RANGER FACEBREAKER - CRIT

Managed to do T16 Phoenix but died once towards the end lol


Most annoying part about this fight is that you need to have high attack and high spell defense.

The bird projectiles are spells and hit so many times. You have to kill the birds, but running around with melee with no/weak movement skill trying to kill the birds is dangerous.

I'm thinking of experimenting and trying a Ancestral totem to help kill the birds, and seeing if I can amp the defenses some more.

Six birds in this fight with pre-arranged spawn sequence. You can cut it down to 4 by fighting in the opposite corner so you will not agro the other 2 birds.

Ofc the other way is to try and fight him as fast a possible. For more single target: instead of swapping Melee Splash for Added Fire you swap for Lightning Pen gem instead (very niche yes I know, would require a white socket).

I tried this and it cuts extremely well, ofc this is absolute overkill for anything non-T16 and destroys any T15 and below bosses. T16 bosses have 40% ele res, and since majority of our damage is actually lightning (thanks to P2L) using Light Pen is a massive boost. Then you can use a VoV to convert more of your damage to light or for more pen.

I've also been experimenting with Voidwalker boots. I may even revisit Pathfinder as well to see if it can help improve my flask sustain 1v1 with Overflowing Chalice. At this point using a life flask is not really going to help since there is no degen and we are stuck in melee mode so we are always attacking.

I'm thinking once I've figured out a good defensive setup for Phoenix it will help me do the other guardians as well.

What gem should I take off on 5L frenzy setup? ICC or P2D?
Also, to be easier to cap resit, I'm thinking of swapping out one unique, which one do you recommend to be swapped? I'm guessing girdle or old ward?

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zebrasir escribió:

What gem should I take off on 5L frenzy setup? ICC or P2D?
Also, to be easier to cap resit, I'm thinking of swapping out one unique, which one do you recommend to be swapped? I'm guessing girdle or old ward?

You can take off P2L bud.

Hmm, I would say Darkrays is the easiest to swap out (no life) but since your problem is res, I think you would swap the shield instead.

Hey OP what do you think about going slayer ascendancy? It seems to make alot of sense woth reflect and not need vaal pact!

What do you think of a Slayer build Going with something like this?

It's a little bit the idea I had.. but don't know how it will fare in the late game

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAQBALkdFeyK8OlGypCE2Ud-vTZlTb6nL8zBgraKYuyE79rBdO0FLXrvQzFM_04qW6_dDRUgI9OPYA2Nh3bnVOOfSn3glZ-CVuj2o-960359df66AF4Zju2DCC6bje4Oo4oj9k2SjX0wfFFHjb_UIwW16NYi6mqVmheSgMLsSO494rTFYqxsjJ2qNj3rYxEvtUgrCl3yKgtwUonTjDZVS2HiJpUWvxX9ijhkr0X0b1d4GcGg1gePwUscjYEOSBGWAQm42d1IBx6VLvDVSVGbJjIBshnPeiT9_94M8qXLwzNaGqU1DHA7tvVhsoCGtIWnJ58=

Would you still go Lightning Coil over Belly of the Beast?

I feel like I need to build this around lightning coil and rare shield with like I have on my duelist (evasion would be better though)

My gear or dps isnt lacking I dont think but this character dies sooooooo easily.



I even went as far as getting corrupted pugilist jewels...

What did I screw up? Or just super glass cannon?? This build could seriously easily die to projectiles in dried lake. It's bad. Wasted tons of regrets trying it but at least I bought some good rings. Blood rage makes this build feel especially gross. Almost getting 1shot by everything with 4.6 life rapidly draining. Especially if you lose charges and get caught moving slow between packs. Sigh

Seems like lots of conflicting information in here. While reading through you come to the conclusion that assasing mark is bad but still use it?

Guess I need to try tempchains or enfeeble blasphemy, avatar of the chase with silver freeze flask, lightning coil and rare shield.

I don't want to give up on this but ripping most the gear off back on my slayer for now

Guys unfortunately I am no longer playing PoE as I have moved on to a different game. I may come back sometime in the future when PoE is better balanced, but right now I RARELY visit PoE forums these days so apologies if you get no response to the thread.

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Glencairn escribió:

I feel like I need to build this around lightning coil and rare shield with like I have on my duelist (evasion would be better though)

My gear or dps isnt lacking I dont think but this character dies sooooooo easily.

I even went as far as getting corrupted pugilist jewels...

