Explosive Arrow Marauder (Updated for Release)

Im almost 100% done gearing my character, i'm just looking to buy/trade for a SC Koam's, and some corals/amulets. Corals need the 70-79 bracket life roll and fire %. and the amulet needs the top life roll and fire %. Varanice on Anarchy, message me in game or send me a PM if you have any of this stuff for sale.

Pretty good build ... I modeled mine sorta after this one but I went more for pure fire damage and less worry about burning.

My desired end game build:



Where I'm currently at at level 62:



You need Quill Rain, but instead of going the design of this build, I'm STILL at just a 3 Link using EA, LMP, and Increased AOE. I plan on adding Concentrated Effect, Change to Ignite, and maybe Fire Penetration if I make it up to 6L. Like original poster, early levels are tough, especially before you can run with BM, but I have life regen on nearly every item (at the cost of other nice attributes like life or better armor), but I try not to get hit too much anyways. I'm pretty happy with the build, and while the single target damage could be better, I've never found a build that clears a large group better.

The best part is that areas I used to hate (cramped indoor dungeons) are now your best friend. Cause you can only stack up to 5 arrows onto a monster, BUT you can fire a million arrows into the wall/etc ... so lure a mob or boss around a corner and load up a wall with a bunch of arrows and ... BOOM.

I'm not sure how the original poster got away without having to take the big 30 Dex nodes cause without it I couldn't upgrade my EA (and other Dex) gem.

Never thought my best archer would be a Marauder :)

"

jbd007 wrote:

Spoiler

Pretty good build ... I modeled mine sorta after this one but I went more for pure fire damage and less worry about burning.

My desired end game build:

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEBAdwB5wJxA8YEswUtBg4J9hQgFE0UcRZvGS4ZhRo4GlUb-hznHRQg8CFgJKolrSXfJ9Un7SkuKU8wdTbFNtg26DbpOlI8BT38QKBE50bXTeNQR1BQVElVqVXGVw1YY1ivWfNfP2BLYSFj_WSjZp5qHmo7cql07XTxeA165nrvfLh82X1TgpuDOITvhymLjIzPj0aQVZeFl7SazJ2AnrmezZ_fogCkGacIpzCnhKgYqW6sWayqrLq53b6KwBrEWMbYz2XQ0NIh1HzYJNlh3QXfv-Fz4drjaudS52rsOOxV7SDvDu988B_xbPIv9kj60v6P

Where I'm currently at at level 62:

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEAAecCcQSzFCAUTRkuGjgaVR0UIPAn7SlPNug6UjwFPQ9E50bXUEdQUFRJVcZXDVhjWfNfP2BLYSFko2aeah5qO3KpdO165nrvfNl9U331gpuDOITvhymLjIzPj0aQVZ2Ans2f36IApzCnhKgYrKq53cAaxPbG2M9l0NDSIdR82WHdBd-_4XPnUudq7DjtIO8O73zwH_Iv9kj60g==

You need Quill Rain, but instead of going the design of this build, I'm STILL at just a 3 Link using EA, LMP, and Increased AOE. I plan on adding Concentrated Effect, Change to Ignite, and maybe Fire Penetration if I make it up to 6L. Like original poster, early levels are tough, especially before you can run with BM, but I have life regen on nearly every item (at the cost of other nice attributes like life or better armor), but I try not to get hit too much anyways. I'm pretty happy with the build, and while the single target damage could be better, I've never found a build that clears a large group better.

The best part is that areas I used to hate (cramped indoor dungeons) are now your best friend. Cause you can only stack up to 5 arrows onto a monster, BUT you can fire a million arrows into the wall/etc ... so lure a mob or boss around a corner and load up a wall with a bunch of arrows and ... BOOM.

I'm not sure how the original poster got away without having to take the big 30 Dex nodes cause without it I couldn't upgrade my EA (and other Dex) gem.

Never thought my best archer would be a Marauder :)

I went 2H glacial hammer/infernal blow until around earlyish merciless when I was leveling my EA marauder at the beginning of Anarchy, worked pretty well. I just transitioned once I had a 4L quill, the gems I needed, and could still be res capped with my new quiver.

