Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

[Hyperion]

I can't make sense of this starting Duelist area for Lacerate, guess gonna wait for guides on the forums yet again

It isn't easy, but path to your desired amount of life first, then branch to your desired wield-style, and weapon type afterwards. I'm just finding it impossible to end up with more than 2 jewel sockets. Thinking of either Bladestorm, or Dual Strike especially since the latter got a MEATY buff that I think is going to go mostly unrecognized for awhile as everyone gets acclimated to the new skills and tree. Ambidexterity got a massive bump in power (50% attack damage in Main Hand, 20% Attack Speed off) and is probably the single most powerful node for Cleave and Dual Strike (possibly Bladestorm too if it hits with both weapons).

Other build I'm considering is an Impale-based Champion, with either Perforate or again Bladestorm, since both seem to hit multiple times per instance.

 

[T. Reich]

I can't make sense of this starting Duelist area for Lacerate, guess gonna wait for guides on the forums yet again

It isn't easy, but path to your desired amount of life first, then branch to your desired wield-style, and weapon type afterwards. I'm just finding it impossible to end up with more than 2 jewel sockets. Thinking of either Bladestorm, or Dual Strike especially since the latter got a MEATY buff that I think is going to go mostly unrecognized for awhile as everyone gets acclimated to the new skills and tree. Ambidexterity got a massive bump in power (50% attack damage in Main Hand, 20% Attack Speed off) and is probably the single most powerful node for Cleave and Dual Strike (possibly Bladestorm too if it hits with both weapons).

Other build I'm considering is an Impale-based Champion, with either Perforate or again Bladestorm, since both seem to hit multiple times per instance.

IMO, if your passive tree ends up with less than 3 jewels, then you probably did something wrong. And even that seems low - I'd usually end up with around 4-6 jewel sockets per build, with casters having more jewels than attack builds.
Jewels in general (the decent 3-mods ones) are better than pathing to a lot of damage-related passives.

 

[Absinthe]

If you just want big damage, odds are Heavy Strike with two Weight of the Empire jewels will do it. Right now Heavy Strike basically has 355.2% dps if you put in 2x Weight of the Empire, since you get a 60% chance of doing double damage. It's easy and effective. The only nuisance will be equipping Empire's Grasp to make enemies get closer instead of farther away, but it's usually a dirt-cheap budget unique anyhow. Alternatively you can use Frenzy with a massive amount of frenzy charges and a helmet enchant for 9% increased damage per frenzy charge. Then with 7 frenzy charges your 135% damage effectiveness frenzy will do 28% more damage, 28% more attack speed, 28% more damage again (frenzy charge), 28% increased attack speed (frenzy charge), and 56% increased damage. But it's harder to make Frenzy do comparable DPS to Heavy Strike. On the other hand, you can use Frenzy with ranged weapons.

Another thing worth noting is that the surge in flat damage means you should emphasize weapons with higher crit/accuracy/attack speed over base damage if you use one of those attack skills.

By the way, it seems Slayer has some serious damage multipliers worth checking out. It's no longer a 2H specialist either. Works with all attacks now.

 

[T. Reich]

If you just want big damage, odds are Heavy Strike with two Weight of the Empire jewels will do it. Right now Heavy Strike basically has 355.2% dps if you put in 2x Weight of the Empire, since you get a 60% chance of doing double damage. It's easy and effective. The only nuisance will be contemplating Empire's Grasp to make enemies get closer instead of further away, but it's usually a dirt-cheap budget unique anyhow. Alternatively you can use Frenzy with a massive amount of frenzy charges and a helmet enchant for 9% increased damage per frenzy charge. Then with 7 frenzy charges your 135% damage effectiveness frenzy will do 28% more damage, 28% more attack speed, 28% more damage again (frenzy charge), 28% increased attack speed (frenzy charge), and 56% increased damage. But it's harder to make Frenzy do comparable DPS to Heavy Strike. On the other hand, you can use Frenzy with ranged weapons.

Another thing worth noting is that the surge in flat damage means you should emphasize weapons with higher crit/accuracy/attack speed over base damage if you use one of those attack skills.

By the way, it seems Slayer has some serious damage multipliers worth checking out. It's no longer a 2H melee specialist either. Works with all attacks now, even ranged.

Slayer has always worked with bows, because bows are 2h weapons - that was discussed and confirmed by GGG back when ascendancies had been about to be introduced.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Sykar]

Still bummed about Beacon of Ruin nerf. Now it is Beacon of Boring Wet Fart.

