💫 [3.8 Great League Starter!] Huy Crit Shockwave Staff Cyclone Berserker: The Pepega 💫

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Valencius81 wrote:

So since Huy put a lot of effort into the guide I will try to put a lot of effort into offering some beginner perspective on the build. The post will be long so bear with me or opt out here ;).
If you are super-advanced the stuff below is not for you probably.

About Me

I began playing POE in the middle of Betrayal, hence I consider myself a slightly advanced noob. I killed Uber Elder solo the first time this league using Mathil's Shock Nova build (I figured if I can kill him with that build I'll be able to kill him with anything). I also did the Wing challenges for the first time this league.

I like trying out different things / builds in POE and strive to get better every league since I find this game to be quite fun. I am in Huy's guild but this post is not sponsored in any way -> this is meant to be an honest "build diary" of sorts for new players trying to decide if this could be something for them.
I also wanted to give Huy some feedback. Anyhow, I would not gain anything by faking a post like this to begin with :).

At the end of Betrayal I started leveling many builds in SSF to see if the builds had league starter potential (for me). So now, at pretty much the end of Legion I figured I would finally go somewhat Meta and try this out. Next I will try a GC Miner since I really loved my Trapsin back in the day...

I met Huy by getting one of his services and pretty much started following him on stream directly afterwards. He is a very nice guy who is generally very helpful; he helped me a lot this league by answering many of my questions so I figured I could write a little review for him.

Testing the Build / Starting Out

To test the build I used standard leveling gear as mentioned in the guide, to be fair most of this stuff will not be available at the league start (or will be way overpriced). However, Tabula can be easily farmed ( I even switched from a +1 to Gems corrupted Tabula to a normal one for testing purposes), none of the rest is mandatory as it is only quality of life in the first few levels.

I simulated the first few hours of mapping by using only fresh gems, Tabula und a 4-Link Edge of Madness I had. I did use my 7-League Step, but I do not consider this cheating since apart from movement speed they offer nothing that boosts anything. In fact they should be considered a hindrance since they provide no life or resists as normal boots would :D.

Since I did not have a Vaal Double Strike I used Ancestral Protector for leveling.

A10 Kitava went super smooth, I died a few times to random stuff because I suck at the game's mechanics.

Generally I would recommend picking up life and resistance nodes first though since the character can feel squishy at times.

First Notable Changes + Current Gear Status

I started mapping as I would with any character, hitting T1-2 maps.
My first notable drops within 5 hours of gameplay:
- 1 Ex
- 1/20 Dread Banner
- Few Chayula splinters
- 1 The Nurse (my first Doctor-related item ever lol).

Using these drops I simulated some purchases and "sped up" the gearing process. Prices will be more expensive at league start of course or items may not yet be broadly available (21/23 Vaal Double Strike for example). However the Ex / Nurse I am "saving" for a Carcass Jack.

I bought a Hegemony's Era Staff and 5 linked it myself (10C for the staff, + about 90 fusings, only looked for ok-ish phys roll), and decided to pretend that I did not have a 21/23 Vaal Double Strike that I bought for 100C so I kept using Ancestral Protector.

Currently I dropped Blood and Sand since I could not fit it anywhere. While I did find an Unset Ring it had crap stats so I am not using it for now. To be fair the Unset Rings showcased by Huy would be part of the endgame chase.

I am also not running any curse at the moment and none of the required flasks. My chance to hit is like 80ish percent (dropped Resolute Technique for the Timeless jewel), so all in all I am very far from the recommended stuff (remember I am pretending this is league start). My Cyclone is not level 20 either.

My rings are all self-found, I am using the cheap mana enchant, my Stygian cost me 3C for the base + a few fossils for the craft (Jagged spam). My helm is also self-found and has no enchant. My gloves were actually also found while leveling this character, but would cost about 1-3 Chaos currently.

I am not using a Watcher's Eye and my other Jewels were all self-found or crafted.

I purchased 4 Timeless Jewels using my map luck and got one usable one, so I popped that in (some Fortify effect + some crit / crit multiplier).

I did buy a 23 Quality Dread Banner since it was relatively cheap. A normal Dread Banner should suffice in any case.

All in all the fossils / currency needed to reach this point could be easily farmed in low delves / low maps fairly quickly -> if you want to buy the fossils and resonators a few Chaos from low maps should be enough and easily attainable.

There is of course also some crafting rng involved, but basic resistance + life gear is usually easy to come by / cheap to buy if you do not want to craft or run out of currency to craft.

Time may be the only factor here that significantly differs from an actual league start test since you may need more time farming the fossils and jewels etc. However, since no crazy gear is involved or needed to reach + comfortably clear maps I believe this to be fully league start and SSF viable.

You can check my current gear in the Valzerk profile. Hell, I have not even done the merc lab as of the time this was written. Since mapping was so much fun I have been doing that nonstop pretty much.

Result!

Well with my current piece of crap stuff, no merc lab etc...

-> T15 Shaped Bog (comfortably) clear.

So I am basically able to run T15 Maps (granted not very juiced, only alched) with almost no investment whatsoever.

