Path of Exile


  • Java Dev

    I had a wipefest against the big boss halfway act 5. Guess I don't have enough defences.



  • @pleegwat Act 5 is a nice glimpse into how difficult the game is now. Fun, though :D

    I decided to try out an idea I had, and start making a poison Blade Vortex Berserker (The damage, leech, and speed make berserker a good idea, especially with all the life available to him). Only just reached Act 4, and it's so far really weak, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes; Blade Vortex is a rather fun skill to use.



  • @magus BV is a great skill, but the way it scales with poison is horrible. Poison is not worth it with BV. You can make a pure chaos build (obliteration wands and abyssal cry) work very well. You can also go ele conversion. But poison will just not do enough damage to be useful.



  • @dragoon That doesn't make sense; the way it works now is 20% more damage with poison per blade, and it hits quickly enough to stack nicely. Nothing will ever beat Abyssal Cry, but I can't think of another skill, except maybe Cyclone, that can stack poisons as consistently. I don't think it would have been good before 3.0, but I feel like it should be rather effective now. Though I could possibly try to do ignite+poison.



  • @magus

    BV + poison was god tier in 2.6. Only barrage could stack poison better. Even with the 20% scaling, the damage felt horrible compared to just straight scaling BV damage. Though I was only in mid tier maps in the Beta.



  • @dragoon I intend to scale my skill damage, and take mostly paired nodes from the shadow, with a few extra poison ones. I think it'll work well, but we'll see. If anything can make it work, a Berserker can.



  • @magus
    Oh, BV will do just fine. I just found that in maps, removing poison and adding a different support improved my speed.


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    They should rename this "Path of Allocating Space". It's been doing that on my PC for ages. And this is a i5 quad-core, so I know that it is a decent PC.



  • @slackerd Try the Steam version, it doesn't seem to do that as badly.


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @magus said in Path of Exile:

    @slackerd Try the Steam version, it doesn't seem to do that as badly.

    Too late, it's almost finished.

    Edit: Thanks for the advice, though.


  • Java Dev

    @magus said in Path of Exile:

    @pleegwat Act 5 is a nice glimpse into how difficult the game is now. Fun, though :D

    Continuing where you left off after respawning feels cheaty. And I'd die whenever I stopped moving.

    There may have been a factor of it being hard to tell what you need to dodge versus what you can soak.



  • @pleegwat said in Path of Exile:

    There may have been a factor of it being hard to tell what you need to dodge versus what you can soak.

    I'd say in general, dodge. It's the only thing that absolutely works.


  • Java Dev

    @pleegwat .. and, logging in for the first time tonight, they pushed 3.0.0c and it's rubberbanding like crazy. Feels like a world server problem.



  • @pleegwat Three more hours before I get off work, but it wasn't having trouble last night after the patch.

    It's possible that everyone agreeing its good on the co-optional podcast may have boosted the player count this week, though.


  • Java Dev

    An hour later it was OK again, and now I completed act 5. Final boss seemed easier than the halfway one, but I did get a couple upgrades along the way. Currently at 957 life, 639.9 DPS at a slower swing speed of 1.54, which should work better with bleed than the previous 1.97, and 2317 armour. I think I was capped on elemental resist when I enganged, but it's hard to check now for obvious reasons.



  • So, failures: Partial Cold Ball Lightning, Blade Vortex
    Successes: Essence Drain
    In Progress: Bleeeeeeeeeeeed

    Which is pretty much what I expected. Draino is up to 23.5k DPS, 4.4k life and all content so far has been easy.


  • Java Dev

    There's something seriously wrong here.

    I just completed my cruel ascendancy on the first try.



  • @pleegwat You're a Juggernaut, if anyone should be able to, its you. Merciless will be harder, but pretty much everyone in the guild has a build that can get you through if you have trouble. Well done!


  • Java Dev

    @magus And I've got act 7 completed. I worried for a moment when I saw the room, but everything was telegraphed so incredibly obviously that it didn't stand a chance.

    That and the fact I've almost hit the 2k HP mark helps.



  • @pleegwat Definitely keep stacking up that life. You'll be in trouble otherwise. Act 10 has a LOT of damage.



