[1.3] B1ett0's NON-CRIT BOW GUIDE: [45K+ DPS] [IS/SA/TS] CHEAP ATZIRI!!



Hi guys, this is my NON CRIT SPLIT ARROW GUIDE.
I play this game since beta. Have to admit it has his flaws, but it's great anyway and i had really much fun with it. played a bunch of builds, looked at the forum and tried many things by myself. One thing i see pretty cristalized in the meta is the inferiority of non crit builds in most cases (cause of different mechanics and out of scale parameters *ehm*critmulti*ehm*).
But let's talk about the build :D
I succesfully cleared high lvl maps and done normal Atziri with it, so i thought it would be cool to share it. It's just a Phys non crit bow build, but it has all it needs and it's pretty finetuned. Basically tried to get every single dmg node on the tree and flat phys dmg on gear to get the maximum armor penetration without the insane crit bonus (by now, everyone should have understood that crit is op, but well... :D). The result is quite good, check it out :)

-----------------PROS AND CONS-----------------

PROS

Spoiler
-VERY MOBILE AND FLEXIBLE, FUNNY TO PLAY
-GOOD DAMAGE
-CHEAP
-REFLECT SAFE
-VERY GOOD DEFENSES AND HP POOL
-0 MANA PROBLEMS
-CAN DO ATZIRI FOR CHEAP
-VERY HIGH MOV.SPEED AND ATTACK SPEED


CONS

Spoiler
-THE DAMAGE IS GOOD BUT CAN'T SKYROCKET (LIKE CRIT BUILDS DOES) WITH PERFECT GEAR
-CAN'T REALISTICALLY DO UBER (DIDN'T TEST IT THOUGH)


-----------------PLAY STYLE-----------------

Spoiler
Basic bow build gameplay: kite stuff and shoot from offscreen. Shooting through doors needs the use of SHIFT, cause desync is always there waiting. the offscreen shooting is not as dangerous as with a crit build (see FAQ). Curse the really dangerous stuff and just spam on the rest. Use SA for anything and traps for high hp/dagerous rares/bosses. The defense layers are a lot: eva, dodge, mov.speed, curse, vaal grace, pots, CWDT. Frankly, if you play smart enough, dieing is really hard. Vaal grace is the best OH SHIT button, it just makes you semi untouchable.


-----------------SKILLS-----------------

MAIN SKILL

Spoiler
This is a cheap build, i only have 5Ls, but the damage is still really good. I like Split arrow the most, but atm ice shot and TS are fairly op in terms of dmg scaling. It's just a matter of personal preference. 2% mana from gear/passives is enough to sustain the spam (unless you don't hit anything for like 3 times in a row, quite impossible with SA). The best gem options are:

-Split Arrow:
Is my favourite. Good dmg, built in GMP, low mana cost. what can you ask more?

SA - Phys.Proj.Dmg - Added fire - WED - Faster attack - Pierce/LL

-Ice Shot
My second bet. The dmg is really high. There's a % of dmg converted to cold, that makes the armor pen inferior, but the chill and the aoe are just great. If you get used to the aoe it doesn't need LMP/GMP.

IS - Phys.Proj.Dmg - Added fire - WED - Faster attack - LMP/conc.eff./LL

-Tornado Shot
High damage scaling. i don't like the mechanics, but it's surely good. Needs LMP/GMP to work well as an aoe attack.

TS - Phys.Proj.Dmg - Added fire - WED - LMP/GMP- Faster attack/LL



SECONDARY SKILL

Spoiler
I use the well known Puncture + trap combo as single target dmg skill. It needs blood magic unless you want to carry a mana pot. it can be used without trap too, but the DPS is not much higher than SA, so i think the trap burst is better (even after the nerf). Trap and Point blank are great damage booster. Culling strike or pierce (assuming you use a drillneck quiver, which is the best choice imho) are good to boost the phys dmg further. Added fire dmg / WED would give higher dmg, but the bleeding part of the skill only scales the phys dmg, so i think the former two are the best options for this use.

