Level 95 Caustic Arrow Pathfinder^3.24

Notes

I think a good time to make this build would be when you have reached Ubers, because it does really function if you half ass the gear imo. 
Though everything is obtainable in a ssf setting, it's not super easy either to make and it will require to grind catarinas, divines, eldritch currency, conflict orbs, hunter exalts etc


Why play this build?

I made the build with Rogue Exile + expedition farming in mind a few leagues ago.
The criterias were :
- Something tanky because rogue exiles can be nasty, and that can eat strongbox ice novas like it's nothing
- Ease of play, since I tend to play a lot, I didn't want something that would tire me or be too convoluted.
- Competitive amounts of MF with Tornado shot/ Lightning Arrow builds
- Dps doesn't need to be incredible, just enough not to feel sluggish
- Needs to be fast enough, I hate MF builds with Goldwyrm and greed's embrace that have super low movement speed, and in ssf, it's better to just run more maps than juice super hard imo.
- Can run all map mods because I dislike having to manage maps before a farming session.


Why the build fits the criterias? 

- Defenses are really good, converting lots of phys to elemental (18% from helmet, 15% from body, 24% from flask for 57% total)
You can push it further with a purity of elements watcher's eye, and a lethal pride if you want, but i don't feel like it's necessary.
Spell suppress cap, grace and progenesis on top means unless the map mods are really bad, you don't really die.
Very good life regen from gear+ vitality+ conc ground from cwt+ flask craft.

- "one button" meaning you deal damage and clear most of the map with caustic arrow, 
on bosses or tough enemies in general you have Vaal CA that is up when you need it pretty much all the time.
You still need to use withering step when it's up against bosses to apply wither stacks, the hit rate of the build isn't enough to cap wither with the 25% from nature's Reprisal.

- Permaflask thanks to pathfinder ascendency, provides onlsaught and quicksilver to be fast enough for my tastes (~170% MS on my build currently)

- Dps is around 2M, really hard to go above with my setup, but Vaal Caustic Arrow is around 5M, and is up really whenever you need it with low soul cost and CD (it even has two charges).
2M is enough for 8 mod t16s, however it will struggle if you add delirium + beyond in my experience.
Beyond alone is fine though the beyond bosses don't go down quickly (15 seconds i'd say but it can depend on map mods).
20% deli is fine aswell, if you go higher monsters are HP sponge and it doesn't feel good though.

- Very nice AoE compared to the usual CA build because of multiple arrows + lot of AoE scaling with tree and gems, one click fills half of the screen with dot areas.

- Currently at 77% IIQ 262% IIR, realistically if you don't have a Simplex amulet, you'd be on 57%IIQ with a similar setup.
Don't focus too much on IIQ, IIR is the most important stat when farming uniques, in particular when picking your ventors, as the rest of the gear has rather "deterministic" MF mods.

- It runs litteraly all map mods, chaos dmg means not bothering about reflect. 
No regen is fine aswell, since you get a ton of life and mana on kill, and your Divination Distillate regens Mana and life.
Same for no recovery.
Even reduced flask charges gained is whatever, you kill enemies fast enough and flasks last long enough.

- This build is meant to run eater of world influence, it ignores all the EoW downsides
leaving the dot on the ground means the delayed eater monster spawn isn't an issue at all and doesn't slow you down.



Downsides of the build :

- Doesn't do t17s
- Not Ailment immune, you can kinda be with Adorned in a ultra min maxed setup though, or just by using purity of elements.
- Can't run Exarch maps, most altar mods brick it, meteor, chaos when flask, enemy chaos res etc
- Struggles against very high HP targets as dps isn't insane, but as long as you're not in a no regen map, you won't die either.
- Hard to get resistances capped because the build is very suffix starved. That's why either you need super good ventors, or purity of elements instead of grace/malevolence.
- Huge difference between having progenesis and not having it, I don't think it's needed for low tier MFing, but I wouldn't use the build in t14+ with altars.
- Not very flexible on items. Requires a high investment at the start.
- Not enough mana regen to spam attacks, but it's not really an issue unless in no regen maps where your mana comes from flask. Even then, it's not really an issue.
I usually disable Clarity and Vitality in those maps to get a higher mana pool.
- No explosions (unless you use the chaos explode cluster node but it's really hard to craft those).
- Not chaos res capped, I would be if I had better items though (belt veiled suffix+ t1 on gloves)



____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IMPORTANT MECHANICS : 

1. Why the extra Arrows on quiver, bow and tree : 

	The reason is that if you add more projectile, your arrows will cover more ground so you get good AoE.
	I have 4 proj, I could go to 5 with the tree node, 3 feels fine too, but it's a bit worse when you get the random direction altar. 

