Caustic Arrow

Caustic ArrowAttack, Projectile, AoE, Duration, Chaos, Bow
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (6-10) Mana
Attack Damage: (55-64)% of base
Effectiveness of Added Damage: (55-64)%
Projectile Speed: 3260
AoE Radius: 20Fires an arrow which deals chaos damage in an area on impact, and spreads caustic ground. Enemies standing on the caustic ground take chaos damage over time.Deals (8.8-1927.1) Base Chaos Damage per second
Base duration is 2.00 seconds
Modifiers to Projectile Damage apply to this Skill's Damage Over Time effect
+(0-0.6) metres to radius
60% of Physical Damage Converted to Chaos Damage

Additional Effects per 1% Quality:
0.5% increased Area of Effect1% chance to inflict Withered for 2 seconds on Hit1% of Physical Damage Converted to Chaos DamagePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket.Acquisition
Drop level: 5Vendor Offer
1x Scroll FragmentMetadata
Item class: Skill Gem
Metadata ID: Metadata/Items/Gems/SkillGemPoisonArrow

For the Vaal-themed counterpart, see Vaal Caustic Arrow.

Caustic Arrow is a bow attack that fires an arrow dealing chaos damage and spreading caustic ground. Enemies standing within it receive a debuff that deals chaos damage over time. Caustic ground does not poison and is therefore not affected by poison-related modifiers.

Skill functions and interactions

• Caustic Arrow will explode upon reaching the targeted location or hitting a monster or obstacle.

• Multiple projectiles: Firing additional projectiles can spread caustic ground over a wider area, but the damage over time from overlapping caustic ground does not stack.

• Pierce: Each time Caustic Arrow hits an enemy, caustic ground is created. This means that a piercing Caustic Arrow projectile can spread caustic ground multiple times.

• Projectile Damage: Caustic Arrow's inherent modifier Modifiers to Projectile Damage apply to this Skill's Damage Over Time effect causes projectile damage modifiers to affect both the initial hit and caustic ground.
  • For example, Greater Multiple Projectiles SupportGreater Multiple Projectiles SupportSupport, Projectile
    Icon: P
    Level: (1-20)
    Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 150%Requires Level 38Supports projectile skills.Supported Skills deal (35-26)% less Projectile Damage
    Supported Skills fire 4 additional Projectiles
    
    Additional Effects per 1% Quality:
    Supported Skills deal 0.5% increased Projectile DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. will reduce the damage of caustic arrow's initial hit and the resulting caustic ground.

• Concentrated Effect: Concentrated Effect SupportConcentrated Effect SupportSupport, AoE
  Icon: o
  Level: (1-20)
  Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 140%Requires Level 18Supports any skill with an area of effect, regardless of whether that skill deals damage.Supported Skills deal (25-39)% more Area Damage
  Supported Skills have 30% less Area of Effect
  
  Additional Effects per 1% Quality:
  Supported Skills deal 0.5% increased Area DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. decreases the size of the AoE and increase its damage. However, due to the nature of the skill and the wording of its modifiers, the damage increase will not appear on the tooltip.

• Point Blank: Point Blank does not affect the damage from caustic ground because it only affects projectile attack damage.

• Iron Grip: The strength bonus from Iron Grip does not affect the damage from caustic ground. This is because caustic ground is not an attack and does not apply physical damage.
  • Notably, The increased projectile damage portion of the Iron Grip SupportIron Grip SupportProjectile, Physical, Support
    Icon: i
    Level: (1-20)
    Cost & Reservation Multiplier: 110%Requires Level 18Supports attack skills that fire projectiles, making the increase to physical melee damage from strength also increase their physical projectile damage.Strength's Damage bonus applies to Projectile Attack Damage as well for Supported Skills
    Supported Skills deal (0-38)% increased Projectile Damage
    
    Additional Effects per 1% Quality:
    Supported Skills deal 0.5% increased Projectile DamageThis is a Support Gem. It does not grant a bonus to your character, but to skills in sockets connected to it. Place into an item socket connected to a socket containing the Skill Gem you wish to augment. Right click to remove from a socket. will increase the damage from caustic ground, but the strength bonus the support gem shares with the keystone will not apply.

