3.1 Explosive Arrow Slayer Build Guide







Welcome to my PoE 3.1 Explosive Arrow build guide. I also have a video build guide



Current State of Build Guide (3.2)

Spoiler



I made a meme video about Explosive Arrow - it's funny and was meant to hopefully shine a spotlight on one of my favorite skills, but doesn't really accurately reflect the current state of Explosive Arrow (which is pretty viable). If you enjoy stupid content,

This guide was not updated for 3.2, but it should still be a viable EA template. I am looking to potentially resurrect the build for 3.3, though it may mean an ascendancy change. EA is still a fun and viable skill that I really enjoy.I made a meme video about Explosive Arrow - it's funny and was meant to hopefully shine a spotlight on one of my favorite skills, but doesn't really accurately reflect the current state of Explosive Arrow (which is pretty viable). If you enjoy stupid content, take a look



Why EA

Spoiler - Fast Clear Speed

- High Top-End Damage - Shaper and Hall of Grandmasters viable





Why Duelist Slayer?

Spoiler - Better pathing than Ranger

- 100% increased leech rate (leech provided by corrupted quiver / amulet)

- 20% Cull

- Bleed Immunity





Build Highlights

Spoiler - 8K life

- 61% increased movement speed

- Single-target Explosive Arrow is level 28

- Generates Endurance and Frenzy charges

- 28% block chance, 15% spell block

- Dual curse

- Can run Bisco's Collar for mapping





Changes from 3.0 (and previous)

Spoiler

- We don't need to mitigate reflect anymore! Removed Ruby flask, tree changes, Pantheon changes resulted.

- Stygian Vise belts are best-in-slot for Abyss league players.



Changes from 2.X

Spoiler If you are reading a 2.X series build guide for Explosive Arrow, it will likely be talking about stacking double-dip damage to power secondary ignite damage. Double-dipping is gone, which cut top-end power off the build.



At the same time, Weapon Elemental Damage was repurposed to be Elemental Damage with Attack Skills - this change allowed Explosive Arrow to take advantage of this source of damage (both through the gem and on gear). The WED change effectively negates a lot of downsides to the build - in your single target setup, you get to remove Slower Projectiles, and in your Quill Rain it's Concentrated Effect that gets the boot - both pretty large quality-of-life improvements.



With 3.0 Pantheon, we get Soul of Yugul which reduces reflected damage taken by 25% - set this and plan on never changing it. As EA, reflect mitigation is very necessary, and this Pantheon skill dramatically improves our survivability as such.



Effectively, Explosive Arrow remains a capable and fairly well-balanced skill to use for clearing content.



- No significant nerfs were introduced in 3.1.- We don't need to mitigate reflect anymore! Removed Ruby flask, tree changes, Pantheon changes resulted.- Stygian Vise belts are best-in-slot for Abyss league players.



Skill Tree and Path of Building

Spoiler Skill Tree



Path of Building



Bandit choice is Kraityn (if you value movement speed) or kill. I took Kraityn.

Bandit choice is Kraityn (if you value movement speed) or kill. I took Kraityn.



Videos

Spoiler Video Build Guide



Shaper Kill



Hall of Grandmasters (Deathless)



+3 Fire Gems Bow Crafting





Gear

Spoiler Weapons





6L Quill Rain for Trash Clear



6L +3 Fire Gems Bow for Single-Target



The Quill Rain can be used for boss clears all the way up to guardians - it's not the fastest, but it does the trick.



The +3 bow is really only necessary for the Shaper fight, but it is incredibly useful for most boss encounters, and is easy to craft using Essences and Orbs of Annulment.



Quiver





You will need two Rearguards - one for mainhand and one offhand. Both should be corrupted with '.2% Fire Damage Leeched as Life'. There are precious few ways to get fire damage leech (corrupted quivers and amulets) and leech is a cornerstone of this build's defensive strategy, so these corruptions are incredibly important.



Alternatives

Spoiler



Sometimes properly corrupted Rearguards are expensive. A corrupted quiver with good stats is always a great alternative.

Sometimes properly corrupted Rearguards are expensive. A corrupted quiver with good stats is always a great alternative.



Helmet





Alternative is Hrimnor's Resolve with EA damage - slightly harder to gear, but also a fantastic helmet.



Chest





No surprise here - EA is the best suited to be played with Kaom's Heart.



Neck





+1 Curse Ngamahu Tiki for Shaper and Guardians. Bisco's collar for mapping. You can run Xoph's Heart, but the secret is a +1 curse Ngamahu is both stronger and cheaper (subject to market availability). If you cannot get a +1 Curse Ngamahu but want to dual-curse, use Windscream boots to do so. In this case, your amulet should be corrupted with '.2% Fire Damage Leeched as Life' for additional life leech.



Belt/Boots/Gloves/Jewelery





Elemental damage with Attack Skills, life, resistances, accuracy and attack speed. You NEED to get any flat cold or lightning damage AND NO FLAT FIRE DAMAGE ON GEAR. This is to proc Elemental Equilibrium for Explosive Arrow.



Alternatives

Spoiler



The Taming and Headhunter are great gear if you can afford such luxuries. The Taming and Headhunter are great gear if you can afford such luxuries.



