Updated 4/23/2014: High DPS, High Resists, Attack Speed, Frequent Criticals, and good Survivability
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Updated 4/23/2014 Earlier comments made by me or others may not be relevant to current OP.
First, I would like to say I appreciate everyone's optimized suggestions of my build, but I decided to differentiate from what you guys suggested for my personal preference on what's more important. The best optimization here offers 248% increased Life, etc., but I decided to go with 208% increased Life, along with allocating more resistance nodes for end-game maps and PvP while still maintaining a balance between what you guys suggested, and what I like in a build.
The Pros vs. the Cons of this build:
Pros: This build is very versatile to run with a broad array of gear and optional Skill Gems to alternate between or use at the same time. Therefore, you're not forced to always run the same skills on your Skill Bar if you don't want to.
The build also deals fast heavy damage, critical strikes kick in often, supports 6 Frenzy Charges (if you kill Oak in Merciless,) not too expensive to build (depending on what gear you get,) and survivability is exceptional (50% of which will be determined by your gameplay style). In addition to that, the allocated nodes: Acrobatics, Phase Acrobatics, and Ondar's Guile means you're less vulnerable to reflect, physical attacks, and spells. Life is also not everything when running a build. In particular, this build's offence will be your greatest defense to destroy foes before they get a chance to kill you. Cons: The Skill Tree does not offer Elemental Resistance benefits unless you allocate almost all 120 Skill Points. Other than that, there really are no other cons. If you keep your distance like a Ranger should, fall back and not bite off more than you can chew, and maneuver the battlefield well in general, you should have no problems running this build.
Updated 4/23/2014 - Progressive Skill Tree:
At 10 points: Passive Skill Tree
At 20 points: Passive Skill Tree At 30 points: Passive Skill Tree At 40 points: Passive Skill Tree At 50 points: Passive Skill Tree At 60 points: Passive Skill Tree At 70 points: Passive Skill Tree At 80 points: Passive Skill Tree At 90 points: Passive Skill Tree At 105 points: Passive Skill Tree (be sure to set the character level to 85 to see full specs) At 120 points: Passive Skill Tree (be sure to set the character level to 85 to see full specs) NOTE: The main difference between the Skill Tree at 105 Skill Points and the Skill Tree at 120 Skill Points is the Skill Tree with 120 Skill Points has lots of Elemental Resistance, more Reduced Mana Reserved, and more Critical Strike Chance. BANDIT QUESTS: Kraityn | Akira | Oak Normal: Help / Kill / Kill -- for the +40 Life (OR not if you want the Passive Point) Cruel: Kill / Kill / Kill -- for Passive Point (your attack speed is already going to be ridiculous enough) Merciless: Kill / Kill / Help -- for the extra +1 Frenzy Charge
Recommended Binding Keys:
Depending on the situation, certain skills may benefit you more than others. IF running the Frenzy, Split Arrow or Barrage setup equipped on your Armor or Weapon, do: Frenzy - Right-Click on mouse Split Arrow or Barrage - Left-Click on mouse Critical Weakness - Q Vulnerability - W Rejuvenation Totem - E Rejuvenation Totem can be helpful to you and close by allies in end-game maps with damage per second or life degeneration penalties. Projectile Weakness - R Temporal Chains - T IF running the Burning Arrow, Frenzy, Split Arrow (or Barrage) setup equipped on your Armor or Weapon, do: Burning Arrow - Right-Click on mouse Frenzy (Split Arrow or Barrage) - Left-Click on mouse Flammability - Q Critical Weakness - W Vulnerability - E Projectile Weakness - R Temporal Chains - T
Recommended Gear:
Weapon: Death's Harp, 5 or 6-Link (or better if you find a good Rare Bow). However, if you're running the Burning Arrow setup in this build, you may want to get a Chin Sol Bow (or better if you find a good Rare bow). Armor: Daresso's Defiance or Belly of the Beast, 5 or 6-Link (or better if you find a good Rare armor). However, if you cannot afford the above two armors, get a Bronn's Lithe armor or a Zahndethus' Cassock (for the 50% Chance to Block & Consecrated Ground effect for 5% Life Regeneration). Belt: Wurm's Molt or The Magnate (or better if you find a good Rare belt) Boots: Windscream, 4-Link (or better if you find a good Rare armor). If you don't like the Windscream boots, get Sin Trek boots, but they're probably going to cost you more. The reason I suggest Windscream boots is because enemies being able to have 1 more Curse can be beneficial in battle since getting the 'Whispers of Doom' passive node is a long stretch from the Ranger's area on the Skill Tree. Gloves: Maligaro's Virtuosity, 4-Link (or better if you find good Rare gloves) If you don't like Maligaro's for unique gloves, got for Slitherpinch gloves. Slitherpinch gloves can be effective if you're using the Life Leech support gem. Otherwise, stick with whatever Rare gloves you like that may be better. Quivers: Broadstroke or Hyrri's Bite (or better if you find good Rare quivers) The above suggested are cheaper, but IF you have the funds to get them, get Rearguard Quivers. Helmet: Rat's Nest, 4-Link (or better if you find a good Rare headpiece) However, if you're considerably wealthy or come up on it by chance, get The Bringer of Rain or Alpha's Howl headpiece. Amulet: Only if you're playing Invations, get a Eye of Chayula only IF stuns are problematic for you. Otherwise, get a Karui Ward amulet (or better if you find a good Rare amulet). However, if you don't like either of the two amulets mentioned above, get Victario's Acuity or Marylene's Fallacy for an amulet, but they may cost you more in Trade. Ring: 1 Gifts from Above + 1 good Rare ring OR 1 Death Rush + 1 good Rare ring. However, if for whatever reason you cannot find or afford a Gifts from Above or Death Rush ring, get 2 Rare rings you like that may be better. OR, better yet, get a Doedre's Damning unique ring for +1 Curse allowed on enemies. And if you're really lucky and want Experience Gain or more Item Rarity, put on 1 Perandus Signet (for Experience Gain) and 1 Andvarius (for more Item Rarity).
