Ok, forgive me for being ignorant because i haven't played since Delve league... how can you have a main hand bow 6L and an off hand bow 6L?
You can get easy 6-link bow from farming / buying porcupine or imperial legacy cards. You can swap between two weapons with weapon swap keybind, I think default is "X" but you can set it up in options.
The build is virtually unchanged. See Page 337 for my thoughts on the patch notes.
I'll be streaming at twitch.tv/GokuTD if you have questions. I WILL LIKELY BE PLAYING DEADEYE THIS LEAGUE. I'M BORED OF TRICKSTER.
DEADEYE, OCCULTIST, PATHFINDER, RAIDER, AND TRICKSTER ARE ALL PLAYABLE. (TRICKSTER IS STILL LIKELY THE STRONGEST OVERALL)
3.9 LEAGUE STARTER (Slightly Outdated but good info) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdyzUjrcE08
This is another standard Toxic Rain build with my own spin on things. The build is incredibly tanky, decent to high life pool, and has great damage and clear speed.
This guide should be rather comprehensive, so if I left anything out, just ask in the comments. I also added some example calculations at the bottom if you want to calculate your own DPS.
MANY OF THE QUESTIONS YOU HAVE WILL BE ANSWERED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THIS GUIDE. PLEASE READ IT.
Also, please stop arguing with Viktranka. The man (or woman) is an absolute saint for answering so many questions in this thread, and they generally have a solid idea as to what's happening.
KEY POINTS BEFORE YOU ASK QUESTIONS
Pathfinder is ok. Maybe play it.
We do not scale the hit. We do not scale the poison. That means anything that scales hit or poison is bad. That includes your weapon's pDPS, damage with bows, poison damage, poison application, etc. They're useless. We scale the pods and nothing else.
Caustic Arrow
Should I use Caustic Arrow?
Maybe.
You certainly DON'T HAVE TO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO. The build functions completely fine as JUST Toxic Rain, however, with certain setups, Caustic Arrow can feel better while mapping.
That's it. That's all Caustic Arrow is — a slightly better feel than Toxic Rain while mapping. If it doesn't feel better, if you don't like weapon swapping, if you don't like how it looks: DON'T USE CAUSTIC ARROW.
I'd recommend leveling with Caustic Arrow alongside the Toxic Rain setup and see if you like it. Experiment. Try stuff out. I personally use Caustic Arrow while I'm leveling, and for a little while during white maps. I personally don't like having to weapon swap very often, so I abandon Caustic Arrow for a long time because I don't like how it feels versus tanky rares (C.res + %life), Essence rares, or Red Beasts. I come back to Caustic Arrow when I'm very geared and Caustic Arrow is capable of killing these tanky targets quickly.
I can't (or anyone else in this thread, for that matter) tell you if you should use Caustic Arrow, because I don't know how it feels for you. I like it. Try it out and see if you do.
Changes in Patch 3.12
3.12
None.
Maybe there's some late game dual curse potential with Awakened Curse on Hit with the new Poacher's/Warlord's, but even then.
Early game Poacher's might be an alternative fix for mana issues until you can get good jewelry.
Expect Trickster nerfs at the end of Heist.
Changes in Patch 3.11 - POB inside
3.11
YOU NEED TO USE POB FORK
https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/releases
POB: https://pastebin.com/9rgZEPya
For lower budget POBs, scroll down a bit.
Toxic Rain received zero direct changes in 3.11. However, 3.11 did come with a large tree overhaul, and an sweeping nerf to cluster jewel notables. Virtually all of the Skill Effect Duration stacking was nuked. Jewels can still be worth using, but with the additional note of GGG claiming that jewels will be harder to roll, you very well might want to ignore cluster jewels for a while until you can afford a good setup.
