Don't skip the white loot

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Turddog#8292 wrote:

Level 52 using a level 26 bow, decided to start picking up white bows and after two tries of upgrading a normal to a rare I landed a really good upgrade.

I also did this with my headpiece and belt that was lacking.

So don't skip over the white loot if you are needing an upgrade.

Or, you can just trade 1 exalt for a Rare with 6 mods that is significantly better than anything you might alchemy on that white item.

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Nemmerle#4704 wrote:

but also other factors (illuminated, magic or rare, some other possible mods).

Those things don't influence the campaign.

When we get to maps, the game is a mess.

OP said he is lvl 52, so I supposed he didn't finish cruel mode yet.

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Zewks#0624 wrote:

Or, you can just trade 1 exalt for a Rare with 6 mods that is significantly better than anything you might alchemy on that white item.

But then you need to log into another website, search for the item you want, hope the person who has the item shows as online, then hope that the person you whisper actually responds within 15 minutes, otherwise you star the process over. I'd rather play the game instead of waiting around to play the game. Also, Trading in this game (and PoE1 for that matter) is one of the worst, most archaic and asinine player interactions I've ever had in any multiplayer game ever; no, I've never been scammed, its just a shitty implementation. :)

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CycloneJack#6077 wrote:

But then you need to log into another website, search for the item you want, hope the person who has the item shows as online, then hope that the person you whisper actually responds within 15 minutes, otherwise you star the process over. I'd rather play the game instead of waiting around to play the game. Also, Trading in this game (and PoE1 for that matter) is one of the worst, most archaic and asinine player interactions I've ever had in any multiplayer game ever; no, I've never been scammed, its just a shitty implementation. :)

+1

SSF 4 life!

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Turddog#8292 wrote:

Ok so maybe my brain needs a little rewiring from previous ARPG’s.

Typically you outlevel gear in “other” games every 5 levels or so.

In PoE2 this isn’t the case? Sorry just a little confused on what to expect. I want to make sure if I’m hitting a wall it’s not related to my gear but maybe just how i have my passive setup or even how my skill/support gem is setup.

Nope, gearing and character progression works differently. I know what you mean, and come from same boat - things are different in PoE2.


Here are your primary sources of power:

• Skill Gems. Higher lvl = more damage. Also, more support gem sockets (depending on the combination) = more damage. Improvement of Gem Quality level = more damage for many cases, but depends of the Skill and which benefit it gets from Quality.

• Weapon. Physical Damage / Physical Damage % / Attack Speed / Elemental Damage / Skill Levels = more damage. Weapon Quality upgrade = more damage. Weapon sockets with % Damage Runes/Soul Cores = more damage.

• Notable passives (large nodes) = more damage, more powerful, and more important than small passive nodes.


Since you have mentioned Bow weapons, as an example. Here are all possible non-unique Bows in the game:

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https://poe2db.tw/us/Bows#BowsItem

As you can see, there are actually not that many. But each Bow has a unique implicit mod on it - for example, Fires Additional Arrow, or Projectiles Chain Additional Time, or adds Chaos Damage. And, as you can see - the Bows are broken into level brackets.

Like with Dualstring Bow - it only exists for 28 / 55 / 78. This means, that if you build character around the usage of Dualstring Bow to always have an Additional Arrow - you pretty much look for big weapon upgrades only on 28 / 55 / 78 levels.

So if you got a good Dualstring Bow at level 28 - you just play with it up to 55 and then you start looking for good version of lvl 55 one.

So, if you are using Duastring Bows, and you have one of lvl 28, for example, but it has bad rolls - there is a point to get same one with better rolls, of course. But for Bows it is always: Physical Damage / Physical Damage % / Attack Speed / Elemental Damage / Skill Levels.

You choose your weapon based on implicit bonus - not just based on lvl requirements.


Same thing goes for armor. Here you can find a full list of items, and you can check their lvl brackets:

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https://poe2db.tw/us/Items

As you can see from armor list, it also brackets and changes every 15-20 levels, or so.

So you just choose which armor type you want to wear (Evasion / Armour / Energy Shield / combination of any of two), and you also change it same like your weapon only every 15 levels of so.


