Chaos Acolyte [Poison Arrow, Viper Strike, Shock] [IR/EB/MoM/AA] Potential 1.2.0 Tree in Latest Post

This build focuses on the maximization of Chaos degeneration (damage over time) with the skills Viper Strike and Poison Arrow while still maintaining Hardcore viability. It's come a long way since its creation with the releases of unique items, mechanic changes for damage over time, and new passive skill tree nodes.

• Poison Arrow for area damage stacking upon Viper Strike for single targets. Shock is proliferated using a choice of lightning spell traps.
• Iron Reflexes, Eldritch Battery, Mind Over Matter.
• Two curses (Vulnerability, Enfeeble), 3 auras (Grace, Clarity, Discipline), and a high level Arctic Armour.
• Skills with low time investment and unchanging damage per second, resulting in high kill speed and reliability.

Passive Skill Tree Milestones

• 23 - Starting nodes, Written in Blood, Entropy.
• 44 - Clever Construction, Harrier, Reflexes, life.
• 55 - Iron Reflexes, Thick Skin, life + mana.
• 65 - Reduced mana reservation, Expeditious Munitions, life.
• 76 - Growth and Decay, Golem's Blood, life.
• 87 - Mind over Matter, Eldritch Battery, Mana Geyser, Charisma.
• 95 - Method to the Madness, life.
• 104 - Influence, Sentinel, life.
• 111 - Corruption, skill duration.
• 119 - Mental Acuity, Saboteur, life.

"Deal with the Bandits" Rewards

• Normal: Side with Oak for 40 additional base maximum Life.
• Cruel: Kill all for 1 passive skill tree point.
• Merciless: Kill all for 1 passive skill tree point.

Special thanks to PhreEkGarden for our initial brainstorming and to everyone else that contributed!

Gems

Support Gems are in descending order of importance.
Gems marked with (%) have quality bonuses crucial to their usefulness.

Bow:

• Poison Arrow (%) + Trap (%) + Concentrated Effect + Empower + Increased Area of Effect (%) + Increased Duration/Remote Mine/Pierce

One-Handed Sword:

• Viper Strike (%) + Empower + Multistrike/Increased Duration/Faster Attacks

Shield:

• Enduring Cry
  Leap Slam + Faster Attacks

Chest Armor:

• Arc/Shock Nova (%) + Elemental Proliferation + Trap (%) + Added Lightning Damage (%) + Lightning Penetration

Ring

• Arctic Armour

Helm/Boots/Gloves:

• Grace + Discipline + Clarity + Reduced Mana
• Vulnerability + Enfeeble + Devouring Totem + Faster Casting
• Enduring Cry + Immortal Call (%) + Cast when Damage Taken + Increased Duration/Enhance

Equipment

Optimal modifiers are listed for non-unique items.
Modifiers are in descending order of importance.

Weapon Sets

• Bow
  +2 to Level of Bow Gems in this Item
  +1 to Level of Gems in this Item
  Increased Projectile Speed
  Resistances
  Mana Gained on Kill
  
  Quiver (Rearguard, Drillneck, or Rare)
  Additional Maximum Life
  Increased Projectile Speed
  Resistances
  Mana Gained on Kill
  
  
• One-Handed Sword
  +2 to Level of Melee Gems in this Item
  +1 to Level of Gems in this Item
  Increased Attack Speed
  Resistances
  
  Shield (Saffell's Frame)
  

Armor

• Chest Armor (Carcass Jack or Kaom's Heart)
  
  
• Helm (Energy Shield)
  Increased maximum Energy Shield
  Additional maximum Energy Shield
  Additional maximum Life
  Resistances
  
  
• Gloves (Evasion)
  Increased maximum Evasion Rating
  Additional maximum Evasion Rating
  Additional maximum Life
  Resistances
  Increased Attack Speed
  
  
• Boots (Evasion)
  Increased Movement Speed
  Additional maximum Life
  Resistances
  Increased maximum Evasion Rating
  Additional maximum Evasion Rating
  

