Path of Exile VII: 1.0 Release!

[NineThePuma]

Path of Exile is an online Action RPG set in the dark fantasy world of Wraeclast, and plays similarly to games from the Diablo franchise, but has a surprisingly large amount of character customization. Unlike other games in the genre, it is completely free and only makes money by way of Microtransactions that you make in order to buy purely cosmetic effects.

In Chronological order:
Path of Exile (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214556)
PoE Thread 2: In which the lack of Mac support is lamented (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268810)
PoE Thread 3: Open Beta! Also, Longest Thread! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269039)
PoE Thread 4: In which Thread recursion to Thread 3 occurs! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=274544)
PoE Thread 5: In which complaining about the game ensued! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=281502)
PoE Thread 6: In which some builds are discussed (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290041)

The game has been officially Released, with the first three acts 100% completed; there are plans for future Acts, but I expect them to be released in the future as free 'expansion packs' rather than the previous large scale reiterations.

There is a Giantitp guild currently made, which you can get an invitation to by friending DythTheKobold (main character name is 'ScrewSofaOne') or one of the other Officers/Leaders (who are yet to be determined, since I just formed it.)

[hr]

On a more personal note, I unlocked the Scion and am having a bit of choice paralysis while building her. I feel like I should take advantage of her centralized position and pick up some Minion related stuff, but then I can't figure out if that'll be enough to differentiate her from a Witch, who would... most likely end up the same way (or would end up as a Wandslinger ranged DPS... one or the other really).

[Shyftir]

Signing in! Yeah I play PoE though its been awhile. That said I'm starting to get back into it.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Signing in! Can't talk at length about my impressions of release PoE just now, but it should be enough to say I've played almost non-stop for the past four days.

May I suggest a slightly more... optimistic thread title? Something like PoE VII: 100% of Beta converted to Release, perhaps? Then again, maybe not. Could give the wrong impression. Hm.

[NineThePuma]

Thread title updated.

I'll be online most of today, having /just/ gotten into Cruel difficulty on Standard. I've got an array of characters (toons?), but most of them are fairly low leveled because I've been making them to play with people who are low leveled. Trying to have a solid range of characters to play on with people is hard when levels are intrinsically related to progress through the game. :smallfrown:

Also, it's worth noting that I am -really- low level, and as much as I want to, a lot of the features for guilds are behind play walls that will take me hours to get through x3;

[Partysan]

I was in the closed beta thanks to a key I got on the boards here. It's pretty fun and I like the style a lot. Even the lackluster animations wouldn't quite stop me, but since I like to play melee and there's hardly more meaningful options than "skill for maximum hp and resistance and then do damage" I got bored after a while. I'd like there to be more than two meaningful numbers, namely hp and damage. Why no counters, no status effects, no status effect reliant abilities for combos and why restrict parrying to shields and staffs?
Still, maybe the best game of its kind in my book.

[Cikomyr]

I had a lot of fun with the game, but growed a little bored after some time. Will try at it again, tho!

[Morty]

I also played it in the beta. Ran a Dexterity-focused Duelist with a two-handed sword. I never did finish Act Three, though. Perhaps I'll give it another shot. The characters probably reset again, though.

[Castaras]

Me and my boyfriend have got back into this now it's released. I have a fire witch and a ranger pretending to be a marauder, because I prefer playing female characters to male characters. :smalltongue:

[NineThePuma]

I have a ranger who likes going full ham and getting into melee with Claws and waving them around like crazy.

[Eurus]

Hm, I can try to get back into this. It's been a long while. I'll probably start a new character, anyway. Maybe a minionmancer.

[Wookieetank]

Hm, I can try to get back into this. It's been a long while. I'll probably start a new character, anyway. Maybe a minionmancer.

The only problem I had with my minionmancer was knowing what was mine and what was trying to kill me. Also made targeting hard outside of AoE spells.

[Cikomyr]

I had a duel-weilding crit-maker Duellist (Foils ftw!), a Mae+Shield Marauder, a Minionmancer Witch and a 2-handed swordy paladin.

But I gotta be honest, with the Passive reset, I am considering just throwing away my chars and starting all over again,

edit: I gave up on the 6th time I was disconnected from the server in 2 hours.

[Tavar]

So, would anyone be interested in a guild? If there is some interest, I can make one.

As for the game, well, I finally finished the game(never have done act 3 before). Used a dual-dagger Shadow. Pretty fun, all said. Working on a priest at the moment, though I have several "dead" characters who I should probably revisit.

[Corlindale]

I've also been playing the full release a lot, though as usual I have trouble deciding on the one perfect character to play. Started out with a pretty nice Scion build with the new Spectral Throw skill - great fun, though I haven't really gotten the hang of her spot in the passive tree yet. Seems full of possibilities.

Right now I'm levelling a good old fashioned Freezing Pulse Shadow, after finding a pretty high quality FP gem as a random drop in Act 1. One of the things I love about this game is that a random drop can inspire a whole new character build.

[NineThePuma]

There is a Giantitp guild currently made, which you can get an invitation to by friending DythTheKobold (main character name is 'ScrewSofaOne') or one of the other Officers/Leaders (who are yet to be determined, since I just formed it.)


So, would anyone be interested in a guild? If there is some interest, I can make one.

*cough* :smallwink:

But, seriously, any opinion on what direction to take my Scion?

[Wookieetank]

*cough* :smallwink:

But, seriously, any opinion on what direction to take my Scion?

Go West, young man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_West,_young_man) :smallwink::smalltongue:

Other than that, I got nothing for scions. Been playing a burninating Witch as my only character so far, with a dash of critters for meat shields.

[NineThePuma]

West is into the Strength section of the tree? Sounds legit.

[Wookieetank]

West is into the Strength section of the tree? Sounds legit.

Ha! :smallbiggrin:

[Cikomyr]

Currently replaying a new char. Duellist with 2-handed sword. It's been fun so far; but then again, any builds are fun at the start :smallbiggrin:

[Castaras]

I ended up playing a while, middle of second act. Me and the boyfriend had been running around dealing with bandit chiefs before remembering we had to do chamber of sins to finish the quests we were wanting to do.

We went to chamber of sins and stomped all over it, considering we were 5 levels higher than it. :smalltongue:

[Tavar]

*cough* :smallwink:

But, seriously, any opinion on what direction to take my Scion?

No idea on the Scion just unlocked it.

And I've sent a request, just waiting for the response.

[NineThePuma]

I accepted your friend request, but it wouldn't let me add you to the guild since you were offline.

One thing the game doesn't have going for it is the social aspects being awkward.

[Tavar]

You'd think they'd make it like the friend system, where you can be invited, and then they store the invites.

[NineThePuma]

I really don't like how friend requests are tied to character name, rather than account name, AFAIK

[turbo164]

I accepted your friend request, but it wouldn't let me add you to the guild since you were offline.

One thing the game doesn't have going for it is the social aspects being awkward.

Yeah it is a little awkward how they didn't add guilds until *after* the beta ended.

"Thanks for testing everything! Now lets add guilds and a new class and new passives and a new boss and RELEASE it I'm sure nothing will need fixed!"

I guess it was to build hype, but still feels like some of that should have been in the beta lol.

[Wookieetank]

I really don't like how friend requests are tied to character name, rather than account name, AFAIK

Far as I could tell when I played in the beta is was tied to account, becuase whenever any of my friends were playing it'd tell me their account name and which character they were playing. Seems odd that they would axe that for full release. :smallconfused:

[NineThePuma]

Far as I could tell when I played in the beta is was tied to account, becuase whenever any of my friends were playing it'd tell me their account name and which character they were playing. Seems odd that they would axe that for full release. :smallconfused:

You have to friend someone via their character name, but their account name is revealed after.

[Morty]

I started up the game, downloaded what I had to and fired up my Duelist again. I put my build together again, which was simple enough - I mostly took passives to damage, attack speed accuracy and evasion. It seems to be working well enough, but I still need more mana. Otherwise I can't keep my Frenzy charges maxed. Maybe I'll try to finish Act 3.

[Shyftir]

So what leagues are you guys in? almost all of mine is in standard.

[Tavar]

All of mine are in standard, though one is standard(Cruel difficulty). Probably won't continue with him: he's horribly built for higher difficulties(Elemental Resists? What's that?).

At the moment I'm working on a Templar, though I'm also considering a party build in the near future(ie, almost total focus on auras and stuff).

[NineThePuma]

There is a Giantitp guild currently made, which you can get an invitation to by friending DythTheKobold (main character name is 'ScrewSofaOne') or one of the other Officers/Leaders (who are yet to be determined, since I just formed it.)

So, uh the guild has four members. Two of whom friended me because of this thread and the other I hunted down and friended. Come on guys, we should play together :P

[Godskook]

So what leagues are you guys in? almost all of mine is in standard.

I have:
-Reaver Fillion, a CI dual strike Shadow in Act 2 of Merciless, and is desperately in need of some better equipments, at least to deal with Merciless mobs.

-Jane Vera, a Marauder who just made Act 2 of Domination Normal, and I'm probably going to only play with guild members.

-TheCopperKidd, a Summoner Witch who's in Act 3 of Normal. Fun fact, you know those gorillas from the beginning of act 2? If you grab one as a spectre, he'll give out frenzy charges to you and all your minions. Still not sure who the strongest spectre is at the moment.

[Tavar]

So, uh the guild has four members. Two of whom friended me because of this thread and the other I hunted down and friended. Come on guys, we should play together :P

I agree with this message.


Also, I just made a new character: ShoatoftheMire, a witch currently without specialization(secondary goal, how long can I avoid spending those points). She's in the Domination league, which so far is really fun. Shrines are awesome.

Edit: Also, if you friend me, and ask, I believe I can invite you to the guild.
Edit2: Wow. Just fought the necromancer. Ended up having to chase him around half the map because my damage was pretty poor. On the Plus side, Detonate Dead is kinda hilarious against him.

[Wookieetank]

Not sure if I'll be able to get on today due to carting my daughter around to all the grandparents' houses for her first halloween, but my only character so far is:

Poltry Geisha :smallwink:, a burninating focused witch, with a dab of minions. Made it partway through act 3 at this point. Feel free to send me a friend invite and soon as I'm able to get on, I'll accept.

[Chess435]

Oh hey, there's a thread on this. I'm newish to the game and started really playing a couple days before release. Dived right into Nemesis when it came out and I'm doing surprisingly well so far.

[Morty]

Looks like my Duelist with a two-handed sword still works. I'm not sure how useful the Vitality aura is, though. I generally have a few skills I hardly ever use on him... I'll have to do something about it. My primary arsenal consists of Frenzy, Cleave, Flicker Strike and Viper Strike.

[Tavar]

Not sure if I'll be able to get on today due to carting my daughter around to all the grandparents' houses for her first halloween, but my only character so far is:

Poltry Geisha :smallwink:, a burninating focused witch, with a dab of minions. Made it partway through act 3 at this point. Feel free to send me a friend invite and soon as I'm able to get on, I'll accept.

It's saying that name doesn't exist. Could you try friend inviting either ShoatoftheMire or Fidelius? Those are my main characters at that moment.

[Wookieetank]

It's saying that name doesn't exist. Could you try friend inviting either ShoatoftheMire or Fidelius? Those are my main characters at that moment.

