[1.3] Sidra's Necromancing Ranger of Chaos (Poison Arrow) Videos/Atziri capable

I just forgot to nab it in the leveling examples above - I'd get it in step 4.

Thank you for your reply.

Also, how much damage does Empower represent in your build ?
I just started the invasion league so obviously i can't afford it.

A substantial amount at this point. Per my post, my current DPS (self calculated to account for Concentrated Effect and + Area Damage from Carcass and the tree since the game does not) is 11,863.11. When I remove the gem, and calculate it again, it's 7,861. So it literally accounts for 1/3 of my current damage. Aside from being + 2 on it's own, it gets the +1 all gems from the bow, so it accounts for 3 levels of Poison Arrow.

However, I purchased it at level 1, leveled it in my backup weapon slot as I played, and it did not actually turn level 2 til my very early 80s when I equipped it. And I rolled the dice and Vaal Orbed it to get it to level 3.

So you can level just fine without it. When you can afford a level 1 gem, buy it and level it in your backup slot, and then equip it whenever it levels to 2, or you get your +2/+1 bow, whichever happens first.

I've read this thread twice but I can't figure out what kind of gear I'm supposed to be going for. I'm interested in this guide for a ranger I quit a while back (49) that got skills reset and waiting to be rebuilt. I see +2/+1 bow (no way I can afford one of those right now) but I don't understand gear importance. Am I just going for AOE radius + ?

Would it be possible to write up a little guide on gearing and maybe a little more that explains more of a leveling approach to gems (what chains are important at different stages) etc? Sorry I'm such a noob I don't understand. After going through the ranger guides this is the only one that stands out to me as something I'd like to try, but it's also probably the one I understand the least.

No problem, and don't be frustrated man. This is a complex build, and I did not write my guide explaining a lot of mechanics - I just assumed people would take a peek at my gear and understand what's going on. If you are less experienced at the game, and given the complexity of the build...that was probably a poor assumption to make on my part. To explain gearing and what stats to look for - it's best to understand the 3 keystones.

1) Ondar's Guile. This looks at your chance to evade, and doubles it versus ranged attacks. In order for it to work - you need evasion. And the more you have the better it is. As it is also the first keystone you get - you want to start the game with evasion based gear while also running Grace.

2) Eldritch Battery. This takes all of your Energy Shield and converts it into mana, enabling a much larger mana pool than you could otherwise get. In order for it it work, though...you need Energy Shield. So while you can start with evasion only gear - once you get this keystone you want Evasion/ES gear. If you look at my gear each of my pieces of equipment, except my helm, are EV/ES. It also means that any + Energy Shield on accessories, (or +int which increases ES) is useful if you can find it

3) Mind Over Matter. This should be the very next keystone you take after Ethereal Battery. It takes that big honkin mana pool you now have - and any damage you take 30% of it will come from your mana pool (thus only 70% is coming from your HP). This is assuming you have mana there to take from. So this keystone makes two other stats extremely important: +Mana and + Mana Regeneration. Ideally (which I am not even at) you maintain a 7/3 ratio of HP/Mana which would give you the max possible effective life via a single hit. But the more mana you have up to that level the more damage against your HP you can be saved. And what happens when you get hit? You lose mana - which is why mana regenration is perhaps the builds most important stat. Because once you are hit you want to gain that mana back as fast as possible so you have as much as possible to save you from your next hit - at the same time you are using it on very expensive abilities.

So the core stuff you want to look for on gear are:

EV/ES based gear
HP
Resistances Capped
+ES +Mana +Mana Regen

Useful Unqiues:
Silverbranch can be used all of the way to 64 as long as your Poison Arrow gem is leveled appropriately for the area. Just be sure to sick your zombies on totems.

Carcass Jack is the only piece of equipment that can actually help offensively - adding a little damage and poison cloud aoe radius. It's very good for the build, and doesn't need to be a 5L as your poison arrow doesn't go in it.

Atziri's Foible (crappton of mana and mana regen) or Sidhebreath if you don't have Atziri's

For the start of the game just link Poison Arrow > Faster Projectiles. As mana and gem ownage allows add Concentrated Effect and Empower. You may need to buy a level 1 Empower and level it in your off-slot, getting level 2 at some point for early-mid endgame. Slower Projectiles and Culling Strike also add poison cloud damage and can be used with or in replace of any of the above. Increased Area of effect, while not adding damage, can also help. So you can mix and match those based on the number of links you have available to you - and availability.

And lastly - your bow. While you may not be able to afford a +2/+1, +2 (SharpShooter prefix) is a 64 mod. So, literally, all you need to do once you are 64 is pick a bow of your choice off the ground and toss a few alts on it - shouldn't take more than a few stacks you will will have yourself a a nice upgrade. Or you could just buy a +2 yellow bow at any point, a lot of which can be found very cheaply if the other stats (which are irrelevant to you) suck.

Many thanks!!! I'm going to digest this later tonight and look forward to starting down this path. One more suggestion and completely optional for the next person. It may be worth putting some of the info you've included throughout the thread in the first post to consolidate the knowledge unless you purposefully wanted to weed out lazy readers. :)

Hey, I'm juste wondering, you have 0 chaos resistance with your stuff, is chaos damage not a threat late game ?
Also, which flasks are you running with your build ?

I don't find Chaos damage to be an issue at all. For one, evasion characters tend to have a better time versus chaos damage because Ondar's Guile basically nullifies some of the more dangerous chaos damage. But this build also excels at not having to be near anything that poses a threat to it. Here is my normal flask set up:

i did similar build in the 1 week domination race. although i used trap to trigger the poison cloud. trap is multiplicative so it would increase your dps significantly. basically it was a trapper build with poison arrow, desecrate (also trap).

-HeaT

Would this build benefit from Atziri's Promise?