 

[Hyperion]

I can't make sense of this starting Duelist area for Lacerate, guess gonna wait for guides on the forums yet again

It isn't easy, but path to your desired amount of life first, then branch to your desired wield-style, and weapon type afterwards. I'm just finding it impossible to end up with more than 2 jewel sockets. Thinking of either Bladestorm, or Dual Strike especially since the latter got a MEATY buff that I think is going to go mostly unrecognized for awhile as everyone gets acclimated to the new skills and tree. Ambidexterity got a massive bump in power (50% attack damage in Main Hand, 20% Attack Speed off) and is probably the single most powerful node for Cleave and Dual Strike (possibly Bladestorm too if it hits with both weapons).

Other build I'm considering is an Impale-based Champion, with either Perforate or again Bladestorm, since both seem to hit multiple times per instance.

IMO, if your passive tree ends up with less than 3 jewels, then you probably did something wrong. And even that seems low - I'd usually end up with around 4-6 jewel sockets per build, with casters having more jewels than attack builds.
Jewels in general (the decent 3-mods ones) are better than pathing to a lot of damage-related passives.

Maybe in the past, but everything Duelist needs is in his own domain now, so traveling just for an arbitrary number of jewel sockets is a much tougher decision to make, which is what the passive tree is supposed to be about, but GGG forgot for 5 years. Traveling to Disemboweling, or Cleaving / Slaughter isn't really worth the travel and grabbing that jewel socket anymore because Dismembering is on the way to Soul of Steel, the latter of which is pretty much must have for Armour-based builds while the former is a small amount of crit multi in exchange for maim on crit. Unless you go Swords / Bows / Claws, there's little reason to go into Ranger unless you're going for Acro + Phase Acro as a Physical-based build. This removes a lot of plausibility for getting beyond the Duelist's own jewel + the Scion Life Wheel one.

I'm really doing whatever I can not to go swords at the start of a league because they're outrageously priced for anything better than a Scaeva. Even a well rolled Ahn's Might will set you back close to an exalt the first few weeks. Expect Ahn's Might to rise even higher in price because 2 of them and that +1 Minimum Frenzy Charge node will let you bypass using Pacifism and getting a little 4% more dmg / move speed buff to boot.

Maces kinda got the shaft again, since their main crit node is up by Templar while the accuracy node is down by Iron Reflexes.

 

[Absinthe]

is perfect agony still shit?

Perfect Agony is shit, but if you're going Viper Strike with a lot of duration on top, it's worth it.

Maybe in the past, but everything Duelist needs is in his own domain now, so traveling just for an arbitrary number of jewel sockets is a much tougher decision to make, which is what the passive tree is supposed to be about, but GGG forgot for 5 years. Traveling to Disemboweling, or Cleaving / Slaughter isn't really worth the travel and grabbing that jewel socket anymore because Dismembering is on the way to Soul of Steel, the latter of which is pretty much must have for Armour-based builds while the former is a small amount of crit multi in exchange for maim on crit. Unless you go Swords / Bows / Claws, there's little reason to go into Ranger unless you're going for Acro + Phase Acro as a Physical-based build. This removes a lot of plausibility for getting beyond the Duelist's own jewel + the Scion Life Wheel one.

If you want crit you're moving beyond it, and crit is a pretty big source of DPS. Both Slayer and Champion are good for crit builds now. Slayer now has an ascendancy that sets your weapon's base crit to 8% and Champion ensures enemies taunted by you cannot evade.

I'm really doing whatever I can not to go swords at the start of a league because they're outrageously priced for anything better than a Scaeva. Even a well rolled Ahn's Might will set you back close to an exalt the first few weeks. Expect Ahn's Might to rise even higher in price because 2 of them and that +1 Minimum Frenzy Charge node will let you bypass using Pacifism and getting a little 4% more dmg / move speed buff to boot.

Ahn's Might requires you to have no frenzy charges for the crit multiplier bonus, so the +1 minimum frenzy charge node would not help.

 

[Hyperion]

A brain fart on the Ahn's Might thing, sorry. Forgot it was none and max, rather than min and max.

If you want crit you're moving beyond it, and crit is a pretty big source of DPS. Both Slayer and Champion are good for crit builds now. Slayer now has an ascendancy that sets your weapon's base crit to 8% and Champion ensures enemies taunted by you cannot evade.

