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Path of Exile Duelist Bow Tank Build

Hey guys, this is my non-conventional build for HC and I would like to share it with you all.

I would like criticism, comments and if people feel like it, try it out and tell me how it works.
Personally I am using it at the moment and I'm level 34 in HC with it. It's working really well so... why not share it with the world?


What is this build?

This is a bow duelist build. It's not a normal bow duelist though, it's a tank bow duelist. By the end of the build you will have a killing machine from ranged attacks with a lot of HP which will be able to (almost) rival the strongest Marauder tanks. But with a bow!

How does it work?

Abusing Resolute Technique to get 100% hit rate and Iron Grip to get Str bonus to bow damage we try to get a decent dps with bows while retaining a lot of survivability, it's an excellent build for HC players.

The Build

Level 30

Up to level 30, there's not much you need to know. Only rush Resolute Technique and Iron Grip and before then use a different weapon type (not bow, I personally enjoy using two-handed/one-handed swords for the accuracy bonus). By level 27 you should have both skills and you'll be ready to switch to a bow.
Level 30 build



Level 45:

We need to get a few dex nodes (focusing on +30 dex) in order to pump our minimum dex requirements for higher level bows. This is a tradeoff unfortunately but it's necessary if you want to keep up with the damage. After getting some dex, go down the path of the Marauder nodes to get your hands on some elemental resistances and life nodes/life regen. This will make sure you better survive normal->cruel difficulties.
Level 45 build



Level 60:

After this, we need to pump our dps a bit more. Get the few bow damage nodes near duelist starting area and then go down the path towards golem's blood to get better life regen. Also go up from the marauder nodes to pump more health and elemental resistances.
Level 60 build



Level 75:

Go for Blood Magic now (we should have decent enough health regen) and pick all the hp nodes you can find. Drop another few points in dex nodes just in case (for bow requirements) and get the attack speed bonus.
Level 75 build



The rest:

Put the rest of the points however you prefer. By now you should have a clear idea on what to do. Here's my tree, might change in time and evolve but that's pretty much the gist of it.
111 points build

These levels are arbitrary and do not reflect in-game levels, I am not taking into account the extra skill points you can get from quests (like Fairgraves for example). You should be allowed to modify the build a bit and experiment around. This is just the direction you should take, you aren't forced to follow it.
If you see you have plenty of HP, try going for damage nodes (especially for non-HC players). If you are lacking bow requirements, try to go for some dex nodes.



The equipment

Equipment is very important for this build. You will want str armor (the one that gives full armor, no evasion nor energy shield) to be a real tank. You're not supposed to tank because you're a ranged character but this will give you enough survivability to tank some hits and act as a tank in case the party requires one.

As for item stats/bonuses, try to max your elemental resistances as soon as possible and try to get +chaos % resistances from items which will help in cruel and merciless. You will also want a lot of +DEX equips to lower your bow requirements. Obviously the more linked sockets the better (it's going to be a bit troublesome to find decently linked green socket armors for this because str armors usually have red sockets, so be careful).

Skill Gems

Before level 27, use whatever you want. I personally use two handed sword with infernal blow/dual strike but that's really just personal preference, it doesn't matter much.
After level 27 you switch to bow. You will want to use what normal bow users use, poison arrow, burn arrow, arrow rain, lightning arrow, etc etc. There's not much I can say here, bow users are pretty straightforward when it comes to skills.
You might want to get yourself a nice totem+skill to spam and a projectile weakness curse to boost your dps even further.

Conclusion

Please keep in mind again that this is an experimental build. I am using it in HC and I am very satisfied by it but I'm still low level (mid-30s) so I don't know how well it scales at higher levels. Be flexible, adapt it, make it your own.

I'd love to hear criticism and comments :)

Thanks for reading!

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

The links to per level sections are broken.