# Path of Exile 2 Best Builds: Top 10 Endgame Meta (0.5)
> Fubgun's ten strongest Path of Exile 2 0.5 endgame builds, ranked by ceiling rather than accessibility, with the exact budgets he states, the on-screen numbers he never reads out, and the build claims the comments dispute.
- **Game:** Path of Exile 2
- **Category:** Builds
- **Author:** LongBeam (https://guides-factory.com/about)
- **Difficulty:** Intermediate
- **Reading time:** 24 min
- **Published:** 2026-08-10
- **Updated:** 2026-08-14
- **Tags:** Builds, Endgame, League Starter, Meta & Tier Lists
- **Adapted from:** [Top 10 Endgame Builds for 0.5 - Path of Exile 2 — Fubgun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuXR2pcR80I)
- **Canonical URL:** https://guides-factory.com/guides/poe2-best-builds-endgame-meta
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## 🎯 The core idea
> One month into 0.5, Path of Exile 2 does not have one best build — it has about ten, and the thing that actually separates them is money. Fubgun's list runs from a 1-chaos wand that carries a spellcaster through the whole atlas to a Temporalis setup that costs more than most players will ever hold, and several entries (Ice Shot, Beast Tamer, Oil Barrage, Martial Artist) are the same skeleton at league start and at multi-mirror. Pick the one whose budget you can actually reach, not the one at the top of the ranking.
free costs nothing
cheap small cost
setup needs preparation
grind pays off slowly
skip the thing to stop doing
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## The poe2 build tier list, straight off his screen
Fubgun never reads his ranking out as a list — he keeps it open in a text file and cuts back to it between builds. The full version is on screen for the last twelve seconds of the video, and it carries three details the narration never says out loud: that Lich Twisters only start feeling better than the cheap versions **after** you cross a budget threshold, that Martial Artist is "mostly aimed towards Qstaffs", and that the Spark wand build is the go-to spellcaster **until you can swap to Temporalis**.
The order, as written: 1) Cast on Dodge — jungroan. 2) Lich Twisters — prada. 3) Ice Shot Deadeye/Pathfinder — fubgun. 4) Spirit Walker Beast Tamer — Captainlance. 5) Martial Artist — FGkorbyn or jungroan. 6) Gemling Falling Thunder — Palsteron. 7) Oil Barrage — j_macc. 8) Lightning Warp Ball Lightning — Kingpin. 9) Spark Cast on Ailment with Ardonia's. 10) Temporalis.
This is a ranking by ceiling, not by accessibility. Number 10 is the strongest and the most expensive; number 9 is the cheapest thing on the list. Reading it top-to-bottom as "best to worst" will send you at the wrong build.
## poe2 best build for raw speed on a big budget: Cast on Dodge Gemling
jungroan's Cast on Dodge is the fastest thing on the list that is not Temporalis, and Fubgun is clear that it is a high-budget build. The trick he describes is an amulet added this patch that hands you a free spirit charm, which is what lets the build run **two** Cast on Dodge setups instead of one.
In the videoThe on-screen title card calls this build "Dodge Roll Autobomber — Gem Quality Stacker ft. Advanced Thaumaturgy". Neither "gem quality stacking" nor Advanced Thaumaturgy is ever mentioned in the narration, and that is the actual scaling engine — a Gemling that stacks gem quality rather than a generic trigger build.
The auto-captions render the amulet name as "Absolution amulet", and no frame in the video shows its tooltip. Treat the item name as unconfirmed and check jungroan's own video (linked in the description) before you buy anything.
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## Which Twister build to play in Path of Exile 2: Lich, Deadeye or Spirit Walker
Twisters were everywhere this league, and Fubgun's position is narrow and specific: at the very top of the budget range, nothing beats Lich — insane projectile speed, insane attack speed, full-screen clear. Below that range, Lich is not the answer.
He never puts a number on that threshold. "Thousands of divines" is the only figure given, and it is a range, not a target.
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## The Path of Exile 2 league starter build he actually played: Ice Shot Deadeye into Pathfinder
This is Fubgun's own character, so it gets the most detail. The pitch is that it works from level one to multiple mirror tiers on the same skeleton, and that it is a **walking** build — no movement skills at all, which is unusual for something this fast.
From the comments (not in the video)- The scaling claim is disputed by someone who played both: the Ice Shot archer "didn't scale nearly as well as the beast tamer one, it requires way more currency investment to keep up, meanwhile monke just blows things up for nearly free" — Guedez1
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## The laziest poe2 endgame build: Spirit Walker Beast Tamer
The monkey companion does the killing. Fubgun calls it a "zero to one button" build you can nearly AFK, says the monkey will instantly delete any Uber or boss once it has enough damage, and rates it both league-start friendly and worth multiple mirrors if you want to push it.
