The Piercing CoC
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Ha!!!! Cast on Crit innuendo in the title. So much of funny. Now that that's out of the way, here we go.
Background
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I wanted to make a cast on crit build based around the spark hype ignited by ZiggyD. It's a skill that scales very well with pierce and projectile speed and with the pierce gem newly buffed it seemed like good idea. I leveled with spark, as one does, until I got enough crit chance to make CoC viable so I bought a tabula and started experimenting. My first thought was to use a dagger and lightning strike to get a wide AOE without LMP/GMP but it was awful. I moved to barrage with a wand and it was "fine" but not particularly interesting. Then I noticed I had a Quill Rain and a Drillneck in my invetory and said, "huh, I wonder what that will do with barrage...? What that did was give me so much attack speed that the 5% crit chance of Quill Rain was not terribly troublesome. Don't crit for an attack or two? No worries - you've only wasted a quarter of a second. So, weapon setup done - next we need to cast some spells.
I obviously wanted to use spark as a payload skill but I wasn't sure what to use along with it. Obviously I wanted to use projectile spells so that narrows it down. Fireball and Arctic breath are typical CoC skills but with all of the pierce chance you neglect their impact explosions - leaving a lot of damgae on the table. I tried ball lightning but with so much projectile speed the balls move past monsters too quickly to do much damage. Then I tried Ethereal Knives and, eureka. Both Spark and EK are severly hampered by lack of projectile speed (they won't go very far) and lack of pierce chance (even if they could go a long way they'll be consumed when they hit a monster). With a 100% pierce chance and "hella" projectile speed these two spells operate in their most idealized fashions. EK can hit to the very edge of the screen, clearing out everything in front of me and Sparks bounce absolutely everywhere, clearing around corners and cleaning up straggler monsters behind me. As well, the pierce chance of Barrage means that my CoC penetrates deep, deep into enemy packs... dang it, sorry, it happened again. Suffice it to say, the skill synergy is great. Ascendancy
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It should be obvious by now that this is a Ranger-Deadeye + Shadow-Assassin Ascendant. Everything in the Deadeye node is awesome for this build - 50% pierce chance, 20% projectile speed, "far shot", extra projectile. Amazing synergies all around. The Assassin node is not quite so perfect. Mostly I'm in it for the +1 to base crit chance. Everything else is just ok. Passive Tree
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This tree is probably not perfect. The build started out as a general concept and only switched to bows late in the game. I'm not sure how I feel about all the travel going to the Witch power charge and King of the Hill but I'm making it work. https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAABAAMEAx4EBwW1Bx4N0Q5ID6sRLxGWFHUWvxmKH0EgbiF2Iuoj9iSLJP0mlSoLKwotHy2oMHwx-jIBNZI31DnUOlg64UlRSshLV0yzTZJN41AwUUdVS1XGVvpaUluvXfJfsGHiYetjQ21sbqpvnm_ycFJ293cHd9d6U3tue8N_K3_GgwmD24TFhs6HB4cTidOMC4w2jX2Nv5UglS6XBpchmyabXZu1nKSgn6KjpjKmV6hyqJqxW7GQshm18rfWuXy7476AwOPBM8F8wfPDOsSiykrPetQj2L3bWdte44TnVOjW7LDtP_DV8bPyRfKX_gr-j_66_94= You have a lot of access to jewel slots and most of mine are taken up with life + one damage mod jewels. I have a Volley Fire jewel in the slot near the evasion wheel which gives me two extra Barrage projectiles, along with the one extra from the Deadeye node. Basically you get LMP without the damage penalty. Offence
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DPS numbers are pretty sketchy for CoC builds so who cares. Suffice it to say it clears packs amazingly well. Single target damage is not the worst I've tried with a CoC build but it's certainly not the strong point. Defense
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This is not quite what you'd call Hardcore viable. I've got some evasion + Acrobatics and Arctic Armour. A Basalt and Stibnite flask help a lot; and keep those endurance charges up if you can. You all know the drill, though, it's a right side of the tree build so stack life as best you can, get what evasion you can, have fun and hope for the best. Physical reflect is a killer here as you have very little phys mitigation and EK hits pretty hard. Even a single phys reflect monster can take you down if you're not careful. Gear
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The major downside of this build is that you pretty much need a 6 link. A tabula makes that cheap but you give up a lot on your already skimpy defense. I ended up buying a white 6 link for 1.25 ex and Chaosing until I got something tolerable. In the end it was less than 2ex for a pretty decent 6L chest and that's doable for a lot of people. For uniques you obviously need a Quill Rain and a Drillneck is a huge damage increase though not strictly necessary. Maligaro's Virtuosity are cheaper than they have been the last few leagues and they're a nice QOL piece of gear but, again, not totally necessary. I have a couple of decent Elreon rings which bring my Barrage mana cost to 3 - which allows me to completely ignore mana. The rest of the gear is your typical life, resist, crit chance gear - nothing too special. Skills
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Should be obvious by now: Barrage - CoC - Increased Critical Strikes - Pierce - Spark - Ethereal Knives If you want to do it with a 5L you could probably drop the pierce gem but that's a huge loss of both damage and fuctionality. Otherwise you need: Harold of Thunder + Herald of Ice + Curse on Hit + Assassin's Mark. The 10% chance to gain power charges from the Assassin ascendancy isn't quite enough to maintain power charges. I have a flame totem setup still when I need a little diversion from a tough boss but it doesn't get used much anymore. You'd be better served putting in a CWDT arrangement. Video
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Conclusion
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This build is not OP-SuperStrong and the defense leaves a little to be desired. It pretty much needs a 6 link and it doesn't really come together until late game. So why do it? Because it's extremely fun and that's what I'm looking for when I play a game. The high attack speed of Quill Rain makes the build play fast and fluid and I think that filling the entire screen with crazy fast sparks is super entertaining. For me, it just feels really good to play and that's enough. Last edited by SerialThriller37#4957 on Apr 15, 2016, 2:51:16 PM Last bumped on Apr 29, 2016, 8:26:35 AM
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I really like this build, is there anyway you could post a leveling tree, I'm pretty new to the game.
