[2.4.x ESC] Savage Blaster, Berserker/VP/Crit Blast Rain, defeat Shaper with Chin Sol

defeat Guardian of the Phoenix with Lioneye's Glare
map run Guardian of the Hydra
map run Guardian of the Minotaur CWDT triple curse
map run Guardian of the Chimera video broke into two, (free version of bandicam, 10min top), lost about 1min video(one death while chimera slip into mist). video is combined from two.
more videos on the way.

Simple way is tool-tip dps x (4+0.75) hits(Helmet enhancement)
If I have 39K tool-tip dps, it will be 185K total damage to monsters assuming they stand still and take all the blasts. But usually...monsters move. xD
There's a delay between using the attack and the first explosion, when encounter with monsters, I often take damage before monsters die from blasts. So estimate monsters' movements and attack slightly ahead of their position are the basic strategy when running maps. With 'Increased Area of Effect' support it doesn't matter that much but I still recommend to do so. (The delay can be decreased by increases to both attack speed and projectile speed.)
example, fire at 1 and 2, then you go.

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When I run maps, the pattern is like:
encounter monsters > I attack > I take damage from ranged or fast move melee monsters > blasts land, kill monsters, leech heal > move forward.

Basically it's a physical Crit Bow build use Blast Rain as main skill, and defence rely on Berserker's ascendancy skill leech 100% damage plus Vaal Pact's instant leech.
with '75% chance for an additional blast' helmet enchantment and 'increased attack speed' from tree/ gear/golem, I do average 18 blasts per second, (20.04 if I get hit and trigger Crave the Slaughter effect)
frequency of hits is one thing that affect my survivability, sometimes I choose attack speed over crit chance or base damage to find the balance.

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DPS with WED FA PPAD Inc.Crit.strike and Concentrated Effect, buff: hatred + HoA + Lightning Golem

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Inc.Crit.Damage instead of Concentrated Effect

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Inc.Aoe instead of Concentrated Effect, nearly 5L tool-tip DPS but best clear speed.

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Pros:
- Rapid clear speed with 'Increased Area of Effect', great DPS with 'Concentrated Effect' for boss fight.
- outstanding survivability. Berserker's Ascendancy Cloaked in Savagery, combining with Vaal Pact and frequent hits from blast rain, makes me recover instantly from any damage as long as:
1. I have something to leech from, and the amount of actual damage dealt by each blast is greater or equal to my maximum life.
2. savagery effect '100% damage leech' is on.
3. attack / leech is not interrupted by freeze / stun / blind(failed to hit).
4. damage I take is not high enough to one shot me.


Cons:
- maps with 'Can not leech' is difficult; because of the most advantage is not working, you could easily die, basiclly rely on flasks.
- maps with elemental reflection are not recommended. (though there's a trick to do dual reflection but it require either change gear / use Doedre's Elixir / or action in specific pattern which I'll explain in build mechanism later.)
- Poor intelligence, need to find some on gear.

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Jewel:

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Skill Tree:

Current lv91 less armour, Point Blank
This build isn't base on Point Blank, but before I have a great bow, point blank is efficient to do specific fight (Shaper/Atziri etc), especially with Chin Sol.
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lv78, 99points, finish Trials of Ascendancy in Merciless
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lv68, 89points, finish Trials of Ascendancy in Cruel
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lv55, 68points, after finish Trials of Ascendancy in Normal, Pain Reaver allocated
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lv55, 68points, before Trials of Ascendancy. Vaal Pact allocated.
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lv35, 44points
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lv20, 22points

Recommend level up using Frost Blades before you can use Blast Rain(lv28).
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Bandits:
Normal help Oak/ Cruel kill all/ Merciless kill all.

6L Blast Rain
best clear speed set:

If 5L, remove Inc.AoE
switch between 'Increased Area of Effect' and 'Concentrated Effect' for clear speed or higher DPS for single target that does not move often.(Shaper/Atziri etc)

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and mid-way option:

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4L #1 Aura / buff set.

Hatred and HoA both offer x% physical daamage as extra elemental damage, and these 'extra' can be supported by any 'increased elemental damage' or 'increased weapon elemental damage', which could boost tool-tip DPS over 60%.
On-demand options:

For dedicated elemental defence, 'Guardian of the Phoenix' for example, I use Purity of fire + Arctic Armour + HoA.
Other case like map mod 'cursed with elemental weakness', just turn on Purity of elements.
You need 155int to run lv20 Purity of Lightning(as well as Enfeeble).
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4L #2 CWDT set
for deal with physical damage:

lv12 Chaos golem offer 4% physical damage reduction, better than nothing, xD.

for those not focused on physical damage, change chaos golem to:


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4L #3 Movement / others

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CWDT dual Curse
If 6L armour and 5L bow:


If Kaom's Heart, 4L

this set struggles between curse level and the amount of damage need to take. It's lv56 in my case, but I think this could go higher if you have more HP.

Lioneye's Glare - classic cost-effective unique is recommended before you get a decent bow.
If you have a nice quiver and ring/amulet with 'add x physical damage to attack', it's even viable for T16(check my video)

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Current Gear in Essence league (you want at least 65 INT from gear):




Not Harbinger, it's a 370+ pDPS Spine Bow with 7.6 crit. It's cheaper than popular high DPS/Crit bow, but I found it's balanced just fine between attack speed and crit chance for this build.
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Shaper fight set, Dream Fragments is for mid-way boss

My current maximum tool-tip DPS with Chin Sol 36k, no flask buff.
With Point Blank the maximum damage could be 36 x 4.75 x 1.5 x 2 = 512k without flask!
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ideal gear is 6L bow with high attack speed / crit/ pDPS, plus Kaom's Heart
gear in standard league:

Normal set for map run.

Cloaked in Savagery which is the most advantage of this build requires taking savage hit that removes at least 15% of maximum life to trigger the 100% dmg leech effect. In some cases the damage come with frequent mid-low damage hits (eg: wolves charge from Rigwald) or damage over time which cannot trigger savagery effect (Shaper's Kamehameha, The Goddess' life draining beam etc). There is a self-damage way to deal with these situation:
Doedre's Elixir make you take 10% of your maximum Life as Chaos Damage on use, and it count as one hit! With -60% chaos resistance(default in merciless) I take 160% chaos damage from that hit which remove 16% of my maximum life, which become a savage hit, it triggers 100% dmg leech effect.
It also helps to deal with monsters reflect physical/elemental damage.

DPS flask option:

Diamond Flask's effect won't be shown at tool-tip DPS, but actually it's very powerful. see details

Full DPS set for shaper phase3 fight.


recommend set for Guardian of the Chimera

When Chimera slip into mist and sneak attack you, use Granite and Basalt, run over one mist to another until you caught Chimera. Take Forbidden Taste or Divine Life Flask with 'Instant Recovery when on Low Life'to recover life.
Ruby Flask is for the pet dog. don't underestimate the damage of its multiple fire orb, their AOE could overlap. better turn on Arctic Armour / Purity of fire.
Atziri's Promise for snake's chaos damage.

Special thanks:
wangpi and bigbrot who share experience and resource with me.
Flyaway_Grinder who gives moral support
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my other build guide and game discussion
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lv78 Skill tree
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lv85 Skill tree
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lv89 Skill tree
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lv90 Skill tree

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defeat 123 map boss alone.

I feel more confident now. xD