please help a new racer

I just started racing half way through season 6 and am slowly improving how far and hard I can push in the different events. for races like the 85 minute fixed layout, I have primarily been using a ST Ranger and can consistently hit level 15 - 17. not great but working on it.

if anyone could be so kind, I am looking for some suggestions on other class and skill options that have been successful for you. I have tried working with a flame blast witch or templar but have trouble getting off to a slower start up to and including beating Brutus without dying. once I get past him and get flame blast, things speed up greatly but still end up around level 15.

have also played around a little bit with a Marauder, trying to get up to leap slam, and a Shadow using fire trap + EK. haven't had much luck with either of those but for the Marauder, I think it's mainly due to the differences in ranged vs more melee centric styles.

I have watched several of the videos some of the top racers have posted and I see several areas I need to improve that have nothing to do with the build but time management. however, I am trying to find a few options to experiment with to find a base build to use as a foundation. the ST Ranger is a good build but it's not really my style outside of the races, I enjoy playing things like a witch summoner or ranger bow user but those don't translate nearly as well to racing.

appreciate any suggestions or help anyone can toss my way.
Summoner witch and bow skills are not race viable. I recommend watching streams of racers, there will be multiple streams of different builds / classes. Theres a couple posts on the forums that talk about builds for different races.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/876347

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/801771
You have tons of room to grow, you've got a lot of fun ahead of you.

In the season 7 meta you have 3 top tier options as a foundation:
  • Caster (usually Fire Trap + Ice Nova + Spark, transition to Flameblast + Fire Trap)
  • Leap Slam
  • Spectral Throw


However, note that there are many more modes than it initially appears where bows are viable, or even optimal for certain classes. Even in race modes where Bows are not viable, that is only true for the best of the best racers, who are competing for the very top spots. This is not relevant as you learn, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with playing bows.

I think you have 3 options, but you can simply use this as a progression:

1 (beginner version): TBH at the stage you're at, going bow Ranger in everything would work well. When starting out it's better to stick to one class and build, play the heck out of it, and get the class-independent race strategies down to a science. Added bonus, in the long run you will get easy points as bow ranger in any race where that is top tier, since few other racers will have the experience with it that you do. Given your preferences and what you've said, i would select this option / start here.

2 (intermediate version): Use bow ranger as your foundation, and choose a secondary build from the list above for the other half of races, where bow ranger is not viable for top spots. I would transition to this option once you are regularly getting top 20 in class.

3 (advanced version): Choose one of the up above 3 skill options and do that in ~every race. I would transition to this once you are regularly getting top 10 in class. Continue to play bows where optimal.

4 (expert version): Play whatever optimal build you want, whenever you want.


Here's a rough list of race modes with Bow viability:

Bows optimal (28% of the season):
  • Descent: Champions (Ranger) - 16% of the season
  • Descent (Ranger) - 7% of the season
  • BLAMT (Duelist, Ranger, Scion, Shadow) - 3% of the season
  • ELBLAMT (all classes) - 2% of the season

Bows viable (11% of the season):
  • 12 min solo burst (Ranger)
  • Fracturing (Duelist, Ranger, Scion, Shadow
  • Cutthroat (Ranger)
  • BLAMT (Marauder, Templar, Witch)

Bows unviable (especially for top racers; roughly 60% of the season):
  • Endless Ledge (i may be wrong)
  • Exiles Everywhere
  • Vanilla
  • Typical mods (ancestral, blood magic, famine, fixed, immolation, lethal, multiprojectile, no projectile)

Character archive: view-thread/963707
HC: 96 RIP
SC: 95 97 96 100 95 96 97 98 95 97
3.26: tbd
Last edited by unsane on Apr 23, 2014, 2:05:01 PM
this helps a lot, thanks for the post. im wanting to start races as well and only have 1 point.. from extreme rage from dying from crap i'll probably never understand.
IGN: ColdFloor

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift, and that is why it's called the present"
"
terrex wrote:
Summoner witch and bow skills are not race viable. I recommend watching streams of racers, there will be multiple streams of different builds / classes. Theres a couple posts on the forums that talk about builds for different races.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/876347

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/801771


I have watched several streams of other racers, including some of yours, which is why I have been running primarily a ranger ST build. still amazed at how quickly you get up to the higher areas but it's fun to watch :)

I have also read through the forum posts you listed but most of those show just their point allocations. which definitely does help with ideas but still leaves me a little lost trying to figure out how to get from point A to B. for example, a leap slam marauder looks pretty solid once you get leap slam but so far, I have really struggled to get through Brutus in a reasonable amount of time.

thank you for taking the time to respond and I look forward to watching more examples of some of your runs. doubt I will ever get close to that level but intend to keep working away at it
"
unsane wrote:
You have tons of room to grow, you've got a lot of fun ahead of you.

