Chain-stacking Cobra Lash
Deadeye Build

Updated for Patch 3.20

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

This Ranger build is based on a very niche mechanics which is Chain. Chaining is a property of a Projectile that allows it to bounce after hitting an opponent and let it automatically target the nearest one after that. There are ways to scale up your damage with the remaining Chain, meaning that the first enemy to be hit with a projectile that Chains multiple times will receive increased damage. These are "Follow-Through" Notables and the Quality of a Divergent Cobra Lash. With 6 of these Notables and Gem Quality at 50%, the damage will get increased by around 2000%. In general, the Passive skill Tree provides increased damage, the Gem setup grants more damage, and your gear provides you with flat, numerical damage. Cobra Lash is the only viable skill for this build as it has built-in 6 Chains at Gem Level 25, resulting in up to 11 Chains as the build is finished.

For an Asendacy pick Deadeye. Ricochet grants you an extra Chain and Far Shot gives you a suitably named Far Shot for more Damage against distant foes. Gathering Winds with Wind Ward are one of the few defensive perks thanks to the Gale Force and Tailwind. Your other defenses are 4 to 5k of Maximum Life, a lot of Evasion Rating, some Armour, Block Chance, and the ranged nature of the build. With 45 points spent on Cluster Jewels, you don't have many points left to invest in Critical Strikes, luckily with a moderate investment into Accuracy Rating you can pick Precise Technique for 40% more Attack Damage. Cobra Lash converts 60% of its Physical Damage into Chaos Damage. With Void Manipulation it's better to convert all of your Damage into Chaos - it can be done with Chaos Mastery, Eater's Eldritch Implicit on Gloves, or Forbidden Flesh and Flame granting Nature's Reprisal.

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1. Gameplay

Use Cobra Lash is a great tool for clear speed due to the multiple Chains, but here it's also great against single targets, as long as they're one of the first targets of your Attacks. You want to keep a distance from your enemies, not only because you have a Far Shot, but because the character is quite squishy. For boss fights plant your Totems that apply Wither for increased Chaos Damage linked to Chance to Poison Support. You're using Vile Toxins Support so you want your enemy to have at least 8 Poisons, even if it's not the type of damage you're specialized in. Your Auras are Grace, Determination, Defiance Banner, or Herald of Purity. If you lack Accuracy, add Precision. Your Guard Spell is an Immortal Call linked to a low-level Cast when Damage Taken. Additional Spells to use are Withering Step and Blood Rage. For a Curse use Despair - it adds extra Chaos Damage to your Attacks.

This video was recorded on a level 90 Deatheye with 11 total Chains. The gear was rather a budget-friendly one as we didn't want to invest too much in this experimental build. You can easily triple the total DPS and push the number of Chains to 13 in total for an even more damage multiplier

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Cobra Lash is a great leveling Skill, and it's available since level 1. At first, build a general Attack Damage character dealing a combined Poison and Attack Damage, and at level 60, when you'll be able to socket your first Large Cluster Jewel, do so and start stacking the Follow-Through Notables. We recommend leveling with Tabula Rasa, there are a lot of great Support Gems you can use, bet keep in mind that you might run out of Mana without Clarity. Update your Claw frequently for one with a higher Physical or Chaos Damage, it will be progressively more important as you level up. Precise Technique is a tricky Keystone as you can't easily check your Accuracy without importing your character into PoB, but if you're dedicated to level efficiently you can pick it early on.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Cleave setup
	Cobra Lash - Cobra Lash is great for leveling, but it can be replaced with a similar attack.
	Chance to Poison Support - Use for Added Chaos Damage and increased Chance to Poison on Hit.
	Void Manipulation Support - Use only after converting all of your damage to Chaos via Chaos Mastery, it makes you deal more Chaos Damage at the cost of Elemental Damage.
	Vicious Projectiles Support - You deal more Chaos Damage, Physical Damage, and Chaos DoT, but have less Attack Speed. One of the best Gems you can link here.
	Nightblade Support - Nightblade is extremely overpowered as of now, definitely one of the Support Gems you should use.

various Gems
	Precision - Increases your Critical Strike Chance and Accuracy Rating.
	Clarity - Increased Mana Recovery Rate.
	Herald of Agony - Increased Chance of Poisoning and more Poison Damage, The Agony Crawler is a nice addition.
	Despair - A Curse to make enemies receive additional Chaos Damage and take more Chaos Damage.
	Dash - Dash is a simple mobility Spell that allows you to Dash.

Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points.

Leveling Skill Trees:

34 Points Skill Tree
Allocate Finesse, Ballistics, Entropy, Assassination, Blood Drinker, and Resourcefulness

68 Points Skill Tree
Allocate the Claw Cluster, Force Shaper, Atrophy, and the Large Jewel Socket
 

Recommended leveling items:

Blackheart - Adds Physical and Chaos damage and grants Maximum Life with a bit of Life Regeneration, a great Ring overall.

Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks Adds (10-15) to (20-25) Chaos Damage to Attacks Regenerate (10-15) Life per second 10% chance to Cause Monsters to Flee

Mark of Submission - You can socket the Despair Curse here so that it's easily applied to all enemies you Hit.

Has 1 Socket Curse Enemies with Socketed Hex Curse Gem on Hit

Meginord's Girdle - Provides you with the necessary Strenght adds Physical Damage to Attacks, grants Cold Resistance, and Maximum Life.

+(25-35) to Strength +25 to Strength Adds 10 to 20 Physical Damage to Attacks 10% increased maximum Life +(10-20)% to Cold Resistance 25% increased Flask Life Recovery rate

Goldrim - Offers a lot of useful Elemental 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)

Snakebite - With Claw Mastery it's very easy to generate Frenzy Charges, combined with the Poison Mechanics it results in it being a decent leveling item.

(150-180)% increased Evasion Rating +(60-70) to maximum Life 2% increased Attack Speed per Frenzy Charge 6% increased Accuracy Rating per Frenzy Charge 10% reduced Frenzy Charge Duration per Frenzy Charge Attacks have 60% chance to Poison while at maximum Frenzy Charges +5% to Damage over Time Multiplier for Poison per Frenzy Charge

The Wasp Nest - It has all the good stats that you will need, but it can be easily outclassed by a Rare Item after level 80.

+40 Life gained for each Enemy hit by Attacks (150-170)% increased Physical Damage (20-25)% increased Attack Speed (20-25)% increased Critical Strike Chance +(330-350) to Accuracy Rating 20% chance to Poison on Hit Attacks with this Weapon deal 80-120 added Chaos Damage against Enemies affected by at least 5 Poisons

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

66 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. Gathering Winds
2. Ricochet
3. Wind Ward
4. Far Shot

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Shakari: You cannot be Poisoned while there are at least 3 Poisons on you, 50% less Duration of Poisons on You

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Cobra Lash setup socketed in The Covenant
	Divergent Cobra Lash - Use a Divergent version of it, it's the equivalent of two and a half Follow-Through Notables. It should be possible to increase the level of this gem to 25 for an additional Chain. You will rely mostly on the Hit Damage, the Poison Damage is insignificant.
	Cruelty Support - It simply grants more damage with Hits.
	Chain Support - Makes your Projectile Chain additional times, use the Awakened version for the extra Chain.
	Void Manipulation Support - Provides you with more Chaos Damage. Use Awakened Version as it will increase the Gem level of Cobra Lash.
	Empower Support - Empower increases the Level of Cobra Lash. use level 3 Empower if you have Divergent Cobra Lash at level 21, but if not, use the level 4 version of this gem.
	Vile Toxins Support - grants you more Hit Damage per Poison on an enemy. It doesn't have to be inflicted by the linked Skill, so your Chance to Poison is not really that important.
Provided by the Covenant:
	Added Chaos Damage Support - It adds flat Chaos Damage to your Attacks one of the most valuable stats. Body Armour provides one with a high Gem Level.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Grace - Grace grants you an increased and additional Evasion Rating.
	Determination - Use it for more and increased Armour.
	Purity of Elements - Adds tons of Elemental Resistances and immunity to all Elemental Ailments. You could replace it with  Haste,  Defiance Banner, or  Herald of Purity if you've already got all the resistances sorted out.
	Enlighten Support - Increases Mana Reservation Efficiency for linked Skills.

