[1.1.x] Party-Friendly, Multi-Purpose, Bow Crit (Physical CoC/Puncture/Lightning Arrow) Guide

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nethermage wrote:

i'm really struggling with the defensive side of things since changing to this spec. were those stats you posted on page 1 when you were in a group because i'd love those armor and evade values.

Yeah those are definitely with auras.

I've made my own build fairly durable by grabbing Acrobatics and most of the nearby life nodes, but you're really not going to get good armor values or anything out of it.

Yes. Those are with party buffs. When soloing, I flask a lot. What are you having the most issue(s) with? If it's damage mitigation, CwDT and/or something like this:


You can keep permanently on if needed. My setup:


I usually don't pop them unless I'm going up against Physical Reflect, but for certain map bosses like Spinner of False Hope, keeping at least 2 up at a time is a must. (The Jade flask lasts the longest, so overlaps well with the other 2 as they refill.)

getting those flasks would help. getting rid of some mf gear and getting more life as well. i can definitely see the potential of what i can do atm as my damage is fine but survivablilty needs work. going from iron reflexes i lost a lot of toughness if i can get a real good defensive 6l armor i may try without voll's and put pcoc in

If you miss IR, you could always drop the auras and a few minor nodes for something like this?

that looks interesting i'll have a think about it thanks. i've got a windripper so my default build atm is your windripper build minus the status ailments cluster and took mana geyser instead as i was having mega mana issues. still can't run non stop split arrow's yet with coc chain arc and ice spear but together with a blood magic clarity it's close.

gotta say love this thread keep up the good work

Thanks to you guys for all of the great feedback! :)

I massively overhauled the skill tree(s) based on what nodes people have been substituting the most. Please let me know what you think.

Update: This might fit you better. High life Windripper tree keeping Auras and dropping minor nodes for Phase Acrobatics.


*** EDIT: Could I ask a favor? ***

Since I have no orbs, no Windripper, and that section of my guide is entirely theoretical, would anyone be willing to test a Mind Drinker (stacked physical damage) version to see how it affects your base damage, shock/freeze ability, clear speed and mana issues vs. stacking elemental and spell damage?

I was looking more closely at the math and you give up a ton of (like, more than 130%) base physical damage and utility for only about 30% more elemental, lightning, spell damage and life. (All the physical nodes in my Goal tree have life and/or critical strike chance in them.) I'm wondering if having an Elemental version of the tree is doing people more harm than good.

Here's more of a Hybrid version with the best of both worlds. If people like it, should I dump the suggested Windripper tree altogether?


Thanks!

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alkoxide wrote:

you mentioned that you ended up ditching the aura nodes in your build because most people have the auras that you need, is this reflected in the first page? im guessing for soloing id still want to take those aura nodes because most of the time i wont be in a party.

Hey, sorry I missed this somehow. Yes, I've just now updated the "Current" section as well.

I would keep the aura clusters because they add a ton of options for soloing, but don't use Infernal Mantle with 3 auras unless you're really good at manually dodging, because you take double spell damage when below 35% mana.

I can't really help with the physical testing, I intentionally sacrifice pretty much all weapon damage in favor of mana efficiency (lv1 barrage, no arcing blows) and relying solely on proc spell damage.

I did a significant reworking of my own build, though. I was pretty dissatisfied with my survivability in 76 maps, which was because of tabula and my general passive setup. I dropped a bunch of mana nodes and stuff, as well as arcing blows, and picked up phase acrobatics and some more life, which leaves me a little mana starved but I can make it work as long as I use barrage for both of my setups. I'm able to sustain my mana decently on a pool of ~90 unreserved with a level 11 clarity, which saves me from needing siphon, geyser, or drinker.

After much deliberation I decided that with my latest windripper divine I can drop PCoC (and power charges altogether) and still crit a satisfactory amount. I'm sitting at like 65% crit on both barrages, so I'd like a little bit of crit chance jewelry or a double crit quiver eventually, but it still crits consistently enough to not be annoying. Without PCoC I was able to switch to a 5link, so I'm rocking a 5l Daressos which goes really nicely with Acrobatics. My future plan is a nice 5l rare chest with resists so that I can pick up the new atziri boots for some more spell dodge.

I did a ton of testing on various 5links and found my barrage/chain/ek/arc one to have wayyyy better clear speed than any permutations of split/ek/arc/coldsnap or similar. It obviously sacrifices single target because of chain, but that's what the comedy gmp double shotgun 5link in the chest is for.

Build:
Skill tree
This takes an extra ~2 nodes and is less efficient on damage because of the Scion start. Don't start scion, kids.

Gear:


Compared to your windripper plans, I use it a little differently. My setup doesn't care about the damage at all and just uses it for the absurd crit and attack speed. I'm not really sure which style is better.

On second thought, though, I run with a wrath aura group pretty often (putting me at like 3k barrage) so arcing blows is probably worth it when I get a couple more points.

Not sure if any of this helps, but coming here and rambling about my setup and plans sort of helps me sort it out mentally. Let me know if you have any questions about my setup or Windripper.

The only suggestion/change I would make to your build is turning the 20% bow crit node into a 15% global crit node, since you're relying more heavily on spell damage?

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feyith wrote:

The only suggestion/change I would make to your build is turning the 20% bow crit node into a 15% global crit node, since you're relying more heavily on spell damage?

That's actually a pretty neat optimization. Thanks!

I'll probably swap them once I get a little more global crit on gear, not sure I'd want to have any less bow crit at the moment.

So I've started this build after trolling for a while and am saving up Ex's for a WindRipper. For me and for those who are having mana issue's why not just pick up a Theifs Torment ? I mean this would eliminate mana issue's all total and make it able to pick up more important nodes then the mana after kill ones... sure you will loose two jewelery slots but lets be honest, no mana issues and magic find on that ring will make up for it.

Just a thought, and if you're running a windripper you can surely afford a thiefs.