Explosive Arrow vs Toxic Rain, Which Ballista is Better in 3.21? | Path of Exile, Crucible

Some comparisons between Toxic Rain Ballista Pathfinder and Explosive Arrow Ballista. Which build fits you better for 3.21 Crucible?
#PathofExile #PoE #Crucible
TR Ballista Pathfinder Build Guide: • Toxic Rain Ballista Pa...
EA Ballista 3.21 Revamp: • EA Ballista Elementali...
0:00 Maybe Don't Play Ballistas IF
3:15 Reasons To Play Ballistas
4:17 CA Ballistas Update?
5:25 Explosive Arrow Pros
6:37 Toxic Rain Pros
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[@xShinitai]

Content Machine

[@rhye_guy7717]

For me, the biggest upside is the wrist saving/less clicky factor as you mentioned. My old ass was starting to have rsi issues a couple years ago so had to start being more mindful of the builds I play. Do not underestimate how much more you click at launch as I learned, as long as I play a click friendly starter I'm good for the rest of league.

[@crimelord90]

Hi, I play RF for this very reason every league

[@SiLVearDre]

​@@crimelord90 I agree to this. Sanctum I played TR and realized I'm not comfortable will so many clicking anymore. RF is the way. Tanky and can kill mobs. 😁

[@Magitek_Armor]

I've never played a click-intensive build, but with automated flasks, I think I'll just bind my character move to one key and the Toxic Rain to another key, and my healing potion right mouse click.

[@davidgreenberg8456]

I don't want to live in a world where an Alteration Orb drops and I don't pick it up

[@apextheentertainer]

Wanting to stop by and give huge props on the way you lay out your build on paper. In six years of POE I've never followed a build so smoothly. Thanks for what you do!

[@AznXtreme]

You are amazing @palsteron . This is the exact debate I’m having with myself

[@logue115]

Thank you! EA Ballista is a extremely smooth build, I enjoy it very much. But I've played it for two seasons, it's time for some new build, Toxic Rain Ballista is my choice for this season.

[@powuhh]

I played EA Ballista my first time in Sanctum and progressed the most I ever have in this game. So fun I might do it again and do Toxic rain next league

[@joelallonen5501]

exact same for me mate !

[@daedalus6433]

@@powuhh I did EA Ballista in 3.19 and did all pinnacle bosses for the first time.

[@metropolis10]

This video was definitely "Angry Papa Palsteron".

[@oLaudix]

I mainly play totems, balista and minions builds for the sole fact that when i played anything that had to stop to cast i would always stop at the worst possible moment and get obliterated. I would rather play with a build that has half the damage but allows me to always be in motion.

[@RartherTallWhiteMan]

This was a great video. The damage up time was something very interesting, as on boss fights when you need to move around a lot those ballista totem is still hitting. I was planning to go toxic rain pathfinder, but the ballista version might be something to look at. Using frenzy with mana forged to auto get frenzy charges when you place totems does seem like an interesting tech. In POB it shows my totems have 2.5k hp and max ele res this still seems really low defense to me or is this normal ?

[@nell3n]

I was having a very hard time deciding between TR ballistas or Subtractem's fire trap build. Ultimately I think I have decided to go TR. As long as I can get all 4 voidstones under 5 divines, I will consider it a success. Thanks for all of your work over the past couple of weeks. Can't wait til Friday!

[@Zack-dv6rz]

The fact you can clear endgame with a quill rain is insane.

[@fhaley494]

These are the two builds I'm stuck between as well. My goal is to kill ubers. Subtractems build can get there and I'm not sure TR will be able to

[@bdakganas]

Same for me, but I ended up deciding on fire trap, mainly because I never played that before

[@cedric_v]

Same here haha. Friday deciding it will be ! :D

[@gaben7431]

@@Zack-dv6rz the fact that this is a fact is insane indeed

[@Burns_93]

Please make a video on loot filters like you talked about in this video. I would love if you made a loot filter for this build as well.

[@KatzIzzbored]

I followed your league start to have an incredible sanctum league with EA, and the title of this video feels like you read my mind

[@nordvirus6671]

Ballistae builds remind me of ballista demon hunter build with matching set from d3, thats why i love it

[@Zylinnder]

Pls make a Video like this every League, always wonder whats the best Ballista/Totem starter is :D

[@hereisdamm]

I played an artillery ballista with Wilma's and loved the build. For sure going for another Wilma's build.

