[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

Hey guys,

first off: Thanks Serleth for this wonderful build guide. I've been building CA rangers for a while now (started when this guide was actually still for rangers and the skill was called PA ;) and have enjoyed it ever since.

I am a casual player and have recently started a longlasting project: exclusive SSF.

I have given away all the items I bought over the years and only kept those I know for a fact I found on my own.

Now I started a few builds on Breach league, but wasnt really happy with them and moved back to standard where I had a level 80 scion from a previous league sitting around.
Luckily, I was lucky enough to have a carcass, several lvl 1 empowers, sadimas and a perandus belt lying around (found by myself of course).
Sadly, I only have a 4 linked +2 bow so far.

I decided to post my SSF adventure in this thread, since you (Ser), Hank and Chrono are regularely talking about other stuff as well, I thought you may enjoy seeing a potential progress. This is also a good way for me to get some feedback on what to look for in terms of upgrades.

Here is my gear so far:



I have a +2 Maraketh bow lying around, so the first thing for me to do, is save up on jewelers and fusings and getting a five link on it.
I am also chancing every gold ring and all nubuck boots I get my hands on to get the IIQ/IIR rolling.
I found 1 Andvarius on another toon, but I think I remember that I bought that FeelsBadMan haha...

I only get a few hours play time a week, so the updates will be infrequent. Let's see how it will work out. ;)

Cheers and once again thanks to Ser, Hank and Chrono for keeping me entertained with this thread for several years already :)

Cheers

=D

Thanks, Ben.

Gear's looking pretty solid for pure SSF stuff, as a start.

So obviously you know what to look for in the finalized version of the build.

In the meantime, you'd look to pick up some stat or res nodes either directly on the tree or through jewels, if necessary, in order to accommodate getting a gold amulet and gold rings with explicit rarity, and of course life & res.

Similarly, your helm could use an IIR boost.

Until the Andvarius/Ventors rings, I'd run TWO of the three: Sadima, Blazon, Goldwyrm. Your priority should be Goldwyrm and Blazon, allowing you to get higher IIQ but still stack more IIR on your glove slot.

However, if stats aren't an issue, but res is: drop Blazon for a rare belt.

If res isn't an issue, but stats are, definitely keep Blazon until you can sort that out.

Either way, you should be looking to stack as much IIR on every slot as possible. If that means you need to temporarily take stat/res nodes on the tree in order to make it work, do it. Once you have more IIR, this will dramatically increase your chances of being able to drop your own upgrades allowing you to spec out of those nodes on the tree.

Also, since you're going to be SSF, stockpiling currency is pointless. So, feel free to blow those alcs on every Slink Gloves, Lion Pelt and Gold Amulet that you come across, and chance all the gold rings. If you don't get Andy/Ventors, you'll still get rare rings out of them occasionally.

Don't chance for Goldwyrms, unless you end up with two Andvarius rings. You're much more likely to drop your own pair of Goldwyrms than you are Andvarius, so your chances should be invested into rings.

ALSO

To save the amount of currency you'll be blowing, don't forget the 5x recipe (vendoring five of any rare of the same basetype = unid rare of that basetype). So if five of your Lion Pelt alcs miss, you can get a sixth Pelt for free. Do this with the gloves, rings, and amulets.

You may also want to considering throwing some Essences at Zodiac Leathers and doing the same 5x thing with those, in the event you're having trouble with res balance. Carcass is QoL, but not required, and if you end up with some Andvarius rings but not sufficient upgrades to handle the res balance, a good rare chest will solve that for you until you get the ups that you need.

Best of luck on your journey, look forward to your updates =)

"

ben_hure wrote:

This is also a good way for me to get some feedback on what to look for in terms of upgrades.
Cheers

SSF can be brutal. I suppose it gets much better once your MF toon gets going.

I think you're on the right track - getting a 5-link would be my first priority.

At this early stage in character development, equipping a Carcass Jack may over-handicap you; it's hard to get resist capped early on and Carcass Jack makes this all the harder. If you feel resist-cap pressure, consider switching to an evasion chest with resists/life until you've had a chance to get more points on the tree for jewels/nodes to cover resists.

@ben_hure and the SSF Scion

Hmm... can you run maps with Perandus in Standard? I've had good luck buying Goldwyrm, Drillneck, and Carcass from Perandus. Better luck than I've had dropping them, in any case. Enough to offset the cost of buying the Zana mods for the map? Not too sure about that, but worth thinking about.

"

grimjack68 wrote:

Hmm... can you run maps with Perandus in Standard? I've had good luck buying Goldwyrm, Drillneck, and Carcass from Perandus. Better luck than I've had dropping them, in any case. Enough to offset the cost of buying the Zana mods for the map? Not too sure about that, but worth thinking about.

Zana mods are universal across all leagues, whenever they change them. So the mods you see in Breach will be available in Standard, yes.

Thanks for the bulk sale message tips, guys. Will use it when I'm into currency again. Right now I just want to maximize exp/h at any cost.

"

Serleth wrote:

Someone posted a Shaped Coves set of 100 they did, which I find interesting.

Wow, that guy has 4 maps in the pool from 11 to 15, all shaped. And here I am worrying that 111/126 is robbing me of some good maps. Incoming new atlas meta in 2.6: complete 0 maps for best drops!

I can understand not using all 8 of the shaped maps we can have 13-15 since they don't add completion, but he sacrifices another 19 clears basically because of the price differences between maps within each tier from 13 to 15. Well, that and the convenience of never dropping maps you don't want to run that need to be listed and traded away. Aand really neat and tidy looking map tabs that don't need to be sorted. Okay, I'm sold.

Also, this would make a lot of sense in HC for newer players. Less bosses with unwanted vaaling mods to have to either risk dying on or wait long to sell in the crappy HC economy.

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