After testing in Standard a bit, I'm going to look at using a Hubris Circlet over a Vertex at some point to push for ailment immunity. With the removal of Arakaali's poison immunity, there's a larger incentive to open up flask suffixes. Additionally, the Thick Skin cluster has gained an additional 4% avoidance per small node (totaling 20% to avoid), making it require much less investment to reach 100% immunity. The Thick Skin cluster, a single Elegant Form, and two 25% avoidance crafts on gloves and helmet will hit the avoidance cap.
Changes in Patch 3.10
3.10
After looking at the notables, none of them are good enough to brick your tree by themselves. You're going to need a good jewel on top of good notables for this to be worthwhile. When we get patchnotes I'll look at putting up a mock tree for what you'd run if you used Large, 2x Med, 2x Small.
https://pastebin.com/A4ZS1HWp - Same POB as 3.9 for now, when we see notes I'll look at changing it.
https://pastebin.com/brfBUdL6 - My personal POB from 3.9, focusing a bit more on bossing. Has ~5m DPS.
https://pastebin.com/qcdwR5by - For those of you want to focus on map zooming and don't know how to modify the build, go for something like this. Feel free to use smoke mine + enchant if you want 300% ms, I don't enjoy throwing mines though personally.
Videos
Sirus Level 8 Awakener
My first A8 of 3.11, kinda scuffed but figured I should post it anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqUxcPZJlb0
Toxic Rain vs Caustic Arrow - Arrow Nova vs Caustic Arrow - Fork
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSIsQWzvz6U
Shaper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcD23cbP4NE
Uber Elder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oSKRkt2tDg
Budget/SSF Uber Elder and Gear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpTVkMemFfo
Build Breakdown
Pros/Cons
Pros
Alch and go: can run every map mod
Survivable with 9k+ EHP, 45k Ev, High spell dodge
Great Damage
Entry gear is very cheap
Cons
DOT build, so a slight ramp up for max DPS
Some people don't enjoy hybrid
Build Mechanics
Toxic Rain: Toxic Rain shoots out a base 5 arrows (pods). Pods can stack, so area of effect is somewhat important. Attack speed is massively important in terms of DPS and enjoyment.
Recovery:
With flasks up, we sit at a comfortable 45k Evasion to cap our QOTF, and 50/66 dodge/spell dodge. This means we rarely get hit, and when we do, we proc Ghost Shroud.
POB YOU NEED TO USE POB FORK
https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/releases
This is what you're shooting for:
https://pastebin.com/9rgZEPya
My Current Character:
https://pastebin.com/Ga7vKfF4
Entry Setup (NO CLUSTER JEWELS):
https://pastebin.com/npZEsFmp
1 Cluster Setup:
https://pastebin.com/ZP5tw3LX
2 Clusters + Thread of Hope:
https://pastebin.com/wPhukT5Z
I personally leveled using this build. It levels extremely fast, but I won't go into too much detail here. Kammell has a great leveling speed run you can find on his twitch at twitch.tv/Kammell_.
If you just want a quick and dirty, find as many green links as you can. Before level 12, use Caustic Arrow and Mirage Archer then Void Manipulations if you get a 3L. After 12, use Toxic Rain > Mirage Archer > Void Manipulation > Vicious Projectiles/Faster Attacks. You can continue to use Caustic Arrow for a clearing set up with Mirage Archer, Void Manipulations, and either Pierce or Greater Multiple Projectiles (After getting pierce from Poacher's Aim or Penetrating quiver). Go down to Master Fletcher first for attack speed and then fill out the rest of the tree as you feel necessary.
Ascendancy, Bandits, Pantheon
We play Trickster. I personally rushed Patient Reaper into Prolonged Pain for my labs while I was leveling, as it was league start and I wanted some extra damage. My friends leveled with Ghost Shroud/Escape Artist for extra speed since damage wasn't an issue with some leveling gear.
For bandits, we take the two skill points by killing all of them.
Pantheon is up to you. I personally use Soul of Arakaali and Soul of Ralakesh for the DoT mitigation. The Vaal Legions apply a large physical DoT that can be difficult to manage. Other good pantheons are Soul of the Brine King and Soul of Aberrath. Use whatever you feel is most beneficial, there's nothing mandatory to take here.
