[3.0 HC/SC] The ORIGINAL Hybrid HoWA ST Raider [ALL CONTENT] [2:45 Shaper Run][Vids Included]

i loved howa back then, played it alot, but after the nerf i didnt touch it (so far).
yesterday i thought, well lets try to get some gear and i have to say its kinda impossible to get good stuff this late into the league in HC. i know alot of dps comes from good jewels and good jewellery, so yeah theres nothing in hc on the market.i know howa can be kinda tricky to gear fast, it wasnt the easy back then and its even harder now.
i try to wait a bit for something to pop up, but i dont have big hopes. :(

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Vandalain wrote:

What about soul tether itself? My plan was to take it off for trap sections but put it back on for izaro.

Yup, it doesn't really do much for traps and can be more detrimental rather than useful due to its downside of preventing ES from recharging. A leather belt will be more useful for the traps.

The Kikazaru ring is another option worth considering for the traps (due to the life regen and mana regen).

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Kim_Kardashian wrote:

i loved howa back then, played it alot, but after the nerf i didnt touch it (so far).
yesterday i thought, well lets try to get some gear and i have to say its kinda impossible to get good stuff this late into the league in HC. i know alot of dps comes from good jewels and good jewellery, so yeah theres nothing in hc on the market.i know howa can be kinda tricky to gear fast, it wasnt the easy back then and its even harder now.
i try to wait a bit for something to pop up, but i dont have big hopes. :(

ya, unfortunately awareness of HoWA isn't that great yet, and HC economy's strength can also be its weakness at times - it can be tough to get the right gear. Hopefully something will pop up for you!

Thanks for the positioning explanation, helped a lot.

What do you think about the decel enchant vs 40% dmg one? Does the decel increased the projectile linger time on bosses (hence increasing the number of hits taken?) or does it simply increased your attack range? Also do you recommend taking point blank? Does taking PB change optimal positioning somehow?

As far as i understand, PB increases your proj dmg at the start of the trajectory but is the minimum on its way back after reaching its apex.

Does that mean the decel+PB is a bad idea since for optimal dps we need to position the boss at the apex of the projectile but decel increases the distance the proj travels to reach the apex thus decreasing its dmg due to PB?

(Concerned about boss dps only)

tl;dr:

1) Thoughts on 40% dmg vs decel enchant.
2) Point black yay or nay.
3) Positioning if we take PB.
4) PB+decel = good idea?

[Asked on reddit as well just in case, thanks for the build guide!]

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fatfat664 wrote:

Thanks for the positioning explanation, helped a lot.

What do you think about the decel enchant vs 40% dmg one? Does the decel increased the projectile linger time on bosses (hence increasing the number of hits taken?) or does it simply increased your attack range? Also do you recommend taking point blank? Does taking PB change optimal positioning somehow?

As far as i understand, PB increases your proj dmg at the start of the trajectory but is the minimum on its way back after reaching its apex.

Does that mean the decel+PB is a bad idea since for optimal dps we need to position the boss at the apex of the projectile but decel increases the distance the proj travels to reach the apex thus decreasing its dmg due to PB?

(Concerned about boss dps only)

tl;dr:

1) Thoughts on 40% dmg vs decel enchant.
2) Point black yay or nay.
3) Positioning if we take PB.
4) PB+decel = good idea?

[Asked on reddit as well just in case, thanks for the build guide!]

You're welcome!

1. Yes, decel increases the projectile linger time on bosses, potentially increasing the number of hits taken, depending on the radius size of the boss. It also increases the range of the projectiles.

2. Point blank does not necessarily change the optimal positioning. You would still want to position the boss at about 3/4 of your projectile distance so as to achieve the optimum number of hits.

3. Your understanding of Point Blank and ST interaction is correct. Decel + PB may be a bad idea because of what you mentioned, as well as the fact that Decel increases the range of the projectiles. That said, point blank does still provide an approximately 20% damage bonus once you take into account all the hits. I personally don't like to take keystones that restrict the way I play. If your primary goal is to farm guardians and shaper, then Point Blank would be worth taking. If you want to be able to map safely, kill bosses safely, do uber atziri/shaper/guardians relatively safely, then no, you won't want to take point blank as there will be situations whereby you will not want to tank the boss.

4. If you want to take Point Blank, then yes, the 40% ST Damage enchant will be better than the decel enchant because your projectiles will travel a shorter distance before returning to you, provided the boss' radius is small enough (i.e. <3), such that your having the decel enchant will not change the number of times you hit the boss as compared to not having the decel enchant.

Really enjoying this build, first time doing guardians (except for chimera, haven't figured out still how to beat it). My hideout dps is far lower than 40/50k,where do you think I should improve first?

