Explosive Arrow Ignite Hierophant, HC league starter

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, YOU CAN FIND ME HERE * twitch.tv/ArtCrusader * https://discord.gg/3RUfr8s MECHANICS--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Explosive Arrow: Fire an arrow that deals Physical Damage. If it hits an enemy or a wall, it sticks a fuse to the target which will detonate after a duration, dealing Fire Damage. Additional arrows will increase the hit damage, and subsequently the Ignite. * Only sticks to the last target hit (don't use Pierce, Chain or Fork) * Sticking extra arrows does not refresh the base duration of 1 second * Breakpoint to hit 20 Fuses in one go at 1.8 seconds duration (from inc. Skill Effect Duration) With 8 Totems: 1.39 attacks per second With 7 Totems: 1.59 attacks per second (You can get away with less attack speed assuming the first wave of hits is synched and hitting the target immediatly) * Therefore, adding some Skill Effect Duration for the maximum possible Ignite is excellent for Ignite uptime and hitting maximum damage potential. We therefore invest 3 passive points into Exceptional Performance until we're way into Endgame and stacked enough Attack Speed. Elemental Equilibrium: * Hitting an enemy with Elemental Damage removes Exposure to the Element you hit it with and adds Exposure to the other types. We want to hit enemies with Cold or Lightning so that the explosion will gain the full benefit from the Fire Exposure. Frenzy: * This attack is great utility for us. We use it to apply Flammability and generate Frenzy Charges, which we use to get a long-lasting Onslaught buff from Rotgut as well as moving fast thanks to Phase Run. Searing Bond: * Searing Bond, especially with alternative quality, will add extra totems, further boosting our damage thanks to Ritual of Awakening, as well as providing armour, life and mana regeneration. If possible, find or buy a Phantasmal version of this skill gem as it will provide +2 totems at 20% quality. You get +3 Totems with the regular version and +5 Totems with Alt. Quality, resulting in Unique Items: * Wyrmsign Gloves are providing Rampage while on Maximum Endurance charges, which we always are. They are perfect for mapping and can be switched out for tougher bosses, but provide Armour and a decent amount of Life. * Dyadian Dawn Belt has a decent amount of Life, two Resistances and provides a lot of Ignite DPS * Skirmish Quiver provides an extra Totem and Accuracy rating. It can later be substituted for a rare crafted quiver with a good amount of Elemental Damage and Attack Speed (see Breakpoints below) * Atziri's Step Boots have 30% Movement Speed, offer Spell Suppression and a decent Life roll. Nothing fancy, just pick them up at your own convenience or use a rare pair instead. * Rain of Splinters is an absolute must for this build to pop off in Endgame. The 2 extra Arrows allows us to remove Greater Multiple Projectiles Support from the main setup and use Faster Attacks Support instead, which makes hitting 20 Fuses so much easier. The downside doesn't matter for the Explosion. * Rotgut Quicksilver Flask is a great addition for faster mapping, but also for a nice boost in Attack Speed since we already use Frenzy to generate Charges, we can use them to turn them into 9 seconds Onslaught. DEFENSIVE LAYERS--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Armour: * Works against physical hits. To prevent 33% of the damage you need 2.5 times the damage To prevent 50% of the damage you need 5 times the damage To prevent 66% of the damage you need 10 times the damage To prevent 90% of the damage you need 45 times the damage With about 25k armour you will be able to mitigate a 2.5k damage hit by 66% and a 5k hit by 50% Endurance Charges: * Every Endurance Charge adds 4% flat physical damage reduction which works on top of your Armour and up to 90% physical damage reduction. We have an extra 16% from Hierophant. You can get extra flat physical damage reduction by crafting it on your Helmet or Body Armour, it is definitely worth doing since physical hits are our weak point. Evasion Rating: * Evasion Rating is an entropy based system that determines if an enemy can hit you or not. Rule of thumbs in HC is that Evasion Rating is nice to have, but when you get hit you take 100% of the damage instead of 0%, so it works as a supplementary layer of defence rather than something that we can completely rely on. Nethertheless, it is a great damage mitigation tool. Molten