[1.0.1]theWombo's Crit Lightning Arrow with Pierce; FROST WALL ABUSE(semi noob-friendly)



Hello Community!

I am locked out of my apartment unfortunately so I decided that I would take this time to create a guide to my Crit Pierce LA based Shadow to share with everybody. In this guide I will describe my build which I believe to be comparable to LA builds using Chain. I will also leave my gear at the end of this post in case anybody is interested.

CHANGELOG
November 23, 2013
-Updated Q&A. Added Reflect, Power Charges, and Frost Wall questions
-Added Aura skill gem links. Reduced Mana-Anger-Grace
-Extensively expanded Build Progression, Early/mid/late game..when to look for certain gems/items. Do I need to expand more here? Feedback appreciated.
-Bow mod priorities in Build Section
-Bandit rewards in Build Section

Spoiler
November 20, 2013
-Updated "My Build" section extensively by adding Build Progression to help new players with a general guideline. Also added Item Mod Priorities and Skill Gem Combinations in this section.
-Few wording changes here and there to keep things current.

November 15, 2013
-Divided each section into spoilers so readers do not feel overwhelmed/are able to take this in parts as they come.(hopefully)
-Updated Gear that I use; Incorporated accuracy as well as leech into my gear as well as high att amulet to eliminate inefficiencies in nodes. Gear is not "perfect" but is good.
-Updated inefficiencies in skill tree.
-my max DPS has increased to 30k frenzy, 12.5K LA with my new gear. Accuracy has helped a lot. Will reflect this in build once I have time to update screenshots.(Do not feel this is completely necessary)
-Changed links for Cast when Damage Taken.
-Due to the large amount of inquiries about the frost wall/lightning arrow interaction, I have created a separate section to help clarify this.


TO DO:
-New DPS screenshots?
-playstyle section?
-Dangerous enemy combinations
-Quality Gem Priorities
-How long will this last?
-CwDT Nerfs
-etc.

Intro Video of Build in Action
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UNID DUNGEON

In same Video as above, 2 Second Dungeon Brutus Kill


NOTE: Because this was a low level map I did not link Enfeeble to cast on damage taken; instead I put a second frost wall for double frost wall on damage taken.
Just Started Creating Videos, Will make more and update. (takes a long time)

NOTABLE CHARACTERISTICS (the idea)
Spoiler
-With a 100% chance to pierce, I can shoot through mobs/objects.
-This includes frost wall, which allows one to "shotgun" their damage onto
single targets, as well as provide a defense mechanism
an example by Ghudda can be seen here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cuaiWUAL_s
-my HP is Currently at 4.4K, Can be Higher with gear.
-Damage: using wrath+grace.
Lightning Arrow at 9.1k with 6 frenzy charges (10.2K w/ 3 power charges)
Frenzy at 21K with 6 frenzy charges (24k w/ 3powercharges)
-Evasion based, I currently have a 50% chance to evade.
-Acrobatics, Phase acrobatics for 40%chance to dodge attacks, 30% chance to dodge spells
-Ondar's guile. With double my chance to evade applied on projectiles, I have my chance to evade projectiles capped. Dodge further increases this damage mitigation. (thus, physical reflect is no problem)
-Without the worries of Physical reflect, I can build high critical strike chance and multiplier. Currently at 40.8 Crit chance with 435% Crit multiplier
-Blood Dance for constant 6% life regen per second to sustain Blood Rage and keep up 6 Frenzy charges

FROST WALL MECHANIC<-THIS IS CRITICAL.
Spoiler
Here are the gem descriptions of Frost Wall and Lightning Arrow.
Spoiler

Whenever Lightning Arrow pierces a frost wall, it procs Lightning Arrow's secondary ability, and strikes up to 3 additional enemies near the point where it struck the frost wall within a certain radius. This means that you can use lightning arrow to hit enemies, PLUS add on FREE additional damage when hitting frostwalls near the enemy, which is conveniently located next to them via cast on damage taken.
"
andinuad wrote:
Could you explain more exactly what you mean by "shotgunning" with frost wall? I don't quite understand XD.