• Accuracy: The initial projectile attack is subject to accuracy and can miss. However, the explosion will spread caustic ground and do damage regardless of whether the projectile attack hits or misses. Piercing Caustic Arrow will not spread caustic ground if it misses.

• Duration: Increased Duration will affect the caustic ground duration.

• Culling strike:
  • The initial hit from a caustic arrow projectile can cull.
  • Since caustic ground does not hit, it cannot cull.

• Curses:
  • Sniper's MarkSniper's MarkSpell, Curse, Mark
    Level: (1-20)
    Cost: (16-33) Mana
    Cast Time: 0.50 secRequires Level 4Curses a single enemy, increasing the damage they take from projectiles, and making projectiles split when hitting them, to hit other targets around them. You can only have one Mark at a time.Cursed enemies take (10-35)% increased Damage from Projectile Hits
    Projectiles which Hit Cursed Enemies Split towards (2-4) additional targets
    
    Additional Effects per 1% Quality:
    Cursed enemies take 0.25% increased Damage from Projectile HitsPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. will increase the damage of the initial hit, but not the resulting caustic ground since caustic ground does not hit and is not a projectile.
  • DespairDespairSpell, AoE, Duration, Chaos, Curse, Hex
    Level: (1-20)
    Cost: (16-33) Mana
    Cast Time: 0.50 sec
    AoE Radius: 22Requires Level 24Curses all targets in an area, lowering their chaos resistance.Base duration is (8.00-11.80) seconds
    +(0-1) metre to radius
    Cursed enemies have -(15-30)% to Chaos Resistance
    
    Additional Effects per 1% Quality:
    0.5% increased Effect of CursePlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. will increase the damage of both the initial hit and the caustic ground damage over time.

Gem level progression

Level			Mana Cost	Damage Effectiveness	Attack Damage	Chaos Damage per sec	Radius	Exp.	Total Exp.
1	1	0	6	55%	55%	8.8	N/A	0	0
2	2	0	6	55%	55.5%	10.1	N/A	70	70
3	4	16	6	56%	56%	13.1	+0.1m	308	378
4	7	22	6	56%	56.5%	18.4	+0.1m	1554	1932
5	11	31	7	57%	57%	27.8	+0.1m	6667	8599
6	16	41	7	57%	57.5%	44	+0.2m	26047	34646
7	20	50	7	58%	58%	61.9	+0.2m	49725	84371
8	24	58	7	58%	58.5%	85.4	+0.2m	95714	180085
9	28	67	8	59%	59%	116.2	+0.3m	169595	349680
10	32	75	8	59%	59.5%	156.3	+0.3m	283759	633439
11	36	83	8	60%	59.9%	208.5	+0.3m	453996	1087435
12	40	92	8	60%	60.4%	275.9	+0.3m	703128	1790563
13	44	100	9	61%	60.9%	362.7	+0.4m	1061223	2851786
14	48	109	9	61%	61.4%	474.1	+0.4m	2065870	4917656
15	52	117	9	62%	61.9%	616.9	+0.4m	2507110	7424766
16	56	125	9	62%	62.4%	799.3	+0.5m	5798936	13223702
17	60	134	10	63%	62.9%	1031.8	+0.5m	15083919	28307621
18	64	142	10	63%	63.4%	1327.6	+0.5m	27792735	56100356
19	67	148	10	64%	63.9%	1600.8	+0.6m	43869739	99970095
20	70	155	10	64%	64.4%	1927.1	+0.6m	242081556	342051651
21	72	159	11	65%	64.9%	2179.2	+0.6m	N/A	N/A
22	74	N/A	11	65%	65.4%	2462.7	+0.7m	N/A	N/A
23	76	N/A	11	66%	65.9%	2781.5	+0.7m	N/A	N/A
24	78	N/A	11	66%	66.4%	3139.9	+0.7m	N/A	N/A
25	80	N/A	12	67%	66.9%	3542.6	+0.8m	N/A	N/A
26	82	N/A	12	67%	67.4%	3995	+0.8m	N/A	N/A
27	84	N/A	12	68%	67.9%	4503.1	+0.8m	N/A	N/A
28	86	N/A	12	68%	68.4%	5073.4	+0.9m	N/A	N/A
29	88	N/A	13	69%	68.9%	5713.4	+0.9m	N/A	N/A
30	90	N/A	13	69%	69.4%	6431.6	+0.9m	N/A	N/A
31	91	N/A	13	70%	69.8%	6822.8	+0.9m	N/A	N/A
32	92	N/A	13	70%	70.3%	7237.1	+1m	N/A	N/A
33	93	N/A	14	71%	70.8%	7675.8	+1m	N/A	N/A
34	94	N/A	14	71%	71.3%	8140.3	+1m	N/A	N/A
35	95	N/A	14	72%	71.8%	8632.2	+1.1m	N/A	N/A
36	96	N/A	14	72%	72.3%	9152.9	+1.1m	N/A	N/A
37	97	N/A	15	73%	72.8%	9704.1	+1.1m	N/A	N/A
38	98	N/A	15	73%	73.3%	10287.7	+1.2m	N/A	N/A
39	99	N/A	15	74%	73.8%	10905.4	+1.2m	N/A	N/A
40	100	N/A	15	74%	74.3%	11559.3	+1.2m	N/A	N/A