What did I screw up? Or just super glass cannon?? This build could seriously easily die to projectiles in dried lake. It's bad. Wasted tons of regrets trying it but at least I bought some good rings. Blood rage makes this build feel especially gross. Almost getting 1shot by everything with 4.6 life rapidly draining. Especially if you lose charges and get caught moving slow between packs. Sigh

Seems like lots of conflicting information in here. While reading through you come to the conclusion that assasing mark is bad but still use it?

Guess I need to try tempchains or enfeeble blasphemy, avatar of the chase with silver freeze flask, lightning coil and rare shield.

I don't want to give up on this but ripping most the gear off back on my slayer for now

Hi bud, I'm truly puzzled here. Sorry to hear you having trouble. I don't think build is bad, I find it pretty strong!

If you are "easily" dying on DRIED LAKE then something is very wrong I think. I've done T16s and posted full vid on T16 Vaal Temple map with hard mods - there are very few other melee builds that can do T16 Vaal Temple, in fact I don't think there is any other life EV melee build that can do Vaal Temple bosses.

So if you are dying to regular mobs on Dried Lake something is very wrong - either you not clearing fast enough (which should not be the case because DPS is extremely high on this build), or something else is wrong with the way you are using the build.

This is not a "fake" build. I'm not trying to mislead anyone - I have posted vids of hard maps where I sometimes take lots of damage, and so you guys can see how this build is challenged adn then decide for yourself.

Yes you can say this is a glass cannon build if you'd like depending on where you are coming from. These is why I repeatedly note in the build that this is "not a tank" build because I know people coming from their tanky AR/mitigation builds or from their ranged builds will have a hard time adjusting to this build. I've been playing mostly EV melee for a long time so this is the norm for me.

I could have posted easy vids like many other guides do but I always feel that would be a disservice to people trying to decide to use the build.

There is no conflicting info either in the guide, the calcs I posted showed that Ass. Mark was still better to use - that is why I kept using it.

Yes - if you don't have frenzy charges up for higher dodge then you have higher risk of taking damage. This is true and something I have mentioned and you can also see that from my vids.

You have Rumi's AND Blind from Stibnite - there is no way you should be dieing that often, and on a low tier map.


Please see my Atziri video - this is a perfect preliminary test for an EV melee build because the mob packs are huge on this map so you WILL be forced to bear a lot of damage as EV. That was the 1st video I posted with the build - before it was even finished - I am using Stibnite and Blind and you can see I am having no trouble at all.

That is why I removed Stibnite lol because it was too much defense for me and I could just use more offense. The only other time I have used Stibnite was specifically for T15 Daresso fight.


All your gear is very good, life is very good, and you using the right flasks. You also have Vaal Grace - so I'm truly struggling to understand how you are dieing on Dried Lake.

You also say your DPS "isn't lacking". Your DPS should be very high. What numbers are you getting? And did you spec the Ascension path like I did?

Also one trick you can do like I show in my vids is to use Lion's Roar to reduce some of the risk when you engage packs - it causes some of the mobs to start to flee so it reduces the amount of aggro and you can kill with less risk.

I never got around to testing LC because I don't have one.

About Slayer - you guys will have to experiment for yourselves as I have only tried this build on Ranger adn believe Ranger is the best fit for crit facebreakers.

If you are coming from AR/tank melee builds - you will find this build weird to play because EV melee is very different animal from AR melee.

Help me with these questions so I can figure out why you are having trouble:
- How are you dying? Are you dying with flasks up? Are you dying to spells? Attacks? Is it one shots or lots of damage?
- Did you path Ascension like I did?
- Have you noticed any difference from using Stibnite?
- What is your DPS?

"

Ceryneian escribió:

Guys unfortunately I am no longer playing PoE as I have moved on to a different game. I may come back sometime in the future when PoE is better balanced, but right now I RARELY visit PoE forums these days so apologies if you get no response to the thread.

"

Glencairn escribió:

I feel like I need to build this around lightning coil and rare shield with like I have on my duelist (evasion would be better though)

My gear or dps isnt lacking I dont think but this character dies sooooooo easily.

I even went as far as getting corrupted pugilist jewels...

What did I screw up? Or just super glass cannon?? This build could seriously easily die to projectiles in dried lake. It's bad. Wasted tons of regrets trying it but at least I bought some good rings. Blood rage makes this build feel especially gross. Almost getting 1shot by everything with 4.6 life rapidly draining. Especially if you lose charges and get caught moving slow between packs. Sigh

Seems like lots of conflicting information in here. While reading through you come to the conclusion that assasing mark is bad but still use it?

