[3.8] WIP Toxic Rain Pathfinder League Starter, 297% MS 5.9k life All Content + Great mapper/delver
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Hi exile,
Welcome to my Toxic Rain guide. I have been tuning this build for the past two leagues (Synthesis/Legion) and I've cleared all the regular content with it. I think its a phenomenal build because it does not require a lot of gear to get started and progresses nicely as you invest more into it. As a player, I always liked builds that go fast. I prefer movement speed over move skills because I really dislike mashing a button to move and move speed makes looting so much smoother. Turns out that movement speed also makes delve and labs a cakewalk so that's that! Quick disclaimer This is the first time I write a build guide so things might be missing. I will be actively maintaining it until 3.8 releases. I will also try to add some videos of the build once it is posted. Second disclaimer This build is my own take on heitu's version (that is no longer maintened?) here https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2301424 3.8 notes
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Looks like we are getting a free 10% more from Vicious Projectiles! Vicious Projectiles Support Supported skills now deal 40% more Chaos Damage over Time at gem level 1 (from 30%), up to 59% more at gem level 20 (from 49%). Supported skills now deal 40% more Physical Damage over Time at gem level 1 (from 30%), up to 59% more at gem level 20 (from 49%). Supported skills now deal 40% more Physical Projectile Attack Damage at gem level 1 (from 30%), up to 59% more at gem level 20 (from 49%). Aside from this most of the changes probably won't affect the build too much. I like the changes to the Watcher's Eye a lot as it might decrease its price a little. Watcher's Eye: Can no longer gain +% to Cold and Chaos Damage over Time Multipliers while affected by Malevolence. Instead now has +% to Damage over Time Multipliers while affected by Malevolence. This affected all versions of the item. The mana cost reduction while affected by Clarity now specifically applies to non-channeled skills. I plan to test Withering Step as a potential replacement for the Wither Totem setup (4 gems slots). This also seems like a buff: Monster Changes Monster accuracy rating has been reduced game-wide. Players who invest in Evasion will, as a result, be evading monsters at approximately pre-3.7.0 rates. Any other ideas? Feel free to share in the thread! Pros and Cons
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+ Good damage (Between 5M and 10M Shaper DPS depending on Wither stack count) + Amazing clear speed on all tiers + Very good defenses + Can be played as starter with bugdet gear, great evolutive build + Amazing for fossil hunting in delve + Does not fear the syndicate, at all + If you like to craft or would like to learn, this is also a great opportunity to make your own stuff + Labs are a joke + Can get to red maps on a 1-2 ex budget (see crafting) + Map mods are an after thought (no regen is annoying tho) + Only need one easy to obtain 6 link - You will die sometimes, one shots happen - This is not a front clearing build so backtracking is expected - Benefits from good mechanics due to high movement speed - The flask piano is real - Not hardcore viable - Bossing requires more investment Important Stats Breakdown (on my current level 95 build)
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All setups - 5.8M to 10M Shaper DPS (see additional resources for more info on calculation). Althought realistically, you should expect 1-2M when playing - 64% to avoid spell hits Mapping setup - ~6k life - 297% movement speed - 93% to avoid melee/projectile hits Uber Elder setup - ~7.2k life - 250% movement speed - 91% to avoid melee/projectile hits Skilltree
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POB Link of my current character: https://pastebin.com/FqdZtfhd Skill Tree at 95: www.poeurl.com/cw9C I will try to breakdown my thought process here. There are four main things that this tree will be optimal for: - Defenses in terms of life, resists and evasion/dodge - Offense in terms increased, more chaos damage and attack speed - Utility in terms of flasks recharge/duration and movement speed for clear speed - Jewel slots for a total of 6 When leveling, you can refer to this section and grab some notables based on what you feel your character lacks. Keystones Acrobatics Phase Acrobatics Together they bring 40% chance to dodge attack hits 30% chance to dodge spell hits Those nodes are very important unless you don't plan to run very late game content and if your gear is optimal (see gear section). If you plan to farm white/yellow maps, I could see dropping Phase Acrobatics for 4 more points. I would not drop Acrobatics with Legion being so rippy though. Resists If you try to optimize your gear, you will likely end up in a spot where half of your pieces don't contribute to your resists, unless you invest a lot of currency into your crafts. This is why we take: Sentinel and its neighbourgs Survivalist Resourcefulness for its neighbourgs This will bring +1% to maximum cold resistance +47% to all elemental resistance Life I tried to take the most juicy life nodes but the biggest contribution in that department is from the gear itself. If you feel like your survivability is low, you could try to grab some nodes in the Constitution cluster. In its current state, the tree brings +144% increased life +56 flat life +84 flat life from strength nodes Important life nodes Constitution Herbalism Blood Drinker Blood Siphon Prophane Chemistry Heart of Oak Written in Blood Thick Skin Out of those, I could see dropping Prophane Chemistry if your survivability is good enough. This is mostly a bossing node to benefit from the increased life recovery. Damage Toxic Rain scales the most with Non-Ailment Multiplier as in the calculation, it is essentially a more. The tree aims to take as much of this as it can. Hunter's Gambit (13.5% damage per point including small nodes) Method to the Madness (11.7% damage per point including small nodes) Growth and Decay (10.1% damage per point including small nodes) Atrophy (15.4% damage per point including small nodes) This brings a total of +51% Non-Ailment chaos damage multiplier I would not touch these nodes if you want to maximize your DPS. Sadly it requires some extra pathing but its worth it. Aside from this, there are two notables that are really worth grabbing because they bring a lot of dps Master Fletcher (7% damage per point including small nodes) Avatar of the Hunt (7.2% damage per point including small nodes) Utility Freedom of Movement Great node for defense and utility. The extra 5% dodge when phasing is a great bonus as we are always phasing. Jewels The reason why I prioritize jewels so much is because they can roll a +3-4% to non-ailment chaos damage over time multiplier which, as you can see from the damage section, is where our damage comes from. They can also roll 7% increased maximum life which helps offset our lack of life nodes. This tree buys us 6 slots which is good for a 24% on well rolled jewels as well as 42% increased maximum life. More on jewels in the gear section. Bandits
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- Kill all while leveling and you can afford to cap resists on gear - Help Alira if your gear cannot cap your resists (more on this in the gear section) If you don't know what to pick, pick Alira as a safer choice. If you didn't know, you can respec your bandit choice later on: Change to alira: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Book_of_Reform_(Alira) Change to +2: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Book_of_Reform_(Eramir) The amulets can be bought from most vendors. Ascendancy
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1. Nature's Reprisal 2. Nature's Adrenaline 3. Nature's Boon 4. Master Toxicist There is no real argument here as all the other notables are good with crit/elemental builds. This is the order I like, but feel free to improvise here. It is not set in stone. With this you get (I ommited some irrelevant ones): Flask - 10% increased Flask charges gained - 20% increased Effect of Flasks on you - Flasks gain 3 Charges every 3 seconds - 20% chance for you Flasks to not consume Charges - 8% increased Flask Effect Duration - 15% increased Movement Speed during any Flask Effect Defense - 6% reduced Elemental Damage taken Offense - 60% increased Chaos Damage - 20% increased Attack Speed during any Flask Effect - 10% more Chaos Damage with Attack Skills - 50% increased Area of Effect Pantheon
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Major: Soul of Lunaris Minor: Soul of Garukhan Here you get these additional perks: - 1% additional physical damage reduction for each nearby enemy, up to 8% - 1% increased movement speed for each nearby enemy, up to 8% - 10% chance to avoid projectiles - 5% chance to dodge attack and spell hits if you've been hit recently - avoid projectiles that have chained - 5% chance to evade attacks if you've taken a savage hit recently - 6% increased movement speed if you haven't been hit recently Feel free to debate my choices here, I did not put a lot of thoughts into it but they seem to be the best choices for this build. Gem links
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Try to respect the order given as they are sorted by importance (both by items and the item list itself). Bow (4 link) Toxic Rain - Mirage Archer - Vicious Projectiles - Void Manipulation (5 link) Toxic Rain - Mirage Archer - Vicious Projectiles - Void Manipulation - Swift Affliction Once you get a 6 link, Toxic Rain will cost a ton of mana and with Malevolence reserving 50% of your mana + Clarity, it will get sketchy at times if your attack speed is high. I will recommend two setups: (6 link - Less mana intensive) Toxic Rain - Mirage Archer - Vicious Projectiles - Void Manipulation - Swift Affliction - Efficacy (6 link - Best but mana intensive) Toxic Rain - Mirage Archer - Vicious Projectiles - Void Manipulation - Swift Affliction - Empower lvl 3 or 4 depending on budget Scaling Toxic Rain is the best damage you can find so having Empower beats everything, especially once you get +2 support gems. Body Here you don't need a 6 link. Mine is linked but its only because