Path of Exile's Going To Look at Some of the Changes To Bow Skills

GGG're going to look at some of the changes to Bow skills that we've been working on. We're going to look at a major rework to Rain of Arrows and its Vaal version.

Rain of Arrows

We want this skill to be more powerful at higher levels. Its area of effect performed well at lower levels, but once players had access to piercing and additional projectiles, other bow skills could cover a much larger area. We couldn't just increase its size, as it would have to be absolutely massive to compete with projectile skills. Our reworked version rains down arrows that each deal area damage where they land, and they land over a much larger area than the original Rain of Arrows. 

We've tried a number of ways to distribute the arrows. Eventually we came to our current version. Half of the arrows will drop randomly, while the other half will drop on targets over the area. It picks targets in a series of rings spreading out from the targeted location, making the target spread very even. Take a look at this screenshot for an example of this: 

"Additional Arrows" add more arrows spread out over additional outer rings, increasing the total spread of damage without impacting damage to individual targets. 

This is how it drops arrows when there are targets in its area: 

Vaal Rain of Arrows

Vaal Rain of Arrows will receive the same changes as Rain of Arrows above, with some special additions. 

The skill will fire more arrows, meaning it will drop arrows over a larger area. The skill will also repeat its rain multiple times, providing powerful ongoing damage, controlling its area for an extended period. Rather than pinning enemies in place, the skill will now perform a powerful Maim, slowing enemy movement by 75%. Having a slow effect rather than preventing movement makes monsters more likely to keep trying to run at you, rather than just stopping and using any ranged attacks immediately. This makes the skill much more practical as crowd control. 

We'll provide more information as we keep iterating on these changes in the weeks to come, as well as talking about some of the other skill changes we'll be making. Nothing is set in stone, so thoughts and feedback are welcome! It is very important to take the time to level up at the beginning of the game. Whenever you need to poe currency buy, you can turn to U4GM for help. We has poe items.