Is pure evasion build still viable ?

Hello everyone!

As my first character on the new warband league, I have tried a reave dual-wielding claw evasion ranger.
Due to bad RNG, it was probably the worst leveling experience I ever had in POE.
I just die too much, always by instant spike of damage, as it can be expected for an evasion char, and even more so with the global increase of the damage from enemies.

As way to mitigate damage, I have evasion (35-ish %), block (18-ish %), enduring cry (3 charges), fortify on whirlwind, enfeeble on CODT and a granite flask (I have drop acrobatics passive to use the full power of the flask and block)
Enduring cry and granite flask are not 100% reliable as the first need a good timer to always keep up all the charges (and also slow quite a lot the clearspeed) and the second is not infinite (especialy on bosses)
Even for fortify, if I take a big crit before I have time to refresh it, it is over.
For example, fight like the desert map boss is just completely undoable, at least at the moment, for me.

My question is, before I continue spending time on this character, which is a bit painful currently : Is pure evasion build still viable end game?

If yes, what am I doing wrong ? What are the mandatory stats in term of life / evasion chance / dodge ?
If no, what are the viable alternative ? Should I use an evasion shield, or go hybrid with a lioneye remorse or something?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Have fun!

I'm running the same build on standard, atm I dropped some dmg nodes cuz I was dealing too much dmg (50k+ without charges), and picked up some life nodes, it's viable yet, but not against bosses, they could easily one-shoot you if you don't have at least 3.5k life, and with the leech changes, facetanking a boss is not even possible.

i'm afraid it was never really viable in pve. depends too much on chance

I don't know about end-game, but so far at level 31 I haven't had any problems with a mix of evasion and regen. I have focused on damage mostly, but have pathed near or taken a few life nodes, and take more as I start to feel a bit squishy. Currently grabbing the 4% life + 8% evasion nodes on the right side of the tree to bolster HP and evasion. I also have Acrobatics and it's made a difference. I had very little armor and only 22 shield, so it made sense for me to get the 30% dodge there.

Mostly though I've found that things like life nodes and blood drinker are pretty critical if you're going pure evasion, and claws are a good choice as well for the HP leech/HP on hit.

Between the dodge and reave ensuring I'm never quite in melee range, I haven't had issues, and haven't died yet. We'll see when I get to Act 4 and beyond.

Easy Question, Nop.

Act4 Mobs Strikes You For 3K Dmg (As Tank) And Bosses Almost Instant Kill You.

As Evasion Player You Will Die By Everything That Related To Act4.

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Perz wrote:

i'm afraid it was never really viable in pve. depends too much on chance

I am pretty surprised. I remember good max block/eva build working just fine back in masters expansion.

It was fine before but they've buffed phys damage to the point that evasion just isn't that great anymore because eventually something gets through and that something has a good chance to one or two shot you.

The right side of the tree needs more life nodes for it to become viable again.

No.

Evasion was worthwhile when mobs didnt hit as hard and you could soak up the occassional hit on your life pool.

But thanks to incessant whines from armor casuals that is no longer the case.

Monster damage is crazy high, armor has been buffed, and evasion has been nerfed.

Evasion melee is a deathwish. No fking way can you survive endgame as evasion melee. Even bow characters with acro are struggling.

Best bet I think now is to go fully ranged and incorporate max block and max spell block with your evasion (i.e. Wander, lightning strike, or go VERY high DPS bow character.

Why would you expect any single defense to stand alone in Beta 2.0? If you want to go Evasion, you'd be well advised to combine it with Dodge, Endurance Charges, Fortify, and/or Arctic Armor, not to mention resists.

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RogueMage wrote:

Why would you expect any single defense to stand alone in Beta 2.0? If you want to go Evasion, you'd be well advised to combine it with Dodge, Endurance Charges, Fortify, and/or Arctic Armor, not to mention resists.

could you link an example passive tree with all that you mentioned plus life and dps nodes