[2.0] SAM's 48K RoA/Split Arrow + Puncture/Evasion + Herald of Ash

2.0 Build

Heya guys, my second build contribution after my last one over a year ago. So lately there's been a lot of talk about going IR, how IR is OP which was shown in the race infographic, yada yada yada, how Eva cannot compare to Armour.

A lot of this is true, but with the right playstyle (facetanking :D) and the right amount of stats, Evasion archers are really fun to play!

Maybe you'll say that it's only viable when you've got super awesome gear etc etc. Maybe that's true! But Eva can work as long as you're resist capped and have enough Life to take a couple of hits. DPS is pretty decent too, and will improve the better the bow you have (obviously!)

My build relies on decent amounts of Eva, Life and capped resists. A 20/20 Life Leech gem will make things super awesome too. How I deal with reflect is explained in my CWDT sub header :)




Twitch
http://www.twitch.tv/samfishersam
https://twitter.com/Samwichfisher









Index


1.0 Gameplay Videos
2.0 Leveling Build Guide
2.1 Alternate builds
2.2 Notes
3.0 Bandit Quest and Gem Links
3.1 Some elaboration of link selection
4.0 Miscellaneous and my gear






1.0 Gameplay videos :






2.0 Leveling Guide


30 Points




50 Points




80 Points




2.1 110 Points







2.2 Notes

The tree currently is good enough for me, but I myself am not 100% sure which direction I will go. I love Frenzy, but it has been nerfed to hell and back. The actual DPS difference between the regular build and Frenzy build is minimal at best but Frenzy is no longer the crazy fast attack it once was. The nerf to Frenzy nerfed the attack speed of the build in general, but you do get a lot more on the tree. Frenzy damage is still pretty high!

With Puncture, the damage dealt is high and you get the benefit of Bleed damage if you crit. My personal dilemma currently is that with the Puncture build and only 4 Frenzy charges, I actually start losing Life when Blood Rage is up. 3.8% degen as Chaos damage per sec vs 4% Regen from The Blood Dance boots = I lose about 2 HP per second when calculating my -37% Chaos Resistance into account. Might seem like nothing though, and in most cases IS nothing.

But Life in general has been reduced a fair amount from 1.1.x I personally dropped 1k Life coming into 1.2



3.0 Bandit Quests

Normal - Help Oak for the 40Life
Cruel - Help Oak for the 18% Physical Damage
Merciless - Help Kraityn for +1 Frenzy Charge




My current build at level 93 :





I'll try to post some gameplay videos if there's interest in that kinda thing. Request what you'd like and I'll try to get it done tonight :D Also if you'd like a lvling build guide, I'll do one too :)



Links :


4L RoA + Blood Magic + Life Leech + Faster Attacks
5L RoA + BM + LL + FA + Concentrated Effect
6L RoA + BM + LL + FA + CE + Physical Proj

4L Puncture + Faster Attacks + Physical Proj + Inc Crit Multi
5L Puncture + Faster Attacks + Physical Proj + Inc Crit Multi + Mana Leech (we'll switch this up later with a 6L)
6L Puncture + Faster Attacks + Physical Proj + Inc Crit Multi + Added Fire Damage + Blood Magic



ALTERNATIVELY, for Frenzy build :



4L Frenzy + Faster Attacks + Physical Proj + Inc Crit Multi
5L Frenzy + Faster Attacks + Physical Proj + Inc Crit Multi + Mana Leech (we'll switch this up later with a 6L)
6L Frenzy + Faster Attacks + Physical Proj + Inc Crit Multi + Added Fire Damage + Blood Magic






3.1 CWDT Setup

Currently, I've got 2 CWDT links working together to provide me some added protection for when I don't get to evade and get hit.

1. My first link is CWDT + Herald of Ash + Increased Area of Effect + Quality Enfeeble

- As Enduring Cry can no longer be triggered by CWDT, I have switched my gems around without needing to reroll colours. Enduring Cry has been moved to another item and in it's place is Herald of Ash. Been playing around with it and I credit nzim for the idea. As Reduced Mana no longer works with Auras, I've had to move my Enduring Cry to my boots and put Herald of Ash in my gloves. The Increased Area of Effect helps a lot as the overkill damage from Herald of Ash is affected by it. This being a crit build, it leads to a lot of passive damage when dealing with monsters.



Quality Enfeeble is also one of the best curses for Evasion builds, as the Quality bonus further decreases mob accuracy. At level 6, 25% Lower Accuracy + 15% additional Lower Accuracy gives a 40% less accuracy bonus on cursed mobs.


2. My second link is CWDT + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Smoke Mine

- With this second link, I am to use the Endurance Charges gained from my first link to give me even more survivability. With 3 Endurance Charges, Increased Duration and Immortal Call, I am able to be Physical damage immune for 3.10 seconds. This gives a much needed window of opportunity to finish off the rare mob that was giving off the Physical Reflect aura. 3.1 seconds is enough for me to burn down whatever mob that was giving me trouble, and it gives me some breathing space when Evasion rolls go against me and I get hit.