Mighta misspelled it. Once I get to my home compy I'll send the requests.

[Chess435]

:smallbiggrin: Made it to Act 3 on Nemesis so far! Character name is Chessssy. (Don't ask)

[Eurus]

Edit2: Wow. Just fought the necromancer. Ended up having to chase him around half the map because my damage was pretty poor. On the Plus side, Detonate Dead is kinda hilarious against him.

Indeed. The first time I fought him was with a templar who used Infernal Blow as his main skill, and it was amusing.

[peacenlove]

Alicavniss a level 31 Witch, Fireball spammer, with relevant talents. 1-2 shotting mobs atm.
Act 3 Normal, still haven't decided which element I should focus, nor have I decent gear :smalltongue:
Unless I am lagging, the basic zombies are enough to keep me alive up to and until the Vaal Oversoul Boss.

Is this game any different in next difficulties or is it like Diablo, same game, better drops, bigger numbers?

[NineThePuma]

Same game, better drops, bigger numbers, for the most part.

[mistformsquirrl]

Hey all! So, I played this a little bit back in Open Beta, but I'm just now wanting to really get into it.

That said, I'm not enamored of the whole "Class = Gender" thing; it's always bugged me in action RPGs even if it's a common thing. So I decided that despite preferring melee types, I'd be a Witch.

But... I have a question before I go any further with this:

How feasible is it to make a witch into a "death knight' kind of character? Ie: Lots and lots of minions + melee? From what I'm seeing on the skill tree it should be doable, but I'm new and the game is quite different from what I'm used to; so I don't want to invest a ton of time only to find out it's not feasible at all.

Thoughts?

[Tavar]

Not sure about the witch, but I do know the scion and ranger are both melee compatible. I think I saw a melee witch build on the official forums.

[Morty]

I appear to have far too low elemental resistances, judging by how horribly murdered I get by element-wielding enemies. Guess I'll need to grab some through the passive tree.

[Eurus]

Hey all! So, I played this a little bit back in Open Beta, but I'm just now wanting to really get into it.

That said, I'm not enamored of the whole "Class = Gender" thing; it's always bugged me in action RPGs even if it's a common thing. So I decided that despite preferring melee types, I'd be a Witch.

But... I have a question before I go any further with this:

How feasible is it to make a witch into a "death knight' kind of character? Ie: Lots and lots of minions + melee? From what I'm seeing on the skill tree it should be doable, but I'm new and the game is quite different from what I'm used to; so I don't want to invest a ton of time only to find out it's not feasible at all.

Thoughts?

Class = gender is bad, but in this case, it's more class = character. Each one has a fairly distinct voice, personality, and appearance. It's definitely a shame that the female classes are the ranger, witch, and scion, the former two being rather cliche, but eh, could be worse.


Also, my ranger is a hilarious glass cannon. Two-shots most enemies reliably, but god help her if anyone hits her around a little. She's only died twice (once to a disconnect), but she's come veeeery close a dozen times to random archers or fire-breathing snakes. Oh, and Oak. God, Oak. Leap striking all across the arena like crazy, impossible to kite or bear trap.

[Partysan]

I think the devs once said they wanted to add gender-swapped versions of the classes in the shop. Better than nothing I guess.

[Shpadoinkle]

Hi! I quit playing for a while back in maybe March, then picked the game up again in July and I've been playing fairly regularly since then, still mostly trying out different builds. I tend to play melee characters because there's something about playing an archer or a caster that eludes me and I end up either getting stuck doing insignificant damage or dying all the time :V Although lately I've had some success with a CI dual-weild dagger shadow using predominantly Spectral Throw and Dual Strike for damage. Critting with every other hit is pretty damn nice, I have to say.

Also note that I have a crappy 200$ computer so anybody that puts a lot of graphical demand on my computer, sporkers and the like, aren't like to play with me, and I'm probably not going to be in parties of more than three people. Otherwise the game gets so choppy as to be completely unplayable for me, I'd just desync and end up dying all the time :V

I sent a friend request to DythTheKobold from a ranger named Zeynia, and my account name is Zouphy.


I appear to have far too low elemental resistances, judging by how horribly murdered I get by element-wielding enemies. Guess I'll need to grab some through the passive tree.

As a rule, you want to get your resists from equipment- I tend to get mine from rings (of which I have maybe forty with various mods, though most of them I only keep because they have a mod for something like 70+ life or 50% increased mana regen) and amulets. Passive nodes that give resists to all elements, like Diamond Flesh, Diamond Skin, and and the various green Elemental Resistance nodes scattered around the tree are worth getting, but I find the nodes that only give 15% resistance to one element aren't really worth it.

[Cikomyr]

I am currently playing my Witch to be nothing but a pyromancer

BURN, WORLD!!! BURN!!!!!

[Shpadoinkle]

I am currently playing my Witch to be nothing but a pyromancer

BURN, WORLD!!! BURN!!!!!

I have a character like that. I was having trouble with her until I respecced some points into minion life and extra zombies and skellies (Spell Totem is an awesome skill for raising a skeleton army.) Her survivability suddenly went way up.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

How feasible is it to make a witch into a "death knight' kind of character? Ie: Lots and lots of minions + melee? From what I'm seeing on the skill tree it should be doable, but I'm new and the game is quite different from what I'm used to; so I don't want to invest a ton of time only to find out it's not feasible at all.

Thoughts?

Should be perfectly viable. Start life as a Witch, get Minion Instability ASAP (because exploding minions) along with the minion passives along the way to it. Then move left along skilldrassil towards the Templar's corner picking up health, armour+energy shield boosts, more minions and aura enhancers. I'd avoid weapon damage stuff, your minions won't benefit (they'll be your main source of damage) and it's more important to be able to take a hit or four if something decides to punch you instead of the zombie beside you.

For your skills, you'll want zombies, skeletons, an aura (the lightning damage aura is nice here) and something thing like Glacial Hammer to hit things with. Maybe an AoE skill like Sweep or Ground Slam for burning down large packs.

The tricky part will be getting your hands on a melee attack skills as a Witch. Easiest thing'll be to start a Templar (who get the aforementioned skills in the first few of minutes of play, I believe) and transfer the gems via Stash.

[Woodzyowl]

I'm Woodzycake on the America servers. Just made a new shadow. Planning on doing claw specialization.

[mistformsquirrl]

Should be perfectly viable. Start life as a Witch, get Minion Instability ASAP (because exploding minions) along with the minion passives along the way to it. Then move left along skilldrassil towards the Templar's corner picking up health, armour+energy shield boosts, more minions and aura enhancers. I'd avoid weapon damage stuff, your minions won't benefit (they'll be your main source of damage) and it's more important to be able to take a hit or four if something decides to punch you instead of the zombie beside you.

For your skills, you'll want zombies, skeletons, an aura (the lightning damage aura is nice here) and something thing like Glacial Hammer to hit things with. Maybe an AoE skill like Sweep or Ground Slam for burning down large packs.

The tricky part will be getting your hands on a melee attack skills as a Witch. Easiest thing'll be to start a Templar (who get the aforementioned skills in the first few of minutes of play, I believe) and transfer the gems via Stash.

Very helpful advice, thank you <^-^>

[Shyftir]

"skilldrassil"

Oh man, that's such a great fan-nickname. Seriously I literally laughed out loud.

[NineThePuma]

So, all you people giving screen names, you should attach CHARACTER names as well, pls

[Morty]

I'm trying to decide what direction to take a bow-using Shadow in. He'll be taking things to help with a bow, of course, but I'm not sure what sort of Intelligence skills I should focus on. Minions? Elemental damage? Curses?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

*cough*

Yeah, should do.

Characters so far, all in Domination League:

Brutalisque - level 50ish Scion. 2-handed axes, spectral throw, double strike. Tons of hp, armor and leech. Starting Act 3 Cruel.
VoodooMamma - level 20ish Witch. Minions and Glacial Hammer. (Mistform made me want to try the build)
SammyAnansi - level 20ish Witch. Wandslinger.
PrettyPonyPimpstress (why yes, I was drunk when I created this toon :smalltongue:)- level 20ish Scion. Ethereal Knives spammer.

I play Domination because Shrines make things interesting. If you're wondering how I have two Scions and no regular chacters that could have unlocked them... I had to delete my first toon. By act 3 Cruel I realised that she was completely unsalvagable. Remember kids, invest in defense nodes. HP, resists and your armour of choice.

[peacenlove]

I'm trying to decide what direction to take a bow-using Shadow in. He'll be taking things to help with a bow, of course, but I'm not sure what sort of Intelligence skills I should focus on. Minions? Elemental damage? Curses?

I would say minions because monsters tend to get rather...evasive and hit hard.
Curses are good for AoE builds IMO, but I see an increased number of rare monsters immune to them.
Elemental Damage, i don't know.

[Shpadoinkle]

As I said, my account name is Zouphy, and my characters are:

- Andalythia, scion, 2h mace spectral thrower

- Fedringus, templar, orginally an elemental cleaver, but I haven't rebuilt him yet

- Gorolon, marauder, 2H axe cleave/heavy strike, haven't rebuilt yet

- Guznan, marauder, facebreaker, Dominating Blow and Infernal Blow, haven't rebuilt yet

- Nierthal, duelist, dual-sword-wielding cleave/dual strike, haven't rebuilt yet

- Nylanthia, fireball spamer/summoner

- Ogmarr, marauder, 2H mace ground slam, haven't rebuilt yet

- Rathol, templar, Avatar of Fire, Infernal Blow and Searing Bond

- Udorar, templar, Searing Touch, Ancestral Bond, Fire Trap, dual Fireball spell totems

- Valdrenth, shadow, dual dagger Spectral Throw/Dual Strike

- Zeynith, shadow, dual claw Spectral Throw/Dual Strike

[Woodzyowl]

Woodzycake is my character name :smalltongue: I have a duelist named Woodzyowl as well.

[Morty]

I would say minions because monsters tend to get rather...evasive and hit hard.
Curses are good for AoE builds IMO, but I see an increased number of rare monsters immune to them.
Elemental Damage, i don't know.

Hmm. I can't say I feel like blasting with elemental damage when I already have a bow. I might use some short-range spells for when the enemies get close. Otherwise, I'll go with curses and minions.

Of course, given the randomized nature of acquiring skills in PoE, planning ahead is a bit harder than usual.

[mistformsquirrl]

Just got to Act II - I must say... OMGBLOODAPESGETEMOFFMEGETEMOFFME.

No seriously - I should have known monsters would get more numerous in act 2, but I wasn't expecting a zerg rush of rabid apes <@-@>

Good news: I've already got Lightning Aura, I've got a support gem that gives 30% life to my minions (hooray!) and a phenomenally good 2-handed axe that 1 or 2 shots anything I hit with it outside of bosses. (Even rares and subbosses die absurdly fast, the only real challenge I've faced so far being Murveil. Even that fight wasn't that hard, I died once but overall I thought I held my own.

Bad News: I really need a little extra Dex at this point - hitting things is proving more and more difficult as time goes on, and while I do heaps of damage when I hit... it doesn't mean anything if I don't connect. My zombies aren't yet strong enough to be a reliable offense - they're more like a shambling wall of goons that take a few hits for me; so I need to be able to do substantial damage myself.

