[2.2] Xedralya's Lightning Commander / 200k+ DPS Max-Crit Quad-Totem Ele Ballista!

With Iron Commander, crit lightning damage quad-ballista focusing on maximizing damage as a function of both offense and defense. Blinding fast clear speed and crazy standoff capability. I just wanted to shoot lasers at everything, okay?

This build came about as the result of a Dapper Prodigy turn-in that gave me a 6L Exquisite Leather, which then rolled both high life and high dexterity. I immediately thought to myself that this was a chance to play around with Iron Commander, one of the coolest new uniques to be put into the game:



This is the build where I learned that Atziri doesn't ever have to go into her summoning stage if you kill her quickly enough.

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBAQBeBAcFtQceCC4I9AqbDdEOSA_EEJIRLxGBEZYWvxmOGdcajRvIIG4jNiP2JJ0mlSoLKwotHzBxMHwx-jIyNj031DnUOkI6WDt8RXxJUUt4TLNNklAwUUdTEFVLVcZW-lsmXfJfKmHiYlpirGNDY6dqQ2sXbIxtbHBSdvd9dX8rf8Z_-4PbidOMC4w2jX2Nv5OVlSCVLpeXm42dqqCfoqOtM7Q4tMW1SLjKuXy747xvvOrAVMHzwuzEos_d0B_TftQj1orZht1G3ajjhOUZ5wrr5Oyw7T_tg-4O73rv6_DV8Yr79f66

This is the passive tree at level 89. With good gear, you'll have a little over or under 5k life - I'm at 4845 life at Level 86 with a jewel socket left to take. Your bandit choices will be Oak, Kraityn, and Alira, in that order.

Acrobatics, Phase Acrobatics, and Arrow Dancing keep this build very safe.

Primary Attack: Siege Ballista

Added Lightning Damage is your optional sixth link, it provides a huge boost in damage. With the Increased Critical Strikes gem, Deadly Infusion, and six power charges, my base crit chance is 12.3%. This lets us take less crit on gear and in our tree, allowing for more survivability and base damage. Gross, gross amounts of damage.


Supporting Attack: Frenzy

The first thing you'll do when you get into a zone is pummel the nearest pack of monsters until you're at max charges, only occasionally firing off a volley to keep them up. It will also apply Conductivity for use on tough bosses. Swap with Enfeeble on tough maps and use it to reduce incoming damage while keeping charges up.


Auras: Wrath, Herald of Thunder, Clarity

Keep your Clarity at whichever level allows you to be comfortable with your mana regen. I find Level 3 works best for me.


Defense: Immortal Call

A staple for survivability. Vaal Haste goes in the fourth link.


Utility: Blink Arrow, Vaal Haste, Blade Vortex


The top row is self-explanatory. I use the CWDT-Vortex-PCoC setup to keep charges up when running through most maps, since I find the risk to be low and the utility high. You can run either an Ice Golem or Lightning Golem, depending on how much accuracy, attack speed, or flat lightning damage you'd like.


Jewels: Static Electricity, Careful Planning, Rain of Splinters

Static Electricity goes in the socket in the Shadow start, giving us 1-102 added lightning damage. Careful Planning goes in the socket in the Witch start, giving us a total of 94 Dexterity. Rain of Splinters goes in the socket in the Ranger start. The remaining socket between Shadow and Ranger is for the best rare jewel with a life roll that you can find or make.

Finding a balance in gear is the most important part of the build, since you want to maximize your dexterity, life, crit, damage, and resistances.

The core of this build is in the power of the unique Death Bow Iron Commander to lay down absurd amounts of projectiles with 100% pierce chance and high projectile speed. Drillneck gives us an automatic 100% increased damage for our totems, plus extra attack speed, evasion, and life - everything we need:



The rest of our equipment needs to get us enough dexterity to push us over the 600 mark, which grants us four totems in combat. We want to get as much life as possible in the process. Rat's Nest and Devoto's Devotion are both great choices, but sitting right inbetween them is the exact item we're looking for - Starkonja's Head. 100 life, 40+ dexterity, attack speed, and some crit chance makes this the perfect choice for us. Lioneye's Paws has the huge dexterity and strength boosts we need to satisfy the build's appetite, and the fire damage will scale along with the rest. Ideally, you'll want a similar rare with some resists and a life roll, but the Paws are a cheap and easy choice.



One thing you'll want to do is run the Merciless Laboratory until you land the Adds 1-120 Lightning Damage if you Haven't Killed Recently enchantment - the pool of possible enchantments is small, and because you aren't doing any of the killing, this is a bonus that you'll have up constantly. Who needs Wake of Destruction when you can have Fakes of Destruction?

The rest of your gear should prioritize Life, Dexterity, and Resists. It's a bit of a balancing act to get enough resists in to cap yourself in Merciless, but it can be done - don't worry about sacrificing some offense, because your damage is going to be fine. Weapon Elemental Damage, Flat Lightning Damage, Accuracy, Critical Strike Multiplier, and Attack Speed are all great secondary stats to get on your jewelry and gloves.

For your flasks, I like to run with two instant or semi-instant Divine Life Flasks - one for bleeding, one for freeze. At least one Quicksilver of Adrenaline will keep you moving quickly between packs. The last two are up to you. I prefer a max-rolled Ample Basalt Flask for impending danger, but I've used a Stibnite Flask as well. A second quicksilver flask or relevant resistance flask will round out your liquor cabinet. You can use an Atziri's Promise if you want to go crazy with the damage, like I did for the tooltip screenshot.

This is with all charges, Vaal Haste, and an Atziri's Promise up, but with only Level 19 Wrath, Herald of Thunder, and Added Lightning Damage. Multiply by four for four turrets, and remember that you're getting 51% lightning penetration, a further 43% reduction in lightning resistance, and perma-shock from 95% crit chance.



Offense with just charges up sits at just over 160k DPS.



Your defense is constructed from a bit of evasion, Acro/Phase Acro, and Arrow Dancing. With four laser cannons between you and the bad guys, you'll find it very, very safe.

https://youtu.be/LXqDXVUZAwA - T12 Shipyard (8-Mod Corruption, Temp Chains, Enfeeble, 60% recovery)

This build is very cheap in light of just how much damage it does. My single largest expenditure was the chest, but I paid only about 80 chaos for the four Dapper Prodigy divination cards I still needed for the Perandus challenge, and then rolled the chest I'm using with two chaos orbs. Drillneck was about 15 chaos. Starkonja's Head, Lioneye's Paws, and Iron Commander are all 1-2 chaos each. I found both my boots and my belt, and paid no more than 10 chaos for every other piece of equipment I'm wearing. (Except my amulet, I think that was 20 chaos.) That sweet Blink Arrow enchant on my helmet was a lucky Lab run.

At 70 chaos per exalt, I'd estimate my total cost for the entire build at about 2.5 exalted orbs. It blows apart Merciless Izaro, Atziri (watch that split phase), and any map boss I've tried up to T15 maps. I don't think I'd take it into Uber Atziri, but for 2.5 ex? That'll do, pig. That'll do.