Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder - Path of Exile 3.24

The Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder is one of those builds that were hit pretty hard by the removal of the secondary ascendancy classes in Patch 3.24. This begs the question: does this build still work in Path of Exile: Necropolis League? The answer is yes, but some notable adjustments have to be made.

The main issue here is that this build used to rely on the Poisonberry Tincture to always apply poison on hit. Because the said tincture is now gone, this has to be rectified via the jewels and items that you will be using. Do not worry, this build is still awesome despite the changes.

If you have played this build before and would want to continue the journey in the new league, then read further. This is our updated build guide for the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League!

Basics

This build utilizes the Transfigured Gem, Caustic Arrow of Poison. Unlike the base version which causes you to fire an arrow that spreads caustic ground, the new one relies on poison damage that affects targets directly. Because of this, Caustic Arrow of Poison has higher damage effectiveness compared to its original counterpart.

In Patch 3.24, GGG has removed the secondary ascendancy classes, meaning, you no longer have access to the Poisonberry Tincture. This tincture was an integral part of the build primarily because it causes all of your damage to apply poison on hit. Poison, if you are new to Path of Exile, is a damaging ailment that deals chaos damage over time.

Fortunately, you can address your chance to poison enemies on hit by using Herald of Agony, the Snakebite unique gloves, and some jewels. The Snakebite's unique effect can only be utilized to great effect when paired with Ralakeshs Impatience and stacking Frenzy Charges as high as you possibly can. More on the gear interactions in the appropriate sections of the build guide.

In this version of the build, you will no longer use a tri-element bow. This is because Storm Rain of the Conduit has been removed from the build entirely. Instead, you'll be using the Darkscorn to deal stupendous amounts of poison damage to the enemy.

To ensure that the monsters you'll encounter are poisoned, you will link Caustic Arrow of Poison with Ballista Totem Support. This enables you to drop a few totems that will fire the arrows for you.

Now, why is this needed? Remember that you do not have the Poisonberry Tincture anymore. Totems are just reliable in the sense that they fire arrows much faster than you do, causing enemies to be poisoned in mere seconds as a result.

Do not worry, you will still be attacking, albeit with the Scourge Arrow of Menace. Unlike its base version, this Transfigured Gem does not require you to stay put to channel the skill. Instead, you can fire and go as you please, allowing for a more mobile style of play.

Although the Scourge Arrow of Menace got nerfed in the Necropolis League, specifically that the Spore Pods only fire up four thorn arrows rather than five, it is still a nice complement to your totems.

Now, if you want to improve the damage of the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder, you should look for these modifiers on your gear:

• Added Chaos Damage
• % Increased Chaos Damage
• Chance to Poison
• % Increased/More Damage with Ailments
• % Increased Duration of Ailments
• % More Damage with Poison
• % Damage Over Time Multiplier
• % Chaos Damage Over Time Multiplier
• Poisons You Inflict Deal Damage % Faster

If you want to try this build out for yourself, we have updated the POB to account for the changes that were implemented in the current league.

Playstyle

The way this build is played in the 3.24 Necropolis League has changed dramatically compared to the previous league. Back then, you fire the Caustic Arrow of Poison yourself which, in turn, will cast the Scourge Arrow of Menace via the Manaforged Arrows Support.

But now, you place a few totems on the ground and they are the ones to fire the Caustic Arrow of Poison to your enemies. You still have a more proactive playstyle because you are going to shoot the Scourge Arrow of Menace manually.

In addition, you should cast Despair on tougher enemies to reduce their chaos resistance by a considerable amount, making them a lot easier to kill.

Ascendancy

Builds in Path of Exile that capitalize on chaos damage almost always pick either the Occultist or Pathfinder. In this case, you are going to choose the latter. The reason why Pathfinder is great for Caustic Arrow of Poison is that this ascendancy class maximizes poisons to eliminate enemies effectively.

Start by taking Nature's Reprisal as your first notable ascendancy passive. This grants you the ability to inflict the "Withered" debuff on enemies, causing them to take more chaos damage.

After that, you will take Master Toxicist. This node is like Ignite Proliferation except for poison. Essentially, when you kill a poisoned monster, nearby enemies are poisoned as well. Besides that, poisons that you inflict during any flask effect have a 20% chance of dealing 100% more damage!

Then, you are going to select Nature's Adrenaline for the third notable ascendancy passive. This allows you to gain three flask charges every few seconds. Nature's Adrenaline is huge because you can get almost permanent uptime for all of your flasks.

The last two ascendancy points should be allocated to the "Flask Effect and Charges Gained" nodes that connect to Nature's Boon and Master Distiller. This is just to ensure that your flasks provide buffs at increased strength and that you gain a considerable amount of flask charges when attacking enemies.