  • So, Draino is still my best character, my Oro Flicker Chieftain (who has 70% chance to ignite!) has successfully solo ascended in merciless and killed Level 9 Haku, and while he is a bit too squishy and a cold flicker raider would be better, he was still a lot of fun, and has a 14kdps Infernal Blow.

    Meanwhile AndrewTheBloodFiend is still somewhere nearish the end, but I'll get back to him eventually. Sunderbleed is just always a good build, but since I mained it the last two leagues, I'm bored with it on the league where it's the meta. Rather sad, really.


  • Java Dev

    I just killed my last minor god. Took another look at my passive tree and trying to decide what I still want to get and what I'll definitively drop. Still unsure on whether I need another +1 endurance charge (would be my 4th). It's rather out of the way, but there's +20% increased maximum life in the same node and a shield/resistance cluster nearby which I have been intending to take from the start too.



  • Lost 2 Storm burst chars, it just can't kill bosses fast enough. Shouldn't of died either time, but after 10minutes (not an exaggeration SB blows for boss killing), of fighting a boss you make mistakes.

    Now doing my chaos/phys BV Witch. Breezing through content as it always does. Need currency to play some of my more fun builds, so cheese it is for now.



  • @dragoon Yeah, it seems like Storm Burst is best as a group skill, though doing quick pulses that also cast Arc could be relatively damaging. It's just not really good enough, though.

    I made a Blade Vortex build, but it turned out horribly. Around Act 8 is when it started falling apart, and it never got better again.



  • @magus The build I am doing I have taken to Tier 12 maps in the BETA, so I know it will do fine.


  • Java Dev

    Act 9 completed. Only one more to go.



  • So, yesterday my friend and I ran our first set of sacrifice fragments this league. I died once, to endlessly-stunning ice storm, and then my friend used up the last portal in the group of enemies before the final fight.

    ...and I won. Draino has defeated Atziri! The first character I've done that with, with a build that used no guide, too!

    Next is the uber lab, where I am only one trial off!

    Long live DrainoDrinkerSupreme!



  • This league is still going for the next month. I've basically done everything I want to for now, so I'm not playing it much: Draino is still a god, WandWandityWandWandEX was born as a berserker, and has been a complete success, though every bossfight is miserable.

    Trying a staff crit inquisitor with a friend, but he rarely plays. I started a cold archer (Who will eventually use Nuro's Harp), but may not bother to finish it.

    Next league, I may be able to convince my coworkers to join, and may try out lightning tendrils, since it's being reworked as a channeled spell. As an Inquisitor maybe? But it'll depend on a number of factors.

    December 1st is when it will begin anew, and it will likely be some kind of 'sequel' to the harbinger league, so it should be really interesting.



  • So, today the races begin.

    Right now, it's a random shared league mod per area, changing every hour, but multiplied by 5. Even master zones are affected: A Haku cave had Beyond on...

    Hit level 35, you get in a drawing and you get a box with a random MTX, probably an awful one. But it's seriously fun so far.



  • Today, we enter the abyss!

    I'm trying to decide between Inquisitor and Berserker for my Spark build, which will be my league starter. Both have big reasons to play them, so it's a tough choice, but I'm leaning toward berserker for the leech.

    I'm hoping someone will make a good Corpse Chieftain this league. I keep recommending it to people.



  • Patched and ready, and I still have lunch and hours of work left 😮

    Excitement builds...!



  • So far I have three characters in this league:

    • A Spark Berserker, who has done everything except beat the last boss, but who dies constantly trying to get there, and so I'm hugely annoyed with.
    • PoisonRainDude, a Trickster who uses physical spells (mostly echo cascade poison bladefall, which is insane), and has reached act 9. This character is fine. Unsupported unearth is at 4.3k DPS, which makes me wonder just what I could do with it to kill bosses.
    • NeverfallInvincible, my new 2h Champion. I made it because I never make champions. Decided to go with the fortify and taunt paths, and use 2h weapons, since my defense should be sorted. Should be enough damage. Then I had an epiphany, while talking about the build to someone: Why not scale physical and chaos in the shadow area a bit, and put Abyssal Cry in the mix? Taunts make me harder to kill anyway, and free scaling damage sounds great! Throw in a Haemophilia, and viola! This build excites me the most!

    Any of you doing anything interesting?



