[2.0] Poison Arrow, Tanky. HC/Atziri

Main Damage




My main damage dealer is obviously poison arrow. There are a number of benefits, such as being able to shoot once-twice and just running away, as well as not having to deal with reflect AT ALL or even most on hit effects such as corrupting blood.

The support gem choice here isn't very original in the least, but its what works. These are also completely unnecessary, as i'll show in some videos.
In order to max out PA potential however, you'll want these gems including lvl 21 PA and lvl 4 empower. These are expensive, but completely a luxury. Slower Projectiles for its MORE dmg component is amazing with PA, as well as Pierce (and Drillneck) for its massive boost to projectile dmg which also scales with PA cloud dmg.


Utility



First up for utility is my LA curse on hit to easily and quickly apply vulnerability whenever i want to whatever i want. its spread is massive due to the nature of LA (chains to 3 enemies) and its much more mana efficient than manually casting. You can swap this curse to Warlord's Mark if you want/need a endless stream of endurance charges, but at lower lvls and lower gear tiers you'll appreciate the extra boost in dmg.




Next up is my CWDT setup which includes Temp Chains and Arctic Breath on GMP. This ensures whenever i take damage everything will be SUPER slowed down to nothing so that i can run away with my increased movement speed. It also keeps enemies inside my PA clouds for prolonged durations as a side bonus. I get to stay alive longer, they get to die easier. Its a win-win.

Now, i also run a solo frenzy socket in order to maintain my frenzy charges reliably, and to gain max charges as soon as i load into new areas. Frenzy is very important in this build because of its change to boost your damage by 4% MORE per charge. This is also an extreme boost in PA cloud dmg the more frenzy charges you can get. I can hold 9 charges which gives me a boost of 36% MORE damage.


Auras/Buffs



Clarity is essentially a must. You will need copious amounts of mana regeneration for a regular ole ranger since PA can get pretty mana intensive, very quickly.
Grace is used for extra evasion which is then transformed to armour via Iron Reflexes. Also basically a must because it grants almost 20% physical reduction just by using this aura alone.
Arctic Armour is used here because of its significant change of being used on reservation instead of a drain to your MP pool. This allows any character to free up some mana cap and use AA for an essential physical and fire reduction in damage by %.
Enduring Cry is kept separate and used manually during real times of trouble to quickly boost defenses and reduction %.

Nothing too out of the ordinary here.

This is the greatest part about this build. You do not need some crazy hyper expensive end game Harbinger Crit Bow to get by or to get damage. All you need is a +3 lvl bow which is actually quite easy to craft.
I crafted this bow by myself in approx 1 hour of farm and trying for a total of about 100 alterations, 5 regals, 50 jewelers and 30ish fusings. All i did was play through Act 4 regular maps and pick up every single bow that dropped. I would then Alt/Aug them all until i got a +1 level of gems OR +2 level of bow gems and whatever other mod. Then i regal'd it. If it failed, i sold it and tried on the next pickup.
It took me 5 bows to land the +3. I then through a couple yolo exalts its way to see if i could hit atk spd or resistances, and master crafted whatever i wanted/needed on the last mod. Simple.

Drillneck is the next most important piece of gear here. Not really required, but definitely helps a lot in damage. Because PA cloud damage receives bonus from projectile dmg, this is a great and simple boost.

As you can see i picked up Kaom's. This goes nicely with my passive tree and all the HP% i get, plus blood dance. Its cheap now (8ex on standard) and i don't require more sockets so to be tankier, i grabbed it. Any chest will do though, really.

Blood Dance boots. These are also a HIGHLY recommended item for this build because again i end up with high amounts of life and the regen provided from frenzy charges is amazing compared to the now changed life leech mechanic, and life gain on hit, etc. The chance to gain frenzy charges on kill is also amazing and very generous to my lazy playstyle of hitting as little buttons as i need to.
I have corrupted mine to run another frenzy charge, because obvious.

Devoto's Devotion i use for its crazy amount of defenses it provides (total of 1094 base armour) and its amazing movement speed boost, which is important for rangers and any ranged play.
Movement speed is actually one of the most underrated defense mechanisms in the game, in my opinion. Its becoming a lot more well received with the recent patches (vaal and awakening) because things are getting to the point where you need to avoid damage, or die. Movement speed allows us to avoid damage, so naturally...

Highlights...
As many frenzy charges, projectile damage, and health as you can muster. Its necessary to pick up the aura cluster near ranger start in order to run all three clarity/grace/AA without having to use alpha's, so do that.
Regeneration and movement speed is your friend, get what you can. My next stop will probably be another endurance charge, or possibly just straight to more HP.

I haven't tested it YET but from the utility of this build and its passive tree im assuming its HC friendly. its very safe since you can shoot and run, high HP, high sustain by way of regeneration, and ranged.

Theres no point in posting a picture of my offensive stats. They are non-existent in the stats page. In order to see what type of damage i can do you'll have to watch the videos.

I will be posting multiple videos with sub-par gear in order to demonstrate the damage possibilities without GG gear.

This is great.
HP of 6,284.
My base physical reduction is 63%. with 3 charges its 74%. with 3 charges and flasks running its 90%.
Arctic Armour is stacked on top of that, which at its current level is at 12% LESS damage for physical and 11% for fire. No this does not mean i have 101% physical reduction. It still remains 90%, but the initial hit is reduced by 12%, i believe after resistances are factored. It isn't as beneficial as an evasion character running AA, but its still helpful. The slow generated is just gravy.

My base movement speed is 45%. With max frenzy charges its 63%. With my quicksilver flask its a max of 132%.
My base regeneration is 226.2 with my current max HP. With max frenzy charges its 791.8. This is a much better and reliable source of sustain than the new life leech, if you ask me. Generating charges is easy with the auto-gen from the boots, and sustaining them is easy with the frenzy gem to refresh your timer whenever you need to.

Other than capped resistances (which everybody should and will have) theres nothing really more to add here.

Very lazy style of play. Hit and run.
Few button presses to remain tanky. Most is automatic.
Very cheap and easy to be an effective build.
Absolutely no issue with reflect.
Tanky and reliable sustian.
Can, as far as i've tested, run every map mod. Some just not ideal (like no regen)

Expensive to maximize. (25ex lvl 4 empower, 20ex lvl 21 PA, 8ex Kaom's, etc)
Great damage potential, but there is a limit.
Others im sure, i'll fill in if i come across them.

Stay Tuned