Best builds for console play (3.12 Heist League Update)

ORIGINAL POST (3.9. Metamorph):

I'm a relatively new player and started on console. I watch a lot of the streamers and read tons of build guides for POE but haven't found much content for console players.

Based on the many performance issues we face as console players, and some of the limitations of button access etc, what are some of the best builds this console player community has played that translate well to console?

I would have posted this in the builds forum but that seems dominated by PC and I'm only interested in console play. If there is a thread like this already posted somewhere please point me in that direction. Thanks.

UPDATED POST (3.10 Delirium):

Edited thread title to reflect 3.10 to continue this thread for discussion and recommending great builds for 3.10 Delirium. All posts after Mar 18th will be for 3.10, all posts prior are 3.9.

UPDATED POST (3.11 Harvest):

Edited thread title to reflect 3.11 to continue this thread for discussion and recommending great builds.

UPDATED POST (3.12 Heist):

Edited thread title to reflect 3.12 to continue this thread for discussion and recommending great builds for. All comments post-Sept 22nd, 2020 will be related to 3.12

There is really no difference to builds between both versions of the game most builds on the forum or online don't really work that well but I would suggest maybe Enki's build arc witch build its the most in-depth guide and still works pretty well. also, it's very beginner-friendly as it explains everything step by step.

I currently play on the Xbox as well as my monster pc broke and I just don't have time to fix it so I play on the console if you need any help to let me know you can send me a pm on Xbox or just reply here and I will help you as much as I can.

I’m a PS4 player only.

I research builds in the builds forum, but as a console player, I look for builds that use a limited number of skills whenever possible. Since one of your four buttons is a movement skill pretty much by default, I look for 4 button max builds plus the move skill. (I’m okay going right trigger and top button, but anything else with triggers in the heat of battle is rough.). I generally keep auras and summons on the other trigger buttons. I’ve also played a build where I used multiple Vaal gems and short term buffs that I generally only popped on bosses, and then all at once. That’s not too bad to couple with triggers.

The perfect console build leaves bottom button empty, but that’s not always possible. I’m currently playing a variation based on Enki’s arc build in the witch forum which uses five combat buttons, so I have steel skin on the bottom which is the least problematic if you trigger it while trying to pick up something, for example.

As the previous poster mentioned, that arc build from Enki is a wonderful starter. His thread explains a lot of the decisions in a step by step manner. Any physical cyclone build is button friendly as well for the most part.

Happy hunting exile.

Z.

Thanks for the quick responses and great advice. Limiting the amount of buttons you have to manage and using skills that don’t create overly complex calculations and animations seems to be the key to a smooth and fun build on console. I’ve gone through two solid runs of Enki’s Arc Witch and now I’m looking to branch out. Any specific links to builds, streams, or even general directions that have been proven to work well within the console limitations would be appreciated.

Hierophant Freezing Pulse Totems

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2685450

I tried this build in 3.9, Im now lvl 95 doing all content nicely. Not a lot of not a lot of buttons needed as well.

You can looks at my profile too for gear idea's char is call FurgasFPT

I like max block gladiator/herald of agony you spin to win and the ai kills stuff. Added bonus you sometimes block desync and lag.

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AstroMatix wrote:

Thanks for the quick responses and great advice. Limiting the amount of buttons you have to manage and using skills that don’t create overly complex calculations and animations seems to be the key to a smooth and fun build on console. I’ve gone through two solid runs of Enki’s Arc Witch and now I’m looking to branch out. Any specific links to builds, streams, or even general directions that have been proven to work well within the console limitations would be appreciated.

I played a modified version of Fivers frost blades raider last league. It was super good but might not be favorable for the 3.9 meta which has a definite slant against melee. It’s worth a look though. Teaches you the value of short term buffs, that’s for sure.

I tried minions and hated them, but they’re definitely powerful. Can be rough on console with lag though.

Just as a mention, being on console you also have to be a little picky about move skills sometimes. I’ve used dash, whirling blades, lightning leap (or whatever it’s called. I can’t remember right now), leap slam, and flame dash. Flame dash is undeniably the best for console. It rarely desyncs. Leap slam is probably the worst which is unfortunate considering it’s also the best move skill in terms of game effects for a 2h build. Dash and the lightning one were okay. I didn’t care for whirling blades but that was more personal preference than anything else.

Don’t be afraid to tinker with the build you’re following once you’re comfortable with it. Particularly on console, builds are not always perfect as they are so it’s worth fiddling a little just to see what happens sometimes as long as you don’t do something nuts like switching a 2h build to dual wield without reworking the passive tree.

Z

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AstroMatix wrote:

...

Based on the many performance issues we face as console players, and some of the limitations of button access etc, what are some of the best builds this console player community has played that translate well to console?
...

In my experience:

Builds that use a lot of fast movement skills can get bogged down, becoming victims of "Rubber-banding" effects as the differences between player position between console reads and server reports gets wider and wider. This gets compounded when there's a lot of lag console side as enemy groups are loaded and updated.

Skills that add bleed effects to large groups used to be the bane of console players, but it has been improved. Still, skills that add persistent damage effects in a large area can get bogged down at times. Any builds relying on "hitting" each and every target in a large area can get a bit overloaded. (That doesn't mean they're as bad as they used to be.)

Minion builds can be perfectly fine, but that's a factor of just how many minions you've got... I haven't run one, but one of the spider minion builds with fifty-eleven spiderbros on the screen at one time would probably not be advisable.

