It is a Skill Gem.
Ammunition
Attack, AoE, Projectile, Fire, Detonator
Tier: 7 (Mercenary)
Level: 7
Cost: 17 Mana
Attack Speed: 70% of base
Requires: Level 22, 30 Str, 30 Dex
Requires: Crossbow
Loads your Crossbow with flaming bolts that explode on impact. The explosion will detonate any grenades in its area of effect.
Skills can be managed in the Skills Panel.
Explosive Shot is a dynamic and powerful Attack skill in Path of Exile 2, designed for Mercenary players who prefer a combination of AoE damage, projectile-based combat, and explosive utility. By loading your crossbow with flaming bolts, this skill delivers high burst damage through Fire damage and allows you to trigger explosions in its area of effect, making it a devastating tool for crowd control and group damage.
Explosive Shot is an exciting skill that blends projectile-based attacks with explosive AoE effects, and works especially well in builds focused on Fire damage. Here’s a breakdown of its core mechanics:
The skill uses a crossbow and fires flaming bolts that explode upon impact. Each bolt has the potential to deal both direct Fire damage to enemies it hits and trigger AoE explosions.
Ammunition Type: The flaming bolts act as a form of Ammunition, adding a layer of depth to the gameplay. Players need to be mindful of their ammo capacity and cooldowns while using this skill to maximize its damage potential.
When the flaming bolts strike an enemy, they will explode and deal AoE Fire damage in the impact zone. This is perfect for clearing out groups of enemies and handling dense mobs in any combat situation.
Explosion Radius: The explosion affects all enemies in the vicinity of the impact, allowing you to clear packs of monsters efficiently.
One of the unique features of Explosive Shot is its ability to detonate any nearby grenades when it hits an enemy. This is especially useful for combining with other grenade-based skills, as it allows you to chain explosions and significantly increase your damage output.
Chain Reactions: If you’ve already placed grenades on the battlefield, Explosive Shot provides an additional layer of explosive damage by triggering those grenades upon impact.
The skill converts 30% of Physical Damage to Fire Damage, meaning Explosive Shot benefits from Fire-focused gear and Fire damage modifiers. Players looking to scale Fire damage can integrate this skill into their builds for high burst damage and area clearing.
Elemental Damage Modifiers: You can enhance Explosive Shot’s Fire damage output with Elemental Damage bonuses and Fire Penetration support gems to improve its effectiveness against higher resistances.
Explosive Shot also knocks back enemies, providing you with a crowd control mechanic that helps create space between you and your enemies. The knockback effect is useful for keeping enemies at a distance, preventing them from overwhelming you during intense encounters.
Knockback Utility: This knockback can be used tactically to disrupt the positioning of enemies or kite dangerous foes away from your location.
Explosive Shot works best in builds that focus on Fire damage, projectile-based attacks, and AoE explosions. Below are some potential synergies and strategies to get the most out of this skill:
Since Explosive Shot converts Physical Damage to Fire Damage, it fits well into builds focused on Fire damage. You can augment its damage through Fire damage modifiers, Fire penetration, or Increased Fire Damage support gems.
Ignite Builds: With the additional Fire damage, Explosive Shot can be paired with Ignite mechanics to apply burning effects on enemies, increasing its effectiveness in longer fights where enemies are slowly burned by subsequent explosions.
As a projectile-based skill, Explosive Shot benefits from projectile speed and projectile damage modifiers. Gems like Greater Multiple Projectiles or Lesser Multiple Projectiles can increase the number of projectiles fired, allowing you to hit multiple enemies at once.
Pierce or Chain: For more advanced builds, you can combine Explosive Shot with Pierce or Chain modifiers to allow the projectiles to hit multiple targets, maximizing the effectiveness of each shot.
If you use grenade skills such as Explosive Grenade, Explosive Shot will interact with them to trigger explosions upon impact, creating devastating chain reactions. This can be especially useful for creating massive AoE damage, particularly in boss fights or crowd control scenarios.
Grenade Detonation makes it possible to scale up your damage output by leveraging multiple types of explosives at once, creating synergy between different explosive abilities in your build.
Since Explosive Shot knocks back enemies, it fits well in mobility builds that focus on keeping distance from enemies. Combining this with movement speed or teleportation abilities can allow you to maintain positioning and control the flow of combat while still dealing damage from a safe distance.
Kiting: The knockback allows you to kite enemies effectively, especially in situations where you need to keep enemies at bay while dealing damage.
Explosive Shot is a powerful, explosive projectile skill that blends Fire damage, AoE explosions, and knockback for a dynamic and engaging combat experience. It is especially effective for Mercenary builds looking for a versatile skill that can clear crowds, trigger grenade detonations, and provide crowd control with its knockback. By combining projectile scaling, Fire damage, and grenade synergies, Explosive Shot proves to be a valuable tool for burst damage and AoE clearing in Path of Exile 2.