[3.0] COLD CHAMPION SIEGE BALLISTA GUIDE - DPS... plenty - Meme Ballistas - Video(s) Inside

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Mannoth wrote:

Why not use the Pierce gem instead of Slower Projectiles? Same damage but no downside.

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Grimlocke_ wrote:

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Mannoth wrote:

Why not use the Pierce gem instead of Slower Projectiles? Same damage but no downside.

You don't seem to understand elementary Siege Ballista mechanics. I tested the skill thoroughly back when Lifting posted his ele guide in Talisman.

SB's projectiles cannot be either slowed or accelerated, meaning slower proj/faster proj have 0 effect on the skill itself, hence slower proj has no downside when linked to SB. SB's projectile range is based on a fixed number of units and extends well into adjacement screens.

SB's windup time can be shortened drastically by applying large amounts of attack speed (which is the main and the most important stat this skill scales from), effectively reducing the time the skill takes between acquiring the target and firing.

Once the target is acquired, SB fires in that direction even if the target moved, aka it is not locked-on but requires an attack to fire before aiming again, hence why, again, attack speed is the most important stat for these totems as it greatly reduces chances of totems missing.

To fully profit from this build, you first have to adjust your mindset to understand the general layout how this build works best, and that is as long-range heavy artillery playstyle and not your average shockwave/rf drop-in-the-middle-and-watch-everything-get-evaporated.

I wish there was a way to upgrade/empower IC from level 32 to lets say 60, it would make the whole thing a lot more interesting. Being forced to use it just so you wouldn't have to travel all the way to templar, feels meh.

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RichMoney wrote:

I was playing Ballista last league as phys, and made an elemental version for this league as well (as it seems the best way to scale it.

I haven't moved toward crit at the moment, but I really like my set up personally:

Gear and Links

My Current Elemental Non crit tree

I'm deadeye with Endless Munitions and Fast and Deadly. When I go crit, ill swap to powerful Precision.

When/if I go crit, I'll likely drop a herald and Alphas but still keep the full reservation with Wrath, Anger, HOT.

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Shaileen wrote:

You are hilarious. This discussion is just about the pierce gem having the same projectile damage increase (at level 20) as the slower projectile gem while simultaneously having a lower mana multiplier. It is not about pierce, slower projectiles or attackspeed (I don't even know where you got that from). Your incoherent rambling completely missed the point.

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Shaileen wrote:

You are hilarious. This discussion is just about the pierce gem having the same projectile damage increase (at level 20) as the slower projectile gem while simultaneously having a lower mana multiplier. It is not about pierce, slower projectiles or attackspeed (I don't even know where you got that from). Your incoherent rambling completely missed the point.

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Keisuke102 wrote:

Where did you go first in the skill tree? Shadow area or rush to the totem keystone?

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Grimlocke_ wrote:

He clearly pointed out on a downside (if you are having mana problems with siege ballista, which is the cheapest totem skill around bare RF totems, then you are doing things wrong), while there is none other then 2-3 mana cost totem increase + 21+ gem difference (not important again since most people playing it will never even get level 20 gems).

My 'rambling' is exactly spot on and how the skill should be built upon, as during talisman, many players got disappointed for not doing what was suggested, due to the skill having wonky mechanics.