[3.16][HC][ON BREAK] Caustic Arrow Raider, DoT Focused | Tanky | 6k+ Health | All Content | In-depth

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Herorewind wrote:

Spoiler

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Herorewind/characters

Hey, been loving your build this season. I'm playing SSF so keep that in mind but wondering what I should focus on upgrading next?

I havn't found an empower yet unfortunately but my 6l bow craft is probably my favorite item I've ever crafted. Was super lucky finding 3 exalts and used 2 to craft the bow and slammed 28% light res as the last mod.

Do you think Three-Step Boots are usable if I have maxed resist elsewhere? Or am I better off just using yellow evasion boots?

I'm also using grave inside an essence worm because I havn't found a high evasion roll helmet yet and they bring me from like 63% evasion to 75%.

I was thinking about focusing primarily on 5/6 linking my Kintsugi next and trying to chaos spam a decent helmet.

Are gripped gloves the best base?

Overall for SSF I think I've been insanely lucky, just about to hit level 90.

"

Herorewind wrote:

Ok, thank you for the tips! Rolling 3 off colours on evasion bases is what has steered me away from fixing my gems, but I'll work on that next (don't have 3R recipe yet).

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Lupofin wrote:

Does it matter what level the bow is? For example, would a short bow be good because it has 1.5 AS?

Or is there some kind of item level it needs, or base?

"

DankawSL wrote:

Overview
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Starting with the most important question: "Why Raider of all classes?"
For powerful defensive abilities, QoL features and speed. When damage is not a problem, these are more valuable qualities than slightly higher dps number. That's why i believe this is the best ascendancy choice for life based CA.

This build features over 6000 life, very high evasion with up to 95% evade chance cap, 46/40% dodge/spell dodge. It's also immune to all ailments and can run absolutely any map mod. Any incoming damage can be easily solved with two instant life flasks healing you back to full life. Capable of clearing all content in the game. Everything with possiblity to use some magic find gear.

I've been pushing Caustic Arrow to the limit every league for almost 3 years now. I'm certain that this version is strongest, safest and most versatile of them all.


Pros
+ Cheap starting cost, great league starter
+ Very easy to play
+ Tanky end game, over 6000 life and very high evasion + dodge
+ Fast without flasks (over 100% ms, high AS)
+ Flexible build, adjust how much you want to go MF / damage / tanky
+ Can run any map mod, including "No regen"
+ Capable of clearing all end game content
+ Permanent flask uptime while mapping (except bosses)

Cons
- Mediocre single target damage
- Slightly expensive end game gear
- Weak against spells

Passive Tree and Bandits

There are two basic trees you can use:

Level 94 - Base passive tree

This is the recommended path for majority of the players, focuses on scaling Caustic Arrow only. Budget and beginner friendly. Guide will be focused on this tree.

Level 96 - Classic tree

Old school tree for experienced players. Focuses on generic chaos/DoT increases to scale Caustic Arrow and Essence Drain. The latter skill is used in second weapon slot to further increase damage output. This playstyle has it's own section at the end of the guide's main post. It's a straight upgrade to CA only tree. Beware, it's really expensive.


If you've reached level 94 using any of the trees, start picking up closest jewel slots. You can also replace some life/damage nodes for 2 point jewels if you have the money for it.

Bandit Reward: Kill All (recommended) OR spare Oak

Ascendancy: Avatar of Veil (Phasing) + Avatar of Chase (Onslaught)

Avatar of Veil and Chase provides amazing defensive, speed and QoL features. No other ascendancy can really match it. Best used for pure mapping, but still works against end game bosses.

Build uses Way of Poacher for levelling purposes, before finishing uber Labyrinth.

Other Ascendancy Classes

Spoiler

Allright, i get it. You dislike Raider for some reason, probably not enough damage. There are alternative ascendancies using the exact same passive tree. Starting with the best one:



Trickster
Ascendancy: Patient Reaper -> Prolonged Pain -> Ghost Dance -> Escape Artist
Balanced passive tree (Level 95) - CA focused tree
Classic tree (Level 96) - CA+ED Classic tree

Highest damage output out of all ascendancy classes. Great survivability, especially against big hits. Suitable for both CA only and classic CA+ED version. Lower speed and QoL compared to Raider.



Pathfinder
Ascendancy: Nature's Reprisal -> Master Toxicist -> Nature's Boon -> Master Alchemist
Base passive tree (Level 94) - Same as Raider's

Great middle ground between Raider and Trickster. Almost as high damage as Trickster while having elemental ailment immunity like Raider. Flask recharge is incredible as well.

You can sacrifice one of the Master nodes to take Nature's Adrenaline node for additional speed.



Champion
Ascendancy: Unstoppable Hero -> Fortitude -> Conqueror -> Worthy Foe
Base passive tree (Level 96)

If you hate dying, here's your choice. Perma fortify makes Champion strongest against big hits. Taunt branch is also great for clearing packs of mobs. Low QoL with great defence and decent damage.

You can use Inspirational and First to Strike, Last to Fall nodes instead of Taunt branch. Gives massive conditional damage and defence.



