Crit + Evasion Build

Hi,

first of, I'm relatively new to this game, but I've skimmed many builds on this forum here, so I know how to build a Ranger that can survive. That's not exactly the point of this thread.

What I want to know is if a build like this can work at all:

I like building chars on critical hits, and the ranger has a lot of nodes on that close by. I also want to use evasion, as it is the intended mechanic, and I like evading (can't touch me, na~nanana....^^).

Almost all of the guides here go for Iron Reflexes, Resolute Technique, or both. Can these be avoided? The above build is certainly far from optimal, it's just to show off what I intended. I'd like to try this out and see how far I can go. Even if I don't make it far, it'd still be useful info since it would show some serious balancing issue. But before I waste hours of my life: What do you guys say? Anyone tried this on a recent version of PoE? How did it go?

To be a little more precise: I probably need more life than I sketched out so far, but how much? I haven't been to the higher difficulties myself yet. Also, is Blood Magic useful here? I would need more life, of course, but it seems a little risky on a evasion build, since the damage you take can spike really high. I've also been thinking about King of the Hill. Knockback seems useful, especially on a physical build, but I don't think I've ever seen it in a guide, so I'm probably missing something here.

Hmm, that's about it, I guess. Hopefully, this will not degrade into a collection of "just use Iron Reflexes" comments...^^


EDIT: See later posts for newer versions.

I'm not an expert, and i myself am waiting for people to answer my own questions :/

sadly it seems most of this forum is going on those "named build" and people asking questions there.

let's say we are the next generation path of exile theory crafter enthusiasts :P

i tried to play a full crit based ranger, though i believe you did not take THAT much chance to crit, most of the good nodes are in the shadow area, what you took are mostly "critical damage multiplier" which implies HUGE damages, as long as you land an actual critical hit.

here is what i intended to do (using eva too, i believe we can play with it as long as it's REALLY high).



it would look like that more or less.

of course you can hope to get a nice gear that grants tons of global critical chances, or use the critical weakness curse, but i think having a solid % (this build will net you roughly over 25% chances of Critical strikes) and lot of damage multiplier.

Thanks for your build, ExServ.

I think a combination of both might be a lot better.

I think Bloodthirst is too far off, all those Int nodes on the way don't help the build at all. Also, the Nullification round seems way to ineffective.
Looking at my own design, I removed the excursion to Berserking, also too far off.
I added a path to Reflexes right behind the start point, and also took the mana regen nodes there. Mana is gonna be an issue otherwise, might still be. And we both overlooked the node right at the start for 18% evasion.
I took one of the Deadeye rounds, as accuracy might be an issue, but I guess that could be adjusted on the fly while playing.
I also left the Frenzy Charge and Diamond Skin to the south in, seems effective to me, but I might be off.

Haste is awesome. I dislike ranged Blood Magic builds strictly because they can't use it (or Purity, but whatever).

Anyway, there's some problems with your build:

1. Not enough life. Take waaaaay more life nodes. Especially true for evasion ranger since your damage will come in larger spikes, so you need a significant buffer + huge life steal and life gain on hit to quickly heal up the spike damage for the next hit.

2. You're taking armor + evasion nodes when you're specced into Acrobatics (plus that cluster by unwavering stance is meh). Take straight evasion nodes.

3. Accuracy nodes are generally not worth it.

4. Fairly low crit. Bows have base 5% crit and if you're calling this build a "crit + evasion" build, you're looking at only 13% crit (naked). You will have to go further into the Shadow tree for crit or just skip crit altogether. Problem is, crit is what really makes physical damage competitive with Elemental builds (and even better than Elemental builds in the end end game). I think your crit damage multiplier is pretty good, though.

5. Probably going to need Int nodes if you're playing a crit build due to the support gems requiring substantial amounts of it. Definitely use some kind of Onyx amulet.

I've cleaned up your tree a bit, let me know what you think:



This build is done by 71, but it still needs more life. Up to you where you want to drop the DPS to grab more life. I recommend the life cluster above Master Fletcher and then grab Reflexes (evasion talent) as well. You might be able to drop the resistance node in the late 60s when your gear will cover the resistances completely.

Thanks again for the hints. Nice to know that the forums are not spammed to death yet by all the "I just clicked around on the skill tree"-threads.

I suspected that I would need more health, but it's kinda hard to keep track of everything. Also, I forgot I needed so much Int for the skills, thanks for reminding me.

I messed around again with that latest version of the passive tree.

I don't really know if it's actually better, but I wanna know why it is or isn't. At least, that was my intention with this thread.
Anyway, I didn't go the lower path from the start, but used the upper path only and circled around via Arrow Dodging. This saves up 7 Points. I also removed the that Might node with the 3 Health nodes behind it, saves up another 4 Points.
Instead I took the 3 Health nodes on the upper start path as well as Reflexes and the health nodes below.
This makes me come up with one less health node and 30 less Strength (I don't need that for skills, do I?). Instead I gain 20% Evasion.

So, I really don't know: What will I likely need more? The health, or the evasion? I'm getting the feeling that there really is a good reason for people always using Iron Reflexes...

Another thought: Ditch (part of) the upper staring path instead of the lower path, possibly picking up some more of those 15% - 20% crit chance nodes lying around.

Last point for now: What about mana regen? Enough?

