[2.2] Tanky CI EA, old school burn in the poison dominated meta

april 12.


dec. 9.


nov. 25.

Cheap 4 link for dmg gem can be enough.
Immune to chaos dmg.
Fast clear speed.

Lacks dexterity
Being CI build, it is not beginner friendly
Reflect can be nasty
On some bosses you have to take your time, because they die slowly.

Trickster is the best way to go, as a shadow.
Nothing much to explain, almost every node is worth gold for us.

Shade form with 250 free FLAT energy shield is godlike, defense wise, but just when you look at the 2 point nodes, you realize they can outscale this already great node.
The node before it is kind of cool too, movement speed is really important for bow builds.

Weave the arcane can let us drop a few regen nodes or jewelry.

Patient reaper is a great boost to the burning dmg part, also can be a source of manaregeneration.

Swift killer, a free charge and on kill frenzy generation? You mean we can finally use frenzy charges? That is 16% more dmg on 4 charges.

So take what you like, just stay away from Walk the Aether.

With CI we take 25% less elemental dmg, armor mitigates the small phys hits.
It is a good item if you don't want to buy a flat ES chest, also easier to color it if you want to use this to store your attack gem setup. (1B 2R 2G for 5link, 1B 3R 2G for 6link).
Best in slot is a high ES Vaal Regalia, we get much more ES out of it.

.


The only quiver with ES, also energy shield starts to recharge faster, pretty good, since we are kiting stuff all the time.



Really good attack speed, this is all we need to stack the fuse charges and it costs only 1 chaos.
Coloring this bow is an easy task, since it has low dex base, it is worth to store your attack gem setup inside this bad boy.
If you don't want to work on manaregen, using a regular +3 to bow gems thicked bow is just fine, but in the end does less dmg.

A +1 arrow mod on the quiver OR the bow is highly advised, since we can max stack with 3 shot and abandon LMP from your gem setup.
Update on this part, shotgunning was nerfed, so this thing no longer works, however having a +1 arrow is still pretty decent for map clears, so having it will not hur us

Belt:

Cheap and has good resist, ignite chance, ignite does significant ammount of DMG vs every boss, except atziri.


Flat ES and mana, also great if you don't use Dream Fragment, but otherwise an unfreeze flask is more than enough when you do normal, not ice themed content.

Necklace:

We need a lot of mana regeneration and the reduced stat requirements is also a nice bonus to it.
But is the default CI necklace as rapid hits can stunlock us and eventually lead to death.

Boots:

Fits into the ignite theme, if you are planning to pick up Celestial punishment, then it is worth to use it.

For boots you can pick up until you get something better, I mean if you are rather going for pure ES gear this is a btter pick than the previous one.

Rings:

Is a really really good one, but is legacy now, so not everyone have acces to it.

Dream Fragments
This ring is equally good compared to the previous one, maybe even better.

DMG:
First let's list the possible support gems:

Fire penetration Must to have

Chance to ignite (it is really good, if you want to spec into ignite)

Increased burning dmg (pretty much a must if you are an ignite build)

Less duration (Makes the gameplay smoother for those who don't want to use elemental equilibrium or offensive curse, since 2.2 it has a more multiplier)

Increased area/conc effect (Increased area is a quality of life change for map clears and you can just swap it out for conc effect on bosses to exponentially increase your dmg output)

Slower projectiles (Raw more multiplier, makes the gameplay a bit clunky, but it is a great boost)

Empower (Our dmg scales from the gem level, level 2 is kind of cool, if you have a level 3 or 4 empower, then it is a must to use it, as it gives use so much dmg)

Life leech (if you want to do reflect maps and you have vaal pact and ghost reaver, then can be used)


If your EA is q20 then you can drop Chance to ignite, but it is not advised at the moment.

Now well you need to chose a few of theese gems for your setup, as for myself I would use this:
4link: EA - FirePen - chance to ignite - inc area
5link: + increased burning dmg
6link: + empower

But even this is a viably option:
4link: EA - FirePen - inc area - less duraion
5link: + slower projectiles
6link: +life leech

There are like 10 more combinations, you need to find something that is fitting for your playstyle, what matters is it should feel good for you to use it

Also, if you don't have +1 arrow somewhere, then using a 4link setup just for area clear is a legit option, but it took me like 10 quivers to get that mod, not sure how much are they at the moment, but when I did it, they were like 1 chaos each.



Curse on hit:
Ice Shot + curse on hit + flamability (gives us additional chance to ignote)
if you want to spend 4 link on it then you can also link a GMP/LMP

Auras, buffs:
Discipline + Clarity + Arctic Armor + Enlighten
Or if you have problems with capping resistances, then use a purity aura instead of Arctic Armor.

CWTD setup:
Cast when dmg taken + Arctic Breath + GMP or LMP + Immortal call

Additionally an enduring cry can be manually casted, sometimes it is worth the effort, because we get like 1 sec phys immunity, which is more than enough for our ES to start recharging.

As for the case you want to get a bit of extra survivability:
Get Vaal Discipline and link it with Increased Duration, well you can actually link more of them together since the base duration is only 3 secs and you have enough sockets left, 2 or 3 is enough, it is only a matter of taste, this is our panic button, or health potion, if you like that more.

While this buff is active, you get a bonus ammount of flat ES and you can recharge even if you constantly take dmg, which is great considering recharge rate is 20% es/sec.

Good flasks are super important, removing bleed, freeze/chill, curses, your greatest enemies
I use theese ones,
2 Quicksilver for faster map clear, one of it removes chill
1 Granite with % armor roll
1 ruby to remove bleed
1 topaz with curse removal
Well you can get any combination just make sure to have the %armor on the granite.