Deadeye
Ascendancy: Gathering Winds -> Far Shot -> Endless Munitions -> Fast and Deadly
Base passive tree (Level 94) - Same as Raider's

Good option for mapping. Great offensive QoL features with good damage. Quite weak defensively.

You can pick Ricochet as 4th point if you prefer. Gives higher damage output at cost of mobility.

Pantheon

Major God: Soul of Lunaris

Nuff said, straight up has the best synergy with the build. Others barely do anything except few specific cases.

Minor God: Soul of Shakari OR Ryslatha OR Garukhan

All three of them are pretty good, but my personal favorite is Shakari. Having full ailment immunity simply feels great. Use it only if you upgraded it.

Ryslatha is 2nd most useful minor god, i use it for any end game boss encounter. It's great for labyrinth as well and overall best choice if you don't want to look at pantheon ever again.

Garukhan is also great option for defence during mapping. Additional evade chance is very powerful combined with high evasion.

Gem Setups

Main Skill (GGGGBR):
Caustic Arrow - Void Manipulation - Swift Affliction - Vicious Projectiles - Concentrated Effect
6th Link: Damage on Full Life OR Empower lvl 3/4

Your primary damage setup. First 3 support gems have no real downsides and should always be included in the build. Conc Effect and Damage on Full Life have downsides, which one you prefer is up to you (i recommend first one). Empower has no downside but requires level 3 or 4 to be worth using. Costs a lot of money or time.

In case you feel that your damage good enough, you can use Greater Multiple Projectiles for clearing instead of Swift Affliction.

Wither Totem (BRRR):
Wither - Spell Totem - Multiple Totems - Increased Duration

Nearly doubles damage against bosses. Place the totem and let it do the work. It also slows their movement speed, so keep that in mind against some bosses.

Cursed Frenzy Setup (GGBB):
Frenzy - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Curse on Hit - Despair

Setup designed for additional damage against bosses. You can generate Frenzy charges
(12% more damage) and curse enemies at the same time.

CWDT Immortal Call (RRR):
Cast when Damage Taken lvl 3 - Immortal Call lvl 5 - Increased Duration lvl 20

Standard CWDT setup. Immortal Call is useful against random bleeding from bosses / lab traps. Not a mandatory setup, but very much recommended.

Aura: Malevolence

Very simple, gives big chunk of additional damage and small duration increase.

Additional Aura: Vaal Grace

Vaal Grace allows us to cap Dodge / Spell dodge. It's a temporary aura which is best used during abyss/breaches/harbingers etc. Vaal Grace can be linked with CWDT Immortal Call setup for longer aura duration, it will not trigger automatically but still benefit from Increased Duration.

Banner: Dread Banner

Used for it's massive 21% less accuracy to nearby enemies. Great defense for mapping for small mana reservation. It doesn't require you to impale enemies in order to gain the primary benefit.

Bonus Mana Regen: Clarity lvl 10

Not a mandatory setup, but very much recommended. If your mana regeneration is too low, this will fix your problems easily. Even if you don't have mana regen problems during mapping, it's great to have Clarity against mobile bosses like Pheonix Guardian.

Movement Skill: Blink Arrow

These are the only mandatory gems and we still got 2 free gem slots. How you fill the rest of them is your choice.

Optional Setups

Spoiler

Withering Rain (GGGR):
Toxic Rain - Mirage Archer - Withering Touch - Increased Duration

Optional setup to Wither Totem. It's much, much worse when it comes to raw damage increase and reliability. However this setup can be used in any situation for additional utility/damage which is not possible with totem.

Bestiary Aspect: Aspect of the Crab

Any source of damage mitigation is great for evasion characters. With very high evasion numbers it can easily act as permanent 20% physical damage reduction. End game only, otherwise low mana pool might cause troubles.

Optional Aura: Grace

Grace aura can be used instead of Malevolence to easier hit 95% evade chance cap, thanks to high flat evasion and +8% evade chance Watcher's Eye.

Cursed Frenzy Setup (GGGGBB):
Frenzy - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Curse on Hit - Despair - Enhance - Culling Strike

If you're rich, that's probably best 6 link body armour setup. Enhance for that extra damage from Despair. Culling strike is for finishing the bosses, but i personally hate it.

Essence Drain Swap (BBBGGR):
Essence Drain - Efficacy - Controlled Destruction - Void Mani - Swift Affliction - Empower

Used in classic version of this build. To learn more, head to the Classic CA+ED Build section.

Fortify: Vigilant Strike with The Vigil threshold jewel

Only usable if you have melee weapon swap. Gives ~35 second long Fortify, awesome bonus for hard hitting bosses. Without threshold jewel the duration is only ~12 seconds, but it's enough if you facetank a monster. Best used in classic build.

Golem: Stone Golem OR Flame Golem OR Chaos Golem

Stone Golem is most useful with his taunt and high flat health regeneration. Flame golem for the damage, Chaos golem if you want to try some phys dmg reduction shenanigans. Golems tend to die quite often in high tier maps, but are very useful in early mapping or against labyrith traps (stone golem).

