S-TIER | BUILD MERCENAIRE SUPPORTING FIRE TACTICIAN (@P4wnyhof) | SAISON 5

Build Video

Build Overview

This Mercenary build revolves around Supporting Fire and is the final version of P4wnyhof‘s Tactician for patch 0.5.5. The whole concept comes down to one skill: Supporting Fire, a minion skill that scales with minion ranks, but also with your Strength. With 400 Strength, the unbuffed hit exceeds 200,000 damage per second, and the four Blood Elementals following you each add 40,000 to 56,000 more. The result: tier 15 maps in 200% Delirium cleared without slowing down, and pinnacle bosses dropping before they finish their first phase.

Gameplay comes down to moving forward and casting Supporting Fire. To shorten its cooldown, you keep the Arcane Surge buff up by spending mana: one shot from Skeletal Sniper, a Gas Arrow, or the flamethrower from Skeletal Arsonist parked at the edge of the screen is enough. Malice, carried by Blasphemy, applies a critical vulnerability to nearby enemies and pushes your 15% crit chance up to 20, 25, then 30%. The skeleton minions aren’t the main DPS: they strip armour from targets, apply shock, and keep Arcane Surge active.

What makes the 0.5.5 version special is its defense. A Tactician ascendancy notable caps your physical damage reduction at 50%, but grants 200% extra armour. Combined with Morior Invictus and a notable that converts part of that armour into Deflection, the character tanks 200% Delirium content with only 2,200 to 2,400 life. All this for a budget of 25 Divine Orbs, and the author notes he had already reached tier 15 maps with just five Divines.

Strengths / Weaknesses

Skill Gem Setup by Step

This build offers 9 progression steps from leveling to the final build. Select a step to see the corresponding gem setup.

Act 1 Act 2 (Lvl 28) Act 2 (Minion Transition) Act 3 Act 4 Interludes LvL 75 (3rd Asc) 85 (4th Asc) 90+

Act 1

4 skills • 10 gemmes

Carreaux à fragmentationFragmentation Rounds

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Grenade explosiveExplosive Grenade

Carreaux de permagivrePermafrost Bolts

Acte 2 (Lvl 28)

6 skills • 15 gemmes

Tir de soutienSupporting Fire

Grenade explosiveExplosive Grenade

Héraut de la glaceHerald of Ice

Tireurs d'élite squelettiquesSkeletal Sniper

Carreaux à fragmentationFragmentation Rounds

Carreaux de permagivrePermafrost Bolts

Acte 2 (Minion Transition)

7 skills • 16 gemmes

Tir de soutienSupporting Fire

Pureté de la glacePurity of Ice

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Mages de givre squelettiquesSkeletal Frost Mage

Incendiaires squelettiquesSkeletal Arsonist

BondissementPounce

Tireurs d'élite squelettiquesSkeletal Sniper

Act 3

9 skills • 28 gemmes

Tir de soutienSupporting Fire

Pureté de la glacePurity of Ice

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Mages de givre squelettiquesSkeletal Frost Mage

Incendiaires squelettiquesSkeletal Arsonist

BondissementPounce

Ravageurs squelettiquesSkeletal Reaver

Tireurs d'élite squelettiquesSkeletal Sniper

Adjonction spectraleBind Spectre

Act 4

10 skills • 32 gemmes

Tir de soutienSupporting Fire

Pureté de la glacePurity of Ice

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Mages de givre squelettiquesSkeletal Frost Mage

Incendiaires squelettiquesSkeletal Arsonist

BondissementPounce

Adjonction spectraleBind Spectre

Ravageurs squelettiquesSkeletal Reaver

Mages de l'orage squelettiquesSkeletal Storm Mage

Tireurs d'élite squelettiquesSkeletal Sniper

Interludes

10 skills • 32 gemmes

Tir de soutienSupporting Fire

Pureté de la glacePurity of Ice

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Mages de givre squelettiquesSkeletal Frost Mage

Incendiaires squelettiquesSkeletal Arsonist

BondissementPounce

Adjonction spectraleBind Spectre

Ravageurs squelettiquesSkeletal Reaver

Mages de l'orage squelettiquesSkeletal Storm Mage

Tireurs d'élite squelettiquesSkeletal Sniper

LvL 75 (3rd Asc)

10 skills • 32 gemmes

Tir de soutienSupporting Fire

Pureté de la glacePurity of Ice

Levée de bouclierRaise Shield

Mages de givre squelettiquesSkeletal Frost Mage

Incendiaires squelettiquesSkeletal Arsonist

BondissementPounce

Adjonction spectraleBind Spectre

Ravageurs squelettiquesSkeletal Reaver

Mages de l'orage squelettiquesSkeletal Storm Mage

Tireurs d'élite squelettiquesSkeletal Sniper

85 (4th Asc)

