[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)
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So after extensive testing this last week I wanted to share my gem links with the community and see what they think. I will give detailed explanations to why I did what I did. This will be a novella so bear with me.
First off I want to give a shout out to Chronodroid who mentioned something that I think hasn't gotten enough attention. The topic of his comment was Barrels, or breakable objects in general. I've been playing since the original closed beta and in that time 90% of all Exalted Orbs I have found have come from breakable objects, and not monsters. The only six-link I've found, came from a barrel. Is this coincidence? Perhaps. Tin Foil Hat material? Absolutely. However I can't disregard the results, so breaking barrels has been a priority for every build I've ever made. With my SRS builds I had a Leap Slam Swap with 2 Brightbeaks, annoying as hell but I had to break those barrels. It paid off, 2 Exalted Orbs last league came from breakable objects. With this build I started off breaking barrels with Blink Arrow, it is rather inefficient though, due to the smallish AoE and cool down. So I changed to Frenzy, which I will explain below in more detail. On to the links. Click the spoiler for in depth explanation on each setup. Bow 6-link GGRBBB Poison Arrow, Slower Projoectiles, Empower, Conc Effect, Item Rarity, Increased AoE,
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As you can see its nearly unchanged from Serleth's original, the only difference is I put Item Rarity above Increased AoE. This is purely a personal preferences, this allows magic finding to take place much sooner. Serleth's explanation to why he does it the other way is completely valid and I agree with his reasoning. However I prefer it this way, again, personal preference. Chest 5-link, 6 socket GGBBGG Frenzy lvl 1 + GMP lvl 1 + Curse on Hit + Vulnerability +(Optional) Pierce/Chain. Sixth Socket - Blink Arrow
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The barrel breaker, Frenzy Charge maker. Here I will explain what I am doing in detail. The chest is obviously a Carcass Jack as there is no other chest really worth getting for this build IMO, and getting the colors needed is easy since its Evasion / ES. You will want a 5 Link, 6 Socket for this setup. Though 4 Link would work fine, as Pierce or Chain is just icing on the cake. Using Curse on Hit has pros and cons, but I think overall it's the best option for this build. I put a lot of time into testing this set up and I think Frenzy is they way to go as it provides three advantages rather than just two. Chronodroid suggested Split Arrow + Curse on hit + Vulnerability + Chain. This is fine if you want to focus on cursing and Barrel Breaking. Although I feel Peirce instead of Chain is the way to go here since you will be at 100% pierce chance if you picked up the Pierce wheel. As it will make this mana costs marginally cheaper. Again personal preferences here. One thing to keep in mind is you have to level up Split Arrow to take advantage of getting more arrows, which in turn increases your DPS, not a lot mind you, but it's something to keep in mind. You don't want to be killing enemies with your Curse on Hit, you will loose out on 60%+ MF. Why Frenzy over Split arrow? Because it's a three fold bonus. First, it applies your curse, second it breaks those barrels, and third, it produces Frenzy Charges. But Blood Rage produces Frenzy Charges already right? Yes and no. Blood Rage is pretty much a glorified curse now, not unlike Poacher's Mark. It still has its uses with attack speed, but realistically we get no use out of the life leech bonus. Also killing a huge pack has the potential to max out your Frenzy Charges in one go. Which is why I still use it. Hoever, you still need to actually kill something to get a Charge, or Charge refresh, which at times, can be problematic. So, how often have you been fighting a boss and you loose your Frenzy Charges mid-fight? Even with Vaal Lightning Trap this build isn't your Chin-Sol Puncture Trap boss killer, it takes time to kill Domi, Map Bosses, etc. So you loose your Frenzy Charges, so what? Well, this build gets so much out of Frenzy Charges. You get 28% MORE Attack Speed, Cast Speed (Blood Rage), and Damage. But it doesn't stop there, that little node on the tree that gives you 4% Evasion per charge equals an additional 28% more Evasion. That is a crapload of Offense and Defense lost when those 7 charges drop. Now with this setup you can just shoot the boss to refresh your Frenzy Charge timer. So now I've explained why Frenzy let's look at the links. A 5 Link is pretty hefty, but looking at the Carcass Jack's for sale, most of them are already 5 linked anyway, for roughly the same price. This shouldn't be an issue. Like I said the 5th link is just icing on the cake anyway. Frenzy and GMP, should remain level 1. This way you keep the Mana cost down (Frenzy) and DPS to a minimum. Currently I am running this in a 4 link and it costs 18 mana and does a whopping 400 DPS. You shouldn't be one-shotting anything with that in level appropriate content. Curse on Hit, and Vulnerability are self-explanatory. The 5 link is up to the user. I prefer Peirce with 0% Quality, over chain, as I explained above. That being said at 60%+ Peirce chance on a 4 link setup, I am having 0 issues cursing packs. Most the time the only thing that really needs cursed are Magic, Rare, and Boss monsters, (I curse absolutely everything mind you, again 0 issues with this setup). Also for anyone who is wondering, PA is crap for breaking objects, completely unreliable. The 6th and final socket in the chest Blink Arrow. 4 Link Socket Color Varies Aura + Aura + Aura + Enlighten / off Aura <- Optional
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Your Aura setup. Not much to say about this really. This set up will vary from player to player based on which "Purity of" you are using. Enlighten is like Serleth said "QoL". 4 Link RBBG Flame Golem + Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance + Minion Life + Blood Rage
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If you are using a Golem having those two support gems are pretty much mandatory unless you want to constantly keep summoning him each pack. Even with those two he is still pretty squishy. Blood Rage no longer needs to be such a massive priority since it's not the only way to sustain Frenzy Charges. As such, it no longer needs Increased Duration. 4 Link BGRR Vaal Lightning Trap + GMP + Increased Duration + Rallying Cry
