Mercenary Grenade Ballista Leveling Build

Build Introduction

With the sweeping balance changes to every system coming in Patch 0.2, it is nearly impossible for us to have confidence in existing, well tested guides. While we will do our best to get these updated as soon as possible, their current state may leave them unusable. Make sure to regularly check back to see if any changes have been made.

Dive into Path of Exile II with the Mercenary, a leveling build that hammers enemies with grenades, ballistas, and bolts. It’s all about crushing foes with massive area-of-effect damage and keeping them in check with punishing crowd control. Ascend to become the Gemling Legionnaire, amplifying your skills, or the Witchhunter to dominate magical threats and blast your path through the carnage and chaos.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

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Ascendency

At the end of Act II, you can select your first Ascendancy. We generally recommend you ascend around level 20 or 30. However, this build went through the campaign and into mid-tier maps with no ascendancy so that it can be used for the Gemling Legionnaire, Witchhunter, or any future ascendency. Electing to take either ascendancy will enhance the leveling process. If you struggle to ascend on either your first or second ascendancy, complete more of the campaign and return to it once you have leveled some or acquired better gear. At this point in the Early Access, this choice is permanent and should be made with your endgame build in mind! However, it is worth noting that you can choose to respec the nodes within that specific ascendency if you want to alter it later. If you need information about ascending, you can see PatrickHatTrick’s helpful guide here.

Gemling Legionnaire

The Gemling Legionnaire is an incredibly powerful and versatile ascendancy. Instead of getting new abilities, the Gemling takes your existing skills and attributes and massively increases their potency. If you want to ascend as a Gemling Legionnaire, we recommend you take the following nodes in the order listed while leveling.

1. Crystalline Potential—This will instantly give us 12% Quality (2% from the small passive), decreasing the cooldown of most of our grenade skills while making some skills more potent and significantly increasing totem attack speed.
2. Adaptive Capability—Skill gems we use will utilize our highest attribute. This will allow you to start scaling Strength, your primary attribute, only using Dexterity to fill in for gear slot requirements.

Witchhunter

The Witchhunter specializes in making quick work of large enemies and packs, especially demons and the undead. He also can sacrifice 50% of Armour and Evasion for Sorcery Ward, a unique defensive layer that protects from elemental hits, not physical hits. If you want to ascend as the Witchhunter, we recommend you take the following nodes in the order listed while leveling.

1. Pitiless Killer—This gives you Culling Strike, instantly killing an enemy that meets the threshold. This threshold is as follows: 30% White (Normal) enemy, 20% Blue (Magic) enemy, 10% Yellow (Rare) enemy, and 5% for Orange (Unique) enemy/boss.
2. Zealous Inquisition—Enemies now have a 10% chance to explode on death, dealing punishing area damage. This chance is doubled against the undead and demons. This will be additive clearing speed, as much of our actions will make things explode already.

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General Advice for Leveling

Path of Exile II’s campaign is not for the faint of heart. Remembering interactions with monsters and their skills will take you a long way, and persistence is one of the most valuable traits you can have in this game. Check vendors when you level, as they will restock when you do, to possibly find upgrades to your gear. If you elect to trade, hold onto some Exalted and Divine Orbs, as they are the trade currency standard. If you are new to crafting, visit Crafting and Currency Overview here.

Looting and selling items is a great way to farm gold. Try always to have a full bag when returning to town. Even if it is a gear you won’t use, try identifying rare items (yellow) and look at the stats. You may run into something valuable on the trade market, or if not, sell it in town. The more affixes on an item, the more gold it will be worth. Regarding trading, playing and seeing the market is the only way to learn what is valuable. You’ll be flipping Divines in no time!

Do not skip the side quests on your map! They do drop loot or skill/support gems, which you will need to progress through the campaign.

