[3.13]🏹 Poison Barrage-VF / Scourge Arrow / TR PF | Bottled Fortify | The Tankiest Ranger + High DPS

I'm very interested playing this build in the coming new league. I tried but I didn't find most updated PoB link in the "Path of Building" section. is there no change on passive tree in 3.13? thank you.

Hi guys,

Just drop by to let you know that I'll be releasing the BarrageVF PoB this evening after work. LocalIdentity and his team have updated his PoB for the ascendency changes. The Scourge Arrow PoB will be updated later on to incorporate the armor stacking defense of the BarrageVF.

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WolfieNa wrote:

Hi guys,

Just drop by to let you know that I'll be releasing the BarrageVF PoB this evening after work. LocalIdentity and his team have updated his PoB for the ascendency changes. The Scourge Arrow PoB will be updated later on to incorporate the armor stacking defense of the BarrageVF.

Thank you so much.

Update:

Barrage-VF PoB: https://pastebin.com/7SWHHiLu



Answers some questions you have:

1) Motivation of this build?
- The SA build is gaining traction; however, there have been lots of complaints about the single-target damage. The channelling nature of SA makes it harder to master the build. Barrage, on the other hand, is straightforward and can provide more DPS against single targets. That being said, SA is still a better attack skill in terms of clear speed, and a decent build. It's just a matter of taste at the end of the day.

- In addition, I always want to try another skill that can be comfortbly brought into the hardest contents (100% deli maps, deep delve, etc.). Armor stacking is a good way to mitigate phys and creates a huge bubble around you with Molten Shell. Going Transcendence offers great elemental mitigation against onslaughts of elemental threats in the aforementioned challenges. When all the defense layers are exhausted, we are on the verge of elimination. In such cases, life gain on hit can be a game saver. With tons of arrows per sec (stack +arrows, attack speed, frenzy charges), Barrage can bring you back to full life in a matter of sec. Harvest can help craft the items much easier. There are other things, pls take a look at the video and PoB. (and let me know if i make any mistake, etc.).


2) Can Barrage be used to clear?
Yes, absolutely. VolleyFire creates a wide coverage that allows you to clear more efficiently.

3) Warning: the league starting potential of this build is not fully explored yet.

Have fun!

Edit: I removed the part that said the new variant build is league-start unfriendly. It should be not yet fully explored.

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3) Warning: this build is not starter-friendly. I hope the community can step up and guide me on how to make this build easier to start the league with.

Hi Wolfie,

I am really interested in this build. Looking at your guide, it seems like you were able to League start with TR --> SA for previous league. But you mentioned here that this is not starter friendly. Did you mean that Barrage version is not starter friendly? or the SA version?

Thanks. :)

Hi Wolfie, thanks for the new version, im looking forward to play it in the ritual league.
I have question regarding Volley Fire jewel. Correct me if im wrong, but it only benefits us if we gonna use barrage for clear right ?. For single target this jewel doesn't add anything because according to wiki:
"The extra projectiles are for clear speed; an enemy can only be hit once by a projectile fired on the first and final attacks." that means extra projectiles wont stack additional poisons.

Good day sir Wolfie. First of all - thank you for the guide, I haven't yet used it but anyone can clearly see a lot of effort went into it. I would like to try it out at some point, seems like something I'd enjoy a lot as I like tanky characters, most probably after I get one character up for some currency farm to be able to follow this guide easier, but got a few questions about it. Have to say that I'm not a very experienced poe gamer, haven't played POE that much yet, but do try to read a lot and acquire as much info as possible, so I may not know all the things that some thing are explicit. Also, apologies if my questions were asked before.

Now, I feel like I'll mess up the SA main variant of this build, and will not enjoy it personally, so interested in the Toxic Rain option. As far as I understand the latest POB for the Toxic Rain is here - https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2851574/page/102#p23429515 correct? POB says it's for an earlier version of the game, but I think not much has changed in the passives for it, so it's fine to use that one.

