Ranger - [3.5] Molten Strike Raider - "Melee is dead" Rather beginnerfriendly 1M+ Shaper DPS - Forum

DISCLAIMER: This is a Work-In-Progress but im not sure how much time ill have in the next few days/weeks. Should be fine as is tho, the current gear + tree farms shaper easily.

First of: This build is an updated Version of "ELE CLAW INQUSITOR" by GornoDD which can be found here:https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1971701/page/1

This build wasnt really updated for 3.5, but i really liked the idea of it.
Also killing shaper on a 3 link sounded good for me, since i had never killed shaper before playing this build.

I suggest reading through his guide - atleast skimming through "How offense and defense works!" since obviously some of it changed (we are a whole other class now after all!), but it still gives a very good overview of how the build functions.

So how did these changes come, going from Inquisitor to Raider in one patch? I felt like there were better ways to get ele-pen in the game currently than just ignoring resists on critical strikes. When I set the char to Raider in PoB with some adjustments it was an instant ~20% DPS increase. Thats without calculating a) no dying sun flask and b) no molten strike helm enchant (which the original build was using). It also adds A LOT of speed (both movement- and attackspeed). With passivetree/gear/supportgems I am on 4.3 Attacks per Second (APS). Adding my 8 (!) Frenzy charges and other buffs onto that, I end up somewhere around 8.2 APS.

Enough with the walls of text, lets get to the good stuff:

Pros:

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1) Incredible league starter. I took this build from level one to shaper in a little over a week, and it was my first shaper kill EVER. A more expirienced palyer could have done it in mere days. I also have about 7ex "additional" currency i got, which isnt invested in the build yet (and geared another char for like 5 ex in the meantime).
2) Scales very well into lategame.
3) Scales very well with aurabots or other supports.
4) Quick but still enjoyable playstyle.(yes, looking at you flickerstrike)
5) Rather smooth passive-tree progression. Most of it is generic/obvious scaling, not a lot of fancy shenanigans going on.

Cons:

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1) Capping resists can be hard (I was using Purity of Lightning instead of a damage Aura till ~lvl 90 since I didn't bother getting resists on jewels).
2) Getting your Strenght and Intelligence stats high enough for level 20 or 21 gems can be hard. I am currently using 5 skillpoints to achieve these stats.
3) For a rather new player id suggest 5+ ex to reliably kill guardians or higher content.
4) Leveling can be a bit tricky. I did it without any leveling-uniques on leaguestart tho, so maybe the expirience with those items is good after all.

Gear:

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Starting off smooth with the right gear choices:

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Obvious leveling-gear choices include:
1) Tabula Rasa. No other cheast beats it, really. Invest those 10c!
2) Gold Rim. The +40% all res is GREAT and I can honestly reccommend buying a perfectly rolled one (on the resistance roll), since you can use it in basically any build pre-level 60.
3) Wanderlust. Cheap 20% movementspeed boots for early leveling. They are in 99% of leveling guides for a reason.
4) You can pick up basically any unique claws that are roughly your level on poe.trade for virtually no currency and it should be a decent dps upgrade most of the time. At that point also Physical Damage is fine.

For more leveling tips check out the above-mentioned (original 3.4) guide, it has a pretty detailed leveling section.

I used none of those uniques since I leveled the build the first night of Betrayal League and there wasnt really any of those for sale. Atleast not for a price I could afford. Leveling was pretty okay since life gained on hit claws are kinda OP with hight attakspeed.

Cheap gear choices for getting started:

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Weapons:
The only choice here are claws to be honest. I have seen some adaptaions using swords, but definitly not this early in the builds progression.
Rolls you are looking for are:
Adds X to Y [any element] Damage
Crit-Multi
Attack Speed

obviously the higher the better, but dont spend too much. Allthough the claws make a huge part of the damage later, for now theres more important stuff. Just get a decent one.

Your offhand will be a Lycosidae, since the "You hits can't be evaded" is huge for this build. If you cant afford a Lycosidae, get a "Ornament of the East" claw and check with Path of Building which Claw gives you better DPS as mainhand(it was OotE up to like level 75 for me!).

Armor:
Starkonja's Head. Look for a good life-roll. They go for about 1-3c at the moment.