I played some Tornado Shot MF for fun. You can 3 or 4 link this and still do all the endgame. There's a chance that 4 links is better here as you don't want to mesh Cast When Damage Taken/Spell Totem with other castable skills like Blood Rage of Vaal Grace. Helmet/Gloves/Boots Does not really matter what you socket where unless you care about corruption (+aura lvl on helmet). During leveling, you should prioritize getting int/str pieces for the defense/totem setups. Movement setups Leveling (still testing): Withering Step - Increased Duration Endgame: Phase Run - Increased Duration This movement skill will be self cast and should be linked to an increased duration. Its important to phase all the time. It makes you less likely to draw monster attention and more importantly, you can move out of dicey situations like strongboxes/delve diving unarmed. Alternatively, you should use Blink Arrow - Faster Attacks - Faster Projectiles Once you get high attack speed and some projectile speed blink arrow becomes a teleport. Freedom of Movement also helps reduce its cooldown so abuse it while mapping/leveling. I would not use it that often during leveling as its very slow. I mostly use it for cliff jumping. Utility Blood Rage Equip Blood Rage once you feel you can sustain the degen. You can try it while leveling safely. If you degen too much, you can cancel the debuff by removing your body armour and slotting it back in. Spell Totem - Wither - Faster Casting - Multiple Totems Try to find int/str gear early on to at least get 3 or 4 of the links. Multiple Wither stacks will make bossing a lot easier. I usually only cast this for hard to kill targets, not for white mobs. Steelskin - Cast When Damage Taken - Increased Duration Mostly defensive stuff. You don't have to use Steelskin. I went with ZiggyD's recommendation (see useful link section). You can also self cast if you feel like it. Don't try to add other gems in there because of CWDT you won't be able to use them. Vaal Grace Don't activate Grace. The build has enough evasion to max the movement speed on Queen of the Forest already. Instead, use Vaal Grace, which grants a very nice dodge bonus for you and your friends. Malevolence - Clarity - Enlighten 3/4 Enlighten is optional until you have enough mana regen/-mana cost on gear. It will also enable you to craft an Aspect skill on your gear (I like spider, but crab is also viable for more defense). Gear
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My current endgame mapping gear: Bossing gear: Leveling alternatives: More to come. Crafting
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How to craft a 6 link base There is two ways that you can get a cheap(er) 6 link bow in the game. 1- https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/The_Porcupine 2- https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Imperial_Legacy If you are playing SSF or really tight on currency you can spend a few hours farming for The Porcupine in The High Gardens (Act 8). Otherwise I think its easier to farm white/yellow maps (desert, dunes) as the cards aren't that rare. How to craft the end game bow Check out the video section if you want to see me craft this bow. Crafting materials: - A 6 link base - 4 Orb of Alchemy - 1 Orb of Scouring - Regal Orb - 1 Exalted Orb - (To finish) 8 Chaos Orb - (To finish) 5 Exalted Orb - Farric Wolf Alpha beast When chosing a base you have to pick if you want more movement speed or more attack speed. I really like how the build feels at close to 300% MS so I chose Maraketh, but feel free to pick the DPS base if you want. This is really personnal preference. For the base you have two options depending on your budget. If you have no budget restriction, you can pick either Maraketh of Thicket. Otherwise, look for Steelwood or Short bows as these base have worst pDPS they tend to sell for a lot less 6 linked. Step 0 (skip if you have a 6 link or if you plan on using bench recipes to socket/link) If you bought a base that is not 6 linked, spam some perfect fossils on the bow until you get 27%+ quality then master craft a quality mod (15% for 4 alchemy) to get at least 40% quality before using your fusings. - Spam jewellers/fusings until 6 socket/link Step 1 (modless rare) - At this point you should have a magic item with a quality mod - Regal Orb to make a 2 affix rare - Remove your crafted mod on the bench to get a 1 rare base - Orb of annulment to get a 0 mod rare Step 2 (+1 gems) Here's a cool little trick. Bows have the advantage of having only one non attack modifier prefix. This means that if you craft "Cannot roll attack modifiers" you are garanteed to slam +1 if your suffixes are full. However to make the process easier, you can bypass the suffix limitation by using the beast craft Modify Mods on an Item : Add a Prefix, Remove a Random Suffix (Farric Wolf Alpha). This mod cannot roll a suffix and guarantees the +1. Steps: - Craft "Cannot roll attack modifiers" on your bench. This should be the only mod on the bow - Go to your bestiary and use the beast craft recipe to add a prefix, remove a random suffix IMPORTANT!!! Toxic rain scales very hard with gem levels. Having a bow with a