Am I missing something with Sanctum?

So if I understand Sanctum mechanics correctly, it's like this:
- You get books as drops in maps.
- You can use those books to start Sanctum runs.
- You have a Resolve pool. If a mob hits you, you lose Resolve.
- It's impossible to regain Resolve through any means.
- Resolve also does not regenerate after room completion.
- Once you lose all Resolve, you fail a run.

If all of this is true, how exactly am I meant to not fail a Sanctum run on the first or second room? I just burned through 3 books, 2 times I failed on the first room and the third time I failed on the second room (though the first room gave me 3 chaos, which is kinda nice).

I can't think of any sort of build that would successfully be able to complete a Sanctum run. Your Resolve doesn't seem to be tied to your Life, and even though upping armour is meant to reduce Resolve loss on hit, it still feels impossible to kill the unique mobs without losing at least 50 Resolve on each.

Is there something which can make Sanctum easier or is it meant to be ultra-hardcore bullet hell?

Some builds are good at sanctum, some builds are very bad. It is about avoiding damage not being able to tank it. You also need relics to have better chances and you basicly need a lot of dps, since if stuff is alive for to long you basicly get hit to often. Builds that can kill stuff very quickly offscreen are as always very handy.

And this is just the first step. Then you need to learn which choices are advantageous and what to avoid at any cost. Meaning rooms, rewards and afflictions/boons.

To answer your question: Relics make it easier and boons you get, stuff you can buy at the vendor(imortant) makes it easier. You can try to avoid some of the "bullet hell" rooms once you know them.

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

Some builds are good at sanctum, some builds are very bad. It is about avoiding damage not being able to tank it. You also need relics to have better chances and you basicly need a lot of dps, since if stuff is alive for to long you basicly get hit to often. Builds that can kill stuff very quickly offscreen are as always very handy.

And this is just the first step. Then you need to learn which choices are advantageous and what to avoid at any cost. Meaning rooms, rewards and afflictions/boons.

To answer your question: Relics make it easier and boons you get, stuff you can buy at the vendor(imortant) makes it easier. You can try to avoid some of the "bullet hell" rooms once you know them.

Hmm, you're actually right. A VFoS build like mine won't stand a chance, but it could be clearable with the builds that clear screens fast.

VFOS can work just fine if you are either good with the mechanics of the monsters that show up (requires practise and paying attention to what monsters do, not something a modern poe player would be used to) or if you have enough damage to just oneshot everything so you have less chances to get hit. From there it's just matter of getting relics for resolve recovery. You can do full sanctum runs on builds that aren't specialized for it with some practise.

That said, super high dps off screen/shoot around the corner builds are best for sanctum since your hp/defense hardly matters at all.

I haven't touched sanctum since the sanctum league and the league after for some challenges.

Melee builds, although capable, complete sanctum runs 4times harder than a sanctum build can.

You can also generate resources ( like resolve or inspiration) through the runs based on the choices you make.

Honestly there is a reason that Original Sin - amethyst ring is 1 mirror minimum.


Crappy league.
Crappy system.
Great rewards.

Not doable by melee build of ANY kind.

you cannot..
Armour tank
ES tank
Evade tank
Ward Tank

Only super high instant kill full aoe full room clear builds farm sanctum.

This was the worst league they every made, Fixed by doing exsactly what you said a few lines in; refresh resolve on next step..

But GGG like TFP for their game 7 days to die, Know better then you, and if you don't like it tough toodles, you can just ?buy? it? nah you can't becuase only 0.04% of players even atempt this stupid league ma, and of those only 1% of them can even kill the boss and of those only 1% will get this stupid ring.


You want all damage to be chaos damage? Nah bro go buy lotto tickets.

"Remove this league from the game or fix it to be playable"

If you remove it asign the items to another league or something.
time to unstupid the choices you made GGG.

// before anyone posts, No i will not ever look at this post again so flame posting and rage baiting is pointless.

I ask if you are going to respond honestly ask yourself do i fit the above criteria? if you do then just don't go now and check yourself into an asylm in your city citing an inability to stop yourself from crap posting on the internet to rage-bait people who honestly care about something.

If you made it this far you also have no life but im glad you care about this kind of random crap to.