Aside from Fatal Blade because the entire wheel is so good, there's really no reason to venture outside the Duelist / Marauder area even for melee crit. Eagle Eye, Disemboweling, Dismembering, a Weapon-specific, Wield-type for 2h / DW on top of the Slayer Ascendancy notable (bonus 100% multi for packs) traveling all the way to Heartseeker isn't really necessary anymore (unless I'm doing a conversion build and aiming for Ele Pen), particularly if you use a Diamond Flask. The Slayer Ascendancy notable essentially allows him to turn any weapon into a Rapier. So the one weapon you would travel to Ranger for, you don't want that node, as it may drop your crit in exchange for crit multi, though it does make crafting a base slightly easier.

As for the Champion node, they did say they were going to enable more enemies to block, and block more often. Since they won't get full damage reduction on Block, I'm curious to see how it functions with regards to a crit roll - will it cancel it out, or will it just reduce the damage of a crit the same way it reduces the damage of a base hit?

 

[Zdzisiu]

I think I might just go Cyclone Berserker, I heard its all the rage!

And I like big, angry, naked men... I mean... I like to play with them..... play them!

 

[Gerrard]

Supported skills have 34% MORE area of effect

 

[Absinthe]

Well, Close Combat seems like a must-have for Flicker Strike builds.

Aside from Fatal Blade because the entire wheel is so good, there's really no reason to venture outside the Duelist / Marauder area even for melee crit. Eagle Eye, Disemboweling, Dismembering, a Weapon-specific, Wield-type for 2h / DW on top of the Slayer Ascendancy notable (bonus 100% multi for packs) traveling all the way to Heartseeker isn't really necessary anymore (unless I'm doing a conversion build and aiming for Ele Pen), particularly if you use a Diamond Flask. The Slayer Ascendancy notable essentially allows him to turn any weapon into a Rapier. So the one weapon you would travel to Ranger for, you don't want that node, as it may drop your crit in exchange for crit multi, though it does make crafting a base slightly easier.

If you use this passive, then you'd go for the fastest rapiers, which have 5.5% base crit, 1.6 base attack speed, and +25% increased crit multiplier. Aside from that, ele pen is usually a good idea too, since just about every physical build ends up doing tons of elemental damage. You can actually get 11% weapon pen in ranger territory (+4% weapon ele pen with new shield cluster, +6% if you use ele pen mace). The passive also helps you get good crit with unique weapons like Atziri's Disfavour. Also, Champion's pretty decent for bow crit, especially if you're helping yourself to Fortify. There are passives now that stack into +50% increased effect of fortify (add another +10% if stationary). So that's 30% reduced damage taken from hits on a bow build.

As for the Champion node, they did say they were going to enable more enemies to block, and block more often. Since they won't get full damage reduction on Block, I'm curious to see how it functions with regards to a crit roll - will it cancel it out, or will it just reduce the damage of a crit the same way it reduces the damage of a base hit?

Reckon it'd just reduce it the same way.

 

[Sykar]

Wow, there is a +40 int +8% int node. That one makes my WI Elementalist go a little

 

[ArchAngel]

Wow, there is a +40 int +8% int node. That one makes my WI Elementalist go a little

I guess you didn't get the memo about Elementalist being dead :D
Do Trickster and do the chaos conversion build.

Or just Occultist should work well with reducing enemy's cold res and curses going through hexproof.

 

[Sykar]

Wow, there is a +40 int +8% int node. That one makes my WI Elementalist go a little

I guess you didn't get the memo about Elementalist being dead :D
Do Trickster and do the chaos conversion build.

Or just Occultist should work well with reducing enemy's cold res and curses going through hexproof.

I do not give a flying fuck what the community perceives as "dead". I play Standard only and do not care about races and other such assorted nonsense one bit. My Occultists stays LL ED and I have no desire to level a Trickster whatsoever or any character for that matter. Having played through the entire game a couple of times is enough.
I was bummed about the unjustified Beacon of Ruin nerf since Shaper of Desolation is still crap. No matter I will just switch to Mastermind of Discord route instead which remains untouched. With it and just passives I will get 31% penetration baseline.

 

[ArchAngel]

Wow, there is a +40 int +8% int node. That one makes my WI Elementalist go a little

I guess you didn't get the memo about Elementalist being dead :D
Do Trickster and do the chaos conversion build.

Or just Occultist should work well with reducing enemy's cold res and curses going through hexproof.

I do not give a flying fuck what the community perceives as "dead". I play Standard only and do not care about races and other such assorted nonsense one bit. My Occultists stays LL ED and I have no desire to level a Trickster whatsoever or any character for that matter. Having played through the entire game a couple of times is enough.
I was bummed about the unjustified Beacon of Ruin nerf since Shaper of Desolation is still crap. No matter I will just switch to Mastermind of Discord route instead which remains untouched. With it and just passives I will get 31% penetration baseline.

