[3.24] Detonate Dead Autobomber - A Bow Cast on Critical Strike League Starter

The core idea of this build is to trigger bow attacks that in turn triggers Detonate Dead and Desecrate with Cast on Critical Strike as we run through the map. So the first thing we need to do is trigger some bow attacks.

The only way to trigger a bow attack without having already attacked with a bow is Replica Maloney's Mechanism, which triggers a bow attack when you cast a spell with a one second cooldown. If we use an instant spell, we can hold down the key its bound to (many ways to do this, choose whichever is easiest for you) and have it trigger automatically whenever it’s off cooldown. The instant skill we use is Corrupting Fever, since its one second cooldown aligns with Replica Maloney's Mechanism's cooldown. Now we’ve got a way to trigger a bow attack without ever needing to stop moving!

Now we’ve got a way to trigger a bow attack while running through the map! But unfortunately it’s only one attack in a 3-link, which won’t be nearly enough to use for Cast on Critical Strike. Fortunately (for us at least), triggered attacks (and spells) cost mana and that lets us use Manaforged Arrows to trigger more attacks. To trigger Manaforged Arrows we need to spend three times the cost of the skill we want to trigger on other bow attacks, which is difficult since our initial triggered bow attack is in a 3-link and can’t be a channeled bow skill. Luckily, if we link Lifetap to our Manaforged Arrows setup we only need to spend 1 mana on other bows skills to trigger the Manaforged Arrows setup! Since we can have as many Manaforged Arrows setups as we have sockets for (just can’t have duplicates of the same skill gem), we can now trigger a bow skill in each of our 6-links!

Unfortunately Manaforged Arrows has a significant less damage penalty and doesn't provide any more damage multiplier since we're linking to Lifetap. But if we use Cast on Critical Strike to trigger a spell, that spell won't have the less damage penalty from Manaforged Arrows, since Manaforged Arrows can only support bow attacks.

We are also unable to scale attack speed and our attack rate is limited by a 1 second cooldown (scaled down substantially by increased cooldown recovery), which isn't bad but not being able to scale attack speed on bow builds is less than ideal. Fortunately, by using Cast on Critical Strike with Rain of Arrows (of Saturation ideally) and Blast Rain, which both hit enemies many times over a duration when fired, we can take relatively few triggered bow attacks and turn them into many, many spell casts.

Since we're triggering so many skills with Lifetap, we need a way to recover life. We use Ngamahu's Sign to regenerate life when we ignite an enemy, which is every hit, and instant leech along with Vitality.

Since Desecrate has a 15% chance to create a spectre corpse, we use Raise Spectre to raise a high health spectre to maximize the life of the corpses we summon with Desecrate. I recommend raising a Kitava's Herald, which can be found in The Cathedral Rooftop (Act 5/10), The Canals and The Feeding Trough (can check what corpse you're going to raise with a). Once you've raised the spectre you don't need to have the Raise Spectre gem socketed at all and you'll still have a 15% chance to spawn a Kitava's Herald from Desecrate.

This next part is a very large dps boost, but not something I do in any of the showcases since I expect it to be removed sooner or later (still exists as of 3.24). But until it is you should absolutely do it. Explanation source.

The other 85% of corpse spawned Desecrate are based on the corpse pool of the zone. Currently, the corpse pool of the zone includes the corpses of the monsters that naturally spawn in the zone and the corpses of all spectres currently in your Desecrate pool. This incentives maximizing the number of different high life spectres in your Desecrate pool. To to this you'll want to temporarily equip two Midnight Bargains and an amulet anointed with Death Attunement, socket a level 20 Raise Spectre into a Voideye, get a body armour with the Delve modifier for + spectres and get a Wraithlord (skip if too expensive and redo later) that has 4 socketed ghastly eye jewels. If you maximize everything you can have 11 spectres.

Now we need to raise different spectres from the list below until you hit your spectre limit, one per monster type. Hold down your Corpse Targetting hotkey configured in Options > Input to double-check the corpse name before and during casting of Raise Spectre. Only let go of the key after raising the corpse. If you mess up and summon the wrong monster / summon a spectre twice it's easiest to just restart by unsocketing the gem and starting over.

Finally, once you have the maximum number of spectres you can have, first unequip the gem and put it in the stash. Then, unequip and stash/sell all your spectre boosting gear, you are now set up for the rest of the league on that character.Every spectre that has more health than 360% (Kitava's Herald) is downscaled to its life pool as a spectre (corpse). The below list only contains spectres that have the same or more health than a Kitava's Herald.

These 5 spectres are easy to find, just go to the right zone and spam desecrate:

1. Kitava's Herald (A5, Cathedral Rooftop)

2. Sandworn Slaves (A9, Vastiri Desert)

3. Rattling Condemned (A6, The Prison)

4. Cavestalker (Delve, Mine Encampment)

5. Gorgol Alpha (Delve, Mine Encampment)

The following spectres can't be desecrated directly from the zone, you'll have to find and kill them before raising their corpse (don't use Detonate Dead to kill them or you risk detonating its corpse). However they all should be fairly easy to find.

Large statues that attack you when you get close (pay attention to the names, the auric statues look very similar):

6. Auric Champion (A3, Solaris L2) 7. Auric Colossus (A3, Solaris L2) 8. Towering Figment (A4, Grand Arena) 9. Giant Gladiator Statue (A3, Marketplace) 10. Overgrown Colossus (A3, normal lab, first zone)

Delve monsters that can be found in random delves, even those at level ~35:

11. Turong (Delve, any normal encounter) 12. Azurite Widow (Delve, any normal encounter)

I recommend taking the small pantheon that gives reduced effect of shock and the large pantheon that gives freeze immunity and stun/chill mitigation.