Need a Merc build that can just steamroll Act 2 boss

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

I've been stuck here for weeks now, slowly losing any interest in playing the game. No matter what I do with this Merc I just get NO damage from anything... I've rolled countless alts and farmed for hours just to get gold for respecs; probably spent 200K worth on respeccing but still find no combination of passives is giving me any damage on my skills.

I've probably sunk a further 100k on rolling for better crossbows and gear but it seems nothing I've found increases damage. At this stage I'm tired of every boss/pack of enemies being a 5-20 minute long fight of circling through grenade spam hoping the enemies can stay in the tiny radius of explosions and spamming explosive shot. There's got to be something that changes this and doesn't require luck for loot, so anyone got a build that can't fail?

[Hilm]

My guy, weeks? Either look up a build, ask someone for advice in global, or just get carried through it. To answer your question, my wife breezed through it with explosive shot and gas grenade. That seems to be what this build suggests too.

https://maxroll.gg/poe2/build-guides/grenade-mercenary-leveling-guide

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

Originally posted by Hilm:

My guy, weeks? Either look up a build, ask someone for advice in global, or just get carried through it. To answer your question, my wife breezed through it with explosive shot and gas grenade. That seems to be what this build suggests too.

https://maxroll.gg/poe2/build-guides/grenade-mercenary-leveling-guide

Yup, weeks. I refuse to get carried (can't beat a challenge, can't enjoy what's after it!) and was trying to avoid using guides; with the perception that if a new player can't assemble a build with the tooltips and information provided to them then there's something at fault with the games systems or information. This build seems to basically be what I'm using but there's just no damage, plus I haven't seen a single spirit gem drop since the one sidequest in Act 1 so I'm basically stuck with a skill I can't really make use of anymore. I also don't want to bother setting up a 3rd party app/site just to trade, so that's basically off the table.

[MinusTaurus]

if you are stuck in act 2 for weeks, maybe this game just isnt for you

[Secret Name]

Game is too big.
Getting good with one character specialization is more than 30 hours.
We have 12 of those and there will be more.
Not to mention nearly infinite way of combining skill gems + skill tree + uniques.

This is a teamgame, even if you play solo. Use knowledge of others, share your own knowledge.

[yenkin2001]

I gave up on a Merc. The reload is horrible. I can't get through the first part of act ii to get to the caravan, and there is no way to get carried through

[Alex]

Well, I didn't steamroll it but I beat it first try. Gas grenade, fragmentation rounds was all I did. Oh, also for passive skill tree I went to 2 handed damage cause that applies to crossbow. It's silly but it counts. Not to mention you need reload speed. Might be a glitch with the reload cause even though it does the animation and makes the noise sometimes it doesn't actually reload. I have like a lot of reload speed too. Can't remember the exact percentage. Possibly 40%. Good luck.

[SharkPlush]

they should overtune one of the bosses on purpose to gatekeep all players in the future and make it like a hazing thing that another player must usher you into the rest of the game "ur not a snowflake any more over here we have all been carried" haha

[Havok]

I played a galvanic shards, orb of storms and lightning rod hybrid, with a firewall and SRS to help the galvanic shards. The damage wasn’t so good, but it did get me through, so long as you pick up bolt reload speed and all the damage nodes you can get.

I didn’t go grenades or anything, as I tried that my first time and hated it. This is what I used with some minor changes on the skills, just from my knowledge with other classes.

https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/builds/witchhunter-galvanic-fusiongaming

[nazerick]

Are we talking the last boss of act 2 here? The most important thing is lightning resistance..

Just use gas grenade (with corrosion+demolisher support gems) and flash grenade to stagger boss and strip armor. When the boss is heavy stunned lob as many explosive grenades as you can. When low on mana just use gas grenade with explosive shot.

You could also use gas grenade, glacial shot plus fragmentation shot for a decent combo. Fragmentation shot breaks the ice of glacial shot for a good aoe hit. If the enemy is frozen you can really rack up the damage.

[RawMeatDiet]

I hope you find a good build and beat it bro. There's no way you should need to farm gear for campaign. Correct build with correct skill and support gems is 80% of the damage.

[Kyotou ✗]

Run a quarterstaff with ice strike and tempest bell, ideally pillar of the caged god with the ascendancy gemling, don't bother with crossbow skills early, especially ammo, it's severely underpowered and not worth it.

[Lysergsäure-diethylamid]

Originally posted by Its Almost Harvesting Season:

Originally posted by Hilm:

My guy, weeks? Either look up a build, ask someone for advice in global, or just get carried through it. To answer your question, my wife breezed through it with explosive shot and gas grenade. That seems to be what this build suggests too.

https://maxroll.gg/poe2/build-guides/grenade-mercenary-leveling-guide

Yup, weeks. I refuse to get carried (can't beat a challenge, can't enjoy what's after it!) and was trying to avoid using guides; with the perception that if a new player can't assemble a build with the tooltips and information provided to them then there's something at fault with the games systems or information. This build seems to basically be what I'm using but there's just no damage, plus I haven't seen a single spirit gem drop since the one sidequest in Act 1 so I'm basically stuck with a skill I can't really make use of anymore. I also don't want to bother setting up a 3rd party app/site just to trade, so that's basically off the table.

no body help this guy, man get a life.

[kekkuli]

Originally posted by MinusTaurus:

if you are stuck in act 2 for weeks, maybe this game just isnt for you

This, or just look up a guide, trade for better stuff or at least get familiar with game mechanics because you are definitely not using all the tools available here.

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

Got him!

Seems I just had to get a crossbow that actually had some decent stats... Thought 100k in gambling would of given me at least one but until I got something good, I didn't even know how trash my gear was lol

[chino]

check the flat damage on your crossbow ( physical damge + maybe some elemental ) ,its the most important other line are not that important .