Smoke Mine

Regarding Smoke Mine, I had a spare green socket and I couldn't find an interesting or effective use for it linked with CWDT. I settled to using Smoke Mine for situational purposes. It does not interact in any way with CWDT, but it was an empty socket that I had available. Smoke Mine with Increased Duration makes the mine last for 48.9 seconds. Very useful as you do not want to keep refreshing a Smoke Mine when it's default duration of 30 seconds times out.

I mainly use it against Dominus Phase 1 as I like and need to get close for the full Point Blank effect. As you can see in the video linked above, I am able to stay in melee range for a much longer time than usual due to the instant teleport of Smoke Mine, teleporting me to safety away from his TOUCH OF GAWD Hulk-smash thingies. The more time I DPS, the less time it takes to finish a map, the more time I have to farm maps :D The added smoke also Blinds enemies both from your original position and the position of the mine. That's a further 75% reduced accuracy for all mobs near you!




4.0 My stats self buffed :

5.3k HP
19k Evasion with Grace (39k with Jade flask)
48k RoA
49k Puncture
49% Crit Chance






My gear :

Yeah, your build is exactly what I use (well, minus Blood Dance, plus Maligaro's and Carnage Heart). I've been through so many iterations of RoA builds, and this one gives pretty much the best balance of damage and survivability. I did more damage when I ran the skill on mana, but it was such a hassle to find the right gear to make it happen.

Have you tried dropping any points for Charisma and using Alpha's Howl? I wonder how much more damage you could do with three 60% mana reserved auras, namely Hatred, Wrath, and Anger. But maybe you need Grace on higher level maps? I haven't done anything above level 73.

I highly recommend Carnage Heart Onyx Amulet since it boosts attributes and allows you to drop the Life Leech gem. Yes, quality Life Leech is awesome, but currently I prefer Added Fire Damage for the extra dps.

How do you like Herbalism? Clear Mind? Why did you take the reduced mana reserved node by Influence? Do you plan on taking that keystone next? Those are about the only passives in your tree that I don't plan on taking.

Silly question, but are you able to cast Smoke Mine manually because it's a higher level than the CwDT gem it's linked to? Do you use it frequently?

Nice colors on your gloves ;) Going IR is soo much easier for gearing and probably better for survivability, but it doesn't "feel" as good to me as Acrobatics.

Crazy how similar this tree is to mine:

Lv90 Acro/Crit/Split Arrow

Have you ever considered Split Arrow instead of RoA as you main AOE skill? The reason I ask is that after the thread came about about RoA DPS I ran a few maps with it instead of my normal split arrow. And what I found was that my clear speed was slower - and all the gems were leveled. The reason being, that, especially with concentrated effect and no AOE bonuses from the tree, it just doesn't cover a lot of area. So it takes more clicks to get through waves of mobs. Stuff dies quickly when it's hit. With SA/Chain - 2 volleys clears everything I see. With ROA, stuff dies as soon as it was hit, but it takes more attacks to get it all which slowed me down. I almost feel like ROA is better suited for those traveling to the left side of the tree or willing to rock a Carcass Jack. I think Split Arrow would give you superior performance, given your exact same build.

"

Tempada wrote:

Yeah, your build is exactly what I use (well, minus Blood Dance, plus Maligaro's and Carnage Heart). I've been through so many iterations of RoA builds, and this one gives pretty much the best balance of damage and survivability. I did more damage when I ran the skill on mana, but it was such a hassle to find the right gear to make it happen.

Have you tried dropping any points for Charisma and using Alpha's Howl? I wonder how much more damage you could do with three 60% mana reserved auras, namely Hatred, Wrath, and Anger. But maybe you need Grace on higher level maps? I haven't done anything above level 73.

I highly recommend Carnage Heart Onyx Amulet since it boosts attributes and allows you to drop the Life Leech gem. Yes, quality Life Leech is awesome, but currently I prefer Added Fire Damage for the extra dps.

How do you like Herbalism? Clear Mind? Why did you take the reduced mana reserved node by Influence? Do you plan on taking that keystone next? Those are about the only passives in your tree that I don't plan on taking.

Silly question, but are you able to cast Smoke Mine manually because it's a higher level than the CwDT gem it's linked to? Do you use it frequently?

Nice colors on your gloves ;) Going IR is soo much easier for gearing and probably better for survivability, but it doesn't "feel" as good to me as Acrobatics.

I have definitely considered going for Charisma instead of the 5% reduced at the top. Charisma though is a lot of wasted points to get to, but I may eventually make my way there. Alpha's Howl was a consideration, but I lose too much Life and Eva/Resist by going that route.

