Pros & Cons

• +Fast and Strong
• +Magic Find.
• +Evasion and Dodge
• +Far Shot Playstyle
• -Not a good "all-around" build
• -Have to reroll some map mods
• -Single Target
• -Tough to League Start with
• -Have not tested Hardcore
• -Can be high budget

 

Ascendancy + Skill Trees

Ascendary:

• Gathering Winds
• Far Shot
• Endless Munitions
• Powerful Precision

Bandit:

Help Alira. Kill them all is an alternative

Skill Tree

No uniques are required as this build is fine for a league start - but if this isn't your first character of the league then these will make the process easier: Goldrim, Tabula, Wanderlust, Prismweave, Silverbranch, Hyrri's Bite, Storm Cloud, Storm Prison, Lochtonial Caress, Karui Ward, Blackheart, Thief's Torment, Elreon -Mana Cost jewelery (resists/int a plus!), and buying skill/support gems with quality ready to be socketed in!

NOTE: Rangers do not get access to Added Lightning or Kinetic Blast so buy them on another character or trade for them! Kinetic Blast can be purchased from Siosa in Act 3 for SSF.

NOTE: It needs to be stated again: MAKE SURE YOU USE BARRAGE FOR LEVELING. Kinetic Blast will be miserable against some bosses.

 

Gems and Links

Overview

• Kinetic Blast - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Ice Bite/Added Cold* - Added Lightning Damage - Damage on Full Life
• Check the 3. Gems and Links section to see what gems work for you!
• Herald of Ice - Onslaught - Curse on Hit - Assassin's Mark
• Cast When Damage Taken - Immortal Call - Increased Duration - Vaal Grace
• Wrath
• Ice Golem - Cast When Damage Taken - Culling Strike - Blind
• Flame Dash - Faster Casting - Vaal Breach
• Decoy Totem

 

DETAIL:

Kinetic Blast

Kinetic Blast - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Elemental Damage with Attacks - Pierce* - Added Lightning Damage** - Damage on Full Life**

• *NOTE: If you have pierce from your tree then this isn't necessary.
• **NOTE: These last two links will vary based on your gear! If you have plenty of flat light damage from other sources or if you have have different colored links then you may want to look into Lightning Pen, Added Cold, Ice Bite, etc.
• Use path of building to see which alternatives will work best for your gear!
• If you are fine on damage consider Increased Item Rarity, especially for low tier farming!

Auras

Hearld of Ice - Onslaught - Curse on Hit - Assassins Mark

• The satisfying ice shatters come from this ability. Assassin's Mark is a way to crit more often and harder. Onslaught keeps us moving.

NOTE: Abyss Jewels can also give Onslaught!

Wrath

• A staple of wander builds. Pre-Abyss Jewels this was a primary source of flat lightning damage. Now with Abyss Jewels we have access to some quality of life alternatives.

Alternatives

• It may be worth working in an aura like Hatred/Haste/Grace/Clarity if you get a Watcher's Eye that gives you useful stats like Flat Cold Damage, Base Crit, Permanent Phasing, Dodge, Spell Dodge, Movespeed, etc.
• Consider things like Arctic Armor, Aspect of the Avian, or Aspect of the Cat if you pick up things that reduce Mana Reservation! Just make sure you have enough mana left over to cast Kinetic Blast a couple times.

 

Utility

Cast When Damage Taken – Immortal Call – Increased Duration

• Don’t overlevel your gems. You need to keep these gems relatively low level because we want CWDT to proc at a lower life threshold. By keeping it low – it also limits what level of spell it can cast, so feel free to level up Increased Duration but the Immortal Call and the curse of choice needs to stay in line with CWDT. Personally, I keep CWDT at level 1.

Lighting Warp/Flame Dash

• Try them both out and see which you like better.
• It's just something to get over walls with. If extra links then Faster Casting is nice quality of life (also Less Duration for Lightning Warp).

Ice Golem

• Ice Golem gives us Crit and Accuracy, both of which are useful for our build.
• Can be annoying to recast and keep up so try having a high level Cast When Damage Taken. Culling Strike, Blind, and/or Increased Item Rarity are good ways to get more value from your golem.

Decoy Totem

• Used for dragging the boss/tough rares to a wall.

Barrage - Knockback Support

• Great for knocking back ranged bosses against walls. Try supporting with Ranged Attack Totem (this means you can't use Decoy Totem) and/or Greater Multiple Projectiles.
• The totem is less good against bosses that summon adds because then you have to deal with Totem AI.

