[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

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The reason I prefer projectile spells like Magma orb is because it dovetails nicely with the proj dmg nodes the build takes anyway in end-game, whereas something like Firestorm only benefits from the spell damage around Scion and later on Shadow elemental damage (neither of which we keep). Either way, you'll find various different setups pretty comfortable.

I couldn't get used to magma orb's weird..bounce.

Ooh, turns out spark and frostbolt are projectiles, so I'll try those, probably spark leveling.

EDIT: And I just forgot that magma orb would work with LM-Projectiles, okay, going to try THAT then!

So I can confirm two things.

a) The lack of pierce is more noticeable than I remember it being.
b) The 3.0 CA feels about as good in a +1 5L as the 2.6 CA does in a +2 5L.

Again, haven't leveled with it from scratch in the Beta, but indicators seem to be you can make the switch earlier.

Currently level 59 in a +1 5L, level 15 gem.

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A few things I forgot to consider initially with the proposed changes to Drillneck is:

a) Deadeye now grants 2 targets pierced, so we do retain some QoL
b) Drillneck had ~50ish life. You can now get a rare quiver with 90+ life, which amounts to roughly an additional 120 life at the end of the build.
c) Also with the rare quiver, you can get tri-res on a penetrating quiver, totalling 3 targets pierced AND much easier res balance which:
d) Means you can drop resistances off jewels and get extra damage.

All in all, build got buffed for 3.0. Pending more investigation into end-game gem levels.

I'm not sure I'll go all out and get Empower and a +3 bow here in Beta, but I'll go for a level 20 gem and that should give us an accurate idea if the buff to the base damage continues, flattens out or reverses a bit to match 2.6.

Level 17 2.6 CA Base DoT: 328.6
Level 17 3.0 Ca Base DoT: 437.5
Percentage Increase: 33.14%


Last update for the day

Level 18 2.6 CA Base DoT: 380.8
Level 18 3.0 CA Base DoT: 527.9
Percentage Increase: 38.6%


In other words, at this pace, an unmodified (no +bow, no Empower) 3.0 Level 20 CA gem will have better base dps than a 2.6 level 25 (level 20 gem in a +3 bow, Empower 2).


I don't recall the exact value differences between the tree changes but off the top of my head, despite the Drillneck loss, we gain I think 6% increased damage.

Throw that in conjunction with the ability to basically forgo resistances on jewels by getting a 30/30/30 tri-res quiver, and gearing everything else well, we can gain an additional 60-70%-ish damage off jewels than we would otherwise have, putting our rough increase in damage off the tree to a total of 80% or so.

Update:

Level 19 2.6 CA Base DoT: 464.1
Level 19 3.0 CA Base DoT: 636
Percentage Increase: 37.03%

The increase percentage has started to reverse. :/

Level 20 2.6 CA Base DoT: 550.3
Level 20 3.0 CA Base DoT: 765
Percentage Increase: 39%

Nevermind, we're good.

That's probably as far as I'm pushing the gem in Beta but I'll make sure at 3.0 launch to go to one of my old CA chars and check out a min-maxed build (Level 21 gem in a +3 Bow, Empower 4 = level 28 gem) and see what the difference is.

In case someone jumps on the wiki and changes it out super fast, I'm just going to make a note of 21+ gem level values here:

In the Beta I've leveled with a 3L +1 Bow at lvl 9 and upgrade to a 4L +1 bow around level 30 or so (vendor 4L bow + alt spam ftw). Currently level 48 with this build. Current tree looks something like this (http://poeurl.com/bmqr). Gear wise, other than the blue 4L +1 Bow everything else I have is garbage.

I tend to take my time leveling CA and just stick with using it from the moment I get it (even in the past). I can say it isn't the most blazing fast build ever, but it definitely feels better leveling than it did before. Anecdotal I know, but unfortunately that is the best I can do at the moment.

Thanks for all the detailed math stuff. Strongly leaning towards going with this out of the gate when 3.0 drops.

Hey, thanks for trying it out! Anecdotal is still good, especially given that you started with a 3L (something I never would've done). Good to know.

How did you find bosses while leveling with it that early?

Glad to help out. I am simulating SSF in the Beta because trading is awkward without POE trade, and I was curious how well the build would work that way. Short answer there is just fine even as the starter character in the Beta "league." Getting the 3L and 4L bows were a matter of camping the vendors each time I leveled. Had enough currency both times one popped to alt spam to get +1 bow gems.

Bosses felt much better than in the past. It is still very much a "stick and move" kind of boss fight, but it didn't take long enough to be bothersome. I haven't clocked it but I would say it was definitely less than a minute for each boss, and probably closer to the 30 second range.

I've also prioritize damage with the passive tree progression so far (2.3K cloud DPS at level 49 with the 4L+1. That means I am a bit squishy if I try to face tank stuff, but that kinda comes with the territory of having garbage gear and prioritizing damage. After finishing the Growth and Decay cluster, I am planning to work my way down to Golem's Blood.

Current CA Links: CA 14 (13+1) > Void Magic > Rapid Decay > Conc Eff - No quality on anyting.

Did a couple Vaal side bosses. They dropped in ~15 seconds. Just did Act Six boss at the top of the prison, including all the RP it took 1 minute 40 seconds. Had 3 frenzy charges and the boss vulnerability cursed basically the whole fight.

Tree: http://poeurl.com/bmr7

Character Level: 50

CA 4L +1 Bow: CA 14 (13+1) > Void Magic 13 > Rapid Decay 9 > Conc Eff 10
Tooltip: 2.7K Cloud DPS
Path of Builing Cloud Tooltip (no Wither Totem): 3.6K

Curse: Frenzy 1 > Vuln 1 > CoH 6 > GMP 6

Aura: Clarity 10 > Purity of Elements

Golem: Fire Golem 8


Edit: And now I realize that I forgot to pick up and level Wither/Spell Totem/Faster Casting. That would speed things up (5% dps increase).

Path of Building Tooltip with Wither Totem: 3.8K

Nice. Thanks for the update. I was going to roll a fresh character and see how that panned out but it's hard for me to be motivated without a challenge league up. =)

Glad to help out. I plan to try and push through to at least lower tier maps for funsies. I'll let you know how it goes though doesn't seem like you need much data past level 64. I am not feeling super motivated myself, but I am basically treating Beta like a 1m league.

What I found mostly found (only ran up to T4 maps) is that people's assessment of white map bosses having red map boss health values, was accurate. Running bosses with this build before you at least get a level 18 gem in a +2 5L, isn't worth it for anything other than the Atlas bonus. It started to ease up once my gem hit level 18 but it still wasn't stellar.

Everything else reflected what you said: early mapping felt considerably easier in 3.0 than 2.6.

Would leveling with Split Arrow-Pierce-Decay be a viable alternative until you can get a +2 bow? It seems really good...Dunno