Brainstorming - Facetank Point-blank using Chin-sol

So, Wanted to see what other aspects could be important to trying out this type of character. Would like to build a sturdy ranged character that stands in the pack of enemies and rains down death at point blank range.

Using
Point-Blank keystone - Increased damage at close range.
Chin-Sol bow - Phys damage bow with +100% damage at close range.

Clearly I would need a lot of health nodes but other than that, what other items, gems, passives would fit well to make this happen?


I'm not concerned about it being sub-optimal... just wanting brainstorm how to make it best and make it fun.

Only viable way is to stack HP and get Rain of Arrows/Concentrated Effect/Point Blank gems linked together. Anything else is your preference (except maybe LoH is mandatory if you don't have 8%+ life leech from physical.)

I made a chin-sol ranger just for fun but I found that Lionseye's / a decent rare will overtake it because of the attack speed. You absolutely need Unwavering Stance if you plan to tank anything (Eye of Chayula will take out way too much HP)

You can't expect to facetank anything dangerous in PoE, and if you're seeking to facetank white/blue monsters then your best bet would be to have a high amount of armor (5-15k without granites) and stack up 300-350% hp, plus have a Kaom's Heart to hit the 10k hp mark.

The thing about chin-sol is that it lacks speed, as mentioned by wei2gogo. The physical damage isn't that great either, compared to the 270+ you can get on a lion's eye/good rare bow. Per-hit close range damage with chin-sol/point blank/roa-conc effect-wed-added fire-faster attacks is probably unrivaled at this point. How often you can do deal the maximum damage, overever, is the main issue (along with surviving).

I just got lvl 62 and busted out my chin sol. Using ice shot, but I need a 5 link to change things up to really make it work.

I have the point blank passive, and sure it 1 shots stuff up close, but like they said this bow is slow. Still though i want some increased aoe passives to buff the cone, only have a couple at this point, pack of mobs hit the first one up close with them lined up behind and they all die.

My problem is hp and avoidance. This takes too many points that you need in hp and elsewhere. I went the acrobatics route, big mistake, i'm lined up perfectly to get about 20 more hp nodes, but that would mean 20 more levels and no more increased aoe passives. I'll have to drop points elsewhere, and likely a iron reflexes build would do far better, I could have insane armor with how much evasion I have.

So no I can't just sit in a group, have to move a ton and line crap up. Need more passives to make it work, need more hp to make it work since in order to benefit from close range you have to be able to survive.

So my goal is to get a 5l and use blood magic gem, utilize auras to accentuate survivability, that should get me another ten levels no problem which should then give me enough hp for merc. In the end though I can always reroll, but the fun is from doing something different, might make a second attempt at similar in the future.

If you have the money for lion's eye glare though it's obviously better.

I'd like to see someone make this bow work better than i have. I was using a death's harp before which was better at range, but up close chin sol is superior. I didn't notice much back when I took the point blank passive, but notice it with the bow for sure.

Very happy to hear the experience you have had with it so far. My only peeve is that the bow has such a high level req that I can't use it all the way along.

I'll have to line some gear to play it and see how it is.

I haven't built this yet, just theorycrafting...

Burning Arrow + Chance to Ignite + Elemental Proliferation + Weapon Elemental Damage + Fire Penetration. 6th link is either Added Fire Damage (if gear +phsyical > gear +cold) or Cold to Fire (if gear +cold >= gear +physical, or trying to save on mana).

Build relies solely on Elemental Proliferation for AoE damage. Ignite only cares about the strength of a single hit; smaller ignites only reset duration, they don't stack. This makes Chin Sol the ideal bow for the build, more for the close-range effect than the fire damage (but the fire damage helps).

Compared to LA builds, it has notably better single-target damage, as none of the gems reduce damage effectiveness. Compared to spell-based ignite builds, it has notably better chance to ignite, as it's built-in to Burning Arrow, plus it's far easier to increase damage through gear.

Blackgleam all but required. Probably would need to run unique +curse ring/boots to allow for both Flammability and either Elemental Weakness (against very resistant enemies) or a utility survival curse (Enfeeble or Temp Chains, against threatening ones). Fire resistance is horrible for ignite builds and must be thoroughly quashed with curses.

Passive build is generic Blood Magic Lightning Arrow ranger, except picking up Point Blank, and getting the Burning Damage nodes near Inner Focus instead of Static Blows. Iron Grip is a possible variant here just as it is with LA; the Fire damage nodes and Lava Lash in the marauder area are also tempting. Cold to Fire gem users may or may not skip Blood Magic to allow Hatred aura.

I still don't think such a build would really be a "facetank," but it would of course be willingly getting closer to monsters in order to use the Chin Blank bonuses.

I was thinking Chin Sol + Point Blank Burning Arrow too. The bow works well with that skill.

Rather than going Chance to Ignite, I would try crit. At close range, a few burning arrows until one crits would result in a proliferated burn that melts everything.

Links: Burning Arrow, Proliferation, Weapon Ele, Increased Crit Damage, Increased Burning Damage

The 6th link would be Fire Pen.


It's superior to fireball due to 150% more damage. A crit, with enough multiplier, would ovverride all current burns and completely melt packs.

I'm already doing 6l chin sol with point blank n rain of arrows.

believe it or not, it works better than lionglare if u build for it. Im clearing faster now than I was with 6l lioneye. Attk speed is one thing, actual dps is another. Dont believe tooltip dps coz itll b based on chance to hit, but rain of arrows dont miss.

I spent a lot of regrets testing crit or non crit... n I highly advice against crit. U need defensive nodes not more dps. The only way to benefit from this build is to b in melee range permanently so ull neee a ton of hp n armor.

Unwavering stance is also unnecessary because ull have high hp so stun isnt much of an issue and the knockback helps a lot in not getting hit at melee range. I hardly get hit when I run into a huge mob n just stay still spamming roa.. the crucial part is having enough hp n armor to survive before u start spamming skills.

for hard hitting bosses like colonnade and maze bosses I use bear traps n curse with enfeeble so I can facetank.

only problem with this build is it sucks for party play. Doesnt matter to me since I mostly solo n its hella efficient for solo n much more fun than the cookie cutter LA ele ranger. Plus its hillarious to see a bow that costs close to nothing outperform a bow that costs multiple times more aka lionseye.

Can anyone define two things for me: what is "close range" on Chin Sol, and how closely does it correspond to the 1.0 mark on Point Blank?

I have some ideas, but the real test of my build will be maps. At that time, I will probably post details if successful.

I will say however that this is far easier to play for more damage output than my FP witch, so far up to level 60.