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

Hey guys! little status update as I have been away for a little bit from this build.

So far just about to ding 51 on Ambush and haven't ran into too many problems although my life is only around 900 with this build so a little scary right now but just getting the core of the build down and saving up for my windripper ( only 8 more exalt to go so maybe next weekend :) )

I dropped deaths harp as my bow after I managed to Vaal orb a Quill rain with 2 arrows. Pro's and cons to both this.

+ Quill Rain shoots faster so more chance to proc CoC & Power Charges
+ Paired with Thiefs Torment ( I purchased one ) Life on Hit & Mana On Hit with Barrage is literally insane

- Less Damage then Death's Harp both physically and loosing the +100% crit multiplier
- Doesn't look as cool :(

I would say that Theif's in any new league and even if you can't get your hands on a taming would be ideal for this build for mana issue's. You can save a bunch of points, don't have to worry about mana and the life on hit is awesome and its pretty cheap now.

as for survival with this build, I am running hatred right now but will be dropping for wraith to stack some more shocking damage. I am currently running Freezing pulse for freezing and keeping my save as well as Arc for shock stacks, its pretty solid so far. I also have Eth Knives, Ice Spear, Fireball & Arc Breathe on the side leveling with me.

Here is my current gear as well for everyone to have a gander at.



I use the flask as an Opener, for how cheap they are right now I might pick up one or two more just to help to get me my charges quickly as my crit chance with 4 charges is only 31%

Open for suggestions and comments :)

Oh, nice! Yeah, additional arrow mod is awesome, which was the main advantage Death's Harp had over Quill Rain until you can get a Harbinger's or Windripper.

And you could always skin transfer your old bow. :)

I'll be interested in how the Drillneck works for you at higher levels. I found I was doing too much damage on stray arrow reflects with a pierce gem, since you can't control what it hits.

Fakey, is there anything similar to Berek's Grip in the new leagues?

Currently, no there isn't maybe as new patches come out there might be but literally I believe theif's is the best in slot for this build

It might not be able to match using two rings, but the life and mana on hit deals with many issue's as well it gives resistances and increase rarity which is kind of what this build runs off of later on in end game.

"

Fakeycakes23 wrote:

It might not be able to match using two rings, but the life and mana on hit deals with many issue's as well it gives resistances and increase rarity which is kind of what this build runs off of later on in end game.

It's actually item quantity which GGG decided was too good and had to nerf. That mod currently cannot be rolled on rares and is only available from a few uniques. I think part of the reason why standard league is saturated with currency is because people have lots and lots of increased quantity on their gear when farming for orbs.

I'm currently running races to earn myself a free Thief's Torment. Looking forward to it.

Tons of spell buffs this patch, including Arc and Arctic Breath!

Also: Poison Arrow, which should make leveling go easier too. :D

Hey everyone, here's a bit of a trip report RE: Thief's Torment.

Build:
Skill Tree
I spent a long time optimizing this new tree yesterday so I'd be interested to see if anyone has any suggestions that don't include dropping any life. I run a pretty tanky setup where possible and I very much like it that way for 76-78 maps. (Edit: I can gain one point by connecting above ballistic mastery instead of above point blank. Whoops.)

Gear:



It's very difficult to make up for resist on rings without running purity if you're also running rats/malis. If you glance through my gear you'll see I'm running 3 pretty high tri-res pieces and a 1-off perfect res thief's torment.

I'm not really sold on the benefits of thief's torment overall. It does allow me to run split/lightning arrow with impunity and I was able to drop most of my aura reservation nodes (extra points which I used mostly to grab evasion, life to make up for rings, and a little multiplier), but overall its a pretty small gain over running Hatred/Grace/Clarity on mana or a Clarity on life. If you're willing to use barrage for every attack, you can support Windripper with a level ~11 clarity on mana or life. You're also losing the potential of Life/Crit/Resist on rings, which makes the gearing very tight on res and you'll never make up that life/crit elsewhere.

That being said, I'm having fun with the setup. It's neat to be able to run split arrow again and never care about mana even with windripper APS, and the LGOH is actually fairly noticeable assuming you have a decent roll on it.

In other news, woo spell buffs! The Arc and Arctic Breath buffs are AMAZING. My arc chains 7 times now and hits super hard and with the AB buff I can blow away piety in like 2 or 3 seconds if I pop the atziri flask and unload with GMP AB/FB. This definitely makes the crazy fireball/arctic spam even stronger but I try to reserve it for rares/exiles/bosses because it wrecks the FPS of my entire party and doesnt provide the nice shock support that my split link does.

I'm interested to see if Glacial Cascade is at all viable as a CoC spell but it seems pretty lackluster for us. I'll have to do some experimenting later, but I'm definitely turned off by the relatively short range, narrow field of damage, and inability to benefit from chain/multiproj supports.

Nice update. I've never paid much attention to AB because it gets blocked by terrain. Is the damage worth the trade off now?

"

feyith wrote:

Nice update. I've never paid much attention to AB because it gets blocked by terrain. Is the damage worth the trade off now?

If it's compatible with your playstyle, I'd say the damage is worth it. It's actually higher than fireball now. My level 18 AB has roughly the same damage range as my 19 fireball. I don't like using either AB or FB in my main pack-clearing 5link like some other CoC builds do, though. They're pretty rough on the FPS in big groups in 78s where packs can take a decent amount of time to die.

I use FB/AB in my second 5link as a GMP shotgun to melt bosses and it can kill Kole with one barrage worth or piety with 3 to 4, so I'm pretty happy with the damage. I haven't taken my new setup into maps yet because I just now got the quiver and high-res thiefs torment that I needed to cap my resists.

P.S. - Feyith: I saw that you're considering rolling on ambush! Let me know if you need some waypoints or a few chaos to help you get started in the new leagues! Just my way of saying thanks because this thread has been really helpful even if I don't run the exact same build as you :P.

IGN: ChewyOnCrit

That's really sweet of you to offer. I appreciate the gesture. :)

"

demonguard wrote:

Just my way of saying thanks because this thread has been really helpful even if I don't run the exact same build as you :P

It helps me too. Hell, I don't even run the exact same build as myself. That's probably why I have no orbs. XD

I'm basically the opposite of those guide posters who are only interested in showboating and poo on all dissenting feedback. I click on every link that is posted in this thread and love theory crafting about the differences between them; usually end up respeccing toward something in between.

Hey Feyith,

I also can help you out if you want to run in Ambush with some starter gear and some chaos if you need it.

Also, Demon after gawking over your gear I will take a look at your skill tree as that's where I probably want to end up overall with build and gear. My thief's will be blessed soon enough to get it to be perfect. I am lacking resistances all over right now at level 58 :( lol