Cool spear tricks thread - maximizing fun and power for spear-enjoyers and pokemon trainers.
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If you are playing lightning damage spears, then spend your currency to get a Kitoko's Current gloves ASAP. They are probably already expensive, but they are game-changing and build defining. Make that your first big purchase.
Call of the Brotherhood ring is also very good. It lets you run dual herald setup and frees up your glove slot for the super powerful attack stacks it can roll. tl;dr whirling slash/spearfield + pin, combat frenzy, companion with shock
Progression
10/4 Chanced a headhunter....in ssf. Wow. So that's a massive game changer, and I won't consider it part of the 'build' at all. Needless to say it is extremely fun on a very fast movespeed and 'clear' character like this. First time I ever snagged one in SSF on either game. Anyways, it doesn't help us kill bosses at all, which is what endgame is really about. We need that bossing power. I once again saved up a bunch of resources and managed to craft a new high level spear with around 400pdps, but otherwise useless secondary stats. I switched up the tree for more attack speed from accuracy, and also grabbed the anoint "you have 30% increased accuracy at closed range", for max critical chance. Then I used all my lesser jewelers and vaal orbs to get a 5L primal strike. After those changes it boosted the tooltip dps of primal strike up to 40k, but that doesn't take into account the boosts it gets from using/consuming shock. I don't know the exact math, but a full combo of 3 strikes on a shocked boss does around 150k-200k, more if I go full effort and throw a sniper mark in there for the crit boost. I maintain shocked ground with the tank pet and keep crits/sniper mark frenzy charges/more shocked ground going with shock lance. Often T15 bosses die inside of a single freeze. It feels good for T15/T16. I don't run juiced T16 because my actual gear is not ideal and I do not have all the evasion/es gear I actually want yet. This build can easily run juiced T16 if you are not SSF and can assemble a proper ES barrier to compliment your evasion chance. As it is, my 1700 health evaporates instantly for no apparent reason quite often. As for bossing, I think the primal strike strategy works fine. With the massive amount of attack speed and dance with death node, it feels very good to use. I would like a pet with shocks on hit, shock ground, AND haste, but thats a very rare combo. IMO dual herald call of brotherhood lightning spear is peak mapping, but definitely could use a total overhaul for single target dps to really push it much higher. I'll put some more thought into it, maybe after I fix up my gear. Farming maps with headhunter is way too fun for me to really care about endgame bossing outside of map bosses, at all. 9/4 Found a Call of the Brotherhood ring and switched out kitoko gloves for crit bonus and attack stat gloves. Now that I deal cold damage with lightning spear, it means I can run herald of ice. Because I still have shock aoe from my pet, and from storm lances, I can run herald of thunder also. Because I have 184 spirit from all my gear, and enough reservation reduction on the heralds and pet, I can still fit wind dancer into the build if I drop cull. In T15 now. Blasted straight up to T15 in a couple of hours after finding a very lucky perfect jeweler orb (lightning spear), and spending all my currency crafting a new weapon and fixing up my resists. Kitoko gloves are crazy strong, but hardly necessary, as I did all my boss killing, and boss killing at T15 also, with a 4L primal strike and a 4L storm lance for extra shocking ground/exposure. Primal strike is extremely strong if you have endless shocks to consume. I also made a weapon set II tree just for swapping to parry, to take advantage of the (imo very dumb) boss recoil/stun for parrying their small attacks, because 50% more boosted primal strike is bonkers. Setup Not posting a mobalytics or anything yet, LS is braindead just go crit and if you don't want a companion then get more defenses. Lightning spear - volt, deliberation, perpetual, bullseye, (twofold/longshot) Primal strike - pursuit, lightning infusion, primal armament Storm lance - scattershot, lightning exposure, maginified effect Cull the weak - martial tempo, behead, close combat Sniper mark - arcane tempo, ingenuity Companion (haste aura/shocking trail/armoured) - meat shield, elemental army, (last gasp/loyalty) Wind Dancer - pin, lockdown, maim (gives free frenzy charges if small fast trash hit you and proc pin, great for ritual) Combat frenzy - profusion, precision, cannibalism Infuse weapon - Elemental focus, blind, culling strike, conc effect Bossing: sniper mark->storm lance for first frenzy charge->storm lance again for shocking ground+exposure->spam primal strike/parry small hits/primal strike Amazon Ascendency: Critical Strike -> Penetrate -> Elemental Infusion Weapon 1 (no offhand item) Tree: DANCE WITH DEATH, spear nodes, crit bonus nodes, companion nodes to reservation and 'companion damage boost goes to you', electrocute node, accuracy nodes Weapon set II tree: max out parry and defenses, ignore the '% damage bypasses block' nodes and block chance. Crafted this spear around T10, haven't found or been able to gamble/craft anything better yet. 1 button multiple screen clears in T15 anyways. You need accuracy on the weapon to take advantage of the ascendency, and the +levels are really huge for damage.  In T5 now, pretty much doing volt cooldown LS, explosive spear between that, and primal strike on rares. Pets do shock on bosses/rares. Still using death dance, but might switch back to shield just for stats. -Dropped elemental sundering, needed the slot for sniper mark -Dropped glacial lance, we are doing pure pinning and sniper mark for charges now -Sniper mark + profusion is superior frenzy uptime on bosses/rares -Spear field is super to whirling for seasonal content, the amount of random monsters on screen require the wide aoe pinning -Switched to crit -Found kitoko gloves...all lightning damage now electrocutes. Huge. -Considering dropping explosive spear soon and picking up a staff or bow skill with good utility. LS + primal strike are really all you need, and I'm all in on lightning damage now.