Portal Gem

If you have a free gem slot, why not? Best socketed inside 6-linked cursing setup instead of culling strike.

Equipment

My current gear / TL;DR:

Spoiler

Weapons: +3 CA Bow (self-crafting recommended, see crafting section)
Quiver: Life and Resists, late game get +1 Arrow shaper quiver
Armour: Kintsugi

Helmet: Life and Resists, 30% CA duration enchantment
Boots: Life and Resists or Atziri's Step unique, 8% chance to Dodge Spells enchantment.
Gloves: Life and Resists

Belt: Life and Resists, Leather / Heavy Belt with Elder mods if possible
Rings: Life and Resists, can be Ventor's
Amulet: Life and Resists, Agate/Lapis/Marble rare preferred, can be Bisco's

Flasks: 2 Life flasks, 3 utility flasks recommended. Flexible, however you need Jade Flask with 90%+ increased evasion rating and another one with curse immunity.

Jewels: Life and damage on all of them, very efficient if you have at least 3 good mods.

Notes: High evasion is important. Not as much as life, but use evasion bases if possible.
Aim to have ~160 strength and intelligence, so you can use lvl 20 gems.
It's good to cap elemental weakness curse (109%). X% Mana regen is very good QoL.

Below you will find the gear explained in-depth. Piece by piece.

+3 CA Bow

Spoiler

The first core item of this build.

Caustic Arrow's cloud has very limited options when it comes to increasing it's damage output. Additional levels and crafted mods are the only way to make your bow actually benefit the build in the first place. CA setup socketed inside +3 bow easily increases the damage output by ~50-60% more compared to a normal 6-link.

To make it clear, on the bow we NEED:

* +1 to Level of Socketed Gems (prefix)
* +2 to Level of Socketed Bow Gems (prefix)
* +33-40% Non-ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier (prefix, crafted)

You can also use super budget version with only +2 to Level of Socketed Bow Gems,
it's enough to actually beat almost any encounter in the game. However the more damage, the easier it gets. Crafting +3 bow is not that expensive and massively boosts the damage.

I recommend to self-craft the bow as it's the cheapest way to do so. Plus, you can directly upgrade the +2 6-linked bow into +3 once you acquire currency. Chaos DoT Multiplier doesn't have to be highest level, 2nd tier already gives really good bonus.

Elder versions of the bow can roll few amazing QoL mods on top of +3 bow gems, but crafting one is extremely expensive and you shouldn't bother with it until there's no other significant upgrade you can make.

Bow crafting and elder versions of the bow are fully covered in crafting section.

Chaos Staff/Bow (Classic)

Spoiler

Used in Classic ED+CA Build, check it's section at the end of the guide's main post.

The second and last core item of this build. Reasoning for this is pretty much the same as +3 CA Bow above.

It is a core item, but most likely you won't be using it until VERY late game. It's not going to be cheap either. You can either use Cane of Unraveling unique staff that's slightly inferior OR a crafted weapon that's much hard to acquire.

Stats we NEED on the crafted weapon:

* +1 to Level of Socketed Gems (prefix)
* +2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems (prefix, crafted)
* +33-40% Non-ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier (prefix, crafted)

The easiest way to create the weapon is through multimodding. Crafting method is fully covered in the crafting section.

Armour

Spoiler

Kintsugi
My personal choice of body armour. I use it to mitigate potential oneshots from bosses, and it saved me multiple times in the past. Additional 50% evasion if you get hit is a really nice bonus for mapping. The "20% Less Damage Taken if you've not been hit Recently" also works against degens (LAB TRAPS!) until you've been hit.

Kintsugi is a mandatory end game body armour for Raider. Combined with with very high evasion + dodge, the unique passive acts as 25% more life. It is true for many bosses.

Before you reach the end game, you might want to use Carcass Jack or Cherrubim's for additional DPS. You can also use Loreweave for 80% maximum resistances. If you're non-Raider ascendancy, you might want to consider Queen of the Forest instead. You will find more explainations below.

Optional Armours:

Spoiler

Carcass Jack
Best chest for start of the league. Good amount of additional damage, life and some resistances. Also massively boosts the AoE which is a bit small without high gem level. It's still inferior in the long run and should be used only for league start.

Cherrubim's Maleficence
Best choice if you want more damage. It has up to 80% increased chaos damage, giving around ~15% more damage in the final build. Has a lot of life as well, making it OK defense wise. Can be used instead of Kintsugi in the end game, but i wouldn't recommend it for hardcore characters.

Queen of the Forest
Option for non-Raider ascendancies. Movement speed is our primary way of moving around the map and dodging skills. Raider has enough speed on her own, allowing the use of defensive chests. Others ascendancies don't have that luxury, so you should consider using it.

The Brass Dome
The only mod this chest really has is "Take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes". Nothing else, but it's so powerful on it's own to earn the spot in this list. Mandatory chest to run Hall of Grandmasters, unless you have Kintsugi with "50% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes" vaal implicit.

Quiver

Spoiler

A rare pierce quiver with life and resistances. Later on you'll want to craft or buy shaper quiver. Something like the first one i linked, the more life and resists the better.