Darkray Vectors. These are the only boots which provide +1 Frenzy Charges. The +40% Lightning Res is also really handy for a less-than-1c-item. Also having 5% increased movementspeed per Frenzy Charge (remember, we get 8 of those) is really good for clearspeed. Last but not least, 16% attack dodge from 8 frenzy charges basically for free is very nice aswell.

Tombfists (with one Abyssal Socket) are a pretty good and rather cheap option for gloves. If you dont want to spend currency on a unique you will just replace later on anyway (with a two-socket version) just go with rare gloves for now. This will also help if you are having trouble with capping resists.

While Shroud of the Lightless is great for Endgame, its pretty pricy at about 60c currently. Until you can afford one, just go with any rare chest that provides high life and resists, maybe even a tabula for the 6-link if you feel like you need the damage.

Jewellery:

There are 3 important stats on your rings/amulet/belt:

1) Resists. If you dont get any here, you will be having a VERY hard time.
2) Elemental Damage with Attack Skills. This provides HUGE DPS. My current rings provide 6-7% of my total DPS.
3) Life, obviously get as much as you can.

If you find yourself having spare slots look for "Adds X to Y [any element] Damage to Attacks" or Strenght/Intelligence to fit your gem's requirements.

My Current Gear:

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Weapons:

Armor:

Jewellery:

I will cover Jewels in another Section since they aren't as straight forward in my honest opinion.

Passive Tree, Ascendancy, Bandits and Pantheon

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Early Trees:
You can mostly follow my lvl 92 tree, i hardly did any respeccing (after i figured out some basic stuff). Just dont pick Crit notes too early and maybe wait till you hit maps with elemental penetration notes (not sure how well they scale early, especially if you are using physical claws while leveling they will be more or less uesless!)

My Level 92 Tree: https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIBAABeBS0FtQguDPINjREvEYES8RR1Ff0WvxcmGY4ajSP2JP0mlSoLKwotTS5TL3IwcTB8MgE2PTfUOkI6sz7PQdBDMUX0RwZHfkp9S3hM_02STipRR1VLWhpbJluvXfJh4mHrYqxjp2SvZU1rkGwIbIxvV3BSdO11y3gZePl6U3qEeu99dX7dfyt_-4TZh3aJ04o4jDaNfY1-jYGNuY2_kAqbJpuNnMSdqqOKpMKly7IZtMW3Ire2vTa95r6nwaDC7MMzzerPetCt02_TftQj1gfawdvn3UbdqOXm51To1upi6xTrY-0_7YPuDu968Yr8xf1u_rr_3g==?accountName=iSirONiC&characterName=betrayed_lexN

Ascendancy

Unfold the Ascendancy-Thingy in the linked Tree to See the Points, heres what order I took them in:

1) Way of the Poacher (Frenzy Charge Synergy)
2) Avatar of Slaughter (Frenzy Charge Synergy)
3) Rapid Assault (Onslaught on hit frees up a flask-slot)
4) Avatar of the Chase (more onslaught Synergy)

Arguments can be made for Quartz Infusion + Avatar of the Veil for 3) and 4) but with my current setup its not an upgrade.

Bandits

Just kill both. The 2 points provide more value than the other bonuses.

Pantheon

I swap these around quite frequently and also not that i do NOT have any of the souls unlocked currently.

Major Pantheon:
I use Soul of the Brineking (avoid stunlocks) here at the moment. When i get Soul of Lunaris upgraded i might use that though, since the little Vaal shooty-dudes in the incursions still kill me WAY too much.

Minor Pantheon:
Either Soul of Garukhan if you have some chaos-res. Else id heavily reccommend you Soul of Shakari for the Chaosdamage Reduction! Especially in Betrayal League with all the Chaosdamage coming from the syndicate members and incursion monsters.

Gems and Links

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Main Damaage Setup: "6-Link" in our Shroud of the Lightless. Getting the colors right on this can be a pain, but its worth the chromes! Also look at any 2+red rolls you get, maybe you can make it work with a slightly altered gem-setup.

Anyway, heres what im using:

Molten Strike - Ancestral Call - Elemental Foc - Added Cold Damage - Ice Bite (In Shroud of the Lightless for the 6th link)

Auras are Anger + Blasphemy(Enfeeble).

Last bumped on Jan 11, 2019, 12:59:45 AM