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

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DankawSL wrote:

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Kinsl wrote:

What should I change if I want to use this build with poison and new herald?

Pathfinder ascendancy, take some additional nodes with chance to poison and you should be good to go.

Can you also advise some links for herald pls?

Thanks @DankawSL for updating your build. Have been making quite a few adjustments based on your recommendations.
I have a few questions regarding your new tree.

Do you feel Oak's reward is now mandatory, as you loose out on the Growth and Decay (2% life regen) cluster?

Using PoB, +1 to Frenzy charges seems to loose out to decent jewels. Can you talk about why you prioritize Frenzy's in your Onslaught version of your tree?

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Kinsl wrote:

Can you also advise some links for herald pls?

HoAgony - GMP - Minion Damage - Vicious Projectiles

This seems to be no-brainer. I don't know full scaling of the minion or what can it be supported with, but here are other options that should work well:

Vile Toxins, Empower, Withering Touch

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Rug wrote:

Spoiler

Thanks @DankawSL for updating your build. Have been making quite a few adjustments based on your recommendations.
I have a few questions regarding your new tree.

Do you feel Oak's reward is now mandatory, as you loose out on the Growth and Decay (2% life regen) cluster?

Using PoB, +1 to Frenzy charges seems to loose out to decent jewels. Can you talk about why you prioritize Frenzy's in your Onslaught version of your tree?

Yeah, with loss of that regen it's much harder to stay at full life for DoFL purposes. It's better now than ever. I know that i'll try to get Marble amulet later on.

Tree doesn't include jewels (except 1) for SSF, budget and beginner friendly purposes. Jewels in general have potential to be highest damage increase out of any nodes on the tree.

Frenzy nodes might not be the MOST efficient, but they're really good while also giving you other bonuses. Easier upkeep and additional attack/cast speed for applying Wither stacks.

Wouldn't pathfinder ascendancy be better with the new/reworked nodes? What are your thoughts on using this skill tree, for a Toxic Rain setup?

I've been following this build and I'm enjoying it... but Toxic Rain still feels so much more powerful than CA right now. Level 40 only, so that could change in maps, but man is Toxic Rain good right now...

What are some leveling items you recommend ?

Status on CA so far. I'm lvl 83 now with majority of white maps done. Started doing yellows now as well. I use Tabula instead of +2 5-link. CA is doing great overall. Level 18 gem in a 6-link was OKish, once i hit lvl 19 it became a pure faceroll. I run standard GGGG setup with Conc effect and GMP / DoFL for clearing / bosses. Very easy clearing, most bosses die rather quickly. Now, let's talk about elephant in the room:

Duration. It's terrible. I hardly can do anything without it expiring almost instantly. The only thing that saves CA right now from being awful is really good damage once you get to a certain point. Combination of small AoE (low level, Conc Effect) and 1,7-2sec duration, there are periods of times where the boss takes no damage at all. This should fix itself in time, up to a certain point anyway. I should pick up duration nodes soon and see how it goes. (5 more levels or so)

One more thing remains, Divination Distillate and mana management. As always it's a little bit hard to use it efficiently at the start of the league. With 6-link and GMP it's exactly enough to keep it up ~80-90% of the time. Bosses were never an issue since you can just pop flask right before they die for loot. In short, this setup should still work fine with enough attack speed and high level CA gem. If the mana cost ends up being too low, potential fix would be using weapon swap for clearing with GMP in it (165% mana multiplier).

Needs more end-game testing. Will update again later.

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SkiipperSama wrote:

Wouldn't pathfinder ascendancy be better with the new/reworked nodes? What are your thoughts on using this skill tree, for a Toxic Rain setup?

Pathfinder is viable option, but in my opinion Raider simply gives too much defence and QoL too pass it up. Pathfinder is much better for poison focused builds for sure.

I can't say if the tree is good without knowing the build you're doing. For poison builds the tree should be decent, but probably needs minor passive tree changes to up the poison on hit chance.

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Aom0ri wrote:

I've been following this build and I'm enjoying it... but Toxic Rain still feels so much more powerful than CA right now. Level 40 only, so that could change in maps, but man is Toxic Rain good right now...

That's what i felt as well. Toxic Rain with those ~4 spore pods deals around 200% base damage per attack, with small dot on top of it. That's the nature of hit builds, during levelling it's very easy to scale them with flat damage to make them deal good amounts of damage. Standalone skills that don't need GMP/Pierce/Chain are great for levelling in general.

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ryanruiner wrote:

What are some leveling items you recommend ?

Silverbranch/Silverbough and 4-link should carry you through whole story. That or a Tabula, or both. Hyrri's bite is great quiver for additional str/int requirements during levelling, should allow usage of Wither Totem for great damage boost. Rest of the unique is a standard, Goldrim/Wanderlust etc.

i thought GMP reduces DOT damage?

It does. The thing is, CA could clear maps decently before the huge buff as you can see in my videos. With double damage CA got this league, i can lose that 50% of my dps for 4 additional arrows (effectively buff nullfies the damage penalty). I still use normal 6-link without GMP for bosses.

I was wondering if the "20% chance to deal Double Damage" mod on bow works with CA DoT or only with initial hit?