2.4 raider help

Hello,

even if atlas of worlds seems not melee friendly, id like to play a melee raider with highest possible def :

was thinking about very high life pool, acro and phase.
But im really new @ ranger in a general way.

Could someone advice me for a 2.4 viable 1h / shield melee raider build ?
I was thinking about wild strike / frost blade / LS or something as main skill

Thanks guys,
OuiS

any comments on this ?

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIBAJuNCC5rkBcm7YMS8XqEGY4vctCtAF4tTUHQ035I7u96PeJEDfajeK7I8BUgsbMs6S2Do4obrYazAO4ZtCP2-WOUuCpNapO-p02SlcxU_hXwexQXPj8nfVtM_2VN7T-95pLzBfkUjkrIrEdDMb02Ps9eRZsmwHZuqr_VwzPawUd-UUcyAbXyU7taGi5TdO2E2TB8jb_nVLIZNZLTbwUtfyvI3NQjJP3Pev6P2L1679aKVvrBSTBx_95h603j_gpAoHfX_h3dqHpTplfyRcC_2GBLeDrhBIfXLTpCj5lJDzJOdKBYdQYgfXX-ug==

planning lightning coil as chest, and shield for survavibility

edit : updated with onslaught node

Heyaa, would just like to comment on your defense. :)

The Raider has insane defenses, which you should definitely use.

For example the Onslaught node: 25% more evasion vs melee.. thats insane, because you only need 76% chance to evade to gain effective 95% chance to evade.
Use the ehp calc for more information. :)

Basically you can get 76% evasion pretty easy.. use something like Grace/Enfeeble and evasion on your equip and here we are. :D

In addition a nice amount of dodge and you will be super tanky.. you should just take more life nodes to get a bigger hitpool.

Btw. would take the Phasing node over the Frnezy node, since you gain in the end more survivability and dmg. :D

Go pathfinder.

Raider is terrible.
And skip acro/phase acro/arrow dancing.

first, as a melee ranger, you will be going dw or shield. and, going acro costs you 30% of your block, for 40% dodge. that in many/most cases is not worth it. 50% shield block is pretty easy with a shield build. acro is only for 2h builds these days, and THEN barely. Because its also costing you 50% armor and ES. the loss of 50% of a granite flask is too much. Its just not worth it. Pathfinder especially with 15%, 20%, or 50% flask effect.

acro breaks Rumi's. Which granted, you may not be running a rumi's.
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Rumi%27s_Concoction
But even without a 3000 armor granite flask+ "of iron skin" 60-100% global armor.
at 6 point pathfinder, will have 15% flask effect. 3450 armor, and 69-115% global armor.
That 115% of iron skin, would turn that 3450 armor into 7417 armor, by itself. 100% uptime in a pathfinder, thanks to major flask duration, and charge generation.

Essence sap is not great. 2 points down by duelist life and mana leech is enough since its attack damage now, and not just phsy.
on the other hand, druidic rite, and primal spirit are nearly must haves these days since the utility flasks were introduced. Charges gained and duration is OP with again granites, basalts, silver, stibnites, rumis, atziris, taste of hate, quicksilvers, and even "of ironskin"/reflexs"

wildstrike is bad. Lit strike is solid. frostblades is an inferior lit strike. not unplayable, but lit strike is better in 95% of situations

Raider...
seriously its garbage.
Slaughter line. Minors give 15% evasion and 18% frenzy duration. The 18% durations are pointless, adding on top of the other frenzy duration. What is the value? the longer move speed with slaughter/blood dance?
15% eva is ok. but since its just adding into other eva, its pretty marginal. At best its 1% more evade in practice... kindof pointless.
way of the poacher. 10% attack speed. 10%? thats pathetic. Pathfinders natures adren 2pointer, gives 15% move speed, and 20% attack speed during flask effect(which is 100% uptime, on a pathfinder.)
15% chance for frenzy on kill. Sounds good right? but no, its totally unreliable. you need to back it up with frenzy, blooddance, blood rage, or poachers mark still. it doesn't change your build, or really aid it at all.

