[1.2.1][HC] MrKasor's Crit Ash Shot Ranger (Cheap Newbie Friendly Guide)



Alright, let's start by saying Hello. Welcome to my latest and greatest.Feel free to post questions or let me know how you are doing with this build. I'll try to get back to you.

This is my version of a Hardcore Critical Ice Shot Herald of Ash Ranger.
When you want to one hit most things and look good doing it while only spending a few Chaos.

Hardcore Viable: Build V1.1

Major Skills:
-Ice Shot
-Herald of Ash
-Tornado Shot

The Idea is to get Criticals with Ice Shot. it then Pierces and Hits a Large Pack. Killing a couple monsters in 1-2 shots. Damage is very high on the Critical so the Excess Damage (Overkill) is then converted into 100% ignite chance with a damage increase of ~100-150%. If you are running the cheap The Three Dragons helm you also get another 50% increase from shock.

Pros:
-Works well with only 4 links
-Doesn't need any expensive items
-Mana isn't a problem
-Ash's ignite cant be reflected
-Melts packs/Rares
~Gain tons of damage and allows elemental proliferation to go wild (The Three Dragons)

Cons:
-Survive-ability is largely item based
-Vaal Pact/Life Leech to survive Reflects
-Single target is just fine nothing too special
~Lose crowd control Freeze (The Three Dragons)

Let's dive in then

Key Ideas:
-Vaal Pact for Reflect Late game
-Melting packs with Herald of Ash
-High Physical and Elemental Damage
-Grace is important for defense
-High Physical Damage > Attack Speed

Bandits:
Normal: Oak +40 Health
Cruel: Oak +18% Phys
Merc: None Passive Skill point

Gear:
Spoiler
My Current Gear (Nothing cost more than 2c except Three Dragons cost 4c Found the bow)


Gear Prefixes (Prefixes In Order of Importance)
Spoiler
Trying for all Evasion gear but Evasion/Armour is acceptable.

High Physical Bow (Base pref 6.5% Crit)
-Double Physical Roll
-Increased Local Crit
-Increased Crit Multi
-Increase Attack Speed
-Resists

Gloves
-Physical Roll
-Attack Speed
-Life
-Resists
-Mana/Life Leech
-Increased Local Defenses
-Str/Int

Boots
-Movement Speed
-Life
-Resists
-Increased Local Defenses
-Str/Int

Helm/Chest
-Life
-Resists
-Increased Local Defenses
-Str/Int

Quiver (Pierce/Physical)
-Life
-Physical Damage
-Vaal Orb (Added arrow)
-Resists
-Crit Multi/Chance

Rings
-Life
-Physical Damage
-Resists
-Leech
-Crit
-Str/Int

Amulet (Str/Int)
-Life
-Increased Armour
-Cheese
-Resists
-Leech
-Str/Int



Leveling:
Spoiler
Armour Variant (Cheap)

Evasion Variant (Softcore)(Hardcore Requires Lightning Coil 2ex)

Farming Zones
Spoiler
Ledge - Safe - Ledge Waypoint
Fellshrine - Safe - Crypt Waypoint
Lunaris Temple - Moderate to Hard(If killing piety) recommended 50%+ all resists and 40%+ physical damage reduction (AVOID Kole) - Lunaris Level 2 Waypoint

Keep in mind you don't get as much expriernce when above the level of the zone by 3+(Player Level/16) rounded down


Key points while leveling
-You will need to grab the large int passives till you can replace them with gear

-The Pierce is a large damage bump with ice shot

-This is hardcore try to get the health at an even rate as the damage if not faster. Defense > Offense can't be on the offensive if you're dead.

-The health/phys damage and evasion cluster is great

-When going for the Scion Health Wheel get the Large passive then some damage nodes then Finish the wheel

-Damage Over Time passives help both Puncture and Herald of Ash

-Get Iron Reflexes(IR) act 2 in Cruel on the armour variant

-Swap out revelry for the mana leech near entropy when you have enough damage


Skills: (Gems In Order of Importance)
Spoiler
Defensive (Pure Armour base easiest for Sockets)
CWDT(Lvl 15 ~2k Damage Taken)->Enduring Cry->Immortal Call->Decoy Totem/Increased Duration/Enfeeble/Molten Shield (However you feel remember to level them just under CWDT)