Guess I need to try tempchains or enfeeble blasphemy, avatar of the chase with silver freeze flask, lightning coil and rare shield.

I don't want to give up on this but ripping most the gear off back on my slayer for now

Hi bud, I'm truly puzzled here. Sorry to hear you having trouble. I don't think build is bad, I find it pretty strong!

If you are "easily" dying on DRIED LAKE then something is very wrong I think. I've done T16s and posted full vid on T16 Vaal Temple map with hard mods - there are very few other melee builds that can do T16 Vaal Temple, in fact I don't think there is any other life EV melee build that can do Vaal Temple bosses.

So if you are dying to regular mobs on Dried Lake something is very wrong - either you not clearing fast enough (which should not be the case because DPS is extremely high on this build), or something else is wrong with the way you are using the build.

This is not a "fake" build. I'm not trying to mislead anyone - I have posted vids of hard maps where I sometimes take lots of damage, and so you guys can see how this build is challenged adn then decide for yourself.

Yes you can say this is a glass cannon build if you'd like depending on where you are coming from. These is why I repeatedly note in the build that this is "not a tank" build because I know people coming from their tanky AR/mitigation builds or from their ranged builds will have a hard time adjusting to this build. I've been playing mostly EV melee for a long time so this is the norm for me.

I could have posted easy vids like many other guides do but I always feel that would be a disservice to people trying to decide to use the build.

There is no conflicting info either in the guide, the calcs I posted showed that Ass. Mark was still better to use - that is why I kept using it.

Yes - if you don't have frenzy charges up for higher dodge then you have higher risk of taking damage. This is true and something I have mentioned and you can also see that from my vids.

You have Rumi's AND Blind from Stibnite - there is no way you should be dieing that often, and on a low tier map.


Please see my Atziri video - this is a perfect preliminary test for an EV melee build because the mob packs are huge on this map so you WILL be forced to bear a lot of damage as EV. That was the 1st video I posted with the build - before it was even finished - I am using Stibnite and Blind and you can see I am having no trouble at all.

That is why I removed Stibnite lol because it was too much defense for me and I could just use more offense. The only other time I have used Stibnite was specifically for T15 Daresso fight.


All your gear is very good, life is very good, and you using the right flasks. You also have Vaal Grace - so I'm truly struggling to understand how you are dieing on Dried Lake.

You also say your DPS "isn't lacking". Your DPS should be very high. What numbers are you getting? And did you spec the Ascension path like I did?

Also one trick you can do like I show in my vids is to use Lion's Roar to reduce some of the risk when you engage packs - it causes some of the mobs to start to flee so it reduces the amount of aggro and you can kill with less risk.

I never got around to testing LC because I don't have one.

About Slayer - you guys will have to experiment for yourselves as I have only tried this build on Ranger adn believe Ranger is the best fit for crit facebreakers.

If you are coming from AR/tank melee builds - you will find this build weird to play because EV melee is very different animal from AR melee.

Help me with these questions so I can figure out why you are having trouble:
- How are you dying? Are you dying with flasks up? Are you dying to spells? Attacks? Is it one shots or lots of damage?
- Did you path Ascension like I did?
- Have you noticed any difference from using Stibnite?
- What is your DPS?

Sorry for the negativity in my post, I was just a little frustrated. Wasn't claiming this to be fake or whatever but I spent like 20 exalts on a bunch of stuff last night to get this up in one night and I was just really disappointed with how weak it felt defensively. I wanted to invest a lot into a more obscure build and really enjoyed facebreaker ice crash build when I leveled my duelist. So much so that I scrapped the idea to make wormblaster and came to this build instead since I already had a lvl 94 ranger.

No I don't play armor tanks or anything so it's not that. I do have to admit I've never played with evasion and dodge builds before though so that could very well be it. Biggest thing for me I guess is I didn't like frenzy skill because of the namelocking, but I can see the benefits of it for this build.

Couldn't tell you dps because I tore most of the stuff off it already. But it had to be at least 600-700k despite not having legacy stuff cause essence league. Don't think your numbers are possible on temp league but that's no big deal.

No I didn't die in dried lake, I just ran in to test and took some serious hits. A lot harder than I thought and I was playing abysuss/belly on duelist for a while.

