[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

"

Your suggested left path through Coldhearted Calculation in order to grab that jewel, and growth and decay:

No, not my suggestion at all. I'm suggesting that going the coldhearted way and completely skipping the jewel is worth evaluating as a 26 point alternative to going the right path and getting the jewel slot, and that getting the jewel requires the sacrifice of coldhearted + 10% evasion and 5% es.

"

Sorry buddy, but you're wrong. There's only one jewel in the tree that's less expensive, and that's between Duelist and Ranger on the way to Scion.

Most jewel slots require going off path 2 points. The one between ranger / duelist is a 1 point wonder (excellent value). This one requires 2 points, but also taking a route that has less-desirable stats, making it less efficient... and should be taken into consideration when choosing that jewel slot. That makes it 'the most expensive' by a wide margin.

Lets examine this slot with Armageddon bliss (your jewel from front page). For the same amount of points, you can have AB (7% life, 10% stun recovery, 10% proj dmg) + the int nodes and dex nodes to get it - or you can have the coldhearted path, and get 2 more 5% healths, or another 2 10% proj damage somewhere. Viewed as a bundle of 4 points (2 for the path, 2 for the jewel) that jewel pales in comparison to points spent elsewhere. For a causal player without top-end jewels, coldhearted makes a lot of sense.

But whatever - you can socket sol shard or AB in there, and I'll pick up cloth and chain instead for the same cost.

"

SoSkrood wrote:

and that getting the jewel requires the sacrifice of coldhearted + 10% evasion and 5% es.

Most jewel slots require going off path 2 points. The one between ranger / duelist is a 1 point wonder (excellent value). This one requires 2 points, but also taking a route that has less-desirable stats, making it less efficient...

Exceedingly minimal benefits. In fact, basically worthless. You don't use ES in this build, and 10% evasion without any health benefit has no point.



That all res means Andvarius gets equipped a lot sooner, and we get dps.

Took me 20 alts.

"

For the same amount of points, you can have AB (7% life, 10% stun recovery, 10% proj dmg) + the int nodes and dex nodes to get it - or you can have the coldhearted path, and get 2 more 5% healths, or another 2 10% proj damage somewhere.

Viewed as a bundle of 4 points (2 for the path, 2 for the jewel) that jewel pales in comparison to points spent elsewhere.

You're basically only gaining 10% Evasion and some mana regeneration, which isn't even required. The ES has no value, and 10% evasion on its own isn't significant enough to warrant caring about.

Essentially, worthless. Meaning, you're getting basically the same effect taking attribute nodes anyway, for all you'll actually feel the difference.

Therefore we're only dealing with two nodes for the jewel. 5% life & 10% proj damage versus a very affordable 2-affix blue jewel (1-4 fusings) that can have a 7% life roll and 13% damage roll.

"

For a causal player without top-end jewels, coldhearted makes a lot of sense.

As above, no. It's ineffectual points.

It's significantly better to prepare for a jewel socket. You can buy a two-affix jewel as above for 1-4 fusings, at which point it immediately becomes more efficient to socket a jewel rather than having 10% evasion. A jewel of that cost is attainable for even the most casual of players.

Since most people don't value resistance on jewels, you can get a life + damage + resistance jewel for 2-4 chaos. That's three valuable affixes for this build, readily attainable.

I appreciate what you're trying to say but literally any useable two-affix jewel that beats out the minimum roll immediately is more efficient than any one standard node on the tree. By standard, I mean 10% damage, 5% life.

I mean if you really want to waste the regret to respec after you grab that duelist/ranger jewel, then yeah, it's the absolute most bare minimum improvement compared to preparing your tree to take that jewel, but those are quest respec points you could be spending to tweak your tree if you need to make adjustments or if you're a new enough player and are constantly moving points around, suddenly you're spending regrets which slows down your gear progression.

In other words, I'm thinking for the long-term game of this build to absolutely maximize its efficiency from start to finish, rather than worrying about minimal benefits en route to completing the build.

what do u think about running essence drain as extra dmg for killing bosses?

do chaos dps stack? PA + ED dmg?

"

unlucky_child wrote:

what do u think about running essence drain as extra dmg for killing bosses?

do chaos dps stack? PA + ED dmg?

Yes, it does, and I've been using it myself. Not sure it'll be necessary in a finished build but while levelling it's super awesome.

Also, put Wither in a Spell Totem. =)

Are you not running a frenzy - vulnerability - curse on hit setup? Trying to see where i can fit a wither/spell totem setup at and that is the only thing i can think of getting rid of.

"

Skaithakk wrote:

Are you not running a frenzy - vulnerability - curse on hit setup? Trying to see where i can fit a wither/spell totem setup at and that is the only thing i can think of getting rid of.

Not at the moment, which is why the gems section is under construction again. Just doing manual curses at the moment.

I'm going to have to rework some things around once I finish the build again and see what's going on exactly. Don't have the gems available in Standard and really don't feel like reworking a built character that much.

What are your gem links if you don't mind me asking? Just curious what you're running with at the moment.

"

Skaithakk wrote:

What are your gem links if you don't mind me asking? Just curious.

Bare bones right now. CA in the usual setup, ED with CD - VM - RD, manual vulnerability, spell totem + wither. Also using a Searing Bond - RD - IBD for tankier bosses to add more DoT.

The lack of linked stuff is largely because I spend the absolute minimal amount crafting my gear until I get both Andvarius rings + Goldwyrm + Drillneck + everything else res balanced. Then I start working on other stuff. I happen to be using an armour chest right now, hence Searing Bond is back in play for me.

Interesting, thanks for the info. Also I'm having mana issues right now, any suggestions on how to fix it?

Hey man, I have been playing with this build and im loving it! I just have a few questions.

I decided after hitting 58 to read this forum post starting on the last page and go back wards for a bit and i see people talking about essence drain? I also was running the totem set up for wither. This leads me to wonder what all spell setups you are NOW using instead of what the guide says.

5L or 6L CA is a given, 4L wither totem, 5L or 6L GMP frenzy, so that leaves 2 4L left. Assuming blood rage/duration/golem/blink arrow somewhere in there, what am i missing?

And also, what is the purpose in Vaal Lightning trap?

Sorry if my questions are noobish, just trying to clarify :)

Thanks again!