[3.16] ❄️ Peak Performance Ice Shot Deadeye ❄️ | Deceivingly Tanky | Start>Endgame



Greetings Exiles, I've been playing this game since quite some time on and off leagues, but always went back to Ice Shot Deadeye at least once every 2 leagues or so. With the recent 3.13 changes, I believe this is honestly the peak of what this build could really push and so I thought I wanted to share my build with you all.

The problem for a typical Ice Shot Deadeye for me has always been survivability & bossing, which in return you get an exceptional clear speed. This build managed to get around that for the best of both world, with layers upon layers of offensive & defensive mechanics to make up for the aforementioned downside.

Currently this build has completed the following:
- AL8 Sirus
- Shaper Guardians (with Maven)
- Shaper (with Maven, that homing orb during Zana bubble phase was stupid OP)
- Elder Guardians (with Maven)
- Elder (with Maven)
- Uber Elder
- All Breachlords (with Maven)
- Maven's Invitation - Breachlords
- Wave 20 Simulacrum
- 4 Factions Domain of Timeless Conflict
- Heist boss The Twins
- Maven


3.14 Update: Build not affected except for ease of gearing (harvest nerfs), still viable.

3.15 Update: Majorly affected from support gem & flask changes, Did some minor tweaking. Need to re-test for viability. Please refer below for build changes:


Spoiler

1. Changed gem links from Added Cold Damage to Inc. Crit Damage (better DPS)

2. CWDT setup changed due to mana multiplier & Consecrated ground (from Purifying Flame) nerfs. New setup uses Inspiration (for reduced mana) and Frost Bomb

3. Only using Precision at lvl 1 (for Watcher's Eye flask charge gain on crit) due to Bonechill mana multiplier nerf (Instead accuracy is obtained from Abyss Jewel on belt)<<<Important

4. Flasks nerfs.

5. Movement skill changed to Blink Arrow due to Dash + Second wind nerf.

Overall the build loses around 33% of Ice shot DPS, as such it's important early mapping to get Voidfletcher to carry our single target DPS.

Thankfully we still maintain a good portion of our DPS via Voidfletcher shots, Culling Strike and Ice Shot cone overlap. which is not counted in POB. Overall the DPS loss is maybe <20%.


Update 3.16: Updated with new tree. The build should still be playable, but I'm sad the build peaked at 3.13 and only starts going down from there. The Damage is still ok, but the tankiness went down quite substantially. Still pretty tanky though. Some setup & gearing changes made the build much cheaper though so I'm happy for that


Anyway here's the POB if anyone's interested
https://pastebin.com/dX7ZgJsV

Spoiler
Some core changes to note:
-Automated Hydrosphere, curse (Sniper's Mark) and potentially Tornado via Asenath's Chant circlet. Helmet enchant can be Herald of Ice / Summon Skitterbots

-Added Ensnaring Arrow as source of DPS since other spells are now automated (only need 1 stack on enemy for extra damage)

-Spell Suppression will be 101% - always on (Hyrri's Ire gives 30% spell suppression according to early patch notes + 71% from base)

-Take Ghost Shroud for extra eHP recovery (ES source from Voidfletcher + Asenath's Chant). Only spec in endgame since no ES otherwise.

-Thinking of taking Focal Point instead of Wind Ward since not confident build can evade enough hits to keep high stacks of Gale Force.

-Source of blind is from abyss jewel

-Loss of defense from not taking Wind Ward and Wind Dancer.
Justification as follows:

Wind Ward - We no longer dodge spells, which increases the amount of time we're hit, so we might not get to build up the stacks to reap the full benefit of it in juiced contents.

Wind Dancer - Chances are with the new calculations the build will have less total chance to not be hit from loss of dodge, and also, Seriously GGG? Who'd take a mini-abyssus for a potential to reduce 1 hit? That 1 hit might even be a small brush and you multiply ALL following hits thereafter for atleast 4 second.

All in all I think the DPS is okay for post-3.15 (Do note the full DPS does not calculates additional from voidshots, ice shot cone from hydrosphere, and possibly Tornado if it's feasible. Just that the defenses are not looking so good, so I might have to take down the 'Deceivingly Tanky' statement from the title.



