Path Of Exile 2: Grenade Mercenary Leveling Guide

There are a few different ways to level up a Mercenary in Path of Exile 2. You can use Galvanic Shards to chain lightning, freeze enemies in place with Permafrost Bolts, or set everything on fire with Gas Grenades. While it is not the fastest leveling build out there, tossing grenades everywhere you go, and watching enemies explode is pretty satisfying.

The only downside of leveling up a Mercenary using grenades is the multiple-button playstyle. However, it can easily be fixed with a few Uniques that are very cheap in the Trade League — SSF is another story. Here is everything you need to know about leveling up a Mercenary using grenades in POE 2.

Act 1

Act-1 is probably the hardest one, since we do not have any AOE clear. Start with High Velocity Rounds paired with Double Barrel and Scattershot — this should be your single-target DPS. Once you unlock Galvanic Shards , use it with Lightning Infusion and Pierce as your main clearing tool. We also recommend slotting in Flash Grenade to get out of a tricky situation.

If you do not like Galvanic Shards, you can also try Permafrost Bolts paired with Ice Bite . This will help you freeze enemies followed by a shatter that deals massive damage.

• High Velocity Rounds: Double Barrel Martial Tempo
• Galvanic Shards: Pierce Lightning Infusion
• Permafrost Bolts: Pierce Ice Bite
• Flash Grenade: Scattershot Overpower
• Herald of Ice or Herald of Thunder

Act 2

Once you reach Act-2, you will get Explosive Shot to detonate your Explosive Grenade , Gas Grenade , etc. We also recommend switching to Herald of Ash when you switch to this setup. You should also slot in Oil Grenade whenever you get it to apply Fire Exposure and slow enemies down.

• Gas Grenade: Fire Infusion Fire Penetration
• Oil Grenade: Persistence Inspiration
• Explosive Grenade: Fast Forward Magnified Effect
• Explosive Shot: Martial Tempo Pierce
• Herald of Ash

Act 3 To Mapping

You will get your first Lesser Jeweller's Orb — use it on your Gas Grenade . To use it, you will need to provide a source of Ignite. One of the ways is to burn the Oil Grenade using an Explosive Shot followed by spamming Gas Grenades on top of the burning ground. Your rotations require you to press multiple buttons. However, if you can get Birth of Fury or Radiant Grief , you will essentially turn it into a one-button build — you just run around throwing Gas Grenades everywhere.

We also recommend keeping the Flash Grenade slotted somewhere, as it is a free get-out-of-jail card. Once you get more than 100 Spirit, link Clarity and Vitality with the Herald of Ash. By this time, you should also use Wind Dancer , as it is a fairly good defensive layer. You should be able to take this exact setup onto maps.

• Gas Grenade: Scattershot Immolate Elemental Focus Fire Infusion Inspiration
• Oil Grenade: Strip Away Persistence Encumbrance
• Flash Grenade: Maim Brutality
• Herald of Ash: Vitality Clarity
• Wind Dancer: Unbreakable

Recommended Uniques

If you are in the Trade League, there are a few Uniques that you can use to make your leveling a lot smoother. Here are some of our recommendations:

Unique	How to Use
Birth of Fury	The cheapest one is the Birth of Fury. These boots allow you to drop Ignited Ground while moving, which lasts for Eight seconds. It completely removes the need to manually ignite your Gas Grenades. Since you need to move to drop Ignited Ground, the loop is to find a pack, fire your Gas Grenades, and roll into them to create a massive explosion.
Radiant Grief	A bit expensive compared to Birth of Fury, Radiant Grief is a helmet that ignites all the surrounding enemies. This makes the leveling process a lot smoother since you simply fire the Gas Grenades, watch everything explode, and move to the next pack.
Death Rush	Movement Speed is arguably one of the most useful stats in POE 2. As a Mercenary, our only source of Movement Speed is on the boots. We do not have access to MS nodes on the Passive Tree, and do not get Tailwind like Ranger. If you have your Elemental Resistances sorted, we highly recommend having Death Rush as one of your rings.

Gear Stat Priority

While leveling, remember to regularly check the vendors for any potential gear upgrades. Vendors usually refresh their inventories after every few levels, so it is generally recommended to pay them a visit whenever you can. Also, you do not need a rare item in every single slot. If you see a magic item with some HP, resistances, or Attributes, keep it on unless you get something better.

Crafting in Path of Exile 2 is nowhere near as complicated as it was in the first game. Be sure to use your Regal Orb, Orb of Alchemy, Exalted Orb, etc. to hit something nice.

During the Campaign, you should only focus on getting HP, Elemental Resistances, Mana, and maybe some Attributes on your gear. Remember that your DPS scales directly with your weapon, so always look for a better Crossbow.

Gear	Recommended Base	Stats to Look for
Crossbow	Bombard Crossbow, Expert Bombard Crossbow, Advanced Bombard Crossbow	Increased Physical Damage, Flat Physical Damage, Flat Elemental Damage, Attack Speed
Helmet	N/A	Radiant Grief
Body Armor	Rogue Armor	Life, Elemental Resistances, Armor, Evasion
Gloves	Riveted Mitts	Life, Elemental Resistances, Armor
Boots	Braced Sabatons	Movement Speed, Elemental Resistances, Life, Attributes
Rings	Death Rush and an Amethyst Ring	Elemental Resistances, Life, Mana Regeneration Rate, Attributes
Belt	Utility Belt	Elemental Resistances, Life, Armor
Amulet	Bloodstone Amulet	Life, Mana Regeneration Rate, Elemental Resistances
Runes	N/A	Elemental Resistances, Chaos Resistance, Increased Armor and Evasion, Physical Damage

Do not forget to pick up items with Quality, Rune Sockets, etc. You can Salvage these items at any Town to get Artificer's Orb , Armourer's Scrap , and Blacksmith's Whetstone .

Ascendancy Order

Our choice of Ascendancy is the Witch Hunter. With this Ascendancy, you get built-in explosions, Culling Strike, increased AOE, increased damage against low-life enemies, and even some defenses. While doing the Campaign, you will most likely complete the first two Ascendancies. However, if you wish to scale it into the endgame, here is the order of Ascendancies you should take:

Ascendancy	Effect
Zealous Inquisition	Explosions from this node will turn the leveling into a breeze. Try to get it as soon as you can.
Pitiliess Killer	This will boost your clear speed as well as single-target DPS. Culling Strike from this node will instantly kill enemies after they reach a specific HP threshold.
Judge, Jury, and Executioner	This node provides you with Decimating Strike, which lets your initial hit on a full-HP enemy remove a portion of their HP. This is incredibly powerful against bosses. However, do note that it does not work with Radiant Grief , so make sure that you are not within the distance to apply an Ignite.
Witchbane or Obsessive Rituals	If you need defenses, you should definitely take Obsessive Rituals. Before you do that, however, be sure to have around 10K combined Evasion and Armor. Alternatively, you can also choose Witchbane.

Passive Skill Tree

The endgame skill tree can be seen in the screenshot above. However, at the start of the Campaign, travel to Instant Reload before anything else. After you unlock Gas Grenades, only then take up nodes such as Cluster Bombs, Repeating Explosives, Volatile Grenades, and Grenadier.

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