He calls this build "extremely tanky", but the only defensive numbers the clip shows are Life 2,032, Shield 230 of 585 and Ward 69 of 204 while killing a 1,749,356 HP boss. Those are modest pools for the label. The clip may be from an early or unbuffed moment — but "extremely tanky" is a claim the footage does not back up.
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## poe2 build diversity in one ascendancy: Martial Artist
Fubgun's framing here is different from the others — he is not recommending one build, he is telling you the ascendancy is broken enough that you can pick almost any skill on it. The unique gloves the ascendancy grants, plus the bells and clones, are what he credits for that.
In the videoTwo on-screen captions carry information the narration skips: jungroan's clip is titled "Hollow Assault Beyblade — Endgame (day 4)", and a caption at 3:38 reads "infinite power charges". The power charge generation is the reason the clone-assault version works, and it is never explained aloud. Note that Fubgun's own notes call the same build "clone whirlwind assault" — the two on-screen sources disagree on the skill name, so search both.
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## The path of exile 2 strongest build if you have 1,000+ divines: Falling Thunder Gemling
Palsteron's Gemling is the one Fubgun is bluntest about: it is "not meant to be a budget build whatsoever", it will be "a thousand plus divine build", and he says that figure twice in the same breath. In exchange you get one-shot boss damage and very high speed.
In the videoThe Falling Thunder gem tooltip sits on screen for several seconds and nobody reads it out. It is where the actual numbers are: 60% of base attack speed, (140-437)% of base attack damage, 60% of physical damage converted to lightning, a 4 metre cone, and quality that gives (1-20)% more damage per power charge consumed. The skill requires a quarterstaff and consumes power charges to fire the lightning projectiles — which is why the build is built around charge generation.
From the comments (not in the video)- The "extremely tanky" claim is the single most argued line in the thread: "Palsteron build not so tanky even with 1.6k Divine invested.... easily getting 2-3 shot in juicy expedition" — caased
Both things can be true. The frame shows an energy shield pool of 15,258 of 15,360 with 1 life, which is a genuinely large buffer against ordinary map damage and a very fragile one against a single oversized hit. When Fubgun says "extremely tanky" he means the pool; the commenter is talking about expedition spikes that go straight through it.
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## path of exile 2 off meta builds: Oil Barrage and Lightning Warp
Two entries that Fubgun includes because they are interesting rather than because they are the strongest. Both come with a stated cost.
Oil Barrage (j_macc) has real AoE clear and real boss damage, and the skill "can snapshot pretty much a lot of stuff in the game" — but you have to stand still to deal damage. He rates it league start through multi-mirror.
Lightning Warp / Ball Lightning (KingpinUwu) is the honest warning of the video: "this is not going to be a build for everyone", and "you really aren't going to see what's going on whatsoever".
In the videoThe Lightning Warp showcase is the most informative frame in the video and none of it is narrated. The card says "1 Button Play — T15 Map With a lot of mods", and the mod list beside it includes 25% more monster life, monsters with 241% increased critical hit chance, -6% maximum player resistances, 39% less recovery rate of life and energy shield, 45% less curse effect, and 13 additional random modifiers, on a 200% Delirium bar. The character is Ward-based — Ward 5,076 of 3,384, Life 1/1, Shield 0/0 — which is the defensive layer the video never names. The Oil Barrage clip is similarly loaded: it is an Arbiter of Ash pull captioned "2 PLAYER HP", killed with 5,578 energy shield and 67 ward.
From the comments (not in the video)- A different Lightning Warp version disputes both the price and the clutter: "400 cull lightning warp is amazing from Phaze, for well under 1k div, and under 500 with no Mageblood... clears 200% deli easily. Good visibility compared to most the builds on this list." — ATST990
- The performance cost nobody mentions: the build "has the nifty upside of acting as a good stress test for your hardware." — svetlanathehammer1984
- Oil Barrage has a defensive tech the video omits: "you're basically immortal with the blasphemy repulsion tech constantly triggering es recharge." — apostia
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## The cheapest poe2 meta build: Spark Cast on Ailment with a 1-chaos wand
This is the entry with the best value-to-cost ratio on the list, and the one most players should actually read twice. Spark handles clear, Comet handles single target and rares, and the enabler is a wand that costs one chaos orb.
Spelling is genuinely unclear here. The auto-captions say "Adorned Staff", the on-screen notepad says "Ardonia's", and the video description credits "Spark COA Adonias". It is a wand, not a staff. Search the trade site for all three before you conclude the item does not exist. He also says the archetype is still strong "despite the Comet nerf recently, it didn't really matter all that much" — with no numbers behind that assessment.