I kept dying at the beginning of t14 Maze map. Those ancient constructs shooting green projectile things at me. Hard to avoid them because the map is small rooms and before I can run up to them and hack them to bits they one shot me. I play flasks really spammy so they were probably up. My duelist doesn't even use a life flask (chalice in place as pseudo life flask plus its original purpose) and he hasnt died going from 89-91 in t9-12 maps. He's not really built for boss crushing though. That's why I wanted to play this. It took down twinned maze bosses easily, just getting there is the problem.

Not sure if I took same ascension as you since your profile is private. I took avatar of slaughter and avatar of the veil. I guess I'll need to swap veil for avatar of the chase and try temp chains aura before I try lightning coil.

As for stibnite flask it doesnt feel beneficial since Im generally dying to projectiles and you cant blind them unless youre beside them right? It only seems useful at a boss fight since you're moving so fast and killing everything so fast you just run out of the smoke into more danger. chemist's basalt flask of heat instead maybe would be better? seething on life pot still, maybe a better prefix like yours. Dunno where I could fit in silver flask or rotgut though.

What you think about running frenzy in 4link (frenzy, multistrike, fortify, then either melee splash or melee phys) to generate charges reliably, then 6l is ice crash, faster attacks, melee phys, added fire, inc crit chance, aoe/conc/p2l depending.

Another thing I really dont like blood rage on this build or understand how you can play with it. The build has low life already, and isnt tanky as we all know, and on top of that our 4.6 life is rapidly depleting when there's a lull in the packs or just a bad map that has empty spots. With inc duration it can last long enough to kill me even, though can always just flash the gem or boots.

I really want to like this build but I am having lots of problems. I guess I should experiment more before giving up. Just saw you massacre t16 ele weakness crit etc. vaal temple map bosses in like 30 seconds and thought to myself "I gotta try this!"

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Glencairn escribió:

I do have to admit I've never played with evasion and dodge builds before though so that could very well be it. Biggest thing for me I guess is I didn't like frenzy skill because of the namelocking, but I can see the benefits of it for this build.

Yeah I understand, but you are new to EV and unfortunately that's the reality bro, and it is the worst for EV melee players. Especially as a life build. The game is not balanced man. Ever since the nerf to block and Acro, and nerf to Ondar's, and how GGG has shifted the game to the detriment of melee players - EV melee has been in a very bad spot. We all know that.

If this is your first time playing EV, I don't blame you for being frustrated.

Projectile damage, volatile blood, low life on dex side, lack of mitigation, nerfed damage avoidance - all this crap we have to deal with - you can blame the build but the reality is every EV life melee build is dealing with the same problems.

You are having trouble wiht projectiles - back in the day this was not an issue because Ondar's Guile could be used by melee players.

The whole point of EV melee and Raider and crit facebreaker is to kill kill and kill FAST. You can't be spending too much time engaged with enemies as EV melee.

About namelocking - every melee skill that needs namelocking has the same problem. You can use other skills like Ice Crash / Cyclone / IB. However since frenzy charges give A LOT damage and defense - I always wanted to have a reliable way to get Frenzy charges even at bosses.

Some people don't care about bosses and just want to kill packs on T12s and they will not use the Frenzy charges on this build - it's totally fine and up to you.

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Glencairn escribió:

No I didn't die in dried lake, I just ran in to test and took some serious hits. A lot harder than I thought and I was playing abysuss/belly on duelist for a while.

Playing on Duelist and playing on Ranger are a bit different though. You probably had more mitigation, more life, and maybe some ECs. So unless you are using the same kind of defenses ofc you going to get hit harder mate. The point is you will get hit much less often. But you can customize the build to give you more mitigation if you'd like.

I made a Kaom's Chest version a few pages back with Fortify, Arctic Armor, Vaal Pact, and much higher life, and still hitting I think around 300k damage on the 4L.

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Glencairn escribió:

I kept dying at the beginning of t14 Maze map. Those ancient constructs shooting green projectile things at me. Hard to avoid them because the map is small rooms and before I can run up to them and hack them to bits they one shot me. I play flasks really spammy so they were probably up. My duelist doesn't even use a life flask (chalice in place as pseudo life flask plus its original purpose) and he hasnt died going from 89-91 in t9-12 maps. He's not really built for boss crushing though. That's why I wanted to play this. It took down twinned maze bosses easily, just getting there is the problem.

