[0.5] EXPLOSIVE Witchhunter - All Content Viable - Detailed Notes

• Updates:
• • Build is going as amazingly as expected for me! Very strong in the early acts, all the way through red maps.
  • DO NOT put ward on your gear in late game, it removes your base evasion and armor on your pieces. It is nerfing you!
  • If having mana issues make sure to upgrade your mana flask and put mana leech somewhere on your gear, drop the mark now its useless.
  • Follow my live version for updates!
  • New Crafting notes for Xbows
  • Final update to the build is live, Live update version has been removed. All info is located in this version now.

How to use this Build Guide:

Build Files will only work for the selected stage of the build you are on. Make sure to come back here to grab the next build file and put it in the folder as you progress.

This guide is separated into 2 main sections

1. The SSF League Start PoB that goes from Leaving Town all the way to your first pinnacles on fully SSF gear. This version will be great if you do not intend on trading early and will more than easily get you through the campaign, interludes, and early mapping.
2. The Trade Gear PoB comes after and will be for people gathering currency and wanting to swap into the stronger version of the build early. For experienced players I suggest this version and my live version above.

FAQ

• Campaign Buffs?
• • Charm Charges Gained
  • Elemental Ailment Threshhold
  • 3x Resists
  • 30% Evasion
  • 30% Increased Life Flask Rate
  • Global Defenses
• Is Gemling playable?
• • Personally I think gemling is awful for this setup as it completely gives up your main defensive layer.
• Filters?
• • My Filters
• I can't fire Explosive Shot it only lets me do normal bolts, what do I do?
• • You are using the wrong Crossbow Shot skill, use the one from weapon set 2.
• Very early game feels awful, what do I do?
• • Make sure you are following exactly what I say to do in the notes. The skills, way to use them, what support gems, etc. The first couple levels before Flash Grenade can feel a little tough but with the right playstyle you will breeze through to the easy stuff in no time.
• What MTX are you using in the video?
• • Heritage Cloak, Scarlet Clay Mage Helmet, Witchhunter Body Armour, Overseer Gloves, Overseer Boots, Scavenger Footprints
• Why 2 Skill Trees?
• • Set Explosive Shot to Tree 2, the one with all of the Crossbow nodes, and EVERYTHING else to Tree 1, the grenade one.
• Grenade Launcher?
• • No it seems bad in general.
• What about the new Grenade Base?
• • We will have to see the special mods it can roll, but losing +1 grenade fired from Siege Crossbow is a 100% More Damage loss.
• Are the Uniques in the Trade version expensive?
• • Anything can be expensive if it gets popular, but the rarity of Constricting Command is not that high and it is the only one you will want somewhat early. Everything else is easily farmable if you are making it to endgame.

General Tips for a Solid League Start

• ALL Skills go on Tree 1 (The Grenade Tree) BESIDES Explosive Shot. Auras are set to both.
• I HIGHLY suggest playing as WASD on this build, it makes things significantly easier.
• This is not meant to be a sprint, it is a marathon. Focus on upgrading your character when you feel weak, PoE2 isn't like PoE1 where you can just brute force skill check everything.
• For your stats during the campaign you want enough Dex/Int to equip your gear/gems and then everything else into Str for more life.
• At some points Explosive Shot will start feeling bad for clear, start using more grenades like Cluster Grenade, Flash Grenade to supplement your clear. In later maps once you have the endgame versions of the gear you will almost exclusively use Explosive Shot for clearing.
• If you find yourself dying while sprinting make sure to roll more as you encounter enemies.
• Pick up Socketed and Quality gear and scrap it for quality currency.
• Always pick up every rare and either disenchant it or sell it for Gold. This is a major way that you can fix issues with your build by getting more Gold for gambling or Regals for crafting.
• Save your higher currencies like Regals, Exalts, Essences for actual good pieces of gear. Don't use them thoughtlessly, only on the best items.
• Once you hit Act 4 and have the Exchange and are able to purchase gear, start doing so. Trade league is meant to be used and you can get much stronger through purchasing items.

Main Skills:

• Explosive Grenade - easily one of the numerically strongest abilities in the entire game, gem levels scale this ability to absurd numbers and allow us to "one shot" most bosses in the game with a full loadout on the ground.
• Explosive Shot - when combined with Arjun's Medal and Ratha's Assault, even with the nerfs, this ability has no cooldown, no reload, and AoE clears some of the hardest content in the game with ease. We may need to make a 2nd XBow for this skill now however. Will be in the updated notes by the time it matters.
• Sorcery Ward - a disgustingly overpowered mechanic with the addition of Ceremonial Ablution to the game. We are able to scale up to 10k~ of this shield by the late endgame build and it replenishes INSTANTLY 6s~ after not taking damage. Basically like Energy Shield but far better and it scales off of your Evasion/Armour.

Main Mechanics:

• This build makes use of Constricting Command with -4 required to make our grenades free to cast. We scale how large the Surrounded area is so that this is essentially just always available. We do have plenty of life and mana leech so it isn't a huge deal but it makes loading up 5-10 grenades for a big boss very easy. Also increases our damage and other stats significantly due to how good the surround nodes on the tree are.
• Sorcery Ward and its upgrade node Ceremonial Ablution gives us a generic damage shield that is based off of a % of our evasion and armour, realistically armour is not a good defensive layer so it makes much more sense to simply focus on evasion. We do this through Hyrri's Ire as the shield snapshots as well as things like High Alert and other nodes on the tree. When all is said and done 10k shield is absolutely doable and this shield will refresh instantly after 6~ seconds of not taking damage or 6 seconds after it is depleted. With 80%+ Evasion this is easily doable.
• With the updated Deflection formula, the high end version of the build will be close to Deflect Cap thanks to Atziri's Step. You don't need the vaal corrupted version either.
• Since Grenades are AoE explosions they can shotgun, meaning additional projectiles are very strong for this setup. We obtain 2 generic through Cluster Bombs and our Siege Crossbow base as well as a chance at 2 more through Run and Gun. Early on we use Multishot II as well before being able to afford the more expensive support gems.
• Explosive Shot when used with Arjun's Medal causes you to have a 25% chance to load a bolt when killing an enemy.
• We use Flash Grenade with Bhatair's Vengeance, Freeze and Embitter to allow us to gain 25% Extra damage as cold on our abilities whenever we kill small white mobs with it. We use this over Ice Bite II because of the duration.