Puncture - Phys.Proj.Dmg - Trap - Point Blank - Blood magic - Culling strike/pierce


AURAS

Spoiler
The standard auras for phys builds (ofc linked with red.mana). The Charisma cluster in the passive tree allows 2x 60% auras + hof to be run at the same time, and the mana bonus from lioneye's gives enough free mana to sustain the attacks with just 2% mana leech from gear/passives.

-HATRED: is the highest dmg boost, period.
-HERALD OF ASH: gives way faster clear speed.
-GRACE: High eva bonus, a must for high level/dangerous maps and atziri (spears)
-HASTE: good damage boost and the movespeed bonus is just awesome. Used in most maps (instead of grace)


OTHER SKILLS

Spoiler
I have an utility 4L with:

Temp.chains/Enfeeble/vulnerability/proj.weakness (matter of preference) - BM - Inc.duration - Vaal grace/Vaal haste

Vaal grace bring the dodge chance to 75% for both attacks and spells for 10+s. That + eva + ondar's+ dodge + high mov.speed = 10s of semi invincibility.

I also have a CWDT 4L setup:

CWDT (LVL 7) - End.cry (LVL 9) - IC (LVL8) - Inc.Duration (full leveled)

CWDT lvl 7 procs at 880 dmg taken, around 1/5 of my max hp pool and gives a solid 4s IC duration, so i think it's a good deal.



-----------------PASSIVES-----------------

TREE

Spoiler

For the leveling phase just use SA cause of it's low mana cost and built in GMP. Grab life, phys dmg and bow nodes on the way. All the gems you need are quest rewards, pretty much straight forward. Slitherpinch
and wurm's molt belt can be handy during the leveling.

120 PTS BUILD

168% LIFE (+200% + with Belly-recommended. at this level i have 4.5k+ life with 157% and mediocre life rolls on everything except helm)
40% DODGE
30% SPELL DODGE (46% with Steps-recommended)
183% EVASION
30% CHANCE TO AVOID STUNS
80% LIFE RECOVERY FROM FLASKS
26% MOV.SPEED (+ no penalties from gear)
High ias
Nearly all dmg (non crit) nodes.
40% pierce chance (50% with drillneck-recommended)

Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgQAAF4DHgW1BiMILgiJCpsVIBXsFr8ZihmOGbQZ_hqPGwEfQSLiIuoj9iU_JpUqWyzpLYMwcTB8MgEylDY9OkI6s0M2R35H4kp9S3hNklFHUuxVS11oYeJirGVNZ6BqjGyMbWxxoXXLeOt59n11fwJ_K4TZh3aK8Iw2jX2Nv49PkAqVBZcGmvGbJpu1naqhIqJAotmkOabgp9Sr0rCrsNixMLIZtMW1CLVIuR274702vqfC7MSCxKLIFMqpytPPetCB037UI9aK2cbajdwV3Q3dqOOf5wro1ulG6mLtg-969Pj1b_ba-wn8xf66_sg=


BANDITS
Spoiler
The optimal bandits choices for this build are:
-normal: save Oak for +40 life
-cruel: save Oak for +18 phys dmg
-merciless: Kill all the bandits for +1 passive point
Personally, i took phys dmg at cruel and +1 endurance charge at merc for another build before respec, which is cool for immortal call but is not the optimal choice.


-----------------GEAR AND LINKS-----------------

WEAPON AND QUIVER

Spoiler
-BOW: as i already said, LG is very good for this build for various reasons. Nevertheless you can use a well rolled rare bow. That would mean no reflected damage, wich ofcourse is good. On the other hand you have to take care of accuracy and mana, which is not a big deal, but for it's price and features, i really like LG



-QUIVER: i usually use SA, so i specced into pierce (i really don't recommend chain in general, but especially for this build. For that reason i use Drillneck, which gives a very good DPS boost and has a decent HP roll too. A very good rare with flat phys + WED + ias may give better DPS and if you wanna use TS you may not wanna spec into pierce, but for me drillneck is the best bet.



Corrupting both uniques for "+1 arrow" may be good if you wanna go TS and have the money to do it, but this is a cheap build and...did i mention i love SA?