Because this build is now essentially a Frenzy Charge stacker in Patch 3.24, you must get your hands on the Forbidden Flame and Forbidden Flesh jewels with "Avatar of the Slaughter" as the matching modifier. This particular node gives you increased evasion, movement speed, attack speed, and attack damage per Frenzy Charge!

Gear

Due to the changes GGG has implemented in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League, the gear for the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder has become more expensive compared to the previous league. Therefore, we no longer recommend this as a league starter since you will have to spend PoE currency to acquire some of the necessary items. There are some crafted pieces of gear as well. Please refer to our dedicated crafting guide to learn how to craft them yourself.

Weapon

As mentioned earlier in the build guide, you are now going to use the Darkscorn unique bow as opposed to a self-crafted tri-element bow. The Darkscorn has a few notable effects that work really well for the build.

First, it converts 25% of your physical damage to chaos damage, which is awesome for both the Caustic Arrow of Poison and the Scourge Arrow of Menace.

Second, 25% of the physical damage that you take is taken as chaos damage, thus bolstering your defensive capabilities.

Third, you have a 20% chance for your poisons to deal 300% more damage! This works nicely with the Pathfinder's Master Toxicist ascendancy node.

Quiver

For the quiver that you are going to use for the build, grab an ilvl 86+ Vile Arrow Quiver and use Harvest Reforge Attack until you get life, accuracy, added physical damage, damage over time multiplier with attack skills, and accuracy.

Body Armor

Because this build is now a Frenzy Charge stacker, the best armor you can use is The Restless Ward. This armor basically increases your evasion rating by a lot. But more importantly, it increases your movement speed for every Frenzy Charge that you have.

The Restless Ward is pretty inexpensive, so you may want to corrupt it with Vaal Orbs for a chance of obtaining either the "+1 to Level of Socketed Gems" or "+2 to Level of Socketed Projectile Gems" corrupted implicit mods.

Helmet

Due to the mana changes that GGG has made in the 3.24 Necropolis League, you now have to craft a helmet using the Deafening Essence of Loathing for that increased mana reservation efficiency mod. Spam an ilvl 85+ Vaal Mask or Lion Pelt until you get spell suppression, life, mana, and chaos resistance. If you have an open prefix, bench-craft "8% of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire Damage".

For the implicit mods, spam Grand Eldritch Ichors for another mana reservation efficiency mod. Then, use Grand Eldritch Embers until you get "24% Reduced Mana Cost of Attacks".

Gloves

Since the Wildwood Ascendancies have been removed from the game in Patch 3.24, you no longer have access to the Poisonberry Tincture. But, fear not! The Snakebite is here to save you!

This unique Assassin's Mitts grants your attacks a whopping 60% chance to poison on hit while you are at maximum Frenzy Charges. This effect is always active thanks to the boots that you are going to wear for this build. Speaking of which...

Boots

Ralakesh's Impatience is the quintessential boots to wear for any charge-stacking builds in PoE. Thanks to these boots, Snakebite's unique effect is always active. If you have enough PoE currency, purchase a pair from the trade website that has the "+1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges" corrupted implicit mod.

Amulet

The Replica Badge of the Brotherhood has become the best amulet for the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder. The reason why this is the case is that it makes your maximum Endurance Charges equal to your maximum Frenzy Charges, thus making you incredibly tanky.

If you do not know, a single Endurance Charge grants you 4% additional physical damage reduction, as well as 4% to your elemental resistances.

For anointments, you can go for Charisma (Opalescent Oil, 2x Golden Oils) if you're struggling to activate all of your auras or Prismatic Skin (Silver Oil, 2x Golden Oils) if you want to improve your survivability.

Rings

For the rings, we highly recommend that you get two synthesized rings that have the "+1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges" implicit modifier. Use the Essence of Delirium (damage over time multiplier) until you get life, INT, and elemental resistance.

Just make sure to leave a prefix open so that you can put "Non-Channeling Skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost" from the Crafting Bench. Don't forget to use Fertile Catalysts as well.

Belt

In the previous league, this build used to wear a self-crafted Micro-Distillery Belt. However, this is no longer the case in the 3.24 Necropolis League. Instead, you'll be using Olesya's Delight to get some Affliction Charges. These special charges amplify the damage of the poisons you inflict upon your enemies.

Do not worry about the belt's downsides because they are addressed by Ralakesh's Impatience. This means that your Frenzy Charges are still there even though you will not see them on your buff bar at the top-left corner of the screen.

Flasks

• Quicksilver Flask
• Topaz Flask
• Ruby Flask
• Taste of Hate
• Divine Life Flask

With the removal of the Poisonberry Tincture, the flasks that you are going to use for the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder have changed.

The main ones you will use are the Quicksilver Flask for movement speed, the Topaz Flask for lightning resistance, and the Ruby Flask for fire resistance.

