Maximizing explosive arrow.

What links/supports/passives give you the best bang for the buck for explosive arrow/quill rain build?

I'm currently level 32 and killing things is kind of painfully slow. Beyond mobs with life regen are basically invulnerable. I currently have explosive linked to chance to ignite and fire pen, with prolif planned when I have the mana regen to support it.

Do flat ele mods on rings/gloves even effect the explosion damage?

Here's my gear.



Current passive tree.

Any tips/tricks? Damage boosts don't tend to be reflected on the tooltip, so I'm not sure what affects the explosion damage and what doesn't.

"

LeftyLucy wrote:

Any tips/tricks? Damage boosts don't tend to be reflected on the tooltip, so I'm not sure what affects the explosion damage and what doesn't.

The explosion deals Projectile AoE Fire damage, so boosts to any of those will work. However, bonuses to attack, weapon or spell damage are irrelevant. (This is incidentally why Quill Rain is such a good weapon for Explosive Arrow - its damage penalty doesn't apply.)

"

Incompetent wrote:

"

LeftyLucy wrote:

Any tips/tricks? Damage boosts don't tend to be reflected on the tooltip, so I'm not sure what affects the explosion damage and what doesn't.

The explosion deals Projectile AoE Fire damage, so boosts to any of those will work. However, bonuses to attack, weapon or spell damage are irrelevant. (This is incidentally why Quill Rain is such a good weapon for Explosive Arrow - its damage penalty doesn't apply.)

So integer fire damage on a ring would be a waste, but what about integer damage support, such as added chaos damage?

"

LeftyLucy wrote:

So integer fire damage on a ring would be a waste, but what about integer damage support, such as added chaos damage?

I think the explosion would have the listed amount of chaos damage added (modified by chaos/AoE passives), regardless of the number of fuse charges. But the explosion does such huge damage that you'd barely notice the benefit.

"

Incompetent wrote:

"

LeftyLucy wrote:

So integer fire damage on a ring would be a waste, but what about integer damage support, such as added chaos damage?

I think the explosion would have the listed amount of chaos damage added (modified by chaos/AoE passives), regardless of the number of fuse charges. But the explosion does such huge damage that you'd barely notice the benefit.

That makes sense. What do you think the best supports are?

Chance to ignite, added burning, conc effect, etc?

I tend to prefer a two explosive arrow setup (I have played it a lot).

AOE: EA + LMP + Fire Pen + Faster Attacks (+ Item rarity!)

Note that LMP gives you a damage multiplier because you'll almost always hit most mobs with two explosions. You also don't need to focus on ignite damage for your AOE. 5-stacking mobs will give you a large AOE and destroy any basic mobs.

Single: EA + Conc Effect + Fire Pen + Chance to Ignite (+ Faster Attacks or increased burning damage)

In this setup you want to go for a huge burn damage setup, since getting the ignite is the best way to improve your damage. You can trade out chance to ignite once you get quality EA/burning damage and some ignite from tree.

I also really like elemental equilibrium on EA as it gives you a huge damage boost for little drawback. Just get some cold or lightning damage on your gear. It's worthwhile, even with LMP. (Assume an enemy gets hit with two explosions: the first does roughly 1.5 damage from elemental equilibrium. The next will do about .75 because of the increased fire res. All together that's 2.25 times damage, when two arrows would have equated to just 2.) Although equilibrium is mostly for ramping up single target significantly.

Yeah, that makes sense about EE.

I had a lot of success with a detonate dead prolif build last leaue, so I was hoping to replicate that kind of clear speed with explosive arrow burning prolif, but you don't think it's worth going that route compared to just building a huge explosion?

LMP will give you the range you need and will make prolif basically not needed. Additionally it functions as a damage multiplier for most groups of enemies.