Tactician Siege Cascade, currently one of the top crossbow skills if on tactician, complete guide from low to high budget. ONLY USABLE ON TACTICIAN DO NOT TRY ON OTHER ASCENDANCIES
Siege Cascade got a massive buff this patch, while not enough to push it to even solid tier, with tactician it becomes quite good due to the free pin. this guide will aim to cover the basics and low to high buget options.
check the video for dps example against xesht +4. This is before the patch next week where the bossing damage will double due to the scavenger buff, But thats assuming scavenger bugs gets fixed.
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BASICS:
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Siege cascade has a two parts to it the intial hit and the explosion. This build aims to make the initial hit pin basically everything thats not a boss and the explosion afterwards one shotting the mob.
Siege cascade also has a extremly high base damage. at Level 20 it has a combine attack damage of 398% and with 20 quality against pinned enemies it deals 280% more damage, which essentially means siege cascade has a base damage of 1514% against pinned enemies, in comparison hammer of gods has 1529% base damage at level 20. Siege cascade is essentially hammer of gods that you can rapidly shoot out non stop.
I'll cover the scavenger tech that you can use next week when ggg buff it, but unless ggg also fixes some of the bugs it might not be worth using anyways.
The dps is hard to calculate due to alot of reasons.
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Downsides is that siege cascade is absolutely trash without tactician.
- it can't pin by default and it converts 80% of phy to fire, which doesnt work with the pin options in game thats not tactician since pin on everything else is based off PHYSICAL DAMAGE. It's a good thing tactician is quite literally the best ascendancy for this build or else this skill will be still trash.
- reduced base attack speed and reload speed, for some reason ggg thinks a skill that can't pin by itself and requires pin to do damage and can't hit any moving target without investments, requires harsh downsides built into the skill.
- a base bolt size of 1, this is quite literally the biggest downside to this build, if it even doubles to 2 bolt it would be so much stronger and easier to gear.
- for some god awful reason the projectile speed of this skill is so trash that by default it will not hit anything that actually moves, the initial hit and explosion aoe are also piss small.
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Mitigation to the downsides:
- play tactician
- scavenger shard buff incoming that will hopefully solve this issue if ggg fix the bugs, atleast for bossing.
- use a gemini base which is the bis base or use double barrel (which you dont not want to), also scavenger shard buff will hopefully fix this downside for bossing too.
- use acceleration support for mapping, and alot of proj speed on jewels. aoe nodes on tree.
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PROS/CONS
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PROS:
- anything thats not a boss will instantly get frozen for 4 seconds if they get hit
- will 1 shot basically everything thats not a boss if they get pinned.
- you get to explode your cascade all over enemies that you pinned down
- does not rely on Artillery Ballista for dps (thank god)
- requires no aiming.
- off meta?
- screen wide clear with enough aoe investment
- fairly resistant to stun and ailments due to tactician
- cheap to start
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CONS:
- Is not lightning spear
- on low investment the defense is just evasion
- hard to find weapon upgrades (cause you need gemini base) or waste a skill slot for double barrel
- you do zdps for a few seconds if you cant kill the boss on the first pin, since you need to build up pin again.
- delay damage, without enough proj speed, fast mobs will dodge everything until there in front of you and attacking you.
- mana issues on high budget (you need to spam mana flask)
- gem swapping is required for bossing until you can go crit,
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How to calculate DPS:
Look at the average hit damage instead of what the pob shows you due to emergency reload being such a huge part of bossing cycle. this is especially the case if scavenger shards gets fixed on the patch next week.
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how to play:
mapping: siege cascades default aoe (the aoe that targets the mobs to shoot) is based on where you click the skill, so you want to use the skill in front of your character just enough that the aoe includes your character so any mobs that are by you are still targeted.
For bossing: put down the balistas for rage and to apply fire exposure and the moment the boss is pinned use emergency reload and the 2 buffed siege cascades should instantly delete them.