The Taste of Hate provides you with extra cold damage, making your attack skills even deadlier. This flask acts as a defensive tool as well, mainly because a small portion of the physical damage you take is converted to cold damage.

All of the elemental flasks have been adjusted by GGG in Patch 3.24. Previously, the Ruby Flask, Topaz Flask, and Sapphire Flask reduced the damage you take from their respective elements by 20%. However, this has changed in that they now give you plus 5% to your maximum elemental resistance. This is a good thing because it makes it so much easier for you to go beyond the normal elemental resistance cap of 75%.

The last flask is reserved for the Divine Life Flask. This should keep you alive, especially when you're fighting any of the pinnacle bosses in PoE. Aside from that, you have the option of taking the Master Surgeon ascendancy node if you want to. This notable ascendancy passive skill makes it so that the life recovery provided by this flask is not removed if your unreserved life is filled.

Flask Mods

• 17% Increased Attack Speed (of the Dove)
• 60% Increased Evasion Rating (of the Impala)
• 14% Increased Movement Speed (of the Cheetah)
• Corrupted Blood Immunity (Divine Life Flask)

Jewels

Purchase a Watcher's Eye with "+% to Damage Over Time Multiplier" and "Damaging AIlments You Inflict Deal Damage % Faster" while affected by Malevolence.

Passive skill points for the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder are all very important, so much so that you might not have enough to get the most useful passives through normal means. To ensure that you have enough points to allocate on the tree, you should get your hands on the Thread of Hope, specifically one that only affects passives in a Very Large Ring. Insert that into the jewel socket above "Fervour" so that you can acquire the following notable passives:

• Heart of Oak

  • 8% Increased Maximum Life
  • 20% Chance to Avoid Being Stunned
  • Regenerate 2% of Life per Second if You've Used a Life Flask in the Past 10 Seconds

• Careful Conservationist

  • 10% Reduced Flask Charges Used
  • Flasks Applied to You Have a 5% Increased Effect
  • 20% Increased Flask Charges Gained if You've Dealt a Critical Strike Recently

• Hunter's Gambit

  • +10% to Chaos Damage Over Time Multiplier
  • 10% Increased Skill Effect Duration
  • 25% Increased Damage Over Time with Bow Skills

• Revenge of the Hunted

  • 18% Increased Evasion Ration
  • 10% Increased Maximum Life
  • +10% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage While on Full Life

• Thief's Craft

  • +30 to Intelligence
  • Take it only if you lack INT

The Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder can gain good benefits from Large Cluster and Medium Cluster Jewels.

Start by getting two Large Cluster Jewels (Chaos Damage) - one with 12 passive skills and another with eight.

On the 12-passive Large Cluster Jewel, use Harvest Reforge Life until you get chaos resistance, fire resistance, and maximum life. Make sure that this cluster jewel has an item level of 84+ for that "35% Increased Effect" of small passive skills.

For the 8-passive Large Cluster Jewel, use Harvest Reforge Chaos until you get these notable passive skills:

• Wicked Pall

  • 30% Increased Chaos Damage
  • 5% Increased Skill Effect Duration

• Unwaveringly Evil

  • 30% Increased Chaos Damage
  • Chaos Skills Ignore Interruption from Stuns

• Unspeakable Gifts

  • Enemies You Kill Have a 10% Chance to Explode, Dealing a Quarter of Their Maximum Life as Chaos Damage

How about the Medium Cluster Jewel? Get one with totem damage as the crafting base and use the Orb of Alteration spamming method to get Sleepless Sentries and Snaring Spirits.

The build now uses a Lethal Pride as well. And no, it is not for its double damage nodes. Rather, you are using it primarily for the "5% of Physical Damage from Hits Taken as Fire Damage" nodes. Use the POB's "Find Timeless Jewel" feature to help you search for the right Lethal Pride on the trade website.

Lastly, purchase the Unnatural Instinct unique Viridian Jewel from the trade website and place it in the slot that is near the Avatar of the Hunt notable passive skill. By doing so, you get the effects of some juicy nodes, including DEX, damage with bows, damage over time with bow skills, and increased evasion.

Gems

The gems that you will use for the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder synergize really well with each other. However, it is worth noting that there is little to no room for flexibility on this build. This means that whatever gems are indicated here are pretty much what you are going to roll with.

It is also worth noting that some of the gems have been replaced by new ones to account for the changes that were implemented in the 3.24 Necropolis League.

Body Armor

• Caustic Arrow of Poison
• Ballista Totem Support
• Awakened Void Manipulation
• Awakened Vicious Projectiles
• Awakened Unbound Ailments
• Awakened Added Chaos Damage

Caustic Arrow of Poison is linked with Ballista Totem Support. This allows you to drop three ballista totems on the ground that will attack the enemies using the said skill gem.