General News: I'm level 15 or 16 now and well on my way toward Minion Instability - That ability is going to be fun stuff I think.

[throtecutter]

I have a character: sorting_algorithm.
He's a level 36 templar, in the standard league. He makes undead meat shields, and then whacks things with his 2 handed axe; primarily using lightning strike and flicker strike.

I'm just getting to the point where I end up getting killed often. (From the barracks on). Though that probably means I should choose armors based on their stats, instead of their gem sockets and item rarity increases.

[Eurus]

Haha, wow. First encounter with Piety at the start of Act 3, and she brutally murdered me twice with a variety of lightning bolts, some of them unavoidable, until I got annoyed enough to dig up my lightning resist stuff. Fighting her for real is going to be a tremendous pain, I'm sure.

[Tavar]

Haha, wow. First encounter with Piety at the start of Act 3, and she brutally murdered me twice with a variety of lightning bolts, some of them unavoidable, until I got annoyed enough to dig up my lightning resist stuff. Fighting her for real is going to be a tremendous pain, I'm sure.

Better than the first time I faced her(back in the open beta). The only way I survived is by hiding, and letting the rest of the party do the work.

Yeah, rangers can be tough to build.

[throtecutter]

Yeah I didn't have problems with her the first time.
I just did it the second time though...
It involved me running in with full minions and just hitting her until I stopped moving, then trying again.
It only took me 6 lives to do it.

Based on how fast I can clear an area, you can tell when there are aoe enemies, and elemental enemies.

What is a decent elemental resistance?
I assume that 17% fire, 22% cold, 8% lightning, is not enough.

Also is there a way to get portal scrolls? Other than buying them for identifies/finding them?

[Shpadoinkle]

What is a decent elemental resistance?
I assume that 17% fire, 22% cold, 8% lightning, is not enough.

Depends on the area you're in. In general you want them to be as high as possible. If a boss only uses one type of elemental damage then a couple rings of the appropriate type shouldn't be hard to get.


Also is there a way to get portal scrolls? Other than buying them for identifies/finding them?

Aside from buying or finding them, there aren't any. Unless another player decides to give you some.

Small things, like rings, amulets, wands, daggers, small one-handed swords and axes, pick those up and take them back to town (via waypoint) to sell. Yes, it's tedious, and yes, it sucks. Getting a good stock of scrolls can be tough early on, I really think they ought to start you out with more than the three scrolls of wisdom you get.

[throtecutter]

Aside from buying or finding them, there aren't any. Unless another player decides to give you some.
Oh well, I was hoping I was missing something obvious.


Does anyone want some free yellow items?
I was collecting them to find a matching name. I'm giving up since I've managed to fill nearly 3 stash pages up with them without any successes.
Mostly I have armors/helmets/boots/gloves, though I have smattering of other things. Everything is between 8 and 32.
Might as well give it to someone who could use it, rather than to the merchant.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

My usual plan for picking stuff up is white jewelry, flasks and belts, anything blue up to 4 inventory spaces, all rares. I also grab anything with 3 linked slots, one of each colour (worth a chromatic orb at the vendors). I'll then ID the rares and dump everything not useful for a mix of alteration and transmutation shards, plus enough wisdom scrolls to keep me going.

But yeah, early on there's a shortage of scrolls.

[peacenlove]

What is a decent elemental resistance?
I assume that 17% fire, 22% cold, 8% lightning, is not enough.


Act 3 needs 50% elemental resists and cruel expects you to have 75%.

Portal scrolls drop often enough so you don't have to worry about them (I pick up all blues and rares and 1 slot whites also) and Orb of Transmutation can be sold for 4 Wisdom scrolls

[SlyGuyMcFly]

So.

Merciless really lives up to it's name. My net experience gain in the first 4 zones has been... half a level. The Dweller in the Deep alone killed me twice.

I really need to gear up some.

[Castaras]

Finally managed to get the Scion.

Such an annoying, generic cliche character. Everything about her grates on me - how she's "the best at everything", her goody-two-shoes rather bland chatterbox character (compared to more interesting ones like the witch or marauder). Her voice acting is irritating (I couldn't get past level 3 before getting annoyed at the noises she makes while hitting something), and just seems like the generic blonde damsel in distress becoming her OWN PERSON (dundundun), with everything handed to her but her thinking "Too dark" (dundundun).

Very disappointed. Was hoping to use her to make a 2handed melee character, but I've gone with Marauder instead, and am hoping for a gender change to appear in the microtransactions shop.

[Eurus]

Yeah I didn't have problems with her the first time.
I just did it the second time though...
It involved me running in with full minions and just hitting her until I stopped moving, then trying again.
It only took me 6 lives to do it.

Based on how fast I can clear an area, you can tell when there are aoe enemies, and elemental enemies.

What is a decent elemental resistance?
I assume that 17% fire, 22% cold, 8% lightning, is not enough.

Also is there a way to get portal scrolls? Other than buying them for identifies/finding them?

Well yes, zerg rushing someone with 5-10 portal scrolls is pretty effective most of the time. :smalltongue: I think I burned 4 on the Vaal Oversoul; even once I figured out its attack patterns, there was very little room for error, heh.

Incidentally, does Cast on Death + Portal gem work how I'd imagine it would? Because that would be tremendously convenient, I've gotta say.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Finally managed to get the Scion..

The Scion is awesome if you take the view that she's a spoiled brat trying sooooo hard to be dark and angsty. She has some of the most hilariously over-the-top melodramatic lines. My favourite is probably "Back into the bowels of exile, where the darkness veritably slithers with hunger.", although "I thought myself so special. Turns out I'm just another vector for contagion." is brilliant for it's apparent lack of self-awareness.

Also, her 'inventory full' message - "Too much baggage". Which I assume isn't about the physical baggage, given how she goes on and on about her prior life, parents and marriage.

But if we want to take the whole dark and gloomy ambience of the game seriously, then she's definitely ten kinds of awful.



Very disappointed. Was hoping to use her to make a 2handed melee character, but I've gone with Marauder instead, and am hoping for a gender change to appear in the microtransactions shop.

I believe one can turn a Ranger into a capable melee 2-hander by heading towards the Duelist end of things for Iron Reflexes.

[NineThePuma]

Incidentally, does Cast on Death + Portal gem work how I'd imagine it would? Because that would be tremendously convenient, I've gotta say.

Yes. It works exactly how you expect.

[Eurus]

Yes. It works exactly how you expect.

Well if I'm ever lucky enough to find another portal gem and actually get my hands on it, I'll have to look into that. :smallamused:

[Castaras]

I believe one can turn a Ranger into a capable melee 2-hander by heading towards the Duelist end of things for Iron Reflexes.

Yeah, 'tis what I had for a while. Prefering the Marauder build though, considering I wanted to make a high health character - which ranger and witch aren't.

[NineThePuma]

Well if I'm ever lucky enough to find another portal gem and actually get my hands on it, I'll have to look into that. :smallamused:

Cast on death only shows up in merciless. :P

[Tavar]

But if we want to take the whole dark and gloomy ambience of the game seriously, then she's definitely ten kinds of awful.
Huh.

I mean, I get some of the hate(she does come off as too good:there's a reason I wanted to use MarySue as my Scion's name...)

On the other hand, well, most of her dialog that she says doesn't seem that conceited(especially compared to the other characters), and her disapproval is...well, in my mind that makes her not a horrible person.

[Godskook]

An odd and semi-annoying 'hack' I had to deal with earlier:

Had a guy join my party who proceeded to skip all the mooks leading up to the boss of Act 2, and solo'ed the boss while we were busy trying to even get there. And because it was on Short Allocation, he cleaned out the boss room loot before we even got there.

Lesson: If you want boss loot in a public party, make sure you have allocation set to permanent.

[ChaosOS]

Picked up this game to fill in long Dominion Queue times; TimelessChaos is the character, who should I friend?

[Tavar]

An odd and semi-annoying 'hack' I had to deal with earlier:

Had a guy join my party who proceeded to skip all the mooks leading up to the boss of Act 2, and solo'ed the boss while we were busy trying to even get there. And because it was on Short Allocation, he cleaned out the boss room loot before we even got there.

Lesson: If you want boss loot in a public party, make sure you have allocation set to permanent.
There is a worse thing: have someone join a party for a boss who just finished the boss(likely with a different party). If they join before the "boss" level, then if you're not careful you'll enter there map. Makes for a very annoying time.



Picked up this game to fill in long Dominion Queue times; TimelessChaos is the character, who should I friend?
Sent the friend invite. Also a guild invite, but it might time out.

[Godskook]

There is a worse thing: have someone join a party for a boss who just finished the boss(likely with a different party). If they join before the "boss" level, then if you're not careful you'll enter there map. Makes for a very annoying time.

That's incredibly easy to deal with, though, once you know it has happened, and isn't someone stealing from you, so its less offensive as well.

[Tavar]

That's incredibly easy to deal with, though, once you know it has happened, and isn't someone stealing from you, so its less offensive as well.

Not when they've left the party, so you're doing the last stage in Act 3 solo.

[Shpadoinkle]

Not when they've left the party, so you're doing the last stage in Act 3 solo.

If you need help doing Act 3 in Normal or Cruel I can help, just send me an in-game message (account name is Zouphy.) I'm afraid I haven't even reached act 3 in Merciless, though, so I can't do much to help you there.


Of course, given the randomized nature of acquiring skills in PoE, planning ahead is a bit harder than usual.

Granted the skill gems that drop from monsters are random, but quest rewards are always the same for a given class. (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Quest_Rewards) Unfortunately there ARE some drop-only gems.

EDIT: I sent a friend request to DythTheKobold a few days ago but nothing so far. Is there someone else I should message/add to apply for the guild?

[NineThePuma]

EDIT: I sent a friend request to DythTheKobold a few days ago but nothing so far. Is there someone else I should message/add to apply for the guild?

Sorry, terraria had an update and then a friend badgered me about when I was gonna do things with him in League. Assuming that we're both online at some point, I'll guild invite you.

[Castaras]

Question regarding the guild - is it multi realm? I'm assuming it's on the american realm, whereas I'm on the europe realm.

[NineThePuma]

Question regarding the guild - is it multi realm? I'm assuming it's on the american realm, whereas I'm on the europe realm.

I honestly have no idea. PoE's social aspects aren't laid out very well.

[Cogwheel]

Well yes, zerg rushing someone with 5-10 portal scrolls is pretty effective most of the time. :smalltongue: I think I burned 4 on the Vaal Oversoul; even once I figured out its attack patterns, there was very little room for error, heh.

Incidentally, does Cast on Death + Portal gem work how I'd imagine it would? Because that would be tremendously convenient, I've gotta say.

Did Vaal Oversoul on the first try. Only did portal cheese (two scrolls) for Piety. Your move, sir.

Then again Templar is probably way tankier than whatever you're playing. Even if I do have terribad gear.


Quick highlight reel of recent rare enemy names, while I'm here: Woundbeard (Blackguard Arcmage, so no, no chance of a beard), Battleface the Executioner (Blackguard Elite), Meatheart the Unspeakable (one of those bandit guys in act 2).