With 3.7 leveling is now a different experience. They changed combat and bosses through the story (made them harder). You should make a new character to try it all out.

 

[abija]

Stop drinking the PR koolaid. Those early game changes are not targeted at veterans.

 

[Damned Registrations]

the +1 minimum frenzy charge node

The what now? Doesn't that make flicker strike completely broken? It's only real drawback has always been what a giant pain in the ass it is to get frenzy generation/damage per hit high enough to not gas out, especially vs bosses. If you can actually just focus on dps and *gasp* survivability now...

 

[ArchAngel]

the +1 minimum frenzy charge node

The what now? Doesn't that make flicker strike completely broken? It's only real drawback has always been what a giant pain in the ass it is to get frenzy generation/damage per hit high enough to not gas out, especially vs bosses. If you can actually just focus on dps and *gasp* survivability now...

Minimum charges cannot be used with skills that expend charges for bonus effect. It just turns your minimum from 0 to 1.

 

[T. Reich]

the +1 minimum frenzy charge node

The what now? Doesn't that make flicker strike completely broken? It's only real drawback has always been what a giant pain in the ass it is to get frenzy generation/damage per hit high enough to not gas out, especially vs bosses. If you can actually just focus on dps and *gasp* survivability now...

Having a minimum amount of charges means that any skills that consume these charges cannot consume that last charge.
+min frenzy charges is actually bad for flicker for this reason.

 

[Absinthe]

The what now? Doesn't that make flicker strike completely broken? It's only real drawback has always been what a giant pain in the ass it is to get frenzy generation/damage per hit high enough to not gas out, especially vs bosses. If you can actually just focus on dps and *gasp* survivability now...

If you want to break Flicker Strike all you need is The Red Trail unique boots + Bloodgrip unique amulet + The Golden Rule unique jewel. Then to self-bleed for low damage you just use a second weapon set consisting of a single white claw/dagger/sword and Level 1 Puncture + Increased Duration + Physical to Lightning + (if 2H sword) Level 1 Ancestral Call + Level 1 Chain. This will self-bleed for 13.91 seconds, more with duration passives. If you want to go the extra mile you can get 40% phys to cold conversion going from the ranger's Winter Spirit cluster to drop the bleed even lower (can obtain 95% physical conversion with a Chernobog's Pillar, Phys to Lightning support, and a single passive from that cluster). Throw in endurance charges (Enduring Cry is instant cast with Battle Cry duelist notable) and you can cut your bleed damage even lower. You will want to make sure you cannot bleed enemies without puncture though. Just having no chance to bleed works but if need be a bloodlust gem can forcibly remove your attack's ability to bleed, but then you will need to puncture bosses so your support gem does damage. When it comes to managing enemy bleeds, you want Bloodgrip and beyond that, your tools are evade, dodge, block, and direct physical damage reduction (like endurance charges, but not armor). More health, lifeleech, and life regen help too. So does Mind over Matter (as of 3.0.0 it now applies to DoTs too).

Alternatively you can skip Bloodgrip and just use The Red Trail + The Golden Rule + Apep's Supremacy and go CI build. Then you're flat-out immune to bleed damage (and you can use the Damage on Full Life support), but Apep's Supremacy is an expensive unique and now you are playing 1H flicker strike.

With all that said, I suspect that the new Frenzy skill will do better dps with high frenzy charges than Flicker Strike, especially given the unique boots that give +1 maximum frenzy charge, which you can't wear with The Red Trail. At least the new Close Combat support will help Flicker Strike.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[T. Reich]

i am... not happy.
Viper strike turned not to be much usable for clearing as this new aoe it produces is minimal(even if i try with rapier). Started going with some bow instead, toxic rain and caustic arrow. Thing is those 2 skills do not rely on weapon stats with dmg comming from set dot.

It is not what I want as I had in mind doing ssf weapon focused this time around. Need to figure out path forward. ideas?

EDIT: i think ill give charged dash a go

Don't be a smarty, be a good goy and play phys cyclone just like everybody else.

Or BE a smarty and play lightning trap saboteur because it hasn't been touched for the last 2 leagues and it's really, really strong, especially for league start SSF option.
Or try fire trap. Saark did it in betrayal (IIRC), and the feedback was quite positive.

 

[ArchAngel]

The new Bladestorm skill (or whatever it is called) seems pretty good as well. It continues to leech for you while you are already moving on.

 

[Gerrard]

I'm playing Glacial fucking Hammer and it actually works.