Overview
Explosive Grenade Gemling Legionnaire is a fire crossbow build that trades sustained DPS for staged burst. Explosive Grenade is the payload skill, and everything around it exists to make that payload land harder: Oil Grenade and Gas Grenade seed the ground with exposure and damage zones, Cluster Grenade widens coverage across a pack, and the detonation resolves on softened targets.
The gameplay loop is deliberately spatial. Rather than holding a channel or facetanking, the build controls ground from range — dropping setup grenades ahead of a pack, repositioning, and letting the explosions do the work. Mirage Archer keeps grenade pressure ticking while you move, which is what keeps the rotation from feeling like a stop-and-cast build.
Gemling Legionnaire supplies the fire and elemental scaling backbone, with Herald of Ash converting overkill into chain clear and Wind Dancer plus Virtuous Barrier covering the defensive side of a build that expects to stay at range.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Big fire bursts and satisfying pack detonations — mapping is rated the standout axis
- Fully ranged; the build controls space instead of trading hits
- Layered setup (Oil, Gas, Voltaic) makes rares and elites meaningfully easier than raw damage alone would
- Herald of Ash smooths clear by finishing off packs after the main explosion
- Wind Dancer and Virtuous Barrier give it real defensive layers rather than pure glass
Cons
- Grenade damage is timing-dependent — enemies that walk out of a setup zone take far less
- Wants cooldown recovery and attack speed before the rotation flows
- Boss damage requires deliberate setup rather than an on-demand burst
- Positioning-heavy; sloppy play costs damage directly
Key Skills
- Explosive Grenade — main damage and clear (Fire Attunement, Elemental Armament, Short Fuse, Deliberation, Multi-shot)
- Cluster Grenade — wider coverage for grouped packs (Multi-shot, Magnified Area, Payload)
- Oil Grenade / Gas Grenade — setup tools that create damage zones and apply fire exposure before the burst
- Mirage Archer — keeps grenade pressure active while repositioning
- Artillery Ballista + Herald of Ash — extra ranged pressure for tough fights and post-explosion clear
Gear & Anointments
Stat priorities are fire damage, elemental damage, grenade damage, attack speed, area damage, cooldown recovery and crossbow upgrades. Defensively the build invests in life, resistances and evasion to support Wind Dancer and Virtuous Barrier. Exposure and fire penetration are the two scaling levers the creator singles out for pushing damage past the baseline. Specific uniques to be confirmed against the source video.
Endgame Notes
The creator rates mapping 5/5 and both bossing and league start 4/5, with scaling at 4/5 — it continues to improve with fire damage, elemental damage, area damage, attack speed and crossbow upgrades. For bosses the pattern is setup-first: place Oil Grenade, Gas Grenade and Artillery Ballista, then commit Explosive Grenades during safe damage windows.
Credits & Source
Build credited to RNGenius. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: EXPLOSIVE GRENADE GEMLING LEGIONNAIRE BUILD GUIDE | POE 2 PATCH 0.5.