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Allrounder Build Guide in POE 3.20: Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist for League Start

Dec 14, 2022

The Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist is a great Allrounder Leaguestarter. It kills bosses with huge Ignites and clears whole screens of monsters with the Ignite Proliferation Support. For how strong the build is, it does have some intricate mechanics, which means attention to detail matters! This build doesn't require any Uniques or specific stats to start with but can upgrade to an absolute monster in the late game, making it perfect for a leaguestart scenario.


20Allrounder Build Guide in POE 3.20: Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist for League Startg


Important Skills

1) Explosive Arrow
Explosive Arrow supported with Ballista Totem Support is our main damage dealer.
It applies Fuses that explode after a short duration. The more Fuses the enemy had, the more damage they take.
Firing this skill with Ballistas enables us to apply more fuses in a shorter time period, resulting in bigger Ignites overal.

Ascendancy
1) The Elementalist is an easy choice for Explosive Arrow as it offers incredible boosts to Damage, Area of Effect and Defensive Capabilities.

2) Shaper of Flames allows ALL of your damage to Ignite, not just Fire Damage (this even includes Chaos Damage). Shaper of Flames also makes "Hits always Ignite", which means you don't need any Chance to Ignite at all.

3) Mastermind of Discord reduces Elemental Resistances of our enemies, making it a great tool against Bosses and highly resistant enemies.

4) Heart of Destruction gives you a huge Area of Effect Bonus while clearing hordes of monsters, converting the bonus to Damage instead whenever you face a Unique Enemy.

5) Bastion of Elements gives you a huge defensive layer against elemental damage, while also making it so your Ballistas' damage can't be reflected back to them.


20Allrounder Build Guide in POE 3.20: Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist for League Startng


Mistakes to Avoid
1) Getting Added Fire Damage on Gear
This disables your Exposure caused by Elemental Equilibrium (explained above).
Remember that with Shaper of Flames, all damage Ignites, not just Fire Damage. This means Cold and Lightning Damage do the same thing as added Fire Damage without disabling Exposure!
While "added Fire Damage" is bad, "increased Fire Damage" is completely fine and a great stat to have to increase your Ignite Damage!

2) Having a Source of Pierce/Chain or Fork
Explosive Arrow only puts a Fuse onto the last enemy it hits.
If you, for example, have "Projectiles Pierce 1 additional Target" and are up against a boss, it pierces through that enemy and applies no Fuses whatsoever. This completely invalidates your build, so be careful!

3) Using Barrage Support
Barrage Support might seem good because it helps you apply your Fuses faster. However, we hit the Maximum Fuse Count of 20 easily without it, so using it more than halves our damage, for no gain.
Stick to the recommended Support Gems in the Skill Gem Section!

4) Ignoring Accuracy
Explosive Arrow kinda looks like a spell, but it's an attack and therefore adheres to Accuracy scaling. If you don't have enough Accuracy (98-100% recommended) your fuses are going to miss, resulting in smaller explosions and Ignites!

5) Using Slow Bows
Your Attack Rate is as critical as the damage of your Ignites.
Slow attacking Bows look good on paper, but are actually really bad due to their low Attack Rate. This is also why Storm Cloud is such a good choice early on!

Key Leveling Notes
While this is a build guide for Explosive Arrow, we primarily use Holy Flame Totem and Flame Wall to level until 32. This is because 32 is the correct time to complete the Normal Labyrinth. Upon getting Shaper of Flames, switching over to using Explosive Arrow will be much easier.

This build will do Library in Act 3 to gain Explosive Arrow, Ballista Totem Support, Determination, Grace, and Purity of Elements. These gems won't be used for now, but are instead put in your gear to level up. Gems gain XP even in your off-hand!

The "Wand Craft" is the easiest way to make any caster leveling better. Selling a magic wand, an Orb of Alteration, and a normal Topaz Ring produces a wand like this: Snapping Driftwood Wand.