CHEST/HELM/GLOVES/BOOTS/BELT

Spoiler
-CHEST: Belly is a solid choice. It's cheap and the HP% roll is just too good. You can use a full EVA chest, that may make grace secondary and maybe help to cap ELE.RES if well rolled.



-HELM: my choice here is a rare one. Get HP, ELE.RES and some eva and you are good to go. Honorable mentions go to abyssus and devoto, as they both give increased DPS. The first is quite risky (even if really doable with the multiple defense layers of the build) and the second is really funny to use (ias and movespeed). It has a good chaos res roll too, but the -Phys dmg% is not good for armor pen. Rat's nest is good too, but we play a non crit build.



EDIT: recently swapped around jewelry and helm as i fucked up corrupting a ring. Ended up with a High rolled Starkonja's head. capped my res on the rest of the ger. More DPS gain and high hp.

-GLOVES: Again a rare is the bis for a noncrit build. Get phys roll and ias possibly. HP and ELE.RES are always good ofc. Helm and gloves are the best slots to get a 4RL for CWDT setup, just put in the best thing you have. with AR or AR/EVA in one of the two slots to easily get the 4L and a pure EVA in the other AR sucks imho, but that's another story :D)



-BOOTS: Atziri's steps are bis imho. High eva, top mov.speed roll and that spell dodge%. As usual a rare can be used, but i really like steps.



-BELT: a rare rustic sash gives the highest DPS with phys% + WED% rolls, and it can hve HP and ELE./CHAOS RES. Atziri's is an option too, but gives less dps and doesn't have HP. On the other hand it has good RES rolls and some niche leech.



EDIT: ended up with atziri's to cap res, change helm and have some more leech for farming atziri.

JEWELRY

Spoiler
Try to get phys roll + WED% + ias where possible. HP and ELE.RES are needed, as well as at least 2% mana leech (unless you wanna spend some point to get it in the passives. Some stats are useful too, epsecially INT and STR. I personally have a +30 str node alloceated.


FLASKS

Spoiler
I usually use 4HP flasks + a granite or 3HP + Atziri's + granite. Two Hp are instant divines, one instant and one instant on low life, both with remove freeze. The other two are bubbling eternals, one with remove bleeding and one with life leech. With the high dodge/EVA/mov.speed + the "increade life from flasks nodes, it is a really safe setup. Atziri's gives nice dps and leech boost. The granite is rolled with the "Reflexes" suffix, so it gives +AR and + EVA%, really good against anything that does phys dmg.Whith that active i jump to 20% Phys reduction and 55% chance to evade. That's more than enough.


-----------------SCREENSHOTS [UPDATED]-----------------

DEFENSE

Spoiler

Standard defense:
-@4.8k HP now, can see it in the new offensive screenshots (can go well over 5K)
-Capped res
-40% dodge
-46% spell dodge
-50% chance to evade
-Capped eva against projectile attacks
-64% mov.speed modifier



With vaal grace
-capped attack and spell dodge





OFFENSE

All screenshots are taken with my actual gear, so all the attacks are only 5L, not 6L nad the puncture trap is in a 5L with the BM gem

Spoiler


Offense with Atziri's promise. 100% chance to hit.

-Ice shot



-Split arrow



-Tornado shot



-Frenzy



-Puncture trap (note that the tooltip shows the single hit and does not take into consideratione the 50% more damage from point blank. It's a pretty big HIT :D)





-----------------2.0 THOUGHTS-----------------

So, CB is going pretty well (i'm not in, but reddit is screaming every day, so...). The major new stuff thet will affect this build in 2.0 is:

