Explosive Arrow - Path of Exile

Explosive Arrow Explosive Arrow is an active skill gem.

Fires an arrow which will stick into an enemy or wall, and then explode, dealing area damage around it, either after a duration or when the maximum number of arrows stuck to that target is reached. If an enemy has multiple Explosive Arrows stuck in them, the first one to explode will consume the others, adding their damage to its explosion.

Attack, Projectile, AoE, Duration, Fire, Bow. Level: 1–20. Cost: 8–10 Mana. Projectile Speed: 3260. Radius: 15. Requires Level 28.

  • Base duration is 1 seconds
  • Explosion deals 50% less Base Damage
  • Explosion will have (47–522) to (71–783) added Fire Damage
  • +2 to Explosion Radius per Explosive Arrow on Target, up to +12
  • Explosion deals 6% more Damage with Hits per Explosive Arrow on Target
  • Explosion deals 3% more Damage with Ailments per Explosive Arrow on Target
  • Maximum 20 Explosive Arrows stuck in an Enemy

Place into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.

NameAdditional Effects From QualityWeight
Explosive Arrow(0–20)% increased Skill Effect Duration
(0–20)% chance to Ignite enemies		50

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Related Gems

Level Effect

LevelRequires LevelDexterityCostExplosion will have 47 to 71 added Fire DamageExperience
12867847, 71199,345
23173857, 86285,815
33479869, 104401,344
43785883, 125554,379
540929100, 149477,437
642969112, 168583,786
7441009126, 189710,359
8461049141, 2121,355,511
9481099158, 2381,138,877
10501139177, 2661,368,233
11521179198, 2981,638,338
125412110222, 3331,956,648
135612510247, 3713,655,184
145813010276, 4143,017,327
156013410307, 4617,759,995
166213810342, 51315,138,193
176414210381, 57126,083,825
186614610423, 63562,620,247
196815110470, 705211,708,088
207015510522, 783
217210579, 868
227410642, 963
237611711, 1067
247811788, 1181
258011872, 1308
268211964, 1447
2784111067, 1600
2886121179, 1768
2988121302, 1954
3090121438, 2157
3191121511, 2267
3292121588, 2382
3393121668, 2502
3494121752, 2628
3595121840, 2760
3696121933, 2899
3797132030, 3044
3898132131, 3197
3999132238, 3356
40100132349, 3524

Explosive Arrow is a bow attack skill that fires an arrow which sticks to an enemy or wall and detonates after a duration, dealing fire area of effect damage. Any additional arrows stuck to the enemy after the first one will add its damage to the explosion. Additional arrows on an enemy increases the hit damage, ignite damage, and area of effect of the explosion.

Skill functions and interactions

Explosive Arrow has two separate damaging effects: an attack and an explosion.

Attack: The Explosive Arrow attack is an arrow which deals weapon damage based on the bow equipped. This component of the skill is affected by any modifiers to bow attacks. At the final destination of the arrow, one of three effects will occur:

  • If the arrow gets stuck on the terrain or on an obstacle, it will leave a single fuse charge that will explode after a duration.
  • If the arrow gets stuck on a target that does not yet have the debuff Hit by Explosive Arrow, it will apply that debuff with a single fuse charge, which creates an explosion when it expires after a duration.
  • If the arrow gets stuck on a target that already has the debuff Hit by Explosive Arrow, the arrow's intended explosion damage will get added to the final explosion. However, the debuff duration will NOT be refreshed.

Projectile Mechanics: Chain, Pierce, Fork, Split will hit the target with the arrow but will leave a fuse only on the last target. This can be the initial hit in some cases, and the terrain in other.

Explosion: When the debuff Hit by Explosive Arrow, or a fuse stuck on terrain expires, it causes an explosion based on the number of fuse charges. This damage is area projectile fire damage, which is also considered bow damage and will scale with sources of weapon damage, bow damage, etc.

If the arrow that applied the Hit by Explosive Arrow debuff is a crit, the explosion will also crit. While subsequent arrows which have crit will apply its total damage to the explosion after critical strike modifiers, the explosion itself will not crit.

Duration: Modifiers to duration, such as from Less Duration Support, will affect the duration of the debuff when it is applied, as well as the duration of the fuse charge if it hits the terrain or an obstacle.

Totem: Ballista Totems will execute this attack until the targeted enemy dies, instantly triggering the explosion, or until the totem is destroyed, causing the applied Fuse Charges to last their remaining duration before exploding.

Item acquisition

Explosive Arrow can drop anywhere. Drop level: 28.

Recipes

Explosive Arrow can be created from the following recipes:

Amount Part Description
6 The Fox Random level 20 gem
8 Dying Anguish Random level 19 gem with 19% alternative quality
8 The Hook Random corrupted level 21 gem with 23% alternative quality
3 Gemcutter's Promise Random gem with 20% quality
1 Gemcutter's Incubator Random gem with 1–20% quality
1 The Void Random divination card set exchange

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Class → Witch Shadow Ranger Duelist Marauder Templar Scion
Quest ↓
A Fixture of Fate
Act 3
Siosa		 ✓
Sever the Right Hand
Act 3
Clarissa		 ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
Fallen from Grace
Act 6
Lilly Roth		 ✓

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Explosive Arrow.

Name Level Labyrinth Stats Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Attack Speed 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth Explosive Arrow has 10% increased Attack Speed helmet 75
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Attack Speed 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth Explosive Arrow has 15% increased Attack Speed helmet 75
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Damage 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth Explosive Arrow deals 25% increased Damage helmet 75
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Damage 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth Explosive Arrow deals 40% increased Damage helmet 75
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Increased Duration 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth Explosive Arrow has 25% increased Duration helmet 50
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Increased Duration 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth Explosive Arrow has 40% increased Duration helmet 50
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Area Of Effect 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth Explosive Arrow has 16% increased Area of Effect helmet 75
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Area Of Effect 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth Explosive Arrow has 24% increased Area of Effect helmet 75
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Reduced Duration 1 66 Merciless Labyrinth Explosive Arrow has 20% reduced Duration helmet 50
default 0
Enchantment Explosive Arrow Reduced Duration 2 75 Eternal Labyrinth Explosive Arrow has 30% reduced Duration helmet 50
default 0

Alternate skill effects

Explosive Arrow has the following alternate skill effects:

Item Effect(s)
Revenant Explosive Arrow Effect Your Explosive Arrow becomes a Revenant Effect.