POE 3.22 | Artillery Ballista Hierophant: Day 1 Recap

_____________________ Foreword _____________________ The gear has been imported from my playthrough, some items were added to help display changes that can be made. You will notice I have included a lot of options, more than we can fit in some places! Play around, you don't have to follow this recipe to the exact measurement. I tried my best to color-code things in a way that made it easier to digest all of this information. This build is not fully optimized, I don't want to spoil everything for myself before 3.22 ____________________________ Why Artillery Ballista? ____________________________ No gear requirements to get started Great AOE / decent single target Low attribute requirements It has potential for high-effectiveness of added damage due to how many projectiles it fires There are many different ways to approach the build Scales well Late game we will have up to 9 totems, giving Hierophant some juicy benefits I want to play an On-Hit Ballista that wasn't Toxic Rain OR Explosive Arrow Totally possible GGG could make an MTX that shoots hotdogs __________________________ Cons __________________________ Socket colors are going to be annoying late game, depending on our body armor's base type We will use the crafting bench for 3 guaranteed blue sockets and use Vorici (Research) craft for some white sockets _____________________________ Act 1-3 Leveling Tips _____________________________ 1) Level with a combination of Rolling Magma , Flame Wall , and Holy Flame Totem - Look for items with [ B - B - B ] early on - Link Rolling Magma + Combustion + Arcane Surge / Unbound Ailments - Use a low-level Clarity until you complete your Second Ascendancy - Do not level up your Arcane Surge, right click the + symbol upon first sight 2) Always pick up these rares: A) Sceptres / Wands / Daggers B) Bows / Quivers C) Belts D) Rings E) Amulets F) Boots G) Gloves H) Helmets Conserve inventory space and continue moving forward with as little reorganizing as possible. _____________________________ Bandits _____________________________ Kill all bandits for +2 skill points _______________________________ Swap Leveling Tips _______________________________ 1) I swapped To Artillery Ballista + Ancestral Bond immediately after Completing my 1st Ascendancy and the Library Quest in Act 3 - Look out for Jade Amulets / Low-Requirement Bows if you intend to swap early - Grab Anger, Precision, Frenzy and Snipers Mark - Manaforged arrow + Frenzy - Mark on Hit + Snipers Mark - After you swap, Look for 4-link items that have [ G - B - R - R ] 2) Use a combination of Anger / Grace / Precision / Determination - I chose to level with Anger and Precision to make gearing pressure a little bit lighter in regard to damage and accuracy - Fit these anywhere you can - Readjust auras when we have better gear - Heralds? Vitality? 3) Keep looking for Bows and Quivers with these mods: A) Flat Elemental damage ( Fire / Cold / Lightning ) B) Attack Speed C) Accuracy -100% vs normal / 95% vs evasive -this is a healthy benchmark to aim for D) Projectile Speed E) Bow Attacks Fire Additional Arrows F) Increased Elemental Damage with Attacks G) Increased Damage with Bow Skills _________________________ Crit Swap _________________________ 1) Drop Elemental Overload -Buy a new Frostblink / Flamedash if you need to, since we will lose some intelligence 2) Add these to the list of modifiers you pay attention to: A) Crit. Chance B) Crit. Multiplier 3) Swap when you reach Lethality ________________________ Ascendancy ________________________ Hierophant: Pursuit of Faith -> Ritual of Awakening -> Conviction of Power -> Divine Guidance ___________________________ Pantheon ___________________________ Major God = Brine King Minor God = Ralakesh ___________________________ Annoints ___________________________ Instinct = Sepia / Sepia / Azure For alternatives, here are some options to consider in no particular order: 1) Shamanistic Fury 2) Primal manifestation 3) Multishot / Master Fletcher 4) Lethality 5) Longshot 6) Charisma 7) Watchtowers _________________________________ Artillery Ballista & Other Mechanics _________________________________ 1) Try to make Artillery Ballista Lv22 or higher - At this level, we gain the maximum amount of additional totems from the skill itself (4) 2) Try to get +4 additional projectiles - Artillery Ballista can Shotgun - I reviewed a video made by Grimro's LA Artillery Ballista Deadeye, and this seems to be the magic number for overlapping hits 3) Delay -Projectile Speed will directly translate to your ability to hit targets on time -We are using Ballistas, so Delay will be accentuated by the time it takes to: A) Summon Totem B) Totems Start Attacking C) Projectile Landing 4) Origin -Origin of the projectile is transfered to the Ballista -This matters if you plan on taking advantage of Point Blank, or Farshot 5) Target Size -The bigger they are the harder they fall -Ralakesh is a smaller sized boss and will take a little longer to kill than say, Arakaali, a giant spider. ____________________________ Defensive layers ____________________________ 1) Evasion 2) Armor 3) CWDT setup..............