Path of Exile

Games
#5353

Mostly it’s the PoB stuff, where what he says does not at all match what is in the latest pastebin link. For instance, in the video he goes for Grave Pact/Grave Intentions, which are on opposite sides off the starting point, but in the PoB those nodes aren’t selected. As he reiterates getting those, I figured I’d lop off some points from the far reaches of the tree and make sure I got those. But I prefer builds where the skill progression is mapped out ruthlessly and clearly with no assumptions along the way.

EDIT: Found this build, by Navandis Gaming, that seems clear and simple, and the video is top notch. No text build, but the PoB notes are useful.

#5354

I suspect the problem with the inconsistencies is that the guide was written many patches ago, and hasn’t been kept up to date. The PoB has, though, so they don’t agree any more. Glad you found one that is easier to follow!

#5355

Of course, for these pro players, the Acts are like the warmup. I’ve only gotten into maps once, over the entire life of this game, heh.

#5356

Ossoboom (exploding skeleton necro) is into the 80s now and doing mid-level maps. Which means I’ve enjoyed the build enough to get to the new end-game content, the Maven - a creepy floating lady who likes to watch you fight.

Easy enough to start with, toggle a button on the map device and it captures that map’s boss for later. Except - the damn toggle is not very clear. It’s either bluish or reddish and I can’t see any indicator of which one is “on” and which is “off”. By trial and error I found that red=on, but man, they really could use a UI update there.

Anyway, once I beat the UI challenge, it was pretty simple, and after 3 maps you get to go fight all 3 of the captured bosses, which again was pretty easy. Apparently you can go up to 10 of them, though, and I fully expect that I’ll die at higher boss numbers simply due to the insane number of effects…either I’ll lag out or I’ll miss some key telegraph animation in the noise and get one-shot.

After beating the boss challenge you get to put points in the Atlas region skill tree, which I’m sure has some crazy min-max strategy to it, but I’m just kinda randomly picking the type of fights I like. First up, Invasion bosses, because who doesn’t like good old Invasion league?

#5357

I am enjoying the league so far as well as the blade blast chieftain build. Will see if interest lasts past yellow maps. I had been saving rituals until beating the map boss, but this bugs out the final ritual to not give tribute. It impacted almost all of of the maps I ran this morning, but switching it up later by fighting rituals as soon as I could eliminated the issue.

#5358

My skellemancer is in the early 20s now, finishing up Act II. Only a handful of undead minions, but pretty much I just refresh the skeletons, hit the “consume a corpse to go fast” button, hit Descrate, and spam frost whatever and things die. My health bar hasn’t moved in ages I don’t think. Kind of boring though.

#5359

The danger of playing a decent build. :) You can always make it more interesting by going faster! I often get two Quicksilver Flasks and just tear through the easy-to-navigate zones, only stopping if I need to kill things to refill the flasks. Means you get higher level baddies sooner, making it a bit more challenging, and of course you’re moving along the story faster too.

#5360

Heh, I think I’m already moving fast enough that I have to pause to summon the skeles. The zombies haven’t died in ages. I’m actually fine with the build right now; it’s not something I’ve done before.

#5361

This is the way.

#5362

I still have yet to break my lawn-mowering habit, of having to break every urn and hit every chest. Even though 90% off the time it’s crap. I also have a hard time not stopping to hoover up scrolls. But really I should just blitz most of the Act stuff I guess.

EDIT: Breezed through Dominus faster than I’ve ever done it. It’s weird not having an offense direct-cast spell or ability; I just spam skellies when needed and Flame Dash out of trouble, using Convocation to group the minions if necessary and occasionally popping a Spirit Offering or whatever. Very odd; I’m so used to things like an Arc Witch where you spam your ability.

#5363

So killed Kitava and into the endgame/maps. I’m 75 ish. Sort of at an impasse though. I mean, the build is working, but I really need two six-links (weapon and armor) in order to fit all the bits and pieces to take it from ok to really good. For instance, I can’t fit Predator (which the build calls Death Mark, I guess that was its old name) in, nor can I really have my skellies do their full damage because I’m running them on a four link at the moment, with the meatshield zombs on thee five link I have. And I have zero mana after everything is reserved; I think that improves with more passives maybe, have to check.

