[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

"

klaymored wrote:

Hello folks. Big thanks to all the contributors to this magnificent guide - no wonder this build is my favorite, even if I don't play the game that much recently.

<3

"

First of all, what defence type should I choose for the long run? I don't know whether regular Eva + Acro can be totally reliable, and spending 4 extra points for Phase Acro seems mandatory (if you pick Acro that is) for certain maps and bosses, which delays some of the DPS / life nodes you don't really wanna miss on.

The general consensus for HC builds is that scaling physical mitigation is the way to go. Which means rather than avoiding damage (evasion), you can sustain through it (armour).

So to answer "Is IR viable" - absolutely. But if you're going to drop MF and run CA, the most common way to build it is around the Hidden Potential jewel, which scales damage based off how many magic items you have equipped.

For that purpose, you are actually better off dropping the Drillneck / Pierce combination so you can run a magic quiver with life and a resistance. The damage potential on a slot-for-slot comparison is worse, but given you will compensate for it with magic gear in other slots, makes it worthwhile.

That said, you're more than likely going to want to run Lightning Coil and combine that with IR for the most mitigation. Not only will you sustain through damage on the basis of the armour itself, but the phys -> lit conversion will allow your resistances to take a chunk of the damage as well.

It'll be tricky to work with pure magic gear, but it is doable, particularly if you opt to pick up Cloth & Chain and the Scion 18% lit res node.

"

Or, can you actually make IR + Acro (+ Phase Acro) work in this build?

No. Because Acrobatics halves your armour, this is not a viable option.

"

Oh, and another thing about utilities. I already mentioned defencive curse-auras like Enfeeble, is there anything else that I missed and can be used to provide survivability? CWDT + IС is alright I guess.

Your flask choices here will be the big difference. Grace (converted to armour through IR) will be a significant portion of your defense.

Another option you might consider is to grab an amulet and alt/augment it (for Hidden Potential benefit) until you get a high life and resistance roll, then Vaal it. And repeat. Or see what's available on trade for a +1 curse option.

Then you can run Grace - Blasphemy - Enfeeble - Enlighten and instead of having Vulnerability with your CoH setup, you can use CoH- Temp Chains.

In short, for the best defensive possibility you're looking at this setup:

* Magic items for Helmet, Gloves, Boots, Belt, Rings, Amulet and Quiver slot with as much resistance as possible. To this end, get Prismatic rings.
* Craft or buy a +1 curse amulet so that:
* You can run Enfeeble/TC (one on Blasphemy, one on CoH Frenzy)
* Lightning Coil
* IR
* Invest in more life on the tree, and resistances to compensate for Coil where necessary either through nodes like Cloth & Chain, or life/res combos on your jewel slots instead of focusing on damage.
* Instead of Quicksilver flasks, run a combo of something like Stibnite (100% increased Evasion, which is converted to armour through IR, and scales directly with Grace) and Basalt (phys dmg reduction), or Stibnite / Jade (the flat 3000 eva from the Jade will scale with the Stibnite bonus).


Lastly, you could always go CI, which goes beyond the scope of this thread as that requires an entirely different Ascendancy / Tree, but you'll be able to find that option available with a quick Google search I'm sure.

Hey, Serleth, thanks for the quick answer.

I really like the idea about Hidden Potential jewel, as I never tried anything like this previously.

"

For that purpose, you are actually better off dropping the Drillneck / Pierce combination so you can run a magic quiver with life and a resistance.

Does that mean we shouldn't stack pierce at all? (skill tree/skill gem)

I also can't see any reasonably convenient additional life nodes aside from Thick Skin and Profane Chemistry, and Profane Chemistry doesn't give that much life percentage. I might go for Thick Skin though.

"

It'll be tricky to work with pure magic gear, but it is doable, particularly if you opt to pick up Cloth & Chain and the Scion 18% lit res node.

Actually, I just remembered there are new base boots with implicit resistances on them, so I think it's even easier than before! But yes, I will definately stay near those nodes to compensate for any lack of resistances.

"

* Instead of Quicksilver flasks, run a combo of something like Stibnite (100% increased Evasion, which is converted to armour through IR, and scales directly with Grace) and Basalt (phys dmg reduction), or Stibnite / Jade (the flat 3000 eva from the Jade will scale with the Stibnite bonus).