Pastromy, can you post your gear please.

Sure... I know there are people out there (Deltrus for one) who have way better gear than me though.




I use the ruby flask for reflect packs, and I have a 6s Quill Rain that I'm /trying/ to 6L... After I get that, I'll look into getting a Kaom's or, if I can't get that, a Carcass Jack. Also, it's really just a coincidence that both of my health flasks dispell burning... I'd really rather have them give me increased armor, increased evasion, or curse removal.

hey inventor of the explosive arrow build,

I am playing it now for quite a while, and had enough currency to almost optimize my gear for it. I am playing it as some kind of ranged EK-Tank. I value Armour really high and went for a lot of armour nodes. i have 5 Endurance charges and i am at 71% physical dmg reduction without them (just auras), 8700 HP with Kaom's, and all resistances are elemental weakness capped without any diamond skins from the passive tree (that's why i dropped them). I usually ignore chaos resistance because Chaos dmg is easy to dodge and never got me anywhere close to dying. In fact i think buying Chaos res on life based characters is just wasting currency except you want to go for some Blood Rage stuff or use some weird uniques ;).

My Passive Tree:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgEAAdwB5wJxBLMFLQ6tEmkS4RQgFE0UcRZvFxwY2xkuGYUaOBpVG_odFCFgJKol3yftKS4ppS3SMgk1hjboNuk6UjqzOtg9_ECgQapDnEd-Sn1N2FBHUFBUSVXGWGNZ81uvXz9gS2EhZKNlTWaeZ6BuaXF5cql07XTxeu98uHzZgW-DOITZhO-Hdox2jM-PRpAKkFWdqp2unjyiAKQZpwinMKeEq8WsqriTuc253b6nwA_AGsbYz2XQ0NJN1I_V7d0N37_i6uNq51LsOO8O707vfPAf8932SPcy-Ov60vzF

Going for more life in the ranger tree, Inner Force or another Endurance charge next.

My Gear (which i consider is close to the best you probably can get):

I just wear the quiver for the resistances and the cold dmg in case i use elemental equilibrium btw. I am using 20/20 Flammability at the moment but already went for 151+ Intelligence to be able to use 20/20 Elemental Weakness, which is better for group play. If i solo maps I usually pick Elemental Equilibrium for the cost of Regret Orbs. To anyone who wants to play or is playing this build: if you get a 6L I recommend to NOT use increased area of effect, as that's going to kill you sooner or later on reflect packs. Focus as much dmg as possible into burning dmg as that can't get reflected.

@Pastromy: Your build inspired mine quite a bit and i wanted to thank you for that. I finally have a build which is rly interesting to play and has only one limit: Reflect ;)

Yea, with the change to IR, I'm thinking about trying to get away from the duelist tree and instead just use armor gear.

Also, your gear is INSANE, Xandtaria.

This build is clearly developed for ladders where kaom exist. How hard of a hit does the build take without it? Playing onslaught. The plus is you can use a 6l chest instead, you can get much higher armor and cap res easier. The health might put a dent though. Prob be around 4k life while this build typically reaches 6-7k I imagine. Also, what about a mana/aura variation? Since jewlery just seems to be about getting life and res, you could also aim for high mana rolls. Use alpha howl/some mana nods or reserve nods.

you can easily play without Kaom's and 2 6links. 1 for EA and one for your Split Arrow. As this build is all about the combination of 6 DPS gems, i would not recommend an aura version with BM-gem. you can easily reach 5-6k life without Kaom's. You can get pretty tanky as you don't need a lot of dps passives. Kaom's saves your ass sometimes though when you made a wrong approach to reflect monsters. so in conclusion: The build is playable without Kaom's but works rly well with Kaom's just like most of the lifebased builds out there.

The only way to get a mana based build to work is using thief's torment--or having such insane gear that I can't even imagine it... This is simply because a 6L Explosive Arrow will cost something like 150 mana per shot (without using a BM gem)... There's next to no way to sustain that much mana with regen (and you really don't want to give up a link for mana leech... Plus, you probably wouldn't even be able to leech fast enough anyway).