Gems and Mana Reservation
Gems
Main Links
If you haven't acquired a 6L bow, just drop the lowest priority gem.
Here's a short priority:
Toxic Rain
Mirage Archer
Empower Level 4 (Skip if you don't have at least Empower 3)
Void Manipulation
Vicious Projectiles
Swift Afflictions
Efficacy
For your offhand:
Caustic Arrow
Mirage Archer
Greater Multiple Projectiles
Swift Afflictions
Vicious Projectile
Void Manipulations Auras
You can grab reduced mana reservation off the tree if you want to force Blood and Sand, but I'd recommend just not bothering until you get a strong enough enlighten. You can consider running Dread Banner if you have a low enough mana cost on Toxic Rain/Caustic Arrow, but don't have Enlighten. You may also want to use a level 1 Clarity somewhere else in your gear. This will give you access to Clarity mod Watcher's Eye, and Vaal Clarity which can help with early bossing.
Wither Totem
We already have quite a bit of duration, so faster casting helps us build quicker. You can ignore the Wither Totem set up for a while, until you feel the need for more boss damage. Withering Step is generally enough to get me through all of story and then some.
Steelskin (Immortal Call) + Blink Arrow
I've been trying out CWDT Steelskin, and I think I like it so far. Play around with it and see how it feels. We also put and Blink Arrow here linked with Faster Attacks and Cull. Feel free to use Second Wind in place of cull if you prefer it, but a single Blink Arrow charge feels fine for me. Steelskin needs to be high level, so the strength requirement can be cumbersome. use Immortal Call instead if you can't meet the strength requirement.
Despair]
I've been manually hard casting Despair recently and it feels pretty good actually with how much cast speed Trickster gets. You can look at using a COH ring or even a Despair Bow on your offhand with your Caustic Arrow setup if you need more CA damage.
OLD (Leaving for posterity)
We use Despair COH Frenzy in this quiver to automate frenzies and boss depsair. You can also run the same links in your boots along with Dash if you can't afford a Maloney's.
I'm leaving Maloney's here incase people want to use it. I think with the new DOT mod on quivers, they're just too strong to pass up. Find another way to curse, I'm personally just hard casting it on bosses. a COH Ring is quite good, though.
Gear, Flasks, and Jewels
Gear
Gear Priority
The most important thing is that your mana feels good. If your mana doesn't feel good: invest. Get Vaal Clarity, get a -Mana roll, look at Clarity Watcher's Eyes. Your mana should feel good in most maps. No regen will feel a bit awkward, let your mirage archer carry you.
As a rule of thumb, you should invest at least 50% of your overall budget into your bow. Your bow IS your damage.
You want to pick up Atziri's Steps as early as possible, then look at getting a Vertex, and then consider a Queen of the Forest or a decently rolled rare. They're all relatively cheap, and you can get them in whatever order you really want to; just make sure they're some of your earliest purchases.
While you're working up to these purchases, make sure you invest in your mana as you see fit, and keep your resists capped while keeping HP/ES at a level that feels comfortable for you.
Once you have the beginning pieces in place, look to upgrade pieces with higher ES, Life, and Resists, so you can fit extra damage rolls or more -Mana rolls on your gear. It's a gradual process, keep improving your gear.
Weapons
You may also want to get a second bow for your offhand to use Caustic Arrow, although it isn't at all necessary and you can clear maps with Toxic Rain if you prefer.
Start out with a 5 link 1.5 attack speed base (Short Bow, Grove Bow, Thicket Bow) with +2 to socketed bow gems and a local attack speed craft. There's a couple incremental bows you can go to depending on your budget.
You can also farm a 6L bow from Imperial Legacy cards in The Oasis Zone. If you want to know all of the locations it can drop, check here:
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Imperial_Legacy#Item_acquisition
Consider farming two bows if you're on SSF, one for Caustic and one for Toxic Rain. A full set should only take a few hours.
