[inv]Elemental Crit Split Arrow build - The Potential of Windripper !

update 31.03.2014: build added
update 03.04.2014: added pro's and con's
update 03.04.2014: updated gear with maligaro's virtuosity
update 06.04.2014: updated a wasted node in the passive tree
update 14.04.2014: updated passive tree + screenshots of self buffed stats
update 08.05.2014: fully respecced out of Windripper build, no more updates! :(


[spoiler="GENERAL INFO"]Hey there!

I've always been into tanky builds with Iron Reflexes and high armour (I have several 85+ characters on HC that all had tanky builds), on Nemesis I also had a 94 Spectral Thrower with very high armour and for some reason I always felt secured.

Now taking the step to an Acrobatics / Ondar's Guile character is very big.
Even 1 hit from a white mob can hit you for 1K+ damage, but since the way Evasion works (which is = not random), you have plenty of time to leech back to full HP (or use pots) or move around and kite the monster without getting into much trouble.


As recently I've really been into Split Arrow builds, I've been on the lookout for a GOOD Harbinger bow. Which I didn't find on Invasion yet.

Me and some friends on Mumble have been speculating about a possible build with the new Windripper bow. I was very sceptical at first about it. But my friends (ghcbug and Haasbror) really came up with some very good ideas including Alpha's Howl.

After mapping and severe testing / adjusting the build while farming 74-78 maps, I came up with a very good balance.

Here I am now, showing you the final result..[/spoiler]



The Windripper Elemental Crit Split Arrow build!


[spoiler="1. GEAR"]




[/spoiler]
[spoiler="2. PASSIVE TREE"]
Level 94 currently on Invasion:

http://tinyurl.com/l38ep4h


You can just as easy do this build as a Ranger or Shadow![/spoiler]
[spoiler="3. SKILL SETUP & LINKS"]
AURAS: Reduced Mana - Wrath - Anger - Grace

SA: Split Arrow - Faster Attacks - Chain - Weapon Elemental Damage - Blood Magic - Life Gain on Hit

FRENZY: Frenzy - Faster Attacks - Weapon Elemental Damage - Blood Magic - Life Leech - Power Charge on Crit(or whatever you feel like)

CURSE: Crit Weakness can easily DOUBLE your damage

If you're a solo player, a Decoy totem or Spell totem with Faster Casting / Summon Skeletons isn't a bad idea :)[/spoiler]
[spoiler="4. BANDIT REWARDS"]
Normal: Oak
Cruel: Kraityn
Merciless: Kraityn / Skillpoint[/spoiler]
[spoiler="5. STATS WITH ANGER/WRATH/GRACE"]

DPS atm with level 20 auras: 10626 tooltip pre-charges
Life: 5384 hp
[/spoiler]
[spoiler="6. FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE"]
Alpha's Howl brings you nice Evasion on a Helmet, but a VERY HIGH EVASION CHEST is MANDATORY!! This is the key to your survivability to Reflect (see math in #7).

Most Crit Split builds have issues getting decent life, which was also my main concern when creating this build. Especially with Alpha's Howl there is 1 piece at least without life on it.
Yet, thanks to a perfect balance, I reached decent hp pool currently, with having a mediocre life roll on my belt/amulet/chest/boots. So 6000+ life is very doable! Especially with the Scion Life wheel node so near![/spoiler]
[spoiler="7. ELEMENTAL REFLECT"]
Unlike a Physical Crit Split build where Cast when Damage Taken + Enduring Cry + Immortal Call helps a lot, for Ele reflect it doesn't. Which isn't a problem, because we have high evasion rating!

The Math behind chance to evade reflected damage with Acrobatics + Ondar's Guile:

Chance to Hit = 1068 / ( 1068 + ((13010/4)^0.8))
Chance to Hit = 62.34%
Chance to Evade Reflected Damage = 100 - 62.34 = 37.66%
Chance to Evade Reflected Damage with Ondar's Guile = 2*37.66 = 75.32%


Sadly my accuracy rating is pretty low, if I could get some more on 1 piece of gear it would also greatly improve my tooltip dps.

You can also pop a Jade flask (with increased evasion rating) just in case.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="8. PRO'S AND CON'S"]
Pro's:
- Insane crit chance/attackspeed with this bow (shockstacks constantly).
- Very powerful solo (killing packs before they reach you).
- Easy for reflect because of high evasion rating (just still be aware and use topaz/jade flask just in case).
- Fairly tanky, you only get hit once in 3 times usually!
- Offscreening invasion bosses because of Frenzy.
- Nice party build for shockstacks + 3 auras at level 22 (because of Alpha's Howl).
- Very nice life is possible!! Even with 2 pieces without life and low life roll on chest, I still manage to get 5.5k hp (even more if I swap some crit nodes for life).
- Easy to kite monsters because of fast attackspeed you can just fool around monsters, or place a decoy and just nuke them!

