Stress-Free PoE w/ BONE ZOMBIES! Relax & SSF League Start-End w/ “Any” Items & 1-Button | 3.16

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doomben wrote:

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Reached level 90 following your guide, so thought I should drop by to give thanks. The build has performed as advertised and provided a relaxing SSF game. I basically just steer my character avoiding enemies and leave the minions to do the rest.

Currently I have 8 zombies, 4 specters and 2 golems. Hard to tell, but I suspect the specters are doing the most damage.

I have found a few periods I have been underpowered, but a couple of upgrades has got me through each time. Currently having a problem with the 12th watchstone - bloody Drox! But plenty of ways to upgrade - still only on a 5L, most gems have not been upgraded yet and I only have one relevant Lab upgrade so far (+40% Specter damage on the helmet).

Happy to recommend this build to others.

doomben! Thanks so much for taking the time to be so kind. I appreciate the kind words and feedback.

Drox is hard to read. A lot of his "tells" are offscreen based on his animations. It's poorly done. That being said, if DPS is an issue for you, feel free to see how survivability goes by replacing Ruthless/Stun Support for Multistrike. If that works well for you, you may find the final bosses a little bit more stress-free.

Thanks again for your kindness.

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cmacq wrote:

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Sorry bro I did not see your post until tonight.

Family is all OK Thx for asking. Our home is high up so the water passes us by. A whole lot of British Columbia has been hit very hard and I hear there's more to come sadly.

On a more positive note I'm still rockin' your build. Got Vaal skellies worked in there with the Dead Reckoning Jewel. Ton of fun and very stress free. Finally getting the red maps to drop so got the progress wheels moving again.

I've recently tried several other builds as I've played the game off and on over the years and have some 70+ toons to work with that had full respecs coming.

This has been by far the most successful only issue is the lag. Lots of on-screen action.

Take Care and hope it works out OK for you guys.....

Don't be sorry at all, cmacq! I'm glad you're ok. That's awesome. Hopefully, the weather to come (snow and melting and such) treat you well as well. It'll be a long road going forward, hey? It's been brutal for us. We're higher up as well but our house's foundation failed us. So the first wave of weather crushed us. BUT, we have a place to live and still have the basics like hot water, laundry, a bathroom, and a kitchen. So that's a lot more than others can say. When the family is safe and healthy, it'd be a shame to complain.

I'm glad the build is working so well for you! Vaal Skeletons is just so fun. I can see performance being an issue with minion builds for sure...but I'm glad you're finding progress with the style you like.

Thanks for the kind post, and again, I pray you stay well and safe.

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CaerisSraskina wrote:

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1) Sorry to hear about the flooding. Hope the recovery is going okay.

2) Thank you for the awesome guides. This is my third league using them as my base in SSF and I'm loving it. Very accessible to a new player.

3) Currently doing Zombies and am curious what you (or anyone else) thinks about Montreguls Grasp? I'm at 88 and see it causing most of the zombie kills via explosion, but it might be leaving me more vulnerable due to less bodies (and I'm currently dying a fair amount especially on scourge and the like).

4) any tips on how to calculate or compare damage for minions? POB gave me really low numbers when I loaded it there.

You're awesome, CaerisSraskina! Thank you.

1) Recovery will get there. There are short and long-term consequences to this area but it'll be good. The community has been amazingly helpful to everyone and the governments have stepped up wonderfully. Thanks!

2) Thank you! I'm glad the build has been treating you well for so long! I appreciate the encouragement. I'm always up for suggestions, especially those that have played the build(s) for a good while. So let me know if you have any.

3) Mon't's is a cool unique. Its pros and cons are equal in my opinion; they are well balanced. So I'd play around with them in your current avg. content and see if you have a preference. Having fewer Zombies has its pros and cons for sure. So do what's natural to you. (You may not even be able to tell a difference.) Note: Mont's will only give you the lower half on Zombies. So consider that if you have an odd amount of Zombies. (9 zombies = 4 zombies with Mont's.)

4) If you want actual totals for damage and such, you'll need to download Path of Building (which should be linked in the guide). I don't normally care about final numbers as long as gameplay is smooth, but it's still good info to have...info the game itself doesn't give you. So, PoB is where it's at.

Thanks for the kind post. I appreciate your kind words and that you've enjoyed the build for so long!

So I see your profile shows that you have swapped out Pride for Determination?

Hi Wrecker!
I hope recovery is going well. I am sorry for your loss (even if it is only material, it must be terrible anyways). You see this stuff in the news, but do not really think it can happen. I live in Central Europe, no floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes and the like here. We have different problems :D It is good to see you have not lost your positive thinking and good mood though!

Been playing and enjoying your green AW build in 3.14 as my first char in PoE, got to lvl 90 (mostly yellow maps, or early red) with a couple of deaths, crappy gear (no grinding for anything whatsoever). I could do very limited content, being on a 6 yo PC, no heist or delve or the pyramid stuff where you unlock rooms before going in, or the stuff when the screen turns white. I know these have names, but I am noob, right? :D Hopefully I'll learn all (most) game mechanics and events eventually.
Now I replaced my PC and am back for this build. Enjoying it so far.
As I see on POEDB, the Carnage Chieftain https://poedb.tw/us/Carnage_Chieftain#Lvl84 and the Stygian Silverback https://poedb.tw/us/Stygian_Silverback are absolutely the same. So is it just a cosmetic preference?
Thanks as always.

