[3.1] Icy Siege Ballista

For those who care: I recorded myself wrecking Atziri. Find the video in the appropiate section. ;) The DPS on close range is crazy, just make sure you spread them just a little so they don't all die to Flameblast pizzas.

So I'm almost level 90 with this build. I've successfully 6-linked my bow and was able to acquire some better gear for clearing which greatly enhanced my DPS. All buffs considered, PoB tells me I have a total of ~900k DPS, so that's something. :P

New gear in spoilers:



With the gear (and especially the chest piece) having more Dexterity, I was able to swap out a couple dexterity jewels for abyssal ones with flat damage. Those really helped boost my output. I can comfortably clear T12-T14. Atziri is super easy as you can skip entire phases by bursting her down. Next thing I'll tackle is guardians and shaper before league ends.

Next league I'll build the same character, only as Scion to try it out with more jewel slots available.

Cheers!

EDIT: Just grinded through to level 90. I switched out 1 jewel for Watcher's Eye with Clarity (manaon skill use) and Haste (Onslaught on kill) mods which solved two problems at the same time. Currently looking into a replacement for the Writhing Jar as I don't see need for it anymore. Probably gonna switch it out for a Diamond Flask with curse removal. Regardless, 1 million DPS have been reached! Posted the updated skill tree on the original post.

Looking good

So.. content update 3.2 has arrived and a new league is upon us. I finished Abyss league with a level 92 Raider with some pretty GG gear actually, so I'll give my thought on how this build will fare in Bestiary and what has changed:

Deadeye:
- Deadeye now officially is faster than Raider thanks to the new Tailwind ascendancy option. Since we use skills all the time, be it to re-deploy Siege Ballistas or to move around with Blink Arrow, we'll get the full effect of +20% movement speed from Gathering Winds!
- If we choose to go Deadeye, go Gathering Winds > Far Shot > Powerful Precision > Fast and Deadly to maximize the mobility we get. This changes the way we play as we trade in the massive bonus that Point Blank gave us for an approach with safer distance
- We'll have to rely on Frenzy attack to generate charges again, lose 1 total Frenzy charge and get less elemental damage scaling
- Can make effective use of Queen of the Forest thanks to extra Evasion

Pathfinder:
- Still the master of potions; retain playstyle that ignores all elemental ailments thanks to Master Alchemist and can keep up flask effects more reliably, even during longer boss fights
- Extra elemental penetration for maximum DPS
- Ascendancy pathing: Nature's Boon > Master Alchemist > Veteran Bowyer > Nature's Adrenaline
- Overall the safest approach to the build

Raider:
- Unfortunately got nerfed a little; I do not recommend running a Raider in 3.2 if you're looking for the fastest runner. That title goes (hands down) to Deadeye, whom I'll test and play once I get my first character going well into the late game

Overall, the new league is looking good for us! The new item sets are intriguing and we'll have to see if they're a fit for this build. The passive skill tree should stay almost the same, and the uniques needed for the build are actually quite affordable. Once you hit ~600 dexterity, you can equip your Iron Commander and grind away! :)

Any chance you could do a skill tree map?? :D

I'll have one up in about 3 hours. :-) for all ascendancies!

Pathfinder level 70 tree: https://pastebin.com/xhZh7ZzT
Deadeye level 70 tree: https://pastebin.com/gctuR6c3
Raider level 70 tree: https://pastebin.com/mpbSxYLz

As told before, I prefer Pathfinder and Deadeye with the new changes to ascendancies in 3.2 (read above). As to how the build could be changed up a little, the new unique items introduced with the update are quite interesting.

I see following uniques possibly swapped into the build:

Garukhan's Flight: cheap boot option with 30% MS, lots of Dex to Life conversion (+100 with 1k dexterity) and immunity to elemental grounds. Not bad at all. Has no resistances, so we need to get these elsewhere if we want them.

Voidflechter: the new unique quiver that only drops from Uber Elder. Adds lots of burst DPS with the Void Shot ability that scales with our elemental damage (50% of phys to cold innate in the ability). Luxury item, but pretty cool!

Farrul's Bite: potential helmet replacemet. Aspect of the Cat is pretty neat, although we'd have to use it in combination with the chest piece so as to not lose out on one of our buff auras. The Aspect of the Cat mechanics are pretty nifty and add some great offense AND defense to the build. They're not easy to come by, though. I'd deem them luxury as well.

Others look tempting, but not promising, so I am not including them here. My usual advice goes as always: try to find a balance between defensive stats (health, dodge, ailments) and stacking dexterity and damage. I found my personal sweetspot with 1,000 dexterity. I tried pushing for more, but didn't like it. You could potentially go with just 800 dexterity and instead focus on a more defensive approach. This is up to your personal preferences when it comes to fleshing out the itemization. If you're keen to get a look at how my IronComwander character from Abyss league is faring in Standard, go take a look at my equipment on my profile page. :)

I'll update the main post as soon as I have a better idea of how bestiary plays out.

Hi,

I heard tailwind doesnt work with siege ballista , is there still a reason to go deadeye?

You'll still spam skills like Frenzy or Blink Arrow, so the movement speed bonus is still there. Right now, I'd recommend Pathfinder over the other two options as the damaging flasks and ability to ignore elemental ailments are a precious thing to have.

Flask setup as Pathfinder:

Wise Oak
Atziri's Promise
Diamond Flask (curse removal, duration)
Eternal Life Flask (bleed removal)
Quicksilver Flask (duration / reduced charges, extra MS)

Deadeye also needs Freeze immunity to not die to strongbox mods, so keep that in mind. The damage with Deadeye should be greatest though thanks to Farshot (+30% past 70ft distance). I think it is but a rumour that placing turrets doesn't add stacks to Tailwind as the ascendancy node says "any skill" to which totems also count. But I haven't created a Ranger in Bestiary yet or else I'd try it myself. :)

Voidfletcher doesn't work with ballistas, too sad. Using Frenzy to realease void shots isn't efficent.