



-------







(Source: Manga -- Berserk)



Thank you Bex for bringing back BOTW and choosing this build! Totally unexpected! I'm so surprised XD



Hi I'm Insobyr. I have been a super fan of barrage since the Volley Fire threshold jewel was first introduced in game. The skill has so many potential but is overlooked by many people. I managed to kill Core Malachai with this build in prophecy softcore so I decided to write a guide for it, mostly for volley fire barrage, my favorite bow skill.



Update 2.4: Lightning Arrow + Frost Wall is completely DEAD in 2.4, it's finally safe to announce: Barrage is now the #1 Bow Skill!



Basically nothing change but some new cool stuff added in 2.4, so this build will work just the same as in 2.3. I'm playing some other builds this league so probably I won't update much in this thread. I hope this post can inspire you in some way and help you build your even cooler character :)



Special thanks to @Daidelos, his post <Voltaxic Poisonous Quills> (







Video

Spoiler



Note: All videos are from 2.3.



T15 Core Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVn2PlZNRtQ



T13 Village Ruins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHkRue1Oy3A



Normal Atziri: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5mbgroFkU4



Note: All videos are from 2.3.



Pros & Cons

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Pros:

1. One main skill, with nice damage for both AOE and single target.

2. No reflect issue w/o Vaal Pact. Reflect maps are doable.

3. Fuck the frostwall meta.



Cons:

1. Not new league starter friendly. (Droprate of volley fire was nerfed in 2.3)

2. Not super tanky. (Compared to like Juggernaut.)







Why Barrage? (over Lightning Arrow)

Spoiler



First off, Barrage has the highest base damage against single target among all bow skills because the multiple arrows in the one same cast can "shotgun" -- 61.4% * 4 = 245.6% at level 20. While Blast Rain, the well-known top tier bow skill for single target, only has 47.6%*4 = 190.4% at lv20.



Secondly, volley fire jewels provide a FREE lmp/gmp or even greater multiple projectiles, which means it enables Barrage's ability of pack clearing with no downside. Volley Fire let Barrage fires the side arrows twice per cast, which means 61.4% * 2 = 122.8% in terms of AOE. As comparison, Split Arrow only has 109% at lv20.



Thirdly, Barrage has one of the best enchantment among all skills -- 2 additional barrage projectiles -- which means 50% more damage against single target! (Look at those 40% increased damage of XXX skill LoL)



Finally, Barrage is also the best bow skill to apply poison. Reason: 1. Pure physical. 2. Free multiple projectiles. Let's do some simple comparison with the meta poison bow builds:

1. Reach physical poison with LA ---- get fucked by the 50% damage conversion.

2. Reach AddedChaos poison with LA ---- get fucked by the damage conversion, but better than #1, but the addedChaos damage is still kinda low.

3. Non-reach poison with whatever not-barrage skill ---- get fucked by GMP's LESS double dipping.

4. Reach/Voltaxic poison with Barrage ---- Win.



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Some calculation of single-target damage comparison between Barrage and the frostwall & LA meta (which is already dead in 2.4, JFYI):



Assumptions:

1. Non-Reach of Council.

2. Lightning Arrow with lv20 GMP

3. Barrage with +2 helm enchantment. (fires 6 arrows per cast)

4. Barrage with 30% more overall damage from the additional link.



Then,

Damage of single arrow of lightning arrow: 119% * 0.74% = 88.06%

Damage of single arrow of Barrage: 61.4% * 1.3 = 79.82%



Damage of Barrage per cast: 79.82% * 6 = 478.92%,

which equals to 478.92% / 88.06% = 5.4 LA arrows overlapping.



That's to say, without wasting time casting second skill, Barrage's single target DPS outperforms LA + with one frostwall! Time to save your time and save your socket!







Why Voltaxic?

Spoiler



Reason:



1. Far less vulnerable to reflect. (Compared to Reach of Council)



2. Far cheaper than Reach of Council in 2.3.



3. Poison provides a decent amount of "added elemental damage as chaos damage", which makes Voltaxic superior to other elemental bow option (like Windripper)







Barrage & Volley Fire Mechanism

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Barrage is a very unique projectile skill, basically because the "additional projectiles/arrows" (From GMP/LMP, helm enchantment, quiver corrupted implicit, etc.) works totally different in this skill -- instead of adding additional projectiles simultaneously, it adds additional projectiles in a sequence -- which means they're "shotgun-able"!



On the other hand, Volley fire works similarly to what GMP/LMP normally works on other projectile skills -- fires side arrows simultaneously.



The graph below shows how Barrage works in one single cast & what description will show in the tooltip under different conditions:







Barrage is a very unique projectile skill, basically because the(From GMP/LMP, helm enchantment, quiver corrupted implicit, etc.) works totally different in this skill -- instead of adding additional projectiles simultaneously,-- which means they'reOn the other hand,works similarly to what GMP/LMP normally works on other projectile skills --The graph below showsunder different conditions:



Tree

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Basically, it's a typical ranger bow tree with several minus changes around Volley Fire.



