[outdated] King of the Forest (Crit version)

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CadmiumFlow wrote:

Man, this thread is interesting to read. You've got some people clearing Uber Lab and T14-15 maps at level 83, and others having trouble with T10s. I'm going to share some of my thoughts on the wildly differing reports of strength:

Spoiler

This entire build revolves around delivering as much poison damage as possible via Barrage and Toxic Delivery. This is enhanced by several critical factors that you absolutely cannot neglect, or the build simply won't work:

- Extra projectiles from Death's Opus or Reach of the Council. Death's Opus should easily carry you into red maps. This also lets you skip GMP on Lightning Arrow (and eventually LMP) - don't underestimate how much extra clear-speed you pick up from piercing projectiles off-screening and poisoning packs.

- Added Chaos Damage Gems. You need two of these, and they must be leveled. You cannot just throw a level 1 in and expect to run T10 maps. Each level is flat damage (like a spell gem) so they need to be 18+ ASAP. I would recommend buying the GCPs to quality them as well (and use your vendor recipe GCPs), because you cannot afford to run it at level 1 20% in a T12 map and expect to kill the boss. The +% chaos damage is also huge, because jewelry with this on it is extremely expensive.

- Get good Jewelry (some combination of life, resistances, accuracy, flat damage, and then crit multi on the amulet) with an open prefix and spend the 13c to Elreon flat chaos damage on to it. Alternatively, buy some Essences of Envy and try to get lucky on a Diamond or resistance ring:

I crafted the % Chaos Damage Diamond Ring, so I had to spend a decent amount on my other ring to make-up for the lack of defenses. However, buying % Chaos Damage rings with a good life roll and just one resistance is often extremely expensive.

- Keeping Frenzy Charges up to apply poison via Snakebite. If you're having trouble with a boss, you probably lost your Frenzy Charges. Make sure you get in the habit of firing Frenzy every 5 seconds or so to ensure you don't lose your 4-stack.

- Landing Critical Strikes because of the insane 100% more poison damage modifier from Toxic Delivery - this is also a good argument for taking TD before the Uber Lab. This involves using your Diamond flask properly. You should not open a tough fight by using it. Instead, fire a few barrages without it to build Power Charges - you actually need a lower crit chance to generate these. Once you're at 4, then swoop in, pop Diamond, and unload. I've yet to see a map boss (I've run up to T14) survive me for longer than 5 seconds.

- Running a Wither Totem can help a lot here too, because those Wither stacks really add up. In combination with critical strike-fueled Poison damage single targets get absolutely shredded.

- Might be a controversial opinion but I've had success with it: a 6L Barrage is more useful than 5L QotF. Buy a cheap 6L evasion chest with a good life roll (or use an essence of greed to make it yourself) and use that until you can afford to 6-link a QotF.

In terms of survavability:

- Stay mobile. This is not a tanky build. 6K+ life will allow you to do some stupid stuff and survive, but if you get surrounded in a Breach while standing still you will absolutely die. Use blink arrow, blink arrow, decoy totem, or a wither totem. Awareness is required - recognize dangerous situations as they develop and get out. Poison damage means you can keep doing damage even while you run like a sissy.

- You absolutely need high life rolls (T3 at least, T1 or T2 preferred) on all non-unique gear because this build uses uniques in several slots.

- Jewels need 6-7% increased maximum life. This is mandatory if you want 6K+ life. Do not waste rolls on increased critical strike chance. These are cheap for a reason because 10% isn't going to make much of a difference and you don't need it anyway. On the flip side, critical strike multiplier is huge. Also read up on how Poison damage "double-dips" - this limits the types of damage mods you should go for, but also means you get much more from each jewel.

- Fill out the tree - if you skip the far left sides of it you are missing out on over 50% of increased maximum life. This is what gets you out of the typical 4-4.5K bow build health range and into the upper 5Ks. As mentioned, Jewels will then put you over 6K.

- Use a basalt flask and Arctic Armor. I like layered defenses rather than banking entirely on Evasion, but this comes down to personal preference.

- CWDT with Immortal Call and Increased Duration is enough - we don't need Endurance Charges. This question gets asked like every page of this thread.

- Don't get hit. Seriously, the high-tiered bosses hit like trucks but a lot of them are pretty well telegraphed. If you get hit by a big spell, expect to die. That's how the the game is unless you have 15K+ ES.

- KEEP YOUR CHARGES UP! You fight without them and your damage suffers greatly. Then you die, because the fight goes on a lot longer than it should.

- Watch the map mods. As I said before, this is not a tanky build. Throw on unlucky dodge chance, -max resistances, monster critical strike chance, vulnerability, etc and hits can be extremely painful. Bow builds tend to lend themselves to popping a Quicksilver Adrenaline and yolo'ing from pack-to-pack, but even with 6K life this stuff can and will kill us quickly. I also suggesting getting red map elemental weakness capped (169% in hideout) - jewels can help with this.

- Consider a Kintsugi instead of a QotF if you don't trust yourself to not get hit. Sometimes I'm tired and play stupid, and I hate getting one-shot, so I think I'm going to try this when I can afford to 6L it.

I hope this helps for those who have been struggling a bit. This is an expensive build and it does take a while to get it going. But in terms of run and gun bow builds, it's easily one of the best if not the best out there.

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uit wrote:

Tried to kill Shaper twice before getting Dying Sun and +2barrage hat. I didn't even have Vulnerability on hit. Failed miserably, I didn't have enough damage nor skill so balls spread all over the room.

After getting Dying Sun + +2barrage tried to kill Shaper again. Failed the first, but managed to kill him in the second try (so in my 4th in total). Don't have Snakebite Vulnerability, so I used the CoH setup cmphx mentioned in the main post.

I didn't use Ice Golem, instead I used Blink Arrow with Faster Attacks (important to dodge the Shaper jump).

I'm really happy since I didn't even try to kill Shaper last league, so I'm happy I killed him after 4 tries (even when I have high end gear and should have killed him without +2 devoto's or dying sun). I think next tries will be deathless (or almost), because it's a really mechanical fight so it's just muscle memory (every death was my fault and a lot of them were stupid)

So I only can say thanks cmphx for the guide and for answering questions when I messaged him in-game or here. Really enjoyed it. Servers have been not really good these weeks but I had a blast.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAYBAABeAdwDHgUtBbUHmQguCIkM8hCSES8UIBR1Fr8Zjh9BIXYj0yP2JpUqCypbKwouUzB8MfoyMjWSNj031DnUOuFDMUM2RA1HfkyOTP9Nkk3jTipQR1FHUuxVS1WFVvpZ8FuvXWhd8l8_YeJirGVNaoxsCGyMbztwUnTtdct293fXd-N4DXloefZ9dX8rhKKE2YbOidOMNo19jX6Nv49glQWa8Z2qoJ-i2aTCplepbrDYtMW1SLXyt7a8b702vqfAGsEEwTPC7MgUyPDKqdNv037UI9i92Ybawdvn6mLrY-0_7YPuDu8O73rxivJF9W_-Cv6P_ro=?accountName=uit&characterName=DiarreaCr%C3%B3nica

My tree is similar to cpmhx's, just a bit more of attackspeed.

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dro_13 wrote:

Woot nice gear for someone that wasn't able to kill shaper last league