Recommended Gear Links & Gems
IF you're not going to use unique items, here are some of the mods you should look out for when Rare (yellow items) drop for you. Rings: Go after Rings with Mana Regeneration, Increased Critical Strikes, Increased HP, and Increased Elemental Resistances. Amulet: Eye of Chayula (to be immune to Stuns in Hardcore or Invasion). Otherwise, if not playing Hardcore or Invasion, focus on getting something like the above stated for Rings. Belt: Find a Belt that increases HP, Stun Reduction, or has increased Resistances on it. For your Quivers, Gloves, Chest and Helm, look for anything with increased Evasion (or hybrid with Armor,) HP, Critical Strikes, Chaos Resistance (or other Resistances) (5-L, or 6-L recommended) Chest: Split Arrow // Mana Leech // Life Leech OR Life Gain on Hit // Faster Attacks // Chain // Increased Critical Strikes (5-L, or 6-L recommended) Weapon: Frenzy OR Barrage // Life Leech OR Life Gain on Hit // Greater Multiple Projectiles // Faster Attacks // Chain // Increased Critical Strikes
OR, if you want to have fun and run a badass Burning Arrow setup, use this
NOTE: IF you're going to use this setup, you're going to want a Chin Sol Bow (or better if you find a good Rare Bow). You should also look out for gear mods with added Fire Damage for your physical damage. You are also going to want to equip a Flammability Curse Gem somewhere in one of your gear sockets.
Chest or Weapon: Burning Arrow // Chain // Mana Leech OR Lesser Multiple Projectiles // Weapon Elemental Damage // Added Fire Damage // Fire Penetration (4-L recommended) Helm: Cast When Damage Taken // Increased Duration // Haste // + Puncture (just to level IF you want to switch out Split Arrow or Frenzy for this gem) NOTE: For your weapon, look for something with Increased Critical Strikes and other damage modifiers that will aid you as a Bow Ranger. If possible, get the mod +1-2 to Linked Skills (or not, depending on what Bow you want to use). (4-L recommended) Gloves: Reduced Mana // Critical Weakness // Vulnerability // Projectile Weakness (4-L recommended) - Note: Get some Deerstalker Boots! Boots: Reduced Mana // Rejuvenation Totem // Enfeeble // Temporal Chains P.S. I'll be doing other math calculations later regarding skill gems later. Let me know what you guys think of this build. It's my first time really playing a ranger. HeavyMetalGear When game developers ignore the criticism that would improve their game, the game fails. Just because a game receives a great amount of praise vs. only a small amount of criticism does not mean to call it a day and make a foolish misplaced assumption that it is perfect. (me) Last edited by HeavyMetalGear on May 3, 2014, 12:56:55 AM
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I think, defensively, this is a very inefficient build and not at all survivable. Including traveling, you use 13 points on the evasion circle. But you are right beside and don't get any of the acrobatics nodes. Those 5 nodes give you a flat 40% dodge chance. Those 11 evasion nodes, versus not having them, will not increase your evasion by a 40% actual chance to evade. Meaning you used 13 nodes and gave yourself less chance for enemy to miss you than if you took 5. And your HP is going to be too low end game - you won't survive higher level or middle level higher rolled maps. Heck - you might not be able to do any map with evangelists on it.