Shaper quivers can roll +1 arrow. It's quite rare mod, so getting one with high health is going to be damn hard. Crafted 41-55 life is going to suffice for majority of the game. Shooting 2 arrows feels a bit weird at first, but it's a huge QoL and effective AoE increase.

Shaper quivers are fully covered in crafting section.

Helmet, Gloves and Boots

Spoiler

Packed into same category, as you want same thing from all of them:

* Life
* Resistances
* Open Suffix (optional)
* Movement Speed (boots only)

Evasion based preferred, especially the helmet (can achieve really high evasion). Atziri's Step unique boots are amazing defensive option if your resistances allow it. That's pretty much it, what's left is to look at the enchantments:

Gloves: of Spite

Nothing else is useful, really. You can totally ignore the gloves enchantments.

Boots: 8% chance to Spell Dodge if you've taken Spell Damage Recently.

Best late game enchantment. The build is nearly invincible against attacks, but spells still hit quite often. 80% chance to avoid stuns is also a great alternative.

Helmet:
#1 - 40% increased Caustic Arrow Damage
#2 - 30% increased Caustic Arrow Duration

Damage enchant is always good, gives around around ~7% more damage. It's default without any drawbacks. Duration enchant allows to drop skill effect duration nodes in exchange for even higher damage, at cost of QoL/utility of other skills (Wither, IC, 15% CA duration).

Belt

Spoiler

Once again, life and resistances. Strength is also a desireable stat. Leather Belt is the best base, with Heavy Belt being an option.

I also have to remind that elder influenced belts are absolutely amazing. They can roll few VERY good mods:

* 8–10% increased maximum Life (prefix)
* 8–10% increased effect of Flasks on You (prefix)
* 16–20% increased Life Recovery rate (suffix)
* 13–15% to all Elemental Resistances (suffix)

That's not even all of the good mods. If you ever accumulate enough money to buy/craft it for yourself, i recommend getting one.

Rings and Amulet

Spoiler

Like majority of other gear and little more:

* Life
* Resistances
* Strength and Intelligence
* #% Mana Regeneration
* +(4-5)% chance to Evade Attacks (elder mod)

Attributes to reach ~160 requirement for lvl 20/21 gems. Mana regen is not required but allows to drop Clarity if you have enough of it.

Once you hit the end game, i recommend buying a good Marble amulet. Life regen is really helpful in mitigating degens / small hits. Elder rings are also necessary to hit evade chance cap with their "+(4–5)% chance to Evade Attacks" mod. It's required in the end game maps, for safety reasons.

Jewellery also have best unique items for magic finding. Well rolled Ventor's Gamble is great addition to this build, even if you don't want to focus on MF. Shaper amulets fall in the same category since they can roll 10% IIQ. Combined together they give great IIQ+IIR mix without hurting your defences too much.

Magic Finding has it's own section.

Flasks

Spoiler

This is the setup i run personally and recommend it for everyone. 2 life flasks to quickly heal from 0% to 100% health in a single hand motion. 3 utility flasks which you use every ~6 seconds. The mods on those flasks combined with Raider ascedancy and Soul of Shakari allow for complete ailment and curse immunity during mapping plus very high evasion.

Life flasks - i recommend 1 Bubbling and 1 Seething with bleeding/freeze/poison immunity for emergencies.

Utility flasks - i suggest Quicksilver and Jade. You NEED curse immunity and 90%+ increased evasion rating on them. They should also have "Reduced Charges" mod, it's undoubtly the best affix for flask uptime in maps. For additional effects, curse/bleeding immunity and increased evasion rating are the only good options.

Flask setup is flexible, you're not forced to use what i recommend if you don't want to. Adjust it to your liking.

From unique flasks:

* Dying Sun - Ultimate AoE flask. Luxury upgrade to the build, not required, very expensive.

* The Writhing Jar - Great flask for end game bosses. Allows you to generate fortify and onslaught before the fight starts or to refresh frenzy charges during waiting phases.

* Divination Distillate - for MFing purposes. Allows you to run "no regen" maps without changing a setup, at slower pace. You might want to use mana flask for some bosses/breaches/fast mapping instead.

* Witchfire Brew - Good flask if you start out the build, but as you progress with the build it starts to feel like a dead weight. Especially against bosses, where the flask overrides the Curse on Hit setup and will "delete" the curse once you're out of blasphemy range.

Jewels

Spoiler

There's not much to discuss, you want any 3 out of these 6 mods on your jewels:

* 5-7% increased maximum life
* 3–4% to Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier
* 9–13% increased Chaos Damage
* 10–12% increased Damage over Time
* 10–12% increased Projectile Damage
* 10–12% increased Area Damage
* 8–10% increased Damage

Life on the jewel is especially valued, get it if you can. Getting a jewel with all 4 good mods is kinda impossible, but finding one with 3 mods at once should be easy. Be sure to look out for other mods that can be beneficial for you:

* 14–18% increased Evasion Rating
* 7–13% to Chaos Resistance
* 4–6% increased Rarity of Items found
* Any resistance / strength / intelligence mods

Levelling and Progression

Caustic Arrow levelling (Act 1-10)

Spoiler

I've tried to be beginner friendly in this section, but didn't want to write essay either. If you're a veteran, i'm sure you can get all important information without reading guidelines. Please do read the short "Preparing for maps" section anyway.