Do not be afraid to be over-leveled for an area, but be aware that if you are too high or too low, an XP penalty will be assessed until you move onto an area level, also referred to as the Monster Level, typically within +/- 4 levels of your current character’s level. The area level can be seen in the campaign, on your area map, or on the objectives map (“U” Key). It can also be seen in the top right of your HUD throughout the game’s entirety. If you do not see it on the top right, open your on-screen minimap using “Tab” on your PC or the default button on your console.

This game can and will be punishing at times. The area will reset upon death, and new (non-unique) monsters will respawn. See this as an opportunity to collect more XP and a lesson learned.

NOTE: If you are not Solo Self-Found (SSF), you can elect to trade for an upgrade in your gear. Please remember to look for something with your proper level requirements. Far too many players spend their hard-earned Exalted Orbs in trade for something they cannot even equip yet!

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Gear Progression and Stat Priority

Your priorities for weapons and armour gear when upgrading should be as follows. Please note: Mana Leech is shown in all gear places; it is possible to obtain it; however, only about 10-15% is needed. Therefore, it should not be required in all areas where it is available.

NOTE: All of our gear should have Iron Runes. The only exception is using two Mind Runes on our weapon if we have Mana problems. However, other rune’s resistance can be used to help fix resistance. Runes are replaceable and can be changed later.

• Crossbow: Around level 30+, keep an eye out for a Bombard Crossbow; this gives our grenade skills an additional grenade when used. The Crossbow is mandatory by the end of the build.
  • +# to Level of all Projectile Skills.
  • Adds # to # Physical Damage.
  • Leeches #% of Physical Damage as Mana.
  • #% increased Physical Damage.

• Helm and Body: Opt for a hybrid base of Armour and Evasion, but if you have to pick one, choose Evasion.
  • +# to maximum Life.
  • Hybrid #% increased Armour and Evasion / +# to maximum Life.
  • #% increased Armour and Evasion.
  • Needed Resistances.

• Rings: Iron Rings give us advantages in base physical damage, but Elemental Resistance Ring bases may be needed to cover our resistance.
  • +# to maximum Life.
  • Adds # to # Physical Damage to Attacks.
  • Leech #% of Physical Attack Damage as Mana.
  • Needed Resistances.

• Amulet: Azure Amulets will help alleviate some mana regeneration issues, but leech will do the heavy lifting. If mana regen is not a problem, elect for an Amber Amulet. Late in the campaign or Maps, you may elect to anoint your amulet; Burn Away is recommended and cheap anointment (Fear, Disgust, Disgust.)
  • +# to Level of all Projectile Skills.
  • +# to Maximum Life.
  • #% increased Mana Regeneration Rate.
  • Needed Resistances.

• Boots: Opt for a hybrid base of Armour and Evasion, but if you have to pick one, choose Evasion. Movement Speed is king; it should be seen as a survivability stat. If you find a good pair, regardless of the base type, you should use it until you find something with better stats and equivalent or better movement speed.
  • #% increased Movement Speed.
  • +# to maximum Life.
  • #% increased Armour and Evasion.
  • Needed Resistances.

• Gloves: Opt for a hybrid base of Armour and Evasion, but if you have to pick one, choose Evasion. Gloves are our last chance to get mana leech. This is a significant QOL stat for the build.
  • +# to Maximum Life.
  • Hybrid +# to Armour / +# to Evasion Rating.
  • Leech #% of Physical Attack Damage as Mana.
  • #% Increased Armour and Evasion
  • Needed Resistances.

• Belt: If mana is not an issue for you, then you can elect for a Plate Belt for the added armour; if not, go for the Linen Belt to increase your recovery from Mana Flasks.
  • +# to maximum Life.
  • #% Increased Flask Mana Recovery rate.
  • +# to Armour.
  • Needed Resistances.

