CoC Nimis Fireball
Deadeye Build

Updated for Patch 3.20

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Cast-on-Critical builds are very demanding - you need a 100% Hit and Crit Chance with Attacks, requiring a lot of Accuracy Rating, and a necessary Mana Cost reduction. These have also high Attribute requirements, so it's more common to see them among more wealthy players. While a lot of CoC builds use Cyclone to attack more often it also limits your range, that's why using a Projectile Attack would suit this build a lot more as your Fireballs are Projectiles too after all, and it will be advantageous on a Deadeye due to extra Chaining and Projectiles. To Cast them you will use a Kinetic Blast fired from a Wand, it will create Fireballs on Critical Strike. Fireball is an extraordinarily simple Spell that has high base damage, and the ability to shotgun (multiple explosions from the Fireballs can hit the same single target). It never had an opportunity to exemplify this property, not until 3.20. This type of build has spiked in popularity after the introduction of the Nimis Ring which makes the Projectiles return to you after expiring or exploding in case of Fireballs.

Fireballs' explosions occur two times when using Nimis, the second time it happens it's at their returning point - exactly where your character stands. These explosions can overlap for a powerful shotgun effect. It will be hard to cap the Critical Strike Chance, be sure to use a good Wand, Jewelry, Support Gems, Passives, Flasks, Medium Cluster Jewels, Auras, Watcher's Eye, and to Brittle your enemies. Not that the CoC element can be implemented later as a final upgrade. Self-casting Fireballs with Nimis and mediocre Crit Chance will make an excellent build already, but don't use it as a league starter - Deadeye is a glass-canon build that dies way too often when played on a budget, and there are much more powerful league starters to choose from, even for this particular ascendancy.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Use Kinetic Blast to trigger Fireball, it provides excellent clear speed when played as a Deadeye. For mobility use Shield Charge or Flame Dash. You can optionally use Flammability or Vaal Haste, but that's it when it comes to active skills. For a Guard Skill use Immortal Call linked with CwDT, you won't have much Armour. For Auras use Zealotry, Grace, Herald of Ash, and a low-level Precision, Vitality, or even Clarity. Anomalous Blood and Sand with Enhance Support for extra Projectile Speed should be implemented too. For a Curse use Sniper's Mark, cast automatically.
 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

As a Deadeye, you will have easy access to the Projectile and Elemental Damage nodes by allocating Forces of Nature or Ballistics. To make the leveling faster you will however need to specialize in something more specific. What we recommend is to use Lightning Arrow Bow Skill, combined with Storm Rain Totems if you have an opportunity to get a second setup. You won't need to refund a lot of Skill Points, just the nodes leading to Master Fletcher, Aspect of the Eagle, and Arcing Blows. Nimis requires level 48, but at this point, your Lightning Arrow will still outperform it, we recommend switching to the final version of the build after entering maps. At first, you won't have to make it CoC build but simply Cast the Fireballs yourself, the CoC builds are good for characters at level 90 or higher. Lightning Arrow deals Physical Damage, half of which is converted to Fire. Look for the basic flat damage and Attack Speed, Maximum Life, and Resistances.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Lightning Arrow setup
	Lightning Arrow - Lightning Arrow that deals Damage to the target and its surroundings. It will be used as a primary source of damage.
	Inspiration Support - It grants you Crit. Chance, Elemental Damage, and lowers Mana Cost.
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - Increased Elemental Damage with Attacks.
	Added Lightning Damage Support - Adds Lightning Damage to Attacks.
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - Use it to fire more Arrows, it increases your clear speed.
	Mirage Archer Support - Summons a Mirage Archer that's also using the Skill, but with less Attack Speed and Damage.

Storm Rain setup
	Storm Rain - Fires multiple Arrows that deal damage after landing, damaging enemies. It's used against bosses.
	Ballista Totem Support - Summons a Ballista Totem that uses the linked Bow Skill for you.
	Focused Ballista Support - Ballista Totems will fire when you do, it increases their Attack Rate.
	Added Lightning Damage Support
	Elemental Focus Support - Strom Rain won't be able to inflict Shock but will deal much more Elemental Damage in return.
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support

Auras setup
	Precision - Increases Crit Chance and adds Accuracy.
	Herald of Purity - Grants more Physical Damage, later converted.
	Clarity - Increases Mana Regeneration Rate.

various Gems
	Steelskin - Stops Bleeding and is able to absorb some incoming damage before breaking or expiring.
	Sniper's Mark - Marked enemies take increased Projectile Damage. Link it with  Mark on Hit Support.
	Flame Dash - Travel Spell that increases your mobility.