Gem Progression:

Caustic Arrow - Pierce / Swift Affliction - Void Manipulation - Vicious Projectiles

You'll get Void Manipulation at lvl 8, Vicious Projectiles at lvl 18. Use Pierce Support gem until you pick up pierce nodes on passive tree, around level 40-45. Once you do, use Swift Affliction instead (buy from Siosa).

Toxic Rain - Mirage Archer

Additional utility/damage setup for bosses. Shoot Caustic Arrow, then attack once or twice and repeat. Slows enemies and can easily generate frenzy charges/onslaught from Raider ascendancy.

Wither - Spell Totem - Multiple Totems

Used for additional damage against bosses, can be used starting from level 38. Place and forget, 2 totems are enough. You might need little bit of strength/intelligence to use it.
Do NOT level up Wither until you reach act 9.

Despair : Curses enemies to increase damage. Use on bosses, tough packs, rares etc.
Do NOT level up Despair until you reach act 9.

Blink Arrow : Your movement skill
Grace : Your aura, grants additional evasion.
Purity of Elements : If you really need resistances. Use instead of Grace if necessary.

Gem Rewards:
* lvl 2 - Caustic Arrow
* lvl 3 - Mirage Archer (Medicine Chest side quest)
* lvl 8 - Void Manipulation
* lvl 10 - Blink Arrow

* lvl 12 - Toxic Rain
* lvl 18 - Vicious Projectiles
* lvl 24 - Grace, Despair
* lvl 38 - Greater Multiple Projectiles

Any gems you don't receive as a quest reward can be bought from Siosa (act 3) or
Lilly (act 6) once you complete their quests. Petarus and Vanja (act 4) also sell Multiple Totems after you enter Belly of the Beast.

Passive Tree Progression:
Level ~9 (Act 1)
Level ~18 (Act 2)
Level ~28 (Act 3)
Level ~45 (Act 4-5)
Level ~53 (Act 6-7)
Level ~53 (After Respec)
Level ~60 (Act 8)
Level ~70 (Blood Acqueducts farm)
Level ~73 (Before Kitava)

Bandit Reward: Kill all (recommended) OR spare Oak

Ascendancy Order: Way of a Poacher (1st Frenzy) -> Avatar of Chase (Onslaught) ->
-> respec Way of the Poacher (merciless lab) -> Avatar of Veil (Phasing)

Additional twink gear:
* Silverbranch/Silverbough
* Tabula Rasa
* Goldrim
* Wanderlust
* Hyrri's Bite (Int/Str)
* Karui Ward

Important reminder: Don't forget to level additional CA gems in your weapon slot. They still level even if you don't use them.

General levelling rule: First and most important to remember - when searching for equipment, your priority on them is Life and Resistances. Links are equally as important, be sure to look out for correct socket colors. This applies to all acts.

Act by act guidelines:

Spoiler

Act 1-3 should be very easy in general. That's where you slowly shape up your main skill. Majority of the necessary gems are rewards from quests. The ones you can't, you can buy from a Nessa, Yeena and Siosa as you progress through the main story.

In act 4 it's important to have good resistances, especially fire resist. Outside of that, it should be a breeze. It's a good idea to enter Labyrinth after you find waypoint inside Crystal Veins. Should be trivial at this point.

Act 5 is where things get little bit tougher. Monsters out there are quite dangerous and it's recommended to have capped fire and lightning resitances. It's also a time where bleed removal life flask becomes necessary. I suggest to farm Chambers of Innocence until you reach level 45 and then face the Innocence himself. Next boss is Kitava, 1600 life is enough to tank all of his abilities.

Once you arrive in act 6, check your resistances. If they're below 60%, you should pick up Purity of Elements from Clarissa (act 3) - use it instead of Grace aura until you solve the resistance problem. It's recommended to have them capped before the final boss.

Act 7 is quite easy. Beware of ghosts inside the Crypt, they can hit pretty hard. Around the end of this act, you should have all points from provided level ~53 passive tree and 10 respec points. Once you do, you should unallocate Ranger's starting nodes and take Atrophy chaos wheel. You might have to go back to earlier acts to have necessary amount of respec points.

Act 8 features Deodre, the hardest boss you encounter during levelling. It's relatively safe if you have 2500 life, but that might be hard to acquire. After that, the act is going to be trivial. It's good to have freeze removal flask for Lunaris area, in case you don't have it already. Kill the final boss of this act and proceed to Blood Acqueducts.

