Is Lightning Arrow viable 1.2?

I'm looking for a good bow build and all I see is split arrow/puncture in the guides, what happened to Lightning Arrow/Frenzy?

Frenzy got a huge nerf. It's more of a buff than an attack these days.

Lightning arrow isn't nerved. It's just that with the buffs to bows and Rangers in general in 1.2, there are other more attractive options. If u want a good bow build, look for ice shot or tornado shot builds. Both are pretty sweet. Ice shot in particular has insane crowd control and reasonably fast clear speed. With ice shot and Herald of ice, it's a spectacular sight to see the whole screen exploding in a sea of white. Try tornado shot if you are more experienced. It's harder to use, but a lot more fun

The classic Split Arrow/Puncture phys crit build also works extremely well. Herald of Ash has been such a wonderful addition.

I don't see why LA wouldn't work.

it works - why shouldnt it

problem is that other skills (from the 'elemental' box) like BArrow and IShot both got HUGE buffs/changes and made LA 'weak' but only 'weak in comparison'. it is still a viable skill and can be build around

LA does not benefit from Herald of Ash like BA does (omg how sick it is with ele prolif..)

another huge meta change - making pierce a commodity - benefits IShot more than anything else

i can clear 70+ maps with a 4Link.. (effective 2 link!) with this setup and bow (bow links are random, dont mind them)



LA requires more links. Shock change and static blows cluster placement change even out (it is cheaper now to get static blows but shock as a whole is less powerful than before)

what IS sick is the Revery cluster (mana on hit) that makes LA free to use in practice

and last one - while ice and fire quivers/gimmick exist there is no such thing that benefits LA in any way

My experience with LA build, is that once you base your LA build on Voltaxic Bow, it will be very hard for you to change to physical damage/ice shot/burning arrow build. LA build + Voltaxic Bow required you to channel most of your damage passive skill nodes to lightning damage which required tons of Regret Orbs to re-spec. The only chance you can change your play styles from LA to others is when they reset your passive nodes during the release of mini-expansion, of which you gotta wait for around every 6-8 months. i agree currently ice shot / tornado shot build looks more powerful than LA build, and i cannot just simply pickup a Lioneyes / Windripper / high physical damage bow and switch my skill gems start doing lvl 70+ maps without being underpower.

"

sidtherat wrote:

it works - why shouldnt it

problem is that other skills (from the 'elemental' box) like BArrow and IShot both got HUGE buffs/changes and made LA 'weak' but only 'weak in comparison'. it is still a viable skill and can be build around

LA does not benefit from Herald of Ash like BA does (omg how sick it is with ele prolif..)

another huge meta change - making pierce a commodity - benefits IShot more than anything else

i can clear 70+ maps with a 4Link.. (effective 2 link!) with this setup and bow (bow links are random, dont mind them)

LA requires more links. Shock change and static blows cluster placement change even out (it is cheaper now to get static blows but shock as a whole is less powerful than before)

what IS sick is the Revery cluster (mana on hit) that makes LA free to use in practice

and last one - while ice and fire quivers/gimmick exist there is no such thing that benefits LA in any way

how does burning arrow benefit herald of ash? I don't see any connection. Herald of ash bases it's burn mainly off of overkill damage, so the skill with the most overkill damage will have the highest burn. also if you're igniting with burning arrow, those ignites are wasted if they get overwritten by larger herald of ash burns

"

demivion wrote:

how does burning arrow benefit herald of ash? I don't see any connection.

15% physical as extra fire. Burning Arrow has a 130% base, so you're getting 19.5% of base physical as extra fire. Pretty good if your whole setup is based around boosting fire damage and reducing monster fire resist.

The damage from overkill burns doesn't stack with burns proliferated from BA, but it can happen that the overkill beats the normal burn for damage because of the multiplier on Herald of Ash. In fact you may be able to rely on Herald of Ash for your AoE burn, freeing up a support slot on Burning Arrow (the one usually taken up by Elemental Proliferation - you'll want to put EP directly onto Herald of Ash I suppose). Either way, you've got a lot more burning potential than a build that isn't specialised in fire damage.

Also, as a general rule Burning Arrow builds are big hit builds, which means frequent overkill against weaker mobs. By contrast LA builds tend to be more about projectile spam, with correspondingly less overkill potential.

And correspondingly better survival against reflect.

Short Answer: Lightning arrow is viable.

Secondary Answer: The Frenzy nerf hasn't made frenzy non-viable for DPS. Free minimum 30% Phys Damage and 15% AS isn't non-viable.

My Frenzy dropped from 60k to 52k. It still kills stuff dead.