3.23 EXPLOSIVE ARROW BALLISTA ELEMENTALIST - League-Start to End-Game. Easy mode.

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Ulrichvonbeck wrote:

Can I get some help? I know I don't have endgame gear, but I feel like it should be doing better than its playing. PoB is saying I would have 3M DPS at 20 fuses, and I know I don't have anywhere near that kind of damage output. My RF character using fire trap does way more damage to bosses than this one does.

Just from feel and playing around in PoB, I think the problem is that I'm not getting enough fuse stacks. I'd guess I'm getting 5, not 20. However, I'm not sure what to do to fix it. I feel like I've overlooked some key point from this build guide, but I'm not sure what it is that I've missed.

https://pastebin.com/Tk4qtaFf

Thanks

Your attack speed is quite low (1.62) and you aren't reaching near 20 fuses. That's why the damage is lower than pob says. Look at the item guide on the first page and see what stats we are aiming for in our items. You need to pump up the attack speed to get more fuses, also feels much better and clears better with more aspd. You also need more damage over time multipliers on your items, you have basically none.

I don't know your budget so I'll suggest some very cheap upgrades which should make a big difference.

1. Get a better quiver. Anoint "watchtowers" on amulet. (so you still get 6 totems + some extra dmg).
Search for a quiver with high Fire dmg multi with attack skills and/or damage multi with attack skills and attack speed. %ele dmg with attack skills and %inc damage with bow skills are a nice bonus if you can get. Looking at trade there are quivers which cost like 10-20c and would increase your dps by ~20% while also providing life and other useful stats. Your quiver is a huge source of damage so it's very worthwhile investing in a good one.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/kJOPgajs5

Just be careful not to get a quiver with pierce or added fire damage to attacks.

2. You can get 2x jewel sockets for only 3 skill points on your tree. Get a jewel with
-%inc max life and ~inc attack speed with bows then preferably any combination of:

~attack speeed, ~fire dmg multi, ~damage multi, ~burning damage or whatever stats you need. Good jewels with 3-4 good stats cost an ex or two but you can easily get ones with %inc max life and %attack speed with bows for a couple of chaos. Would give you 14% inc life and 16% attack speed for three skill points + whatever other stats the jewels have
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/VEJPRzdcp

Personally I really like using rain of splinters unique jewel, makes the clear more smooth and the reduced damage is negligible.

3. Pickup polaric devastation opal ring. Costs around 40c and increases your dps by ~19% compared to the topaz ring. Then when you can afford it, get a ring with curse with flammability on hit, life and accuracy in the other slot.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/RBn584Gi7

4. You are waaay overcapped on resistances. Should drop some resistance notes or stats for more damage. For example turning the amulet into one with
-high life -accuracy and one of dmg multi/fire dmg multi/+skill gems. Easy 10-15% dps increase for 30-50c.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Archnemesis/4vWXOMET9

5. Get a Blizzard crown. The added cold damage implicit is a huge damage boost. Just a regular blizzard crown with no specific good stats would increase your dps by 10%, costs like ~40c.
Would also be nice getting one with a good enchant. Attack speed or damage for explosive arrow or increased mana efficiency for determination/purity of elements. One with a good enchant shouldn't cost too much and you could just throw some essences on it til you are happy enough wit it (greed for max life or loathing for mana efficiency.)
When the budget allows get one with "nearby enemies have - to fire reistance".

Starting with those you could more than double your damage with like a 2ex investment. Get a 21/20 explosiver arrow gem, costs ~50c and improves the dps considerably. Getting an awakaned burning damage is also nice, at level 5 it gives +1 to fire skill gems which is a good dps boost. You can buy level 1 for cheap and level it up or buy a lvl 4 one for under an ex.

The armour is pretty bad and you could do with either Hyrri's Ire (~15% dps increase and spell suppression) or get a rare armour with high life and spell suppression. Getting 100% spell suppression is really important and adds a lot to your surviability.

Most of your problems could be solved by reading carefully through the item section of the guide and see what stats and items are recommended there.

I'd also try to find a way to squeeze defiance banner and molten shell (linked with life tap and increased duration) into your build, it combines really well with all the armour we get from determination Put molten shell on your left click so it automatically casts when you are moving.

A super useful but little cheeky damage boost: fitting in a malevolence with lifetap and divine blessing support. Lets you trigger a big dps boost when you need it for bosses without sacrificing any of your reservations.

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duche31 wrote:

Hello guys

would you mind explaining in details how to craft the helmet?

i have this base to start with
1 prefix and 1 sufix open is ok to start with?



i plan to buy a warlord helmet base with -9% fire res

a bit lost how to combine them both

thanks!

You hit the Blizzard Crown with a Redeemer Exalt and roll for T1 increased burning damage and one other influence Mod. Then use Orb of Dominance and try to elevate the burning damage mod. Do this until you get the mod you want elevated.

Get a random lvl85 Warlord Helmet and roll it for the -fire res mod and one other influence mod (you can buy one aswell) and elevate the -fire res mod.

After the first two steps are done you awakener orb them together (click the bad warlord base first and the blizzard crown second). Now you got a blizzard crown with the two elevated suffixes and a random 3. suffix (you are stuck with the 3. suffix unless you want to try a lucky annul (not recommended)).

Since your suffixes are done now you can craft your prefixes however you want them (craft life, harvest rerolls, veiled mods etc. depending on what you are aiming for). Dont forget the suffixes cannot be changed craft when crafting your prefixes.

