[Megathread] Path of Exile

[I Push Buttons]

Trust me, I've been playing this game since release and never had a level 100. I usually stop around 95 - 97~. My highest character was in Betrayal because of pure breachstone runs. If there is a mechanic to level fast, people will abuse it; right now its T15/T16 Legions and 5 way legion fights, in Betrayal it was chain running pure breachstones.

For me personally; no clue about Blight... I'm honestly skipping that league simply because I dont think the whole Tower Defense gameplay fits in an ARPG. People LOVE leagues like Breach, Abyss and even Legion because of you not having any real downtime to kill things - those leagues don't slow you down in your gameplay, while a league like Blight will end up doing exactly that.

That's what people said about Delve before it came out and the opposite turned out to be true...

The only way I see this league slowing anyone down is if there is some mechanic that ties Blight mob deaths to towers (IE: mobs will only die if they are affected by a certain kind of tower and/or are immune to certain types of damage, dictating tower usage if your build uses that damage, etc.); which seems unlikely... Without that kind of mechanic, people will more than likely blaze through Blight mobs as fast as they blaze through everything else and will probably ignore the towers entirely outside of whatever endgame boss(es) that exist with the league that may actually require their use for the boss mechanics or something along those lines.

[Darleth]

Lots of people still group run chayula pure breachstone and poorjoy asylum, is that for xp or I wonder why these specifically?

Yup. Pure Chayula Breachstones are probably the highest level content there is (level wise; not speaking from a difficulty aspect). Not sure which level it had, but I think it was 83. Not to mention that the essences and some items can still go for a couple ex.
Poorjoys simply has the 150% extra Experience from Monsters affix, even though it is a lot lower when it comes down to mob levels.

When it comes down to Challenges, no clue. I haven't played Legion a lot because of me having internet issues with PoE only (experiencing high latency after certain times in EU) which makes it impossible for me to play PoE during the day. Only thing you could check out is the PoE subreddit; there are usually people who did the 36 challenges early in the league and explain how they did it; you could probably replicate some of the stuff they did to achieve it.

That's what people said about Delve before it came out and the opposite turned out to be true...

The only way I see this league slowing anyone down is if there is some mechanic that ties Blight mob deaths to towers (IE: mobs will only die if they are affected by a certain kind of tower and/or are immune to certain types of damage, dictating tower usage if your build uses that damage, etc.); which seems unlikely... Without that kind of mechanic, people will more than likely blaze through Blight mobs as fast as they blaze through everything else and will probably ignore the towers entirely outside of whatever endgame boss(es) that exist with the league that may actually require their use for the boss mechanics or something along those lines.

True. Delve is another story though since it didn't slow you down during mapping. It has it's own progression and "map" system which only really slows down if you played low quant maps. It is too early to tell though, since nobody knows how Blight exactly works yet. My guess is it'll work like you are saying with certain towers being able to kill certain mobs only, otherwise they wouldn't bring in "enchants" for rings etc. to increase the damage the towers deal.

[Marrilaife]

Only thing you could check out is the PoE subreddit; there are usually people who did the 36 challenges early in the league and explain how they did it; you could probably replicate some of the stuff they did to achieve it.

Yep, found out you can apparently chance orb the lockbox into unique, but knowing my luck it won't happen, tried to chance tons of flasks this season and never got anything out of it, so I doubt I can get a lockbox to proc.

[Drakainen]

I'm mostly sad about Scion, as all classes power creep with every update, Scion is left more and more behind.

I believe Scion is also getting their stuff updated to use the more current Ascendancies this patch. At least that's what someone said, haven't looked into it myself.

[Baconeggcheese]

@Marrilaife I started off with sunder then moved to cyclone and the whole league was trivial even when I was doing things very very wrong. The only thing you can't do efficiently is the higher number timeless conflicts but honestly those are never worth farming unless you have a HH but once you have HH and are strong enough to efficiently farm 5 ways why would you care about farming 5 ways.

I believe Scion is also getting their stuff updated to use the more current Ascendancies this patch. At least that's what someone said, haven't looked into it myself.

Definitely heard that ascendants getting reworked too which is great cause I played scion last league and I likes it.

