New Player looking for 'melee gunner build'

[Chardeux]

Hello!

I am new to PoE2, but I have been stalking the build boards for some days now.

Current 'downtime' in quarantine has given me some time to catch up on some RPG titles. I am turning my attention to PoE2 and I would like to build a rogue-like aoe gunner.  

I had come across Boeroer's  Watershaper's Focus + Driving Flight combo (which I know has been nerfed a bit). I love the assassination style, but I was wondering if there was something that would let me get a little more down and dirty in the thick of things.

Many thanks in advance!

[Boeroer]

Since I like AoE:

Single Class Monk with Hand Mortar + Fire in the Hole. It's superb. Duality (INT), Lightning Strikes, Stunning Surge, Flagellant's Path, Resonant Touch and Whispers of the Wind are key abilities.

Also works very well with Monk/Streetfighter. Here Powder Burns triggers the Streetfighter Passive all the time. Duality (INT), Arterial Strike (AoE), Toxic Strike, Stunning Surge, Flagellant's Path.

SC Streetfighter with Gambit and dual mortars. Same as above. At PL8 you can spam Gambit endlessly vs. mobs and at PL9 you can use Vanishing Strike (invisibility doesn't break) in combination with Backstab+Gambit. Before that Arterial Strike and such with the AoE is very good as well. Gambit builds up guile per crit and gets then capped at 4. But while it's executed "internally" there's no limit. Gambit's dmg gets boosted by remaining Guile. So gainst lots of enemies with your AoE you will crit a lot which will in some cases lead to +200% dmg bonus for some attack rolls in the AoE. 

SC Fighter with melee weapon or bashing shield + Fire in the Hole or Current's Rush: Clear Out, Clear the Path and Clean Sweep all work with a ranged weapon if you have a melee weapon equipped as well. Results in AoE*AoE hits which is pretty devastating.

Fighter/Ranger with the same concept, but with Driving Flight and only Clear Out. Comes together later but you can make better use of ranged weapons earlier. 

SC Ranger with the same concept but Whirling Strikes. Very powerful. 

Ranger/Wizard with dual mortars and Driving Flight, Essential Phantom and Combusting Wounds. Cast Essential Phantom and Combusting Wounds and then shower those enemies with mortar shots from two chars. Self Buffs, Miasma (Reflex debuff), Pull of Eora, Slicken etc: very good to keep them close together while hitting them.

SC Furyshaper with dual mortars and Heart of Fury. Blood Ward, Blood Storm, Panther's Leap, Barbaric Retaliation, Blood Surge, Driving Roar (or the other one). Before later levels use Frenzy Ward, then Fear Ward. Blood Ward drains life from DoT ticks as well, so Blood Storm will provide constant healing ticks. Retaliation also works with mortars. 

SC Fury with Deltro's Cage and dual mortars or melee/Hand Mortar. Shock spells, Heart of the Storm, Avenging Storm (!). Hand Mortar has the enchantment "Blinding Smoke" which triggers an AoE cone with every crit which leads to a lot of hit rolls - all triggering Avenging Storm. Until then (PL8) you can use Taste of the Hunt with Sun & Moon or Spiritshift, focusing on the casting. Later dual mortars with Avenging Storm destroys mobs. 

Blunderbusses have short range and thus you are kind of forces to be close. One mortar can be exchanged by Current's Rush or/and a melee weapon. Best if used with Heaven's Cacophony (Avenging Storm).

Mortars also work with Riposte if you have a melee weapon or bashing shield. So things like Tuotilo's Palm + Fire in the Hole with Monk/Trickster and Riposte or so can be a thing. Or Fighter/Trickster (Magran's Blessing) or whatever has high deflection and Riposte. Especially if you stack deflection against Disengament Attacks and then run around wildly, triggering attacks that will miss which triggers Riposte. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chardeux]

What an incredible response. This is much more than I ever imagined. So many possibilities!

My sincere thanks.

-Char

 

[dgray62]

13 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Since I like AoE:

Single Class Monk with Hand Mortar + Fire in the Hole. It's superb. Duality (INT), Lightning Strikes, Stunning Surge, Flagellant's Path, Resonant Touch and Whispers of the Wind are key abilities.

Boeroer, does Lightning Strikes apply the lash to ranged attacks? I thought it didn't, but I may be wrong about this. Also, when you use WotW with dual mortars, do you get the AOE BOOM-BOOM on all six targets? That would be impressive, I'm sure!

[Boeroer]

Yes, it does. Turning Wheel doesn't (without community patch).

Yes, Whispers of the Wind will do AoE-attacks (+ Powder Burns) with both mortars on all jump points. You can have more than 6 jumps - they scale with Power Level. If you for example use Empower you'll get more jumps. If you use Avenging Storm from Heaven's Cacophony you will also create an unbelievable number of procs due to Blinding Smoke triggering all the time. 
This works extremely well with Resonant Touch as one might guess. Every hit will add a stack of Resonant Touch. So if somethings still standing afterwards you just rigger Resonant Touch and that's is usually:

Those are CRE_Dummies who have very high health. Usually "normal" enemies don't survive this. THe more crowded the enemies are the better. Best to lure them with a spell from stealth - or let a tank engage them.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Boeroer

[dgray62]

Thanks!I was confusing the Lightning Strikes lash with the Turning Wheel lash.

[Lunateric]

56 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Yes, it does. Turning Wheel doesn't (without community patch).

Yes, Whispers of the Wind will do AoE-attacks (+ Powder Burns) with both mortars on all jump points. You can have more than 6 jumps - they scale with Power Level. If you for example use Empower you'll get more jumps. If you use Avenging Storm from Heaven's Cacophony you will also create an unbelievable number of procs due to Blinding Smoke triggering all the time. 
This works extremely well with Resonant Touch as one might guess. Every hit will add a stack of Resonant Touch. So if somethings still standing afterwards you just rigger Resonant Touch and that's is usually:

Those are CRE_Dummies who have very high health. Usually "normal" enemies don't survive this. THe more crowded the enemies are the better. Best to lure them with a spell from stealth - or let a tank engage them.

Wow, this looks amazing. Wondering something though, how do you handle single target cases?

[Boeroer]

With a normal blunderbuss (instantly applies four stacks of Resonant Touch on a single enemy) or the Long Pain. Normal fist attacks also still work of course, it's still a Monk after all. 

[Lunateric]

If you wield a single blunderbuss on the offhand with a fist as main hand can you trigger powder burns (for a streetfighter) as melee?

 

EDIT: tested and no, I didn't notice with Serafen early but if you dual wield melee/range weapons only one ever gets to attack according to range.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Lunateric

[Haplok]

Maybe it would work if you used a Full Attack ability at point blank (Stunning Blow/Surge or one of the rogue skills?).

Or a Mobility Full Attack ability, such as Flagellant's Path.

[Boeroer]

Normal Full Attacks usually also only use the melee weapon (if at melee range) afair. But there are exceptions like Clear Out, Heart of Fury and Whirling Strikes that use both. Also Riposte will use both and I think (?) Cleaving Stance as well. Barbaric Retaliation, too. Flagellant's Path may also work with both weapons but I'm not 100% sure. Streetfighter could use high deflection against Disengament Attacks with Riposte or trigger Riposte with out-of-reach misses I guess. 

[Haplok]

I do believe Flagellant's Path was triggering both my melee rapier and offhand Thunderous Report implement - blunderbuss.