I've played builds that do each of the above. And, more or less, here's the key point to know:

Builds, even ones that violate all rules of common sense in terms of what a console player thinks is viable, can work just fine in PoE on consoles up to a point... "Up to a point." Every time the player starts a map run they are in new territory, putting themselves in a situation neither they nor their console has encountered before. Everything could be perfectly fine as they dash across the map with their screen-clearing AOEs until that one part of the map where ten different mob packs load in, each with horrible Nemesis mods and elite mobs and then the player accidentally moves over a rift and the screen is filled with purple death...

Honestly, it's not always just the fault of a build, it's the tons and tons of mobs and effects that are loaded in as you play.

Wat do?

The best thing to do is adjust one's playstyle when necessary and possible.

Don't rush rapidly using movement skills into areas that will likely be packed with mobs. Peel off mobs to fight if one notices things starting to get laggy. Get your buffs/flasks cast before you actually need them, 'cause you may not get a chance to do that when you're in the middle of a pack. And, when things do lag, maniacally pound on your flasks, buffs, and escape-spell buttons when you're standing in the middle of a pack at one frame-per-second, because you can be assured the server is still racking up those hits and it's all about to get reported to your console in a couple of microseconds... (ie: Insta-death while standing at 1fps in the middle of a nasty pack of mobs.)

Position-Dependent Builds: Leap Slam sucks on console, yet Flame Dash is fine, given that there's not too much work going on with screen loading. Leap Slam takes just a tiny bit more of figurin' out to get the player positioned correctly. And, if timing/updates is a bit off? You Leap Slam to exactly the wrong place... Flame Dash seems more efficient by comparison, perhaps because it's not as effected by obstructions?

Knockback - Just don't. Wave goodbye to any/all Knockback flask affixes, especially if it effects many targets at once. NEVER use knockback on console. Srsly.

Spark - No. Do not. In fact, mobs with Spark spell ability cause huge, ginormous, lag on consoles. [ib]"Spark" is the most terrifying lag-inducing ability any mob in the game can have in terms of its negative impact on console performance, bar none, in my experience.[/b] Don't add to that. (Strangely enough, Arc is not afflicted with Spark's weird lag-inducing behavior when a player is running an ARC build, though multiple chains can cause a bit of lag on very large packs.)

To sum: Tough builds to run on console are builds that have a ton of stuff going on every time the player presses the button. If one button press moves the player cross half the map, stacks bleed on everything, has damaging aura effects, applies a knockback that forces position updates on everything, and then has everything on the screen explode with extra "Gore" effects... That's a bad idea on console.

Note: Leagues matter. Patches matter. One build may be just fine this League, but was crazy-bad last league in terms of console efficiency (and vice-versa). It's not easy to predict.

Usually a "Good Bet" for Good builds, in general, for League play: (That I've experienced)

Totem builds - Are extremely efficient in console play and always do well in terms of not adding a lot of performance problems.

Light Minion Builds - Minion builds up to around 20+ present/buffed minions or so do just fine, not counting Skeleton summons. (Adding an appreciable amount of Summon Skeletons to that is just fine, usually. Other builds, like the Writhing Jar Spider build with bajillions of spiders... Might be fun, but may also cause a slide-show effect - I've no idea there, but won't run one because of performance fears.)

Limited and or directional AOE builds - Builds that have relatively small AOE attacks relative to others are usually pretty stable. ie: Like a Sunder build, Whirling Blades, etc. Cyclone builds, finally, aren't too bad either these days. (They used to be crazy-bad in packs of mobs, especially when coupled with extended effects like Bleed.)

Also, to add to the above, there were some previous crash problems for people running impale. I’m not sure if those have been fixed. I ran impale cyclone in legion and it wasn’t too bad but I’ve seen comments about crashes throughout blight and one of the first questions those in the know seem to ask is “are you running impale support?” Perhaps someone else can chime in about this.

Z

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Zestrenocya wrote:

Also, to add to the above, there were some previous crash problems for people running impale. I’m not sure if those have been fixed. I ran impale cyclone in legion and it wasn’t too bad but I’ve seen comments about crashes throughout blight and one of the first questions those in the know seem to ask is “are you running impale support?” Perhaps someone else can chime in about this.

Z

I ran Impale Cyclone last league and didn't have any issues I could associate with Impale.

But, I have also run Cyclone Impale with Bleed and similar affixes and have had various issues that include "performance." Granted, that was back when Bleed effects were much more pronounced in terms of their impact on console performance. (And, in regular PC performance too at that time.) Now, Bleed seems to have a lot less of an impact. I'd still consider it suspicious, though... :)

I think the biggest issue with Cyclone "now" just has to do with stacking effects on a huge number of targets at once. If one of those effects has been changed and now has a little bit more of a performance impact? Instant slideshow... :)

I first started PoE on console with a Cyclone build ("D3 Whirlwind is in PoE? ZOMGZ!") and... it was horrible. Then, I took off the "Knockback" effect and it got a lot better, but was still terrible. I took off "Bleed" and it was measurably better, but that effected so many other things that it became too tough to play. They fixed many of those things for the next League and it ended up being an entirely different play experience for me with a Cyclone build. ie: So very many mobs being hit and the chance of one effect having been changed which throws the whole performance balance out the window until that one thing is fixed... It's hard to tell exactly what skill/effect/affix could cause such issues in that kind of build.)