Description

Simple yet fun and effective build which utilizes Lightning Arrow and Frenzy.

Suggested Leagues: Default

Passive Skills

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• Level 1-10
• Level 11-20
• Level 21-30
• Level 31-40
• Level 41-50
• Level 51-60
• Level 61-70
• Level 71- The End

Gems

Frenzy (listed in order of importance)

Frenzy
Faster Attacks
Life Leech
Weapon Elemental Damage
Culling Strike
Added Fire Damage

Lightning Arrow (listed in order of importance)

Lightning Arrow
Chain
Lesser Multiple Projectiles
Life Gain on Hit
Weapon Elemental Damage
Faster Attacks

Skeleton Totem (tank-in-a-box)

Summon Skeletons
Spell Totem
Faster Casting

Auras

Anger
Wrath
Grace
Reduced Mana

Flasks

Flask Set 1

Life Flask
Life Flask
Granite Flask
Granite Flask
Quicksilver Flask

Bandits

Kill all the bandits in Normal Difficulty - Rewards 1 Passive Skill Point
Kill all the bandits in Cruel Difficulty - Rewards 1 Passive Skill Point
Kill all the bandits in Merciless Difficulty - Rewards 1 Passive Skill Point

Gear

This will be covered in the Guide below.

Guide

Preface

Please note that I did not make this build, nor did I write most of this guide. It was originally created by Nalaa, then improved and re-written by Skiazos. I take absolutely no credit for this build, but I have used it (although not to a very high level) and can validate its viability. Not to mention it is incredibly fun. Enjoy!

Key Gems from Quests:

Lightning Arrow: Normal > Act 1 > The Caged Brute
Wrath: Normal > Act 2 > Intruders in Black
Frenzy: Normal > Act 3 > Lost in Love
Lesser Multiple Projectiles: Normal > Act 3 > Sever The Right Hand
Grace: Cruel > Act 1 > Enemy At The Gate
Faster Attacks> Cruel > Act 2 > Sharp And Cruel
Culling Strike> Cruel > Act 2 > Sharp And Cruel
Faster Attacks> Cruel > Act 3 > Sever The Right Hand
Culling Strike> Cruel > Act 3 > Sever The Right Hand

You will want to get the following as soon as possible:

Life Gain On Hit, Lightning Arrow, and Lesser Multiple Projectiles.
Once you get those three skills you will be pretty set for Blood Magic around level 30. If you do NOT have Life Gain On Hit then you do NOT want to get Blood Magic as it will kill you. I will explain that later in this guide.
You will also want to get Anger, Wrath, and Summon Skeleton as soon as possible. All other support gems should be placed on gear until they can be linked with the corresponding skill gems later on so they will level up with you and not be too far behind to affect your damage output. Remember don’t put on useless gems to your character as it defaces the value of those gems if you try to sell them later.

FAQ

1) What's better: Life Leech or Life Gain On Hit?
Life Leech can only heal you a maximum of 20% per second and it is not instant. Life Gain On Hit can heal you to full health with 1 lightning arrow and it’s INSTANT so you won’t die to reflect mobs.

2) What level should I level my gems up to?
Max them out as fast as possible

3) Regarding Bandit Quest, why skill points when some of the bonuses are better?
Get all 3 skill points because if the game changes (it is still in beta) you may need to change some skills around. by having those extra points you will have that leeway.

4) What bow should I use?
Grab what ever gives you the most DPS, preferably as high base damage as possible. Normally the higher the base damage the lower the attack speed. Also look for high Elemental Damage % bows as this is your main attack.

5) Why do I feel so weak in Cruel or Merciless? I can’t kill anything!
That is the nature of a Ranger, which means you are completely gear dependent. If you have bad gear, you’re gunna have a hard time.

6)This build is only one point away from POINT BLANK - which gives 50% damage boost to anything basically adjacent to you, then tapers off to -100% damage at absolute maximum arrow range (further than off-screen). Why not get it?
The fall off range is not very long so you'll be absolutely worthless from a distance, not to mention that you just don't need the damage bonus because lightning arrow builds already deal a lot of damage. All-in-all, its not worth losing the damage from distance since you are a ranged character to begin with.

7) Given that Vaal Pact is so accessible, have you tried Vaal Pact + Life Leech?
If you can't use potions, it's GG! Potions are a secondary life saver, if you run into a room and almost die due to damage and you try to run away, and you don't have a health potion, you will probably die on your way out. Health potions also help in the situations where you are losing more health then gaining from you skills.

8) Chain + Lessor Multiple Projectiles (LMP) is 70% less projectile damage. Seems a bit steep. Why put them together?
With Chain and LMP you can hit 36 times with a single shot. If you use just LMP you are cutting your damage down a lot because you are now only hitting mobs 12 times. It's worth the "looks like less damage" but in reality it is a lot more damage per second then the skill actually says.

9) Should we go for Both Single and Aoe skill combinations or just the Single or AOE Gem combination?
Yes you should get both. The single target will kill a lot faster due to the increased atk speed and damage then the lightning arrow would to a single target. You should eventually get 5Linked gear (bow/chest) and you will want those two skills with support gems in them.

10) Why RT when main skill = lightning that has crit effects?
Your arrows will still miss without RT, when the atk can’t be evaded it adds more damage. So instead of 1 arrow bouncing just once because the 2nd one was evaded, it hits the full amount of times. This damage makes up and does more than an occasional crit would deal.

11) For the auras.. Must I all on at once or should I choose from the above (auras)?
You will want to use all of them (only 3) eventually but at lower levels your health may not be high enough to support all of them, I would pick only one of the elemental damage auras, and the evasion aura for the extra defenses. If you can run all 3 that’s great too.

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