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

I have been crafting some belts and gloves with fossils but I really need to have at least one res mod on it. Is it blocked? Would like to know what way is best to just get life dmg and a resistance..
most crafts with fossils include aberrant so there's no way to get enough lightning res for me atm

A couple of basic questions, not really specific to this build, but since I am new to the game and playing this build, I'll ask them here anyway:

1) What loot filter should I use so that I don't miss good equipment (and most of it is bad)? I currently have NeverSink's filter set to "semi-strict".

2) The biggest problem I have is when there is so many fast things happening on the screen. I am not sure who to shoot, where to run, and generally what's going on. When I drink the 3 non-life flasks that speed me up, this makes it even worse because now I am also moving very fast and I can't react that fast in a meaningful way. Any tips here, or I just have to get used to it? This usually happens with a strong boss with many minions.

3) How is the Azurite Mine important for the build? When should I start descending it? Is it used to mine the fossils that are needed for bow crafting?

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Crusader370 wrote:

A couple of basic questions, not really specific to this build, but since I am new to the game and playing this build, I'll ask them here anyway:

1) What loot filter should I use so that I don't miss good equipment (and most of it is bad)? I currently have NeverSink's filter set to "semi-strict".

2) The biggest problem I have is when there is so many fast things happening on the screen. I am not sure who to shoot, where to run, and generally what's going on. When I drink the 3 non-life flasks that speed me up, this makes it even worse because now I am also moving very fast and I can't react that fast in a meaningful way. Any tips here, or I just have to get used to it? This usually happens with a strong boss with many minions.

3) How is the Azurite Mine important for the build? When should I start descending it? Is it used to mine the fossils that are needed for bow crafting?

character is private, so can't check whether you play SSF, trade league, standard, etc.

So I can drop few advice assuming playing softcore trade metamorph (league), for SSF advice probably wait for the author of the guide, as he's an expert on it.

1. Loot filter use Neversink's, you can later go to his website (http://www.filterblade.xyz/) and make any changes to the loot filter and download it as custom. I usually use Regular while levelling, Semi-Strict in early mapping when I'm picking yellows for chaos recipe, and Strict when you're mostly geared up and don't want to pick a lot of stuff (but then it's best to make a custom filter to only show items you want, like currencies, crafting mats, divination cards, uniques etc.)

If you aren't playing SSF, most yellows are only good for chaos recipe (sell full set of items for 2c), otherwise if you don't care to do that, you can just pick belts / rings / amulets and see if they have good stats. I wouldn't spend time identifying every item for 1 in 1000 chance it's good.

2. I'm personally a slow player and usually only use movespeed flask to traverse empty areas, I don't run through mobs like the speed farmers do, so I don't get surrounded (that could be okay if you play with arrow nova, not sure), just clear in front of you first and then go forward. Fast player will always be annoyed at a slow build, but a slow player doesn't have to run faster just because they have a fast build.

With bosses get used to stutter step aka shoot - run a bit - shoot - run a bit pattern, a lot of abilities will target where you stand and are not "homing" projectiles so if you keep moving bit by bit a lot of abilities will shoot in an area you were 1 second ago and not at you. This is 1 way of increasing your survivability against bosses.

3. In trade league you can always buy fossils, you don't have to delve. But it's a good idea whenever you have a lot of sulphite to do so, as it's a source of extra loot. Talk to niko and use his missions to replenish sulphite. Keep in mind if you haven't delved at all, you probably need to clear decent amount of azurite nodes and buy upgrades for the mine like light radius and increased max sulphite capacity, otherwise it will be an unfun experience.

Thanks Viktranka!

I definitely play just the regular softcore league, as this is only my 2nd time playing (the first time I didn't follow any guide and didn't get that far). I didn't know about this website for customization the loot filter, that is super useful!

I think my question has been "addressed". The only other comment is:

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just clear in front of you first and then go forward

That works for clearing the maps, but with a boss, they seem to be spawning stuff all the time, so if I do that, maybe I'll only keep killing what they spawn. Maybe I am wrong. I especially find it difficult to target the boss with
1) the CA setup
2) toxic rain + mirage archer
3) Despair
all while running around, trying to avoid everything that is coming at you and not trying to target the minions. Maybe I should just target anything that moves and hopefully that will include the boss as well most of the time.

