[3.4] The Plague Archer - Assassin Crit/Poison based Toxic Rain!

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manchildmay wrote:

Been playing Toxic rain more than CA so far.

Am going to keep testing with ranger/PF but might end up re-rolling to assassin for crit.

Really hope that less duration lowers the pod times. if not maybe a helm enchant.

Not sure what the real DPS of the skill is as i dont think POB is calculating it correctly?

I'm only in the 20's because I work 24 hour shifts at work. I will be grinding this out on sunday and be able to test the build out more. Even without Less duration I think the potential of the build is viable already.

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Smile_1911 wrote:

Some questions, why not use Lioneye's Fall and only 1 jewel socket. May be so tree with vaal pact or with out vaal pact better, or I something don't know) I'm really interested this build, you can get a detailed answer?

If you can find a use for Lioneye fall then by all means. Remember build guides are simply guides to start you out on the build. If and when you find ways to make it better by all means change it. I can look into doing a without vaal pact tree but if I was not planning on using leech then I would roll a pathfinder honestly. I work 24 hour shifts so I have not been able to play. I plan on grinding out my character tomorrow and will be able to test it further.

Thanks for the build. A lot of people on reddit were against the new bow skills for poison because they are used to the tornado shot - quillrain style.

I played toxic rain but then changed to scourge arrow to experience the channeling style... both skills are great. Both the initial hit and poison damage are good. I think the difference with quillrain poison build is we now apply bigger poison damage amount.

For Scourge arrow, I stacked attack speed to 6-ish and it feels good. If I use quill rain, the attack speed is 10 to 11 and this feels like Tornado Shot. So now I am using Quillrain to clear and physical bow for single target.

I'm not exactly following your build, but modify the existing quillrain poison assassin build to adapt to the new toxic rain skill gem. But I guess your guide is still a work in progress and open to change so it's appopriate to post here.

Here is my character so far: ( You can click on my profile, character name BornToDelve )

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Here is my 2cent:
- The skill is surprisingly good. I'm able to keep up the virulence stacks around 35 for mobs and similar number for bosses, no problem. I guess the insane attack speed of quillrain is the main factor, and also the pods stacks. I tried different bows in PoB and come to this conclusion: with Quillrain, you have double aps and therefore double the effect of noxious strike, at the cost of minimal hit damage and hit chance. The end effect is that Lioneye is still better for damage, about 10% more. But the feelsgood factor of high attack speed combined, 500 more life gained on hit through Torment ring combined with the availability of 6 link quillrain through Porcupine card makes me choose Quillrain over Lioneye.
- The reduced 60% ms is insanely good. I originally went with tornado shot but the defensiveness of the slow from toxic rain is what changed my mind
- Damage: I'm able to kill bosses in yellow map no problem so far, on a 4 link. I got the 5 link for 1 chaos just recently. Took 5,6 seconds for the poison to ramp up, but otherwise no problem.
- Survivability: I'm currently at 3k7 life. I highly recommend going with Thief's torment ring, as I find it indispensable. Without it there are just simply so many problems:
1. No mana sustain: you have to spend 3 tree nodes to not worry about mana flask
2. Can't leech life due to low hit damage: you have to constantly use life flask to make up for that. With Torment we have pseudo Vaal Pact with 1k life gain on hit/ second.
3. Curse easily fucks you up ( If you are too lazy/ forget to hit anti curse flask, like me. )
- Also, I find that greater multiple projectile is vastly superior to faster attack, because you can stack poisons and improve aoe coverage of toxic rain with it simultaneously. The withering touch gem may be fine for a caustic arrow build focusing on DoT, but for this build it's a waste because the added chaos does nothing, as we scale poison and not the initial hit and the totem does fine job, saving another gem slot. Added chaos damage should be the first gem you look for because it is the best damage multiplier, about double your damage.

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xpmrz wrote:

I'm not exactly following your build, but modify the existing quillrain poison assassin build to adapt to the new toxic rain skill gem. But I guess your guide is still a work in progress and open to change so it's appopriate to post here.

1. No mana sustain: you have to spend 3 tree nodes to not worry about mana flask
2. Can't leech life due to low hit damage: you have to constantly use life flask to make up for that. With Torment we have pseudo Vaal Pact with 1k life gain on hit/ second.
3. Curse easily fucks you up ( If you are too lazy/ forget to hit anti curse flask, like me. )
- Also, I find that greater multiple projectile is vastly superior to faster attack, because you can stack poisons and improve aoe coverage of toxic rain with it simultaneously. The withering touch gem may be fine for a caustic arrow build focusing on DoT, but for this build it's a waste because the added chaos does nothing, as we scale poison and not the initial hit and the totem does fine job, saving another gem slot. Added chaos damage should be the first gem you look for because it is the best damage multiplier, about double your damage.

By all means adapt to what you like and make it your own that is what makes PoE fun. I would say your approach is different than mine. My build is not really designed with quiil rain and in fact I would say It hurts the build more than helps. The build is supposed to have higher hit damage for mana sustain and life leech. Think of my approach as trying to stack the TOXIC rain skill and just having poison as a good synergy to the build.

Hey, first time trying out this build currently Act 4 I'm having trouble with damage vs boss. How can i do more damage? Also, i'm playing group self found so i won't buy a unique from poe.trade.

4 Link currently with the suggested gems.
Ice Golem and Herald of purity is pretty much all my gems.

Thanks :)

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xpmrz wrote:

1. No mana sustain: you have to spend 3 tree nodes to not worry about mana flask

What were you using before the ring? I'm tired of shooting 5 times and having to use a potion. Ring kinda costs a lot.

My friend did some tinkering and he came up with a 4 million poison dps

https://pastebin.com/W6FXhukR

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chibiusa91 wrote:

My friend did some tinkering and he came up with a 4 million poison dps

https://pastebin.com/W6FXhukR

In the configuration page it's set as having applied 500 poisons 'recently' (meaning last four seconds). That seems like an unreasonably high number.

How can you leech more life? just took vaal pact and i barely leech anything. what am i missing

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zerkHP wrote:

Hey, first time trying out this build currently Act 4 I'm having trouble with damage vs boss. How can i do more damage? Also, i'm playing group self found so i won't buy a unique from poe.trade.

4 Link currently with the suggested gems.
Ice Golem and Herald of purity is pretty much all my gems.

Thanks :)

Get Herald of Agony and drop Herald of Purity. Self cast Despair on bosses. Get higher damage bow, and more attack speed.

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qazqazqaz wrote:

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xpmrz wrote:

1. No mana sustain: you have to spend 3 tree nodes to not worry about mana flask

What were you using before the ring? I'm tired of shooting 5 times and having to use a potion. Ring kinda costs a lot.

Once you get the Passive "Life and Mana Leech" and have enough damage mana will not become an issue.

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zerkHP wrote:

How can you leech more life? just took vaal pact and i barely leech anything. what am i missing

Damage.