Although this example hits 10 times for 10*9K=90k dps, 1 frost wall shotgun=8*4=32kDPS which makes shooting an LA through frost wall better than Frenzy; thus you should ALWAYS use LA through a frost wall over Frenzy.

BUILD<-My Current Gear is in this section.
Spoiler
My build involves using the Several Keystones
-Acrobatics
-Phase Acrobatics
-Ondars Guile
-Point Blank

Bandit Rewards
Spoiler
Normal: OAK (definitely if HP build)
Cruel: Oak(My suggestion, 18% IPD to help deal more phys to leech, attack speed(Kraityn) comes naturally and doesn't help mana sustain but its your decision. Keep in mind you will gain attack speed from frenzy). Or you can get a skillpoint if you find neither worthwhile.
Merciless: Kraityn(Frenzy) I use frenzy as my single target damage. Charges add substantial damage to frenzy when its 20/20. Your choice between frenzy or skillpoint. I don't recommend power charges because they won't be up all the time as frenzy will be, but if you are making a different build that can take advantage of this its up to you.


Build Progression
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Feel Free to spec into other nodes earlier based on needs(attributes,elemental resistances) as well as nearby +30 Attribute nodes.

This is a general guideline. Priorities Top being most important, bottom being least important
1)HP first
2)Influence(Aura)/Ondars Guile
3)Acrobatics(When you have none or insignifiant AR/ES gear)
4)Phase Acrobatics
5)Crit Nodes(LAST, make sure you have min 48% evade to dodge your own physical reflect, max out your elemental resistances so you don't die to ele reflect)
6)Elemental resistances nodes(optional) When needed, respec out once resists are met by gear.
7)Point Blank(Optional) Has its pros and its cons.
Pros: Will not die to offscreen relect(probably), free increased damage on mobs that you can see, 50% increased damage to single targets if you stand up right next to them and attack.
Cons: No damage offscreen, are in closer range as a non melee

36 Skill Points
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What you do up to this point doesn't really matter. I use poison arrow + firetraps + rain of arrows for a while to reach this point. Anything with life>damage>resists is what I look for since mobs aren't too much of a threat killing them fast to level is a goal. I reach this really quickly so I do not have much to say, perhaps other threads can help you here. Movement speed on shoes are good as well as quicksilver flasks.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYABbUM8g5ID6sRlhnXHhomlSpbL282PVFHVUtf4WHiYqxrJG1sbXtwu4hrjb-V6Z2qpcuqf6q4tUjSGdad1tHZE-OE53TwQv-T

62 Skill Points
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Before I reach this point I usually start using wrath aura along with LA+LMP+FA for damage. I buy a cheap ~10Q pierce for good pierce chance when you get a 4L. If you are in hardcore I would run grace before you think you can handle the mana costs of grace+wrath. I find a frenzy for single target damage with added fire and faster attacks. If you can handle the costs WED is also good. mrkab suggested that around the end is a good time to find Frost Wall and cast on damage taken. Increased duration is also helpful since support gems are not limited by the level restriction on CWDT. Leave CWDT at level 1 and Frost wall at a lvl 31 req, level increased duration as fast as possible. As you gain levels and see your life pool increase substantially you may level up CWDT and Frost wall as you feel appropriate.

"
mrkab wrote:
Around Act 3 Cruel it becomes particularly important to have good resists and Frost Wall on CWDT. That and a decent high damage bow are all you really need. Even a 3L is enough to plow through most content with LA > LMP > FA. A 4L or 5L with Life Leech and Elemental Damage will also help a lot.


Around midway to the end of this section I start to look for gear prioritizing HP+resists on all my gear for survivability that will last me until act 3 merciless. There are some pretty good pieces of gear out there that are not end game. poe.xyz.is is your friend. I use blood dance around this time for the % health regen since we have none in our skilltree.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYABH4FtQzyDkgPqxGWFfAZ1xrbHhoj9iaVKlsvbzB8Nj06WD7PSn1RR1VLVvpaSF_hYeJirGegayRtbG17cLt31H8rhs6HGYd2iGuNfY2_lemdqqXLqn-quLEwtUi95tIZ1CPWitad1tHZE-OE53TuDu_w8EL5Vvlj_MX_kw==

