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

build looks great, i'm gonna try this one out tomorrow when the flashback event starts

Hello again, after almost 2 months of silence i'm back with some news and speculations.

As you know, Incursion wasn't very kind for chaos builds this league except maybe ED+Contagion. For that reason i did not bump the guide to avoid people falling into GGG's trap. New league has some promising things in sight, but also quite scary:

Delve league
Not having a timer you have to race is great. Raider is back on menu, moving forward with the minecart like a massive fortress protected by degenerating clouds. Should be great. I'm only afraid of mana issues but it's not a very hard problem to solve.

While CA isn't a skill that will push you to the top of endless dungeon leaderboards, i'm sure it's going to be enough to enjoy the league to it's fullest. Unless... GGG slaps massive chaos resistance once again.

Toxic Rain
This is where the speculations begin. The new skill seems to have same DoT value as CA, with much shorter duration and slow that might be quite significant with a lot of attack speed and duration. There might be a possibility that DoT from spores stacks, but i can't confirm that. It's also an attack based skill so there's a lot of possibilities how to build around it.

I know that i'll try out the new skill during levelling. I'll focus on DoT part obviously, but i might try attack based one as well. Raider and Pathfinder seem like a good candidates for poison based builds.

Toxic Rain and Caustic Arrow are kinda overlapping. It feels like new skill is a rework of CA. However there are enthusiasts like me, they don't want anger us by removing the gem completely (think of old Elemental Hit and Wild Strike). The second option is that it forecasts some future changes to CA. There's one more thing that support this speculation:

Wither rework?

One of the new unannounced skills has exact same pattern as current Wither. What's more interesting it's a support gem, based on the image name and round design.

Well, it would suck to lose ~40% of the current single target damage. The new gem will have to be really damn good to compensate for that loss... or... that means compensation to skill damage. Who knows, we'll see.


That's it for now, i'll keep you updated.

If you haven't seen ZiggyD's video, be sure to watch it.

We finally got information about REWORKED Caustic Arrow. Continuing the trend of some other skills from 3.3, it's overloaded as hell with multiple ways of building. The damage seems to be DOUBLED at the cost of duration, almost 3 times shorter than currently. I do agree with this type of balancing, the 6 second (or almost 9 with skill duration nodes) was ridiculous and had to go. However doubling the damage is overkill, the duration is very short as well.

CA changes - What does that mean for this build? TL;DR version

* Higher damage output in general.
* ED Weapon swap no longer necessary for end game. Still recommended.
* Same old build, many new options. Support gem freedom.

* More defence options without losing necessary DPS. +8% Evade chance Watcher's eye is BiS
* More budget friendly, ~20c to easily destroy all content up to Shaper Guardians. No joke
* Levelling with CA should be viable and even very good! (waiting for patch notes tho)



CA changes - In-depth version:
====================

CA, ED and duration:
You get Ele hit treatment! And YOU get Ele hit treatment! EVERYONE GETS ELE HIT TREATMENT!

GGG doubled the damage of a skill that was already decent. It can be now completely standalone for slightly lower DPS. ED weapon swap is still recommended in long run, however... CA's cloud duration was gutted but it's totally deserved (could be lil' bit longer tho 2,5 sec or sth). With very short duration, ED weapon swap is still possible but REQUIRES Skill Effect Duration nodes to be any useful.

Damage overkill = Freedom:
I've mentioned it before in replies to people using this build - when damage is not an issue, QoL, defence and speed is what's important. That's why i've always used Raider, because damage was just enough to clear without issues. Now we receive double damage and uhhhhh... What do you do with this power?

You can use GMP or Increased AoE instead of damage support for better clear. There's new option to Wither Totem as well, that means more dps in cases where totem just dies instantly. I'll need some testing if the replacement is worth it. More power also mean we can focus more on defence. +8% Evade chance Watcher's Eye is now no-brainer once you get onslaught. 95% evade chance during mapping, who wouldn't want that?

Beginner, budget and SSF friendly:
With double damage and PPAD increasing attack DoTs, CA should be very good for levelling. That also means, beginner friendly! Respecs are still going to be necessary, but no more screwing around with RoA/Blast Rain, buying auras and stuff. Just pick up and use, forever. I'll have to update levelling section... again...

It's also SSF friendly, +2 gems 5-link bow should carry you through almost whole game, no problem. +3 bow isn't necessary, neither is empower.