DELETE THE STUPID SANCTUM

I did not play the original sanctum, so don't know what the changes where since the post, but I think points 4 and 5 on OP's list are not accurate, regarding resolve and the ability to regain it.

The point in the thread does stand though, that sanctum is highly geared towards certain builds.

I'm not a sanctum hater, and I don't think it will be removed, since it has been heavily adapted in POE2, but I do think it should continue to be balanced across the range of builds.

I think some of the defense type which have become major parts of the game, have no consideration in sanctum. Block, suppression etc. I'm not across exactly which ones are not useful, but it makes playing those builds basically a write off for interacting effectively with sanctum. All the league mechanics lend themselves to certain build types, but it is much too extreme in sanctum.

In POE2 there is similar things with the trials as well. For example, I think if using MoM, mana is counted with the hit pool that is used for the run. I don't think using nodes that have a percentage of damage taken from mana, add to this pool. So there is a setup where certain defense work with the mechanic and other don't, separating which builds are good at interacting with it, and which are not, to a much larger extent than is throughout the rest of game.

I think players tolerate having a build that works well for mapping, and a set up or second build that works for bossing, in some cases. Needing to have a vastly different build to interact with a certain mechanic may be a step too far though. Particularly if it is part of farming and not the end challenge of bossing.

I'm sure some players like it as well, planning or adapting to be able to interact with the mechanic. For others, it means the mechanic is just avoided. In POE1 that can be done as it is mostly optional, though in POE2, it is a bit more mandatory with the ascension progression, and ideally, shouldn't favor certain build types to a large extent if possible to balance.

As per the comment above, I do think it is a bit of a problem if the mechanic is substantially geared towards high dps ranged builds. Most content in POE there is options to play a range of styles. There is certainly imbalances in they games and niches for different things, but sanctum mechanics tend to exaggerate further what is specifically needed, based on the idea of needing to avoid getting hit, which isn't as much of a focus in the majority of the game.

There is some interesting aspect to it, and I think it is another flavor, rather than adding all similar league mechanics into the game. If they improved the way it interacted with a large range of builds, it would be much better. I agree with the above comment as well, that how much of the mechanic is about the good rewards. It's hard to balance as well, when the rewards are heavily based on how fast they can be completed, or certain conditions in the run that require certain parameter on the build to complete effectively. So they are some other reasons that the mechanic is highly tuned for a certain type of build.

Is there really no other kind of Atlas mechanic that is close enough for a build to be good at both ?

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Can't you get your first two ascendancy points in PoE2 by doing the Trial of Chaos too ?

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I can't believe I wasted my time on uniushi#2837's post, but still :

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you cannot..
[...]
Evade tank

You don't lose Resolve when evading a hit, don't you ?

Also, I just noticed :
Resolve loss seems to works backwards in terms of what getting 'hit' means when blocking,
violating the rule where a blocked hit is still considered to be a hit if the effect was positive for the blocker, but not considered to be a hit if it was negative ?
Doesn't it ?

I'm unsure, but I think in the second game, first two easy trials are quest items, one of each. Then I think on the third and fourth you may have a choice which to run.

From limited play, I fell like it was a bit more balanced in the second game for various builds, but still pretty wonky on what defensive layers are useful and what aren't.

My understanding is that in POE1, the 3 core defensive mechanics, Ev, ar, es, provide a pool of another attribute, that interacts with resolve in a similar way, though I think may have some diminished effect. These can be noticed in the sanctum, when they mention resolve avoidance, mitigation and aegis.

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/The_Forbidden_Sanctum

I believe on launch, this was not the case, and it was about not getting hit at all, and was modified to this. (Didn't play the league so may be incorrect.)

As also mentioned in the link, other defensive layers, such as block and suppression, aren't factored in. Which I think is part of the problem on the defensive side, with high mobility builds and ranged dps, also being a big advantage.

My knowledge on sanctum is limited though. I've run it a decent amount but don't extensively know the mechanics, and most the information I know comes from reading the wiki. Some build I have played we're very good at it. Penance brand with MB for example. Others are basically a write off, like a Apostate glad, that relies on high life pool/block/leech, that are not particularly useful when you cant be hit.