• Jewels: Looking for Rubies – You will eventually have 4 Jewel sockets on your passive tree. You should get your first around the end of Act 2, so there’s no rush to find or buy them. These mods on a single Jewel are likely more expensive; individually, they should be extremely cheap. Mix and match as need be, or craft on good ones that already have some of them, and you might be lucky.
  • #% increased Totem Damage
  • #% increased Fire Damage
  • Break #% increased Armour
  • #% increased Stun Buildup

Note: Several Suffixes are available. If you’ve covered your resistances (75%), use those slots to increase your maximum Mana or attributes to fill in any gaps. Do not skip on resistances!

Charms and Flasks

Throughout leveling, you will frequently find various charms and flasks. Make sure to swap them out for better options whenever you find upgrades. Regarding their stats, here is what to aim for:

• Health Flask: Prioritize those with the “Seething” affix. This applies the heal instantly, albeit a lesser amount.
• Mana Flask: Maximum recovery over the shortest duration.
• Charm: If you get lucky with a Stone Charm or Thawing Charm, use them to counter Stun and Freeze effects, which can be annoying. Otherwise, choose charms based on your current needs or the Boss/enemies you are up against. If you notice poison is problematic, use an Antidote Charm.

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Act I

You can clear most content in Act I with just your default bolts. However, we will have access to Load Fragmentation Rounds and, soon after, an Uncut Skill Gem, which you will use to make Load Permafrost Bolts. Like many other skills with the mercenary, these will work in cohesion.

The Gem Setup you should be trying to reach is the following, in order of priority:

Skill	Support Gem 1	Support Gem 2
Load Fragmentation Rounds	Martial Tempo	–
Load Permafrost Bolts	Ice Bite	Pierce
Explosive Grenade	Fast Forward	Fire Infusion
Flash Grenade	Scattershot	Overpower
Gas Grenade	Ignition	Corrosion
Wind Dancer (spirit gem)	–	–

Warning: Flash Grenade will Blind you and allies if in the AoE. Being blinded will reduce your evasion by 20%.

Most of your clear will happen with a combination of Load Permafrost Bolts and Load Fragmentation Rounds. Once the enemy is frozen, use your fragmentation to obliterate them. You can freely rotate with Gas Grenade and Explosive Grenade, as the gas will explode after the explosive grenade hits. Use your Flash Grenade to stun low-level enemies and escape a jam instantly.

For boss fights, you will primarily use grenades. Open up almost any fight with Flash Grenade to build the enemies’ stun meter. Then, they lay down some Gas Grenades to break the enemies’ armour. Launch an Explosive Grenade and use your auto attack. Repeat dodging mechanics as necessary.

By the end of Act 1, you should be level ~12-18.

For help with bosses in Act 1, visit our bossing walkthrough here.

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Act II

We will slightly modify our loadout as we get access to higher-level skill gems, but most of our grenades will stay the same, with minor changes to our support gems. If you do not have the gem level yet, keep the loadout the same until you can do them all simultaneously. Skill cohesion matters and was made to work in unison.

Skill	Support Gem 1	Support Gem 2
Explosive Grenade	Fast Forward	Magnified Effect
Flash Grenade	Scattershot	Overpower
Gas Grenade	Ignition	Corrosion
Load Explosive Shot (Level 7 Gem)	Martial Tempo	Pierce
Oil Grenade (Level 9 Gem)	Persistence	–
Artillery Ballista (Level 9 Gem)	Inspiration	Fire Infusion
Wind Dancer (Spirit Gem)	–	–

We dropped our ammunition skills to go all in with grenades. This playstyle will remain relatively the same until the end. Later, as we get access to higher-level support gems, we push high damage to massive areas.

Most mobs can be killed with Oil Grenade and Explosive Grenade; ensure to detonate them with Load Explosive Shot. You can follow a similar skill rotation for more difficult packs, but add in a singular Artillery Ballista while the enemies cook on the Gas Grenade—reminder: Flash Grenade any boss or difficult rare mobs. You may run into ludicrously rolled rare monsters with highly toxic mods. (EX: Hasted and Mana Degeneration Aura.) Try and fight it out, but understand this does happen.