Important things are Rings, Amulets, and Belts. They work differently - for these you are not chasing highest level version, but you are chasing best combination of mods and highest rolls on those mods. What is ment by that, a Ring which requires lvl 30 but has godly mods on it - will be better than Ring which requires level 60 but has trash mods on it.

You only change Rings, Amulets, and Belts when you find a better combination of mods, and better rolls on those mods, you don't care about level requirement.


If you are hitting a wall at certain points:

• Getting better weapon rolls might help, but it is not going to be something crazy. Unless you have extremely bad rolls on current weapon. Upgrading weapon Quality, adding sockets, and using Runes/Soul Cores does make a notable impact.

• Getting higher level Skill Gem - might not necessarily be an option. But using a better combination of Support Gems might be HUGE.

One very important thing to keep in mind when it comes to Support Gems, and also applies to passives:

~> MORE smth: means a MULTIPLIER. Smth is being multiplied by X amount. This is very strong.

~> INCREASED smth: means ADDITIVE change. Smth is being added to the current amount. This is not very strong.

~> LESS smth: means DIVIDER. Smth is being divided by X amount. This is very strong PENALTY to smth.

~> REDUCED smth: means SUBSTRACTION. Smth is being substracted from current amount. This is a PENALTY too, but not that big of a deal.

So when you are choosing your Support Gems combos - makes sure to not put too many things with LESS into it, otherwise you may make your skill to deal little to no damage.

• Getting more Damage nodes on passive tree will help a lot if you struggling with damage.

• Getting more Resistances combined with Immunity Charm to specific effect will help a lot with survivability.

• Upgrading Quality of your armor pieces will have quite slight impact.

• Upgrading your armor to a higher lvl version, where you get more Evasion / Armour / Energy Shield / combination of any of two - this will have moderate impact if you are struggling with Physical damage killing you.


Since you are obviously playing Ranger, I can also recommend checking out beginner guide from Raxx - it is very good, and you will have much more comfortable experience:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVxpAAJ6s08

I have a ton of bases to gamble on, but sadly I don't run a screen clearing MF blaster so I have no currency.

Thanks for the replies. Ya buying a weapon/armor upgrade probably won’t happen for me as I would rather just find something or craft something.

Haxordoge, in regards to the passive tree and survivability I have a question.

Even I take a “+15% evasion “ node, I notice that my actual evasion only goes up by like 1 percent. Do you know if this is intentional?

Also I did have my toon gimped with how some of my support gems were interacting with some of my skills. I have since then tried some different setups and have a considerable improvement with crowd control and damage.

I generally just go with the gambling merchant and buy a bunch until I get a decent yellow. Then use that.

As to Evasion, it is a 15% increase of your base evasion, not a 15% addition to your evasion rate. So if you have 200 base evasion, and after various things it is at 400, a 15% node will add 30 to your evasion, bringing you up to 430. As to how much of a change that 30 will make to the predicted dodge percentage, that's all dependent on things like level and where you are for the range in that level.

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Axterix13#5693 wrote:

I generally just go with the gambling merchant and buy a bunch until I get a decent yellow. Then use that.

As to Evasion, it is a 15% increase of your base evasion, not a 15% addition to your evasion rate. So if you have 200 base evasion, and after various things it is at 400, a 15% node will add 30 to your evasion, bringing you up to 430. As to how much of a change that 30 will make to the predicted dodge percentage, that's all dependent on things like level and where you are for the range in that level.

Ok I see what you are saying. It’s tricky because right now I have 75 percent evasion and I don’t know if it’s even worth hunting down more of those nodes or if I should start building a life steal setup.

I assume diminishing returns start at 100 percent?

I don't know the exact mechanics of it, just the most basic top level side of it. However, it is pretty rare for DR to kick in at 100% on a defensive skill, because 100% makes you immune to most things ;) Armor and resists both cap at 90%, for example, though the former's effectiveness differs with the size of the hit, while the latter needs things to raise its soft cap of 75 to enable it to get to 90. And with evasion, it dukes it out with mob accuracy, so there might be a max "mob miss chance", but against a more accurate mob, more evasion wouldn't be wasted.

But I honestly can't say, as I just don't know, and haven't bothered to check into it at all.

Oh, and just for clarity's sake, by 100%, I mean 100% dodge rate, not +100% in total (say 6 15% nodes and one 10% one) to your evasion rating .