Magic-Find is a standard build in action RPGs like Path of Exile, so it tends to be a very popular build in every Challenge League. The amount of Currency and Rare/Unique items which can be gained from a dedicated MF character is well-worth the investment. However, I would never run this as a League starter for a newer player. The leveling process and gear requirements necessitate some level of game knowledge to be able to apply effectively.
Tornado Shot is your trash clearing skill, and Barrage is your boss killer. And even after the nerf to Barrage in 3.3, the skill is still viable as long as you stack enough damage on it. Getting the right Labyrinth enchants really helps too.
Those of you who checked out our Magic-Find build for 3.2 will notice that this is very similar. But because of nerfs and item changes, the old build needed to be refined, so here we are.
Build Pros
- Insane amounts of Rare/Unique drops
- Simple mechanics, keep mobile and clear trash
- Great clear speed
Build Cons
- Early game can be tedious
- Optimal Shaper/Unique gear is EXPENSIVE
- Killing bosses with sub-optimal gear is really annoying.
Passive Tree(s)
Deadeye
Deadeye – Path Of Building: https://pastebin.com/qMSqPhSQ
Pantheon
For Major God: Max Upgraded Soul of Lunaris
For Minor God: Upgraded Soul of Shakari for Poison immunity
Bandits
Kill All or Alira. New players may prefer Alira as it makes certain gear requirements less of an issue.
Ascendancy skill points
Deadeye
Ascendancy Nodes:
Deadeye: Gathering Winds > Farshot > Ricochet > Endless Munitions
ENCHANTS
Helmet:
1-2 Additional Tornado Shot Projectiles
1 Additional Barrage Projectile
25-40% increased Tornado Shot Damage
25-40% increased Barrage Damage
Lightning Arrow hits 2 additional Enemies
Boots:
16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you’ve Killed Recently
0.6% of Damage Leeched as Life and Mana if you’ve Killed Recently
1 to 160 Lightning Damage if you haven’t killed Recently
Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven’t Killed Recently
Gloves:
Commandment Of Fury
Leveling Items and General Tips
These Uniques make pushing through the early game and beyond a breeze .Replace the Uniques with Rares that have the following stat priority during leveling:
- Resists
- Life
- Flat Mana or Regen
Optional Items
Wurm’s Molt – Great belt choice for Mana sustain from leeching. although it can be replaced with a Jewel that provides Leech and high 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.
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.
Avoid these map mods:
- Reflect (All Maps)
- No Leech (All Maps)
If you are a brand new Path of Exile player, feel free to check out our various POE guides for noobs.
Skill Gem Setup
You’ll find recommendations for different attack skill setups for this build below. The basic buff and aura setups are down there too.
=== TORNADO SHOT ===
Tornado Shot – GMP – Elemental Damage with Attacks – Added Cold – Mirage Archer – Ice Bite
=== MOVEMENT ===
Blink Arrow – Faster Attacks – Immortal Call – CWDT
=== AURA/UTILITY ===
Herald of Ice – Curse on Hit – Assassins Mark – Onslaught
=== GOLEM/BUFF ===
Grace Or Wrath – Enlighten – Portal – Ice Golem
=== BARRAGE ===
Barrage – Increased Critical Strikes – Added Cold – Elemental Damage with Attacks – Elemental Focus – Slower Projectiles
ALT SKILL CHOICES:
6L Herald For STANDARD Players
Herald of Ice – Curse on Hit – Assassins Mark – Onslaught – Item Rarity – Item Quantity
Lightning Arrow – GMP – Elemental Damage with Attacks – Pierce – Added Cold – Mirage Archer
Ice Shot – GMP – Elemental Damage with Attacks – Chain – Added Cold – Mirage Archer
Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear
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-quality Rares if you’re replacing Uniques. The Minimum/Optional requirements listed assume you’re using Rares as a replacement for listed Uniques.
Stat Priorities:
Item Rarity and Quantity are essential for an MF build to work.
Life and Evasion are super important for survivability, especially at end-game. Reducing incoming DPS is vital to surviving in higher-tier maps. Although be careful to to forsake damage mods for it.
Elemental Damage is your main scaling and your primary DPS next to Crits, add Elemental with a focus on Cold and Lightning as that’s where most of your skill-based damage is.
Critical Strikes are a good source of damage, buff them whenever possible.
Attack speed can help increase DPS from non-crit damage, but be careful not to sacrifice other more important stats for it.
Resistances until you cap them off.
Corruptions that add skills aren’t worth prioritizing, or risking bricking your important Rares/Uniques. If you do get lucky/wealthy enough to have a backup item, beneficial corruptions that essentially adds another slot like Added Elemental Damage Skill rolls are a good option.
Weapons
Windripper is an absolute necessity for peak MF. A decent Shaper/Elder Rare will hold you though a lot of end-game content while farming for the currency you need though.
Chin Sol with Barrage setup outlined above can help with some tougher bosses.
The Tempest is a decent leveling bow, but the path from that to a Shaper/Elder Rare, then to Windripper is what gave me the best experience.
