![[PoE 2] - 0.5 GRENADE TOTEM WARBRINGER STARTER - More Gameplay Showcase // New Player friendly](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OH2MM7RlrWA/maxresdefault.jpg)
Overview
Poeguy007 returns to his Grenade Totem Warbringer for a third straight league start, this time on patch 0.5 of the Return of the Ancients leagues. The pitch is unchanged: a one-button Warrior setup built around ballista totems hurling grenades from a crossbow, intended to carry a new or returning player from the campaign all the way through Atlas content on day-three or day-four gear. The whole video is shot on the so-called normal version — the cheap version — to prove the setup does not need the more expensive max-version crossbow to handle pinnacle bosses at difficulty plus one and plus two.
What changed for 0.5 is the essence economy. In previous patches you could deterministically craft a crossbow with plus five to attack skills on league start; in 0.5 that combination is no longer cheap, so the showcase intentionally runs without gem levels on the weapon. The extra ballista totem implicit, grenade implicit, and flat physical damage are still craftable cheaply, and the creator notes that a fully maxed gem-level crossbow ends up in the 30-to-40 Exalt range later in the league instead of being a day-one craft.
Defensively the build leans hard on raw armour, supplemented by physical damage to attacks on rings and gloves and optional fire damage to attacks for some elemental coverage. No mana is used in the rotation, which Poeguy007 frames as a major quality-of-life win — totems do the work, you stand back and reposition.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Genuinely one-button gameplay once totems are placed, which the creator pitches as ideal for new players and for relaxed sessions
- Cheap to gear at league start — day-three or day-four rares are enough to push waystone 15 and run the full Atlas content rotation (Ritual, Abyss, Expedition, Breach)
- Pinnacle bosses at difficulty plus one and plus two are clearable on the normal version, not just the maxed-out variant
- No mana cost in the core rotation, which removes a whole class of regen and sustain problems
- Three flexible amulet options (rare with plus projectile skills, Idol of Full Doom for an extra totem, or Firefly for fire scaling) let you slot in whatever the trade market is giving you
Cons
- Acts 1 and 2 are admittedly clunky on Warrior, especially for players new to PoE2 — the build does not start to feel good until end-of-campaign and waystone progression
- Pinnacle difficulty plus three requires the more expensive max version of the build, not the normal cheap setup shown
- Totem playstyle is not for everyone — the creator is candid that some players prefer pressing buttons themselves rather than letting deployables do the killing
- Clear speed is fast but not in the same tier as flicker strike or lightning arrow blast builds
Key Skills
- Explosive Grenade (via Ballista Totem) — the core damage skill; the crossbow’s grenade implicit and extra-totem implicit are what make this work on a budget
- Ballista Totem — placement skill that converts the grenade into a deployed turret; the build wants as many concurrent totems as gear and passives allow
- Warbringer ascendancy — provides the armour and totem-friendly defensive ascendancy nodes that let a Warrior stand still long enough to keep totems active
- Optional Fire Skill (via Firefly amulet) — alternate scaling path for players who lean into fire damage to attacks on the gloves and rings instead of pure physical
Gear & Anointments
The weapon is the priority. Look for a crossbow with the extra ballista totem implicit, the grenade implicit, and high flat physical damage; gem levels are nice-to-have rather than mandatory in 0.5. Amulet is one of three options — a rare with plus two or plus three to projectile skills, the unique Idol of Full Doom for one extra totem, or the unique Firefly if you want to scale fire damage. Rings and gloves want flat physical damage to attacks, with fire damage to attacks as a viable add-on. Body armour is whatever rolls the highest armour value you can find plus resistances; no need to chase a specific unique on league start. The creator stresses doing your ascendancy labs on time — the Warbringer nodes are what make the defenses hold up.
Endgame Notes
The showcase confirms that the normal version handles waystone 15 and 16 maps with map mods, pinnacle bosses at difficulty plus one and plus two (King of the Mist shown clearing both), and the standard Atlas content rotation. For pinnacle plus three the creator routes players to the max version, which uses the same skeleton but pays for the plus-five attack-skill crossbow. The creator also notes that the build was tested live on Twitch from level one in this same patch, and that a full campaign-progression companion video is being filmed the same day for new players who want the gem-swap timeline.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Poeguy007. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: [PoE 2] - 0.5 GRENADE TOTEM WARBRINGER STARTER - More Gameplay Showcase // New Player friendly.