In Path of Exile 2’s 0.4 cycle, the Ice Shot Ritualist using Lioneye’s Glare with 0% Presence Area tech emerges as a budget-friendly, high-satisfaction bow build. It delivers excellent clear speed, strong freezes, and impressive single-target damage through clever mechanical abuse. The setup turns Lioneye’s Glare’s repeat mechanic into near-permanent multi-hits, making Ice Shot feel like a POE 2 Currency barrage machine while stacking massive cold damage and rarity for juicy loot. Perfect as a league starter or fun mid-tier mapper, it excels at farming temples and juiced maps without breaking the bank.

Core Mechanics and the 0% Presence Tech

Lioneye’s Glare is the star unique Heavy Bow (level 65, high Dex). It boasts massive physical damage (150-240% increased), accuracy, attack speed, and crucially: “Barrageable Attacks with this Bow Repeat +2 times if no enemies are in your Presence.” This conditional repeat effectively triples your projectiles per cast when the condition is met—huge for Ice Shot’s cone of piercing cold projectiles that create icy explosions on kill or freeze.

The 0% Presence Area tech makes the repeat reliable. Presence refers to the aura-like area around your character where enemies trigger effects. By reducing Presence Area of Effect to 0% (or effectively negative), no enemies count as “in your Presence” even in dense packs. This keeps the +2 repeats permanently active, turning every Ice Shot into a high-volume barrage.

Two main ways to achieve it:

Corrupted Greed’s Embrace with 100% reduced Presence AoE.
Passive nodes + Warlord Berserker, dual Grip of Kulemak (rolled for reduced Presence), and Mystic Attunement from Ritualist to scale bonuses past 100% reduction.

Ritualist’s extra ring slot and 25% increased jewelry bonuses amplify rings for rarity, damage, and defenses. Ice Shot is supported with cold conversion, projectile speed, pierce, and freeze multipliers. Herald of Ice adds shattering explosions for clear.

Playstyle and Ascendancy

Playstyle is straightforward and fluid: spam Ice Shot into packs for screen-wide freezing cones and chain reactions. Projectiles pierce and explode on frozen/killed foes, creating satisfying ice storms. For bosses, layer Freezing Salvo or marks for bigger bursts while kiting safely. The repeats and high attack speed make mapping feel effortless and visually spectacular.

Ritualist (Huntress) shines here for the jewelry focus—extra ring + Mystic Attunement boosts rarity to 200%+ in optimized versions, turning maps into divine farms while maintaining solid cold DPS (hundreds of thousands to millions sheet DPS with investment). Defenses come from evasion, life/ES hybrid, freeze immunity/chills, and Ritualist’s utility nodes. Transition to full cold conversion and crit for endgame.

Gear, Leveling, and Optimization

Lioneye’s Glare is the key investment—farmable via Atlas drops or chance orbs on Heavy Bows. Pair with cold-focused quiver, high ES/life body armour, and jewelry stacked for rarity, cold damage, attack speed, and Presence reduction. Support gems emphasize projectile behaviors, added cold, and freeze duration. Passive tree clusters around bow nodes, cold/ailment magnitude, projectile speed, and life/ES.

Level with basic bow skills or Explosive Arrow through campaign, swap to Ice Shot + Lioneye’s around maps. Budget versions clear T16s comfortably; min-maxed ones push high juiced content and pinnacle bosses with strong freezes. PoB examples show great performance for the cost.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Pros: Extremely fun projectile spam, permanent repeats via tech, excellent clear and freezes, high rarity for farming, budget accessible, scales well into endgame.

Cons: Relies on maintaining 0% Presence (small errors break it), bow attack animation can feel chunky early, less tanky than life-stacking alternatives without good gear.

The Ice Shot Ritualist with Lioneye’s Glare and 0% Presence tech proves bow builds can be both accessible and explosive. It rewards smart gearing and delivers that addictive “one button, everything dies in ice” fantasy. If you want fast mapping, loot explosions, and chill (literally) mechanics without ultra-expensive uniques, this is a cheap POE 2 Currency Orbs standout choice for 0.4 and beyond. String your bow, freeze the atlas, and watch shards fly.