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## The poe2 build ranking #1: Temporalis, if you can pay for it
Fubgun's verdict is unambiguous: "by far the best archetype in the entire game", nothing matches the speed, "nothing's like even half the speed". He also concedes it is the most expensive thing on the list and includes it mostly because leaving it off would be dishonest.
From the comments (not in the video)- The question the video does not answer: "is the build #10 temporalis able to clear mana siphon mobs in expedition? i dont want to spend 67 mirrors and still die" — Invicta707
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## What the comments argue about
The thread is not a pile-on — it is mostly people reporting different results from the same builds, which is exactly the useful kind of disagreement.
From the comments (not in the video)- "druid spell totem grim pillars should of been on this list. super lazy 2 button and im facing rolling 200% dil t16 plus 8 add mod maps" — CrimsonEnvec
- "Check out Halaka's Shattering Palm build, screen clears for days and tanky as hell. I think it's better and more fun than any Falling Thunder or WA monk build" — howaboutdat
- "Gemling arc totems is S tier" — Kayvz1337
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## Before you copy any of this
The patch clock is the real risk. This list is a snapshot taken one month into 0.5, and Path of Exile 2 patches fast — the video itself references a Comet nerf that landed after several of these builds were assembled. Re-verify every build against the current balance notes before you spend a divine on it, and prefer the linked creator videos over this summary for gem and gear specifics.
Names in this guide are reconstructed. The auto-captions mangle almost every PoE2 proper noun. Where the on-screen text or the video description disagreed with the captions, the on-screen text won: Temporalis (captioned "Templar LS"), Comet ("common"), Ardonia's ("Adorned Staff"), cast on ailment ("cast on element"), Hollow Assault ("world on assault"), Spirit Walker Beast Tamer ("spear worker beastmaster"). The Cast on Dodge amulet name could not be confirmed from any frame at all.
No build in this video is verified with numbers. There is no PoB, no DPS tooltip and no defence breakdown anywhere in 6:53. The only exact figures come from a skill gem tooltip, a boss health bar and the character readouts that happen to be visible in other creators' clips — and those clips are at unknown gear levels, so they are not proof of what a finished version of each build looks like.
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## FAQ
### What is the best build in Path of Exile 2 0.5?
Fubgun ranks a Temporalis build as the strongest archetype in the game — nothing matches its speed, and he claims 20 to 40 million plus DPS is reachable. The catch is that it is also the most expensive build on his list by a wide margin, and he never shows a DPS tooltip to back the figure. For anyone not sitting on mirrors, the practical answer is different: Spark cast on ailment with a 1-chaos Ardonia's wand is what he tells you to play until the Temporalis swap becomes affordable.
### What is the best poe2 league starter build right now?
Ice Shot Deadeye with a later Pathfinder swap is his own pick, and he says it works from level one to multiple mirror tiers as a walking build with no movement skills, hitting roughly 200% movement speed after the swap. Spirit Walker Beast Tamer is the low-effort alternative at 50 to 100 divines for all content. Worth knowing: a commenter who played both reports Ice Shot needing far more currency to keep pace with the Beast Tamer, so the two are not equally cheap to scale.
### Which poe2 0.5 builds are cheap to start?
Three entries are explicitly budget-friendly. Spark cast on ailment runs on a wand that costs one chaos orb. Spirit Walker Beast Tamer is called fresh-start friendly and does all content around 50 to 100 divines. Oil Barrage and Martial Artist both scale from league start to multi-mirror on the same skeleton. Cast on Dodge, Lich Twisters and Falling Thunder Gemling are the opposite end — Falling Thunder is stated twice as a 1,000+ divine build.
### Is the Falling Thunder Gemling build actually tanky?
This is the most argued claim in the video. Fubgun calls it extremely tanky, and the frame backs a big buffer: 15,258 of 15,360 energy shield with 1 life. But a commenter running the same build with 1,600 divines invested says he is getting 2-3 shot in juicy expedition. Both can be true — a large energy shield pool handles sustained map damage well and single oversized hits badly. Assume it is tanky against packs and fragile against spikes.
### Are these Path of Exile 2 builds still viable after the latest patch?
Verify before you commit. This list is a snapshot from one month into 0.5, and PoE2 balances quickly — the video itself references a Comet nerf that landed after several of these builds were assembled, and Fubgun's own judgement is that it did not matter much, without numbers to support it. Re-check each build against the current patch notes and the linked creator videos before spending currency, especially on the 1,000+ divine entries.