RANGER FACEBREAKER - CRIT

Been working on some updates and when I saw that a Kaom's chest is going for about 15 chaos - 1ex - I had to try it on this build.

Since the damage is so high already you can switch to Kaom's Heart and run your main attack on a 4-L and still hit absurd DPS.

- Frenzy 4L was giving me 560k DPS
- 500hp Kaom's Heart gets me to 5.2k life (compared to 3.8k life with no chest -> 4.4k life with Belly). I think with 1000hp Kaom's I could get to 6.5k.

Then I wanted to add Arctic Armor as well for some phys mitigation (was planning to incorporate ECs into the build but didn't get a chance).

I didn't want to drop Hatred or Assassin's Mark on Blasphemy, so I had to run Enlighten level 3 and get ~12-13% reduced mana from the tree. So I dropped 8 points from the claw circle and got the reduced mana between Ranger and Shadow. This saved me an extra point so I used that point on Vaal Pact.

Tree:

This allowed me to run Hatred + Assassins Mark on Blasphemy + Arctic Armor.

However taking out the claw nodes dropped me to 390k damage or so.

Then with Raider full Avatar of the Veil you are immune to shock when Phasing, and you are always Phased at maximum frenzy charges. So using Frenzy skill allows you to use VoV and be immune to ALL elemental status ailments. This gives a massive boost to survivability when combined with Vaal Pact for high instant leech.

With this new tanky version, by changing 8 points on tree, I really liked it because the damage was still high and the defenses were VERY good:

Kaom's Build Profile:
- 5.2k life on regular Kaom's (6.5k on legacy)
- ~400k AOE DPS 4L Frenzy (Frenzy + MPD + Melee Splash + Multistrike)
- Arctic Armor (damage mitigation and chill of nearby enemies)
- High dodges (64%, 40%) and high blocks (48%, 19%). Add in Vaal Grace for max dodges (or quartz), and add in Stibnite for superb defense against attacks
- High lightning damage and Vaal Pact for crazy instant leech
- Ele status immunity

To use VoV you can swap Taste of Hate, thus VoV will still serve as a damage+defense flask like Taste of Hate.

If you prefer to have high mitigation you can keep Taste of Hate to combine with Arctic Armor, and just swap Lion's Flask or the Diamond flask for VoV.

Res may be a bit tight so you may need to grab the extra fire res node at Scion or take out a Puglist jewel and add another jewel with life and res.

Thanks to the 8-point Ascension: you can play very defensive on Raider and get the Phasing path + Onslaught path.

- Phasing path will give you more dodges and ele status immunity
- Onslaught path will give you more EV%. May be ideal to use Rotgut or a Silver flask to keep your Onslaught buff up.

With just Blind from Stibnite I hardly ever get hit by regular monster packs, so combining Blind with the more % EV from Avatar of the Chase - is a bit ridiculous.


Note!: this Kaom's version is much nicer for feeling safer on mapping, but it is NOT necessarily safer for killing bosses. I still prefer the higher-DPS version for boss killing as the damage is more than twice as high so you spend half as much time tanking the bosses and it makes most T14 and below bosses trivial:

T14 Plaza Map: https://youtu.be/ctfj0q_ZosE

Meanwhile the Kaom's version has less than half the DPS, but it won't feel like having 2x as much defenses to compensate. But still a good option for those who want to feel safer for regular mapping.

Making a few small changes and updating the guide for 2.4.

Added new maps.

Regular build:
T14 Conservatory 2x bosses: https://youtu.be/Nlamm8ZRrQM with temp chains, mini turbo and extra fire damage.

"Suicide" build:
T14 Palace 2x bosses: https://youtu.be/zuEEkw7r4tw with temp chains + vuln + ele weakness. This one is a bit of a "suicide" technique since you have no life flask but rely on VoV instead (for those using legacy VoV, or using Kaom's version with Vaal Pact). I put the Staunching mod on my Diamond flask with +20 charges so I am still bleed immune. And then I am ele status immune on full frenzy charges. I made some stupid mistakes but the advantage of this method is it actually feels a bit safer for the high damage bosses that do not have ele/chaos degen or regen phases, and perhaps something I would try and test on the T16 bosses. I had temp chains in this vid, but the higher thr movement speed the easier it becomes without the life flask. Light pen VoV is a massive damage boost since majority of our damage is already in lightning. So it's good for those who are comfortable without the life flask and prefer amping the damage instead on certain bosses.

It's really nice build that i plan to try in the new league, mostly since i really want to make some full frenzy/perma phasing raider build with high dodge and it fits perfectly.
I had some experience with shield charge/ancestral Warchief this league so i think of trying to change frenzy/melee splash with shield charge/faster attacks(maybe?), also martial artistry instead of one pugilism and maybe carcass jack? Guess the damage should be similar because even though i'd lose inc damage per FC from frenzy i' get bonus for charge distance and faster attacks would mitigate the attack speed lost. And i can imagine it be crazily fast running clearing machine with much better AoE than frenzy+melee splash. Yet it's higly probable that it will suck at single target and i'd have to change things back to your setup for harder bosses.
Anyway i'll totally try it once i get enough cash for rigwald's curse. Also thanks again for the guide.

Thinking about it, one could throw out the faster attacks and put there fortify/blind for extra defense, but missing some speed.

Hi buddy, thanks for post - it actually reminded me about Shield Charge. I had meant to check it out and make a vid but completely forgot.