[@simonlandenstad9719]

Was thinking myself of doing artillery ballista raider or something like that. Do you have a pob for your build?

[@Beverice]

@@simonlandenstad9719 Grimro will probably put out a guide for this in the next 24 hours

[@Ceen328]

At first, I was against TR, as I played it quite alot, but I always loved a PF starter for perma flask uptime. That is such a huge bonus in the early days. Now you have to go the life flask route, but the result is kinda the same. Tons of regen with perma flask. Gear seems to be easy to obtain, tho I think Lightning Coil might cost some coins. Wilma's is not mandatory, but a nice first chase item, if it cost significantly more then last league.

[@aezyn8645]

at which content does tr ballista excell at? I was planning on doing beyond and metamorph this league start (felt really good with my bosskiller last league), is tr ballista good for that type of content?

[@heAMnify]

i originally was set on TR ballista league start, but got side tracked into impale shrapnel ballista champion, banking on the return proj on vengeant cascade to be stronk.

[@Dragon211]

Whatever is the most fun for you 😊

[@tronax22]

Remember why are we even playing leagues instead of standard? Because we wish to experience new content. Which build is better to handle that task personally for you? It should be a really simple question for most people. Actually, I got to mention something else - both ea and tr ballista builds are going to be exceptional in terms of trying out the new league content early on. Both builds can do maps with a trash short bow from act 1, which allows you to comfortably level multiple weapon trees during campaign, to test the waters. Not many other builds will grant that luxury. That's my reason for choosing TR ballista in the first place. For the exact same reason, I consider quill rain a no-go for late game and will look to swap for +3 or change into a different build asap - because unique weapons are likely to present significant difficulties in new league content exploration.

[@stephenknox2346]

Also they have said crucible takes ilvl into account, so the trees available on quill rain are likely to be limited.

[@Evilution382]

@@stephenknox2346 What's stopping you from getting a high iLvL quill?

[@kurosakii89]

Hi, do you know if EK ignite is good starter or is it bait by creators, I have never played that build so, would take any tip / advice on this.

[@redfish337]

Considering the changes made, I think I'm going to try a right side EA build.

[@meeshuu_watch8063]

what would be better for content like expedition/harvest? Cuz even after a vid can't rly decide, i wont fight bosses that much only the expedition ones and sometimes unique/rare mob from harvest + if i end map quicker the faster i get my money (need to survive blue altar for this strat, dunno if these build are ok with that)

[@Milkybk_]

See ya next time

[@mrcardtrick01]

TR balista into Tornado shot sounds really nice imo

[@caseyrybak]

Is it worth farming ancient orbs to get Wilma's? I'm about to play on a SSF-like league and it might be very hard to get it by trade. Or would be better to spend points on Expedition?

[@DanieboyTV]

Will the EA Elementalist guide on Maxroll be updated before league?

[@Almog92]

@Palsteron ive played TR Ballista , the DPS was only ok , very good on mapping had problems on single. but the 2 things was low Defensive layers and second was 2 many buttuns to press. im not sure if its a good for me ;/ :(

[@splitter696]

Well, if you already have played it and you know the problems it has, it is not for you.

[@m.k.6840]

just happy with saving my wrist. :)

[@stevechampagne7998]

Is there an easy way to adjust the loot filter or do you gradually just adjust it to be more and more strict as time goes?

[@arplee4823]

Rhox he has one on his RF wiki but it's for RF doesn't show a lot of things like bows and fully linked qaud green items. On filter blade you can change what drops based on area level but don't know much more than that.

[@Evilution382]

Filterblade has filters with varying strictness, even the stock filters are decent enough to use but you can modify them to suit your needs

[@redfish337]

It's not really the life, it's "15% additional physical damage reduction" Life of course helps though. Just imagine if these nodes were for a character... 15% life and 15% additional physical damage reduction. It's hard to explain properly, but you can also spend another point and take both sides, skipping out on 10% life / 10% placement speed which I think is the weakest on the wheel.

[@Palsteron]

fair

[@mclovin4974]

which part are you talking about? sry i'm confused

[@redfish337]

@@mclovin4974 1:53

[@redfish337]

Does anyone know how " increased Attack Speed per Enemy in Close Range" works with totems?