Video showcase
(3.16) Maven : https://youtu.be/AXKV-rXw9SQ
(3.16) Simu wave 20+ : https://youtu.be/ZoOCoFPfkqE
(3.16) Phoenix + Hydra : https://youtu.be/SbaOOsJyg34
(3.16) Enslaver + Constrictor : https://youtu.be/9ZH-C2ENNcY
(3.13) T14 Constrictor: https://youtu.be/3Ap10U34TB4
(3.13) Elder: https://youtu.be/ShwIx1_t9Gg
(3.13) Maven's Invitation - Breachlords: https://youtu.be/HufLQApQwOg
(3.13) Heist The Twins: https://youtu.be/CAmmSbkbbzU
(3.13) Uber Elder: https://youtu.be/M2oop6_FOpY
(3.13) Wave 20 Simulacrum: https://youtu.be/U3eLnccC91E

Offensive / Defensive stats:
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Offense (take note, POB dps doesn't include the following:)
- Voidfletcher voidshots
- Ice shot cone overlaps (explained in the guide)
- Tornado damage reflects

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Defense (take note, POB dps doesn't include the following:)
- Aspect of the Crab (once switched from Herald of Ice for phys bosses)
- Focal point less damage taken
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Path of Building (community fork) links
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POB link for my Ritual League char:

(LATEST 3.16) https://pastebin.com/dX7ZgJsV
(LATEST 3.16 - Luxury version) https://pastebin.com/rZg9T6z6
-Include Bottled Faith, Cluster jewel, Watcher's Eye-

(OUTDATED 3.13) https://pastebin.com/5ejs8zyM
(OUTDATED 3.15) https://pastebin.com/su8khVFc


Pros & Cons:
Spoiler
Pros
+ Excellent clearing speed
+ Very good single target capability (POB number lower than actual DPS), achieved through multiple mechanics
+ Decently tanky, even more so for a ranged character
+ Cheap to start
+ Near-infinite uptime of every buffs & flasks (consistent POB numbers performance)

Cons
- Can be expensive to min-max endgame (even more so with harvest nerfs)
- Cannot do phys/reflect maps
- Still susceptible to one shots (evasion build)


Offensive layers:
Spoiler

1. Non-GMP projectiles (CLEARING)

As in most projectile builds, GMP/LMP/Volley/Greater Volley is typically needed to achieve a much smoother clearing experience. However, this typically equates to a lower single target capability due to less damage modifier on the projectile. This is overcome with the help ascendancy + Sniper Mark's projectile split (plus Focal Point Ascendancy)

Spoiler


Achieved through: Deadeye Ascendancy - Endless Munitions + Sniper's Mark & Deadeye Ascendancy - Focal Point

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2. Voidfletcher's Void Shot (BOSSING)

Voidfletcher unique quiver (from Uber Elder) gives a unique ability called Void Shot which deals 100% (due to conversion) cold AOE damage, which consume Void Charges (generated automatically every 0.5). This skill scales extremely well due to it's nature of being able to overlap the AOE explosion on a single target (shotgun), while also receiving the benefit of multiple additional projectiles mentioned previously. Do note that this damage is not shown in the current POB.

Achieved through: Voidfletcher unique quiver + previously mentioned additional projectiles sources

Spoiler


3. Hydrosphere + Chain (BOSSING)

In a typical ice shot build, frost bomb is used for the 15% cold exposure + reduced life regen on hit, which is ok in itself.

With patch 3.13 however, GGG introduced a new skill called Hydrosphere which brings a massive QOL and single target capability to this build. Hydrosphere creates an orb that continuously gives 10% cold exposure + pulses regularly for damage. What this skill doesn't mention is that it counts as a target for projectile to chain off from and count as a hit to produce Ice Shot's cone effect. If you strategically place the Hydrosphere in front of the enemy, this effectively doubles the Ice Shot actual DPS in POB.You can abuse the build's tankiness with Point Blank as well for the Hydrosphere


Ice Shot cone proc. & Chained projectile off Hydrosphere dealing damage
https://imgur.com/a/YNqriOr <<<<<<< OPEN THIS LINK



Achieved through : Hydrosphere + Deadeye Ascendancy - Ricochet

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Defensive layers:
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1. Evasion + Elusive + Spell Suppression

This build is able to achieve a very high avoidance due to high dodge chance and evasion. This is achieved through a number of ways:

60-70+% Evasion chance:
5000-6000 rating from Hyrri's Ire unique armour and mastery
1500 rating from Jade Flask
Blind on hit from Abyss Jewel

101% Spell suppression chance:
30% from Hyrri's Ire unique armour
71% from Skill Tree

Elusive (15% damage avoidace) from Elusive boots

Achieved through: Hyrri's Ire + Jade Flask + Elusive boots + Abyss Jewel + Skill Tree

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2. Corpse removal via Herald of Ice

This portion of the mechanics function both offensive and defensively, however I believe it is much better defensively due to corpse removal. With Herald of Ice, any enemy killed while frozen are shattered and explodes, dealing cold AOE damage. Since our crit rate and clearing capability is extremely high, this pretty much triggers all the time. Not much to be said here.

