This build has been updated for Incursion League and Path of Exile 3.3, check out our guide.
Introduction
This build came about mostly for two reasons. One, I really like magic find builds as a second league goto. The ability to use my league starter, in this case Tectonic Slam, to find good leveling items for my other builds is a great boon. In the case of this MF Raider, I got all of the leveling Uniques mentioned below via drops, and spotting the Elemental Proliferation on Thousand Ribbons and Roth’s Reach increased damage made this MF build an easy choice.
Mobility and positioning is key here. A single shot with Lightning Arrow can fell an entire pack if they’re densely packed enough. Eventually you’ll be transitioning to a high Critical Strike chance setup with a huge Evasion chance for speed.
Build Pros
- Magic Find is great – You can potentially have huge amounts of Unique drops with this build running at full strength.
- Clear Speed is fantastic – Even in the leveling process, this build will rinse through mob packs with the right gear setup.
- Can do most map mods with the right gear
Build Cons
- Early game is a bit slow – Without the leveling Uniques I mention below, this build is a lot tougher to get going. Single-target struggles a bit too before you get good gear.
- Not Budget Friendly – The full version of this build can cost 5-10 Exalts or more.
- Not good for low-end PCs – Those who barely scrape by on minimum graphics settings will have some issues keeping up to 60 FPS with this setup.
Passive Tree(s)
PoB Raider:
POE Planner:
Pantheon
Major God: Soul of Solaris for great damage mitigation boost.
Minor God: Soul of Ralakesh for bleed mitigation and since this build is highly mobile, more damage reduction.
Bandits
Bandits Quest Choice |
Alira for crit and resists for leveling |
Ascendancy skill points
Raider
Way of the Poacher
Avatar of the Slaughter
Quartz Infusion
Avatar of the Veil
Leveling Items and Tips
Equip ASAP
Thousand Ribbons
Goldrim
Roth’s Reach
Wanderlust
These four Uniques make pushing through the early game and beyond a breeze. You could also level as a melee-based build by using Cyclone, but I personally found focusing on a ranged setup right away to be much more fun. If you’re going the melee route, drop the Body Armor and bow listed above use a Tabula Rasa. Replace the Uniques with Rares that have the following stat priority:
- Resists
- Life
- Flat Mana or Regen
Optional Items
Asphyxia’s Wrath – Combining this with Elemental Proliferation from Thousand Ribbons brings your odds of freezing up to a potential 34%. Although you’ll need items that add Physical damage to make it worthwhile.
Wurm’s Molt – Great belt choice for Mana sustain from leeching. although it can be replaced with a Jewel that provides Leech and high Physical damage. A decent upgrade for this is The Tactician or The Nomad, if paired with a Leech jewel. Try to get a beneficial corruption if you can.
The Tactician can be obtained by Fating The Magnate through the The Great Mind of the North prophecy, The Nomad can be earned through the Great Leader of the North prophecy.
Dendrobate – This is a decent upgrade to Thousand Ribbons assuming you get it at least Five-linked and add in Elemental Damage with Attacks and Elemental Proliferation skill gems.
Atziri’s Splendour – This is another option after Thousand Ribbons, albeit a bit more expensive. Make sure to pick up one with a Maximum Life roll and the highest possible Evasion percentage you can get.
Surgebinders – Sadima’s Touch can be replaced with Surgebinders if you’re more interested in increasing DPS over Item Quantity. With this build, Power and Endurance Charges can add several thousand DPS with this unique. This is most useful for taking down bosses when completing the Atlas.
I used a 5-Link Dendrobate to finish out leveling, with the following skill gem setup on it.
Lightning Arrow
Volley Support
Elemental Damage with Attacks
Added Cold Damage
Elemental Proliferation
If you don’t want to risk all your Fusings and Jewellers on trying to link it manually, pick up a copy of The Jeweller’s Touch prophecy. And while it’s probably cheaper to attempt to do it on your own, you could end up spending more than the price of the prophecy trying to Five-link it manually. So it’s personal choice really.
