03-08-2019, 09:19 PM
As mentioned in the other thread, I'll be starting a Toxic Rain Occultist this league. I thought I'd summarize some of the Toxic Rain mechanics and reasonaing behind the build here for others to learn from.
I ran a Toxic Rain Raider last league, it was my first league start, and it was very easy to gear up. This league I wanted to refine Toxic Rain a bit more now that I have more knowledge about the skill and try it out in a different way... with energy shield and Chaos Innoculation and mitigation instead of Life and evasion and dodge.
I have always been known for long posts... I will cover this in multiple posts:
Toxic Rain Mechanics
Toxic Rain mechanics are a study all in themselves. The skill shoots 5 projectiles by default. If you draw a circle around your cursor when you fire the bow, these projectiles will land at a random location within that circle. When they land, they do pinpoint projectile damage and turn into a pod that does chaos DOT damage in an area around them. When that duration timer completes, the pod explodes and does poison damage.
So we have:
In addition to this we have the circular area in which the pods land. This area is scaled by increasing the number of projectiles you fire, but rather importantly, NOT scaled by %increased area of effect stats. If you do not increase the number of projectiles you fire, then the pods will always be contained in the same diameter circle.
We also have the area of the DOT from each individual pod. This area is scaled by increased area of effect, but not by the number of projectiles you fire. So by increasing area of effect, we are able to increase the diameter of the DOT without increasing the spread of the pods, which will increase the average number of pods that apply damage at the target location per shot, while also slightly increasing how far out the DOT extends to the fringes.
As a result of all of this, if we are scaling the chaos DOT damage, we get scaling from many sources:
Part of what makes Toxic Rain so good is that with so many different sources of scaling, we can get a little bit of all of them and not hit diminishing returns too hard.
I prioritize ATTACK SPEED above all else, because the playstyle of a "bow caster" like this one, is one where you fire 1-4 times, then move, then fire, then move. Faster attack rate results in the ability to move when you want to, and really smooths out the play. In order to support high attack speeds, we need significant mana regen or -x mana to skills, as the DOT is not spell damage nor attack damage, so we can't leech. mana on hit applies, but accuracy is abysmal. As a result mana regen goes hand in hand with attack speed.
Next most important is Area of Effect. 0% increased area of effect results in roughly 2.5 of the 5 pods overlapping their damage per shot on average. As you add area of effect, you increase the average pods per shot applying damage. The translation is not exact, but approximately 7% MORE damage per 10% increased AoE, making AoE nodes VERY efficient compared to typical damage nodes on the tree. It's just low enough that we won't quite get better boss DPS out of an increased AoE support gem in our ideal 6L, but it's still quite good. Mapping, it's very doable to use increased AoE, as it's a good balance of single target DPS and coverage. Somewhere about 30-45% increased AoE it starts feeling a step function improved DPS, as we stop getting shots with only 2 overlaps and all our shots start having 3 pods doing their damage to the single target.
Those two are almost like we have specific requirements. We really want to get to ~40% increased AoE and 3 attacks per second as soon as we can. If you plan out a different Toxic Rain build, just consider these your bar to make the build feel good. This is somewhat subjective, but my feelings based on last league.
Of course we get whatever gem levels we can. level multiple Toxic Rain gems so you can then get 20% quality on them (which increases AoE 10%) and then when they're 20% quality and level 20 again, we use a vaal orb for the 1 in 8 chance of turning into a level 21 gem with 20% quality.
From there we start scaling our Chaos multi wherever we can. We get a lot of %increased damage through the tree and elsewhere, and choas mutli will typically scale our damage better than increased damage.
Increasing the number of projectiles, as long as you have a reasonable amount of %increased AoE will improve single target DPS. Get this if you can preserve other stats, but realistically, the Dying Sun flask is about the only way to do this and not hurt other scaling. Dying Sun is huge DPS gain because it also increases area of effect... roughly a 1.25 multiplier on single target damage, and is also more coverage for better clear in maps... a great flask if you can afford it.