[UTILITY] Wither/Ancestral Protector setup
	Ancestral Protector - Grants you more Attack Speed, especially the Phantasmal version, and Hits enemies.
	Chance to Poison Support - Totems have up to 40% chance to poison with each Hit, they should apply 8 stacks of Poison in less than a second (for Vile Toxins in the main setup).
	Multiple Totems Support - Three Totems will Hit three times as fast as one.
	Withering Touch Support - Hits have a 25% chance to apply Withered debuff on Hit, it stacks up to 15 times, and here we recommend the Anomalous version to make it last longer.

[UTILITY] Blood Rage/Despair setup
	Blood Rage - Massively increases Attack Speed, grants Life Leech, and Frenzy Charges on Kill.
	Despair - Cast it manually or via Ring Affix (and if that's the case, use the  Withering Step here instead). It lowers Chaos Resistance.
	Enhance Support - Increases Quality of linked Skills, resulting in more Damage and Attack Speed.

[MOBILITY] Whirling Blades setup
	Whirling Blades - Movement Skill that should make you insanely fast as you have a lot of Attack Speed.
	Lifetap Support - Spend Life instead of Mana on linked Skills.
	Faster Attacks Support - You can use Whirling Blades much faster.

[UTILITY] Immortal Call setup
	Immortal Call - Keep it at level 5, it will make you take Less Elemental and Physical Damage.
	Cast when Damage Taken - It activates linked Spells when you take a certain amount of damage. Keep it at level 2.

[UTILITY] Sniper's Mark
	Sniper's Mark - Your second Curse, it increases Projectile's Damage.
	Mark on Hit Support - Sniper's Mark is being applied automatically against large enemies.

5. Gear Setup

Your goal here is to accumulate enough Accuracy Rating to activate Precise Technique Keystone - you have to have more Accuracy Rating than Maximum Life. The most important part when it comes to damage is the Flat Physical and Chaos Damage, it can be found in great quantity on your Rare Weapon, and some of it is common on Rings, Shield, and Murderous Abyss Jewels. Attack Speed is also important. We've decided not to pursue Critical Strikes mods, there is simply not enough space for it as it requires a lot of investment, which the build cannot afford. All the remaining Skill Points which are not spent on Cluster Jewels will be dedicated to defenses, not for more damage. The key Unique Items are Ashes of the Stars, The Covenant, and some cheap Flasks. the Attribute most searched for will be Strength - 155 is needed for Determination. The build also has a hidden potential that is only available under certain circumstances - a Replica Eternity Shroud with Elder-influenced items. It's a great way to gain more Damage as the build sources its Damage from a Physical to Chaos conversion.

(Helmet) Devoto's Devotion - It's good for a start, it offers great offensive stats, but sadly no Accuracy Rating, no Elemental Resistances, and no Maximum Life.

+(50-65) to Dexterity 10% reduced Global Physical Damage 16% increased Attack Speed (150-200)% increased Armour and Evasion +(15-25)% to Chaos Resistance 20% increased Movement Speed Mercury Footprints

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - The only good stats are Maximum Life, Elemental Resistance, and Accuracy Rating - try to gain as much of it as you can. Remember to get the Lab enchant - it's responsible for a quarter to a third of your total DPS.

Min. requirements: +50% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life +400 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: increased Global Accuracy Rating chance to Suppress Spell Damage Armour Evasion Rating

Helmet enchantment: Cobra Lash Chains 3 additional times

(Weapon) Rare Claw - It's a very important part of the build, you will need a lot of base damage so it can later be increased and to have more of it via Support Gems and Passive Skills. Search for Gemini Claw as it grants Mana on Hit.

Min. requirements: Adds 20 to 50 Physical Damage  Adds 80 to 120 Chaos Damage    pseudo 22% total Attack Speed     75% increased Physical Damage Optional affixes: increased Chaos Damage Accuracy Rating Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana chance to gain Unholy Might for 3 seconds on Kill

(Weapon) The Wasp Nest - A surprisingly good weapon, it adds a lot of Chaos Damage given the target is Poisoned, which it should be. It's hard to find a better rare one.

