[3.8]CodRayZeal's Iron Commander Hierophant (10 Siege Ballistas @ 300k dps)
Foreword
It's been a long time since I was able to get the Iron Commander unique bow to work effectively however I have kept trying as I really enjoy the playstyle. Finally its possible without shopping for crazy bow jewels thanks to a few uniques added and changed since my last successful attempt
Blight
So far it works pretty well for blight, no maraketh jewel yet but still acing most blight encounters in maps. PoB https://pastebin.com/gYxC57jn Blight gear update Some Red Maps
Concept
Using the Iron Commander unique bow allows us to get an additional Siege Ballista per 200 Dexterity, combined with other uniques which provide benefit from dexterity as well as uniques that boost our dexterity we are able to relatively comfortably achieve 8-10 Siege Ballistas.
Understanding Dexterity Breakpoints
This is where the build gets a little bit complicated as more dexterity is only really worth getting over other stats if you hit a breakpoint which occurs every 200 dexterity, for comparison's sake: 199 dexterity grants you 398 Accuracy 99 Life 19.9% Elemental Damage 19-38 Cold Damage meanwhile 200 dexterity grants you all of the above as well as 3% more damage(Ritual of Awakening) and 1 additional Ballista(Iron Commander) so if you're sitting on 1300 Dexterity perhaps compromise lowering Dexterity to 1200 while gaining other damage/defense stats instead.
Bandit
Help Alira, the crit multi and all res are very much a boon to this build and it would be difficult to use 2 points more effectively than this.
Pantheon
Soul of Lunaris with Captured Ambrius Legion Slayer is pretty important as it allows us to avoid chains and not die instantly to a chaining attack. Lesser pantheon either Soul of Garukhan with the upgrade or Soul of Shakari with the upgrade.
Path of Building
The Cost Effective lvl 95
https://pastebin.com/DLe9s6Yk The Version I ran until I felt like messing with Inspired Learning.
Lvl 80 with 10% Maraketh jewel
https://pastebin.com/RAv1j2LK A Version using a 10% Maraketh jewel at a much lower level.
Higher Life+Lower Damage
https://pastebin.com/3EKrgYWD In case you don't think the build has enough life. Dropping 2 Dex breakpoints for about 2k life.
Ascendancy
Pursuit of Faith grants us an additional totem as well as some duration and attack speed as well as a lot of damage when clearing. Ritual of Awakening grants a massive boost to placement speed, 3% more damage per ballista and a decent amount of both life and mana regen per totem. Conviction of Power allows for easy generation of both power and endurance charges. Divine Guidance gives us a little more EHP.
Gear
The Weapon
As mentioned before gives us an additional Siege Ballista for every 200 Dexterity. In addition to that it has a fairly solid attack speed and critical hit chance making critical strikes and flat added damage a really nice way to boost our damage. Iron Commander however adds a mediocre amount of flat damage to our attacks, even with heavily stacked dexterity so we will have to get it from somewhere else.
The Other Uniques
Damage
Hyrri's Ire grants us substantial evasion as well as a little bit of dodge and dexterity making it a good fit for Siege Ballista, although the greatest benefit it brings to the table is a substantial amount of added cold damage to bow attacks making up a large percentage of our flat damage. New to Legion League we have the unique helmet Fractal Thoughts which pretty much feels like it was made for this build, by stacking dexterity we gain 1% increased elemental damage per 10 dexterity, totaling around 120-140% increased elemental damage In addition to that as long as our dexterity is higher than our intelligence(always) we gain up to 40% Critical Strike Multiplier further boosting our DPS Furthermore having more Strength than Intelligence(something you have to make certain of) grants us 15% increased Dexterity! Lastly it grants us a decent amount of life by giving us 2 life per 10 Intelligence(we have around 350) This Fated version of Hyrri's Bite grants us flat damage per 10 of each stat with 1-2 cold per 10 dex, 1-2 fire per 10 strength and 0-3 lightning per 10 Intelligence It is therefore understandably powerful for this build as it adds over 100-200 flat cold damage as well as a bit of the other 2 elements, not only that but it also grants us 20-30 all attributes and 10% increased Attack Speed.
Defense
Garukhan's Flight grants us 2 life per 10 Dexterity meaning that these boots are in fact more powerful than Kaom's roots for us, they also grant a large movement speed bonus as well as immunity to elemental ground effects. Ideal Enchants here are 120% critical strike chance or 10% elemental penetration, both of which have requirements that are easily met by totem builds.
