Overview
Oil Barrage on a Martial Artist is the creator’s pick for a 0.5.5 league start, chosen less for spreadsheet numbers than for how it feels the moment the campaign begins. Barrage fires a wide spread of oil projectiles that paint burning ground across most of the screen, so the build reaches comfortable full-screen coverage far earlier than most attack setups and shreds campaign bosses without a gear investment gate.
The Martial Artist chassis is what makes it a real starter rather than a novelty. It bakes in enough defence that the build never plays like a glass cannon, and it transitions into Chaos Inoculation smoothly once the campaign is behind you. Movement comes from Twister, giving the loop a zoom-and-detonate rhythm: reposition with Twister, plant a barrage, repeat.
This entry is a plans-and-first-impressions piece rather than a step-by-step guide — the creator states outright they are not producing a full guide for it and points viewers to J Mac’s version instead. Treat it as a read on why the archetype is worth starting, not as a levelling script.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Full-screen area coverage very early, with minimal gear behind it
- Melts campaign bosses from the opening acts onward
- Martial Artist supplies solid baked-in defence; no glass-cannon phase
- Clean transition into Chaos Inoculation later
- Very fast clear once Twister is folded into the movement loop
Cons
- Barrage roots you in place for a beat regardless of attack speed, capping how fast the loop can ever get
- Slightly less damage than the Oil Grenade version, which gets more out of exposure
- The creator expects a nerf, precisely because full-screen AoE this cheap rarely survives a balance pass
- No dedicated guide from this creator — you are following the archetype, not their build list
Key Skills
- Oil Barrage — the core attack; a wide projectile spread that leaves burning ground
- Twister — movement and repositioning between barrages
- Chaos Inoculation — the mid-game defensive pivot the Martial Artist tree makes easy
Gear & Anointments
No unique is treated as mandatory here — the appeal is that the archetype works from the ground up on found gear. The creator notes Oil Barrage also slots into a Flame Blast setup as a grenade-free alternative for players who dislike managing grenade cooldowns, since it applies the same burning ground. Specific uniques and anoints are to be confirmed against the source video and the linked full guide.
Endgame Notes
The creator’s endgame plan sits on the reworked Trial of Chaos as a primary farm, with Wildwood plus Delirium in maps as the backup rotation. If the on-hit Oil Barrage version stalls at a higher budget, their stated fallback is a Cast on Dodge Gemling setup.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Dslily. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: My Plans for PoE 2 0.5.5 - Oil Barrage Martial Artist League Starter.