Shell: * Molten Shell will prevent 75% of hit-based damage up to a limit of 20% of our Armour and up to 10k, so we will end up with a shield of about 5,000. The Vaal version has a much longer duration and is a little bigger (30% of our Armour, so about 8,000), but only takes 39% from hits. Spell Suppression: * This stat will mitigate 50% of spell-based hit damage and resulting ailments, so it is crucial to reach 100% chance to guarantee the mitigation. As long as GGG doesn't nerf Suppression, you will want to cap this stat whenever you can. Spell Suppression can roll on all Armour that naturally rolls Evasion Rating, including hybrid bases. If you are close to 100% you can anoint a notable like Instinct and get another 10%. Boots can be enchanted with 8% Spell Suppression if you have taken spell damage recently. Life Regeneration: * Since we do not deal damage ourselves and therefore cannot leech or otherwise recover life, life regen is what, well, keeps us afloat. Thankfully, Hierophant has a lot of that and we take full advantage of it (see Searing Bond for example). LABYRINTH--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Pursuit of Faith 2) Ritual of Awakening 3) Conviction of Power 4) 2 Small Nodes for Mana Regeneration ACT 1---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enemy at the Gate: Purifying Flame Mercy Mission: Onslaught Support (link with PF), buy Arcane Surge Breaking some Eggs: choose Holy Flame Totem & Frostblink, buy Flame Wall, Steelskin and Spell Cascade Tip1: Use Portal Scroll at entry to Flooded Depths (before bridge), then run to Waypoint on Ledge; Teleport back to Lioneye, take the Portal and kill Dweller of the Deep, log out and get your passive point Tip2: Check Tarkleigh whenever you can; he might sell boots with 10% Movement Speed (resets every level up) Tip3: You can sell Iron Rings to vendors with a skill gem. Blue results in Sapphire, Green in Topaz and Red in Ruby Get those Resistances in check! The Caged Brute: before Brutus, choose Added Fire Damage Support, buy Combustion Support after Brutus, choose Vitality, buy Clarity & Flame Dash ACT 2-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sharp and Cruel: Elemental Focus Support Intruders in Black: Herald of Ash, buy Wave of Conviction ACT 3-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grab a 4-link: look for RRBB and move in Holy Flame Totem + Supports Fixture of Fate: after helping Siosa, grab Charged Mines Support and purchase Determination, Grace and Defiance Banner to level them in an offhand item. ACT 6-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you happen to find a 5-link in Act 6, you'll want RRRBB as your colours. You can substitute one gem for an Added Cold Damage Support gem if you only get green sockets. AFTER KITAVA---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Now is the time for considering the respec * You will need about 14 respec points to remove Divine Judgement, Devotion and Explosive Impact * You will want to grab Holy Fire (through Ignite Chance) and Exceptional Performance * Good bow bases are Short Bow, Thicket Bow or Imperial Bow; try to find a 5-link and start farming the cards for Imperial Legacy * Imperial Legacy cards drop from - Desert - Desert Springs - Dry Sea - Dunes * If you lack Dexterity you can grab Agility and Precision from the Passive Tree BOW CRAFTING--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Early: Silverbough, Stormcloud and Quill Rain are decent for a 4 or 5-link End Game: Farm cards for the Imperial Legacy set. They can drop in any area that uses the Desert tileset, including Act 9 Oasis. Best Mods: +1 Socketed Gems, +2 to socketed Bow Gems, Attack Speed, Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Avoid added Fire Damage on any piece of gear that can roll it (Bow, Rings, Amulet, Quiver, Gloves). Method: Easiest way to get a good bow is rolling it with Fossils. For +1 Gems, +2 Bow Gems and Attack Speed: - 4 Fossil Craft: Corroded + Jagged + Metallic + Shuddering (8 Tries Average) - 3 Fossil Craft: Corroded + Metallic + Shuddering (24 Tries Average) For +1 Gems, +2 Bow Gems (crafted AS): - 4 Fossil Craft: Corroded + Jagged + Metallic + Dense (4 Tries Average) - 3 Fossil Craft: Corroded + Jagged + Metallic (28 Tries Average) You can also look for Fractured bases with either +2 to Socket Bow Gems or +1 to Socketed Gems being locked. This will save a lot of currency and yield a better result in the end. If you want to simulate this go to craftofexile.com