[2.2] Phys Crit Iron Commander Siege Ballista || Atziri Down || Budget


This is a totem Ranger build that runs the Iron Commander unique bow in conjunction with stacking a large amount of dex and crit to summon forth a heavy hitting ballistic force of destruction. This build has taken down all of the competition with ease. Merc Izaro is pretty much a free kill and Atziri is on farm.

This build easily hits 800 dex (5 totems) and can even reach 1200 dex (7 totems) with the right gear investments. Though after many hours playing and testing 800dex, or 5 totems, seems to be the sweat spot. After that the investment just isn't there to justify more totems. Your points are better spent in damage or life.



To get rolling with this build you simply two items. First you need to have a couple of chaos on hand and purchase yourself an Iron Commander Bow with one of those chaos. Be sure to shop a bit as its very easy to get a high roll for maybe even less then a chaos. We definitely want 7.5% crit though, make sure your purchase has that. A 4 Link will easily carry you through beginning maps.

Your second required item is Rain of Splinters unique jewel. This is essentially your LMP for the build. It is a minor damage reduction compared to LMP and especially compared to GMP.

Mine is pretty meh, get as close to 30% as you can on the damage reduction.

Skill Tree and progression
Spoiler

The Final Tree (114 Points)


Progression
I didn't level as this version so the pathing may not be 100% ideal but it should give you a good balance of life and damage. Totemic Mastery can wait till late game as it really doesn't shine until atziri or higher tier maps



Tree used on Atziri level 78 (98 ponts)


Bandits
Spoiler

Normal: Oak - get that life

Cruel: Oak - The physical damage is better for us due to Ballista less attack speed mod

Merc: Krytain or Alira - This is debateable. I chose Alira for the power charge and though a lot of times i can easily keep max power charges there are occasions where they will drop and take a little effort to get back up. The Frenzy charge is a safe and guaranteed way to keep at full stacks.

Gearing
Spoiler

Bow:
As mentioned before an Iron Commander is a must. Again, 7.5% crit or bust.


Quiver:
Our quiver is a fairly cheap unique, Drillneck. This bow runs sub 10c for the most part. Corrupted/not corrupted it does not really matter. Just get yourself a decent roll. We want this bad boy for the damage gained proportional to pierce. Since Siege Ballista is 100% pierce we get 100% increased damage.


Helmets:
Next up, Our Helmets. Now depending on what variant you wish to run will depend on your helmet.
Abyssus provides a HUGE damage boost with a pretty hefty damage taken increase. Though we do sit in the back lines and really only physical projectiles are a worry. As far as damage goes, Abyssus + 5 totems is stronger then 6 totems but not as strong as 7.


Option 2 is Black Sun Crest. This option is if you are struggling to get that 800 dex or if you want to go the 1200 dex route just for fun. You really want 15% dex on this as well as a very high, ideally 15%, int. roll. The int roll is explained later.



Option 3: This is just a nice simple life, evasion, crit helm.


Option 4: Rats nest

Gloves

NOT REQUIRED. A fun option one can run instead of the unique helmets above. Currently I run these as well as a rare helm. If my gear gets a bit better I can drop the helm and run both a unique helm and these gloves.

Necklace:
Honestly people will argue a high dex rare is better but if you are hoping to hit the 1200 mark you want Astramentis. Also I prefer this over a rare necklace because it allows us to not have to put points into +30 str/int nodes to meet stat requirements.


Everything Else: (Chest, Rings, Belt, Boots, Gloves
This is simple. Dex, Life, Dual Resistance on everything else. Starting off 35+ dex is pretty much the min on each piece you want and ideally we want 45+ dex. Dont skimp on your life or resistances though just to get a few extra points of dex.



Jewels
Rain of Splinters
Sire of Stone (by totemic mastery)
Careful Planning (In ranger section)

Links:
Spoiler

Siege Ballista + PPAD + Faster Attacks + Pierce + Inc. Crit Strike + your choice. I will go with Crit Multi.

CWDT + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Enduring Cry

CWDT + Enfeeble + your choices (I like ball lightning and blind. Frost wall is good but it can get in your way sometimes)

Hatred + HoA + maybe a very very low clarity if you need.

Blink Arrow + Faster Attacks

Frenzy + GMP + Mana Leech + PCoC

Theory of the Build
Spoiler

Point Blank + Far Shot (Ascendancy)
Point Blank is a huge quality of life node. Majority of the time, 99/100, you will be dropping totems in the faces of your enemies. You almost always will be taking full advantage of the damage bonus here. Even with your knockback its completely worth it. I have ran with and without and I much rather use it. Far Shot helps mitigate some of the damage loss at high range, essentially only making it a -20% instead of a -50%.

