[Megathread] Path of Exile

[Dacien]

Yes, you need it. It is one (if not the best) of the best nodes on the slayer tree.

I actually forgot how useful quick killing is in this game, for example the Incursion missions. The Timeless spire mobs dying quick also helps.

[Darleth]

Why is ancestral warchief in every build I look up? It looks like you actually have to cast it, which I never see people do when showcasing the builds? Is it just a *for bosses which we never show in the video* kind of thing or somethin?

Also can someone decipher the skill gems in this PoB for me: https://pastebin.com/wduF7tad

I'm really confused by how he has it formatted. Looks like the first ones are just the attack skills for certain level ranges but I'm kinda lost on the rest.

Ancestral Warchief is in every build you look up, because it is one of the best single target spells for melees in the game. It gives a simple damage increase to you while active and deals a lot of damage, which is why it's more often than not the second six-link for melee characters that use 2 handed weapons.

For the gems in the PoB you linked:

M = Movement. D = Defensive setup. U = Utility (Blood Rage to generate Frenzy orbs and gain extra life leech and attack speed; Steel Skin as a simple defensive button to use if needed). Both endgame abilities I guess are for 2 things: Sunder for singletarget and Cyclone for clearing. My guess for Cyclone is instead of IncAoE he uses Pulverise, which got added with Legion. He just uses IncAoE as a placeholder.

Everything before those last 7 gem-setups is his leveling setup.

[Kelimbror]

Also, this is one of the very few games these days where SLI actually works. I was getting 40 FPS in Lionseye, and after SLI it was 70-80. Takes a slight bit of tweaking with Nvidia Inspector, but it's fantastic.

I wouldn't call getting 80 fps 'working' if you have to use 2 graphics cards to get there. You should probably turn several settings down and run the game in a more optimal state. Even with everything maxed out on one card I was getting 100-120, but that's not ideal for either my 144 or 240hz monitors. Plus the hitching and artifacts aren't pleasant in an ARPG that is supposed to be smooth.

Most of the settings can be turned to middle or off without much noticeable impact to aesthetics. I say none of this in judgment of you or your rig. I guess at the end of the day if you like whatever you're seeing for all that effort, so be it, not my life. Just kinda strange tbh.

[unfilteredJW]

Running Lacerate on a Slayer and I really dig the Blood and Sand interactions.

[Edge-]

Welp, finally got to mapping and it looks like they made it so you can see what maps are shaper/elder influenced on your map tab? Because that's rad and I totally approve if so.

Edit: The fucking crashing is killing me though. Never had issues, but yesterday alone I must have crashed to desktop a dozen freakin times. So tired of losing portals and shit to this.

[WoWGoneBad]

So I got myself a Queen's Decree sword last night playing my Witch. This seems like a good Melee sword to start a melee character. Question is, which class is good with 2Handers?

I could see me doing a cool skelly Army backup with it. I see Slayer as the only Ascendency with a 2H weapon. Is that the only class?

[endersblade]

Speaking of skeles and Queen's Decree, before Legion I had a Skelemancer that could summon 10 skeles. I just respec'd her to basically the same exact thing I had, minus some HP nodes and such, and she only has 9. Maybe I'm wrong and could only ever summon 9, but I really think I could do 10.

[WoWGoneBad]

Speaking of skeles and Queen's Decree, before Legion I had a Skelemancer that could summon 10 skeles. I just respec'd her to basically the same exact thing I had, minus some HP nodes and such, and she only has 9. Maybe I'm wrong and could only ever summon 9, but I really think I could do 10.

No you are not wrong. I have not made it that high up the tree yet in Legion, but yeah we could have up to 10. I had to use the +1 Mace

[Sorshen]

I'm still crashing on legion encounters after the patch. Rarely, but it happens.

[Edge-]

I'm still crashing on legion encounters after the patch. Rarely, but it happens.

