Ice Shot
Speed-farming
Deadeye build

Updated for Patch 3.16

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Estimated budget: high

Ice Shot Deadeye (optionally Raider) is currently one of the fastest map farming builds which allows smooth end-game Bossing on a very reasonable budget. This build offers very high damage with no specific or very expensive Unique Items required. We will be stacking flat Cold Damage bonuses with a self-crafted Bow and unique Items like Voidfletcher or Hyrri's Ire. This is currently the most popular and powerful Bow Build in the game, with unlimited damage scaling potential from a huge variety of sources of damage. Our build currently utilizes Deadeye Ascendancy for better clear speed, but it can be played with a similar effect as a Raider, Pathfinder, Berserker, and possibly some other classes as well. This build falls entirely in the Glass Cannon category, but if you are looking for the fastest Map farming build, this is something you definitely have to check out!

Playing as a Deadeye and dealing Converted Elemental Damage with an Attack Skill while possessing high Crit Chance and Crit Multiplier might be the most efficient way to get through the game content with ease. It's a ranged glass-canon build that uses Bow, combined with a variety of Unique and Rare Items, the most prominent being Headhunter - one of the chase items that are usually beyond the reach of an average player. With this belt, you gain mods of each Rare Monster you've killed for the next 20 seconds, so when there's a high monster density this build performs exceptionally well. It just so happens that the end-game content offers such conditions - try this build on Breachstones, Legion 5-way Domain of Timeless Conflict, and Simulacrums.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Best PoE Builds by Odealo

1. Gameplay

Ice Shot Deadeye is a typical Bow Build that allows insanely fast map farming and offers high single-target DPS with Barrage. You can breeze through most Maps with your Mirage Archer taking down enemies while you progress to the Boss Area. The damage and clear speed are very high even on a reasonable budget, with only self-crated Shaper Bow being an expensive must-have item. However, you are nearly guaranteed to craft a decent Weapon for around 6-7 Exalted Orbs. You can easily reach a few million Shaper DPS with the Barrage setup which will be used for single-target mainly.

This build also offers very high Evasion Rating and Dodge, which are your core defensive mechanics. It's quite convenient since this build's maximum Life Pool is capped at around 5,000 so it's essential that we have a very high chance to avoid damage entirely. Overall this build provides a very smooth playstyle with not many concerns on what enemies you are currently facing.

0:08​ Tier 16 Maze of the Minotaur 0:31​ Tier 16 Caldera 0:52​ Tier 16 Pit of the Chimera 1:32​ Tier 16 Park 1:53​ Tier 16 Shipyard This video was recorded on a level 94 Deadeye with 4,300 Maximum Life and approximately 1,3kk Ice Shot DPS (up to around 5kk with Barrage as single-target) in Patch 3.13. We didn't exactly increase the DPS with the newest setup, but as you can see, the defenses are on a whole new level now. Facetanking Minotaur has never been an option until now

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling is quite easy, however, on lower levels, it's better to focus on Physical Damage Bows as getting Cold ones that are viable is pretty much impossible. You should also prioritize getting high added Physical Damage to Attacks and Life/Elemental Resistance on Rare Equipment. If you manage to get enough DPS and make your Mirage Archer one-shot normal enemies, leveling will be extremely fast. Below you will find several extremely useful Uniques for the level part and basic Gem setups. During the leveling phase you don't need to use two alternative Attack Skills, you should be fine to deal with Bosses with properly linked Ice Shot as well.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Ice Shot setup
	Ice Shot - primary Skill used in this build. It's best to use it for the leveling part as well to have it leveled up when we reach Maps. Ice Shot itself deals decent damage to your target, and create a cone of Ice behind it slowing enemies and dealing extra damage
	Mirage Archer Support - summons a Mirage Archer which will also cast Ice Shot with lower Attack Speed. It will work even when you run around greatly increasing your clear speed and allowing faster progress
	Added Cold Damage Support - grants very high bonus Cold Damage to your Attacks
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - greatly increases Elemental Damage dealt by Supported Attacks

Utility Gems
	Summon Ice Golem - increases your Accuracy Rating and Critical Strike Chance
	Herald of Ice - grants extra Cold Damage to your Attacks and causes AoE Explosions when you kill Frozen enemies
	Blink Arrow - the recommended Mobility Skill used in this build
	Portal - lets you portal to Town without the necessity to use a Scroll. You should link it to Faster Casting Support, or the animation may feel very long

Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

32 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Finesse 2) Herbalism 3) King of the Hill 4) Fangs of Frost with Mastery 5) Lethality