If you need a magic wand, purchase a 3-linked Wand from Nessa with favorable colors, those being Blue-Blue-Green, Blue-Blue-Blue, or Blue-Green-Red. Then use an Orb of Transmutation on it. If you need a Topaz Ring, you can sell an Iron Ring with any Skill Gem that is colored Green.

Skill Gems
1) Two-Handed Ranged: Explosive Arrow - Ballista Totem Support - Ignite Proliferation Support - Lifetap Support - Awakened Deadly Ailments Support - Awakened Burning Damage Support

2) Arcanist Brand - Flammability - Flame Surge

3) Determination - Grace - Defiance Banner - Precision

4) Lightning Spire Trap - Combustion Support

5) Frenzy - Faster Attacks Support

6) Vaal Molten Shell

7) Flame Dash

8) Summon Lightning Golem


Skill Tree


Allrounder Build Guide in POE 3.20: Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist for League Startng


Explosive Arrow Setup
Explosive Arrow supported by Ballista Totem Support is our main damage dealer. We add Faster Attacks Support to apply fuses faster and Ignite Proliferation Support to improve clearspeed.
Once you have a fifth link, add Deadly Ailments Support and as a 6th link add Elemental Damage with Attacks Support.
Once you are at endgame and you have Divine Orbs to buy better gear, replace Deadly Ailments Support with the better Awakened Deadly Ailments Support and Elemental Damage with Attacks Support with Awakened Burning Damage Support.

Arcanist Brand Setup
Arcanist Brand triggers supported skills on enemies it is attached to.
One of the skills you trigger is Flame Surge, which applies a Burning Ground that deals damage to enemies standing on it.
The other skill is your main curse: Flammability, which reduces enemy Fire Resistances, which is especially important against Bosses and tanky rares.

Aura Setup
Your 3 main Auras are used to increase your defensive capabilities.
First, Determination grants you a huge amount of Armour, which reduces incoming Physical Damage significantly. On top of that, you use Grace which grants a chance to evade enemy attacks outright.

These Auras are supplemented by Defiance Banner which increases both Armour and Evasion further. Don't think too much about putting your banner down, it's mostly there for the passive bonus it gives.

On top of the defensive Auras, you also have Precision, which increases your Accuracy substantially. This solves one of your weaknesses, since you are a Bow Build starting in the Witch area.

The amount of Reservation Precision takes depends on its level, so always check if you can support leveling it up before!

Combustion Trigger
Lightning Spire Traps only purpose is hitting enemies to apply the Combustion Support debuff. Because of Ancestral Bond, you don't deal damage yourself, therefore you are unable to Ignite an enemy and apply Combustion Support. To circumvent that, use a Trap because it still deals damage.

Movement Skill
Use Flame Dash as your main Movement Skill. No Support Gems are needed.

Frenzy
Whenever you hit an enemy with Frenzy, you gain a Frenzy Charge, which gives you more Damage and increased Attack Speed. To refresh them during boss fights you need to land an attack periodically. Faster Attacks Support is only there to make the skill feel smoother.

Vaal Molten Shell
Molten Shell gives you a defensive shield that can absorb enemy damage depending on how much Armour you have. Since Molten Shell has no cast-time, put it on your left-mouse button(move) to automatically activate it whenever the cooldown is up. Vaal Molten Shell is something you only press whenever you are in danger. It makes you almost invincible whenever it is active.

Lightning Golem
Summon Lightning Golem increases your Attack Speed slightly. It's not important for the build but it's better than nothing. If you are starved for sockets, this is the gem to cut first.

Summary
Explosive Arrow Ballista is an incredible Allrounder Build that can take you through everything Path of Exile has to offer.

You place Ballistas, which are small turrets that shoot and do damage for you, unleashing huge Ignites in the process.

This playstyle allows you to dodge enemy attacks and deal damage at the same time.

This build rewards players who care about small upgrades and attention to detail, since there are certain pitfalls you can succumb to. If you overcome those hurdles, you will have an incredibly strong build.

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