[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

Yeah, my remark re: Uber Izaro was more to say "it can be done," than anything else.

Uber Atziri isn't possible with the way the build is currently structured. It would require a rework on the tree to pick up Arrow Dancing, finish off Phase Acro, and a lot of other gear investments. Or if it is possible, it's sure as hell not easy.

I don't race, at all. I can't provide advice for you there, sorry.

Well, we're gonna have a LOOOOOOOT of fun with the new map system.

=D

Done uber izaro with that gear (its cheap i guess, expect drillneck). I'd 0 iir/iiq, but for loot +2 ascendancy points its good, nothing more.



Other links are:
- cwdt+ic+id+rc on gloves;
- grace+blasphemy+enfeeble(swap for boss)+poacher mark(usually use it) on boots;
- spell totem+wither+blink arrow.

I think that gear can be improved, but it was my first kill for points and i dont want now to do this :)
If anyone want post uber izaro farm-gear i'll be thankfully for this.

My uber gear doesn't change at all, other than I drop Andvarius and Goldwyrm for life rings and 30% MS / high life boots.

What's IIR?..

And btw, you think 24k chaos damage is decent damage compared to insane 100-400k+ you can get with normal bow builds? Am I missing something?

I built a CA witch, I have 11k damage. Which is abysmal, she takes forever to kill bosses. If I could afford +3 on a 6L Maraketh with lvl 21 CA and lvl 4 Empower, maaaaybe I could get a bit better damage.

But the price for those is immense, 5-10 exalts each item, so a 20-30 ex in total?.. If I could at least reach lvl 8 Catarina and lvl 7 Tora and craft the bow myself, that would be cool. But it will not happen in this age of this world.. would take longer than the lifetime of the universe, or in any case, significantly longer than me playing this game.

* Increased Item Rarity

* Top-tier clear speed builds destroy this one. But the majority of "good" builds hover around a 2:30 Gorge clear speed time. This one does it in about 3:00. Given that it's an MF build, it definitely holds its own for damage once you complete it. It won't compete at the highest level for clear speed, but it's more about farming than it is damage. Bosses drop fairly fast as well once you throw VLT and Wither totem down with the Vuln curse, and the benefit of Scion's Occultist.

Also, running CA from Witch isn't optimal.

* The build pays for itself in short order. I'm guessing you play in Standard, which means that setting up starting portion of the build itself will be relatively cheap for you. You can pick up 19% Goldwyrms for ~15-30 chaos, and mid-tier Andvarius rings for ~25c, a 5L +2 bow for 1c, a level 20 CA gem for 5-7c and a level 3 corrupted Empower for 5c.

So, your startup cost is, at the high end, ~100 chaos. At which point you should have 19 IIQ / 250 IIR, meaning you'll be farming roughly 0.3ex/hr.

A 6L +3 bow (you don't need Maraketh) will run you about 9ex, and improve your farming to around 0.4ex/hr or so. From there you can either choose to corrupt your own 21/20 CA gem and level 4 Empower, or buy them. You could even get away with a 21/0% CA for 1-2ex and be fine. That's in fact what I did for Prophecy league. You don't strictly *need* the 20% quality, thanks to the additional arrow, nor a level 4 Empower. They're more QoL than anything, to help make tankier fights go faster.

So, the non-minmaxed version of the build (21/0 and level 3 Empower) will run you roughly 10-11ex, or 30 hours playtime.

30 hours is nothing. I'm guessing since you've played since Feb 2012 (I've peeked your profile), you've sunk WAY more than that into the game.

It took me roughly 3 weeks to afford these (I took time off to sink in full 8 hour days at the start of Prophecy, mind you)



Net value of those items at the time of purchase was ~50ex total. Took me roughly 150 hours. And I still have 10-15ex in my Prophecy bank, and literally THREW money at some of my friends to help them out. Probably spent about 20ex or so on my friends.

In other words, while you think things that cost 20-30ex are expensive now, this build almost trivializes that. All it takes is time, and you'll be able to afford anything you want at a pace of roughly 0.35-0.4ex/hr at current Standard league exchange rates.

