I am thinking of League Starting Chieftain EA ballista, because I feel like it makes more sense than Champion, and can maybe be more "tanky". I would be using the following nodes:
Tsalio - easy resists, 50% of fire res is lightning and cold
Valako - free melding of the flesh with no downsides, stacking max fire res, 90% all res for cheap
Arohongui - with enough life regen on gear, this can make our EA ballistas feel really tanky, and they taunt for us while also recouping 10% of their damage taken as life to us, which will feel really good
Ramako or Nganahu - so depending if you want to stack (- fire) res on enemies or take the free "nearby enemies have zero fire res" or if you can find a good setup for the non unique jewels this one is a toss between the two. Frankly, I think Ramako again makes sense hear for QoL, it would mainly be for bossing, and we will be tanky to stay "stationary"
Everyone is saying "go Jugg and steal Valako", but I think going chieftain and stealing one of Jugg's nodes, or even berserkers for cheap is the way to go
for example:
Jugg forbidden jewel options
Undeniable - actual good one for us, especially if you go with Nganau, (added +3 STR to small nodes) and you can triple this in the scion section for a ton of attack speed
Unstoppable - Stun immunity, action + MS cant be slowed (this is great for chill), 10% MS, this would be a great cheap option especially early
Untiring - this one is PoG for Arohongui, which will be more life regen for our ballistas and more phys mitigation
Unbreakable - this one would not help me in particular, since I plan on going Cloak of Flame for ignite duration, phys as fire, etc. But, if you were to not go that route, and stack armour, this one would make this build feel insanely tanky
Berserker forbidden options
Aspect of Carnage - straight up 40% more damage, with a small cost of 10% damage taken, which we will be able to tank easily
So, as I just stated I plan on going Cloak of Flame as well, for 40% phys taken as fire, get ignite duration, etc. I just think all of this makes sense. When I first heard about Champion EA ballista it didnt make sense until you realize they just take it for tank, and nothing else really. With Chieftain, we will feel almost as tanky if not more so, for just as cheap and even gain some benefits that fit EA.
On top of all that, most of the forbidden jewels I mentioned are all gonna be cheap bc no one will be playing Chieftain, and everyone will be playing Jugg, so we have our pick and stealing any of the mentioned Jugg or Berserkers nodes all add great benefits to the build
Anyways, this is going to be my league starter, probably not the best numbers and going elementalist or champion might still be better, but I think as a league starter it will be tanky enough and strong enough to get through the atlas and even more so, just fun and different
Have fun on your league start :)
https://pobb.in/XfUNkT9pHswU
Here is a mock up PoB, with only "easy" end game bow to make, no gear at all, no jewels, no clusters, level 88, 2,200 life, 2 million DPS with no auras or curses, *at 20 fusings for bosses* and this is only with EA with 2 supports checked, 100% chance to ignite (that's why I have combustion as one of the 2 supports checked in poB)
So reminder, this is without any ascendancy nodes, no gear, jewels, etc, its only a base template to show you the type of damage you can get with EA ballista's. Later in league you can start using threads of hopes, WE, Timeless Jewels etc
Also, I made sure to only go to level 88, which leaves you 12 more points to spend on anything you'd like, more life, damage, go for Cluster jewels, etc
