11-18-2025, 06:47 AM
If you have been looking for a build that can carry you from day one of a league into high-tier endgame content, the Explosive Arrow Champion is worth a serious look. It blends solid damage with great survival tools, and it plays in a way that feels natural once you get into the rhythm. You drop your Ballista Totems, they start stacking Explosive Arrow fuses on enemies, and once those fuses hit the limit or expire, boom – a massive ignite spreads out, burning everything nearby.
You’re mainly focusing on placing totems in smart spots, keeping your buffs up, and weaving in and out of danger while the totems do the heavy lifting. For those just starting, it’s also budget-friendly and easy to gear compared to more complex builds on the PoE Currency market.
The core of this build’s toughness comes from choosing the Champion ascendancy. The Fortitude node gives you permanent Fortify – that’s a flat cut to damage taken from hits, and you don’t have to think about keeping it up. Then you have Inspirational, which strengthens your non-curse auras like Determination and Grace, so your armour and evasion shoot up, along with a bit more punch to your damage. And when things get rough, First to Strike, Last to Fall kicks in, giving you Adrenaline – a sudden boost of damage, speed, and physical protection once your life dips low. This setup makes the Champion hard to kill, even if you make positioning mistakes.
Getting the right gear is straightforward. At the start, nothing beats Quill Rain for attack speed – more speed means faster fuse stacking, which means faster ignites. Later on, you’ll want a bow with +3 to bow gem levels, high attack speed, and a strong fire damage over time multiplier. The Dyadian Dawn belt is almost mandatory; it makes ignites deal their damage much quicker, which ramps up your effective DPS. For smoother clearing, pick up a Rain of Splinters jewel to give Ballista Totems extra arrows. On your other gear, aim for life, enough resistances to cap, full spell suppression (100%), and accuracy so you’re not missing shots.
Your main damage gem link sits in a six-link, either in your bow or chest.
The go-to connections are: Explosive Arrow - Ballista Totem Support - Ignite Proliferation Support - Deadly Ailments Support - Burning Damage Support - Lifetap Support. Lifetap keeps your skills running without eating into your mana, which you’ll want fully reserved for your aura setup. For defence, run Determination, Grace, and Defiance Banner. Offensively, Malevolence boosts your damage over time. A Frenzy setup is optional but handy for generating charges that crank up totem attack speed.
Once you’ve got the gear, gems, and ascendancy sorted, the build really comes alive. It’s simple to play but has enough depth to keep you busy, and you can scale the damage well into high-level maps and bosses.
The permanent Fortify and guaranteed defensive layers mean you can stay in the fight longer, while your Ballistas keep producing huge burning blasts. For players who want something that’s strong, safe, and doesn’t require expensive gear to get off the ground, it’s a fantastic choice – and one that feels just as effective in late-game as it does during early progression on Poe 1 Divine Orb.
You’re mainly focusing on placing totems in smart spots, keeping your buffs up, and weaving in and out of danger while the totems do the heavy lifting. For those just starting, it’s also budget-friendly and easy to gear compared to more complex builds on the PoE Currency market.
The core of this build’s toughness comes from choosing the Champion ascendancy. The Fortitude node gives you permanent Fortify – that’s a flat cut to damage taken from hits, and you don’t have to think about keeping it up. Then you have Inspirational, which strengthens your non-curse auras like Determination and Grace, so your armour and evasion shoot up, along with a bit more punch to your damage. And when things get rough, First to Strike, Last to Fall kicks in, giving you Adrenaline – a sudden boost of damage, speed, and physical protection once your life dips low. This setup makes the Champion hard to kill, even if you make positioning mistakes.
Getting the right gear is straightforward. At the start, nothing beats Quill Rain for attack speed – more speed means faster fuse stacking, which means faster ignites. Later on, you’ll want a bow with +3 to bow gem levels, high attack speed, and a strong fire damage over time multiplier. The Dyadian Dawn belt is almost mandatory; it makes ignites deal their damage much quicker, which ramps up your effective DPS. For smoother clearing, pick up a Rain of Splinters jewel to give Ballista Totems extra arrows. On your other gear, aim for life, enough resistances to cap, full spell suppression (100%), and accuracy so you’re not missing shots.
Your main damage gem link sits in a six-link, either in your bow or chest.
The go-to connections are: Explosive Arrow - Ballista Totem Support - Ignite Proliferation Support - Deadly Ailments Support - Burning Damage Support - Lifetap Support. Lifetap keeps your skills running without eating into your mana, which you’ll want fully reserved for your aura setup. For defence, run Determination, Grace, and Defiance Banner. Offensively, Malevolence boosts your damage over time. A Frenzy setup is optional but handy for generating charges that crank up totem attack speed.
Once you’ve got the gear, gems, and ascendancy sorted, the build really comes alive. It’s simple to play but has enough depth to keep you busy, and you can scale the damage well into high-level maps and bosses.
The permanent Fortify and guaranteed defensive layers mean you can stay in the fight longer, while your Ballistas keep producing huge burning blasts. For players who want something that’s strong, safe, and doesn’t require expensive gear to get off the ground, it’s a fantastic choice – and one that feels just as effective in late-game as it does during early progression on Poe 1 Divine Orb.