By the end of Act 2, you should be around Level 30-35.

For help with bosses in Act 2, visit our bossing walkthrough here.

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Act III

While our skills will stay the same, we’ll start enhancing our support gems. Consequently, some existing support gems will be rearranged or swapped out entirely. Since this is a leveling build, we’ve minimized the need for Jeweler Orbs early to keep costs low. However, you won’t encounter level 3 support gems until the monsters are at least level 53. Defeating “Bog Witch” is a significant milestone for us, as it grants us an additional 30 Spirits to utilize.

Skill	Support Gem 1	Support Gem 2	Support Gem 3
Explosive Grenade	Fire Infusion	Magnified Effect	–
Flash Grenade	Scattershot	Overpower	–
Gas Grenade	Comorbidity	Corrosion	Break Posture (Level 2 Gem)
Load Explosive Shot (Level 7 Gem)	Martial Tempo	Pierce	–
Oil Grenade (Level 9 Gem)	Persistence	Strip Away (Level 2 Gem)	–
Artillery Ballista (Level 9 Gem)	Inspiration	Exploit Weakness (Level 2 Gem)	Ancestral Urgency (Level 2 Gem)
Wind Dancer (Spirit Gem)	Clarity	Vitality	–

One could elect to put Scattershott into Explosive Grenade; however, unless appropriately aimed, the blasts will not overlap, reducing damage significantly.

Our skill rotation will remain the same; however, after removing Fast Forward, we must ensure we ignite the grenades with our Load Explosive Shot. The delay on the grenade is too long to wait for. Explosive Grenade will start to do much more damage, as the increase in gem level marks significant gains in damage. It will not be uncommon to repeatedly hear the “Breaking” sound on the same enemy. Once the broken armour is consumed, the Gas Grenade can start eating the armour again. This effect will be amplified much faster once we get a level 3 support gem; for now, we supplement it with Comorbidity to amplify the rate. Be sure to keep gas on, bosses, as the armour-breaking leads to big hits from our Artillery Ballista. Remember that even if we don’t use our Ballistas to consume armour, our Flash Grenade will yield significant gains in damage from the missing armour on enemies.

By the end of Act 3, you should be around Level 45-50.

For help with bosses in Act 3, visit our bossing walkthrough here.

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Act I – III Cruel Skill Gems

We start dropping Level 3 support gems after Act 3. With that, we can begin to finalize our skill gem setup system. Notice our Gas Grenade has a support swap. You can do Break Posture during boss fights, as this makes them heavily susceptible to stuns, or keep with Demolisher to rip more armour from them faster. There will be one more shuffle of support gems upon reaching maps, which is shown at the end of this.

Skill	Support Gem 1	Support Gem 2	Support Gem 3
Explosive Grenade	Scattershot (If you have Bombard Crossbow, put Fire Infusion)	Magnified Effect	Payload (Level 3 Gem)
Flash Grenade	Overpower	Heft (Level 3 Gem)	Splinter (Level 2 Gem)
Gas Grenade	Deadly Poison (Level 3 Gem)	Corrosion	Boss Gem – Break Posture (Level 2 Gem) Generic – Demolisher (Level 2 Gem)
Load Explosive Shot (Level 7 Gem)	Martial Tempo	Pierce	Nimble Reload (Level 3 Gem)
Oil Grenade (Level 9 Gem)	Persistence	Strip Away (Level 2 Gem)	Encumbrance
Artillery Ballista (Level 9 Gem)	Inspiration	Exploit Weakness (Level 2 Gem)	Ancestral Urgency (Level 2 Gem)
Wind Dancer (Spirit Gem)	Clarity	–	–
Alchemist’s Boon (Spirit Gem) or Overwhelming Presence(Spirit Gem)	Cannibalism (see note)	–	–
Herald of Ash (Spirit Gem)	Magnified Effect	Fire Mastery (Level 3 Gem)	–

NOTE: Once you complete Act 3 “Bog Witch”, you will have 60 Spirit and be able to attach Clarity and Vitality. Once you complete act 6, “Bog Witch”, you will have 100 Spirit. If you do not notice Mana issues, you can drop Clarity for Cannibalism. If you are not having problems with either Life or Mana, you can skip Alchemist’s Boon for Overwhelming Presence.

