[3.9] HIT AND RUN EXPLOSIVE ARROW RAIDER, ALL CONTENT

{3.9} Hit and run Explosive arrow raider ALL CONTENT!

We are back in business boys, decided to try and make this build work again and boy the dps is much higher than waht we had with elementalist. You do need to understand, this is not a cheap buidl, not as expensive as some though, nor it is godlike like cyclone meta. This build just has it all. With the new 3.7 update and legion I had to find a solution for sustain. came up with the solution you will see below
This is the best EA build you will find

For 5 years I have been stranded on an island, and now I've come back to the same..Wreaclast, to save it

{update}

3.9 Metamorph league [Build updated with PoB link, will update the thread with gem information as soon as I start testing it when 3.9 goes live]

3.9 General changes

Tree is a bit different.
Options for ascendancy:Deadeye and Raider.
Less duration gem no longer used, using Barrage support now or burn damage.
Still going for elemental equilibrium.
Gems and BiS items are in PoB.
We end up with 6k+ life, 40% dodge and evade, 1000 life regen and insane life leech.
Bosses are now even easier with new EA changes.

Raider:more arrows stacked on mobs than deadeye, using without barrage support.
Quartz infusion>Avatar of the veil> other 4 points are up to you


Deadeye:more accuracy, more arrows fired, more elemental damage dealt.
Far shot>endless munitions>Gathering winds>Fast and deadly

PoB:https://pastebin.com/CzYq7w6S

I will not go through leveling process again, basically, in Legion I leveled with Caustic arrow and it was pretty fine all the way lvl 75, then I switched to EA.
In order to start with EA and go in red maps, you will need a +3 bow with IAS and empower at least lvl 3.
Forget about using quill rain, since it is dead and nerfed
My gear in Legion:


We use Eternity shroud as our main item.
We get 50% ele damage as chaos, which is huge for EA.


Why raider?
Since we can no longer use quill rain, we need to use +3 bow, but it is very slow. The best ascendancy for stacking speed is raider, we have 6 frenzy charges, and 100% increase effect onslaught all the time.

Gems:
We no longer need weapon swap, we only use 1 bow:
EA+combustion+empower+ele damage with attack+ignite prolig+less duration/burning damage.

As far as burning damage and less duration are concerned, you can swap them when mapping or bossing, I find both ok, but for uber elder and atziri i would go with burning damage.

Defense:
50% evasion
40% attack dodge
30% spell dodge
6,4k life
700 life regend per second
2% life leech

Did all end game with EA now in legion, and officially, the build has been revived. If you are looking to have some fun, go ahead and try it

Summary: This is my all time favourite skill and I wanted to make a decent build that can do all content, finally made it, enjoy..

Leveling





Weapon

This item is your main weapon, both for mapping and single target, just weapon swap

Chest
best chest for this build since we will go blood magic and quill rain attacks fast

Helm
best helm for this build, gives you attack speed, movement speed and chaos resist and most importantly it gives you dexterity

Belt
this is you best belt slot, gives you life and duo resist and you will have the feeling that mobs die faster, but this is you choice, you can change it for some rare belt

Other items are rares, just to cap your resists and dexterity that you will need since you are a witch.

My current gear It does not get better than this, maybe another arrow from a corrupted quiver and a bit more life, but all in all you should end up with 7k life which is ok.

Pros and cons

Pros
-fun to play
-fast mapping
-can mf easily
-high life and safe gameplay, most things will die off screen
-high single target dps
-reflect immune

Cons
-Life sustain in terms of leech is not as good as some other bow gems
-cannot face tank bosses, you hit and run
-you need some currency to make this build do all content {around 10ex gems 21/20 and empower included}

Ascendancy

DPS
mapping-
Shaper:
Gems and links
MAPPING

SINGLE TARGET


CURSES AND LOWERING FIRE RESIST
Elemental equilibrium and 2 curses {Flamability and Elemental weakness}, you can sacrifice life and get 2 curses from tree or just buy an amulet with additional curse which is around 2 3 ex. Make sure that you don't have any flat fire damage because your ele eq will not work properly.
Playstyle
Fire set of arrows then use rain of arrows for curse no hit and to proc ele equil. For bosses, first Rain of arrows then shoot EA then ROA again, this way they will receive a bigger hit and burn for more life


VIDEOS
Shaper full fight
Elder T15 full fight
T16 Elder Guardian

Uber Vaals:
Uber Atziri:
Carcass map full run
T15 Elder Guardian full fight

Shaper is done video coming soon, only Uber Elder not done, tried times but since I never tried Uber Elder before I think it is more to my play style, I think I can do it

All in all, explosive arrow is still not strong enough as some other skills and not that cheap but it is really fun to play. I guess that they need to buff the skill in a way, maybe add an enchantment to have 2 extra fuses for single target damage and maybe a fated Quill rain, or an interesting vaal Expplosive arrow, hope that for next patch EA will be given some attention.

Any comments and suggestions are welcome, stay safe exiles...

thanks! this works far better than other ignite/prolif builds I tried. flameblast, incinerate, burning arrow, pyre/somethingcold, whatever... even with the same old tree and a lvl 16 EA gem.

i'm currently trying with thief's torment, that is, mana gain on hit instead of blood magic. could possibly work, ~50 regrets on hold :-)

what's your suggestion for a 5-link setup?

i'm at either drop elemental damage with attacks or less duration, but that is a bit biased by by BGGRR chest.

I would not recommend thief torment on this setup since mana cost is too high and we end up with less life. If you wanna try with 5L for mapping I would drop burning damage rather than less duration since it is safer, you end up with less damage bu safer game play, and for bosses u can drop deadly ailments and the damage would still be great. If you got any questions feel free to ask. :)

Do you need a 21/20 EA for this build? With level 20 combustion and the chance to ignite from the tree you can achieve 99% with out it. Plus if you get any jewel with chance to ignite on it then you be at 100%. That would make getting a 21/0 EA a lot cheaper.

You don't need q20 gem in order to ignite everything, this is best gear shown for the build. Lvl 21 gem is desired since flat fire damage from explosion is what scales your burn dps

Bandit ?

Thnx

kill all bandits, we do not need any

Do you have a pastebin for the skill tree?

Seems like your build's Pastebin has been deleted, would be great if you could post a new one.

Hi, somewhat of a noob here. I don't see any passives or equipment for increasing accuracy or dexterity in general. How does Explosive Arrow hit all the time? Or is it because the attack speed is so high that 65% hit rate is already good enough to apply all 5 fuses quickly?