Dex Stacking
Almost all attribute stacking builds start out with an Astramentis, however the fact that we are using Cyclopean coil and gain damage from all 3 attributes means that Astramentis is nearly Best in Slot for the build(there are some shaper amulets as well as talismans(talismen?) that can compete) Given the other uniques we have equipped a perfect Astramentis grants us: 34.8% Elemental Damage 184 Life 22-99 flat elemental damage
Breakdown
11.6% Increased Elemental Damage (Fractal Thoughts) 23.2% Increased Damage(Cyclopean Coil) 58 Life(Garukhan's Flight) 58 Life(Fractal Thoughts) 58 Life(Strength) 11-22 Cold Damage(Hyrri's Demise) 0-33 Lightning Damage(Hyrri's Demise) 11-22 Fire Damage(Hyrri's Demise) Cyclopean Coil grants us up to 120 life as well as up to 15% increased Attributes, in addition to that it will always make us immune to frozen since our Dex will be higher than Int. Lastly it grants a pretty decent damage boost since our lowest attribute (Int) is at around 300 at least providing a 60% damage boost. A Timeless Jewel new to Legion league grants assorted bonuses to dexterity/projectile attacks depending on its seed, the one listed here grants a massive 20% increased dexterity as well as a little bit of extra damage, socketed to the left of the templar we have plenty of notables in range to pick from. It is worth noting that you don't need this exact one and one of the more fun gambles for me was buying a cheap maraketh jewel and spending just about every divine I got on it in an effort to get a 20% one. When socketed to the left of the Marauder it is able to give us insane amounts of dexterity from the converted strength, going down here also allows us an easier time making sure our strength is higher than our intelligence for Fractal Thoughts' 15% dexterity bonus. Similar to Fluid Motion this allows us to convert the massive amount of intelligence at the top of the tree into dexterity.
Misc
Since we're focusing to the left of the tree there aren't many bow nodes that can help us, however using Lioneye's Fall just above Resolute Technique we can convert nearby melee crit and staff crit nodes granting us the following: 125% Critical Strike Chance with bows 60% Critical Strike Multiplier with bows 90% Global Critical Strike Chance 30% Global Critical Strike Multiplier 6% Block+Spell Block NO LONGER RECOMMENDED One of these jewels can later be socketed down by the marauder(around the time we can get 1400 Dex without the Fluid Motion down there) granting us 75% Critical Strike Multiplier and an additional 3% physical damage reduction which stacks on top of our endurance charges if upgraded. A pretty solid jewel to fit into most builds that use at least 1 aura, mods that benefit us greatly are: Hatred: Critical Strike Chance, Cold Damage, Cold Penetration, Phys converted to Cold Precision: Attack Damage, Critical Strike Multiplier, Attack Speed and any combination of 2 or 3 of these would likely be Best in Slot for one of our open jewel sockets. When you just need a little more Dexterity or a little less Intelligence to round out your stats correctly this Jewel can be a boon Rain of Splinters grants us an additional 2 projectiles while costing us a little bit of damage, pretty nice to boost the coverage of our Ballistae though.
Rares
We only have 3 slots left for rares and since none of our uniques have any resists this is where we need to get them. Gloves can be tricky since there are some nice ways to increase our damage, but I highly recommend prioritizing defense here, these gloves grant substantial life, substantial dexterity and some resistance, additionally they have physical converted to cold crafted on them to convert some of our physical damage into bonus cold damage Both our rings have high life and dexterity, following that we need to fix our resists here and only after that can we look at damage bonuses such as Elemental Damage With Attacks, there is plenty of room for improvement here but it is going to cost you. Feel free to compromise on dexterity in any of these 3 items IF that missing dexterity doesn't cost you a breakpoint.
Flasks
We use one Seething Divine Life Flask of Staunching along with a Quicksilver of Adrenaline for movespeed, a Diamond Flask of the Order for a massive effective crit boost and a Silver Flask of Warding to remove curses while also granting us a decent duration Onslaught. Lastly we use a Wise Oak(provided our cold resist is highest) to provide up to 15% extra cold penetration, you could also balance your resists but this becomes tiresome rather quickly. Another option here is Taste of Hate which will make us a bit more tanky and also boost our DPS a decent amount.
Gem Setup
Weapon 6 Links
Siege Ballista Our main skill, wouldnt really work without it. Added Cold Damage A large portion of our flat damage is added here Elemental Damage with Attacks A massive boost to all of our elemental damage Cold Penetration Makes sure that we always deal significant damage even when monsters have overcapped resists. Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance Caps our totem's resists making them tankier while also providing a decent More damage bonus Hypothermia Since our targets are typically guaranteed to be chilled either by our attack or by cold snap this is a great option for bossing.
Body Armour up to 6 links
Interchangeable with weapon since neither has a bonus to socketed gems, also far less necessary to have 6-linked(you can even 2-3 link the cold snap without losing much damage). Cold Snap, Bonechill, Spell Cascade, Hypothermia, Faster Casting, Unbound Ailments A decent option for boosting our damage and slowing enemies, boosting the chill effect both boosts the slow and the damage increase from Bonechill.
