[0.10.4b] Bow Marauder (The Shocker (tm)) [**TO BE UPDATED SOON 1.0.0**]

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Buks wrote:

So I died on my lvl 75 ranger in HC using nugiyen's build which I ABSOLUTELY loved playing, the playstyle, everything just clicked for me. Now that I found this build I'm considering to roll this one or again nugiyen's.

I was wondering, has anybody compared those two builds? Not sure why but it just feels like this marauder one provides more dmg and survivability as well.

What do you guys think?

(if it has been discussed before, I'm sorry, don't have the time to read through all the pages, but I might take some time!)

I leveled a Rejuv Totem on my Groundslam Mara and it wasn't useful past Normal imo. So my 2nd Mara is the Shocker, but it's going to use these revives if I have enough INT on the side.

Started playing this build a week ago and I'm loving it, so wanted to share how well it works. Just got to level 70 using 5L LA+Chain+LMP+WED+LOH and a 4L Frenzy+FasterAttacks+WED+LOH. I can tank Voidbearers in Merciless Docks thanks to high resists, but physical damage destroys me if I don't sustain using LA and Life on Hit. Started facemelting mobs after I got the 5L and Chain.

Here's what my gear looks like for those interested:



This build is awesome with the right gear.

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GoldenNuggets wrote:

Started playing this build a week ago and I'm loving it, so wanted to share how well it works. Just got to level 70 using 5L LA+Chain+LMP+WED+LOH and a 4L Frenzy+FasterAttacks+WED+LOH. I can tank Voidbearers in Merciless Docks thanks to high resists, but physical damage destroys me if I don't sustain using LA and Life on Hit. Started facemelting mobs after I got the 5L and Chain.

Here's what my gear looks like for those interested:

Spoiler

This build is awesome with the right gear.

Thanks for showing the gear. I have high hopes for my character then. :D

chain is so expensive, can i use fork instead? and if so what is the loss on dmg or other thing by using fork over chain?

You can definitely use fork (and I know I and many others do until they get a chain).

Fork will do less damage, but its not really something that is easy to quantify. Just think of it like this, while fork does have a lower damage penalty, the 2 forked arrows are not guaranteed to actually hit anything, and are at such a wide angle that if you hit a guy near the edge of a pack it is basically never going to hit anything useful, whereas chains two bounces are basically always going to hit.

On a side note, while I haven't really had any problems with decoy totem, I am finding that I rarely actually need it, and have been thinking about replacing it with a ranged attack totem 4L (either RAT+Split+WE+chain to help with mobs or RAT+EH+WE+FA to help with single target). I was wondering if anyone had played with something like that at all? I kinda feel like the split arrow one would be a waste since I destroy groups already, and the single target one might be useful vs unique bosses, but I doubt it will have the aggro pulling ability of decoy, and strong single targets are about the only time I use decoy...

however weird of a flaw it is, the one thing annoying me about the build is that I pretty much only use LA, EH, and occasionally a curse, so I have all these slots I just put junk in and I feel like I want more skills in the mix. I need to put frenzy back on and play with keeping charges up lol.

I also think I lined up a Quill rain, so hopefully I meetup with the guy and try that tonight and post results. Back of the envelope calcs I am getting it should be like a 35% increase in my LA DPS (since i have so much off weapon damage), and an even bigger increase in my EH damage since that has even more off weapon damage. Using my off weapon elemental damage, I think QR might out preform a near perfect tri-elemental thicket with IAS by about 10%. My main concerns are:
1)Less damage per hit=more shots to kill. VS large packs this shouldn't be a problem because LA heals more than it costs as long as there are 3 targets, but I might notice the increased life cost vs single targets when using EH
2)Loosing the 9-95 lit damage on my bow might make it hard to stack shock stacks? Of course, I will be firing faster so they dont need to last as long...
3)I might find myself wondering why I didn't just go Explosive arrow instead :p (basically grab the fire cluster down near BM and the fire cluster near shocking)
4)I know my Graphics card can handle everything, and I know the temp never gets too high, but I can definitely hear the fan kick into high gear when I have sustained LA+LMP+Chain fire into a big pack, firing 5+ times a second (before frenzy) might be bad...

Wait a minute, should I have been using spell totem + faster casting + summon skele instead of decoy totem? I've been using decoy totem my entire char (lvl 72 now).

Some people like it better, and I can see how it can be, but I am 69 and have never had a problem with decoy. Even vs Piety at the end of Merc it could still take multiple hits, which was enough time for me to put a decent number of shots in her and re-summon right before it died.

i suggest taking inner force a great buff to your damage , and if u are lucky and get ur hands on a lioneye's drop resolute technique and add more attack speed nodes or life nodes.

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Camaron wrote:

chain is so expensive, can i use fork instead? and if so what is the loss on dmg or other thing by using fork over chain?

I used Fork for a while because I was stingy, but the difference really is night and day, Chain is very worth it.

What makes Chain so amazing is that every LA hit splashes, and then Chain takes effect. So you have from one LA a hit (splash) --chain--> hit (splash) --chain--> hit (splash), so it's basically 3x the splash from LA. If mobs are densely packed and you have LMP, a mob can literally get hit with 9 LA splashes from one shot. Along with the fact that it is guaranteed to hit other mobs providing they're in range (with Fork mobs have to be lined up at the correct angle for the forked shots to hit) it really is monumentally better than Fork.

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Camaron wrote:

chain is so expensive, can i use fork instead? and if so what is the loss on dmg or other thing by using fork over chain?

You may use fork instead, yes. It does not work as good; and you might want to just skip fork altogether before you acquire Chain. That can work as well, and it puts less tension on picking gear with right sockets. As mentioned before, feel free to skip Chain before you acquire a 5L item. LA+WED+LMP+LOH.

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ShadowyDream wrote:

(...SNIP...)
1)Less damage per hit=more shots to kill. VS large packs this shouldn't be a problem because LA heals more than it costs as long as there are 3 targets, but I might notice the increased life cost vs single targets when using EH
2)Loosing the 9-95 lit damage on my bow might make it hard to stack shock stacks? Of course, I will be firing faster so they dont need to last as long...
(...SNIP...)

1) Might want to test out Life Leech instead of LoH. Life Leech will certainly cover the skill cost easily at higher level.
2) That won't be a problem, simply put.

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imgaryromeo wrote:

i suggest taking inner force a great buff to your damage , and if u are lucky and get ur hands on a lioneye's drop resolute technique and add more attack speed nodes or life nodes.

Inner Force is something I've been contemplating on adding into the build. More information on that later. When it comes to Lioneyes bow; I believe it would be better used with a whole other type of build. I will leave that for each individual to judge, though.