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kaleir17 wrote:

Really enjoying this build, first time doing guardians (except for chimera, haven't figured out still how to beat it). My hideout dps is far lower than 40/50k,where do you think I should improve first?

Good to hear!

For chimera, I strongly advise having a jade flask instead of a consecrated flask.

For the adds:

1. goats + dogs: keep on moving constantly, utilise the advantage of ST (projectiles return to you), whirl past them and let the returning projectiles hit them. Use the jade flask for when you get swarmed.

2. Chaos snakes: try to dodge the projectles, use the jade flask when necessary

For chimera's smoke phase: use jade flask + silver flask during his smoke phase to reduce your chances of getting hit as well as allow you to find him more quickly.

If need be, you can also use a basalt flask on top of the jade flask. (can replace atziri's promise with a basalt)


I'll see if I can post a short vid later explaining how to go about the chimera fight. Your GMP hideout DPS looks to be at 35k even with Bisco's which is quite impressive and is well within Shaper viable territory. If you use a well-rolled astramentis for guardian and shaper fights, that would be 46k GMP hideout DPS which should be extremely comfortable.

Some minor suggestions:

1. Get a new ancestral protector gem and do not level it past a str requireent of 124. This will allow you save one point from the Beef node and use it somewhere else.

2. Since you're not MoM, there's not much point having 2 points in Mana Flows. If mana is an issue, getting a level 4 enlighten would help alot, and you save 2 points.

3. The next easy DPS upgrade will come via the jewel socket above elemental overload. If you get that socket, you don't actually need an expensive jewel for it. You can simply move rapture silver crimson jewel there and use Fertile Mind in the socket next to vaal pact - that will be a DPS upgrade.

4. Apart from the minor tweaks above, other improvements will come via gear upgrades. The main upgrades will come in the ring slots, but those will not be cheap. If you can get rings with more res (and more life), it will free you from having to rely on the two-toned boots implicit for res and you'll be able to enchant them for another 2-3k hideout DPS. It's either that, or getting 4 mod jewels with some res.


In all honesty though, I think your DPS is fine in its current state. If anything, its your survivability that seems to be the limiting factor. Personally, I would go for MoM if I were you and respec when I get gear with better +life.

For instance, having this tree: will only drop ur DPS by 1.5k but will gain u a 1.5k damage buffer (with wrath and level 3 enlighten). In addition, you'll be able to spam ST without fear of running out of mana.

I just dropped MoM because i couldn't figure out why my hideout dps was so low, but it seems i didn't know how to check it :D (i was lookin at my damage per second on the character page and it's 12k, on the ST icon it's 39k).

If i go back to MoM (i need one more point for your tree tho,even dropping Beef) what you suggest for the other 2 glove gem slots?

Chimera is owning me on the shadow phase, as for the amu i'm using this one on bosses: https://imgur.com/a/g2TSR

Thank you for your help :)

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kaleir17 wrote:

I just dropped MoM because i couldn't figure out why my hideout dps was so low, but it seems i didn't know how to check it :D (i was lookin at my damage per second on the character page and it's 12k, on the ST icon it's 39k).

If i go back to MoM (i need one more point for your tree tho,even dropping Beef) what you suggest for the other 2 glove gem slots?

Thank you for your help :)

Ya it'll require one more point. I was initially going to suggest pathing by the lower path (dex node) to primeval force, thereby respecting 1 point from a 5% hp node , but it's probably better to stick to ur current path for now because the dex node is within the radius of fertile mind and will grant u 10 INT (which is better for u than 10 dex as of now because your INT with Biscos is not the highest). But I think it'll be easier for u to just level to 94 with a few beachheads and use that extra point then to respec.

I don't actually have any suggestions haha. I personally used those to level an elemental focus gem and a WED gem. I wouldn't spend currency changing the colours since the gloves are already corrupted (and u may want to revert to those colours again eventually).

You're welcome!

Edit: for chimera smoke phase, make sure you have a jade flask up and whirl around asap looking for him. Having an extra 1.5k damage buffer in MoM will also help u tremendously. I'll see if I can post a vid when I'm back from my evening out.

That amulet is really nice btw! There's always the option of recraftng the %ES into flat lightning damage if u need more DPS

Hi I have a quick question. In the your gear spoiler you dont use the same gems as in "gem suggestions" which should I follow?

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Lillotus wrote:

Hi I have a quick question. In the your gear spoiler you dont use the same gems as in "gem suggestions" which should I follow?

You can use my current links if you're able to get the colours! In all honesty, apart from the main 6L setup, the whirling blades - FA - Fortify setup as well as the essential aura gems and ancestral protector, the others aren't that important and you can adapt them according to your preference.