[2.3] Blast Avatar, Marauder's Crit Blast Rain, Core/Uber Labyrinth Done

Hi guys,
Let me introduce my Crit Blast Rain build:
Chieftain version: Pure fire, life regeneration.
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Berserker version: Physical and elemental, Vaal Pact (T15 Core/Colosseum cleared, T15 Twinned Abyss cleared)
new thread for this version [2.4] Savage Blaster, defeat Shaper with Chin Sol
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Juggernaut version: Physical damage reduction / immunity(Testing)
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It's based on the original Blast Avatar which you can find it in Templar Builds List (pre 2.2.0 Ranged builds). I'm gonna copy and paste some content from it
Skill introduction and test run video

Blast Rain is a Bow skill released by 2.1 Talisman patch.

It looks like the spell 'Firestorm' except 4 random located but target-centered AOE explosion occurs when the projectiles land. They always overlap targeted area!
It has a decent coverage, and because the explosion overlaps, it's also very powerful againsts single target.

Templar test run Video:
Test Run - The Dried Lake
Test Run - lv77 Merveil kill

How to calculate the DPS of Blast Rain, and the play style

Simple way is tool-tip dps x (4+0.75) hits(Helmet enhancement) x 1.54(penetration),
So if I have 20K tool-tip dps, it will be 146K, nice right? but this is assuming the monster stand still and take all the blasts. Usually...monsters move, xD.
Because of the delay of blasts, you should predict monsters' movements and attack slightly ahead of their direction. With 'Increased Area of Effect' support gem it doesn't matter that much but I still recommend to do so. When you link only 'Concentrated Effect' to Blast Rain, the AOE coverage is no bigger than a coin, you want every attack perform the maximum damage, so it would be better if you could develop it a habit.
example, attack 1 and 2, then you go.


Character Status and DPS Track

Character in Perandus league:

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lv20 Blast Rain, lv19 PPAD, lv20 WED
lv13 Q20 Faster Attack and Fire Penetration
5L DPS with Hatred, HoA, Ice Golem and Blood Rage

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6L DPS with 'Concentrated Effect' support, lv13 Q20.


lv90

6L DPS with 'Concentrated Effect' support, and buff with Hatred, HoA, Flame Golem and Blood Rage
All gem lv19, no quality, with a pDPS 360, 6.5crit Assassin Bow.

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5L DPS with Hatred, HoA and Flame Golem

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lv88


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lv84




lv81




lv78





Concepts of this build, Pure fire version

1. It's physical based pure elemental damage build.
Convert 50% physical damage to fire damage by Avatar of Fire. With another 50% damage conversion from the skill itself, Blast Rain now do pure fire damage.

About Damage conversion see here

2. Use Lioneye's Fall to transform melee skill node to bow's.

Options


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3. Defence:
Acrobatics + Life regeneration + leech + 'CWDT - Immortal call with Endurance charges'.
Leech life and mana from attack damage .

Stack life leech rate with master craft gloves and amulet to make leech recovery faster.
for example


4. 'Pyre' is an option, you can play this build without it, but it's strongly recommended

It converts all cold damage to fire damage which makes 'Hatred' more effective. It also increase burning damage.
And the last affix works just like 'Shatter'. It grants the ability that destroy ignited enemies, thus prevents some on-death effects by monsters that could cause further damage.
About 'Freeze and Shatter' see here.

5. Enhancements by Ascendancy
a). Chieftain Ascendancy Skills
Fire damage / penetration / increased damage against burning enemies.
Fire damage leech, life regeneration, chance to gain Endurance charges.


b). Additional blast chance by Helmet Enhancement
for example

75% chance to have +1 blast (1 blast= 1/4 total dmg per attack, that's average 18.75% more dps.)