[@CorruptLogick]

Why go for Caustic Arrow poison when Tornado shot have almost twice as much added damage effectivenes, scales better with extra projectiles and have better coverage while clearing?

[@paweziemba969]

@Palsteron new season , new questions... does proectile dmg and speed affect ea in any matter?

[@redfish337]

Projectile damage doesn't affect the ignite damage, so it's usually of extremely minor help and should be avoided over basically everything that isn't outright negative. BTW, generic bow damage also doesn't help, which is why a lot of the bow nodes say stuff like "increased damage with bows" and "increased damage over time with bow skills" as separate lines. Projectile speed is a minor help. It's about a "B-" in terms of mod strength. You probably don't want to spend a mod slot on it for your optimal gear, but it's generally welcome enough if it rolls a good%.

[@patrickrooney3736]

I wanna start toxic and eventually switch to TS. TS is fun with ballistas also. I d like to see a video swapping to TS.

[@Lokai_v2]

Completely different build

[@Ashtarte3D]

Ever since I first ran EA ballista several leagues ago it has become my go-to league starter. Tempted to try TR since I love that skill but with the nerf to Chaos Masteries I'm gonna give it a pass for now.

[@desolater543]

biggest thing for wrist pain for me was getting as high of dpi on my mouse that i could it just moves the pain to your fingers but no where near as fast.

[@Esm_Psevdonimov]

Which is better - Wilma or a rare helmet with useful bonuses and the right enchantment?

[@jordanlobo4680]

In my humble opinion, they're both Palsteron certified ballista builds so they're both amazing! Can't go wrong with either :D

[@jasonrowland2903]

Tried deadeye barrage ele hit ballistas just rush the ele equilibrium and zoom zoom

[@Fe6b0lA]

Does this also apply if I am playing the elementalist build? (EA Balista Elementalist)

[@Googeldybunkz]

I'm going toxic rain cuz i like it more, and i already decided to do pathfinder, maybe like a month into the league I'll switch to something more boss killy.

[@Ps3OL]

I was considering running the new breach mechanic for early currency generation but after watching this video it says that it is not the best and doing the content. What would be a good early game money making start for TR?

[@masterslayerable]

Any league mechanic that isnt breach or legion honestly. Expedition is always good

[@Ps3OL]

@@masterslayerable I did way too much expedition last league. While it was great, I wanted to try something else. In my mind TR would be good to clear breach as it has good AOE and ballistas provide a lot of uptime and that will give me time to open all the hands spawning. There is also a 30% slower node that I thought of taking if I am trouble learning it. Let me know your thoughts.

[@asapBreeZy]

Is the TR ballista PF build something that can be played easily on console?

[@VyssAlare]

Is there a way to get the life flask to be automatic or are we having to go back to clicking it every few seconds. That's a QoL improvement that's really hard to give up.

[@barongundone]

If you wanna play on ballistas/totems, you have to use flasks anyway since there's no leech for you (totems leech for themselves)

[@KatzIzzbored]

Regarding Ballistas dying, is there really an issue with them being squishy? I think I played reds without ironwood or a res jewel but I had an ancestral echo/sleepless sentries cluster and the damage taken from totem mastery so I didn't mind just popping 1 down every second or two even if they were dying.

[@redfish337]

It doesn't matter until it matters. For clear, the refresh rate should be about 1 totem per second for the sake of taunt. For high end bosses, it's more about the actual positioning since they are immune to the target redirect effect of taunt. If whatever content you are doing can maintain the refresh rate, it's fine. But it's kinda like mana or life sustain, etc. When it works, it works. Once it starts getting overwhelmed it just snowballs into a disaster. If you play content that CAN kill your totems, they'll just be dying all the damned time and it'll feel horrible to play.

[@weebxd69]

Is the final pob for toxic rain updated?

[@davep5788]

Capped at 100 divines - ok, so never going to be an issue for me.😁

[@Ryuuz]

What would you say about champion EA Ballista vs. Witch EA Ballista regarding defenses and damage output? Isn't Champion EA Ballista combining all pros from EA Ballista with very good defenses from Toxic Rain Ballista ?