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SCAVENGER TECH for double bossing dps:
This is for next week when the scavenger shard buff comes out AND only assuming ggg fixes the bugs on scavenger shard
instead of herald of ash and combat frenzy, also remove clarity and herbalism.
you will put in scavenger shard and maybe supported with persistence if you can due to the changes.
than a cast on ignite - fire storm - snipers mark(for bossing)/ profane ritual (for mapping) - temporal chains - inspiration.
What this will do during bossing is that the moment scavenger shard procs you will use emergency reload, where for 2 seconds (or 2.8 if persistence works) you can rain down siege cascade that is buffed by emergency reload and premediation for 45% more damage. instead of the normally only 2 siege casacades gets 45% more damage, now depending on your attack speed its 9-12 hits which is a huge dps increase. temporal chains will also make the pin last 1 second longer so more time for dps.
BUT this is bugged right now fire storm while it consumes ignite does not proc scavenger shard (Im gonna be its because scavenger shard says consume on its skill but firestorm says consumed. which will be really fucking dumb if thats the reason)
so instead you need to use another hit base spell like arc and link it to elemental discharge to proc scavenger shard which isn't worth it at that point because elemental discharge also consumes the 30% shock from your tamed beasts, and ignite is a decent chunk of the damage. So elemental discharge consuming both ignite and shock is a overal dps decrease.
remove the herald nodes if you use this tech
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ASCENDANCY POINTS:
- suppressing fire
- a solid plan
- right where we want them
- polish that gear
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LOW BUDGET: (2-5 div)
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SKILL TREE:
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SKILL SETUP
Siege cascade - fire infusion - primal armament (if gemini base) / double barrel (if not gemini base) - martial tempo - acceleration(mapping)/concentrated effect - immolate
Tame beast( you want the 4 hand monkey with haste aura and shock on hit) - loyality - overcharge - meat shield - elemental army
Artillery Ballista - lockdown - ignition (if you can't ignite bosses)/ close combat( if you can ignite without ignition) - fire exposure - font of rage - overabundance
Emergency reload - premeditation - ingenuity - inspiration
Trinity - cold mastery - fire mastery - lightning mastery -
wind dancer - blind - pin - maim
Charge infusion - cannbalism
combat frenzy - profusion - clarity - herbalism
herald of ash - magnified effect
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GEARING: YOU WANT ATLEAST 95-100 SPIRITS FROM AMULET AND CHEST, I will provide a trade link if you don't know how to search for gear
WEAPON: look for phy and fire damage, cold and lightning are useless, increased elemental damage is also valid for a low dps weapon if its 100%+
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/3WlQLadt5
Helmet: High res, life and evasion
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/VzbrQbdTp
chest: look for high life, res/dex and spirit remember you need 95-100 spirit from amulet and chest
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/943ZRoRtK
gloves: high life and res
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/rge0PB4TQ
boots: life, res/attribute and 30 ms
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/8mv0O6ntV
Rings: fix resistance and attributes and more life can't post a trade link as I dont know what your will have by now
amulet: get enough spirit to reach 95-100 and than use other mods to fix resistance and attributes
belt: fix resistance and attributes and more life.
jewels: proj speed and attack speed
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/QzXrzMeSw
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mid budget (10-20 div, right before switching to crit).
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SKILL TREE:
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SKILL SETUP:
Siege cascade - fire infusion - execute - martial tempo - acceleration(mapping)/concentrated effect - primal armament
Tame beast( you want the 4 hand monkey with haste aura and shock on hit) - loyality - overcharge - meat shield - elemental army
Artillery Ballista - lockdown - ignition (if you can't ignite bosses)/ close combat( if you can ignite without ignition) - fire exposure - font of rage - overabundance
Emergency reload - premeditation - ingenuity - inspiration
Trinity - cold mastery - fire mastery - lightning mastery -
wind dancer - blind - pin - maim
Charge infusion - cannbalism
combat frenzy - profusion - clarity - herbalism
herald of ash - magnified effect
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GEARING: YOU WANT ATLEAST 95-100 SPIRITS FROM AMULET AND CHEST, I will provide a trade link if you don't know how to search for gear
WEAPON: look for phy and fire damage, cold and lightning are useless, increased elemental damage is also valid for a low dps weapon if its 100%+
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/YznVYDRUY
Helmet: deepest tower
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/dzWpaqphJ
chest: look for high life, res/dex and spirit remember you need 95-100 spirit from amulet and chest
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/943ZRoRtK
gloves: high life and res
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/rge0PB4TQ
boots: life, res/attribute and 30 ms
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/8mv0O6ntV
Rings: fix resistance and attributes, get added fire damage, and more life can't post a trade link as I dont know what your will have by now
amulet: get enough spirit to reach 95-100 and than use other mods to fix resistance and attributes
belt: fix resistance and attributes and more life.