98 Skill Points
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As you reach this point and have bought relatively affordable good items as I suggested in the 62 skillpoint section, the items you purchase now should be looked at as a worthwhile investment that will last you a long time. I suggest not crafting your own gear and buying gear from others. Think about how much you are spending and if you can get a better improvement with your investment in another piece of gear that may be lacking. Look at the gear priorities I listed below for suggestions. I used alpha's howl(good for auras) and blood dance(good for MS, health regen, frenzy generation. Thus I needed to look for bow+chest+rings+amulets+belt+quiver+gloves.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgYABH4FtQzyDkgPqxGWFfAZ1xrbHhohdiP2JDwk_SaVKlsvbzBxMHwx-jY9Nns51DpCOlg-z0k7SVFKfUt4UUdVS1b6WkhabV76X-Fh4mKsZ6BrJG1sbXtv8nBScLtw1Xb3d9R_K4bOhxmHdohrjDaNfY2_j_qV6Z2jnaqgn6GkpcunNKdcqn-quLEwtKO1SL3mwFHGosqPyqnSGdQj1QDWitad1tHZE92o4dvjhOdU53TsGO4O7_DwQvlW-WP8q_zF_sj_kw==


Here is a link to my Current skill tree


Skill Gem Combinations
Spoiler

First off we are using primarily DEX based gear so it may be very hard to roll ideal colors.
Lightning Arrow
4L: Lightning Arrow, LMP, Pierce, Faster Attacks
5L: Lightning Arrow, LMP, Pierce, Faster Attacks, Weapon Elemental Damage
6L: Lightning Arrow, LMP, Pierce, Faster Attacks, Weapon Elemental Damage, Increased Critical Damage.

Frenzy
4L: Frenzy, Faster Attacks, Added Fire, Weapon Elemental Damage
5L: Frenzy, Faster Attacks, Added Fire, Weapon Elemental Damage, Increased Critical Damage
6L: Frenzy, Faster Attacks, Added Fire, Weapon Elemental Damage, Increased Critical Damage, Unsure(Increased Critical Strikes sounds good though.)

Auras
3-4L, Preferably on an alpha's howl. Reduced Mana-Grace-Wrath-?

On my helm I also have crit weakness attached. I don't like microing curses so I don't use this often other than in PvP. You can put whatever single gem you like that you might want mana reduced on! haha :P

Support These are hard to come up with given RNG nature of our DEX gear.
TIP: You can use Armour based gloves to roll colors easier.

Enduring Cry+Frost Wall
RRRB(I got this luckily on my Blood Dance and decided to keep it)
CWDT-Enduring Cry-Increased Duration-Frost Wall.

OR

Frost Wall-Enfeeble
GBBR(Feasible on Blood Dance)
CWDT-Frost Wall-Enfeeble-Increased Duration.

OR

Power Charge Generation(Requires high Quality PCoC only do this endgame)
GBBR
CWDT-Ice Spear-Power Charge on Critical-GMP

Something along those lines, try to fit enfeeble somewhere, its VERY GOOD.

Early links:

SKELEBRO TOTEM This is good early-mid for defense/distraction
RBBG: Spell Totem-Summon Skeletons-Faster Casting-Blind

BOSSNUKE For fun, knockback, and lols
RRBB: Spell Totem-Frost Wall-Faster Casting-Increased Duration


MY GEAR Including Item Mod Priorities
Spoiler

Item Mod Priorities
This is a general guideline. Priorities Top being most important, bottom being least important
1)Health and Resists
2)Leech(2% mana leech minimum is what I found, may be different for you, %health leech is good too. LEECH is for LATEGAME. If you have problems pots are you friend early-mid game as leech doesn't help much there)
3)Accuracy
4)Flat ELE rolls
5)Crit Multiplier
6)Crit Chance and % Ele Rolls

Bow Mod Priorities
This is a general guideline. Priorities Top being most important, bottom being least
1)High Physical DPS. If you are endgame crafting your own bow, look for rolling a tyrannical first. This is the hardest mod to roll and thus should be rolled first.
2)Critical Strike Chance. At the moment I originally switched from a 5L Lionseye's Glare with 300DPS to a 5L thicket bow with 240 dps with a higher crit chance, I had the same tooltip dps on my LA. This doesn't take into account increased chance to shock as well as not dieing to physical reflect. Physical reflect was the reason I switched. I never went back.
3)High Elemental Damage. Lightning>Cold>Fire. Lightning With a cold roll you can freeze mobs with your high crit chance and multiplier.
4)Attack Speed.(This may be more important on innately slower bows? Unsure as I have not tried this out.
5)Crit Multiplier.