Do you have your Rumi's up? I honestly don't know what to say man - I've never experienced what you are describing. I know it's a dumb question - but are you specc'd into Acro?

If you have Acro + your Ascension dodge + Rumi's you should hardly be taking hits. Maybe try and use shield charge to engage faster?

I'm honestly confused as to how you can be taking multiple hits! Yet alone enough hits that you are dying from those packs every time.

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Glencairn escribió:

Not sure if I took same ascension as you since your profile is private. I took avatar of slaughter and avatar of the veil. I guess I'll need to swap veil for avatar of the chase and try temp chains aura before I try lightning coil.

Yes that is what I took. Avatar of the Chase may be better since you are having trouble with projectiles - but maintaining Onslaught is a pain and you will need to use a flask (Silver/Rotgut).

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Glencairn escribió:

As for stibnite flask it doesnt feel beneficial since Im generally dying to projectiles and you cant blind them unless youre beside them right? It only seems useful at a boss fight since you're moving so fast and killing everything so fast you just run out of the smoke into more danger. chemist's basalt flask of heat instead maybe would be better? seething on life pot still, maybe a better prefix like yours. Dunno where I could fit in silver flask or rotgut though.

Yes Stibnite will not help you against projectile packs. Here's an idea: since you are having trouble with projectiles why don't you try and spec Arrow Dancing. You may like it. If you do, you MUST remember to use Stibnite for melee mobs at all time - which is very easy because Stibnite uses so few charges you can basically spam it.

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Glencairn escribió:

What you think about running frenzy in 4link (frenzy, multistrike, fortify, then either melee splash or melee phys) to generate charges reliably, then 6l is ice crash, faster attacks, melee phys, added fire, inc crit chance, aoe/conc/p2l depending.

I can tell you that might be too cumbersome to use - your Frenzy attack in 4L will be kill mobs anyway, and the time you waste trying to name lock you can just kill with Ice Crash. Trying to constantly refresh Frenzy charges every 8secs will get annoying after a while.

I recommend instead you put 4L Ice Crash / Infernal Blow with Fortify and the other links (check Kaom's build a few pages back - let me know if you can't find it). Use the 4L for your AOE and then reserve 6L single target Frenzy for bosses.

You will find that on most T13s and below just a 4L will be enough for clearing AND bosses. For harder bosses where you need Frenzy charges - that is when your 6L single target Frenzy will really shine.

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Glencairn escribió:

Another thing I really dont like blood rage on this build or understand how you can play with it. The build has low life already, and isnt tanky as we all know, and on top of that our 4.6 life is rapidly depleting when there's a lull in the packs or just a bad map that has empty spots. With inc duration it can last long enough to kill me even, though can always just flash the gem or boots.

I understand where you are coming from but BR is really not that bad. I put BR on shield so you can weapon swap and turn it off automatically. I do this in several of my vids. You basically just press your weapon swap key twice and it's off. Again, I am used to this so it is not bad.

Please also remember that with EV melee and Raider - it is all about SPEED. Key enemy of EV melee IMO is time in battle - so you always want to destroy packs quickly and move on. Raider has lots of good speed and there are some options to get more speed: using a Quicksilver on this build will be absolutely insane.

Once you play like this you will see BR is not that bad - unless on a Vuln or degen map. In that case just turn it off. BR is not necessary for this build to hit high DPS.

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Glencairn escribió:

I really want to like this build but I am having lots of problems. I guess I should experiment more before giving up. Just saw you massacre t16 ele weakness crit etc. vaal temple map bosses in like 30 seconds and thought to myself "I gotta try this!"

I hope what I wrote helps but if you still don't like this build then it's fine man - I understand.

With all my guides I always try to encourage people to customize the build to how they like it.

Some more suggestions you can try:

- Think about speccing Arrow Dancing like I suggest - but make sure you are using Stibnite for melee mobs

- Check out the Kaom's version of this build - I think you might like this version better. It's pretty tanky with more life, AA, Vaal Pact and I think I put Fortify on there as well.

- Another version you may like is the Bringer of Rain version - in built blind, higher life, and higher blocks, but ofc less damage

- Lastly, think about going Pathfinder instead - maybe it might suit you better and give you more blocks from Rumi and easier uptime of your flasks

I don't think there are any crit FB Duelists - I think some people may have tried it from this thread but I have not tried it. You'll get much better defense but lose DPS. How much DPS you lose I'm not sure, but if you ever get down to like 200k damage you might as well be playing an RT FB build.