Explosive Arrow - Need Help

Hey guys,

i really like the skill explosive arrow [EA]. I want to play HC so i need survivability and not so much dps. Furthermore i want to use something like LMP or GMP and BM as support skills with EA. I made a build with marauder as starting class and im focusing on live+armor. I think Iron Grip is very usefull too. For the best bows i need 200+ dex.

The build:


What i want to know:

- Is this build any good?
- Should i go up to templar nods? I think +Elemental dmg is very good for the explosion part (Does it increase the projectile dmg too?). On the other hand this templar nodes eat really hard through my available points...
- I want to plan for like 80 Points because i think i can achive that in reasonable time, what can i drop?
- Is Iron Reflex worth picking up and dropping other stuff?
- Can you please link a build u think is viable for EA? I tried shadow with EA but it feels a little squishy with only evasion.
- Which auras should i run? Because i want to use BM with EA i think i can use % auras but i dont have a large mana pool so i cant use the other ones?
- Which support skills are best for me? I tried Chain and Fork but they dont work properly with EA. I thought 5L would be EA+GMP+BM+Fire Pen+Faster Projectile. Single target i would use Burning Arrow+ Faster Attacks+ Faster Projectile+ BM
- Is there a curse i should use?
- Should i start with an other class or completly different like witch????


I know this are a lot of questions but i dont want to reroll 20 times with open beta just because my build was way off. I would like to have a nice start and not a wasted character :-)

Thanks a lot to all of you reading my thread and thanks for your help with new ideas or builds.

Ioplex

1. Iron Grip affects PHYSICAL damage. Explosion is fire-one, so IG won't increase IG damage.
2. Why would you need good bow while damage of bow does not increase damage of explosion. Neither physical flat bonus, neither fire flat bonus. Consider Quill Rain as explosion is NOT WEAPON DAMAGE, so halved weapon damage won't influence it.
3. Hatred, Anger and Wrath auras are off as they increase damage of ATTACKS. Explosion is NOT ATTACK.

Generally:
Explosion is influenced by:
% Fire Damage
% Elemental Damage
but NOT by:
+ Fire Damage
+/% Fire Damage for Spells
+/% Fire Damage for Weapons
+/% Fire Damage for Attacks
nor Elemental ~

Explosion is infulenced by:
% Projectile Damage
but NOT by:
+/% Physical Projectile Damage
Point Blank
Iron Grip
+/% Projectile Attacks Damage

Explosion is NOT influenced by ANY flat damage increases.

Explosion has tags [ELEMENTAL], [AREA], [FIRE], and [PROJECTILE].
Nothing that has tags [ATTACK], [SPELL], [WEAPON] does NOT influence explosion.

I have no idea how support gems like 'added chaos damage' work on explosion

I thought i want some Physical Projectile Damage because only the explosion is too weak? Or do you think if i use Quill Rain and put 2 or 3 times the stacks on the mobs its worth it?
Another point is that explosive arrow is very expensive so if i attack like 3 times per second with ~5o-80hp per shot dont i loose to much hp just by attacking?

Concentrate on explosion OR Physical Projectile Damage. Specialize. Otherwise you will be much weaker in terms of dps.

You have no Physical Damage nodes, so your Physical Damage will simply suck. On the other hand you can use those points that give you more Physical Damage to get MOAR explosion damage. I.e. you have two fire-damage areas near marauder.
I think that there is no chance for physical damage to overdamage explosion damage. With quill rain you will deal 2x (1.5x?) more damage, which is much better than some physical damage at a high cost of plenty dex nodes.

Health. That's because you use BM gem. If you would use Keystone health spend per attack will vary in range of 20-32. By you should regen (you are health regen build, right?) 100-150 (even 200) health per second, so this should be problem.

Please take into account you will need Resoulte Technique as your accuracy will be simply insufficient.

Would you consider planning a build for me? Something you think is viable. I would like to use Armor + HP/HP Reg + Resis for Def, Explosive for Offense. BM is not necessery if you think i can sustain attacking with mana but i think without mana nodes this is no option.
The hp cost of 20-32 is without support gems i guess?

