Poisonous Concoction of Bouncing Pathfinder

Ranger · Pathfinder · level 96 · by animeprincess

3.30 · Covens of UmbraImported from export code

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This stage

Level 1–12

Act 1 · Stage 1 of 7

Act 1 – bow start

Make a Ranger. Kill Hillock, then go to town.
– – , in that order of importance.
– .
: a lasting debuff on bosses, so cast it once.
– : optional extra damage that fires on its own.
: buy it as early as you can and keep it low level, so you need no Intelligence on gear.
: buy it right after the Mud Flats, because its Strength requirement goes up if you wait. You won't use it until level 12.

In the creator’s video

Burning Arrow and Manaforged Arrows cost extra gems and mana. Skip them if you're short.
Buy Shield Charge and Frostblink as soon as a vendor has them: a gem bought later comes at a higher level and its attribute needs can outrun yours.

Open the leveling guide for Ranger

Pick any stat to light up where it comes from. Pick a slot to see the item.

Skills

Path of Exile

Skill Gems

5 skills · 9 gems · Level 1-12

Skill

Caustic Arrow

Level 5

3 linked

Mirage Archer · Momentum

Skill

Shrapnel Ballista

Level 4

2 linked

Pierce

Skill

Burning Arrow

Level 5

2 linked

Manaforged Arrows

Skill

Sniper's Mark

Level 4

Unlinked

Skill

Frostblink

Level 1

Unlinked

The creator's file doesn't say which item each link goes in for this stage · hover or tap a gem for its tooltip

Guide

A budget league starter for Covens of Umbra by animeprincess. Level with a bow, switch to Poisonous Concoction at level 12, then to the Bouncing version after the campaign. It aims to finish your Atlas and all four Voidstones for about 20–30 Divines.

Strength: The skill is meta
Strength: Budget-friendly gearing
Strength: Comfortable, easy gameplay
Strength: Strong defences
Strength: Spreading explosions scale into hard content
Strength: Easy 40/40 challenges

Weakness: Struggles when monsters are spread out
Weakness: Tops out around 20–50 Divines. Past that, move the same character to something stronger such as Viper Strike of the Mamba, with no re-leveling

Ascendancy order

Per the creator: 3.30 changed Master Surgeon to 50% less Life Flask recovery rate, and the 3.30 Pathfinder changes in the patch notes are Ruthless-only.

What to expect

Fast, comfortable campaign; swap to the Bouncing version after it.
Finish your Atlas and all four Voidstones on cheap gear.
Comfortable hard mapping at about 20–30 Divines; the creator suggests stopping near 50.

Uniques

(body): the best defensive body armour here. Keep it on Sane for 30–40% less physical and chaos damage taken and 10% life back over a second when hit.
(body): cheaper, not as strong. Better than a rare evasion body, though a high-evasion rare is fine at league start. Mitigation only, no avoidance or recovery.
(amulet): extra projectiles become extra targets for the chain. Only works with the Bouncing version.
(ring): a chance to add another poison whenever you poison. Upgrade it with Noxious Catalysts; it lowers your elemental resistances.
(ring): Adrenaline on kill (more damage, attack and movement speed, physical reduction), life on kill and chaos resistance. Also scales the explosions.
(jewel): evade chance with Grace, attack speed with Precision, or damage-over-time multiplier with Malevolence (the creator doesn't run Malevolence).
(jewel): half your spell suppression also applies to avoiding elemental ailments.
(jewel, chaos damage version): 6% increased chaos damage per allocated passive in its radius.
(jewel, Asenath version; the keystone doesn't matter): look for flask charges gained, movement speed, life, Alchemist's Genius or Onslaught on kill.
(boots, explode setup only): see the Explode setup stage.

Chase uniques

with : an expensive defensive pair. Progenesis is one of Pathfinder's strongest defensive upgrades, and the belt makes it stronger. Only use the belt together with the flask; drop the Stibnite or Jade Flask for it.

Flasks

Two Divine Life Flasks, a Quicksilver Flask, a Jade Flask and a Stibnite Flask.
Your life flask is your weapon: Poisonous Concoction uses its charges and its recovery sets your damage. Upgrade it first.

How it plays

No precise aiming: throw it into a pack and the chains spread poison for you.
is your movement; with Pathfinder's speed and flasks you move fast.
Best in dense content: Expedition (skip chaos-immune monsters), Abyss, Essence, Strongboxes, and Heist early in the league. Delirium and Beyond add monsters; Delve works with the explode setup.
Avoid Legion: its monsters are too spread out.

How it works

You attack without a weapon (a shield is fine). Each throw uses life flask charges per projectile, and each projectile bursts in its own area, so regular Pconc can hit one enemy several times.
The Bouncing version chains instead; extra projectiles add chains. Fury Valve and one Follow-Through cluster are the big scalers.
When a poisoned enemy dies, its poison spreads to nearby enemies.

Defences

100% spell suppression from the tree.
About 90% evasion with Grace.
About 65–70% attack block with little gear investment.
for physical mitigation.
Life leech with instant recovery, endurance charges, a lot of life gain on hit from overlapping projectiles, and flasks.

Build resources

The creator's leveling loot filter (AP Leveling PConc Pathfinder) on his pathofexile.com account; it carries on into endgame until your last Voidstone.
His Pconc of Bouncing YouTube playlist, Discord (about 8,000 members) and 24-hour league-start stream on Twitch.

FAQ

Is the campaign gear from the creator?

No. His file uses the same high-level gear in every campaign stage, so for Level 1–12 and the three lab stages the doll shows our example gear for that level. The gems follow his Mobalytics guide.

Why are there no numbers?

His file saved its numbers with the endgame tree and gear but the swap stage's skills, so they don't match any stage. Use Export to open a stage in Path of Building.

Do the trees match 3.30?

His file saves them as 3.29 trees. Every node we checked exists in our 3.30 tree data except two cluster-jewel nodes; compare with the in-game tree before you spend points.

Source: animeprincess’s guide, written up in our own words.

What to do next

Overcapped

Fire resistance is 15% over the cap

Gear, runes and quest rewards alone give 90%. The cap is 75%, so some of those lines could be life or damage instead.

Passive tree

14 points · Pathfinder · Level 1-12

Passive tree

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Where your stats come from

Life3,752
G 346T 3,406
Fire resistance75%
G 90%
Cold resistance75%
G 79%
Lightning resistance75%
G 45%T 30%
Chaos resistance75%
T 75%
Strength125
T 125
Dexterity263
G 25T 238
Intelligence130
T 130

G Gear
R Runes
J Jewels
Q Quest rewards
T Tree, ascendancy and base

G, R and J are read from the item lines, Q from the build’s quest rewards. T is what’s left of Path of Building’s total.