Path of Exile 2 Artillery Ballista Mercenary build (patch 0.2.0)

If you're interested in trying out a Totem build in the Path of Exile 2 patch 0.2.0, Artillery Ballista is probably your best bet. Among a sea of nerfs, this is one of the few standout Skills to get meaningful buffs. With its current numbers, it is mathematically better than Shockwave Totem (the best Totem skill in the last patch), so here we have a build to utilize its potential.

If you're not sure what Totem builds are, it's a turret you set down to do the killing for you. You can try out Artillery Ballista on any class by picking up a crossbow, of which there are a few good options – the new Tactician or Smith of Kitava, for example. But in this specific build, we're going for the Mercenary's Gemling Legionnaire Ascendancy.

How to level Mercenary in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.2.0 pre-Ballista

Before you get to Artillery Ballista, use the 'nades (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Artillery Ballista takes care of things for you post-Act-2 in this Path of Exile 2 build. However, it's far down the line, requiring a Lvl 9 Uncut Gem to grab. To get to that point, there are a few options you can try, including the good old Lightning Rod and Lightning Arrow combo.

However, we will stick to the theme-appropriate Mercenary Crossbow Skills in the first stretch of the campaign. From what I've tried, Galvanic Shards or Gas Grenade are great options. However, I chose to lean on a simple combo of Explosive Grenade and Gas Grenade with Explosive Shot.

Until you get Explosive Shot, use Explosive Grenade with Scattershot and Expedite. This will thin out the crowds; use your Crossbow shot skill (Armor Piercing Round till Uncut Gem Lvl 3, Incendiary Shot afterward, and eventually Galvanic Shards) to finish the outliers.

After you get a Gas Grenade, simply lob it and shoot with an Explosive Shot to detonate it. For Support Gem with the Gas Grenade, you can use Scattershot and Fire Infusion.

Note that you also need a crossbow with high Physical Damage for smooth progression. Patch 0.2.0 makes leveling slightly tougher due to enemy health scaling disparity early on.

Pick up all the Crossbow drops (stick to the highest-level item bases appropriate to your level) and Orb them to fish for Physical Damage percentage and additive Physical Damage modifiers. Furthermore, check vendor inventory at every level-up if possible.

Trade league players can also consider getting a good crossbow from other players to close the leveling gap.

Path of Exile 2 Artillery Ballista build skill setup

Once you get your first Lvl 9 Uncut Gem, you gain access to Artillery Ballista. As is apparent from the name of this Path of Exile 2 build, this will be your main crutch for the rest of your run.

Here's what the endgame Gem setup looks like. The supports here are linked in order of impact, so get the left-most ones first and work your way to the latter ones once as you get more higher-tier Jeweller's Orbs.

Artillery Ballista: Overabundance + Martial Tempo + Primal Armament + Inspiration + Cold Infusion
Hypothermia: Cursed Ground + Heighened Curse + Expanse + Ritualistic Curse
Frost Bomb: Arcane Tempo + Strip Away + Magnified Effect

Why Cold Infusion? Because we convert our Artillery Ballista's fire damage to Cold through the Blueflame Bracers gloves.

If you were playing a Frost Sorceress in the first patch and switched to a Fireball-Blueflame build, the concept is the same here. This is why we also pair it with Hypothermia to strip Cold resistance on specific mobs and bosses, and Frost Bomb because it's a good occasional control tool that was buffed in Path of Exile 2 patch 0.2.0.

For your buffs, you can run Overwhelming Presence. However, since its range was nerfed, another option is Herald of Ash (which will conveniently also deal Cold damage because of the conversion) and Herald of Ice.

Also read: Path of Exile 2 Skill Gems and Gemcutting guide

Best itemization choices for Artillery Ballista Mercenary build in Path of Exile 2 0.2.0

The only big Unique we have elected to use so far, as mentioned earlier, is the Blueflame Bracers Unique Gloves. In other slots, you want to address the usual concerns: get resistance-capped, including Chaos Resistance, and increase Maximum Life and Maximum Mana, as well as Movement Speed on your boots. Since we're also going for a Gemling, +Attributes are still good (despite the nerfs).

The other important thing is your Crossbow on hand. This is a stat-stick similar to a magic class because you don't want to use it yourself.

The most important modifier you want on this is +addition to Level of all Projectile Skills, to scale your Artillery Ballista's damage. The Artillery Ballista also uses its own phantom-weapon copy, so you will want to run global modifiers, such as %increased Elemental Damage with Attacks (works on Totem attacks).

Note that +additional to Level of all Projectile Skills can also roll on Amulets, so be on the lookout for one. As for your defenses, Armor is still weak in Path of Exile 2 compared to the Cloak of Flame route to get damage mitigation through Fire Resistance.

Best skill tree setup for Artillery Ballista build in Path of Exile 2

Before using Artillery Ballista in Act 1 and Act 2, go for anything that boosts projectile and attack skills, with some stats where needed from the travel nodes. The following is what my Passive Tree looked like at lvl 25.

PoE2 Artillery Ballista Mercenary nodes (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Post-Artillery Ballista, fully respec and swap to the following Skill Tree setup.

Post-Artillery Ballista endgame nodes (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Other than this, we also want something for Mana sustain – the Mental Toughness node is the best. Since it's far away from the lower-left quadrant of the Path of Exile 2 Skill Tree, you'll have to Anoint it on your Amulet.

As for the Gemling Ascendany node, opt for Skill Gem Quality and Crystalline Potential with your first two points. Then you can get the other two nodes in that branch and then go for the right-most branch (starting with Adaptive Capability).

Check out our other guides on the game:

About the author

Sambit Pal is an esports Journalist on Gaming and MMO at Sportskeeda. He has Master's degree in English Literature. In his spare time, he is an amateur sleuth trying to trace the Riven Mafia in Warframe, and a recovering Bethesda modding addict. He also secretly enjoys action Roguelites, a severe lack of gitting gud notwithstanding.

Know More

Edited by Dinesh Renthlei