[3.15] Elemental Hit Ballista Totem Hiero | Budget Friendly | League Start to Endgame

Hello Vei and also hello to everyone helping with this guide!

I have played this build in 3.8 and it was the first time I reached endgame, also in the Mayhem event last month. I'm kinda worried about not getting used to 1 totem per cast but still decided to start as Chieftain, even if the less cast speed than Hiero will make the 1 totem/cast more noticeable.

Thanks everyone contributing to this guide. With which post for each ascendance highlights I was jumping between them but finally decided to go for Chieftain mainly because I don't plan to play enough for a DPS/expensive Scion version.

With that said, thanks again and good luck in 3.13!

Alright, i just ran a league start practice run with Ranger start. This allows you to rush a working build within 10 hours into the league or less.

Gem Setups - Caustic Arrow and Toxic Rain ballista

Act 1

You want to look out for GGG and GGR sockets right off the bat. These are not too hard to find on bows and body armor. Remember to check vendors. For starters, you can do Caustic arrow with Pierce and keep the Burning arrow from the beach for additional target. Once you reach Merveil Caverns, this should be your set up. You also want to keep weapons in your offhand so that you can buy gems for elehit totems to keep them levelling.

G-G-G(CA+VoidManip+MirageArcher)
G-G-R(TR+VoidManip+BallistaSupport)
G(Dash)
Buy Elehit,keep in offhand

Act 2

Once you reach level 24, keep a look out for 4 links,GGGG and GGGR sockets. This will prepare you to add gems for the next act.

G-G-G(CA+VoidManip+ViciousProj)(throw away MA)
G-G-R(TR+BallistaSupp+ViciousProj)(keep void manip for later)
B(SkitterBots)
G(Dash)

Buy EDWA, Keep in offhand
Buy Swift Affliction for 4th Green slot for Caustic Arrow.

Act 3

This is the time where you can do double 4 links for your CA and TR. Prioritize 3G1R for the Toxic Rain as it is impt for single target dps. You should do Siosa/library quest to have access to remaining gems. You will also buy the rest of the gems for the elehit build later.

G-G-G-R(TR+BallistaSupp+ViciousProj+VoidManip)(add back void manip)
G-G-G-G(CA-ViciousProj+VoidManip+Swift affliction)
B(SkitterBots)
B(Malevolence)
B(Despair)
G(Dash)

Buy and level offhand:
Combustion
Cold to Fire
Fire Pen

Once your set up looks like the above, this is all you need to finish the campaign and get to level 70. Remember to keep updating your resistances throughout the acts.


Levelling Passive Tree

The following is what i took in order to achieve a balance of damage and health nodes. I strongly recommend you follow the order stated. You should achieve this around level 50 or so, around end of Act 7.



Once you have that tree, it is just a straight shot to Avatar of Fire all the way to the other side of the tree. I pick up some health nodes such as Bloodless, Barbarism, Devotion and Purity of Flesh.



Transitioning to Elehit Totems.

Once you are level 70, you should have 94 points (24 from quests) as well as about 16-20 respec points, depending if you did the quests or not. You will only need 11 respec points.

You will respec out the deadly/heavy draw wheel as well as aspect of the eagle and put the points into Watchtowers and Panopticon. You will also grab the 3 jewel nodes for the necessary jewels (combat focus x2 and Rain of splinters) we will be using. Once you have decided to fully transition, go ahead and pick up Ancestral bond too.



Tree at level 70



To recap, the links for Elehit totems without Frostferno:
Elehit
Ballista Support
EDWA
Combustion
Cold to Fire
Fire Penetration

And thats it! Grab your tabula or cheap 6 links and start using the Raider POB to progress.

Hope this helps those who wants to league start on the ranger side. All the best!

One last question regarding pob.
Does it show the total dps for all totems attacking at the same time or just for one totem?

Hi,
maybe i overlooked it, but the tree in first post is only for the hierophant version, right?

So far no pob / tree available for chieftain / ascendent? :-)
Maybe because its not yet tested / new concept for this build.

So main question :
Or do we just take the mentioned keystones for the build and target them from
the particular starting point of the different classes?