Achieved through: Herald of Ice
Spoiler


3. Less damage taken on hit

Although all the aforementioned avoidance are nice, what typically is lacking in this build the capability to survive the occasional one shots. This build mitigates that with the following:

26% less + 45% less (for physical) from CWDT Immortal Call + Auto end. charge generation (cluster notable Enduring Composure)
25% less from Focal Point (only during mapping)

20% phys damage reduction from Aspect of the crab (turned on during bossing)

CWDT+Immmortal call setup is your typical CWDT setup, however we utilize the cluster notable Enduring Composure to get a consistent endurance charge in hectic situation where we may get hit atleast once every 4 sec, which allows us to get maximum endurance charge permanently.

Focal Point provides less damage taken from nearby marked enemies, which functions during mapping in the sense that it only functions on mobs nearby marked rares / unique enemies, which are the majority of the mobs in a map. Sadly it doesn't provide that benefit during bossing.

Aspect of the Crab is beast-crafted on our equipment to be swapped with Herald of Ice during bossing for better phys damage survivability, as herald of ice provide little DPS and is mostly used for mapping. Crab Barrier are also much easier to maintain in a high avoidance build.

Achieved through : CWDT+Immortal Call + Enduring Composure cluster jewel + Focal Point ascendancy + Aspect of the Crab

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Ascendancy, Bandits & Pantheon
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Ascendancy:


1. Gathering Winds (early tailwind)
2. Ricochet (+1 chain for clearing)
3. Endless Munition (+2 projectiles for further clearing)
4. Focal Point (Most likely when you got Asenath's Chant and automating your Sniper's Mark)

Bandits :
Alira (Elem resists, Crit multi & mana regen)

Pantheon :
Soul of Brine King (Freeze immunity, reduced chill and stun mitigation)
Soul of Ryslatha / Yugul (life flasks, or Yugul for reduced curse effectiveness during cursed maps)


My Gear + Explanation:
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3.16 gears:



Recommended (notable) gears progression:

Spoiler
Praxis Paua Ring > Lioneye's Fall (if cheaper than 5L) > 5L Rare armor > Asenath's Chant > Replica Hyrri's Amulet > 6L Body Armor & Brutal Restraint > Shaper Ring + Mark of the Elder > Voidfletcher > Elusive boots

Bow upgrade whenever possible

Take note sequence is not fixed and depends entirely on market prices, but it should be close enough. Asenath's Chant definitely very important.


OLD 3.13 gears
Spoiler
Take note flasks are pre-3.15, will update later



Bow:
Death Opus (early levelling) / Rare elem bow > High-end cold bow
Spoiler
The build doesn't really need a bow with +add projectiles (Voidshot does benefit from it, but it's far less dependent on it, due to Sniper's Mark proj. splitting and the build not using Barrage. This non-reliance makes the bow much cheaper to obtain.)

Endgame modifier:
High tier of inc. phys Damnage / flat phys
T1/T2 Adds (#) to (#) Cold Damage
Increased attack speed
Increased crit. chance
Increased crit multi
(luxury) Adds (2) to (4) Cold Damage to Attacks with this Weapon per 10 Dexterity
(luxury) Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow (or 2)

2 methods of obtaining it:
1. Essence craft using essence of Hatred (flat added cold) on Fractured bows
2. Trade. Filter with the following:
Item Category = Bow
Item Rarity = Non-unique
Attack per second = min 1.6
Crit chance = min 6.5
Damage per second = min 350
Stat filter = Adds # to # cold damage (local)

Then check if that bow can be benchcraft further / used as is and compare with your current bow in POB (important!)

Here's a filter search for reference that you can use.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Scourge/LLYPG2lun


Quiver:
Hyrri's Bite > Hyrri's Demise > Voidfletcher > Corrupted Voidfletcher
Spoiler
Hyrri's bite / demise is extremely good during levelling and has huge attribute bonuses for your gearing.

During endgame, transition to a voidfletcher whenever possible as the cold resistance helps finalizing your other build equipment slots. Contrary to popular beliefs, an uncorrupted voidfletcher with pierce implicit can still function very well (especially with the help of Sniper's Mark), and you can wipe it off later once your other gear are more functional. I poof-ed roughly 8 exalts worth of voidfletcher before getting my current one.

Good implicit corruption are bow attack fires an additional projectile and cold damage added to attacks, but anything is fine as long as the pierce implicit is gone

Post 3.15 nerfs, it's very beneficial to obtain Voidfletcher early to carry our single target DPS, but it can be quite expensive. It's even better if you're using Death's Opus (due to add. projectiles)


Helmet:
Any rare helmet > Asenath's Chant (Skitterbot mana reservation enchantment very important for endgamee optimization)
Spoiler

High priority gear. Transition to Asenath's Chant helmet to help automate the spellcasting ASAP.'Summon Skitterbots have increased mana reservation efficiency' enchant should be sought after for endgame. This allows us to link Bonechill support to our Skitterbots for more DPS.