Frenzygen
Pre Kitoko's Current: Sniper mark + profusion Combat frenzy Cull the Weak Spearfield+pin OR: electrocute on lightning spear and accept somewhat lower damage in return for lots of frenzy charges. Post Kitoko Current: Only combat frenzy + profusion is needed Cull the weak is nice for utility Sniper mark on bosses/tanky rares only Wind dancer + pin/lockdown for free frenzy charges from pinning AOE on fast trash mobs in spammy content like ritual Update: finished the campaign, going to do maps for a bit. Listed skills worked all the way through. Shock + primal strike deals with bosses easily. I used two shocking companions to rapidly reapply shock so that I could attack as fast as possible with primal strike and benefit from endless shocks to consume. Did not invest in defense whatsoever, completed cruel with horrible resists and almost no evasion without much issue, thanks to the very high movespeed/damage/pet usage. A few deaths here and there to random stuff, nothing 'walled' me in cruel. Spear sucks in normal act 1 and 2, and only sort of starts to come online in act 3 normal. I used a staff instead since parry is dumb (imo), then I switched later. It was worth it. Stick with it, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Before late act3 normal or act 1 cruel, spear is severely lacking power and proper synergy. I actually used a staff instead, but lightning spear + primal strikes is also OK ish. We all know about rake+stomping ground cheese, and that works too, but you're wasting your effort stacking str during campaign. Once you unlock combat frenzy and companions, as well as 'dance with death' node on your tree, spear explodes into one of the most fun playstyles I've ever tried in PoE2. IMO the balance issues with player power and progression in normal mode is a game design problem. You get a proper and satisfying ARPG as soon as you set foot into cruel mode. Why is it like this I can't fathom, but the same thing happened last season. Anyways, here are some things I have learned/discovered about spear/huntress thus far. Try this now: - Get 'Dance with Death' node and other skill speed nodes nearby. Say goodbye to your buckler, you won't be needing it. - Go farm a pokemon that drops lightning bolts ('conjure lightning storm'), or shocks on hit(does it exist?). Acquiring a source of 'perma shock' on a companion will make sense soon. Fire trail and haste aura are also good, but secondary in importance. With +45 spirit on your gear, you can have 2 companion and also combat frenzy, depending on the cost of your companions. Werewolves in act 1 cruel are fast and cheap(33%) and easy to farm, Quadrillas are extremely fast, but you need to go back to act 3 normal and get one, but they are annoying to farm. Primal apes are common and cheap, and easy to farm in act 3 normal also. Just do this. Trust me. Get at least one pet with 'conjure lightning storm'. Frenzy Charge building enginge: -Combat Frenzy (20% quality) + profusion -Whirling Slash + pin + martial tempo (<------ THIS IS WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR) (ALTERNATE) -Spearfield + pin + lockdown + rearm (REALLY good in any 'manic' map mods like beyond/ritual, because its a persistent immobilizing field that rearms itself. Great if you don't want commit to whirling) Whirling slash and pin is really excellent frenzy charge generation and extremely easy to use. Your spending setup engine: -Lightning Spear + longshot + volt + innervate -Explosive Spear + whatever (great with elemental sundering and whirling slash) -Glacial Lance + ice bite + glaciation Your boss pounding skill: - Primal strikes + pursuit + lightning infusion + whatever Primal strikes has extremely good synergy with shock, and you want shock both from your lightning spears, and also from your companions. With perma shock uptime, you will be doing ridiculous stun and damage to bosses. You'll kill cruel bosses in 10-30 seconds with this skill, after you shock them and get some lightning storm rolling. I will be honest, I'm not exactly sure how this skill functions, but I think it boils down to 'more shock to consume = more damage'. Your 'mop up' skill: - Elemental sundering + hit and run. Hit and run make this skill pop off extremely fast, especially with dance with death. You pop it right after you drop an explosive spear into a pack, it blows up all the burning corpses and anything still on fire. (If you have a pet with 'leaves a burning trail', you can spam this skill on everything that is perma-ignited by the trail for really simple cheesy clear) Tree: take all the movement speed nodes, damage nodes, etc, on the way to Dance with Death Acceleration Trusted Kinship (double companion once you have enough extra spirit) Inspiring Ally Easy Going and both companion reservation nodes my tree, basically instakilled every boss in cruel act 1 and 2 and pop packs with 1 or 2 clicks IM SHARING THIS SETUP BECAUSE I WENT FROM HATING THIS PATCH TO LOVING IT THANKS TO HOW THESE SKILLS WORK TOGETHER. ITS JUST A LEVELING BUILD. TRY IT OUT! I'm ssf this league so I've been spending all my currency/gold on gambling for spears in cruel. Try to get something like this while leveling.  Last edited by Konried#2763 on Apr 10, 2025, 10:27:27 PM Last bumped on Apr 10, 2025, 8:15:12 AM
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Share your spear tips and tricks here, or your builds that are working for you.