DETAILED FURTHER DOWN FOR MORE BOW CRAFTING INFORMATION.
Quiver
Start off with quivers that have life, attack speed, and fill out your resists. For your offhand, make sure you run a Penetrating Quiver base to help with Caustic Arrow's clear.
When you have more money to invest in damage, you can look at something like the DoT or CDoT multi (or both).
Helm
You can use Eber's Unification if you want more damage, but I think Vertex is the best helmet here.
For lab enchants, +1 pod or +40% damage are both good.
Chest
There's a lot you CAN look for on a chest, like frenzy charge on hit, spell dodge, ailment immunity, etc. but start off with hybrid EV/ES, and crafted %Life gained as Energy Shield.
I NO LONGER USE QUEEN NOW THAT SECOND WIND IS IN THE GAME
Just your average QOTF. Not sure what else you'd use here, as this was one of the key items I wanted to use in this build. If you don't care about QOTF/MS, using a well rolled EV/ES rare is better. You can also use a Perfect Form and drop Acro/Phase Acro for a more defensively built character.
Gloves
I use damage and ES gloves, but just find a rare that has life and fills out your resists until you start investing more currency into the build.
You can also get CDOT multi on gloves, but you'll start to hurt on resists if you look for this too early.
Boots
Atiziri's Step is how we get high Spell Dodge. They also come with 30 movement speed, solid life, and good evasion. Perfect boots for the build.
You can consider synthesis implicit boots over this, but its too early in the league to call it one way or the other right now.
Rings *IMPORTANT*
YOU WILL WANT AN ELREON MOD You WILL want an elreon mod on both of your rings of -6 or -7. We get very close to full reserve, and we attack very quickly.
You can also find a ring with the temple mod "Xopec's" on it, which is considered a mana mod although it gives - total cost of skills.
Belt
Life, resists, maybe some strength, and an abyssal socket.
Amulet
With the addition of new influences, the amulet can become a massive source of damage. +1 Dex or +1 Chaos gems is very powerful, as it CDOT multi. Invest here when you can, but its not a priority.
If you're using Steelskin, you're going to need to find a lot of strength here. If you cannot find adequate strength to run a high (20 or 21) Steelskin, you should drop it completely and instead run a low level CWDT-IC set up instead.
Flasks
Pretty standard flasks. I use a Life potion a lot of the time, but at some point you're basically invincible and can use a Dying Sun for mapping isntead.
Jewels
DAMAGE WITH BOWS AND DAMAGE WITH TWO-HANDED WEAPONS DO NOT AFFECT THE DOT DAMAGE OF TOXIC RAIN. We do not hit WITH the weapon, so these mods don't apply.
Minus Maximum Mana clarity mod is really strong here. You can get malevolence mods as well, just look for a solid Watcher's eye that you can afford. On rare Jewels look for stuff with life and attack speed.
Before I got Bleed Immunity on my Watcher's Eye, I used a random jewel with the corruption "Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you". You will still get affected by normal bleeds, but those are far less common. If you're playing this build on hardcore, I recommend you still use a staunching flask until you can get a bleed immune Watcher's Eye.
You will also want to get an abyss jewel with onslaught.
Cluster Jewels
Large Cluster Jewel
There's two base types for Larges that we're interested in: Chaos and Bow. Ideally you want 8 passives max on whichever one you get. With the baseline two jewel sockets coming soon, you want as many strong notables as you can get.
For Bow, the two main ones are Tempered Arrowheads and Broadside. Other useful ones would include Martial Prowess and Fuel the Fight.
For Chaos clusters, the top three are Wicked Pall, Unholy Grace, and Misery Everlasting. Anything that give chaos damage is passable, though.
Medium Cluster Jewel
For Mediums, you want either 4 or 5 total passives, with Wicked Pall and any other useful notable. Virtually all of them are applicable, some give slightly more useful additional stats though. Flow of Life gives 4% life, Student of Decay gives 13% Chaos damage, etc. Just use what you get or can afford.
