her ranged advantages.

Why It's Great for the Huntress:

High DPS: Arrow Barrage deals significant damage due to its rapid-fire nature. The ability to scale with both physical and elemental damage makes it versatile in various builds.

Synergy with Bow Mastery: The Huntress excels at using bows, and Arrow Barrage can benefit from passive tree nodes that increase bow damage, attack speed, and projectile speed.

AoE (Area of Effect) Damage: When dealing with packs of enemies, Arrow Barrage's AoE potential shines, quickly clearing groups of foes.

Synergies and Ideal Builds:

Elemental Arrow Barrage: Combining Arrow Barrage with elemental damage buffs and scaling through nodes like "Elemental Damage with Attacks" or "Projectile Damage" can create a devastating build that can apply powerful debuffs such as Ignite, Shock, or Freeze.

Critical Strike Arrow Barrage: Focusing on crits can increase Arrow Barrage's damage output significantly, especially when paired with items that increase critical strike chance or multiplier.

2. Explosive Traps

Explosive Traps are an essential part of the Huntress's arsenal, allowing her to set traps that detonate with devastating force when enemies approach. This skill works well both in offensive and defensive capacities, making it ideal for kiting enemies and controlling the battlefield.

Why It's Great for the Huntress:

Control and Damage: Explosive Traps allow the Huntress to engage enemies at range while dealing massive AoE damage. By setting traps ahead of time, you can clear large areas or set ambushes to take down groups of monsters.

Trap Scaling: There are numerous ways to scale trap damage in PoE 2, including adding trap damage, increased trap throwing speed, and adding elemental damage to traps. The Huntress's dexterity-focused passive tree makes it easy to achieve these synergies.

Synergies and Ideal Builds:

Elemental Explosive Traps: By focusing on elemental damage, such as fire, cold, or lightning, you can significantly enhance the explosive damage output of the traps. This can also be complemented with elemental ailment-focused nodes like "Elemental Overload" or "Elemental Damage with Attacks".

Trap Mastery: The Huntress's proficiency with traps can be further optimized by investing in nodes that reduce trap throwing time, increase trap quantity, and reduce trap cooldowns. This allows for continuous trap deployment, overwhelming enemies with damage.

3. Frost Arrows

Frost Arrows is a signature cold-based projectile skill, ideal for the Huntress who wishes to combine high damage with crowd control. These icy arrows slow down and freeze enemies, making them highly effective for both solo play and team-based scenarios.

Why It's Great for the Huntress:

Crowd Control: The cold damage effect of Frost Arrows adds a layer of crowd control, slowing down enemies and even freezing them outright. This is particularly useful in tougher encounters, where freezing an enemy can neutralize a dangerous foe temporarily.

Scaling: Frost Arrows can be scaled with cold and elemental damage nodes on the passive skill tree, and using specific equipment that enhances cold damage can provide massive DPS boosts.

Synergies and Ideal Builds:

Cold Crits and Freeze Builds: As with many cold skills in PoE, Frost Arrows can benefit from critical strike and freeze-related synergies. With increased crit chance or multiplier, the Huntress can create devastating bursts of cold damage that freeze groups of enemies instantly.

Frostbite and Elemental Ailments: Combining Frost Arrows with increased elemental ailments such as Frostbite can lead to additional damage over time effects, amplifying the overall damage output.

4. Tornado Shot

Tornado Shot is one of the most beloved skills in PoE due to its unique projectile behavior and high damage potential. The Huntress can fire a single arrow that splits into multiple projectiles, creating a whirlwind of arrows that hit enemies in a wide area. This skill is perfect for those who want to deal both single-target and AoE damage efficiently.

Why It's Great for the Huntress:

Wide Coverage: Tornado Shot's ability to cover a large area with its secondary projectiles means that you can hit multiple enemies at once, making it invaluable for both bosses and mobs.

Projectile Scaling: Since the skill works by splitting the primary arrow into multiple secondary arrows, it scales incredibly well with projectile damage and increased projectile speed.

Synergy with Projectile-based Mods: In addition to its inherent AoE potential, Tornado Shot benefits from increasing the number of projectiles, projectile damage, and attack speed. The Huntress's ability to increase these stats with her dexterity-based passives makes it a great fit for this skill.

Synergies and Ideal Builds:

Elemental Tornado Shot: A common and effective build revolves around making the projectiles fire elemental damage. With the addition of elemental focus nodes, Tornado Shot can deliver immense elemental damage that can cause enemies to burn, shock, or freeze.

Piercing and Splitting Arrows: Tornado Shot can be enhanced by focusing on piercing and splitting mechanics, allowing the arrows to hit additional targets and cover even more ground.

5. Vaal Rain of Arrows

Vaal Rain of Arrows is an upgraded version of the base Rain of Arrows skill, which fires a massive volley of arrows into the sky, raining them down in a wide area. The Vaal version significantly increases the damage and the number of arrows fired, making it an ultimate tool for clearing large groups of enemies or dealing massive damage to a single target.

Why It's Great for the Huntress:

Massive AoE Damage: The Vaal Rain of Arrows is designed to deal devastating damage over a large area, and it's especially effective against large packs of enemies or boss encounters.

Vaal Power Scaling: By investing in Vaal skill-specific passives and gear, the Huntress can use Vaal Rain of Arrows more frequently, enabling her to deal even more damage and control crowds more efficiently.

Synergies and Ideal Builds:

Damage Scaling via Vaal Leech: Pairing this skill with life or mana leech on hit can help sustain your health and energy during intense battles. It's especially useful when engaging large groups of enemies or high-damage bosses.

AoE and Attack Speed: Maximize the damage of Vaal Rain of Arrows by improving your attack speed, ensuring that the skill hits harder and faster when the Vaal skill is active.

6. Toxic Rain

Toxic Rain is a poison-based skill that launches arrows which create a damaging toxic cloud on the ground, poisoning enemies over time. This skill excels at applying poison stacks while providing a unique combination of physical and poison damage. It is a perfect choice for players who want to create a slow, but consistent damage over time effect.

Why It's Great for the Huntress:

Poison Builds: The Huntress's dexterity and evasion-based passives make her an ideal candidate for poison-based builds. Toxic Rain offers both AoE damage and the ability to stack poison for sustained damage.

Mobility and Placement: Toxic Rain's ground-based nature makes it easy for the Huntress to place on enemies while she stays mobile and out of harm's way. It's particularly useful for dealing with enemies that can't move too fast or those that group together.

Synergies and Ideal Builds:

Poison Scaling: Amplifying poison damage and applying multiple poison stacks can significantly increase the damage over time, making Toxic Rain even more devastating.

Chaos and Physical Scaling: Combining physical and chaos damage nodes on the passive tree enhances the overall damage output, turning Toxic Rain into a formidable tool against enemies vulnerable to chaos damage.

Conclusion

The Huntress in Path of Exile 2 promises to be a highly versatile class, blending ranged combat, trap-setting, and elemental mastery, Players can quickly become stronger by buy Path of Exile 2 Currency. The best skills for her will depend on the player's preferred playstyle, but Arrow Barrage, Explosive Traps, Frost Arrows, Tornado Shot, Vaal Rain of Arrows, and Toxic Rain are all strong choices for maximizing her potential. Whether focusing on high burst damage, elemental scaling, or controlling crowds with traps and poison, the Huntress has the ability to cater to many different builds, providing endless possibilities for both newcomers and veteran PoE players alike.

With careful planning, gear optimization, and a deep understanding of how the skill synergies work, players can craft the ultimate Huntress build, leaving devastation in their wake.