To give you a broader perspective, I've been MFing since around Ambush/Invasion, so a little over two years now. My net worth across all my characters is probably somewhere between 1300-1500ex. And I only play the game for about 3-4 months out of the year.

"

ChronoExile wrote:

Spoiler

We are getting close to the end of the league, and previews have started for the 2.4.0 patch. The thread seems to be pretty quite at the moment too... so I think the time is now to start the list of potential updates/suggestions. Not sure how many changes will be happening to the passives, gems, or map mods that will effect the guide, but at least I can get these items on your change list early...

Housekeeping

I present more suggestions you are welcome to use or ignore

• In the fourth question(Ranger Start) before the guide starts, Ascendancy is spelled incorrectly (Ascendency)
• In the Jewels Spoiler, of Resistance has "8 top 10" and it should be "8 to 10"
• In the Gloves Spoiler, "As you're progressing, you have a couple other options:" should be "As you're progressing, you can use:"
• In the Skill Trees & Ascendancy(?), add Uber Lab information (Last two Ascendancy points, how to use Path of Ranger, additional tree(?))
• In the FAQ(?), add gear swap/suggestion and life/damage benchmarks for Uber Lab
• In the Gems & links section, the formatting consistency was bothering me, see below(I tried to change as little wording as possible, and just worked on formatting)(its own spoiler for ease of cut/paste)

Gems & Links

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Gems & Links -


Primary Skill:

• Caustic Arrow - Void Manipulation - Conc Effect - Rapid Decay - Empower (5L) - IIR (6L). This is the final gem set up for the completed build in a +3 Bow

What about before Ascending?

Before gaining Deadeye it is up to you if you want to run Increased Area of Effect or not. If you do decide to run AoE your gem links would be Caustic Arrow - Void Manipulation - Conc Effect - Increased AoE - Rapid Decay / Empower (5L) – IIR (6L). There are some situations where Empower should be used over Rapid Decay, and the explanation can be found in the FAQ.

What about if we're Shadow HC?

I won't bore you with the math, but because the Pierce gem will cover off the remaining 40-50% of that missing increased damage, it's actually better to use Pierce than it is one of either VM or RD if you're running the build from Shadow.

So your 6L will be (assuming you prefer AoE):

CA - AoE - Conc - Void - Pierce (until Empower 3) - IIR.

Otherwise, if you prefer the extra dps, then it's the same as it is with Scion (CA - Conc - Void - Rapid - Pierce (until Empower 3) - IIR.

Curse Setup & Terrain Breaker:

• Frenzy - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Curse on Hit - Vulnerability. Faster Attacks or Lesser Multiple Projectiles are potential fifth link options, but neither is needed for the setup. You may also consider Enhance to benefit Curse on Hit, providing a slight boost to Vulnerability's effectiveness. I leave the decision up to you. Personally, I prefer the extra projectiles to make it easier to break barrels and spread the curse. If you decide to get a 6L chest, you can add the other one in.

Damage Boost & Utility

• Wither - Spell Totem - Faster Casting. Wither is used to help weaken bosses, and the occasional tankier blue/rare or high chaos resistance mob. Wither totem is your friend. Increased AoE could be added as the fourth link, but is not required.

• Blood Rage - Vaal Lightning Trap - Increased Duration – (Enduring/Rallying Cry). Vaal Lightning Trap is the only reliable source to create shocking ground, which provides 50% more damage, useful for bosses. Blood Rage allows us to automate our frenzy charge generation, as most monsters do not need to be cursed to melt. Enduring/Rallying cry is listed in brackets to indicate it's optional and at player discretion.

Why Blood Rage?

One of the more common questions asked in the thread is, "Why run Blood Rage if we're running a Frenzy - Curse on Hit - Vulnerability setup?"

Fact is, you'll only be cursing bosses and tankier monsters. This automates the frenzy generation and dramatically improves your clear speed.

