[1.2.0] Ice Pierce Crit Ranger

Mind Drinker mana leech isn't too much, since IS has only 40% of physical damage, so you wont be able to sustain it (Mind Driker bonus applies only to physical damage), at least thats my opinion. It can work somehow on Burning Arrow while you crit. I'm actually trying to get high quality mana leech gem to sustain pretty serious mana usage of 6-linked Ice Shot.

The cap you run into has never been mana leech from phys damage, in truth.

At high enough crit and high enough level, with a good enough bow, you'll hit the mana leech cap (12.5% per second) anyway and then some. Not entirely sure where the damage breakpoint is on that, but you'll reach it by endgame.

No, the problem is that you lose mana faster than you gain it. 6-linked, you're looking at 100 mana per shot. At absolute minimum, we'll say you're doing 3.0aps. Where are you going to find 300 mana per second? 400? 500 if you're using a Glare? That's the problem with mana leech, it doesn't scale well with aps.

It'll sustain your single-target admirably, at least there is that. Even if it's Frenzy with 5+ aps.

Thanks for the clarification, I'll think if it's worthwhile to invest one point in that node in order to don't use Mana Leech gem on Burning Arrow and Frenzy

I'll just point out that the build should land you 4 points (5?) from EB. It's more than viable to just go for it.

I am very interested in this build...I planned to make an Ice Shot archer for a long time now and this came in very handy. I made this build http://tinyurl.com/p72pt5r...I went for EB so I can run auras and Arctic Armor, to adress reflect issues and to spam skills. I also went for crit, and since I plan to play it HC, I dumped as much points into life/evasion as I could. So, I fear damage might suffer a bit...I have options to skimp on survivability and add to damage, tho.

I have another version of that build, non-crit, which has a lot more Dex and raw damage: http://tinyurl.com/nee4cvm. I'll think about which one I'll go with. Please, critique and advice if neccessary...

On request, made a build for duelist and using BM passive.

Build link

Next few points should go into those HP nodes above Ondar's Guile. Or take out some crit points, spec those HP nodes, and finish out the crit nodes at level 70+.

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To answer the question a few posts ago, I went and did some damage testing.

Current DPS numbers, ice shot:
1.8k in town
3k in lab, running Haste Hatred Grace Wrath
3.8k with 4 power charges, in docks
4.4k with 4 power and 6 frenzy charges, in docks

Skill linked as follows: IS GMP LoH WED Pierce PCoC

Hi

im using this build and im now level 72 but have weak DPS. I have a few questions for you.

1- i have 4 free skill point, dont know where to put them. Should I head toward the duelist start area or toward the life nodes near CI? I have 2,7k life and I picked the life nodes around the berseker area.

2- I picked the 3 life nodes just below fervor, which is below Gymnastics. Should I respect the 3 life noes (6-6-10) to get Revenge of the Hunted? More ev, life and dmg.

3- How can I increase damage? Should I pick a few 15% phys dmg with bow nodes or invest in better items?

Im a casual player so dont have much currency. I picked up a 1300 EV armor with 80 life yesterday but it only has 2 sockets so I guess it's worth next to nothing.

thanks

There's my take of your build. Currently level 77. Optimized the shadow area of the tree greatly, same amount of points, for more intelligence and less useless dexterity no one needs in this build. Will pick up the power charge node if I ever level up.

3.6k dps with 4 power charges up. 2,5k health, max light res, almost max fire res, and somewhat poor cold res, would be remedied with better gear.
I run only grace, wrath, and anger, which leaves me with an effective 2,2k health.

Able to solo merciless piety.

"

since I plan to play it HC, I dumped as much points into life/evasion as I could. So, I fear damage might suffer a bit...I have options to skimp on survivability and add to damage, tho.
...
I have another version of that build, non-crit, which has a lot more Dex and raw damage
...
Please, critique and advice if neccessary

Crit one looks pretty good. Non-crit one has a long trek to EB, might consider rerouting through that one INT/crit node and skipping out on the Nullification cluster and that whole path. In the interest of saving points.

"

1- i have 4 free skill point, dont know where to put them. Should I head toward the duelist start area or toward the life nodes near CI? I have 2,7k life and I picked the life nodes around the berseker area.