Accessories

• Amulet (Atziri's Foible or Paua Amulet)
  Additional maximum Life
  Increased Mana Regeneration Rate
  Increased maximum Energy Shield
  Resistances
  
  
• Belt (Sunblast or Leather Belt)
  Additional maximum Life
  Resistances
  Flask Modifiers
  
  
• Ring 1 (Voideye)
  
  
• Ring 2 (Amethyst Ring or Coral Ring)
  Additional maximum Life
  Increased Mana Regeneration Rate
  Additional maximum Energy Shield
  Additional maximum Mana
  Resistances

Maximum Damage Estimations

Edit: Only Poison Arrow information is up to date.

This would work so much better if viper strike could be supported by melee splash :(

with Poision Arrow, dont you think concentrated effect(quality on this gem is reduced mana which i see is an important trait for this build) would be a better support than increased area?

Also, i think Arc+spelltotem would be a easier way to shock enemies than with shock nova(hit detection and dead zone is annoying) because arc totem will aim for you and it also has a pretty nice chance to shock enemies.

Viper Strike with Melee Splash is crazy when enabled. It still might be if the Less Damage modifier ever applies to it. I'd probably still stick with Poison Arrow for multiple targets though, partially because I can stack it on top of Viper Strike but also because with enough increased area of effect you can fill the whole screen.

Sadly the More Damage modifier from Concentrated Effect doesn't affect Poison Arrow's Chaos degeneration, but if it ever does it'd be an awesome addition to its links, especially with Carcass Jack which almost completely negates its reduced area of effect.

The problem with Arc for me is that with my testing it didn't do enough damage to shock some magic enemies, most rares, and all uniques, and when it does it's for a short duration because of the 50% damage effectiveness. Link it to Spell Totem and that's even less damage and cast speed.

Shock Nova has good damage and I usually only have to cast it once (though requiring good character positioning), plus its gem quality bonus is pretty insane. Most of the time all I need to do is shoot Poison Arrow, cast Vulnerability, cast Shock Nova, and then start opening chests.

Edit: Oh and thanks for the reply. =)

If you want an idea of how this build plays, take a look at PhreEkGarden's video of him doing a map with a very similar build, and imagine as if he was also stacking Shock on enemies.

I've updated the 109 point passive skill tree to take the Reduced Mana Reservation nodes rather than the Reduced Mana Cost nodes. I'm also considering removing Soul Siphon and grabbing Arrow Dodging. You can take a look here.

I'd like to check out Lightbane Raiment's Desecrated Ground and see how well it works, although it really isn't applicable to this build considering its minimal block chance if one even uses a shield. The lack of good defenses simply isn't worth it-- Carcass Jack seems to be the best possible option.

Oh mannnnn you finally posted it. When you told me about that claw I just about died. I have a +2 thicket and a +2 corsair with this build's names on them. Can't wait to hit merc with it. I can only assume it gets better and better. That, and it's even more gear/gem-independant than an Explosive Arrow build. It's all mana and defense, pretty much. Love it.

EDIT: In fact, I think I have another +2 Thicket. PM me if I don't catch you online in the next few days.

Hahaha yeah, finally got around to write this all up. When you reach Merciless Act 3 it starts getting a little rough without good enough gear, but I guess that's the same for most builds. Because of that I've taken Iron Reflexes temporarily, which is probably a good thing to do for anyone with mediocre gear. At the moment I've started on maps and am a few levels away from getting the rest of my life nodes.

Looks great! Thanks for sharing. :)

Thanks!

I seriously hope at some point there is a Chaos Penetration support and Chaos-related curse. It would make this build a lot more viable, as right now I don't see it being viable in high level maps. Edit: Well, quick enough for damage degeneration to kill before they kill me.

Perhaps the reason neither exist is that it would override Chaos Inoculation. I don't know if it does, but it seems like mechanically it just sets one's actual and maximum Chaos Resistance to 100%.