BUILD META · 0.5 RUNES OF ALDUR

Is Poison Pathfinder good in 0.5?

Short answer: it got nerfed and is no longer a top-tier league starter, but it’s not dead. Play around the changes and Poison Pathfinder is still viable in 0.5. Here’s exactly what changed and the honest read.

01 What GGG actually changed

  • Poison Burst duration cut from ~4.9s to 3s (about 2 seconds off your main clear).
  • Overwhelming Toxicity went from 35% to 50% less duration.

Community testing also reports Plague Fingers no longer inflicts elemental ailments, so you lose the freeze/shock crowd-control that came with it.

02 The honest read

Across early-league starter lists it dropped off the top tier: the smooth day-1 facetank feel is gone, and tough bosses/packs notice the cut. But it’s not dead: shorter poison duration barely dents your total DPS as long as you keep an enemy at max poison stacks, which is still easy. It leans toward a mid-league, gear-it-up build now rather than a day-1 comfort pick.

⚠ Build metas shift through a league. This reflects GGG’s 0.5 patch notes + early community consensus. For the current verdict, see our live build tier list or run the Build Picker.

FAQ Quick answers

Is Poison Pathfinder dead in 0.5?

No. It was nerfed and is no longer a top-tier league starter, but it’s still viable if you sustain max poison stacks and gear it up.

What got nerfed?

Poison Burst duration ~4.9s → 3s, Overwhelming Toxicity to 50% less duration, and Plague Fingers no longer inflicts freeze/shock per community testing.

Is it a good league starter now?

Not top-tier anymore. Playable if you know the changes; there are smoother day-1 picks this patch.

Based on the PoE 2 0.5 “Runes of Aldur” patch notes. If GGG changes this mid-league or a detail drifts, tell us and we’ll update.