Body Armour:
5L rare > 5L Hyrri's Ire > 6L Hyrri's Ire
Spoiler
During early levelling, just find one with enough links to progress. Once you're able to get a Hyrri's Ire, do note that a 5L function likes a 6L due to the inherent added cold damage bonus, so try to get a good roll and 5L it yourself. Transition to 6L once affordable.


Gloves:
Rares > Incursion Glove 'of Puhuarte'
Spoiler
Flexible slot, life + resists + attack speed. For endgame, try to get one with incursion's mod 'of Puhuarte' for increased damage with hits against chilled enemies, which should be 100% of the time with skitterbots. The glove shouldn't be too expensive.


Boots:
Rares > Elusive Boots
Spoiler
Flexible, life + resists + movement speed. For endgame, try to craft one with chance to to gain elusive on crit (Redeemer-influenced). Much easier to craft on a high levelled boots with already 3 suffixes filled with triple resistance.


Belt:
Rare > Stygian Vise
Spoiler
Flexible, life + resists + elem. damage with attack. Cap your res here. Transition to well-rolled Stygian Vise once affordable.


Rings:
Praxis Paua Ring + Rare > Shaper ring + Mark of the Elder
Spoiler
Early game Praxis Paua Ring is extremely useful for mana issues. Rares with life + resist. During endgame, transition into Shaper ring with Mark of the Elder Ring for further DPS. Craft Non-channelling have -# to total mana cost to help with mana issue of helm's autocast, mandatory for trigger sustain. Crafted Aspect of the Crab here due to open space, not necessarily on ring.


Amulet:
Rares > Replica Hyrri's Truth (anoint life notables)
Spoiler
Early game flexible, life + resists. For endgame, Replica Hyrri's Truth is severely underrated for its DPS potential. Most build suggests Pandemonius for DPS, but Replica Hyrri's provide 25% mana reservation on a level 22 built-in Hatred which is in a universe of its own, with its DPS stats trailing only a little behind Pandemonius. This is extremely important for our aura setup.

For anointments just anoint any life notables. Discipline & Training (black + silver + silver) is quite affordable, as opposed to Constitution (silver + gold + gold) for only a few life less.


Jewels:
- Lioneye's Fall
- Brutal Restraint
- Small cluster jewel w. Enduring Composure
- Abyss jewel with life + cold damage + blind on hit <<<<IMPORTANT
- You can use large cluster jewel (cold damage) + Watchers Eye for Hatred & Precision for endgame optimization, not necessary at all
Spoiler

Lioneye's Fall is mandatory in order to obtain large amounts of DPS and dangger's Culling Strike mastery. Not as expensive anymore since they killed the location for bleed bows on the left side of the tree.

Brutal Restraint is for endgame, try to roll the following:

- 4% increased maximum Life
- 25% increased Critical Strike Chance
- 20% increased Elemental Damage
- 5% increased Attack and Cast Speed

- Gain 5% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage
- You gain Onslaught for 8 seconds on Kill
- 5% chance to Blind Enemies on Hit

I got mine with increased max life x 4, crit chance x 2, cold res x 1. It's pretty flexible what you want to roll.

Small cluster jewel with Enduring Composure for auto-endurance charge generation.

Abyss jewel with life + cold damage added to attacks.

If using Watchers Eye important mod is gain flask charge on crit, which ensures permanent flasks uptime with our crazy high crit. Hatred mod is further added dps (inc. crit chance for highest DPS).


Flasks:
1.Bleed life flask
2.Atziri's Promise
3.Surgeon Diamond Flask (crit / attack speed)
4.Surgeon Silver Flask (reduced curse effect)
5.Surgeon Jade Flask (evasion rating)

Other notable flasks:
Spoiler

- Bottled Faith (if you have the money, go for it)
- Wise Oak (pure DPS, unless you can balance out your res for triple elem. reduction.)
- Taste of Hate (might be worthwhile if your DPS is a high flat phys DPS bow)



Gem setup:
Spoiler

- Transition to awakened gem later during endgame.
- Due to mana issues and irrelevant level scaling effects, Tornado, Hydrosphere, (Divergent) Purifying Flame and Immortal Call should be kept at low level and linked with inspiration. -Mana cost on rings can further help these skill triggering smoothly.

Main Skill (Ice Shot):
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Ice Shot + Elemental Damage with Attacks + Inspiration + Added Cold Damage + Increased Critical Damage + Cold Penetration

Main skill, everything for added damage, inspiration for reduced mana costs.
Cold penetration have low priority until you start meeting the endgame bosses.


Hydrosphere + Sniper's Mark + (Divergent) Purifyng Flame
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Hydrosphere + Sniper's Mark + (Divergent) Purifying Flame +
Inspiration

Our autocast setup, to be slotted inside Asenath's Chant. Will feel clunky without the autocasting. Inspiration for further reduction of mana cost.