Carnage Heart is great if I didn't have a pretty good amulet as well. No gem will give as much more DPS as my amulet IMHO. I used to have Added Fire in my RoA link (getting 4 off on a Dex item is no joke...) but had problems with Ele Reflect mobs/maps.

TBH, I haven't noticed the effect of Herbalism too much. I may unspec from that and put it somewhere else. I decided to take Clear Mind as my previous chest piece had Chaos Res, which it doesn't now. I'm planning to go to Conduit sometime :) I'm going to take the Influence notable if I don't decide to go Charisma.

Yes, if a gem can't be cast by CWDT, you can manually cast it :D I use it a lot for 78 Palace Map vs Dominus, as it gives me a lot of extra seconds of DPS at melee range (where I do my most damage with Point Blank) and smoke mine out of his TOUCH OF GHAD. That gloves...took me 500 Chromes ):

"

Asidra wrote:

I almost feel like ROA is better suited for those traveling to the left side of the tree or willing to rock a Carcass Jack. I think Split Arrow would give you superior performance, given your exact same build.

The Split Arrow gem on its own provides higher damage than Rain of Arrows, and RoA is limited because of its circle of effect, so I wouldn't be surprised if you're right. Concentrated Effect + Carcass Jack, though... Linkstatic is obviously doing well, but I feel like a Carcass Jack is the only way to play RoA!

"

Asidra wrote:

Crazy how similar this tree is to mine:

Lv90 Acro/Crit/Split Arrow

Have you ever considered Split Arrow instead of RoA as you main AOE skill? The reason I ask is that after the thread came about about RoA DPS I ran a few maps with it instead of my normal split arrow. And what I found was that my clear speed was slower - and all the gems were leveled. The reason being, that, especially with concentrated effect and no AOE bonuses from the tree, it just doesn't cover a lot of area. So it takes more clicks to get through waves of mobs. Stuff dies quickly when it's hit. With SA/Chain - 2 volleys clears everything I see. With ROA, stuff dies as soon as it was hit, but it takes more attacks to get it all which slowed me down. I almost feel like ROA is better suited for those traveling to the left side of the tree or willing to rock a Carcass Jack. I think Split Arrow would give you superior performance, given your exact same build.

I've tried Split Arrow too with this build, but for some reason I never had much success with it. I've been LA build, SA build, almost every bow build in the past :P I might try it out again tonight, but I just 20%Q'd my SA so it's pretty low level now.

EDIT : Just checked, it's lvl 15 currently.

Also, I like RoA as the damage isn't split up like well..Split Arrow (ahahaha...funny me..) and I can leech the full amount even if there's only 1 mob (like map bosses) and I can keep my boss killing ability (Frenzy) full damage linked.

As people consider what is efficient, and what isn't: we all tend to converge onto roughly the same build in terms of physical/crit dps. As we consider evade over IR, the similarities become closer and we can share what we learn as a community.

Heres mine at level 84:


As for your skill combos, bravo. If I ever want to try out roa, this will be a good reference for links :D.

"

Omjak_777 wrote:

As people consider what is efficient, and what isn't: we all tend to converge onto roughly the same build in terms of physical/crit dps. As we consider evade over IR, the similarities become closer and we can share what we learn as a community.

Heres mine at level 84:

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYABH4FOgW1DPIOSA-rFfAZ1xn-GwEeGiF2I_Yk_SaVKlswcTB8MfoyATY9OdQ6QjpYPs9KfUt4UUdVS1b6Wkhf4WHiYetjQ2egayRtbG17b_JwUnDVdEF293fUd9d6U311fyuGzocZh3aIa4w2jX2Nv5UFlembJqCfoaSkwqXLpzSn1Kp_qrixMLIZtUi7473mwFHEosXMxqLKqc3qz3rSGdN-1CPVANaK1tHZxtwV3ajh2-OE51TndOjW6xTuDu_w8EL5Vvlj_MX-uv7I_5M=

As for your skill combos, bravo. If I ever want to try out roa, this will be a good reference for links :D.

Indeed, a lot of Physical builds tend to go roughly the same nodes, and only IR/Eva will drastically change the build layout. I've actually run out of ideas where to go for more DPS, as every available node to me now seems lacklustre. Maybe Conduit, maybe Charisma.

Nothing new here...sry to post that, but we have serveral builds around here who cover your build. Only differences to other build are

IR or Evasion: Personel Preferences (5-6 Regrets for respecing)
SA or RoA: Personel Preferences (Just switch 1-2 Gems)

conclusion: Pretty much unnecessary....

sry bro, not flaming here ...just pointing out ^.^

hello, could you please advise how do you handle the physical damage reflecting map? i am using almost same build with you and at level 83, i found the physical damage reflecting is really annoying, if i made two critical strikes with Frenzy in a roll, and they are all reflected back, i would kill myself instantly.