[2.2]->[2.6] Pathfinder Budget / Lightning Arrow / 100% pierce / Crit / Infractem

recent 'discovery' of mine:



this helmet is PERFECT for this build:
- movement speed. damage is not the main factor to general clear speed. movement speed is. this one has lots of it.
- attack speed
- dexterity (==accuracy)
- some chaos res (always a plus)
- solid EV and AR values

and the penalty (10% red phys damage) is almost irrelevant. i do not like the 'footprint' stuff but oh well..

my dps went up from ~14k to ~16k with this helmet

So after playing a lot of different builds in BL I've come to the conclusion that this build is one of best builds I've played, for me at least. It is very well rounded and has a bit of everything. I died at lvl87 from a 73 Zana map Brutus, because I had bad latency and didn't log out fast enough after I got smashed once.

pro:
- very satisfying OP-ish kills with 100% pierce shattering mobs
- 100% pierce for both LA and Frenzy/GMP/CoH without using an additional gem
- single reflect is not an issue except large squid packs or double reflect
- ok with >90% of map mods, except double reflect and/or with aurabot in group (LGoH swap helps)
- effective use of weapon switching
- no 'one click' feeling (like Arc/KB/FB) with selfcast CoH, traps and dodging attacks with >60% movement speed
- literally no life flask usage with 50% evasion, active dodging and instaheal with one LA/Frenzy shot into a group, despite not having LL/LGoH gem or passives
- HC viable with a bit more defenses on passive tree (first lvl87 hc char without struggling or getting bored)
- VERY scalabe with aurabot/quad curse (both pro/and con)
- no burn prolif...

con:
- it doesn't feel that strong until you get high lvl/quality gems and a 5L (especially in groups), but I guess thats more a HC related issue due to less/no uniques and more defensive passives
- likely to kill yourself with >12-14k tooltip dps and no LGoH gem if you're not focused

This definitely will be my first character in the next HC league (I took a break and skipped the 1M race). What do you guys recommend as an alternative to CwDT/phys mitigation cince CwDT will most likely be changed/nerfed in the next release? Going back to AR/EV gear with selfcast Enduring Cry?

My HC skilltree:


Other builds I've played (for reference):

"

So after playing a lot of different builds in BL I've come to the conclusion that this build is one of best builds I've played, for me at least. It is very well rounded and has a bit of everything. I died at lvl87 from a 73 Zana map Brutus, because I had bad latency and didn't log out fast enough after I got smashed once.

Rip bro, currently I am level 77 on HC my skill tree is a bit different, I will be going for a lot more life, although evasion rating, damage, accuracy is dropping



MY dps tool tip is only 5k with 2 herald and hatred. I need to get more dps and my crit chance is about 48% without charges, but yer lately I definitely feel the lag, and thats the thing with evasion char, we get hit so hard :S I link my CWDT with portal, enduring cry and temporal chain. (cant get good colors for it as it is on my bow and I running full evasion gear, have about 11k evasion.

and woah your other HC builds are similar to what I have tried, so far I have done...
KB forst wall,
KB PS, PHys wander
WoE + BoR
Aegis + BoR (expensive but safest)

by no I reckon this build is safe, but my version has a downside of low dps, so when you wana party with friends and carry them through contents/ map you will feel dps lacking a bit.

i have to say that reading so many good things about a build ive thrown together to prove something to myself is.. very good feeling

ive never ever expected it to work in HC. i knew that the movement speed makes it safe but always expected some kind of desync-accident happening sooner than latter

another benefit that might have helped is the Thief's Torment' '50% less curse effect on you' mod
I think people underestimate how often they are cursed and how dangerous this can be.

