3.6 Toxic Rain Pathfinder - Hit me! ... If u can!

Hello guys,
Welcome to my Toxic Rain guide. This build is made for very fast and safe mapping and boss killing.

For your information

- Added Uber Elder Video
- Added crafting question/answer in gear section.


How does Toxic Rain work?
Toxic Rain fires 5 projectiles and each projectile will spawn an Spore Pod.
These Pods will explode (counts as extra hit) after 1 second. In this period the Pod will deal Chaos Damage per second to enemies in range. The pods can overlap with each other. Increasing area of effect does not affect the spore to spore distance and overlap, but it will increase the area the Spore Pod is dealing damage.

So what does this mean for us?
We could work around the fact that each projectile and each explosion counts as "Hit" so we could consider poison build since we also scale chaos damage, however this is not what this build will work around!

I choose the variant to only scale the Pod damage and focus on that. This means we are looking for this stats on our gear and or skilltree.
- Attack Speed
- Skill effect duration
- Chaos damage
- Damage over time
- Projectile damage
- Area damage
- Additional projectiles/arrows *and* increased area of effect - the overlap for additional projectiles can only be achieved by more area of effect

Pros and Cons
+ Very solid damage (Full Buffed and with Dying Sun ~5mil shaper dps)
+ Clear speed (Hydra Map in 2:20)
+ Nearly unkillable due to high evade and dodge chances (+5,5k life, 58% melee/95%projectile evade chance, 68% attack dodge/42% spell dodge chance)
+ Can be played as starter with bugdet gear
- Sometimes backtracking because we kill with damage over time
- Clunky damage calculation


Damage Calculator


Skilltree
Spoiler
POB Link: https://pastebin.com/hn20rHTi

Skill Tree at 91: www.poeurl.com/cju5

Bandits: kill all or help Kraityn

- Kill all when u feel like not playing above level 90 (otherwise you have to drop 2 life nodes)
- Help Kraityn if you want to get the maximum out of this character

Ascendancy:
1. Nature's Reprisal
A huge buff for area of effect and chaos damage! Take it first

2. Nature's Adrenaline
Lets go fast! Take it as 2nd Ascendancy to level faster.

3. Nature's Boon
Endless flask? Yep we want it! Our 3rd Ascendancy.

4. Master Toxicist or Master Surgeon
Now u can choose between those 2.
Take Master of Toxicist if u want to push your damage.
Master of Surgeon is perfect when u dont want to run an extra anti bleeding flask. Also good point is the extra life recovery.

Pantheon:
Major God - Soul of Lunaris (Capture all the options)
Movement speed and huge defense

Minor God - Soul of Garukhan (Capture Stalker of the endless dunes)
Movement speed and evade chance.

I recommend these for fast movement and to synergize defensively with our evade gear.


Gear
Spoiler
Watchers Eye/Amulet and Rings are important! Make sure u read it carefully!

Question about crafting a cheap +3 bow
Tip: Before slamming an exalt on the bow, make sure you crafted "Cannot roll attack mods"

Spoiler
"
Does +1 to socketed gems apply to all of our gems or just the gems on that particular piece of gear? If its only to the individual gear, what is the benefit of having it on our gloves?

Is that the ideal base for our bow? If so, can you explain why? I would assume we would want one with an implicit. Is the attack speed highest on a thicket bow or something?

Last question, is there a particularly easy way to craft a bow with +1 to socketed and +2 to socketed bow gems which we can then multi-mod?

Thanks in advance.


You can get an cheap bow by using the porcupine card, then craft a +2 bow with essences. Hope for a open prefix and suffix. Meta craft "no attack mods" and then slam an exalt on it for a +1 (its guaranteed, not sure when it would be an shaper or elder base)

The main damage is coming from the skill itself and increasing chaos damage/damage over time and attack speed, so yeah it is nearly the perfect bow. I was using the Thicket Bow base because i used the porcupine cards for getting my cheap 6 link.

+1 applies to all gems, +2 only for gems with "bow" tag on it.

Hope i could answer your questions!





"
Two follow up questions.
You get +1 to AoE gems on the gloves. Is Immortal Call or Phase Run considered an AoE ability? From my understanding the +1 to AoE would not buff our toxic rain because its not socketed in our gloves.

