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

So what is more effective, tr with wither support/ totem + wither?
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ryoken0367 wrote:
Spoiler
I picked up the 6-link bow shortly after making that post. Had someone who was willing to take different currency (I had a fair bit of jewelers, not a lot of chaos) in trade, so was able to pick it up sooner than I expected to be able to. Took ~300 Alts and ~65 augs to get the +2 with a decent suffix, and that was only the second time I saw it (first was with mana on kill, which you said can make it hard to keep Divination Distillate up, so I kept going).

Once I get a few more Chaos, and the master levels to remove the life craft (almost there, just a couple more days of Dailies I hope), I'll work on crafting it higher, thank you for the tip.

I did some clearing last night, and 2 arrows feels pretty good. It doesn't spread as much as with GMP, but with full damage on the DoT I would say I'm clearing a little faster than I was with GMP, because I had to wait for mobs to die. The biggest difference for me is I don't have to remember to swap gems for bosses, making those fights *much* easier (because I never remembered). One thing I notice is that arrows are missing a decent amount or I'm really bad at aiming with 2 arrows. I think it's misses because my accuracy seems a little low (88%), is that normal?

I will likely take you up on that mastercrafting service soon, thank you! I need to feel some luck and I'll regal the bow, then try to catch you online to get it finished out.

*Edit* Regaled the bow, and got lucky: Got a suffix (even got a pretty decent suffix, increased projectile speed). If I can catch you online, would love to finish out the craft. I think I have just enough currency to make it happen, just not there on the masters yet.

*Edit 2* Thank you Dankaw, very happy with the end result!


Overall, although I've been enjoying the build since I started it, I feel it's really starting to come together and it feels amazing. Your thorough guide and advice has made the trip a lot of fun, and the build itself is really quite enjoyable.

The accuracy issue is probably a side effect from using GMP. If you're using 1 arrow, then missing is visible most of the time. 2 arrows pretty much negate the problem if you're aiming at the pack of monsters, at least 1 arrow will hit. What you might be experiencing is lower AoE coverage compared to GMP. You simply have to adapt to it.

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Mishalicher wrote:
So what is more effective, tr with wither support/ totem + wither?

Wither Totem is in core setups for a reason. Straight up better in majority of cases. Withering Rain is optional in case you dislike totem, and it's better than totem in few rares cases.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3053600 - My Guides
Man you really should get some kind of an award for making this guide and replying to every single post here, without saying stuff like read the guide, you actually explain and give proper tips.

I really appreciate what you done for he community :)
Awesome build! Played a CA Occultist last league, and decided to try a Ranger version this time with the reworked CA. I've also always wanted to use Div Distillate flask, but most builds don't run it with Quicksilver or they use Pathfinder. I hate not using Quicksilver and I hate Pathfinder, so this is perfect.

Regarding Wither Rain or Totem for me, I use both:
Spoiler
I can just manage to fit everything in:
CwDT with Vaal Grace in Helm
Wither Totem in Gloves
Frenzy CoH in Boots
Wither Rain + Blink Arrow + Vaal Blight in Chestpiece

The nice thing is that everything fits on to the hotbar nicely for me (I like to keep my Aura on the hotbar even after activating it).

Wither Totem is great for bossing, but I find Wither Rain much better in Delves. In Delve encounters or bossing in maps, I simply throw everything down: Wither Totem, Wither Rain, Vaal Blight, Frenzy CoH, then go ham with CA.


Considered using a Boots with Socketed Gems supported with Level 15 Increased Duration Support. This would allow me to use either Wither Rain + Vaal Grace or Wither Totem + Vaal Grace in the Boots, freeing up 1 Socket for something else, perhaps another CwDT trigger like Molten Shell, or just a Portal to link with Wither Totem's Faster Casting. Haven't been able to find Boots with good enough stats.
Nothing is true; everything is permitted.
Last edited by thsscapii#3432 on Oct 3, 2018, 10:59:18 PM
Awesome guide, playing pathfinder to 93 in SSF so far, and still invested in the league. Best build/guide I've played.
Is it possible to apply Shock to enemies for even more damage?
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Amethalia wrote:
Awesome guide, playing pathfinder to 93 in SSF so far, and still invested in the league. Best build/guide I've played.

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black_dota wrote:
Man you really should get some kind of an award for making this guide and replying to every single post here, without saying stuff like read the guide, you actually explain and give proper tips.

I really appreciate what you done for he community :)

Thank you!

I still reply in manner that can be interpreted in "read guide pls" way. Usually when i just copy&paste part of the guide to save time. I created such large guide so people can find the answers themselves without having to ask. If something's not clear, it's normal for me to help out.

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thsscapii wrote:
Spoiler
Awesome build! Played a CA Occultist last league, and decided to try a Ranger version this time with the reworked CA. I've also always wanted to use Div Distillate flask, but most builds don't run it with Quicksilver or they use Pathfinder. I hate not using Quicksilver and I hate Pathfinder, so this is perfect.

Regarding Wither Rain or Totem for me, I use both:
Spoiler
I can just manage to fit everything in:
CwDT with Vaal Grace in Helm
Wither Totem in Gloves
Frenzy CoH in Boots
Wither Rain + Blink Arrow + Vaal Blight in Chestpiece

The nice thing is that everything fits on to the hotbar nicely for me (I like to keep my Aura on the hotbar even after activating it).

Wither Totem is great for bossing, but I find Wither Rain much better in Delves. In Delve encounters or bossing in maps, I simply throw everything down: Wither Totem, Wither Rain, Vaal Blight, Frenzy CoH, then go ham with CA.

Considered using a Boots with Socketed Gems supported with Level 15 Increased Duration Support. This would allow me to use either Wither Rain + Vaal Grace or Wither Totem + Vaal Grace in the Boots, freeing up 1 Socket for something else, perhaps another CwDT trigger like Molten Shell, or just a Portal to link with Wither Totem's Faster Casting. Haven't been able to find Boots with good enough stats.

You got it right - Wither Totem for bossing, Rain for mapping/delving. The latter is not really necessary as everything dies super fast nowadays, but for delves it's definitely helpful. Really useful in city biomes. I do mention Withering Rain in the newest Delve section.

Increased Duration boots is also what i considered for a different purpose - Kaom's Heart. I've withdrawn from the idea since sockets are important in end game encounters and 95% evade chance makes Kintsugi very reliable anyway. Elder boots have more important suffixes, 10% spell dodge and 10% endurance charge on kill. Massive boost to defence in both cases.

If you link Portal to a spell totem, you will summon a totem that keeps spawning Portal on you. Used it once back in 2.X leagues because i didn't have right colors for full Wither totem. Really annoying, trust me.

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Glaceron wrote:
Is it possible to apply Shock to enemies for even more damage?

Shocking is impossible with normal means, you can use Vaal Lightning Trap for 15% increased damage. Keyword - increased. The shock stacks additively with massive 90% increased chaos damage from Wither and variable ~7-14% from Despair (against bosses). I don't think it's really necessary to bother with it.

If you want more damage, you can use Vaal Blight instead with a single Spreading Rot jewel. I've tried to include it back in Incursion where passive tree supported that idea (read: without being lvl 96), but i didn't manage to test it enough.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3053600 - My Guides
Last edited by DankawSL#2030 on Oct 4, 2018, 9:29:15 PM
So I followed this guide as best as I can and it helped drastically for me to get through mapping and such.

I have a question though, yesterday when I played Oct 4th, 2018 I was still 1 shotting most mobs in tier 9 and under maps. Today when I log in on Oct 5th, 2018 (after the patch) I can't even 1 shot a level 60 mob in act 10 let alone any maps. What I got use to was just CA spam running through maps and them all dying within a second and now I cannot even survive a tier 5 map unless I take it slow.

Did the patch mess up this build or did something happen? I don't see anywhere in the patch notes where it says that Caustic Arrow got changed or that Chaos damage got nerfed.
Last edited by batosia85#6480 on Oct 5, 2018, 6:45:45 PM
Nothing wrong in my case. I would suggest to check if the CA you're using is the 19 lvl 6-linked one and not the lvl 17 single gem that's inside your body armour.
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3053600 - My Guides
Yeah you were right, somehow it put the CA I was using as the one that isn't linked for whatever reason instead of my linked one. Thanks. I didn't even think to check that.

Reason I'm leveling that other CA is cause one I hit 20 on my current I want to reset it for a superior caustic arrow and will need a backup till I can get it leveled.

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