Gem quality

Type	Stats (per 1% quality)	Weight
Superior	0.5% increased Area of Effect	50
Anomalous	1% chance to inflict Withered for 2 seconds on Hit	100
Divergent	1% of Physical Damage Converted to Chaos Damage	100

Item acquisition

Caustic Arrow can drop anywhere.

Recipes

Caustic Arrow can be created from the following recipes:

Amount	Part	Description	Meta
3	The Bitter BlossomThe Bitter Blossom3Level 21 Chaos Gem Quality: +23% CorruptedThe pain you feel is of no consequence, it is evolution, to be made whole within something greater.	Random corrupted level 21 Chaos gem with 23% quality	A
6	The FoxThe Fox6Level 20 Gem"Masters of wit, strength and cunning. To survive the harsh winters, you must be like the fox." - Ezomyte Proverb	Random level 20 gem	A
8	Dying AnguishDying Anguish8DisabledMoribund, he gazed upon the journey taken as blood trickled down his chin. His eye closed on the city ahead that he would never call home.	Random level 19 gem with 19% alternative quality	A
8	The HookThe Hook8DisabledEvery obsession began with a single, innocent taste.	Random corrupted level 21 gem with 23% alternative quality	A
3	Gemcutter's PromiseGemcutter's Promise3Gem Quality: +20%"I swore to use my position to help the people. What good is power when it just accumulates on the already-powerful?" - Erasmus, Imperial Gemcutter	Random gem with 20% quality	A
1	Gemcutter's IncubatorGemcutter's IncubatorStack Size: 10Adds an incubated Quality Gem item to an equippable item Item drops after killing {0} monstersRight click this item then left click an item to apply it. The Incubated item drops after killing a specific number of monsters. Shift click to unstack.	Random gem with 1–20% quality	A
1	The VoidThe Void1Reach into the Void and claim your prize.	Random divination card set exchange	A

Quest reward

This item is given as a quest reward for the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
Enemy at the Gate Act 1	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗

Vendor reward

This item can be bought at the listed NPC vendors, after completing the following quests:

Class →	Witch	Shadow	Ranger	Duelist	Marauder	Templar	Scion
Quest ↓
Enemy at the Gate Act 1 Nessa	✗	✓	✓	✓	✗	✗	✓
A Fixture of Fate Act 3 Siosa	✓
Fallen from Grace Act 6 Lilly Roth	✓

Related helmet enchantments

The following helmet enchantments affect Caustic Arrow.

Note that helmet enchantments are no longer obtainable since version 3.23.0 and can only be obtained in permanent leagues as already enchanted items from before this patch.

Name		Labyrinth	Stats	Spawn Weighting
Enchantment Caustic Arrow Damage 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	25% increased Caustic Arrow Damage	helmet 75
Enchantment Caustic Arrow Damage 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	40% increased Caustic Arrow Damage	helmet 75
Enchantment Caustic Arrow Duration 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	20% increased Caustic Arrow Duration	helmet 75
Enchantment Caustic Arrow Duration 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	30% increased Caustic Arrow Duration	helmet 75
Enchantment Caustic Arrow Area Of Effect 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	16% increased Caustic Arrow Area of Effect	helmet 75
Enchantment Caustic Arrow Area Of Effect 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	24% increased Caustic Arrow Area of Effect	helmet 75
Enchantment Caustic Arrow Wither On Hit 1	66	Merciless Labyrinth	Caustic Arrow has 14% chance to inflict Withered on Hit for 2 seconds base Duration	helmet 75
Enchantment Caustic Arrow Wither On Hit 2	75	Eternal Labyrinth	Caustic Arrow has 20% chance to inflict Withered on Hit for 2 seconds base Duration	helmet 75