As a result of all of this we will be supporting Toxic Rain with this priority:
1) Empower lvl 4 to add +3 gem levels to our main skill (obviously expensive and only gonna happen quite late game)
2) Mirage Archer -- we are spending a lot of time not attacking, and this gives us ~40% damage while we are running around, and most importantly helping to slow the stuff attacking us so we can better position ourselves
3) Damage on Full Life -- If we have taken Chaos Innoculation this is a no brainer huge more damage. Obviously we don't use it before we take CI.
4) Swift Affliction -- This helps to frontload our DOT damage.
5) Void Manipulation -- next best damage adder without a penalty.
6) Area of Effect -- For mapping we use this in place of void manipulation
7) Efficacy -- If we need a support prior to CI & empower.
Absent from this list:
Vicious Projectiles -- Less attack speed makes this quite a poor choice. Theoretical DPS has this one between Efficacy and Area of Effect. I will always take the attack speed, and would use Efficacy before I used Vicious Projectiles unless socket colors force my hand.
Concentrated Effect -- Looks great in PoB, but realistically almost all of the DOT DPS increase is lost in reducing the pod overlap, making this an AWFUL support for Toxic Rain. Do not ever even consider Concentrated Effect.
Lesser or Greater Multiple Projectiles -- These do significantly increase coverage for mapping, but lower our single target damage. If you are wanting to clear as efficiently as possible, these are an option, but they will significantly lower single target damage, and it will be a recognizable DPS loss for map bosses, syndicate and incursion architects.
After that short novella, hopefully you understand Toxic Rain mechanics, and this will help to understand the decisions you see in the next posts.
I ran a Toxic Rain Raider last league, it was my first league start, and it was very easy to gear up. This league I wanted to refine Toxic Rain a bit more now that I have more knowledge about the skill and try it out in a different way... with energy shield and Chaos Innoculation and mitigation instead of Life and evasion and dodge.
I have always been known for long posts... I will cover this in multiple posts:
- Toxic Rain Mechanics (this post)
- Occultist passive tree & leveling strategy
- Gearing -- Leveling and early mapping
- Gearing --- looking towards the endgame
Toxic Rain Mechanics
Toxic Rain mechanics are a study all in themselves. The skill shoots 5 projectiles by default. If you draw a circle around your cursor when you fire the bow, these projectiles will land at a random location within that circle. When they land, they do pinpoint projectile damage and turn into a pod that does chaos DOT damage in an area around them. When that duration timer completes, the pod explodes and does poison damage.
So we have:
- An initial hit where the pod lands (tiny hitbox, totally unreliable to scale this damage)
- The pod DOT damage (what most TR builds scale, including this one). This DOT affect also applies a small movement speed reduction. Both the DOT and movement speed reduction stack per pod
- The explosion poison damage (usually not scaled, but some builds use the sheer quantity of poison applications to fuel Herald of Agony Virulence stacks)
In addition to this we have the circular area in which the pods land. This area is scaled by increasing the number of projectiles you fire, but rather importantly, NOT scaled by %increased area of effect stats. If you do not increase the number of projectiles you fire, then the pods will always be contained in the same diameter circle.
We also have the area of the DOT from each individual pod. This area is scaled by increased area of effect, but not by the number of projectiles you fire. So by increasing area of effect, we are able to increase the diameter of the DOT without increasing the spread of the pods, which will increase the average number of pods that apply damage at the target location per shot, while also slightly increasing how far out the DOT extends to the fringes.
As a result of all of this, if we are scaling the chaos DOT damage, we get scaling from many sources:
- Gem levels. Gem levels are the main source of damage.
- % Increased attack speed, which allows us to shoot more projectiles in a given amount of time
- % increased damage (chaos, DOT, projectile and area of effect damage applies at full value)
- % increased non-ailment chaos over time damage multiplier (from here on referred to as Chaos Multi)
- % area of effect, which allows for more pods to overlap their DOT effect
- % increased duration which allows more pods to be on the ground if you can afford to stand still and fire. Initial DOT duration is 1 second before the pods explode, so every % increased duration is an additional 0.01 seconds
Part of what makes Toxic Rain so good is that with so many different sources of scaling, we can get a little bit of all of them and not hit diminishing returns too hard.
