Stress-Free PoE! SLOW-MO GUNSLINGER (AW): No Required Items|1-Button Play|SSF League Start-End|3.14

Ok. I have a big problem with end-game levelling with this build, and am not sure what I'm doing wrong.

AW takes a while to get going. Now that's not a problem in itself. When you're starting a new zone or a new map, a few minutes is fine. After that sustaining AW is mostly easy. It seems to become a big problem in boss fights with high AoE/ 360 degree damage (e.g. piety, void-vortex bosses, pseudo-RF bosses like in lighthouse, basically a lot of bosses do this!). In such rooms, it seems very easy to:

1. Loose all AW
2. Keep loosing AW faster than you can replace them

For those bosses, in the basic build, I don't see a source of damage other than maybe 2-3 minion at time. In my adapted build the bane/ golems seem to become the major source of damage. In both cases getting (n) AW up, requires stopping and firing (n+1) kinetic blasts, which takes approximately (n+1) seconds. Staying at a spot and shooting is asking to get killed unless you have an open/ large arena, and the boss is aggroed on your golems. If you kite and shoot, your minions can get killed again by the time you get 5-6 AW up.

Basically it seems very easy to get defanged. After that it's hard to get your fangs back up, and the fight becomes a long game of avoid the boss's attacks if possible. After maybe 5-10 minutes of that, unless you have good reaction speeds, you mostly die.

Either way in such situations boss fights in small rooms can get too long, too exciting, and anything but stress free... :)

I'm guessing there's a strategy/ feature in the build around this which I missed. Would appreciate any guidance or pointers to the same...

"

SalvatoreBlack wrote:

Spoiler

Ok. I have a big problem with end-game levelling with this build, and am not sure what I'm doing wrong.

AW takes a while to get going. Now that's not a problem in itself. When you're starting a new zone or a new map, a few minutes is fine. After that sustaining AW is mostly easy. It seems to become a big problem in boss fights with high AoE/ 360 degree damage (e.g. piety, void-vortex bosses, pseudo-RF bosses like in lighthouse, basically a lot of bosses do this!). In such rooms, it seems very easy to:

1. Loose all AW
2. Keep loosing AW faster than you can replace them

For those bosses, in the basic build, I don't see a source of damage other than maybe 2-3 minion at time. In my adapted build the bane/ golems seem to become the major source of damage. In both cases getting (n) AW up, requires stopping and firing (n+1) kinetic blasts, which takes approximately (n+1) seconds. Staying at a spot and shooting is asking to get killed unless you have an open/ large arena, and the boss is aggroed on your golems. If you kite and shoot, your minions can get killed again by the time you get 5-6 AW up.

Basically it seems very easy to get defanged. After that it's hard to get your fangs back up, and the fight becomes a long game of avoid the boss's attacks if possible. After maybe 5-10 minutes of that, unless you have good reaction speeds, you mostly die.

Either way in such situations boss fights in small rooms can get too long, too exciting, and anything but stress free... :)

I'm guessing there's a strategy/ feature in the build around this which I missed. Would appreciate any guidance or pointers to the same...

Thanks for the honest reply SalvatoreBlack!

So, one of the consequences of not having the room to invest in minion life is how quickly they can die to AoE or incidental damage. I definitely get into spots like that as well.

So I've kinda come to the point of playing this build the same way no matter the circumstance I'm in. What I do is essentially take two steps, cast AW; take two steps, cast AW; take two steps, cast AW...That way I've come to ignore my AW count. (I've found that looking for my minion numbers during combat always kills me ;).) By playing this way, by ignoring my minion count, I'm always ensuring I have the "most" AW up even if they've died off a bit. So I'm always making sure I'm safe, I'm not caring where I aim my wand attack (though it obviously helps when it hits an enemy), and I'm casting quick, often, but apathetically. It's not foolproof mind you, but it's helped me in the battles that don't really suit this build.

Obviously, there are some fights that are going to suit a build more than others, but that's how I fare in the fights that don't suit this build. Does that help?

"

Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

Spoiler

So, one of the consequences of not having the room to invest in minion life is how quickly they can die to AoE or incidental damage. I definitely get into spots like that as well.