2. Pierce on Quiver :

	Pierce on quiver is needed because when CA pierces, it leaves a puddle instead of stopping, so that gives you more coverage. 
	I have 2 pierces on quiver, realistically, 1 is enough and Movement speed would be better instead.

3. Recoup :
	
	Needed to counter Progenesis life loss, especially in no regen maps.

4. Master Surgeon :

	It lets your MF flask run while you're on full life, super important.

5. Perma Flask :

	Thanks to Pathfinder ascendency, the belt suffixes and Carefull Conservationnist + Natural remedies, 
	you are generating enough flask charges to sustain all utility flasks with instilling orbs enchant : use when charges reach full.
	Hovering the flasks in PoB will tell you how your uptime looks so you can check if you setup is good or not when planning how to craft a belt an flasks prefixes.

6. Manaforged arrows : 

	Used to generate frenzy charges

7. Purifying flames: 

	In the CWDT setup, it's there just to create concecrated ground for regen.



Pantheon :

Soul of the Brine King is needed for freeze + stun immunity
Abberath/Garrukan/Ryslatha Depeding on preferences. 
I think Ryslatha can be a prefered choice to deal with enemies that regen like though bosses in Conc ground maps or juiced expedition rares.

Alchmist Genius :

I don't have it, I should have it, I would need to recraft my belt or get it from medium cluster I know.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GEMS :

Main links you don't really have a lot of options, awakened gems bring a lot, and you should get them, especially since those are rather common ones, except AoE which is a bit rarer.
Do not use the non awakened inc aoe if you don't have the awakened version, use efficacy instead.
no need to get them to lvl 6 as they don't do anything more than lvl5 (except Inc Aoe) because of the extra lvls from the bow.
In low tier maps, change inc AoE with rarity support. 
Socket it in the bow ofc, not the body.

Auras : 

Clarity can be kept low lvl, just lvl it until you feel mana isn't an issue, mine is lvl9. Vitality you can lvl up to 21 it's great.
Pick two between Malevolence, Grace and Purity of elements depeding on what you need. I'd say Male+ PoElements first to get your res sorted until you have great ventors.
Put it in gloves for the +2 aoe if you managed to unveil it.

Blasphemy + despair is free thanks to amulet, no need to link it with enlighten

CWDT :
Purifying flame + immortal call.

Manaforged arrow + frenzy to generate frenzy charges, also adds a few hits per seconds to help with wither stacks on single target.

Withering step : super important at lvl20/20, even better if lvl21/20 for more instant withers.

Flame dash + arcane surge : keep surge low lvl so it procs on each dash. Can use frostblink instead.

You can use the call to arm + enduring cry tech too to generate endurance charges and get life regen, maybe even infernal cry if it gives you explosions, no idea how that shit works tbh.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




GEARING :

For rare items, remember to always do the implicits last in case you'd need to use eldritch currency to fix prefixes/suffixes. 
Though usually you'll do prefixes last so if you have a exarch dominant base you can use it from the start.

Unnatural instinct : 

Completely unnecessary, it's just there for the movement speed in the slot next to harrier.
 I'm considering changing it myself, it helps a bit with Int requirements though, but you have plenty of solutions to fix that.
It's cool if you have one that has CB immunity though.

Flasks : 

1. Divination Distilate : try to get one with good rolls, there's a super common div card to farm it if needed : Drunken Aristocrate, dropped in Academy or Residence notably 
( those maps also drop Nimis card so might aswell farm it there just in case you get lucky, but only drops in t14+ maps iirc).
Usually MF builds don't want quality on it because it means you fill your HP bar faster and the effects end, here you don't care because you're a pathfinder.
try to get at least like a  11%+ quant 27%+ rarity, that shouldn't be too hard, remember to use the 3for1 recipe to reroll them, don't waste divines on that.

2. Progenesis : It drops from Uber Maven, I got 18 in 170 kills this league. If you want to farm Uber Maven, you need 5 reality fragment which drop from t17 bosses.
Abommination and Ziggurat bosses are weighted to drop much more reality fragments than the others so focus on those.
Since a map always drops the same t17, for instance Toxic sewer always drops Ziggurat, you can farm the same t17 efficiently this way.
for a t17 drop location spreadsheet, I made this, but I'm sure there are better ones out there (there's two pages)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u0vsCB9JsqfVrRjV4Znhx8avXIhxJjk4l9SZyAo-7xo/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Try to divine it for decent rolls, but it's super easy to sustain it with permaflask.