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cmacq wrote:

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So I see your profile shows that you have swapped out Pride for Determination?

Ya, cmacq! I'm trying it out. I wanted to see if the damage of the build would be too low by removing Pride. If the damage mitigation of Det. was good enough overall, then maybe Stun could be removed to make up for the damage loss. I wanted to get some playtime in with Determination THIS league in case it doesn't change for 3.17. Then I'll be in a good position to make quicker decisions for this build come 3.17's patch notes.

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huoc wrote:

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Hi Wrecker!
I hope recovery is going well. I am sorry for your loss (even if it is only material, it must be terrible anyways). You see this stuff in the news, but do not really think it can happen. I live in Central Europe, no floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes and the like here. We have different problems :D It is good to see you have not lost your positive thinking and good mood though!

Been playing and enjoying your green AW build in 3.14 as my first char in PoE, got to lvl 90 (mostly yellow maps, or early red) with a couple of deaths, crappy gear (no grinding for anything whatsoever). I could do very limited content, being on a 6 yo PC, no heist or delve or the pyramid stuff where you unlock rooms before going in, or the stuff when the screen turns white. I know these have names, but I am noob, right? :D Hopefully I'll learn all (most) game mechanics and events eventually.
Now I replaced my PC and am back for this build. Enjoying it so far.
As I see on POEDB, the Carnage Chieftain https://poedb.tw/us/Carnage_Chieftain#Lvl84 and the Stygian Silverback https://poedb.tw/us/Stygian_Silverback are absolutely the same. So is it just a cosmetic preference?
Thanks as always.

Thanks, huoc! Ya, it's been a long and hard road. But we'll get there. We have a lot to be thankful for. And like you said, there are problems everywhere, not just the ones you see on the news. Thanks for being so kind and thoughtful. I hope you're well.

It's fun to get a new PC, hey? Nice! I'm happy for you. In terms of the big monkey spectres, if there's no difference between the two, pick anyone you want. I put the Silverback in the guide as it's the most common. I didn't want new folk to run around looking for the rarer monkey when there's an easier one to find. (I wonder if they've always been the same? I thought they were different at one point. Either way, nice find :).)

I'm still looking for a nice "Stress-free" way to bring back a Temporal Chains guide. I haven't had the time or brainpower recently but It's been a top priority as that seems to be where my mind goes when I start daydreaming ;)

Thanks for the kind note. Feel free to ask anything you like.

Hi Wrecker,
I do have another question re Glancing Blows. I understand that with GB in average the char gets more damage, than w/o GB, but it helps smooth out the damage curve and helps to avoid one-shots. But, assuming I have a shield with 25% block chance + lvl 12 Bone Offering gives me an additional +31%, that is 56%. 56%*2=112%. AFAIK block chance is capped at 75%, so it seems like a waste, considering the much higher damage taken (65% instead of 0%). Can you please help me understand this?
Thank you!

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huoc wrote:

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Hi Wrecker,
I do have another question re Glancing Blows. I understand that with GB in average the char gets more damage, than w/o GB, but it helps smooth out the damage curve and helps to avoid one-shots. But, assuming I have a shield with 25% block chance + lvl 12 Bone Offering gives me an additional +31%, that is 56%. 56%*2=112%. AFAIK block chance is capped at 75%, so it seems like a waste, considering the much higher damage taken (65% instead of 0%). Can you please help me understand this?
Thank you!

Great question, huoc!

Your math is correct, you're just missing one little detail. So, let's use your shield for this.

- Your shield has is 25% chance to Block Attacks.
- A level 12 Bone Offering gives us 32% chance to Block Attacks.
- BUT our Mistress of Sacrifice cuts our Offering values in half. So now our block chance from Bone Offering is 16%.
- So now you have 25% + 16% = 41%. 41% * 2(GB) = 82%

You're correct that the default block cap is 75%. The nice thing about this setup is that a 22% shield can you can 76%. So you don't have to worry about the block chance of your shield.

So your math was correct. You just forgot about our ascendancy node. Good question! Ask more if you have them.

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Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

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huoc wrote:

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Hi Wrecker,
I do have another question re Glancing Blows. I understand that with GB in average the char gets more damage, than w/o GB, but it helps smooth out the damage curve and helps to avoid one-shots. But, assuming I have a shield with 25% block chance + lvl 12 Bone Offering gives me an additional +31%, that is 56%. 56%*2=112%. AFAIK block chance is capped at 75%, so it seems like a waste, considering the much higher damage taken (65% instead of 0%). Can you please help me understand this?
Thank you!

Great question, huoc!

Your math is correct, you're just missing one little detail. So, let's use your shield for this.

- Your shield has is 25% chance to Block Attacks.
- A level 12 Bone Offering gives us 32% chance to Block Attacks.
- BUT our Mistress of Sacrifice cuts our Offering values in half. So now our block chance from Bone Offering is 16%.
- So now you have 25% + 16% = 41%. 41% * 2(GB) = 82%

You're correct that the default block cap is 75%. The nice thing about this setup is that a 22% shield can you can 76%. So you don't have to worry about the block chance of your shield.

So your math was correct. You just forgot about our ascendancy node. Good question! Ask more if you have them.

Thank you for the explanation! Yeah, I missed that "half" part :)