[outdated] Caustic Arrow Solo Map MFer (20/300+)

RE A post long ago about not ever running out of mana as HoWA
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HoWA is a pretty subtle build. With a lot of small variants.

If you go Lightning Damage (big hits, not so fast) as opposed to Faster Attacks (lots of hits, but less damage per hit) then you probably won't have mana issues. This is a plus of course.

But, if you go Faster Attacks, then you'll very likely run out of mana on no-leech maps and might need a mana flask on 60% less leech maps and almost surely on no-leech maps.

Piros (I think) and I went Faster Attacks - so we need the mana flask for sure on no leech maps. But... our whirling blades are very fast - so we move faster.

Which is better? I don't know... maybe it's a matter of choice.
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Another subtlety I haven't explored yet, is whether or not it's better to pursue jewel slots on the tree or damage nodes. I went the later - but my DPS is... meh, at best.

Probably going full out for jewels is best... pathing towards each jewel gives you 10 int, or 10 dex or 10% increased damage or some other benefit per node. And the jewel itself, can yield at least 3 nodes worth of DPS, or maybe 4 nodes of DPS plus ES in the best case.

Probably, a jewel-focused build is going to yield the best DPS/ES for HoWA - but it's hard to say for sure, since some of the DPS nodes also offer lightning penetration which is a "more" stat and is incredibly valuable.
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Currently, I'm going to play POE pretty regularly - I'll knock out breach lord kills for sure and maybe 40/40 before returning to my chaos spam simulator.

But, I think I want to up my DPS before attempting Chayula - the damn timer has me concerned. Interestingly, I think that using Discipline plus Herald of Thunder plus Blasphemy-Conductivity/Elemental Weakness is best for mob clearing - maybe by a fairly large margin.

Going the Blasphemy route should enable me to clear trash very quickly and thus overcome the timer barrier for Chayula - once at the boss, I'll switch to Discipline + Wrath.

Anyhow, I'll probably return to my chaos spam simulator before going for 40/40. Stay tuned for chaos spam simulator results :-)

POE has, supposedly, gained its highest ever following this league.

Thus, I expect this league's mechanics to be repeated next league.

To wit - I expect a league with extremely high mob pressure, requiring very high clear speed.

I also expect that 4 or more challenges will be very time intensive - most likely along the lines of requiring "focused" play and lots of map clears. Reinforcing the need for fast clear speed.

And, I expect that 1 or more challenges will require peak end-game kills... Shaper/Uber Atziri/Vaal Temple/New Boss(es)?/etc.

So both AOE and single target DPS will likely be very important in the coming league.

In other words, next league's challenges will likely be a repeat of this league's... but perhaps more so.
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This league, Hand of Wisdom and Action builds seem to have been - by far and away - the best build for the league.

Best in the sense that the build doesn't require mirror-like gear and can kill all content; moreover, the build offers very fast clear speed and high single target DPS - leech enables the build to survive high damage encounters.

Unfortunately, HoWA requires a breach-specific drop; next league, breach won't be available, except perhaps through Zana.

So, my question is... what build(s) do you think might be best in the next league, knowing what we know now and assuming that no major changes are made to life/CI?

Yes this is extremely speculative 1.5 months out from the next league... but, nonetheless... I think the question has merit.

At a minimum, players who have completed all the challenges they want to complete this league, could begin to try out new build ideas... with a mind to suitability for next league.
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My preliminary thoughts...

Maybe crit Ancestral Warchief using Rigwald's Curse. I haven't played this build, but the DPS is fantastic... if totem survivability is OK, then this build could be fantastic.
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What do you guys think?

Well, assuming the Johnson Dollar Diversity Dilemma Hypothesis isn't true of GGG's virtue signaling and the company isn't about to do a big money grab, then immediately go under:

I'm done with high clear speeds and I'll be playing HC SSF next league. I didn't mind the occasional death before in fast party exp and I guess I've been super lucky as well, but now I've been 99 for ages and I'm only 10% into level, having gotten enough exp to be about 50% in. Fuck speed. At least as far as life builds with -only- 9300 ehp go.

If they don't remove AOE overlap in PvP and realize EA's fixed t value is buffing it instead of nerfing it, I'll just play EA again, but on a different class. Bouncing between rank 11 and 16 on the 1v1 ladder just by doing Leo dailies in PvM gear is too much fun, with all these players who are actually good at the game and experienced in PvP crying like little girls and spamming how immoral I am for using a strong attack.

As great as they are, totems just don't appeal to me. If they nerf EA, I'll probably do something weak and safe and won't go for 100% challenges. I'm thinking of CA+ED of some sort.

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Hank wrote:

Unfortunately, HoWA requires a breach-specific drop; next league, breach won't be available, except perhaps through Zana.

Did they confirm that? I was under the impression Breach was received well enough that it's basically a guarantee that they will prophecy it and Chayula kills will be part of endgame challenges forever. I sure hope the badass breachlords don't just end up as bosses of misc. maps with crappy layouts no one ever even clears.

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Hank wrote:

Yes this is extremely speculative 1.5 months out from the next league... but, nonetheless... I think the question has merit.

23 more days unless they changed something.

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hankinsohl wrote:

What do you guys think?

I don't start planning anything until I see the patch notes.

That said, I've never done a wander, and since double dipping probably isn't being addressed until 3.0, Occultist Wander sounds neat.

@Chim: Re: Breach, they've said that's what they're thinking of doing, but they haven't confirmed it yet. It might end up going proper core.