[peacenlove]

Did Vaal Oversoul on the first try. Only did portal cheese (two scrolls) for Piety. Your move, sir.


Quick highlight reel of recent rare enemy names, while I'm here: Woundbeard (Blackguard Arcmage, so no, no chance of a beard), Battleface the Executioner (Blackguard Elite), Meatheart the Unspeakable (one of those bandit guys in act 2).

You can snipe Vaal, fearing only for his (its?) blue laser.
Didn't take note of the Rare names but it reminds me of Diablo 2's rare ones (Skeleton called Pukelust :smallbiggrin:)

I am too in a European server but wouldn't mind a guild invite :smallsmile:

[Cogwheel]

You can snipe Vaal, fearing only for his (its?) blue laser.
Didn't take note of the Rare names but it reminds me of Diablo 2's rare ones (Skeleton called Pukelust :smallbiggrin:)

I am too in a European server but wouldn't mind a guild invite :smallsmile:

He is a difficult man to snipe as a pure melee templar, but maybe I was missing something.

[mistformsquirrl]

Forgot to mention, in-game I'm Claryion, melee minion witch >.>/

[Cogwheel]

Game complete.

Final boss stands at the awful crossroads of sheer disgust and 'now that's just rude'.

[Godskook]

Game complete.

Final boss stands at the awful crossroads of sheer disgust and 'now that's just rude'.

Which difficulty?

[Cogwheel]

Which difficulty?

Normal, terrifyingly. Templar.


(SPOILER) from the Laboratory/Lunaris Temple was kind of like that too? But wow this guy crosses so many lines.


Edit: Fun fact, only portal cheese made him beatable. I died twelve times in that fight. That is literally twice as many times as I died in the rest of the game combined.


Bonus edit: He dropped nothing worthwhile and then the credits crashed.

[Shpadoinkle]

Normal, terrifyingly. Templar.

(SPOILER) from the Laboratory/Lunaris Temple was kind of like that too? But wow this guy crosses so many lines.

Edit: Fun fact, only portal cheese made him beatable. I died twelve times in that fight. That is literally twice as many times as I died in the rest of the game combined.


My dagger crit stacking shadow using double strike with life leech took him down on normal without dying once :3 Though to be fair I had some pretty nice equipment and had already beaten him once with my scion

[Cikomyr]

Is there any advantage to Avatar of Fire?

I mean.. what's the point of using underpowered (-50%) non-fire gems to generate fire damage when you can just use fire gems?

[Shpadoinkle]

Is there any advantage to Avatar of Fire?

I mean.. what's the point of using underpowered (-50%) non-fire gems to generate fire damage when you can just use fire gems?

There is, though it's not immediately apparent and takes a little knowledge of how the game calculates damage to appreciate.

Say I make two attacks per second and deal 150 damage with each hit, while you attack three times per second and deal 100 damage per hit. Same damage, right? Well, actually no- see, armor and resists reduce damage on a sliding scale, and there's a breakpoint where the damage NOT mitigated curves upward sharply.

So say I use Infernal Blow, dealing 100 fire damage and 100 physical damage. These will each get reduced by the respective defenses, and I might end up only doing, say, 70 damage total. But with Avatar of Fire, I'm suddenly doing 150 pure fire damage with each hit, which is less in unrefined numbers, yes, but after defenses are calculated I might, in the end, be doing 130 damage per hit because I did enough damage to overshoot the breakpoint.

[Cikomyr]

Okay. So something like "add lightning damage" to my fire spells (playing a Witch here) is the point?

But wouldn't it be better to simply "add fire damage" to my fire spells?

[Cogwheel]

There is, though it's not immediately apparent and takes a little knowledge of how the game calculates damage to appreciate.

Say I make two attacks per second and deal 150 damage with each hit, while you attack three times per second and deal 100 damage per hit. Same damage, right? Well, actually no- see, armor and resists reduce damage on a sliding scale, and there's a breakpoint where the damage NOT mitigated curves upward sharply.

So say I use Infernal Blow, dealing 100 fire damage and 100 physical damage. These will each get reduced by the respective defenses, and I might end up only doing, say, 70 damage total. But with Avatar of Fire, I'm suddenly doing 150 pure fire damage with each hit, which is less in unrefined numbers, yes, but after defenses are calculated I might, in the end, be doing 130 damage per hit because I did enough damage to overshoot the breakpoint.

I assumed it had more to do with throwing on resistance penetration and a bunch of fire-boosting passives.


My dagger crit stacking shadow using double strike with life leech took him down on normal without dying once :3 Though to be fair I had some pretty nice equipment and had already beaten him once with my scion

Ah, but this was my very first run, and completely blind, with a figure-it-out-as-I-go-along build. Which was rather... different. Also my loot luck was so bad that most of my stuff was from act 1, save for a few rares I was given.

After I won, the drops were all white, which I didn't think was even possible. The dialogue proceeded to freeze halfway through, then skip to credits, which crashed roughly ten seconds in. A fitting end to this run, I feel.

So yes, I think I'm done with this game for a looooong time.

[Shpadoinkle]

Okay. So something like "add lightning damage" to my fire spells (playing a Witch here) is the point?

But wouldn't it be better to simply "add fire damage" to my fire spells?

Well, first of all Added Fire Damage doesn't work on spells, only stuff that deals physical damage, so things like Cleave or Spectral Throw.

Second, Added Lightning Damage and Added Cold Damage are, from what I've observed, used primarily for the status effects associated with them more than anything else. Shock causes the victim to take 30% more damage from everything and can stack up to three times, Chilled slows everything you do, and Freeze... well, freezes you for a couple seconds. The fact that they add damage is generally negligible, most people will probably tell you that the only effect the damage rolled has in these cases is how long the status ailment lasts.

[Cikomyr]

Well, first of all Added Fire Damage doesn't work on spells, only stuff that deals physical damage, so things like Cleave or Spectral Throw.

Second, Added Lightning Damage and Added Cold Damage are, from what I've observed, used primarily for the status effects associated with them more than anything else. Shock causes the victim to take 30% more damage from everything and can stack up to three times, Chilled slows everything you do, and Freeze... well, freezes you for a couple seconds. The fact that they add damage is generally negligible, most people will probably tell you that the only effect the damage rolled has in these cases is how long the status ailment lasts.

Do I keep the Freeze effects of cold if I use Avatar of Fire?

[Shpadoinkle]

Do I keep the Freeze effects of cold if I use Avatar of Fire?

Good question. However, considering you're literally dealing no non-fire damage, I'm inclined to say no. But I'm no expert.

[peacenlove]

Well, first of all Added Fire Damage doesn't work on spells, only stuff that deals physical damage, so things like Cleave or Spectral Throw.

Second, Added Lightning Damage and Added Cold Damage are, from what I've observed, used primarily for the status effects associated with them more than anything else. Shock causes the victim to take 30% more damage from everything and can stack up to three times, Chilled slows everything you do, and Freeze... well, freezes you for a couple seconds. The fact that they add damage is generally negligible, most people will probably tell you that the only effect the damage rolled has in these cases is how long the status ailment lasts.

Wrong, it does. Having Fireball with Added lighting damage and I see lots of electrified corpses. Also shows on character sheet.

[Castaras]

I hate fighting dominus.

Frame rate up there feels like its in the negatives. Can't see what's going on. Third stage is hardest because there's only 1 thing to hit and it's human sized.

Much prefer fighting Piety. More satisfying to kill her as well.

[Shpadoinkle]

Wrong, it does. Having Fireball with Added lighting damage and I see lots of electrified corpses. Also shows on character sheet.

I was talking about Added Fire Damage not working on spells, not Added Lightning Damage.

[mistformsquirrl]

So, about level 26 now - melee witch is really, really working well so far. Got Minion Instability and now I have this lovely choice of passive paths where I can enhance my minions or make myself better or both to a lesser extent... I think I know where I'm headed on the tree but there's so many things I want to grab! I'm never going to have enough passive points lol

[Wookieetank]

I'm never going to have enough passive points lol

I feel you on this one. I tend to not stray very far from my areas of focus to keep from twitching over how much my character will never have. Curse you PoE and your non-Spheregridlike ways! :smalltongue:

[Godskook]

Some thoughts on the game:

Curses are among the strongest single-gem skills in the game. They do....like 5-6 things, all of which are individually useful and all of which are synergistic to each other. Every char should use one, without worrying about 'speccing' for it. There also seems to be 1-2 good curses for *EVERY* playstyle.

Its a pain in the rear to find good gear, but its also a necessity past normal difficulty.

Merciless' xp penalty sucks like hell.

[Cikomyr]

Some thoughts on the game:

Curses are among the strongest single-gem skills in the game. They do....like 5-6 things, all of which are individually useful and all of which are synergistic to each other. Every char should use one, without worrying about 'speccing' for it. There also seems to be 1-2 good curses for *EVERY* playstyle.

Its a pain in the rear to find good gear, but its also a necessity past normal difficulty.

Merciless' xp penalty sucks like hell.

Debuffs are always a great strategy.

Currently specing toward the "infinitly-lasting curses" and "double-curse allowed". To diminish fire and elemental resist.

[mistformsquirrl]

Mewahahahaa... My legions grow! Just added another zombie and another ghost - my only complaint thus far is I can't seem to find a Summon Skeleton gem. That would really, really help in boss fights as I can only 'sort of' stand toe to toe with them even with 40+% in all elemental resists.

What's really trying my patience is how my minions *immediately* die in most boss fights, and likewise there's rarely a chance to get them back during said boss fights. The AOE spam is just too much for them. I'm even running Purity at present to try to mitigate some of the damage, but it's just not doing enough good. I can only hope when I get Necromantic Aegis that my shield's bonuses help some with survivability. It's the one thing that keeps me from just stomping all over everything and laughing while I do <_<

[Shpadoinkle]

Mewahahahaa... My legions grow! Just added another zombie and another ghost - my only complaint thus far is I can't seem to find a Summon Skeleton gem. That would really, really help in boss fights as I can only 'sort of' stand toe to toe with them even with 40+% in all elemental resists.

What's really trying my patience is how my minions *immediately* die in most boss fights, and likewise there's rarely a chance to get them back during said boss fights. The AOE spam is just too much for them. I'm even running Purity at present to try to mitigate some of the damage, but it's just not doing enough good. I can only hope when I get Necromantic Aegis that my shield's bonuses help some with survivability. It's the one thing that keeps me from just stomping all over everything and laughing while I do <_<

I have a spare Summon Skeleton gem you can have, what's your account name? You'll have to level it up from level 1, and if you can get one pick up a Spell Totem gem, so you can cast the totem and have it pump out an endless stream of skeletal meat- er, boneshields for you, and you don't need corpses to do it. Well, endless for fifteen seconds at a time, at least. Minion Life will help them do their job better.

[mistformsquirrl]

That'd be awesome Shpadoinkle! Account name should be mistformsquirrel, character is Claryion < . .> Thank you! (And the totem idea is *exactly* what I was thinking!)

