Saint Vitus: Physical crit ranger guide[Always Updated]

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VictorDoom wrote:

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zxwc wrote:

I tried the HC version of this build,now level 66.
My gears are below,not good:

My life is 2.2k,roa dps is 4.5k(with auras,not with frenzy charge).This is really build for its offence,when I get gear with more life/res,this will be better.

Not sure hwy you would do the HC version in standard, i would spec into crit if going standard seriously its like 5 times more fun than RT, you got a lioneyes glare too

Well,my micro-operation is not very good,and there is exp loss with death,so I chose the Hc version,standard version has too little life.I think at least 3000 life is safe.

hi :D was wondering what do u think abt the passive King of the Hill ?? knockback for every crit you make

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azothshock wrote:

hi :D was wondering what do u think abt the passive King of the Hill ?? knockback for every crit you make

its a bad passive, the knockback distance is too low to notice it or for it to be useful.

Just chiming in here with my version of the build. Currently lvl 71 with Oak/Oak/Kraityn quest rewards.

Some stats:

@ LVL 71
- 2.6k life (30 ES)
- 8.6k armor (around 58% DR with 7 frenzy charges)
- 544 mana, 264 mana reserved for Hatred/Grace auras
- 67 fire rez, 72 cold rez, 75 light rez
- 80 or 81% chance to hit
- 31% crit chance, 267% crit mult
- Frenzy DPS - 4.3k @ 38% crit chance and .25sec attackspeed at 7 charges
- RoA DPS - 3.4k @ 31% crit chance at 7 charges

Skill setup:
Frenzy on leftclick
RoA on rightclick
Poison Arrow on Q
Decoy Totem on W
Projectile/Crit Weakness on E
Temporal Chains on R
Bear Trap on T

Here's my gear:


Here's my current tree: Build @ lvl 71 with 88 points

Here's my planned endgame skilltree: Build at lvl 100 with 117 points

For those interested in my level progression, this was the path I took: (used a few respec points to finetune it)

1. 24 points in
2. 46 points in
3. 62 points in
4. 75 points in
5. 88 points in, where I'm at lvl 71, took the 7th frenzy charge
6. lvl 82 at 99 points in
7. lvl 100 with 117 points in

Some thoughts about the leveling process:
It was pretty easy going from Normal to Cruel, but Act 3 Cruel did provide some challenge. I was able to get my hands on a Slitherpinch gloves (a drop), which basically solved my mana issues until I got Mind Drinker (2% mana leech notable). However, the real wall came in around Merciless Act 2 and got much worse in Act 3 when the mid-level gear wasn't cutting it. Like VictorDoom mentioned, this build is not an easy one to build for as the gear requirements becomes steep around the Merciless difficulty. I couldn't kill mobs fast, and I was dying pretty hard in Act3 (mostly due to zerging areas and rushing to get up the sewers part for the passive point). It wasn't until I got a lucky Exalt drop that I was able to get my Maligaro Virtuosity Gloves (10 GCPs), the rings (1 chaos, 1 GCP), the ammy (2 GCPs 2 regrets), the helmet (1 chaos 2 alchs), the boots (1 GCP), and the bow (2 GCPs). (Quiver and chest I got from my friend for 1 GCP, Belt cost 9 chaos 4 Scouring.). So you can see, to get to my point, you need an exalt or 2 worth of gear to be seriously viable for endgame and journey through Merciless Act 3. Before taking on Piety, I was able to go through Lunaris 2 and 3 with no death, just careful progress. I died once to Piety which was due to her ice form 3-shotting me when I was out of position (blergh). This was at lvl 70.

I don't plan on taking this character to maps quite yet. Usually I feel comfortable around the mid 70s to even start mapping. For most of Act 3 Merciless, I farmed City of Sarn from lvl 60 to 67, and from lvl 68 to now just doing Docks. I'll probably start doing Lunaris 2/3 at lvl 74 when I get the notable Diamond Flesh to max my rez. Overall though, this Ranger really gives the impression of what a true Ranger should be (IR is taken specifically for physical reflect), and props to VictorDoom showing the playerbase that it can be done.

