[2.2.0] Voltaxic Poisonous Quills [End Game Mapping Build]

ASCENDANCY BUILD GUIDE [SC]


Watch Video Guide by clicking on this link

Hello everyone, I am Daidelos and I wanted to share with you the most potent build I have played so far. I have always loved Chaos in Path of Exile, and Voltaxic Bow is my favorite weapon since it came out. I have toyed with it in several different ways in Talisman league, and I think I have finally reached it's true potential.

The thing I hate about many builds is the problem with specific map mods and the currency I need to spend on rerolling. Not only that, but the most threatening mods give the best quantity which helps tremendously while building map pool. Voltaxic have the least problems with map mods out of any build I have encountered so far, the only mod it can't run is Blood Magic which can be done, but will half our damage.

If anyone has any suggestion how to improve it even further, please contribute in this thread, or reach me ingame (Daidelos or Malzahar_The_Voidwalker) or send me PM on Forums.

----2.2.0 Ascendancy updates----

If you want to look at the trees before official Ascendancy release, please copy the tree url in updated offline skill tree planner.

Ascendant (Deadeye/Assassin) Skilltree

Pathfinder Skilltree

I would most likely go with Scion (Assassin/Deadeye), utilizing 50% pierce, additional crit and maiming. Using pierce gem is great now, giving us 29% more dmg on lvl 20. Void Manipulation could be swapped for Pierce in this setup.

Pathfinder is also a great option. You will have free Poison, so Chain could be a great addition now when Rigwald's Quills is not available.

Diamond Flask is recommended in both cases. It uses 40 charges now (out of 80), so it's easy to use and take advantage of.

INTRO

This build revolves around 3 Volley Fire threshold jewels that make Barrage an amazing AOE skill. Rigwald's Quills Quiver gives us free Fork so we are free form both GMP and Fork Less Dmg mods, which enables us to stack damage through the roof. Leech is not problem because of huge chaos life leech, and mana is easily sustained thanks to low mana cost of Barrage and Support Gems we are using along with few Mana Leech from Attacks passives.

The Retch belt gives us much longer flask duration and some damage boost. 200% of life leech applies to enemies as damage coupled with 30% of lightning damage leeched as life during flask effect from Vessel of Vinktar (lightning damage leech is converted into chaos damage leech through Hungry Abyss) give us some additional damage while leeching.

The Retch is not available in Ascendancy, so a good rare belt will be it's replacement. Look for Life/Resistances/Elemental Damage and Flask Effect/Duration nodes. Any combination will work.





REQUIRED ITEMS (Talisman edition - In Ascendancy, we will be replacing Rigwald's Quills with Rare Quiver if we choose to use Chain gem or with Drillneck if we choose to use Pierce)



Skills










GEAR

Gear can be a bit tricky to match because of 5 Corrupted Items requirement from Hungry Abyss. Beside required items above, other slots are dedicated to Life, Resistances and Evasion if possible, along with some additional damage (only when everything else is in order). The slots that I have found the best to corrupt are Amulet (Talismans are already corrupted), Boots, Gloves, Belt (look for corrupted one when buying) and Qiuiver.

We only need one skill for both Single Target and AOE, so one 5L or 6L is enough. Vessel of Vinktar is not mandatory, but will bring this build to a whole new level. Before it, the build was mediocre, still really fun and viable, but not nearly as bursty. Finding a flask with added lightning damage to attacks is really recommended.



Keep in mind that Additional Arrow is not contributing that much, I was just EXTREMELY lucky with yolo corrupts.





Managing Flasks



Using flasks correctly will double our damage and make us almost immortal. It is really important to have one long lasting Shock Immunity Flask (I have found Quicksilver to work the best, it can be used 3.5 times if it has 20 extra charges, which results in more then 30sec of shock immunity. Always use this when drinking Vessel of Vinktar, because being shocked can easily stun us, which will prevent leech, or just make us prone to one shots.

Vessel will also shock nearby enemies, so it is perfect for Bosses with some kind of animations, where you can easily run to them, stack several volleys and leave them to die from poison.

Appart from those two, one instant Life Flask is mandatory, preferably Divine. Remove Bleeding mod is a must. Other 2 slots are optional, Atziri's Promise works well for high burst and on smaller white packs and the fifth slot can be another life flask, evasion flask or mana.