jewels: proj speed and attack speed and damage
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/omL2VDwul
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HIGH END (30+ divs, good luck finding a weapon currently)
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SKILL TREE:
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SKILL SETUP:
Siege cascade - fire infusion - execute - martial tempo - acceleration(mapping)/concentrated effect - pinpoint critical
Tame beast( you want the 4 hand monkey with haste aura and shock on hit) - loyality - overcharge - meat shield - elemental army
Artillery Ballista - lockdown - primal armament - fire exposure - font of rage - overabundance
Emergency reload - premeditation - ingenuity - inspiration
Trinity - cold mastery - fire mastery - lightning mastery -
wind dancer - blind - pin - maim
Charge infusion - cannbalism
combat frenzy - profusion - clarity - herbalism
herald of ash - magnified effect
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GEARING: YOU WANT ATLEAST 95-100 SPIRITS FROM AMULET AND CHEST, I will provide a trade link if you don't know how to search for gear
WEAPON: 4+ crit, 16% increased attack speed atleast, 5+ proj skill so you can divine to 6, high dps (phy/fire, do not get cold or lightning) (good luck finding them, you can attempt to craft them atleast)
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/3Wl7djgh5
crafting base: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/Bd5q7zWT8
how to "craft": greater essence of haste and exalt slam 3 times. if you get proj skill base you want to slam crit, vice versa for crit base. the base should either contain a high: % inc phy, added fire or added phy as the prefix. good luck crafting. if exalt fail, trying chaos slamming.
Helmet: deepest tower
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/dzWpaqphJ
chest: look for high life, res/dex and spirit remember you need 95-100 spirit from amulet and chest
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/nenZZqvC0
gloves: Maligaro's Virtuosity bis glove until you go ultra high end which i wont cover since the items arent on trade yet.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/79VaGWnI5
boots: life, res/attribute and 30/35 ms
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/0kb7GOwsg
Rings: flat fire, inc fire, high life, all res, one high res, one attribute
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/Kz6qEYDs5
amulet: get enough spirit to reach 95-100 and +3 proj with other mods to fix res and attribute maybe more life if you can afford it
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/qpnMgvWCg
belt: ingenuity with 3 charm slots and 28/28, my charm setup is currently 2 golden charm and a ngamahus chosen which is basically always 30 rage in breach.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/gz9L78KhQ
jewels: proj speed and attack speed and crit and evasion/damage and a against the darkness with fire and life/spirit (spirit is bis)
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/77eY3DnC5 put this by catalysis jewel slot, remember to divine to 4 fire
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/zknPpEgc4
life flask: olroth resolve, this life flask is your es for this build. will basically turn your death rate to 0 unless in a uber dangerous map.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade2/search/poe2/Dawn%20of%20the%20Hunt/Z2aVvb6fQ
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RUNES:
2 25% evasion rune on chest and if all your res and attribute are fixed, put 2% or 40 life on the other slots or 12% life recovery for olroth your choice.
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That's basically everything, if any questions ask them, There are more future upgrades but Im basically quitting so I won't be able to properly cover them.
At the min max high end each siege cascade should be doing around 6-8mil average damage per hit with emergency reload.
GGG just give siege cascade base 3 bolts please and remove the attack speed and reload speed downsides, the base slow projectile speed is already the worse downside you can give a delay skill.
my current build on poe ninja for reference: https://poe2.ninja/builds/dawn/character/nepnepgiveaway-6012/NepNepPinsAndSiegeUrAss?i=0&search=name%3Dnepnep
Comments
Love written guides they're so much easier to navigate than videos.