Avatar of the slaughter. again, sounds great on paper. but is not. The +1 frenzy is the real draw. and is decent.
4% more damage,4% attack/cast speed
and with the node 4% eva. And with various uniques various effects. 2% dodge with darkray vectors, 2% move, 1%life regen with blood dance, etc. The value of +1 frenzy charge is not really in question.
But, the 2%move speed, 3%attackspeed, and 3%AD is total garbage.
8 charges max with "normal build" aka 3base+3 passives+1 ascend+1 merc bandit. 11 is total max. (+1darkray,+2vaal boots/ammy.)
8x2=16% move speed, 8x3=24%attack speed, 24%AD.
Again, that is kindof pathetic compared to avatar of onslaught in raider itself, master bowyer in pathfinder, master alch in pathfinder, or master herbalist in pathfinder. Nevermind, every other ascendancy. these base stats are just adding into all the other move speed, ad and attack speed you already have.

Trickster shadow, gets +1frenzy and 15% frenzy on kill for 2 points. if you are going raider for +1 frenzy, stop right now, and go play a trickster.

What about the onslaught line?
5% attack speed, and 15% eva minors. Better.
rapid assault 20% ad, and 20% onslaught on kill. Again, with silver flasks existing.. ehh... but, not horrible. The AD itself also only ok, due to addition.
Avatar of the chase. ok, decent nowadays. 25%more melee evade, and 10% more proj evade.
Increases onslaught from 20% move, 20% attack/cast, to 30% move, 30%attack/cast. And adds 20% AD.
So effectively 10% move, 10%attack/cast speed, 20% ad, and 25%more melee evade, and 10% more proj evade. This is clearly better then slaughter imho. (but not better then ghostdance, +1 frenzy trickster..)

Veil line.
also ok. not amazing.
15% eva, 4% move minors.
Quartz. 6% dodge. small. but very good. phasing on kill, phasing on onslaught, and max frenzy. phasing by itself is a bit meh. all it does is remove unit collision. with whirling blades, etc, this is only ok. but that said, as a melee build, there WILL be times you make use of this. This does have unique value. (visual effects on phasing on kill, but NOT on max frenzy, or onslaught.)
Avatar of the veil. 20% inc elem damage. but, large buffs to phasing. 20% move speed, immune to elem status effects(huge), and 10% spell dodge(also very strong.)

So, the veil line gives solid defensive benefits, gives great utility in movespeed, and phasing. It would be ok, if slaughter was not so bad, and chase a tiny bit better.
The chase line gives ok movespeed/damage/evade. well rounded damage/defence, but nothing unique.
The slaughter line gives +1 frenzy, and everything else is garbage.

Pathfinder has more unique effects. the elem pen, and extra damage on vet bowyer. it multiples damage. Poison on hit with master herb, same deal. 100% poison on hit, is pretty rare. Even the 15%move,20% attack speed on natures adren, stacks with onslaught. Elem Damage reduction on natures boon. immune to elem effects, and 20% shock/ignite/freeze on master alch.
Flask effect/duration, making utility and unique flasks super powerful.


Due note flask effect does not effect diamond or silver flasks. The duration does though.

So yeah, go pathfinder. don't even bother with a lightning coil. you can hit 10-17k armor, 50-75% evade, 50-75% block, max resists+8% elem dr, immune to status effects. Throw a unique or two in there, and even get spell block. And skip acro/phase acro because its also killing your Armor/ES/block for no reason.

