[2.6] CI HoWA ST - Uber / Shaper / Guardians Down - Budget Friendly?

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Aias_o_Telamonios wrote:

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hankinsohl wrote:

>> Point blank doesn't work with blade flurry.
Good point, LOL. I tend to mis-think of that as a projectile attack, when in fact, it isn't.

However, PB isn't worthwhile even for single target, and especially for pack clearing.

For bosses, use slower proj and face tank - point blank doesn't help since you'll hit twice with slower proj.

For pack clearing, mobs at range take less damage with point blank - it's very likely going to be slower.

I've done Shaper, Guardians and Chayula with point blanc and it's a pretty big boost for DPS when you're using slower projectiles. It's worse for GMP and mob clearing but that's fast enough anyway.

When you're facetanking the boss the first hit is 50% more and the 2nd hit is about 20% less (check the wiki). Also the 2nd hit doesn't always land because you or the boss move. So in total it's a pretty nice buff.

Taking this off-thread...

We disagree then - happy to continue this discussion in PM. I've actually PMed the author of the Point Blank chart in the wiki to see where the chart came from and why the horizontal axis is distance and not percent of total distance traveled. PM me to continue discussing further.
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Edit - after some more research and after reading Mark's explanation about how Point Blank actually works, I'm inclined to agree with Aias.

Later this week I'll probably test this just to be absolutely certain and to put an exact number on how much of a single-target DPS boost this is. If I perform the testing, I post back to let the community know what I found.

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hankinsohl wrote:

Mathil/Ziggy don't capture the latest information about crit HoWA in their videos. Even in 2.5, crit HoWA was better than they made out - and the 2.6 reworked claw nodes make crit even better now. Check Invalesco's thread for current thinking on crit HoWA.


The gear is a bit different - jewels take 2 crit multi mods, and possibly you'll use diamond rings and a crit multi amulet.

Personally I think that it's a bit easier to gear for crit given the additional mods which help and thus the availability of gear, and I think that the top end DPS may be a bit higher with crit.

But it's up to you; both crit and non-crit are very nice.

I just researched a little bit more, I was about to begin creating a new ranger character when I realized that the non-mtx'ed look of ST sucks, and I have no extra funds now to buy it. :/

Point blank is a more % modifier so the dps increase is more than a 40% increased modifier(people pay 10 ex for that on a helm)

Fyi without point blank 26k dps was not anuff for shaper but with point blank it was very easy the difference was huge and when you get to the point in the dps chart you will one shot t16 mobs off screen even with point blank

For me point blank always wins due to how fast the play style of this build works which is moving forwards at insane speed I.e always in the face of the mobs your trying to hit and a secret modifier of point blank is that it's a huge QoL against ele reflect.

Can evaluate my build

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ResNulliusx wrote:

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hankinsohl wrote:

Mathil/Ziggy don't capture the latest information about crit HoWA in their videos. Even in 2.5, crit HoWA was better than they made out - and the 2.6 reworked claw nodes make crit even better now. Check Invalesco's thread for current thinking on crit HoWA.


The gear is a bit different - jewels take 2 crit multi mods, and possibly you'll use diamond rings and a crit multi amulet.

Personally I think that it's a bit easier to gear for crit given the additional mods which help and thus the availability of gear, and I think that the top end DPS may be a bit higher with crit.

But it's up to you; both crit and non-crit are very nice.

I just researched a little bit more, I was about to begin creating a new ranger character when I realized that the non-mtx'ed look of ST sucks, and I have no extra funds now to buy it. :/

The "saw blades" (Seraph Spectral Throw) mtx is really popular, but I personally found it too distracting. I also tried the Reaper Spectral Throw mtx - that too was too much for me. I'm now using the Golden Spectral Throw effect - very understated and probably not to the liking of many players - but at least it doesn't clutter the screen while I'm trying to kill stuff :-).

And done.

Ending gear:



Crystal belt was used for Ele weak maps. Gotta say this is probably the safest build I've played, and really can't recommend it enough.

Is this build really budget friendly? i also got astramentis ready and body armour 5L and on top of it i have like 5ex in currencies so i was wondering if its enough to get me started with ST? i played in LSC BF howa i really enjoyed that build but i would like to try now ST howa tho but as far i know BF is way better at killing bosses? also this build doesnt use warlords mark for lifesteal but only from vinktar so its kinda risky af becuz if u dont have vinktar you will just rip in full pack of mobs?

Hi! Which gems give a significant boost to your damage at 21/20? Do I really need to spend tons of currency to obtain 'em? Thank you, guys.

Hi All, This is my first league and i'm loving it. I started with a pizza sticks build but quickly got bored mapping so I decided to give this build a go and its amazing. I know my gear is way less than optimal but just wondering if I could get some tips as to where I should really focus my attention and which direction I should head in for the most improvements. I currently have really low dps and ES and I'm starting to feel it as I'm progressing through maps. I was thinking about upgrading to +20 gems but im not sure if thats the most important right now. Thank You!

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LatvianTeddybear wrote:

Is this build really budget friendly? i also got astramentis ready and body armour 5L and on top of it i have like 5ex in currencies so i was wondering if its enough to get me started with ST? i played in LSC BF howa i really enjoyed that build but i would like to try now ST howa tho but as far i know BF is way better at killing bosses? also this build doesnt use warlords mark for lifesteal but only from vinktar so its kinda risky af becuz if u dont have vinktar you will just rip in full pack of mobs?

I'm really new to this game (started last week of Breach league) and thus pretty poor.

I started with a FB totem Inquisitor to farm currency and after I got about 4ex, I switched over to this build while re-using the boots, helm, and 5L chest and started my build by buying the astraments, vintkars, and budget claws.

This build scales pretty nicely once you have the basics. There's always room for improvement in regards to defense and damage... which damage in this build is INSANE.

I probably bought about 7ex worth of gear and I'm able to clear tier16 without dying and clear shaped strands in probably less then 3 minutes. I'm currently sitting at lvl 90 as well.

I've never been into melee characters and like to pew pew things so this build was exactly what I've been looking for.

Give it a try!