Path of Exile 2: Ice Shot Amazon build guide

If you want to try something other than Lightning Arrow in Path of Exile 2, Ice Shot may be the way to go. It’s similar enough so that you can adapt easily, but has enough differences that it won’t feel like you’re playing the same build every League. Another reason to play Ice Shot is the recent changes to Lightning Arrow and Deadeye.

For this build, we’re going with the Amazon Ascendancy for the Huntress. She can utilize crits really well and uses a unique ‘Weakness’ mechanic, which allows you to deal additional damage to Rare and Unique enemies in Path of Exile 2.

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Leveling pre-Ice Shot Amanon in Path of Exile 2

Lightning Arrow is the best leveling skill for Bow characters (Image via GGG)

While Ice Shot is fun and a strong build, it isn’t available until later in the game, but since you’ll be swapping to a Bow later on, it’s better to start with the same weapon. For leveling, you can pick up Lightning Arrow and Lightning Rod combination.

It’s simple to use, as all you need is to lay down Lightning Rod and chain Lightning Arrow across groups of enemies. If you haven’t used the skill yet, we do have a leveling guide. The progress you make will help improve the damage of your Ice Shot as they’re both projectile and elemental skills.

After you have access to a level 9 Uncut Skill Gem, you can swap to Ice Shot alongside other related skills. As for the passive, most things will remain the same except lightning damage, which you’ll want to swap to cold damage.

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Path of Exile 2 Ice Shot Amazon build setup

Ice Shot works similarly to LA (Image via GGG)

Here’s the complete skill setup for Ice Shot Amazon after you complete the campaign and start mapping.

• Ice Shot: Elemental Armament - Cold Penetration - Frost Nexus - Fork
• Herald of Ice: Cold Penetration - Deadly Herald - Cold Attunement - Overreach
• Freezing Salvo: Freeze - Concentrated Area - Ice Bite
• Snipe: Window of Opportunity - Concentrated Area - Close Combat - Inexorable Critical
• Ball Lightning: Shock - Blind - Considered Casting
• Freezing Mark: Prolonged Duration
• Barrage: Cooldown Recovery

While the number of skills may seem a lot, remember that you’re not using all of them at once. For general mobbing, you’ll want to use Ice Shot with Herald of Ice. If you come across some rare enemies, use Freezing Mark to make them more susceptible to freeze and then shock them with Ball Lightning. The combination will make your attacks hit much harder.

Freezing Salvo allows you to freeze bosses and stronger enemies quickly (Image via GGG)

While bossing, use the Freezing Mark and Ball Lightning similarly, then use Freezing Salvo to freeze the boss. Within the window, activate Barrage and use Snipe to hit the boss multiple times (with a single use) and potentially defeat them in a single shot.

Note that Ball Lightning isn’t a requirement, but the ‘shock’ Path of Exile 2 allows you to deal more damage. If you do decide to use the skill, you’ll need to set up a secondary weapon. It doesn't have to be something super expensive, since you’ll only use the skill to apply the debuff.

Also Read: 5 best Amazon builds in Path of Exile 2

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Best itemization choices for Ice Shot Amazon in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4

Ice Shot uses a Bow and a Quiver, which is enough to tell you that the build can get expensive. A majority of the Affixes will remain the same as a Lightning Arrow build, but you’ll want to swap lightning damage with cold. Another thing to note is that you can’t have ‘Bow fires an additional projectile’ anymore.

Here are the Affixes you’ll want to have on each piece of gear for your Ice Shot Amazon build in Path of Exile 2.

You don’t need to have the same ones mentioned, but a Helmet and Body armor with high Evasion (Energy Shield if you’re building around Subterfuge Mask) will be very beneficial. If you’re using Stalking Panther Ascendancy, use a hybrid ES/Evasion Body armor.

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Best skill tree setup for Ice Shot Amazon in Path of Exile 2

Passive tree setup for Ice Shot Amazon in PoE 2 (Image via PoB || GGG)

Here’s the complete passive tree setup for your Ice Shot build in Path of Exile 2. The main nodes you’ll want to have across both weapon swaps are highlighted in Yellow, while the Green ones are for Weapon 2, which uses Ball Lightning, and the Red ones for the main weapon using Ice Shot.

Since the build remains the same for the most part, you won’t need to respec much. You can start with the attack damage side of the tree, but if you’re looking to zoom through maps, the movement speed will be necessary.

For Ascendancy, start with Predatory Instinct, as it allows you to deal more damage through the Reveal Weakness mechanics. Then invest across crit nodes to pick up Critical Strike in Act 3, followed by Penetrate after you complete Act 4 in PoE2. The final node is flexible, but we recommend Stalking Panther.

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Check out other related guides and features:

• Path of Exile 2: Poisonburst Pathfinder build guide
• Path of Exile 2: Disciple of Varashta leveling build guide
• Path of Exile 2: Every bonus Passive Skill Point source in the campaign

Edited by Mayank Singh Rathour