Path of Exile

BrellWatcher

Trakanon Raider
81
115
I switched today from poison con to lightning arrow/hydrosphere and it feels so much better. Poison was okay but clearing maps felt clunky, lightning arrows clears mobs before they are even on screen.
 

Xevy

Log Wizard
8,591
3,809
In my experience with Spec Helix the +1 rotation really wasn't that big of a deal considering the size of the circle to begin with. Honestly it only mattered for very clustered open areas OR, weirdly, incredibly tight areas where you essentially got an extra bounce on beefy mobs. The weird thing about Helix is speed is amazing for clear, but a hinderance for bossing because you basically want to be in kissing range with a slower proj so that it ticks 6ish times per attack on bosses and the more speed/distance you have the less hits you're getting per attack.

I will say an explode source such as a chest, devastator, inpulsas, herald of ice, bleed pops from glad or hemo, all make it a much smoother clearing ability. It's very weird though you just kind of fire and forget. You just leap slam around, fire out some helixes, leap slam away before they even kill anything most of the time, then hope you don't hear any notable loot noises behind you while you continue on. Being able to pre-fire them is great for Scourge/Meta/Blight type stuff though.

Almost everyone besides me that has played Helix has switched to Lightning Strike due to clear ease, though.
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,375
7,367
Proj speed was one thing. Tight indoor maps were annoying as well. It interacts quite poorly with doorways, bouncing back and forth and never hitting anything on the other side.

From a PoB standpoint, I have no idea how to model its dps. If it was hitting 10x per cast, giving you ~5M dps, I wouldn't care about the previous paragraph.
 

Apostolos

Golden Knight of the Realm
429
219
You almost always want 8. 9 for budget. 12 for minion.

Blanketed Snow is going to make it expensive, unfortunately. Passive tree masteries make cluster jewels less compelling. What build are you playing?

I was trying out storm brand freeze occultist. Velyna had a build I was trying to follow. I am trying to transition into the mid tier of the build which is a hybrid life/es. (ran out of currency unfortunately before I was completely switched over in the tree).
 

Ossoi

Tranny Chaser
15,796
7,858
Starting to feel less noob since I dropped the second dagger and added a shield. Am now actually getting levels again, currently lvl 82. I have multiple auras, two heralds and even though I've got almost 0 mana I can still spam blade vortex, whirling blades and run into everything until I get full plague bearer stacks.

No idea how I should be focusing the atlas - I have 6 watchstones, a stash tab full of maps that are mostly tier 1 and 2. Where do I place the watchstones and do I focus a region at a time.

No idea what all the random splinters and shit do.
 

Bubbles

2022 Asshat Award Winner
<Bronze Donator>
44,536
-31,505
LMAO newest patch fucked up steam client and you can't log in. GGG is just fucking pathetic
 

Ratama

Lord Nagafen Raider
92
19
I’ve been playing Toxic Rain more or less as SSF, and have gathered up some currency. Not really feeling the build, but maybe dumping currency would change that.

Am also considering dumping into a reroll, which brings me to ask you knowledgeable PoE vets; should I stick with it?

Currently lvl 88, 5-linked Toxic Rain Champion, running T8-10 maps.

Goal for the season is to clear the challenges, so if some other build is better suited for the task, then I am all ears :)
 

AladainAF

Best Rabbit
<Gold Donor>
12,861
30,811
GGG really confuses me with their design choices this league. I feel like scourge could have been a lot more fun if:

1. One of the tainted currencies that should have been super rare boss only drop would allow you to remove a random scourge modifier. Tainted orb of annulment but for scourge implicits.
2. Instead of lowering corruption requirements, the amount of corruption given to things in the crucible should have a base value per normal mob killed (1.0). Magic should be slightly higher (1.05). Rare even higher (1.2). Scourge boss even higher (1.5). The campaign should have a 1.0 multiplier. Then after that, it should have been multiplied by 1.1 per map tier, up to a maximum of 2.6x corruption gained in a tier 16 map. Normal lab 1.0, merc lab 1.3, cruel lab 1.5, uber lab 3.0, ilvl83 labs 5.0. Give a little risk going into scourge in uber lab and shit. As such instead of say 50 corruption for killing a rare monster in a tier 16 map you would get 140.
3. Random rare scourge items should never drop on the ground at all. This shouldn't even be a feature, unless you implemented #1 above, but even so I can't see any of these worth a damn.
4. Inside a scourged map, it would have been cool to find zana there, and have the ability for her to open portals to another map that is scourged only, with random tier/mods/etc that you dont know in advance, and be a very special thing, the "true endgame" encounter if it may. Similar to a simulacrum kinda thing. This is a missed opportunity.
 

Penance

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,993
4,656
Speaking of scourge does anyone know what that one titty bitch (think her name is archangel of death) does that one shots off screen? It seems to be some ground target thing but I can't see shit. Was also thinking it might be something that gives you like 30 stacks of corrupting at once. No idea. I can take a shaper slam max chaos res etc...
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,375
7,367
I was trying out storm brand freeze occultist. Velyna had a build I was trying to follow. I am trying to transition into the mid tier of the build which is a hybrid life/es. (ran out of currency unfortunately before I was completely switched over in the tree).
This one?

