Path of Exile

Poison arrow is super good up to lvl 60 or so, just focus on getting bow skill on your bow (Silverbranch is godly) and conc effect. Any class can power level off of poison arrow.

Depends on which class really:

Templar/Witch:
Tendrils into Arc always a safe bet for new player op - just get a +2 lightning gem weapon np. (+1 lightning scepter = Magic Scepter + Topaz Ring + Alteration shard)

Can shift into any build after a certain level off of tendril arc.

Shockwave totem takes a bit of game knowledge to setup right, especially now that auras have an effect on its multipliers.

Marauder: Cleave/Leap/Ground slam
Duelist: Elemental Spec throw? Dualwield block + Dual strike crit dagger or lifesteal claw
Shadow: Trap or Freeze pulse
Ranger: Tornado Shot
Scion: Nothing scion sucks


Static blow is a little weird, and not hardcore recommended for a new player.

Edit Edit: Shield and dual wield block took a big hit so don't bank on that shit like last season. Also Bows got cool new movement skills. Hybrid es/hp is kind of a FoTM thing because of the nice nodes around the new templar tree.

Edit Edit Edit: Burn Prolif went unchanged so flame blast is still real good:

Just bought the winter portal, ho ho ho mother fuckers.

I was thinking of getting the winter portal. I would just run your friend as a marauder leap slam then totem or ranger. Don't let him go witch that shit gots like no hp at the start. Only hardcore so the thrill is still there, softcore no thanks bro!

I may have to finally make a totem character, that or level my warrior in WoW...hrmmmmmm.

Whats the general consensus on the current best totem build that doesn't take any obscure uniques or anything? Is it still spark/fork?

joeboo_sl said:

Whats the general consensus on the current best totem build that doesn't take any obscure uniques or anything? Is it still spark/fork?

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Flame totem is extremely easy and cheap to build and since it usually starts off as a Templar or Marauder build it can go full HP which is generally easier to achieve the full ES usually the focus of Spark/Witch builds.

Other viable options are EK Totem, Rain of Arrows Totem, Incinerate Totem and Ice Spear totem, Shockwave totem.

Hatorade_sl said:

Just bought the winter portal, ho ho ho mother fuckers.

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I love this portal effect

I think leapslam maurader to flame totem! but to get IR it takes obsense amount of currency!

Molten Strike is easy mode leveling for any build that transitions. Try that + added fire

I think I am going to set him up with tornado shot. Flameblast was the first build I TC'd and put a months worth of work into making on my own, I had so much fucking fun literally one shotting bosses but it sucks you cant kill Atziri.

Anyone played a tendrils build (only tendrils, not tendrils into arc and whatnot)?

My tornado shot scion ripped in a corrupted area the other day so now i'm doing a tendrils witch. Planning on 1h/shield, not sure if i want to go CI, armor/life or hybrid armor/es (always seems to be the most expensive gear tho). Can't find any hardcore tendril builds tho on the forums and i'm not sure if the 1h/shield one I looked at the other day was current for 1.3 or not (they had like 68+/70+ block chances).

Edit: I'll probably end up going with Divinarius and Rathpith (maybe a different shield tho)

Wizardhawk_sl said:

Anyone played a tendrils build (only tendrils, not tendrils into arc and whatnot)?

My tornado shot scion ripped in a corrupted area the other day so now i'm doing a tendrils witch. Planning on 1h/shield, not sure if i want to go CI, armor/life or hybrid armor/es (always seems to be the most expensive gear tho). Can't find any hardcore tendril builds tho on the forums and i'm not sure if the 1h/shield one I looked at the other day was current for 1.3 or not (they had like 68+/70+ block chances).

Edit: I'll probably end up going with Divinarius and Rathpith (maybe a different shield tho)

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I still use tendrils/arc at level 75 doing some maps in Bloodlines(hardcore). I think tendrils alone would be pretty rough unless you're also bringing along a partial totem build(arc or spark totem or something) or skeletons/zombies. As a caster build, your armor and evasion are probably going to suck, and the range on tendrils is fairly small, so you're going to be killing a lot of things up close and personal. You really need something else to take the heat off of you and distract mobs.

That being said, tendrils are pretty crazy damage. At level 75, my 3-link Arc(arc+echo+faster casting) does about 7000DPS, whereas my 3-link tendril(tendril+conc eff+faster casting). does 15,000 DPS. Both of those are in +2 lightning gem level items.

I'm sitting at 3800HP/1400ES and I still feel really squishy for some map bosses. Basically anything that throws EKs or the dungeon map with Brutus at the end is just not doable, they can mow down my HP way, way too fast with super low armor and ES (think I have 5% of both, basically the minimum).

I'm currently a Firestorm Ice nova Trap Templar (sweet trap staff) with Trap Desecrate and Fire Trap (All the traps).

Harfle bro'd me on a multistrike for my god-zombies. I'll be up and running here soon on the Flame sentinel ultra zombie plan at 60. Took it to 84 or so last league.

How are you setting up your zombies? I'm using Zombies to basically tank for my squishy arc witch. So far I'm just 4Ling them(zombie-added life-resists-speed), I'd like to get a 5L to add something offensive like added damage or multistrike, or maybe I should just drop the speed gem for an offensive one. I've only filled out one summon node cluster to get 1 extra zombie, but I'm nearby where only a few points could get me a 5th, just wondering if it's worth the investment.

It seems like the 4 I have either tank great, or get instantly plowed, theres not much in-between, I don't know that a 5th zombie and another 10-20% health on them would really make a ton of difference. I think they currently have about 3500HP apiece, but I am wearing the unique helm that ads 2% life regen + 300 armor to my minions, which is damn nice.

