POEGuy's Explosive Arrow Ballista Hierophant Build Guide (PoE Curse of the Allflame 3.29)

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my EA Ballista Hierophant build guide. This is not your typical Explosive Arrow Ballista setup! Unlike most builds that scale damage over time with Explosive Arrow, I focus on direct hit damage instead. It performs exceptionally well, especially on a Hierophant ascendancy.

My setup is incredibly tanky, dirt-cheap to put together, easy to get up and running, and offers excellent clear speed. It’s especially well suited for new Path of Exile 1 players and casual players alike. If I were to sum up this build in a few words, they would be: cheap, map blaster, lazy, and tanky.

Gameplay Showcase

Endgame and campaign gameplay showcases (see the build in action before you make it). In this video, I showcase the build on three different budgets:

*A video guide will be posted soon. Until then, stick with this written guide, as it contains everything you need to know.

Build Overview

In this section, I will outline the pros, cons, & general playstyle.

Pros

+ Very cheap to make
+ Fast T16 & T16.5 mapper (can do all in-atlas content)
+ Lazy play (ballistas target and kill enemies for you; this is a one-button build)
+ Doesn’t need mana management
+ Strong defenses

Cons

– Cannot farm pinnacle bosses on Uber Mode
– This build was not designed for T17 mapping

• If you’re new to Path of Exile 1, know that you don’t need to stress about farming Uber Mode Pinnacle bosses or running purple maps (T17). PoE1 is a complex game, and it will likely take you quite some time to reach that kind of content.

However, if you do decide to go for that type of farming, know that you can later transition from this EA Ballista Hierophant to my Shrapnel Ballista Hierophant, which is much more powerful featuring similar playstyle. The only major difference is the budget. This one is much cheaper than Shrapnel Ballista, so keep that in mind. You can find the full Shrapnel Ballista Hierophant build guide here.

Playstyle

I adapted this build for lazy play; all that you need to do is move around and place your ballistas.

Damage Scaling & Defensive Layers

We scale damage drastically by stacking + to Gem Levels and Attack Speed. In addition to that, look for modifiers such as %Increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills and % Increased Fire Damage.

In terms of defenses, this build has multiple defensive layers: 4 permanent Endurance Charges, Spell Suppression, up to 90% Physical Damage Reduction, a large life pool, strong life regeneration, and even high chance to evade attacks. This build is also very mobile and doesn’t require much map awareness or precise targeting.

PoB and Passive Skill Tree

You can find an optimized Path of Building (PoB) here

*Every build I release will use the community fork of Path of Building. You can find PoB’s Fork by LocalIdentity, here.
If you’re new to Path of Building, we have a guide available here.

Remember that inside, you have a league-start Skill Tree progression. Start with the one closest to your level and work your way up. The Skill Tree nodes need to be unlocked in the suggested order.

Passive Skill Tree, PoB & Gem Links

Gear Summary

For the league start scenario item progression, scroll to the bottom of this page.

The endgame setup should look something like this:

Item Slot	Item Name	Rarity	Notes
Head	Rare Helmet (budget) or Wilma's Requital (best)	Rare/Unique	Check the Gear Page for details
Amulet	Rare Amulet with +1 to Level of All Fire Skill Gems (budget) or Replica Dragonfang's Flight with +3 to Level of All Explosive Arrow Gem (best)	Rare/Unique
Chest	Rare Body Armour (budget) or Daresso's Defiance (best)	Rare/Unique	Check the Gear Page for details
Gloves	Rare Gloves (budget) or Breathstealer (best)	Rare/Unique	Check the Gear Page for details
Boots	Rare Boots	Rare	Check the Gear Page for details
Belt	Rare Belt or Replica Headhunter or Headhunter	Rare/Unique	Check the Gear Page for details
Rings	Rare Rings	Rare	Check the Gear Page for details
Weapon	Quill Rain	Unique	Try to get one with close to 100% projectile speed. If you buy a foulborn version, make sure it has the “100% attack speed”!
Quiver	Skirmish	Unique

Read the gear page for details on all these items!

Gear, Jewels & Flasks

Ascendancy, Bandits, and Pantheons

The Ascendancy, Bandit, and Pantheon Power page goes into detail about all the choices you need to make in these regards.

Ascendancy, Bandit & Pantheon Power Page

Common Mistakes

• Having Pierce effects! Pierce will drastically reduce your damage because the explosives can no longer stack on enemies. (The most common mistake is using a Penetrating Arrow Quiver base.)
• Not unlocking the labs. (The ascendancy points provide a lot of damage)
• Not taking the “Point Blank” & “Elemental Overload” Keystones
• Not taking the Fire Mastery that gives us 100% Increased Damage for free // Not taking the Bow Mastery that converts the Projectile Speed from Quill Rain into % increased damage.
• Taking a Foulborn Quill Rain without 100% Attack Speed or without Projectile Speed.
• Not using the right flasks / Not using the bow setup correctly (to summon the Golem, get Blood Rage and curse with Flammability).
• Not having elemental resistances capped during the mapping phase. Not reading the map modifiers in late-endgame maps.

Map Modifiers and Regex Filters

There are a few map modifiers that can be quite annoying to deal with, especially in a league-start scenario. We need to filter them out.