-No more (or at least way less) lag/desync. This is good not only for this build but for the game in general. The only problem with lag playing this build is when you suddenly teleport in the middle of something Dangerous cause of lag or desync caused by monsters /high mov speed. With that not being an issue anymore, i'm sure the game will become even more enjoyable.
-New ways to buff the damage. With a Physical, non crit build, once you get all the levels and the best rolls on gear, you're pretty much done, there's nothing more to do to raise the numbers. In 2.0 there will be jewels, which, from what i saw, can get pretty sick combinations. According to the skill tree planner, as of now the pathing will be approximately the same and we will have access to a discrete number of jewel slots, which are very much Worth the points needed to get. There will be golems too, which are a free dmg buff. LG is getting modified. It's still not sure if it will get buffed or nerfed. I saw some screenshots showing a bit less as but a bit higher physical dmg, according with the changes to base imperial bow item. that would be good, because a bit less as and a bit more dmg (if that does not mean a big dps nerf) will help sustaining mana and hp with leech and result into higher armor pen per hit. i've seen a screen of a LG with implicit ele dmg% (don't remember how much, but a pretty low roll), which will be a minimal buff to dmg (unless that % can go much higher, which i doubt). In this regard, i think we must wait and see the final result of the item once 2.0 hits.
-Changes to auras (no more red. mana/costs changes). I think this is a good thing (except for the enlighten part, which is dumb) even if it will reduce the numbers of auras we will be using. With the Charisma cluster being the only one at hand, we will not be having enough reservection cost reduction to freely run 3 auras as in live. Haste is really fun, the dmg boost is great, even if not crazy, and the mov. speed is always good. I personally don't even run grace anymore, cause the rest of my defences is more than enough to almost never take any dmg. Depending on the reservation % of the various auras we'll maybe be able to run hatred and HoA + an ele res or an herald. An herald would be a decent buff, even if it doesn't scale really well with Attacks without crit, we have a pretty high as and HoT would be really good if we find a way to consistently shock targets (6L + new support gem maybe?). On the other hand an ele res aura will make Atziri easier (depending on the changes and the numbers this build will probably get to the point of being able to run uber in 2.0, but we'll see).
-Changes to the passive tree. Ondar's nerf. REALLY GOOD. I mean, not good for us, but that keystone was just broken. Free 100% (95%) immunity to projectiles with no downsides). It NEEDED a nerf. We will be likely to get more hits from melee mobs, ofc leapers are the scariest for a ranged build, but i'm sure it will be fine anyway, and 99% everyone will still pick it up, so no big deal. Bow nodes are pretty much the same. They are moving around some hp clusters, but the final result will be pretty much the same. Some points spent to get jewel sockets, but the bonuses they give are awesome and i'm sure they'll be Worth the Investment.
-Gems Changes. SA is getting buffed and i'm reeeeeeeally happy about it. More dmg and maybe (EVEN MORE!) more arrows. As everything else the numbers are not definitive, but it will surely recive a huge buff, and that's awesome counting that it's already my favourite bow attack skill. Chain is getting really good in CB. Much lower downsides , lesss mana multi. Chain SA will probably become the new TS (i actually hope lame people will keep their TS with their harbringers, so SA will not become a cookiecutter build an it won't get nerfed after a month). I'm not sure how pierce chance will interact with chain, i know a projectile can't pierce if it chains, what i'm thinking to is drillneck. Will i get the proj dmg bonus if i spec into pierce but use chain? (if anyone knows, just illuminate me :D). Pierce gem is getting buffed to, so my 20/20 + 10% from drillneck may be enough to almost cap pierce, thus saving 4 passive points. With a minimal point investment, we may even get Heartseeker and assassination cluster, which in combination with rat's nest, and maybe maligaro will give us some nice crit counting on our aps, but maybe these points (and slots) will be better put into hp/ eva/ dmg/ jewels. Once again, we'll see. Frenzy is getting good buffs too in the beta, especially the dmg bonus from charges. I have a pair of corrupted steps with +1 frenzy and can respec the bandit reward (endurance charge, for an old melee build) to get a maximum of 8 frenzy charges. That will skyrocket the damage of my 20/20 frenzy, making it the ideal single target, to finally getting rid of these puncture traps (which are really strong, but ruins the feel of an hit and run bombarder imo). The only downside will be the slightly higher mana cost, but a 6L with bm or the more free mana from the -1 aura we'll run may be enough.
There's nothing sure as of now, but in general, things seem to adjust in favour of the build. I'm pretty happy and excited about 2.0, but i'm a bit sad that most of the new things that this build will benefit from, are the same that will buff even more other mainstream bow builds.