If you don't think you can get a Progenesis, you can still play the build to farm exiles in t6s
it's a bit worse than t16s, but you can load up more MF instead so you won't really see the difference and it's still a very competetive way to aquire uniques like Mageblood Headhunter etc.

Replace progenesis by anything else that helps you, for instance a sulphur flask if you want more damage, a topaz or ruby or quartz or bimsuth flask if you need more resistances/SpelSupp
you can even craft if it add shock/ignite immunity or more elemental resistance/ evasion in the suffixes, it makes gearing much much easier!
Ofc you can also use a gold flask for even more rarity.

3. Taste of hate : This one is really important, it's a T2 and as such it is a rare item, but you can farm the divination card"the Hunger" either directly in t17s Abomination or in regular t16s
I can add more on how to get it if you want. Try to divine for 15% phys taken as cold, and 20% quality it at least,
if you have many of them, corrupt them for extra quant above 20% if needed to sustain, but that shouldn't be an issue aswell

4. Quicksilver and Silver Flasks : if you feel you're fast enough you can replace quicksilver with an other magic flask to help with res/spellsupp; but I think quicksilver is the best option.
Alt spam them for a good prefix that helps sustaining the flask (especially the silver flask as it is the hardest flask to sustain), then you can benchcraft life regen and rarity.
Those two crafts are obatined by unveiling flasks from Catarina.
Usually flask charge recovery is the best t1 is the best prefix.
I recommand rarity on quicksilver and regen on silver, because you'll want to corrupt the silver flask for extra quality and 3% regen has no value range,
while rarity craft goes from 20 to 30 so you'd have to craft it multiplie times on each try, you get my point i hope :)
If you use a gold flask, it's hard to sustain like silver flasks, so consider putting a benchcraft on it instead of quicksilver, as the quicksilver will be easier to craft than the gold flask, 
especially if you need to corrupt for extra quality


BOW :

I use Maraketh base because attack speed doesn't matter, and it gives movement speed. Ilvl needs to be 86 for +2 Arrows.
Use perfect fossils before crafting to make it 28% quality or more, but there is no difference between 28 and 30 except when 6Linking, so no point wasting fossils and resonators on 30%.
Attack speed is usueless, I just happened to get it while crafting on my pob, but you don't need it,
It provides very minor QoL with faster attacks though, but you don't have the mana to attack continuously anyways, so doesn't matter for wither stacks.

You have two options :

	1. Graveyard option would be to craft a bow with +2 bow gems fractured and hunter influenced, then alt spam +2 arrows, regal and annul the regaled mod if it's a prefix.
Then multimod (if you regaled a suffix and didn't bother annuling it you don't need multimod)  + cannot roll attacks, and exalt twice for garanteed chaos dot dmg and +1 gems
then benchcraft chaos dot multi and you're done.
If you really want attack speed, use zeal essences instead of alt spam to get +2 arrows and annul other unwanted mods.

Having a high tier resistance suffix can help a lot for the rest of the gear too so don't annul if you get one.


	2. No graveyard : Dread essence on a non hunter base (+2 bow gems) until you hit +2 arrows, annul other mods and proceed just like above, except use a hunter exalt to add chaos dot.
The reason you don't influence before is that it makes essence rolling easier because less mod pool.


QUIVER :

It looks a lot harder to craft than it really is. Start with a penetrating arrow base. you have two options:


1. if you have a fractured base with +1 arrow or T1 dot multi, you can use it and miss out on potentially a little bit of movement speed from the prefixes, 
which is not really a big deal at all, at the cost of a massively easier craft. Ilvl86 prefered for t1 bow mg, but if you happen to have the fractured base ready it's fine if it's 85.

Use chaos orbs to reroll the item until it has t1 dot multi or +1 arrow (whichever you didn't have fractured) so both mods are present on the item as the only suffixes.
then lock suffixes and scour to wipe prefixes and benchcraft "cannot roll attack mods" you can now exalt twice
you're garanteed to get life and bow damage as those two are the only non attack prefixes available.
If you get bad tiers you can safely annul, as the annul cannot legally remove an attack mod (your suffix that isn't fractured in this case) as long as the craft is on.
either you will remove a prefix or the benchcraft in which case you can just craft it right back. Expect like 10 raw divines on average to get T1+T2 prefixes i'd say.
finish with attack speed or hybrid chaos/ele res suffix benchcraft.

