Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[T. Reich]

I really dislike molten strike as a skill for precisely this reason - the delay is horribly annoying.

I've theorycrafted a very solid maxblock RT 1h duelist that can basically use one of these melee skills with just a minor support gem swap - wild strike/glacial hammer/static strike/ice crash.
I don't expect any high clear speed from it, since it's a non-crit variant, but it should be quite solid and tanky as well (by having over 65% block and spell block, as well as fortify and healthy amount of both evasion and armor).
Claws would actually still be a decent choice for SW or SS here, especially essentia sanguis unique claw that got really buffed around 2.0.0, and it's fairly cheap as well.

I'll level with all four of those gems and just pick the one I like most by the end of leveling.

 

[Eyeball]

So if I wanted to play a claw shadow/ranger, what main attack skill is fun these days? Already done dual swords/reave, wanting to get my wolverine on with a claw skill that's both fun and not too gimpy.

 

[T. Reich]

There's not much to choose from if you're doing claws. Reave is a staple favourite, you may want to look up the "southpaw reave" build, it's sort of FotM, IIRC.
You can also try out the new-ish Wild Strike and Frost Blades if you're ok with mostly elemental damage.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Zdzisiu]

There's not much to choose from if you're doing claws. Reave is a staple favourite, you may want to look up the "southpaw reave" build, it's sort of FotM, IIRC.
You can also try out the new-ish Wild Strike and Frost Blades if you're ok with mostly elemental damage.

Here are links for the southpaw reave build from ZiggyD:
1. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlnLVkMD4PQ
2. Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q4nD7P5GJac3t4bgWRdtdikz2uz-7OxJfmxqdFM3ZKE/edit?pli=1#gid=0

 

[Radech]

I'd probably go with the same approach as T.Reich - level af bunch of attack gems on a switch set(or just buy 'em levelled from the vendor) and try it out.

Frost blades is probably the new agi darling - but it plays more like spectral throw(without projectile speed) than anything else, it scales with projectile damage, weapon and phys/cold so it's pretty obvious for a shadow/ranger though.

Though when it comes to dual-wielding dual strike is probably still the king.

Hmmm puncture works with claws for some reason - max movespeed and support with knockback for a furious inface build? - most likely going to be horribly underpowered though - but there is a lot of damage over time stuff in that general area(puncture then viperstrike with knockback? both with melee splash?)

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

I don't understand why Leagues have to end and send your character back in standard forever... Can't they just launch a new league and leave the previous one running? Or just enhance standard league? The stress on the servers will be the same, just as many people keep playing.

 

[Lhynn]

Because it would make league pointless. As it stands leagues are races to the top.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

not for me. The added frustration of warbands provided me with an incentive to optimize my build.

There's no reason not to run temporary events in standard too. I remember in the diablo 2 days you had a character you could move from any kind of server with new stuff going on all the time.

 

[Lhynn]

That could be a good addition to the game if you ask me, standard is too uneventful for its own good.

 

[T. Reich]

This 1 month flashback league is the best thing that ever happened in the game in a long time. I haven't had this much fun in PoE in ages.
And I've been playing PoE almost without any major breaks since OB, and I always have some fun playing it (because that's why I keep playing it, duh).

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

What's so fun about it?

 

[Saark]

Constantly running into stuff that might kill you. Like, twice every area. Even on normal.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[made]

aaaah stop it already. My will is weak

You should try it; it's free:

 

[Zdzisiu]

aaaah stop it already. My will is weak

For added fun, you should start playing on the weekend, the leveling process will be a breeze then!

 

[Aothan]

good weekend, the game's pace was challenging but I went straight to the shield nodes for the Templar, which are probably the most defensive orientated cluster and pathway in the game and have been emphasising armour, energy shield and life

walked into the Weaver's chamber only to see a Ghost..who went straight to the Weaver -_-;

 

[Zdzisiu]

good weekend, the game's pace was challenging but I went straight to the shield nodes for the Templar, which are probably the most defensive orientated cluster and pathway in the game and have been emphasising armour, energy shield and life

walked into the Weaver's chamber only to see a Ghost..who went straight to the Weaver -_-;

Dried lake on Merci was a non stop action packed beyond fuelled nightmare ride. 3-5 Beyond bosses each full run, sometimes more than one at the same time, my personal record is 3 Beyond bosses at the same time, all I needed was Benny Hill music in the background as I ran around with the happy bunch on my tail.

