Elemental vs. Physical
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When I heard that mana costs were being reduced for 1.2 I immediately wanted to retry a build I had tried in ambush but couldn't find the mana to even 4L it: elemental hit archer. So I made it my first character this league. I put a lot of time and effort and currency into it and this is what I came up with:
Gear
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Passive Tree
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http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYAAx4FtQX5BiMV8Ba_GYoajx2qH0EhdiP2JP0mlSoLKlMqWy2DMHEwfDH6MgE2PTnUOkI6s0M2RXxGcUp9S3hNklFHUUxS7FVLVvpbr15FYeJilWegbIxtbG-eb_JwUnb3d9d59n8rgwmGzocTh3aMC4w2jX2Nv5AKkvOXBpeXmyabtZyknaqgn6GkpzSsR7IZsnC0DLQ4tUi5fMCcwTPC7MM6xKLKSsu9zerPetQj1ordDd2o4Yjh2-OE5RnmgedU53To1usU7LDz6vba-wn79fzF_sj_3g==
It worked pretty well, I got to the mid 80s before I started having problems leveling it anymore. I do 18,300 tooltip dps with elemental hit (I estimate 23,000 actual since tooltip skips elemental hit's own damage) and 14,000 dps with ice shot. These skills cost me 42 and 32 mana even with -15 from Elreon's jewellery. I have the 2% physical leeched as mana and life in the tree and it helps...not at all. Still a fun character to play, and when I shock and ignite bosses I do some serious damage, but I wanted something that could kill Atziri. So I went with a flavor of the month tornado shot and puncture build and went cheap. Gear
Spoiler
Well, this quiver might not count as cheap, but I found it with the life/resists, used an ex for the challenge and got the WED. The bow I made in a rush before the price change on Elreon and it was only about 40 alts and a regal. Then around 140 fuses trying to 5L but got 6. Everything was self found. Passive Tree
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIAAF4DHgW1BiMILgiJCpsOSBUgFr8Zjh9BIXYj9iT9JpUqCypNLOkwcTB8MZ4x-jKUNZI2PTnUOkI_J0p9SshLV0t4TZJN41FHUUxVS1b6W69daGHiYqxnoGyMbWxuqm-eb_JwUnDVdvd3B3fXeOt9W38CfyuDCYbOhxOHdonTjAuMNo19jb-QCpUFmvGbjZyknaqgn6ZXpuCsR6_rtUi18rl8wOPBM8pKyqnTftQj1orYvdnG3Q3dqOOE5wrnVOd06NbrFOyw7YPvevGz8-r8xf6P_94=
The dangling int nodes are so I would have enough for level 20 critical damage I breezed through the content (not uncommon with characters that start with gear) and in much less playtime I'm at level 88, one level behind my elemental archer. Tooltip dps is 23,400 for puncture and 10,700 for tornado shot. For leech, I have 2% mana from the gloves and 2% life from the tree, and it's enough. Definitely Atziri capable. Major comparison points: DPS: The elemental bow is 240 edps, physical is 235 dps. Roughly equal dps at this point with the bleeding and shocking offsetting, however the physical gems are only level 19 and only the GMP is 20% while the elemental gems are 20% quality and mostly level 20. The elemental also has 1 less link for both, since one link for elemental hit is used for mana leech. Mana Cost: 57 for a 4L elemental hit and 47 for 5L ice shot vs. 5L puncture at 25 and 6L tornado shot at 32. Leech: The elemental archer can only get leech from gems, Doryani's, or lucky corruptions. The physical archer can get leech from those as well as the tree and normal gear mods. Plea to GGG: The mana costs still need tweaking for some skills, but 1.2 was a good start. Please consider an easy to reach node on the tree that turns physical leech into elemental damage with weapons leech. TLDR: Yeah, it's imbalanced. Both ways are fun though. We fight to delay the end because it's the means that matter.
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I would love an easier way to leech mana as elemental archer. Pretty much stuck with blood magic / life leech / vaal pact, or crit + flask spam.
Physical archers have it much better in this regard. |
