At first glance, Everseen’s Poisonburst Pathfinder may not appear to be a high-damage build. Its screen presence is calm rather than explosive, and its gameplay lacks the dramatic spikes of critical-hit or burst-focused archetypes. Yet this build reached level 100 in Hardcore not despite its damage model—but because of it. Poisonburst’s scaling mechanics turn patience into power, making it one of the safest and most reliable endgame damage setups in Path of Exile 2.

Understanding why this build works requires shifting perspective. Instead of asking how quickly enemies die, the more important question becomes: how reliably does damage continue under pressure?

Poisonburst at Its Core

Poisonburst is a chaos-based skill built around damage over time and area control. Rather than dealing massive hit damage, it applies poison in overlapping zones that persist long enough to stack repeatedly on enemies standing within them.

Each application of poison deals damage based on:

• Chaos damage

• Damage over time modifiers

• Poison duration

• Ailment effectiveness

• Enemy debuff uptime

The key is that these effects stack, not replace each other. Every additional application adds another layer of damage, creating exponential growth in longer encounters.

This makes Poisonburst fundamentally different from hit-based skills. Damage does not reset when the player disengages, nor does it depend on landing a perfectly timed hit.

Why Ramping Damage Is a Hardcore Advantage

In Softcore, players often favor burst damage to end fights quickly. In Hardcore, burst damage can be dangerous because it encourages aggressive positioning and greedy play.

Poisonburst does the opposite.

Because damage ramps gradually:

• Early mistakes are less punishing

• Players can focus on movement and survival

• Boss fights become predictable rather than frantic

The longer a fight lasts, the stronger the build becomes. Against bosses with large health pools, poison stacks accumulate to a point where damage feels overwhelming—without ever forcing the player to stand still.

Scaling Through Duration: The Hidden Multiplier

One of the most important scaling vectors in Everseen’s build is poison duration. Increasing duration does not just make poisons last longer—it allows more poisons to overlap simultaneously.

This has several powerful effects:

• Higher total damage at any given moment

• Less need to constantly reapply poison

• Greater damage uptime during movement phases

Duration scaling effectively multiplies damage without increasing risk. Unlike attack speed or cast speed, it does not require more actions per second or tighter positioning.

This is one of the main reasons the build feels deceptively strong in endgame content.

Chaos Damage and Damage Over Time Multipliers

While duration creates the framework, chaos damage and damage over time multipliers determine how hard each poison hits.

Everseen’s Pathfinder prioritizes:

• Increased chaos damage

• Chaos damage over time multipliers

• Generic damage over time bonuses

These modifiers scale poison far more efficiently than traditional hit-based stats. Importantly, they also scale consistently across all content, without falling off against high-resistance enemies.

Because poison bypasses many traditional mitigation layers, it remains effective even against tanky bosses.

Pathfinder’s Role in Offensive Consistency

Pathfinder does not directly increase poison damage as much as some other ascendancies—but it increases damage uptime, which matters more.

Flask effects provide:

• Increased chaos damage

• Movement speed for better positioning

• Faster poison application cycles

Permanent flask uptime means the build always operates at peak efficiency. There is no “downtime phase” where damage drops due to missing buffs.

This consistency is what allows Poisonburst to feel reliable rather than situational.

Damage While Moving: The Safety Multiplier

One of the most underrated strengths of Poisonburst is that it deals damage while the player is not attacking.

Once poison is applied:

• The player can reposition

• Dodge mechanics

• Avoid ground effects

• Wait out dangerous phases

Damage continues regardless.

This drastically reduces the risk of death, especially in Hardcore boss fights where standing still can be lethal. It also makes learning new encounters safer, as mistakes do not immediately stop damage output.

Mapping Damage vs Boss Damage

In maps, Poisonburst creates zones of denial rather than instant clears. Enemies entering poisoned areas rapidly accumulate stacks and die shortly after.

While this may feel slower compared to screen-wide clear builds, it is significantly safer:

• Fewer enemies reach melee range

• Rare monsters lose health before engaging

• Dangerous modifiers have less impact

Against bosses, the build fully reveals its strength. Long fights allow poison stacks to reach maximum efficiency, turning what initially feels like moderate damage into relentless pressure.

Why This Damage Model Scales to Level 100

Reaching level 100 in Hardcore requires thousands of safe, consistent encounters. Damage that relies on perfect execution eventually fails. Damage that persists and forgives mistakes succeeds.

This Poisonburst Pathfinder:

• Never needs to overcommit

• Does not rely on burst windows

• Scales naturally with encounter length

• Remains effective in all content types

The build’s damage is not flashy—but it is dependable, which is far more valuable in Hardcore progression.

Final Thoughts

Everseen’s Level 100 Hardcore Poisonburst Pathfinder demonstrates that endgame damage does not need to be explosive to be powerful. By leveraging poison stacking, duration scaling, and permanent uptime, the build transforms patience into overwhelming force.

In U4GM Path of Exile 2’s Hardcore environment, damage that never stops is stronger than damage that spikes. Poisonburst proves that inevitability is one of the most powerful forms of DPS in the game.