single +1 gem modifier is better than almost anything else you can find. You can get to red maps with this bow as long as it is 6 linked. This means that you can get to level 90 on a 1 ex budget weapon. Step 2.5 (optional, for low budget) - Craft +(33–40)% to Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier until you can multimod your weapon (4 chaos). This is a stupid large damage boost. Step 3 (multimod) - Craft "Can have multiple crafted modifiers" for 2ex - Craft "+(33–40)% to Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier for 4 chaos - Craft "(20–22)% increased Attack Speed while a Rare or Unique Enemy is Nearby for 4 chaos IMPORTANT!!! You can finish your atlas progression with this bow. If you aim for endgame, you will need to complete step 4 Step 4 - Craft "+2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems" for 2 ex - Craft "(11–13)% increased Attack Speed" for 1 ex When you complete step 4, I recommend that you switch your gem links to include Empower. More to come. Leveling
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I highly recommend following this leveling walkthrough: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2150196 Leveling is split into 3 phases. - Pre act 5 kitava - Pre act 10 kitava - Early mapping This section also assumes no twink gear (fresh league start). Getting Started Here we start laying the foundations of the pathing towards the resist nodes. Not too much damage is taken here as projectile damage from the arrows themselves can carry you a little bit. Passive skill tree for the first 25 points: poeurl.com/cxap To start this off we take a couple nodes which are great for leveling such as Aspect of the Eagle Good mix of damage, defenses and movement speed Primal Spirit Flash Charges gained is huge early Ballisitc Master Projectile speed is great for Toxic Rain as well as Blink Arrow Avatar of the Hunt Good mix of damage, defenses and movement speed as well as move skill recovery for blink arrow Herbalism Better life flasks and life I did my first lab at around level 27-28 but its much safer at 35 if you can wait. Things to look out for: - Get two quicksilver flasks ASAP - Upgrade your two life flasks (use the vendor recipe if required) - Keep a mana flask if you need to - Movement speed boots - Bow with best attack speed (Short bow) and maximum links (hit it with essence of contempt if you find one) - Early on, get two iron rings if you can - Rest is up to you, get life, resists and evasion. You might want to grab an energy shield piece if you need blue sockets for clarity/malevolence - Adrenaline suffix on your quicksilver flask. Spam all your alterations trying to get this. It makes leveling so much more fun. Gem links: I started with Shrapnel Shot - Onslaught - Pierce until I got Toxic Rain. Then you can switch to Toxic Rain - Mirage Archer - Void Manipulation. Once you get to act 2, switch Void Manipulation to Vicious Projectiles and re-add it once you get a 4 link bow around act 4. Clarity If you can't get it from a friend or another character, get it in act 3 from Siosa. It helps a ton. Just don't level it too far so it does not reserve all your mana Malevolence More is amazing. Slot this in ASAP. Blink Arrow - Faster Attacks - Faster projectiles in that order if you can afford the links Pre act 5 kitava Passive tree for the first 50 points: poeurl.com/cxaq Here your damage should start to build up by adding some more gems so we take the opportunity to build up some defenses. Freedom of Movement Phasing is amazing for survivability. Don't underestimate this (especially if you like strongboxes :)) Acrobatics/Phase Acrobatics Dodge, its great Master Fletcher and Hunter's Gambit Great damage boost when you feel like you need it Gear: When you switch gear, make sure that you prioritize gem links first and if possible try to find pieces with empty suffixes so you can fix your resists more easily. Try to cap resists and get life. Pre act 10 kitava This is where I usually struggle the most. You really want to get max resists to lower your death count. You should also try to phase out a quicksilver and a life flask for a jade/quartz/silver flask. If you want clear speed pick jade/silver, defense, pick jade/quarts. Gear: Your priority is to get a 5 link on your bow. If you are lucky of have some extra money you can try to buy a -Total Mana Cost ring, it will help a lot once you add more links. More to come. Mapping
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More to come. Bossing
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More to come. Videos
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1 minute glacier run: https://youtu.be/U6qQ1_M3Usk Depth 230-240 delve: https://youtu.be/4vc5GUhDu6Q 3 way timeless encounter: https://youtu.be/77G8-pux4UI Two Elder Alleyways run (bonus alva incursions): https://youtu.be/qBeNo4vwh8k Shaper kill on mapping gear: https://youtu.be/nhZHlVbYROA Crafting the end-game bow: https://youtu.be/2LdMrt0U42c Careless uber lab run: https://youtu.be/iCJJQ9A5JZI More to come. Additional Resources