I'm crashing left and right and can't figure out why. It seems connected to how much is going on on-screen at once, but it's super inconsistent. Fucking infuriating and I'm getting to the point where I may just stop playing until they fix it, it's maddening to be almost done with a few legion chests only to crash to desktop and waste a portal and miss all that loot/xp.

[NoiseTank13]

AFAIK if you are Cycloning and Elder tells you to stay awhile and listen, you will crash with a 'You are performing too many actions' message.

As much as it sucks, try not to do elder influenced maps. Seems to be buggy.

[Dacien]

I wouldn't call getting 80 fps 'working' if you have to use 2 graphics cards to get there. You should probably turn several settings down and run the game in a more optimal state. Even with everything maxed out on one card I was getting 100-120, but that's not ideal for either my 144 or 240hz monitors. Plus the hitching and artifacts aren't pleasant in an ARPG that is supposed to be smooth.

Most of the settings can be turned to middle or off without much noticeable impact to aesthetics. I say none of this in judgment of you or your rig. I guess at the end of the day if you like whatever you're seeing for all that effort, so be it, not my life. Just kinda strange tbh.

My rig is several years old, so that's as good as it gets. And it's a gaming laptop (I traveled a lot at the time), so if I want to upgrade, I need to buy a brand new everything.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm still crashing on legion encounters after the patch. Rarely, but it happens.

It started happening more often to me once I got past Act 9 or so. Hoping it's better now. I can't do the last incursion mission because I get booted after completion every time.

[Gallahadd]

Anyone see anything drastically wrong with This build.

Being a console peasant, the league doesn't start till tomorrow. Doesn't mean I can't be prepared, though. So I was noodling about on the tree, for my 3B Gladiator. Sword and Board, using Blood Storm as my main attack, and Molten Armour as my defensive.

[Edge-]

Between the crashing and lag I'm done for a while. Got to maps, but I'm getting fucking tired of randomly crashing while loading or randomly while fighting shit, doubly so when I'm getting killed due to the game lagging hard and then speeding up super fast and all of a sudden I'm dead.

Hopefully they fix this shit by next weekend, because if I'm still crashing/lagging this often (which never really happened prior to this patch) I'm going to be pretty salty.

[Dacien]

Between the crashing and lag I'm done for a while. Got to maps, but I'm getting fucking tired of randomly crashing while loading or randomly while fighting shit, doubly so when I'm getting killed due to the game lagging hard and then speeding up super fast and all of a sudden I'm dead.

Hopefully they fix this shit by next weekend, because if I'm still crashing/lagging this often (which never really happened prior to this patch) I'm going to be pretty salty.

I've been kinda lucky in that it only happens to me (so far) when I try to do Incursion missions. I literally can't do Incursion missions because even though it disconnects me after the timer runs out, it doesn't count as completed.

- - - Updated - - -

On another note, as someone who does his own builds and usually suck, it's crazy how much more fun the game is when the build is actually good. This is my first "good" build, and the game is way more fun. Breezing through content that I struggled with really bad in the past is great. If any PoE pros are willing to give me any advice on my build, let me know.

[Baconeggcheese]

Ancestral Warchief is in every build you look up, because it is one of the best single target spells for melees in the game. It gives a simple damage increase to you while active and deals a lot of damage, which is why it's more often than not the second six-link for melee characters that use 2 handed weapons.

Makes sense, so its something people only drop for like bosses then? I popped it in and I've only been dropping it on bosses and the new legion mechanic thing cause it'll attack the dudes while they're frozen too.

For the gems in the PoB you linked:

M = Movement. D = Defensive setup. U = Utility (Blood Rage to generate Frenzy orbs and gain extra life leech and attack speed; Steel Skin as a simple defensive button to use if needed). Both endgame abilities I guess are for 2 things: Sunder for singletarget and Cyclone for clearing. My guess for Cyclone is instead of IncAoE he uses Pulverise, which got added with Legion. He just uses IncAoE as a placeholder.

Everything before those last 7 gem-setups is his leveling setup.

It was a sunder or cyclone build iirc, I believe double strike is his single target.

