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

Hey Thanks for this build! I really liked CA. Since I'm playing in SC I decided to go with Trickster for more damage and also checked your options for this tree, but my question is: how should I leveled with my shadow? Should I go with ED + Contagion or Elemental Bow?

Like i said previously, i don't have experience with levelling as shadow. I can only speculate based on numbers and ranger's experience.

I think ED+Contagion should be more consistent and stronger in the long run. All chaos/DoT/life clusters on the skill tree are right next to each other, isn't that dependant on gear except links, gets access to all the goodies that makes chaos builds strong.

I would follow the end game tree, starting from taking pretty much whole shadow area and spending every single next points towards accumulating more life. In that case ascendancy order changes:

Patient Reaper -> Prolonged Pain -> Swift Killer -> Ghost Dance

Also to remind, kill all bandits for 2 passive points.

I'll update the main post tomorrow.

Hi, haven't done ranger long time so i thought to give try. Currently lvl 44 act 5. Got there some mana issues with 4L but took Essence sap wheel so now i can spam.

Hey there, I'm not that great at the game, but I had a question that might sounds stupid.

I'm currently levelling up an assassin barrage poison build, and the PoB says it can do over 1 million dps. However, I see your videos and they seem to be killing stuff pretty quick... What's the deal? Why does a build that does 100k seem just as good as a 1mill build?

I should have done your build to begin with, I like Caustic Arrow, but now I'm stuck, am I REALLY gimping myself if I choose CA over a barrage poison build, or is it just a numbers thing, and CA is actually real good?

Again, sorry for the dumb and maybe tough to understand question.

I've been wanting to play a CA build for so long but they always seemed to be locked behind legacy ES items and insane currency investment. This looks pretty great, and going to roll this as Trickster today. Thanks for the guide.

"

Kalevipoeg wrote:

Hi, haven't done ranger long time so i thought to give try. Currently lvl 44 act 5. Got there some mana issues with 4L but took Essence sap wheel so now i can spam.

I rarely ever have mana issues, but i guess that's thanks to me using mana pot all the time. I still pick up mana leech node in 2nd part of the story, but only 1. Also it's good to turn off herald for bigger mana pool somtimes. It doesn't give that much damage but it's useful early on.

"

Twistntie wrote:

Spoiler

Hey there, I'm not that great at the game, but I had a question that might sounds stupid.

I'm currently levelling up an assassin barrage poison build, and the PoB says it can do over 1 million dps. However, I see your videos and they seem to be killing stuff pretty quick... What's the deal? Why does a build that does 100k seem just as good as a 1mill build?

I should have done your build to begin with, I like Caustic Arrow, but now I'm stuck, am I REALLY gimping myself if I choose CA over a barrage poison build, or is it just a numbers thing, and CA is actually real good?

Again, sorry for the dumb and maybe tough to understand question.

No question is stupid, and any build you're gonna have fun with is worth the time. You might not kill bosses as fast as meta builds or specialized shaper farmers, but it can handle all content.

To give you idea why my build kills fast:
#1 - CA cloud and ED debuff stack together. That alone boosts the damage by additional ~150% compared to CA builds without the ED.
#2 - Wither totem. 4-link easily reaches full stacks, giving 90% more damage.
#3 - Despair curse. Reduces chaos resistance and gives increased damage on enemies.

If you take damage numbers from my videos, that's ~150k chaos dps combined. Multiplied by 300% thanks to wither and despair, gives you ~450k dps. Normal bosses take ~66% of that damage and shaper/guardians ~55%.

If you want to get most dps, by taking Trickster and more offensive skill tree nodes + equipment you could easily reach ~250k base damage.

In case you wanted to know how do i clear trash mobs so fast (which i don't think so), is because CA has set base dps and poison needs to time to achieve it's full potential. Plus, it's barrage. It's strictly for bosses, not really meant for mapping. The clear dps on your other skill is going to be much lower.

Hi, i'm playing this build as league starter playing as ele bow for a while.

want to ask you a few question.

1. are you respec the nodes after lv 84? the skill tree at lv 84 is different than the one you put at lvling section. (no more balistic mastery, aspect of the eagle, and deadly draw, instead you got heart of oak, acrobatics and phase acrobatics)

2. what to pick for the ascendancy nodes.
at skill tree section you said
Ascendancy: Avatar of Veil (Phasing) + Avatar of Slaughter/Chase (Frenzy/Onslaught)

but at the lvling secion as elemental bow its
Ascendancy Order: Avatar of Slaughter (Frenzy) -> Avatar of Veil (Phasing)

so, which one to choose then?

please help. thank you.