[WoWGoneBad]

sooo for shits n giggles, I decided to do a 6-link cyclone mess around. I have Brand Hiro with a Tabula setup with Cast when Channel> Cyclone> Storm Brand> Armageddon Brand> Storm Nova and +Ele damage.

It is soo fun watching Storm and Arageddon brands just randomly grab mobs and melt groups together. I know I gotta decide down to one ability and I think I will keep it as Arageddon and Cyclone and get a few more damage gems. But this is sooo fun to watch as I level. I almost made it through Cruel Lab if my HP was higher. Izaro was not the problem it was the traps that keep killing me lol

[endersblade]

I almost made it through Cruel Lab if my HP was higher. Izaro was not the problem it was the traps that keep killing me lol

Yep, that's the single biggest problem with Lab. Izaro isn't that hard to deal with, even on max difficulty, but the fact that traps deal %-based damage instead of flat damage just fucking sucks.

[Coldkil]

Thanks to @Darleth, @WoWGoneBad and @Marrilaife for the tips. I suppose the game is all about trading at this point - hence i suppose i'll just play standard from now on and maybe roll alts in SSF for the lulz.

Another question at this point: is Vortex a good skill to use with cast on crit? Or should i go for another one that suits better a crit build? I know that vortex does an aoe dot, but the point was to make a proc'n'run build where the vortex keep doing damage while im not there.

[Darleth]

Thanks to @Darleth, @WoWGoneBad and @Marrilaife for the tips. I suppose the game is all about trading at this point - hence i suppose i'll just play standard from now on and maybe roll alts in SSF for the lulz.

Another question at this point: is Vortex a good skill to use with cast on crit? Or should i go for another one that suits better a crit build? I know that vortex does an aoe dot, but the point was to make a proc'n'run build where the vortex keep doing damage while im not there.

I've seen people play with Vortex like that. Especially with movement skills - jump into a group and get a crit to spawn the vortex. It can definitely work, though I've also seen a lot of people just using phase run and drop it manually. Vortex in general is a pretty strong skill.

Yep, that's the single biggest problem with Lab. Izaro isn't that hard to deal with, even on max difficulty, but the fact that traps deal %-based damage instead of flat damage just fucking sucks.

I have to wonder... do people not know about Darkshrines? In almost all my Uber Lab runs I get the trap deactivation shrine for izaros room or at the very least the 50% reduced damage dealt by traps. Yes it is sometimes horrible to have to search for the darkshrines, but it also makes every run so easy, that you literally cant die to anything anymore.

[WoWGoneBad]

I've seen people play with Vortex like that. Especially with movement skills - jump into a group and get a crit to spawn the vortex. It can definitely work, though I've also seen a lot of people just using phase run and drop it manually. Vortex in general is a pretty strong skill.



I have to wonder... do people not know about Darkshrines? In almost all my Uber Lab runs I get the trap deactivation shrine for izaros room or at the very least the 50% reduced damage dealt by traps. Yes it is sometimes horrible to have to search for the darkshrines, but it also makes every run so easy, that you literally cant die to anything anymore.

yea I get all darkshrines on each lab, but the problem is not with the traps during Izaro, my problem is that I get greedy and carelessly die to the traps around the Lab.

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Thanks to @Darleth, @WoWGoneBad and @Marrilaife for the tips. I suppose the game is all about trading at this point - hence i suppose i'll just play standard from now on and maybe roll alts in SSF for the lulz.

I have come to see SSF as those who want a single player experience of PoE. I am not sure if that it a proper description but, that is how I see it.

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With my Cyclone/Storm Brand/Shock Nova/ Armaggedon Brand character, I need to get more HP and ES to better survive in the game now.

I am pretty much set on my Damage nodes for now at 61 so I am now looking to get more ES nosed and get Max Life on gear. I dont really care about speed so mobility is not an issue to me for now.

[Marrilaife]

I have come to see SSF as those who want a single player experience of PoE. I am not sure if that it a proper description but, that is how I see it.

The Atlas improvements coming in 3.8 seems like a massive boon for SSF players, so you can actually run maps that you have instead of trying to get that random map the daily spawned on.

