Congrats on making it through, even though it definitely is a royal pain. Even the first part of it is OK, but that second part really feels like you have no choice but to click madly and pray. It feels like they tried to design that fight to require every trick in the book, and in so doing made it so complicated that most of us can’t keep up with it all.
That’s a good suggestion, although depending on your gear it may not be reasonable to swap a green for a blue. Might have to put Innervate or something else blue in there instead. You probably won’t miss the cast speed much since you’re certainly not going to be standing and chain-casting spirits in that fight!
I started as a Bow-wielding Shadow, which is something I’ve never tried before. It’s working surprisingly well so far! I’m away from the beach and enjoying Act 1, using the two unique pieces I found with my previous character: The armor and a bow, both of which had no lower level requirement, so I was able to use them from level 1.
I love archery-focused characters but have a devil of a time keeping them alive. I usually have to have the weapon swap set up with a melee loadout for survivability when swarmed, though I’m sure I could avoid that if I actually was competent.
Try running Decoy Totem on your archers. Makes a huge difference having the monsters standing around a totem halfway across the screen, instead of hacking at your personal self. You’ll probably eventually be unable to keep up with the strength requirements, but hopefully by then you’ve got enough AoE going to clear out large groups quickly.
Hmm, have to try that.
My Double Strike/Cleave/Leapslam sword and board heavy armor Duelist is into his 20s now and I’m liking it. For giggles I slotted a Vaal Summon Skeleton gem which takes 32 souls and pops a legion of skellies with archers and a general and stuff. I use it for bosses. Kind of neat.
I’m trying a summoner now, still pretty low level (18 or so) with zombies+minion damage, srs+minion damage, and a skelly totem. Plus, uh, flesh offering? That spell that consumes a corpse or two and buffs your guys. So far it’s working pretty good but man does it feel like herding cats.
Also, bob, you were saying your summoner only gets hit every so often, but I feel like when I’m adventuring out in the wild that any mobs seem to make a beeline right for me. I wish I could get the zombies to lead the way rather than having to drag them along (though if it worked that way it’d be way too easy to go on autopilot).
The zombies die only rarely now, so I like the level of micromanagement involved - mostly I’m throwing down the totem and shooting flaming skulls around, and only occasionally resummoning a zombie (except on the harder fights, like the bandits, where they still seem to die pretty quickly. Can’t wait for Vaal!).
The monster AI did get tweaked in Awakening to go after the player a bit more, but you can still avoid most of the aggro…if you’re a patient player. Which I realize is not exactly what PoE is known for. :) There’s two main tricks:
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Summon the skeleton totem out in front, so the monsters see it first. Best used when moving through doorways or around tight corners. Takes a little practice to get used to how far out in front you can click to summon it…if you go too far away then you’ll move partway and may get the aggro anyway. This is really slow if you use it all the time, but a little experience will tell you when it’s important to go slow.
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As soon as you see monsters, immediately cast Enfeeble on them, then turn around and go back the way you came, summoning a totem behind you. This won’t stop all the monsters from chasing you, but some of them will break off, and if you keep going far enough they’ll all give up. I usually don’t go that far unless it’s really dangerous; usually taking one or two hits is OK. If something is really persistent, cast Convocation and your horde should eat it.
As you get higher in level, the horde will be killing things faster, and using #2 will get faster because you’ll need to retreat less.
And sometimes, you just can’t get away. Some boss fights go on long enough that you’ll be targeted at some point, and running far away may not be an option to avoid them. In these cases, I usually hit my Quicksilver Flask and run around like a crazy person with the boss trailing behind, until eventually the horde grabs their attention again. Worst case, portal out and try again in a minute.
Lost Sarah today at level 71 on a level 68 Pit Map. In hindsight, I definitely should have waited on maps, or at least chosen which ones I picked more carefully. But I’m pretty happy with level 71 on my first attempt at Tempest league, especially with all the stuff that was new to me after being gone for a year. Time for a PoE break now!
Dang, that sucks. Life during hardcore though; you see these messages “so-and-so (83) has died at 64 on the ladder” all the time, and you can’t but cringe. My highest ever character, that’s still alive in hardcore non-league, is like forty something. Currently my Duelist is in the late twenties. It’s a slow grind for me, so I really can feel the pain of losing a character at nearly twice the highest level I’ve ever obtained.