Ideally, in the maps sequence, you will have Herald of Ash, Overwhelming Presence, and Wind Dancer active, with only Clarity running.

For help with bosses in Acts 4,5 and 6, visit the previous guides for 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

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You have been practicing the same rotation by this time in the build, and not much has changed. With white mobs, you can run by and drop an Oil Grenade (slow/exposure) and a Gas Grenade (armour break) on them and leave an Artillery Ballista or 2 to clean them up. You can drop oil and some Explosive Grenades with a Load Explosive Shot. You can do all 4 in more difficult engagements while using Flash Grenade often to build up a stun. In practice, the “Totem Drive-by” worked best for speed.

In dangerous situations, you can preload the area (or door) with Ballistas and kite them with a Gas Grenade. Using Oil to slow and flash to kick them back, then lay down some fiery hate and discontent with your Explosive Grenades. You may find yourself doing this with Rare enemies that present a problem.

Be aware of your surroundings! You may need to backtrack if a rare or magic mob comes at you with some wild mods on them. Find choke points and use them to your advantage.

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Skill Tree in Act 4 (Act 1 Cruel)

Attack Speed is irrelevant to us; we rely on cooldown reductions from the tree to put out more Grenades. It may be worth using any Gemcutter’s Prisms you find on your Flash Grenade and Explosive Grenades to hasten the cooldowns further. If you are going into Gemling Legionnaire, you might not have to worry about this as much. As the 12% Quality from the first ascendency, Crystalline Potential would likely be enough. Each Gemcutter’s Prism adds 5% quality to your gem.

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Skill Tree in Act 5 (Act 2 Cruel)

This is when our critical strike damage begins to be very useful. The node Power Shots give us an additional 80% to our Critical Damage bonus.

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Skill Tree in Act 6 (Act 3 Cruel)

We push to maximize our critical strike chance, capitalizing on the fact that most things are ignited. We add a second Artillery Ballista to lay down constant fire on a boss fight. This is purely additive, and the Rage they generate from Font of Rage will benefit them and you (if you are nearby).

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Progressing into Endgame

This guide aims to help you navigate early white maps but doesn’t cover Atlas passives. Once you hit Level 70 or when mapping feels challenging, you can easily transition into your endgame variant. If you follow this guide without ascending, you now have the freedom to choose from any available ascendancy! I managed to reach Level 82 before I decided to stop. You can find the skill tree attached below.

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Passive Tree Respec

At this time, you will want to respec as many Dexterity nodes as possible. When you get into maps, you will need more Strength than Dexterity, as your Herald of Ash and Overwhelming Presence will need at least 164 Strength for Gem Level 17.

We go further into the Critical Strike Bonus, which, when it happens, will instantly kill most white mobs on the map and the short work of blue mobs. Yellows and Bosses will not pose too much of a problem if you can avoid their damage.

Skill	Support Gem 1	Support Gem 2	Support Gem 3
Explosive Grenade	Exploit Weakness (Level 2 Gem)	Fire Infusion	Primal Armament (Level 2 Gem)
Flash Grenade	Splinter (Level 2 Gem)	Heft (Level 3 Gem)	Payload (Level 3 Gem)
Gas Grenade	Deadly Poison (Level 3 Gem)	Corrosion	Boss Gem – Break Posture (Level 2 Gem) Generic – Demolisher (Level 2 Gem)
Load Explosive Shot (Level 7 Gem)	Execute	Pierce	Inevitable Critical (Level 2 Gem)
Oil Grenade (Level 9 Gem)	Persistence	Strip Away (Level 2 Gem)	Encumbrance
Artillery Ballista (Level 9 Gem)	Immolate (Level 3 Gem)	Font of Rage (Level 3 Gem)	Martial Tempo
Wind Dancer (Spirit Gem)	Clarity	–	–
Overwhelming Presence (Spirit Gem)	–	–	–
Herald of Ash	Magnified Effect	Fire Mastery	–