[Godskook]

I'm currently building up a aura/minion witch atm too. (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMA37CSwY6-ES18g836uJPr7ij6gsfT-6h9WpFqrFcrVK590iL0bAsNjRzckye_l8k98h60DFv0RnGwd-GIHar-SYMJb57KSsM6m7UZivsJ9toaj3_GEZZwu9kTL28HY3NTa9t9GO yKpwiPRtDQm6H318y8EJdEBE25qsSFYNkLKpj6gJ2uGmymrIhA kDMZhSSqNunjavrSFy9k51XWgKQksIbRrJgUsDowOVK8N05tWA dI5w==)

[Shyftir]

I have a ice casting shadow, who runs the skelly brotem to tank while he stands back and ice spears, it works pretty well.

[mistformsquirrl]

I have learned a painful lesson today.

Apparently town portals do not stay open indefinitely, at least not if you're in town. I was fiddling with some new gloves* and took too long, portal closed on me.

Worst part?

I was 3 levels deep into the Scepter of God, trying to find the waypoint when it happened. It may not have even been on that level; but it's still immensely frustrating to be that deep into a dungeon and lose all your progress. Oh well, later on/maybe tomorrow I'll continue on. Still having boatloads of fun with this character.

Related more to the character herself - I honestly am starting to want to see if I can roll her up in Pathfinder >.> because there is just sooooo much fun to be had with an army of the undead at your back.

Also finally got a new weapon for the first time since level 15ish - that old sword was incredibly good for it's level, but at level 36 it was not holding up. Now I'm a little more combat capable on my own again. Also finally getting a chance to use a Curse gem - I wanted to do so much sooner but there just wasn't space in my equipment unless I wanted my zombies to be either totally flimsy or hit like wet noodles. >.< Neither being desirable.

Hopefully this new curse + the passive that makes curses last forever will make for a valuable addition to my arsenal though. Currently going to be using Enfeeble; if that works out I'll stick to it, if not I may try Vulnerability instead. (Once I get double-curse I'll use both of course! Why not right? <_<)

*My first ever set with 4 linked sockets, albeit there's only 3 connections so 2 aren't connected - still, amazingly good find for me... only trouble is they're all red sockets, so I was using Chromatic orbs to try to get them all blue instead... aaaaaaaaaaaaaand that didn't work at all. After using my entire stock of chromatic orbs they're all red except one green slot. 15 orbs and the end result is a slightly worse thing than when I started. (Only worse because I have no green gems of any use to me whatsoever; and zero green support gems.)

[SlyGuyMcFly]

*My first ever set with 4 linked sockets, albeit there's only 3 connections so 2 aren't connected - still, amazingly good find for me...

Links transmit long-distance, so all slots count as linked to all other slots in a 3-link 4-slot setup. This also means the order and position of linked skill gems and support gems in an item is irrelevant.

[mistformsquirrl]

Oh? That's kinda awesome, I had no idea! <@_@> In that case I'm even more annoyed that I changed the slot colors though... my main attack is Cleave and I use Infernal Blow* as a backup for tough single targets - hrm... I guess this may be a good chance to try out Reave in stead of Cleave though; I've been meaning to do that anyway.

*I'd use it as my main attack actually but for two things: 1) I have a lifesteal gem that works wonders with Cleave, and 2) it makes people explode and I need their corpses. But it's still proven to be a very good boss killer for me.

[Eurus]

The thing about socket color is items are far more likely to have sockets of the color corresponding to their stat. Evasion items tend strongly toward green sockets, energy shield items toward blue, and armor toward red. I'm not sure what the exact odds are, but getting a set of armor gloves with four blue sockets is probably staggeringly unlikely.

[Morty]

I've killed Dominus. However, the number of times I died trying to do that suggests that there are problems with my build.

[mistformsquirrl]

I was unaware of that < . .> that stinks... I'm up in melee a lot and have quite a bit of Strength, so armor items suit me quite well other than the slotting problems. Still, the current set up is working pretty well - I'm using Reave now instead of Cleave and it actually works better for me.

Next big item on the list is some new armor - gotta find something with at least 3 blues linked. So far I haven't even found robes like that let alone actual armor or Armor/Energy. I will persevere however!

[Wookieetank]

I was unaware of that < . .> that stinks... I'm up in melee a lot and have quite a bit of Strength, so armor items suit me quite well other than the slotting problems. Still, the current set up is working pretty well - I'm using Reave now instead of Cleave and it actually works better for me.

Next big item on the list is some new armor - gotta find something with at least 3 blues linked. So far I haven't even found robes like that let alone actual armor or Armor/Energy. I will persevere however!

My current armor has 4 linked blues, but I don't know how good it is off the top my head. Put it on only solely for the slots. If you somehow come across something with 3 linked slots (2 blue, 1 red) I'd be willing to trade.

[mistformsquirrl]

Well that was painful and disappointing at the same time. Up until now every fight in the game has had an aspect of "tough, but fair" to it. Then I showed up to the Dominus fight as a summoning witch... apparently you just shouldn't bother doing that at all. Minions died so fast I didn't even see what exactly killed them - and because of the absolute storm of minibosses I couldn't raise spectres at all, and could barely kill anything to raise even one zombie, let alone the zombies I need for that fight.

And just to give you an idea - I have 75% lightning resist, 70% fire resist and 45% cold resist. On Normal difficulty. Bleh.

I haven't been this deflated over a loss in any game in ages to be honest.

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day; maybe I'll figure out what went so horribly wrong then.

[NineThePuma]

Well that was painful and disappointing at the same time. Up until now every fight in the game has had an aspect of "tough, but fair" to it. Then I showed up to the Dominus fight as a summoning witch... apparently you just shouldn't bother doing that at all. Minions died so fast I didn't even see what exactly killed them - and because of the absolute storm of minibosses I couldn't raise spectres at all, and could barely kill anything to raise even one zombie, let alone the zombies I need for that fight.

And just to give you an idea - I have 75% lightning resist, 70% fire resist and 45% cold resist. On Normal difficulty. Bleh.

I haven't been this deflated over a loss in any game in ages to be honest.

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day; maybe I'll figure out what went so horribly wrong then.

The Dominus fight comes in three or so stages; the first involves dealing with his Quirky Miniboss Squad of three uniques, the second involves fighting Dominus, and the third involves fighting his One Winged Angel. Each stage has a technically infinite flow of minions for you to harvest, but the squad is incredibly difficult if you can't throw enough durable bodies around to not get insta-gibbed. The second fight I've consistently been relegated to minion clearing detail, so I can't comment on it, but the third phase, if you have enough life leech, you can literally just stand there punching him like crazy.

[Worira]

The minions in the first stage don't respawn, actually.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

The Dominus fight sucks giant flaming space monkey balls. Easily the worst thing about the entire game. My thoughts on beating him:

Miniboss phase: Kite and split them up! They have a wee bit of ADD, so you can usually isolate one, smack them down and move to the next one.

The first wave is Caster, Fire Shooter and Spin2win Man. Fire Shooter is fast and you can easily draw away from the others. Spin2win Man can be kited forever, so I go for Caster second.
Second wave: Flicker Guy, Spine Spammer, and Chaos Damager. Spine Spammer isn't too dangerous as long as you sidestep the spine spam (but will murder you to death if you don't!). I prefer to kill Chaos Damage Dude first because chaos damage and also Ethereal Knives and he just hurts a ton. After that, the other two are fairly easy.
Of course, kill priority varies on build. Point is, kite, split them up, and murder them one by one.

Human Dominus Phase A.K.A. "OH COME ON!" Phase: 4 attacks worth noting, here: Megapunch, Miscreation Bombifier, Lazer Totems, Hose of Souls.
Megapunch is easy to dodge and is the only fair(ish) thing about this fight. Learn to love seeing it wind up. Unless you're 100% melee in which case just sigh and move away. The Bombifier puts a curse on you that makes miscreations chase you and blow up. Not too dangerous but does force you to deal with it by kiting/killing the minions. Lazer Totems is bad and it's inventor should feel bad. Does a ton of Cold damage and chills when you cross the beams. Kill the totems FAST, because he usually follows up with the Hose of Souls, which is a huge stream of screaming souls that will utterly destroy you. He also has a teleport thingy he does sometimes. Leaves electrical charges on the floor. Not really a huge problem.

Main issue with this fight is that he'll combo Totems into Punch or Hose, so you'll be chilled, taking damage and then BAM big attacks hits you because you're slowed. The hard part of this phase will be getting the breathing room to actually throw some attacks at Dominus, since there's just so much crap flying around, walking around, and just sitting around that you have to deal with first.

Giant Enemy Crabshrimp Dominus A.K.A. OH COME ON II: Unfairer Yet. Giant Crapshrimp is the worse. Main abilities are That Bloody Rain, C'mere You.
That Bloody Rain makes it rain. The rain kills you. Fast. There will be a giant golden bubble that protects you from the rain... and forces you into melee range with the Crapshrimp because area is tiny and the Crabshrimp will be standing in the middle of it. C'mere You is what Crabshrimp uses when it doesn't use the Bloody Rain to get you into melee range. The spell simply teleports into you melee range of Crapshrimp.
Those are the two big ones, but of course there's more. Crabshrimp also has a ranged attack that is fairly easy to dodge (same one the corpse-eating monsters from the Imperial Gardens use), summons lots of miscreations (not usually a problem, but they can overrrun you if you don't clear them out. Also Tentacle Miscreations will snipe you from outside the bubble during Rains), and also has a Charge attack (y'know, just in case it were having trouble getting into melee range) and a Cleave.

This last phase of the game depends entirely on you build's ability to simply stand and trade blows with something big and mean by way of mitigation, HP and life leech. If you can, the fight is easy. If not, it's hella frustrating.



I've killed Dominus. However, the number of times I died trying to do that suggests that there are problems with my build.

There's a 50% chance the problem with your build is 'not enough HP'. There is a 45% chance the problem is not your build, but that Dominus sucks ass and is a terrible fight. There's a 5% chance there's a non-HP problem with your build. I'd have to see the build to know for sure, of course. :smallsmile:

[Shpadoinkle]

The thing about socket color is items are far more likely to have sockets of the color corresponding to their stat. Evasion items tend strongly toward green sockets, energy shield items toward blue, and armor toward red. I'm not sure what the exact odds are, but getting a set of armor gloves with four blue sockets is probably staggeringly unlikely.

I can confirm this. I spent around 100 chromatic orbs on my initial pair of Facebreakers (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Facebreaker) with about 810% increased damage trying to get three reds and one green socket, then I found a better pair (860%) and used maybe another hundred trying to duplicate that configuration, and eventually bought a near-perfect pair (995%) and spent about 200 chromatics trying to get the same configuration. What made it so hard was the fact that they're evasion/ES gloves, so red sockets are particularly unlikely to be rolled on them, much less three at once, but I'm stubborn so I kept plugging away at it.

As for the Dominus fight, I've only done it twice, both on normal, so I don't have much experience with it, but the biggest problem I had with it was that is was so freaking choppy that I couldn't even see what the hell was going on 95% of the damn time. I died four times to the blood rain before I finally looked it up on the wiki to figure out what he was doing and how to survive it because I couldn't tell from what I could see in-game. Trying to play the game at 1 FPS sucks.


My current armor has 4 linked blues, but I don't know how good it is off the top my head. Put it on only solely for the slots. If you somehow come across something with 3 linked slots (2 blue, 1 red) I'd be willing to trade.