The worst thing for me when they die is that all their crap ends up in standard, and I never play standard. Maybe I could start a standard character for giggles and use all of that crap.
Good job! And thanks for posting your adventures as you went, I enjoyed reading them. I’m going much slower; my highest character is near the end of A1 Cruel. Part of this is alt-itis; I also have 2 guys almost ready to fight Malachai at the end of A4 normal. Also I’ve been doing some of the races, not very well;
I enjoy doing the solo ones when my son is doing them too. Anyway I’ll be on the road a lot of the next month, I may move on to something else when I get back.
Anyone happen to know what effect clvl has when you turn in 4 “Jack in the Box” cards? Does the unique have it’s ilvl set to your clvl, so I should only turn it in with a character high enough that his level would be able to get 6 sockets (think that’s ilvl 50?) or can you only get a unique that that character can use in which case probably wait until mid 70s for the best chance at basically any of the highest end stuff?
Those seem the 2 most likely scenarios to me, but my highest character right now is 64 or so and I’m bored with her and this full set of Jack in the Boxes is burning a hole in my virtual pocket.
I’ve never tried it, but a quick google about the Jack in the Box divination card seems to say that your first scenario is correct. So a level 64 will get an ilvl 64 unique. Also, the wiki says it’s capped at 80, so if you managed to somehow get a char above 80, you’d still get an ilvl 80 unique.
Ouch!
I’m still sucked in. Currently playing my summoner who’s using beefed up Raging Spirits, Zombies, and Skeletons on a stick. I actually have a spell totem in a 3L socket with summon skeletons and arc, so I can throw down an Arc totem or a Skeleton Totem depending on my mood. She’s feeling reasonably powerful now, but I’m only in A3 normal, so there’s a way to go before I hit any big challenges. I was wondering if a summoner would feel too hands off but so far it’s been fun.
Yep, that’s indeed how it works. I’m now the proud? owner of a SpringLeaf Plank Kite Shield, ilvl 64. I was hoping for something odd that might inspire a build but I guess I’ll settle for junk. At least I know I’m not alone, I think I’ve seen one person get a good item from their Jack in the Box turn in out of a couple dozen linked.
My tin-can Duelist (no evasion, heavy armor, shield and reactive focused, Dual Strike/Cleave/Leapslam) is now in Act III getting ready to whack General whatshisname (level 30-something). I would like a better one-handed weapon though. I’ve been using either a War Sword or Rapier/Foil thingy, rare, and haven’t found anything better. Uniques have been few and far between; I think I found, um a claw. I’ve only tried a claw build once, on a Shadow, and it was so-so.
So far, I Leapslam into a group, hit Enduring Cry and Warlords Mark, flail about with Cleave, and finish up with Dual Strike. IIRC both are linked to life on hit. Ripost and Reckoning are linked to, um, other stuff that I can’t remember. I still have Viper Strike in there for some reason, as well as my Vaal skellie totem for boss fights. It actually makes a decent equalizer.
With decent armor and blocking over one-third of the time, this guy’s been fairly survivable so far (well, it’s hardcore, so duh) but I’m beginning to run into packs that can actually make my health bubble decrease and make me hit a flask. Haven’t had much luck with Orbs of Chance or Alchemy to gin up some better armor though.
I’m also trying to make a Samurai out of my Scion, with two-handed swords, armor/evasion, and a bow. Lack of good gear has made it challenging though, but she’s only 14 or so.
I know it’s not his name but I think of him as General Grievous.
So, got through Dominus on my Duelist, and heading into Act IV, which of course is new to me. Piety was over before I blinked; I just stood toe to toe and whaled on her. Dominus I had to port out once to fill flasks, but essentially I did the same thing. He dropped…crap. Utter, complete crap.
Is he supposed to drop something good? I’m pretty sure I got crap as well.
Dunno. I just figure, hell, he’s a boss, right? But I think every time I’ve every killed him he’s dropped crap. So, maybe not. Actually, this run through, everyone dropped crap.
