POEGuy's Shrapnel Ballista Hierophant Gear & flasks (Poe Secrets of the Atlas)

Summary – TL;DR

This build is very easy to set up because it uses many unique items. Relying on uniques allows you to put the build together faster and saves you a lot of hassle when it comes to character optimization.
Since this is an endgame build designed for difficult content, keep in mind that it’s not cheap. You should have a good amount of Divine Orbs (minimum 120) and a character above level 94 before starting this setup. I’m mentioning these two requirements to help players transition smoothly into the build without any issues.

If you need an in-depth explanation of the gear, click HERE

The setup should look something like this:

Item Slot	Item Name	Rarity	Notes
Head	Crown of Eyes	Unique
Amulet	Astramentis	Unique	We have several much more powerful amulet options available for min-maxing. Scroll down for details.
Chest	The Iron Fortress	Unique
Gloves	Maligaro's Virtuosity	Unique
Boots	Replica Alberon's Warpath	Unique
Belt	%Increased Strength Synthesised belt	Rare	Check the Crafting Guide to learn how to make and avoid overpaying!
Rings	2X %Increased Strength OR flat Strength Synthesised rings	Rare	Check the Crafting Guide to learn how to make and avoid overpaying!
Weapon	Replica Iron Commander	Unique
Quiver	Crafted Penetrating Arrow Quiver	Rare	Check the Crafting Guide to learn how to make and avoid overpaying!

We are a Strength stacker – don’t forget that. The more Strength you have, the more Damage you’ll deal and the tankier you’ll become. Most of our items revolve, in some way, around Strength.

Armour Pieces

Helmet

For the helmet, we use Crown of Eyes. The most important modifier is: “Increases and Reductions to Spell Damage also apply to Attacks at 150% of their value.” This converts all of our Spell Damage gained from the IRON WILL Keystone and the Large Cluster Jewel into Attack Damage at an increased value. It also provides a much-needed Accuracy modifier, so try to get one with a decent roll.

Body Armour

For the body armour, we use The Iron Fortress. This armour grants up to 120 flat Strength, a chance to block Attack Damage based on our Strength, and a solid Armour rating. The Iron Fortress also has synergy with our Crown of Eyes helmet, thanks to its final modifier:“Strength’s Damage Bonus instead grants 3% increased Melee Physical Damage per 10 Strength.” This modifier enhances the % Melee Physical Damage bonus we get from Strength. All of this bonus damage is then converted into Spell Damage by the IRON WILL keystone, which is further converted back into Attack Damage by Crown of Eyes through the modifier:“Increases and Reductions to Spell Damage also apply to Attacks at 150% of their value.” If you need a visual explanation of this interaction, click HERE

Gloves

For the gloves, we use Maligaro's Virtuosity. These gloves set your Critical Strike Multiplier to 300%, which provides a significant damage boost. Because of this modifier, we won’t invest in Critical Strike Multiplier on our items, skill tree, or gems (it would be wasted entirely). Once you equip these gloves, any additional Crit Multi becomes useless. They also provide some Dexterity, Attack Speed, and Critical Strike Chance.

Boots

For the boots, we use Replica Alberon's Warpath. These boots grant a significant amount of chaos damage based on our Strength and up to 18% Increased Strength. It might sound strange, but a large portion of our Damage comes from these boots! The more Strength you have, the more flat added Chaos Damage to Attacks you gain. They also provide 25% increased movement speed and some Chaos Resistance. It’s important to note that while wearing these boots, you can only deal Chaos Damage.

Weapon

For the bow, we use Replica Iron Commander. This is a vital piece for the build, mainly because of this line: “Shrapnel Ballista has +1 to Maximum Number of Summoned Totems per 200 Strength “. Simply put, the more Strength you have, the more Ballista totems you can summon. Be sure to keep an eye on your Strength at all times and aim for key totem breakpoints (1800 str, 2000 str, 2200 str). As you might have guessed, getting extra totems is a big deal!
Remember to use Blessed Orb on the implicit.

Quiver

For the quiver, we use a crafted Penetrating Arrow Quiver. We need this base to get an extra +1 Pierce effect. The ideal quiver would have the “Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow” modifier, high maximum Life, Strength, and some damage-related modifiers (such as Crit, Attack Speed, or added Chaos Damage), along with some Elemental Resistances. Just get the base, and you’ll craft the rest yourself (it’s very easy to craft!). You have an easy-to-follow crafting guide for the rings at the bottom of this page (scroll down to Section 8).

Jewellery

Amulet

For the amulet, we use Astramentis. This will solve all your attribute problems (no need to worry about Dexterity and Intelligence) and will also give you a big Strength boost. Make sure to buy one with good rolls, use a Blessed Orb on the implicit, apply 20x Intrinsic Catalyst, and anoint it.
For the anoint it is mandatory to use: Watchtowers (Indigo, Silver, Silver)

*Know that for min-maxing, you have multiple alternatives here. You can use: Eyes of the Greatwolf, a % Increased Strength Synthesised rare amulet, or a simplex amulet. However, these are typically much more expensive and harder to find than an Astramentis

Rings

For the rings, we use %Increased Strength Synthesised rare rings or flat Strength Synthesised rare rings. Just get the base, and you’ll craft the rest yourself (it’s very easy to craft!). You have an easy-to-follow crafting guide for the rings at the bottom of this page (scroll down to Section 8).