What are your level and stats? Armor with those sockets shouldn't be at all hard to find, 3-links are extremely common.


Well that was painful and disappointing at the same time. Up until now every fight in the game has had an aspect of "tough, but fair" to it. Then I showed up to the Dominus fight as a summoning witch... apparently you just shouldn't bother doing that at all.

Generally summons are best as meatshields, not your primary source of damage, or really any damage. I've found linking Summon Skeletons + Spell Totem + Culling Strike can be effective, though, but I generally don't need it. Anyway, your primary damage should either be a spell like Fireball, or you should specialize in lightning damage and more specifically in the Shock status effect, which causes anybody who has it to take 30% more damage from all attacks for a few seconds, and can stack up to 3 times, which makes summons far more viable as a source of offense. EDIT: Also, try playing in a party. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts and all that.

[mistformsquirrl]

Nearly had Dominus this last time - so incredibly ticked that I didn't get it (and it was my own fault this time too) - I got through the miniboss squad, died a TON of times on his second form, but beat it... then forgot to lay a portal down during the third very easy form.

I had him down to 1/3rd health. But all the dungeon bits on the way up to him had reset so there was no way to get back in time.

Blargh.

I will beat him though - oh yes; I can only be denied so long.

*edit*

I should add, my primary damage is actually the rather classic "Whack them in the face with a sword" lol - I'm a melee summoner; so I use Reave with added fire damage and lifetap. In 99% of situations, I can actually solo everything myself without even bothering with minions* - most boss fights eventually devolve to me whacking the boss with my trusty sword until they die - which worked fine on everything up till Dominus. Heck, really that's how I nearly had Dominus this last time too.


*But I really like them and they do make things easier.

[NineThePuma]

But all the dungeon bits on the way up to him had reset so there was no way to get back in time.

Actually Dominus and the three floors before him are all part of the same instance, AFAIK.

[Worira]

Yeah. It's sneaky about it, though, because the waypoint is actually on the last floor of the instance before that.

[mistformsquirrl]

Ah crap, so I could have had him huh? >_< Oh well, I'm not too upset about that really. I'll definitely have him on the next run I think; though I may need a few more portal scrolls. Not too hard to get those though.

[ex cathedra]

The Dominus fight sucks giant flaming space monkey balls. Easily the worst thing about the entire game. My thoughts on beating him:

My only real problem with the Dominus fight the first time I went through it is that you aren't initially given enough information to fight particularly well. The particles in the blood rain stage are unclear and so my first nemesis character RIP'd at that fight despite being really over-geared just because i had no idea how the degen worked.

in other news the most recent beta supporter packs have finally shipped so i can look forward to that in a few days. :3

[Shpadoinkle]

Incidentally, I often wind up with extra scrolls when I pop back to town to empty my inventory. If we had a guild stash I'd be happy to put most of them in there (I do need to sustain my own supply, of course.)

[NineThePuma]

Incidentally, I often wind up with extra scrolls when I pop back to town to empty my inventory. If we had a guild stash I'd be happy to put most of them in there (I do need to sustain my own supply, of course.)

Anyone wanna blow 5 bucks on a guild stash? Cause I'm a little broke at the moment xD;;

[ex cathedra]

Anyone wanna blow 5 bucks on a guild stash? Cause I'm a little broke at the moment xD;;

hit me up on league or something, i have points to spare

[Shpadoinkle]

Well, I've been considering donating lately anyway, I might be able to contribute to that end. It'll have to wait until Monday at the earliest though, I'd need to visit the bank.

[ex cathedra]

are most players here on standard, domination, or nemesis? this time around i really prefer the nemesis gimmick to domination's (whereas I found anarchy much more enjoyable than onslaught during the beta) but i'm constantly being reminded that i don't really pay enough attention to safely progress given that i just loss two characters in a row to alt+tabbing while i zone into an area and coming back to find a corpse. :smalltongue:

[mistformsquirrl]

I'm in Domination, I have no idea where everyone else is >.< What's Nemesis? I don't think I knew you could sign up for that.

[ex cathedra]

Domination and Nemesis are the 4-month variants of the Standard and Hardcore leagues, respectively. The 4-month leagues tend to have different rules and different drops than the other leagues. For instance, this item (http://i.imgur.com/WGxEzoj.png) can only be found in Nemesis while this item (http://i.imgur.com/WNIK93A.png) only drops in Domination.

In Nemesis, it's the same as the normal hardcore league except for the addition of "Nemesis" enemy mods; every rare/yellow enemy creature gets an extra effect out of a pool of 24. This is the Nemesis equivalent of the Shrines in Domination.

[mistformsquirrl]

Ahhh... hardcore frightens me senseless, glad I didn't inadvertently sign up for that then heh <@.@>

[ex cathedra]

in some senses the hardcore mode in PoE isn't that unforgiving simply because death doesn't actually delete your character or anything. Dead hardcore characters just get moved into the Standard league.

[NineThePuma]

How many people can be in a party again?

I kinda wanna organize a group Speed Run through Nemesis on fresh characters for a whole bunch of people

[ex cathedra]

How many people can be in a party again?

I kinda wanna organize a group Speed Run through Nemesis on fresh characters for a whole bunch of people

six people, iirc

[Godskook]

six people, iirc

This is correct.

[Psinoob]

I totally need to finish this game. My main character was one I paired up with a buddy but now he stopped playing so I might just solo untill I can find someone.

[mangosta71]

So, I got a pair of gloves with stats that made me have to lay down for a while. Unfortunately, they only have 1 blue socket.

Does anyone know that "the item's quality value is consumed" means on jeweller's orbs? I tried asking in general chat in game, but, well...

[Worira]

It reduces the quality of the item to 0%, giving it a better chance of getting more slots in the process. I really wish it was either optional or only for chest pieces and two-handers, though.

[ex cathedra]

So, I got a pair of gloves with stats that made me have to lay down for a while. Unfortunately, they only have 1 blue socket.

Does anyone know that "the item's quality value is consumed" means on jeweller's orbs? I tried asking in general chat in game, but, well...

Quality (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Quality). Armorer's scraps are easy to come by, you won't lose anything significant by jewelling/fusing those gloves. Good luck!

[Godskook]

are most players here on standard, domination, or nemesis? this time around i really prefer the nemesis gimmick to domination's (whereas I found anarchy much more enjoyable than onslaught during the beta) but i'm constantly being reminded that i don't really pay enough attention to safely progress given that i just loss two characters in a row to alt+tabbing while i zone into an area and coming back to find a corpse. :smalltongue:

My PC is bad enough that I die to lag spikes too often to make hardcore/nemesis interesting. On top of this, I'm thus far bad at making/playing characters in a way that'll keep them alive for long periods of time.


I totally need to finish this game. My main character was one I paired up with a buddy but now he stopped playing so I might just solo untill I can find someone.

Define "finish the game" for me, cause depending on your meaning, that ranges from impossible to really hard to really really really easy.

[mistformsquirrl]

Lol... I'm both happy and sad - I just got my very first unique! And it's a one-handed sword which is my weapon of choice for the character who got it (as well as my main) - but...

I got it at level 2, on the first beach during the fight with Hillock. Don't get me wrong, this will be a huge boon going through the low levels... but I'd really have preferred a higher level unique on my main >_< Still, at least I've got one now lol

[Cogwheel]

Lol... I'm both happy and sad - I just got my very first unique! And it's a one-handed sword which is my weapon of choice for the character who got it (as well as my main) - but...

I got it at level 2, on the first beach during the fight with Hillock. Don't get me wrong, this will be a huge boon going through the low levels... but I'd really have preferred a higher level unique on my main >_< Still, at least I've got one now lol

I haven't even found a single unique I could use for my entire time in the game. Only one I've seen? Aurumvorax.

[NineThePuma]

No points for guessing what I'm gonna grab in 3 more skill points. (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAABdMIZxg8GaIhwy2oOyhKyEwyV-GC5IMJiq-MWJARkNaTOph0sZC31r0nvrzbWeQI-WX56A==)

[mangosta71]

Yeah, those gloves are my first unique. And they'll be useful for two of my characters - the character that got them is a sniper shadow, and I'm running a claw duelist now. Feel like the duelist is the better build - he certainly died less in act 1 than the shadow. And yes, I know, standard claw build is shadow, but I wanted to do something different.

So, it sounds like it would be in my interests to pump up the quality of my shiny gloves before popping an orb.

[Eurus]

So here's my build (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIAr-sB0aJA9PihIsSi3BWn1P7IGf4bAaGk4duXBi2DGYr7CfbaGo-btSLqayTKj9pk8EKV6V_hJP3nVNUA6NabJjIBshnPemHrelPN6 gW11CPdqA==). I have no idea how good or bad it is but I'm starting to wonder if I'm making bad choices?

Also, I've only found one unique so far. Ungil's Gauche. Not half bad, but not useful to me. Gave it to Nine.

[ex cathedra]

So here's my build (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIAr-sB0aJA9PihIsSi3BWn1P7IGf4bAaGk4duXBi2DGYr7CfbaGo-btSLqayTKj9pk8EKV6V_hJP3nVNUA6NabJjIBshnPemHrelPN6 gW11CPdqA==). I have no idea how good or bad it is but I'm starting to wonder if I'm making bad choices?

Also, I've only found one unique so far. Ungil's Gauche. Not half bad, but not useful to me. Gave it to Nine.

here's a link to the build stuff i was talking about in-game (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIAAF4B0QR-BbUF-QguFfAZihmOGf4ajxsBIuowcTB8MgE6QjpYS3hRR1_hYetrJHp TfyuHGY19jb-V6Zsmm42btaEiokCjiqfUqn-quK_rshnEosaizerPetN-1CPWitwV3ajo1u2D9Pj22vsJ_sg=)

thus far i've only found two really low level uniques in domination, a coral amulet and a pine buckler. my luck elsewhere has been much better. i've found 4~5 chaos, a regal, and a GCP, not to mention a handful of excellent rares in the last two days

[mistformsquirrl]

So, I've been playing my Scion a lot since my witch is currently stalled* - trying to set her up as a paladin type - one handed sword and a shield, near impervious defenses - and if I can find it a good aura (Preferably fire damage or healing).

I have been absolutely tearing through the Acts - already about halfway through Act II with her; but I think some of that is raw good luck** as well as experience (I know the dialogue so I don't need to listen to it all, I know generally where to go, when, and I have a much better grasp on stats than I did when my witch was at this stage.)

The only thing that isn't perfect (and I say 'not perfect' because it's fine as it is, it could merely be better) - is my mana situation. I don't have a ton of Int like I did with my Witch - which is fine, I'm not planning to do much actual casting; but it does mean I run out pretty quickly in longer fights. Right now it's not really an issue, I hit so hard compared to your average mob's HP that even long fights are rarely much longer than one mana potion click away from being over... but I can see this being a problem down the line.

That said I'm not too worried - the Scion's position is such I can pretty easily nab more mana/mana regen if at any point I really feel necessary.

