Path of Exile

Lambourne said:

Played this game a few years ago, got to level 50ish and just couldn't handle bosses anymore. Just started again. I'm following the noob advice now (max resistances at all times, guided build) and just finished act 3. I'm doing much better than before. Sort of confused about the best way to gear up though. Do you just wait for the right rare to drop? Sell drops to get orbs? Doing SSF currently.

Also is there some way of getting items identified other than scrolls of wisdom? I'm always running out of them.

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I save my currency to buy key (cheap) uniques that guides reccomend. and just use analogues for the rest. do you understand the vendor recipies? honestly i mostly only identify scroll items that have slots and are the types that i want. the rest i do not identify. I pick up any items that clearly match vendor recipes (3 link of r-g-b) etc, but a ton of things I just leave behind and chase more valuable loot.

Not playing as much as I'd like (2 year old and wife take priority) bu up to 35 now. Just did first synidcate stronghold thing, got a Scaeva out of the trapped box, not too shabby.

Lambourne said:

Played this game a few years ago, got to level 50ish and just couldn't handle bosses anymore. Just started again. I'm following the noob advice now (max resistances at all times, guided build) and just finished act 3. I'm doing much better than before. Sort of confused about the best way to gear up though. Do you just wait for the right rare to drop? Sell drops to get orbs? Doing SSF currently.

Also is there some way of getting items identified other than scrolls of wisdom? I'm always running out of them.

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You can get wisdom scrolls by selling extra transmutation orbs, blacksmith whetstones or armor scraps at 4/4/2:1 respectively. Portal scrolls also sell for 1 wisdom a piece.

As far as gearing up, you can always stop and farm a zone a few times to try and get some drops before you progress. You can reset a zone after you clear it by leaving the zone and then holding control while you click on the zone entrance or waypoint and it will bring up a list of open instances for that zone, one of the options will be for a fresh zone (it won't have a time limit remaining next to it on the list).

Pick up all the rare items you find, identify them all and sell them all to the vendor. This will get you alteration orbs and alchemy orbs that you can also use to try and craft upgraded gear as well as roll the mods you need/want on your flasks.

... said:

Most micro skins are too much for me. I would love to have a skeleton skin, but I don't need to be a hovering green glowing ghost with flags for wings and skulls trailing in my wake.

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And here I am just wanting the pirate outfit without the skeleton/ghost shit tucked underneath.

In other news, Winter Orb is getting boring, too much like BV and I dislike keeping those stacks going. Might switch to another character before my casual ass even hits maps.

I ended up dropping Ele hit. Playing with tornado shot, barrage and toxic rain. Feels like Toxic Rain is the clearing winner. Just haven’t found a great boss raping skill setup.

First off, thanks for the guild invite! If you're wondering who the dude with the racist name is, PokeFliedLice is, it's me. PorkFliedLice was already taken, lol.

What an amazing update, SO much content, especially for dudes like me that took a year off from playing. It's the first total weekend sperg out I've had in a game in years. So much so that I called in sick to the girlfriend so I wouldn't have to hang with her Sat night and Sunday.

Playing and ice occultist seems like a good choice. Tried to make Ice Spear work but felt WAY too clunky compared to Winter's Orb. Finally dropped WO to go Cold Snap/Vortex. Clear is amazing but big boss fights don't feel amazing since you have to get in the middle of the shit to drop vortexes. Maybe get a Vaal Storm Call for linked for that? I think my biggest decision will come after Merciless Lab and deciding whether I should go CI or curses. Thoughts?

TheBeagle said:

First off, thanks for the guild invite! If you're wondering who the dude with the racist name is, PokeFliedLice is, it's me. PorkFliedLice was already taken, lol.

What an amazing update, SO much content, especially for dudes like me that took a year off from playing. It's the first total weekend sperg out I've had in a game in years. So much so that I called in sick to the girlfriend so I wouldn't have to hang with her Sat night and Sunday.

Playing and ice occultist seems like a good choice. Tried to make Ice Spear work but felt WAY too clunky compared to Winter's Orb. Finally dropped WO to go Cold Snap/Vortex. Clear is amazing but big boss fights don't feel amazing since you have to get in the middle of the shit to drop vortexes. Maybe get a Vaal Storm Call for linked for that? I think my biggest decision will come after Merciless Lab and deciding whether I should go CI or curses. Thoughts?

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Generally defense first.

you need defense for yellow tier maps. Then offense for red maps and beyond.
Basic skills will innately scale about up to t10-13. thats about where you hit gem level 20. At that point their damage stagnates, due to no longer leveling. and when you need passives, quality, 6l, etc to push past. so defense first, then uberlab will give a dps boost with your last 2 ascendancies to push futher into maps.

CI can be wonky in this as the question, "do I have enough base ES?" is relevant. Which granted as occultist. the answer is always yes you do. Assuming you did get vile bastion first like you should have.

Caliane said:

Generally defense first.

you need defense for yellow tier maps. Then offense for red maps and beyond.
Basic skills will innately scale about up to t10-13. thats about where you hit gem level 20. At that point their damage stagnates, due to no longer leveling. and when you need passives, quality, 6l, etc to push past. so defense first, then uberlab will give a dps boost with your last 2 ascendancies to push futher into maps.