Note that you will most likely not get all of these. If you do you have a godly bow.



OLD ITEMS
Spoiler

Current DPS
Spoiler
Note that DPS is not reflected in tooltip since Point Blank can further increase(or decrease if far away) damage.

Lightning Arrow with 6 frenzy
Spoiler

Lightning Arrow with 3 Power
Spoiler

Frenzy Base DPS
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Frenzy with 6 Frenzy charges
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Frenzy with 6 frenzy charges+ 3 powercharges
Spoiler


I also forgot to include Lightning arrow with 3 Power+6 Frenzy, but its >10k

MANA COSTS
Spoiler
Since this gear does not use Chain, LA with pierce's 110% mana multiplier becomes reasonably practical to sustain on mana leech using a physical damage based bow.(Unsure if Voltaxic is able to sustain mana costs). I also use two mana pots and two hybrid pots to sustain my mana costs.
Spoiler

Below is a summary of the skill tree above
Spoiler

Total Attributes
Strength 104
Dexterity 213
Intelligence 93

Elemental Damage
Weapon Lightning Damage +% 30

Physical Damage
Physical Bow Damage +% 98

Accuracy
Accuracy Rating 426
Accuracy Rating +% 20
Bow Accuracy Rating +% 30

Defense
Maximum Energy Shield +% 34.6
Energy Shield Delay -% 10
Base Evasion Rating 53
Evasion Rating +% 60.6
Evasion Rating +% Per Frenzy Charge 4

Life
Base Maximum Life 134
Maximum Life +% 240

Mana
Base Maximum Mana 62.5
Mana Leech From Physical Damage % 2
Mana Regeneration Rate +% 20

Movement
Base Movement Velocity +% 7

Speed
Attack Speed +% 18
Bow Attack Speed +% 6

Offense
Base Critical Strike Multiplier +% 50
Base Arrow Pierce % 35
Projectile Damage +% 24
Critical Strike Chance +% 235
Bow Critical Strike Chance +% 220
Bow Critical Strike Multiplier +% 70

Resistance
Base Resist All Elements % 8

Buff
Aura Effect +% 26
Base Mana Reservation +% -5

Charges
Max Endurance Charges 3
Max Frenzy Charges 5
Max Power Charges 3

Keystone
Keystone Acrobatics 1
Keystone Point Blank 1
Acrobatics Additional Chance To Dodge % 10
Keystone Phase Acrobatics 1
Keystone Projectile Evasion 1

PROS/CONS
Spoiler
PROS
-Mana is not a huge problem
-Blood Dance to sustain Blood Rage for constant frenzy charges+health regen+8%life leech
-Crit does HUGE damage
-Can eliminate entire packs of mobs
-Physical/Elemental Reflect(with max resists) is not a problem
-Shotgun with Frost Wall
-With Buff to dodge, evasion+dodge+frostwall to save you when damage is taken +enfeeble for increase chance for enemy to miss is a very strong form of survival (I run into huge packs of mobs without much worry, frost wall gives ample time to back off when in fear of damage)

CONS
-Unfortunately, you cannot evade spells; thus, spells deal a lot of damage
-May not do as much concentrated damage as chain, but can deal more damage with huge packs
-Frost wall may annoy party members
-Elemental weakness/max resists can be scary.

Q&A
Spoiler

POINT BLANK?
Spoiler
"
FireAtWill wrote:
What was your reasoning for taking Point Blank? Do you often fight in melee range?

I found myself extremely tanky after [1.0.0] release with an extra 1.5k health and a buffed acrobatics on top of it. With cast on damage taken +20 Quality Enfeeble + frost wall, I also became very hard to hit by melees since they would be instantly pushed back upon damage taken, and many spells would be blocked by the frost wall as well. Thus I can run in and take advantage of point blank whenever I want to; if I do not run in I seem to do around the same amount of damage anyways; the effect of point blank was immediately apparent to me.