[Coldkil]

I have come to see SSF as those who want a single player experience of PoE. I am not sure if that it a proper description but, that is how I see it.

Well, as i see it trading doesn't make the game multiplayer - people mostly play alone and then go on poe.trade to buy the stuff they need with as little as interaction as possible. Anyway not calling for better drops or so, though i'd like a different ruleset for SSF with the caveat that you cannot EVER bring your character out of it.

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I've seen people play with Vortex like that. Especially with movement skills - jump into a group and get a crit to spawn the vortex. It can definitely work, though I've also seen a lot of people just using phase run and drop it manually. Vortex in general is a pretty strong skill.

Nice to hear that. I'm trying a witch and a shadow as test characters to see what fits the build i have in mind better. Though Assassin is getting a rework for 3.8 so nothing is set in stone.

[Gorsameth]

Well, as i see it trading doesn't make the game multiplayer - people mostly play alone and then go on poe.trade to buy the stuff they need with as little as interaction as possible. Anyway not calling for better drops or so, though i'd like a different ruleset for SSF with the caveat that you cannot EVER bring your character out of it

I would love SSF with higher drop chances but no ability to migrate to Non-SSF.

[NoRest4Wicked]

Can anyone suggest a build for me to try? Legion was the first league I actually played past level 30, and I'm looking forward to another go. I played a Lightning Trap Sabo and Cyclone Slayer this league. I'd like to branch out, maybe a bow class... Is Tornado Shot pretty expensive to set up?

[Gorsameth]

Can anyone suggest a build for me to try? Legion was the first league I actually played past level 30, and I'm looking forward to another go. I played a Lightning Trap Sabo and Cyclone Slayer this league. I'd like to branch out, maybe a bow class... Is Tornado Shot pretty expensive to set up?

The obvious answer is to play a Necromancer because of the rework.

[NoRest4Wicked]

The obvious answer is to play a Necromancer because of the rework.

I'll look for a build for one. I didn't like playing SRS Witch at all, but I'm down for something different. Are they fairly tanky? I kind of suck at this game, I couldn't complete Uber Lab on my Cyclone Slayer. I think the only reason I could do Uber Lab and Shaper/Red Elder/Uber Atziri is because the Lightning Trapper regens 100 life for every trap that detonates with Tinkerskin. Easy way to not die, just keep spamming traps.

[Darleth]

Can anyone suggest a build for me to try? Legion was the first league I actually played past level 30, and I'm looking forward to another go. I played a Lightning Trap Sabo and Cyclone Slayer this league. I'd like to branch out, maybe a bow class... Is Tornado Shot pretty expensive to set up?

It highly depends on how far you want to go with Tornado Shot. Most Tornado Shot builds go magic find, simply because it is a fast clear skill but a relatively horrible bosskiller with lower investment, it does requires a lot of investment for both MF and non MF builds to be REALLY good. One of the most important things is the +2 Helm enchant and you usually want to convert it's damage to Cold in both cases. MF builds for example takes Barrage aswell for pure singletarget dps, while tornado shot is used to clear mobs.

Toxic Rain is a decent skill, but it also requires quite a bit of investment. It also isn't upfront damage, but rather deals dot damage over time, which might also makes shadow a good option. Scourge arrow is another good skill to take a look at.

Honestly speaking from personal experience though: I've only played MF TS/Barrage builds, so my knowledge about bow builds is pretty much non existent. Would love to help out more :/

[Marrilaife]

Is Tornado Shot pretty expensive to set up?

Yep, if you want the good gear you'll have to compete with bazillion MF farmers that can afford the good stuff. Items like the Lioneye gem are essential for many bow builds and not really cheap early on (I remember when the gem cost 70c lowest when I could buy decent weapon for my build for half that price...), and then you have items like tornado shot head enchant that costs exalts if it's on a decent helmet.

I'll look for a build for one. I didn't like playing SRS Witch at all, but I'm down for something different. Are they fairly tanky? I kind of suck at this game, I couldn't complete Uber Lab on my Cyclone Slayer. I think the only reason I could do Uber Lab and Shaper/Red Elder/Uber Atziri is because the Lightning Trapper regens 100 life for every trap that detonates with Tinkerskin. Easy way to not die, just keep spamming traps.