Bandits:

Killing all Bandits for two additional Passive Points is the best option

Leveling Skill Trees:

30 Points Skill Tree
Go get the Maximum Life, Bow, Projectile Damage, and Arcing Blows with the Conversion Mastery

60 Points Skill Tree
Allocate Master Fletcher, Charisma, Forces of Nature, and more Maximum Life with Life and Mana Leech

Recommended leveling items:

Praxis - For more Mana and lower Mana cost of Skills.

+(20-30) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana Regenerate (3-6) Mana per second -(8-4) to Total Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit

Quill Rain - Level-5 Bow that's good for most Bow builds.

+(10-20) to Dexterity 100% increased Physical Damage 100% increased Attack Speed Grants 2 Mana per Enemy Hit (50-100)% increased Projectile Speed +(25-50) to Accuracy Rating 30% less Damage

Death's Harp - Level-32 Bow with good and basic stats, it lets you fire two additional Arrows.

(30-50)% increased Critical Strike Chance (90-105)% increased Physical Damage 10% increased Attack Speed +50% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier Bow Attacks fire 2 additional Arrows

Goldrim - A helmet that's good for leveling most of the builds due to the extra Resistances.

+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Tabula Rasa - Allows you to link any six Gems from the start.

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

93 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Unique or Cluster Jewels)
123 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Ricochet
2. Endless Munitions
3. Gathering Winds
4. Focal Point

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Solaris: 6% additional Physical Damage Reduction while there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Garukhan: 60% reduced Effect of Shock on you, Cannot be Blinded, You cannot be Maimed

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Fireball/Kinetic Blast setup
	Fireball - Fireball deals Fire Damage. we recommend the Divergent version if you can apply the alternative Ailments with Leadership's Price.
	Kinetic Blast - Kinetic Blast will trigger Fireball on Critical Strike, be sure it has 100% Hit and Crit Chance.
	Inspiration Support - It reduces Mana Cost, increases Elemental Damage, and Critical Strike Chance. Use the Anomalous version for a higher Crit Chance or the Divergent one for a lower Mana Cost.
	Cast on Critical Support - It makes Kinetic Blast cast Fireball. Increase the Level of this Gem for an increased cooldown recovery rate.
	Empower Support - The Gem Level of Fireball increases its damage directly and is probably the most efficient way to do so.
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - It conjures more Projectiles, which results in better clear speed and more single-target damage.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Zealotry - Increased Critical Strike Chance and Damage, but only for Spells.
	Grace - Grants more Evasion Rating, one of the most important defensive layers.
	Herald of Ash - Increased and More Fire Damage, the burning damage on death also improves clear speed.
	Enlighten Support - Increases Mana Reservation Efficiency for these three most expensive Auras.

[UTILITY] Mark setup
	Sniper's Mark - Sniper's Mark is the best one for Projectiles, it increases their damage and makes them Split on Hit. Taking any other Mark is foolish.
	Mark on Hit Support -  Mark will be applied automatically with Attacks against Rare and Unique enemies.
	Flame Dash - It teleports you over a short distance.  Shield Charge with  Faster Attacks might be another way to move faster, it's up to you which one you prefer.
	Lifetap Support - The setup will cost Mana instead of Life, Mana is in short supply here.

[UTILITY] Blood and Sand setup
	Blood and Sand - Anomalous Blood and Sand increase Projectile Speed making clear speed faster, the base Projectile Speed of a Fireball is meager.
	Enhance Support - Increases Quality of the Anomalous Blood and Sand for even faster Projectiles.

[UTILITY] Guard Spell setup
	Immortal Call - Immortal Call grants you a short boost of survivability by reducing the Physical and Elemental Hit Damage Taken.
	Cast when Damage Taken - It will cast the linked Spell automatically after taking damage. Keep both of these Gems at a low level.

[UTILITY] Other Auras
	Precision - Use Precision for more Accuracy and increased Critical Strike Chance for Attacks and Spells. It can be kept at a low level, but if you have spare Mana, increase it.
	Vitality - Only use level-1 Vitality if you have a Watcher's Eye with an instant Life-on-Hit modifier.
	Clarity - Only use level-1 Clarity if you have a Watcher's Eye with a mod that reduces the Mana Cost of Skills.

[UTILITY] Vaal Haste
	Vaal Haste - Vaal Haste can temporarily increase your Cast, Attack, and Movement Speed.

[UTILITY] Flammability
	Flammability - If you can apply a second Curse, use Flammability. You could make it auto-cast by having a Ring, but that's way too expensive, there's a lot more to look for on a Ring.

