Path of Exile (PoE) Ballista Totem Explained

Path of Exile is a simple enough game to learn but as you progress it gets more complex and hard to grasp. Of course, the majority of game mechanisms, items, and skills are well explained but there are always a couple of things that slip through and leave players confused.

One thing that seemed unclarified for many players was the Ballista Totem. What is it, how does it work, and how to best use it? Read on to find answers to all of these questions.

Related: Path of Exile (PoE) Rarity Colors Explained

How to Best Use Ballista Totem in Path of Exile

Before we get to the core of the issue, we need to know what totems are in PoE. Totems are treated as a type of creature that either enemies or player characters can spawn and use for their benefit. Totems you spawn will use your stats, charges modifiers, and other buffs and auras.

Totems have a special status that doesn’t make them either a party member or a minion so you can’t boost them with skills that boost either one of those. They will be affected by defensive auras around them, but if you want them to use the benefits of an offensive aura, your character will have to be under the effect that will then transfer to them. Lastly, whatever auras totems have and emit will affect any minions or party members in their range.

Ballista Totem

Ballista Totem is a range type of totem that you can spawn with your character to fight for you. You can choose between three skill gems for your Ballista Totem:

1. Artillery Ballista – fires a burning arrow that does AoE damage
2. Shrapnel Ballista – fires multiple arrows at once
3. Siege Ballista – fires piercing arrows

Totems usually last for 8 seconds or until they are destroyed and deal a % of your base damage, which means they can scale well throughout the whole game. You don’t have to dedicate a lot of items of Passive skill tree nods in order for the Ballista Totem to be effective for you. Your auras and damage will be transferred to the Totem.

Furthermore, you will be able to summon only one totem by default but with certain support gems and passives, you will be able to summon more as well as boost their performance.Multiple Totems Support is a support gem that you can use to summon two totems instead of one, and Passive skills Panopticon and Watchtowers add to +1 the maximum number of summoned Ballista Totems. These passives also improve totem damage and aura buffs.

Ballista Totem Support

A support gem called Ballista Totem Support allows you to use this totem without you needing to have it as your attack skill. Instead, it’s a support gem that will trigger and spawn a Ballista Totem every time you cast a particular skill this gem is supporting. This is a good opportunity for anyone looking to perhaps experiment a bit with Ballista Totem before committing to using it as part of their main build.

We hope you found this article helpful. Check out more Path of Exile articles where we explain how to trade and how to use the Blood Altar. Follow Gamer Journalist on Facebook and get more exciting gaming news every day.