I have never used the trading system to buy gear, but I think I will have to. I only have enough orbs to get the weapon (Queen’s whatzit, the higher level one); the Rotting Legion armor is going for something ludicrous like five or six Exalted. My attempts at propitiating the RNG gods and using Orbs of Fusing have proven fruitless, as usual.

#5364

Congrats! Now the game starts. :) But seriously, it’s an accomplishment getting through there for the first time in a league. Always feels good to get past the big bully.

As for the gear, feel free to check the guild stash first, I’ve dropped some stuff in there that might be helpful. The last tab especially, been putting my older items there as I upgrade. Not sure if there’s a 6 link anything, but I know there’s some useful rings and boots.

Feel free to post a link to your build if you’d like me to take a look at it, be happy to make some suggestions. Either use Path of Building or a link to your characters on the PoE forums (as described here).

#5365

Thanks. I’ve been rummaging in the guild stash (Queen’s Decree, for one) and I think I took everything that could help, which wasn’t that much–I think you are doing a summoner as well, so the stuff we are both tossing in the stash tends to be stuff neither can really use. But it has been a nice help for sure.

I’ve bombed out on the third Lab about four times now though. Just cannot live through it, and it doesn’t help that the game zeroes out my Vaal Skeletons when I face Izaro, so my get out of jail free card doesn’t work…

#5366

I have been enjoying the league enough to reroll. The bladefall/bladeblast chieftain was good for clearing, but wasn’t cutting it on bosses and didn’t want to drop 6 exalt on upgrades. Started a bleed earthquake gladiator and enjoying it so far. I just dropped 500 fusings trying to 6-link a chest and hiding out now after liquidating some other currency for more fusings. I had to turn on /dnd from the spam as trade API seems to be lagging worse than normal.

#5367

You should do the third lab before killing Act 10 Kitava, because ending Act 10 lowers your elemental resists and raises the death XP penalty. Don’t assume you need 6-link gear right away, focus on defensive layers first. Try to get your life up, elemental resists capped, and ailment removal on flasks. Despite the green effects, Izaro’s attacks do physical damage.

#5368

Yeah, the lab can be a real pain. @Bobtree is right that it’s best to do it pre-Kitava, but of course that doesn’t help you right now. Your best bet is to get as much life as you can and make sure your resists are maxed, and also hit the Darkshrines (see POELab to find them) to try to get some help via shrine effects or disabling of traps. And if you see me online, don’t hesitate to ask, I’d be happy to help!

#5369

The problem is, to get as much life as possible means I end up with zero effectiveness for my main attacks, the summons. It’s a zero-sum game. The links simply don’t work.

This is my big issue with PoE in general. Most of the builds are “do a bunch of whatever half-assed crap until you can field a real build.” I hate that, it’s sort of just meh. I want a focused effective build that I don’t have to wait until way into end game to actually play, but effectively none of them are like that.

#5370

We may be talking about different things. When I say get as much life as possible, I mean taking nodes on the passive tree with +% maximum life, and getting +X to maximum life on your gear. Rings, Amulet, boots, gloves…all stuff that doesn’t impact your main damage links can still get a bunch of life. Now, I’m not saying it’s easy to get that sort of good gear, but it shouldn’t be a direct life-vs-damage tradeoff. And you will likely have to dip into the marketplace.

#5371

For the record, last I played stacking life doesn’t help against the lab traps - they tick for a percentage of your actual max.

It is possible to get enough regen to basically stand in them and laugh. I had gladiator this one time…

#5372

I am full on sunk cost fallacy now for 6 linking this chest. Even at 44% quality I have dropped ~1100 fusings so far without luck. Another 400 and I may as well have used the recipe. The question is do I stop now and buy a nice chest with my last exalt or convert it into more fusing. Feeling a bit pinched for life still using the Tabula Rasa. At least this build is more mobile and good at bosses.