[3.0] COLD CHAMPION SIEGE BALLISTA GUIDE - DPS... plenty - Meme Ballistas - Video(s) Inside

WORK IN PROGRESS

3.0 UPDATES INC - 9/25



Pre 3.0
PATCH 2.4 UPDATES
Siege Ballista is still extremely strong in the current meta but there have been some minor changes. I will no longer suggest using the support gem pierce because of its increased mana multiplier (110% to 130%) and reduced more damage multiplier (29% to 19%). Instead I am going to be testing out Faster Attacks (115% mana multiplier) and Slower Projectiles (130% mana multiplier but still 29% more projectile damage)

If you are curious to see some actual tooltip for this build you can check the spoiler below.
Spoiler

With just charges (5 frenzy, 3 power)


With flasks, charges and vaal haste


some updates have been made, scroll down

Showcase Video

Iron Commander Discussion/Commentary



This post is meant to be a guide for any player interested in playing an Iron Commander build. If you have any questions please ask and I will respond ASAP.


primary LINKS

Siege Ballista - WED - Added Lightning - Added Cold - Faster Attacks - Increased Critical Strikes
Spoiler


Frenzy - GMP - PCoC - Curse on Hit - Ele Weakness
Spoiler


Wrath - Herald of Thunder - Clarity
Spoiler



secondary LINKS

CWDT - Enfeeble - Immortal Call
Spoiler

Vaal Haste - Vaal Grace - Increased Duration
Spoiler

Enduring Cry - Ice Golem - Blink Arrow
Spoiler




My current gear


Jewels


Ascendancy
Although I find myself playing Champion, there are many options for your Ascendancy.
Champion: Fortitude - Inspirational

Pretty straight forward. Massive damage reduction through permanent fortify and a nice bit of damage/movement speed

Assassin: Deadly Infustion - Your choice
While I do not think this is what you should do, it is an option. Makes getting crit cap extremely easy.

Deadeye: Endless Munitions - Fast and Deadly
An additional projectile combined with Far Shot (more damage as projectiles farther) You could drop Rain of Splinters if you use a +1 arrow drillneck potentially netting you another 50-80% increased damage

Raider: Avatar of the Slaughter - Rapid Assault
Raider makes your frenzy charges crazy efficient. This was actually the first version of the build I played. Its great fun when you have all your charges but the ramp up is a little meh.

Ascendant: Deadeye - Assassin
This would give you some base crit and an additional projectile also you can hit the 600 dexterity mark a bit easier because of the base stats as Ascendant






Leveling:
You should begin by using a Storm Cloud unique bow ASAP. You can pretty much use this until you get the Iron Commander at level 32

Level 32 Passives
http://poeurl.com/B1W

Level 67 Passives
http://poeurl.com/CfI

Level 85 Passives
http://poeurl.com/B12

Level 95 Passives
http://poeurl.com/B13




Discussion/Theorycrafting
My thoughts on Iron Commander/Siege Ballista
I think one of the issues with Iron Commander is that most people immediately think they should be scaling the physical modifier on the bow. However, this scaling is not strong enough and puts too much strain on passives and gear. So because of this I decided to go with Elemental and it has worked out very well.

Noteworthy passives

Totemic Zeal
Totemic Zeal is an amazing cluster for Siege Ballista. The substantial placement speed (45%) is a huge quality of life stat for you. Not to mention the attack speed granted and the duration does come in handy for master missions or maps like Coward's Trial

Mana Flows, Druidic Rite and Primal Spirit
Can not say enough about these clusters. Between these and a clarity I have double the regen of the cost of a properly 6linked Siege Ballista. All that really matters is being able to place all of your totems without stopping.

King of the Hill
King of the hill is very good as it provides a little bit of extra defense and nice critical strike chance... but I would not grab this until the 85+ range

Profane Chemistry
Although you can potentially get another 2-3% maximum life by simply grabbing other life nodes, the 50% increased life recovery from flasks makes your flasks extremely potent.

twitch.tv/wabachaw
Dernière édition par wabachaw, le 25 sept. 2017 13:08:04
Dernier bump le 25 sept. 2017 13:51:16
Picked up a couple of new pieces...



