Tornado Shot Deadeye Passive Skill Tree and Gem Links

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March 5th, 2023, 15:02

Path of Building

Path of Building for the Magic Find setup of the build is available here.

Included is the recommended set of gear, a full skill tree, and all the gem links needed to get the build to tick.

We use the Path of Building Community Fork for all of our builds, which is highly recommended. If you are encountering errors importing the build, please ensure you are using the Community Fork.

Passive Skill Trees

With this build in particular, there are some noteworthy differences between the trees. While the “Classic” build is perfectly capable of reaching maximum level in a seasoned player’s hands, it is not recommended for new players unless currency farming is your only priority. If leveling past 93 is a priority for you and you have not played a bow build before, it is recommended to use the “Survivability” tree and Kaom's Heart, which adds a significant amount of stability to the build.

For clarity’s sake, the choice you are making here is between really fast clear speed and really really fast clear speed. If you’re planning on farming exclusively Shaped Burial Chambers, for example, it is best to go with the “Classic” variant, as it will generally clear a few seconds faster per map, which adds up if you farm the map a hundred times every day, and you aren’t likely to die. If you’re planning on venturing into Red Tier maps, you should modify the “Classic” build or choose one of the “Survivability” builds, as the “seconds” you save will likely be lost in hours of extra grinding due to the deaths you accrue.

Make sure you put a point into Mana Leech in the bottom right part of the tree, otherwise you will encounter issues sustaining your damage. Bow builds occasionally hit power troughs where you have a heavy Mana expenditure due to reaching your 6-Link, but you do not yet have enough scaling to support the drain on 10% Leech alone. If this is the case for your exile, spec out of Mana Leech and put two points into Mind Drinker on the upper part of the tree instead. Once your damage improves, you can swap the configuration back.

Classic

This is the recommended Level 89 (with Alira) passive skill tree for the classic version, that prioritizes clear speed above all else. Experienced Windripper players will be capable of reaching 100 with this build, but it is not recommended for Hardcore leagues as it does not leave a lot of room for errors in heavily modded maps.

Remaining points can be used as needed. Cluster Jewels are a great option for damage and can provide a lot of flexibility. Additional Frenzy Charges, Jewel Sockets, and/or pathing through Fury Bolts to Bravery are all options with varying pros and cons. Like most Tornado Shot builds, the pathing of this tree is very flexible and can be adjusted to suit your needs.

Acrobatics can be acquired whenever it feels necessary. Typically we recommend picking this up in the latter half of the game, around the time you are looking to do Cruel Labyrinth. You will want to snap up all the Critical Strike nodes you can as you are leveling up — Lethality, King of the Hill, and Assassination are all exceptional notables to get your damage online as soon as possible.

Survivability / Hardcore

With 234% Increased Maximum Life, an abundance of Increased Evasion and Dodge chance, and 7 Jewel Sockets, this variant of the build isn’t easy to kill. The best part is that you will still have no trouble ripping through packs, usually clearing the entire multiple screens of enemies in a single shot. This version of the build utilizes Kaom's Heart.

This variant is not limited exclusively to Hardcore, although this tree and similar versions are most played on that ladder. The tree used in this edition is best suited for players who wish to maximize experience per hour and reach level 100 as reliably as possible, as it clears quickly and is significantly less prone to random deaths than the “Classic” variant, especially once you enter Red Tier maps.

Point Blank

Point Blank is an optional choice for Tornado Shot builds, and many players fall on both sides of preference. If you are not sure how you feel about Point Blank in this build, here are some very general rules of thumb:

Point Blank is a better choice for single-target damage
Playing without Point Blank offers better clear
Point Blank can be an asset very early on if you are struggling to kill bosses and rares

Overall, the power of Point Blank has its ups and downs depending on your gear. In very low gear levels, you may have an easier time dealing with Rares and Bosses. In mid range gear it is more of a matter of preference, as your clear will usually be noticeably quicker without it once Rares are no longer an issue, but your boss damage will suffer without it.

In end-game gear (30-35 Exalted Orbs invested or more) the balance usually swings back towards Point Blank, as your Tornado Shot should still be instantly killing everything, even at long range with the damage reduction. This will give you more damage to fight bosses without experiencing the typically reduction in clear speed. Positioning requires much greater care, however, and one could also argue that playing with Point Blank is a quality of life downgrade of sorts. That said, Point Blank has been changed in 3.9.0 Metamorph to only offer 30% more/less damage, making this choice less impactful than before.