70 Points Skill Tree
Get more Maximum Life and Damage, then put Lioneye's Fall between Frenetic and Infused and allocate Claws and Daggers Passives in its range

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - this Rings provide all the important stats for lower-level characters and can be used even on lower-tier Maps

(10-30)% increased Damage +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Goldrim - one of the best leveling Helmets which grants sufficient Elemental Resistances for most of the leveling process

+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Silverbranch - one of the first Unique Bows available in Path of Exile which offers high base DPS and extra Mana gained on kill which helps greatly during the leveling phase

+1 to Level of Socketed Bow Gems (80-100)% increased Physical Damage 10% increased Attack Speed +10 Mana gained on Kill +30 to Accuracy Rating

Death's Opus - one of the best mid-level Bows in the game. It can be used efficiently on Maps if you have enough added Damage to your Attacks

(30-50)% increased Critical Strike Chance (100-125)% increased Physical Damage Adds (10-20) to (30-35) Physical Damage 10% increased Attack Speed +50% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Bow Attacks fire 2 additional Arrows

Karui Ward - a very cheap and powerful leveling Amulet for Rangers. You can also Anoint Aspect of the Eagle on it which costs just a few low Tier Oils

+(20-30) to Dexterity +(20-30) to Strength +100 to Accuracy Rating 30% increased Projectile Speed 10% increased Movement Speed 30% increased Projectile Damage

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

104 Points Final Skill Tree  (doesn't include Unique Jewels)
121 Points Path of Building(PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Ricochet
2. Endless Munitions
3. Gathering Winds
4. Wind Ward

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Solaris 6% Physical Damage Reduction if there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Garukhan +5% chance to Evade Attacks if you've taken a Savage Hit recently

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Ice Shot for clear
	Ice Shot - the primary Attack used in this build will Chain to nearby enemies and have massive area coverage and very high Damage. With Herald of Ice's explosions and Mirage Archer, you will be able to breeze through Maps with ease
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - grants very high bonus Elemental Damage - to keep the Mana Cost low you can skip this Gem for 5-linked setup is enough to comfortably clear maps
	Mirage Archer Support
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - more projectiles for better area coverage
	Fork Support - makes projectiles from Supported Skills to fork, which massively increases your clear speed
	Inspiration Support - increases Elemental Damage and Crit. Chance of your Ice Shot, while reducing its' Total Mana Cost

[DPS] Single-target Ice Shot
	Barrage Support - this Support Gem makes your projectiles fire in a straight line instead of the default spread to focus your damage on one target
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support
	Added Cold Damage Support - adds extra flat Cold Damage
	Hypothermia Support - can be swapped for  Cold Penetration Support for comparable damage
	Inspiration Support
	Ice Shot

[UTILITY] Aura setup
	Hatred - grants bonus Cold Damage, and if you manage to get the recommended Watcher's Eye, it will also increase your Critical Strike Chance
	Herald of Ice - grants extra Cold Damage and causes AoE explosions
	Precision - increases our Critical Strike Chance and Accuracy Rating. We need to use a low-level Precision Gem so that it doesn't Reserve too much Mana (preferably between level 1-5)
	Enlighten Support - reduces the Mana Reservation cost of all Supported Spells. Has to be level 2 or higher

[UTILITY] Hydrosphere, Creeping Frost, and Sniper's Mark setup (to be socketed in Asenath's Chant)
	Hydrosphere - Creates a sphere of water that Drenches and damages enemies nearby. It can be Hit to make your projectiles Chain and Fork off of it. Keep at level 1 so it won't increase the Intelligence Requirements for the whole build and cost less mana.
	Creeping Frost - a projectile that creates expanding Chilled Grounds on hit which will not only Chill enemies but deal Cold DoT
	Sniper's Mark - the most preferable Curse for this build, it increases the damage enemies take from Projectiles, Hitting Cursed Enemies with Projectiles Split them towards additional targets, grants Mana and Life Flask Charges.
	Bonechill Support - increases the effect of Chill and makes the enemies affected by this Affliction take more Cold Damage

[UTILITY] Dash
	Dash - the recommended mobility Skill used in this build
	Steelskin - your Guard Spell which is the most optimal option to reduce the damage you take
	Blood Rage - increases your Attack Speed and generates Frenzy Charges for an even higher DPS bonus
	Vaal Grace - use Vall grace for a temporary increase in Evasion Rating and Chance to Dodge Hits, but if you can deal the low Mana Pool by having low Mana cost of Skills, use regular Grace in the aforementioned Aura setup instead of Precision