-----

This is vaguely what I'm going for - just as a sort of "Kinda what I'm thinking" type thing. It's not set in stone or anything:

Here (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAABdMIZxmiMZ411jsoRQpJZ0rITDJodG6qguSKr4xYkB GUoL682E3aYuQI9Mb56LXyqW4XPhSOHj1gc2xGcmwyCdE2CTN0 TXgNvooB3KQZG_ol34TZypBfOd3jZU1HfqvFvYGZK6efn6NY21 Pfm4OE73Tteu9gSwUtxFgn1UCgnrkhYMEH1340NR0mbI2sr-eRw4ZeExvIfpoDAOXF9Ub7_G5pxLjV-L6nplc64fJF_gpN4_6PNZKsWYjx52O3PsauZtkY1zS-tHOTOr0nGDxhIRpVZKM26K-iEPAX3AaiOnEB56cwFHE0OAMnAf8Lqve-)

Here's where I'm sitting right now: Here (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAABdMIZxmiMZ411jsoRQpJZ0rITDJodG6qguSKr4xYkB GUoL682E3aYuQI9Mb56A==)



*Though now that I have a Summon Skeleton gem that may change next time I load her up. Hopefully I'll get a hold of a totem support gem sooner rather than later.

**I've received a chain of excellent one handed weapons *and* got a Heavy Strike gem almost right out of the gate, which has quickly become my favorite attack since it's just absolutely devastating. I may trade it to my witch, swapping my Scion infernal blow instead since she doesn't care about corpses... but we'll see. Basically I one or two shot everything I encounter; and when surrounded I have enough HP to just Cleave my way out. I've died once I think - to the giant spider boss in Act II; and she was within a hit of dying so it was a close thing.

[Wookieetank]

What are your level and stats? Armor with those sockets shouldn't be at all hard to find, 3-links are extremely common.

I'm level 32, and as for stats not sure off the top my head. Had to take care of my sick little girl this weekend, so not a lot of time for much else. Now that she's back to feeling well though I should hopefully have more time to be around. I'm doing a fire build witch, and burninating my way through everything and getting all the fire boosts I can find on skilldrasil. Picked up a fire penetration gem (reduces target's fire resistance) recently, which is why I'm looking for the red and blue linked. Really need to look into the crafting side of things and how to tweak my own equipment, just haven't had the time yet.

[Shpadoinkle]

So here's my build (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgIAr-sB0aJA9PihIsSi3BWn1P7IGf4bAaGk4duXBi2DGYr7CfbaGo-btSLqayTKj9pk8EKV6V_hJP3nVNUA6NabJjIBshnPemHrelPN6 gW11CPdqA==). I have no idea how good or bad it is but I'm starting to wonder if I'm making bad choices?

I wouldn't say bad... It's not what I would do, but I don't have much experience with rangers so what do I know. Anyway, if it were me I'd say I'm pretty much done with offensive nodes for the rest of the game and focus everything from this point on on defense, preferably life and evasion.


The only thing that isn't perfect (and I say 'not perfect' because it's fine as it is, it could merely be better) - is my mana situation. I don't have a ton of Int like I did with my Witch - which is fine, I'm not planning to do much actual casting; but it does mean I run out pretty quickly in longer fights.

Do you have a Clarity gem? If not try visiting the Trade channel and saying you want to buy one, you should be able to get one at a fairly affordable price- if I had to guess I'd say you could get a low level one for an orb of Alchemy.

[ChaosOS]

There's a clarity in the guild stash if you want

[NineThePuma]

I'm strongly considering farming Brutus quests for clarities. It's such a good spell.

[ex cathedra]

lots of very useful gems can be gotten by running several characters through brutus and to the beginning of merveil's cave. that's generally how i start new leagues, a lot of characters want more than one reward from those two quests. you don't even have to kill merveil to get the last gem reward of the act, you just have to enter her caves.

[mistformsquirrl]

This sounds like a good idea <@.@> Thank you for the idea!

[Godskook]

Anybody know what the limit on characters is?

[NineThePuma]

Shadow gets clarity as a brutus drop. Is his Brutus fight easier than a witch's?

[ex cathedra]

Shadow gets clarity as a brutus drop. Is his Brutus fight easier than a witch's?

i'm fairly certain that the poison arrow leveling is still easier than freezing pulse, especially if you keep a half-decent rare bow around for twinking, so yeah. it probably is. otoh if you have a decent two-hander just use it and a level 1 spectral throw gem for every character.

[Driderman]

So, is the Guild on European or American server? Or is it universal? I have a Claw Shadow level 17 (I think) called Sartainn on the European server.

[NineThePuma]

American. I'm not sure if the guild will cross over.

[Shyftir]

So I'm not on a whole lot but... I've been mostly playing either ScionShyft or Laraway. So yeah, Invite me to the guild, k?

[NineThePuma]

So, I put a bunch of flasks into the guild stash.

Feel free to use them as you level up a new guy, just be sure to put them back once you're leveled enough to use the next set. I may or may not enchant some of them, depending on if there's specific enchants that are particularly desirable.(I've mostly not bothered enchanting my flasks, since I tend to upgrade as they come and it's not worth investing resources most of the time when you're just going to replace it in a few zones anyway/)

And I should totally go through and update the OP with a list of what everyone is called in game and what one of their primary characters is named. Probably. At somepoint. When it's not 2am

EDIT: went to invite shyfter and it tells me he's in a guild and can't join ours. Sorry bro.

[Shyftir]

yeah, my name is spelt, shyftir.

Might be the problem. Also none of my toons are names shyftir.

[NineThePuma]

Tried inviting both of your characters. Both spat out identical "they're already in a guild" messages. Unless "already in a guild" is code for "not on your friends list"

EDIT: it's apparently code for "in this guild already, idiot"

[Shyftir]

lol did i join back in the day maybe?

[ex cathedra]

lol did i join back in the day maybe?

Is your account name j4bez?

[Shyftir]

you know it might be i was using that name at one point

[mangosta71]

Oh, character names.

Shadow = Carridin
Duelist = Paedric

I also have a witch that I got to the first camp and then never touched again...

[Godskook]

Larcentious, this (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAVysHY-aBc1Nr230Y7IoRUDGIeQMI9It6pyt90iL0bAsNjRzckye_l8k9 8h44G-QRkc_fsJLBjr4RLXyDzfq4kxHbM3anCI9G0NCboffXzLwQl0QE TbmqxIVgz2VVxhZvna4abKasiECQM-vuKPqCx9P7qH1akWqsGYUkqjbp42r60maecU2az0NjtzFY9Z3E-ehBh7c-_grnY4jxrFk1krXybqpKyIqvkBGC5NkLKpj6gOL3) is more what I was thinking for you in terms of a tank/minion master.

[turbo164]

Anybody know what the limit on characters is?

I believe it was 24 or 25 during the beta, enough for 4 of each of the (then) 6 classes.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Hey guys, which of these is better?

Pixie's Chainmail Tunic of the Pupil
Armour: 38
Energy Shield: 12
+12 Intelligence
6% increased Block and Stun Recovery

Agony Hide Chestplate
Armour: 63
+19 to maximum Life
+8% Lightning Resistance
Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers

[mangosta71]

Depends on the character. If you're a caster, the chain. If you're a melee brawler, the plate.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Depends on the character. If you're a caster, the chain. If you're a melee brawler, the plate.

Well, I was going archer with zombie minions and firestorm, but since I'm playing Templar I forced myself to pull away from that somewhat (that's Hunter and Witch territory), so now I'm going shield and one-handed (currently a unique sword) with zombie minions and firestorm (because those and the Ground Slam are the only gems I have, and Ground Slam doesn't work with a sword. Plus Firestorm is useful when I'm getting mobbed).

[Godskook]

Hey guys, which of these is better?

Pixie's Chainmail Tunic of the Pupil
Armour: 38
Energy Shield: 12
+12 Intelligence
6% increased Block and Stun Recovery

Agony Hide Chestplate
Armour: 63
+19 to maximum Life
+8% Lightning Resistance
Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers

Depends slightly on your passives, but assuming you have roughly equal amounts of life and ES nodes, the chestplate is probably going to be better most of the time. Maybe I'm too used to higher level gear, but neither of those seems particularly impressive to me, I'd just pick the one with better sockets/links, and call it a day.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I forget if the chainmail has two slots... I'll have to check.

Currently, I have very few gemstones (I'm not sure, but I think I sold Glacial Hammer), so it actually doesn't matter. By the time I get a lot, there will probably be better armor.

[NineThePuma]

Are you in the guild? I'm p. sure there's some good stuff in the guild.

Personally, despite wandering around with white gloves, you probs want rares in every slot.

[Shpadoinkle]

Larcentious, this (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAVysHY-aBc1Nr230Y7IoRUDGIeQMI9It6pyt90iL0bAsNjRzckye_l8k9 8h44G-QRkc_fsJLBjr4RLXyDzfq4kxHbM3anCI9G0NCboffXzLwQl0QE TbmqxIVgz2VVxhZvna4abKasiECQM-vuKPqCx9P7qH1akWqsGYUkqjbp42r60maecU2az0NjtzFY9Z3E-ehBh7c-_grnY4jxrFk1krXybqpKyIqvkBGC5NkLKpj6gOL3) is more what I was thinking for you in terms of a tank/minion master.

This is my current plan for my dual spork totem scion (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAACGchwyj6LKYtqDeDV-GDCZDWpuuxkLfW21nquuvu-WW4k6eUXl3R_TdmNApGcbB34Ygdqv5Jgsf56KcIFVDa3dkLKpj 6gEGHtz7GrjwtxPY9DySLxBV99SftrKpZ8yoTWivDEyyno_IQz PiTeyD-h3Kp9zL460rEeGlY5fautAyTJ7-XyT3yHthNfLuePIFvTdiMdv4K52OI8fJFOuGmVzGevryC5JARi q9KyA==). She's going to be an item farmer and pretty much nothing else. I'm a little concerned I might not have enough life or ES though.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Are you in the guild? I'm p. sure there's some good stuff in the guild.

Personally, despite wandering around with white gloves, you probs want rares in every slot.

Nope. And I started my character in the Standard League too. :smalltongue:

I'll message you in-game about it when I get home (you are Dyth, right?). My game name is Elzan, although somebody already took that for characters so my Templar is JohnStoppable.

[Shpadoinkle]

Came up with this build earlier today. (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAA8pebXaiaWlJJZ5ARguSKr0rIOygDlm49YEMIZ4MJRn HhiB2q_kmTOr0nGDz56LQMW_STJxzcOBt_xn5ZJ6nBxSy_hq4V 1-wYw23XhlZjt9bbWS2osZCYdKKjD8Tcxzt8Wqa4yhGWDkjjhGND 8uGIa7b3ES-ZmutjiEKQG3BWmhPb1Hf9naP8qz8nKk0VICzpytMZtGqTtkFaG kMxG8heE4TvYSES4ZuD) She's primarily a Spectral Throw/Frenzy/Discharge build; I call it The Captain due to the auras (planning on running Clarity and Discipline) and Conduit. Also I'm playing her on Domination league, so anyone who wants to help me with her in terms of leveling, I'd appreciate it.

