Mortar Explosive Grenade
Tactician Build

Updated for Path of Exile 2 Early Access

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Grenades are powerful. The optimal way to play a Grenade character is to fire them via Mortars. Mortars are Ballista Totems that fire independently of you, but are not considered Minions, despite being Allies. They're an extension of the character that copies their stats. Keep that in mind; you will look for stats that affect your character only. By firing Grenades this way, you will simply deal more damage because, despite the heavy penalties on Attack Speed and Damage, Ballistas have a much better Cooldown recovery Rate for Grenade Skills, and you can summon up to 4 of them. They are, of course, less mobile, so Totem Placement Speed plays a role. Your character, after setting up these contraptions, will use Explosive Shots to detonate Grenades. Waiting for them to Detonate on their own is one of their biggest downside, now invalidated. Since we're at it, adding a Mirage Archer with another Grenade will suit the playstyle.

The Explosive Grenade is the simplest and most devastating one. Other choices are more utility-oriented, so it's not even a fair competition. It deals Covnerted Fire Damage; you will need a weapon with high Physical Damage. This Fire Damage can be later Converted again into Lightning with Valako's Vice, which is the recommended route since now you'll be Shocking and benefitting from Herald of Thunder. Another great Unique is Constricting Command. It will keep the character Surrounded even when it's not for some additional damage and whatnot. There are no bizarro restrictions or novelty interactions in this build, meaning you can go with any class that starts close to the bottom of the skill tree, like Gemling or Tactician. Tactician has the powerful Pin branch that will keep us safe, the passive for extra Deflection based on Armour that will render us even safer, and A Solid Plan to retain Spirit. We will later allocate Glancing Blows and Iron Reflexes to focus entirely on Armour and defences stemming from it, like making it apply to Elemental Damage and Deflection gained from Polish That Gear.

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1. Gameplay

Keep placing Totems ahead of you when mapping and shooting them with Explosive Shots. Against bosses, place down a War Banner and keep re-summoning Totems if they run out of Grenades. Remember to Dodge Roll once to summon a Mirage Archer. You can then cast a Voltaic Mark to enhance your Shock if you deal Lightning Damage. Herald of Thunder, Wind Dancer, and Companion do the work in the background.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Start with the Gas Grenades and Herald of Ash to detonate the gas clouds, which will deal Fire Damage. You will continue to deal mostly Fire Damage once you're able to equip Explosive Grenades and explode them with Explosive Shot around Act 3. During Act 4, you can finally begin specialising in Ballistas with Mortar Cannon. It will now closely resemble the final version of this build, which you can start following closely during the interlude.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

Click on the image to open the Passive Tree preview in a new window Or import the build into PoB: Path of Building 2 code

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

1. Suppressing Fire
2. Right Where We Want Them
3. Polish That Gear
4. A Solid Plan

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Mortar Cannon setup
	Mortar Cannon - A Meta Skill that transforms linked Grenades into a Ballista Totem Attack. They'll deal less damage with less Attack Speed, but have increased Cooldown Recovery Rate. You will be able to place up to 4 Ballistas.
	Explosive Grenade - This Grenade has the highest damage. It deals Converted Fire Damage.
	Urgent Totems III
	Payload
	Elemental Armament II
	Multishot II - later replaced with Rakiata's Flow.

[UTILITY] Mirage Archer setup
	Mirage Archer - A Persistent Meta Skill that can fire any Ranged Attack for you. It does so via a Mirage Archer that spawns when you Dodge Roll. It is not a Minion, and will deal less damage than Mortars.
	Explosive Grenade
	Lightning Attunement
	Payload
	Elemental Armament II
	Multishot II

[UTILITY] Explosive Shot setup
	Explosive Shot - A Crossbow Attack that doesn't do any real damage on its own. It Detonates Grenades. You can set up a separate skill tree on weapon swap for it. Grenades and Totems will remember the weapon and tree the moment you fire or place them, and keep these bonuses until they detonate or expire.
	Ratha's Assault - Can be replaced with Double Barrel III.
	Arjun's Medal
	Nova Projectiles
	Fork
	Magnified Area II

[UTILITY] Herald of Thunder setup
	Herald of Thunder - If you have Valako's Vice for Lightning Damage sourced from Fire Damage, you'll be able to Shock easily when mapping. Herald of Thunder will improve your clear speed in that case. If not, use Time of Need instead.
	Elemental Armament II
	Elemental Focus
	Bone Shrapnel
	Lightning Attunement
	Deadly Herald

[UTILITY] War Banner setup
	War Banner - More Attack Damage, more Attack Speed, more Accuracy Rating when you place the Banner. Only you have to stay in its range.
	Daresso's Passion
	Magnified Area II
	Prolonged Duration II
	Refraction II

[UTILITY] Wind Dancer setup
	Wind Dancer - A big bonus to Evasion. It breaks when you take a hit and knock back nearby enemies. It's, of course, pointless with Iron Reflexes, so if you have it, replace Wind Dancer with Attrition, or better yet, Herald of Ash.
	Pin III - Can be replaced with Blind.
	Magnified Area II
	Maim
	Life Leech III