Jewels





You will want 3x Grand Spectrum Viridian Jewels. These scale all your damage (explosion and ignite), and they allow you to pick up extra life on the tree over damage nodes. Theoretically, 4-stat jewels would be better, but the opportunity cost is hundreds of chaos difference, and the correct jewels are very hard to find. On rare jewels, prioritize life, fire damage, projectile damage, attack speed, area damage (in that order). A The Red Nightmare is a great addition to this build if you are so fortunate - add it to the jewel socket between Witch and Templar for 5% block and 15% chance to gain endurance charges on kill.



Flasks





Life flasks, Quicksilver, one to two utility flasks - can run Taste of Hate, Dying Sun, etc. No need for Bleed removal due to Slayer ascendancy.

6L Quill Rain for Trash Clear6L +3 Fire Gems Bow for Single-TargetThe Quill Rain can be used for boss clears all the way up to guardians - it's not the fastest, but it does the trick.The +3 bow is really only necessary for the Shaper fight, but it is incredibly useful for most boss encounters, and is easy to craft using Essences and Orbs of Annulment. Here is a video of me demonstrating the process. You will need two Rearguards - one for mainhand and one offhand. Both should be corrupted with '.2% Fire Damage Leeched as Life'. There are precious few ways to get fire damage leech (corrupted quivers and amulets) and leech is a cornerstone of this build's defensive strategy, so these corruptions are incredibly important.Alternative is Hrimnor's Resolve with EA damage - slightly harder to gear, but also a fantastic helmet.No surprise here - EA is the best suited to be played with Kaom's Heart.+1 Curse Ngamahu Tiki for Shaper and Guardians. Bisco's collar for mapping. You can run Xoph's Heart, but the secret is a +1 curse Ngamahu is both stronger and cheaper (subject to market availability). If you cannot get a +1 Curse Ngamahu but want to dual-curse, use Windscream boots to do so. In this case, your amulet should be corrupted with '.2% Fire Damage Leeched as Life' for additional life leech.Elemental damage with Attack Skills, life, resistances, accuracy and attack speed. You NEED to get any flat cold or lightning damage AND NO FLAT FIRE DAMAGE ON GEAR. This is to proc Elemental Equilibrium for Explosive Arrow.You will want 3x Grand Spectrum Viridian Jewels. These scale all your damage (explosion and ignite), and they allow you to pick up extra life on the tree over damage nodes. Theoretically, 4-stat jewels would be better, but the opportunity cost is hundreds of chaos difference, and the correct jewels are very hard to find. On rare jewels, prioritize life, fire damage, projectile damage, attack speed, area damage (in that order). A The Red Nightmare is a great addition to this build if you are so fortunate - add it to the jewel socket between Witch and Templar for 5% block and 15% chance to gain endurance charges on kill.Life flasks, Quicksilver, one to two utility flasks - can run Taste of Hate, Dying Sun, etc. No need for Bleed removal due to Slayer ascendancy.



Links

Spoiler

Quill Rain

EA - Elemental Damage With Attack Skills - Fire Penetration - Chance to Ignite - Less Duration - Greater Multiple Projectiles



+3 Bow

EA (level 21) - Chance to Ignite - Less Duration - Concentrated Effect - Empower (4) - Elemental Damage with Attack Skills



Alternative to Empower 4 is Fire Penetration - Empower 3 is a very modest upgrade over Fire Penetration, and Empower 4 is a significant one.



Curses

Frenzy - Curse on Hit - Elemental Weakness - Flammability



If you cannot dual-curse, run either Orb of Storms (to proc Elemental Overload more reliably) or Faster Attacks for a faster Frenzy. Primary curse should be Flammability.



Utility

Blink Arrow - Faster Attacks - Faster Projectiles - Summon Flame Golem (or Summon Stone Golem)



CWDT

CWDT - Immortal Call - Increased Duration - Vaal Haste







Build Costs and Thoughts

Spoiler My version of this build costs around 3000 chaos (of which 1200 chaos are a Red Nightmare and a level 4 Empower), not including gems. You can run up through Guardians with about 150% less damage on tree, jewels and gear comfortably. This level of damage is only required for Shaper kill, so much cheaper gear will work well for you. You probably should expect to purchase a Kaom's Heart and a 6L Quill Rain, but the rest is pretty much up to you. The +1 curse amulet is key to dumpstering Shaper's fire res and beating him in a semi-comfortable amount of time.



As far as end-game power level, EA is clearly capable. However, the cost of doing so is pretty high at the top end. You are fighting the meta for fire-damage gear, which makes many items more costly. If you are looking for a budget Shaper-killer, this is not the build for you. I pushed the power because I wanted to see whether or not EA could clear the Shaper - it is possible, but it's a very difficult fight that relies on mechanical skill.





Changes

Spoiler -12/26/2017 - Updated for 3.1 / Abyss league.



- 09/21/2017 - Changed single-target gem suggestions to Empower 4 over Fire Penetration. This is a significant upgrade in single-target damage for those with the budget.



- 09/21/2017 - Changed to use 3x Grand Spectrum over rare jewels, with minor tree modifications. This led to a modest damage and life upgrade (about 20K additional effective DPS against Shaper, and 100 additional life), along with reducing the build cost by about 200c. Thank you reddit user digao94 for the suggestion.



Welcome to my PoE 3.1 Explosive Arrow build guide. I also have a video build guide located here , if you are so inclined. Last edited by GodofRabbits on May 8, 2018, 9:07:18 PM Last bumped on Jun 17, 2018, 6:10:19 PM