[ex cathedra]

I'm guessing that you're Cast-on-critting the Discharges?

edit:
you're 100% going to one-shot yourself if you don't take vaal pact + ghost reaver, and you're only a few points away from it

[Shpadoinkle]

I'm guessing that you're Cast-on-critting the Discharges?

edit:
you're 100% going to one-shot yourself if you don't take vaal pact + ghost reaver, and you're only a few points away from it

Actually Discharge is meant to be an "Oh crap I'm surrounded" panic move, my primary attack is going to be Spectral Throw and any party members I have. Good catch with the Vaal Pact and Ghost Reaver, though... Here's the revised build, (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAA8pebXaiaWlJJZ5ARguSKr0rIOygDlm49YEMIZ4MJRn HhiB2q_kmTOr0nGDz56LQMW_STJxzcOBt_xn5ZJ6nBxSy_hq4V 1-wYw23XhlZjt9bbWS2osZCYdKKjD8Tcxzt8Wqa4yhGWDkjjhGND 8uGIa7b3ES-ZmutjiEKQG3BWmhPb1Hf9naP8q4TvYSES4ZuDbqq18qlueA1Yr zboZKMaVTY9pcvC7EcGX2o=) and I managed to save some points on this one.

Projected skills are Clarity, Discipline, Enduring Cry, Vulnerability, Spectral Throw (+ LMP and Power Charge on Crit and Life Leech), Discharge, Frenzy, and maybe Blood Rage if I can get one.

[ex cathedra]

i would drop the hybrid +10/+10 stat nodes near the scion tree, considering that +30 stat nodes are almost strictly better and those aren't even good enough to be taken as often as possible.

[Shpadoinkle]

Really, the only reason I took the hybrid +10/+10 nodes is because the scion kinda hurts for stats early on.

[NineThePuma]

Really, the only reason I took the hybrid +10/+10 nodes is because the scion kinda hurts for stats early on.

QFT.

You really need to punch your way out of the middle as fast as you can so that you can get stats.

Or be me with the dumbest scion build ever.

[Godskook]

Really, the only reason I took the hybrid +10/+10 nodes is because the scion kinda hurts for stats early on.

Don't spend so much time on Scion's level 1 node lines. Going for Shaper seems entirely worthless, for instance, as does running two separate lines out the Int/Dex side. I can almost understand doing both lines on the Str/Dex side, but you won't need the resists early game, so that's something you can pick up towards the end of Act 3 or into Cruel.

[Shpadoinkle]

WELP, my Searing Touch ancestral bond summoner templar hit a wall. I figure I had him spread too thin, so I deleted him and I'm making a Searing Touch fire trap/fireball mine CI shadow now.

I'm really bad at planning builds it seems. The only ones that have been able to survive past level 50-ish are the ones I've copied from the forums.

[Eurus]

Is a focused spectral throw build able to survive late game and high levels? It seems plenty effective at low ones, just curious.

[ex cathedra]

Is a focused spectral throw build able to survive late game and high levels? It seems plenty effective at low ones, just curious.

yeah, you don't need a lot of offensive nodes to succeed as long as you get decent weapons and there's a lot of room to get defensive nodes from nearly any class start. you generally have to use double strike for single-target damage, though, and the build is not good in party scenarios.

[Shyftir]

I use Heavy Strike for single target. Also I weapon dance, throwing swords with LMP for crowds. and swinging a massive hammer for single target.

But I'm just screwing around with the build right now.

[NineThePuma]

So, been doing some work for a DnD game, and started thinking on How to do a Hexblade in PoE, and that sort of spiraled into "how to build a melee witch" and so now I'm like "How the crap DO you build a melee witch?"

[Godskook]

So, been doing some work for a DnD game, and started thinking on How to do a Hexblade in PoE, and that sort of spiraled into "how to build a melee witch" and so now I'm like "How the crap DO you build a melee witch?"

Wouldn't Shadow work better?

[ex cathedra]

melee in the "up close and personal" sense or melee in the "melee weapon" sense? if the former, freeze pulse builds are a PoE staple and most of their gameplay is melee. if the latter, melee witches are mostly viable due to their proximity to a) CI and B) the shadow tree. you get CI, you get ghost reaver, you take a looooong trip and get vaal pact. on your way you pass by a large amount of strong crit and dagger nodes.

this build is hard to pull off, though. you either take a lot of health nodes early and eventually respec or you try to do without (hint: that's generally a bad idea). that's not the end of it; it takes a decent amount of currency to adequately equip a lategame CI character due to some basic differences between ES and HP; you can get max HP off of a single +#HP affix roll on a piece of gear, but to get maximum ES you need a combination of +#ES, +%ES, and sometimes hybrid +%ES/block and stun recovery.

there are certainly other viable options but i suspect that most of them are derived from or reliant upon specific uniques.

[Shpadoinkle]

Wouldn't Shadow work better?

I can vouch for melee shadows being very effective. Having reave or spectral throw for some range is good though.

[Pronounceable]

This is a good game. They did lots of good with it. It has soul.

I grabbed Templar in order to be the grumpy old man, which didn't work out all that well, took whatever random two handed weapon passives I could find nearby and heavy strike spam got me to Dominus part two before I ever died. End result is a level 41 old man who hits like Hulk.

I doubt I'll ever play it on higher difficulties or restart with some other character because the premise of Diablo is dumb (get items to get better items while looking for better items). Fake imaginary items can't fill the hole in my soul. Only spilt blood can and I've shed enough blood from this one. Also my finger hurts after just an hour of playing any Diaclones. If only it was 3rd person action adventure stuff...

[Shpadoinkle]

So any thoughts on Storm Call? Seems interesting, but I haven't used it much yet.

[Reynard]

It's interesting, but unless you're able to hold them in place for a while, via traps or facetanking or whatever, it's not that practical. 1-and-a-bit seconds is a long time in a game like this.

Anyone got a low-level clarity gem lying around? I've got an archer suffering from a crippling mana addiction and I haven't got the patience to suffer through getting a witch to a high enough level to get as a quest reward. I've got some Rare items lying around to be used as exchange, or any one of my many spare low-level (both gem level and player level) green and red skill gems.

[Castaras]

If you have some Multi-trap gems, I'll gladly take them for a clarity. My steam name is Castaras (or castaraskaelde, can't remember if you need the account name or not for adding).

[NineThePuma]

If you have some Multi-trap gems, I'll gladly take them for a clarity. My steam name is Castaras (or castaraskaelde, can't remember if you need the account name or not for adding).

Hilariously, you need a character name.

[Reynard]

If you have some Multi-trap gems, I'll gladly take them for a clarity. My steam name is Castaras (or castaraskaelde, can't remember if you need the account name or not for adding).

Well, I haven't got a multi-trap gem yet, but I have a duelist who is right up against the end of act three normal, so It shouldn't take too long to get one.

And yeah, you need the character's name to send a friend request, but once you accept one it lets you see whenever the account associated with the character is online, whatever character they're playing.

[Shpadoinkle]

So does anybody play anymore? Seems like I haven't seen anybody else in the guild on in a week, and this thread has kind of died.

[ex cathedra]

So does anybody play anymore? Seems like I haven't seen anybody else in the guild on in a week, and this thread has kind of died.

i didn't have a computer for about a week around the time of thanksgiving and since then i've kind of taken a break. i'll probably pick it up again soon but i had already noticed that a lot of people had stopped logging on

[NineThePuma]

I had my internet cut out repeatedly for four days with intermittent service of it being down for hours at a time. I then got side tracked by a combination of Starbound, League of Legends, and Arkham Origins.

[Shyftir]

I've been playing. Don't know about everybody else.

[Eurus]

My internet situation is not currently good for pretty much any game that requires a significant ongoing connection. No League, and no Path. :smallfrown:

[Castaras]

Hilariously, you need a character name.

Was meaning adding on steam rather than Path of Exile... I like my path of exile time to be quiet and only have a couple of people as friends on there at most.

Apologies for not getting back to you, life got hectic.

[Reynard]

Was meaning adding on steam rather than Path of Exile... I like my path of exile time to be quiet and only have a couple of people as friends on there at most.

Apologies for not getting back to you, life got hectic.

It's fine. I'm not in need of clarity gems now, a couple of friends started playing and we've run through the first act a couple of times, but I did pick up the Multiple Traps gem before then, so the trade is still on the table. Though I might want a life leech support gem more, if you've got any around.

[JeenLeen]

Do any classes get aura gems as awards for the first few quests in Act I?

Are there any minions you can get besides zombies? If yes, what gems grant those and when can you usually get them?

[NineThePuma]

Do any classes get aura gems as awards for the first few quests in Act I?

Are there any minions you can get besides zombies? If yes, what gems grant those and when can you usually get them?

Auras are relatively late. I think the earliest you can get them is Act 2.

Totems, Skeletons, Spectres, Animated Weapons, and Animated Armors spring to mind as summons.

[Wookieetank]

Are there any minions you can get besides zombies? If yes, what gems grant those and when can you usually get them?

I know of Skeletons and Spectres, from gems of the same name.

[Castaras]

Clarity comes act 1 for witch, iirc.

[thracian]

I stopped playing PoE because I got unreasonably pissed off at the combination of desynch and long animations making a micro-heavy playstyle fairly unsatisfying.

[ex cathedra]

I stopped playing PoE because I got unreasonably pissed off at the combination of desynch and long animations making a micro-heavy playstyle fairly unsatisfying.

animations are tied heavily to cast and attack speed which are both fairly scarce in early game environments. as your character develops they often become much more mechanically enjoyable to play. desynch is necessary to enable certain core gameplay concepts, and though some players aren't particularly fond of having to find work-arounds i find that using a /oos macro alleviates the vast majority of my desynch problems

[Hiro Protagonest]

I stopped playing because I wanted to play Dark Souls more. And then I discovered Warframe. Hammerwatch is also pretty fun. I prefer ARPGs where player skill isn't just your ability to micro a Blizzard RTS hero unit. It's still a very good game, just not really my style.

[Psyren]

I want to get into this game but the zoom is just too close in. Why is it like that? Even on 1920*1200 I'm seeing basically nothing around my character.

[Tavar]

I want to get into this game but the zoom is just too close in. Why is it like that? Even on 1920*1200 I'm seeing basically nothing around my character.

Are you zoomed out all the way? Resolution doesn't effect zoom.

[Psyren]

Are you zoomed out all the way? Resolution doesn't effect zoom.

I am. From what I gather on their forums it's a common complaint. The only solution I've seen so far is to use windowed mode and make the window wider than it is tall - this also favors users with a multi-monitor setup.

[Shpadoinkle]

It seems nobody else from here plays anymore, so I'm going to be looking for a more active guild. Just letting you guys know.

[NineThePuma]

Yeah, sorry. I got side tracked by Arkham Origins, Prototype, League, and then getting a full time job.

[mistformsquirrl]

I'm just waiting for them to release gender-swapped characters or microtransactions to genderswap characters. I like the game a lot, but my first character wound up in a pretty unsatisfying place.

[Psyren]

I'm just waiting for them to release gender-swapped characters or microtransactions to genderswap characters. I like the game a lot, but my first character wound up in a pretty unsatisfying place.

That's definitely one thing I enjoyed about Diablo 3 (even if I almost never play female characters.)

And since they raised the difficulty on D3 I started getting back into it, it's much more fun now.

I do want to play Path of Exile though but I'm still having issues with the zoom being so far in.