Upcoming changes:

* Big levelling/progression section revamp. I'll try to make it before 3.4 hits, at least levelling. Gotta wait for patch notes
* Skill gem changes, new setups. Small ones, but might require some in-game testing.
* Minor gear adjustments (prolly body armours only)
* Minor skill tree adjustments, possible additional tree for defensive focus (no guarantee)
* Pathfinder ascendancy option


That's it, i doubt anyone read that whole thing. Turned out longer than expected as usual. Hope you'll stick around and try the build in-game.

Thanks for so detailed update DankawSL!
I got a quick question, do you even consider making some sort of alternative guide for Pathfinder build around new Poison Herald and and it's new ascendancy nodes?
/edit :

"

* Pathfinder ascendancy option

- silly me, sorry.

After the Path Notes it will be easier to guess, but do you think that building around hit (and DoT just as a complementary source of damage) will be viable?

I was planning to play CA in this league as SSF (even before I realised that the skill going to be revamped) and I am wondering if it is possible to lvl up Leo to mastercraft DoT in SSF league?

Thanks for your work, good luck with the levelling section :)

The Pathfinder option is still going to be focused around DoT part of CA, like all other ascendancies. 99% it will use the Raider's tree. Ascendacy will use new chaos focused branch and Master Alchemist branch (flask recharge + ele ailment immunity).

Herald of Agony is only useful for poison or minion builds. I think you can convert this build to focus on poison rather than base DoT cloud quite easily. Pathfinder ascendancy should be no brainer for this obviously. I could probably make a minor guide here or in entirely new thread if i have enough time before the league ends. There will be changes to poison on the tree so i would wait until it's released (and patch notes ofc).

Hit builds should be completely viable as well, but i won't make a guide for it. Bow builds usually use crit to deal damage. Whenever i try to make a build like that, it's never hardcore viable. I'm positive somebody else will make a build for that - CA and it's new ability shotgun can very easily become new elemental hit...


About Leo, as far as i know you can level him up. He's only disabled for events such as flashback.

Thanks for your energy, i'll need it.

Bookmarked as this will be my Delve build, and a bow exile has been a weapon I wanted to do to for a minute now.

Excited to see the changes to the guide once we finally get patch notes and better details.

" Bow Passives Now Affect Skill Damage Over Time
Previously, almost all weapon passives gave damage from ailments with attack skills while wielding a weapon of their type. They now grant a bonus to damage over time instead, letting them boost the damage of Caustic Arrow, Toxic Rain, and Decay. "

looks like ca will get another buff :)

It's 4am here and i'll be going to sleep soon but i'll give short update based on the patch notes. Tomorrow i'm starting to work to bring the guide up to the date. Anyway, have you seen the buffed numbers of CA? Comparison:



The lvl 1 increase is only 132% and increases to 224% at lvl 20. In short, scaling per level was increased and might reach almost 300% at max lvl 28. That's exact same damage if not higher than the current CA+ED setup. There's also another possibility that i cannot confirm yet, which might further increase dps by 50% more (so 400-450% total).

I start to question the opportunity cost of using the weapon swap. Actually, what's even the point of using ED if CA deals more single target AND has better clear? Previously it was compareable, now...

I'm very, very disappointed by this balance. That's the only thing i can say.

"

AdamRFT wrote:

Spoiler

"Bow Passives Now Affect Skill Damage Over Time
Previously, almost all weapon passives gave damage from ailments with attack skills while wielding a weapon of their type. They now grant a bonus to damage over time instead, letting them boost the damage of Caustic Arrow, Toxic Rain, and Decay."

looks like ca will get another buff :)

Actually it's not that much of a buff. The current tree is very efficient and uses generic chaos/DoT damage for (now questionable) ED weapon swap. However it enables a new, tankier path that takes Scion life wheel (~10% more hp). I'll start working on everything tomorrow.

What do u think about this new 3.4 tree https://pastebin.com/i0hsTJNe, and impresence(despair aura+enchance)?
We can choose pathfinder and fit new herald in chest for full 6l.
Can u add something for this or give me some advice, actually can new or renamed gems fit in it replacing old gems in our caustic arrow setup?

Would this build be a good league starter that can farm uber lab early?

If so, how could I make it more tanky to be safe from uber izaro phases and traps?