You say you use the porcupine divination card, but the card says it gives you a bow with an item level of 50. Isnt that too low to craft on the things that we need to craft on? Looking at your bow it appears to be item level 72? Am I missing something?

Sorry to bombard you with questions. This is only my second season and Ive never used the "+1 to socketed gems" affix or really did much crafting.

Thanks
Avatar
Posted by RedGrinGrumble87
on Mar 18, 2019, 1:04:17 AM
Quote this Post


Hello RedGrin,
i just tested it for you so you can go and start crafting =)





It is a Bow with Ilvl 50 just not the porcupine bow because i dont have one in this current league. As you see i used Shrieking Essence of Dread and it got the +2 of Socketed Bow Gems Prefix. Still open would be the +1 of Socketed Gems. But in my situation you would to do the craft again because i had no luck with a open suffix (too bad because i had already the open Prefix for +1 :/ ). Or your 2nd option would be to use 1 or 2 Annulment and hope for good results! Worst situation when using an Annulment - you start again with an Shrieking Essence of Dread so not much to lose i guess.

To your 2nd question.
I used these gloves because "+1 of socketed AOE Gems" has a 2nd part -- +10% increased area of effect. Its not needed but it will help you to increase your area of effect for overlapping toxic rain (so to be clear: i dont use the +1 of socketed aoe gems for Immortal Call or Phase Run)

Hope i could answer your questions :)



This is nearly the perfect weapon for us. Toxic Rain damage is scaling super hard with level and we are getting 3 levels from this weapon.
Skill effect duration and chaos damage. Increasing chaos damage per Pod and the duration of the Pod dealing damage.
And the attack speed stat is doing greatly for spamming or skill all over the enemy.


Look for an helm with a "toxic rain fires an additional arrow" enchantment
and start crafting the rest by yourself.
Important Stats: +x maximum life, + resistances, + to intelligence.
If you have an open prefix craft (assuming you have +maximum life on it), craft + 1 to socketed aoe gems on it.

You can also grab a shaper base for the "Socketed Gems are supported by increased area of effect" prefix.


Most important stat "Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow" but this will likely be expensive. Get one ASAP.
Stats we are looking for: +x to maximum life, +x% to resistances,
+x% attack speed and intelligence


The amulet is most likely our way to fix everything we could not fix. This means try to get as many resistances and strength/intelligence on it as possible but do not lose the focus on attack speed and life. If you got some currency u can grab a elder base for the extra area of effect prefix.
Note if you can't purchase an watchers eye craft -x to total mana cost of skills on amulet


The rings are a huge defense and quality of life buff. Invest heavily to grab a good pair. The chance to evade attacks makes us nearly untouchable for projectiles and melee hits. Next big factor the reduced - total mana cost of skills is needed to play without mana problems. After that, look for life and resistances.


Nothing special about these. Try to grab attack speed with life and resistances and if possible a free prefix for the +1 to socketed aoe gems craft.


Stygian Vise belts are amazing. Go for high life and resistances.

For the abyss jewel look for + to maximum life, attack speed and damage over time while wielding a 2h weapon.


Look out for boots with + maximum life, + chance to dodge attacks, + chance to avoid projectiles and if possible movement speed; it synergizes well with Acrobatics and Arrow Dancing. This combination will keep us safe from hits.


The best option for pushing our Dot damage, otherwise nothing special about this. You do not need to 6 link this, however 6 sockets are needed for skill gems.

Flask Setup:


1. Witchfire Brew - Amazing damage and curse aura + included defense
2. Quartz Flask - Phasing for not getting stuck and nice dodge chance
3. Quicksilver Flask - You can never be fast enough
4 + 5. Dying Sun for even more damage + Blood of the Karui or get Dying Sun + an instant life flask. Or Blood of the Karui + Instant life flask.
The choice is yours; I prefer Instant Life Flask + Dying Sun.



For mana cost mitigation. Get a watchers eye with -x to total mana cost of skills while affected by clarity. If possible get as 2nd mod evade or dodge chance while effected by grace.