[@tobiaslarsen2302]

I‘ve played it. It‘s really tanky but on the other hand less damage. For pinnacle it was enough damage

[@lespretend]

@@tobiaslarsen2302 hey I've never bossed or gone above tier 12 maps (atlas is new to me as I haven't played in a few years) so would you say ea ballista champ should be my go-to then? I want to try and get some bosses (not ubers) and the league challenges done

[@tobiaslarsen2302]

@@lespretend For normal bosses its really ok. You need a 6 link and a 3 skill bow. Then pinnacle bosses , Maven its really ok.

[@stranam81]

Crucible trees have chance at getting vendor for unique version of weapon. I think Quill Rain is the only short bow unique. I might be worth cooking all your short bows in Crucible to see what tree you get.

[@Evilution382]

Quill Rain is indeed the only short bow unique, nice catch!

[@Ilyak1986]

Palsteron, allow me to weigh in on Wilma's--I believe it was in 3.18 (or was it last league in 3.20),but: Dyadian Dawn might be a good comparison. I remember selling Dyadian Dawn belts for like 70c a couple of times into a new league because of EA Ballista builds. Wilma's might be *very* pricey for such a "common" unique. Also, the whole aspect of "feeling like a support" and feeling like I'm some sort of filthy totems player is definitely what has me thinking self-cast TR over ballista TR--because I just want so little to do with summoning these stationary minions and running around like a doofus unable to do damage. If I have a badass bow build, *I* want to be the person that guns down the enemy. That said, I think Pathfinder can have a pretty clean transition into a self-cast (or simply supplemented by Watchtowers) Voltaxic Tornado shot build or whatnot. Only issue is that with being a chaos attack build, her BIS weapons are unique bows, which is kind of rough for this league's mechanic.

[@MrSkill_420]

What about EA PF with crucible All damage can poison?

[@wilsonwallace8755]

I’m practicing my EA champ right now…. Shattering steel… 0 respec points needed To be fair it barely made it thru library comfortably, with a decent double axe drop, but very doable.

[@Brui05]

Will enduring life flasks reset duration when you press it again like enduring mana flasks?

[@Palsteron]

It should, I think "not queuing" just means that it doesn't stack the duration

[@SyntheticaYT]

I just tested "flask effect does not queue" on standard on a mana flask ,you are able to reset the duration, so it should work same for life flask with PF.

[@BL-kz2zi]

like a support (X like a boss (O

[@minttrald.7845]

TR Ballista Pathfinder , Can you clear boss logbook 83 smoothly?

[@alex7435]

TR ballista is good for expedition, yes. Very few remnants that will brick your build (I think chaos immune is the only one), the ballistas will shoot while you dodge which is handy for all bosses but uhtred particularly. I would say with 5-10 div investment you should comfortably do 83 boss logbooks, as long as you don't overcharge the boss with remnants so much that it oneshots you even through petrified blood.

[@minttrald.7845]

@@alex7435 Tks U Alex. when league starts, I just hope this build can Farm Expedition and Blight map with 1 2div.

[@alex7435]

@@minttrald.7845 you can easily do blights with this build, you can basically afk blight maps as long as you got the right tower setup.

[@minttrald.7845]

@@alex7435 tks Alex.

[@voidroad]

I would heavily disagree that EA is decent at breach when you're at your highest map tier you can run the ballistas all target another mob when they come from 360° and your damage becomes arse vs rares because you get like 4 fuse pops all over

[@alex7435]

I think he was more saying that it's better than toxic rain, which is true, toxic rain is absolutely awful for breach and legion. If you want to run breach/legion early you probably shouldn't go a ballista build at all.

[@slash219]

After talking about loot filters as your first point, but You don't share the filter :(

[@Weitop]

3.22, ballistas still strong right?

[@951001ify]

The benefit of having huge a$$ dpi and restricted space for mouse: I barely move my wrist to use the mouse so TR is fine for me + after League of Legends TR "click heaviness" is almost 0 lmao

[@skrecu2]

This is another time when i deciced to play EA balistas Problem is this build need one crucial item to be efficient, rain of splinters (at least 3 div) Without it play is torment on red maps+ Build was silent nerf in recent patch, since balistas dying upon character death, this is annoying in endgame ubertrials etc

[@bertmollar]

Do you find the new master surgeon underwhelming? I've only found it marginally useful and situational.

[@TheRewyn]

Atlas Tree Strategy when?

