Stormblast Bolts Tactician Endgame Guide

Introduction

The Stormblast Tempest is a pure glass cannon Tactician build focused around Stormblast Bolts and Mortar Cannon detonation to deliver the hardest-hitting crossbow burst in Path of Exile 2. This setup pushes the limits of hit-based lightning scaling, easily clearing maps with Galvanic Shards while one-shotting Pinnacle and +4 map bosses — including Xesht.

Unlike DoT or bleed-style builds, this one relies entirely on raw, front-loaded damage; 30 Stormblast Bolts detonating simultaneously for over 30 million burst damage (60 million if you have a tempest shrine in your map). It’s fast, cinematic, and absolutely lethal.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

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Build Mechanics

At its core, the Stormblast Tempest combines:

• Stormblast Bolts for explosive lightning damage — each detonation hits for up to 1,000,000 per bolt.
• Mortar Cannon to detonate and trigger those Stormblast Bolts via Explosive Grenade.
• War Banner for enormous scaling (almost +50% burst increase).
• Galvanic Shards for smooth mapping, pinning and shocking enemies.
• Constricting Command (five fewer enemies surrounded) to keep all surrounded bonuses up at all times.

The core synergy comes from stacking flat physical + flat lightning damage while leveraging and scaling “Companion Damage also affects you”. Combined, this version reaches ~30 million instantaneous burst potential.

Your Companion provides the Haste Aura, granting 20% attack speed and 10% movement speed, along with Lightning Exposure and All Damage Shocks for even greater scaling. Additionally, this build takes the “Increases and Reductions to Companion Damage also apply to you” node — multiplying both your own and your Companion’s offensive power for a massive global damage boost.

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Skill Rotation

Map Clearing

• Use Galvanic Shards for clear — it chains, pins, and wipes the screen.
• Rare enemies? Drop a couple Mortar Cannons to help.
• Place War Banner for extra damage.

Bossing

• Drop War Banner before the boss spawns.
• Fire 15–20 Stormblast Bolts where the boss will spawn.
• Place all three Mortar Cannons.
• Pop Emergency Reload 2 seconds before the boss spawns.
• Then continuously fire Stormblast Bolts and watch 30 bolts detonate simultaneously — boss deleted.

Timing Emergency Reload correctly is key. If you activate it too early, your boosted bolts will overwrite before detonation.

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Gameplay Tips

• Don’t overcommit defenses. The best defense here is offense. Everything dies before it can move.
• Keep moving between shots. You’re untouchable when enemies are pinned.
• Use shrines wisely. Tempest Shrine buffs lightning damage to absurd levels — 2M per explosion.
• Make sure your companion has “Haste Aura” + “All Damage Shocks.” If your companion gets Lightning Exposure off before detonation, expect another +20–30% effective damage.
• Spirit Management! Aim for 50–55 total spirit. If you’re short, downgrade Vitality or Cannibalism gems.

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Video Guide

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Gem Info

Below you will find a planner with a full breakdown of your skill setup.

The companion I recommend using is the Boar (You can use anyone you want as long as you have the spirit) which can be found in Act 3 in the Infested Barrens area. There is a checkpoint with a camp that spawns the boar and an antlion. You will leave the boar alive and keep respawning at the nearest checkpoint until you see All Damage Shocks and Haste Aura. Then use the Tame Beast ability which creates a glyph under the boar and then kill it to capture it. It could take 15min or it could take 3 hours. While All Damage Shocks is not mandatory, it will help you achieve another 20-30% damage so we highly recommend getting a companion that has both.

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Ascendancy

The Tactician Ascendancy is the backbone of this build, offering exceptional synergy with banner and pin mechanics:

• 1. Suppressing Fire – 40% more immobilization buildup.
• 2. Right Where We Want Them – Pinned enemies cannot perform actions and all projectile damage pins.
• 3. A Solid Plan – Halves all spirit costs.
• 4. Whoever Pays Best – There is no limit on the number of banners you can place and banners gain 5 Glory per second.

