Scourge Arrow Ignite Archive updates

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"But Swiks, why use Scourge Arrow instead of simply using Burning Arrow for an Ignite build ?"

Because it's a Scourge Arrow build before everything else, Ignite just happens to be one of the best way to play it considering the investment.

But I can still give you a few reasons :

• The channeling nature of Scourge Arrow isn't an issue because as soon as you have the recommended Uniques (15-20c total and level 60) you can use it like Burning Arrow, at 1 Stack you still get 150% More Ailment damage which is enough to one tap packs, even rare mobs. On my current setup, a 1 Stack Arrow w/o Curse have 160k DPS for 7 seconds. It's waaaay more than any life pool of white/blue/yellow mob in maps. Add to that the 140k DPS from the pod explosion and you can see why you can one tap the skill :)

• When facing bosses you can use the full stacks to get way higher Ignite DPS than Burning Arrow. Thanks to the tree and the 'Minions Attack Speed Modifiers Affects You' node, the Elementalist tree that give 75% increased effect to the Lightning Golem and the Hopeshredder decent attacks speed, the full channel is fast, less than one second without any investment in Attack Speed on gear.

• Burning Arrow have a native 50% Physical converted to Fire so you can't use any bow/gear with flat Physical damage or it would ruin Elemental Equilibrium, so Scourge Arrow opens a lot of Bow options, Hopeshredder included.

• Scourge Arrow doesn't need Greater Multiple Projectiles to clear maps thanks to the pods, so you gain one link on your main setup and you never have to swap gems :)

• Maybe the most important, Scourge Arrow is considered bad by a good chunk of the community so you get a lot of bonus meme points for playing that :D It also means cheap enchants and lv 21 gem.

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"I feel too squishy, what can I do ?"

That's one of the downside of the build, it will never be a facetank type of build but you have some solution. For each defensive upgrade you will have to sacrifice damage, so it's your call to find the balance between how tanky you want to be and how much damage you want to deal.
That said the version I proposed is almost entirely focused on damage and you can run T15 comfortably with half the damage, so don't hesitate to go more tanky !

A few steps you can take :
• Use the defensive tree tree I suggested higher in the guide.
• Use a more defensive chest than the Tabula/Skin of the Loyal even if it means using a 5L, Belly of the Beast for the high %hp, Rare Elder base chest with 100+ HP and %max HP, The Perfect Form for the Phase Acro and free Arctic Armour or a Loreweave 78% res.
• Hale Negator instead of Lightpoacher offers a good protection versus big hits.
• Skip The Taming and Yoke of Suffering for rares with high amount of Life.
• Rearguard instead of Drillneck for a good source of Block which helps a lot versus multiple small hits.

If all that is not enough, check out the freshly added Hardcore section :)

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"How does The Tempest compares against Hopeshredder ?"

For this build I would say it's inferior in almost every way. The flat damage from the Hopeshredder is absolutely huge and swapping it for The Tempest means losing around 20% Ignite DPS depending on your setup. You also lose movement speed, leech and the chance to avoid elemental hits for a bit of attack speed.

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"What about Xoph's Nurture then ?"

First it have physical damage converted to Fire so it mean the loss of Elemental Equilibrium, and it's very big hit to the build.

Second, its flat damage is really low compared to Hopeshredder and ignites aren't that impressive for an Ignite focused Bow.

Third, it's an extremely slow Bow, 1.25 Attack per Second means reaching the 5 Stacks on Scourge Arrow will take around 50% longer than with Hopeshredder

All things considered you have a build that does 1/3rd of what Hopeshredder is capable while having less smooth playstyle because of the low attack speed. I wouldn't recommend it.

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"Is that build viable in the Azurite mines ?"

Yes !
Totally viable, you will crush everything up to around level 180 with budget gear. Pushing further will require more serious investments like a Loreweave for exemple. Farming laterally around level 270 will be perfectly fine, I wouldn't try to push ladder with it though as it kinda lacks in the defensive department.

A friend who tried this build on 350+ delves told me that using a Pyre ring in the second slot was good because it would destroy the monsters on death and prevented the deadly post death explosions, that said it mess with the Elemental Equilibrium so you will have to drop it if you chose to do so.

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"Is that build possible with a Trickster ? Or with Chaos Inoculation "

Yes ! Someone in the thread made a very good Trickster CI version (Leraq on page 8). It's a very beefy CI character with a bunch of regen and a lot of Evasion/Dodge.
Here is his PoB : https://pastebin.com/bH6xpqM2

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I will add more FAQ when the thread grow :)