Shin's Blood and Steel - Witchhunter

"

ottomanlegends#7288 wrote:

Hey! I'm struggling to level up my Mercenary with the Armor Piercing Shots builds. I really don't want to switch to a Grenadier setup, but I just finished the Act 1 boss, and it was a serious challenge. Also clearing speed is quite bad. Do you have any tips for the early game? Or should I just give up?

First run is always the hardest. You can use Fragmentation rounds early on. that helped me allot.

"

XvXReaperXvX#7217 wrote:

"

roguemjb#7794 wrote:

I've been following this build off and on. I also tried JayTX's bleed bow build but I found that I hate Snipe. HVR feels so much better. Spiral Volley is an incredible skill for clearing though, so I use a good bow for clearing and a crossbow on tanky rares and bosses. The weapon swap points make this actually work really well. Fingers crossed crossbows get a better skill for clearing eventually!

boy are you not gunna like the changes..

Are you making changes to the build? Thinking of rolling something like this but in a way that makes great use of weapon swapping. Dont actually have a solid idea yet but wondering if thats what changes are coming?

Thought I'd add a post here for anyone wondering how the build is currently doing. Obvs its not my build (Full credit to Shin!) but been using this build for about a week now and its been pretty decent honestly! Clearing T15's comfortably and although nade / galvanic builds still perform better, I just enjoy playing something diff and I find the clearspeed is just fine! Deffinitly recommend this still for anyone who enjoys a run and gun playstyle!

I'll list below a few additions to the skills I added for anyone interested in how I've adapted as I progressed through endgame. I also have +10 to level of projectile skills (+6 on main weapon, +3 on amulet and +1 on Armour Piercing Rounds), as much physical damage as I could get on crossbow + rings and a little spirit to accomodate 2 addition support gems for Wind Dancer (explained below). Outside of that prioritise (in order) capping your resistances, health and lastly evasion + armour.

(Note: as you scale up your abilities you may start feeling the pinch on your mana. If so, then getting some "# mana on kill" on your gear should solve this!)

Skill / Support Additions:

Armour Piercing Rounds: for 6th support gem I add Physical Mastery for the +1 to skill level.

High Velocity Rounds: same as in Shin's guide but without adding Scattershot, as I mainly end up using it for bosses + the occasional rare.

Ripwire Ballista: added Blind + Pierce to tag more mobs with crowd control then finally added Ancestral Urgency for faster turret placement (really notice the difference when mapping!)

Wind Dancer: added Clarity + Precision. With this WD provides evasion/life regen/mana regen and accuracy! (you will need to roll some spirit onto your gear to add them!)

Herald of Blood: Magnified Effect for larger explosions when bleeding targets die, Maim to add slowing effect and Deadly Herald for more damage!

Finally I added the skill Emergency Reload. Very nice damage boost for bosses. For supports I use Premeditation to boost the damage it provides, Ingenuity to lower its cooldown and Persistance for more uptime on the buff.

Anyway, hopefully this info helps some peeps out looking to continue using the build in the meantime. If anyone knows a way to link my gear (I play on Ps5) I'm happy to link my current set up!

Link to the version of the build I have been working off: https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/builds/shins-blood-and-steel-witchhunter

Happy Hunting! :)