Alternate skill effects

Caustic Arrow has the following alternate skill effects:

Item	Effect(s)
Celestial Caustic Arrow EffectCelestial Caustic Arrow EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Caustic Arrow becomes a Celestial Effect.	Your Caustic Arrow becomes a Celestial Effect.
Oblivion Caustic Arrow EffectOblivion Caustic Arrow EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Caustic Arrow becomes an Oblivion Effect.	Your Caustic Arrow becomes an Oblivion Effect.
Tentacle Caustic Arrow EffectTentacle Caustic Arrow EffectSkill Gem EffectYour Caustic Arrow becomes an area of ethereal purple tentacles.	Your Caustic Arrow becomes an area of ethereal purple tentacles.

Version history

Caustic Arrow was previously known as "Poison Arrow".

Version	Changes
3.23.0	Quality now provides +0-0.2 metres to radius, instead of 0-10% increased Area of Effect.
3.12.4d	Fixed an issue which prevented the quality effect on Anomalous Caustic Arrow from working.
3.12.0	Now has alternative quality: Anomalous 1% chance to inflict Withered on Hit (per 1% quality) Divergent 1% of Physical Damage Converted to Chaos Damage (per 1% quality)
3.9.0	Now deals 8.8 base Chaos Damage per second at gem level 1 (from 7), up to 1927.1 at gem level 20 (from 1714.8). Now gains additional radius as the gem levels, up to +6 at gem level 20 (from +3).
3.6.0	Caustic Arrow's hit now deals 30% less damage against players (previously had no penalty).
3.0.0	Caustic Arrow's damage over time grows more quickly as it levels, up to 765 base Chaos damage per second at gem level 20 (up from 550.3). It is also now modified by projectile damage modifiers.
2.6.0	Caustic Arrow gains 1 additional unit of radius every 5 levels. No longer gain increased area of effect radius.
2.1.0	Poison Arrow has been renamed to Caustic Arrow as part of the poison changes. The damage of this skill has been increased by around 37% at level 1, but reduced by around 42% by level 20. This reduction is more than compensated for by supporting the skill with the new supports. Caustic Arrow's mana costs have been increased, from 5 to 8 at level one, and from 13 to 16 at level 20.
2.0.0	Reduced the mana cost across all levels. Now grants 0.5% increased area of effect radius per 1% of quality (was 1% per 1% quality). Damage increased by approximately 26% at gem level 20.
1.3.0	Poison Arrow can now damage totems.
1.1.2	Damage has been increased by 8% at level 1, scaling up to an increase of 75% at level 15 of the gem.
1.0.6	Poison Arrow's damage has been increased at higher levels. It now does roughly 35% more damage at gem level 15.
1.0.3	Damage progression has been increased. It is now around 15% better at level 15 than it was in 1.0.2.
1.0.2	Early levels of Poison Arrow have had their damage reduced by around 35%.
0.9.13	It now starts off around 85% stronger at level 1 and is about 1% weaker at level 15.
0.9.12	Rebalanced its mana cost progression to reflect the fact that it does damage in a comparable way to Spells.
0.9.9	The size of the Poison Arrow clouds now scale with their Area of Effect radius properly.
0.9.7	Improved the effects of Poison Arrow.
0.9.5g	Fixed a bug where the Poison Arrow cloud would appear where you clicked even if the arrow was stopped before then by a wall.
0.9.5	Fixed Poison Arrow so that damage from the degeneration is scaled properly for PvP.
0.9.4	Increased the damage.
0.9.2	Poison Arrow does more damage at higher levels than before.
0.8.7	Poison Arrow does additional chaos damage on the actual arrow itself now, in addition to the cloud damage.
0.8.6	Fixed a bug where a Poison Arrow cloud would persist forever if its owner left the instance.
0.8.5	Added new skill prototype: "Poison Arrow" (Fires an arrow which explodes in a cloud of poison. Enemies who enter the cloud are poisoned for a short time, taking chaos damage)

References

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