Chaos Acolyte [Poison Arrow, Viper Strike, Shock] [IR/EB/MoM/AA] Potential 1.2.0 Tree in Latest Post

No problem Zartyno.

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Asidra wrote:

As someone who plays a Poison Arrow Ranger who shoots it with a bow - it does scale well enough to do very good damage without traps. It's moreso a different play style than more/less viable.

I agree. I don't mean that shooting from the bow is bad. It's certainly viable, as you and others have shown. With the buff, Poison Arrow is always powerful as long as you have a high enough leveled gem for the zone.

I think i'll do both: i'll have the trap/remote mine gems in my inventory and use them if it feels more comfortable to me. I'll still use the trap to shock ennemies tho.
I'm not sure what i'm gonna link to poison arrow when i shot it from the bow. Probably concentrated effect + empower + increased aoe + increased duration.

I would advise against Increased Duration for the following reasons. It tends to kill most mobs in the initial duration anyway, and you can just shoot another arrow if it runs out. Plus the longer it goes the more likely the mob moves out of the cloud and you'd have to shoot another one anyway. Use either Culling Strike, Faster Projectiles, or Slower Projectiles to add Cloud Damaage.

I also don't run Increased AOE - but I have AOE help from a 20Q Poison Arrow, Carcass Jack, and 12% from the tree. In the absence of those, I would say that's a good call.

From a gameplay perspective, the advantage of using the arrow via bow is total control over where and when you make your poison clouds. You can litter a screen if you need to, drop the cloud where a mob is headed instead of where it is etc.

With Trap and/or Remote Mine you give up some of that ease and control - but in doing so make your clouds more potent - and in the case of using both, much more potent.

Hi, i just wanted to check your skill tree but when i follow the link in your first post it show a tree for a Witch but not ranger

kebal, the current tree is, in my opinion, optimal compared to a Ranger version. The build simply evolved in that direction once the Witch's starting nodes became amazing for Eldritch Battery/Mind over Matter builds.

The build was first best as Duelist, then Ranger, and now Witch. It'll probably change again at some point but I'll just keep it in this forum. I think it is at its core a Dexterity aligned build.

Zartyno, that seems like a fine plan to me. Let me know it goes.

Asidra, personally I like Increased Duration in Invasion because of its defensive usage. I sometimes place a trap and a Devouring Totem on top of it to bait powerful enemies-- the longer the cloud lasts, the more damage is dealt as I watch from afar or around the corner. It's just a matter of preference though. I don't use Increased Area of Effect at the moment but it's definitely helpful when it comes to clear speed.

About Poison Arrow in trap form: going this route is a trade-off between usability and damage. But I think the trap system can be adapted to so that it is definitely worthwhile, as long as its your preference.

any suggestion for leveling?

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ishmael_ wrote:

any suggestion for leveling?

You can use Poison Arrow and Viper Strike from the start to good effect. Get a Silverbranch to put your Poison Arrow in and when you can get a Sabre, use an Orb of Transmutation on it and spam Orbs of Alteration until you get +1 to Melee Gems.

For the former try to get one with 4 linked sockets so you can use Poison Arrow + Trap + Concentrated Effect + Increased Area of Effect when you get to the appropriate level. Personally I leveled with just Poison Arrow + Trap + Increased Duration and did fine but having Concentrated Effect early on is great.

You can use these weapons from low levels all the way until the level 50s. When you get to that point, buy a +1 to Gems/+2 to Melee Gems sword and the best bow your budget allows. +1 to Gems/+2 to Bow Gems bows go for around 5 Exalted Orbs nowadays but you can get +2 to Bow Gems bows a lot cheaper.

Try to level your Empower gems as soon as you can or buy them leveled. Other than that the leveling process is pretty simple. Just progress as you normally would, fitting your character into the build.

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Iao wrote:

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ishmael_ wrote:

any suggestion for leveling?

You can use Poison Arrow and Viper Strike from the start to good effect. Get a Silverbranch to put your Poison Arrow in and when you can get a Sabre, use an Orb of Transmutation on it and spam Orbs of Alteration until you get +1 to Melee Gems.

For the former try to get one with 4 linked sockets so you can use Poison Arrow + Trap + Concentrated Effect + Increased Area of Effect when you get to the appropriate level. Personally I leveled with just Poison Arrow + Trap + Increased Duration and did fine but having Concentrated Effect early on is great.

You can use these weapons from low levels all the way until the level 50s. When you get to that point, buy a +1 to Gems/+2 to Melee Gems sword and the best bow your budget allows. +1 to Gems/+2 to Bow Gems bows go for around 5 Exalted Orbs nowadays but you can get +2 to Bow Gems bows a lot cheaper.

Try to level your Empower gems as soon as you can or buy them leveled. Other than that the leveling process is pretty simple. Just progress as you normally would, fitting your character into the build.

thanks a lot for the answer, really appreciated. and thanks for sharing your build too

No problem! Also another thing to add that I forgot about: use a Hyrri's Bite for its increased area of effect radius at the beginning. You should probably switch from it at the beginning of Merciless or when you start using a decently leveled and/or quality Increased Area of Effect.

is the Rearguard worth it just for the block chance bonuses, considering that they don't scale? the projectile bonus doesn't apply to Poison Arrow, right?