Second Skill - Chest
Puncture->Increased Physical Projectile->Increased Crit Multi->Increased Crit Strikes->Pierce(Drillneck)->Faster Attacks/Life Leech
(Recommended for Lategame)
-or-
Tornado Shot->GMP/LMP->Ranged Totem/Pierce->Faster Attacks->Increased Physical Projectile->Increased Crit Multi/Strikes
(Fun with the totem great with loremaster missions hasn't dropped off yet this + ice shot seems to do enough single target for now)

Aura('s) & Curses (Grace & Anything you'd prefer)
Grace->Reduced Mana->Smoke Trap->Assassin's mark (More Crit)

AOE - Bow (Drillneck makes Pierce a better choice)
Ice Shot->Pierce->Increased Physical Projectile->Added Fire/Life Leech->Increased Crit Strike->Increased Crit Multi

Herald (Tri Dragons Helm for Ele Prolif)
Herald of Ash->Increased Burning Damage->Ele Prolif->Increased Area/Reduced Mana


Interesting Uniques: (Beyond Prices)
Spoiler
The Three Dragons - Cheap and Makes you Shock and Ignite highly recommended
(~4-7c)

Pyre - increases your damage. (~1-2c)

Death's Harp - Extra arrow cheap for leveling
(~1-3c)

Belly of the Beast - Nice Chest +30% to life has resistances with better flasks (~1ex)

Lightning Coil - Completely Solid on Both Evasion and Armour variants. Needed for Evasion. (2ex)

Atziri's Step - If evasion these are godlike. Otherwise don't worry (?)

Doryani's Invitation (Physical) - Enough said its good trust me. (?)

Drillneck - Just Great puts you at 100% pierce and +100% projectile damage
(~2-4ex)

Lioneye's Glare - Fine Choice 100% accuracy lets you save 6 points which you can then use to pick up to grab the totem cluster(3 points)(totemic zeal if you run tornado shot totem still if not you can grab 42% bow physical) make up for the crit loss(1or2 points) and grab more points in health probably finish off the evasion/health wheel(1or2 points).
(~2-4ex)

Atziri's Acuity - Dreamy Lets you Drop two points on Vaal Pact and put it into Mind Drinker from there refund the 4 points in Revelry and get either more health or personally 4 points into the status effect resistance. Shock and Ignite or Freeze Your choice though its pretty easy to flash away Frozen/chilled.
(Cough Cough 90+ex, you'll never get this)


Tips
Spoiler
-Identify blue resist rings and Alt/Aug them till you get health/resist rolls to fill in the needed resists.

-When worried about resist packs? shot an arrow at the outer most edge and let the ignite do the work. It probably wont kill you to fire right at the pack but you can always test the edge to see if you take any damage.

-Elemental reflect would do more damage so resistances are key but once you are maxed its then physical reflect damage that would hurt more.

-In merc skip the side quests and come back 4 levels later when you are on level if you dont feel comfortable.

-To get to endgame you dont have to beat dominus/piety just get the lab and do them later when you are SUPER confident.

-Eat your veggies

-Using the masters makes your life and trading a lot easier/cheaper.

-For trading go to Poe.XYZ.is and click the tab online only on copy the persons name and past it with an @ in front to message them in game. post the items name and tell them the offer in currency. You can also click buyout only to price check and item you have.

-If you are really poor or RNGesus isnt on your side you can spend 6 points earlier to grab the aura cluster to run vitality or purity as well as grace for a defensive boost. Lvl 20 reduced mana + that cluster and full linked herald of ash with these two auras gives you 85% mana reserved.


General:
-Loremaster missions put your Tornado shot on a ranged totem. Never been easier.
-Three Dragons highly recommended.
-Always Vaal Orb nice Quivers, extra arrows are great.
-Use Grace
-You want high base physical damage because everything scales off this.
-Don't forget the Damage Over Time cluster


That's it, try it out and see for yourself. Good Luck, Happy RIPs.

Notes/FAQ:
Spoiler
-No Reflect isn't a problem. (Damage is half elemental half physical/ignites dont reflect)

-The Three Dragons increases damage.

-I love using Tornado Shot for single targets such as rare's/Uniques never more than a good couple shots. Puncture will probably scale better lategame with the Damage over Time nodes if you really need more single target dps (EDIT: Late tornado shot on a totem is helping as ice shot is doing great damage).

