Overview
This is a poison Pathfinder pitched squarely as a Forbidden Rites league starter, and the creator argues it has a higher ceiling than the Ice Shot Ranger that carried the previous league. The engine is a chain reaction: Herald of Blood initiates a blood explosion on kill, Herald of Plague spreads poison outward from it, and the two feed each other until packs detonate across the screen.
Damage is split by purpose. Poison Burst Arrow is the mapping skill, carrying Fork so projectiles split on first collision. Toxic Growth is the boss killer and out-damages the mapping skill outright — Gas Arrow exists mainly to detonate it almost instantly, which removes the usual downside of a delayed skill.
Defensively it is honest about its timeline. The campaign is squishy, as most Rangers are, and you survive by keeping distance. The early endgame is a different build: the creator projects over 2,000 energy shield once the evasion and ES sections of the tree come online, which is where the Pathfinder starts feeling genuinely durable.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Designed from the ground up as a league starter — the campaign section needs no expensive items
- Herald of Blood and Herald of Plague chain into each other for excellent screen-wide clear
- Toxic Growth plus Gas Arrow gives boss damage well above the mapping skill
- Ritual drops cover most of the early gear, including the gloves and charms the creator uses
- Overwhelming Toxicity doubles the number of simultaneous poisons, a large early damage multiplier
Cons
- Genuinely squishy through the campaign until evasion and energy shield come online
- Poison is damage over time, so it does not delete single dangerous targets on contact
- The full endgame setup wants Mirage Archer on weapon set two because spirit cannot cover everything at once
- Several key upgrades (Time-Lost Emerald, Megalomaniac-tier jewels, Headhunter) are late-league aspirations, not starter items
Key Skills
- Poison Burst Arrow — main clear skill; Poison III, Bleed III, Fork, Deadly Poison II, Bursting Plague
- Toxic Growth — the boss killer; Arakaali’s Lash, Long Fuse II, Deadly Poison II, Concentrated Area, Escalating Poison
- Gas Arrow — triggers Toxic Growth almost instantly and grows its ground area over time via Encroaching Ground
- Herald of Blood / Herald of Plague — the paired clear engine, spreading blood explosions and poison
- Toxic Domain — endgame addition that plants pustules on hit, detonated via Poison Spores
Gear & Anointments
The campaign needs very little: the creator’s gloves and charms were ritual drops, and he is explicit that none of it is mandatory. Early tree priority is projectile damage, Horrid Instincts, Vile Wounds, then the Lasting Toxins and Stacking Toxins clusters, which are disproportionately strong at low investment. Crit chance and crit damage nodes follow and give the largest felt jump in damage.
For ascendancy, take Overwhelming Toxicity first — doubling simultaneous poisons is the single biggest damage node available — then Relentless Pursuit for slow immunity while mapping, then the four-point passive detour, and finally Running Assault once the trials are done.
Endgame anoints the amulet with the Building Toxins cluster rather than pathing to it, freeing several tree points. The Time-Lost Emerald and the evasion/energy shield sections are endgame-only purchases; the creator explicitly says to skip them during the campaign. Ryslatha’s Coil is the current chest, slated to be replaced by a Headhunter later.
Endgame Notes
Bossing runs on a weapon swap: set two drops the heralds in favour of Wind Dancer, Ghost Dance and Mirage Archer, with the Mirage Archer set to Toxic Growth so two extra archers stack poison on the target. Toxic Domain adds a further layer for rituals and dense rare packs.
Credits & Source
Build credited to DeathKing. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: Path of Exile 2 - ULTIMATE CHAOS TO WIN Guide | Poison RANGER PATHFINDER 0.5.5 League Starter.