Path of Exile

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll drop chain since it does "50% less damage" and keep fork which does "30% less projectile damage." Theoretically fork shouldn't reduce the damage of the melee portion of LS and fork will still allow the sparks to pass through the single target. I think I might replace the chain with a second spark, since that will effectively double the chance of sparks going off when I crit (and both can occur simultaneously).

Actually, the projectile-projectile synergy isn't really giving that much damage. I wonder if would be better to drop a projectile spell in favor of:
LS+CoC+arc+arc+arc/storm call (+life leech)

this build certainly has substantially reduced mana requirements which addresses one of my main concerns.

some projectile nodes replaced with melee nodes and witch lightning nodes, but the witch lightning nodes could alternatively be used for more energy shield:
Passive Skill Tree - Path of Exile

Never used arc or chain before but it seems like the auto-targeting aspect of it should increase clear speed substantially beyond what's indicated by the paper-doll dps.

20% qual on lightning strike would also give 60% chance to pierce...

purity of lightning sounds like a good idea, but i'd be worried about having enough resists overall. Maybe I could drop haste and do purity of lightning/purity of fire and then just get +ice on gear.

I wonder if I'd do enough dps with a single dagger and could run with a shield for more ES.

Fogel_sl said:

You're losing a lot of ES and not gaining much by going DW imo. Probably over doing it with evasion by going for the middle evasion ring, you are ranged after all. If you go with projectiles go down from shadow tree to the range proj node, if not I went down the far right, which opens up crystal skin and either crit or shield nodes depending on your needs. You'll want an alpha's howl with empower - disciple - grace, over a fairgraves tricorne.

Passive Skill Tree - Path of Exile

Oh and the reason people use gmp, chain, etc with CoC is each individual crit can roll a trigger. So an ST with GMP can proc up to 20 spell procs on a single crit (10 on the way out, 10 on the way back)

Click to expand...

So I gave up on the lightning strike build. I got to lvl 28ish and died in the docks and didn't feel like restarting because lightning strike is just such a pain to use as a ranged skill (shift clicking, no arc control) and I was too squishy as a melee character. I haven't given up on the idea of a Cast on Crit build, but this time I'm going to try with split arrow.

My planned multitarget skill will be: split arrow+pierce/chain+cast on crit+EK+EK + (life leech/increased critical strikes)
or if I decide to do a mf character: split arrow+chain+cast on crit+EK+culling strike+item rarity

for leveling I'm using split arrow+added fire+pierce and hatred. Haven't decided on my final auras yet but I'm considering haste (more shots=more crits), hatred (benefits EK), grace, purity of elements.

anyway, split arrow seems to be a good skill for this because I get multiple hits when i crit (more chances for the CoC skill to go off) (and even more so when using pierce or chain). EK benefits from projectile damage (77% increased proj damage in my planned tree last time i counted). Physical reflect will be delt with with granite+jade flask combo or possibly using an elemental alternate skill (LA+coc+arc+arc).

Haven't decided on a single target skill yet but it might be frenzy+increased critical strikes+cast on crit + EK + EK. I'm toying with the idea of using point blank for single target because fuck kiting and my build is pretty heavy on the evasion and life nodes.

anyway, here's the passive tree. It feels a lot better than the last one but could still use a bit of work I'm sure. Feedback appreciated.

Passive Skill Tree - Path of Exile

The biggest disadvantage of this build is lower base crit for bows which means I may need to switch out one of my EKs for increased critical strikes.

The build doesn't have any required uniques, but I'm considering
Victario's Acuity - Path of Exile Wikifor power charges
The Magnate - Path of Exile Wikifor physical damage (benefits EK) and for more flask uptime

Pyros_sl said:

6links tend to be recommended yeah, most builds I've seen just use a tabula rasa, it's a fairly cheap 6L you can use at any level. It does have no stats so that pose an issue later on but is still viable.

Click to expand...

The benefit of split arrow is that you really only need 5l because you don't have to take up a skill slot with lmp.

Strifen_sl said:

For my physical crit based ranger using split arrow, frenzy, hatred + grace. The char is fully evasion based with onars/arcobatics, so I've got like 45% to evade attacks, 90% to evade ranged attacks and 30% to dodge which rolls separately. Combined with relatively decent hp (3.5k) and maxed resists you're actually extremely durable.

Passive Skill Tree - Path of Exile

Big difference is heading into the shadow tree to get the % mana leech passives so you don't need to gear with mana leech, the shadow area also has some really nice things for bow users.

Basically the premise of the build is to always be rolling around with 7 frenzy charges, core item for the build isThe Blood Dance - Path of Exile Wiki

Lets you be able to run blood rage full time and drop any sort of leech gems you might want to link up with split arrow/frenzy. With split shot you wanna use faster attacks/pierce/added fire damage and power charge on crit. Power charge on crit is pretty amazing when you have 4 power charges that stack up super easy with split shot its another 200% crit. So you'll have 7 frenzy 4 power charges + blood rage at all times.

Click to expand...

How do you deal with reflect? What spell do you use on cast on crit?