By shooting through the frost wall at close range it just adds to the shotgun effect of my build with point blank's multiplier*3 procs of LA onto one mob.

This can add up really quickly if you are taking a lot of damage.. earlier I was doing a 6 party piety run and she had done a lot of damage to me so ~7 frost walls were up in front of her and I dps'ed half her health in half a second(so fast my party was wondering what happened).


Frost Wall OP? Why not a million Frost walls?
Spoiler

"
namad wrote:
What also doesn't make sense is.... if frost wall somehow vastly raises DPS, wouldn't you want to manually cast it on anything you wanted increased dps for?


Manually casting it means not attacking; by not attacking and casting frost wall I believe this may decrease my dps, not mentioning the microing involved that would make this slightly impractical. I do not like microing since I simplify everything for my underperforming laptop :(. You may try this out yourself and see if you like it. You can also use a spell totem+Frostwall+faster casting+increased duration for bosses. I usually play with a party so the spell totem is slightly distracting in a party so I use my last 4L to build power charges instead.


I don't want to die to Reflect!
Spoiler

Elemental Reflect
Elemental Reflect is something I do not worry much about either. I can point blank a pack of elemental reflect mobs and most of the time be okay. I am not sure how to explain this other than elemental reflect being nerfed at the start of 1.0.0 and having max resists. However, there are some rare instances where elemental reflect may be a problem. To counter these rare instances I use a Life Gained on Hit gem to have no problems with reflect maps, even in high level maps. Note that the Life Gained on Hit gem adds a insane amount of survivability almost anywhere.

Physical Reflect
I believe I spoke about reflect multiple times in the guide. After some patch during open beta, reflect is based on your own accuracy and evasion. That means if you have 100% accuracy due to use of Lionseye's Glare, you are highly prone to one shotting yourself if you are not careful. Thankfully, you can apply the opposite of this idea as well. If you have 95% evasion, you can evade nearly all of the physically reflected damage. This is achieved in my build by using the grace gem along with the ondar's guile keystone(doubles evasion for projectiles. What this means is that if you are at 48% evasion or higher, you have a 95% chance to evade physical reflect and it is no problem. I believe acrobatic's 40% chance to dodge helps this too.


CHIN SOL?
Spoiler
"
Kirielis wrote:
So what's with that bow, why not use Chin Sol since you're getting up close and personal?

I have not tried this build out with Chin Sol yet, But I may try it out one day because it seems interesting, however I do not think it would out DPS my bow.

My Imperial Bow is great with Crit which was one of the reasons why going EV/acrobatics was important to counter the physical reflect from my DPS(the reason why I switched out of using Lioneye's Glare, and cannot use it now. High Base Crit Chance is REALLY good considering ~450% increased crit chance + 150% from powercharges (planning to get another 50% from next door power charge node.. also I have room to potentially get crit chance on rings+amulet(with multiplier)) With powercharges up I think I reach around 50% crit chance, which is really good.


FASTER ATTACKS VS PIERCE
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"
Kirielis wrote:
Just pointing out that for a 5L, the first link I would remove is actually the Faster Attacks. Keep the Pierce, it's brilliant.

If you do not have a 6L BOW, the decision of Faster Attacks vs Pierce is up to you. If you have high crit chance/damage I prefer Faster Attacks more a more consistent and thus reliable damage output. However, Pierce would enable you to abuse frost wall earlier which may help a lot at earlier levels.


Power Charges?
Spoiler
Power charges aren't anything that I necessarily go after. I use it as the last part of my build when I am looking to maximize damage. I simply understand the potential behind them. With a free 4 sockets in my build, I used to link frenzy-PCoC-GMP-Increased critical strikes. However I did not like microing for charges. If you find that you like this you can try it for yourself. Thus I decided to link CWDT to ice spear for its 600% increased crit chance and PCoC to build my power charges every once in a while when you tank damage. This is not 100% sustained. However I do like the extra 200% crit chance for extra damage and extra shock stacks when the power charges are there. This happens a lot more often for me when I solo maps myself rather than having damage distributed to my team. Note that when power charges are built its easier to proc consecutive power charges.