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I can't emphasize enough how important Vaal Lightning Trap is to killing bosses. Shoot a PA, Curse, drop a Trap, and watch it melt. GMP increases the shocked area, and Increased Duration makes the Shocked Ground last longer. Rallying Cry can go here as it makes use of Increased Duration. *EDIT* I forgot to mention Portal. I have mine in my inventory for the time being. When I want to portal out I pop it in the PA socket, right click, and pop PA back in. I will keep it this way until I have 21/20% PA Gem. AS I am currently leveling 6 PA gems on my swap. Once I have that I will link Faster Cast + Portal in my swap. Since you swap your weapon make sure its mapped to your Right click (Or whatever button you use for PA). Weapon swapping is much more fluid than it was prior to 2.0, so I think this is the best route for this gem. *END OF EDIT* So those are my links, and why. I want to take a moment here and say how grateful I am for Serleth's continued support to this build. Those of you that are new to this game might think this is the norm, I assure you, it is not. Most build makers will post there build and that's the last you hear from them. Serleth has continued to post and answer questions (even if they are answered in the OP), as well as give details feedback. The fact he is willing to listen to new ideas, without disregarding them instantly, makes him a valuable asset to this game's community. So for the entire community Serleth, thank you! Last edited by TirpitzLuminare on Jul 22, 2015, 1:47:57 PM
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" Not the case with PA, because it's a ground effect and not a debuff applied directly to the enemy. It's like burning ground. The only increased damage they would take is indirect: in that it takes longer for them to run out of the PA cloud as you're kiting. " I guess, but the reason I don't do that is because you can put the links wherever you want, other than the bow. It also depends on whether or not you prefer to manually curse or run a CoH setup. The way I have it right now is this: Bow: (usual) Chest: Clarity, Grace (unlinked, doesn't matter). Helm: Flame Totem - Faster Projectiles - Culling Strike - Item Rarity (because my bow is not 6L'd). Gloves: Blood Rage - Increased Duration - (option for a Warcry here). Boots: Vulnerability - Portal - Faster Casting. Now if you want to run a Curse on Hit setup, you would change out the FT/cull setup I have, move your auras there, and your Chest would be: Split Arrow - Chain - Vulnerability - Curse On Hit - (Faster Attacks in the 5th link). Hope that helps. " It's fine as an interim jewel, but the moment you get a rare jewel with more than 20% damage rolled on it, swap it out. " Tinfoil hat. =D But there's some truth to what you say. Even if it's only an extra couple chaos per day from barrels, it's worth breaking them. The only reason I'm not running a split arrow myself right now is hotkey problems. I'm not willing to drop my flame totem cull until I get my 6L bow. " =D Thank you for your kind words. I'm just glad to help people through any issues that they may have, and as well to learn from any suggestions the community might have for the build. Chronodroid's barrel-breaking setup is a prime example. I'm definitely going to include this as part of the core build. Hoeken's previous discussion regarding the potency of jewels is a central reason why the build is structured the way it is today. As much as I may be the impetus for the build's core concept, it wouldn't be possible in its current state without your continued support and feedback as a community. So thank you all for your continued support, contributions, and feedback. =D Jul 27, 2011 - Sept 30, 2018.
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Hi,
Thank you for this build. I haven't played for two years, came back and this is the first character I created. Have been having a lot of fun with it! That said, I have a question about poison cloud mechanics. - Projectile Damage vs. - Chaos Damage vs. - Increased Damage Over Time vs. - Increased Area Damage 1. Which ones affect cloud damage (so not direct hits) and which do not? 2. How do they rank in terms of importance? 3. Is this where I can see cloud damage?  I've always thought that actual projectile damage had zero effect but when I plug in a "12% increased projectile damage" jewel into a socket, "Chaos Damage per second" jumps by 2.9%. Thanks again. IGN: Slutty_Amazon
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Serleth, out of curiosity what do you think of my Frenzy curse on hit setup over Split Arrow?
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" 1. All of them do. 2. They are increased %'ages that are additive together. There is no real priority. If you have 10% projectile damage and 20% chaos damage, it's the same as 20% chaos damage and 10% area damage. 2b. However, the importance of getting the chaos and DoT clusters is because of the potency of the notables. 2c. Note that area damage will not reflect on the tooltip damage, but it actually does increase the cloud damage. 3. Yes. " I actually think it's the superior option to Split Arrow, overall, due to the nature of the changes to Blood Rage. While I would prefer to let Blood Rage do most of the heavy lifting, for prolonged boss fights this gives you an extra advantage at the slight expense of a bit less curse coverage in terms of SA + Chain. Overall though, it's the better choice. So much so in fact that I'm going to put it into my guide OP's gem links. And toss you into the credits for it. Nice idea Jul 27, 2011 - Sept 30, 2018. Last edited by Serleth on Jul 22, 2015, 3:43:52 PM
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" Wow didn't expect that, thank you! I'm just glad I could contribute to this amazing build is all. |
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Hey how do you guys break barrels? i'm using Split Arrow but it feels weird, was thinking of going splitarrow+curseonhit+vuln+heraldofthunder...
would that work? I hate not breaking barrels and all that stuff, lots of chaos and ex come from those things, it feels like im missing out | |
" lol read the two posts immediately above you. and that will send you like two posts earlier, but still on this page. | |
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Anybody selling andvariuses for 3ex? (:
ign: MoneyPenny | |
"lol last time i read something i was on page 82 so i was like naah not gonna read 6 pages haha thanks |
