![[PoE 2] - POEGUY's 0.5.5 STARTER // CHEAP, LAZY, TANKY & DOES ALL CONTENT. // Reminder + Showcase](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Tck6oxQ_qEQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
Overview
This is a Warbringer league starter built entirely around Mortar Cannon totems, and its whole pitch is that it asks almost nothing of you. You drop totems and you move — that is the rotation. The creator has started with this shell across three consecutive patches, refining it each time, and reports reaching Waystone 15-16 content on roughly one to two Divine Orbs of gear.
What keeps it alive at that budget is the ascendancy rather than the gear. Totems standing near you redirect a share of incoming hit damage away from your character, Jade Heritage grants a reusable absorption shield and pushes maximum physical damage reduction up toward the cap, and summoning totems generates spirits — one of which raises global defences in its radius. Stack those on top of armour applying to elemental damage and strong life regeneration, and the character is genuinely durable long before it is well-geared.
The build also breaks enemy armour for free through the ascendancy, so no support skill has to be spent on it, and it runs without a restrictive map-modifier filter — the creator states it handles any Waystone roll. That makes it a comfortable pick for newer players, which is explicitly who it is designed for.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Genuinely cheap: the creator clears Waystone 15-16 on one to two Divines of gear
- One-button playstyle — summon totems, keep moving, no targeting required
- Tanky for the budget thanks to totem damage redirection, Jade Heritage, and the spirit buffs
- Free armour break from the ascendancy, so no support slot is spent on it
- Runs every map modifier; no need to filter Waystones once the build is going
- Simple gem setup deliberately kept new-player friendly, with a written guide and per-act progression
Cons
- Totem damage is delayed by nature — you set up rather than burst on demand
- Warrior act one is awkward for new players; the campaign is played as Volcanic Fissure until the Interlude act, then swapped to Mortar Cannon
- Low-interaction gameplay will feel dull to players who want an active rotation
- Ceiling depends on crossbow crafting, which is a separate skill to learn
Key Skills
- Mortar Cannon — the endgame payload, played through totems; picked up at the Interlude act swap
- Volcanic Fissure — the campaign carry skill used from act one until the swap
- Jade Heritage — the ascendancy defensive button: a reusable absorbing shield plus raised maximum physical damage reduction
- Totem summoning — doubles as the damage engine and a defensive layer, granting spirit buffs (including the turtle) as they stack
Gear & Anointments
The crossbow is the one piece worth effort — the creator provides a dedicated crafting video for a budget version and stresses that a perfect roll is not needed at league start. Everything else is filled with cheap resistance and life pieces; the written guide’s league-start item list is deliberately affordable.
Idol of Full Doom and Rise of the Phoenix are named as optional campaign pickups if they happen to drop, not as requirements. Specific anointments to be confirmed against the source video and the written build guide.
Endgame Notes
The creator expects 0.5.5 endgame to resemble 0.5: Trial of Chaos experimentation and juiced Abyss through Viridian Wildwood wisps. The build is described as clearing every boss in the game including Simulacrum and Arbiter, with Mageblood or Headhunter treated as optional upgrades rather than build enablers.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Poeguy007. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: POEGUY’s 0.5.5 STARTER // CHEAP, LAZY, TANKY & DOES ALL CONTENT.