[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)
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Golems are minor QoL. You can do without them and there won't be a noticeable difference, but it'll add up over time. So like instead of clearing (and these are totally arbitrary numbers) 100 maps a day without a golem, you would clear 105 with a golem.
Not sure what the actual difference would end up being but on a map per map basis it's fairly negligible. So you say it takes 1 minute to do a boss or something without a golem. It'd take you 58 seconds with one. That sorta thing. VLT though, different story, even after the nerf it's an additional multiplier to your damage (unlike golems, which are increased). Definitely helpful for boss fights. That shaves more around 15% of time (10 seconds, in this instance) off a boss kill, presuming shocking ground is up the whole time. I've never played around with the smoke mine setup, so I don't really have thoughts on that other than to say for normal builds I play, the Stibnite flask (smoke cloud + evasion) has been VERY helpful, so I can see a cwdt smoke mine setup working well too if you wanted to go for something more defensively oriented. I've been playing this game for years though and played CA for 1.5 years at the start of every league and never really felt additional defenses were required past Acrobatics and Phase Acro, then the double Seething flask setup. But, that's coming from the perspective of a relatively skilled player, so take that with some salt. Feel free to try it out though. Not knocking it just because I personally don't need it. Jul 27, 2011 - Sept 30, 2018.
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Hey Serleth,
Just wanted to thank you for keeping this guide up to date for so long and with the same quality. It's one of the most comprehensive guide I've seen and it reflects how much you love this build (I've played this build back in the days and was impressed it was still going and was up to date with 3.0). I'm having a blast leveling this character (level 47 atm). I just sold the gear of my Bleedsplosion Gladiator and managed to get my hand on most of the gear needed for the build (300+ chaos): Keep up the good work, we appreciate it! :) | |
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Aww thanks Ted <3
Jul 27, 2011 - Sept 30, 2018.
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Crafted me a +3 bow, quick service, helpful and awesome, bump.
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I didn't?
Did someone else in this thread? Because I certainly did not help craft :/ Jul 27, 2011 - Sept 30, 2018.
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My thoughts on 3.0 and Harbinger
Spoiler
Thoughts on 3.0: =============== I really like the new acts - perhaps it's mostly because the content is new to me; nonetheless, playing the same 3 acts over and over again at slightly higher difficulties just makes leveling a grind. I actually enjoy leveling in 3.0. The lab changes are most welcome too. Normal/Cruel labs are a breeze and, if you're not a lab runner, you can even complete that end-lab room prophecy in normal mode lab quite easily. ES-balance - I guess they may have gotten this right. I haven't tried ES in 3.0 so the nerf may have gone a bit too far. Still I see some ES toons out there so the balance is probably just about right. And the ES changes have had a most welcome effect on the economy. First off, Exalts are now reasonably priced. This opens up the possibility of meta-crafting without too much investment. For example, I made this ring for my blade flurry toon: I'd never have done this in past leagues. I might even craft a +3 staff of some sort this league - it's not too expensive (and cheaper still by abusing Annulment Orbs to get a single +2 prefix rare). Secondly, with the focus on life-based builds, chest piece uniques have become much more valuable. Thirdly, and as a follow-on to the 2nd point above, fuse prices are high because there's a lot more 6-linking going on as opposed to getting a 6-link ES chest from cards. Fuse prices will eventually dip as the league wears on but I expect they'll remain a bit higher this league than in past leagues. Finally, points 2 and 3 mean that magic finding is much more attractive this league. You'll be getting far more from those fuses you collect and the unique chests you find will also sell for much more. ===== The one complaint I have about 3.0 is that AOE took too much of a nerf. And frankly I'm puzzled by this. If the intent was to slow down clear speed, this failed - in 3.0 numerous projectile builds mow down content just as fast as in prior leagues. I'd like to see AOE buffed to be competitive with projectile skills and I'd like to see the clear speed meta remain. For me it's more fun to mow down lots of mobs than to grind through maps slowly. My grade for 3.0: A- (- due to imbalance between projectile and AOE). ====== Thoughts on Harbinger League: ============================ It's kind of "meh" to me. Nothing really new. The new orbs are nice and I really like that you can use an orb to get +1 to a map level. This has the effect of making T16 maps really, really cheap which is nice. The Annulment Orbs are really nice too. You can use these for some nice meta crafting, and they make crafting +3 staffs much more affordable. My grade for Harbinger: C+ (some interesting new orbs, but nothing particularly new or exciting otherwise). Last edited by hankinsohl on Aug 29, 2017, 3:33:55 AM
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It's great to see the build continue to flourish! I've played CA for basically every patch and it's nice to see that it still goes strong. With that said, I'm curious as to its limits. How high of a tier can this build run smoothly?
I'm tempted to sell off everything and go full CA once again.. but I wanna make sure that I'm going in with the right mindset. Thanks in advance for any comments. And Serleth, thank you for being so helpful and taking the time to continually improve on CA. :) | |
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Thanks for your kind words =)
I haven't played it this patch so others that want to chime in can, but before the buff to CA (and bosses), I was doing T14s just fine in 2.6 and prior. With the IIR gem slotted as the 6th link. T15s is where it started to have an issue, but most notably only with the Daresso in T15 Colosseum and Malachai in T15 Core. I was able to take down 8-mod Abyss, rare Overgrown Ruin, 8-mod Dark Forest Rigwald and any Shaped T15 boss, but not without struggles (depending on the mods). I would say for most people up to T12/T13 should be pretty comfortable. I did have issues with Sulphur Wastes T13 if it was super crazy, simply because it's such a tiny arena, but other than that, easy peasy chicken febreezy. Jul 27, 2011 - Sept 30, 2018.
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read the last 20 pages and didn't saw anything about this so...
Isn't Revelry better than Soul Siphon? We couldn't have less issues (and need of Clarity with +mana on hit in place of +mana on kill) ? IGN: Atiradinha
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Nope, you're shooting the ground once and then moving. You'll kill a pack of 10+ monsters with one shot (100 mana recovered) versus hitting a few enemies once (four to nine enemies, depending on additional arrows and pierced targets) for 8-18 mana.
Only way you'd take advantage of Revelry reliably is by popping off the Frenzy CoH setup, but between clarity and the fact that you're going to fire once and start dodging (bosses included), you won't be generating enough hits fast enough for it to matter. Even against bosses, given that you're going to fire once and then start moving, you'll regenerate the mana before you even fire off another arrow (not factoring in reduced recovery mods on maps). Revelry and MGoH in general is largely for MASSIVELY high aps builds or skills, like Cyclone. For our "fire and forget" playstyle, it would contribute almost nothing. Jul 27, 2011 - Sept 30, 2018. Last edited by Serleth on Aug 29, 2017, 10:08:37 PM
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