Support
Critical
Tier: 1
Requires: Level 1
Support Reqirements: +5 Int
Supports any skill that Hits enemies, making it more likely to Critical Hit enemies on full life.
Supported Skill has 100% more Critical Hit Chance against enemies that are on Full Life
Place into a Skill’s Support Gem socket in the Skills menu to apply its effects to that Skill. You cannot have multiple copies of the same Support Gem socketed at the same time.
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The Ambush Support Gem is a Critical support gem in Path of Exile 2 that enhances Critical Hit Chance for skills that hit enemies. This gem is particularly useful for critical hit-based builds, especially when facing enemies that are at full life. By significantly boosting your chance to crit against enemies at full life, the Ambush Support Gem ensures that you land devastating critical strikes when they are most vulnerable.
Skill Gem Details
Category: Support
Type: Critical
Tier: 1
Required Level: 1
Support Requirements: +5 Intelligence
Effect: Supports any skill that hits enemies, making it more likely to Critical Hit enemies who are at full life.
Bonus: Supported skills have 100% more Critical Hit Chance against enemies that are at full life.
Skill Mechanics
Increased Critical Hit Chance:
The core effect of the Ambush Support Gem is its 100% increased Critical Hit Chance against enemies that are at full life. This significant bonus ensures that your attacks against enemies in their prime health are far more likely to crit, dealing massive damage. It is particularly effective against enemies in the beginning phase of a fight, before they have taken damage.
Targeting Enemies at Full Life:
The Ambush support gem only activates its full potential against enemies who are at full life. This means that in the early stages of combat or against bosses that have full health, the gem will be most effective. It is especially potent when initiating a fight or when attacking high-health enemies who haven’t taken damage yet, making it ideal for burst damage setups.
Critical Hit Builds:
Critical hit builds that rely on high crit chance and damage will find Ambush extremely valuable. With 100% more Critical Hit Chance against enemies at full life, it can significantly enhance the damage potential of crit-based skills, making it a natural choice for assassins, crit archers, melee crit builds, and other high-damage output builds.
Synergy with High-Damage Skills:
Skills that deal a significant amount of damage per hit can benefit greatly from this gem. Physical or elemental damage skills, especially those that can be spammed quickly (such as bow skills, dual-wielding, or melee slam skills), are ideal for amplifying their damage output when used with Ambush. With the 100% increase in critical hit chance, these attacks are more likely to land devastating critical hits, ensuring more efficient and powerful clears.
Strategic Uses
Critical Strike Builds:
Ambush is most beneficial in critical strike builds, especially those that capitalize on high critical damage. It can be used for builds that focus on crit scaling, including assassin-based builds, crit bow builds, and crit melee builds. For these builds, Ambush increases your ability to deliver big bursts of damage at the start of combat or on full-life enemies.
Boss Fights:
In boss fights where the boss or other enemies may start at full health, Ambush ensures that your initial burst has a much higher chance of landing critical hits. This is particularly important for builds that require high burst damage to take down bosses quickly, especially in the early phases of a fight when enemies haven’t taken damage yet.
Boss-Murdering and Endgame:
When it comes to endgame content, Ambush shines. Whether you’re tackling high-tier bosses or challenging mapping scenarios, the increased crit chance against full-life enemies can help you maximize your damage output and take down enemies more quickly.
Combining with Other Crit Modifiers:
Ambush works well in conjunction with other critical hit chance and critical hit damage modifiers from the passive tree, gear, and other skill gems. For example, pairing Ambush with a Critical Hit Chance aura or Critical Multiplier gear can exponentially increase your overall damage potential.
Pros and Cons
Pros
100% More Crit Chance Against Full Life: The gem provides a significant increase in critical hit chance against enemies at full life, ensuring that your attacks land devastating crits.
Ideal for Critical Hit Builds: Perfect for crit-based builds that rely on landing high critical damage hits. If your build is focused on scaling crit damage, this gem is an essential addition.
Early Burst Damage: The gem enhances your ability to deal high burst damage at the beginning of fights or against full-life enemies, making it highly effective for boss-killing.
Low Level Requirement: The gem is available at level 1, so it can be used early on to enhance the critical potential of new builds.
Cons
Only Effective Against Full-Life Enemies: The gem’s full potential is only realized when targeting full-life enemies. Against enemies that have already taken damage, the gem’s effect becomes less impactful, which may limit its usefulness during longer encounters.
Not as Versatile for Damage Over Time Builds: Ambush is not suitable for damage-over-time (DoT) builds or spell builds, as its benefits apply solely to skills that hit enemies directly.
No Effect on Skills That Do Not Hit: If you’re using spells or skills that deal damage over time (like Poison or Burn effects), Ambush will not affect those builds, limiting its applications.
Gameplay Tips
Combo with High-Burst Attack Skills:
For maximum damage output, combine Ambush with high-burst, single-hit attack skills such as heavy strikes, arrow shots, or sword slashes. This allows you to capitalize on crit hits in the early stages of fights, where enemies are at full health.
Use Against Full-Life Enemies:
Plan to use Ambush when you are engaging full-health enemies, such as when bosses or rare mobs are at their peak health. This gem provides a massive boost to your crit chance, so initiate fights early to make the most of it.
Critical Damage Synergies:
Pair Ambush with critical damage modifiers like Critical Multiplier on your gear or Ascendancy skills that enhance critical damage. This will ensure that your critical strikes hit with devastating power, dealing significant burst damage.
Monitor Boss Health:
Keep an eye on boss health during encounters. Once the boss starts taking damage, Ambush‘s effectiveness will decrease, so try to focus your initial burst while the target is still at full life.
Conclusion
The Ambush Support Gem is an excellent choice for critical strike builds looking to increase their burst damage potential, especially against full-life enemies. Its 100% increased Critical Hit Chance against targets at full health allows for devastating initial hits, making it an invaluable gem for boss fights, high-burst builds, and critical hit scaling. Whether you’re taking down bosses or tackling high-evasion enemies, Ambush guarantees that your critical hits are far more likely to land when it counts most. If you’re building around critical strikes, this gem is a must-have to maximize your damage potential in the early stages of combat.