One of the most fascinating things about Path of Exile 2 is how far the game lets players push mechanical interactions. While many builds rely on carefully timed skill rotations or precise manual execution, others go in the exact opposite direction—toward automation, recursion, and systems that play the game for you. This build lives firmly in that second category.
This is a zero-button lightning auto-bomber, a build that turns critical strikes, triggered skills, and defensive mechanics into a self-sustaining feedback loop. Once the engine starts, the screen fills with lightning bolts, POE 2 Divine Orbs, and enemies evaporate around you while you focus entirely on movement. It’s chaotic, powerful, and unapologetically cursed.
Let’s break down how it works, why each piece matters, and what keeps this build alive despite draining its mana to zero nonstop.
Core Concept: Triggered Lightning Without Manual Casting
At the heart of the build is Lightning Bolt, but not in the traditional sense. You are not manually casting it. Instead, Lightning Bolt is triggered through Chore of the Storm, a key mechanic that defines the entire engine.
Here’s the foundation:
Every critical hit triggers a Lightning Bolt
That Lightning Bolt can crit
That crit triggers additional effects
Those effects feed back into the system
The loop repeats until your mana is fully drained
In most builds, draining your mana to zero is a failure state. Here, it’s just another step in the loop.
This recursive crit system is what allows the build to function with almost no player input. Once started, the Lightning Bolts effectively cast themselves, chaining through enemies, proccing secondary effects, and maintaining damage uptime without manual intervention.
The result is a build that feels alive—almost like it’s playing around you instead of because of you.
The Feedback Loop: Crits Feeding Crits
The reason this build works at all is because of how crit interactions stack in POE2. When a triggered Lightning Bolt crits, it doesn’t just deal more damage—it activates additional effects that themselves interact with the crit system.
This creates a loop:
You crit an enemy
Lightning Bolt triggers
Lightning Bolt crits
Secondary effects activate
Those effects create more hits
More hits = more crits
The cycle continues
The engine doesn’t stop because it wants mana—it stops only if it can’t keep generating hits. As long as enemies are present and your duration and crit scaling are intact, the system sustains itself.
This is why positioning, density, and movement are so important. The build thrives in packed maps where there are always targets to keep the engine running.
Arctic Armor: The Most Cursed Piece of the Build
Let’s talk about the weirdest—and most important—part of the setup: Arctic Armor.
In most builds, Arctic Armor is a defensive layer. In this build, it becomes a trigger tool, and honestly, it feels illegal.
Here’s what’s happening:
When you are hit, Arctic Armor procs
That proc triggers Airbound Staff on your weapon swap
Once that proc happens, you swap back to your main weapon
The entire Lightning Bolt loop begins again
Yes, this means the build is intentionally designed to be hit.
Arctic Armor becomes the “start button” for a build that claims to have no buttons. It’s janky, it’s awkward, and it’s absolutely essential. Without it, starting the loop consistently becomes a problem—especially if you’re committed to the zero-button fantasy.
If you don’t care about zero-button gameplay, you could manually press a skill at the start of a map to kick things off. But that defeats the purpose. The whole identity of this build is automation, and Arctic Armor is the cursed solution that makes it possible.
Weapon Swapping and Airbound Staff Interaction
Weapon swapping is often ignored by players, but here it’s a core mechanic. Arctic Armor proccing Airbound Staff on the weapon set is what reignites the engine when everything goes quiet.
The flow looks like this:
Arctic Armor triggers on hit
Airbound Staff activates via weapon swap
You return to your main weapon
Triggered Lightning resumes instantly
This allows the build to recover from downtime without manual input. If the loop stalls—due to low enemy density or bad positioning—being hit restarts everything automatically.
It’s clunky. It’s not elegant. But it works.
And in Path of Exile, “works” is all that really matters.
Blink: Mandatory Mobility for Auto-Bombers
If there’s one thing auto-bomber builds live and die by, it’s movement.
You are not aiming.
You are not targeting.
You are not casting.
You are positioning.
That’s why Blink is mandatory.
Blink allows you to:
Constantly reposition while damage triggers around you
Escape dangerous ground effects
Move through packs to maximize trigger density
Maintain uptime without interrupting the engine
Because everything else is automated, Blink becomes your primary form of expression. It’s how you survive, how you clear efficiently, and how you avoid getting pinned down while your mana is permanently at zero.
You can replace Blink with something similar if you want, but be careful. Some interactions—especially Cast on Crit—do not work with triggered Spark in this setup. Trying to get clever here usually breaks the loop rather than improving it.
In short: don’t overthink it. Blink works. Use it.
Mana: Permanently Empty, Somehow Functional
This build drains mana to zero constantly. Not “sometimes.” Not “in emergencies.” Always.
So why doesn’t it instantly brick itself?
Three reasons:
1. Mana on Kill Scaling
Every enemy death feeds mana back into the system. Since the build excels at clearing dense packs quickly, mana recovery scales naturally with map difficulty.
2. Jewel Investment
Jewel slots are heavily invested into mana sustain, recovery effects, and synergy scaling. These aren’t optional—they’re structural.
3. Duration Scaling
Duration keeps triggered effects alive long enough to bridge gaps between kills. Without it, the engine sputters and dies the moment enemy density drops.
Together, these systems create a delicate equilibrium. Mana hits zero, but effects continue. Enemies die, mana returns. The loop never fully collapses unless you misplay or enter content with extremely low density.
It’s a high-wire act—and that’s what makes it fun.
Strengths of the Build
True zero-button gameplay once the loop is active
Insane clear speed in dense content
Extremely satisfying visual feedback (lightning everywhere)
Scales well with crit, duration, and density
Minimal mechanical execution required
This is the kind of build you play when you want to watch Path of Exile 2 explode rather than manually orchestrate it.
Weaknesses and Risks
Janky startup mechanics
Reliant on being hit (which can be dangerous)
Weak in low-density encounters
Mana management is unforgiving
Easy to break with “clever” changes
This is not a beginner build. It assumes you understand trigger rules, crit scaling, and POE2’s interaction limits. One wrong support or passive choice can collapse the entire system.
Final Thoughts: Beautiful, Broken, and Brilliant
This Lightning auto-bomber build is peak Path of Exile 2 design philosophy: a tangled web of mechanics that somehow forms a working engine. It drains mana to zero, triggers spells you never cast, uses defensive skills offensively buy POE 2 Divine Orbs, and relies on getting hit to function correctly.
And yet—when it works—it feels unstoppable.
If you’re the kind of player who loves zero-button builds, enjoys abusing trigger systems, and doesn’t mind a little jank in exchange for god-tier screen explosions, this setup is absolutely worth exploring.
Just don’t try to get too clever.
Let the sparks fly.​buy POE 2 Divine Orbs​