Description

Eldritch Battery based EK Ranger with AA / Tempest Shield / 6 Auras / High Block for Onslaught League

Suggested Leagues: Hardcore, Onslaught

Passive Skills

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• Level 83--Currently Mana Heavy for Blood Magic / Reduced Mana / Alpha Howl aura abuse fix

Gems

Helm (Auras)

Reduced Mana
Discipline
Clarity
Grace

Chest (5L EK + AA)

Arctic Armour
Ethereal Knives
Added Fire Damage
Faster Casting
Faster Projectiles
Life Leech

Gloves (Auras + Curse)

Reduced Mana
Enfeeble
Hatred

Boots (Tempest Shield + Auras)

Reduced Mana
Determination
Tempest Shield
Blind

Weapon (Utility + Curse)

Leap Slam
Enduring Cry
Vulnerability

Shield (Bear Traps)

Bear Trap
Bear Trap
Added Fire Damage

Flasks

Flask Set 1

Life Flask
Life Flask
Quicksilver Flask
Granite Flask
Quicksilver Flask

Bandits

Help Oak in Normal Difficulty - Rewards +40 to Maximum Life
Help Oak in Cruel Difficulty - Rewards +12% to Physical Damage
Help Oak in Merciless Difficulty - Rewards +1 to Maximum Endurance Charge

Gear

I will link the original thread on the PoE forums so you can take a look at the exact gear that I am currently using, but I will list out what stats you want to look for on each piece to make the gear search a little bit easier.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/484146

Helm: Alpha's Howl--necessary for the 8% reduced mana reservation.

Chest: Evasion--HP, resists, increased evasion.

Gloves: Evasion--HP, resists, increased evasion.

Boots: Evasion--HP, resists, increased evasion, movement speed.

Shield: Evasion/ES Spiked Shield--HP, +ES, +EV/ES %, block chance, resists (this is what fuels your Eldritch Battery the most)

Necklace: The Anvil / Stone of Lazhwar / Rare with mana, +ES%, HP, cast speed, resists.

Rings: Non-Iron Ring--HP, mana, ES, Mana Regen (very important), resists

Belt: Leather--HP, ES, resists, armor

Weapon: Scepter--Spell damage, cast speed, mana, mana regen, spell crit, resists.

Guide

The most important gem to note is that Blind support linked with Tempest Shield. The high block chance attainable with this spec allows almost 100% uptime of blind on nearly all mobs. By not taking Unwavering Stance this allows you a psuedo 77% chance dodge. Paired with a maxed Arctic armor and nearly 20k armor this character is amazingly immune to some of the most dangerous monsters in the game.

Leap Slam is highly recommended for mobility as The Anvil strips you of most of your run speed. This requires a scepter to use so keep that in mind when gathering gear.

I used to run the 3 flat mana reserved auras from hp like nearly everyone did, but have fixed my gear / spec to reflect the change coming in 0.11.4. I am currency running all auras out of my mana: Grace, Discipline, Hatred, Tempest Shield, Purity, Determination, Clarity, and of course Arctic Armor. My mana is sitting at 3131 atm, and I'm still going for more. At the moment this is basically the bare minimum it takes for me to have enough left over to still cast a 113 mana EK. I have 250.7 mana regen per second with this much mana.

The most fun thing to do with this character is bathe in Tentacle Miscreants and Voidbearers. The more projectiles, the more fun.
http://youtu.be/TqNe9AOa5wg

The build does an amazing job at what it sets out to do--staying alive. It can nearly shut out all fire / physical damage thanks to very high armor, block chance and the ability to run a level 20 Arctic Armor with 100% up time.
http://youtu.be/vg38zltjI6w

Face tanking double Blacksmith like a champ. Some people think that this build is only capable or tanking very small hits. Don't listen to uneducated ones.
http://youtu.be/ElV0d-8x0R0

I leveled this character exclusively as EK the whole way. I started at level 4 using EK, and up until around level 60ish it was linked only with Faster Projectiles.

I leveled this character as a brand new character on a new league so I went into this with very little gear--a couple loaned out lowbie uniques was all I had to start.

Some items I would highly recommend (if leveling as EK the whole way) would be a Crest of Perandus. This shield will last you until you get to mid 60's and can wear a nice EV/ES shield to start supporting Eldritch Battery. As for weapons, just get the best wand or scepter you can find at the moment. This was my weapon progression: a low level rare wand I no longer have but it had 5% spell damage and 5% cast speed and I used it until around level 25 when I found something barely better.

As for your other gear, just shoot for the normal stats: hp, resists, increased evasion, mana, ES--if you are going to EB early. It is important for you to wear strictly evasion pieces if you can help it, although while leveling it doesn't make too much of a difference.

When it comes to passive tree progression, I recommend going to IR before EB unless you have some decent rings / belt lined up with some ES on them to start taking advantage of EB. The last place I suggest going is into the Duelist tree for the hp and block nodes.

You want to become Oak's number one fanboy so make sure you help him on all difficulties.

Aura progression should look something like this: Hatred, Clarity, Discipline, Grace, Purity, Determination, just add them as mana permits while still being able to run Tempest Shield.

I began using Arctic Armor at normal Docks, just toggling it when anything slightly dangerous was on the screen and I wasn't moving.

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