For your Quiver, Rigwald’s Quills is best. A Rare Shaper can replace it in a pinch, assuming you can get as many of the mods listed below on it.
Min. requirements:
Elemental Damage Buffs
Crit Buffs
Maximum Life
Attack Speed
Optional affixes:
Bow attacks fire an additional arrow
Uncapped Resistances
Attributes
Helmet
Devoto’s Devotion is by the best option for this build, especially if you manage to get a Lab enchant that buffs your main attack skill, at least in low-tier map farming. So it’s a good option while farming Burial Chamber for those Headhunter Divination Cards. The added Chaos Resistance also makes Atziri’s Promise less necessary.
Starkonja’s Head is a great choice due to massive damage buffs and crit chance, so use it for higher-tier map farming.
Lightpoacher with 2 sockets is BIS for Boss content. Run with Abyss jewels with Life, Added Elemental Damage and Attack Speed for best results.
Rare helms aren’t really a good replacement here, even Shaper/Elder Rares often don’t have good mod pools to make up for the lost DPS.
Body Armor
Queen of the Forest has been a standby for MF builds for a while now, but there are some alternatives.
Shroud Of The Lightless is your boss killer chest providing you with free 37% Elemental Penetration and an Abyss jewel slot. That Abyss slot would work best when paired with a Jewel that grants tons of extra Elemental Damage.
Belt
Headhunter is a great QoL belt, but it is a performance killer.
Bisco’s Leash is an OK stop-gap solution if you’re worried about nuking your PC with HH.
Abyss Belts with Life and Resistances are a good option for end-game. Other Rares might do in a pinch, but not having good rolls can make you a lot more squishy than is tolerable. Abyss Jewels are also a great source for damage buffs like these. Buffing your damage and Life is the best bet here.
Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
Added Elemental Damage
Uncapped Resistances
Gloves
Sadima’s Touch are BIS for MF, get a Legacy variant if you’re in Standard. Rare gloves with the stats below, using PoB as a guide, are a good start if you’re going the DPS route.
Tombfist with Damage buff Abyss jewels is BIS for Boss content.
Min. requirements:
Maximum Life
Elemental Damage Buffs
Evasion Rating
Optional affixes:
Attributes
Any Uncapped Resistances
Boots
Goldwyrm, Legacy if in Standard, is your BIS here for pure MF while farming maps.
Bubonic Trail will be the Best in Slot for Boss content.
Rare boots with max rolled Life, Evasion, Resists and Movement Speed are great if you need to cap Resists. Item Rarity is also decent optional roll here if you don’t need any extra resists, stats or life.
Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
Evasion Rating
30% increased Movement Speed
Any Uncapped Resistances
Amulet
If you’re going pure MF, Bisco’s Collar is usually best, but it will be very difficult or expensive to obtain. So a high-end Shaper Rare can actually grant better buffs to MF, and do so for cheaper with the right mods, a general Increased Item Quantity roll for example.
Attributes will need some help, so get a corrupted Amulet with any needed stats for your gems. Getting good Life rolls can help with survivability. The best way to scale damage is to get buffs to both Crit Chance and Multiplier on the amulet.
Min. requirements:
40 Maximum Life
Increased Item Rarity
Added Elemental Damage
Optional affixes:
Added Lightning or Cold Damage
Crit Buffs
Rings
Use a Ventor’s Gamble when Mapping. Try get above 5% quantity and the rest positive stats.
Rare rings that buff your damage in a substantive way work as a subsitute, so Elemental damage or Crit buffs. Plugging any resist holes is good too. Shaper/Elder Rares with added skills are a great boon for this build, as they can add tons of DPS.
Min. requirements:
70 Maximum Life
10% All Elemental Resistances
Optional affixes:
Attributes
Mana Leech
% increased Elemental Damage
Intelligence(If using Wrath)
Flasks
Dying Sun
Diamond Flask
Jade
Quicksilver of Adrenaline
Stibnite
Needed Mods:
Freeze Removal
Bleed Removal
Curse Removal (*Make sure to have Alchemist’s modifier on this one to reduce duration)
You can swap the mods around if needed due to RNG.
Dying Sun and Diamond should usually be kept up at all times, although make sure to recharge before killing bosses. The other flasks are all situational defensive flasks, usually to keep you alive while you GTFO when in danger.
Jewels
Lioneye’s Fall – Lioneyes Fall converts the claw nodes to benefit bows and gives you a nice dps boost along with good leech. You put Lioneye’s Fall just below Soul Raker node in the jewel slot to convert claws leech and crit chance/multi to Bows.
Inspired Learning – can be used as a replacement for a Headhunter, place it in the jewel slot between Fervour and Heartseeker. Replace with a jewel that adds the relevant stats listed below once you get HH.
Abyss Jewels:
Life > Flat Elemental Damage To Attacks/Bows > Attack Speed > Crit Multiplier > Uncapped Resistances
Jewels:
Life % > Attack Speed with Bows > Attack Speed > Crit Multiplier > Uncapped Resistances
