Trenan's "The Best" Explosive Arrow Build(No Quill Rain)

***EDIT***
Path to Witch area was altered to save skill points, was done in error and should be fixed

Due to a recent flood of requests, I will explain in detail, how to make an Explosive Arrow build, which does not involve the use of Quill Rain, which will perform BETTER than Quill Rain, and still allow you to play a standard Bowmen character, without the need of a non-standard gimmicky play style.

The ENTIRE reason this is possible:

"

Mark_GGG wrote:

"

Hilbert wrote:

"x% more Projectile Damage"

This does apply to the explosion. The explosion is non-spell, non-weapon projectile fire damage.

Most people do not know that explosive arrows fire damage was changed to be considered "projectile damage" previously the only real way to increase its damage was with +fire, +elemental, and +aoe.

However, it is now affected by flat +projectile damage, (note: +projectile weapon damage, does not work)

This works greatly in the favor of a typical Bowmen, as there is no longer a need to nerf your standard bow attack dps via Quill Rain. This also means you use Projectile Weakness curse, instead of Flammability. This grants an even greater advantage over the old Explosive Arrow builds.

Why Quill Rain Sucks:



The core of the build(Can be start from Ranger or Shadow):



28 points, and your off to a great start. Since Explosive arrow is level 19, you get to play like any normal Bowmen till then, each of these nodes will assist in the level process until then.

After this comes the part you must ask yourself how you intend to survive. I found that getting significant HP boost along the path to the fire damage you will need, was difficult. So I opted to go Chaos Innoculation.

CI Benefits:
-No need for health nodes
-Blood Rage can be used without any drawbacks
-Immunity to Chaos Damage, which means no need for Chaos Resist
-CI uses heavy energy shield, hey look... there's tons of energy shield in the witch and shadow areas!

I got CI around level 55, and started prepping for it around level 40, getting the increased energy shield from the witch starting area, and from the “Unnatural Calm” keystone.

So you have the core of the build done, you head up into shadow and grab the relevent stuff, then go up into the Witch starter area.

The build will now resemble this:



Now is the time you will need to work on your surviveability. So start snatching up all the energy shield you can manage. While your there, grab the mana from the Witch area, because you are gonna need it.

Build now looks like this(roughly, have some creative freedom if you wish):



You are gonna be hitting merciless around this point, better bulk up on more energy shield and resists via nullification

Build is now:



So, your like what? Level 60ish? Stuff starts to slow down, you can either finish that last energy shield, or go after your final fire damage.

Final Build:



This is accomplish pre level 80 I believe. Which is pretty good.

Optional Keystones:
-Ghost Reaver(meh, probably a must have)
-Improved Totem(Range and increased health), Ice Shot totem is so freakin good, this is very tempting
-Vaal Pact, You could, but I doubt you will ever reach enough leech to break 20% of your stupidly high energy shield. I opted to forget about this one.

Skill Breakdowns:

Multiple Targets:
Explosive Arrow + LMP + Concentrated Effect + Fire Penetration

OR

Explosive Arrow + LMP + GMP + Concentrated Effect + Fire Penetration
(this is my personal favorite, something unexplainable and magical happens when you use both LMP and GMP with explosive arrow. It sounds like it would be bad, but the fact is, 7 arrows a shot is incredibly amazing DPS against large packs of monsters)

Attack Speed is great to have as well, but will not increase the damage like the others, use only when you have to/can.

Blood Rage: You have Chaos Innoculation, so this ability is free, enjoy.

Ranged Totem: Ice shot + LMP + Attack Speed + <insert anything> (I like Projectile Speed). Since you do not use Quill Rain this totem dominates, words cant describe how good it is. I will easily solo packs of mobs for you. Did I mention it also receives all your attack speed bonuses? Yeah, stack up frenzy charges, and watch this sucker go to town.

Single Target: Frenzy and/or Burning Arrow + Attack Speed + Added Fire Damage. Frenzy for the 5 stack charges, Burning arrow afterwords, assuming they aren't elemental resist or reflect.

Projectile Weakness: This bad boy not only buffs everything you do(Frenzy, Burning Arrow, Explosive Arrow's initial hit and explosion damage), it buffs your totem as well. Ever see a pack of mobs try to walk towards you with a stupidly fast totem spamming chill and freeze effects on them, all the while every attack you and the totem do knocks them back?

Auras:

-Discipline, this gives a big boost in energy shield
-Wrath + Anger for damage
-Clarity for mana regen.