Other
Vaal Rain of Arrows, Blind, Curse on Hit, Projectile Weakness A great "set it and forget it" method of applying our curse as well as occasionally blinding and slowing the boss down substantially Hatred, Precision, Enlighten Hatred provides a substantial damage boost while Precision grants a small crit and accuracy bonus, Precision should be kept at a level where your 10% of damage taken from mana before life covers your life pool. Steelskin Our "Oh Shit" button in case we run too far ahead of our totems or see something about to hit us Frost Bomb, Spell Cascade Another damage boost which applies cold exposure to enemies granting 25% reduced cold resist Flame Dash My movement skill of choice since if you cast it infrequently it is instant Phase Run Another "Oh shit" button for when I find myself in the middle of the Legions when the timer runs out.
A Note on Leveling
It may seem interesting to level with Siege Ballista as soon as possible but I recommend leveling as a standard elemental bow build(Rain of Arrows with a high attack speed bow and flat elemental damage wherever you can get it) up until the point where your totem placement speed becomes acceptable to you and you have at least 6 Siege Ballistas, before then your Ballistas will likely only be useful on bosses. During the Leveling process it may also be viable to use Multiple Totems Support on your Siege Ballistas for an additional 3 Ballistas. Once you are purely into Siege Ballista it is recommended that you only stack dexterity once you hit another breakpoint, this will cost you a few regrets but it'll make it easier to gear during the early endgame and will allow for you to only need to fiddle with your gear every time you are nearing a potential breakpoint.
Leveling advice from other players
If you have leveling advice don't hesitate to share with the rest of the class. "
A Note on Speed Clearing/Farming Monoliths
While our damage is great, it is often overkill for regular clearing so all we really need to do to boost our clearspeed/defense while mapping is swap out 3 gems, First switching Hypothermia for Greater Multiple Projectiles boosting our area coverage substantially, Next we switch out Cold Penetration for Faster attacks(Optional) so that our totems fire their first shot quicker, Lastly for a great defensive boost we switch Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance with Elemental Proliferation which ensure that what we're running into is usually frozen. Another great speed clearing tip is to switch Wise Oak for The Dying Sun for even more area coverage from the additional projectiles. If you think there is anything else I could add then please let me know. Last edited by codraziel#7216 on Oct 6, 2019, 10:55:22 PM Last bumped on Dec 29, 2019, 12:37:59 PM
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Very interesting well-written guide, I plan to give it a try!
What do you think about using a 6l Wildwrap instead of Hyrri's Ire? Its the fated version of Briskwrap, gives 15% inc Dex and some cold resists. You lose out on the 10% dodge, but would the 15% inc dex be worth it? Last edited by Zacharygabriel10#4299 on Jul 5, 2019, 7:52:22 PM
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" It is absolutely an option, but only if it will give you a dex breakpoint over Hyrri's with really nice flat damage on jewelery, but if you get to that point you may want to consider an elder chest with: flat Life 12% increased maximum Life 12% increased Dexterity Attacks have +x% to Critical Strike Chance 6% increased Attributes(Crafted) Edit: its also worth noting that the dodge is just a bonus here, that flat cold damage is pretty much impossible to beat DPS-wise, but a 6L wildwrap would be really cheap this league so thats worth considering, even though a 6L iron commander is also really cheap. I would even justify using QotF if your intention is white map Monolith Farming Last edited by codraziel#7216 on Jul 5, 2019, 10:53:24 PM
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Thanks for the guide.
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What are the contrasts between this build and the other Deadeye one?
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" The biggest contrast between a hierophant version and a deadeye would be the bonuses from Ritual of Awakening which includes(at 10 totems) 30% more damage, 5% of your mana regenerated(which is then scaled by regular %mana regen) and 10% life Regeneration for you and your totems as well as a crapton of placement speed and endurance/power charge generation when you place totems. smaller notable boosts include an additional totem and 10% Mind over Matter. |
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How do you feel about the ring The Taming for this build? Hyrri's Demise ensures we hit all 3 elements, allowing us to ignite, shock, and chill/freeze. There's no dex on the ring, but perhaps the ring itself is worth 200 dex.
Last edited by MeLikeChoco#1461 on Jul 15, 2019, 11:58:43 PM
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Well, while happily farming Glacier, Chris gave me a sign that I should play you build next.
Now I haven't play bow for a few years now, but I always wanted to try out Siege Ballista. I got a couple of questions. Do I go for Ancestral Bond early and play RoA totems until I can swap into Siege Ballista or self attack with RoA until transitioning to Siege Ballista? Which nodes on you tree do you pick up last, say your last 15 points? Looking forward to getting started with this. |
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" Play self attack RoA until you have Ritual of Awakening at which point you can switch to pure ballistas with a quality multiple totems support and a faster attacks gem(otherwise they are a bit slow while leveling). as for leveling what I did was spec into and out of "Primal Manifestation" as I was leveling until I could reach the next dexterity breakpoint, I would recommend traveling to the witch and marauder large stat nodes first and converting them, picking up the crit nodes last(specifically the lioneye's fall setup) |
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Thank you so much for this build.
I really love ballistas. However, I am new :( never try stack stat build and this guide looks not cheap. Could you please help us (new) update passives tree level by level and item progression so we can follow? Thank you so much. |
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