So I've kinda come to the point of playing this build the same way no matter the circumstance I'm in. What I do is essentially take two steps, cast AW; take two steps, cast AW; take two steps, cast AW...That way I've come to ignore my AW count. (I've found that looking for my minion numbers during combat always kills me ;).) By playing this way, by ignoring my minion count, I'm always ensuring I have the "most" AW up even if they've died off a bit. So I'm always making sure I'm safe, I'm not caring where I aim my wand attack (though it obviously helps when it hits an enemy), and I'm casting quick, often, but apathetically. It's not foolproof mind you, but it's helped me in the battles that don't really suit this build.

Obviously, there are some fights that are going to suit a build more than others, but that's how I fare in the fights that don't suit this build. Does that help?

Thanks for this, did help, but the build seems definitely a bit trickier than bone-zombies/ RF chieftain. Will probably stick to those, and come back to AW if we see any changes (mass AW/ AW renewing with the enduring bond cluster) in the next few leagues.

"

SalvatoreBlack wrote:

Spoiler

Thanks for this, did help, but the build seems definitely a bit trickier than bone-zombies/ RF chieftain. Will probably stick to those, and come back to AW if we see any changes (mass AW/ AW renewing with the enduring bond cluster) in the next few leagues.

You rock SalvatoreBlack! Thanks for the honest feedback. I'm still unsure about what my plans are for my third guide for 3.15 (which is driving me nuts). But Zombies and RF will be there for sure. Thanks again!

So far my experience with this build has been nice. However, it has a big issue on time-gated content (e.g. Incursion) and place where you can get pincered by swarm of enemies (e.g. Heist).

Some of idea to make this build a faster kill:
- Get High Tier Minion Damage Essence, this one can be farmed with nodes on Haewark Hamlet.
- Get Blessed rebirth passive from Medium Cluster Jewel
- Get Triad Grip and white socket them. This might be challenging as to get white socket easily is by farm Syndicate with Vorici on research. Research quest is quite time-gated because you need to hurry up kill the Syncdicate Member before the evidence destroyed. On high tier map, you need many evidence to keep alive.

"

alteisen612 wrote:

Spoiler

So far my experience with this build has been nice. However, it has a big issue on time-gated content (e.g. Incursion) and place where you can get pincered by swarm of enemies (e.g. Heist).

Some of idea to make this build a faster kill:
- Get High Tier Minion Damage Essence, this one can be farmed with nodes on Haewark Hamlet.
- Get Blessed rebirth passive from Medium Cluster Jewel
- Get Triad Grip and white socket them. This might be challenging as to get white socket easily is by farm Syndicate with Vorici on research. Research quest is quite time-gated because you need to hurry up kill the Syncdicate Member before the evidence destroyed. On high tier map, you need many evidence to keep alive.

Thanks for the feedback and advice alteisen612! They are good suggestions for sure! I appreciate the honesty.

Hey WoD, Really fun build so far I have one problem however. With the CwDT being level 2 I no longer am able to proc my Holy Relic or chaos golem. Im not sure if im supposed to raise the level of my CwDT or lower the level of my Holy Relic and Chaos Golem. Anyway thanks for providing this cool build idea :)

"

Light Extinct wrote:

Spoiler

Hey WoD, Really fun build so far I have one problem however. With the CwDT being level 2 I no longer am able to proc my Holy Relic or chaos golem. Im not sure if im supposed to raise the level of my CwDT or lower the level of my Holy Relic and Chaos Golem. Anyway thanks for providing this cool build idea :)

Hey Light Extinct!

Thanks for the kind words! You want your Golem and Holy Relic linked to a fully levelled CwDT. It's the offering link you want to be linked to a CwDT level 2. You'll want a fully levelled golem and relic.

I hope that helps. Let me know if it doesn't.

"

Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

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Light Extinct wrote:

Spoiler

Hey WoD, Really fun build so far I have one problem however. With the CwDT being level 2 I no longer am able to proc my Holy Relic or chaos golem. Im not sure if im supposed to raise the level of my CwDT or lower the level of my Holy Relic and Chaos Golem. Anyway thanks for providing this cool build idea :)

Hey Light Extinct!

Thanks for the kind words! You want your Golem and Holy Relic linked to a fully levelled CwDT. It's the offering link you want to be linked to a CwDT level 2. You'll want a fully levelled golem and relic.

I hope that helps. Let me know if it doesn't.

Thats what I missed thank you very much :D

"

Light Extinct wrote:

Thats what I missed thank you very much :D

Awesome! I'm happy to help!