Cram these suckers on a reduced mana support as soon as possible

Armor:

Stack energy shield, maximum mana, and %fire damage. You will also need 3 really good mana regen pieces. Explosive arrow's mana cost is insane.

Weapon:
-1.55 + attack speed bow with as much total physical damage you can find. Added bonus if this weapon rolls some fire damage, which is increased by your +fire damage and elemental nodes.

Unique Quivers:

There is a Quiver that converts like 40% of your physical damage to fire. I assume this will be buffed by your +fire damage, which means this will be the largest damage increase.

There is also another quiver that give 30% increase physical damage, this quiver works quite well when you have a really nice bow.

Bandit Rewards:

-Normal: +40 mana
-Cruel: Skill point or 12% physical
-Merciless: +1 Frenzy Charge

The points towards the middle are a waste of time. Also you wasted 4 points trying to get to Deep Wisdom which could've been done with just two intelligence nodes.

Upon further scrutiny, you've wasted too many points on unnecessary filler nodes. You need to ask if going down all the way to the Ranger and to the middle for minimal gain is really worth the boost in damage. It is not, believe me.

Those points could have gone deep into the Templar tree and doubled your survivability while doing little to dent your offensive capabilities.

"

Lyralei wrote:

The points towards the middle are a waste of time. Also you wasted 4 points trying to get to Deep Wisdom which could've been done with just two intelligence nodes.

Upon further scrutiny, you've wasted too many points on unnecessary filler nodes. You need to ask if going down all the way to the Ranger and to the middle for minimal gain is really worth the boost in damage. It is not, believe me.

Those points could have gone deep into the Templar tree and doubled your survivability while doing little to dent your offensive capabilities.

Points in the middle are no more a waste of time than any increased damage node. Wasted filler points? A whopping 3 points to get a 15% projectile damage +20 dex node? are you out of your mind?

It also allows you to improve totem, or get vaal pact if you so desire. It would take me the same amount of "wasted" points on the projectile damage in the center, to even reach the Templar area, let alone get any benefits from it.

***NOTE***
The path to the Witch tree was done in error, you would infact take the shorter route.

There is absolutely no reason why you would need more survival than what is already in this build. 5k energy shield, which restores itself after 2 seconds(115% cooldown reduction) is more than sufficient. Not to mention a reasonable amount of life leech through support, items, and Blood frenzy. Lets not forget you are a ranged character, I almost never get hit to begin with. Also chaos innoculation allows me extra slots for Granite Flasks, if the need ever arise.

The Projectile damage nodes will provide more damage than anything else on the tree, there is no way you can call them a waste of time. There is simply no better place to put them.

I honestly can't even take you seriously after these comments.

im following this build to try something new, so feel free to keep updating it :)

You make it seem like 143% ES will automatically get you a godly amount of ES. Optimizing your build let me double your ES, pick up Whispers of Doom which has far more utility than anything a 15% Projectile Damage node can do.

Why would I ever take those nodes when I could spec to Templar, grab nodes that give me Armour, ES, Elemental Damage (which covers the damage loss), AoE Boost and Zealot's Oath. 1% regen might seem stupid but it sure as hell beats the 200 odd dexterity you wasted in filler nodes.

Also if my 6k+ Life, 20k Armour friend can die from one mishap in maps on hardcore, I don't think 5k ES is ever "sufficient", especially not when a LMP haste mob can shotgun you to death before you can blink (and you don't have the luxury of seething flasks).

Did not include Keystones, but the former has Whispers of Doom and Zealot's Oath.

Optimized using a Witch:


Yours:



By all means, feel free to disregard me, but you won't get far as a build designer if you're going to get all defensive and touchy about your build. I offered you something to think about but if that's what you don't want then fine, I'll not help.

"

Lyralei wrote:

You make it seem like 143% ES will automatically get you a godly amount of ES. Optimizing your build let me double your ES, pick up Whispers of Doom which has far more utility than anything a 15% Projectile Damage node can do.

Why would I ever take those nodes when I could spec to Templar, grab nodes that give me Armour, ES, Elemental Damage (which covers the damage loss), AoE Boost and Zealot's Oath. 1% regen might seem stupid but it sure as hell beats the 200 odd dexterity you wasted in filler nodes.

Also if my 6k+ Life, 20k Armour friend can die from one mishap in maps on hardcore, I don't think 5k ES is ever "sufficient", especially not when a LMP haste mob can shotgun you to death before you can blink (and you don't have the luxury of seething flasks).