Preparing for maps:

The area with a long stream of blood is where you'll spend next 1-2 hours. It's a great place to farm experience. Look for gear upgrades and slowly replace your gems to recommended final setups. Before you proceed, you need a Tabula Rasa which you can farm in Blood Acqueducts OR you can buy 5-link bow with ilvl 64, high attack speed base if possible. The second option is better in general. On your newly purchased 5-link you can craft +2 bow gems with alteration/augmentation orbs. You should roll it within ~100 tries, still a bit RNG dependant. The 5-link CA setup is:

CA - Vicious Projectiles - Void Manipulation - Swift Affliction - Concentrated Effect

Now you're ready to get into maps. Progress through last 2 acts and face Izaro in merciless Labyrinth before the final fight. After you complete 3rd labyrinth, you should respec 1st frenzy ascedancy node. You can acquire all necessary points from side quests. When you're ready, defeat Kitava once and for all. 4000 life is enough to not get one-shot in both fights.

Mapping Progression

Spoiler

If you're here, i assume that you have at least lvl ~73 and CA gem lvl 17. Cursed Frenzy setup and Wither Totem should be included in your build as well. If you don't have all of them, you might find single target damage disappointing. This build is dependant on levels, especially if you're starting the league. Don't rush the content.

Before you begin mapping, it's wise to pack as many CA gems to level as possible (if you didn't already). Once they hit lvl 20, you can corrupt them with Vaal orbs for a chance to get lvl 21 gem. You can have up to 12 gems levelling at same time, as CWDT setup isn't very useful until red maps.

White maps:
Passive Tree Progression (level 81) - rush Phase Acrobatics

They shouldn't be a problem at all. Most map mods are trivial, running them blue is completely viable. No real danger outside of few bosses like Pen, Grotto or Spider Lair. For this map tier, you have 2 very simple goals:

* 6-linked bow with +2 gems (ilvl 64+)
* Correct Flask setup
* Carcass Jack / Cherrubim's Maleficence (optional)

It's possible that you've acquired money for all of them before killing Kitava. If not, simple unid chaos recipe should do the trick. Body armours are optional boost to damage/clear. They're meant to help you early on, only to be replaced once you engage harder content.

Your primary goal right now is acquiring 6-linked bow, it's very simple. Buy ilvl 64+ 6-link bow, then spam alts/augs to roll +2 bow gems (prefix). You should get it within ~100 alts. The links on the bow should look like this:

CA - Vicious Projectiles - Void Manipulation - Swift Affliction - Concentrated Effect -
- Damage on Full Life

Keep in mind that you can always switch Swift Affliction with Greater Multiple Projectiles for map clearing. The AoE coverage is massive QoL in exchange for single target damage, which you can always solve by switching the gems again.

You should also get flasks with right mods. They're very important. Not having right flasks will heavily affect your survivability. 2 instant Divine Life Flasks with having bleeding removal, Jade Flask with at least 90% increased evasion and Quicksilver Flask with curse immunity.

Yellow maps:
Passive Tree Progression (level 88)

This is where you'll spend quite a lot of time, recommended level is 80-90. This map tier isn't too risky, but some map mods might be deadly without proper defences/damage. Goals for this tier:

* +3 gems 6-linked bow
* Level 21 CA gem
* Phasing path (uber Labyrinth)
* General gear upgrades

The +3 bow is the primary goal in yellow maps. You should craft it by yourself, as it's the cheapest way of acquiring one. Check crafting section for full details how to do it.

You should get level 21 CA through vaaling all the gems you're levelling, once they reach level 20. If you're unlucky and didn't get one, i recommend buying it instead.

Once you have proper damage, you can face Izaro inside uber Labyrinth. You will be safe as long as you dodge his attacks, which you should do with ease. Allocate remaining points in phasing path and ignore elemental ailments! Do not forget you need to have phasing/onslaught/maximum frenzy charges in order to gain the immunity.

Do not forget about your other gear, it's equally important. Get more life and resistances, good jewels, 30% CA duration helmet and all the good stuff. In short, upgrade it whenever you need, whenever you can.

Red maps:
Passive Tree Progression (level 94)

That's where mapping becomes tough. Monsters can hit hard, map bosses become tanky, map mods are huge pain. Your damage should carry you through most maps easily, but the bosses combined with some map mods can be too scary. The 4 following goals of this map tier will fix all these issues tier:

* Kintsugi
* Elder Ring with +4-5% chance to Evade Attacks (one required, two for additional safety)
* Empower 3/4
* 7-link +3 Elder bow.

In that order. It's best to acquire Kintsugi as soon as possible. It's a cheap and underrated unique. Gives massive defensive boost for your character.

Despite very high evasion and Kintsugi on top of it, some maps might still give you a lot of troubles. Elder Ring should solve these problems. Paired with Jade Flask, Dread Banner and 25% more evasion from Onslaught path, it can reach up to 95% evade chance cap. Two rings are recommended, but one should be enough.

Once you upgrade your defences, the next upgrade should be Empower gem. Level 3 is easily enough for majority of the content. Level 4 would be ideal, but it costs massive amounts of money. Price is very high early on and drops over time. You can try collecting The Dragon's Heart divination card too, but that might be tricky sometimes. Empower replaces Damage on Full Life OR Concentrated Effect, your call.