Thats pretty much it, please critique, thanks for your time! If I need to elaborate on anything, please let me know.
Last edited by thewombo on Nov 25, 2013, 3:59:13 AM
Last bumped on Sep 10, 2023, 8:56:41 AM
Ohhh snap. Shotgun effect through frost wall. Must try that out.
How to make a build: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/510084
Current guides: N/A
Thanks for sharing your build.

What was your reasoning for taking Point Blank? Do you often fight in melee range?

P.S. Thanks for the Cast On Damage taken ideas!
Last edited by FireAtWill on Nov 6, 2013, 1:34:20 AM
"
Kirielis wrote:
Ohhh snap. Shotgun effect through frost wall. Must try that out.

Thanks for the feedback!

"
FireAtWill wrote:
Thanks for sharing your build.

What was your reasoning for taking Point Blank? Do you often fight in melee range?

P.S. Thanks for the Cast On Damage taken ideas!


I found myself extremely tanky after [1.0.0] release with an extra 1.5k health and a buffed acrobatics on top of it. With cast on damage taken +20 Quality Enfeeble + frost wall, I also became very hard to hit by melees since they would be instantly pushed back upon damage taken, and many spells would be blocked by the frost wall as well. Thus I can run in and take advantage of point blank whenever I want to; if I do not run in I seem to do around the same amount of damage anyways; the effect of point blank was immediately apparent to me.

By shooting through the frost wall at close range it just adds to the shotgun effect of my build with point blank's multiplier*3 procs of LA onto one mob.

This can add up really quickly if you are taking a lot of damage.. earlier I was doing a 6 party piety run and she had done a lot of damage to me so ~7 frost walls were up in front of her and I dps'ed her half health in half a second(so fast my party was wondering what happened).

Hope I answered your questions!
Last edited by thewombo on Nov 7, 2013, 4:09:08 PM
Friendly Bump,

Going to try this out in Hardcore, might change the build a little though. Wish me luck!

Does anyone think images/screenshots would be helpful?
cooool
can u add some videos about ur build? ~~~
So what's with that bow, why not use Chin Sol since you're getting up close and personal?

Just pointing out that for a 5L, the first link I would remove is actually the Faster Attacks. Keep the Pierce, it's brilliant.
How to make a build: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/510084
Current guides: N/A
Last edited by Kirielis on Nov 7, 2013, 6:09:18 AM
"
Mousetwo wrote:
can u add some videos about ur build? ~~~


I will attempt to work on some videos, but do not get your hopes up! Running Path of Exile on an old laptop so I'm not sure if I'll be able to video capture and run the game at the same time.


"
Kirielis wrote:
So what's with that bow, why not use Chin Sol since you're getting up close and personal?

Just pointing out that for a 5L, the first link I would remove is actually the Faster Attacks. Keep the Pierce, it's brilliant.


I was actually going to try out Chin Sol in my nemesis character. However I died unfortunately due to me being too tired(in a Dominus run :/, silly me.)

However, the Bow is great with Crit which was one of the reasons why going EV/acrobatics was important to counter the physical reflect from my DPS(the reason why I switch out of using Lionseye's Glare, and cannot use it now. High Base Crit Chance is REALLY good considering ~450% increased crit chance + 150% from powercharges (planning to get another 50% from next door power charge node.. also I have room to potentially get crit chance on rings+amulet(with multiplier)) With powercharges up I think I reach around 50% crit chance, which is really good.

Haven't thought about giving up faster attacks and having pierce instead, that may be preferential. I may prefer the faster attacks gem to have more consistent damage output since Crits are so important and give a more predictable/consistent damage output with more attacks/second. Any thoughts on this? I may try this out at one point.
Last edited by thewombo on Nov 7, 2013, 4:04:40 PM
Updated Guide with Images of overview dps, and expanded on some decisions of bow, gem, and passive choices.

Currently Uploading a Video!
EDIT: Uploaded video!
Last edited by thewombo on Nov 7, 2013, 8:46:56 PM

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