I prioritize ATTACK SPEED above all else, because the playstyle of a "bow caster" like this one, is one where you fire 1-4 times, then move, then fire, then move. Faster attack rate results in the ability to move when you want to, and really smooths out the play. In order to support high attack speeds, we need significant mana regen or -x mana to skills, as the DOT is not spell damage nor attack damage, so we can't leech. mana on hit applies, but accuracy is abysmal. As a result mana regen goes hand in hand with attack speed.
Next most important is Area of Effect. 0% increased area of effect results in roughly 2.5 of the 5 pods overlapping their damage per shot on average. As you add area of effect, you increase the average pods per shot applying damage. The translation is not exact, but approximately 7% MORE damage per 10% increased AoE, making AoE nodes VERY efficient compared to typical damage nodes on the tree. It's just low enough that we won't quite get better boss DPS out of an increased AoE support gem in our ideal 6L, but it's still quite good. Mapping, it's very doable to use increased AoE, as it's a good balance of single target DPS and coverage. Somewhere about 30-45% increased AoE it starts feeling a step function improved DPS, as we stop getting shots with only 2 overlaps and all our shots start having 3 pods doing their damage to the single target.
Those two are almost like we have specific requirements. We really want to get to ~40% increased AoE and 3 attacks per second as soon as we can. If you plan out a different Toxic Rain build, just consider these your bar to make the build feel good. This is somewhat subjective, but my feelings based on last league.
Of course we get whatever gem levels we can. level multiple Toxic Rain gems so you can then get 20% quality on them (which increases AoE 10%) and then when they're 20% quality and level 20 again, we use a vaal orb for the 1 in 8 chance of turning into a level 21 gem with 20% quality.
From there we start scaling our Chaos multi wherever we can. We get a lot of %increased damage through the tree and elsewhere, and choas mutli will typically scale our damage better than increased damage.
Increasing the number of projectiles, as long as you have a reasonable amount of %increased AoE will improve single target DPS. Get this if you can preserve other stats, but realistically, the Dying Sun flask is about the only way to do this and not hurt other scaling. Dying Sun is huge DPS gain because it also increases area of effect... roughly a 1.25 multiplier on single target damage, and is also more coverage for better clear in maps... a great flask if you can afford it.
As a result of all of this we will be supporting Toxic Rain with this priority:
1) Empower lvl 4 to add +3 gem levels to our main skill (obviously expensive and only gonna happen quite late game)
2) Mirage Archer -- we are spending a lot of time not attacking, and this gives us ~40% damage while we are running around, and most importantly helping to slow the stuff attacking us so we can better position ourselves
3) Damage on Full Life -- If we have taken Chaos Innoculation this is a no brainer huge more damage. Obviously we don't use it before we take CI.
4) Swift Affliction -- This helps to frontload our DOT damage.
5) Void Manipulation -- next best damage adder without a penalty.
6) Area of Effect -- For mapping we use this in place of void manipulation
7) Efficacy -- If we need a support prior to CI & empower.
Absent from this list:
Vicious Projectiles -- Less attack speed makes this quite a poor choice. Theoretical DPS has this one between Efficacy and Area of Effect. I will always take the attack speed, and would use Efficacy before I used Vicious Projectiles unless socket colors force my hand.
Concentrated Effect -- Looks great in PoB, but realistically almost all of the DOT DPS increase is lost in reducing the pod overlap, making this an AWFUL support for Toxic Rain. Do not ever even consider Concentrated Effect.
Lesser or Greater Multiple Projectiles -- These do significantly increase coverage for mapping, but lower our single target damage. If you are wanting to clear as efficiently as possible, these are an option, but they will significantly lower single target damage, and it will be a recognizable DPS loss for map bosses, syndicate and incursion architects.
After that short novella, hopefully you understand Toxic Rain mechanics, and this will help to understand the decisions you see in the next posts.
Conc / Concillian -- Vintage player of many games. Deadly leader of the All Pally Team (or was it Death leader?)
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.