Hydrosphere is for chain mechanics, Sniper's Mark for curse and (Divergent) Purifying Flame for Cons. ground & inc. damage taken on enemies. You can use normal quality before you get the alternate quality version


Dash
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Dash + Second Wind

Standard Dash setup, nothing much to say.


Utility 1: Frenzy & Power charge generation + Ensnaring Arrow
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Frenzy + Faster Attacks + Power Charge on Critical + Ensnaring Arrow

Since we're not using Farrul's Fur, this setup provides an easy and consistent frenzy + power charge generation. Multiple projectile + chain really helps the consistency of this setup as you can simply aim wherever to shoot this skill for the charge generation.

Ensnaring arrow will be the added dps skill, you only need 1 stack on it for the effect to kicks in and it lasts until enemy move away from the radius, which is nice since alot of of boss teleports and stop. Take note it won't function if your have projectile have pierce (from Voidfletcher if you still have it)


Utility 2: CWDT Immortal Call + Tornado
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Cast When Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Tornado + Inspiration

Standard CWDT Immortal Call setup, keep CWDT, Immortal call and Tornado at level 1. Inspiration is used to reduce mana cost from CWDT multiplier. For the final slot, it's actually flexible what spells you want to link it to. Tornado is a good skill introduced in 3.16 that reflects projectile damage taken by it onto the surrounding area. It is flexible and not mandatory, you can put whatever skill you want on it.

Notable skills are: Frost wall for block / Any Summon Holem / Portal. You can also use Blood Rage but I never like the phys degen on a character without much leech / regen, but to each his own.


Aura
Spoiler

Summon Skitterbots + Bonechill + Precision

Herald of Ice (unlinked in free socket)

Hatred (from Replica Hyrri's Truth amulet)

Summon Skitterbots is used to provide persistent shock + chill effect. Bonechill for added chill and damage taken on enemy can be linked once you get the mana reservation enchantment on the helmet (which will probably be the last setup you put in)

Precision at low level based on your mana pool (Unreserved mana should be around 90-ish for good QOL balance). Accuracy is instead obtained from Accuracy mastery of 3 accuracy per dexterity.

Herald of ice should not be linked with Skitterbots + Bonechill as it raises its mana reservation as well, and should be put in the last unlinked socket slot.

Hatred is from Replica Hyrri's Truth.


Crafting (not updated as of 3.16)
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Here I will share with you how I budget-crafted my equipments for endgame.

Please familiarize yourself with the following website to help understand crafting better, it's quite easy and would save you money in the long run

https://poedb.tw/us/mod.php
https://www.craftofexile.com/en/

Endgame Cold Bow (Less powerful variant of cold dex bow, but still very solid. Achievable in 3.14 post-harvest nerfs)
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I've worked around a decent upgrade for the bow (but not cold dex bow) that you can craft for probably less than 10ex, but can go way up if you're unlucky. I crafted these 2 in 3.14 with just that. Do take note that since it's not exactly deterministic, you need to be flexible in some of the steps, but this should give you a general idea on what to do.

1. Obtain a base bow with high APS with no influence. Slots/links are not important as you only need 1 6L for this build (which should be in your body armour). The top 3 IMO are Thicket Bow, Imperial Bow & Spine Bow. Honestly they are very comparable to each other


2. Fossil craft

the bow until hitting 28++ quality



3. Essence-spam essence of Hatred
until it hits 'Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow' (T2)
. T1 additional arrow has a weightage of 100, but T2 has 1000 which is much easier to hit and this build functions well enough without T1. Essence craft will fix-craft the T2 Added cold damage to the weapon, so you just have to worry with the additional arrow mod.


4. Depending on the outcome of step 3, they may be multiple route you need to take, but what you need to do is have 1 (or ideally 2) open prefix with no open suffix. This can be done via annulling. The only prefix left for your bow should be the essence modifier 'added cold damage'


5. Use Aisling's 'add a veiled mod to a rare item'


6. Unveil craft and hope you hit beneficial mods:
- Cold damage gained as extra chaos
- Attacks penetrate % elemental resistance
- Increased phys damage


7. Depending on step 6, you can complete your prefix with the another benchcraft.


8. If you have any remaining suffixes, you can augment craft with harvest as aug crit / aug speed.
- % chance to deal double damage
- % increased attack speed, % to quality
- % critical strike chance, % to quality
- % attack speed while a rare / unique enemy is nearby
- $ crit multi while a rare / unique enemy is nearby

9. Harvest craft reroll prefix/suffix with lucky until you get a decent roll on your affixes.

It's not as good as a cold-dex bow, but if you could get lucky it's definitely an upgrade over high-rolled Death's Opus (can go up to 20% more DPS). You can try it out at https://www.craftofexile.com/ just to have a feel for it.