"

ruleshellz wrote:

Spoiler

Hi, i'm playing this build as league starter playing as ele bow for a while.

want to ask you a few question.

1. are you respec the nodes after lv 84? the skill tree at lv 84 is different than the one you put at lvling section. (no more balistic mastery, aspect of the eagle, and deadly draw, instead you got heart of oak, acrobatics and phase acrobatics)

2. what to pick for the ascendancy nodes.
at skill tree section you said
Ascendancy: Avatar of Veil (Phasing) + Avatar of Slaughter/Chase (Frenzy/Onslaught)

but at the lvling secion as elemental bow its
Ascendancy Order: Avatar of Slaughter (Frenzy) -> Avatar of Veil (Phasing)

so, which one to choose then?

please help. thank you.

Everything is covered in the guide:

Question #1:
"First of all, levelling with CA as a league starter is close to impossible. The damage output is heavily gated behind levels, and they're hard to acquire early on. Without twink gear, it's very, very slow. That's why we're going to level with elemental bow until we're ready to respec to CA (within 20 free respec points)."

"[...]Once you get to Harbour Bridge, you can stay there to farm or kill sisters to progress further. Blood Acqueducts are better farming zone obviously. Anyway, level up until you're ready to switch to CA. You might want finish act 9 before you respec.

In order to switch, you need to buy a 5-linked bow with ilvl 64+. Then you have to craft +2 gems on it, you should roll it within ~100 alts/augs. Once you have the bow, you have to respec the elemental / physical bow clusters on right side. You can leave projectile nodes at ranger's starting area for now, as they do increase CA's damage. You want to respec them in the long run tho.[...]"


Question #2:
"Frenzy path is default as a league starter. Reliable and standalone.

Onslaught path is much stronger, but requires The Green Dream for frenzy charge generation.
I have yet to see how reliable it is against bosses. ~3% less damage than frenzy path."


UPDATE: I've added wiki link to all Green Dream references in the guide.

"

DankawSL wrote:

"

ruleshellz wrote:

Spoiler

Hi, i'm playing this build as league starter playing as ele bow for a while.

want to ask you a few question.

1. are you respec the nodes after lv 84? the skill tree at lv 84 is different than the one you put at lvling section. (no more balistic mastery, aspect of the eagle, and deadly draw, instead you got heart of oak, acrobatics and phase acrobatics)

2. what to pick for the ascendancy nodes.
at skill tree section you said
Ascendancy: Avatar of Veil (Phasing) + Avatar of Slaughter/Chase (Frenzy/Onslaught)

but at the lvling secion as elemental bow its
Ascendancy Order: Avatar of Slaughter (Frenzy) -> Avatar of Veil (Phasing)

so, which one to choose then?

please help. thank you.

Everything is covered in the guide:

Question #1:
"First of all, levelling with CA as a league starter is close to impossible. The damage output is heavily gated behind levels, and they're hard to acquire early on. Without twink gear, it's very, very slow. That's why we're going to level with elemental bow until we're ready to respec to CA (within 20 free respec points)."

"[...]Once you get to Harbour Bridge, you can stay there to farm or kill sisters to progress further. Blood Acqueducts are better farming zone obviously. Anyway, level up until you're ready to switch to CA. You might want finish act 9 before you respec.

In order to switch, you need to buy a 5-linked bow with ilvl 64+. Then you have to craft +2 gems on it, you should roll it within ~100 alts/augs. Once you have the bow, you have to respec the elemental / physical bow clusters on right side. You can leave projectile nodes at ranger's starting area for now, as they do increase CA's damage. You want to respec them in the long run tho.[...]"


Question #2:
"Frenzy path is default as a league starter. Reliable and standalone.

Onslaught path is much stronger, but requires The Green Dream for frenzy charge generation.
I have yet to see how reliable it is against bosses. ~3% less damage than frenzy path."


UPDATE: I've added wiki link to all Green Dream references in the guide.

thank you very much. sorry if i ask what's in the guide :(

1 more question, when are we capable of respec the projectile nodes at ranger's starting area?
after we want to get more life? or after early mapping? thank you :)

"

ruleshellz wrote:

thank you very much. sorry if i ask what's in the guide :(

1 more question, when are we capable of respec the projectile nodes at ranger's starting area?
after we want to get more life? or after early mapping? thank you :)

Whenever you feel that your damage is good enough that you don't need them, or when you get your hands on good jewel. Atm i still use them at level 83, since i can't replace them with anything better.

The final deadline would be when you get +3 chaos staff, then DoT/chaos nodes are better.