PoE Builds 3.20: Explosive Arrow with Ballista Elementalist

The Explosive Arrow Ballista Elementalist represents one of the most reliable league-start builds in Forbidden Sanctum 3.20, specializing in devastating ignite damage through strategic totem placement. This setup transforms your Exile into a tactical artillery commander who deploys explosive turrets while maintaining safe distance from combat threats.

Success with this build demands understanding the delayed damage mechanics and proper totem positioning rather than traditional combat engagement.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Explosive Arrow Build

Build Difficulty – Moderate Learning Curve for Beginners

Investment Budget – Exceptionally budget-friendly with smooth scaling

Map Clear Speed – Consistent but Methodical Pace

Boss Battles – Exceptional Single-Target Performance

Defensive Potential – Above Average with Proper Positioning

The delayed damage nature of explosive arrow fuses requires strategic foresight in totem placement, making positioning more critical than reaction time. New players should practice pre-placing totems around corners and in choke points to maximize effectiveness.

Mastering the skill interactions forms the foundation of this build’s exceptional performance across all game content.

Explosive Arrow

This skill serves as your primary damage source, requiring mandatory support from Ballista Totem Support to achieve optimal performance. The mechanics involve applying explosive fuses that detonate either after a fixed duration or when reaching maximum stacks, creating massive ignite damage that scales with attack speed and fuse count.

Frenzy

Utilize this ranged attack to generate Frenzy Charges, providing substantial damage and attack speed bonuses that significantly impact your damage output and fuse application rate.

Auras

We maintain four essential auras to create robust defensive layers while supporting our damage output.

Determination – Provides substantial armor bonus to mitigate physical damage, crucial for surviving end-game boss mechanics and map modifiers.

Grace – Core evasion rating gem that synergizes with other defensive layers.

Defiance Banner – Further amplifies armor and evasion values while reducing enemy critical strike chance significantly.

Precision – Boosts accuracy rating and critical strike chance, though the build primarily focuses on ignite damage rather than critical strikes.

Brand

Essential for maximizing single target damage against bosses and tough rare enemies. When attached to an enemy, it periodically triggers linked skills like Flammability and Flame Surge to apply debuffs and additional burning effects automatically.

Molten Shell

This defensive skill creates a protective barrier that scales with your armor rating. With no cooldown restrictions, you can link it to your movement skill for automatic activation during combat situations.

Flame Dash

Primary movement skill offering instant repositioning capabilities crucial for avoiding deadly mechanics while maintaining totem uptime.

The Elementalist ascendancy path provides unparalleled synergy with ignite-based builds, transforming your damage output while offering substantial defensive benefits.

Shaper of Flames – This cornerstone notable converts all damage to fire for ignites and guarantees ignite on every hit, eliminating the need for chance to ignite modifiers on gear.

Mastermind of Discord – Significantly reduces enemy elemental resistance, dramatically amplifying your ignite damage against all targets regardless of their base resistances.

Heart of Destruction – Provides substantial area of effect bonuses that improve clear speed while maintaining single-target damage potential.

Bastion of Elements – Offers exceptional elemental damage resistance through elemental aegis, creating a crucial defensive layer against spell damage and elemental ailments.

The Elementalist’s inherent shock and chill application further enhances damage output and defensive control without requiring additional investment.

Understanding the gear upgrade path is essential for maximizing your build’s potential while managing resources efficiently throughout your progression.

Early Game

Focus on leveling your core skill gems while acquiring gear with matching socket colors to support your primary links.

Weapon – Storm Cloud: Provides substantial elemental damage and attack speed bonuses while completely removing physical damage components that don’t benefit your ignite damage.

Off Hand – Two-Point Arrow Quiver: Enhances accuracy, increases maximum totem count, and provides life leech sustainability.

Helm – Nightmare Bascinet: Offers excellent armor and maximum life bonuses, remaining viable through mid and end-game content.

Armor – Tabula Rasa: Essential six-link body armor for early gem leveling and skill support optimization.

Gauntlet – Dragon Scale Gauntlets: Provides maximum life, elemental resistances, and damage bonuses during life leech situations.

Belt – Heavy Belt: Strength attribute and maximum life enhancements, maintaining relevance through mid-game progression.

Rings: Focus on maximum life and elemental resistance modifiers, remaining consistent throughout your character development.

Boots – Dragon Scale Boots: Movement speed improvements alongside standard defensive attributes, with elemental resistance preferences for optimal survivability.

Flasks: Maintain your flask setup including Divine Life Flask of Allaying, Effervescent Eternal Life Flask of Insulation, and various utility flasks for speed and defense enhancements.

Mid Game

Transition your gear to handle Red Maps and challenging end-game content by prioritizing spell suppression and optimal mod combinations.

Weapon – Bow with Shrieking Essence of the Dread: Enhances fire damage multiplier over time for superior ignite scaling.

Off Hand – Decent 2 Point Arrow Quiver: Provides increased attack speed alongside other beneficial attributes for damage optimization.

Armor – Triumphant Lamellar: Amplifies Determination and other aura effects while providing maximum life and additional defensive properties.

Rings – Vermillion Rings: Enhances lightning damage though the build primarily focuses on fire damage through ignites.

End Game

Implement expensive upgrades to transform your character into an end-game powerhouse capable of tackling the most challenging content available.

Rings – Added Polaric Devastation Opal Ring: Significantly boosts elemental damage and improves chances to freeze or ignite enemies, creating additional crowd control and damage opportunities.

Belt – Heavy Belt: Enhances life leech from frozen enemies, creating excellent synergy with Polaric Devastation ring effects.

This versatile build enables you to tackle nearly all game content effectively, particularly excelling in atlas map progression and boss elimination content.

Early Game – Alchemy-and-Go mapping, Chaos Recipe farming, and Endless Heist content for consistent currency generation.

Mid Game – Incorporate Expedition and Blight mechanics while phasing out Endless Heist content as your character power increases.

End Game – Add Eldritch Altars to your farming rotation from content you’ve been tackling since the mid-game progression phase.

The build’s exceptional single-target damage makes it ideal for boss rushing strategies and targeted farming of specific end-game content for maximum efficiency and reward potential.

The Explosive Arrow Ballista combination represents an outstanding build choice for enhancing your mapping efficiency while providing exceptional boss-killing capabilities. This well-rounded setup performs admirably across all content types with minimal investment requirements.

The core damage delivery mechanism relies entirely on ignite proliferation from your totem-placed explosive arrows. The attack speed of your totems directly influences how quickly fuses detonate, creating massive area damage through strategic positioning and timing.

While your Ballista totems handle damage application, you maintain tactical mobility to optimize turret placement while avoiding dangerous enemy attacks and mechanics.

Players who enjoy meticulous optimization will find this build exceptionally rewarding, offering clear upgrade paths and significant power spikes with each investment milestone achieved.

Common mistakes include improper totem placement density, insufficient attack speed investment, and neglecting the delayed damage timing that requires preemptive placement before engaging enemies directly.

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