For 5Ls, I plan on linking Added Fire Damage to Frenzy and Increased Critical Strikes to RoA. Originally I wanted this build to be purely physical and cold damage based, but the benefit of having a red socket in your Frenzy setup is being able to put in a damage-based support (added fire damage) OR a survivability support (Lifeleech). Being able to interchange them will give you more options than putting in a blue socket for Increased Crit Damage, although you should be leveling that support on the side if you need it.

Additional tips:
If you use Decoy Totem, you must link Faster Casting with it to get that totem up ASAP. This is crucial because the faster you can summon the Decoy Totem, the better you can take the mob attention off of you and onto it. Don't compromise on your Decoy Totem as it is a lifesaver. Get the needed Strength if you need it from the +30 str notables if necessary.

Also, for those Rogue exiles, have Poison Arrow or Puncture on standby coupled with Temporal Chains. Killing Rogue exiles is very helpful in Normal/Cruel where your gear is going to suck, so having them drop a few rares is worth the fighting/kiting. And that's basically what you're doing with Poison Arrow/Puncture, kiting them to death. Use Puncture on very mobile rogues (the melee ones) and Poison Arrow on more stationary rogues (archers, summoners). These tactics are also useful for bosses that you can't tank (like Oak/Piety/Brutus/Kole). Bear Trap can also come in handy for this, which is further augmented by the Hatred aura and the increased crit chance.

Make sure your flasks are up to date with the appropriate prefix/suffixes. Quality them as soon as you can because the Alchemist notable will really boost the life gained from health flasks. Do NOT skip Alchemist - it will be a lifesaver. Use Granite flask when solo or in hard maps, and use quicksilver when speed EXPing or partying. I haven't found a diamond flask yet, and personally I don't think it's necessary for this build. (Not to mention it's a one-time use and takes forever to recharge... this flask is clearly meant for CI builds.)

Final remarks:
I've been having a blast with this build once I got my gear/links straightened out. I will mention that using Maligaro's is not necessary, and you may be better off with mana/lifeleech gloves with +life/rez over Maligaros. I took Maligaros because I could at the time, and bought the rest of my gear around having Maligaros. This build, as you can tell by my gear, is primarily focused on crit chance rather than crit mult. Having too much crit mult can lead to quick deaths on physical reflect. I plan on taking the Deadly Draw notable at level 85, and leave my crit mult at that. If you had to choose between crit chance and crit mult, always go for crit chance. Crit mult doesn't mean anything if you can't proc crits enough. A bow with crit chance like mine is what you want to really increase your chances to crit. This build will definitely require a lot of wealth investment to build it up correctly, so I don't recommend it as your first build in a new league, but once it's set up, it's fun as hell.

Awesome and very helpful feedback Isilodox! Thanks for taking the time to write that, i will add it to the OP.

Im glad its working out for you, Your dps is good for that level, its close to the dps i had in closed beta at around 74, but with gear thats not as good as what i was using, seems like the build got buffed quite nicely with these patches, and more life too, very well done mate!

I pretty much agree with everything you said, its hard in merciless beacuse of the gear, physical bows are pretty hard to come by, i've yet to see a 400+ physical harbinger bow, which would be an insane weapon for this build,

The only bit i dont agree with,(and this is subjective) is with the crit multi bit haha, im just a dps freak, but i do agree with the fact that not getting crit multi like i did is much safer on reflect, so its pretty much up to your playlstyle.


Just a minor change to your build, i think its a bit better: Passive skill tree build

Instead of +10 dex it has 4% move speed, instead of ice bite you have 24% IPD, 24% IPD increases your physical damage which in turn increases your cold damage so i think its better for dps. And +10 dex sacrificed for 4% IAS.

On another note, have you tried the remade diamond flasks yet? im curious how it affects the DPS.

Thanks! Believe me, it was quite the journey to get to where I'm at now, especially since this is the only character I have in the Anarchy league. No alts were made, so a lot of my progress was helped by luck and bro-deals/loans from friends.