 

Other Nice to Haves

Vaal Grace

• Some extra survivability for bosses.

Vaal Breach

• Synergy with Esh's Mirror and Headhunter to get big damage for boss fights.

Vaal Haste

• For all the speed demons.

With any of these Vaal Skills consider linking to Increased Duration!

 

Quality Priority

Kinetic Blast (AoE .5%) > Herald of Ice (.75% Global Cold) > Damage Supports (All give .5% increase) > Attack Speed Supports (GMP)

 

Gear for reference

Gear:

• Weapon: Piscator's Vigil
• Shields: Esh's Mirror
• Chest: Queen of the Forest
• Helmets: Rare
• Gloves: Sadima's Touch 
• Belts: Headhunter
• Boots: Goldwyrm
• Rings: Ventors
• Amulet: Biscos

Stat Priority

• Weapon: Lightning Damage > Crit > Attack Speed > Multi > other flat elemental damage
• Shields: Life > Resists > Accuracy > Evasion
• Chest: Life > Resists > Evasion > Elder Attack Crit
• Helmets: Life > Resists > Evasion > Accuracy
• Gloves: Life > Resists > Attack Speed > Evasion (Gripped Gloves or the of-Reflection enchant are nice to have but in no way required.)
• Belts: Life > Resists > Flask Duration
• Boots: Movespeed > Life > Resists > Evasion > Open
• Rings: Life > Resists > Crit > Flat Lightning Damage >Accuracy
• Amulet: Life > Crit Multi > Crit Chance > Flat Light Damage > Accuracy

Jewels:

Abyss Jewels are huge sources of flat damage in their current state. It's worth mentioning the Watcher's Eye jewel that can give you some insane stats like Lightning Pen During Wrath. It may be worth working in an aura like Hatred/Haste/Grace if you get a Watcher's Eye that gives you useful stats like Flat Cold Damage, Base Crit, Permanent Phasing, Dodge, Spell Dodge, or Movespeed. Inspired Learning can be great for people wanting to get the headhunter "feel" without spending tons of exalts. Check the Leveling Section for a tree that incorporates this jewel.

Flasks:

• Quicksilver. Adrenaline is great.
• Jade/Stibnite. (if Queen). Evasion means more movespeed
• Silver. (if not Queen). Use with Quicksilver to multiply your movespeed. Great for jumping around between packs
• Diamond. Getting crit capped is important because we stack crit and crit multi.
• Dying Sun. Gives an additional projectile which is great for both parts of our Kinetic Blast!
• Instant Life Flask/Wise Oak/Vinktars/Atziri's Promise. Flex flask for personal preference.

 

Expectations

 

Tips and Tricks

Boss Killing

• Decoy Totem against a wall. The tighter to the wall the better it will be for explosion overlaps. Each projectile creates 4 explosions. 2 of which can hit an enemy if large enough, 2 of which will dissappear on the other side of the wall. Multiply 2 Explosions by all of the projectiles we have and you can see how much damage KB is capable of. Prior to 3.4 all 4 explosions were placed and single target was much better. Recommend using Barrage and Point Blank if you must kill single target.
• Vaal Breach for Esh's Mirror stacks and the "Recently Killed" buffs from Abyssal Jewels.
• Vaal Grace before using Vaal Breach to avoid interruption.

Mobility and Positioning

• Take advantage of Far Shot. Think of it like a whole gem link that you are adding to your ability. It's a MORE multiplier!
• Conversely, don't always feel like you have to take advantage of Far Shot. Some situations may call for you to stand next to the wall to blast explosion overlaps.
• Move Fast! Especially if you are using Esh's Mirror. The shield really wants you to use the extra damage to "snowball" maps. If you are spending a lot of time picking up loot and slowly trudging through maps then you aren't taking advantage of the huge boost that Esh's Mirror provides and would be better served using a life/res/evasion shield or Lycoside.

Vaal Skills and Flask Management

• Think of these as things that get filled up for free as you progress. If you are getting kills but your Vaal skills and Flasks are full then you are leaving value behind!
• As your player experience and skill improve you'll get a "feel" for when to use Vaal Grace preemptively.

Level with Barrage

• Some bosses will be impossible to kill with Kinetic Blast only.
• If you are looking to keep this build as an "all around" build then consider just using KB on a 4 link. KB will feel worse but having Barrage on a 6L gives you more single target options.