[3.24] fezz's Toxic Rain Champion - Step-by-Step PoE Build Guide for Beginners & Casuals

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fezz8386 wrote:

2) You can use (Awakened) Void Manipulation instead. Culling Strike can also be an alternative. (I actually arelady considered changing the guide so these two are the first options since some other players struggled with Focussed Ballista Support as well - thanks for reminding me!)

I swapped back to VM and the play just feels so much smoother. I can see how Focused Ballista can provide more DPS in the optimal case, but the ability to move around and dodge boss hits means I get much more effective DPS letting the totems do their own thing. Not to mention, even in cases where I don't have to move around as much, it's nice that the totems can aim on their own :)

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fezz8386 wrote:

4) Due to the changes in 3.21, there is a high chance that (new) players will struggle juggling the mana reservation part of the build which is the reason why I didn't include the Blood Rage X Vitality combo. If you can fit it in, Blood Rage is definetely a damage boost but for the sake of simplicity I decided to not include it.

I gave it a spin and refunded the mana reservation nodes in exchange for enough points for my second medium cluster jewel, and stopped using both Vit/BR. I get much more DPS from the cluster jewel than BR, happy to say. So, more DPS, and fewer things to manage: a win overall!

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lasagnaman wrote:

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fezz8386 wrote:

2) You can use (Awakened) Void Manipulation instead. Culling Strike can also be an alternative. (I actually arelady considered changing the guide so these two are the first options since some other players struggled with Focussed Ballista Support as well - thanks for reminding me!)

I swapped back to VM and the play just feels so much smoother. I can see how Focused Ballista can provide more DPS in the optimal case, but the ability to move around and dodge boss hits means I get much more effective DPS letting the totems do their own thing. Not to mention, even in cases where I don't have to move around as much, it's nice that the totems can aim on their own :)

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fezz8386 wrote:

4) Due to the changes in 3.21, there is a high chance that (new) players will struggle juggling the mana reservation part of the build which is the reason why I didn't include the Blood Rage X Vitality combo. If you can fit it in, Blood Rage is definetely a damage boost but for the sake of simplicity I decided to not include it.

I gave it a spin and refunded the mana reservation nodes in exchange for enough points for my second medium cluster jewel, and stopped using both Vit/BR. I get much more DPS from the cluster jewel than BR, happy to say. So, more DPS, and fewer things to manage: a win overall!

Yes, cluster jewels are your main source of damage increase. therefore, these will alway be more important than BR. BR is only a damage boost if you can add it ON TOP of the default damage sources (either in exchange for survivability or utility).

This guide was PHENOMENAL as a first time player! Thank you!

I few suggestions (not sure HOW detailed you want to be):
- I did get lost on what I was supposed to follow in terms of the quests. Some acts, there was nothing, like Act 8. Stumbled upon this great cheat sheet that helped in that aspect: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fIs8sdvgZG7iVouPdtFkbRx5kv55_xVja8l19yubyRU/htmlview# Also, because of this guide I ended missing a lot of passive points from the campaign and had to back track. Either adding this sheet or some sort of path for each act would've been extremely helpful.

- Apparently this build falls extremely off in endgame in terms of damage. Whether true or false, it would be nice that for the endgame section you had alternate build suggestions.

- Ran into some mechanics, even in Act 1, and I was extremely confused by them on what to do. Not sure if these are random or different per act, but a little blurb on each one we ran into would have been cool (ie: Crucible, Mining, Heist, The worm hole thing (still don't understand this one), excavating, beasts, etc.).

That should've been it. Everything else was super understandable and extremely helpful through the journey. Currently, just finished Act 10 so I haven't started on the map portion yet.


By the way, do you have any other guides like these for other builds/characters?

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inShaneity wrote:

This guide was PHENOMENAL as a first time player! Thank you!

First of all, thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

In regards to your points, I have a very different point of view and I would like to eloborate on this.

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inShaneity wrote:

- I did get lost on what I was supposed to follow in terms of the quests. Some acts, there was nothing, like Act 8. Stumbled upon this great cheat sheet that helped in that aspect: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fIs8sdvgZG7iVouPdtFkbRx5kv55_xVja8l19yubyRU/htmlview# Also, because of this guide I ended missing a lot of passive points from the campaign and had to back track. Either adding this sheet or some sort of path for each act would've been extremely helpful.