-Get Health I usually have 1000 by the end of Normal 2000 by Merc and Like to rush to 4000 as fast as possible to avoid being one hit in maps.

-Chaos Resist really helps with Beyonds but typically have Maxed ele resists always or you will die.

-Trouble Areas are Act two west the Underground Worm Rares pop up like Starbucks in the city and without high Armour and Resistances it gets heavy. Always be careful around Beyonds Ripped Twice to them and that's 100% of my RIPs.


-Try not to crash the instance with your crits (Fractured maps)

Thanks to NecroX93 for pointing out some issues and suggesting more options which led to an improved variant.
[3.2] ✮ MrBones Wild Ride Dancing Dervish Melee Skeleton Summoner ✮ [400%+ Movement Speed]
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2094226
Last edited by MrKasor on Sep 11, 2014, 12:43:11 AM
POP QUIZ: Hardcore viable?
One more - how to deal with bosses/unique monsters/even yellows? Everything in this build seems to be dedicated to dispatching groups...
Last edited by benjiwoosh on Aug 30, 2014, 8:25:58 AM
I am currently trying this build in rampage. Bought a Death's Harp Death Bow and currently am level 36. Also have the three dragons golden mask but not a good setup with elemental proliferation yet. Right now the DPS from the skill says 881 DPS and it feels really great. Nice build :D!
"
POP QUIZ: Hardcore viable?
One more - how to deal with bosses/unique monsters/even yellows? Everything in this build seems to be dedicated to dispatching groups...


Yes I just ripped to a beyond looking away but restarted because I love this build probably the most powerful I've felt in awhile. Currently lvl 50.

For Uniques puncture. Rares/Blues melt with the rest due to ignite.

"
I am currently trying this build in rampage. Bought a Death's Harp Death Bow and currently am level 36. Also have the three dragons golden mask but not a good setup with elemental proliferation yet. Right now the DPS from the skill says 881 DPS and it feels really great. Nice build :D!


Glad to hear it! Yes that bow would be awesome with ice shot get a quiver with a Vaal added arrow and you have a free LMP. This is a hardcore build so you can do away with some of the health early and go right for the damage if you wish. :D! ALSO with the mask you no longer freeze so elemental proliferation spreads the shocks and ignites like wildfire.
[3.2] ✮ MrBones Wild Ride Dancing Dervish Melee Skeleton Summoner ✮ [400%+ Movement Speed]
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2094226
Last edited by MrKasor on Aug 31, 2014, 5:07:39 AM
all i can say is wow.

extremely good build, well thought out, well structured, and clearly you're smart because you are so good at MATH!
Can you address which Bandit payouts you're taking with this build?
"
Can you address which Bandit payouts you're taking with this build?


I will make it more clear

"
Bandits:
Normal: Oak +40 Health
Cruel: Oak +18% Phys
Merc: None Passive Skill point
[3.2] ✮ MrBones Wild Ride Dancing Dervish Melee Skeleton Summoner ✮ [400%+ Movement Speed]
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2094226
Last edited by MrKasor on Aug 30, 2014, 6:17:25 PM
How come you skip Heart of Oak? It looks so strong and it's right there. I guess it's 2 points but still~
"
How come you skip Heart of Oak? It looks so strong and it's right there. I guess it's 2 points but still~


2 points 4% health each 30% stun avoidance 15% stun recovery and 1% life regain. The regain doesn't work with Vaal Pact So I don't bother. Just wrote it off. rethinking it now. Seems stupid to not have that will change it to lose 2% life.

Better yeah I don't know what I was thinking.
[3.2] ✮ MrBones Wild Ride Dancing Dervish Melee Skeleton Summoner ✮ [400%+ Movement Speed]
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2094226
Last edited by MrKasor on Aug 31, 2014, 12:03:55 AM
Nice guide, playing a similar build but hadnt been focusing on scaling ash. You can get flat pys on gloves and leech on rings and ammy all of which are certainly nice to haves.

Also if you get decent quality on pierce you can reach 100% chance while pathing the short way around the pierce wheel to save a point. Wont get as much pierce on your single target but you can probably beat the 2% extra damage you get with the extra point.

Edit: Does increased weapon elemental damage w/ weapons only effect the initial hit and not the Herald of Ash damage?
Last edited by reprisals on Aug 31, 2014, 2:01:36 AM

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