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CirrusFalcon wrote:

A super useful but little cheeky damage boost: fitting in a malevolence with lifetap and divine blessing support. Lets you trigger a big dps boost when you need it for bosses without sacrificing any of your reservations.

Very nice idea!

I try it myself and it cost 1.390 life. Is that correct?

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to tackle this is sections.

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1. Get a better quiver. Anoint "watchtowers" on amulet.

Spent 30c on a quiver with attack speed, dot multi, elemental damage with attacks & life.

After studying the mechanics, I had also come up with the conclusion that attack speed was my biggest problem, so that's what I'm focusing on first. I also spent 5c on an amulet so that I could socket back the Life/attack speed jewel I had been using. Somewhere in the process of try to improve damage, I lost any source of cold/lightning damage, so I wasn't getting any benefit from EE. That's a bad mistake that I should have caught.

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2. You can get 2x jewel sockets for only 3 skill points on your tree.

I did half of this, I respec'ed a point to get an extra socket and put a Life/DoT multi jewel I had in that spot. I can grab another jewel slot when I hit 91. (I guess I should shop for a jewel with that plus some attack speed, but I think I'll run a map with the upgrades I've done so far.)

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4. You are waaay overcapped on resistances.

Am I missing something on dealing with Ele Weakness maps? Do you reroll maps that have that as a modp?

I do have a general observation, which is when I looked at my gear, there was no one piece that I looked at and said: "This is just garbage for the build". While not ideal, they all seemed like reasonable substitutions to use while I looked for something better. Other than attack speed, what are the key things you're looking at when comparing some piece of gear to the ideal for the slot?

Here's my current pob: https://pastebin.com/1fZmJHTE
should i swap with +3 bow and T1 attack speed or keep this bow with additional arrow?

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Ulrichvonbeck wrote:

Am I missing something on dealing with Ele Weakness maps? Do you reroll maps that have that as a modp?

If you're feeling a bit too squishy when certain mods come up on maps, then rerolling is always an option. Generally speaking though, I don't really worry about ele weakness on maps with most builds I play, I just play more carefully in that map if need-be. There's an opportunity cost for overcapping resists for something that you only deal with on occasion. It's typically better to work in other types of mitigation (spell suppression, life, armour, etc.) or more dps.

This build is already taking 50% less spell damage (assuming your suppression rate is 100%) and we're highly mobile, which makes avoiding damage fairly easy most of the time. As for which mods to reroll, I consistently reroll the % chance for monsters to avoid ailments, lessened regen, and elemental reflect (unless I have a sextant mod). Elemental reflect is self-explanatory, and while I could run the other 2 mods, I find them annoying and it's worth a scour and an alch to reroll.

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Other than attack speed, what are the key things you're looking at when comparing some piece of gear to the ideal for the slot?

This is a new build and play-style for me this league. Whenever I'm running a build that I'm unfamiliar with I do a few different things. First of all, I read the guide carefully. If the guide is up to snuff then it will answer most of my questions. Secondly, I take some time to go through the rest of the posts in the thread. Maybe not all of them, but like the most recent 5 or 10 pages to look for both positive and negative criticism. If someone is posting about how they love the build and how they one-shot every boss then I take a look at that person's character on this webpage, then import it into pob for a closer look. I'll compare and contrast it with the guide pob and my current character to see what is different, what is better, and what I don't like the looks of. Then, if I like what I see, I'll use that in conjunction with the guide as a rough template for gear and skills.

I know that isn't a very direct answer, but it's a methodology that has worked for me for years. You can feel free to look at my character if you'd like. It isn't very different from the guide, and there's a lot of room for min/maxing, but I've killed The Maven relatively easily, have done The Feared deathless, and generally haven't had much trouble with anything I've done so far. I'm certainly no expert, and I'm just copying what other people have done, but let me know if you have any specific questions. My POB: https://pastebin.com/7d0Bt0yP

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ILjXYZ wrote:

<snip> Elemental reflect is self-explanatory, and ... <snip>

Just popped in to say that I don't reroll anything any more, and elemental reflect still isn't a problem.

The thing about this is, the initial arrows do very little damage. All the big damage is in the explosion and ignite. By then, I don't care if my ballista dies to reflect - the mob is dead as well. Same for bosses - the ballistas will survive long enough to stack up 20 fuses, then the explosion hits, and the boss ignites... now it doesn't matter if I have to resummon. I'd be resummoning in any case to maintain Onslaught.

been playing this build for a week or 2 now, it's pretty great and i can do a lot, i do feel my single target dps is a bit low.

I think it has somethin to do with my attack speed and would appreciate if you could see if that's the case and what's the easiest to upgrade that.

i don't have much experience on POB, but i think the pastebin below should work:

https://pastebin.com/sbNnVCEa

I think you need closer to 3 in attack rate to reliable get 20 fuses. I thought I did 20 fuses before upgrading my bow which gave me 19% more attack speed. PoB only showed about 1M improvement, but it feels like a lot more DPS against bosses.

I would estimate a formula like this:
attack rate * fuse duration * number of totems * 0.9 > 20
0.9 is an estimate of the few misses that will happen due to moving boss (even if you have 100% hit chance). With bad accuracy, or against very mobile bosses, use 0.8 or even 0.7.

In my case, this leads to
attack rate >= 20 / (1.3 * 6 * 0.9) => attack rate should be at least 2.85 (I have 2.91 now with buffs).