For the ascendancy passives, I give up "chain" because I go pierce (META, kappa); I give up the "additional arrow" because it doesn't have a good enough impact to a 6-7 arrows barrage. In addition, barrage can proc bleeding pretty well because of its high number of hits per cast, so the "additional crit against bleeding targets" node is pretty good here.



3 Volley Fire setups:

Spoiler















My current tree at Lv92:

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAICAQBeAdwFLQguDY0PqxEvE9oVQxa_GYoZjhvIIXYj0yP2JIsknST9JpUqCy5TMHEwfDH6NZI2PTfUOdQ6QjrhQzFHfkp9S3hM_02STeNOKlFHU89VS1uvXfJh4mJaYqxlTWlObIxtbG87b_JwUnTtdct293fjeA167311fyuExYTZhs6HdonTjAuMNo19jX6Nv49glwabjZu1naqgn6OKpHimV6lurcKv67EBtfK5fL02vqfAGsEzwdXDOsSizZjPXs_d02_TftQj2L3asdrB3aje-OOf51Tn6upi62PssO0_7YPuDu968Yr5M_zF_o_-uv_e



Basically, it's a typical ranger bow tree with several minus changes around Volley Fire.For the ascendancy passives, I give up "chain" because I go pierce (META, kappa); I give up the "additional arrow" because it doesn't have a good enough impact to a 6-7 arrows barrage. In addition, barrage can proc bleeding pretty well because of its high number of hits per cast, so the "additional crit against bleeding targets" node is pretty good here.



Gem Setup

Spoiler



Main Skill: Barrage + Added Lightning Damage + WED + Pierce + Inc Crit Dmg / Void Manipulation / Poison / Slower Projectile



(the 5th and 6th link are flexible, based on what style you prefer)



Auto-curse setup: Herald of Thunder + CoH + AssMark (enfeeble) + Projectile Weakness (temporal chains)





Self-cast curse setup: Frenzy + GMP + CoH + AssMark (enfeeble) + Projectile Weakness (temporal chains)



I used dual curse because I'm using Cospri's Will, and that's also why I don't link poison to my barrage. (But please note that poison is an extremely important component of our DPS, so finding a way to poison is a MUST!)



I use two curse setup because it's more flexible, and it provides a better QoL.



BTW, projectile weakness is very good to this build since it double-dip the poison.







Gear

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I'm using Cospri's Will as my body armour, you can also use Kaom's Heart for better survivability since this build only require one 6-linked.







I'm using Cospri's Will as my body armour, you can also use Kaom's Heart for better survivability since this build only require one 6-linked.



Leveling

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1. Use whatever skill you like to level 12, grab Lightning arrow.



2. Grab Roth's Reach at lv 18, and link your main skill with AddedCold + AddedLightning + WED, this setup can walk you through merciless. (Here's a video to show how a Roth's Reach can do in T8 map:



3. You can also use the fated stormcloud bow.



4. Start using barrage as your main skill as soon as 2 volley fire are activated.



5. When you reach normal Act 2, grab Herald of Ice and Herald of Thunder.



6. When you reach normal Act 4, grab Stone Golem and start using Blood Rage to get frenzy charges.



1. Use whatever skill you like to level 12, grab Lightning arrow.2. Grab Roth's Reach at lv 18, and link your main skill with, this setup can walk you through merciless. (Here's a video to show how a Roth's Reach can do in T8 map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYeNDjIPAlw 3. You can also use the fated stormcloud bow.4. Start usingas your main skill as soon as5. When you reach normal Act 2, graband6. When you reach normal Act 4, graband start usingto get frenzy charges.



Bandits

Spoiler

1. Oak (HP)

2. Attack Speed

3. Frenzy Charge (double dip poison)





Some tooltip number Spoiler



with HoT, Wrath and Lightning Golem in hideout:





with 4 frenzy chareges, 3 power charages, blood rage and atziri flask up:





with HoT, Wrath and Lightning Golem in hideout:with 4 frenzy chareges, 3 power charages, blood rage and atziri flask up:

[3.0 update] Double-dipping is officially gone in 3.0 so most of the calculations in this guide are no longer correct, and Voltaxic Rift is no longer recommended neither (barrage is still top bow skill for single target tho!) I decided to keep this guide to show how people abused double-dipping when it was still a thing :)-------(Source: Manga -- Berserk)Thank you Bex for bringing back BOTW and choosing this build! Totally unexpected! I'm so surprised XDHi I'm. I have been a super fan of barrage since thethreshold jewel was first introduced in game. The skill has so many potential but is overlooked by many people. I managed to kill Core Malachai with this build in prophecy softcore so I decided to write a guide for it, mostly for volley fire barrage, my favorite bow skill.: Lightning Arrow + Frost Wall is completelyin 2.4, it's finally safe to announce:Basically nothing change but some new cool stuff added in 2.4, so this build will work just the same as in 2.3. I'm playing some other builds this league so probably I won't update much in this thread. I hope this post can inspire you in some way and help you build your even cooler character :)Special thanks to, his post ( www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1531640 ) in Talisman league inspired me a lot, and helped me found my favorite bow skill in this game :) Last edited by insobyr on Aug 21, 2017, 6:22:43 PM Last bumped on Jun 7, 2018, 10:02:42 AM