2.You don't have a fractured base : this one will be much harder to start, but after it's more or less the same.
if you have a lot of hunter exalts :
First step will be to alt spam on multiple ilvl86 bases for +1 arrow or T1 dot multi, augment and regal, if you regal a suffix, scour and retry
If you regal a prefix, benchcraft a random pref and hunter exalt for like 1/8 to hit t1 chaos multi, 1/4 to hit T2+ iirc. If you hit fire dot multi it's usable still for explo arrow ballista build.

once you get the chaos dot multi suffix, you can proceed exactly as above, benchcraft cannot roll attack and toy with exalt annuls until you have great prefixes. 
The only difference is that hunter influence adds +1 pierce and Movement Speed mods, with low weights
They don't really make it harder to roll good prefixes especially since you get to use the third pref.

If you don't have a lot of hunter exalts : 

First step will be to alt spam on multiple ilvl86 bases for +1 arrow or T1 dot multi, augment and regal, if you regal a suffix, scour and retry
benchcraft "suff cannot be changed" and reforge chaos until you get t1 chaos multi on top of you already existing suffix and an open suffix, annul if needed. 
Can be super rng and costly divine wise.

Same as above, once you get the suffixes, toy with cannot roll attack to make the prefs.


Cluster :
 If you have a super low ilvl8 passive chaos cluster like ilvl67 or below, it makes the craft pathetically easy with single socket resonator and abberant fossil
If you don't it's still easy, 74 tries on ilvl83, 28 on ilvl 67 or less. Still you need ilvl50 at least for wicked pall. If you can get a good suffix like a resistance, str or int it's good.

You could consider removing the growth and decay and atrophy wheels for a second cluster, especially if you go for adorned. I might do that actually. 



Gloves :
Nothing special here, Start with fractured base with t1 life. If you can, try to get chaos res t1 fractured with graveyard, or +1 frenzy, or t1 Str/spell sup on top as a second fractured mod.
then use essence spam (rage/envy) to get good suffixes, and finish suffixes with lock suf + veiled orb to get +2 aoe mod and benchcraft dmg during flask effect.
An evasion base would be prefered to be able to use the evasion mastery for +15% spell supp.
Implicits I went with spell supp and chaos dot multi, nothing else is very good i think.
Consider using conflict orbs to upgrade the chaos dot multi mod if you can, but that's not a priority at all.

Helmet :
This one is very tricky for a single reason, you want both phys taken as and rarity from rare and unique enemies, but both are veiled mods that cannot be unveiled directly.
you have two options here :

1. first one is to farm delve for a helmet with fractured phys taken as, those can drop from any elemental/warband delve special nodes
but it's like a 1/50 node to get it and you need it on an evasion base, so only pick this if you really like delve. 
The mod is a suffix, which frankly isn't great, which is why I recommand the second option more

2. Farm Fracturing orbs (You should get 4 orbs every 60 maps with a good harb strategy). 
Farm betrayal, you need Korell and Janus both either in intervention or research so they have a chance to show up every map.
Make sure your filter highlights Korell veiled and Janus Veiled helmets, whenever you get a decent evasion base
unveil it an pray you get either 10% phys taken as fire prefix from korell, or 60% rarity from rare and unique from Janus.
Divine to get decent rolls, make sure you have only 4 mods on the item (use eldritch annuls to annul if needed to make sure you never remove the good mod)
and fracture for 1/4.

Once you've done that, it should be prety smooth sailing, you can get the loathing essence mod for mana reservation efficiency, or just chaos res, spell suppress etc. 
Use whatever method you want to roll 2 good suffixes, essences, reforge chaos etc anything will do, I can provide more detail depending on which mods you'd end up wanting.
once you have those two suffixes either use lock suf + life reforge or elritch chaos  to get a good life roll. Nice if you can get rarity on top.
Finish by benchcrafting either the korell or janus mod depending on which you don't have fractured.

for eldritch implicits, you want phys taken as elemental (preferably cold since you use taste of hate) and reduced mana cost of attacks, getting higher tiers is not a priority.

Body Amour:

Here you kinda put everything else you might need. The one I use has essence phys taken as, but benchcraft mod is 12% instead of 15% and will do just fine.
The important think i'd say is the eldritch implicit and it is what I would do in priority with my conflict orbs, 
as flask effect gives you extra quant, speed, res, defense from progenesis and Taste.

