Oh man, that was probably my favorite build! I absolutely love Witch bow - but has gotten harder and harder to do. And there are so few builds. I think there was only like 2 or 3 guides I ever saw, including yours. Xendran also theorycrafted a Voltaxic Witch bow over 2 years ago that looked awesome, but I don't think he ever played it.
Anyway, for me benefits of CI bow would be that you can get high HP, but also get comparable damage avoidance %s as the life guy who takes Acro+Phase by going for Alchemist and using a Rumi's flask. This will give you comparable damage avoidance %, if not more, to Acro and Phase (depending on type of Rumi's and/or if you go as Pathfinder).
This would be nice and tanky with ~8k ES which should be possible. Can throw in Ondar's as well.
Right now I'm trying to figure out how to get the damage to be higher than a life build. I might do either phys bow or Voltaxic. I would prefer to go phys, especially for easier leech and I can also use traps for single target. However Voltaxic is more efficient pathing on the tree, and obviously no reflect issues.
Big problems I am seeing on from my trees are accuracy, as well as attack speed as you said. I can't really do much about the attack speed, accuracy I'll just have to figure out with gear or an Ascendancy.
I think Freeze is alright with a dispel flask (I may also build as Scion Ascendant and get the Pathfinder cluster).
Stun and auras are a problem unless I can incorporate Skyforth. Other options for stun is to build Occultist and get Vile Bastion for "immune to stun" on full ES. This would at least help to some extent. Alternatively could use 3x Fragility jewels and go Scion Ascendant and then get the Juggernaut class and another class like Tricker/Deadeye/Assassin/Pathfinder, this way you'll have stun immunity - but takes 3 jewels which I'm not inclined to do.
Damn I would really want to make this work, but if I can't get the damage as high as I would like then I probably won't do it. Life builds can get so many phys nodes, crit chance, and frenzy charges it is hard to beat - especially after factoring-in cost for gearing. Although I am a little happy that my crit multiplier will be a higher on CI than on life. I may have to revert to getting spell nodes and use COE and a nice amy to get back on par with life builds. To get the crit chance on par I'd probably have to use an Ascendancy (like Deadeye pierce) and power charges. The good thing about crit chance is that it is capped so there is a limit for everyone. Diamond flasks are also really nice these days.
Anyway, I'll try and figure it out. Just trying to decide between phys or Voltaxic and then I'll go for it.
Yeah I loved the "wtf" reaction of most people expecting another sporker or FP and seeing a bow witch instead :p
With good gear yeah the higher potential life pool would probably make up for the lack of other defences. Maybe not so much compared to the build I've made here since block is such a big part of it, but compared to most other bow builds sure.
But yeah rivalling a life-based build's damage would probably be the biggest problem. Some interesting and imaginative workarounds and synergies you have there and I'm sure it could be viable; but efficient? Idk. I'd love it to be though.
Try Slayer and boost dps against unique/rare mobs + Onslaught and better dps, while leeching (without Endless Hunger, since Blood Rage prevents going on full life anyway).
Try Slayer and boost dps against unique/rare mobs + Onslaught and better dps, while leeching (without Endless Hunger, since Blood Rage prevents going on full life anyway).
Interesting suggestion but I'm not sure it would be effective as raider, which compliments the frenzy focus of the build. Avatar of frenzy for instance effectively gives 30% IAS, 30% increased damage and 20% MS (as well as an extra frenzy charge which increases overall damage further). Brutal fervor and bane of legends are both decent damage nodes, but not on the same level as AoF.
We can gain a similar onslaught buff (but with an arguably more useful permanent +20% attack damage) through the raider tree as well if desired, and the starting nodes for duelist are significantly weaker than for the ranger.
Try Slayer and boost dps against unique/rare mobs + Onslaught and better dps, while leeching (without Endless Hunger, since Blood Rage prevents going on full life anyway).
Interesting suggestion but I'm not sure it would be effective as raider, which compliments the frenzy focus of the build. Avatar of frenzy for instance effectively gives 30% IAS, 30% increased damage and 20% MS (as well as an extra frenzy charge which increases overall damage further). Brutal fervor and bane of legends are both decent damage nodes, but not on the same level as AoF.
We can gain a similar onslaught buff (but with an arguably more useful permanent +20% attack damage) through the raider tree as well if desired, and the starting nodes for duelist are significantly weaker than for the ranger.
Of course it won't be effective as Ranger, but I wonder if there is a better option of subclass for Duelist (and still viable).
I'm a pretty new player and your build is the first real char that i tried out (after trying some crap build myself).
I'm level 87 right now and the highest maps I tried to run are Tier 10, which actually are working pretty fine. My problem right now is, that I don't really know what piece of equipment I should improve next. Since I bought most of my stuff together, it's pretty hard to just change one piece, since I'm nearly exactly at 75 resistances on every elemental type (-60% Chaos, which is another issue). So changing one thing would result in having to change another piece if i can't keep my resistances. Next thing is that I'm running at 4k life right now, which seems a bit low for me, although i tried to get a decent life roll on nearly every equipment piece. There are still some things, which oneshot me. I found myself lucky with finding two Exalted Orbs, so I got some currency, which I'm willing to spend.