Elder 7-link bow is a goal you probably won't reach. It increases damage output by ~15% more... for a price. It's not necessary to do all end game content, just makes it slightly easier. Once you get all other upgrades, optimize your gear and everything else - you can think about wasting money on crafting/buying one.

After that, all you can do now is enjoy the build, kill some end game bosses and look for another build you want to play.

End Game Bosses/Maps Guide

Spoiler

As a rule, you're capable of killing pretty much any boss deathless. Scary red maps, end game bosses, all of them. Some of them are not worth the risk tho. Learn to skip them.
+3 6-linked bow is required.

Shaper:
Required gem setups: Decoy Totem

Shaper himself isn't an issue, but the portal phase is problematic. The spawned monsters have too much health to die quickly. Decoy totem should be enough to protect Zana. Using The Writhing Jar for the talking phase is also recommended (otherwise you might lose frenzy charges).

Shaper Guardians: You shouldn't have many issues with them. Chimera and Phoenix are the easiest. Hydra's turrets can be deadly if you don't watch out. Minotaur's lightning gates apply deadly debuff that can easily be a death sentence.

Elder:
Required gem setup: Frost Wall

Once you get to know his moves, he's very easy. In first phase you should prioritize killing spawned minions, so they won't drop decaying ground (phys degen). Damage elder whenever you don't have to focus minions. Second phase, just protect Shaper with Frost Wall (see video). Third phase can be tricky and even deadly, but overall try to burst down the Elder while killing mobs to recover flask charges.

Elder Guardians: They shouldn't be a problem. All of them have some scary attacks, but you can avoid them easily. Using Purity of Lightning against Eradicator is wise idea as well, his damage can be spiky sometimes.

Uber Elder:
Optional gem setup:
* Enduring Cry - Immortal Call - Increased Duration
* Aspect of the Crab
Optional Pantheon: Soul of Arakaali (recovery upgrade), Soul of Ralakesh

This is mostly mechanical fight. None of the above setups are required, just allow to make more mistakes and allow to handle the physical degen if you couldn't kill Elder's squids fast enough. Against Shaper balls, i recommend kiting. You're fast enough and playstyle allows for near indefinite kiting by simply running in circles. Everything else depends on your skill. You can do it.

Uber Atziri:
Required gem setup: Purity of Fire, Purity of Lightning, Vigilant Strike
Required gear: The Writhing Jar, The Vigil, Topaz/Ruby Flask

Thing with Atziri is, that she's mostly a mechanical fight. You can dodge almost anything... until RNG screws you over and you die. It's possible to kill her without getting hit at all (we got lots of speed after all), but you want to be prepared for anything. Vigilant Strike gives long lasting fortify, Kintsugi reduces damage by another 20%, Purities gives 4% resist each. It won't save you from everything, but gives you chance to actually take a single hit and live. Not sure which resistance flask is more important, so choose it yourself or take both (1 life flask left).

As for Alluring Abyss itself, the zone can be really dangerous. Take it slow, don't tank mobs (rare soldiers hit super hard). It's nothing too hard. Vaals are probably the hardest part to be fair. Use The Writhing Jar to fortify and refresh frenzy charges in waiting phase. Trio is pretty easy, see Vaal Temple below. Disable Grace and start using PoF/PoL for Atziri, also fortify yourself between phases.

Vaal Temple: Shouldn't be a problem. Additional speed, double damage mod, temp chains or twinned are probably too risky. Titty bitch -> Dual striker -> Cycloner. You can kite dual striker with Wither totem easily. Beware of Titty bitch's physical blade rain, it's good idea to remain mobile until it's on cooldown (after she casts it).

Breachlords: Elemental breachlords are weak enough to be killed with ~22 level CA. Uul-Netol is more dangerous, CWDT-IC setup is required to prevent one shots. Chayula's domain might give you big troubles. It's doable tho, be sure to kill rare mobs as you go. Boss can be really dangerous, equipping Ming's Heart / Chaos resistance breach ring is a good idea.

Hall of Grandmasters:
Required gem setup: Scorching Ray
Required gear: The Brass Dome

Easy for the most part. The tough part are few exiles that can deal absurd damage in short time. Lethal map purely thanks to them. CI forces us to use Scorching Ray against them, Balefire unique is the easiest way to get the setup. Use it in or even 2 of them in a weapon swap. You need chaos resistance yourself, at least make it positive. Be elemental weakness capped.

Poorjoy's Asylum: Since CA can't off-screen mobs and shatter / explode corpses, it's a scary map. Those DD assholes are capable of killing you in split second. I generally avoid this map. I recommend using Mirage Archer for it, you can even combine it with Writhing Jar to actually off-screen enemies.

Uber Lab: This might not be the safest build for a full key run, but kills Izaro quickly enough for it to be possible. Kintsugi's amazing for lab traps, or you can also use QotF if you prefer.

Map Mods

As i already mentioned before, we can run pretty much anything... within common sense. So no Twinned Core with LMP + Turbo + -10% max res + 2x 100% bonus ele dmg, or anything like this. We're not immortal RF guardian.

I only mention actual deadly mods that you really gotta watch out for. Triple increased damage and stuff is obvious anyway.