  • @magus

    Already made and lost a Scorching ray trickster and a volatile dead Elementalist (in hindsight, assassin or inquisitor would of been the superior choice).

    Both died to abyss mobs, the trickster in act 8 and the elementalist in maps.

    Volatile dead felt great on act 10 kitava (easiest kill I have ever had on him) but it didn't feel that great in maps and it absolutely SUCKED in breaches. That would probably have gotten better as I got better gear, but I don't see my build (possibly a better build, mine was rather on the fly) doing anything past tier 10-11 maps.

    Leveling a reave/bladefurry (clear/single target) gladiator right now. Just got to act 6, but playing fine as expected.

    Going to be playing:
    EK/BV inquisitor as well at some point.
    Either a dark pact necro or ED occultist (possibly trickster) or possibly the scorching ray trickster for the corrupted map challenges (they can run any map mod if done right)
    An ascendant (most likely) KB/barrage wander
    frost blades slayer
    possibly an assassin Lightning strike build (still working on that one)
    probably several more as well, HC is a cruel mistress.



  • @dragoon Lightning strike should be easy to do very well with, for sure. I think I've been underestimating Champion, though. It's crazily good!



  • Okay, so:

    Tried making an infinite heralds build. It's fun, but weak. The only good part of it is the high-crit volatile dead spam, but since that shatters enemies, it isn't chainable. So, I've decided to make the strongest build I can think of, using Volatile Dead:



  • So the heralds thing didn't really work out. It was just too ineffective. So I worked on my next build, CaptainAtomic, a volatile dead MOREzerker. That means elemental focus, controlled destruction, spell echo, and concentrated effect.

    At level 85, I have just under 6k life, 46k tooltip dps, and have possibly created a character stronger than even Draino, though less suitable for some of the new content (Can't aim or dodge as well, and the DoT autokilling everything and spreading on its own was really nice).

    I recommend this build. It's insane.

    I'm 77 maps into the atlas, with all the bonuses. I've done a T13 map even. I've never been anywhere near this far into the endgame, and it's because of the new maps and the war that I want to.



  • So, CaptainAtomic is useless against Atziri: The moment she splits, I become incapable of avoiding having some orbs reach the mirror one, which is basically instant death.

    I killed Ulaman, though. Only got Tombfist, but it was a really cool fight. Ulaman uses a sword, summons lots of imps, and casts a cool green Cremation. Lots of fun.



  • Annoyed by my previous deaths against reflect, I began to create a character immune to the problem - well, mostly.

    A Draino-type build would have been better, but I didn't feel like doing the same build again so soon.

    Instead, I rerolled Ruthia as a poison raider - I use Arakali's Fang, two Voidhearts, Thousand Teeth Temu, and whatever Daresso's armor was called. I mostly attack with Blade Flurry, which is socketed in The Embalmer to give me a 5-link.

    At level 71, I have around 3k life, but there are lots of life nodes within reach. My bleeds stack, and I can't reach Acrobatics, but the shield is doing good work. If I complete my fourth ascendancy for the double onslaught, everything will be wonderful.

    As it is, I was dying horribly once I beat the last boss, but then the Captain killed Amanamu again and got me that sweet, sweet belt, fixing all my problems.



  • Well, just died last night on my Scorching ray trickster, was running some super ripy double damage minus max maps just fine and than switched to some easier maps for fun an promptly died. So there goes my boss killer for now /sigh.

    Creating my Juggernaut lab farmer today and getting my EK guy rolling again (died on him last week).

    Sometimes the HC life is rough.



  • CaptainAtomic, Level 87 Volatile Dead Berserker, my possibly strongest character ever, cannot beat the Elder in white maps consistently.

    Shinraiou, Level 68 Storm Call Ascendant (Inquisitor, Berserker), my newest character, is very effective, now that I have obtained a 5L Inpulsa. Still dies a bit too easily, but a truly strong character.

    Yesterday I rushed three challenges and got my Abyss Wings. I will never get the portal, but I may try. Getting the captain to 90 seems doable, and I can kill 50 more null portals easily enough. Encounters III was a fun challenge to complete, but the sextant challenge just isn't working. I have three more I need, and they just won't show up. But 12 more challenges? I highly doubt I can do it.



