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If you're looking for a fun, poison-based build in Path of Exile 2, the Gas Grenade Pathfinder offers an exciting alternative to the typical Deadeye playstyle. Built around stacking and spreading poison damage, this Pathfinder setup excels at both clearing maps and handling bosses. In patch 0.3.0, Gas Grenade Pathfinder stands out as one of the strongest and most consistent ranged poison builds, capable of sustaining damage over time while remaining relatively safe thanks to evasion and energy shield layers.

This guide breaks down the pros and cons, mechanics, skill setups, itemization, and passive tree priorities for anyone looking to master the Gas Grenade Pathfinder in Path of Exile 2.

Pros and Cons of the Gas Grenade Pathfinder Build

Like any ARPG build, Gas Grenade Pathfinder comes with its own strengths and weaknesses. Here's what you can expect:

Pros

·Excellent map, clear. Contagious Contamination ensures that poison spreads to nearby enemies, making farming more efficient.

·Durability - Strong defensive layers from Evasion, Ghost Dance, and Wind Dancer.

·Reliable scaling - Poison damage grows with gear and passive tree investment.

·Simple gameplay - Primarily a one-button build centered on Gas Grenade.

Cons

·Delayed damage - Grenade Fuse and poison ramp-up can feel slower compared to crit builds.

·Jewel dependence - Requires specific jewels to reach maximum efficiency.

·Gear intensive for perfection - Some uniques and +skill rolls can be tough to acquire.

How the Gas Grenade Pathfinder Works

At its core, the build revolves around Gas Grenade, a skill that drops clouds of poison that continually damage enemies. Combined with Pathfinder ascendancy synergies, these grenades spread poison rapidly, thanks to Contagious Contamination, which allows poison to transfer to nearby enemies when one dies.

Defensively, the build relies on Evasion, Energy Shield, Ghost Dance, and Wind Dancer to avoid or mitigate damage. Offensively, you'll stack poison multipliers, reduce enemy chaos resistance, and apply debuffs like Despair and Withering Presence to increase poison effectiveness.

How to Play the Gas Grenade Pathfinder

For general mapping, the gameplay loop is simple:

1. Drop Gas Grenades into enemy packs.

2. Watch poison spread automatically through Contagious Contamination.

3. Move quickly to the next group.

Against bosses or tanky rares, you'll add layers:

·Cast Despair to reduce chaos resistance.

·Activate Toxic Domain for added single-target pressure.

·Stack multiple Gas Grenades directly under the target.

·Maintain Withering Presence to increase chaos damage taken.

The result is a versatile build that clears maps quickly while still handling tough encounters with focused poison stacking.

Best Skill Gem Setup for Gas Grenade Pathfinder (0.3.0)

The build's primary skill, Gas Grenade, needs a full five-link to shine. Here's the recommended endgame setup:

·Gas Grenade: Arakali's Lust - Deadly Poison II - Elemental Armament II - Persistent Ground III - Encroaching Ground (swap to Elemental Focus on bosses).

·Ghost Dance: Compressed Duration II.

·Wind Dancer: Blind II - Maim - Magnified Area II.

·Despair: Heightened Curse - Prolonged Duration II - Efficiency II.

·Withering Presence: Prolonged Duration II - Clarity I.

·Toxic Domain: Escalating Poison - Deadly Poison II - Long Fuse II.

Leveling tip: Use Gas Grenade (Bursting Plague, Corrosion) alongside Contagion (Unleash) for smooth progression. For bosses, keep Explosive Grenade ready to trigger big bursts while layering poison clouds.

BiS Itemization for Gas Grenade Pathfinder

This build isn't overloaded with mandatory uniques, but a few Path of Exile 2 Items significantly boost its power:

·Plaguefinger (mandatory) - Converts all damage from hits to poison magnitude, dramatically improving scaling. A corrupted version with +1 socket is ideal.

·Main Weapon: Siege Crossbow - Your primary damage source.

·Secondary Set: Cursecarver (wand) + Arvil's Wheel (shield) - Optimized for Despair casting. Aim for Cursecarver with +4 to Despair and Arvil's Wheel with a high skill effect duration.

Jewel Options:

·Prism of Belief with +Gas Grenade levels.

·From Nothing, ideally slotted near Chaos Inoculation, for synergy with Pure Chaos and Wither Away.

If you're struggling to gear up, many players turn to buy POE2 Items and buy POE2 Currency to progress. Since poison scaling depends heavily on multipliers and +skill levels, getting well-rolled rares and uniques early makes a huge difference.

Passive Tree, Ascendancy, and Keystone Highlights

Gas Grenade Pathfinder primarily traverses the right side of the passive tree, focusing on chaos damage, poison scaling, and survivability. Key nodes include:

·Overwhelming Toxicity - Doubles the number of poisons that can be applied simultaneously.

·Contagious Contamination - Spreads poison to nearby enemies on kill.

·Escalating Toxins - Increases poison duration based on recently inflicted stacks.

·Chaos Inoculation - Grants immunity to chaos damage and bleeding, but reduces max life to 1. This pairs well with evasion and ES layers.

·Wither Away - Boosts withered effect magnitude by 20% and applies Wither to nearby enemies.

·Pure Chaos (via From Nothing jewel) - Converts 100% of damage into extra chaos damage.

These nodes ensure poison not only applies quickly but scales into devastating levels of single-target and AoE damage.

Final Thoughts

The Gas Grenade Pathfinder in Path of Exile 2 (0.3.0) is a top-tier poison build for players who enjoy DoT-based gameplay. It offers strong map-clearing speed, layered defenses, and the satisfaction of watching poison spread through enemy packs. While jewel and gear dependency can be frustrating, the build's accessibility and non-crit nature make it easier to gear compared to more complex setups.

If you want a powerful poison-based ranger build that feels rewarding in both mapping and bossing, the Gas Grenade Pathfinder should be high on your list. With the right setup, it's not just fun to play-it's one of the smoothest poison builds available in Path of Exile 2.