Ahok, so from 28+ ancestral warchief down those are all just the groupings that need to be together and then I guess like heralds + blood and sand don't use any support so there wherever they fit?

Oh I just remembered too, do you know if dread banner has any benefit while its on your back or do I actually have to drop it? Saw a build running that and just popped it in but I haven't been assed to actually place it on the ground since I spent so much time just moving from pack to pack.

[Dacien]

Vaal Double Strike is ridiculous, btw. I treat it like my nuke button.

[Darleth]

Makes sense, so its something people only drop for like bosses then? I popped it in and I've only been dropping it on bosses and the new legion mechanic thing cause it'll attack the dudes while they're frozen too.

It was a sunder or cyclone build iirc, I believe double strike is his single target.

Ahok, so from 28+ ancestral warchief down those are all just the groupings that need to be together and then I guess like heralds + blood and sand don't use any support so there wherever they fit?

Oh I just remembered too, do you know if dread banner has any benefit while its on your back or do I actually have to drop it? Saw a build running that and just popped it in but I haven't been assed to actually place it on the ground since I spent so much time just moving from pack to pack.

Question 1: Yes. Ancestral Warchief is mostly used for boss dps.
Question 2: Correct. Unless you want to link the Herald with something like curse on hit to put a curse up on targets, you wont link that with anything. Blood and Sand my guess would be the same, though I have not yet played a lot with that skill, so I can't say for certain if it is even linkable with anything really.
Question 3: Banners have both passive and active effects. I think with Dread Banner you gain Fortify when it is placed down, while you have increased chance to impale, higher effectiveness of impales and enemies have less accuracy. The fortify effect gets stronger the more stacks you had when you placed it down.

Anyone see anything drastically wrong with This build.

Being a console peasant, the league doesn't start till tomorrow. Doesn't mean I can't be prepared, though. So I was noodling about on the tree, for my 3B Gladiator. Sword and Board, using Blood Storm as my main attack, and Molten Armour as my defensive.

How do you plan to generate endurance charges? Also, you can save A LOT of points, since you are taking a really weird path and a lot of nodes that are pretty useless to take. Not sure about crimson dance in the long run, BUT according to PoB you would lose around half your bleed DPS with it taken. You also want a high dps foil later on, which means you will need a ton of dexterity, which you simply dont have. Do you have a plan for auras and heralds, aswell as summons? Do you think that Bladestorm will be enough singletarget dps carried with bleeds? Are you planning on running any curses for extra damage/utility?

Personally, I would build something like this. But I'm also not an expert on shield/bleed builds, especially not with the new skills.

The way I built it, you still have around 155%~ increased max life, which for Softcore is more than enough. Not sure about the gear you would want.

[Coldkil]

Ok, it's a little rough sometimes but Viper Strike + Melee Splash is awesome with the new +range mechanic. I'm aoeing down everything. Also rocking the Herald of whatever the fuck is that abhorrant beast you summon with poisons given how i can melee a pack and it goes up to 30 stacks immediately

Plus, i'm testing impale support. That, plus the nodes, nets you a 90% chance on hit and double effect. Seems to scale up pretty damn well.

Also question - i'm undecided on what curse to use, Vulnerability for the maim or Punishment for more AS?

[Darleth]

Ok, it's a little rough sometimes but Viper Strike + Melee Splash is awesome with the new +range mechanic. I'm aoeing down everything. Also rocking the Herald of whatever the fuck is that abhorrant beast you summon with poisons given how i can melee a pack and it goes up to 30 stacks immediately

Plus, i'm testing impale support. That, plus the nodes, nets you a 90% chance on hit and double effect. Seems to scale up pretty damn well.

Also question - i'm undecided on what curse to use, Vulnerability for the maim or Punishment for more AS?

Impale does nothing for you though if you use viper strike. Viper Strike is mostly chaos damage, while Impale scales off of PHYSICAL damage. You should be better off with using any chaos damage increase. Also, if you go for curses, I'd take a look at Despair. It's a pretty decent curse that increases Chaos damage and over time effects.