( steelskin OR molten shell IF Iron Reflexes ) 4) Spell Suppression......( 100% or BUST ) 5) Endurance charges 6) Life Regeneration......( over 10%) 7) "5% Damage Taken from Hits is Taken from Your Nearest Totem's Life Before You" 8) Totems body block projectiles 9) Chill Effect ________________________ Base Types ________________________ Bows: For End-Game, you'll want a Thicket Bow, but keep an eye out for these too while you work your way up: 1) Imperial Bows 2) Spine Bows 3) Royal Bows 4) Reflex Bows 5) Steelwood Bows 6) Highborn Bow Quivers: For End-Game, you'll want a Feathered Quiver for the additional Projectile Speed Belts: For End-Game, you'll probably want a Stygian Vise for the additonal Abyss Socket Leather Belts and Rustic Sash are what I picked up during the Campaign Helmets: For End-Game, you may want a Blizzard Crown for the Added Cold Damage implicit Other helmets of interest are Lion Pelts or Nightmare Bascinets Everything Else: Look for Armor / Evasion Bases STORMRIDER BOOTS IF WE CAN STOMACH THE ACCURACY LOSS???? ( Stormrider boots comes from ritual, just like Blizzard Crowns ) ___________________________ Cluster Jewel ___________________________ Medium Cluster Jewel = "12% Increased Totem Damage": - Sleepless Sentries for Onslaught - Try to pair it with Ancestral Preservation / Snaring Spirits Large Cluster Jewel = "12% increased Damage with Bows / 12% increased Damage Over Time with Bow Skills" - Prefixes: A) Arcing Shot B) Devastator D) Calamitous - Suffixes: A) Martial Prowess B) Heavy Hitter ____________________________ Timeless Jewel ____________________________ I usually go for Brutal Restraint with Ballista Hierophant builds The extra dexterity provides us some free spell supression There are also some useful modifiers such as: 1) Increased aura effect 2) Attack speed 3) Max life 4) Blind on hit 5) Projectile damage 6) Crit chance 7) Global Accuracy 8) Elemental Damage 9) Effect of non-damaging ailments 10) Gain Onslaught on kill All of these are useful in some way, find one and make it work, don't break the bank! If you REALLY want to find the perfect jewel, use this website: https://vilsol.github.io/timeless-jewels/tree __________________________ Alt Quality Gems __________________________ These are not required to get going, but consider the value to the build they will provide 1) Divergent Artillery Ballista - +1 addtional arrow 2) Divergent Inspiration - Good for those suffering from mana troubles - Can aid in adding additonal auras 3) Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks - use this so you can run Elemental Reflect maps 4) Anomalous Increased Critical Strikes - 5% crit multi ____________________________ Lab Enchants ____________________________ Ideally we get "Artillery Ballista fires 2 additional Arrows" "Artillery Ballista Projectiles fall in two perpendicular lines instead" is also fine ____________________________ 6-link Cheese ____________________________ 1) Divination cards such as: The porcupine = 6-link short bow Drops in these map locations Courtyard | Gardens | Orchard | Plaza | Terrace Also found in Act 8 @ The High Gardens Emperor of Purity = 6-link Holy Chainmail Drops in these map locations Ruin | Overgrown Shrine Also found in Act 7 @ The Chamber of Sins Humility = Tabula Rasa Drops anywhere that looks like an Aquaduct Most people farm these in Act 9 If you are above level ~70 / Less than 70% complete at this point you should stop the farm and move on The Chains that Bind = 6-link random Body Armor Drops in these map locations Cage | Cells | Dungeon | Pen Also found in Act 5 @ Slave Pens / Control Blocks The Dapper Prodigy = Item level 100, 6-link random Body Armor 2) Geomancer's Incubators are an easy way to get 6-link Body Armor as well 3) Probably some other options out there! They may even just flat out drop for you sometimes, lucky dog! ____________________________ Mana Tools ____________________________ Ascendancy: - Ritual of Awakening Passives & Masteries: -Sovereignty -Charisma -Righteous Decree -Mana Mastery "12% efficiency" -Life Mastery "Skills Cost Life Instead of 30% of Mana Cost" Support Gems: -Clarity -Inspiration / Divergent Inspiration -Life Tap -Enlighten Item Modifiers: -Flat Mana...............................................................................( Think Clarity / Precision / Vitality ) -"Non-Channeling Skills Have -# to Total Mana Cost"..............( Ring suffix that comes from unveiling rares) _________________________ Problem Monster mods _________________________ !!!Proximity Shield + Trickster / High Movement Speed!!! 1) Include additional cold damage for a higher chill% -Thought it was worth mentioning, but unsure of the efficacy in regard toward investment 2) Stack additional Projectile Speed / Attack Speed 3) We can imprison a single target by summoning all of our totems around them in a circle This specific combo is rare, but I wanted y'all to know it can be annoying if the mods line up. __________________________ Deaths __________________________ It's the end of the guide! I have died _______a lot_________ times as of writing these notes! Have fun! Something, Something, "Journey not the Destination". _____________________________________