11 skills • 40 gemmes

Tir de soutienSupporting Fire

MaliceMalice

Étendard de guerreWar Banner

Clercs squelettiquesSkeletal Cleric

Mages de givre squelettiquesSkeletal Frost Mage

Incendiaires squelettiquesSkeletal Arsonist

BondissementPounce

Mages de l'orage squelettiquesSkeletal Storm Mage

Tireurs d'élite squelettiquesSkeletal Sniper

Adjonction spectraleBind Spectre

Ravageurs squelettiquesSkeletal Reaver

90+

11 skills • 47 gemmes

Tir de soutienSupporting Fire

MaliceMalice

Ravageurs squelettiquesSkeletal Reaver

Tireurs d'élite squelettiquesSkeletal Sniper

Clercs squelettiquesSkeletal Cleric

Mages de givre squelettiquesSkeletal Frost Mage

Incendiaires squelettiquesSkeletal Arsonist

Mages de l'orage squelettiquesSkeletal Storm Mage

Adjonction spectraleBind Spectre

BlasphèmeBlasphemy

BondissementPounce

Recommended Equipment

The full equipment grid is shown further below. Here’s what the author looks for on each piece, in the order of importance he himself gives it.

• Two-handed weapon: Chober Chaber. Look for the lowest possible Intelligence requirement (this one demands 247), maximum Spirit, and ideally +4 to minion skills. A +3 copy costs one or two Divines, the +4 one cost 30. Early league, Trenchtimbre does the same job for less. On the planner, weapon set 1 carries a Fury Talisman alone, and set 2 pairs Chober Chaber with the Omen Sceptre in the off-hand.
• Sceptre: Omen Sceptre base, mandatory to get Malice. Take minion ranks and Spirit. It takes 422 Spirit to summon four Blood Elementals. That’s the Giants Blood keystone from the tree that lets you hold Chober Chaber in one hand and the sceptre in the other.
• Body armour: Morior Invictus, with its Soul Core sockets (the author’s copy has six, the planner shows four): maximum life, +2 to all attributes and Spirit in each socket, plus chaos resistance and Strength cores. The planner runs through Soul Mantle between Act 3 and level 75. Before getting Morior Invictus, The Brass Dome and its 4,000 armour do the job.
• Helmet: +2 to minion skills above all (that’s worth more than 20,000 DPS on Supporting Fire), then life, armour, chaos resistance, and Strength or Intelligence.
• Gloves: double resistance, +33 Strength at the first tier, life, mana and armour.
• Boots: double resistance, « armour also applies to elemental damage » at the highest tier possible (41 to 43%), 30% movement speed and life. The unique boots that improve reservation efficiency allow one extra Blood Elemental, but cap speed at 15%.
• Amulet: +2 to minion skills and 45 Spirit. The hidden anoint removes the cooldown on Arcane Surge, which costs four Divines. As a corruption implicit, all skills’ quality or minion skill recovery.
• Rings: minion damage and minion critical strike chance (up to 40%), with 33 Strength or Intelligence, life and rarity. Good stats come before crit.
• Runes: Greater Rune of Leadership in the weapon, so your minions gain 10% of their physical damage as extra lightning damage. On 90,000 physical damage per hit from Supporting Fire, that’s not trivial.

Gameplay Tips

• Never dodge roll right after Supporting Fire. Dodging cancels the skill’s application. Cast it, wait a second, then move.
• Keep Arcane Surge active: before a boss, fire with the Skeletal Sniper, or corner the Skeletal Arsonist and trigger it on repeat. Once the buff is up, Supporting Fire drops from a 5.8-second cooldown to 1.6 seconds.
• Stick close to bosses. Malice under Blasphemy only works at range: it’s what makes the target vulnerable to critical hits and multiplies your damage.
• Alternate between Supporting Fire and Gas Arrow on tough bosses. The Sniper with Corrosion and Uruks Smelting strips armour, the Skeletal Reaver benefits from that penetration with Exploit Weakness, and the enemy takes 20% more damage.
• Let the Blood Elementals do the work. They kill a boss without you, hitting 40,000 DPS each with no buffs. With Arcane Surge and the auras, each one climbs to 56,000.
• Pounce is for repositioning now, not for marking enemies. Holy Descent regenerates life on landing and Knockback clears a path through packs.
• Switch Fire Attunement to Lightning Attunement on Supporting Fire: the build has neither fire nor cold, but it does have lightning thanks to the Rune of Leadership.

