[2.3] Explosive Arrow Build - Uber viable - 100 hc/sc proof - Scion, Witch, Duelist, Mara versions

this is an ignite build

fire damage projectile damage elemental damage and area damage all apply to both the hit and ignite damage

you get 20% chance to ignite from the quality on EA, 10% from the tree and another 14% from the flammability

that's 44% chance to ignite, i mean if you want to you could use chance to ignite as your 6L but i don't thin it's worth it

you could also use mokous embrace for some extra too but if you want to use a unique ring doedres damning and double curse is a much better option IMO

all the multipliers you use also apply to ignite damage, there's no reason to add rapid decay instead of a multiplier that applies both to the hit and the burn damage

speccing into damage over time nodes over nodes that double dip is very inefficient

For single target theres been a number of fixes offered, considering the price of a 5l quill rain or for starters a 5l bow you craft +2 to bow gems on, you could easily weapon swap for single target (if you dont want to gem swap etc).
Reduced duration looks really exciting for this build since the delay is what separates this build from the really fast clear of a normal crit bow build.

can anyone speak on the party viability of this build? i imagine it's just fine, but just curious if anyone had any problems.

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innervation wrote:

Have you toyed around with using Explosive Arrow as a means for burning/ignite to be your main kill technique?
Might now be a great time to try an explosive arrow ---> ignite/burning damage build?

Consider:

1. The 'damage over time' nodes being added to support poison (but are blandly labeled 'damage over time' - they wedged some right between Holy Fire, Heart of Flame, and Breath of Flames in the Northwest corner between Witch and Templar. (Could pick up dual curse while you're there too for Flammability + Vulnerability, Ele Weakness, or Temp Chains).
2. Unparalleled flexibility with Ascendency stuff.
3. Rapid Decay Gem (more multiplier)

You could do this as a Chieftan, Elementalist, or Scion.

We already make great use of the ignite as damage source. Justifi3d already went into detail about this.
Berserks 40% more dmg applies to the explosion and the burn, so it will be a huge buff to burn dmg.

As deadmeat already mentioned, chieftain isn't that great for us

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dpope wrote:

I'd also like to know your opinion on using the Champion (Duelist) subclass for this. Permanent (enhanced, especially with tree nodes) Fortify + 35% inc damage & 10% ms aura. I realize it doesn't match up with the damage output of other classes, but it seems much more viable for HC play.

Fortify + Purity of Fire (or even Grace with IR) at no cost with the new unique ring means that reflect may not even be an issue anymore with this build. Huge benefit in my opinion.

Thoughts?


Edit: As far as Elemental Focus, I plan to use it on my AOE setup, then have a second EA setup for single target that is more ignite based.

For hardcore the Champion seems like a good choice, the complete opposite of the dmg choice berserker. I would argue that the extra defense isnt nessacary because the new tree buffs our life and we already didnt have problem with surviving, given tho that reflect might become a problem in partys with the HUGE dmg buff we are gaining in ascendancy.

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nkorea wrote:

can anyone speak on the party viability of this build? i imagine it's just fine, but just curious if anyone had any problems.

Just skip through the posts, the damage is overkill as is and will get heavily buffed in ascendancy, probably more than any other build. Only problems i can imagine is a to early change to this build or if u dont run a single target 4/5l early and lack dmg without ignite to kill single target in a party.






Less duration, Elemental Overload, Berserker, free leech, more life and dmg from the tree, the hypetrain is real. oh my

As I see it the Leech from MaraBerserker only gives Leech if you killed recently = last 4 seconds.

I'm tending towards going Scion Berserker/Raider.

Could you post your trees you're working on atm Peyter?

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HalfRadius wrote:

As I see it the Leech from MaraBerserker only gives Leech if you killed recently = last 4 seconds.

I'm tending towards going Scion Berserker/Raider.

I think the Scion Zerker / Raider version is a better choice for a few reasons as well:

1. As you mentioned, the Scion Zerker is a permanent 1.5% life leech and does not waste any "budget points" on mana leech like the Pain Reaver node does (which also relies on a kill to activate.)

2. Blood dance was nerfed to give 0.5% regen per frenzy charge - This means we can use a different boot with much higher defensive stats and still get the an "on kill" Frenzy charge generation from the Raider subclass (10% Frenzy on kill passively which is admittedly much lower than Blood Dance)

3. Raider subclass will give near - permanent phasing and onslaught, 25% status avoidance, and a small chance to dodge. This should still be a large damage increase because attack speed will be much higher than it would be using Blood Dance - this is very important because of the new Less Duration gem (faster explosions but can still stack a few times with the insane attack speed this build should have in 2.2 - I haven't mathed any breakpoints yet but I am sure perma onslaught + frenzy charges will allow for some crazy speed.)

Also, I am considering a weapon swap featuring whirling blades + fortify + faster attacks to keep fortify up whenever I decide it is time to cast enduring cry. That should help with tankiness but it would require great latency. It can be naturally done whenever Enduring Cry needs to be cast again.

Is elemental overload worth it?

I know its filthy damage but having to drop RT and spec into some accuracy nodes stretches things abit thin, also realistically how much are you likely to crit with no investment?

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Is elemental overload worth it?

I know its filthy damage but having to drop RT and spec into some accuracy nodes stretches things abit thin, also realistically how much are you likely to crit with no investment?

The great thing about elemental overload is that you only need a single crit once every 8 seconds - that is a huge amount of time to score one crit, especially when attacking over 5 times per second. Precision (two points above Sanctity near the templar start) is a great and efficient node for 20% accuracy + other goodies, and Versatility in the Marauder start area is another great and easy node with attack speed, dex, int, and another 20% accuracy.

i can see how the high attack speed and pure number of charges should add up but im not sure i like the likelihood of missing in the long term. I suppose time will tell, should be fairly inexpensive to test considering the position of the nodes.

I plan to play a Champion in HC, this is my build so far:

poeurl.com/w73

Next nodes would be Celestial Judgement, Purity of Flesh and Explosive Impact.

Any suggestions for improvement?