To craft it I'd say use graveyard for a base with a t1 res fractured and t1 life on top, and then spam essence for the last mods, ilvl86 prefered for t1 spell supp and t1 life.
Probably best to craft it first to see which suffixes you end up getting to plan for the other slots.

Belt :  Pretty sure you can use the Tides of time (Uber shaper belt that has around 30% droprate) should be very good for flask uptime.
Still a Stygian vise should be better ilvl84 to get t1 res mods , to craft it, I would alt spam until you get a t1 flask mod suffix (charge recovery, flask duration, reduced charges used)
then regal and hope to get a second decent flask mod. (you can also chaos spam, takes like 1000 chaos on avergae to get something good iirc).
Then you can try to lock suf and veiled orb or reforge chaos/fire/cold/lightning whatever to get a good third suffix, and lock suff + life reforges until you get a good life tier 
Finish with Hunter exalt slam and pray for life or chaos dmg, it's good odds to get it.

You can also start with fractured alchemist genius (from corrupted essence), and proceed just the same afterward.


Goldwyrm : Nothing much to say, 20% quantity is mandatory, try to get a good fire res roll too
Try to get them either with spell supp/movement speed/life corruption, but that's not a priority, you'll get a TON of them when you start MFing anyways. 
Use 3for1 recipe to reroll the bad rolled ones.
Use prismatic catalyst for more res, be carefull if you have a negative res, it will make it worse.


Ventors : You don't care about life roll or quant roll. Just get two with high rarity and high resistances first, then start trying to upgrade. 
If you're MFing div card, try to get quant instead of rarity.
As a rule of thumb, I'd say that when farming uniques, you'd prefer 5% rarity over 1% quant.
3for1 to reroll them as always, and if you get a good one, you can use Kalandra's touch to mirror it if you have it.


Impresence : For the amulet slot, if you do not have a simplex amulet, use Impresence instead, chaos version of course.
The Maddening presence if great for survivability it makes enemies deal less damage and slows them , and it lets you get despair for free with blasphemy.
You can annoint something than what i have on the item currently like acrimony or corruption should be decent, or just a life node like heart of the warrior.
Avatar of the Hunt is nice too.

If you happen to get one from Uber uber Elder with two curses it's even better, i used enfeeble+despair before i got my simplex amulet. 
Punishment an temp cahin would be great aswell as secundary curses.

If you are a Heist enjoyer and don't mind doing thousands of blueprints to get a simplex amulet, or if you're just that good and already have one, it's very easy to craft the same in the pob.
Don't forget to split it before. can't split it in three with Morigan craft though because it requires 6 affixes.
if it's between ilvl75 and 84, make it redeemer influenced, if it's 85 make it redeemer or shaper, doesn't matter.
scour it and transmute it to make it magic (it will not have mods but it can still be magic) to imprint it using a craicic chimeral beast craft.
Then chaos spam to get t1 quant or t1 reservation efficiency depending if it is shaper or redeemer influenced. (shaper can roll reserv too but you don't want it).
Then awakener's orb it with an amulet with the other mod. That way you're garanteed to get both suffixes on the base. then yolo annul or 1/3 to remove the prefix.
If it fails revert the base using the imprint, don't forget to imprint again and retry.
If it works, you can just lock suffixes and reforge chaos for garanteed +2 chaos  and you're done. Just annoint and fertile catalyst afterward.

Watcher's Eye : dot multi malevolence mod is prefered,  if you use Purity of elements, phys taken as is great aswell
You can also get the suppress grace mod, but i don't think it's worth a jewel slot by itself as you have many ways to cap suppress already.


Jewels : get Life and chaos dot multi in priority, the rest can be whatever is usefull, life area damage, dot damage, regular dot multi etc.
For the stygian jewel, phasing on kill is really nice with life on top, and since those kind of jewels are somewhat common, you coul hope to get one with CB immunity from vaal temple vessels.


Adorned : If you have a well rolled adorned, you can use it with a second cluster setup as I wrote above, get jewels with life and chaos multi
it should be great, and it's what i'm going to do myself :)
Break point would be 143% to get 17% life from a 7% roll, anything below is 16% or less. 150% is needed if you want your 8% dot multi to become a 20%, 143% provides 19%.



____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Videos :

https://youtu.be/CbalbuDvL_o
https://youtu.be/ao3PRba5Prk
https://youtu.be/dLejtOGfSIc