Did not include Keystones, but the former has Whispers of Doom and Zealot's Oath.

Optimized using a Witch:

Spoiler

+24 to Strength
+34 to Dexterity
+310 to Intelligence
+40% to Cold Resistance
+40% to Fire Resistance
+40% to Lightning Resistance
41% increased Cold Damage
41% increased Fire Damage
41% increased Lightning Damage
251% increased maximum Energy Shield
1% of Life Regenerated per Second
16% increased maximum Life
100% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
70% increased maximum Mana
30% increased Effect of Buffs on You
50% increased Evasion Rating
15% increased Power Charge Duration
50% increased Elemental Damage with Weapons
18% increased Cast Speed for Curses
45% increased Energy Shield Cooldown Recovery
20% increased Radius of Area Skills
104% increased Armour
+20 to maximum Mana
+1 Maximum Power Charge
8% increased Area Damage

Yours:

Spoiler

+34 to Strength
+202 to Dexterity
+232 to Intelligence
+20% to Cold Resistance
+35% to Fire Resistance
+20% to Lightning Resistance
15% increased Cold Damage
77% increased Fire Damage
15% increased Lightning Damage
62% increased maximum Mana
18% increased Frenzy Charge Duration
86% increased Evasion Rating
143% increased maximum Energy Shield
105% increased Energy Shield Cooldown Recovery
3% increased Movement Speed
78% increased Projectile Damage
16% increased Radius of Area Skills
12% increased Area Damage
60% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
+20 to maximum Mana
60% increased Critical Strike Chance
+1 Maximum Frenzy Charge
18% increased Attack Speed
5% chance to Ignite the enemy on hit with Fire Damage

By all means, feel free to disregard me, but you won't get far as a build designer if you're going to get all defensive and touchy about your build. I offered you something to think about but if that's what you don't want then fine, I'll not help.

He got:
18% increased Attack Speed -> which is good if u dont use quinn bow
78% increased Projectile Damage --> this is must be in this build and thats why i want to test it, projectile dmg increase dmg of ur explosive arrow.
12% increased Area Damage
more fire dmg
and more

I have 70lvl templar using explosive arrow build, i have only fire dmg nodes and thats it, it's good, but i dont think like this build like he posted, thats why i want to test it.

Also ur Witch build has
50% increased Elemental Damage with Weapons -> which doesnt increase ur explosive arrow damage.
and only more survivality which isnt that needed as a bower. I used one decoy totem on my templar when i was fucked and that was enought to help me, dont need more survivability.
Here i can even test spell totem with ice shot

Peace.
Testing Trenan's build as a shadow cuz im bored of mine templar build exp arrow. I want something hardcore!
Keep updating man!
Good job, finally something new!

Why did you not take the extra frenzy charge+bow crit chance in the ranger tree?

"

Lyralei wrote:

You make it seem like 143% ES will automatically get you a godly amount of ES. Optimizing your build let me double your ES, pick up Whispers of Doom which has far more utility than anything a 15% Projectile Damage node can do.

Why would I ever take those nodes when I could spec to Templar, grab nodes that give me Armour, ES, Elemental Damage (which covers the damage loss), AoE Boost and Zealot's Oath. 1% regen might seem stupid but it sure as hell beats the 200 odd dexterity you wasted in filler nodes.

Also if my 6k+ Life, 20k Armour friend can die from one mishap in maps on hardcore, I don't think 5k ES is ever "sufficient", especially not when a LMP haste mob can shotgun you to death before you can blink (and you don't have the luxury of seething flasks).

Did not include Keystones, but the former has Whispers of Doom and Zealot's Oath.

Optimized using a Witch:

Spoiler

+24 to Strength
+34 to Dexterity
+310 to Intelligence
+40% to Cold Resistance
+40% to Fire Resistance
+40% to Lightning Resistance
41% increased Cold Damage
41% increased Fire Damage
41% increased Lightning Damage
251% increased maximum Energy Shield
1% of Life Regenerated per Second
16% increased maximum Life
100% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
70% increased maximum Mana
30% increased Effect of Buffs on You
50% increased Evasion Rating
15% increased Power Charge Duration
50% increased Elemental Damage with Weapons
18% increased Cast Speed for Curses
45% increased Energy Shield Cooldown Recovery
20% increased Radius of Area Skills
104% increased Armour
+20 to maximum Mana
+1 Maximum Power Charge
8% increased Area Damage

Yours:

Spoiler

+34 to Strength
+202 to Dexterity
+232 to Intelligence
+20% to Cold Resistance
+35% to Fire Resistance
+20% to Lightning Resistance
15% increased Cold Damage
77% increased Fire Damage
15% increased Lightning Damage
62% increased maximum Mana
18% increased Frenzy Charge Duration
86% increased Evasion Rating
143% increased maximum Energy Shield
105% increased Energy Shield Cooldown Recovery
3% increased Movement Speed
78% increased Projectile Damage
16% increased Radius of Area Skills
12% increased Area Damage
60% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
+20 to maximum Mana
60% increased Critical Strike Chance
+1 Maximum Frenzy Charge
18% increased Attack Speed
5% chance to Ignite the enemy on hit with Fire Damage

By all means, feel free to disregard me, but you won't get far as a build designer if you're going to get all defensive and touchy about your build. I offered you something to think about but if that's what you don't want then fine, I'll not help.

I had no reason to read passed the point of "Whispers of Doom", since it would have absolutely zero effect on any skill you would use as a Bowmen.

You are entirely too paranoid if you need that much Energy Shield. As you mentioned above, he is "HardCore" which involves an entirely different perspective.

I push 4k energy shield at level 66 with absolutely junk gear, In group settings a almost never take damage since I am too far back for anything significant to single me out.

I would agree, if you wanted to Hard Core this, you would need something more.

I don't have to get defensive when someone makes remarks based off inexperience or incomplete knowledge(you did not even question, or suggest it "could" be better, you just assumed your theorycrafting was correct, the belittled my build, which I have actually used). You obviously have never done anything like this build, or understand the concept of projectile damage. I also do not need to get far as a "build designer", because from a professional stand point, I am already miles beyond that point.

Have fun playing characters which have absolutely no damage, I suggest you stick with tank marauders.

"

Quakespeare wrote:

Why did you not take the extra frenzy charge+bow crit chance in the ranger tree?

This is something that one could grab if they wish. The issue is with Explosive Arrow, the fuse is considered its own entity, While not certain, I do not believe the bow crit would apply to the explosion damage.

There was some talk about the explosion damage's crit, but all I remember is that the explosion is on a seperate critical roll than the actual arrow fired from the ability.

It is certainly possible to take the core of the build(first build link) and mold into more Pure Bowmen style. You would still end up with the 78% projectile damage applied to explosive arrows damage, which would still make it a good AoE. The rest of the bow damage you could grab and use for your standard attacks, but I think you would find lightning arrow and split shot becoming much better in terms of AoE performance.

"

He got:
18% increased Attack Speed -> which is good if u dont use quinn bow
78% increased Projectile Damage --> this is must be in this build and thats why i want to test it, projectile dmg increase dmg of ur explosive arrow.
12% increased Area Damage
more fire dmg
and more

I have 70lvl templar using explosive arrow build, i have only fire dmg nodes and thats it, it's good, but i dont think like this build like he posted, thats why i want to test it.

Also ur Witch build has
50% increased Elemental Damage with Weapons -> which doesnt increase ur explosive arrow damage.
and only more survivality which isnt that needed as a bower. I used one decoy totem on my templar when i was fucked and that was enought to help me, dont need more survivability.
Here i can even test spell totem with ice shot

Peace.
Testing Trenan's build as a shadow cuz im bored of mine templar build exp arrow. I want something hardcore!
Keep updating man!
Good job, finally something new!

This is the whole point, by having that projectile damage, you are not turning yourself into a 1 trick pony. You can still do significant damage with all other bow attacks if you wish. Projectile damage applies to every bow skill, aside from poison arrow, which is its own little mutation.

Elemental weapon damage will provide considerably tiny amounts of increased dps by buffing some small amount of ele weapon damage you might have.(which should be fire, which is getting buffed by increased fire anyways)

The build is also completely open for 3 different classes, note: I showed people the route I took with my shadow, the only thing that matters with this build is the "core" portion, which is the first build. It is to utilize projectile damage to buff explosive arrow. However far you want to take explosive arrows damage is up to the player, I chose to go all in and grab the fire damage as well, giving it the highest possible damage increase in the tree.

Also ranged totem is just absolutely a treat to use. When I was farming ledge for levels with a friend, it would clear groups by itself. It also provides a very important anti-fire resist skill. There is a considerable amount of fire resistance in the game, so the Ice Shot helps not completely nerf your damage. It also solo'd Brutus for me in Cruel.