Skullhead - Path of Exile Wiki

someone was nice enough to put that in the guild bank, I snagged it quick, been wearing it for a good 20+ levels now.

Zombies aren't good until 60+ when their hp/level starts scaling past what monsters hit for. Also Purity Aura + Minion Resist nodes are pretty important (at least they were when beyond mobs were insane hard).

Rejuvination totem is secretly OP for sub 80 summoners.

For the flame sentinel build ideally your Links and prefered gear will look like this:


if +2 minion helm = Zombies - Multi strike - melee splash - melee physical

if Rime gaze = Raise Spectre - Fire penetration - Spell Echo - Minion damage

If skull head - don't put zombies in helmet - put them in 6L chest

if 6L - Raise zombie - melee splash - multistrike - melee phys - faster attacks - minion dmg or added fire

If moon sorrow you link Arc + Curse on hit + Enfeeble/Vulnerability/Flamability (assuming you're taking elemental equilibrium)

If +2 light scepter you link Arc + Light Pen + Spell echo

EDIT EDIT: I almost always tabula rasa my zombie gem with minion life early in a league and aim for rime gaze flame sentinels for the free 5 link.

This Mirror/Blink arrow build has been quite a bit of fun. Not to expensive at all until you get to 64 and pick up and Alpha's but that's not absolutely required. The build has so much room for customization in the tree the knowledgeable players can really play around. I'm not pulling the 80k DPS of high level DPS builds but then this build is fairly safe and still in the early stages of optimization.

Here is the guide I used to start me off but I've already changed my tree around quite a bit. Still debating if Scion is a better start for this.
Forum - Ranger - [1.30 Video Guide]Ranger Smith-One Man Army Build! Blink Arrow/Mirror Arrow xD - Path of Exile

joeboo_sl said:

I still use tendrils/arc at level 75 doing some maps in Bloodlines(hardcore). I think tendrils alone would be pretty rough unless you're also bringing along a partial totem build(arc or spark totem or something) or skeletons/zombies. As a caster build, your armor and evasion are probably going to suck, and the range on tendrils is fairly small, so you're going to be killing a lot of things up close and personal. You really need something else to take the heat off of you and distract mobs.

That being said, tendrils are pretty crazy damage. At level 75, my 3-link Arc(arc+echo+faster casting) does about 7000DPS, whereas my 3-link tendril(tendril+conc eff+faster casting). does 15,000 DPS. Both of those are in +2 lightning gem level items.

I'm sitting at 3800HP/1400ES and I still feel really squishy for some map bosses. Basically anything that throws EKs or the dungeon map with Brutus at the end is just not doable, they can mow down my HP way, way too fast with super low armor and ES (think I have 5% of both, basically the minimum).

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I don't mind if I rip in my 80s or whatever. I did arc last league so I wanted to change it up (and I love up close stuff, was the reason I did 4 double strike attempts in Beyond). My eventual goal is a 6link tendrils with something like tendril + light pen + conc eff + inc aoe + faster cast + added lightning. Auras i'm using herald of thunder and clarity, and will probably try to work in a defensive aura (discipline or the armor one maybe).

I don't have too much experience with armor builds and maps but I don't feel like i'll run in to much trouble if I have good block/spell block to go with some decent hp/armor numbers as long as I don't derp into a 1shot move like vaal smash (part of the reason I don't plan on using echo).

I'd give my left nut for a Cloak of Defiance. I'd really like to run with Mind over Matter, I have a 1200 mana pool and another 1200 ES I could throw into a mana pool pretty easily, but I can't get anywhere near the MoM node on the tree with my current build. At that point with MoM and I'd probably run arctic armor full time, I'd feel pretty damn safe against most map situations you'd run across in 60s level maps (I've never been in a 70+ map yet, so no clue what to expect there)

What is the general consensus for map progression? At what character level should I start working on maps beyond the horde of lvl 66 ones I have? I'm 75 now and haven't noticed much experience slowdown (but then again, I can do upper sceptre of god/library clears for exp since they are all level 67-68 zones). At level 75, I probably have less than 10 lvl 67-68 maps, I'd hate to waste them before I really need them.

I run piety until 75+ and usually have half a stash tab full of 66's. I usually just pick out a couple maps I like from each tier like Mud Geyser/Mountain ledge/Cemetery etc. I trade-up the ones that suck like Arcade/Orchard or any of them with stupid bosses.

Since I run minions I usually skip on stuff like Vaal Pyramid and other maps with lots of maze-like doorways.

Tropical Island - Dried Lake etc are premium for me.

joeboo_sl said:

I'd give my left nut for a Cloak of Defiance. I'd really like to run with Mind over Matter, I have a 1200 mana pool and another 1200 ES I could throw into a mana pool pretty easily, but I can't get anywhere near the MoM node on the tree with my current build. At that point with MoM and I'd probably run arctic armor full time, I'd feel pretty damn safe against most map situations you'd run across in 60s level maps (I've never been in a 70+ map yet, so no clue what to expect there)

What is the general consensus for map progression? At what character level should I start working on maps beyond the horde of lvl 66 ones I have? I'm 75 now and haven't noticed much experience slowdown (but then again, I can do upper sceptre of god/library clears for exp since they are all level 67-68 zones). At level 75, I probably have less than 10 lvl 67-68 maps, I'd hate to waste them before I really need them.

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I've probably got one or two 5-link Cloak of Defiance's on Standard you can use. Not sure if that's where you are playing though.