CI can be wonky in this as the question, "do I have enough base ES?" is relevant. Which granted as occultist. the answer is always yes you do. Assuming you did get vile bastion first like you should have.

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Thanks! So I guess the decision with Occultists is Cold or Curses, but not both since ES is so strong with them that it's a must have.

I did score an exalt drop super early around level 55 so I think I'll try to keep an eye out for a good deal on a 6L early before inflation kicks in.

I thought winter orb might replace orb of storms for cursing, but def not. it is very wonky to use. long charge up, short duration.
Brands are much better for it actually.

The Banners are odd. cheap, and reasonably effective. but odd stats imho. I suppose they are intended to help counter ele conversion.
They 100% count as auras. commander of darkness. "inc effect of non curse auras"

"cast socketed spell on skill use" CD is apparently per skill. alot of talk of this for curses. but its only on WEAPONS. Which great for casters I guess. but pretty rough on attack skills, given viable weapon affix real estate..

Caliane said:

I thought winter orb might replace orb of storms for cursing, but def not. it is very wonky to use. long charge up, short duration.
Brands are much better for it actually.

The Banners are odd. cheap, and reasonably effective. but odd stats imho. I suppose they are intended to help counter ele conversion.
They 100% count as auras. commander of darkness. "inc effect of non curse auras"

"cast socketed spell on skill use" CD is apparently per skill. alot of talk of this for curses. but its only on WEAPONS. Which great for casters I guess. but pretty rough on attack skills, given viable weapon affix real estate..

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I'm running Blashpemy/Frostbite which just makes everything assplode with Vortex and Cold Snap. If I get the second curse node what would be a good choice to be less squishy in those out-of-the-blue Syndicate gang bangs that happen all the time? I was thinking Enfeeble/Herald of Ice. I am running Orb of Storms as well.

Personally, I am not a fan of HoI+curse on hit. it only applys the curse to a small area, on kill. so you need to kill a target, and it does nto carry on to the next pack, like HoT will.
Cwdt+defensive curse is far more applicable.
Enfeeble is def strong. the less acc allows evade for ES recharge to start. If you have the socket and 10% mana, highly consider Dread banner. Dread Banner
Even more evade.

Cooldowns on vortex/coldsnap, and dot. I am not sure Warlords is viable. probably not.

Has anyone have a guide on the Betrayal stuff? I'm just killing or sparing dude on a whim.

Brahma said:

Has anyone have a guide on the Betrayal stuff? I'm just killing or sparing dude on a whim.

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Imprison = small progress every turn for 3 turns, enemy ranks down

Bargin = medium progress immediatly

Kill = enemy ranks up (more progress from the above options and better loot)

Betray/Bargin = Make enemies be friends or rivals with each other and be in the same or different divisions, that means that the next encourager may have multiple bosses

So you either get your progress now or invest in getting more progress and loot later.

You could just imprison every time and get to the safe houses faster but with less loot. You could bargin/kill every time and get to the safe houses slower but have much better loot and more bosses, especially if you move them all into one division and work on that.

zombiewizardhawk said:

So all 3/4/x will hit the same target then? I've been using it as my clear skill while levelling since storm call isn't great yet and using that for syndicate/bosses/high hp mobs. Just have it linked with added lightning, innervate and crit chance.

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The only way to increase number of Brands on a target right now is the Runebinder notable right next to Ancestral Bond. If you have Runebinder, 4 total Brands, and two enemies, all four Brands will attach themselves to the two enemies. If you don't have Runebinder, two of them would be useless. Brand Recall resets your Brands to be in a circle around where you used Brand Recall, and they immediately determine new targets with increased range afterwards. The purpose of Brand Recall, as far as I can tell right now, is to make clearing maps BALLER, but it's also useful in certain boss fights with lots of adds where you want to make sure you have a couple of Brands on the boss.

So am I crazy, or did GGG downgrade some of the affixes on gear to account for the increase in power in the crafting table? Or made the T1-3 stuff rarer on drops?

I mean, I know it could be shit RNG, but this is the first time in a long while I hit maps with my league starter with sub-par life and non-maxxed resists. I have really had to work at it, and that includes a balance of all the loot splosion extras, including Delve and Incursion. (Edit - SSF by the way. Not for the reps, I always play that way - in regular league, I skip the tag).

I have been looking at my rare drops with the same eye I did in the last three leagues and I am thinking I may need to change the way I look at gear. Like that wand I would usually sell may actually be really powerful because I can add a third spell power affix (that happened to me last night).

Anyway, interesting league so far. I am mostly meh on it to date. The encounters in maps are overtuned for the average player, as is usual for GGG design. And I have been ambushed by the Syndicate in several boss areas, which is also par for the course (why do they do this? Abysses, Breaches, exiles in boss areas?)

I was also reminded why I did not like Incursion. My very first one had the key drop from the last group of mobs with 5 seconds left, beside the only open door in the entire room. Damn I hate Incursion.