Overview
Ice Shot Deadeye is a bow build that solves clear and single-target with the same resource: freeze. Ice Shot forks through packs and chills everything it touches, triple Heralds detonate the corpses, and Mirage Deadeye quietly fires a second Ice Shot setup of its own while you keep moving. The mapping loop is close to automatic.
Bosses get a dedicated rotation rather than more of the same. Freezing Mark, applied hands-free by Called Shots, makes the target build freeze far faster; once it locks, a perfectly-timed Snipe consumes that freeze and converts the whole setup into a single enormous burst. The sequence is Ice-Tipped Arrows, Freezing Mark, Ice Shot to freeze, then Snipe for the payoff.
What holds it together is that every mechanic feeds the same axis. Cold damage builds freeze, freeze enables Snipe, Snipe pays out cold, and Deadeye’s projectile utility multiplies all of it. The trade is weapon dependency — the entire offensive engine scales off bow damage and attack speed, so a weak bow is felt immediately.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Excellent clear from Ice Shot plus Fork, with Herald of Ice, Thunder and Ash adding secondary explosions
- Mirage Deadeye contributes a second automatic Ice Shot without any extra input
- Called Shots removes the manual stop-and-mark tax that marks usually impose
- Freeze is both damage enabler and crowd control, making it one of the safer ranged play styles
- Deep scaling headroom — bow damage, attack speed, cold, projectiles, crit, freeze buildup and skill levels all pay off
Cons
- Heavily weapon-dependent; a weak bow noticeably caps the whole build
- Snipe requires release timing, and a mistimed release wastes the boss payoff
- The full power spike needs Mirage Deadeye, Called Shots, triple Heralds and premium supports assembled together
- Tornado Shot only works if you position it so your projectiles actually pass through it
Key Skills
- Ice Shot — main clearing attack; Rapid Attacks for responsiveness, Fork for coverage, remaining sockets on raw damage
- Mirage Deadeye — houses a second Ice Shot with Rapid Attacks II, Freeze, Elemental Armament II, Cooldown Recovery II
- Called Shots + Freezing Mark — automatic marking; Prolonged Duration II, Charged Mark, Eternal Mark, Mark of Siphoning II
- Snipe — single-target payoff; Window of Opportunity II, Elemental Armament II, Tasalio’s Rhythm, Elemental Focus, Concentrated Area
- Ice-Tipped Arrows — converts physical to cold and creates ice fragments; Elemental Armament II, Elemental Focus, Short Fuse I, Freeze, Uhtred’s Constellation
- Tornado Shot — supplementary projectile coverage, not a replacement for Ice Shot
Gear & Anointments
Bow first, and by a wide margin — prioritise high damage with strong attack speed, since almost the entire offensive engine scales from the weapon. Beyond that the build wants cold damage, projectile scaling, critical investment and skill levels, plus enough Spirit to run three Heralds alongside the Mirage and Called Shots setups. Specific uniques to be confirmed against the source video; the creator’s emphasis is on rare bow quality rather than a fixed unique list.
Endgame Notes
The creator rates league start 4/5, bossing 5/5, mapping 5/5 and scaling 5/5, and frames the combination of range, freeze control and clear speed as well-suited to 0.5.5’s denser Ritual encounters and more dangerous endgame maps.
Credits & Source
Build credited to RNGenius. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: BEST ICE SHOT DEADEYE BUILD FOR PATH OF EXILE 2 PATCH 0.5.5.