[@rotony1]

I really like your Explosive arrow ballista build on Maxroll but please put a loot filter, at least a begging one, the backtracking is very time consuming.

[@Joshukend]

How about Siege Ballistas?

[@tobiaslarsen2302]

Any tips to find Willmas in SSF?

[@Palsteron]

It's currently only global and since it's new it has no div-card yet unfortunately!

[@tobiaslarsen2302]

@@Palsteron Now I have one. The solution was to buy a random solaris circle at Gwennen and then I farmed tainted mystic orb. Of course its work but just a question of time

[@Palsteron]

@@tobiaslarsen2302 Out of curiosity, how many did it take?

[@tobiaslarsen2302]

@@Palsteron just one. And some tainted fusings, jeweler and chromes of course. But the first mystic that I found was a hit

[@markusmeier8520]

I think one of the things one shouldnt estimate (in trade) is going to be the prices of stuff. TR will be a very popular buildthis time around. Palsteon did aguide on it and it was the first guide Ziz put out this league. This WILL be the most popular starter this league. That means that stuff like Wilmas, Quill Rain (esp. since ppl will be forging them) and general items for the build will be expensive in the beginning.

[@Ceen328]

IMHO ALWAYS path left side in the Panopticon cluster. Dead totem can't deeps.

[@akkathor]

Both builds are good imo! Also TR caping at 20-30M it's already insane for any BOSS, no big deal.

[@emprrsfloret8693]

For ordinary bosses and Pinnacle bosses - it's bearable, but for Uber it's too little, because these 20-30 million will turn into 5-10. Farming will be incredibly slow and inefficient. And the problem is that this is the only way to farm currency by killing bosses, because the builds that farm them normally are few and expensive / very specialized.

[@patrikschweigl8479]

I have a question: Toxic Rain's overlap Damage does cap at the max Arrow count. Imho you achieve this overlap pretty easy, I think that the amount of attack speed and anchestral bond may be a bit overkill. Or am I wrong? Can someone explain this to me?

[@Brui05]

What is the cap?

[@patrikschweigl8479]

@@Brui05 it caps out at max projectiles. So if your Toxic Rain fires 5 Projectiles, your max Pod overlap is 5. Every additional "Arrow" increases that threshold. So imho the insane attack speed and anchestral bond is probably overkill. (though very nice Quality of Life)

[@macsdf1]

i never had issues with my totems dying when I played EA totem. never took those resist or hp nodes for totem

[@SyntheticaYT]

I absolutely did but I also took the node that made your totem taunt for you. Doing that got me to level 99! If you don't have the totems taunt they may not die as much, but you probably will instead

[@macsdf1]

@@SyntheticaYT i had the totem taunt too, the totems are surprisingly really tanky.

[@SyntheticaYT]

@@macsdf1 cool

[@csarlopez]

i am a super noob so idk what to do, i guess i will play toxic rain bc i already played EA last season lol

[@Loricon]

ok guys just don't play TR totem cuz my wilma is gonna be expensive.

[@semma19]

Ballistas nerfed with the totems dying when you die. Bosses will be hard for people bad at boss mechanics

[@g.waits4gainz205]

cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers~ just gotta figure out how ot make the totems more tanky or just have enough damage that stuff cant die or be their aura bot hahahaha good luck everoyneeeeeeeee cant wiat t obuild my character strong enoguh to put together gear to swap into this if i can figure it out

[@Wormweed]

I'm so bored of totems, traps, ballistas and dot builds. 😔

[@SyntheticaYT]

Try Boneshatter Slayer

[@C_Fak942]

Minions 🎉

[@Piigmy]

Just play poison EA pathfinder Clueless

[@Zack-dv6rz]

second

[@TehPwnererr69]

What are the benefits of going totems over self cast?

[@killerx4123]

Do you even watch the videos

[@SyntheticaYT]

Your wrist

[@thoddiver]

Please don't be a comparison that says "it depends"

[@thoddiver]

*facepalm* why not title it what it really is "A comparison of Explosive Arrow and Toxic Rain Ballista in 3.21" >< boooooooo booooo clickbait titles that promise definitive answers. Sigh... still enjoyed it... but BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@moozillamoo2109]

I know this one. None of them are particularly great. Artillery is decent for clearing low lvl mobs.

[@Hate999Hate]

В этот раз выбираю токсик рейн !! )