[UTILITY] Companion setup
	Companion - You can summon a Minion for useful passive bonuses or Auras, like Haste.
	Brutus' Brain
	Loyalty

[UTILITY] Voltaic Mark setup
	Voltaic Mark - A Mark that we will use only to cause a Marked enemy to take increased Damage by increasing the effect of Shock.
	Mobility
	Efficiency II
	Lightning Mastery

6. Gear Setup

You may consider going for the combination of Iron Reflexes, Glancing Blows, and Polish That Gear. This will turn your Evasion into Armour, and requires high Evasion, Armour, either, or both on your gear. Note that with Iron Reflexes, global increases or reductions to Evasion do not matter, only flat numbers from your gear. It results in very high Armour and Deflection Rating, which most players prefer over mixed Evasion/Armour. Your other defensive layer is Maximum Life and employing Armour to apply to Elemental Damage. Keep your resistances high and consider seeking a source of Life on Kill. Your damage is sourced from a Crossbow, and you're scaling with Grenades/Totems/Attack/Crossbow damage, and you won't need two even if you're weapon-swapping.

(Helmet) Constricting Command - You want it to roll 5 on the Surround requirement to be always Surrounded, even when no one is there. Then, you can put Defy II Support in your damaging setups and allocate the powerful nodes that require you to be Surrounded.

+(80–120) to maximum Life +(10–15) to all Attributes (8–12) Life Regeneration per second Require (2–5) fewer enemies to be Surrounded

(Helmet) Rare Crossbow - Attack Speed is not a priority; look for Hit Damage instead. It can be Physical, since it's all converted to Fire and maybe then to Lightning. With that in mind, you may seek added Fire and added Lightning Damage too, especially when they're "gained as extra". Level to Attack Skills and Desecrated mods are crucial too.

Min. requirements: +6 to Level of all Attack Skills high Physical Hit Damage +1 to maximum number of Summoned Ballista Totems (Desecrated Prefix) Optional affixes: Added Fire or Lightning Damage loads an additional bolt Accuracy Rating chance to gain Onslaught on Killing Hits with this Weapon (Essence Suffix) Grenades have #% chance to activate a second time (Desecrated Suffix) Gain #% of Damage as Extra # Damage (Essence Prefix)

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - On Gloves, you're mainly looking for Armour, Defences, Resistances, and Maximum Life. Overall, unique gloves are better.

Min. requirements: Maximum Life #% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage Elemental and Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: +% increased Attack Speed Armour or Evasion Rating Adds # Physical Damage to Attacks Gain Life or Mana per Enemy Killed Accuracy Rating

(Gloves) Valako's Vice - Solid Gloves with Fire-to-Lightning Conversion that will let you Shock, which is great.

(50–100)% increased Armour and Evasion (5–10)% increased Attack Speed +(20–30) to Strength +(20–30) to Dexterity +(30–50)% to Lightning Resistance 100% of Fire damage Converted to Lightning damage

(Boots) Rare Boots - Boots shall have Movement Speed and the most rudimentary defensive stats.

Min. requirements: increased Movement Speed Elemental and Chaos Resistance Maximum Life Optional affixes: Armour or Evasion Rating #% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage 100% increased effect of Socketed Items (Essence Suffix)

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - Once you get an Amulet with good rolls on Level to Projectile Skill Gems, Maximum Life, and Spirit, you're set.

Min. requirements: +3 to Level of all Projectile Skills Maximum Life Optional affixes: Attributes Spirit Elemental and Chaos Resistance increased Armour from Equipped Body Armour (desecrated Prefix)

(Amulet) Idol of Uldurn - Its only merit is an extra Maximum Totem. Totems are your main damage source, so if it's an upgrade from 2 to 3 or 3 to 4, one can deem it substantially powerful enough.

(2–4) Life Regeneration per second +(60–80) to maximum Life +(10–20) to Dexterity Skills have +1 to Limit

(Ring) Rare Ring - Rings should be your main source of Attributes and Resistances, but some Maximum Life should be here as well. Added Damage is good, but don't prioritize it over the aforementioned stats.

Min. requirements: Elemental and Chaos Resistance Maximum Life Attributes Optional affixes: Adds Physical Damage to Attacks

(Belt) Rare Belt - On a Belt, you can get Life, Resistances, Strength, and Armour. Other mods are of lesser importance.

Min. requirements: Maximum Life Elemental and Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Armour Strength

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Nothing exotic on a Body Armour, just a lot of Life, Resistances, Armour, and maybe Spirit since it's a premium stat.

Min. requirements: Maximum Life Armour or Evasion Rating Optional affixes: Elemental and Chaos Resistance #% of Armour also applies to Elemental Damage Spirit Hits against you have #% reduced Critical Damage Bonus (Essence Suffix)

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Aim for Jewels that will increase your Area, Elemental, or Crossbow Damage. You can also scout for Radius Jewels, which can be socketed near the Surround-themed Clusters that you are going to allocate.

Optional affixes: Increased Damage with Crossbows Damage Penetrates #% Lightning (or Fire) Resistance Life or Mana Recovery on Kill increased Projectile Damage increased Lightning (or Fire) Damage increased Pin Bulidup

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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