[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

Before We Get To The Guide…
The Item Rarity Gem and Degeneration Skills:

• As of patch 1.0.6, the IIR/IIQ gems have full functionality with degen skills. The patch notes say "Righteous Fire," but it applies to all sources of degeneration: Searing Bond, RF, CA Cloud, Viper Strike DoT, etc… So yes, the IIR gem works for this build.

Area Damage Modifiers and Tooltip Damage:

• For those new to CA, they will not show up on the tooltip chaos damage/s calculation. But they do factor in. So don't be afraid when you slot in conc effect and see no change: it's happening, but it's a known "bug" that it doesn't show up on tooltip.

A Scion/Shadow Build in the Ranger Section:

• This has been a ranger build since the release of 2.0, which covers over 300 pages of questions and replies. But now Scion's Deadeye/Occultist hybrid is best for SC, while Shadow is best for HC. I don’t want to kill anyone’s bookmarks, so it is staying here.

Passive Tree for the Ranger Start:

• I will not be posting a Ranger tree. You can follow the Scion tree, as it's identical in every way except the starting two Scion Projectile Damage nodes. You then take Deadeye, and go grab Endless Munitions, which will use all six of your Ascendency points. This allows you to drop the AoE gem for Empower/Rapid Decay.

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- Table of Contents -

[01.00] - Overview
[02.00] - Media
[03.00] - Bandit Rewards
[04.00] - Skill Tree & Ascendancies
[04.01] - Scion Ascendant Occultist/Deadeye
[04.02] - Shadow Trickster [HC Option]
[05.00] - Leveling
[06.00] - Gearing
[07.00] - Gems & Links
[08.00] - FAQ (Post 2)
[09.00] - Tools (Post 3)


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- Overview -

The purpose of this build is to effectively balance survivability, clear speed, and magic find while enabling you to solo up to mid tier maps (including Atziri). This guide is written to provide information to effectively balance these three elements. While the build can work in parties/rotations, and be an effective boss farmer, these are not the targets the build aims to hit.

Pros:
- Earn 0.5ex/hr** without selling a DAMN THING. ** IMPORTANT: SEE BELOW SPOILER **
- Fast pack clear speed, solid boss kill speed.
- Runs any map mod except blood magic (and even then, you can drop an Andvarius and get it working)
- Extremely mobile
- Cheap starting cost (buy a 5L bow for 5c, alt-spam to +2 bow gems, go to work) (NOTE: +2 bow gems requires ilvl 64)
- Atziri capable (just remove Andvarius'. Or don't, if you're badass!)
- HC viable with some adjustments.

Cons:
- Semi-Late Acrobatics - mid 50s.
- It's evasion, so it's prone to physical burst damage if entropy hates you.




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- Media -

Video version of this guide -- (June 14, 2015)

Deathless Atziri Run with almost full MF spec - didn't *quite* have full res balance =( --- June 15, 2015.

Inventory and Stash Management - Exactly what it sounds like! A video talking about stash and inventory management while mapping.

Gorge Run - with a 3:40 clear speed. As you can see, it doesn't lag that far behind full-tilt dps builds. Only about 40 seconds, ish.


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- Bandit Rewards -

• Normal - Help Oak(+40 Life)
• Cruel - Help Eramir(Passive Point)
• Merciless - Help Kraityn(+1 Max Frenzy Charge)

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- Skill Trees & Ascendancies -
As of the Ascendancy launch the best class for this build is the Scion Ascendant, using the Deadeye(Ranger) and Occultist(Witch) nodes. The bonuses provided by the Ascendant are tremendous. Deadeye grants the build an additional arrow, a modified version of Far Shot, and 50% pierce chance. These three perks allow the build to drop the Increased Area of Effect support, gain some incremental damage, and drop the Poacher’s Aim unique jewel and still maintain 100% pierce chance. Occultist grants the build -15% chaos resistance on enemies you curse, and increased chaos if you have killed a cursed enemy recently(last four seconds). These two perks grank the build an effective 15% MORE damage when needed, and a conditional boost to damage and clear speed.

The reason that you roll Shadow for Hardcore is simple: Trickster's Ghost Dance provides you with an additional 5% dodge and spell dodge, which is flat out massive. Advance further along that branch and you also get Shade Form, which provides you with flat evasion, flat ES and a multiplicative 20% MORE chance to evade attacks while not on full ES. Even with taking Acrobatics, this gives you a slight ES buffer of damage to absorb an initial hit and then an immediate subsequent boost to your defense.

However, also keep in mind that you'll need to decide whether or not you are fine without the AoE gem for this variant, as there's no way to gain Increased Area of Effect for Shadow that's similar to the Scion or Ranger's Deadeye +1 Arrow mechanic. So while this variant is undoubtedly safer, you will also retain similar dps as you saw in 2.1.

You can alternately still roll the Scion version and just drop damage for life & Phase Acro as well.

I don't recommend running as Shadow for SC. There's no point compared to the benefits Scion offers.

- Scion Ascendant Occultist/Deadeye -


- Shadow Trickster -