I think your 117 point build will be better. The 24% phys dmg will increase the cold damage as well as the phys portion, and save on a point of dex. Also, I took the +10 dex instead of the 4% MS because the dex will raise my Accuracy. It's also why I took the Coordination notable for its +20 dex and its cast speed for my Decoy Totem. If my character ever gets to level 100, the Celerity notable will outweigh the 4% MS node anyways. Personally I hate having my chance to hit at 80%, even with all the dex I have, and you notice it too when you're shooting and arrows miss. Bumping the acc up to 85% is something I prefer, may not be for everyone.

On the subject of crit mult, I did take Deadly Draw quite early, but I found that since I wasn't critting enough (11% crit chance at the time), the Deadly Draw seemed like a waste of points to me. The awesome thing is that the 20% crit mult from Assassination notable and the 43% crit mult from my Maligaro's turned the 150% crit mult to 267% (and the minor 15% crit mult node under Master Fletcher [was wondering why my calculations was off]). That's amazing for such small investment in crit mult. Obviously for people who don't have a Maligaro's glove, grabbing Deadly Draw is best. For the sake of physical reflect, I believe that leaving crit mult near the end of the build is better and safer. You can also try for crit-mult ammys and quivers if your crit mult is lower than you want it to be at.

And no, I haven't gotten my hands on a Diamond flask. It seems ill-suited for this build due to its charge usage (80 out friggin 80, wtf?) and primarily for CI-users that can use a variety of utility flasks.

Edit: I tried the Diamond flask even with the Perpetual mod at 40%. It still takes a lot of dead mob packs for the flask to fully recover + Alchemist. I'd say the flask only has utility when facing a unique boss, because other than that, it's not really worth it. In fact, laying down a leveled Critical Weakness curse may provide far more utility/effectiveness than a (single) diamond flask ever will.

Hey Guys...
I´m running around with this build for several months now. Its quite awesome. It my first and single caharacter in PoE and i just want to show u my equip and some numbers...I guess i pushed the dps/defense pretty far but there is quite a lot of space to go for :D



Overall CC: 30,5 %
Overall CMulti: ~700%

This just rocks, but reflect is often a instant kill for you, so i wouldn´t stack to much CMulti in Hardcore! :D (softcore ftw :P )

Life: ~2600
Armor: ~14.000 (with Determition & Haste Aura)

Selffound LionsGlare so i dont have to care about Accu anymore which is realy reeealy cool.

I dont even own a 5l so this is what you can get out of 4l.
DPS:
4l Frenzy: ~16.500 (Fully buffed + Charges)
4l ROA: ~11.000 (Fully buffed + Charges)

I also Running my Armor with LA+Chain+GMP+LoH cause i have no Lifeleech on my gear. Just shot once in a group with this and your hp pool is fully restored ^^.

Curses: CritWeak for dps or Enfeeble on lvl74+ maps.

Totem: I´m realy sad i have no skillslot left for my decoy totem...it realy rocks! Thanks to Islidox i didn knew i have to link it with FasterCasting! It is realy anoying and blacksmith or oak are just hitting u down before you could cast it :D

Personaly i dont like ROA but with concentraded effect gem the dps rise like wtf.

On the Next lvl i´m going for the passive "pierce" note and craft a 5l and than switch to SplitArrow or LA

Didn´t post this to boast up, i bet there quite a hundreds of rangers who are better equiped even in the HC league etc.

But when i started following this build i was realy interested in numbers and input from players who already went to level ~80

Regards Max

*sorry for myd english* :(

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Islidox wrote:

Edit: I tried the Diamond flask even with the Perpetual mod at 40%. It still takes a lot of dead mob packs for the flask to fully recover + Alchemist. I'd say the flask only has utility when facing a unique boss, because other than that, it's not really worth it. In fact, laying down a leveled Critical Weakness curse may provide far more utility/effectiveness than a (single) diamond flask ever will.

aw, well thats disappointing...