I am fully confident that this build will be able to down Uber Elder with a very low investment (prices will vary each league obviously).
Please remember though that Uber Elder will take some practice in general.

Thoughts and Prayers

I have in the meantime built the recommended staff (got lucky on the rolls) and will buy a Carcass next. For me this could be a definite league starter as well as a character I might try pushing 100 with (without Chayula runs). Will try to kill Uber Elder and Shaper on as little budget as possible and update.

The mapping is incredibly smooth and fun. Highly recommended if you like D2 / D3 Whirlwind playstyle.

Pros and Cons

+ Very smooth and satisfying leveling + farming in maps.
+ You really feel the progression with better items.
+ Pretty much instantly viable for higher tiers, depending only somewhat initial drop luck.
+ With a few Chaos on Day 1 / 1-2 good drops you can easily purchase the necessary items to push into red maps. Most of the stuff is standard so prices should not see too much of a spike (Starkonja for example). Of course new Metas can influence the prices, however, rarity also plays a role.
+ Flexible in regards to leveling skill point progression. I for example will not take Life Flask nodes till much later and instead go for more gem sockets / res / pure life / crit.
+ Vaal Double Strike really is insane, popping Berserk + Vaal Double Strike feels good man (melt bosses).
+ Out-of-the-box damage is quite good, allowing for flexibility in the jewels (do not need crazy triple damage jewels as is the case with Essence Drain for example).
+ Actually not very many buttons in regular mapping scenarios (Enduring Cry + Berserk, Vaal Double Strike for tough mobs / boss only, never place Banner really).

- Without high movement speed Cyclone can feel like poop (use Leap Slam to move between packs).
- Low Gear + High Map Legions can feel unsatisfactory since you will be missing some damage for the big mobs even using Berserk.
- Somewhat squishy while leveling (maybe I am dumb?).
- Gem / Gear swapping can be bothersome if you are lazy like me.

Suggestions for the Guide

1. For full Ham-Mode do a basic crafting guide / insight into the Helmet + other pieces of gear -> What base + why, crafting steps as in the staff section.
2. Make the gem priority a bit clearer in regards to the auras (e.g. I would keep Maim + Flesh and Stone for synergy at the beginning and drop blood and sand). The gem priority is pretty clear for the main links.

General Tips for New Players from a newer Player

I do not take credit for the information below. I am pretty much regurgitating well known streamers / guides / common sense in a summarized form since I thought new players might read this and find it helpful (without having to piece it together from various videos).

- Downing Shaper and Uber Elder / T16 Bosses (especially deathless) will take practice. Do not use Huy / Streamer X as a reference, they have generally been playing for years. It took me 9 Sets to kill Uber Elder not deathless.
- Try not to become a pro at all mechanics in one league, do not be disheartened if you do not make 500 Ex in one week. Set small goals and do what you think is fun.
- On that note, an easy but grindy way to get some starter currency is to run low maps in bulk. Currency drops are not bound to map tiers. In fact many streamers actually run many many low maps (we are talking hundreds) to get their currency going (+ working with their teams but that is a different story :).
- Another easy way to make some currency is to delve. Watch some delve guides and try it out. Pay attention to what the current meta is as this will affect what fossils will be valuable (e.g. Serrated for Maim Chests this league). Read up on where to find them -> Serrated in Frozen Hollows for example.
- You can do plenty of content without needing Mirror-tier items.
- Really really really get resistances maxed out and make sure to have useful crafts on your flasks :).
- Do not think that you suck because you die more often than others or make less currency. We all start somewhere and the learning curve is steep in POE but really rewarding once you see yourself improving.
- Do not min-max from the start. Hit resists, use jewels to your advantage to get missing resists, life, other stats etc. Worry about min-maxing when the time comes.
- VAAL everything you can afford to lose, e.g. low gloves like Hrimsorrow, Sadima's Touch etc. Add 4 sockets, change the colors to something standard / usable for the item (maybe check a guide etc.), use a Whetstone or Armourer's Scrap to get 20% quality and then dump a VAAL Orb on the item. If you get lucky with a nice curse on hit or life on gloves for example (or all white sockets), the value of the item may go up quite a bit.
- Always price check an item based on the rolls you have. A well rolled item may be a few Ex, the same item with bad rolls might only be 1 Chaos.
- Play the game. POE rewards playing it moreso than other games. Plus you will become better at the core mechanics (ULab etc.) which then loops back into more currency etc.
- Check out guides (like this one), follow them (for crafting, bossing, builds etc.). It helps, I learned this first hand. E.g. I used to hate ULab, now I do runs on good days to see if I can hit a good enchant. POE has a lot to offer if you are willing to invest some time :)

Thanks for the excellent guide and all the help Huy, it has been a blast to play so far even though I swore I would never go back to SpinToWin :)

PS.: I suck at this formatting thing.

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Valencius81 wrote:

Any thoughts on Vaal Molten Shell in this build?

With some armor nodes (I picked Sanctum of Thought because of the melee crit from the timeless) and the Lion's Roar could this be viable?


EDIT: Kudos for using POE Planner. I hate having to import stuff into POB if I am not min-maxing or trying stupid stuff myself :D