Endgame Cold Bow #2 (more powerful variant of cold dex bow, but lacking in additional projectiles so Dying Sun is required. Achievable in 3.14 post-harvest nerfs)
Spoiler

I've worked around another decent upgrading path for the endgame bow in terms of DPS, but you'll lose the +1/2 additional projectile, making Dying Sun near mandatory. But chances are you will gain a huge DPS boost with this method.


1. Obtain a base bow with high APS, ilvl 83, with Shaper influence. Craft 6L on it beforehand as you will be linking the skill here. You can do so with increasing quality to 40%+ with perfect fossil then crafting additional quality if you're spamming the fusing yourself. The top 3 IMO are Thicket Bow, Imperial Bow & Spine Bow. Honestly they are very comparable to each other.


2. Alteration spam until you hit 'Socketed Skills deal 20% more Attack Damage' with no other shaper mods.


3. Obtain another hunter-influenced bow with 'Adds (1-2) to (3-4) Cold Damage to Attacks with this Weapon per 10 Dexterity' with no other hunter mods on it. You can either alteration spam it yourself or buy 1 off the market. I chose shaper base initially because that mod has a higher weight than the cold-dex mod so it's easier to hit with alteration.


4. Use Awakener Orb and transfer the hunter-influenced bow with added cold damage per 10 dex mod to the shaper bow with the socketed skills deal 20% more damage mod. Your new bow will have the 2 mods guaranteed (provided you didn't screw up the steps) and possibly a 3rd random prefix. Chances are we will have to sacrifice the 3rd prefix slot, but if it's open then you can benchcraft it first to block the slot before you harvest craft anything on it.


5. Use harvest-craft reforge keep prefix until you get 1 of the crit / attack speed mods and 2 open suffix. This step is flexible as at any stage you may have gotten lucky and get 2 / even 3 beneficial suffix mods on your bow, at which point you're done. Assuming you don't just aim for 1 beneficial mods and 2 open suffix.


6. Use Aisling's 'add a veiled mod to a rare item'


7. Unveil craft and hope you hit beneficial mods:
- % chance to deal double damage
- % increased attack speed, % to quality
- % critical strike chance, % to quality
- % attack speed while a rare / unique enemy is nearby
- $ critical strike multiplier

If you didn't get any beneficial mods, repeat from step 5.


8. Depending on step 7, you can complete your suffix with benchcraft for whatever you didn't get.


In terms of DPS, this method can give you up to 50% more DPS over a Death's Opus, but without the source of additional projectiles. The build does not use Barrage so losing them is not much of a loss except for clearing, which you will want to use Dying Sun. You can try it out at https://www.craftofexile.com/ just to have a feel for it.


Cold Dex Bow (OUTDATED AS OF 3.14)
Spoiler
For the bow, the required modifier are as follows:

Adds (2) to (4) Cold Damage to Attacks with this Weapon per 10 Dexterity
Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow (or 2)
T1/T2 Adds (#) to (#) Cold Damage
Increased attack speed

To craft super T1 bow may be very expensive, but a combination of T2 rolls are good enough of an upgrade over Death's Opus and can carry you into endgame, and it costed me roughly only 5 ex.

Here's a step by step guide for budget crafting the bow:

1. Obtain a Hunter-influenced ilvl 86 (or ilvl 70 works too) base bow with high APS. Slots/links are not important as you only need 1 6L for this build (which should be in your body armour). The top 3 IMO are Thicket Bow, Imperial Bow & Spine Bow. Honestly they are very comparable to each other


2. Fossil craft with perfect fossil
the bow until hitting 28++ quality



3. Essence spam with Essence of Hatred
until it hits 'Bow Attacks fire an additional Arrow' (T2)
. T1 additional arrow has a weightage of 100, but T2 has 1000 which is much easier to hit and this build functions well enough without T1. Essence craft will fix-craft the T2 Added cold damage to the weapon, so you just have to worry with the additional arrow mod.


4. Depending on the outcome of step 3, they may be multiple route you need to take:

a)No prefix slot - Harvest remove / annul and open up the prefix slot
b)Open prefix & suffix slot with no cold res roll - Benchcraft cold res to close off cold mod.
c)Open prefix but rolled cold res - Up to you, target remove cold res while hoping to not remove added cold damage or proceed with it.

To summarize, to prepare for the next step, you need to ensure the bow has an open prefix slot and cannot roll any suffix cold modifier (either closed suffix slot or benchcrafted cold res on the bow)


5. Harvest craft 'Augment an item with a new Cold modifier' to hit guaranteed 'Adds (#) to (#) Cold Damage to Attacks with this Weapon per 10 Dexterity'


6. Reroll numerical value with Divine Orb
until hitting 2 to 4 per 10 dex (mandatory) and high roll on essence-modded T2 added cold damage.