2- I picked the 3 life nodes just below fervor, which is below Gymnastics. Should I respect the 3 life noes (6-6-10) to get Revenge of the Hunted? More ev, life and dmg.

3- How can I increase damage? Should I pick a few 15% phys dmg with bow nodes or invest in better items?

Im a casual player so dont have much currency. I picked up a 1300 EV armor with 80 life yesterday but it only has 2 sockets so I guess it's worth next to nothing.

1 - I personally prefer duelist side because there's IAS there, but both options are good.

2 - So why not put your 4 free points into that cluster?

Really, as long as you have a bunch of HP nodes, it doesn't too much matter which ones. The ev and damage are a nice bonus though.

3 - Just at a guess, you need a better bow!

4 - If your bow is 4 or 5 linked, you can get away with any armour you like. 1300ev with 80hp is very nice. Remember to cap resists, though.

"

There's my take of your build. Currently level 77. Optimized the shadow area of the tree greatly, same amount of points, for more intelligence and less useless dexterity no one needs in this build. Will pick up the power charge node if I ever level up.

3.6k dps with 4 power charges up. 2,5k health, max light res, almost max fire res, and somewhat poor cold res, would be remedied with better gear.
I run only grace, wrath, and anger, which leaves me with an effective 2,2k health.

Able to solo merciless piety.

I'm glad you're enjoying the build! I went for the little HP cluster below shadow, by the way. More dex and less int, to be sure, but it put me on track to pick up the HP and that's all I wanted it to do. Just in case anyone was wondering why I did this instead of that, since the INT route is at least as good stats-wise.

Also, I like dex, it gives me acc/ev. >.>

I wanted to add my own variant of the build that uses efficiency while retaining core stats.

This focused on a few areas I've seen in other people's builds, with regard to life nodes.
Some people get the 'Thick Skin' node because of the +28% life you get, however your efficiency for getting those nodes is low.

Assuming you get the other 3 life nodes, you have to spend 5 nodes to get to the Thick skin, which makes the efficiency 5.6% life per node. This puts your final maximum life bonus at about 180-200% depending on your route.
Plus, that's the only real reason you spec into that area, so I don't see the upside.

If you really want to get it, get the 9% Attack speed nodes and then get the life nodes, and re-route your build from there.

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Take the following with a grain of salt, as I still need to fully test it out.
This is all dependent on "Where you are" and "What you want to do" with your builds.

25 point Core Template
This is my core template for designing all bow based rangers.
From here, if I'm hardcore, I spec into as much life nodes as possible.

45 point Core Build
My build assumes I'm going to use frenzy, at least for single targets.
The bonus of this is you get 4 frenzy charges, and get a free 16% evasion at max.
This also boosts your efficiency in routing the build.
I've also gotten some damage nodes because your damage would be useless otherwise.

60 point Core
Just getting more life nodes, nothing special here.
This route will be easier to respec later, so don't worry.
Personally I don't like this route, as you would start to lack damage.
Here is an alternate route.
60 Point Alternate

This is where you have flexibility to route where you want.

Now here is where I'm split. If you need more damage, you could start routing into 'Heavy Draw' to get a lot more physical, but you then have to spend more points at higher levels getting to Eldritch Battery. Plus this can hurt survivability on HC. Essentially this is just more grinding to level.

The only reason you would want to get Eldritch Battery early is if you can afford it.
You would get Eldritch Battery if you have enough survivability without your energy shield and enough evasion. So you can start running auras for yourself or your party.
My Alternate route is slower, but good for survivability and "The poor man's Build" type scenarios.

75 Point Build
This is a more life based area, you still lack a lot of damage.
Alternative is this route, has more Evasion and more damage from Heavy Draw.
75 Point Alternative

90 Point Build
Speced into Heavy Draw for more damage, and also got more Evasion.
Got more life nodes as we work toward Eldritch Battery.

105 Point Build (Final?)
This is where I Re-Route the build, and spec into 'Piercing Shots', as well as getting Eldritch Battery. I get more crit with Lethality.
This is a little more flexible to where you want to spec your final points at very high level.
You have the option of getting more evasion with 'Nullification' area, and it will boost your mana for EB. This is the best option to get evasion without spending too many nodes.