Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

Due to less damage on chain support is simply not is not worth it. Apep rage is sure nice for skele DP (playing it now and having fun), but I had no luck finding it (SFF).

 

chain, echo dmg decrease doesnt affect poison dmg.
Nor conc effect for that matter.

This is why apep rage is like god sent wand if you want to do poison

 

Hmm. I guess I really need to RTFM on poison mechanics...

 

What's an apep rage? or a skeleton dp for that matter?

I'm currently playing frost blades. I have now understood that PoE has at least 3 difficulity settings:
Easy - Totems
Medium - Spell
Hard - Melee

Almost died to act 5 kitava 4 times, fucker punches for a lot of damage.

 

Apep's rage (a wand) https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Apep's_Rage

Skele dp = Skeleton dark pact =Using skeletons to proc Dark Pact skill gem : https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Dark_Pact

 

Actually is more like
Very Easy - Totems & Summons
Easy - Wanders & RF
Medium - Ranged melee & Ranged non spell
Hard - self cast ranged spells
Very Hard - Melee & self cast melee range spells

 

I finally caved in and traded for some stuff, still RIPd a bunch of times, because I get complacent and forget about some mechanics. I think I went through 7 70+ characters in the last month, fuck's sake.

Gotta say tho, the builds I enjoyed the most were Frost Blades/Dual Strike Assassin with claws and some sort of crit archer I had that died prior to 60. Running a spell totem build right now, gem swapping for bosses is a little annoying and clearing time is not super (compared to FB that is) but I'm still a few levels away from key uniques so it might get better later on.

Too bad PoE doesn't have mechanics to support a damn smooth DoT build, akin to WD in D3 (the only good thing about it). I tried a few variations on the theme, but it feels super clunky, not to mention that hybrids fall way off in the late game.

 

The game mechanics support summoners very well, although they have bad clear speed as well (not as bad as totems though).

 

Yeah but I don't want a summoner, I want a character with multiple DoTs that chain + some moderately useful pets. PoE is a one skill game, well two at best, hence the lack of mechanics to support such a playstyle.

 

tbh with you i dont feel very confident with current poison mechanic myself ;p

 

After playing glacial cascade totem hierophant, I really don't get the complaint about bad clear speed. The only annoying thing is running back when you hear the sound of good loot.

Or perhaps I do not understand the clear speed meta.

 

Look at this slow-ass pleb-tier scrub down there, absolutely disgusting.

 

To be fair both DP and Berserker were nerfed since 3.0

 

ED + Contagion "chains", you can clear beyond your screen if enemies are close enough to each other.
If you are SSF, Occultist or Trickster ED works, if you are trade league Indigon Trickster ED works better.

 

Yep, but I was talking about simulating WD experience which isn't really possible in PoE, that's all. No big deal, plenty of other fun builds to try out. Though my totem feller will probably be my last, for this league at least.

 

That's one of the genuine downsides of PoE. In Torchlight II (not the best ARPG ever, but decent), as an ice wizard or whatever, I remember using a wide variety of different abilities strategically: an ice cage to protect myself or trap enemies, fullscreen ice storm thing, a more concentrated directed ice attack, a damaging ice teleport, and an AoE on-enemy-death life and mana drain.

To be fair, the potions bar is practically a second ability bar in PoE, so there's that to consider. Still, at the high end, it seems to boil down to teleport-BANG-teleport-teleport-teleport-BANG BANG BANG-teleport-BANG-teleport-teleport-BANG BANG BANG, with maybe some fast running interspersed with teleporting or what-have-you.

 

There is certainly more that two skills but they are often locked into auras, curses, golems or trigger skills like cwdt.

And to fair D2 was not much better. PoE is a spiritual successor to D2.

 

Yeah, well, I played a Firestorm/Summoner Witch and there was possibly a bit more to do than other builds, but as I recall many things were hooked into triggers and CWDT, and casting Firestorm was the main activity. The teleport skill is just interspersed with walking, and occasionally resummoning was necessary.

Having more to do character-wise would be more interesting from a gameplay perspective. This does affect most ARPGs to some extent, mind you.

 

That's because most/all active abilities in TL2 have a cooldown, so you're forced to use different skills simply to fill the void of the downtime.
Plus even if they didn't, the skill leveling system itself doesn't support going all in with a single skill of choice - you'll have plenty of skill points left over. Plus, some skills don't actually get that much better with further investment due to diminishing returns, again forcing you to spread out.
Most of the secondary active skills you pick this way would be temporary buffs or situational debuffs.

Meanwhile, PoE supports any level of complexity, entirely depending on a player's playstyle.

Take an RF build, for example. You can alternate between the two extremes and anything in between:
* "look ma, no hands!" tier: RF is activated once per map. Auras are precast. The only active skill you use is shield charge, it's used to proc fortify, EE and EO. A modest cwdt set up on top of that.
* Maximum engagement tier: shield charge to proc fortify and EE, orb of storms to proc EE and EO (and arcane surge for scorching ray), enduring cry to get endurance charges and extra life regen, decoy totem to distract beefy targets, self-cast scorching ray to melt bosses faster, recasting golem occasionally because it dies, vaal lightning trap for more bossing damage, possibly a self-cast curse to get that extra bit of edge. Good luck finding enough gem slots and skill bar slots for all of that.
Same build, VERY different levels of engagement.

I could do this thing for a whole variety of build types.

 

I tend to agree. Most builds I've played have had a main skill+movement that is more than 90% of your clicks. But you still do tend to have stuff like orb of storms, blood rage, etc that you occasionally click.

I can agree with Blaine that it would be cool to have more active defensive abilities, or more "ultimates" that you use sparingly to fuck shit up (vaal gems exist, but in practice no one uses them for this purpose).

Wanding looks pretty cool. Kinetic blast has always looked very interesting to me. Barrage is ultimate vanilla though.

 

That's exactly the problem though. Besides, what you described is just another push for that higher % (both offensively and defensively), which is fine, since PoE is all about that + theorycrafting + exploding packs + bullet hell. Most of the interactive/utility skills would be kind of useless in PoE anyway since most mobs charge your ass at top speed, start shooting off screen and other such nonsense, there's no real time to strategically start blowing smoke out of your ass, it's easier and faster to just explode them.

HOWEVER, in some hypothetical perfect ARPG there would be room for both, stat crunching/build fiddling (and subsequent facerolling through the packs) and interactive skillset that actually requires, well skill or at least some sort of finesse and thought.

 

PoE has very cool skills like Orb of Storms, Frost Wall, Totems, Warcries, etc... but they don't fit the game. Eventually you realize that casting them only slows you down. Click less, go faster.

 

But sometimes you must click more to not die.

 

you can die less by playing smarter, not slower, but you die when the game decides its time for you to die

 

hmm... ggg is revamping trap skills yet again to make me create another trapper