It's very good on this build, and a great option for clearing fast.

I added a vid below - I'm terrible at aiming Shield Charge correctly so I don't clear packs well and get stuck on rocks lol. But if you have played Shield Charge before you'll be fine, and you can see that the potential is there:

https://youtu.be/w_2qr3I91mA

To improve AOE coverage you will probably need jewels with inc. radius of area mods, or even Herald of Ash.

I have quite a bit of lag with Fraps for Shield Charge since I don't have my gaming PC these days, but without Fraps it runs smooth.

Links I used were 3R2B1G: Shield Charge + MPD + ICC + Inc. AOE + Faster Attacks + Added Fire. You can use Fortify instead of Added Fire.

Tried it on some higher level maps as well: boss single target DPS is much lower so much more risky, but AOE clearing is great once you get used to Shield Charge.

Thanks for response. Video looks really nice, one will definitely have to get used to the speed of the shield charge, while over 100% movement speed bonus.
When it comes to aura, i thought of droping hatred and using Ass.Mark+Herald of Ash+Herald of Ice/Thunder(One let us shutter but another would let us schock enemies without P2L.

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foolfog wrote:

Thanks for response. Video looks really nice, one will definitely have to get used to the speed of the shield charge, while over 100% movement speed bonus.
When it comes to aura, i thought of droping hatred and using Ass.Mark+Herald of Ash+Herald of Ice/Thunder(One let us shutter but another would let us schock enemies without P2L.

Thanks bud. Yes that would work nicely. You could also just remove all cold damage and just focus on proliferation that way you can just charge each pack once and move on instead of retracing.

Then you could even run Arctic Armor or a Purity in place of Herald of Ice/Hatred. And since you do no cold you could use Atziri's Flask instead of Taste of Hate.

Additionally, you could just build more tanky and add Fortify instead of Added Fire, to help your Arctic Armor.

Great post, buddy.

I've already tried this build, but i'm using shadow.

And i want to try Ascendancy of bleeding+poison for a different play.(Insane damage i think)

It's fine so far.(Cruel lvl 41)
I use Shield Charge as the moving skill + aoe main skill.(With fortify)
Other skills combine:
Frenzy:P2L+AF+MPD+FA+MS
golem: Flame + increased damage(better than ice golem right now)
curse: Assasin(Boss close) + Warlord(Boss open)
totem: Warchief

It's really fast and fun.

The res is a big problem, and i will regret the normal bandit to choosing the res.

Cons: i didn't have a Rigwald's curse
Now i'm collecting The Cursed King card(now i have 3).

up.

"

ctaszeus wrote:

Great post, buddy.

I've already tried this build, but i'm using shadow.

And i want to try Ascendancy of bleeding+poison for a different play.(Insane damage i think)

It's fine so far.(Cruel lvl 41)
I use Shield Charge as the moving skill + aoe main skill.(With fortify)
Other skills combine:
Frenzy:P2L+AF+MPD+FA+MS
golem: Flame + increased damage(better than ice golem right now)
curse: Assasin(Boss close) + Warlord(Boss open)
totem: Warchief

It's really fast and fun.

The res is a big problem, and i will regret the normal bandit to choosing the res.

Cons: i didn't have a Rigwald's curse
Now i'm collecting The Cursed King card(now i have 3).

up.

Nice bud, hope you get your Rigwald's soon.

It's very interesting how you are doing 4L Shield Charge for movement and AOE main skill, and then keep Frenzy 6L as full single-target. That's actually a really good idea. You get the best of both worlds. I'll try it myself and will add to the guide as a suggestion.

"

Ceryneian wrote:

"

ctaszeus wrote:

Great post, buddy.

I've already tried this build, but i'm using shadow.

And i want to try Ascendancy of bleeding+poison for a different play.(Insane damage i think)

It's fine so far.(Cruel lvl 41)
I use Shield Charge as the moving skill + aoe main skill.(With fortify)
Other skills combine:
Frenzy:P2L+AF+MPD+FA+MS
golem: Flame + increased damage(better than ice golem right now)
curse: Assasin(Boss close) + Warlord(Boss open)
totem: Warchief

It's really fast and fun.

The res is a big problem, and i will regret the normal bandit to choosing the res.

Cons: i didn't have a Rigwald's curse
Now i'm collecting The Cursed King card(now i have 3).

up.

Nice bud, hope you get your Rigwald's soon.

It's very interesting how you are doing 4L Shield Charge for movement and AOE main skill, and then keep Frenzy 6L as full single-target. That's actually a really good idea. You get the best of both worlds. I'll try it myself and will add to the guide as a suggestion.

Currently i use SC + FA + Fortify Support as 3 link, i think the culling strike or increased aoe could be nice for cluster monsters. I can get fortify all the time. And have good clear speed too.
I need go further more so i can dig the potential ability of this build.

For the tree, i will spend more point to the additional dodge or block(or res even). I will dismiss some critical points (e.g. 3 point of 45% critical chance, and some mana point (about 6 or 8) and i will choose Essence Sap(3 point) for mana leech)

My current skill tree is:

Another thought of mine, considering using Shield Charge in this build is to get some endurance charges. One could change fortify for End. Charges on melee stun, which works nicely with shield charge. It means a bit less phys reduction and attack but may help with elemental resists since with this amount of uniques we want to put here, we need really top rings, which are not that cheap unfortunately. One could drop purities if used.