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" No problem - I hope this is helpful. As I mentioned in the guide, I didn't exactly level this character with bows in mind so this progression might not be perfect but I think it makes sense. My rule of thumb when leveling any character is to get my traveling done early - that is, go fairly quickly to all the big clusters of nodes I want to take, and then actually fill them in later on in the game. To begin, take the "southern" path and go to the "life rectangle".
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAABADWSSshaUm6qm12omrXy2L3ylw== Then go get the life and projectile damage in the Shadow area. You'll be leveling as a standard Spark caster so spell damage and projectile damage will help keep your DPS up.
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAABAAMeD6sRLxa_JIsmlSoLKwotqDWSSshVS1pSXfJfsGHibqpvnnBSgwmJ04w2m12btaiasZC18rfWwzrKSti921nylw== You've taken a little crit but it's really not time to start stacking it yet. Keep traveling towards the crit clusters you eventually want to take but just grab the life along the way. Next we're going to the Witch power charge.
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAABAAMeBAcHHg5ID6sRLxGWFr8kiyaVKgsrCi0fLag1kjpYSVFKyEyzVUtVxlpSXfJfsGHibqpvnnBSf8aDCYPbidOMNpUglS6bXZu1oqOomrGQtfK31sHzwzrKSti921nw1fKX Now we do our last big bout of traveling and pick up the bow crit nodes. Once you've finished your second labyrinth run you'll have the Shadow/Assassin class points and you'll be able to start thinking about making the cast on crit setup work. You'll need to experiment a bit to see when you've take enough crit on the tree to make your spells cast consistently.
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAABAAMeBAcFtQceDkgPqxEvEZYUdRa_IXYi6iP2JIsmlSoLKwotHy2oMHwx-jWSOdQ6WElRSshMs02SUUdVS1XGVvpaUluvXfJfsGHibqpvnm_ycFJ293fXfyt_xoMJg9uGzonTjDaNfY2_lSCVLptdm7Wgn6KjqJqxkLXyt9bBM8HzwzrKStQj2L3bWejW8NXylw== That was a long way but your crit chance should be on the verge of tolerable now. At this point you want to start filling in the rest of the tree. Take crit nodes as much as you can but don't forget to fill in out the life as well.
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAABAAMeBAcFtQceDdEOSA-rES8RlhR1Fr8ZiiBuIXYi6iP2JIsk_SaVKgsrCi0fLagwfDH6MgE1kjnUOlhJUUrIS1dMs02SUDBRR1VLVcZW-lpSW69d8l-wYeJjQ26qb55v8nBSdvd3B3fXfyt_xoMJg9uGzocTidOMNo19jb-VIJUulwabJptdm7WcpKCfoqOomrGQshm18rfWu-PA48EzwfPDOsSiykrPetQj2L3bWdte44TnVOjW8NXxs_KX_rr_3g== This is the majority of the tree now. All the traveling ahead of time means that you're not usually more than 2 or 3 points from getting something useful which feels pretty good late in the game. 2 points to a power charge, 2 points to a jewel socket, 3 points to a life notable, etc. From here you're picking up your odds and ends - don't forget to put a "Volley Fire" jewel in the socket just to the left of Vaal Pact. Grab some accuracy if you need it. Fill in any remaining life or evasion as you see fit and you should be rolling.
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https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAABAAMeBAcFtQceDdEOSA-rES8RlhR1Fr8ZiiBuIXYi6iP2JIsk_SaVKgsrCi0fLagwfDH6MgE1kjfUOdQ6WElRSshLV0yzTZJQMFFHVUtVxlb6WlJbr13yX7Bh4mHrY0NtbG6qb55v8nBSdvd3B3fXelN7w38rf8aDCYPbhMWGzocTidOMC4w2jX2Nv5UglS6XBpsmm12btZykoJ-io6iasZCyGbXyt9a5fLvjvoDA48EzwfPDOsSiykrPetQj2L3bWdte44TnVOjW7LDtP_DV8bPyl_66_94= Have fun!! |
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