Pros&Cons

Pros:
-With 'Hinekora, Death's Fury' by Chieftain Ascendancy skills, Lava_Lash(8% penetration in 2.2), Forces of Nature(6% penetration in 2.2) and Fire Penetration Support Gem(38% at lv21) we should have max 62% fire penetration! Rapid clear speed with 'Increased Area of Effect', great DPS with 'Concentrated Effect' for boss fight.
-Decent survivability with Acrobatics, Fair life regeneration rate. 6.7% (+1.5% if 3 Endurance charge) at lv78.
And 3% life fast leech without support gem.
-Remote elemental AOE attack, slight delay, solid hits, clear packs at safe distance. I like it. xD

Cons:
-We don't have VP, no instant leech, so Elemental damage Reflection could be serious danger even we have 80% fire resistance with purity of fire.
-Poor Jewel sockets in skill tree.
-Lack of DEX and INT. Either Harbinger Bow or Assassin Bow requires 212 dex to equip with. Need find some on gears or use Fluid Motion to convert some strength to dex.

Passive Skill Tree & level up step

Start with Marauder
Bandits:
Normal help Oak/ Cruel kill all/ Merciless kill all.

Jewels:

lv55 68points, Trials of Ascendancy in Normal finished
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lv68 Avatar of Fire, Trials of Ascendancy in Cruel finished, 'Hinekora, Death's Fury' located
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lv78 with Acrobatics. Trials of Ascendancy in Merciless finished, 'Ramako, Sun's Light' located
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lv90
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lv91, current
Depends on what gear you use:
'Point Blank' is 1 point away, take it if your gears aren't good enough to fast clear.
You could drop 'Forces of nature' for more life if you have trouble getting 4000 life.

Gear & Flask

Current gears


lv90




lv84



Kaom's Heart is the goal once I have a 6L bow.
Fire damage and 500 life! love it.
If you want to focus on AOE coverage and dps Carcass Jack might be an option for you.

Gem/Link

5L/6L Blast Rain
General set balanced for both clear speed and boss fight:

Gem order by priority, about Penetration see here
If 5L, switch between 'Increased Area of Effect' and 'Concentrated Effect' for clear speed or higher DPS for boss fight.

If you want more dps with 6L, PPAD is an option, though you need to consider socket colour changing.

==========================================================
4L #1 CWDT set.

This set separate you and melee attackers also block projectiles from ranged monsters after you take damage and trigger 'Frost Wall'.
'Immortal Call' gives over 0.6s physical invulnerability with 'Increased Duration', it'll last longer if we have 'Endurance Charge'(which we get often from critical strike. xD), it's a very effective defense method.
When it comes to party, 'Frost Wall' is annoying. Here's some option:

==========================================================
4L #2 Aura / Buff / Movement

Extra cold damage from 'Hatred' will be converted to fire damage by 'Pyre'.
Besides extra fire damage, HoA ignites 130%+ overkill dmg to nearby enemies, you'll find out monsters out of BR AoE could just burned down by HoA.
You could make it more efficient by swapping different Golem to suit variety situations.
For example:

For quick healing when run Labyrinth.


More survivability while fighting boss.

If you take 'Point Blank' (which is 1 point away when lv78), you could use Curse Aura instead of HoA to significant improve dps to close/middle range enemies.


Other On-demand option

Try get a RBGW 4L for this set, easy swap purity of elements(fire/ice/lightning) means better adaptability.
==========================================================
4L #3 Vaal Grace / Vaal Haste / Blood Rage.

This build has enough life regen to cover the 4% degeneration of 'Blood Rage'.
Though we don't do physical damage, therefore no extra leech for us, it's still a strong buff with increased attack speed and chance to gain 'Frenzy Charge'. It refresh its duration while we clear mobs, so usually we just cast 'Blood Rage' at the beginning.
Both Vaal Grace and Vaal Haste take advantage of increased duration support. They offer Great Dodge chance and boost DPS / movement speed to a higher level for 10 seconds.
Vaal Grace
==========================================================


Juggernaut, Physical reduction / immunity


Concept of Juggernaut version is to gain maximum Endurance charges frequently, with 'CWDT + Immortal Call' set

triggers physical damage invulnerability.
How to gain Endurance charge with this build

All version of this build post has 'Smashing Strikes' with 10% chance to gain endurance charge on critical strike, higher critical strike chance means better survivability.

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1 in 5 chance to gain endurance charges when you are hit.