Small Cluster Jewel
You have 3 options here. You can use a 2 point Attack Dodge jewel for Elegant Form if you're trying to reach 100% ailment immunity (recommended).
You can use a life jewel (2 or 3 points) with Sublime Sensation or Fettle.
You can use a regular jewel for Life or Damage stats (big budget but best after 100% immunity if you need damage).
How to calculate actual DPS instead of being a Tooltip Warrior
I want to start by saying these are estimations, as we don't currently have hard numbers from GGG about the skill's multiple AoEs. I have done testing in PVP to confirm averages, however there's always a chance of an insubstantial data set. Anyway, here's how I calculate it.
The big Variable here is Average Pods that are affecting the boss per cast of Toxic Rain. In Testing, with 45% Inc AOE I was hitting about 3.75~ but I think 3.5 is a safer estimate. Using the Increased AOE Support was giving me about 20% more active pods affecting the target, where as Conc Effect was giving around 20% less. That makes Conc Effect about a 1.28 multiplier, and a tooltip warrior trap. It also comes with a massive Mana Multiplier, which makes it even less desirable.
Additional Arrows had seemingly no impact on my number of Active Pods.
Example Calculations
The current POB for 3.7 has some optimization to go through, but here are the current numbers.
If you want to include hit damage and poison DPS, here's how
We'll be using Angry Roleplayer's TR POB for this example.
Much of the math here is going to be the same, we're just going to add in the poison per hit, and the hit DPS itself. Here are the numbers for his POB:
Attack Speed = 3.88
Mirage Archer = 1.28
Dot DPS = 27537
Skill Effect Duration = 10% (1.1x)
Active Pods = 3.5 (The build only has 10% AOE so its probably slightly lower)
Hit DPS = 39747
Total Damage per Poison = 66,615
First we take the TR pod DPS:
3.88*1.4*1.1*3.5*27537 = 575,866 DPS
Then we simply add the hit DPS, and the Total Damage per Poison times the number of active pods.
575866 + 39747 + (3.5*66615) = 848,785 DPS
Bow Crafting
There are a ton of different bows you can use based on your price point and how far you intend to go with the build. I'll be listing some common bows you can use, their expected crafting price, and their damage on my current character. Do not expect to get this much damage from fresh level 70 gear just because you have a +2 5L. This information is for relative comparison purposes.
+2 5L Starter Bow
Price: 10c
Damage: 1,274,618
How to Craft: Buy a 5L Short Bow, Thicket Bow, or Grove Bow that is itemlevel 64 or higher. If the bow is not white, scour it. Then spam Orbs of Alteration until you get "+2 to level of socketed bow gems". Use an Orb of Augmentation if the bow does not have a suffix yet, then Regal it. If you hit attack speed on either the Augment or the Regal, you can craft Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier. If you did not get attack speed, craft attack speed on the bow for 6 alterations. I'd recommend repeatedly crafting the attack speed until you get 10%.
6L Silverbough
Price: 60c
Damage: 1,864,952
How to Craft: Either buy it, or buy a 6L Silverbanch and then use the prophecy to upgrade it.
Porcupine Essence Bow
Price: 1-2 Exalts
Damage: 2,168,999
How to Craft: You can either buy the base pre-made, or you can gather 6 'The Porcupine' divination cards and turn them in to Navali. Once you have the 6L bow, use a Shrieking Essence of Dread on it. You can get Shrieking Essence of Dread by vendoring three Screaming Essences of Dread, or by purchasing it off other players. I'd recommend you repeatedly use the Shrieking Essences of Dread until you land Attack Speed as a suffix, with an open prefix to craft Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier.
If it wasn't apparent, multimodding has been changed. This method no longer gets you a fully modded bow.
