Tanky and affordable quill rain CoC! (Updated to 1.2.0)

Hey, thabks for the reply, I know the 6l question was stupid, sorry about that.

Are you updating this with the new skill tree? (You may wanna change class to shadow)

Please reply, thanks for your time

New skill tree: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/994393

Yeah, I just found out about the skill tree thing today and am working on it. Will keep you guys updated what I'd envision as tree.

I'll just use this post I guess.

So, I patched something together real quick (107 points used, around what I have currently):
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIAm42v6wgu7YMZjgBe037veucKCpt46_zFVvpnoN0Nqvh314d2W68s6ZAKqKJ_KznUSn0hdk4qytMVIMHYMHxv8nb3hs4ppRm0IuKNfVFHoJ8x-sEz-rFH4iP251Te-D7P6mLQgU2SJP2keL3m3sakOcHV-WPNmBXwvqcF-dJNbmmbJqGkwA-E2ejW4dsl3-sU53Qb-m1spBm1SKXLNj0B3PPqnaq-iioLYqxsjHgNcFJYr-hmidM26D_8cNU6UgixXfIOPELDn8vfhAL-jDZVS2HiJpUWvw==
(This only works with the offline passive tree the guy above me linked!)
Forsaken Masters is live, so this should work.

I still took whatever life I could, but the new tree just doesn't have as much. I don't know the base life per level, we'll have to see. 116% doesn't sound like much, but that's already a lot of nodes...
However: This tree has tons more armor and quite a bit more crit.

Just for comparison:
My current tree has a total of 126% increased armor. The new tree has 192%.

Old tree had 390% crit chance applicable to barrage (24.5% barrage crit chance). New tree has 464% (28.2% barrage crit chance). Now, that doesn't sound much (and indeed quill rain crit chance just scales terribly), but attackspeed also sees slight improvements: 73% new vs 58% old (before frenzy charges, both trees have 5 with short path to the 6th).

The spell damage increase (including %elemental, %projectile etc.) in old tree was 52% for cold, I casually picked up 68% in the new one. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it all adds up (also keep in mind that getting spell damage on archer gear is hard, so this scales well).


Now, that all sounds good and fun, but the real kicker is actually still waiting for us: Accuracy. I think many players overlook it, but did you know that you need to roll against your accuracy rating twice for a crit to proc? Once for the attack to hit, then the crit rolls, if that succeeds you roll against accuracy again. So running around with 78% chance to hit (like I do atm) means that your 25% crit chance gets reduced by (effectively) 40%, you only crit on 15% of your attacks.

With that in mind, let's look at accuracy:
On old tree? 520 flat accuracy from dex, 20% increased. Currently 78% chance to hit.
On new: 664 flat accuracy and 110% increased. Rough estimation and this handy spreadsheet tell me I'd get to 87% chance to hit (displayed). That would be a flat 24% more successful crits...

To top things off, I have 4% movespeed on the tree right now. That'll become 22%. Wow.

So it really got a lot better all around. I'm still tweaking things (I just noticed I missed a few life nodes), and I can probably ignore some attackspeed, but it's looking fabulous overall :D

PS: "King of the Hill passive" is included. You now knock back enemies on crit. This is going to be hilarious.

Ok, revised a bit and prioritized a few things.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIAm42v6wgu7YMZjgBe037veu4OVvqjiqr4_MV31yP2-WOoomeg3Q051E2SjX0V8L3mwdiHdluvLOmQCm_ydvcF-T7PSn0hdk4qFSCgnzH6myahpFFHhs62QSmlIuLo1uHb51TBM2qTR-LrFOd0JP3V7dCBbWzAD6Q5tUilyzY90k3z6p2q7LC-pyoLYqxsjIwLbmnNmHBSuXyE2YnTZU0l33DVFFIb-l3yR36kGULDAdzfhL6KAv54DYw2WK_oZlVLNug__GHiOlIIsSaVDjwWv0Kjn8taGg==

Oh btw, I didn't go for aura nodes in these trees. I'm currently running only grace (or haste) anyway, I'm never running two auras at once, it would just screw my mana pool.
Seeing as GMP and Chain both get their mana multipliers reduced, the barrage will be dirt cheap (http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/994350), so running around with a 60% aura won't make a difference (not like it would make a difference now).


