Barrage Wonder Wanderer – how to DEMOLISH maps (1.3.X)

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Bars wrote:

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bluengold777 wrote:

so I'm guessing i should look for intelligence as the secondary mod for this build? I assume intelligence increases barrage's damage hence all the nodes. Also would + to physical damage be useless for this build?

Also how do i run clarity off my life again? I took a long break and came back.. do i just link a clarity with blood magic? Also is 5L and up a requirement for this build?

Intelligence doesn't do anything for Barrage. All the intelligence is just because it's on the way to get good passive nodes and you need intelligence to equip decent wands.

Any "adds x physical/elemental damage" mods on items are useless. They work only for attacks, so they will apply to Barrage, but it doesn't really deal damage in this build, it's just used to activate spells with cast on critical. Mods that increase your damage are +crit chance, +crit multi, +accuracy, +attack speed and +spell damage.

Passive nodes that increase EK's damage are "increased physical damage" (like Path of the Warrior), "increased projectile damage" and "increased spell damage". The +18% physical damage quest reward from bandits in Cruel also works. "Melee physical damage" nodes like Weapon Artistry don't work.

About Clarity: link Clarity + Blood Magic + Reduced Mana

A 5L is strongly recommended. A 4-linked Voll's Protector can be considered as a 5-link. You can make do with just a random 4-link, but that's the bare minimum and won't be very effective.

To clarify about Ethereal Knives and what increases its damage: it's a physical projectile spell (these are the 3 keywords)

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bluengold777 wrote:

ok great explanation, thanks. I'm about level 20 and i'm finding that my life and survivability is much too low, i'm assuming that once i hit about lvl 40+ and transition to coc + barrage + EK + chain + life leech?

Could i substitute chain or life leech for multi-strike, increased critical damage or other +dps skill gems?

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Bars wrote:

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bluengold777 wrote:

ok great explanation, thanks. I'm about level 20 and i'm finding that my life and survivability is much too low, i'm assuming that once i hit about lvl 40+ and transition to coc + barrage + EK + chain + life leech?

Could i substitute chain or life leech for multi-strike, increased critical damage or other +dps skill gems?

You can transition to CoC in Cruel, but I'd recommend leveling with dual strike or spectral throw and transitioning in Merciless. Check my post on the top of the previous page. Not that it's impossible, but if you opt to go for CoC in Cruel, you'll have to choose: either decent life or decent crit chance. You can't have both at that stage.

Multistrike doesn't work with barrage. Increased critical damage won't increase your damage that much if you don't nave a lot of crit chance (EK's base crit chance is 5%). In the setup you mentioned, I'd definitely replace chain with power charge on critical for damage or with summon skeletons for survivability. The nice thing is, PCoC and skeletons are both blue gems so you can swap them depending on the difficulty of the content you're doing.

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Bars wrote:

You should really read at least the previous 2-3 pages of the thread you're writing in. Writing the same thing for the 10th times becomes old really fast.

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BoswerLK wrote:

this is why you should've just bumped your own guide =P

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opposingcritter wrote:

Considering you and 100 other people have been throwing their builds etc into this thread and people have been doing it little different but i guess asking a simple question aka does chain really add that much dps compared to getting power charges stack.

I have actually looked over all 44 pages while at work today so.....