+3 No VP Bow
Price: 6-7 Exalts
Damage: 3,036,739
How to Craft: Buy a 6L Short Bow, Thicket Bow, or Grove Bow that is itemlevel 64 or higher. If the bow is not white, scour it. Then spam Orbs of Alteration until you get "+2 to level of socketed bow gems". DO NOT AUGMENT THE BOW IF IT IS MISSING A SUFFIX. If it already has a suffix, it makes it a bit harder, but proceed anyway. Regal the bow, then use an Orb of Annulment to randomly remove an affix from the item. You may need to use two Annulments if your bow had a suffix on it originally. You want your bow to be yellow rarity with ONLY "+2 to level of socketed bow gems". If you happened to get +1 to socketed gems or attack speed on the bow by random chance, you can keep them. You will then need to craft "Cannot Roll Attack Mods" using the crafting bench for one Exalt. Then purchase a beast called a "Farric Wolf Alpha". Then, visit your Menagerie, and use the beast craft "Add a Prefix, Remove a Random Suffix" on the bow. The only possible option is +1 to Socketed Gems. If you've done everything correctly, you should have a bow with "+1 to level of Socketed Gems" and "+2 to level of Socketed Bow Gems". Then you want to return to your crafting bench, and craft "Can have multiple Crafted Modifiers". All that's left is to finish crafting 11 to 13% Attack Speed (Local), 20 to 22% Attack Speed while a Rare or Unique Enemy is Nearby, and then 36 to 40% Non-Ailment Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier. Your bow is now complete.
VP Bows are no longer obtainable in 3.9. I'll be leaving this for posterity, but look at the bow below for the new end-game craft.
+3 VP Bow
Price: Roughly 15 Exalts
Damage: 3,449,258
How to Craft: Buy an Elder Short Bow, Thicket Bow, or Grove Bow that is itemlevel 80 or higher. You can try to buy it already 6L, but you will likely have to link the item yourself. If you intend to link it yourself, you should craft 14% or 18% quality on the bow before attempting to link it. Craft the bow after you 6L it. If the bow is not white, scour it. Then spam Orbs of Alteration until you get "Socketed Gems are Supported by level X Vicious Projectiles". (Level 16 is ~3% worse than Level 20; Level 18 is ~1.5% worse than Level 20) DO NOT AUGMENT THE BOW IF IT IS MISSING A SUFFIX. If it already has a suffix, it makes it a bit harder, but proceed anyway. Regal the bow, then use an Orb of Annulment to randomly remove an affix from the item. You may need to use two Annulments if your bow had a suffix on it originally. You want your bow to be yellow rarity with ONLY "Socketed Gems are Supported by level X Vicious Projectiles". If you happened to get +1 to socketed gems or attack speed on the bow by random chance, you can keep them. You will then need to craft "Cannot Roll Attack Mods" using the crafting bench for one Exalt. Then purchase a beast called a "Farric Wolf Alpha". Then, visit your Menagerie, and use the beast craft "Add a Prefix, Remove a Random Suffix" on the bow. The only possible option is +1 to Socketed Gems. If you've done everything correctly, you should have a bow with "+1 to level of Socketed Gems" and "Socketed Gems are Supported by level X Vicious Projectiles". Then you want to return to your crafting bench, and craft "Can have multiple Crafted Modifiers". All that's left is to finish crafting 11 to 13% Attack Speed (Local), 20 to 22% Attack Speed while a Rare or Unique Enemy is Nearby, and then +2 to level of Socketed Support Gems. Your bow is now complete. VP Bows are no longer obtainable in 3.9. I'll be leaving this for posterity, but look at the bow below for the new end-game craft.
+3 DoT Multi Bow
Cost: Variable. 10 exalts+ (minimum)
This bow is much simpler to craft than the +3 VP bow we used to make, however its probably more tedious or difficult. Try to use an ilv 82 bow for tier 1 DOT multi. You'll need to isolate two suffxies, ideally local attack speed and DOT Multi (specifically suffix, not prefix CDOT), and then block attack modifiers, exalt slam for +1, then multimod +2 supports and 40% CDOT multi. There's no amazing way to get this. You can try alt - regal spamming, chaos spamming, suffix locking, annul-yolos; either way, you need to try and get the two suffixes isolated.