I no longer play this build as i wanted to finally try trapper (with another under-valuated item - Jaws of Agony) but from time to time i realize just how much safer the play is without having to worry about curses

i know 'of warding' etc but this is only a temporary solution (and does nothing vs map mods)

honestly, if I would have skipped big hit bosses like I usually did I would brake lvl90 with this build for sure. I was cocky because I had only very few 'oh shit' moments with this char. Evasion in it's current form is a very strong mechanic and with >45% base evasion (without flasks/buffs) and dodging from time to time you can survive almost everything. Except these (almost) 1 shots, for this you 'just' need a good amount of life and thats a problem with only 1 ring and any additional dmg unique, mostly without life.
You can compensate the dmg loss from missing uniques like maligaro's etc. by using mostly 20q gems in your 5L, granted it's not easily obtainable if you aim for a budget build because you don't have much currency, but it's doable. I just buy cheap lvl 1 skills with 10q-16q, level them in my spare slots and use GCPs on them every now and then.
On the other side you don't have to worry much about survivability if your rare chest and rare helmet alone give you easily over 2200 evasion (which is more than a lvl20 Grace) including >80 hp on each item. Add a 70+ hp quiver with atk spd, WED and crit (which costs 2-3c at most) and you're good (I had ~4.4k life with 150% from tree).

The main problem I see in the coming leagues is the rework of the CwDT/EC/IC setup, which is/was a perfect addition to pure evasion characters. I admit it's too strong with almost no effort, so what would be an alternative? On first thought you would want a reliable method to constantly gain endurance charges and/or a good amount of armor, even as a pure evasion char. So maybe using Daresso's Defiance? You will lose ~800 evasion (compared to a rare chest) and a 5L will easily cost a few exalts, maybe even more with the CwDT setup changes.

//Edit
Daresso's Defiance would only be reliable if you run solo to get all last hits, so... next idea?

just started ur build, got all i need. sure looks fun :) been wanting to use LA for a while

One more fan of your build is here. Currently lvl 77 in Standard League I must say I just love it. If it is not a problem I would want to ask a few questions:

1. Why are you so against the Aspect of the Eagle cluster and specifically the 3 points starting from Ballistic Mastery and ending in the center - the Aspect of the Eagle? In my opinion it provides more DPS than the 3 points spend in ASPD in Shadow's tree. I haven't tested it, but these are just my thoughts and decided to hear yours.

2. What is your opinion on Drillneck Penetrating Quiver: http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Drillneck
(I am pretty new player and I have absolutely no idea how to link it properly, sorry :/ ) The synergy with Infractem must be really good. Yes there is 10% chance of arrow penetration that is absolutely worthless as a stat, since we have Infractem, but those 100% projectile dmg look very tempting. And yes it is fairly expensive quiver but I was wondering if I should aim for it in the future.

Once again very good build and guide as a whole. Really appreciate the fact that you have shared it with all of us.

hi all. sorry for late responses but as ive mentioned earlier i've stopped playing this char and thus checking ranger forum :)

1) why not aspec of the eagle? the node itself is good (20% ipd, 20% acc plus fluff) but the 'trailing' nodes.. are weak, very weak

'projectile damage' nodes affect ENTIRE projectile (initial phys, auras AND heralds), inc phys affects only phys + converted ele).

attack speed == movement/reaction speed. this is very very important with a 1.1 base bow. youll 1shot anyway. that attack speed allows running away

dps numbers are really not that important in practice. it is the agility that this build is centered around (movement speed, aspd allowing disengaging at will)

my current tree (lvl 90 will take 8%life/24%AR/EV near duelist)


2) drillneck has no crit multi. this alone makes it less desirable than crit/crit multi/aspd rare. 100% ipd is interesting and valuable but to even out the crit multi loss one would have to drop A LOT of %phys nodes from the tree and focus on crit/crit multi nodes. in effect - probably reaching +/- 5% of the dps already achieved without Drillneck. Drillneck is better with a normal bow but also requires purpose-built tree. slapping it on a non-Drillneck build can end up.. in a dissapointment.

Really nice build, I love budget builds due to my limited amount of time I can play.
Are you going to post a new expansion tree for this build? Will it be still viable?

i expect both answers to be 'yes'

Lightning Arrow gets a BIG boost in 2.0 - its quality gives chance to shock (10% at 20% quality). this is huge bonus.