Speedy Puncture + Pierce Split Arrow / Reflect Safe or Glass Cannon / Level 100 & Uber Atziri Farmer

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIBAF4DHgW1BfkGIwguCIkKmxUgFr8ZihmOGf4ajxsBH0EhdiLiIuoj9iT9JT8mlSoLKlss6TB8MfoyATKUNj051EfiSn1NklFHUdlS7FVLVvpbr11oYeJh62KsZ6BsjG1sb_JwUnDVcaF293fXeOt6U311fwJ_K4Jehs6HdonTjDaNfY2_j0-VBZrxmyabjZu1naqgn6GkotmkOabgqKKq-KvSr-uwkrDYsTCyGbUItUjBM8HYwuzKqc3qz3rQgdN-1CPWitnG2o3dDeHb5wrnVOd06NbrFO2D73rz6vba-wn8xf66_sj_k__e

The build is intended to be a glass cannon. If you want to farm Atziri & Uber Atziri, or if you want to knock out maps as fast as possible, this variant is most optimized for your needs.

Some quick information about passive choices:

I took the Charisma aura cluster so it's possible to run 2 60% auras (Hatred, and then a choice of Haste OR Grace) and be able to use Herald of Ash. You will also want to get mana on at least 1 piece of gear to have a comfortable mana pool of 50-100 (depending on your level, int, and mana on gear)

If you just can't get mana leech on gear, trade the front 3 shadow nodes for Mind Drinker in the shadow, then trade the two 20% crit chance nodes above Assassination for the power charge. You also get +20 int from doing this, so it's possible to drop a +30 int node.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIBAF4DHgW1BiMILgiJCpsQexEvFSAWvxmGGY4fQSCcIXYi4iLqI_Yk_SaVKgsqTSpbLOkwfDH6MgE1kjY9OdQ_J0WWR-JKfUrITZJRR1FMUuxVS1b6W69daF5FYeJh62KsZ6BsjG1sbqpv8nBScaF293fXeOt6U31bfXV_K4Jehs6Hdow2jX2Nv49PkvOVBZmamvGbJpuNnaqgn6Q5qKKq-KxHr-uxMLIZtQi1SLXyvjrBM8HYwuzKqc3qz3rQgdN-1CPWiti92xrdDeKA5wrnVOd06NbrFOss62Ptg-968-r66_zF_o_-uv_e

Queen of the forest is highly recommended for this variant.

Dying is not always fun. This variant is designed to be hardcore viable and counter the original builds main weakness: physical reflect.

The purpose of this build is to absurdly scale evasion to take advantage of Ondar's Guide. Ondar's Guile doubles your % chance to evade.

Normally players with Ondar's Guile jump from 20% chance to evade their reflect to 40% chance to evade their reflect.

This build intends on you stacking evasion with Grace and very high evasion gear. Then, super scale that with very high increased evasion %, to jump from 50% chance to evade your own reflect to 95% chance to evade it. You also need to check your accuracy, and make sure it is below 1,600.

I wasn't using queen of the forest in these, but I highly recommend using one.

I've collected this gear over several months of playing. You do not need this level of gear to be extremely effective / farm uber.

Upsides of this build:

1 - effective throughout the entire game

2 - doesn't require expensive items to function

3 - very fast and light

4 - controllable and large AoE damage

5 - very high single target damage on mobile enemies

6 - the character is very flexible

7 - capable of completing Apex of Sacrifice and The Alluring Abyss (Atziri & Uber Atziri)


Downsides of this build:

1 - physical reflect

2 - physical spells & resolute technique exiles

3 - high damage elemental damage


Setups with Gems and Passives:
There are a few setups I've played with in endgame. All of them are overall quite similar, it's just for those looking for a change of skill.

I - Pierce Split Arrow
+low and easily sustainable mana cost
-physical reflect is the worst

6-linked:


For the 5-link, I would drop faster attacks. For the 4-link, I would drop added fire. That makes a 4-link: because we're trying to scale our damage through crits!


For Puncture, the 6-link:


Puncture 5-link:

and a choice between


Puncture 4-link:


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3 different setups:
PLEASE NOTE FOR THE FOLLOWING THREE SETUPS: with the current state of mana leech, you NEED

in order to sustain the higher mana costs. An alternative option is to spec the build to sustain the skill in other ways, such as more mana nodes, Eldritch Battery, a blood magic gem, ect. But I haven't tested any of that, so do it at your own risk! Also, make sure your crit chance is high while using Acuity, so the instant life leech and mana leech is consistent.

II - Chain Split Arrow
+physical reflect is easier to mitigate
-high mana cost, needs Atziri's Acuity or other sustainability changes.

Gems and a general passive tree


III - Rain of Arrows
+fun!
+using concentrated effect instead of pierce or chain will scale the damage absurdly, but give less AoE
+using increased AoE gives a solid AoE size
-high mana cost, needs Atziri's Acuity or other sustainability changes.

Gems and a general passive tree


Frenzy:
If you want to use Frenzy for single target instead, you should spec into the 2 frenzy charges that we're right next to.

Frenzy links in this order:


Passive Tree:

My recommended level 100 tree for pierce split arrow + puncture


My current tree at level 100 (currently messing around with Rain of Arrows and Frenzy)


A few leveling passive trees:


Bandits:

I think of the bandits as the following:
On my passive tree, if I am 1 point away from each of the choices, which would I take?