Thinking about trying this one instead of FP Totems ( which i know ), but not sure yet, in case i would likely go chieftain here.

Thank you :)

"

Kaeltwyn wrote:

One last question regarding pob.
Does it show the total dps for all totems attacking at the same time or just for one totem?

It's DPS of 1 Totem. Hierophant and Ascendant(Chief/Hiero) has 7 Max Totem, Other Ascendancies have 6 Max.

"

bex_HB wrote:

maybe i overlooked it, but the tree in first post is only for the hierophant version, right?

So far no pob / tree available for chieftain / ascendent? :-)
Maybe because its not yet tested / new concept for this build.

Yes, first post is only for Hierophant. Supporting other class is just a "Part Time" thing. Guide won't be including them, but I'll will provide some links in the Main guide if me or others(e.g. crimsonraziel9 with the Ranger Leveling Guide) wrote something about them that is worth referencing.

If I have any plans to write for another Ascendancy, I will create a guide for that Ascendancy in the future at that Forum.

Creating a guide takes a lot of time and commitment to do a decent one.

"

bex_HB wrote:

So far no pob / tree available for chieftain / ascendent? :-)

So main question :
Or do we just take the mentioned keystones for the build and target them from
the particular starting point of the different classes?

Please read today's Pinned Announcement titled "PLEASE READ Before Venturing into 3.13 with this Build" There is a lot of info there, including POBs for all the Alternative Ascendancies. Note that the POBs are not the most optimized, unlike Hierophant one which has been optimized for over 4+ leagues but they are definitely good enough as a reference.

ok, thank you for clearifying :)

"

crimsonraziel9 wrote:

Alright, i just ran a league start practice run with Ranger start. This allows you to rush a working build within 10 hours into the league or less.

Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to post your findings in such a detailed post (Comes with pictures too!)

I have put a link to your post in the Pinned Announcement Section. Hope that makes it easier for other Rangers looking for leveling alternatives! :)

Thanks again for sharing!

"

kikeuy wrote:

GREAT work OP , you have put a lot of time on this but it is looking good.

A little reminder that if you are not using Skitterbots(if you spec Mortal conviction before -mana craft) Vaal lightning trap will give you an extra 10% more dmg from EH and also make the enemies take 15% increased damage from the shock itself.
It is one extra button press but it can be very useful for boss fights early league when you are underleveled/undergeared.

Thank you and thank you for your Vaal Lightning Trap tip. I have added it to the "Summary" post and credited you for the idea. :)

"

Ulkoth wrote:

Hello Vei and also hello to everyone helping with this guide!

With that said, thanks again and good luck in 3.13!

Hello Ulkoth,

Good luck and have fun in Ritual! :)

"

Banhmithitzz wrote:

Ok! Thank you Vei and everyone so much.
I'll start with Chieftain, I played Chieftain burning arrow Flashback and killed Sirius 6 for 7 days (XOPH 5link, kaom, malachai, asenath chain helm) ...
My plan about 1 week later will have enough cost to buy the core item of this build (Frostferno cannot be available early and cheap in the first week, as well as 2 gem combat focus)
Let's go Chieftain!

For Tukohama!

The POB link is not working for me, it says "unknown passive tree". Pob is up to date. someone has an idea, or a working pob link please ?

"

SandroSwordfire wrote:

The POB link is not working for me, it says "unknown passive tree". Pob is up to date. someone has an idea, or a working pob link please ?

There's a lot of POB Pastebin currently in and referenced in the guide, which one are you referring to?

Just a guess, it could be you are not using the Community Fork version of POB. Upgrading your POB to Community Fork version could solve the issue.

Alright, a very good league start for me. Played for about 12 hours. Doing T5 maps now, trying to break into yellows. These are my gear at lvl 76.




Mapping really smoothly now.

1.) Very impressed with raider Quartz infusion and Avatar of the veil. Immunity ailment and perma phasing makes this build really fast and smooth.
2.) Not impressed at is that the lightning golem dies way too fast. Hopefully at lvl 20 he is abit tankier. At this rate, he only survives for one second during boss fight. I might not adopt the Malachai ring set up for end game and just do dual rares with -mana. Will have to see about that.

Now just waiting for Frostferno to appear in maps...zzzz....