[3.8]Champion Impale TS/Barrage | Leveling guide
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This build is NOT UPDATED for 3.9
I do not recommend this guide to newer players as a lot of information in this guide is out of date. There are a lot of changes in 3.9 and this build guide will not be updated in time for 3.9. I will not be answering questions to what to do after changes because I do not know the answer. My brief impression of the changes is that we will need to find a way to invest in things the guide does not currently have such as projectile speed. It will probably be strong with the new totems but I have 0 intentions of updating this guide to a primarily totem/rain of arrows guide as I do not like those type of skills outside of leveling. Changes in 3.8
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For everyone saying the build didn't get nerfed you are wrong. We basically lost a 200% more multiplier because the whole league there was a bug that caused fork to make barrage and tornado shot to hit a mob 3 times instead of one with each attack. The +2 to +1 tornado shot helm change kind of sucks because you could craft +1 tornado shot helms on a budget.
Now if killing shaper in 3 seconds rather than 1 second is too big of a nerf for you to handle, I understand but for me the build is going to be plenty strong. Honestly though a lot of people did not use barrage before and you might be required to now. Tornado shot has always been good enough for map bosses but if you want to one blast a boss barrage will be the way to do it. If you are a newer player or simply don't like leveling I've made an all inclusive leveling checklist for acts 1-4 if you want to check it out. This is not meant for people who are brand new to the game but if you've played for a little while and are just sick of being overwhelmed while leveling this guide is made to sort of play the game for you. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13ArYjz2CcMcA5bsXoZbnxrUNx_Wh5AuD_0wELpPdHU0/edit#gid=222347862 This guide takes you through what to get and when to get it, its just about the most efficient leveling path that you can take. Create a copy under file> create a copy and you can tick off the boxes for an interactive leveling checklist. Passive trees are posted on the google doc for what I recommend for leveling. You will have to spend around 10-20 regrets once you have 2x lioneyes fall but it is worth it in the long run as you will farm faster before you have them. For those who just want to see what the build plays like All Shaper Guardians with difficult map mods + beyond. Not using headhunter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F7FVRVH6qs Yes this is a heavily invested character from legion but the maps are also extremely difficult mods. Running 40% more monster life + hexproof (the first map) would make most builds that do pure phys damage take a LOT longer, not to mention the other extremely rippy mods on the map. Leaguestart help and Guidelines
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For ascendency order you want to do Master of Metal first ALWAYS.
If you want to go for even more damage from there you can take First to Strike Last to Fall in cruel lab, then Inspirational in merc. Once you get to uber lab you will respec out of first to strike last to fall and into the fortify nodes. This only costs 10 respec points to do so it isn't too bad but you will be respecing as you get lioneye's falls also so it can add up to be kind of expensive If you don't want to respec or just want to be tankier for early maps take Master of metal > unstoppable hero> fortitude> Inspirational. The only downside to this is your cruel lab is a literal 0 power increase until merc, but master of metal is probably worth 2 whole labs anyway. These are the uniques you should look for once you start reaching maps. Arborix last league dropped in price pretty fast over the first few days but I suspect there will be more than a couple of you trying to buy it this league.
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I used these uniques until I could afford Arborix, then once I had that I saved up for rigwalds. From there you will want to try and get a cheap 6link and craft it to have supported by level 1 maim with fossils INTRODUCTION This build pushes the limits of defense and DPS that a bow build can achieve. It is easily the strongest build I have ever league started as and the tankiest bow character I have ever played. Move speed bonus caps out around 200-240% without Headhunter making it fast but not quite as fast as some Queen of the Forest Deadeyes. If you are looking for bow build that is much higher in defense while still having insane damage this build achieves just that.  PROS AND CONS +Clear speed +Defense +Single target +Stun immune +Great league starter +High absorption Molten shell / Vaal molten shell -Predictive mode is a must once you get fork, limiting HC viability -Cant use Queen of the forest -Laggy on lower end PCs -Min-maxing can be expensive -Arborix bow effect makes a lot of mtx look weird If you're feeling squishy against the new league mechanic this build can easily achieve vaal molten shells like this  Thats basically 21k extra health for 18 seconds. I have eaten shaper slams, shaper balls, uber elder slams etc. with this up VIDEOS All Shaper Guardians with difficult map mods + beyond. Not using headhunter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F7FVRVH6qs 5 Emblem timeless conflict WITHOUT HEADHUNTER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3m-tgSslMw This video shows off the single target and clear Uber Elder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk1ES-IsuIk& PATH OF BUILDING
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READ BEFORE YOU ASK WHY DAMAGE IS LOW
Impale, arborix bow passives and the Master of Metal Ascendency node are not included in the calculations. My impales are currently 216% of the hits damage over 9 hits which is basically a 216% multiplier which I explain later in the guide. now here is the pastebin
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Pantheon
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It really just comes to preference, I personally sit on poison immunity minor at all times because I never notice the map mod.
For the major I used Soul of Lunaris most of the league. For bandits you will always want to HELP alira PASSIVE TREE
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These trees are assuming you have some currency to put into the build, leveling uniques and atleast 1 lioneye's fall. If you are starting fresh with 0 currency check the google doc at the top of the page for league start trees
~level 45 tree https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.2/AAAABAQDAAHcAecFLRRNFewYkRpVG_ohYCPqJd8yfjboOlI7FECgR35JD1ivXhNhUmVNdPF343rvgy6E2YWPhmCK8J-JpBmpbrCruR28n702vqfEgtAs1y3YYOxx7078Sw== ~level 70 tree You should either take a mana leech node on the right side of the tree or have a craft/jewel with it by this point https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.2/AAAABAQDAAHcAecFLRRNFHUV7BiRGNsaVRv6IWAj6iP2JP0l3zB8MfoyfjKUNug51DpSOxRAoEd-SQ9KfU2SUUdW-livXhNhUmVNZ6B08Xb3d9d343rvfwJ_K4MuhNmFj4Zgh3aK8I19lQWfiaCfpBmpbrCruR28n702vqfBM8SC0CzXLdhg2cbjn-dU7HHvTvxL_94= ~level 90 tree with lioneyes falls + abyss jewel for onslaught https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.7.2/AAAABAQDAAHcAecFLQU8CbsUIBRNFHUV7BiRGNsaVRv6IWAj6iP2JP0l3yhsMHwx-jJ-MpQ1kjboN9Q51DpSOuE7FECgRrdHfkh4SdVKfU2STeNQR1FHVvpYr10sXhNfP1_JYVJlTWZMZ6Bsc287dO108Xb3d9d343gNeWh6738Cfwd_K4MuhNmFj4Zgh3aI7YrwjX2VBZzEn4mgn6QZplepbrCrtfK3IrkdvJ-9Nr6nwBrBBMEzwzHEgsVTy3rQLNNv2L3Zxtwy4e_jn-Xm51Tsce0_7nrvDu9O8kXzb_oY_Ev-Cv6P_94= Feel free to take more damage, less life or more movespeed to your liking. I personally took Fleetfoot for movespeed because I felt tanky enough GEM LINKS
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Barrage:
Barrage > Impale > Brutality > Maim > Vicious Projectiles > Slower Projectiles Tornado shot: Tornado shot > Mirage Archer > Greater Multiple Projectiles > Impale > Chain > Brutality the 6th link can be changed for fork if you do not have rigwald's quills and also for maim if you have headhunter. Useful 4 links Dread banner > Enhance > Blood rage > Dash enhance grants more damage for dread banner, attack speed for blood rage and cooldown for dash Pride> Precision (level 1) > Flesh and Stone > enlighten Chances are your character will be too dumb for enlighten, mana is fine without it CwDT (level 6) > Vaal Molten shell (level 13) > increased duration I use a level 6 cwdt because if you press vaal molten shell when molten shell is not on cooldown it can proc while you still have a large vaal molten shell active, having level 6 atleast lets you get 5-7k damage from the VMS before it procs. You can not use cwdt and self cast molten shell, I actually advise it for things like shaper and hall of grandmasters. LIONEYE'S FALL INFO
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These jewels are incredible strong with some of the new nodes, if you don't have the funds for two I would say the priority goes to the one in the bottom right of the tree. Here are the two locations
 and  WATCHERS EYE
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There is a new watchers eye that gives +2 impale stacks while affected by pride which takes my impale damage from 173% of the hit over 7 hits to 216% of the hit over 9 hits. It also gives 12-24 added phys because of our master of metal ascendancy. Some of the newer precision mods for attack damage/crit multi are good but nothing even compares to the impale one
QUICK MATH
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If you don't care about why something is doing damage and just want to know how much it is doing, your impales will be around 150-170% of the hits damage over 7 hits once you have quality impale, dread banner, etc. Here is the math on my max possible impale efffect which is theoretically higher but this is probably the most value you can get out of it
38% increased effect of impale from skill tree and ascendancy 62% increased from 21 23% impale gem 21 Dread banner in +1 gloves has 21% increased effect of impale 23% Dread banner quality = 11.5% aura effect +36% from enhance 4 in +1 = 18% aura effect +20% aura effect from inspirational ascendancy +50% aura effect when planed at max stages total aura effect =99.5 dread banner planted as 50 stages = 40% effect of impale total increased effect of impale = 140% at max banner placement 90% of hits damage with +2 watchers eye with 140% increase puts me at 216% of the hits damage over 9 hits GEAR This is the tricky part because there are lots of options, I have 2 friends also playing this build and they both have made their own personal changes. Flasks will be the same in almost every variation
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Here is some example gear that shouldn't cost you more than an ex for most of the pieces. You don't need to craft on an elder chest you can just buy a rare 6l with maim already on it for less than 2-3exa
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My current gear at level 99
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These uniques are very strong on league start before 6 links are available for cheap, I had even killed shaper with them. I would not recommend using them mid-league because 6link chests are fairly cheap and the Arborix bow is a lot cheaper.
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GEAR PRIORITY AND OPTIONS The Bow
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Simply put the Arborix can not be beat, a 600 PDPS bow in path of building will only be roughly 10% at the most dps increase and that doesn't include the arborixs rotating passive. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to either 28% quality through hillock in syndicate transportation or 30% corrupt because the bow itself has a ton of flat added phys but no %phys so 1% quality is almost equal to 1% more damage. If you can some how get a 28% quality bow with a %phys corruption and high flat roll it will be unbeatable by mirror tier bows in terms of DPS
Helmet
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If you have infinite currency I would always say devoto's but a rare helmet will be a lot more health and damage at a much lower cost. The helm enchant is very strong but you should focus on having a 6link chest and 5link arborix before looking into helm enchants
Gloves
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There are many options in the glove slot, vuln on hit is a luxury and not needed at all but is something you could eventually go for. I personally just like haemophilia's but tombfists are probably better overall. You could go for Rampage gloves or even just a nice rare piece if you want more life and resists.
Body Armor
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Another slot with a few options, if you go the vuln on hit gloves route I would still advice having assassin's mark on a ring so getting +1curse on chest isn't a bad idea. Daresso's Defiance is simply the only good chest we can use with movespeed on it because our bow gives us iron reflexes which removes our evasion
Quiver
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Rigwald's Quills looks like an obvious choice and it is good but if you craft a maim/attack crit chest you can get away with replacing brutality in tornado shot 6link with fork and get a quiver with lots of crit and health
Belt
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You probably knew it was coming but Headhunter is too good for clearing, there are a lot of options before that though. The nomad on league start cost me 4c for a high rolled belt and 3c for the prophecy to upgrade it and I used it until HeadHunter. However Ryslata's Coil is more damage and more health it just doesn't say so in Path of Building. It is around 17-20% more damage vs the nomad around 11-12% more damage. If you want to be tankier and need resists a fossil crafted stygian will be your best bet
Amulet
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If you want vuln on hit gloves you will need +1 curse as a corruption on your neck or crafted on your chest. I bought my neck for 2exa but the price of good +1 curse necks have gone up quite a bit. If you are not going duo curse you want Crit multi/% Damage craft with life and resists
Rings
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Assassin's mark will feel the best for clearing and you can get it either from a shaper ring or the oskarm gloves. You should try and have at least a +400 accuracy roll on one of your pieces of gear as it will take your chance to hit from around 94-96% to 100%
Last edited by Imeperfection#4365 on Dec 11, 2019, 7:40:56 PM Last bumped on Jan 10, 2020, 8:27:56 AM
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Umm that paste bin seems a little off.
Why do you have points in the sword, axe and mace sections of the bottom part of the tree? It shouldn't affect damage since its weapon specific that much unless it scales impale which I am unaware off. |
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" You are talking about the points near Point Blank and Blade of Cunning? He uses two lionseye Fall jewels that change melee modifiers into bow. @Imeperfection So, is this build good to league start with? Quiver, Jeweles seem to be really exepensive. Last edited by Vahlnur#5123 on Jun 25, 2019, 5:56:23 AM
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Whats the min requirement to start this build? like gearing wise
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" yeah that will do it! I was sitting there like man... POB is not showing very good damage and couldnt figure out why |
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" I have been theory crafting a similar impale build, but I wanted to use Slayer as a base. Just level like any pure physical bow wielder. |
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" As I said above the pastebin link impale is not included in path of building at all, if you want to include a jewel for maximum single target I will have in that gear you can add 216% more damage to account for impale, adds 54 - 109 phys damage to account for master of metal and 30% more damage for arborix if I talent iron reflexes which will easily put it over 6m. If you are worried about impale ramp up barrage fires 9 projectiles and has an attack time of 0.35 so its virtually nothing Last edited by Imeperfection#4365 on Jun 25, 2019, 4:15:27 PM
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" If you have a good build already I would try to get a 5link arborix for Barrage and 6link rare chest with maim on it so you could use fork with tornado shot instead of brutality/maim. You can use oskarm's for assassins mark if you cant afford a shaper ring and the rest of your gear can be good rares and it will play fine but things like the tornado shot helm enchant are expensive because they are super strong and will be big upgrades. The build functions fine with 4links and 5links on league start but pierce did not feel very good for the league mechanic. Last edited by Imeperfection#4365 on Jun 25, 2019, 3:17:18 PM
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" So it was a great league starter because I think most people were looking at melee. I bought two jewels for less than 20c each and the quiver for around 2.5ex but in reality you can fossil craft a 6link rare chest and use fork in your tornado shot links and if you can get a good enough quiver it is actually better than Rigwald's. Even the nomad prohpecy I bought for 3c which is now 50c+. Death's opus was also dirt cheap because of all the prophecy drops it was literally 1c which I had bought at level 50 or so which made it the smoothest transition into mapping I have ever had. |
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tldr:
Crazy good build with a lot of cheap options for early league characters and a bunch of currency dump opportunities for min-max in ways that suit your playstyle. Definitely recommend if you would like to play a bow build for the first time (like me). Long Version: This build actually destroys all the content this league has to offer and is very strong as a league starter. I am one of the friends mentionned in the guide. 4+ rows of loot on the 5 way legion battles as OP said (w/o HH), extremely fast uber elder kills. I just now recently bought the +2 impale watcher's eye which trivialized the content more but it is not needed at all. For those of you still confused, my early league looked like this: 1. 5-link death's opus + drillneck, 5-link lioneye's vision, 1 lioneye's fall and oskarm. Worthy Foe for 100% accuracy and The Nomad. At this point, I still had Bloodletting and onslaught passives on the tree. 2. Arborix + daresso's defiance for faster clearing while saving up for rigwald's quills. Once I picked up rigwalds I swapped to a cheap 6-link armor because I got really unlucky with fuses on daresso's to replace lioneye's vision pseudo 6-link and started using chain instead of pierce. Got a +1 TS enchant helm to increase my clear a little bit. 3. I refunded out of Worthy Foe to pick up the 100% Fortify ascendancy and from there got a second lioneye's fall for the bottom right side of the tree after getting rid of the onslaught nodes and Bloodletting. Last thing was getting my first 6-link on either the bow or daresso's defiance to start using daresso's. 4. Lastly, this is where I spent my currency for some of the optional big expensive items that are all listed in the guide. Last edited by Jijoo#0850 on Jun 25, 2019, 6:52:35 PM
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