7. Your bow is nearly finish, simply fill in the remaining affix slot with beneficial mods using bench & harvest craft by first bench-crafting the mod and using remove/add mod for high rolls which should be much cheaper than augmenting. DO NOT USE ANY COLD-RELATED REMOVE/ADD here as to not spoil your bow.

Some good affixes:
- (prefix) Attacks with this Weapon Penetrate % Elemental Resistances
- (suffix) % increased Attack Speed
- (prefix) % increased Physical Damage
- (prefix) Adds (#) to (#) Physical Damage
- (suffix) % to Global Critical Strike Multiplier
- (suffix) % increased Critical Strike Chance

These are all pretty easy to target craft, so go to town and enjoy your new bow.



Levelling
Spoiler
Refer to Esoro's Ice Shot guide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wARPcb9bXnw&t=54m15s

note the variation of the skill tree and mine, but for leveling purpose his video is quite detailed.

But to make things simple just path straight for DPS nodes (you're going to need it) then take the side nodes whenever needed.

Here's some levelling uniques that would definitely help:
Probably the most important / mandatory:

This ring is singlehandedly going to help solve your mana problem right until maps. Well worth it. Otherwise:






FAQ
Spoiler
WIP, will think of something to put here


My current char IGN: PanahGalvanik (3.13) or TembakAis (3.16)

You can message me in game any time for any question and I'll try to build up my FAQ section. Feedbacks & criticisms are very much appreciated.

My Youtube channel guide:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuOAAZyUPDtInV9UDiH4BBw
Last edited by mantol456 on Nov 24, 2021, 9:06:03 AM
Last bumped on Apr 26, 2022, 5:27:39 PM
Reserved post for future update
My Youtube channel guide:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuOAAZyUPDtInV9UDiH4BBw
Reserved post for future update
My Youtube channel guide:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuOAAZyUPDtInV9UDiH4BBw
It seems interesting, but I'm a bit afraid to start it with kind of a low budget, less than 10 ex. Is it possible to make it to the endgame with that kind of currency? By endgame I mean T15/T16, killing Sirus, stuff like that.
"
maciek2g wrote:
It seems interesting, but I'm a bit afraid to start it with kind of a low budget, less than 10 ex. Is it possible to make it to the endgame with that kind of currency? By endgame I mean T15/T16, killing Sirus, stuff like that.


Definitely, I pushed up to T14 before I even had a 6L Hyrri's Ire. With the current market price, you should be able to get the following:

6L Hyrri's Ire (4ex)
Well-rolled Death Opus (<30c)
Bricked Voidfletcher w. pierce implicit (<30c)
Lioneye's fall (8c)
Replica Hyrri's Truth (30c)
Starkonja head w. skitterbot mana reservation enchantment (1 ex)
1 Assasin Mark's ring + belts, boots, gloves, ring with life + res (<1ex)

This would probably sets you back 7.5-8 ex at current market rate, and should be enough for you to have a feel of what this build can bring.

Take note that the DPS for this build comes from voidfletcher void shots & hydrosphere chaining for bossing, which isn't really reflected in POB.
My Youtube channel guide:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuOAAZyUPDtInV9UDiH4BBw
I actually managed to make it a bit cheaper, I still have 3-4 ex left.

I do have some questions tho,
- I have only 3.9 k life, what kind of life pool is achievable here?
- Dying sun? Why not use it?
- Mana issues - sometimes I run out of mana, should I just sacrifice life on ring and get -9cost of non-channeling skills?
- cluster jeweles - you dont seem to use them much, maybe its worth squeezing 2 medium clusters into this build?
- pierce voidfletcher - isnt pierce and chain bad idea?
- next upgrades, it would be awesome if you could take a look at my pob and let me know what should I try to upgrade first. Right now clear is fine up to T16, but bosses are taking a bit long. Im about to spawn conqueror soon, this will be true test of this build I guess.

my pob: https://pastebin.com/iFk56PVK
Last edited by maciek2g on Jan 29, 2021, 4:06:57 PM
"
maciek2g wrote:
I actually managed to make it a bit cheaper, I still have 3-4 ex left.

I do have some questions tho,
- I have only 3.9 k life, what kind of life pool is achievable here?
- Dying sun? Why not use it?
- Mana issues - sometimes I run out of mana, should I just sacrifice life on ring and get -9cost of non-channeling skills?
- cluster jeweles - you dont seem to use them much, maybe its worth squeezing 2 medium clusters into this build?
- pierce voidfletcher - isnt pierce and chain bad idea?
- next upgrades, it would be awesome if you could take a look at my pob and let me know what should I try to upgrade first. Right now clear is fine up to T16, but bosses are taking a bit long. Im about to spawn conqueror soon, this will be true test of this build I guess.

my pob: https://pastebin.com/iFk56PVK


- My own char only managed to reach 4.4k HP, the Masshive EHP is from avoidance and less damage mitigation.

