[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

This is a direct reaction to boss life.

People are overcompensating for boss killing being less rewarding for time invested by using that amulet. The argument basically is, if you can clear well enough without a good rare amulet, use this and skip the bosses and you'll have the same net effect on currency generation.

And basically all the people jumping on the bandwagon are generating false positives everywhere, not considering things that AREN'T bosses (in most cases).

I don't get it, really (the complaint about boss life). Not taking me that much longer to kill bosses than I would've expected to in 2.6 (exception being it's much more punishing before your build is finished). Maybe like... 30 seconds instead of 15 seconds?

Bottom line, if the amulet was worthless to people before, and it's only worth something NOW because of boss life buffs, then we can determine the amulet is still worthless, and people are just attributing higher value to it because of said psychological compensatory factors.

To be clear, I'm not disparaging you with the remarks above, Hank. I'm just amused that suddenly throwing a bit of MF in is worthwhile to the same people who have been decrying MF as useless for years.

That said, in my experience having tested it before, I felt having higher rarity for boss kills, rares, exiles, etc. did more for me than Bisco's, on the basis of having more sellable items drop per unit killed. And since bosses aren't the only high-IIR units in the game... makes sense to me to keep higher net IIR overall for all mobs considered.

in regards to levelling and weak boss/harbringer dps (currently mid 60's act 9 and about to do merc lab):

What on a bow, other than +bow gems, should i look for to get the most bang at this level?



I read the guide footnote on end game bows, but im a bit confused about what exactly I can get from a bow to up my damage, RIGHT NOW, not end game.

I want to min max as much dps as I can on bosses, even if i have to buy a temporary swap bow to do them.

I currently have a sniper bow with 47-139 damage, +2 bow gems, 85% phys dam increase, +41 dex

my damage is 539 from bow, and 6412 on cloud.

I can one shot most mobs but these boss stages are fing killing me repeatedly (worried about merc lab boss esp).

I am using lvl 16 ed to do harbingers and such, but even that doesnt take enough off bosses to save my butt.

Is there a way to boost boss damage (temporarily) without drastically changing things (eg. passives)?

Almost nothing. Gem levels are your primary source of damage.

The few I can think of would be a Decay-crafted bow (which does not benefit the cloud, but will improve single target damage) and Leo's DoT craft (which is mentioned in the guide here), and adding the Decay support gem to your Frenzy setup.

Nothing else will benefit your cloud damage via bow mods.

If you aren't using a Wither totem yet, and cursing, those are your other primary sources of dps generation.

You can also run a 4L Essence Drain to help improve boss dps. For added bonus, you can use a crappy set of Essence of Delerium gloves (socketed gems deal more DoT, it's basically like adding a 5th link).

Not cheap, though. Deleriums are 27-29c.

EDIT: I will say this, the main reason people die a lot early league with this build is bad flasks or not enough life. I can't see your character so I don't know what flasks you're using, but you NEED at least two Seething life flasks.

Gratz on the full 40 Serleth.

Why we spec on the node Master of the Arena? Didn't find the answer in guide, what I'm missing?

Thanks!

The regen to counteract Blood Rage.

Don't need to pick it up if you take Oak for the bandit, though given that I recommend Kraityn, I still keep it.

@Serleth
Grats on 40/40!

@Serleth RE Biscos
I didn't see any of the comments about skipping bosses claiming that because of this Biscos is more rewarding - that sort of logic does not make a lot of sense.

What I do think may be very worthwhile is going very high IIQ and going after cards - not the traditional magic find, but something geared at farming high value cards (and collecting more currency while doing so).

Biscos = up to 100 IIQ against normal mobs
Sadima's Touch = up to 16 IIQ
Goldwyrm = up to 20 IIQ
The Pariah w/ White Socket = 15IIQ x 2 = 30 IIQ

I should be able to equip the above without totally gimping my character giving 166 IIQ against normal mobs and 66 IIQ against all other mobs.


There are a few other IIQ items as well which I won't be wearing due to incompatibility with my build (e.g., Windripper) or penalty (Greed's Embrace).
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In legacy one of the streamers was farming The Doctor in shaped Spider Forest. He had a ton of sextants active on the map, 3 league stones (don't remember which ones) and I believe he chiseled, alched and corrupted his maps.

He was wearing IIQ (almost certainly Biscos) can't remember what else and had a decent drop rate for the cards (he got a full set and then continued farming for more if memory serves). Even with all that outlay for map preparation he was making a lot of currency. I can't seem to find the reddit (I think it was reddit) or maybe forums/twitch where I saw this.

Anyhow, this looks like fun and with The Doctor at 470c+ currently in Harbinger it could well prove very profitable.
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I was hunting The Doctor in a previous league but I wasn't wearing Biscos or much else in the way of magic find and I wasn't properly preparing my maps.

Oh yeah for farming very specific things I could definitely see a use for it.

And thanks =)

My fastest completion of 40/40 at 2w2d3h. Not sure I'll beat that. I only know of one other person who was 40/40 before me, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were more.

"

Serleth wrote:

...I can't see your character...

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Godfeast_1/characters

lmk if something looks messed up if you could. ty

i just finished act 10 and got a merci lab carry, so ive gotten both occultist and deadeye but havent connected ranger starting nodes.

Ive deviated very little from the passive tree as youve outlined it (2 nodes to get +15% all resist, and i havent taken many jewel slots just because i cant find any of more value than what the tree gives as i go).

starting level 1 maps and damn if harbingers arent tearing my ass up , as well as, the end boss (again), lol.