I think the struggle in normal mode with spear is universal outside of stomping ground cheese. It would be nice if somebody came up with a great early leveling setup. POKEMON SECTION My thoughts about pokemon training is that considering the absolute power, versatility, and utility of having a pair of multiple rare mod monsters by your side, they will probably worth using over any other spirit skills besides combat frenzy, while in the campaign. Realistically speaking, having maxed out pets will be like having a pocket auramancer. It will be crazy strong for any class that can run it. Going to just be dropping what I have discovered thus far. Confirmed excellent pet skills: Haste Aura (flat 10% run and attack speed) Conjure Lightning (enormous damage and also huge sustained shocks for you to consume) 'X' on hit (inflicting elemental ailments on hit means you can detonate them with elemental sundering or consume them) Trail of 'X' (detonation/consume) Healing aura (it's like 5% a second, pretty decent) Meh pet skills imo: Phys damage aura (its only like 5%) Energy shield aura (bugged/resets/doesn't start ES recharge when you run into range) Ground explosions (take too long to blow up/pet will use them on approach and not on top of mobs/long CD) Temporal shell (I think the slow is only 5%? not sure, but it doesn't work how it does on the player) Confirmed fast movespeed pokemon Chimeral - probably fastest of the bunch Quadrilla (45% base reserve cost) - can keep up with me moving at 60% extra runspeed, these guys are really peak. Super aggressive, huge hp pool, very fast. Hyenataur - not as fast as monke but pretty fast, only uses thrown spear so don't count on it for aoe stuff. Confirmed slow pokemon Antlions - at least charges into battle, but really slow otherwise Those bipedal bird things The bigger bird things with a sword Porcupines Last edited by Konried#2763 on Apr 7, 2025, 4:07:14 AM
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"We all know about rake+stomping ground cheese, and that works too, but you're wasting your effort stacking str during campaign."
Rather than being a waste, I've been using the strength to afford bleed supports. My huntress is slowly turning into a tank with a tower shield instead of a buckler. You don't have to care about the enemies being fast and aggressive if they just run into your spearfield (martial tempo and lacerate) slam their heads on your shield, get dazed, and promptly bled out with rake. Does it defeat the purpose of an agile class? Probably. But it's viable, relaxing even. Impatience is insatiable.
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Am I doing something wrong or we can't have two companion from "Tame Beast" with "Trusted Kinship" ?
I tried with it and it didn't allow me to summon the others (Limit reached it said). They were different beast (Quadrilla & Antlions) and I had a Sceptre Off-Hand (so I had 130 spirits). As for leveling with Huntress, Explosive Spear with (Expedite lower Detonate Time) & Overabundance (+1 to Limit) make this skill really powerful for all Act 1 as the first Spear Detonate the second one rather quickly. Add Storm Lance when you get it and everything explode quite easily as they also get detonated by Explosive Spear for good damage & Shock. Last edited by RaphaelDjirane#7270 on Apr 7, 2025, 6:28:56 AM
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" dunno, but I have two companions of different types out without any issues |
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Hi,
Thank you to share your build, I found the way you play with primal strike pretty good and cool. Im playing with lighting spear with an electrocute build to have some frenzy charge. Really strong to clear packs, but pretty bad for boss or rare. Im gonna try with primal strike for boss ;) |
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what is the best spot to farm the werewolves in A1 cruel?
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" the transition into the burning village area, you can check the farm and the burning village by resetting the zones |
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I want so bad to use ritualist for a full companion focused build but idk what to do besides the companions lol. This is purely a flavor fueled desire, seems like Amazon is probably stronger in almost every case
Tbh I leveled an Amazon and a ritualist to 35 so far, trying to decide how to justify the ritualist choice. Or just move on with Amazon. In the meantime I've been capturing a bunch of pets. I hope they're easy tk level up. It's also cool to imagine people putting them on the trade site, I'm sure it's happening already. | |
" I went back and forth and did find a few werewolf packs but not too many rares from them. Is there any guaranteed spawn like the barrens or do I just run around clearing until I find one? |
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