How to get the Blood Elemental spectre

The four Blood Elementals double the build’s damage on a single target, and capturing them is the only step in the build that requires some method. Head to Act 3 (past), after killing the Viper, in the Aggorat zone. You’re looking for two monsters that need to be in the same spot: a blood priestess, recognizable by the red skulls she throws, and a Vaal Goliath holding a drum. The drum is the detail that matters: without it, it’s not the right Goliath.

Deal damage to the Goliath without killing it. After a while, the priestess sacrifices it and a Blood Elemental appears in its place. That’s when you capture it as a spectre with your Bind Spectre gem. Once you have the first one, the number of copies summoned depends solely on your Spirit: 422 points allow for four. Every extra point of Spirit gained from gear brings you closer to a fifth.

Arcane Surge and the Supporting Fire cooldown

Without a buff, Supporting Fire has a cooldown of 5.81 seconds. Bidding II brings it down to 4.95 seconds, and a Bidding III would bring it to 3.97. The real gain comes from Arcane Surge: with the buff active, the skill recharges every 1.59 seconds. At that point you can almost hold the button down, and the applications stack. That’s how the 28,000 DPS shown with only 31 minion levels becomes 139,000 with the +2 helmet and the full buff.

Arcane Surge triggers when you spend mana. On a map, one shot from a Skeletal Sniper or the flamethrower from a Skeletal Arsonist cast to the side is enough. Before a boss, the author traps the Arsonist in a corner and recasts it on loop. The amulet’s hidden anoint reduces the buff’s effect but removes its cooldown: after its 16 seconds, you get it back immediately. To offset the lost effect, the tree takes the nodes that increase Arcane Surge‘s duration and its effect on you. Malice, combined with Upwelling II, adds 50% damage as long as your mana isn’t full. Since you keep spending mana on Arcane Surge, this bonus is permanent.

Defence: 200% armour and Morior Invictus

The Tactician ascendancy notable that defines this final version caps physical damage reduction at 50%, in exchange for 200% additional armour. On paper, that’s a strange trade. In practice, armour does two extra things in this build: the boots apply it to elemental damage up to 43%, and another notable grants a Deflection value equal to your armour. The more armour you stack, the more hits you deflect. Add 15% evasion and 17% base Deflection from the class, and the character can tank Simulacrum bosses at 200% Delirium with 2,200 to 2,400 life.

Morior Invictus replaces The Brass Dome in this setup. Its Soul Core sockets (six on the author’s copy) grant maximum life, +2 to all attributes and Spirit, with chaos resistance and Strength cores. You can also swap the life socket for resistances, which frees up Strength on the boots, gloves and helmet. The Spirit gain, though, isn’t negotiable: it’s what pays for the Blood Elementals. Giants Blood also grants 121 Strength and armour equal to the Strength requirements of your entire gear.

Progression and budget of the Mercenary Supporting Fire build

The build hits no walls. It starts with Trenchtimbre, moves to Chober Chaber once Intelligence allows it, then adds a sceptre with minion ranks and the +2 helmet. The amulet comes next, and each new piece adds Strength, and therefore damage. The author reached tier 15 maps with five Divines. The 25 Divines invested go toward making the character more lethal, not toward unlocking content.

On the tree, priority goes to minion damage and minion critical strike chance nodes, whose jewels cost between 20 and 80 Exalted Orbs. Minion critical damage bonuses remain too expensive. Then take 10 green, 10 blue and 10 red nodes for movement speed, mana and life, along with the 7% attribute nodes. The remaining points go into command skill cooldown reduction, reservation efficiency and Arcane Surge nodes. The author notes that one of his points in a critical damage bonus is wasted, remove it if you’re copying the tree as-is.

How to scale even further

Once pinnacle bosses are down, each further tier gets expensive. The build’s chase item, which grants 40% of physical damage as extra chaos damage, would add roughly 50,000 DPS to Supporting Fire, for 120 to 170 Divine Orbs. A five-minion-rank sceptre with Spirit costs 35 Divines. A four-rank amulet with 45 Spirit, between 60 and 70. A belt with +2 minion ranks, 140.

The most cost-effective choice, according to the author, is the amulet: two extra ranks bring 20,000 to 40,000 more DPS on Supporting Fire and push each Blood Elemental closer to 100,000 DPS. A more modest upgrade also exists: Hulking Minions is the weakest support in the setup, and it stays only because the item that outclasses it costs the price of an entire build. All of this is power for power’s sake. At the current budget, this Mercenary Supporting Fire build already farms everything except Expeditions.

Skill Tree