Then do yourself a favour and stay away from bow builds. Bow nodes are on the same side of the tree as evasion nodes and you'd be mostly forced down the evasion path, and there aren't that many life nodes there, so you'll be squishy. You'd have to actually go out of your way or find a good guide to make a non-squishy bow build (I mean you can... scourge arrow slayer for example).

And yes, Necro Witch can be built to have very high hp and use permanent minions like zombies or skeletons to work as meatshields to soak mob attacks. I'd wait until full rework is revealed and then check for some good zombie or skeleton builds with the new carrion golem, there are bound to be lots of them.

Saboteur with traps or mines should be a very safe pick too, you can kill mobs from far away, you can blind them, you're immune to shock, ignite and blind afaik and lots of Saboteurs use mind over matter to extend their normal effective life.

Another tanky option is righteous fire juggernaut, dunno if it's still gonna be good next season, but it's basically foolproof once built, you only have to throw away all the "no regen" / "reduced recovery" maps. Herald of agony Guardian is probably even more tanky but I heard it's expensive to build (you need lots of mana that get converted into energy shield through the mechanics of the spec).

The kings of tankiness are some fairly specific builds like hand of wisdom and action int stacking CI energy shield builds or the strength stacking scorching ray or ancestral totem chieftains. I wouldn't probably try it myself unless I find a good guide explaining the build, they seem to require very, very specific gear with a lot of synergy between pieces. Not novice friendly.

P.S. If you have problem with uber lab remember to switch the god to the one that gives flask charges regen (default button Y) and just take it slowly, find gaps and safe spots between the traps and just wait for flasks to regen. Also you can slot stone golem and vitality aura for extra regen and just swap them out to your normal setup before boss fight (you have access to stash every time you're 1 room before boss). Also have good mobility skill like leap slam or flame dash that can help get through tricky areas.

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Toxic Rain is a decent skill, but it also requires quite a bit of investment. It also isn't upfront damage, but rather deals dot damage over time, which might also makes shadow a good option.

Toxic rain doesn't require that much investment to be decent, but to be actually good you need to sink at least 10ex into crafting the proper bow (could be more, and ofc ready made costs more than crafting it yourself).

You can use "+2 to socketed bow gems" bow that is fairly cheap if it doesn't have anything else special on it, buy lvl 21 toxic rain gem, and even run on a 5-link that is faster to get than 6-link, you can get through yellow maps on it, but in red maps you will see your dps doesn't cut it anymore. Also it has an awkward ramp up time you will never see any of these "I killed boss in 2 seconds". And yes, you can't run with just a tabula because it needs to be slotted in the weapon to benefit from increased levels. Without the increase to gem level it's really low dps, same issue as elemental hit basically.

And yes, trickster is recommended due to 20% more damage over time node.

[Coldkil]

I would love SSF with higher drop chances but no ability to migrate to Non-SSF.

Yeah, that would make me definitely happier - i'm more than fine with the crafting system and mechanics but doing that SSF is much more time consuming than it needs to be. However i'm still not asking, PoE is a great game as it and it's just better that they focus on new leagues and mechanics than this.

EDIT: my leap slam/CoC/Vortex isn't working as expected, but i still miss a lot of gear and COC builds are usually heavy investment ones. SO i think i'll pass over this.

On the other side, Vortex is fun Maybe a trap/mines vortex Saboteur? Should be easier to build with.

EDIT 2: can someone explain me if spell damage/elemental nodes work with traps? I mean, using a spell with trap support, because it looks redundant and possibly broken if they work.

[Mamut]

EDIT 2: can someone explain me if spell damage/elemental nodes work with traps? I mean, using a spell with trap support, because it looks redundant and possibly broken if they work.

Every trap skill have "Spell" tag so yeah, spell damage work on them. Also if you use spell with trap support its still work because you still use spell. For example arctraps were broken as hell in like 2 leagues ago.

Im done with Legion and while waiting for Blight Im thinking about making SSF HC build (just for the lvl 90 achi). But last time I played HC was like few years ago and I never played SSF. What would you recomend fun but safe and easy to gear up?