In the season 7 meta you have 3 top tier options as a foundation:
  • Caster (usually Fire Trap + Ice Nova + Spark, transition to Flameblast + Fire Trap)
  • Leap Slam
  • Spectral Throw


However, note that there are many more modes than it initially appears where bows are viable, or even optimal for certain classes. Even in race modes where Bows are not viable, that is only true for the best of the best racers, who are competing for the very top spots. This is not relevant as you learn, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with playing bows.

I think you have 3 options, but you can simply use this as a progression:

1 (beginner version): TBH at the stage you're at, going bow Ranger in everything would work well. When starting out it's better to stick to one class and build, play the heck out of it, and get the class-independent race strategies down to a science. Added bonus, in the long run you will get easy points as bow ranger in any race where that is top tier, since few other racers will have the experience with it that you do. Given your preferences and what you've said, i would select this option / start here.

2 (intermediate version): Use bow ranger as your foundation, and choose a secondary build from the list above for the other half of races, where bow ranger is not viable for top spots. I would transition to this option once you are regularly getting top 20 in class.

3 (advanced version): Choose one of the up above 3 skill options and do that in ~every race. I would transition to this once you are regularly getting top 10 in class. Continue to play bows where optimal.

4 (expert version): Play whatever optimal build you want, whenever you want.


Here's a rough list of race modes with Bow viability:

Bows optimal (28% of the season):
  • Descent: Champions (Ranger) - 16% of the season
  • Descent (Ranger) - 7% of the season
  • BLAMT (Duelist, Ranger, Scion, Shadow) - 3% of the season
  • ELBLAMT (all classes) - 2% of the season

Bows viable (11% of the season):
  • 12 min solo burst (Ranger)
  • Fracturing (Duelist, Ranger, Scion, Shadow
  • Cutthroat (Ranger)
  • BLAMT (Marauder, Templar, Witch)

Bows unviable (especially for top racers; roughly 60% of the season):
  • Endless Ledge (i may be wrong)
  • Exiles Everywhere
  • Vanilla
  • Typical mods (ancestral, blood magic, famine, fixed, immolation, lethal, multiprojectile, no projectile)




WOW !! thank you for such a detailed response. really appreciate your taking the time to do this to help out a new racer. I will definitely make use of the information you provided.

though based on both your reply and Terrex's, looks like I will need to focus on at least 2 builds. will keep plugging away with bows for races like Descent but will need a second one for things like ledge, no projectiles, etc

maybe continuing to work on a marauder leap slam for some variety between range and melee, projectiles and no projectiles. or do you think it would be easier to improve overall by staying with one play style, which would most likely be ranged for me? so bow for those mods where it's viable and a witch or templar flameblast build for most of the others

thanks again for all the help and ideas here
"
kendo3 wrote:
for example, a leap slam marauder looks pretty solid once you get leap slam but so far, I have really struggled to get through Brutus in a reasonable amount of time.

Ground Slam + Heavy Strike before you transition to Leap Slam + Heavy Strike. Kill Brutus facetanking him with Heavy Strike.

"
kendo3 wrote:
WOW !! thank you for such a detailed response.

Hey no problem. PoE racing is so much fun, gotta spread the love.

"
kendo3 wrote:
though based on both your reply and Terrex's, looks like I will need to focus on at least 2 builds. will keep plugging away with bows for races like Descent but will need a second one for things like ledge, no projectiles, etc

To be clearer, you could do bow ranger in every race (it's what i would do if i were you). Well, the one exception is No Projectile of course.

"
kendo3 wrote:
maybe continuing to work on a marauder leap slam for some variety between range and melee, projectiles and no projectiles. or do you think it would be easier to improve overall by staying with one play style, which would most likely be ranged for me? so bow for those mods where it's viable and a witch or templar flameblast build for most of the others

If you go the 2-build route, Leap Slammer is a very, very different playstyle and you should probably save it for later.
Character archive: view-thread/963707
HC: 96 RIP
SC: 95 97 96 100 95 96 97 98 95 97
3.26: tbd

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