Damage is starting to feel really good.
twitch.tv/wabachaw
I've seen this on your twitch channel, not bad at all. How did you level? Also, is there a rain of splinters in your tree somewhere? Do you use jewels to get more dex in places?

Thanks
"
animalhouse a écrit :
I've seen this on your twitch channel, not bad at all. How did you level? Also, is there a rain of splinters in your tree somewhere? Do you use jewels to get more dex in places?

Thanks




I think dex/int on jewels helps you do a lot in the end. I just picked up this bad boy.

twitch.tv/wabachaw
A few new pieces
twitch.tv/wabachaw
"
animalhouse a écrit :
I've seen this on your twitch channel, not bad at all. How did you level? Also, is there a rain of splinters in your tree somewhere? Do you use jewels to get more dex in places?

Thanks


Just realized I didnt respond to your question about leveling.

I leveled using a Storm Cloud all the way until I could use the Iron Commander at level 32. The tree is pretty straight forward as well.
twitch.tv/wabachaw
Why not use the Pierce gem instead of Slower Projectiles? Same damage but no downside.
[2.2] The Vampire - Tanky 2H Axe Slayer Duelist - /view-thread/1611662
"
Mannoth a écrit :
Why not use the Pierce gem instead of Slower Projectiles? Same damage but no downside.

huh. your right. Slower proj is what we used in the past. but, it starts at 20% more, and hits 29% at rank 20... And maxes out at a 34% theoretical rank 30. also 140% mana multiplier.
peirce STARTS lower at 10% more, but is also 29% more at rank20. AND in theory goes higher at 39% at rank 30. AND only has 110% mana mult..

slower proj is more damage 1-19. but, more mana. at rank 20 both are equal damage. rank 22 and beyond, pierce is more damage.
I was playing Ballista last league as phys, and made an elemental version for this league as well (as it seems the best way to scale it.

I haven't moved toward crit at the moment, but I really like my set up personally:
Gear and Links




My Current Elemental Non crit tree

I'm deadeye with Endless Munitions and Fast and Deadly. When I go crit, ill swap to powerful Precision.

When/if I go crit, I'll likely drop a herald and Alphas but still keep the full reservation with Wrath, Anger, HOT.
CharanJaydemyr:some people need to really rethink how they spend their money....I will trash this item if I ever find it on principle...I've seen much cleverer "troll" items get turned down, so I guess GGG gave up trying to enforce that one. Not GGG's finest hour.
poeurl.com/bD4E
Dernière édition par RichMoney, le 23 mars 2016 15:47:13
"
Mannoth a écrit :
Why not use the Pierce gem instead of Slower Projectiles? Same damage but no downside.


You don't seem to understand elementary Siege Ballista mechanics. I tested the skill thoroughly back when Lifting posted his ele guide in Talisman.

SB's projectiles cannot be either slowed or accelerated, meaning slower proj/faster proj have 0 effect on the skill itself, hence slower proj has no downside when linked to SB. SB's projectile range is based on a fixed number of units and extends well into adjacement screens.

SB's windup time can be shortened drastically by applying large amounts of attack speed (which is the main and the most important stat this skill scales from), effectively reducing the time the skill takes between acquiring the target and firing.

Once the target is acquired, SB fires in that direction even if the target moved, aka it is not locked-on but requires an attack to fire before aiming again, hence why, again, attack speed is the most important stat for these totems as it greatly reduces chances of totems missing.

To fully profit from this build, you first have to adjust your mindset to understand the general layout how this build works best, and that is as long-range heavy artillery playstyle and not your average shockwave/rf drop-in-the-middle-and-watch-everything-get-evaporated.

I wish there was a way to upgrade/empower IC from level 32 to lets say 60, it would make the whole thing a lot more interesting. Being forced to use it just so you wouldn't have to travel all the way to templar, feels meh.


Signaler

Compte à signaler :

Type de signalement

Infos supplémentaires