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Skill Tree

This interactive skill tree will provide you with an overview of the final state of the build. When assigning your attributes, you will need to account for the necessary requirements of your particular character.

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Gearing

Gear Affixes

In the table below, you will see a breakdown of the most important affixes for each gear slot, as well as what unique items the build uses. These are listed in order of priority, so consider your gearing options carefully.

Make sure that you are capped at 75% all Elemental Resistances and Chaos Resistance.

Make sure when you get the unique helm Constricting Command that you get “Require 5 fewer enemies to be surrounded.” Do not get 2, 3, 4, or 6. It MUST be 5.

Slot	Base	Prefix	Suffix
Main Hand	Desolate Crossbow	1. % Physical Damage 2. Adds Flat Lightning Damage 3. Adds Flat Physical Damage	1. +6 to Attack Skills 2. Gain Onslaught on Killing Hits
Off Hand	Any Crossbow	1. +1 to Maximum Number of Summoned Ballista Totems	1. +6 to Level of all Attack Skills
Helm	Constricting Command	1. Require “5” fewer enemies to be surrounded
Body	Victory Hide	1. +X Evasion 2. % Evasion 3. 50-55 Spirit	1. Resistances/Attributes
Gloves	Blood Hold	1. +X Flat Physical 2. +X Flat Lightning Damage 3. % Attack Speed	1. Resistances 2. Maximum Life
Boots	Dragonscale Boots	1. % Movement Speed 2. % Evasion 3. +X Evasion	1. 100% Increased Effect of Socketed Items 2. % Gain Deflection Rating 3. Resistances
Belt	Mail Belt	1. +X Maximum Life 2. +X Maximum Mana	1. Resistances/Attributes
Ring 1	Breach Ring	1.+X Physical Damage 2. +X Lightning Damage 3. +X Maximum Life	1. Resistances/Attributes 2. +20 Mana Per Enemy Killed
Ring 2	Breach Ring	1.+X Physical Damage 2. +X Lightning Damage 3. +X Maximum Life	1. Resistances
Amulet	Solar Amulet INSTILL: Wild Storm	1.+X Maximum Life 2.+X Maximum Mana	1. Level of All Projectile Skills 2. Resistances/Attributes

Unique Items

The unique item listed below is considered mandatory in order to get the build to perform as expected.

• Constricting Command – Allows us to grab the surrounded nodes on the tree for a big damage boost.

Socketables

This table will show you what socketables are used for each gear slot. While many slots will likely be used for resistance runes, pay particular attention to the Helm, Belt, and Main Hand slot.

Slot	Socketable
Main Hand	Greater Iron Rune X2
Off Hand	Greater Iron Rune X2
Helm	Resistance
Body Armour	Greater Iron Rune X2/Resistance Runes
Gloves	Resistance Runes
Boots	Farrul’s Rune of the Chase/Resistance
Belt	Resistance Runes

Jewels

You will need a Prism of Belief Diamond with +3 to level of all Stormblast Bolt skills.

There are many useful affixes on jewels, and this build has three sockets for them to be inserted in. You will need to run X2 Time-Lost Emeralds. They must both have “Upgrades radius to medium” and “% Increased effect of notable passive skills in radius.” Both of those will go in the sockets right next to each “surrounded” clusters. Here are the main stats you will want on your Emeralds.

• Small passive skills in radius also grant % increased damage with crossbows.
• Small passive skills in radius also grant % increased projectile damage.
• Small passive skills in radius also grant % increased attack speed with crossbows.
• The last “normal” jewel you’ll want % Evasion/%Attack speed/% Damage with crossbows.

Flasks and Charms

The recommended setup for your flasks and charms is:

• Life Flask – Gains X charges per second | % increased amount recovered
• Mana Flask – Gains X charges per second | % increased amount recovered
• Charms – Sanguis Harum Staunching Charm | Freeze-Protection Charm | Arakaali’s Gift

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Changelog

• October 30th, 2025
  • Guide added for Patch 0.3