Heres a lit strike sample build.
https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIDAQBeAdwEsQUtBbUILgqbDPINjRGBEuEXlhmOG60j0yP2JJ0k_S5TL8wwfDWSN0w31DiWOq064T3iPs9DMUQNR35I7kp9SshM_01GTZJN404qUUdTu1b6Whpbr2JaYqxi7GOnZU1sjG6qbztvhHTtd-N4DXjreu97FH11f4CA4YTZhO-Hdo19jX6Nv49gm42dqp63ouqjiqZXqW6xs7TFtfK3F7vjvTa95r6nv9XAGsGCwuzDM8Six53I8M2Y02_Tfti92sHdRuJe45_nCudU6ZjqYu0_7YPuDu968W3yRfzF_gr-j_66_xD_HP_e

ty vm guys for your in depth explaination.
That is indeed my first ranger since 2.0 : lot of garbage in my choices from what i read.
Gonna study it carefully for sure :)

If you are farming <T12s I think either of the above suggestions are fine, and your tree is alright.

If that is the case, ignore everything I wrote below the dotted line.

Also, Raider is not terrible - each Ascendancy works for different builds. Like Saphisreturn said if you are focusing more on Dodge and EV % multipliers - you should go Raider Avatar of Veil + Avatar of Chase and find a way to reliably maintain Onslaught (Silver flask / Rotgut).

Casia argues Pathfinder would be better - but I would say that is the case if you want to focus on Block (in lieu of dodge) and you have the high-end flasks like Taste of Hate and Rumi's.

I would not take Onslaught nodes on the tree.

Stibnite flask should be your #1 favorite flask and rolled with extra charges so you can spam it.

-----

Unfortunately there is no right answer on how to build EV melee - because for EV melee there are just too many things you need to balance (below) if you want a strong build, while at the same time being constrained with few life nodes. And people will always choose to focus on different things.


I would try and pick your gear, skill, and points depending on which buckets below you want to optimize.

Most EV melee builds will only partially optimize 2-3 of the below 4 buckets. i.e. medium DPS and medium damage avoidance and mediocre damage mitigation. A very good build will have FULLY maxed out 2 buckets: 1 bucket from A and 1 from B. A very strong build will have maxed out 3, which is extremely rare for EV melee.

A1. Damage avoidance: you need at least max block, or very high dodge, or mid- combination of both dodge and block, AND EV% multipliers that are reliable like Blind or Raider's Avatar of Chase. Other boosts include Vaal Grace, Enfeeble.

A2. Damage mitigation: LC is great, Basalt, several ECs and a way to reliably generate ECs, Arctic Armor would all go a long way. Kintsugi is also a great chest but not readily available. If you can wear a Kaom's chest or just get as much life as possible to soak damage - I would put it in this bucket as well. Going CI and stacking high ES is another example to soak damage.

B1. AOE and single-target DPS difference: time in battle is a real enemy of EV builds. The higher your DPS (i.e. crit) the better your relative survivability. Your EV entropy is a ticking time bomb and you really need to kill fast and move on, or have a way to reliably regen life very fast, or have a way to slow down enemies (Blasphemy + Temp Chains). The larger the pack, or the faster a monster hits, or the longer you stay in battle - the more dangerous it becomes.

B2. Technique: hit and run DOT skills like Viper Strike / Puncture / Vaal Lightning Strike ; pseudo-range skills like ST / LS / Reave / FBlades with extra melee range; PLUS a strong movement skill like Whirling Blades, will all go a long way to cutting down your exposure to danger.

Of course there are some extra "tricks" you can add like perma-freeze, stun-lock, chance to flee, knockback etc.

Anyway, that's how I like to think about it. Personally I try and focus more on A1, B1, and B2 and less on A2 because monster and boss damage is only going 1 way in this game and that is up. Past a certain point you can no longer mitigate the damage, especially on a relatively low HP pool which comes with building on the right side.

oh, there are also two totems that are not talked about enough for any melee build. and if you haven't played in awhile might not know of either.

Decoy totem. Been around forever. but somehow totally overlooked for its op.
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Decoy_Totem
This badboy will negate the need for like 90% of your defenses anyway.
not a quest reward for a ranger, but is sold by Nessa to one, after breaking some eggs.
Makes Izaro and many similar boss fights a total joke.

Ancestral warchief.
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ancestral_Warchief
Major damage buffto you, and deals a ton of damage itself. Also, serves as a distraction.
Will need to trade for, or have it drop as a ranger.