Auras

• Grace - Clarity – Enlighten. Grace and Clarity are the core auras. A level ~10 Clarity should be sufficient. The central reason we even keep Clarity in the final build is to make reduced recovery maps possible without having to reroll the map, or swap in a mana flask. Enlighten added mostly as QoL in order to provide a slightly larger mana pool in order to assist with reduced recovery maps. It is not required to have Enlighten.

What about Purity?

While levelling, and especially before you're fully geared, you may want to run any of the Purity auras to help out with res balance. If so, drop Grace, and ensure you take Acrobatics.

Other
Any other spare gem slots should be used to fit:

• Flame Golem. This is the best damage boost golem option for the build.
• Blink Arrow. Best movement skill for bow characters.
• Portal. Quality of life! As you reach the final stages of this build, you'll see why Portal is so beneficial: it's very easy to run out of Wisdom scrolls. This 5-7 chaos gem allows you to sustain your Widsoms more reliably.

Gear Swap

• Lastly, don't forget to level other gems in your swap gear. And keep special attention to when you're leveling Empower or Enlighten: you will want a Haku Weapon for this.

I forgot to thank you for doing this, and thought I should also mention that I'll include these changes closer to Atlas' launch when I do a full pass of the guide.

"

Serleth wrote:

I forgot to thank you for doing this, and thought I should also mention that I'll include these changes closer to Atlas' launch when I do a full pass of the guide.

You are welcome. Thanks for the update, I'm just glad to help where I can.

Reading your post above this one, it dawned on me one of the reasons I do not have the same value to time ratio is a lack of knowledge for pricing items. Do you know of any resources to help 'rule of thumb' or broad strokes explaining mod combinations and their prices? I realize a lot of this comes from direct experience, changes during the flow of the league, and time and running a shop will be the best teacher, but any boost knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Unrelated to anything else, I completed my map collection (what I used to call my atlas, until the new expansion made it confusing) for the Karuistone maps. Just waiting on the league end to get them all together.

Hi Serleth & all

I have question about what do You think start this build with Duelist.
Especially for fortify(good buff for def)?
I want reach 100lvl. But many time die.
I wonder how to make more survialable?

I also want change armor for Kaoma's Heart. I want to exchange clarity for arctic armor. Maybe use enfeeble(with kaoma maybe not enough space).
I want to also use hidden potencial(blue rings with life, coral amulet, gloves & belt) +
blood dance shoes.

PS: Maybe You have more tips how to make more survialable?

Best Regards

@Slimak1980

Fist this guide focuses on the MF potentilal of the build, so the things you are asking about are generally out of scope for the normal discussion here. I'll try to answer what I can and hopefully others will chime in as well.

- Duelist: The first 2-7 nodes are not very efficient for Caustic Arrow, and Ascendancy class is strictly defensive. While you will survive more hits, it might just be better to have higher damage out-put so fewer monsters are alive to hit you.

- Kaom's Heart: If you are alright with 6 less sockets, the chest is a reasonable choice for pushing higher character levels and higher content.

- Clarity v Arctic Armour: You should not be standing still very often with this build, so AA only reliably grants the chilled ground. It is helpful when monsters are chasing after you, but that is about it. While Clarity helps QoL when running reduced regeneration maps.

- Curse Selection: Feel free to try enfeeble. I would recommend it as your curse on hit, as the radius of Blasphemy will likely not cover the whole screen. Because this is a ranged build if monsters are getting into your blasphemy radius, the ranged element of the skill is not being leveraged to its fullest potential.

- Hidden Potential: Very strong with Caustic Arrow, but it takes it away from the MF build. Here is a Hidden Potential build, which also uses the Blood Dance boots, [2.1/2.2 WIP]Belton's In Depth Hidden Potential Caustic Arrow Guide. 35k+ DPS Atziri/Ubers/HC Viable. Not sure how up to date it is, but this was the first Hidden Potential build returned in a quick search.

- Additional Tips: This build relies a lot on the mechanical play of you. There is manual dodging, assessing situations, risks, etc. With solid player KSAs there should be no problem leveling the build to higher levels.

Hope this helps, at least a little.