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Or we use active skill to do the job.
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2.3 update made Unrelenting insanely powerful as it could gain maximum endurance charges at once.
As you can see above gif, in my hideout, I got 7 endurance charges when I use
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lv92 Juggernaut tree
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DPS with Concentrated Support.

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Physical damage reduction with 7 endurance charges.


Savour these moments, for they may never return.
Last edited by shghostell#3104 on Nov 20, 2016, 10:29:00 AM
Last bumped on Jun 4, 2016, 12:29:32 AM
Berserker version, Physical/elemental, Vaal Pact.

skip the introduce and DPS Track
Same concept of melee to bow transform, this time we take Vaal Pact and Phase Acrobatics

lv90 Skill Tree
Character status

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Ascendancy-Berserker


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Gear

2.2 history







Gem link


Switch for boss fight



DPS

2.2 history



5L DPS



The 100% leech is awesome.
Though the tool-tip DPS is higher than pure fire version, but actual DPS is lower than pure fire with penetration.
Twinned Abyss done

Twinned Abyss cleared, check the map mods


T15 Core done



Fourth Labyrinth done


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You'd better get 'War Binger' before run Uber Labyrinth

Change you flask, use 'Basalt Flask + Granite Flask' in set.


Be aware of 'statues of elements', they grant Izaro elemental damage and chance to cause ailments. shock/freeze could simply get you killed.
More info about Izaro
Savour these moments, for they may never return.
Last edited by shghostell#3104 on Jun 19, 2016, 11:58:15 AM
Does the +projectile damage nodes affect Blast Rain?

Nice guide btw.

I got a modified version of the Blast Rain Chieftain without avatar of fire. Would be nice if you check it.

poeurl.com/AzS

Greez
Last edited by Nopesos#6462 on Mar 24, 2016, 3:25:23 AM
Well, if you don't go Avatar of Fire, I think 'Lava Lash' is not that efficient.
So no 'Fire Penetration' either, free socket could simply link to a 'DPS boost support gem' like 'Increased Critical Strike' or you could link 'Physical to Lightning' to make it still pure elemental.

If 'Physical to Lightning', I recommend

and


If not, then get more physical damage / attack speed / critical chance
eg.
Savour these moments, for they may never return.
Thanks for your advice. I would take more physical damage and got the "wrecking ball" node. What links for Blast Rain would you recommend for just a five linked chest or bow? I´m going to play selffound and i´m not sure to find a six link on my own :D

Edit: Sry got Tomatos on my eyes. You told me already :)

But how does Point Blank work with Blast Rain? Do I get the +50% Damage all the time because the projetiles fall from the skies and dont move further?

Thx for help

Greez
Last edited by Nopesos#6462 on Mar 25, 2016, 2:41:20 PM
nah, it just boosts the damage if you target close to yourself, it does lesser damage if you target farther, it's the same to other projectile attacks. Because of the delay of blasts, and in case you don't have a decent bow, middle/ close range/ fast movement monsters get close to you often before they take enough blasts and die, 'Point Blank' helps you do more damage and clear these threats more quickly. I think if you have a 10K dps with 5L, you don't need it.
Savour these moments, for they may never return.
Last edited by shghostell#3104 on Apr 1, 2016, 9:36:05 PM
Currently level 81 with this build, enjoying it so far!
I'm using a Lioneye's bow right now since it was a lot better than the one I had.
I read what you said about Point Blank. So it would benefit me a lot as I only have 5.8k tooltip atm?
Guess my gear is quite bad since I have so low numbers. Not sure what kind of gear improvement would help me the most.
Last edited by Nanouk#6712 on Apr 4, 2016, 2:56:42 PM
Well, usually a better weapon would simple improve your DPS, xD. Try get a bow with 360 pDPS and 6.5 crit.
Besides, 'Adds xx physical damage to attack' on rings, amulet, gloves and quiver helps a lot.
And don't forget get some 'Accuracy Rating', you should have at leave 85% chance to hit.
Savour these moments, for they may never return.
if hes using a bow how to the nodes like disembowling work

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