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

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Upd for 3.9 soon?

If the guide says 3.9, it's most likely updated. I'm not one of those people who tries to bait others with false promises. I make sure to communicate about everything. You can find status at the beginning of the guide.

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ZackRichartz wrote:

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Might roll with this as league starter! :D Question though, how would this be for softcore? maybe give up some defenses/life for more QoL or DPS? would be nice to see possibly a Softcore variant? Love it though!

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illuminate89 wrote:

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I love everything about the look of this!!

Quick question though, any tips/advice if I want to prioritize single target damage as I'll be in SC not HC?

Hardcore and softcore are still the same game, only the rules a slightly different. All of the information necessary is already inside the guide. The keyword is "all", that includes potential damage upgrade. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding it. I heavily advice to not touch passive tree.

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Lissmano wrote:

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Haven't played PoE for like 2-3 Leagues, looking to get into it right about now ^^ Quick question: I've never seen a CWDT gem at level 20 lol, is that accurate in this build or should it be a lower level? Or is that just something you go now since Steelskin?

Awesome guide nonetheless but I would add a little note that CWDT + Steelskin should be 20/20 or w/e cuz right now I'm not sure xd


Cheers

Steelskin requires high gem level in order to block reasonable amount of damage. It's not your old Immortal Call where you get all benefit starting from level one. High level CWDT is required.

Steelskin not being 20/20 is probably due to me not having fully upgraded gem when i changed the gem presentation. I'll fix it later.

Returning player here. Thanks for this, I'm running a legacy 2.6 version of a Scion Caustic Arrow magic find build, going to use this guide to help me 'rebuild' my character! Thanks for the work making this guide. Cheers!

Do you think that the new Awakened Added Chaos Damage Support will be worth using in place of any of the support gems currently in the build?

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Floyd1319 wrote:

Do you think that the new Awakened Added Chaos Damage Support will be worth using in place of any of the support gems currently in the build?

Awakened gems are stronger versions of already existing support gems. Most of them didn't change outside of numeric values. Current Added Chaos doesn't do anything for the build, neither does the awakened version.

Speaking of awakened gems, Curse on Hit is absolutely ridiculous. Bypassing hexproof AND extra curse? Yes please, makes 6-link body armour attractive for once. Other gems for CA aren't very interesting, simple numeric buffs you want to include in your build eventually.

Thanks for the excellent build guide. I'm new to this game and with your help I made it to level 79 in the last few weeks of the league.

Nearly every support gem on the caustic arrow has an awakened version now, CA buffed too, plus the new DOT you can get on bows and quivers means this build should be stronger at low to mid levels with a nice step up at level 70 with awakened support gems.

I'm running the build again this season because I feel like I didn't really get into it's stride last time. (Already reserved my name in standard)

I read the whole thread, and I don't think this was asked, but the Shadow Trickster has some great life and mana regen, as opposed to the ranger defense. You clearly know what you're doing but I would be really interested to understand the reasoning for why the ranger ascendancy is better. Only if you have time. There's a big chunk of damage over time nearby on the trickster which looks like a stronger early character, and do we know where the ballista totems are going to be? Depending where those are they might be worth sacrificing something for.

If you're busy, or if this is just a dumb question I will probably be able to answer myself after 10 minutes with POB just ignore it.

Strongly considering CA Raider for 3.9 (ssf) start, few questions:

You say the single target is 'mediocre'. Should I take this in the sense of the build won't be insta-phasing bosses, or does it mean endgame 3.8 bosses were a struggle without big gear investments?

Other thing is - arrow nova support vs GMP - is the difference here just going to be in the way they spread the puddles but the damage for both will be the same?

Probably going to be league starting this for 3.9.

Any other ideas on annoints? just in case (and I assume this'll be the case) oils are very scarce and it could take a couple days for Black + Crimson oils to become more widely available. The couple other damage over time nodes are basically the same tier of oils. This all assumes oil requirements stay the same of course.