Awakened Void Manipulation and Awakened Added Chaos Damage provide a significant boost to chaos damage. Both of these support gems raise the level of Caustic Arrow of Poison as well.

Awakened Unbound Ailments just makes the poisons you inflict upon your enemies become more damaging; leaving them with very little chance to survive. This is further amplified by Awakened Vicious Projectiles, which grant more chaos damage over time.

Weapon

• Scourge Arrow of Menace
• Mirage Archer
• Awakened Deadly Ailments
• Awakened Unbound Ailments
• Inspiration Support
• Awakened Void Manipulation

This build still encourages you to be more proactive since you will be the one to fire the Scourge Arrow of Menace to your enemies. You are not alone in doing this, though. After firing a single shot, a Mirage Archer appears that will also do the same thing.

Inspiration Support is added in this setup to reduce the mana cost of the Scourge Arrow of Menace by 39% at level 20.

Awakened Deadly Ailments and Awakened Unbound Ailments cause your Scourge Arrow of Menace to deal even more damage. This is boosted even further with the addition of the support gem, Awakened Void Manipulation.

Helmet

• Haste
• Malevolence
• Herald of Agony
• Enlighten (lvl 4)

Haste is an aura in Path of Exile that grants you increased attack speed and movement speed when it is active. Malevolence, on the other hand, increases your damage over time, which is necessary if you want your poisons to be more destructive. Herald of Agony is there to increase your chance of inflicting poisons upon the enemy.

A level 4 Enlighten support gem is necessary to activate all of these auras. If you do not have access to this one yet, you can turn off Haste for the time being.

Gloves

• Frenzy
• Ensnaring Arrow
• Manaforged Arrows Support
• Frostblink

Frenzy enhances the effects of Frenzy Charges by giving you more attack damage and attack speed per charge.

Ensnaring Arrow, on the other hand, causes enemies you have ensnared to take increased projectile damage from attack hits.

Since both Frenzy and Ensaring Arrow are bow skills, you can link them to Manaforged Arrows Support. By doing so, they will be cast automatically just by spending mana with Scourge Arrow of Menace or Caustic Arrow of Poison.

Frostblink is there to help you traverse the map quickly or get out of harm's way.

Boots

• Immortal Call (lvl 2)
• Cast When Damage Taken (lvl 1)
• Blood Rage
• Despair

Immortal Call is the preferred guard skill for this build. When active, this skill improves your defenses by making you take less physical damage and elemental damage. You don't have to worry about its activation because it is linked to Cast When Damage Taken Support. Whenever you take enough damage, this support gem activates Immortal Call immediately after.

In addition, activate Blood Rage to give you a sizable boost to your attack speed.

Despair is a curse spell in Path of Exile that reduces the chaos resistance of affected enemies. It is important to note that you have to cast this curse manually. The good news is that you only have to use it whenever you come across tough enemies or bosses.

Tattoos

We know, it sucks that the secondary ascendancy classes are no more in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League. But, if there is any consolation, GGG has brought back the Tattoos from a couple of leagues ago, albeit with some adjustments. Anyway, here are the Tattoos that we recommend for the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder:

• Tattoo of the Tawhoa Shaman

  • 5% Chance to Poison on Hit

• Tattoo of the Arohongui Shaman

  • 5% Increased Effect of Herald Buffs on You

• Tattoo of the Tawhoa Warrior

  • 5% Increased Chaos Damage

• Tattoo of the Ramako Fleetfoot

  • 2% Increased Movement Speed

• Tattoo of the Tasalio Tideshifter

  • 10% Chance to Avoid Being Stunned

Passive Tree

POB

Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder

Final Thoughts

The Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder is still an awesome build in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League. However, substantial changes have to be made in order for the build to work, especially after the removal of the Wildwood Ascendancies.

Instead of manually firing Caustic Arrow of Poison, you will drop a few ballista totems on the ground and have them use the skill gem for you. Don't worry, you will still be active on the battlefield. That's because you are going to be the one to cast Scourge Arrow of Menace, with the Mirage Archer to help you with that.

The bulk of the damage of this build still revolves around the poisons you inflict. The Pathfinder is the perfect ascendancy class for this as it amplifies poison damage immensely compared to the other classes in the game.

We hope that you have enjoyed our comprehensive build guide for the Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder in Patch 3.24! Be sure to bookmark this guide for future reference.

With all of that said, good luck on your adventures in Wraeclast, Exile!

PROS

+Utilizes poison to make quick work of the enemy

+Fun and easy to play

+See enemies die from poisons inflicted by your ballista totems

+Encourages a more active playstyle

+Still awesome in Patch 3.24

CONS

-Some pieces of gear are expensive

-Adjustments have to be made in order for the build to work

-Removal of the Wildwood Ascendancies is rough

-No longer a league starter