Some base stats: Points Spend 93
- 330 Str
- 84 Dex
- 74 Int
- 20% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills
- 275 Max Life
- 209% increased max life
- 93% increased armor
- 5.2% Life Reg per Sec
- 25% all Res
- 60% Fire Dmg + 41% Elemental Dmg
- 15% Att Speed
- Resolute Technique + Blood Magic + Unwavering Stance


Ok guys so i thought about a new way without the middle part and with less dex since i tested quill rain and it feels pretty amazing. Only thing i dont know is if i can support it because with ~4+ attacks per second and mana/life cost of roughly estimated 50-60 per shot i think im pretty fast out of life or pots.
So when i start a new character i guess i start of the first points into the marauder tree and then going to resolute technique. Afterwards i go all the way down and to the dex nodes because when i reache them i need the dex to level up explosive arrow. Level 15 EA needs 106 dex which i can get with Onyx and dex nodes.
Around lvl 38 i should be done with the dex nodes and can skill % life or something else. I can support BM with 50+ i guess? Since i rush stat points first i think i have to farm quite a bit in normal and cruel because my gear must make up for missing %life nodes. Also i'm not sure about my 93% armor. Is it ok? Or do i need way more?
Since this build has 93 Points spend and i want to go for a build with lvl 70 so ~ 80 points spend which ones can i drop?? Some life nodes ? Or because i want to play HC some DMG?

Thx for all help and sorry for my bad english.

Ioplex

Looks feasible.
About cutting out nodes: With 209% increased life i don't think you will expernice stun-locks especially that, you are ranged.

About armor: It would be more reasonable to take IR instead of armor nodes -> with Grace Aura u will get much more armor, with lower cost in nodes.

And a thing you should highly consider is taking endurance charges. They are awesome, and those few points will grant you additional 30% flat physical damage reduction. That's lot.
At the beginning keeping 6 charges is hard, and dont seem to worth it, but i suggest taking them by the last difficulty, when you will use them constantly.

About mana issues. I don't know if i understood you correctly. With Blood Magic keystone you still have mana(life) issues? I didn't have with ~50 mana cost attacks.

Shit, double post...

Ok so i tested a litte bit and my Setup is:

Level 34

Quill Rain

EA+Reduced Mana+GMP+Life on Hit

Blood Magic



When i attack group of mobs i can sustain attacking for a while (Because 15 Life per Hit keeps me up) but single target isnt possible (57 Life per Shot with only 15 back). Also i drink quite a lot of flasks but i guess this will get better when i have a higher level.


I struggle a lot with single target so i think i'll use EA+????? for that as second skill or do you have any other suggestions?
Do you recommend using warlords mark as curse or something like flammability? or maybe temporal chains?

Can you maybe link a modified build with IR so i know which nodes are a must have and which ones i can skip. Also is IR really worth it? because i dont have much dex and evasion nodes, it doesnt scale that well at all???

Thx a lot for your help!!!!!


Ioplex

Tell me wat's ur hp regen at this 34lvl.

If you don't sustain mana/life cost, there IS something wrong with the build and it has to be changed. Did you took all regen nodes so far? How many HP do you have? Do you use HP gear?

If still you don't have enough regen, I think you should switch to CI build.

The idea of regen builds is to overregen damage. If you don't overregen skillcost, there is no way to overregen damage - so assupmtion fails. This force us to search new ways/ideas.


About armor... Well, i don't like it - you will concentrate on proper link/sockets and life bonuses, not amount of armor. And points used on armor nodes can be used for more life/reduced skill cost/whatever you need

In ur current build you are just 3 points from IR. It would be sin not to take it.

Curses:
Warlord Mask leeches from Physical Damage, which you DO NOT deal. No.
The only thing I see in ur case is:
OFFENSIVE:
Flammability
Elemental Weakness
Projectile Weakness

For me Flammability=Elemental Weakness. And those are much better than Projectile Weakness (giving more damage). But they require intelligence, so for you (especially at the beginning) it would be more comfortable to use Projectile Weakness.

DEFENSIVE:
Enfeeble
Temporal Chains