Dangerous mods:

* Player Dodge chance is Unlucky / Monsters have #% increased Accuracy Rating
This is actually one of the hardest mods. Very noticeable in high tier maps or breaches etc. Onslaught path negates the problems for the most part, but spells are problematic.

* Monsters have #% increased Critical Strike Chance / +#% to Monster Critical Strike Multiplier
With high evasion, attacks should almost never crit you. Spell on the other hand can still hit hard.

* Monsters fire 2 additional Projectiles
Scary mod on some bosses and monster types. Some monsters are still able to shotgun, like few new Oriath monsters.

* Area contains two Unique Bosses
This is dangerous mod in some maps as you know. You should be able to do majority of them quite easily. Some can be done safely only with enough damage.

* #% increased Monster Movement Speed / #% increased Monster Attack Speed / #% increased Monster Cast Speed
Speed might be deadly in some boss encounters. The faster boss is, the less damage you deal and the more time you spend kiting him. With temp chains + speed you might not be able to kite at all. Watch out for such combos.

* Players are Cursed with Vulnerability
Negated during mapping thanks to warding flask, but not against bosses. Can be very deadly if you receive bleeding.

* Players are Cursed with Temporal Chains
Not a problem most of the time, but worth mentioning. Mod can be easily negated by Timetwist ring, if you're against a tough boss.

* Players cannot Regenerate Life, Mana or Energy Shield
Not a deadly mod, but worth mentioning. You can do it easily, just bring mana flask instead of utility flask. Almost any high level mana flask can work. Don't forget to turn off Clarity for higher mana pool.


Besides that, typical damage mod combinations shouldn't be understimated. Everything applies like to every other build out there.

Classic CA+ED Build

Old school version of the build that was used before 3.4 patch. With changes to the passive tree in 3.5, it once again is the most optimal way to play this build. You can squeeze ~60% more damage that way.

Pros:
* MUCH Higher damage output
* Awesome active playstyle (warning: personal opinion)

Cons:
* Very expensive
* Significant gear limitations
* Might be too mechanically intensive for some people

If it's worth trying using it, it's up to you to decide. If you're still interested, read further:

What changes compared to normal build:
* Chaos Staff/Bow in weapon swap, Essence Drain setup.
* No elemental resistances on Bow/Quiver - otherwise your resists might be negative after you swap weapons.
* Level 94 - Classic tree - Big changes on passive tree. Focused on scaling DoT/Chaos/Global damage through tree and jewels to benefit both CA and ED. Uses Frenzy charges for the same reason.

* Speaking of jewels, there are only 4 mods that truly benefit this build. %max Life and DoT/Chaos/Global damage increases. Much harder to acquire them.
* If using a Staff, you must use Wither Totem, cannot use Wither Rain (MA disappears on weapon swap).
* Skill Effect Duration nodes are NECESSARY for this build to work.

Frenzy generation during mapping:

Spoiler

Since classic build focuses on Frenzy charges for additional damage/speed, it would be great to have them up all the time. With onslaught and phasing path you don't generate frenzies on kill, so you need another source. Without charges, the build doesn't have the same smooth feeling while mapping. Pick one of the following:

* ilvl 84 Elder Quiver: (7–10)% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill
* ilvl 84 Elder Gloves: (7–10)% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill
* The Green Dream: 18% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill (duelist jewel slot)
* Precursor's Emblem: 10% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Kill

Jewel is the easiest way to get them, but you lose decent amount of life/damage you would get from normal jewel. Cheapest way would be crafting the Quiver, but you lose potential for +1 arrow (not a problem if you use Dying Sun).

The ring is new Azurite mine unique. Not the most efficient option but it's decent. Finding a good mod combination to make it worth is going to be hard. The best option and also most expensive of them all is crafting Elder Gloves. That way you can have a jewel slot and +1 arrow quiver at same time.

7-10% change for frenzy is required to have reliable upkeep, the more the better. If you hit T1 affix, make sure it has at least 9% chance, otherwise you will lose charges constantly.

Two more things:
1 - Keep in mind that you can deal damage with both of the skills at same time. CA's cloud doesn't disappear after you switch weapon, same goes to ED's DoT debuff after it hits the enemy.

2 - ED projectile has to hit enemy while you wield Staff, otherwise it flies through enemy like nothing happened.

That's about it. These might appear trivial but it's a massive difference in gearing up. I don't think i need to explain playstyle, check out one of my 3.2 videos. The only difference is that in 3.5 CA's duration is going to be short and ED's is going to be long.

Have fun

"

Magnum1484 wrote:

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Magnum1484/characters

i dont normally ask for help...but i need alittle guidance on what to do

i know i dont have all the gem setups well practically none of them and i havnt actually done any crafting in any league(mostly cause i dont get alot of currency nor do i know how to craft...crafting is a bit overwhelming for me)...what should i be working towards right now...i know getting the gem setup is important but i dont know what piece of gear i should try to upgrade first..

i just need a bit of direction on where to go

"

Magnum1484 wrote:

i think its set right now to where you can see it....i didnt know it was private...my bad