Con's:
- The 1 hit that does come true really can hurt! Careful for having 10+ mobs fire at you because possibly 2 or 3 can actually hit you and you could die if you just keep standing still!
- Ele reflect with PACK SIZE !!! That did actually hurt me when I shot careless... topaz+jade flask is the key here!
- Some invading bosses gotta be skipped like the white and black spider for example. They will hit you for nearly 80% of your HP and you better instant logout because they can chain flicker strike you and you will die.
- Puncture HURTS! Don't forget remove bleeding flask(s)!
- The bow is failry expensive especially now in softcore leagues.[/spoiler]
[spoiler="9. STREAMING & QUESTIONS"]
You can contact me ingame @Classycannon

I stream (very rarily tho) at http://www.twitch.tv/TheAffinity[/spoiler]

Damn, 5K Split Arrow Chain, with lvl.16 auras.

Why not take the three 8% Weapon Ele Damg nodes next to Thick Skin as you already go for ele dmg and Wrath+Anger? Although I don't really see any points you can drop for it atm...
But 24% increased ele dmg from three nodes should be worthy to take or am I mistaken?

However, looks like a great build. And your lvl speaks for its success!

"

Mithrandil wrote:

Why not take the three 8% Weapon Ele Damg nodes next to Thick Skin as you already go for ele dmg and Wrath+Anger? Although I don't really see any points you can drop for it atm...
But 24% increased ele dmg from three nodes should be worthy to take or am I mistaken?

However, looks like a great build. And your lvl speaks for its success!

Even better, there's 3x10% ele dmg nodes ready to be taken at shadow start ;-)

But like u said, i cant take them atm. I chose more life over dmg, since 5k pre-frenzy charges is quite decent , it will still increase a lot from just the auras that will level up.

If i remove oak bandit reward from merci for skill point i might still go for more life first. I really wanna get that 6k... Which is VERY good for crit split builds considering my helmet has 0 life :)

"

Mithrandil wrote:

But 24% increased ele dmg from three nodes should be worthy to take or am I mistaken?

With current gear, he already has 180% increased elem damage, so it's only like a 10% dmg increase.

Nice build!

I do have one question though; whenever I try something like this, I end up absolutely exploding to Physical Spells (Vaal Rocks, Evangelists, EK, Bear Traps..) - how do you deal with that?

Is your HP pool/leech high enough to tank face or are you simply pro enough never to get hit? D:

"

Theaa wrote:

I do have one question though; whenever I try something like this, I end up absolutely exploding to Physical Spells (Vaal Rocks, Evangelists, EK, Bear Traps..) - how do you deal with that?

That is probably the one and only weakness (next to mobs with a "Quick" aura, those are fucking annoying) this build will have!

I did some palaces in group and I'm pretty much far behind in the back shooting (even offscreen).

Those evangelists RAPE you, same for EK spider (which btw shouldn't hit you twice in a row, but still, it will HURT) and bear traps indeed...
There is no real method to deal with that other than skipping that content.

As for Vaal Rocks, I'm pretty sure that 1 hit will hurt a lot and you should just spam pots to full HP, the next rocks you will probably evade, just get full HP instantly after being hit!! And use Jade Flask.

But don't think that is a bad thing, there is probably not 1 build that can do EVERYTHING in this game/league...

As dual strike, I could facetank EK spider boss in a 77 map where my whole party just runs away. But that big blue totem boss would rape me.... While with the split arrow, I can't do the EK spider, but I can offscreen the totem...

It's a bit give and take, overall this is probably the must enjoyable build I played...

But yeah, as acrobatics you're not supposed to tank anything , especially in groups you usually have melee players in front of you while you just crit/shock stack everything :)

Hi,

nice build! I had run something similar on Invasion, but that RoA Bear Trap Invader killed me pretty fast. So I decided to test my build on standard league and modifacted my passive tree a little bit.

This is the final version of my build:



Life is bit lower (260%), but Evasion even higher and you can run all 3 Auras without Alphas. So you can use a good evasion helm with some resists and life.

Cheers. :)

Well if it works , it works =)

Alpha's is mainly for the +2 to Gems :) Since my damage comes from wrath/anger , +2 is pretty significant :)

I'm seeing crazy lower DPS than you with a similar setup but worse jewelry.



I'm only seeing like 3.4k Split tooltip dps (auras, no charges). Are your crazy diamond/WED rings worth that much dps? I'm having trouble fixing my jewelry up since there's no res on my chest and WED stuff is just crazy expensive on ambush.

Edit: I suppose I'm also missing a sixth link, probably pretty significant. Still gonna be really hard to fix my jewelry.