As stated in the introduction of the guide, the guide doesn't cover quests at all so the statement that you missed quests because (!) of the guide is fundamentally wrong. At no point, the guide tells you to skip any quests so there is no reason to assume players do. As a result - and due to the fact the game does guide you through the quests by showing them on the right side of your screen - new players who play the game normally, should be expected to complete any quests available to them. That being said - and here I agree with you in terms of the fact that it is possible to somehow miss one or more quests for whatever reason - the guide reminds you to complete unfinished quests in Act 9 - just in case.

Nevertherless, the source you've linked can be beneficial to be more efficient. But efficiency shouldn't be a focus in your first playthrough of the game and adding another layer of information isn't helpful, in my opinion.

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inShaneity wrote:

- Apparently this build falls extremely off in endgame in terms of damage. Whether true or false, it would be nice that for the endgame section you had alternate build suggestions.

This is actually not true. It is perfectly capable of clearing all content. Actually, it is quite on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of damage when it comes to league starter builds (due to the fact that you don't need any specific uniques). That being said, killing Uber bosses can be quite challenging with the build, BUT playing the game for the first time and having the expectation to comfortably kill Uber bosses is just a mismatch of expectations, at least in my opinion.

The problem with adding recommendations of alternative builds to the guide is that this is subject to change each league. And while I observe the development of builds quite well, it's hard to recommend guides I didn't play myself. But I will consider it, thanks for the input.

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inShaneity wrote:

- Ran into some mechanics, even in Act 1, and I was extremely confused by them on what to do. Not sure if these are random or different per act, but a little blurb on each one we ran into would have been cool (ie: Crucible, Mining, Heist, The worm hole thing (still don't understand this one), excavating, beasts, etc.).

I'm convinced that exploration should still be a part fo the journey of a new player, even if he uses this guide. Therefore, I don't see the need to explain league mechanics since they are just a layer ON TOP of the base game and nothing they provide influences the first playthrough negatively and there's nothing a player can do wrong about it (wether or not he is engaaging with it).

Side note: Based on your feedback, I have the feeling that you belong to the player group that wants to know everything beforehand to play as efficient as possible - even if it's your first time - but I think that the majority of players do not feel that way. So I get where you are coming from, but I disagree ;)

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inShaneity wrote:

By the way, do you have any other guides like these for other builds/characters?

Maintaining one guide is already quite time consuming which is why I don't have any other guides.

Hey, I was wondering if I could put in leech into the build but here is my POB and I'm wondering where I could improve.

https://pobb.in/x-U_ks7kR8mj

New player here playing this on SSF, I really appreciate the guide and especially all of the endgame stuff basics/milestones/crafts.

The only time I was really confused with the guide was when at some point you said to skip some quest and go straight for the library for specific gems.
The library ended up being very far up in the act so I had absolutely no clue about where to go. Looking up the library on poewiki shows a couple connected areas to it, but that did not help as I hadn't seen those zones either.
Nonetheless I just ignored it and did the content I should've 'skipped' and eventually got those gems anyway. Just felt a little confusing.

Also wanted to say thanks for updating the POB for day 1 of crucible league skill tree. I did half the campaign the week before crucible hit, then on leaguestart I decided to start over. Having the POB be updated from day 1 was very much appreciated.

This guide and Zizaran's youtube channel have been superb in learning the game.
I tried the game years ago before there were detailed guides like this one and at the time it all just felt like it was too much. Hasn't been like that this time. somehow had 1 mob drop 4 6-link chests and 2 6-link bows a few days ago, which skyrocketed my damage. Still confused how or what caused that to happen.
Just beat world eater or whatever that thing's name was and still enjoying the mapping at this point.

Thanks. :)

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Franana wrote:

Hey, I was wondering if I could put in leech into the build but here is my POB and I'm wondering where I could improve.

https://pobb.in/x-U_ks7kR8mj

Your build is pretty much minmaxed to a point where I don't see much potential in improving it, well done! (Did you actually use the guide to come that far? I'm pretty sure no one else managed to push it that close to minmax, at least no one who was vocal about it :D)

Edit: You could add a jewel that gives you immunity to Corrupted Blood which opens a suffix on your life flask, but that's a marginal improvement.