For Tier 16 Maps, you’ll want to use the following regex filter: CLICK ME

For Tier 16.5 Maps (also known as Originator Maps), you’ll want to use the following regex filter: CLICK ME

League-start leveling progression

Again, you can find an optimized Path of Building ( PoB ) for League Start progression here

*Every build I release will use the community fork of Path of Building. You can find PoB’s Fork by LocalIdentity through this link.

If you’re new to Path of Building, we have a guide available here.

If you’re completely new to Path of Exile 1 and know little about the game, I highly encourage you to check this out our Beginners Guide to Path of Exile.

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This is a great league starter – it can take you from nothing to T16 maps quickly with minimal currency investment.

During the campaign, we’ll go through two simple transition phases: Holy Flame Totem and the Explosive Arrow swap.

For the Campaign and Early Mapping: Do not stress too much regarding your initial items. I’ve adapted this starter to be as lazy & simple as possible!
For the most part, you will use generic items found on the ground, purchased from vendors, or acquired through trade (life, resistances, attack speed, elemental damage etc.). However, there are some specific item recommendations in each section below.

Acts 1 – 3 ( Skill Tree: Use Act 1 – 3 LEVELING [HF TOTEM] )

First Town: Buy Purifying Flame (Complete the quest “Breaking Some Eggs,” then go back to town).

Buy Holy Flame Totem. This will be your main skill until you reach Act 3 (Library), at which point you’ll transition to Explosive Arrow Ballista.

Main setup:
- Purifying Flame (Drop this skill gem once you get the “Ancestral Bond” keystone. Refer to the “Tree” and “Skills” sections in the PoB).
- Holy Flame Totem + Combustion Support + Infused Channelling Support
- Flame Wall (When projectiles pass through these walls, they gain added fire damage. You can summon up to 3 walls at a time!)

Utility:
- Frostblink
- Flammability (Curse enemies with Flammability to deal more damage.)

Auras:
- Clarity
- Herald of Ash

TIPS:
It’s okay to have low-quality items in the early Acts!
In Acts I–III, items with multiple links and sockets are more valuable than raw stats.
You will want to use two sceptres or two wands. We will not use a shield in this phase.
When picking up gear in Acts I–III, look for stats that boost your damage, such as:
- % increased spell damage
- % increased fire damage
- +# to Level of all Fire Skill Gems
- Adds # to # Fire Damage to Spells

*You can gamble for weapon upgrades with the gold that you find. Each town has a vendor that gives you an option to gamble.

Acts 3 – 10 + Early mapping (white and yellow maps) ( Skill Tree: Use Act 3 – 10 LEVELING [EA BALLISTA] )

Once you reach the Library in Act 3, you should buy this setup for the next Acts and early mapping.
*You will need to level up your gems after you buy them. For that -> Go to “The Docks” (area in act III) and kill some monsters there.
You will continue with the campagn once Explosive Arrow reaches level 2

Main Setup:

- Explosive Arrow
- Ballista Totem Support
- Elemental Damage with Attacks Support
- Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support [Read!] In Patch 3.28 Mirage League, this gem has been renamed into: multiple-projectiles support! (same cost, same effect; just a different name)

• If you get your hands on a 5-link and decide to push red maps with EA Ballista, feel free to add Inspiration Support or Combustion Support.

Utility:

- Frostblink
- Steelskin + Automation
- Flammability (Curse enemies with Flammability to deal more damage.)
- Frenzy + Manaforged Arrows Support / Later, when you have more sockets you will want to add Mirage Archer Support + Culling Strike Support

Auras:

- Clarity
- Precision ([IMPORTANT!]After completing the campaign, swap Precision for Purity of Elements!)

TIPS:
Check vendors for a 4-link item with 2 green and 2 red sockets. If you can’t find one, go to a trade website and buy an item with these links (should be cheap).

Avoid using a Penetrating Arrow Quiver since it grants pierce. This quiver is a very common drop during the campaign. You don’t want any pierce effects!

Complete all three Labyrinths before mapping:

• First Lab — Do it somewhere in the middle of Act 4 (allocate Pursuit of Faith)
• Second Lab — Do it somewhere in the middle of Act Act 8 (allocate Ritual of Awakening)
• Third Lab — Before killing Kitava in Act 10 (allocate Convocation of Power)

For rare items (during the Explosive Arrow Ballista phase), look for:

Attack Speed, Increased Elemental Damage with Attacks, Increased Fire Damage

The last thing that you need to know for this phase is that the best-in-slot weapon you can use is this unique bow: Quill Rain.

Make sure to take the mastery that converts % Projectile Speed into % increased Damage once you reach it. This cheap bow alone will carry you on easy mode to yellow maps / early red maps. This is a pretty common unique bow!

Another great unique item you can use during the Explosive Arrow Ballista phase is the Skirmish quiver. It grants you one additional totem and helps with Intelligence, mana regeneration, and accuracy. Plus, it’s a very cheap quiver!

Also Daresso's Defiance can help (4-link; link it yourself is cheap!)
It grants us permanent Onslaught with no downside, since the Hierophant maintains 4 permanent Endurance Charges at all times.
It also increases the effect of Onslaught by 100%, giving us 40% increased attack speed and movement speed.
On top of that, it provides high Armour and Evasion, as well as a decent amount of Life.

Swap to the main build setup in the late red maps. This written build guide contains everything you need! (Don’t forget that there’s a navigation panel at the top of the page.)

Good luck! I hope that this will become your best starter in Path Of Exile 1. It’s fun, cheap, and highly effective for completing your Atlas Bonus Objectives and farming your initial currency!