3.11 - Stress-Free PoE! RF HAPPY: No Required Items! 1-Button Play! SSF League Start-End!

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Hellzwraith wrote:

Spoiler

Id been wanting to play a Rf build so I rerolled a standard jugg to test it out. Levl 77 and Im only in t7 maps with 1 jewel socketed and was doing fine. Then I went into Droxs area with 2 sockets and I cannot kill him- i died about 5 times before I gave up. So Im going to level up a bit more and see how it goes. Im guessing my issue is level 14 vaal rf - my character is named diewithyourbootzon - I cant figure out how to post items on phone. If any 1 can give me a look over and see if Im way off base that would be great...

Hey Hellzwraith!

I'm really sorry for the late response! I forgot to post on my guides that I was going away for over a week. I'm sorry to make you wait.

I'm glad you had some good feedback while I was gone. Ya, this build is very Chieftain specific. So switching over to one was a good idea. I see you're following the build closely now and are in the low 70's. Great job! On my podcast, my buddy and I often comment how much levelling sucks...and how that impacts our desire to start over new characters. I'm glad you had a character waiting for you.

As you keep levelling and ascending, let us know if you have any questions.

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Hellzwraith wrote:

Spoiler

So I managed to take down Drox with 2 stones but it was painful - I only died once when I missed a heal but it took 27 minutes for me to kill him. NO joke that took forever.. I still need to level my gems so hoping it will get better..

It gets better :). This was a month ago, but it's the build. I think this was an A7 Drox. A7 or A8. https://youtu.be/rwv6qObCA34?t=2661

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Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

Hey StormHUN!

I'm really sorry for the late response! I forgot to post on my guides that I was going away for over a week. I'm sorry to make you wait.

Hi Wrecker!

No worries, it's not like we pay you for customer support or anything. :P

The good news is, recently PoE added the beta option to use Vulkan instead of DirectX. I switched to it and it gave me massive performance improvements! I still have some lag occasionally, but the majority of the time it's significantly more manageable. I didn't die or fail Blight due to lag since. So I guess I can get back to focus on damage - that should help with Blight too, kill things faster before they can overwhelm me.

P.s.: I would love to hear what you think about my solution idea for Kaom's Heart that I posted later, when you have a moment. :)

P.p.s.: Oh, and GGG said the patch coming next week will have further performance improvements for Vulkan!

Ohh Np I did get some good advice and switching to a Chieftain has made life much better.. one thing Im trying to theory craft is the Ball Light/cwdt taken set up. I like ball but I prefer it with Gmps much better. So Im now trying out Orb of Storms and I also tried Storm Brand out and I cannot figure out which one I prefer best. Besides that - yea IM running t7-10 maps rather comfortably and I think I have an issue with Glennach Cairns area as it says I have not obtained a single Keystone for that are. Going to try and run 3 maps there with 2 stones and see what happens...

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Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

Spoiler

Hey StandardFiend!

I'm really sorry for the late response! I forgot to post on my guides that I was going away for over a week. I'm sorry to make you wait.

I'm glad all is well. Hope is an amazing thing. I hope it proves true and that "normal" returns soon. I'll be praying for you (seriously). (In my little pocket of the world people say that apathetically.)

A lore playthrough! Good for you! I've always wanted to do one! I really wish I had gotten around to it earlier on as each character has such cool dialogue through the campaign.

PS4 does seem to have more issues that Xbox in terms of crashes. I don't have a PS4, but a lot of the issues that people mention to me when they play my builds on console, don't seem to happen to me while I play. Though, this game is so complex behind the scenes, who knows what the issue could be. That being said, I have my fair share amount of "rubberbanding" and minute-long lags. Cyclone in Delve? Yikes. Blight with lots of minions? Also yikes.

My filters revolve around my gameplay on console. Console life is the main reason I take filters so seriously. I want to pick everything up so that I don't have to flick that right-analog stick. It takes getting used to for sure.

It's kind cool though playing a different way, even when it's the "same" build. It's amazing how much we learn about the game even with small changes. Good for you trying it out.

Thanks again mate, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. I'm glad to say everything is back to normal for the time being. I live in California, which, in general, is still almost entirely on fire, but I don't have to worry where I am now.

I didn't actually think about the Xbone version being different from PS4, considering both consoles are so architecturally similar. Very interesting. I guess GGG just doesn't bat for the Blue Team. I swear, I submitted at least one crash report every day that I played. The text boxes they ask me to fill out at submission got... less friendly over time lol.

Don't ever feel like you need to apologize, because let's be honest: you're significantly more active and responsive than most dedicated customer service reps are in these kinds of forums. You do enough work for us that we ought to be apologizing for continually inundating you with questions!