 

[Saark]

Yeah, I am now a master in running in circles aswell. Thought I'd go and do Daressos Dream, nothing bad could happen right? Yeah right. Managed to bring Barkhul to 50% before the mob waves spawned the first beyond bosses. Let me tell you, having a chaos degen flickerstrike mob that has Souleater, Life regen and an "allies cannot die" aura is bad enough. Having dogs spawn constantly who give that fucker frenzy charges is worse. Spawning some more beyondbosses until Tzteosh shows up (the one with vaal flamestrike) who constantly feeds that dude SRS is just retarded. After about 10 minutes of trying to kill anything I just quit.

Does Soul Eater increase the radius of auras? Because I could swear at some point his chaos degen hit me from the other side of the arena and pretty much every single mob had the fucking "cannot die" aura. Of course he could still feed on the SRS that were expiring because why the fuck not.


tl;dr: I fucking love this game.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Yeah, I am now a master in running in circles aswell. Thought I'd go and do Daressos Dream, nothing bad could happen right? Yeah right. Managed to bring Barkhul to 50% before the mob waves spawned the first beyond bosses. Let me tell you, having a chaos degen flickerstrike mob that has Souleater, Life regen and an "allies cannot die" aura is bad enough. Having dogs spawn constantly who give that fucker frenzy charges is worse. Spawning some more beyondbosses until Tzteosh shows up (the one with vaal flamestrike) who constantly feeds that dude SRS is just retarded. After about 10 minutes of trying to kill anything I just quit.

Does Soul Eater increase the radius of auras? Because I could swear at some point his chaos degen hit me from the other side of the arena and pretty much every single mob had the fucking "cannot die" aura. Of course he could still feed on the SRS that were expiring because why the fuck not.


tl;dr: I fucking love this game.

Daresso with beyond on is a suicide right now, the small enclosed areas will spawn Beyond boss, sometimes even more than one, and there is nowhere to run. You either ask for Daresso waypoint in the Grand arena, or pray to RNGnesuss for shit ton of luck in the enclosed arenas.

 

[Saark]

But that wouldn't be fun and life threatening in a hardcore league, now would it?

 

[Carceri]

Managed to reach maps in the 1mhc. I did a rare tropical island with extra pack size, first 2 mob packs spawned Abaxoth(fuck monkeys lol), but I had to clear that shit for the tempest challenge. Holy crap that was pretty retarded. No idea how I did the whole map, it looked like a bad trip on a disco dance floor. Looking forward to a sea witches + all league mods map though

 

[Radech]

This 1 month league is glorius - played with tempest for the first time yesterday - so much fun as a summoner trying to get all as many buffs on my summons as possible.

ps. skelly summoning is great, I'm a one man Imperial Guard unit advancing slowly behind a wall of skellies backed up by a death spewing flame totem - would probably get some ranged spectres if it wasn't such a hassle, I like my utterly disposable army(Minion Instability weeee). Anyone have any experience playing summoners? - I'm completely out of hotkeys and I'm not even through normal yet

 

[Saark]

Played my summoner to ~90 during tempest, easiest time I ever had. Played a spectre summoner though with 3 revenants and sire of shards, which was fucking insane. Summoning mr. skeltals becomes pretty bad later into the game unfortunately. The standard summoner builds are:
-raging spirit with a +fire/allgem staff, either selfcast or cast by totems
-spectre build with your spectre of choice (flame sentinels, revenants or knitted horrors are the go to choices, followed up closely by evangelists/lanternbearers/alchemists)
-zombie build using montreguls grasp
-animate weapon build
-managing to find a good build using the new bow

You can of course combine any of those builds for kicks and fun, for example using summon raging spirits or zombies with bloodlust as a support and running knitted horrors to provide the bleeding.

As far as hotkeys go remember that you don't need some of them regularly. For example summon spectre and all your auras are casted once you log in, but once you're up and running you dont need to recast them unless you die (if you play sc). If you're using a golem you can also put it on the left mouse button, it will only cast if you hold shift while clicking and saves you another hotkey. Depending on your build here's what you will have to bind: convocation, summon zombie/skeletons/raging spirits, whatever spell you're using to trigger elemental equilibrium and curse on hit, desecrate, flesh offering. Vaal Discipline/Vaal Haste if you have it.
-6l for spectre/srs/zombies
-4l for curse on hit
-4l for zombies/golem/guardian (id actually drop the golem once you get a leercast/dying breath for your guardian)
-3l for flesh offering/convocation/desecrate
-4l for vaal hastes/discipline/enduring cry and inc duration

Which leaves a 3l for auras, which means no space for generosity on your damage auras If you're in softcore leagues you can drop the shield and run a second 5l or 6l.

That's pretty much it for a quick guide. If you have further questions go ahead.