The large looks ok if you can somehow force blanketed snow and snowstorm to the front, but that will be expensive. Those mediums look unimpressive though, in terms of dps. Unless she's playing that build, I would say take it with a grain of salt. I'm betting you could find some passives on the tree, probably from her starter pob, that are close to the same dps.
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,375
7,367
I’ve been playing Toxic Rain more or less as SSF, and have gathered up some currency. Not really feeling the build, but maybe dumping currency would change that.

Am also considering dumping into a reroll, which brings me to ask you knowledgeable PoE vets; should I stick with it?

Currently lvl 88, 5-linked Toxic Rain Champion, running T8-10 maps.

Goal for the season is to clear the challenges, so if some other build is better suited for the task, then I am all ears :)
Never keep playing something you don't find fun. If you're looking for recommendations, what builds and/or types have you enjoyed in the past? What are you disliking about TR?

Most builds, with modest to serious investment, will clear the challenges. Unless you mean all 40?
 

Apostolos

Golden Knight of the Realm
429
219
Ya. I found a brand dmg jewel that I am starting to use for the time being. Probably as you said not even as good as other items in the tree, but I did get chaos res on it, so thats kind of nice. I am still getting smacked around some even on low yellow maps so definitely need more ES and defense. I have the enduring composure jewel to add in a few levels which may help some.
 

Ratama

Lord Nagafen Raider
92
19
Never keep playing something you don't find fun. If you're looking for recommendations, what builds and/or types have you enjoyed in the past? What are you disliking about TR?

Most builds, with modest to serious investment, will clear the challenges. Unless you mean all 40?
I’ve primarily played Totem-based builds on Hardcore, and dabbled a bit with shortlived melee builds using Earthquake, when that was a thing.

This time around, I’m playing softcore, to see more of the game. I’ve previously never made it past Tier 10 maps, or done any end-game content.

Honestly, Toxic Rain is obviously very powerful, but there is just something about running around and spamming raining arrows that gets boring fast. Even moreso than Totem Chieftain builds I’ve played before. Bosses feel really slow, but there is undoubtedly room for improvement in my gear, not to mention switching out gems to make bosses die faster, instead of just running the same 5-link.
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,375
7,367
I would argue that Toxic Rain is a bit overpublicized due to Darkee willing to put in the manual effort to compensate for its ugly spots. I'm not sure there are any bossing gems swaps for TR.

I used to like TR. Or, at least I remember liking TR. I started it this league, first time since they nerfed the overall spread and changed how it interacted with area. The per shot change wasn't much, but relative to packed maps, they made an already spammy skill even spammier. I'm generally fine with spammy skills, but not if I have to aim them. On top of that, the aoe change made it more difficult to reduce spamminess, really only leaving projectiles as the only way to get bigger TR.

On top of that, the introduction of ballistas killed any non-self-cast variants. TR mines used to be the best way to play the skill. But you can't use mines with ballistas. Well, you can, but they're going to suck because you aren't scaling attack speed. Focused Ballista support was another nail in the coffin. Imagine TR with mines or traps autotargetting for you.


I can't say I'm getting a good enough read on your likes to recommend something. So, I'll shamelessly plug Exsanguinate mines again. However, this one has a twist: long neck.

2M dps on a 5L with chain support.
50k ehp for all damage types if you can manage to cap chaos(stretch goal for my starter builds, I usually go for 0)
stupid amounts of sustain with ~2k life/s and 1k es/s
~1 ex budget(at this point of the league, just geared my guy up last night)
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Ratama

Lord Nagafen Raider
92
19
Thanks a lot for the input and build suggestion, Deathwing :)

I’m not too familiar with the main abilities or mechanics of it, however. Can you point me in the direction of a good breakdown?
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,375
7,367
Bit outdated, but still mostly relevant.


The trap version is much more popular due to Seismic Trap. If you're looking for basics, probably shares some overlap.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

Penance

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,993
4,656
So mageblood most expensive unique (minus legacy/alternate art in standard) in a league ever right?
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,375
7,367
Stasis Prison will be more expensive once someone figures out a broken build for it. Currently, it seems to be tracking with Mageblood but could be statistical aberration.

How high did Hateforge get/
 

Xevy

Log Wizard
8,591
3,809
Stasis Prison will be more expensive once someone figures out a broken build for it. Currently, it seems to be tracking with Mageblood but could be statistical aberration.

How high did Hateforge get/
One of the stat trackers says 255 ex for Hateforge. I remember it mostly being 30-80ex, but that's before the lightning strike shit went out and people knew what they could do with it specifically.

300ex this early is pretty nutty, but also means it's potentially worth less total chaos because exalts will probably still go up a little bit. According to the Antiquities site and PoE Ninja Mageblood right now is like 45k chaos, and Hateforge at its highest was 67.5k chaos.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user