[3.16][HC][ON BREAK] Caustic Arrow Raider, DoT Focused | Tanky | 6k+ Health | All Content | In-depth

"

ivanbili wrote:

https://pastebin.com/JTQ5YxVX (early game)
https://pastebin.com/Ex8D4Tzc (middle game)
https://pastebin.com/FuckeHi0 (end game)

I like this build... but... is it possible to league start with it? Some items in it are really expensive.

Prices depend on supply and demand.
Cheap starting cost, great league starter.
I up this build from zero.
You can buy caustic arrow in Act 1 from Nessa after kill Hillock.
Later is supported by Mirage Archer (lvl 4 Flask Quest) and Void Manipulation (lvl 8, Lower Prison).

"

Nihlathaker wrote:

You can buy caustic arrow in Act 1 from Nessa after kill Hillock.

I am more concerned about Aul's Uprising and the Enlighten gem. I think they are mandatory for the build to work for mana reservation purposes, but they are not cheap so I am not sure how to get them at the beginning.

"

ivanbili wrote:

I am more concerned about Aul's Uprising and the Enlighten gem. I think they are mandatory for the build to work for mana reservation purposes, but they are not cheap so I am not sure how to get them at the beginning.

Aul's Uprising and aura grace and Kaom's heart can be change to

Enlighten and Mask of vaal can be change to

"

Nihlathaker wrote:

What about the Divination Distilate flask? It looks like it's a legacy flask...

"

ivanbili wrote:

What about the Divination Distilate flask? It looks like it's a legacy flask...

it's a legacy flask. Use Soul of Steel, Prismatic Skin, Prismatic Carapace, Prismatic Dance instead.

Hey peeps, is this build/guide still playable in 3.19 or did a lot change?
I did not play the last couple leagues and i know it is not updated but i would really like to play this build again to get back in at game.

It's definitely playable and should work just fine. However all consecutive nerfs to player power in various forms, high pinnacle boss life and overall difficulty increase just doesn't make it as strong. Certainly not SSF friendly now. It's still very comfortable to play once you get going, but that requires trading.

I'm currently playing it right now using some ideas i've already mentioned in some of my older replies (within ~1 year). I tried automatic flask setup using 3 flask clusters and Ruby / Sapphire / Topaz flasks - lasted 2 minutes without belt mod. With one extra belt mod duration extended to ~3 mins or so. Press once at the beginning of the map and it'll sustain you through whole map, even if you have to leave for a short while. The point of this setup is to treat resistances from flasks as permanent (aka Mageblood at home), which also gives 25% less elemental damage taken.

I also pair it with recently buffed Doppelganger's Guise, 40% less phys and chaos damage taken is absolutely insane. Then we have max spell suppression, capped evade chance with Grace and 8% evade chance Watcher's Eye mod. Everything combined gives protection against attacks, spells and all damage types. The only issue is damage, but for general mapping it's enough.

You can look up my current setup any time, profile is public as always. I should warn you that my build is mostly made on the fly and i didn't try optimizing it for end game yet. I'm also still trying stuff out so some things might still change.

To remind - i'm playing "casually" these days and my knowledge isn't as good as it used to be, which is why one of the primary reasons i'm not updating the guide right now.

DankawSL nice to see you!

I'm still running CA Raider as always. Never thought to even look for Doppelgänger Guise, but will now.

"Mageblood at home" looks like it's pretty solid for mapping/heist. I'm going slow with limited playtime this league, but once I get to 95, think I'm going to re-spec and give it a go.

Cheers and thanks for the guide!

"

DankawSL wrote:

...

New Content and Features
> Introduced 8 new Vaal Skill Gems: Vaal Caustic Arrow

hmm? I did not expect that XD!

Sadly i won't update the build this league either. I'll definitely play new league though. I'll be a bit busy with a project for another game. If i do get to update the build it should be around late january-february. I was really happy with how my Kalandra build version worked out so i'll surely try to optimize it next time.

This patch also seems really good for CA in general. There's new Vaal version and curse buffs against content that CA struggled the most and new interesting options as well. Hopefully it'll push the build back to it's former glory, if only just a bit.

"

press_start73 wrote:

DankawSL nice to see you!

I'm still running CA Raider as always. Never thought to even look for Doppelgänger Guise, but will now.

"Mageblood at home" looks like it's pretty solid for mapping/heist. I'm going slow with limited playtime this league, but once I get to 95, think I'm going to re-spec and give it a go.

Cheers and thanks for the guide!

Great to see you too! I find it incredible that there's still few people reaching out to me despite guide not being update. Super late reply but better now than never.

Honestly after trying it out the setup works like a charm. A bit expensive to get running but it feels like good old lazy CA Raider again, just with less damage. It also has quite high ceiling, since with plenty of resistances through flasks it's possible to get a lot of damage through gear, like rings. That's out of the scope for majority of people though, so can't exactly rely on that in a guide.

"

Tetrad wrote:

"

DankawSL wrote:

...

New Content and Features
> Introduced 8 new Vaal Skill Gems: Vaal Caustic Arrow

hmm? I did not expect that XD!

I expected that at one point, around when speed meta was at it's fullest and CA couldn't compete because of lack of off-screen potential (around Legacy). It works exactly how i imagined it to initally, to break it down:

* Main feature - unlike normal CA it leaves caustic ground trail AND flies all the way to maximum range like majority of projectile skills!
* Vaal skill, so higher damage is guaranteed.
* Duration seems longer than CA, it lasts 6 seconds in the preview posted yesterday but values might differ obviously.
* Built-in pierce, which shouldn't matter much but it's still welcome.

In current days i'd prefer something that solves single target issues CA has, but this version is welcome too. Since Vaal CA surely has more damage this is still an improvement no matter how you look at it. Extra duration on CA should be more worthwhile now as well. More duration = more uptime, especially in bursts.

Off-screening is something CA isn't capable of without Arrow Nova, making certain league mechanics like Legion awful to opt-in. I already go for extra arrows in the build, this is a great addition!

As for which one is worth more - Level 20 Vaal CA or level 21 CA depends on numbers. Without numbers i can see level 20 Vaal CA being stronger in most cases, especially if you invest and reach level 30 gem level (+3 Bow, Empower 4, +2 amulet, Awakened Void Manipulation). In any case level 21 Vaal CA should ends up as a chase item for the build.