6. Gear Setup

You will need 100% Crit and Hit Chance, Mana Cost Reduction, and some extra Strength and Dexterity to make this build work. For more Damage look for a way to increase the Gem Level of Fireball, Critical Strike Multiplier, Fire Damage, Spell Damage, Attack Speed, and Projectile Damage. Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency and extra Cooldown Recovery Rate will be mandatory too for the most optimal result. You will need a source of the Onslaught buff which might be a Flask or a specific modifier on Boots, and Fire Exposure from Cluster Jewels or Eater's Implicit on the Gloves. For defenses, look for Spell Suppression, Evasion, and Maximum Life. Nimis is an obligatory unique item. If you want to reach a 100% Critical Strike Chance, the most efficient way to do so is by applying Brittle. It can only be done by equipping Leadership's Price, or by using Searing Exarch's modifier on a pair of rare boots. Cast Speed is not important, seek Attack Speed instead.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Besides Life and Resistances, look for Spell Suppression and Accuracy. You should be able to get the increased Mana Reservation Efficiency as Blue Eldritch Implicit.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +30% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Nearby Enemies have -9% to Fire Resistance Chance to Suppress Spell Damage Accuracy Chaos Resistance

Helmet enchantments: 40% increased Fireball Damage

(Weapon) Rare Wand - On a Wand look for extra Gem Level, Critical Strike Chance, and increased Fire or Spell Damage. Projectile Speed can be crafted using Essences.

Min. requirements: 30% increased Critical Strike Chance 100% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of all Fire Spell Skill Gems Optional affixes: increased Fire Damage increased Attack Speed increased Projectile Speed +1 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems +% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier

(Off-hand) Atziri's Reflection - It's by far the best Shield. It grants tons of Intelligence, Evasion, Elemental Resistances, increased Effect of Curses, and Hexproofness.

6% increased Movement Speed +(40-60) to Intelligence (180-200)% increased Evasion Rating +(180-200) to maximum Energy Shield +(20-30)% to all Elemental Resistances Hex Reflection Unaffected by Curses (15-20)% increased Effect of your Curses

(Body Armour) Loreweave - Lorewave is a Body Armour that can fix your Elemental Resistances, grants Attributes, Maximum Life, Mana, Energy Shield, increases Elemental Damage, and Critical Strike Chance. It is quite cheap but that depends on how well-rolled it is.

Has 6 Sockets +(8-24) to all Attributes Adds (4-10) to (14-36) Physical Damage to Attacks (20-60)% increased Global Critical Strike Chance +(15-50) to maximum Energy Shield +(20-60) to maximum Life +(20-50) to maximum Mana (6-30)% increased Rarity of Items found (15-50)% increased Elemental Damage Your Maximum Resistances are (76-78)%

(Body Armour) Skin of the Lords - For simply more Damage pick Skin of the Lords. It also increases Defences making you more durable.

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Sockets cannot be modified +2 to Level of Socketed Gems 100% increased Global Defences You can only Socket Corrupted Gems in this item Item has 6 Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) <Random Keystone>

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Rare Body Armour is the best-in-slot option, especially one with Warlord influence that reduces the Mana Cost of socketed setup by 15, or Elder one with Extra Critical Strike Chance for Attacks and +1 to Level of Socketed Support Gems.

Min. requirements: +70 to maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: +1 to Level of Socketed Support Gems Socketed Attacks have -15 to Total Mana Cost Attacks have +#% to Critical Strike Chance +1% to Spell Critical Strike Chance You can apply an additional Curse Chance to Suppress Spell Damage

(Boots) Rare Boots - Life, Resistances, and Movement Speed are the mods to look for here. Onslaught, and Elusive are great to have but remember to fir Spell Suppression Chance as well. Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate can be found on Shaper-influenced ones.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed +50% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate Chance to Suppress Spell Damage

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - On the Gloves, try to get some extra Accuracy, Attributes, and Chance to Suppress Spell Damage. Eater's Implicit can make your Hit inflict Fire Exposure on Hit.

Min. requirements: +50 to maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistances Accuracy Optional affixes: increased Global Critical Strike Chance Attributes Chance to Suppress Spell Damage Spell Damage/Damage while Leeching

(Belt) Rare Belt - Life, Strength, Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate, and Resistances are the only affordable mods worth looking for on a Belt.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances Strength Optional affixes: Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate increased Maximum Life

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - Amulets offer a huge variety of mods, but you should be the most interested in Life, Resistances, increased Crit. Chance and Multiplier, Fire Spell Damage, and increased Gem Level for your Fire Spell. Reducing the Mana Cost would be great too, it's a prefix you can craft.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +40% to Elemental Resistances 30% increased Global Critical Strike Chance Optional affixes: Global Critical Strike Multiplier +1 to Level of all Intelligence Skill Gems +1 to Level of all Fire Skill Gems Non-Channelling Skills have -7 to Total Mana Cost (crafted)

(Amulet) Leadership's Price - If you can balance your Dexterity and intelligence go for this Amulet. Scorched enemies have reduced Elemental Resistance, Brittle makes them more likely to be hit with a Critical Strike, and Sap makes them deal less Damage.