- Dying sun helps a lot in a standard barrage + Voidfletcher build, to push the single target DPS higher, in this build all it does is increase the projectile spread and possibly the chances of additional projectile to ricochet off the wall, and the voidfletcher shots. You can sub the 2nd life flask for it, I just like playing with 2 life flasks is all.

- Definitely need the -mana cost on ring, as it affects your frenzy & dash mana cost as well. You should drop Mark of the Elder first for the mana ring, for smoother gameplay at a cost of minor DPS loss.

- Most of the notables I'va taken in the build provides more than simply a DPS boosts (e.g Life + mana leech, accuracy rating, knockback on bow hit, etc.). Couldn't find a significant improvement to my QOL from medium cluster jewel after playing around so decided not to use them. Additional points were spent into nodes around Brutal Restraint instead.

- Pierce is bad for voidfletcher + chain (you cannot chain off your hydrosphere with it), but Void Shot in itself is just extremely good and can carry your bossing potential well enough for the time being. The endgame goal is still a non-pierce voidfletcher, but it's quite expensive and much better to spend that money elsewhere first.

- Took a look at your POB, few things I would suggest to change:
1. Drop quicksilver flasks for a quartz flask ASAP, you don't really need the extra MS.

2. Link Bonechill to your Skitterbots for free DPS, since you have the helm enchant already. Might need to lower Precision level (do not go below 100% hit chance though) to accommodate the increased mana reservation. Get enlighten support as well to help.

3. Since you're using a pierce Voidfletcher at the moment, consider having a Barrage to swap in to your Ice Shot for bossing as you're depending on Void Shot for your bossing damage. You can drop this once you get your non-pierce Voidfletcher. Also abuse your tankiness for Point Blank, pop flasks, drop hydrosphere on top of boss, dash besides him & burst him, then pull out and refill flask charges. Rinse & repeat.

4. Get Enduring Composure with 2 passive skill, it's not that expensive at the moment. Every bits helps at endgame.

5. Path towards Primeval Force ASAP for your DPS.

6. Your Brutal Restraint jewel brings out its shine with a Dex-stacking Bow (from all the added dexterity). Your next upgrade should either be Dex-stacking bow / corrupted implicit Voidfletcher, then Elusive boots + Intimidate gloves. Mark of the Elder + Assasin's Mark Ring can be left for last for the resists capping. Since this will be your endgame item, try not to settle for subpar items.

Take note one of the Brutal Restraint effect can also give +20% cold res, which helps alot.
My Youtube channel guide:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuOAAZyUPDtInV9UDiH4BBw
Last edited by mantol456 on Jan 29, 2021, 7:17:08 PM
Thanks for tips, I actually went to trade and bought this

45c seemed like a good deal right?

Also, I added bonechill support and I dropped precision with levels.

With level 1 precision I have
100% chance to hit
96% chance to hit evasive monsters

For which one I should aim to have 100%? is that ok already, or should I boost my precision by few levels to get 100% on both?

On top of that, I added Dying Sun - maybe it's just me but it improved clearspeed by a lot.

About tankiness tho, I'm really suprised by it. I was sure that 3.9k life will mean dying over and over and it's not the case, I already killed Hunter and Redeemer deathless and I'm farming T16 without problems. Great build so far!
"
maciek2g wrote:
Thanks for tips, I actually went to trade and bought this

45c seemed like a good deal right?

Also, I added bonechill support and I dropped precision with levels.

With level 1 precision I have
100% chance to hit
96% chance to hit evasive monsters

For which one I should aim to have 100%? is that ok already, or should I boost my precision by few levels to get 100% on both?

On top of that, I added Dying Sun - maybe it's just me but it improved clearspeed by a lot.

About tankiness tho, I'm really suprised by it. I was sure that 3.9k life will mean dying over and over and it's not the case, I already killed Hunter and Redeemer deathless and I'm farming T16 without problems. Great build so far!


Already answered you in-game, but will post here for anybody else to read if interested.

Yeah the Voidfletcher is a really good deal, not only the pierce implicit is gone, you got one with actually beneficial implicit to the build.

Normal hit chance at 100% is good enough, no need to worry.

Good to hear the build is working out for you, cheers.

Edit - Added how to craft budget cold dex bow
My Youtube channel guide:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuOAAZyUPDtInV9UDiH4BBw
Last edited by mantol456 on Jan 30, 2021, 8:05:45 AM
I don't think chained arrow from HS deal damage.
Visually it seems hit same enemy. but It wouldn't deal damage at all, also cone wouldn't proc.

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