Sharp and Venomous (Ascendancy):
We took Sharp and Venomous over like endless munitions and fast and dead because it is a huge bonus to where our damage really matters, bosses. As a physical base build we take full advantage of both the bleed and poison. With 5 to 7 totems shooting your target depending on the variant you will stack up some very nice poisons when you crit. Also we gain more crit and crit multi.

Why not endless munitions? Though it would clear our trash clearing we do not suffer here. We are already extremely proficient this area with 5 totems and especially with 6 or 7 totems. This to me feels like a noob trap for the build.


Powerful Precision (Ascendancy):
With 100% chance to pierce this gives 100% crit strike chance... money.

Totemic Zeal (Passive)

Totemic Zeal is a fantastic node to have. Because we can place so many totems this allows us to quickly drop them to start pumping out the damage faster. Also when facing bosses like Izaro or Atziri it is invaluable.

Totemic Mastery (Passive)
Totemic Mastery is a must IF you plan on going for Atziri. Atziri pumps out a lot of area damage that will quickly and easily decimate your totems. This gives them enough sustain when paired with Spire of Stone to survive a couple of hits and get some damage in letting the poison and bleed take effect.

Spire of Stone

This gives us some ok life for our totems but more importantly they cannot be stunned. Nothing is worse then watching your totems charge up then get slapped in the face and stunned meaning that totem is dealing 0 damage. Also this is a great help vs Atziri.

Rain of Splinters

Get this guy ASAP. This is your version of the Lesser Multiple Projectiles gem. This gives you two additional projectiles at the cost of very little damage when compared to LMP and GMP. Be sure to get one as close to 30% reduced damage as possible.

The 7 totem 1200 dex path
This path requires you to additionally stack Brawn jewels in conjunction with a 15% dex black sun crest to reach those high dex numbers. Also you will need some very well rolled rare dex gear. This wont be nearly as budget friendly.

5 Totem VS Black Sun Crest 6 to 7 Totems
Spoiler

5 totems >> 6 or 7 Totems. This is simply because the investment for 7 totems just is to great, especially on your passive tree. 800 dex is easily achieved without having to veer off for random dex nodes. This also lets you stack more flat damage and life.

Abyssus (softcore)
Abyssus is a very budget way to get high damage in softcore. Since the crit multiplier does not apply you can simply get a 40% damage taken abyssus with bad multiplier for very cheap. This is the highest damage way until you can reach get yourself another option, if you want one at all. I almost always just run abyssus if I am on SC. This is more then enough to carry you through higher end maps

7 Totem End Game (if you really want)
Black Sun Crest 7 totem set up. This is the end game of the build. With GG rares, Brawn Jewels, and enough points to invest in your passive tree this is the highest damage possible. 7 Totems dealing big crits... the Dream. Plan to drop some serious coin though.

Videos
Spoiler

Poorjoy's Asylum (char level 78) (with a ZiggyD in the background from twitch..oops)
https://youtu.be/5gFmg_TdFjc

Olmec's Sanctum
https://youtu.be/VhNFH4tPgos

Will upload Atziri once i get more midnights. Have some docks farming to do.
Last edited by Kartikdon on Mar 23, 2016, 5:46:59 PM
Last bumped on Jul 9, 2017, 4:21:20 AM
Sweet build!
I've been curious to how far this build can go ever since Iron Commander was introduced. I'll have to try it!
It can very very far on very little investment. I am farming atziri with this guy. I had a video of a run but for some reason it came out looking like a potato. As far as maps I have cleared T10 with 0 effort as well. Don't have anything higher yet.
Hi.

I was thining about making this build for some time. Any tips for leveling?
Last edited by akievans on Mar 13, 2016, 8:03:29 PM
This is pretty much how i started

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIAAJuNCC7tgxmOAF7Tfu967g78xaOKDY0j9vljW6-Hdk2SjX3jn0p99qMVICzphrMA7ipNPydKyG6qZIQGoPm9lcztP5S4exQbrX11_roUdRjbdPEppaTCIWBAoHrvBS0=

Don't take point blank until you kill izaro in normal and get far shot.

Other then that the beginning is primarily dex and life stacking. Start crit mid game. I found saving the frenzy charges until very late game was better.
Last edited by Kartikdon on Mar 13, 2016, 8:35:42 PM
updated some progression trees by request
Last edited by Krosha83 on Mar 14, 2016, 2:12:08 AM
Currently cruising through cruel with this build, I can't wait for 4-5 totems and adding abyssus to the mix! Cruel Izaro, I'm coming for you! >:D
Did you level with Siege or level with ele SA/LA (Storm Cloud) til 32 when you could use Iron Commander?
Gonna run this as my next build but I want my 1-32 to be as smooth as possible.

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