So my question would be, how could i further improve my equipment without having to adjust too much in other slots (if that is even possible)? I'm just finding myself being very restricted from the choices I made with stacking resistances.
Greetings and thanks a lot if you find some time for me!
I'm a pretty new player and your build is the first real char that i tried out (after trying some crap build myself).
I'm level 87 right now and the highest maps I tried to run are Tier 10, which actually are working pretty fine. My problem right now is, that I don't really know what piece of equipment I should improve next. Since I bought most of my stuff together, it's pretty hard to just change one piece, since I'm nearly exactly at 75 resistances on every elemental type (-60% Chaos, which is another issue). So changing one thing would result in having to change another piece if i can't keep my resistances. Next thing is that I'm running at 4k life right now, which seems a bit low for me, although i tried to get a decent life roll on nearly every equipment piece. There are still some things, which oneshot me. I found myself lucky with finding two Exalted Orbs, so I got some currency, which I'm willing to spend.
So my question would be, how could i further improve my equipment without having to adjust too much in other slots (if that is even possible)? I'm just finding myself being very restricted from the choices I made with stacking resistances.
Greetings and thanks a lot if you find some time for me!
My Equipment:
Spoiler
Hey sorry for slow reply, idk how relevant this will be now but I'll say a few things anyway.
Your gear is generally pretty decent, no piece particularly stands out as weak which makes improvement tricky I understand. If I had to change out 1 item straight away it would be rat's nest: it's great offensively but no life and no resists will make your life a pain elsewhere. Getting a rare will give you a lot more breathing space. Your call though. An alternative would be to get one or two items that you purely dedicate to defensive stats. Right now every one of your items has at least one offensive rolls which is great, but if it's costing you in terms of life or resistances then I would be wary. maybe try to find a ring with 100+ total resistance and t1 or t2 life without worrying about offensive stats on it for now. (high res +life rings often have an open prefix for master crafted flat phys anyway)
Several of your items have only mid-tier life rolls. While better than none, working towards getting t1 or t2 rolls on all your gear should net you an extra 300 life or so which isn't too insignificant. If you replace rat's nest as well this should increase to ~500 life which should feel noticeably safer. Your current gear or equivalent with higher life rolls should be more than sufficient to carry you through to late endgame.
Hey started to use this build and im just curious as to which way you would suggest going on the tree first.. downwards or upwards? im at level 19 I started going down so far but cant decide whats a better idea, im sure its not a big deal either way but just curious as to what you would say to this. thanks for the build so far,very fun!
Hey started to use this build and im just curious as to which way you would suggest going on the tree first.. downwards or upwards? im at level 19 I started going down so far but cant decide whats a better idea, im sure its not a big deal either way but just curious as to what you would say to this. thanks for the build so far,very fun!
The precise path you take before merciless isn't a massively important factor so I haven't covered it in much detail, but the route I typically take is more or less what Ceryneian suggested:
-acro + phase acro first (op defence). I don't tend to take ondar's (arrow dancing) until later though - it really starts being useful when you're killing melee stuff before it reaches you. Until then the additional defence against projectiles will just get you killed against melee if you're not too careful.
-start heading towards all the life nodes from this point. I tend to go shadow first cus that gives a small amount of intelligence as well which can be useful for keeping your PtL gems usable but the precise order doesn't really matter. If you feel particularly weak you can grab a few additional damage nodes too.
-Make sure you've got all frenzy charges and life regen nodes picked up by the time you reach level 65 so you can use charges and blood rage most effectively.
-In terms of additional damage node clusters (ie ones branching off from the main path), I would suggest a very rough prioritisation to be:
Lethality > King of the Hill > Assassination > Heartseeker > Deadly Draw > Aspect of the Eagle/Lynx > Heavy draw
If you don't have a high crit bow you might want to get the non-crit nodes first though.
Just remember the golden rule of Defence before offence and you'll be fine :P
Hey started to use this build and im just curious as to which way you would suggest going on the tree first.. downwards or upwards? im at level 19 I started going down so far but cant decide whats a better idea, im sure its not a big deal either way but just curious as to what you would say to this. thanks for the build so far,very fun!
The precise path you take before merciless isn't a massively important factor so I haven't covered it in much detail, but the route I typically take is more or less what Ceryneian suggested:
-acro + phase acro first (op defence). I don't tend to take ondar's (arrow dancing) until later though - it really starts being useful when you're killing melee stuff before it reaches you. Until then the additional defence against projectiles will just get you killed against melee if you're not too careful.
-start heading towards all the life nodes from this point. I tend to go shadow first cus that gives a small amount of intelligence as well which can be useful for keeping your PtL gems usable but the precise order doesn't really matter. If you feel particularly weak you can grab a few additional damage nodes too.
-Make sure you've got all frenzy charges and life regen nodes picked up by the time you reach level 65 so you can use charges and blood rage most effectively.
-In terms of additional damage node clusters (ie ones branching off from the main path), I would suggest a very rough prioritisation to be:
Lethality > King of the Hill > Assassination > Heartseeker > Deadly Draw > Aspect of the Eagle/Lynx > Heavy draw
If you don't have a high crit bow you might want to get the non-crit nodes first though.
Just remember the golden rule of Defence before offence and you'll be fine :P
