Path of Exile

Xevy said:

Update on Volcanic Fissure Totems:

Still using Conc Path, but was told that Focused Ballista support works on them with 0 downside. Apparently it doesn't recognize the totems as "ballista" variants, so it just straight up gives totem placement speed and up to 30% MORE attack speed. Start ball stacking and use those on slow bosses and you're fucking decimating them. Going to be some super interesting videos of that shit eventually.

Also just saw the "bonus" boss fight in Sanctum in 81+ map Sanctum runs. Looks like you need flame dash/frostblink or you're pretty fucked. Cool fight, but besides about 30 seconds of frogger it didn't look too complicated.

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Yep. I guess the only non-bow non-wand attack skill that's a projectile that is a totem is Volcanic Fissure with Earthbreaker. That checks all the boxes to make Focused Ballista Support work. I'd recommend the Anomalous version as it increases area for better ball overlap. This is my second day of having that support going and if it gets hotfixed I'm rerolling. The massive totem placement speed makes the whole thing play like a real skill and I won't be able to go back.

But for now it's pretty decent.

Arbitrary said:

I'd recommend the Anomalous version as it increases area for better ball overlap.

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Does that work? I thought I remembered reading that it didn't.

sakkath said:

Does that work? I thought I remembered reading that it didn't.

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Molten Strike overlaps doesn't it? I've just been operating under that assumption.

Fissure balls can overlap yea, but you can't tighten their spread with slower projectiles like you can with molten strike for whatever reason so it's harder to be sure how many projectiles will actually overlap.

I gotta say, I despise this league mechanic. It seems so antithetical to everything the game has become to try and avoid ALL hits. And the lack of any kind of feedback for damage means I think I did great in a fight and look down and I lost 100 Resolve <<sad trombone>>. In an isometric game, avoiding all damage is not intuitive. My least fav league in a while, so far.

The rest of the game is slick as goose shit.

I am only in early maps, but I don't see my opinion changing until I get my dps up to a point I melt the damn mobs faster. Maybe then I will enjoy it.

It gets a LOT better on an established character with real movespeed/skills and damage. Relics also stack up nicely and offer a lot of recovery from bad rooms etc.

Still can't stress enough though that if you do your first like 3 or 4 rooms and have already eaten like -40 movespeed or lose coins on damage or can't see room types/rewards etc, just bail and start over. You're never gonna finish the whole thing with that kind of baggage anyway.

Slaanesh69 said:

The rest of the game is slick as goose shit.

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I haven't been in a sanctum in twenty levels, I played the entire league last league including the stupid grindy bullshit, still having a blast. Archnesis mods are cleaner, loot is better distributed and you can invest harder in the league mechanics you like with the revamped atlas. The Sanctum was pretty shitty during the campaign but I intentionally put the entire thing on hold until I had a real character so my experience with it wouldn't be marred with my own shittery.

Just caught a glance on reddit yesterday several people who were lvl 90 or so and had no idea that quest in act 2 and 6/7 whatever it is to unlock relics and such and missed it.

Arbitrary said:

I haven't been in a sanctum in twenty levels, I played the entire league last league including the stupid grindy bullshit, still having a blast. Archnesis mods are cleaner, loot is better distributed and you can invest harder in the league mechanics you like with the revamped atlas. The Sanctum was pretty shitty during the campaign but I intentionally put the entire thing on hold until I had a real character so my experience with it wouldn't be marred with my own shittery.

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I should place the caveat that I am a terribad player in general, so take my criticism from that perspective lol.

Is this worth anything? Seems like a nice combo of mods for somebody but no clue on its value.

No those are pretty much all really low tier mods / rolls. The +1 to level of all skill gems is worth a few c, but apart from that its pretty garbage. Cannibalistic Rite is niche as well I think.

Lethe Shade is so good on Ruthless, esp without the pantheon points (they don't exist at all in this mode) for things like ignoring burning ground or other dot related ones.

Mistwalker proccing of volatile dead has been fun.

My buddy is lvl 85? I think? In ruthless ssf HC and swears I won't make it into maps with this self cast VD assassin.

Chieftain was just way too slow, but pretty safe.

This league is definitely hitting a lot different, especially now that I am mostly just avoiding the league mechanic.

I am level 83, my gems are all level 19 now, and I have 1 Gemcutter's. ONE! I have never had a time when I hit gem levels of 20 and I did not have sufficient Gemcutters to 20% quality them. Very strange.

Edit - well I ran my Heists and now I have 18. One thing about PoE, there are always ways to gather what you need.

This has apparently been happening to various zones in Acts and maps for over a week. I also found a similar issue back in August 2021. And nary a solution to be seen anywhere. I am currently incapable of running a Laboratory map. I am disappoint.

Yeah it's happened to me a few times now. Really annoying.

I hate this fucking league mechanic. Not a hate like oh it’s boring or superficial etc. it’s actually looks fun to engage with all the different options etc. the problem is it’s too fucking bullshit with the traps and guards, as a melee, I am doing mega freeze chills etc but I still need to get in their face, and I’m getting fucked for it. I still haven’t gotten past floor 3 in red maps and it pisses me off , because I can’t get a sanctified relic which are huge. They need to tone the fuck down on resolve damage from monsters. Traps and shit fine keep that brutal but atleast let me engage with the fucking mobs without having to be a ballerina. So so frustrated

I rolled fissure totems and the sanctums actually feel fun to do now heh.

If you wanna play a "melee" skill and not hate life give smite a try. I started with champion smite using just a 2h elemental sword and regular ass crit scaling and cleared the whole atlas basically on garbage can gear.

Later conversion to a doryanis setup was mega cheap and is just insane amounts of damage for all content. It can probably do ubers if you're not a potato like me but I don't really care to try and hit ubers with a sword anymore.