5. Gear Setup

Below you will find the recommended gear for our Ice Shot Deadeye build. Most of the item choices are flexible, getting a crafted Shaper Bow that has added Cold Damage per every 10 Points of your Dexterity is useful if you stack a lot of Dexterity. You can also craft it yourself, which shouldn't cost above 7 Exalted Orbs for a decent six-linked one. The most important stats besides the defensive ones are added Cold Damage and increased Cold Damage, Critch Chance and Multiplier, Attack Speed, and Accuracy Rating.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your Elemental Resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS/Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Asenath's Chant - The BiS Helmet for this build. It automatically triggers socketed Spells at a high rate with some other additional stats improvements

Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Attack with a Bow (10-15)% increased Attack Speed (10-15)% increased Cast Speed +(100-120) to maximum Energy Shield (30-40)% increased Stun and Block Recovery 30% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 5% increased Movement Speed

Helmet enchantments: 40% increased Ice Shot Damage Barrage fires an additional Projectile

(Weapon) Rare Shaper Crafted Bow - this is a must-have item for this build, look for the highest added flat damage and increased Physical Damage, that is later converted to Cold anyway. additional Arrows, Attack Speed and Crit Strike Multiplier are other great mods you should look for

Min. requirements: Adds 100-200 Cold/Physical Damage 150% increased Physical Damage Optional affixes: Bow Attacks fire 2 additional Arrows Adds # to # Cold Damage to Attacks with this Weapon per 10 Dexterity Increased Elemental Damage with Attacks Damage Penetrates #% Elemental Resistances Chance to deal Double Damage increased Attack Speed Critical Strike Multiplier

(Quiver) Hyrri's Demise - this Quiver can possibly grant a higher DPS when compared to Voidfletcher if you manage to have extra Attributes on your equipment. Possible differences are easy to calculate in PoB

+(3-4) Life gained for each Enemy hit by your Attacks +(15-30) to all Attributes (7-10)% increased Attack Speed +(2-3) Life gained for each Enemy hit by your Attacks 10% increased Area of Effect Adds 1 to 2 Cold Damage to Attacks per 10 Dexterity Adds 1 to 2 Fire Damage to Attacks per 10 Strength Adds 0 to 3 Lightning Damage to Attacks per 10 Intelligence

(Quiver) Voidfletcher - it adds a lot of Cold Damage to your Attacks, grants Mana on Kill, Cold Res, and has the unique Void Charges mechanics able to reach an additional 1 mil DPS with Void Shots

Arrows Pierce an additional Target Consumes a Void Charge to Trigger Level 20 Void Shot when you fire Arrows with a Non-Triggered Skill Adds (30-40) to (80-100) Cold Damage to Attacks +(80-120) to maximum Energy Shield +(20-30)% to Cold Resistance +(20-40) Mana gained on Kill 30% increased Projectile Speed 5 Maximum Void Charges Gain a Void Charge every 0.5 seconds

(Body Armour) Rare Armour - the BiS option. Make sure to have a high Life bonus and added base Critical Strike Chance

Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life Attacks have +1.5% to Critical Strike Chance Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Maximum Life% High Evasion Rating You can apply an additional Curse

(Body Armour) Hyrri's Ire - grants very high bonus Cold Damage and extra Dodge making it a very reasonable choice for this build

+(40-50) to Dexterity (140-220)% increased Evasion Rating 25% increased Chill Duration on Enemies Adds (105-145) to (160-200) Cold Damage to Bow Attacks 10% chance to Dodge Attack Hits 10% chance to Dodge Spell Hits

(Boots) Rare Boots - just grab the highest possible Life, and Movement Speed you can afford, don't look for Tailwind mod - you have Gathering Winds Keystone already

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 30% Movement Speed Chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill

Boot enchantment: 16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Killed Recently 10% Chance to Dodge Attack Hits if you've taken a Critical Strike Recently

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - again, aim for high defensive stats. Extra Damage will be also nice but that shouldn't be your first concern when choosing a pair of Gloves

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances 27% increased Elemental Damage if you've dealt a Critical Strike Recently (veiled) Optional affixes: Added Cold Damage to Attacks Projectile Attack Damage (Gripped Gloves only) Accuracy Rating Critical Strike

(Belt) Rare Stygian Vise - the best option for the Belt which offers an additional Abyssal Socket

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 90% to Elemental Resistances 35% Increased Elemental Damage with Attacks Optional affixes: Strength