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StormHUN wrote:

While I am definitely interested in alternatives to Ball Lightning, since at the very least it is less... "thematic" in my mind, keep in mind that in addition to applying a curse and activating Elemental Equilibrium, it is also activating Elemental Overload, which is another important source of compounding damage for us.

Cyclone can technically proc EO as well, but far less reliably I would think. Could be I'm wrong on that.

It's also worth considering that Ball Lightning will still do all the things it does while you're moving around to avoid big slaps and ground effects.

Again, I'm on board for alternative skills, but it's important to keep all of the functionality in mind.



It's all good in theory, but you're describing a setup that might be largely unobtainable for some people. For instance, I have never found even a single Exalt in my entire 500 Steam hours and however many pre-Steam hours of playing the game. My entire Standard League stash net worth is barely worth a single Ex. I tend to be an outlier when it comes to bad luck in RNG, but I'm probably not alone there. I don't even know what an Elder item is or how to get one since I've never seen one.

Wrecker designed this build to be viable from league start to endgame with no specific item requirements, and I believe that is where the strength of this build lies. Yes, you can achieve significantly better performance with heavy min-maxing and currency investment, which is wonderful, but Wrecker's purpose was to give you a foundation upon which to go that distance if you want.

So personally I don't think most of the suggestions would be viable improvements to the build guide.

With that being said, I don't think you're off-track in terms of making a stronger character. Shifting the gems around using implicit supports opens up a lot of great options. I'm not entirely sold on Curse on Hit for Cyclone, though.

The thing I like most about RF is its passive killyness. You do all your damage just by existing near things, which means you have full freedom to run/dash around without interrupting your DPS, giving you a layer of defense that a lot of builds just don't have. And our Ball Lightning CoH setup does provide a rather huge chunk of our damage potential, between the curse itself and EE and EO. And again, it can go off while we are moving at full speed just from tiny hits here and there.

***Note: If a skill has two triggers attempting to cast it, the skill will become inactive. Skills can only have one active trigger. So, for the link that has CwDT, CoH, and a curse, both the CoH and the curse will have to be outside the CwDT's requirement threshold (trigger range). So you'll only start seeing your curse applied once those gems require a character level of 39 or more.

I read this again and Im feeling really dumb about now because my Flammability has been at lvl 36 for a while... LOL

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StandardFiend wrote:

Cyclone can technically proc EO as well, but far less reliably I would think. Could be I'm wrong on that.

Ah, I had a faint memory that I want crit for something but I didn't remember why.

I honestly have no idea how the two compare crit-wise but getting some crit chance on gear is not too difficult.

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StandardFiend wrote:

It's also worth considering that Ball Lightning will still do all the things it does while you're moving around to avoid big slaps and ground effects.

True, but it only truly matters when you are actually in damaging mode, and that means Cyclone will be on.

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StandardFiend wrote:

Again, I'm on board for alternative skills, but it's important to keep all of the functionality in mind.

Indeed. It's just to me it seemed if I want to start modifying the build, that 4L may be a good place to start.

And then once we go Kaom's, we have to make due with 6 less gem slots. Now, my knowledge of mechanics and synergies is superficial to say the least, so I'm not really qualified to come up with different gem sets and synergies, thus the one thing I could do was looking for ways to keep the same mechanics as the original but with less gem slots.

All the other Kaom's modifications I saw posted were significantly altering the gems used.

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StandardFiend wrote:

Spoiler

1; We could drop the Fortify gem, and move Cyclone to a 4L with Inspiration, Curse on hit and Flammability. To retain fortify I've found two options that feel realistic:
- Shaper influenced 2H swords can have "Melee Movement Skills have [30-50]% chance to Fortify on Hit".
- Elder influenced 2H weapons can have "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 1 Fortify"
- Elder influenced boots can have "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Fortify"
This leaves us with an empty 3L we can use.


Also, we could get our 6L RF from an Elder helmet that has "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Burning Damage" + "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Concentrated Effect"


Going further, this could be a starting point for a Kaom's Heart build. How about this:


Kaom's Heart chest (preferably with a good corruption, like -6% Fire damage taken)

Elder boots
* "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Fortify"
- Cyclone
- Inspiration
- Curse on Hit
- Flammability

Elder helmet "6L"
* "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Burning Damage"
* "Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 20 Concentrated Effect"
- RF
- Inspiration
- Elemental focus
- Efficacy

6L 2H weapon
- CwDT
- | Wave of Conviction
- | Purifying Flame
- | Combustion
- | Stone Golem [Supported by Combustion!]
- | Holy Relic [Supported by Combustion!]