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maxboo wrote:

Hey Guys...
I´m running around with this build for several months now. Its quite awesome. It my first and single caharacter in PoE and i just want to show u my equip and some numbers...I guess i pushed the dps/defense pretty far but there is quite a lot of space to go for :D

Overall CC: 30,5 %
Overall CMulti: ~700%

This just rocks, but reflect is often a instant kill for you, so i wouldn´t stack to much CMulti in Hardcore! :D (softcore ftw :P )

Life: ~2600
Armor: ~14.000 (with Determition & Haste Aura)

Selffound LionsGlare so i dont have to care about Accu anymore which is realy reeealy cool.

I dont even own a 5l so this is what you can get out of 4l.
DPS:
4l Frenzy: ~16.500 (Fully buffed + Charges)
4l ROA: ~11.000 (Fully buffed + Charges)

I also Running my Armor with LA+Chain+GMP+LoH cause i have no Lifeleech on my gear. Just shot once in a group with this and your hp pool is fully restored ^^.

Curses: CritWeak for dps or Enfeeble on lvl74+ maps.

Totem: I´m realy sad i have no skillslot left for my decoy totem...it realy rocks! Thanks to Islidox i didn knew i have to link it with FasterCasting! It is realy anoying and blacksmith or oak are just hitting u down before you could cast it :D

Personaly i dont like ROA but with concentraded effect gem the dps rise like wtf.

On the Next lvl i´m going for the passive "pierce" note and craft a 5l and than switch to SplitArrow or LA

Didn´t post this to boast up, i bet there quite a hundreds of rangers who are better equiped even in the HC league etc.

But when i started following this build i was realy interested in numbers and input from players who already went to level ~80

Regards Max

*sorry for myd english* :(

I' glad you like it!

awesome gear and amazing stats! That is absolutely amazing dps for a 4link, with a 6l you should be 1shotting stuff in high maps haha

@Maxboo: Jeez those are some crazy DPS figures, but I assume APS and the "always hit" make up for the large increase in DPS. How are you coping on mana? Is Mind Drinker enough? I've tried to use Frenzy without Mana Leech, and found that it drained my mana faster than my RoA, and would use my hybrid flasks a bit more than usual.

And yea, getting that totem up fast is crucial. I can't tell you how many times during the Lunaris run that totem saved my ass from being gunned down/overrun by those mobs, especially in Lunaris 3. It really helps to take the heat off of you quick and allows you to get to safety.



As for Diamond flasks, you could run with 2 of them... but at that point I'd rather run with a Granite/Quicksilver as they have far more utility and more usage than a single-drain diamond flask. It makes me wonder why they even brought them back in the first place when only CI users can really benefit from such flasks. (since their flask selection usually ends up being utility flasks anyways.) I suppose running a diamond flask wouldn't be too bad when doing some easy farming.

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Islidox wrote:

@Maxboo: Jeez those are some crazy DPS figures, but I assume APS and the "always hit" make up for the large increase in DPS. How are you coping on mana? Is Mind Drinker enough? I've tried to use Frenzy without Mana Leech, and found that it drained my mana faster than my RoA, and would use my hybrid flasks a bit more than usual.

And yea, getting that totem up fast is crucial. I can't tell you how many times during the Lunaris run that totem saved my ass from being gunned down/overrun by those mobs, especially in Lunaris 3. It really helps to take the heat off of you quick and allows you to get to safety.



As for Diamond flasks, you could run with 2 of them... but at that point I'd rather run with a Granite/Quicksilver as they have far more utility and more usage than a single-drain diamond flask. It makes me wonder why they even brought them back in the first place when only CI users can really benefit from suck flasks. (since their flask selection usually ends up being utility flasks anyways.)

I think he just has a lot of damage on hit so the 2% is probably enough, 16.5k dps means a lot of on hit damage as well, probably around 4k, which means he gets 200 mana per hit, that should be enough to sustain it i think as long as you have a high enough mana pool.

And yeah, decoy totem is very good, even with the nerf it got its still a life saver


About the diamonds, you're right, you might as well go for granits, at least you're safer, if they dont add that much dps then they're not worth it.. too bad though, if they dont even work with crit builds, that means its just a minor boost to dps for non melee CI, which they didnt need anyway lol...