Gem Setup
Spoiler
Toxic Rain Setup Socketed in Bow
Toxic Rain + Mirage Archer + Vicious Projectiles Support + Void Manipulation Support + Swift Afflication + Efficacy Support

Wither Totem Setup
Spell Totem + Wither + Faster Casting + Multiple Totems Support

Cast when damage taken Setup
Cast when damage taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Phase Run
CWDT(1) / IC(3) / ID(20) / PR(3)

Aura Setup
Grace + Empower

Update 3.6 Malevolence
A new aura gem got introduced to the game. When you feel tanky enough and want more damage you can go for Malevolence instead of Grace now.
Spoiler

Vaal Blight Setup
Vaal Blight + Increased Duration

Blink Arrow Setup
Blink Arrow + Faster Attacks Support

Other Gems
Clarity, Summon Flame Golem, Blood Rage


Leveling
Spoiler
Well i never leveled a character this fast. If you ever play this type of character you will know what i mean.

Skilltree
Step 1: www.poeurl.com/ceZm
Step 2: www.poeurl.com/ck4g
Step 3: www.poeurl.com/ck4c

After this you can decide where u want to go next.

Items
With this items you should be able to complete the story in like 8-10h and start mapping. You can also put in Astramentis if intelligence or strenght are needed.

Toxic Rain can be used with level 12.
Use Split Arrow till level 12 and swap to Toxic Rain then.

Good early support gems are: Onslaught, Pierce, Mirage Archer and Void Manipulation (all act 1)


Videos
Spoiler


Hope you guys enjoyed the guide :) By any question write below and i will try to answer.
Last edited by heitu on Mar 20, 2019, 4:52:42 PM
Last bumped on Jun 10, 2019, 12:05:21 PM
(Cast when damage taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Phase Run) can you please let us know the level of each gem??
"
stem0s wrote:
(Cast when damage taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Phase Run) can you please let us know the level of each gem??


CWDT(1)/IC(3)/PR(3)/ID(20)


CWDT set ups are flexible. The build calls for CDWT 1/IC 3/ID 20/PR 3

Guardians down, shaper and Uber Elder next.

Excuse me i'm new, do i have to max all the gems ? and which lv for each gem is good ?
Added Uber Elder Video!

@huyleduc Level all gems as far as you can. But you will hit a wall with some of the gems because of the requirements. Only exception the Cast when damage taken setup. There you go Cast when damage taken Lvl 1, Immortal Call Lvl 3, Increased Duration Level 20 and Phase Run Level 3. Let me know if you have any other questions.
hello i have started your build and reached maps with the begginner items you suggested but it seems its really hard to get a good bow as yours , do you have any unique suggestions for bow and quiver to help me reach high level mpas as i dont have much currency so I can farm and get a good bow. Thx for the build as its a really good one for starting
@aykut try to get an 5 or 6 link Silverbough Crude Bow. You can get a 5link for round about 40c. And put Toxic Rain into the Bow. Good starting Quivers with Attack Speed, Additional Arrow and Life on it can you buy for like 10-30c
First of all, this is really good build. And i have a question about ascendancy.

Nature's Reprisal - Nature's Boon and Nature's Adrenalin . These 3 are ok. But i am confused with Master Alchemist and Master Toxicist. Which should i pick ? Which one will be usefull with boss killing (shaper, elder).
Could you give a gear progression for a leaguestart? How do you deal with mana issues before elreon rings and watchers
"
Could you give a gear progression for a leaguestart? How do you deal with mana issues before elreon rings and watchers


Just grab 1-2 mana flask. Since you dont have late game gear you wont have that much attack speed and that means you should be fine with refilling your mana with flask. Even later in maps you can easily run this build without watchers eye and elreon rings. I personally dont wanna manage mana and thats why i recommanded this items.



"
First of all, this is really good build. And i have a question about ascendancy.

Nature's Reprisal - Nature's Boon and Nature's Adrenalin . These 3 are ok. But i am confused with Master Alchemist and Master Toxicist. Which should i pick ? Which one will be usefull with boss killing (shaper, elder).


Master Alchemist is giving you nothing but Immunbe to Elemental Ailments. So if you want more damage you should go for Master Toxicist. And for more utility you can go for Master Surgeon since it will remove bleeding and increasing life recovery from flask.

PS: Updated!
Last edited by heitu on Mar 8, 2019, 10:26:07 AM

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