On my Rangers, I tend to run Life on Hit, Enduring Cry, Decoy Totem and Life Leech. Those are all great skills, but more importantly, they are strength and you will not be able to get the strength to bring them to the "awesome" levels without some help from your passive tree.

Right now, you have 140% Life from your tree, which is good. I think it might be a bit low still, but physical Rangers are very tight on skill points, so it's understandable. Take Oak's reward in Normal and try and get every piece of gear to have a good life roll (except your weapon, and possibly gloves because Maligaro's).

I really love the lower route on my Rangers. It is 3 points more and the tradeoff is losing 8% life and gaining 4% attack speed, 30% evasion (equal to a notable) and 30 Dexterity (also equal to a notable). There are still life nodes right off your path you have access to that you haven't specced into yet, so you won't miss the one on the upper path at all. Honestly, it just comes down to preference, and if you really need the points (like in an evasion + crit build), the upper path is legit. Don't worry about the 3 crit nodes in the lower path, that cluster isn't even that good.

Health > Evasion. Health defends against everything, and regardless of your armor, evasion or resists, you're going to take *big* hits from time to time that will bypass some of those defences. More buffer is the only thing that will save you.

You have enough mana. Get around 4 to 6% mana leech (depending on your skill costs, gear and damage) from rings, ammy, quiver or tree and you shouldn't need mana pots, even running Grace + Haste.

Hey ppl

here is a build ive been looking at, ive put all 111 points in im lvl 32 heading towards blood magic, ive just got to act 3 normal doing ok so far.

have a look and tell me what u think :)

forgot the link :/

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIBAMwB0QPbBH4FLQWEFSAV8BjbGdUZ_hrbGwEfWyFgIXYkaiT9KLUqTSzpMHwx-jIJMn4ylDMMOdQ6UjpYOrM_J0CgQ9JEnkWWSn1OKlFHU7tVqVYEVvpbPVuvYEtgiGFSY6dnoGgOapNuqm-eb_J0QXTtdPF293fXec96736wfwJ_K4ZghxOHdo19ks2S85UFl7ScpJ65oJ-hpKJApuCn1KvSrEesuq_rsHO2Qbg3v9XAD8SiyqnVANnG3BXdDd1G37_h2uKA51Tstu4O707x9PT4-WP8TvzF_iv-yP_e

OK, seems like there is a core version now:


The (important) stats are:


Possible variations/additions:


I think this is should hit a good balance between all the important stats. But it doesn't seem exceptionally good.... Well, worth a try, I guess.

Now, as for skills: I'm not sure at all what to do. Of course, a large part of that is personal preference.
Frenzy seems a no-brainer, as all three additional charges are on our path anyway. Added Attack Speed and Evasion seems good.
Then there are the two physical multi-target skills, Split Arrow and Rain of Arrows. I don't see any reason for one of them to be much better than the other on this layout. Or am I missing something with their mechanics?

I don't know at all what to do about the auras. Haste, Grace and Clarity could all help out, even Purity can be useful. Anyone up for a guess what's best here?

I've also been thinking if elemental skills might be worth it. The 30% Increased Damage nodes for Cold and Lightning are right next to our path, and we've got a high chance of Critical Strikes. Both Lightning Arrow and Cold Shot have a nice AoE effect, and their status effects could help out a lot.

And there's the choice of curses. Projectile Weakness is the straight forward choice, but Critical Weakness might outclass it, especially if the Hit Chance is good already. Again, anyone up for a guess?

Let the second phase of Theory Crafting begin!

Much better than your first build, looks good.

Notes:

-Still lacking in strength if you plan to run Life on Hit or Leech (you will need to for evasion, to recover the massive damage bursts fast). This can be made up for in rings, belt and ammy, but then you're putting restrictions on your gear and it can be challenging to find specific strength pieces that also give you the other affixes (mana/life leech, crit, resists).

-Life is low. Crit Rangers pass tons of damage and crit nodes, as can be seen in your build. Life, on the other hand, is more scarce and, IMO, should be made priority *especially* for evasion builds. If you need more damage, you can always plop a few points here and there, but to get more survivability sometimes requires a few extra points and likely planning ahead of time.

For gems, you got it. Frenzy is your single-target and either RoA or Split for AoE. I like Split for open areas with faster enemies because it can be challenging to hit them with RoA. I like RoA indoors because as long as you have line of sight into the next room, you can rain arrows in there without you entering or enemies leaving the room. Or you can switch between them whenever the mood strikes you. They are completely interchangeable in a physical build, so it mostly comes down to preference/situation.

Auras you will run are Grace and Haste. Get max resist from your gear and don't run Purity unless you really need the increased resist cap to deal with a nasty map mod or something. Definitely get Reduced Mana for the auras (another strength gem), because even with it, you will need to mana pot occasionally if you run Grace + something else. Don't run Clarity.

Don't chase elemental nodes. IIRC, the duration of status effects are based off of the damage dealt by the corresponding element (so a low duration in this case) and unless you're pouring points into ele damage (like making an actual ele build), you generally don't want to mix damage types on a build as tight as this.

I have no idea what curse is better. I've tried both, but I stick with Critical Weakness because RoA can't pierce (I mostly use RoA) and Critical Weakness can bring you over 30% crit easily, which is a lot of fun screen shaking and bursty damage :D

Looks nice and was just what i was looking for, so thx for posting

made my owen version, whit some slight modifications. Cant wait to give it a go.

Just hope it works ^^