Bow Marauder (The Shocker (tm))

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Miyavi wrote:

Does the skill "Faster Attacks" work also while shooting projectiles? And what about using magic?, let's say a fireball: Would it affect also its casting speed?

I'm currently leveling a Mara, and I'm using your build right now. I find it pretty nice. :)

I'm glad you like my build!

Faster Attacks works on all attacks or "improved attacks", so to speak... It works on all physical/elemental attacks, but not on spells. However you have to take note that most of the Strength based skills (like Heavy Strike or Ground Slam) use Attack Speed and not Casting Speed.

Nice guide! Which support gems do you use for Lightning Arrow (and all the other skill gems)?

Well, I'm 52 now and I've switched over to bow and quiver. I'd like to share my experience so far, if you guys don't mind!

First of all, leveling was actually fun with a 2hander and Heavy Strike + Sweep. Unfortunately, once i entered ruthless things rapidly started to diminish. Sweep stopped being really effective at around 35 and by the time i was 40 it was almost a waste of time using it, i was killing faster with Heavy Strike. Now i may have been able to go other routes and tried different abilities for AoE, but being melee beyond ruthless was a struggle over all.

If i wanted to be able to tank properly, i was going to have to give up a lot of dps and killing speed. Eventually i just gave up and started grouping with random people who killed faster.

Now for the bow switch, I'm pretty sure i have a terrible bow and pretty bad gear, because the killing speed is still pretty slow. I know i haven't reached Static Blows just yet, but I'm not sure how much more efficient that'll be?

I'm going to keep farming with groups, for better gear, I'm in bad need of a proper bow for example. And I'll get back to you guys with some more feedback.

P.S, I'm not sure i will ever be able to play a mana class ever again after this, Blood Magic is just awesome!

I've used bow since beginning of the game. I was playing Ranger, so I had some skills and stuff.
It's pretty fun. I got Blood Magic at 37-42 lvl I don't remember corectly. But I was worried about taking it on 30 lvl. I wanted grab another 1.5% hp regen, and after that I grabbed Blood Magic, and now hunting is amazing. Decoy totem in hard situations and everything is great. Important is to get a health flash as good as possible, I have the flask 45lvl, which giving me 12xx hp, 2% hp leech, and when use defect to mana, but I don't have mana :).

Lightning Arrow + Fork + faster casting speed (I need 4 green slots in item, but I can't reach it)

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chud5y wrote:

I've used bow since beginning of the game. I was playing Ranger, so I had some skills and stuff.
It's pretty fun. I got Blood Magic at 37-42 lvl I don't remember corectly. But I was worried about taking it on 30 lvl. I wanted grab another 1.5% hp regen, and after that I grabbed Blood Magic, and now hunting is amazing. Decoy totem in hard situations and everything is great. Important is to get a health flash as good as possible, I have the flask 45lvl, which giving me 12xx hp, 2% hp leech, and when use defect to mana, but I don't have mana :).

Lightning Arrow + Fork + faster casting speed (I need 4 green slots in item, but I can't reach it)

As I just asked before, Faster Casting Speed doesn't affect LA. You have to grab Faster Attacks.

Yea yea, I just wrote it wrong. Ofc. Faster Attacks

I'm thinking about the shock, is it worth? Instead of that we can grab elemental dmg, it will be 50% and maybe projectile dmg, but I can't understand how shock works? What dmg shock's giving?

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chud5y wrote:

I'm thinking about the shock, is it worth? Instead of that we can grab elemental dmg, it will be 50% and maybe projectile dmg, but I can't understand how shock works? What dmg shock's giving?

You can stack the Shock ailment 3 times on an enemy, each time it makes them take +40% damage. With 3 stacks, you're dealing +120% damage. Also note, it is not "Increased Damage", it's "More Damage", and it works for any damage type (physical, elemental).


About Elemental Damage, I've been checking out how to acquire that the quickest way, and the closest little rings are the one in the Templar tree, for +50% increased weapon elemental damage, and the other ring is harder to reach and only gives +30% increased weapon elemental damage - it is located right above Iron Grip.

Other than those, there are no other viable rings to aim for, unless you want to change the whole build.



Another thing you have to note, the way LA works is, as it's description says, "50% of Physical Damage converted to Lightning Damage". Now, while a Ranger or a Duelist would have maybe 200 Strength at most, this build brings you to nearly 500 Strength. "Strength grants +0.5 life and +0.2% melee physical damage per point", which means you get +250 flat health (it gets increased by all the life % nodes, and benefits from HP regeneration % nodes!) and +100% increased physical damage - and when you take Iron Grip, it applies to projectile attacks as well, in this case Lightning Arrow.



Those are my reasons for going exactly to the specific nodes in the tree, and not taking any extra damage nodes. Also remember, the point of this build is to make it very, very durable, so if any sticky situation arises, there's plenty of meat on your bones. And of course, elemental reflect mobs can really backfire the excess DPS - so I tried to minimize the DPS, so that I can still kill effectively while not overdoing it. Path of Exile is a great example of how focusing a single thing gets your character dead, you have to be versatile.

how do you think this build will hold up up after incoming LA nerfs? Still good?

So I'm gonna take the shock skills. After that Maybe I will take the elemental dmg 50%, it's close to our path.

What about armor skills or something like that? cuz' I'm not sure that my def is good or low. I have about 3000 defense on 51 lvl.

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rekked wrote:

how do you think this build will hold up up after incoming LA nerfs? Still good?

That we will see after LA gets changed, if it gets changed, and depending on what the changes are. Considering I don't know the exact details, I'm not going to make wild guesses. I do have some backup plans, but lets wait a bit with that.

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chud5y wrote:

So I'm gonna take the shock skills. After that Maybe I will take the elemental dmg 50%, it's close to our path.

What about armor skills or something like that? cuz' I'm not sure that my def is good or low. I have about 3000 defense on 51 lvl.

Armour skills are not important for this build. With your gear and Iron Reflexes you get plenty of base Armour considering you are a ranged character - not getting into the packs of mobs. Do keep a granite flask in your inventory though, that thing saves lives so many times (a reminder - granite flasks give you +10.000 armour for a few seconds).

In case you really, really desire to grab more armour, I recommend you pick the little 3 points ring near Unwavering Stance.

The elemental damage ring is viable, definitely take it if you desire to do so! The main point of these builds you read on forum is not to tell you how to play your character, it's about helping you decide how to reach what You want with Your character (in the most efficient manner possible, should I add?).