The bandit rewards I chose:
Normal: +40 life from Oak
Cruel: +8% attack speed from Kraityn
Merciless: +1 power charge from Alira

The choice of 8% attack speed or 18% physical damage in cruel was tough. The physical damage will make puncture's bleed stronger, but can make physical reflect worse. I took the attack speed because, well, it's speed! WEEEEEEEE!

The gear I used to level to 100 and complete The Alluring Abyss (Uber Atziri):

It's important to note you don't need a weapon near as good to clear well (and they still get much better than this, oohh boy!). 347 pDps with 8.4% crit chance. The higher the crit, the more consistent your damage is (obviously). Personally I'd trade away some pDps for more crit chance if I could.
If you want to be able to wear a lot of uniques, you'll need a lot of resist on gear. Also, if you can get a lot of evasion on gear, grace becomes a less essential aura to run.
Drillneck is a beyond insane quiver for pierce characters. This quiver has given me much more damage over any crit quiver I've tried. Highly recommend, although of course not required.
I highly recommend this helm if you can get your hands on one. Attack speed, movement speed, crit chance, and evasion, holy cow! No life, but if there was, it would be really OP!
Crit and attack speed. Similarly to the rats nest, you lose a slot for life and resist but gain a nice amount of damage.




I would prioritize getting life leech over most other stats.


What my stats were with this gear:



My current gear:











My current stats (self buffed):



Stats without Atziri's Promise + Vaal Haste:


Defense:


Other powerful items that work well with the build:
Best in slot gloves for most situations, absolutely insanely powerful. It also makes your mana instant leech, so more mana expensive setups become feasible (such as chain split arrow, rain of arrows, lightning arrow, ect)
Adds a lot of survivability (in my case it was an extra 1.7kish hp). Kaom's + Acuity will make you essentially immortal. You can also still potentially use a 6-link in your bow, but this setup is obviously very expensive.
Solid for spells, and pairs well if you take phase acrobatics. Also good life, evasion and runspeed!
A solid belt. You'll lose a lot of life compared to a high hp belt, but it gives a decent amount of damage and extra leech.

Auras:

Once you're sustaining entirely off of mana leech, and once you have a decently leveled reduced mana, you should be able to run 2 60% auras, or 1 60% and 1 40% aura if you so desire.

Auras I recommend (in order of importance):
1 - Grace - extremely powerful defense wise. NOTE: if you manage to get lots of evasion on gear (40%+ chance to evade) I would say grace is acceptable to drop, but still extremely powerful!

2 - Hatred - adds an incredible amount of damage + defense. Because we do such big single hits and we have a very high crit chance, you'll almost always have entire packs frozen/shattered with this aura.

3 - Haste - I like this aura because it makes you even faster (and adds damage)! Weeeeeee!

4 - Purity of Elements - very strong if you're in need of resist (or for elemental weakness maps), otherwise there's not a need for it.

Mana:

Similarly to pretty much every character, in the beggining we sustain our mana by strapping on some mana potions and start chugging. There's some good news, however.

Referring to one of the screenshots above (http://i.imgur.com/Y7ZicaJ.jpg) you might notice that a 6-linked level 21 split arrow costs 30 mana. A large benefit of using pierce over things like chain is that the mana cost remains very low. This allows us to reserve most of our mana with auras. I've found that 90 unreserved mana is plenty to fully sustain split arrow and puncture.

So what do we use to sustain? Mana pots?!?! Nope! Since most of our damage is physical, we can take advantage of a stat found on gear (or the passive node that we took called Mind Drinker) known as mana leech. With only 1% mana leech and enough damage, you should find no troubles sustaining mana. Just make sure you're actually hitting stuff to leech the mana.

Also, while leveling up through early levels (around 1-50?) characters will likely not deal enough damage to entirely sustain off of mana leech, hence the mana pot chugging.

Atziri's Acuity note: this makes mana leech instant! Because of this, you can sustain the mana cost for chain split arrow or rain of arrows by simply speccing into the Charisma aura cluster.

FAQ:

Q1: Is
good for this build?

A1: No. This build's main damage scaling is through crits. A 5% base crit chance will not scale crits very well. Another huge issue with it is you are no longer able to evade your own reflect, so reflect becomes an even bigger issue. It's a good bow, just not with this builds setup.

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Q2: Physical Projectile Attack Damage or Added Fire?

A2: When your damage isn't high enough for reflect to be a problem, use PPAD. The extra phys gives more life leech and mana leech. When reflect starts becoming troublesome, switch to added fire.

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Q3: Is this build hardcore viable?

A3: For the most part, I would say no. If some adjustments are made I'm sure you could do well in hardcore if you're careful. Also, Kaom's Heart + God Gloves = literal immortality.

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Q4: What are God Gloves?

A4: Atziri's Acuity.

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Q5: Is phase acrobatics worth the points?

A5:

"

Precaso wrote:

Yep, phase acrobatics is now 1 point cheaper.

The 10% attack dodge is almost unnoticeable to me. It adds a sliver of extra rng, but I feel it doesn't really make a difference overall survivability wise.

On the other hand, Phase Acrobatics is amazing (especially with Atziri's Step). With Atziri's Step you get 46% spell dodge, which is very noticeable and very powerful defense wise (because spells are one of the most dangerous sources of damage for this character, especially physical spells such as bear trap/ek/those stupid circle thingies)... And against most bosses (ex: Atziri, Perpetus, Piety, Vaal, Dominus, ect ect), it's incredible!

Is it worth the 4 points? Absolutely! There are some situations where it can save your life.

Is it mandatory (in case you just want to take more damage/ect)? No, you'll just have to be extra cautions around some of the heavy spell hitters