Grants 40 Life per Enemy Hit (150-170)% increased Physical Damage (20-25)% increased Attack Speed (20-25)% increased Critical Strike Chance +(330-350) to Accuracy Rating 20% chance to Poison on Hit Attacks with this Weapon deal 80-120 added Chaos Damage against Enemies affected by at least 5 Poisons

(Off-hand) Great Old One's Ward - It's a shield that adds Damage to Attacks, increases Attack Speed, and grants Maximum Life. Probably one of the best offensive-oriented shields.

3% increased Movement Speed (8-12)% Chance to Block Spell Damage Adds (8-12) to (15-20) Physical Damage to Attacks (6-10)% increased Attack Speed +(50-70) to maximum Life

(Off-hand) Rare Shield - If you need Elemental Resistances, Reservation Efficiency, or Accuracy, pick a Rare shield with such stats.

Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Evasion Rating Socketed Gems have 30% increased Reservation Efficiency Attributes Chance to Block Accuracy Rating

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - A Body Armour with a lot of Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances, and Evasion Rating will be fine. There are a lot of rare mods which can be really useful, found mostly on Influenced items.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Socketed Attacks have -15 to Total Mana Cost +1 to Level of Socketed Active Skill Gems +(5–10)% to Quality of Socketed Active Skill Gems chance to Suppress Spell Damage Strength increased maximum Life

(Body Armour) Replica Eternity Shroud - It has a huge potential, but building around it is extremely expensive. It's fine with just one or two Elder items, but you probably won't be able to have all of your items Elder-influenced as it's impossible to do so with Ashes of the Stars and Replica Voidwalker.​​​​​

Trigger Level 20 Shade Form when Hit (100-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield +(70-100) to maximum Life +(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance Gain (3-5)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage per Elder Item Equipped Hits ignore Enemy Monster Chaos Resistance if all Equipped Items are Elder Items

(Body Armour) The Covenant - By far the best Armour, it adds an extremely valuable sixth Support Gem and increases Maximum Life.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 29 Added Chaos Damage Skills gain a Base Life Cost equal to 100% of Base Mana Cost +(20-30) to Intelligence (210-250)% increased Energy Shield 10% increased maximum Life

(Boots) Replica Voidwalker - It allows your Skills to Chain an additional time, which makes it one of the best items you can get. It also provides you with nearly-permanent Phasing that makes you take increased damage.

+(30-50) to Dexterity (140-180)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield 30% increased Movement Speed 10% increased Damage taken while Phasing You have Phasing if you've Killed Recently Projectiles Chain +1 times while you have Phasing Celestial Footprints

(Boots) Dawnstrider - The boots we can safely recommend as the best ones on the list. It's a huge bonus to Maximum Life, Movement Speed, and Attack Speed via improved Ancestral Protector.

+(80-100) to Maximum Life 30% increased Movement Speed 100% increased Effect of Buffs your Ancestor Totems grant while Active Buffs from Active Ancestor Totems Linger for 4 seconds Maximum 1 Buff from an Active Ancestor Totem at a time

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves are one of the items where you can easily find Accuracy Ratings, so you definitely should get some here. For the more expensive mods, look for an Elder or Hunter-influenced pair. Prefixes can get you Life and added Damage, Suffixes are great for Accuracy, Resistances, and Attack Speed. The regular Gloves can be upgraded by Blue Eldritch Orbs to convert a lot of Physical Damage to Chaos which we recommend doing.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances +400 Accuracy Rating Optional affixes: increased Attack Speed Evasion Rating chance to Suppress Spell Damage increased Global Accuracy Rating chance to Intimidate Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit Mana gained for each Enemy hit by your Attacks

(Belt) Rare Belt - Maximum Life, Strength, and Elemental Resistances are the most important mods to look for.

Min. requirements: +90 maximum Life +50 to Strength +70% to Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Maximum Life increased damage

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars - The Level and Quality are incalculably important for your Cobra Lash. Extra Attributes and Reservation Efficiency will also be of great use.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems (10-20)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

Recommended Anointments: Corruption Art of the Gladiator Weathered Hunter Charisma Life Raker

(Ring) Rare Rings - Rings offer a wide variety of some of the best mods. The Despair of Hit on one of your Rings would be great. Maximum Life and Resistances are mandatory to gain basic survivability stats. For the offensive mods prioritize added Physical Damage to Attacks.