Feel free to submit your own trees and discuss what you'd do differently!


Last edit for tonight: Oh wow, look at that fending cluster above blood magic. I need to try that. 18% additional chance to knock back enemies on hit? On a build that hits as much as possible? Just wow, I need to try that. I never noticed it was there...

Hi. Good job;) do you think that i can use your build in hc? i want also try i place of one of skills Ragining spirits... that can be also nice:) Maybe you can put some tree for hc players? It's look like ranger get buff in overall... :)

I don't think you can run this build in HC. Even if you don't kill yourself on Lightning Thorns (in the quest line they only appear in known locations, in maps you need to be incredibly careful if a map rolls lightning-themed mobs, you'll likely have to leave), the dangers of killing yourself on reflect (happens faster than you think) or against corrupting blood are very high.

If you're ready to avoid certain mobs or packs and always play at maximum attention, you might get somewhere in HC. I mean, the build isn't extremely expensive (and the new tree will make the requirements on the rares less harsh) so feel free to give it a shot, but don't tell me I didn't warn you. :P


The problem with CoC trees is that a certain amount of crit is absolutely essential to be able to play. Between that and the life and other mitigation nodes you take, there's not much room to juggle around.

WRT Raging spirits: I tried it and leveled a raging spirits gem to lvl 20. The damage is absolutely underwhelming, even when hitting the 50 spirit cap. There's no room on the tree for minion stuff (nor are you even close to it), your gear is for a large part determined already, and between barrage, gmp and coc (and, for this build, chain), you get 1-2 free support gems for the spirits. It's just not good. Self-cast with spell echo is likely superior.

I love you.
Still, I think that extra elemental damage with shadow would be amazing.

It would be, indeed. The question is whether you can give up 20% life or 50% crit or unwavering for it.

Clearspeed really isn't an issue for this build in my eyes (at least not until you really want to chain 77/78 maps), so straight damage bonus is the least of my worries.

Could you make a video or something? I wanna see how it works out. Really interested for the new leagues. Also, what do you think about the 20% CoC base nerf? It went from 50% to 30%.

Source? I'd really love to see some compiled info, it's just very scattered atm (and I can't look into the TW client).

I have a video of a 140% IIQ dark forest map ready, I just need to upload it to YT (keep forgetting to do that)...

Ok, reading through the entire thread here I noticed that AB was nerfed for CoC (although it remained unchanged for manual cast) by increasing cast speed but reducing mana cost and damage.
The CoC nerf is a flat 20% less chance at lvl 1, I sincerely hope that it doesn't also have flat 20% less chance at lvl 20...

On the other hand, cold snap apparently got buffed (thank god), I have been working towards a 6l quill rain and wouldn't mind throwing on a Voll's Protector and going for a cold snap build. We'll have to see.


Edit: Messed around a few hours with CoC and discharge on various builds of mine after I got a nice Voll's Devotion cheaply. To my own surprise, this build clears 70 maps easily on a 3l with discharge (mine is only lvl 11!), coc and barrage. Requires a Voll's Protector and Voll's Devotion though, the latter of which is ~15 ex and only available in the permanent leagues.

Frenzy instead of Barrage is worth a consideration, but with the current mana cost and the VP mana reduction, I can't sustain it properly. It's also quite far from the original build idea. I'll see where this goes from here on :)

Hey everyone, I uploaded some footage of me facetanking devourers in a 140% IIQ Dark Forest map. For anybody who wonders what this build plays like, here you can get a taste:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXarHFhoRLQ