[3.25] Detonate Dead Autobomber - A Bow Cast on Critical Strike League Starter
 Introduction This is my take on an autobomber with lots of explosions! The build uses an initial triggered attack to trigger two Manaforged Arrows setups that use Cast on Critical Strike to trigger Desecrate and Detonate Dead. League start POB (what's used in video and gif): https://pobb.in/XP_QnLisNW2Z Delirious Forge of the Phoenix accounting for 3.25 nerfs: https://youtu.be/34fiqTCCXtw Endgame POB: https://pobb.in/o9KBs3GDo8Hg 9-Mod t17 with wisps: https://youtu.be/gr7V94_6YBw ________________________________________________________________________ Pros & Cons + Extremely fast mapper + Autobomber with explosions! + Great scaling potential + League start viable + No mana issues + No cooldown/attack speed breakpoints to worry about + No temporary league power is used in any of the showcases (see tab for league specific suggestions) - Not SSF viable (need Replica Maloney's Mechanism at least) - Not HC viable (at least without adjustments) - Have to level as something else (guide included) - Damage is slightly delayed - Have to hold down another key besides movement ________________________________________________________________________ Settlers of Kalguur League Specific
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For runes I recommend burning enemies have a chance to explode, elusive on critical strike or +1 curse. Recombinators make it much easier to craft the rares (especially the bow).
Desecrate did take a nerf (the build never used spectre bug, so that nerf/bugfix doesn't affect us), but level 23 Desecrate allows corpse levels to reach 83 which is all that matters since Desecrate is also limited by zone level. Prior to getting an Empower gem (or body armour + level to gems corrupt), its looking like a ~40-50% damage nerf reducing to ~15% damage nerf after getting + levels to Desecrate. The showcase now accounts for the nerfs in 3.25 by having no spectres, level 19 Desecrate and not taking any increased corpse life. ________________________________________________________________________ Build Mechanics
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Initial Bow Attack Trigger
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The core idea of this build is to trigger bow attacks that in turn triggers Detonate Dead and Desecrate (or Unearth eventually) with Cast on Critical Strike as we run through the map. So the first thing we need to do is trigger some bow attacks.
The only way to trigger a bow attack without having already attacked with a bow is Replica Maloney's Mechanism, which triggers a bow attack when you cast a spell with a one second cooldown. If we use an instant spell, we can hold down the key its bound to (many ways to do this, choose whichever is easiest for you) and have it trigger automatically whenever it’s off cooldown. The instant skill we use is Automation (linked to Steelskin), since its .6 second cooldown is the shortest of all the instant skills. The cooldown from Replica Maloney's Mechanism is unique to each bow attack, meaning if we socket two bow attacks into it we can trigger one of them every .6 seconds! Now we’ve got a way to trigger bow attacks without ever needing to stop moving! Triggering Manaforged Arrows
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Now we’ve got a way to trigger a bow attack while running through the map! But unfortunately it’s only one attack in a 3-link, which won’t be nearly enough to use for Cast on Critical Strike. Fortunately (for us at least), triggered attacks (and spells) cost mana and that lets us use Manaforged Arrows to trigger more attacks. To trigger Manaforged Arrows we need to spend three times the cost of the skill we want to trigger on other bow attacks, which is difficult since our initial triggered bow attack is in a 3-link and can’t be a channeled bow skill. Luckily, if we link Lifetap to our Manaforged Arrows setup we only need to spend 1 mana on other bows skills to trigger the Manaforged Arrows setup! Since we can have as many Manaforged Arrows setups as we have sockets for (just can’t have duplicates of the same skill gem), we can now trigger a bow skill in each of our 6-links!
Triggering Cast on Critical Strike
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Unfortunately Manaforged Arrows has a significant less damage penalty and doesn't provide any more damage multiplier since we're linking to Lifetap. But if we use Cast on Critical Strike to trigger a spell, that spell won't have the less damage penalty from Manaforged Arrows, since Manaforged Arrows can only support bow attacks.
We are also unable to scale attack speed and our attack rate is limited by a .6 second cooldown (scaled down substantially by increased cooldown recovery), which isn't bad but not being able to scale attack speed on bow builds is less than ideal. Fortunately, by using Cast on Critical Strike with Rain of Arrows (of Saturation ideally) and Blast Rain, which both hit enemies many times over a duration when fired, we can take relatively few triggered bow attacks and turn them into many, many spell casts. Sustaining Lifetap Costs
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Since we're triggering so many skills with Lifetap, we need a way to recover life. We use Ngamahu's Sign to regenerate life when we ignite an enemy, which is every hit, and instant leech along with Vitality.
Pantheon
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I recommend taking the small pantheon that gives reduced effect of shock and the large pantheon that gives freeze immunity and stun/chill mitigation.
________________________________________________________________________ Starter Gear
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Mandatory Items:
Replica Maloney's Mechanism Ngamahu's Sign Gloves with fire damage leeched as life eldritch implicit (or another source of fire/elemental damage leeched as life) Recommended Items: Xoph's Heart's Heart Belt with at least 15% cooldown recovery rate Boots with 5% increase cooldown recovery rate from implicit General Rares: Prioritize getting elemental resistance capped and life. Spell suppression and strength once your elemental resistances are capped. Flasks: Our clear speed is limited by our movement speed, so a quicksilver flask is highly recommended. Diamond helps with damage and Quartz and Jade with defenses. ________________________________________________________________________ Skills
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Detonate Dead (Transfigured Gems recommended but not necessary)
Manaforged Arrows - Lifetap - Increased Critical Strike Chance - Rain of Arrows (of Saturation) - Cast on Critical Strike - Detonate Dead (of Chain Reaction) Desecrate Manaforged Arrows - Lifetap - Increased Critical Strike Chance - Blast Rain - Cast on Critical Strike - Desecrate Replica Maloney's Mechanism Frenzy - Power Charge on Critical - Burning Arrow Auras Grace, Summon Skitterbots, Vitality, Precision Curses Assassin's Mark - Mark on Hit, Flammability Other Skills Flame Dash, Wave of Conviction Hold Down Automation Automation - Steelskin ________________________________________________________________________ Leveling and Transition
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Leveling as Spellslinger Armageddon Brand Recaller which is excellent on league start and doesn't require any respec points outside what we get from mainline quests. We use Rolling Magma before we get Armageddon Brand.
Jungroan Spellslinger Armageddon Brand Recaller Leveling Video Leveling POB: https://pobb.in/id4wPKb1nzjX Transition when you have 100% critical strike chance for your bow attacks and have enough currency to afford Replica Maloney's Mechanism (depends on economy but has never been more than 20c). Spellslinger Armageddon Brand Recaller is a strong build for atlas progression so don't worry about swapping as soon as you get to maps. I swapped in yellow maps and it felt smooth before and after. Recommended items are all pretty common/cheap and generally should be your first upgrades. ________________________________________________________________________ Upgrades
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Upgrades (loosely ordered)
1. Start to quality stuff (gems, flasks, catalyze) 2. Add eldritch implicits to rares 3. Get Anathema, add Punishment and Elemental Weakness and unallocate Whispers of Doom(optionally link the curses to Arcanist Brand) 4. Upgrade body armour (consider Lightning Coil) 5. Add a cluster jewel setup (look for elemental/fire damage leeched as life) 6. Swap gloves to Tanu Ahi or upgrade to better rare gloves (make sure you have another source of fire/elemental leeched as life before doing this) 7. Craft a Shaper bow with Socketed Gems are supported by Level # Cast On Critical Strike with increased critical strike chance (also look for chance to deal double damage, damage penetrates elemental resistances, % of fire damage as extra chaos, global critical strike multiplier and +1 level to socketed gems) 8. Craft Stygian Vise with 20% increased cooldown recovery rate and get an Abyss jewel with increased cooldown recovery rate 9. Craft boots with the Shaper/Crusader modifier 15% increased cooldown recovery rate (elevated double influenced with pierce/elusive ideally) 10. Get a Watcher's Eye with life gain on hit and drop Ngamahu's Sign (consider getting a curse on hit ring to replace it) 11. Swap Xoph's Heart's Heart to Leadership's Price and balance intelligence and dexterity 12. Get enough critical strike chance to drop Increased Critical Strike Chance from both 6-links (swap to Increased Critical Strike Damage in the bow and Spell Cascade (or Empower if you aren't spawning level 83/84 corpses yet) in the body armour 13. Lower the level of Vitality and drop Precision and add Determination 14. Corruption hunt on uniques 15. Get curse on hit Enfeeble or Temporal Chains 16. Get a better Watcher's Eye 17. Awakened Support Gems, Enlighten, Empower 18. Get Forbidden Flesh/Flame (lots of good options, personal preference) 19. Mageblood ________________________________________________________________________ Other Autobomber Guides
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Looping League Starter - Heartbound Autobomber
Elemental Relic Autobomber - Tukohama's Fortress League Starter Wormblasting Autobomber - Absolution of Inspiring League Starter Armageddon Brand of Recall Autobomber - Brand Recall Autobomber Holy Relic of Conviction Autobomber - Manaforged Arrows League Starter Kitava's Thirst Autobomber - A Mana-Gating League Starter Bow Attack Autobomber - A Manaforged Arrows League Starter Minion Instability Autobomber - Stone Golem League Starter Last edited by Juminoh#0785 on Dec 6, 2024, 8:45:16 PM Last bumped on Aug 23, 2024, 11:14:44 PM
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Hey,
I've been looking through your build guides after you posted on Reddit and they all look amazing. Do you think the left click change and the automation support will have a big effect on this build? Maybe too much socket pressure? What sort of content have you been doing with this? I'll be watching your content closely! Edit: it takes 52 points to respec from the arma brand while the story only gives 24. Do you do anything differently? Last edited by Higglefrizz#6296 on Mar 24, 2024, 12:40:58 AM
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" Thanks! Can't use automation unfortunately, since it doesn't count as you casting it. Just have to hold down an extra key now (many ways of doing this). Adds some socket pressure, but you could try and fit in call to arms and infernal cry to replace xoph's heart though (would probably drop wave of conviction once you get exposure on hit eldritch implicit and precision once you don't need them). Updated the levelling tree to not require any extra respec points! Last edited by Juminoh#0785 on Apr 21, 2024, 7:15:43 PM
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could I use a regular cast on crit bow, and then could use another support like inc crit damage?
or does the manaforged arrows have to be linked to the cast on crit through gems? attack speed wont really matter on the bow, right? we are limited by maloneys and CDR only do you recommend archmage brand to trigger all 3 curses other than ass mark? can we upgrade xophs to xoph's heart since we dont need non-fire damage to proc sab's explosive expert? just wondering what could be some end game items/potential here. i was thinking of using LC to be a bit phys tankier as well |
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I'm not the build creator but I agree with all your thought. Coc bow will be a huge boost, ideally with hits cannot be evaded.
You should look at ruetoo's coc dd with steel skills. Lots of ideas for more endgame setup. I think one of the biggest issues with DPS is that the dd is not crit capped in the league start version, adding a brittle implicit to boots would easily help with that. |
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cant craft hits cant be evaded on bows.
this method of coc just avoids the attack speed check that other coc builds actually want to have. i like the usage of lifetap though to solve mana issues that most coc builds will have not being able to left click cast CF to auto bomb is a huge bummer though. i guess best bow would be a shaper harb/death with CoC20, Elepen, +1 gems, crit, chance for double damage Last edited by haslefthegame#6462 on Mar 27, 2024, 11:43:51 AM
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Yep, all of those are good upgrades (can see them all in the upgrades tab) and attack speed doesn't matter for us! Can go arcanist brand or trigger on focus helmet to save slots (or also use on socket with automation)! Self-cast is totally fine early though, since the build doesn't have to self cast for damage.
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Just wondering is there any specific reason to go blast rain instead of 2 roa?
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transitioning into this build soon, can't wait for the 3.24 update!
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Hey it seems to me like Replica Maloney's Mechanism only fires a skill gem socketed on the quiver itself.
I put frenzy in the quiver as you state on the POB and it can't be used due to being triggered, then i check in hideout by holding CF with a RoA gem in the maloney's and it will proc RoA every second. am i missing something??? |
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