Voltaxic Rift is the best bow in the game, period.
It allows you to drop Vaal Pact due to near-immunity to reflect, meaning you can run this thing with Low Life Blood Rage + The Blood Dance + Zealot's Oath without risk of suiciding to anything but lightning thorns, but your 6% (5% when running low life + 75% chaos res) regen combined with Q20 life leech takes care of that, and you'll notice the thorns damage before you die.
Voltaxic Rift is the best bow in the game, period. It allows you to drop Vaal Pact due to near-immunity to reflect, meaning you can run this thing with Low Life Blood Rage + The Blood Dance + Zealot's Oath without risk of suiciding to anything but lightning thorns, but your 6% (5% when running low life + 75% chaos res) regen combined with Q20 life leech takes care of that, and you'll notice the thorns damage before you die.
Not true. Well, maybe if you are using the trashier bow skills such as RoA....
If you use Lightning Arrow, which has the best damage application of any bow skill, you still have thorns to worry about.
It's a good bow, but to say it's the best bow is just LOL.
It isn't.
A good phys/ele hybrid thicket or imperial will still wreck it in terms of overall killing/clear speed.
Last edited by tikitaki#3010 on Aug 24, 2013, 10:08:18 AM
Voltaxic Rift is the best bow in the game, period. It allows you to drop Vaal Pact due to near-immunity to reflect, meaning you can run this thing with Low Life Blood Rage + The Blood Dance + Zealot's Oath without risk of suiciding to anything but lightning thorns, but your 6% (5% when running low life + 75% chaos res) regen combined with Q20 life leech takes care of that, and you'll notice the thorns damage before you die.
Not true. Well, maybe if you are using the trashier bow skills such as RoA....
If you use Lightning Arrow, which has the best damage application of any bow skill, you still have thorns to worry about.
It's a good bow, but to say it's the best bow is just LOL.
It isn't.
A good phys/ele hybrid thicket or imperial will still wreck it in terms of overall killing/clear speed.
I... how are you still vulnerable to reflect when all of your LA damage is converted to Chaos? And of the 50% remaining (piddly amount of) physical damage, any 'reflect' will be easily mitigated by even a low level LoH. At least that's my thinking. Why did you say you still have thorns to worry about?
Voltaxic Rift is the best bow in the game, period. It allows you to drop Vaal Pact due to near-immunity to reflect, meaning you can run this thing with Low Life Blood Rage + The Blood Dance + Zealot's Oath without risk of suiciding to anything but lightning thorns, but your 6% (5% when running low life + 75% chaos res) regen combined with Q20 life leech takes care of that, and you'll notice the thorns damage before you die.
Not true. Well, maybe if you are using the trashier bow skills such as RoA....
If you use Lightning Arrow, which has the best damage application of any bow skill, you still have thorns to worry about.
It's a good bow, but to say it's the best bow is just LOL.
It isn't.
A good phys/ele hybrid thicket or imperial will still wreck it in terms of overall killing/clear speed.
I... how are you still vulnerable to reflect when all of your LA damage is converted to Chaos? And of the 50% remaining (piddly amount of) physical damage, any 'reflect' will be easily mitigated by even a low level LoH. At least that's my thinking. Why did you say you still have thorns to worry about?
Thorns does not care what type of damage you do. The only thing it cares about is if you land a hit or not. The second you do, giant thorns comes back at you. It's a counter to hitting a lot of targets quickly, rather than raw damage output.
Thorns is flat (and very high) damage.
If you are using LA and Chains, and you don't have Vaal pact, you can easily 2-shot yourself into a thorns pack even with 79 lightning resist.
And considering attack speed, you can have both shots in the air before the first one even lands. Meaning by the time you realized you made a mistake, you can already be dead.
Fine for softcore. Not fine for hardcore.
Last edited by tikitaki#3010 on Aug 24, 2013, 11:26:35 AM
I... how are you still vulnerable to reflect when all of your LA damage is converted to Chaos? And of the 50% remaining (piddly amount of) physical damage, any 'reflect' will be easily mitigated by even a low level LoH. At least that's my thinking. Why did you say you still have thorns to worry about?
Thorns does not care what type of damage you do. The only thing it cares about is if you land a hit or not. The second you do, giant thorns comes back at you. It's a counter to hitting a lot of targets quickly, rather than raw damage output.
Thorns is flat (and very high) damage.
If you are using LA and Chains, and you don't have Vaal pact, you can easily 2-shot yourself into a thorns pack even with 79 lightning resist.
And considering attack speed, you can have both shots in the air before the first one even lands. Meaning by the time you realized you made a mistake, you can already be dead.
Fine for softcore. Not fine for hardcore.
Ah thanks for explaining. But lightning thorns can be mitigated by Lightning resistance and also by taking Vaal pact, right?
It's a counter to hitting a lot of targets quickly, rather than raw damage output.
Thorns is flat (and very high) damage.
If you are using LA and Chains, and you don't have Vaal pact, you can easily 2-shot yourself into a thorns pack even with 79 lightning resist.
And considering attack speed, you can have both shots in the air before the first one even lands. Meaning by the time you realized you made a mistake, you can already be dead.
Fine for softcore. Not fine for hardcore.
This is why you have 6% regen and 24%/s leech.
If you Projectile Weakness curse and fire at a pack of lightning thorns targets onscreen, that's the player being a dumbass.
If you think you're gonna get killed to offscreen thorns, your arrows only have a 35% pierce, and no enemy evasion reduction,.
So basically, you're going to only pierce a third of what you normally do, and some of your arrows are going to miss.
"
Ah thanks for explaining. But lightning thorns can be mitigated by Lightning resistance and also by taking Vaal pact, right?
No point in doing this with this bow. If you're going to take vaal pact, just use a lioneye.
The entire point this bow is ridiculously good instead of just good is because you can drop vaal pact in exchange for Zelaot's Oath and Body & Soul.
This is why you have 6% regen and 24%/s leech.
If you Projectile Weakness curse and fire at a pack of lightning thorns targets onscreen, that's the player being a dumbass.
If you think you're gonna get killed to offscreen thorns, your arrows only have a 35% pierce, and no enemy evasion reduction,.
So basically, you're going to only pierce a third of what you normally do, and some of your arrows are going to miss.
This is cute, but no, regen doesn't stop you from being gibbed. The speed at which thorns chunks you down to 0 health is so retardedly fast that your 6% regeneration and 24% leech might as well not exist. We're talking 1 - 2 volleys and you're dead.
If you enjoy that kind of gameplay where a single off screen shot or misclick can kill your character, then all the more power to you.
I hope you don't attempt it on hardcore or onslaught ;)
Or rather, I hope you do so that you can understand just how silly you are being.
The bow is good, and decent builds will happen around it, but it is no way the "best" bow.
(regarding "missing" - My level 77 ranger without Lioneye has 2k accuracy and has a 90% chance to hit level 77 white mobs...which means most of the mobs in the game, I have a 95% chance to hit....so there goes your "missing" argument")
Last edited by tikitaki#3010 on Aug 25, 2013, 9:28:01 AM
