[2.6] Explosive Arrow Pathfinder W/Videos -HC Endgame Mapping, Grandmasters, T16 Guardian Guides

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m0onknight wrote:

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dingis wrote:

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m0onknight wrote:

Hey! Would this be a good league starter? Im trying to decide between this and elementalist flameblast. Ive never played either but I'm a bit conscious of the quill rain requirement and the fact that you would only switch to EA at A4M. For endgame this definitely looks more thrilling/fast paced but I have no experience with it, so I have no idea how enjoyable it would be to start the league with this build.

You switch in After cruel piety at level 47. Cruel dried lake is where you start it, it will gradually feel better as EA gem levels. Flameblast elementalist is easier to level with because of lax gear requirements, and is generally a really good league starter if you like the play style. this one is too, quill rain is kinda annoying to buy first days of the league, but you can get a low ilvl one cheaper because people don't think you know 5link it with jeweller's touch. Usually the higher ilvl ones are like 10c on the first couple of days then drop in price.

Cheapest route in leveling is usually buying a white 5link chest of any kind for single target, and using essence of greed to put life on it. 4link will be enough for aoe clear.

All that said I've started 2 leagues with it and it was fine, but I am generally comfortable with starting a league as EA, if you want to take the safer route, flameblast elementalist is definetly one of the best league starters in the game, I think this outshines it in late game in terms of clear, and they both have pretty good single target overall. Both can start out relatively cheap and you can sink a lot of currency in both if you want to really push them. You're gonna be fine with either.

Thank you for the detailed answer. I have one more question, if you don't mind!

It's clear from your videos that the build scales amazingly with currency investment. What I'm slightly concerned about is how much currency is required for it to be good. You've got all the gg flasks, 2 6-links, a Kaom's and 2 relevant enchants on your helm and boots. Would it be fair to say that's over 10ex investment just on those? I'm not a great player, I usually amass 2-4ex worth of stuff total, throughout the league.

What I'm getting to here is, what would the build be able to do with a 5-link rare chest, 5-link quill rain, rare flasks and no relevant lab enchants?

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zarlox wrote:

Great guide. Keep up the good work. :)

Something I am struggling with though as I really do not think I can afford 2 6L bows.

I got a lvl 4 empower and I would like to use it but I am struggling with colors that would best fit 6L for both role (Single and AOE)

If I take best single target setup with Empower 4: EA, FP, Ignite, Conc, LD, Emp4.
Then I do not have any green to replace on the fly with GMP :( and replacing Less Duration or fire penetration for a green socket so I can go Slower proj or GMP does not seem worth it.

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dingis wrote:

I originally got the build to 90 on 5link quill rain and 5link belly, then the next league it was a 5link regular chest. T15s are doable without kaom's. Rumi's is the one big defensive flask, it's likely going to be lower price because of the nerfs to pathfinder and to the flask. I generally cover the cost of vinktars by selling the map clear, you can use vaal lightning trap instead. The geared out EHC character was the first time I used dual curse, helmet enchant, and a good boot enchant. The guardian kill videos use none of those. You only need 1 6link for single target at t16, 5link is just fine for pack clear (in the FAQ I show was using a 5link with life leech in a t15 enfeeble tempchains map and it was fine). I just happened to 6link all my quill rains. I would go for kaom's before getting a 6link quill rain though. Taste of hate is completely unnecessary, basalt is just fine.

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dingis wrote:

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zarlox wrote:

Great guide. Keep up the good work. :)

Something I am struggling with though as I really do not think I can afford 2 6L bows.

I got a lvl 4 empower and I would like to use it but I am struggling with colors that would best fit 6L for both role (Single and AOE)

If I take best single target setup with Empower 4: EA, FP, Ignite, Conc, LD, Emp4.
Then I do not have any green to replace on the fly with GMP :( and replacing Less Duration or fire penetration for a green socket so I can go Slower proj or GMP does not seem worth it.

You don't need 2 6link bows, the only reason I even have a second 6link bow is because I get lucky randomly 6linking them. 5link is enough for pack clear.

You can replace LD, it's less damage than slower proj anyway.

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idrgz wrote:

how does this compare to elementalist EA?