Min. requirements: +70% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life Curse Enemies with Despair on Hit Optional affixes: Adds Physical Damage to Attacks Non-Channelling Skills have -7 to Total Mana Cost (crafted) increased Attack Speed Accuracy Rating Strength

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - The Auras you're using are Grace, Purity of Elements, Haste, or Determination. These offer predominantly defensive mods that suit your character nonetheless.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Intuitive Leap - You don't have many points to spare. Put it near Fervour Notable and allocate some good Notables in the radius.

Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree

(Jewel) Thread of Hope - Very Large Ring centered in between Infused and Frenetic allows you to allocate Claws of the Falcon and Life Raker, both very good Claw Notables for Accuracy and Attack Speed.

Only affects Passives in Very Large Ring Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree -(20-10)% to all Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Split Personality - If you desperately need more Accuracy and some Attributes, you can go for Split Personality - one of these can grant you around 1000 Accuracy and 125 of a certain Attribute.

This Jewel's Socket has 25% increased effect per Allocated Passive Skill between it and your Class' starting location <Two random modifiers>

(Jewel) Forbidden Flame & Forbidden Flesh - Nature's Reprisal is an amazing addition to the build - it converts your remaining damage to Chaos and grants 15% more Chaos Damage with Attack Skills. Focal Point is good too, but because it's on your Tree, you can pick any of the other Keystones you'd pick instead, like Wind Ward.

Requires Class <<Random Character Class>> Allocates <<Random Ascendancy Notable>> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame/Forbidden Flesh Recommended Keystone: Nature's Reprisal Focal Point

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Although Abyss Jewels are better in most cases, the "reduced Mana Cost of Skills" and "increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills" can be found only on the default Jewels.

Recommended affixes: increased Maximum Life Strength Elemental Resistances reduced Mana Cost of Skills increased Attack Speed increased Global Accuracy Rating increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills

(Jewel) Abyss Jewels - There are a lot of Jewel Sockets you can fill in, Abyss ones are great for this purpose since you can get the flat Added Damage with Claws mods. Prioritize them over the regular Jewels.

Recommended affixes: Added Maximum Life Accuracy Added Physical Damage with Claw Attacks Added Chaos Damage with Claw Attacks Attack Speed Strength

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - The build requires three of these, or three Voices instead. From there you want one Disease Vector Notable, two Fan of Blades Notables, and if you need Mana Leech - Fuel the Fight.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Fuel the Fight 1 Added Passive Skill is Fan of Blades 1 Added Passive Skill is Disease Vector 1 Added Passive Skill is Martial Prowess 1 Added Passive Skill is Drive the Destruction 1 Added Passive Skill is Smite the Weak

(Jewel) Voices - Having three of these would be perfect, but the best ones are too expensive, you can settle on the 5, or 3 extra passives that grant nothing. The most expensive ones waste only 3 points, second-grade - 6 points, and third-grade - 12 points in total.

Adds 3 Jewel Socket Passive Skills <Random empty passive skill node mod>

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - Follow-Through is the core element of the build, you can get up to 9 of these notables in total if using Voices, or 6 if using regular Large Cluster Jewels. Streamlined increases your Projectile Speed - it's recommended since Cobra Lash fires rather slow Projectiles. Repeater increases your Attack Speed, thus damage.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Follow-Through 1 Added Passive Skill is Repeater 1 Added Passive Skill is Streamlined

(Flask) Atziri's Promise - Use it for Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage, Life Leech, and Chaos Resistance.

+35% to Chaos Resistance 2% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life during Flask effect Gain (5-8)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect Gain (5-8)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect

(Flask) Sin's Rebirth - It grants you the unholy Might for the additional 30% of physical damage as extra chaos damage.

20% more Evasion Rating Creates a Smoke Cloud on Use Gain Unholy Might during Flask Effect Grants Immunity to Ignite for 4 seconds if used while Ignited Removes all Burning when used

(Flask) Dying Sun - Use it for more Projectiles, we heavily recommend it as you fire only one by default.

+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

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal Quicksilver Flask with a Suffix for increased Attack Speed Quartz Flask with random ailment removal Jade Flask with increased Evasion Rating

If you have any other build requests, please leave that in the comments below.

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