Thanks for the awesome write-up!
If you are using Trinity, why not use painter's servant and drop fire infusion???? I'm leveling with this buuld right now.
Haha, somehow we end up thinking alike, I remember your writeup regarding doryanis xbow last league and both leagues we ended up in similar places.
I've had more success running the totem nodes by the low life nodes, and 3x ripwire ballistas with rage font (including the rage nodes). This is all going non crit, howa, using siege for clear only and shockburst (with shock companion) for bosses
Mind sharing a pob link of your char? Curious myself
amazing write up. thinking of switching to this on my tac. great guide
All this writing for it to get nerfed xdd
Shhhh, don't make my build more expensive...
holy volume warning batman
This skill on tactician is going to take off. It's so strong and comfy. Lvl 90 and breezing through the game with it.
There is a good chance siege cascade being able to pin is a bug, according to the payoff and immobilized description, it should not be able to pin just like how it can't freeze and Heavy stun. Maybe it's intended, maybe not, just have some gold at the ready on the offchance this entire build gets removed with a hotfix.
Doing the same. Siege Cascade is definitely slept on.
However, I don't think the Shard Scavenger bug you're referring to is a bug. For Shard Scavenger to proc the skill itself must do the consuming (e.g. High Velocity Rounds). You need to add Explot Weakness or Biting Frost to Siege Cascade to utilize Shard Scavenger. Though the wording on the skill seems like it includes all consumption effects as long as the crossbow is equipped.
Came accross this post googling solutions to my single target and to my surprise it was made couple hours ago.
I'm running SC tactician and it absolutely wipes t16+2 maps with basically no supports but single target is dogshit.
I was using explosive grenade for a bit but the cooldown on it makes uptime on bosses pretty bad and damage fell off a cliff as well.
I also tried corrosive gas grenade with high velocity rounds and it felt meh, worse than explosive grenade.
Building SC for single target seems way to convoluted, any alternative suggestions? not looking to 1shot +4 pinnacles just something for mapping t16 bosses.
I am not smart enough to understand this, but I am looking forward to trying lol
real quick, is this just another one-button spam build, or are you doing other things there?
How did you level the build? And did you swap to Siege Cascade as soon as you could equip it, or did you wait until you got some other upgrade(s)?
Great guide, tr6ing this out soon. Ty
Cons: Is not lightning spear
My man thats a pro. Props for such a comprehensive breakdown. I'm sure this will be a resource for years to come.
Is not lightning spear
Thats not a con. That's the no.1 PRO.
Correct me if I'm wrong, this build only works because the "All damage pins" somehow overrides the "Payoff" tag on Siege Cascade?
Because no part of Siege cascade should be able to pin, due to the payoff tag (payoff tag means skill with that tag can't apply the debuff that they interact with, in this case pin).
A little clarification from GGG on which modifier overrides which in these scenarios would be nice because I would have thought a build like this isn't even possible because Payoff means you can't pin with siege cascade no matter what.
Could you explain why should i spec into combat frenzy and charge infusion ? is that 12% skill speed that huge for 30 spirit investment.
Also what about trinity, are you just going for 1 resonace for 12% more damage ?
When getting the gear, is armor/evasion gear preferred once it meets the min requirements you have in the filters? Also, did you try valako's vice gauntlets for the build?
I'm currently running this with non crit (decent crit weapon was really hard/expensive to find)
I was wondering why not use Ripwire Ballista instead ? or the damage from Artillery is more worth while
Im running tactictian totems(3 artillery turrets and 2 ballista turrets) with the pinning and disabled when pinned, and solid plan and dear lord is just like this but is the turrets that boomboom
Swapped to this earlier today and it's much better than what I was using. Thank you for the detailed guide!
Is there a way to meaningfully increase pin duration outside of the lockdown support gem?
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Thank you. Why do you select ‘empowered attack node’ to set 2 weapon (tangletongue spear)?
Is it working? if I use 'emergency reload' with the set1 weapon, will that node be applied to my set 1 weapon (crossbow)?
God bless you