(Belt) Headhunter - Headhunter fits this build especially well - it's designed for fast-paced gameplay and glass-canon builds such as this one, the powerful buffs last only 20 seconds after all

+(25-40) to maximum Life +(40-55) to Strength +(40-55) to Dexterity +(50-60) to maximum Life (20-30)% increased Damage with Hits against Rare monsters When you Kill a Rare monster, you gain its Modifiers for 20 seconds

(Amulet) The Pandemonius - the best Amulets for this build which increases your Cold DPS, as well as, grants some insane defensive utility by greatly slowing down nearby enemies

+(20-30) to Dexterity (20-30)% increased Cold Damage +(35-40)% to Cold Resistance Chill Enemy for 1 second when Hit, reducing their Action Speed by 30% Blind Chilled Enemies on Hit Damage Penetrates 20% Cold Resistance against Chilled Enemies

Recommended Anointments: Throatseeker Heart of Ice True Strike Constitution Discipline and Training

(Ring) Rare Rings - try to get them as your last items, make sure one of them is Shaper with Assassin's Mark on Hit (you can craft one yourself as well) and Cap Resistances with the other one

Min. requirements: 50 maximum Life adds 10 to 40 Cold Damage to Attacks 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Curse enemies with level # Assassin's Mark/Frostbite on Hit (only if you can apply more than one Curse) Elemental Damage with Attacks adds Cold Damage against Chilled or Frozen Enemies Attributes

(Ring) Mark of the Elder - this Ring adds tons of Flat Cold Damage to your Attacks, but your other ring has to be Shaper-influenced limiting your choices and increasing the overall cost of the build

Adds (3-4) to (10-14) Physical Damage to Attacks 20% chance to Trigger Level 20 Tentacle Whip on Kill Adds (26-32) to (42-48) Cold Damage to Attacks (6-10)% increased maximum Energy Shield (6-10)% increased maximum Life (60-80)% increased Attack Damage if your other Ring is a Shaper Item Cannot be Stunned by Attacks if your other Ring is an Elder Item

(Jewel) Abyss Jewel - just get extra Life and DPS bonuses (like Added Cold or Crit. Multiplier)

Recommended affixes: maximum Life Added Cold Damage to Bow Attacks Optional affixes: Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier Increased Damage if you have killed recently

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - use Large Bow Cluster Jewels with Notables as mentioned below, alternatively, small nodes could be one of the most beneficial if enhanced by other mods instead of added Notable passives and if that's the case then you don't have to look for a Jewel with a small number of added passives

Recommended Notables: 1 Added Passive Skill is Martial Prowess 1 Added Passive Skill is Blanketed Snow 1 Added Passive Skill is Disorienting Display 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Calamitous 1 Added Passive Skill is Fuel the Fight

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - properly rolled one can be the single-best Jewel for any build. It's optimal to get one with extra base Crit. Chance while affected by Hatred, or increased Crit. Multiplier while affected by Precision (those two combined can cost a fortune)

Recommended affixes: +(1.2-1.8)% to Critical Strike Chance while affected by Hatred (40-60)% increased Cold Damage while affected by Hatred (40-60)% increased Attack Damage while affected by Precision +(30-50)% to Critical Strike Multiplier while affected by Precision

(Jewel) Lioneye's Fall - makes Claw and Dagger nodes and Masteries in the upper right of the Skill Tree to apply to your Bow Attacks making it a mandatory Jewel in this build.

Melee and Melee Weapon Type modifiers in Radius are Transformed to Bow Modifiers

(Flask) Dying Sun - increases the number of our projectiles by two making it an exceptional Flask for Bow builds

+50% to Fire Resistance 20% less Fire Damage taken (125-150)% increased Charges used (40-60)% reduced Duration (10-20)% increased Area of Effect during Flask Effect Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles during Flask Effect

(Flask) Bottled Faith - one of the best Utility Flasks in Path of Exile for all Crit-based builds. It gives you a very high bonus Crit. and Damage against enemies that are within the Consecrated Ground it creates. You can also use Cinderswallow Urn here instead if you can't afford Bottled Faith Flask

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (20-40)% increased Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Flask effect

(Flask) Taste of Hate - this Flask offers increases your survivability and DPS as you deal mostly Cold Damage that's converted from Physical

+50% to Cold Resistance 20% less Cold Damage taken (10-15)% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Cold Damage during Flask effect Gain (10-15)% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage during effect 30% chance to Avoid being Chilled during Flask effect 30% chance to Avoid being Frozen during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Bubbling Divine Life Flask with random ailment removal Diamond Flask with Freeze immunity/removal Quartz Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games