In regards to leech: Since the build is a DoT build, there's not much you can do about leech, but the new mastery that provides life recovery per Withered stack leans somehow in this direction, although this is only beneficial if you kill monsters.

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faxity wrote:

New player here playing this on SSF, I really appreciate the guide and especially all of the endgame stuff basics/milestones/crafts.

[...]

Also wanted to say thanks for updating the POB for day 1 of crucible league skill tree. I did half the campaign the week before crucible hit, then on leaguestart I decided to start over. Having the POB be updated from day 1 was very much appreciated.

[...]

This guide and Zizaran's youtube channel have been superb in learning the game.
I tried the game years ago before there were detailed guides like this one and at the time it all just felt like it was too much. Hasn't been like that this time. somehow had 1 mob drop 4 6-link chests and 2 6-link bows a few days ago, which skyrocketed my damage. Still confused how or what caused that to happen.
Just beat world eater or whatever that thing's name was and still enjoying the mapping at this point.

Thanks. :)

Hey, thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it. If you want to do me a favor, you could recommend the guide to other players (e.g. to friends or on reddit) if you see the opportunity to do so. I'm not a streamer and the guide is pretty much only seen/used if people actively recommend it (if you do so, thanks in advance) ;).

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faxity wrote:

The only time I was really confused with the guide was when at some point you said to skip some quest and go straight for the library for specific gems. The library ended up being very far up in the act so I had absolutely no clue about where to go. Looking up the library on poewiki shows a couple connected areas to it, but that did not help as I hadn't seen those zones either. Nonetheless I just ignored it and did the content I should've 'skipped' and eventually got those gems anyway. Just felt a little confusing.

Hm ... the guide states to do the Library quest "as soon as possible". There's no mentioning of skipping anything, but if you misunderstood it there's a chance others do as well so I added the following note to the respective task: "There’s no need to skip any other campaign quests in order to complete this quest. Just progress through the campaign normally and keep in mind that once you reach The Imperial Gardens, you should look for The Library and complete the quest."

Hey man. Im essentially a new player and started with this guide. Currently i am lv 93 and tackling lv 84 heists and T16 maps (dying here and there because im still a noob.) I wanted to ask a few questions because it seems i have hit a brickwall in terms of the passive Tree and Survibility/damage out put against Tanky and bosses specifically who move and teleport a lot.

My Current stats and build : https://poe.ninja/pob/ZQT

1. I crafted the bow following your guide and it was amazing and easy to follow, i was wondering if you could do the same things for the rest of the gear. if its possible. im having trouble finding anything relevant that could help without spending 300 divs lol

2. Other than one ring/amulet/quiver/quiver/and gems. how do make the build better? even though i am ok clearing t16. i some times get one shot.

3. Is this build not good for doing the hard bosses? i have trouble fighting people like Karina from Betrayal and things like the invitations since they all move all the time. it takes me a very long time to kill any high Hp Elite mobs and bosses. no sure what im lacking.

4. is my tree ok? what do pieces should i work on for the very late late game. i beieve my bow is fully finished other than 26% quality and crucible but idont evne know how to deal with that or whats good lol.

Thank you so much. this guide has helped a lot

Sorry if this has been asked or if I missed it in the guide but I'm having issues understanding the aura's I should have active by end of act 3.

I'm starting act 4 (lvl36) and have the bow made so I'm switching over from melee. There's no details about what aura's to drop, except vitality if I'm having mana reservation issues (I am).

Per the guide; end of act 3 you talk about adding malevolence (46.3% reservation) (swap for herald of ash) and determination (46.3% reservation) but that's on top of herald of purity (23.15% reservation) (you don't mention getting rid of it in the guide) so that's 115.75% mana reservation and it's not possible. I have the two smaller passives in reservation mastery in my passives.

Just looking for clarity on what auras I should be running because I'm really hurting in the mana field.

I really appreciate the guide; I'm enjoying the build. It's been easy to follow as someone who is new to the game and where other guides don't explain everything.