Cluster Jewels

Cluster Jewels can offer a lot of damage to this build, as well as the freedom to take the build in your own direction or re-map the conventional tree.

Large Jewels

There are many options, but most convenient is usually to look for large jewels with % Increased Cold Damage small nodes.

Recommended nodes:

Stormrider: Exceptional as we get full benefit from all aspects of this notable and automatic Power Charge generation. This is ideal to have on one Cluster Jewel if you are using them.
Sadist: A large amount of increased damage due to applying ailments constantly.
Widespread Destruction: Reasonable damage increase and also beneficial for clear spread and farming speed.
Vengeful Commander: Reasonable damage increase and relatively cheap and available.
Blast Freeze: Fine as a filler but as we deal hybrid damage it is not as potent as an elemental damage increase.

Medium Jewels

% Increased Projectile Damage small nodes are most commonly used. The best two notables are:

Repeater
Streamlined

Use the Jewel socket on your medium(s) for Traditional or Abyss Jewels.

Gems

Tornado Shot is our primary skill, and is always used for clearing. Tornado Shot may also be used for dealing with bosses, particularly once you have additional projectile items such as the Labyrinth enchant and Dying Sun. A second 5/6-link can also be utilized by using Barrage Barrage, which can significantly bolster your boss damage early on.

Herald of Ice and Wrath Wrath, and Precision are run as our auras, granting extremely high elemental damage and screen shatter. Dash Dash affords us mobility and the ability to quickly reposition.

Tornado Shot 6-Link

Here are the recommended end-game links for Tornado Shot, in order of priority. Awakened Gems are not necessary at any stage of the build but included for redundancy. Anomalous is the ideal alternate quality version of the main gem.

The sixth link is relatively flexible and can be adjusted to suit your needs. Mirage Archer Support can be an exceptional choice and is required for both 6-links if you are using Occupying Force.

Secondary 6-Link (Chest) or Weapon Swap ( Chin Sol)

If you are using Kaom's Heart, you must use Chin Sol or +# Level to Gems Bow as a weapon swap or simply drop this link from the build.

Barrage Link

If you opt to incorporate Barrage Barrage, you should set it up as a secondary 5/6-link that’s primary purpose is single target damage. Once you have enough additional projectiles and the Tornado Shot enchant, however, this link becomes redundant as Tornado Shot will typically outperform Barrage Barrage.

Damage on Full Life Support can result in the highest possible damage for a 6th link, but can be difficult to pull off, as you are standing directly in the face of your enemy when using Barrage Barrage. With good enough movement and positioning it is the superior choice, however, you will have to decide for yourself whether it suits your preferences and capabilities.

If you are using Barrage Barrage you must use Point Blank — or a corrupted quiver (such as Drillneck with a Point Blank implicit — for it to be at all effective.

No Barrage Link

Some players find the Barrage Barrage link unnecessary, as once you enchant your helm with +1 Tornado Shot projectiles the damage becomes quite comparable to Barrage, even on a single target. Tornado Shot also affords greater kiting and the Mirage Archer Support gem only empowers this niche. If you don’t feel like Barrage is a necessary addition to your build, you can use the chest sockets/links to fulfill whatever purpose you like. You can also fit in extra gems for convenience or leveling, such as Portal Portal or Empower Support.

Auras 4-Link

We do not use the aura components of the chosen Vaal skill ( Grace Grace or Haste Haste); only the “active” Vaal skill is to be used.

* Precision should be kept at a level that leaves you with enough Mana to comfortably use Tornado Shot but keeps your Accuracy rating at or very close to 100%.

Defensive Aura Alternative

If you are looking to reach Level 100 and want to give yourself the best possible chance, consider using this setup instead. We drop Wrath Wrath in favor of more Evasion and safety:

This leaves you with enough unreserved Mana to also fit Dread Banner into another link (ensure it is not linked to any support gems). Dread Banner causes nearby enemies to have 21% reduced Accuracy at maximum level, which functions as pseudo-avoidance in addition to the huge boost from Grace Grace.

Herald of Ice 4-Link

For maximum damage we keep Herald of Ice in its own link, where it can procure additional buffs and damage for us. If you are opting to use the Defensive Aura Setup, you can repurpose this link for any number of setups, including golems, Cast when Damage Taken Support defensive curses, Dread Banner, and so on.

Utility and Mobility 4-Link

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