-----------------CONCLUSIONS-----------------

I really enjoy playing this build, it's really solid and fun to play.
I tried to cover everything with the guide, but if you have any more question just comment here or pm me ingame at PUZZO_COME_UN_CAPRONE. If i'll get any good questions i'll add them to the FAQ section.
Sorry for my english, i'm not a native speaker.
HF :)

-----------------FAQ-----------------

How do you deal with reflect?

Spoiler
Reflect is not a big deal. We can't evade our own reflect with ondar's because of lioneye's, but it's not like with crit, where you get big spikes of damage back. Reflect without crit is like with those old ele attack builds based on auras and attack speed, you just have to be a bit more careful and try to take down the rare with traps.

&

help a lot too.


How do you sustain mana with that attack speed and low mana pool?

Spoiler
2% mana leech from passives/gear is more than enough to sustain mana. SA has a low cost, IS's is a bit higher and a % of the phys dmg is converted to cold (which does not apply leech), so it's a bit harder to sustain (just make sure to hit mobs and you can spam with IS too most of the time)

Why not TS?

Spoiler
I don't like TS. Don't get me wrong, it's really strong. The damage scaling is insane and it hits a gazillion times, but SA is just too easy. SA is a full 180° dmg wall, it's the lazy guy skill, and i'm a lazy guy :)


Why not crit?

Spoiler
Because everyone goes crit, and it's so mainstream that it almost builds itself. Not trying to be hippy and alternative, but a game based on constant grinding can be boring by itself, let's at least play something original.


Why Lioneye's Glare?

Spoiler
Because it's good. For non crit, phys build, it's really good and cheap. The damage is good and "hit's cannot be evaded" plus the mana bonus are really cool.
Check out my NON CRIT PHYS SPLIT ARROW BOW GUIDE! The deeeps where you couldn't imagine!
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1242996
Last edited by b1ett0 on Jun 18, 2015, 7:28:24 AM
BUMP

Some minor improvements:
-corrected some wrong nodes in the passives
-Soon 2 come (asa i get home) Screens with 6L and maxed gems
-2.0 thoughts: SA buff HYPE!
Check out my NON CRIT PHYS SPLIT ARROW BOW GUIDE! The deeeps where you couldn't imagine!
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1242996
respecced my lvl 83 rampage duelist to this build. found every item myself in rampage and torment league. kinda cool. my first "self found" charchter sort of hehehe.



13k sa dps with grace and hatred (no aziri flask active)

puncture 4link with blood magic is kinda weak. looking to replace this with something else. takes forever to kill 74 vaal.

i think puncture is only really good in crit builds. when it crits enemies bleed like hell. but this is not a crit build. maybe frenzy would work better.
Last edited by kompaniet on Jun 13, 2015, 12:26:11 PM
Hey, thanks for the feedback!
My SA dps without flask is 23k+ dps. if you followed my skilltree and have a lvl 20 reduced mana you can run herald of ash too for more dmg (the mana cost on SA is wery low), it speeds up the clear speed by a lot too. Frankly i only run grace when fighting the trio and Atziri herself. For the rest of Atziri's map and normal mapping it's not really needed.
Once i maxed out my SA gem, i swapped in TS + GMP to level it up. I still prefer SA for aoe, but i have to admit that TS is suitable for both aoe and single target, and it's dmg with GMP against single bosses is amazing. My Puncture is in a 5L (4L+BM),and i think it's very strong. In that 4L you miss out Physical Projectile attack damage, which is a huge MORE multiplier, very important for the final damage (and bleed). Planning to try frenzy as single target skill when 2.0 hits: on one hand the bonus from frenzy charges is awesome and i have a +1 frenzy steps, but on the other blood rage will no more deal chaos damage but physical instead. Combining that with the fact that pure eva won't be as awesome as it is now, and the nerf to mana leech, maybe it won't be the best option. we'll see!

EDIT: i updated the offensive screens with most gems maxed out (still 5L though) and added some 2.0 insight, give them a look :D
Check out my NON CRIT PHYS SPLIT ARROW BOW GUIDE! The deeeps where you couldn't imagine!
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1242996
Last edited by b1ett0 on Jun 18, 2015, 8:32:30 AM

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