[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

I am new to the forum and the build. For 2.3 do you think going Ascendent is still the best option or is going Ranger into Deadeye worth while? Or maybe even a different route like Slayer or Raider? Just kinda trying to get a feel of ideas.

Still Ascendant for SC, Trickster for HC.

What do you think is best to put the extra points in? Think it is worth it to hit deadeye/slayer?

Nope, not enough to grab another notable in Ascendant.

Still Deadeye/Occultist + Path of the Ranger to save a few passive points on the main tree.

Free Pierce / Extra arrow is too valuable (saves a gem slot) and the -chaos resistance to cursed enemies is massive for killing bosses faster.

Fair enough! Think this is a good first build of the season to go with this season? Any of the nerfs notable enough to perhaps make this a little slower than some of the other options?

As far as nerfs go, with what we know so far from the development manifesto, there's no nerf to CA. The extra passives make it incrementally better, in fact.

But, we'll have to wait for the patch notes to know for sure.

As for speed, you don't have to listen to me, but various people who follow this thread have said that as far as solo MF goes, this is the fastest build they've played.

Granted, I haven't played EVERY other option out there, but the only one I played previously that ever was as fast as CA is now, was Flameblast prolif.

Prolif itself (the gem) is getting a radius buff from 12 to 16. Its previous max radius was ~32? So while +4 isn't a lot, it might be enough to recover the build. Used to be able to prolif basically half a screen, so to be able to get a similar radius to the CA cloud now should make it somewhat reasonable.

Like I mentioned last night, I'll be testing it out at some point during the course of 2.3 to see if it's worthwhile to do FB prolif MF again.

That said, CA generally speaking has more advantages than FB does. CA can do Atziri, has no issues with reflect, etc.

Flameblast's only real advantage is that it absolutely MURDERS bosses by comparison.



But yeah, I've been MFing at the start of leagues since..... Ambush? So a little over two years now? I went 7/8 in challenges that season, and I've gone perfect 8/8, 8/8, 8/8, 8/8, 32/32, and 40/40 since then, with the latter three leagues done with CA MF to start.

Gets your wealth built up, challenges completed, other builds funded, map pool started, etc.

I appreciate all the info you provide! I am most likely going to give this a shot and see where it lands me. From what I have read, as you said, people play this then fall in love. I can't see me not loving it from the sounds of things. Again thanks for all the responses.

No problem, best of luck. Don't hesitate to come back and ask more questions if you have some.

Hey, Serleth!
Thank you for this build, it is extremely good for a relatively new player like me. I've done cruel lab few days ago (after 5 attempts, thanks to my game crashes at final Izaro battle), got Deadeye and finally switched to CA in 5l +2 bow. Man, this is what clear speed jump is called! From ~1.5k dps (self-found split arrow leveling gear) to ~6k insta-horrific-acid-death-for-everything-on-screen-dps :-D
Another thing I love with this build is that you can shoot 2-3 times and do whatever you need - dodge attacks, refresh totem/golem, loot drops - and still inflict you full dps in background. Very safe and convenient!
Looking forward for next league, I will start with this build.

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Sutyrin wrote:

Another thing I love with this build is that you can shoot 2-3 times and do whatever you need - dodge attacks, refresh totem/golem, loot drops - and still inflict you full dps in background. Very safe and convenient!

This right here, is exactly why I chose to make a build around CA. Fire-and-forget dps =D

Glad you're having fun with it. Good luck with Prophecy =)