Path of Exile 2 Dawn of The Hunt: Huntress League Starter Leveling guide

The Huntress in Path of Exile 2 is the newest class for Update 0.2.0. She comes as one of the main attractions of this patch, as the update version has also been named after her, which is called "Dawn of the Hunt." Typically, there will be several eyes on this new class and the associated Ascendancies that come alongside her.

Since Path of Exile 2 doesn't make the lives of players any easier, this article will list everything related to the Huntress' leveling through the campaign and early mapping.

Disclaimer: This article does not list the endgame gears for Huntress.

Key mechanics and Skills for Huntress Leveling build in Path of Exile 2

Leveling in Path of Exile 2 follows a simple mechanic across multiple characters: Have enough AOE prowess to clear out increased groups of mobs. The Huntress, despite being a newer class in the game, won't have that much of a difference in leveling when compared to other classes. Specific weapons, passive nodes, and skills are shared between characters, which makes leveling easier to explain.

Note that the Ascendancy for the Huntress doesn't matter much in this particular leveling guide, as we will be depending on skills, weapons, and passives.

To start, your primary skill to clear out heavy groups should be Stormcaller Arrow, alongside supports such as Lightning Infusion and Martial Tempo (additional supports will be listed below). The Stormcaller Arrow acts like a sticky bomb, where it gets stuck in one enemy and then launches an AOE lightning attack after a short interval. You can launch several of these sticky lightning bombs.

Stormcaller Arrow in Path of Exile 2 (Image via Bungie)

For boss or rare damage, keep the Lightning Rod skill at your disposal, with supports such as Scattershot and Concentrated Effect. However, note that Lightning Rod requires another skill for activation. One Lightning Arrow, without any support, will do the job. Hence, the rotation for single-target is as follows: Cast Lightning Rod on the enemy's location>fire one Lightning Arrow to activate the Lightning Rod.

Lightning Rod in Destiny 2 (Image via Bungie)

You do not need to build into Lightning Arrow, as the main damage to the single target is being dealt via Lightning Rod. Lastly, you can get Freezing Salvo with Hourglass and Glaciation. Freezing Salvo can be used only when you are overwhelmed, and you need to freeze the boss or rare. Herald of Thunder should be your Aura skill.

Here's an overview of the skills:

Stormcaller Arrow for clearing groups: Martial Tempo, Lightning Infusion, Primal Armament, and Rising Tempest.
Lightning Rod for single target: Scattershot, Concentrated Effect, Close Combat.
Lightning Arrow to trigger the Lightning Rod.
Freezing Salvo for freezing single target: Hourglass, Glaciation, Cold Infusion.
Herald of Thunder as aura: Innervate, Longshot.
Wind Dancer aura.
Shield Charge as a movement skill.

Alternately, you can simply get Rake with your first Lvl 3 Uncut Gem, and then add Martial Tempo and Stomping Ground Supports for an easy one-button spam for the campaign.

Itemization for Huntress leveling in Path of Exile 2 0.2.0

Since this is a league starter guide, we won't be going into Unique pieces. Instead, the following stats are recommended in each armor piece:

Bow: Dualstring Bow is mandatory for the Intrinsic "Fires an additional arrow." Except for that, look for "Increased Physical Damage," "Attack Speed," or "Flat Physical Damage."
Quiver: Look for Accuracy, levels for projectile skills, and Attack Speed.
Helmet: Resistances.
Body Armor: Life and Resistances.
Gloves: Flat Lightning Damage with attacks, Attack Speed, and Resistances.
Boots: Increased movement speed.
Amulet: Lapis with Intelligence for equipping Hybrid armor. Look for more Intelligence in affixes as well.
Two Rings: Flat Lightning damage to attacks and resistances according to you.
Belt: Maximum mana, life, and resistances according to you.

The base stats for every armor piece should be hybrid Evasion-Energy Shield. If you are lacking Intelligence even after equipping the Lapis Amulet, then go for Evasion armor pieces only.

For the Rake + Stomping Ground build, you'll need a Spear with Physical damage modifiers, and a Buckler or Shield in the offhand.

To get the Bow for Huntress, make a Ranger as your first character and then progress until Clearfell. Deposit the Bow in your stash, and then create a Huntress character to get the Bow. Alternately, you can just buy one from Renly in Clearfell.

Passive node progression for Huntress leveling in Path of Exile 2 0.2.0

For the best passive skills while leveling your Huntress, you can follow along the tree as shown in the image below:

Passive tree progression for leveling Huntress in Path of Exile 2 (PoB/GGG)

A few things you should note here is that you can avoid getting the Subterfuge Mask and Mindful Awareness until later in the campaign.

Focus on getting Blinding Strike, Wild Storm, Alternating Current, and Harness the Elements (in that particular order). From there, go left towards the "projectile nodes" and then to the right towards Calming Calamity.

Check out our other Path of Exile 2 guides and features:

About the author

Soumyadeep is a Journalist on Esports & Gaming at Sportskeeda, specializing in Destiny 2, and Gacha games. He holds a diploma in Computer Science and is also keen on digital illustrations and motion graphic designing. He enjoys spending his free time learning new languages and digging into MMORPGs, manga, and light novels.

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Edited by Sijo Samuel Paul