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Rotation

By now, you should have acquired or crafted the essential items listed in the Items section. We’ve found that Flash Grenade obliterates most mobs with its massive AoE at this stage. Reserve Explosive Grenade and Artillery Ballista for high HP Blue mobs, Rares, and Bosses almost exclusively.

Start combat by deploying an Oil Grenade to slow down charging enemies, then follow up with a Flash Grenade to stun them and strip away their armour. Overkill damage from this will spread to nearby enemies via Herald of Ash, igniting them.

Since Flash Grenade deals with physical damage, you can cast it freely with little to no net mana loss. Your Leech will recover nearly all of that mana, and a mana flask can easily manage any further casting.

Bossing Rotations follow a similar pattern with a slight setup.

Drop Artillery Ballista(s) to start generating Rage -> Oil Grenade the enemy to slow -> Gas Grenade area to aid in amour breaking -> Flash Grenade, should hit twice with payload chances -> Explosive Grenade as many times as you can safely -> Ignite them with Load Explosive Shot. Repeat as necessary, only reapplying oil when their Fire Exposure falls off, and replace Ballistas that have fallen out of range or expired/died.

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Path of Building

There are two trees you can look at for leveling. There is one specifically for Gemling Legionnaire or Witchhunter; besides changes in the ascendancy tree, they are identical. Both work with PoB. For more information on PoB, visit here. Path of Building is a program Path of Exile players use to track, decipher, prepare, and sort builds. You can choose between them in the bottom left drop-down of Path of Building.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• I keep running out of Mana!
  • If you have no leech in your gear, this will happen until you get some. Ensure you have upgraded your flasks to give you the most amount, use the proper belt base (Linen Belt), and put Mind Runes in your crossbow. Try not to overcast your grenades or use the ballistas unnecessarily.
• I feel like I don’t do enough damage!
  • Are you still using the same weapon in Act 4 as in Act 1? Are you upgrading your skill gems as you drop them? Do you have at least some of the gear damage requirements from the gearing section? Are you rotating through the skills correctly? (Artillery Ballista->Oil Grenade->Gas Grenade->Flash Grenade->Explosive Grenade->Load Explosive Shot->Gas Grenade) Since the initial writing of this guide (0.1.1f), there might have been adjustments or nerfs, but we’ll strive to maintain its relevance. This build has been tested, reaching level 82 without Ascendancy perks, using the same setup and basic, low-end gear.
• I keep dying!
  • Are you still using the same gear from Act 3 now that you’re in Maps? Remember, each act reduces your resistances by 10%, so have you kept them capped? This build isn’t about hugging monsters; it’s for mid-range engagement. Armour is used for “oops, I got hit” moments when your Evasion fails. Your strategy should be to Kite, Kite, Kite! Adopt a “Run and Gun” approach to keep enemies at bay while you deal damage from a safe distance.
• I can’t seem to drop any gear, and I seem to miss every craft!
  • Welcome to Path Of Exile! You are now part of an elite group of players who seem to miss 99% of almost everything we do! Seriously though, I know this is frustrating! However, there isn’t much I can do besides point you to trade or tell you to continue to craft. Perhaps try another crafting technique. Visit our crafting page here for help.
• Where can I go if I have more specific questions?
  • You are always welcome to ask questions in our ARPGVault Discord or visit my Twitch stream!

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Changelog

March 28th, 2025: Guide created for Path of Exile II, Early Access