Any gloves (ideally with corruption: +# to Level of Socketed Gems/Aura Gems. "Hands of the High Templar" could be fun.)
- CwDT
- | Immortal Call
- Malevolence
- Purity of Fire

Unset ring
- Flame Dash (or movement skill of choice)

Unset ring
- Enduring Cry
& Any belt
-- OR --
Elder belt
* Grants Level 22 Enduring Cry Skill
& Any ring

Any amulet


The above build requires to get very specific gear in almost all slots, but in return retains all of the gems (or their effects) from the original.

It's all good in theory, but you're describing a setup that might be largely unobtainable for some people.

You can't fit in a Kaom's without making significant sacrifices in one way or another. Most people drop many of the games and switch others to make room for it, my goal was to try and come up with a solution where we can keep all the mechanics from the original.

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StandardFiend wrote:

For instance, I have never found even a single Exalt in my entire 500 Steam hours and however many pre-Steam hours of playing the game.

Oh I'm not a hardcore farmer either, though I waste a lot of time playing, LOL. I have 4 Ex this league (2 dropped in the mines, 1 in a map and 1 at the end of the Eternal Lab from a chest.) and I think I have 2 or 3 in standard, one of which was given to me by someone back in Legion when they quit the league.

But none of the above needs an Ex - unless you want items with very good rolls. Most of the items needed are currently in a 5c - 40c range on the market. maybe they will be more next league because there won't be seed crafting, who knows? I never had any gear even worth 1 Ex, with the exception of my current chest armor with around 1.5 Ex, which was gifted to me by a friend.

The trickiest part of the whole thing is the 6L 2H weapon. But it's not trickier than getting a 6L Chest would be, sooo...

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StandardFiend wrote:

I don't even know what an Elder item is or how to get one since I've never seen one.

Ummm... did you never play the endgame maps? That's like the actual game... Elder influenced items come from there. Before conquerors there was Elder and Shaper influence only, now they are more rare but tons of people are selling them.

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StandardFiend wrote:

Wrecker designed this build to be viable from league start to endgame with no specific item requirements

And? How is that relevant to people making modified versions of it? Nobody forces you to play a modified version.

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StandardFiend wrote:

Wrecker's purpose was to give you a foundation upon which to go that distance if you want.

Which is exactly what I did? (Except what I did is very, VERY, _V_E_R_Y_ far from "minmaxing" and using lot of currency. It does not even come remotely close to what the really dedicated crafters do. It's pretty mild really.)

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StandardFiend wrote:

So personally I don't think most of the suggestions would be viable improvements to the build guide.

...what? Who the hell is talking about changing the guide? I was simply presenting my ideas for other people who may want to experiment with altering it. I honestly don't get where did you get that idea.

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StandardFiend wrote:

The thing I like most about RF is its passive killyness. You do all your damage just by existing near things

That's not entirely true. For the build to fully operate you do _need_ to hit things with Cyclone., that's the whole reason it is part of the build. You need to hit with it for Fortify. You also need to spend mana with it for Inspiration to trigger and buff RF. Plus, it gives you free Phasing so you can move through packs of enemies without having to use a flask or other means of phasing or having to constantly spam a blink type skill.

Also, with some "Life for each enemy hit by attacks" on gear, Cyclone actually becomes a source of some decent regeneration.

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StandardFiend wrote:

And our Ball Lightning CoH setup does provide a rather huge chunk of our damage potential, between the curse itself and EE and EO. And again, it can go off while we are moving at full speed just from tiny hits here and there.

I think having to Cyclone for the curse is a very very small price in convenience to pay for the convenience of having a Kaom's and not having to worry about getting on-shoted anymore (not to mention it gives a huge boost to damage.)

In other news, next league will have some treats for us! Such as:


That's 10% chance for Consecrated ground for a 20% alternate quality Purifying flame! Nice!

I apologize if I misinterpreted. You started off with "change up this build" and used "we" throughout, so that implied a more ground-level alteration, rather than your own personal take. And like I said, overall I think you have some great ideas.

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Ummm... did you never play the endgame maps? That's like the actual game... Elder influenced items come from there. Before conquerors there was Elder and Shaper influence only, now they are more rare but tons of people are selling them.

No, I have never been able to play the endgame maps. I've never even been to the Eternal Lab. 500+ hours, never been able to find all 6 trials. Even my Standard league doesn't have all 6 trials (although I don't know if leagues transfer the entire progress or each individual trial when they merge).

And my maps just run out before I get anywhere close to the end of the Atlas, but that's also largely irrelevant because I've never been able to find or craft the kind of gear required to survive the end of the Atlas. I struggle with surviving before I get to red maps more often than not. And you're talking about 40c items... one such item would nearly bankrupt me even near the end of a league.

Such is my PoE experience. Is what it is. You have to be realistic about these things.