OLD PASSIVE TREE (Talisman)



My Shadow Level 95 Passive Tree

Duelist with 4 Volley Fire Jewels (a bit stratched, but can be done)


Bandits

Oak (40 life)- Kraityn (8% attack speed)- Kraityn (Frenzy Charge)

Cruel is optional, but I like attack speed because it makes me more mobile when needed and provides higher burst through faster poison stacking.


VIDEOS (Talisman)

Video Guide

Colosseum T15 Map - Vulnerability + -Max Res

Courtyard T13 Map - Ele Weakness + Enfeeble + GMP + Chain

Waterways T13 Map

Village Ruin T12 Map - Enfeeble + Temp Chains

Crematorium T11 Map

Malformation T9 Map GMP+Enfeeble

Sir you are awesome as always.
Great ideas.

this looks promising i might check it out.

"

Lorkan wrote:

Sir you are awesome as always.
Great ideas.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

"

hhjobbo wrote:

what bandits did you take? i assume oak-passive-krait?

Good call, now included. Oak-Kraityn-Kraityn, though you can get passive in Cruel, but the build is truly finished with lvl 95, so I would rather take AS.

Hello there! Thanks for a nice build you shared with us.

I got few questions is you have time to answer them.

1. What you think about playing this build at HC Talisman? Maybe u'd suggested any changes in gear/tree?

2. Why at ranger budget build u take Vitality Void passives while in shadow the aren't taken?

3. As the part of my first and mostly the main question, what u think of going to Iron Reflexes instead of going to Acrobatics?

Thanks!

"

Home1ess wrote:

1. What you think about playing this build at HC Talisman? Maybe u'd suggested any changes in gear/tree?

2. Why at ranger budget build u take Vitality Void passives while in shadow the aren't taken?

3. As the part of my first and mostly the main question, what u think of going to Iron Reflexes instead of going to Acrobatics?

Thanks!

1. I can't really comment on that one because I have never played HC in POE. Maybe picking Scion life wheel up could make it a bit tankier, but I am not sure what to throw away because of it.

2. That part should be updated in the future, basically before you get Vinktar Flask, before having 5 corrupted items and Hungry Abyss, Vitality Void is used for leech. That's how I played untill lvl 85 or so. Once I had Hungry Abyss working, life leech from Blood Rage was enough. So I switched from Spirit Void to Essence Sap because of mana on hit (before Hungry Abyss, I was using Attack Speed with Bows and +2 Mana on hit Jewel in that socket).

3. I personally would not go for IR, because we don't actually have that much Evasion. With high eva chest, we are looking at something around 10k max. The only upside of this could be evasion flask with % increased armor on it, and with our long lasting flasks, that should be up most of the time. So it can be done, but I have not tested it and just decided to go with Lightning Coil plus high Dodge and Evasion.

Thanks for your answers! Helped me to understand few things better. Will try this on HC and will look for Lightning Coil before this I'll try to stay with IR and look how it goes. If I don't die "young" will write something here!

Thanks one more time for an idea of your build. GL HF

How does this build compare to your LA/frenzy voltaxic char?

What made you choose Barrage? I know Volley Fire is cool, but have you tried other bow skills to see how they fare?

"

Masonic_ wrote:

How does this build compare to your LA/frenzy voltaxic char?

They are really similar, and the old build could be upgraded with Vessel of Vinktar and The Retch. Nothing is set in stone, so the old setup could easily be converted into Barrage and vice versa. Daresso's Defiance could be used in this one with great success too. The only real difference is with Barrage you don't need single target, so you can concentrate on proper flask usage which is really important.

"

Meridin wrote:

What made you choose Barrage? I know Volley Fire is cool, but have you tried other bow skills to see how they fare?

I have tried SA and LA too. SA is just straight up worse version of Barrage with Volley Fire now. It is inferior, for bigger packs especially. Barrage just covers more and hits more enemies.

Lightning Arrow is great, but also covers less space then Barrage. It is better on smaller dense packs though, one shotting them 95% of the time, no matter what the monsters are. However, using LA means we need single target, and in my opinion, there are no good single targets atm. Frenzy has great damage, but is clunky on fast enemies when you want to burst them down as fast as you can, while taking care Vessel of Vinktar is up and the Boss is shocked.

If that is not a problem for you, then it could be a better setup, leaving you with 3 extra jewel sockets and few more passives. However, I like to have a no brainer skill for everything while focusing to maximize it in every way possible, and with the least chances to fu*k it up.