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Check this reddit post for damage calculation information: https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/9ik19a/toxic_rain_calculator_spreadsheet_and_guide/. This is how I calculated my DPS, altough I am not 100% sure this is the right way to do it. Kammel's race with Toxic Rain sub 4h to maps: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/387491316 Leveling Walkthrough: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2150196 ZiggyD on guard skills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymu86xQ_6ig My lootfilter based on NeverSink's (recommended for very late game) http://www.filterblade.xyz/#OYKkID58kSyc Amazing bench crafting resource: https://pvaass.github.io/poecraft/ Hope you guys enjoy the guide. Feel free to ask questions. Last edited by Yalpe on Sep 7, 2019, 1:28:35 PM Last bumped on Mar 29, 2020, 1:36:10 PM
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Hello,
I'm trying your build atm and it's pretty good for now, I'm using it as my delve character and it's a blast, very effective. My gear is not complete yet (missing lvls/quality on gems for instance) but it's working. It would be nice if you could complete the writing as I think it is a good build that new players could experiment as well. Thank you and gl ! IGN: TeslaChronos / Face_Tankit
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" Hey JungTzu, Thanks for the comments. I hope the build works fine for you. I was going slow on the writing until 3.8 (waiting on changes) but seeing that some people are interested in the build makes me want to complete it faster now! I'll try to add a Shaper video as well I have a set laying around. | |
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Nice guide. Too late for legion but maybe i will try this next league as league starter.
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" Hey Yalpe. Thanks for sharing your build. I'm looking for an alternate build to mine and i loved yours! I have some questions about step 0 since i've very little knowldge of crafting. If i buy a 6-link bow should i skip quality altogether? why not spam perfect fossils on it? and about the master craft Q mod (18%) shouldn't be applied after crafting multimod? what am i missing here? i don't understand. Sry if these are basic questions. Thanks again :) Last edited by Xibanga on Aug 19, 2019, 5:48:19 PM
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" Hey Xibanga, thanks for your interest in the guide! If you take a look at the wiki https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Quality you will notice that quality only affects the physical damage of the weapon. Since Toxic Rain does not scale well with physical damage (from the initial arrows) but instead with chaos damage (the pods themselves), quality has no effect at all on your DPS. The reason why in step 0 I recommend using perfect fossils and then crafting quality is because quality DOES give you a better chance of 6 socketing and 6 linking your bow using Jeweller's Orbs and Orb of Fusings. Again, refering to the wiki, if you look at the bottom in the version history you will see that When you use an Orb of Fusing or a Jeweller's Orb on an item, the item's quality is no longer consumed. The way that quality affects the result has also been changed. Each 1% quality improves the result by 1%. This makes the Fusing process 20% easier on 20% quality items, for example.. Thus, making your bow at least 45% should help, given average luck. If you already have a 6 link bow, then skip this step as advised. You can make it 20% if you like, but don't waste your money on perfect fossils. Hope that helps! :) | |
" I did not know that quality affected jeweler/fusing success. That's very helpful! So with this method it's cheaper than investing 1500 fusing for the 6-link? I have one last question. Is there a minimum ilvl required for the base bow? Thanks looking forward for updates on the guide | |
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Well linking is really luck dependent. It could still be way over 1500 but at least you skew the odds a little bit with more quality. You can check this post where sliperyjim throw 50k fusings on different quality levels. https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/a2diei/is_30_better_than_20_quality_for_linking/eax7axt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x. If you want to be safe, just use the recipe.
For ilvl, good point I neglected to mention that. If you look at this https://poedb.tw/us/mod.php?cn=Bow you can tell which ilvl the mods require when clicking on them. However, when I look at my own, the ilvl is 75 so I'm not sure. To be safe go with 75+ :) Last edited by Yalpe on Aug 19, 2019, 9:04:33 PM
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Hey Xibanga,
I had a ton of currency left in the league so I decided I'd make a video on how to craft the bow. I hope it helps! Check the video section. I'm uploading it atm. | |
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Great guide, good content!
How would a 6L bow with a shrieking of dread on it compare at league start? If you get an empty prefix you could have a +2 bow gems with 40% chaos multi for 30-50c depending on base/essence cost. |