*If you have a very expensive ring, consider using a Kalandra's Touch to mirror it to your other ring slot.

Belt

For the belt, we use a %Increased Strength Synthesised rare belt. Just get the base, and you’ll craft the rest yourself (it’s very easy to craft!). You have an easy-to-follow crafting guide for the belt at the bottom of this page (scroll down to Section 8).

Jewels

To avoid mistakes, try to place the jewels exactly where the Skill Tree in Path of Building (PoB) indicates (Remember, you can find the PoB here).

1. Rain of Splinters (Grants us +2 Extra Projectiles)
2. The Light of Meaning with 4% Chaos Resistance ( this will solve our Chaos Resistance problems )
3. Watcher's Eye with 7% or 8% “chance to Evade Attack Hits while affected by Grace”. Other modifiers that you can look for: “+#% to Chaos Resistance while affected by Purity of Elements”, “+#% to all maximum Elemental Resistances while affected by Purity of Elements”
4. Emperor's Mastery (If it’s too expensive, you can temporarily use a rare jewel with % increased Life, flat Strength, and some Resistances)
5. Lethal Pride with a couple of 5% Strength Nodes / 20 to Strength nodes (If you don’t know how to buy one, I’ve made a mini guide HERE )
6. 2x Split Personality with +5 to Strength and +40 to Accuracy. (The Accuracy modifier on these jewels is very important, as it helps us cap our hit chance!)
7. Medium Cluster Jewel with the notable “Sleepless Sentries” (Gives us permanent Onslaught while mapping!) / Ideal jewel would have for the second passive: “Ancestral Reach” (lets us place the totems farther away from us) and be 4 passives
   
8. Medium Cluster Jewel with the notable “Aerodynamics” (Gives us +1 Pierce!) / Ideal jewel would have for the second passive: “Shrieking Bolts” and be 4 passives
   
9. Large Cluster Jewel with 12 Passive nodes. The Large Cluster Jewel base needs to say “Added Small Passive Skills grant: 10% increased Spell Damage”
   
   The jewel needs to have a high Strength roll paired with the % increased Effect modifier. In addition to these two mandatory mods, you can look for: All Attributes, Life, % increased Damage, % Elemental Resistances, % Chaos Resistance, etc.
10. [Optional] You can add an Inertia jewel once you hit level 100 (place it near the Elemental Equilibrium Keystone jewel socket). Know that you have this jewel listed in the Mageblood version of the PoB.

Flasks

For the Non- Mageblood version

Slot	Flask	Notes
1	Divine Life Flask	*You need to get one with the “Grants Immunity to Corrupted Blood..” modifier and Instant Recovery
2	Diamond Flask	Boosts our Critical Strike chance
3	Quartz Flask	Grants us Phasing and increases our Spell Suppression chance
4	Quicksilver Flask	Helps with Movement Speed
5	Sulphur Flask	Boosts our damage	(You can replace this with Bottled Faith, or, if you want even more defenses, you can use a Progenesis)

Suffixes and Prefixes on the flasks are very flexible. You can roll the flasks yourself using Orb of Alterations.
For the Suffixes look for: “”% Increased Armour During Effect, % Increased Critical Strike Chance During Effect, % Increased Evasion Rating During Effect, % Increased Movement Speed During Effect”
For the Prefixes look for: “%increased Duration”, “%Increased Charge Recovery”, “%Increased Maximum Charges”.

[REMINDER] Apply quality to your flasks! All flasks should have 20% quality. You apply quality using Glassblower's Bauble
Automate your flasks! All the Magic Utility Flasks should have the Enchant: “Used When Charges Reach Full”
You can get this enchant either by applying Instilling Orb or by using your Crafting Bench.

For the Mageblood version

Slot	Flask	Notes
1	Divine Life Flask	*You need to get one with the “Grants Immunity to Corrupted Blood..” modifier and Instant Recovery
2	Topaz Flask	Roll for 70% increased effect enchant (use Enkindling Orb)
3	Sapphire Flask	Roll for 70% increased effect enchant (use Enkindling Orb)
4	Quicksilver Flask	Roll for 70% increased effect enchant (use Enkindling Orb)
5	Quartz Flask	Roll for 70% increased effect enchant (use Enkindling Orb)

Suffixes and Prefixes on the flasks are fixed this time! You will buy them with these specific modifiers:
For the Suffixes, look for: “”% Increased Armour During Effect, % Increased Critical Strike Chance During Effect, % Increased Evasion Rating During Effect, % Additional Elemental Resistances During Effect”. It doesn’t matter which flask has each of these effects: what matters is that you have all four of these modifiers (and with good rolls also)
For the Prefixes, look for: “25% Increased Effect”

Crafting

You have an easy-to-follow video crafting guide for the rings, belt, and body armour HERE
In it, I not only show you how to buy your bases properly, but also how to craft them efficiently with minimal investment. (When it comes to rare items, new players tend to overpay significantly.)