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Crusader370 wrote:

That works for clearing the maps, but with a boss, they seem to be spawning stuff all the time, so if I do that, maybe I'll only keep killing what they spawn.

That's why the guide recommends having pierce (from quiver / talent tree node "piercing shots"), if your arrow pierces it will drop a puddle both at the initial mob and a mob behind it, it drops the puddle per every pierce, assuming the arrow didn't miss. While the puddles don't stack for damage, it allows you to reach mobs that are "hiding" behind their minions / summons, especially these packs with "totem that gives them immortality" (they have little orange X aura on them).

I have complete potato aim and I often have to do "cleanup" on metamorphs because even after main boss dies there are still little adds left over, and tbh I think caustic arrow is very lenient on targeting (I also played bane, toxic rain and totem character so far, all of these skills have huge leeway on targeting, it's not a melee skill or traditional bow play with barrage where I actually have to ensure I'm targeting the mob properly).

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Crusader370 wrote:

Maybe I am wrong. I especially find it difficult to target the boss with
1) the CA setup
2) toxic rain + mirage archer
3) Despair
all while running around, trying to avoid everything that is coming at you and not trying to target the minions. Maybe I should just target anything that moves and hopefully that will include the boss as well most of the time.

The end game setup will require you to focus on either caustic arrow or toxic rain, probably not both, I played toxic rain a couple of leagues ago and the area was huge, it really doesn't require precise targeting at all.

Mirage archer shoots stuff completely on their own, it doesn't require any input of yours except that you attacked a target recently to proc it.

Despair if you hand cast it is a pretty big circle too, you can even link it with increased area or spell cascade for even bigger, if you use recommended frenzy + curse on hit setup you can link frenzy with greater multiple projectiles or something to make it easier to hit, especially before you get end game gear (dying sun, extra arrow on bow & quiver etc.), you can also use witchfire brew flask, it's a decent option for a starter as it's cheap and helps to get despair early on when your character lacks int to use the gem.

2 things I like to set up:
1. left mouse click set to "move only" this will ensure when you want to move out of harm's way you will move and not accidentally attack and get hit
2. every other ability except dash set to "always attack without moving" (when you see the drop down on abilities, it's above all abilities small button on top left of the ability menu). That ensures my character won't try to "move into range" especially when abilities like caustic arrow can be targeted on the ground just as fine.

Viktranka, thank you, this is great info!

Anyone have a pastepin link to the whole skill tree? I can't see the whole tree clicking on ops links.

hi,I crafted this pretty bow .
I am not sure how additional projectile helps the CA setup build at all. isn't DoT multi a much better role in this case? Am I missing something?

Should I wait before I buy the 6 link ilvl 64+ bow for crafting? The price is 10 chaos right now on poe.trade, if I understand what I need to get properly. Is the price likely to go down this league as more people advance?

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Crusader370 wrote:

Should I wait before I buy the 6 link ilvl 64+ bow for crafting? The price is 10 chaos right now on poe.trade, if I understand what I need to get properly. Is the price likely to go down this league as more people advance?

Since any 6-link can be vendored for a divine orb, the prices of 6-links might go up when people start divining their end game gear. Or they might stay the same due to how plentiful are 6-link metamorph rewards. This season they're very cheap. In Blight divines were 20-25c from what I remember.

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BoZoM242 wrote:

hi,I crafted this pretty bow

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I am not sure how additional projectile helps the CA setup build at all. isn't DoT multi a much better role in this case? Am I missing something?

You could have the dot multi instead of attack speed if you mean "what's the perfect bow". Extra arrow just helps clear faster since due to concentrated effect the size of the puddle isn't great, but if you use weapon / gem swap with arrow nova or something similar, extra arrow might not be needed.

Extra arrow can also help to hit with frenzy since the build isn't accuracy capped.