Since we're dropping Quicksilver Flasks, should we aim for a movespeed prefix on our boots instead of life prefix? I think movespeed could be more important in this particular build.

The rest of the message was clear enough and inspiring to actually try this out. Thanks again!

Other than LC, boots are probably your exception re: magic items. Dropping life isn't an option, and dropping MS isn't really an option either.

Still gives you seven slots (up to 175%) damage increase, which is actually better than the increased damage benefit you get from Drillneck/Pierce (90%).

(You will need a minimum 13% Hid.Pot. roll in order to beat out Drillneck's damage, FYI).

"

Does that mean we shouldn't stack pierce at all? (skill tree/skill gem)

Correct. No point without Drillneck.

"

I also can't see any reasonably convenient additional life nodes aside from Thick Skin and Profane Chemistry, and Profane Chemistry doesn't give that much life percentage. I might go for Thick Skin though.

Without MF, you'll still break 5300 by level 91. Even if you adjust nothing else on the tree except to get IR instead of Phase.

And since removing Phase/Acro + Piercing Shots and speccing IR recovers you 7 points, that's a jewel socket + Thick Skin, for up to (depending on the jewel roll) an additional 24% life. For free. So you should push past about 5600 life or so.

"

mobutu wrote:

Each frenzy charge gives the following:

4% increased Attack Speed per Frenzy Charge
4% increased Cast Speed per Frenzy Charge
4% more Damage per Frenzy Charge

If the first two doesn't matter (actually the first one does matter, being able to put clouds up faster and also use the clouds defensively) the third and last one increases the cloud damage. That translates into 4*7=28% more cloud damage with seven frenzy charges up.

ty

I've been meaning to do this build for a long time now, and since I grew tired of my MF Flame Totem marauder and re-specced him into Juggernaut last patch, it's time. Bow builds are where I started PoE and where I feel the most comfortable, so this is great. The only downside is that I chose to level with Tendrils because it's been so long since I used it and remember why I never liked it. That animation always feels so restrictive. Hopefully I'll be swapping over to CA by this evening and can start making that money.

Greetings, exiles!

I have a question about Drillneck.

I have a Drillneck with an additional arrow:



Is it more preferable over the regular Drillneck, or this "10% chance of Arrow Piercing" is vital?

Thank you in advance!

If you have Carcass Jack, the 10% additional Pierce chance is preferable (but not vital), as Carcass will cover the extra AoE, meaning the bit of extra damage is the better option. Having an additional arrow in conjunction with Carcass is redundant.

However if you don't have Carcass, the additional arrow gives you a bit more AoE, which improves general mapping clear speed and is better than the slightly increased damage.

"

Гаруспик wrote:

Greetings, exiles!

I have a question about Drillneck.

I have a Drillneck with an additional arrow:

Is it more preferable over the regular Drillneck, or this "10% chance of Arrow Piercing" is vital?

Thank you in advance!

I *love* my +1 arrow drillneck.

"

Serleth wrote:

If you have Carcass Jack, the 10% additional Pierce chance is preferable (but not vital), as Carcass will cover the extra AoE, meaning the bit of extra damage is the better option. Having an additional arrow in conjunction with Carcass is redundant.

However if you don't have Carcass, the additional arrow gives you a bit more AoE, which improves general mapping clear speed and is better than the slightly increased damage.

Thank you very much for the explanation! I want to use Queen of the Forest, to increase movement speed (and to have some resistances and life).

"

grimjack68 wrote:

I *love* my +1 arrow drillneck.

I do :) this is my first good vaaled item.

Finally made the switch to CA with a +1 to bow gems bow right at 50 as the guide spells out, and man am I happy with it so far. Still have a bunch of leveling to do but it's hard for me to have more than a couple hours a night to play.

I've got everything set up except the BR/Vaal Lightning Trap combo, and not having a CWDT setup felt really clunky at first (I'm used to playing simple face-tank marauders as my go-to) but I'm learning when to situationally use the totem or Frenzy curse. As CA levels up I'm finding that most normal and even most blue packs just melt to it without help. +2/+3 bow gems is obviously going to become exponential here. I happened upon another Empower tonight, so things are coming along nicely. There's something very satisfying about the playstyle and I'm excited to start pushing maps with her.

Not bad for leveling gear. I've only invested around 10-15 chaos to get everything together and I think it'll hold me through to merciless just fine.