  • @magus

    Heading towards the portal myself. Hit level 91 on my Scorching ray trickster last night and finally got all his gems to level 20. At 23 challenges complete currently (Zana refuses to have my find a unique) and I think I can get 36 before the end of the league.

    Running a lot of vaults and scriptorium trying to cards (and chaos) to get a mana guardian up and running to run with my buddies lowlife RF guy. We figure we can do all the end game content with those two guys easily enough.



  • @dragoon See, I can pretty much do all the content, but not alone. And I can't fight Atziri at all, because of how my spell works. If I'd remade Draino this league, everything would be fine. Immune to reflect, and good against any number of foes. But I didn't want to repeat that build so soon.



  • @magus

    Yeah, some builds are just not suited for all things. But I usually create several characters that are a little more specialized. My SR trickster is my boss killer, super high regen, lots of health and decent damage (but nothing to write home about). My EK Inquisitor is for speed mapping, doesn't even kill bosses, but it can map really fast. My Jugg is for lab farming and predominantly phys boss tanking. My wander is just for fun, but she can map pretty fast as well. When I finally get all the gear for my guardian that will be for end game content (shaper, elder primarily).



  • @dragoon The elder fight just has too much degen for me to deal with consistently, even when throwing a billion of the sun at him that I can leech from. It's usually the tentacle slam that gets me, though.

    Everything else is fine. Atziri being impossible is understandable, and I can probably just use cremation for that fight.



  • Yesterday, I began my new character, DoubleDrainoUltra, another chaos Berserker.

    Because I'm not going to get another opportunity to use damage over time with shields abyss jewels.

    And then... I bought something with exalts. All three of them I've found this league. The chaos version of Impresence. I will also get a Breath of the Council.

    This Draino will surpass even the last one.



  • So that Draino turned into a godlike super-being, far surpassing even his predecessor.

    To round out this league, I've been messing around with a magma orb deadeye with gloomfang, because an extra chain sounded nice. Depending on what is announced tomorrow, my next league starter is likely to be a magma orb berserker, possibly dual wielding those fire-to-chaos daggers. No matter what I'll likely use the skill, since it scales well.



  • Lost so many chars this league, so many.

    But last night me and my buddy took down red elder for the first time, that was fun. My char is a max block aegis aurora gladiator. I missed a couple of blocks and was down to <100hp at one point, really makes the heart race. But we pulled it off in the end, was hella fun. Getting closer to 36 challenges done, at 25 currently with a bunch near completion. Going to work on getting another fast map char going to known out the elder/shaped maps challenge.

    Sadly, I lost my last EK Inquisitor due to idiocy. We had been working on the 8mod map challenge and I was valing maps and set aside the ones that went unid. I thought I had rolled over all the ele-reflect maps before I valed them but I guess I missed one and promptly killed my self to reflect.

    So, have a flicker strike and a wander in the works hopefully I can get both to maps this weekend and knock out a large chunk of the ~350 elder/shaper maps I have left to complete.

    We are really hoping to get all the challenges done by next weekend so we can take some time off and play other games before the next league starts. The end is near, hope I can make it. Never really pushed for 36 challenges before, so that has been fun to try.



  • @dragoon I really wanted to do the last few challenges, but I don't see myself getting beyond a 25th challenge. I can't seem to get red maps, and even white Elder causes me problems with my strongest builds.



  • @magus said in Path of Exile:

    I really wanted to do the last few challenges

    If either of us had died to red elder last night that was going to be the end of the quest, we have the time to try again but not the desire.

    @magus said in Path of Exile:

    I can't seem to get red maps

    It can be a challenge to break into red maps. You really have to work at it sustain it. But once you break 100 on the atlas it feels easier, but maybe that is just perception.

    @magus said in Path of Exile:

    even white Elder causes me problems with my strongest builds.

    I never thought white elder was that difficult, constrictor is IMO harder than white elder at that tier.



  • @dragoon said in Path of Exile:

    It can be a challenge to break into red maps. You really have to work at it sustain it. But once you break 100 on the atlas it feels easier, but maybe that is just perception.

    I did!

    @dragoon said in Path of Exile:

    I never thought white elder was that difficult, constrictor is IMO harder than white elder at that tier.

    For the builds I've been playing, the only thing that seems to kill me is Elder. The dive attack and the damage over time are the things that make it hard... the rest seems fine.


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