Overview
This is an Ice Shot bow build for the Huntress, taken down the Amazon ascendancy in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.5. The pitch is a clean split between effortless mapping and explosive single-target burst: Ice Shot carries the clear while a dedicated boss rotation builds a frozen, shocked, marked target up for one enormous Snipe hit. The creator frames it as one of the most fun and highest-damage bow setups available this league.
Amazon is the glue that makes the playstyle work. The ascendancy delivers stronger crit scaling, accuracy-into-damage conversion through Penetrate, bonus damage against priority targets via Predatory Instinct, and elemental leech through Mystic Harvest — all of which feed a cold-attack archetype that would otherwise struggle to sustain. Because crit and accuracy both turn into raw damage here, gear and tree investment compound rather than plateau.
The build is also explicitly scalable. An early-game version leans on Ball Lightning for shock and ordinary bow gear, then graduates into Thunderstorm shock automation, stronger quivers, better crit pieces, and tighter freeze consistency as currency comes in.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Near one-button mapping: spam Ice Shot and let Herald of Ice chain shatter explosions across the screen
- Massive single-target burst through the shock → mark → freeze → Barrage → Snipe rotation
- Strong defensive base from evasion, deflection, and energy-shield-into-evasion mask scaling, plus leech from Mystic Harvest
- Clear early-to-endgame progression path that rewards continued investment
- Freeze control and shock setup give it reliable answers to tanky rares and bosses
Cons
- Boss damage depends on executing a multi-step setup rotation rather than face-tanking
- Full power requires endgame pieces (Thunderstorm setup, Visceral Quiver, 50%-immobilize gloves, time-lost / from-nothing jewels)
- Gem-link choices are finicky — e.g. the wrong Overcharged Projectiles tier adds cooldown and ruins clear
- Accuracy and crit reliance means the build wants well-rolled gear before it feels complete
Key Skills
- Ice Shot — primary mapping skill providing cold coverage, freeze, and smooth ranged clear
- Herald of Ice — chains shatter explosions off frozen packs for screen-wide clear
- Snipe — the boss killer, built entirely around landing one huge crit
- Freezing Salvo — rapidly drives bosses to the freeze threshold before the Snipe window
- Thunderstorm (or Ball Lightning early) — applies guaranteed shock to amplify the burst
- Freezing Mark — marks tougher targets to enable the freeze and damage window
Gear & Anointments
The bow is the single most important item: aim for a strong physical base with high accuracy, high crit chance, increased physical damage, flat physical or cold damage, and suffixes like projectile levels or onslaught. Accuracy runes are especially valuable because Amazon converts accuracy into damage.
- Bow — physical base, accuracy, crit, flat phys/cold, projectile-level suffixes
- Quiver — Kadira’s Gambit for mapping screen coverage; Visceral Quiver for pinnacle bossing (bow damage, projectile speed, +levels, cold/crit-to-attacks)
- Gloves — the key upgrade is gloves that immobilize enemies at 50% buildup instead of 100%, making boss freezes far faster
- Helmet — high energy shield to feed Subterfuge Mask scaling into evasion
- Chest — hybrid evasion/energy shield with spirit and deflection where possible
- Rings/Amulet — flat cold/phys, increased cold, life, resists, a leech source; amulet wants spirit and +projectile levels
- Jewels — Heart of the Well with extra cold/lightning, From Nothing near Chaos Inoculation for boss nodes, Time-Lost Emerald for crit damage
- Headhunter is a strong but optional mapping luxury
No mandatory build-defining unique beyond the quiver/jewel choices above; remaining specific item rolls to be confirmed against the source video.
Endgame Notes
The endgame rotation cleans up considerably: cast Thunderstorm to apply shock, Freezing Mark then Freezing Salvo to reach the freeze threshold, then Barrage into Snipe for the one-shot. A second weapon set is dedicated to Thunderstorm and shock-magnitude nodes so the main bow set keeps its full damage. Predatory Instinct’s bonus against rares and uniques with open weaknesses makes pinnacle and tanky-rare encounters the build’s sweet spot.
Credits & Source
Build credited to KaidGames2. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: INFINITE DPS ICE SHOT AMAZON BUILD IN 0.5! POE 2 Huntress Build 0.5 (NEW META).