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RubikMonat wrote:

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Thanks for the excellent build guide. I'm new to this game and with your help I made it to level 79 in the last few weeks of the league.

Nearly every support gem on the caustic arrow has an awakened version now, CA buffed too, plus the new DOT you can get on bows and quivers means this build should be stronger at low to mid levels with a nice step up at level 70 with awakened support gems.

I'm running the build again this season because I feel like I didn't really get into it's stride last time. (Already reserved my name in standard)

I read the whole thread, and I don't think this was asked, but the Shadow Trickster has some great life and mana regen, as opposed to the ranger defense. You clearly know what you're doing but I would be really interested to understand the reasoning for why the ranger ascendancy is better. Only if you have time. There's a big chunk of damage over time nearby on the trickster which looks like a stronger early character, and do we know where the ballista totems are going to be? Depending where those are they might be worth sacrificing something for.

If you're busy, or if this is just a dumb question I will probably be able to answer myself after 10 minutes with POB just ignore it.

It's a simple logic. Allow me to showcase you my type of thinking. If everything dies instantly, why would you want more damage? Only bosses and rares can hold for more than split second, even against them it's only few seconds advantage at best. So here comes the big question:

Why would you want to sacrifice unmatched defence, speed and QoL to kill bosses marginally faster?

It just doesn't make any sense to me, especially since Raider will run through map quicker actually gaining edge in speed over Trickster. It's true that Raider has a bit rocky start, but once you get 6-link bow we're back at the same question. Mana recovery is not a problem. Trickster's life recovery is nullified by Raider's defences where you never get hit.

So what of significance Trickster really offers? The answer is: nothing. If you believe Raider doesn't have enough damage, then go ahead and pick Trickster.

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papasad wrote:

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Strongly considering CA Raider for 3.9 (ssf) start, few questions:

You say the single target is 'mediocre'. Should I take this in the sense of the build won't be insta-phasing bosses, or does it mean endgame 3.8 bosses were a struggle without big gear investments?

Other thing is - arrow nova support vs GMP - is the difference here just going to be in the way they spread the puddles but the damage for both will be the same?

You can answer your own initial question by watching videos. You can see they're trivial even in SSF environment. CA's single target simply isn't nearly as good as many other skills, but it's not terrible by any means. Different people, different expectations. This line is of more of safety check for people who believe spending more than 2 seconds to phase a boss is too much.

The pattern is different, that's it. I see GMP as a consistent way of applying degen where you want it, 2 casts and whole screen is covered. Arrow Nova has better potential but without lots of projectiles it should be inconsistent. The presentation done by GGG was very underwhelming to say the least. I'll test it in-game.

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Spoiler

Probably going to be league starting this for 3.9.

Any other ideas on annoints? just in case (and I assume this'll be the case) oils are very scarce and it could take a couple days for Black + Crimson oils to become more widely available. The couple other damage over time nodes are basically the same tier of oils. This all assumes oil requirements stay the same of course.

Annoint Diamond Skin for extra resistances and you're good to go. Most nodes with cost lower than Corruption are simply underwhelming. Besides you don't need the annointment right away.

I also call bullshit on oils being more rare. You will find Cassia only 10% of the time now, but she used to give you oils once per 10 encounters as well (more or less). Now it's guaranteed to have oil / blighted map. It evens out. Now think about potential sextant mods spawning Cassia and metamorphs dropping oils (confirmed, check today's gameplay teaser)... I would say we're gonna have same amount of oils if not more.

In the case that i'm actually intending to use this build in a HC SSF, would you recommend the raider version (high dodge) or the champion version (fortify) for staying alive?

Great build by the way. :)

I forgot about the speed part. Good point. And thanks for the explanation.

I only got up to 77k dps according to the tooltip on caustic arrow. But everything except bosses dead instantly. Even with mirage archer shots on t5 maps.