Secondly - gear. In that mentioned post you have the final gear to strive for, but for the SA in the main guide post there are large sections on how to craft and what to look for. What should I do for the Toxic Rain gearing, you mention "Share the same gears and tree with our SA build: guaranteed tankiness. Can switch between the two if one gets bored with either." so I can follow the gearing/crafting advice in the first post for SA in it's totality and use it to the same effect for the Toxic Rain one? Because for me it really makes a huge difference if I could see a slow step-by-step path of upgrading things, much more understandable due to my inexperience, and not just a snapshot of what I should have at the end.

Thirdly - if I to follow the main SA crafting section, there's parts for bow, jewels, helmet, quiver, chest and boots. What about rings, amulet, gloves, belt? Do I use the "End-game Gears" section, those bits are mentioned there at the very end, but I'm a bit confused as to how to craft them now, since we're out of fully controlled harvest league and not it will be kinda rng based on what gardens you'll find as I understand.

Lastly, in the POB for the Toxic Rain, there is a Blast Rain setup. What is this for, exactly? I found a mention that it helps to knock-back mobs to help the channel of the SA, but if I use Toxic Rain, then I run more, so do I still need it or I can have some other link setup for more defence perhaps, or anything else useful that maybe you'll suggest? Or maybe a second damage setup, as I'm totally ok in using more than 1 skills for clearing and all, actually feel it's more fun.

Wolfie, please don't take this negatively: and to preface, I've had several chances over the last few months for Wolfie to help explain choices to me, go back and forth about various aspects and generally chat about various things. Wolfie is an awesome individual with a knack for finding, creating and building innovative new twists on builds, and creating extremely powerful builds. Wolfie however, is not so great at explaining the process to get there :) Heck - I got to test my heist SA build out against his barrage build yesterday which was really cool to see.

To the defense of the build: every time someone mentioned the build is a poor league start, terrible boss damage, etc...a look over their build 99/100 times showed they were completely ignoring all of the poison nodes, didn't understand the mechanics of the build, or were making blatantly wrong choices (empty jewel sockets, no mana flask, things that made no difference, no accuracy, etc)

The build guide itself is a hodgepodge of various posts, POB, current and outdated equipment - it is not a one stop clear concise page 1 guide to victory. As such, you really just need to sink your teeth in to find how the build works, what stats effect it, and build upon it yourself. This is a difficult premise for a lot of players, but if you do decide to embark on this journey, the results are well worth it. The SA build was definitely my most successful and powerful build to date

I have now leveled this build to 60, 7 times, for 3.13 practice. I want to share my experiences with everyone for league start. Hopefully this helps you all as well. There are a few things you will want to do that are extremely important early on:

1) Fast attack speed bow (1.45APS+) & faster attacks support are important for toxic rain (TR) which i suggest you use all through leveling. If you get a quill rain, it will carry you to 60+ and you can drop faster attacks. Early links will be TR/faster attacks/mirage archer. Swap out faster attacks for vicious projectiles if you get a Quill rain.

2) Flat chaos damage (6 transmute bench craft in A3/A4 cant recall) is freaking important to have on rings and quiver. It will literally double your damage.

3) True single target is too weak with just TR early on, you need to use some support here. I highly recommend Shrapnel Ballista to start (it shotguns, great support for offense and defense). Support it with added cold & faster attacks. You will want to level a "Ballista Totem Support" (BTS) and in A3 when you get "Blast Rain" (BR) swap over to the this with BTS/BR/Lesser Multiple Projectils/Withering Touch. This combination will absolutely destroy and is getting massively buffed in 3.13.

4) Despair curse is your friend against single targets.

5) Run "Purity of Elements", "Herald of Ice" (easier early on due to only dex requirement), and "Herald of Agony" (HoA) as your auras. Do not use support gems on HoA.

6) Smoke Mine (if you are good with mines) & Flame Dash (from A3 Siosa) will make you freaking fly through all content. Just dont go so fast that you are underleveled (aka 4+ levels below monster level)

Thats all I can contribute for now. I would just like to thank Wolfie for this build and all the work he has put into it. Does Wolfie have a discord or Twitch?

Good luck leveling all, I hope these experiences help you as well. It has REALLY made a big difference for me.

-Tarn

Thanks for the leveling tips and all the feedback in here!
Much appreciated :)