+(10-16) to all Attributes +(-3-3)% to maximum Fire Resistance +(-3-3)% to maximum Cold Resistance +(-3-3)% to maximum Lightning Resistance You have Scorching Conflux, Brittle Conflux and Sapping Conflux while your two highest Attributes are equal Cannot Ignite, Chill, Freeze or Shock

Recommended Anointments: Heart of Flame Sovereignty Dreamer True Strike

(Ring) Rare Ring - A Ring needs to have mods for Life, Resistances, Reduced Mana Cost of Skills, and Intelligence. Attack Damage Leeched as Mana, Accuracy, and Critical Strike modifiers are common and useful too.

Min. requirements: +40 to maximum Life +40% to Elemental Resistances Non-channeling Skills have -8 to Total Mana Cost (crafted) Intelligence Optional affixes: increased Global Critical Strike Chance #% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana Curse Enemies with Flammability on Hit increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier

(Ring) Nimis - With Nimis all the projectiles will return to you, it's a core element of the build that allows you to deal massive bursts of damage against bosses.

+(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance +(30-50) to Dexterity (25-35)% increased Projectile Damage Projectiles Return to you at end of flight Projectiles are fired in random directions

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Jewels can help you with the Mana sustain, increase Damage, Crit Chance, Attributes, Life, or Resistances.

Recommended affixes: Maximum Life Elemental Resistances Attributes Increases Critical Strike Chance increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills reduced Mana Cost of Skills

(Jewel) Militant Faith - Use Militant Faith to reduce your Dexterity which is useful with Leadership's Price. The Devotion mods to look for are the ones for reduced Mana Cost of Skills and Elemental Resistances. You don't want any of the Keystones. Socket it near Fervour. Don't let it transform any of the notables in its radius that you want to pick, but you can go out of your way to allocate one that's useful.

Carved to glorify (2000-10000) new faithful converted by High Templar (Avarius-Dominus-Maxarius) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Templars Historic <two random mods of devotion>

(Jewel) Grand Spectrum - You should be able to accommodate three Grand Spectrum Jewels, these can be extremely good for a massive Critical Strike Chance boost, or for additional Elemental Resistances. One Jewel for three Power Charges and two for Critical Strike Chance will result in a 270% increased Critical Strike Chance.

+1 to Minimum Power Charges per Grand Spectrum 25% increased Critical Strike Chance per Grand Spectrum +1 to Minimum Endurance Charges per Grand Spectrum +7% to all Elemental Resistances per Grand Spectrum +1 to Minimum Frenzy Charges per Grand Spectrum 15% increased Elemental Damage per Grand Spectrum

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - There are some great Precision or Zealotry modifiers, but the most important are Life per Enemy Hit from Vitality and reduced Mana Cost from Clarity.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura modifiers: Non-Channelling Skills have -(10-5) to Total Mana Cost while affected by Clarity Gain (20-30) Life per Enemy Hit while affected by Vitality

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewels - Two Large Cluster Jewels associated with Fire or Elemental Damage are great to have. Get the notables for Elemental Resistances and Fire Damage.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Doryani's Lesson 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Smoking Remains 1 Added Passive Skill is Widespread Destruction

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - Four Medium Cluster Jewels that increase your Area Damage or Critical Strike Chance are the best way to get the necessary stats.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Basics of Pain 1 Added Passive Skill is Quick Getaway 1 Added Passive Skill is Pressure Points 1 Added Passive Skill is Magnifier 1 Added Passive Skill is Towering Threat 1 Added Passive Skill is Assert Dominance

(Flask) Bottled Faith - The Critical Strike Chance and Consecrated Ground effect are good in almost every build, use it if you still need the extra Critical Strike Chance.

40% increased Damage Requires Level 35 Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Effect

(Flask) Dying Sun - Two extra Projectiles are good, and so is increased Area of Effect and less Fire Damage Taken. It's a good and cheap Flask.

+50% to Fire Resistance 20% less Fire Damage taken (125-150)% increased Charges per use (60-40)% less Duration (10-20)% increased Area of Effect during Effect Skills fire 2 additional Projectiles during Effect

(Flask) Progenesis - Progenesis makes a portion of lost life from hits to be taken as damage over time, it's good it you can recover life very fast, and you should be able to with the already mentioned Watcher's eye with vitality mod.

+35% to Chaos Resistance (20-10)% reduced Charges per use (-35-35)% increased Duration When Hit during effect, 25% of Life loss from Damage taken occurs over 4 seconds instead

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask of Staunching for Bleed removal Diamond Flask with increased Critical Strike Chance Quicksilver Flask with increased Attack Speed Silver Flask with increased Evasion Rating

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.