The only way a glass cannon build has any hopes of surviving is with vaal paact. Also - do not forget that Rangers don't have access to any + max resist stuff on the tree (unless you go way over to Marauder, most builds don't). We are stuck at a 75% cap unless you want to give up a valuable aura just to increase one element's max resist. So, conceptually, even if nothing ever hit hit you via attack you'd still get creamed by spells (and you chose not to take Phase Acrobatics either), and would have to just skip most map bosses. There'd be no way. You can easily make a survivable evasion build - but this isn't it. You need more life. My Phys Crit Split Arrow Ranger Guide: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/919885 My Poison Arrow Ranger Guide: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/806913 Last edited by Asidra on Feb 5, 2014, 10:44:39 PM
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woops double
My Phys Crit Split Arrow Ranger Guide: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/919885 My Poison Arrow Ranger Guide: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/806913 Last edited by Asidra on Feb 5, 2014, 10:44:14 PM
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" First and foremost, I'm not all about 'Path of Life nodes.' I agree that I could probably allocate all the way to Phase Acrobatics, but I'm not going to go way out of the way for a 50-75% life increase when I can achieve that with gear. When going into this build I wanted to make a build that was going to tear enemies up while still maintaining exceptional survivability, and not conforming too much with how other players build their rangers. Given all the gear I listed with a ton of Life Leech mods + my Life Leech gems and my attack speed output, I didn't feel the need for exhausting what I think are unnecessary nodes just to get Vaal Pact. Given that I'm slinging around multiple projectiles so fast you can't see them, and that I got about 20% or more for Life Leech per hit, it may as well be close to as instant Vaal Pact applies Life Leech. P.S. I have now allocated the nodes within the Acrobatics area. My Skill Tree has been updated. When game developers ignore the criticism that would improve their game, the game fails. Just because a game receives a great amount of praise vs. only a small amount of criticism does not mean to call it a day and make a foolish misplaced assumption that it is perfect. (me) Last edited by HeavyMetalGear on Feb 5, 2014, 11:28:33 PM
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" This doesn't make any sense. Based on the equipments you listed, you aren't running Armor pieces. You will have 0, maybe 1% damage reduction. That is exactly the reason you do choose Acrobatics - because it's cost of halving your armour essentially costs you nothing since you don't use armour. There is a reason life based rangers take lot's of life nodes. It's not because we like following the herd, it's because in game there is simply unavoidable and unmitigatable damage you are going to take, and the only way you live is with enough life. Dying costs you 10% XP. And when you hit levels 85 + that's a lot of time invested. We take HP nodes because we don't like dying - and they are simply the best way (and still needed in combination with other defensive measures). The game caps leech at 20% of your max HP per second. Which, btw, since you are going to have so few HP is going to be really weak no matter how much damage or leech you have. So unless you have a way to alter game mechanics, your leech is not going to be anywhere near as effective in keeping your HP pool up quickly as Vaal Pact. Anyway, man, you asked for advice and I provided some. Enjoy your build. But I have a feeling you will get really frustrated in early end game and respc it. You learn, you alter. I totally tossed my first ranger out and started another, and have fine-tuned this one twice. My Phys Crit Split Arrow Ranger Guide: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/919885 My Poison Arrow Ranger Guide: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/806913 Last edited by Asidra on Feb 5, 2014, 11:34:45 PM
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I only got 18 life nodes. How is this path of life nodes? 5.7k HP. Almost 13k Evasion.
IGN : Ericaa
My Store! /108685 My Rain of Arrows Evasion build guide! https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/791798 Twitch! http://www.twitch.tv/samfishersam |
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" Given that I just slightly changed my Skill Tree (besides the Life part) what do you think? Because now I put it this way. I have 166% increase to my Life. The most I see people invest (on a Ranger) is about 240%, at least. 240% minus 166% is only 74% extra Life I don't have. Given that I do keep my distance quite well vs. enemies, and given that I do manage my flasks quite well, is me not having that extra 74% Life really going to matter so much? To go about allocating more Life nodes right now as you say would mean a huge hit to my dmg output, a huge hit to my critical output, and a huge hit to everything else. I'm not saying you're entirely wrong in what you're saying, but I cannot help disagreeing just a little bit here. The fact of the matter here is you can have all the EVA, Life, etc. you want, but most of the time if players are dying left and right no matter their class and gear, they're not maneuvering the battlefield very well. When game developers ignore the criticism that would improve their game, the game fails. Just because a game receives a great amount of praise vs. only a small amount of criticism does not mean to call it a day and make a foolish misplaced assumption that it is perfect. (me) Last edited by HeavyMetalGear on Feb 5, 2014, 11:57:23 PM
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" It was a general remark I made not necessarily directed entirely at you. If I can avoid investing so much into Life nodes like everyone else does so I don't cripple my damage output, etc., I will. When game developers ignore the criticism that would improve their game, the game fails. Just because a game receives a great amount of praise vs. only a small amount of criticism does not mean to call it a day and make a foolish misplaced assumption that it is perfect. (me) Last edited by HeavyMetalGear on Feb 6, 2014, 12:26:38 AM
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bump
When game developers ignore the criticism that would improve their game, the game fails.
Just because a game receives a great amount of praise vs. only a small amount of criticism does not mean to call it a day and make a foolish misplaced assumption that it is perfect. (me) |
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Made a few modifications to the skill tree.
Will edit this post later with an explanation if someone else doesn't first.
Spoiler
New Build
- Change of initial tree Updated Build - Updated ranger starting nodes - Removed Accuracy (Lioneye's OP?) - Added %life & %evasion nodes 181% Spell Crit Statstick! Mirror Service Thread: 2252231 IGN: Shinuri Last edited by Shinuri on Apr 20, 2014, 11:42:35 PM
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