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.

5373

Ah, gotcha. I have plenty of respec points, but the build I’m using already goes very deep into life nodes. My problem (other than the Lab, which is more of a “learn not to be a dumb ass” thing for me) is I’m not killing stuff fast enough because I don’t have my skellie links yet. I could swap the zombs and the skels, giving up a little meat shielding for more offense, and see how that works.

Mana is also a thing, as I need to run Hatred and Skitterbots, and the latter suck up mana like no one’s business. Yet I can’t stick it on an Essence Wyrm because it has to be linked to Generosity, like Hatred.

5374

Thank you for reminding me that I do not have time in my life for GGG’s obsession with layering the RNG burrito well past the point of good taste or sanity.

5375

I hate it when that happens. I went well over 2000 a few leagues back. Usually my progression is:

  1. Tabula (or some other leveling gear)
  2. Search the trade site for a 6-link that has mediocre life/resists. Here’s an example search, which you can tweak for the right colors as needed. Almost everything affordable that you find will be corrupted, so having the right colors is important. Technically you can reroll colors on corrupted items via Vaal orbs but it’s super expensive.
  3. Get a really good chest with the stats you want, 6-slot it with Jewellers, get on the Fusing train, and pray to RNGesus.

Sounds like you skipped step 2. Might want to do that now, which gives you more time to find fusings and get lucky without having to spend that exalt.

Step 2 might also be of use to @TheWombat with his gear search!

5376

This is not a good guide or build for beginners. The video is 2 years old and the forum post does not discuss the updates in his POB or passive tree and ascendancy changes. I can decipher what he’s doing, but I don’t expect a beginner to.

When I load the POB and see 7 jewel sockets with 5 rares, a spell-triggering weapon craft, and unexplained Elemental Equilibrium (he’s using a +fire ring and shield charge attack to trigger EE and boost the cold damage minions vs bosses), my alarm bells go off.

I’m not saying the build is bad, but it has very little in the way of damage mitigation or help for new players. The author claims it’s tanky, but his defensive strategy is to walk away and not get hit. This probably works fine for him, but not for you, because he’s played thousands of hours.

I would do it. The biggest links should be your primary damage. Downgrade the zombies if they’re less important.

Hatred is linked to Generosity so you don’t have to be near the minions. Skitterbots does not link to Generosity at all, and it reserves less mana than Hatred (35% vs 50%). The enlighten gem in the Skelemancer POB reduces mana reservation, which is why the auras are linked in the same setup together. A 50% aura makes it hard to reserve other things, but War Banner or Dread Banner might work.

Because you can’t reserve a defensive combination like Skitterbots + Discipline + Flesh and Stone, be sure you are getting defenses elsewhere. Something like CWDT + Enfeeble + Steelskin + Cold Snap is useful, but don’t level the gems too high. Keep the CWDT trigger around 1/2 - 1/3 of your life. Notice the minion jewels on the POB that make them blind and taunt.

Here’s a neat trick to get Fortify for caster builds with melee weapons: The Vigil jewel with General’s Cry linked to Vigilant Strike. The summons will strike and fortify your whole party.

Edit: The defensive ascendancy nodes are also worth considering, Bone Barrier in particular. I would take that from the 2nd or 3rd Lab if possible, or re-spec for it (ascendancy passive nodes cost 5 refund points).

5377

Thanks for the info. I’m not using that build I linked, though; in a later post I said I switched to Navandis’ build. He does have Hatred and skitterbots linked to Generosity, FWIW. I have CWDT for Desecrate+Spirit Offering but I over leveled theCWDT I think and have to delevel it.

5378

It’s a coincidence. Sometimes builds have extra links that do nothing. Generosity support does not work with Skitterbots.

When you mouse-over an equipped gem, it and the linked gems will highlight. Try it out. There’s also a UI option “Support Gem Utility Popup” that will show a list of your active skills with a checkmark or X (showing link compatibility) when you mouse-over a support gem in a shop or your inventory or quest rewards.

Edit: POB also highlights linked gems on mouse-over in the skill screen, but it ignores the CWDT level limit (e.g., Flamedash is not triggered by CWDT in Navandis’ build).

5379

Interesting. Well, that frees up some space.

5380

Here’s a random tip that I was reminded of: I found this nice combo from a Youtuber which can help survivability on spellcasters:

Takes two linked sockets for General’s Cry and Vigilant Strike and a jewel socket to let the Fortify effect apply to you (and minions) instead of just the warcry’s duplicates and to make it last longer, but it gives you >30 seconds of Fortify at a time. If you can spare the space, it’s a pretty nice QoL to have. For minion builds it’s not as good as the Animate Guardian - Kingmaker combo to get fortify up, but a lot cheaper to get started.

5381

I mentioned it yesterday.

5382

Ah, somehow missed it, sorry about the dup.

5383

I have finally found a build and league that click with me enough to stay a bit longer. I was able to beat A6 Sirius last night on first try. Granted, when I first tried him in A5, I completely failed and ran out of portals. I spent 8 exalt on upgrades this weekend and down to needing just a high dps bleed axe. Prices have been between 15 and 60 exalt for a good one.

Any idea what vendor recipe yields an exalt? I cleaned out my dump tab this morning and surprised I had one in my bag.

5384

Maybe you sold influenced sets and got enough shards to make an exalt.

5385

I must have missed that recipe and see it is 2 shards per full influenced set. I am wondering if one of the items had the “sells for more” implicit to make up the rest.

5386

Just started playing for real in the ritual league. Anything I should know? I sort of understand the rituals but I have no idea what kind of strategy I should use (is there a strategy?) About buying things or deferring things or whatever.

I tried an aura stacking necromancer but I have since re-rolled a infernal legion skeletonmancer. I guess we will see how well that works!

Thanks for stocking up the guild bank!