Jewel Setups are very flexible. A Mana Leech or two with some added damage is a good choice for leveling. The only one that becomes kind of important is the Fertile Mind Unique. Although that is a late-game addition for supporting max level gems and mana sustain.
Your main leveling skill if you have the Uniques listed above will be Split Arrow/Burning Arrow to level 18. Switch to Lightning Arrow linked with Added Cold Damage and Volley when you put Roth’s Reach on. Lightning Arrow should go into Thousand Ribbons for the Elemental Proliferation.
Skill gem setup
Main Skill
Lightning Arrow
Greater Multiple Projectiles
Elemental Damage with Attacks
Added Cold Damage
Increased Critical Strikes
Backup Attack
Barrage
Elemental Damage with Attacks
Added Cold Damage
Elemental Focus
Added Lightning Damage
Slower Projectiles Support
Auras
Herald of Ice
Curse on Hit
Assassin’s Mark
Wrath
Clarity (Optional for leveling due to Mana concerns)
One of your primary goals here is proccing Herald of Ice’s AoE damage on shattering frozen enemies. As such, you need to boost your odds of freezing and your Cold and Lightning damage output. Wrath can be linked or unlinked as it’s just a damage scaler.
Utility
Utility skills will be listed together when they need to be linked. Most of these are just a 2-link setup.
Blink Arrow
Faster Attacks
Cast When Damage Taken
Immortal Call
Cast When Damage Taken
Ice Golem
Your movement skill paired with a faster casting time for mobility. Standard Immortal Call setup as well. Ice Golem is just there to buff Crits overall.
Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear
Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.trade.
In this section you will find all the suggested items for this build. We always try to include optional gear in our listing, or try your own assuming you get similar stat rolls. Aim for high-quaity Rares if you’re replacing Uniques.
Your goal here for speed is to stack movement speed and Evasion as high as possible.
Helmet
Any Rare with high Tri-Res and Added % Evasion Rating is a good start. Try to get an enchant that works with either your LA or Barrage skills.
Body Armor
Queen of the Forest is by far the best in slot here. I would say it’s necessary for the survivability of this build.
Belt
Headhunter is a great high-end choice, although you can replace it with a Rare that has good Life and Tri-Res rolls. Very flexible slot overall.
Gloves
Sadima’s Touch is a good unique due to the Increased Item Quantity, although a Rare with Life and Resists can be viable if you’re not concerned with MF.
Boots
Goldwyrm is a good unique due to the Increased Item Quantity, although a Rare with Life and Resists can be viable if you’re not concerned with MF.
Amulet
Bisco’s Collar is by far the best for MF builds. If you cannot afford this then put on an amulet with high life and resists (And elemental damage with attacks / flat added elemental damage to attacks)
Rings
Ventor’s Gamble for the MF obviously. But be careful that you don’t get one with a negative roll on it. NEVER use a Ventor’s with a negative roll.
Bow
Windripper is the basis of this build, you have to have it for the MF combo to work.
Quiver
Rigwald’s Quills is the best item here, but it’s quite costly.
Drillneck is a viable alternative with the right corruptions. Although you will need Threshold Jewels for Piercing to proc with this.
You can also use a rare quiver with any combination of:
Life, elemental damage with attack skills, critical strike multiplier, critical strike chance (And if you get an item level 80 or above shaper quiver the new “adds an additional arrow” mod)
Flasks
Dying Sun – a must-have for optimum clear speed.
Atziri’s Promise – Chaos Res plug
Quicksilver
Jade
Diamond
Vessel of Vinktar – optional choice as the situation calls for it.
Craft those last three so you have options to deal with both Freeze and Bleed. You need freeze immunity on flasks until you get Avatar of the Veil. You can also go for curse immunity to stop pesky temp chains from forcing you to reroll map mods.