[Action RPG] Path of Exile

[Lorthreth]

Fun game

Got a level 50 Witch with summoning as my main way.

My character dies almost instantly to the weakest mobs, 500 hp, 600 shield and no armor... easy death. But protecting me are 8 zombies each with 2800 hp and if they die and there are no bodies for me I can just keep spamming 11 skeletons with 1100 hp each

The zombies do more damage than my best spell :s

 

[JEDI]

Uh.. Split Arrow is good from get-go. When combined with a standard dmg boost support gem, it clears enemies like no one else in the game. Once you get Pierce keystone, it's even extra fast.

You cruise all the way to beating the game, just need good DPS gear by mid-Cruel.

i dont like split arrow... too many arrows miss.

going to try Rain of arrows tonite with either added fire dmg or added lightning dmg. (wish i had added cold dmg)

 

[Zeze]

i dont like split arrow... too many arrows miss.

going to try Rain of arrows tonite with either added fire dmg or added lightning dmg. (wish i had added cold dmg)

Split Arrow is de facto the best AOE spell in the entire game, not just Ranger. That's not just my opinion, but a general consensus of the community.

The close second is Lightning Arrow (gemmed with lesser multiple projectile). Rain of Arrows isn't even considered.

When I played my Ranger, I tested both SA and RoA constantly. SA comes out top because:

1. Incredible reach & AOE - it shoots about another 1.5 screen outside of your view. This is not only great, but a necessity in late game (lvl 50+) when you're kiting scary mobs.

2. Once you get Piercing keystone or support gem, they practically become lasers

3. The scaling is much better. 3 arrows at start then 6 in the end, which fans your entire direction. RoA's AOE only increases marginally.

RoA does have its uses.:

1. Full AOE behind choke points like doors where SA can't fan out.

2. Concentrate fire on enemies in the back. But this soon becomes a non-issue once SA gets piercing.

3. Reach enemies where SA would be blocked by an obstacle.

Overall, RoA is a decent situational supplemental skill. But it's outclassed by SA, no contest.

Here is the comparison video of the top 2 AOE skills- Split Arrow vs Lightning Arrow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB0rXRY7Ilc

Split Shot + Fire Damage gem + Increased Elemental Damage gem + Pierce keystone = I cruised through all game.

 

[Dumac]

This is a major problem with their passive skill system IMHO. It is overwhelming, and you have no guide on what to take. They probably need to have some sort of built in auto-suggest system.
As it is (or was when I last played a few months ago) it will take you attempting several different character builds to really figure out how to build a good character.

If you are familiar at all with the genre, you should know whats up. Plus, like the devs said, you can make a decent build by just growing organically.

"Oh I die to fast" /take some life/armor/evasion/ES nodes
"I don't do enough damage" /take appropriate damage node
"I like cold spells" /take cold damage/chill/freeze nodes

You may not make it to merciless, but then by the end of that character you will have learned whats what. Also auto suggest = not wandering far from your starting point.

 

[Dumac]

Split Arrow is de facto the best AOE spell in the entire game, not just Ranger. That's not just my opinion, but a general consensus of the community.

The close second is Lightning Arrow (gemmed with lesser multiple projectile). Rain of Arrows isn't even considered.

When I played my Ranger, I tested both SA and RoA constantly. SA comes out top because:

1. Incredible reach & AOE - it shoots about another 1.5 screen outside of your view. This is not only great, but a necessity in late game (lvl 50+) when you're kiting scary mobs.

2. Once you get Piercing keystone or support gem, they practically become lasers

3. The scaling is much better. 3 arrows at start then 6 in the end, which fans your entire direction. RoA's AOE only increases marginally.

RoA does have its uses.:

1. Full AOE behind choke points like doors where SA can't fan out.

2. Concentrate fire on enemies in the back. But this soon becomes a non-issue once SA gets piercing.

3. Reach enemies where SA would be blocked by an obstacle.

Overall, RoA is a decent situational supplemental skill. But it's outclassed by SA, no contest.

Here is the comparison video of the top 2 AOE skills- Split Arrow vs Lightning Arrow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB0rXRY7Ilc

Split Shot + Fire Damage gem + Increased Elemental Damage gem + Pierce keystone = I cruised through all game.

Thanks for the advice, just made a ranger.

My witch is in Act 2 cruel and my templar is in Act 1 cruel. I'll let you know when I get to Act 3 if the difficulty jumps.

Right now my witch is cruising with high level zombies in a +1 to skill gems helm. They have crazy HP. I support that with discipline, and then play with a friend who runs haste and grace.

 

[JEDI]

zeze,

sold on not using RoA as my main attack.

i'm probably going to use LA+fork+life on hit. will add LMP when i get it.

for boss killer i have this underwhelming combo:
burning arrow, weapon elemental dmg, added fire dmg

Got a spare elemental hit gem u dont need?
or at least spare a Frenzy?

 

[SMOGZINN]

If you are familiar at all with the genre, you should know whats up. Plus, like the devs said, you can make a decent build by just growing organically.

"Oh I die to fast" /take some life/armor/evasion/ES nodes
"I don't do enough damage" /take appropriate damage node
"I like cold spells" /take cold damage/chill/freeze nodes

You may not make it to merciless, but then by the end of that character you will have learned whats what. Also auto suggest = not wandering far from your starting point.

This is pretty much what I said. At first you build a character based on right now. But you should really be planning a character, but you don't know how. So, you play and learn, and it takes several iterations to find out what works. Like is it worth chasing keystones? Can I ever overcome the squishabillity of a pure damage specced witch by having a high enough DPS to not worry about getting hit? Should I get swords or axes? Learning these sorts of answers takes more then one iteration of a character.

 

[Udgnim]

Can I ever overcome the squishabillity of a pure damage specced witch by having a high enough DPS to not worry about getting hit?

I think the only build that can possibly go pure glass cannon is a dual totem build but there's still some monsters that can prove dangerous to a dual totem character

if you want melee glass cannon, not going to happen in PoE

 

[Chiropteran]

This is pretty much what I said. At first you build a character based on right now. But you should really be planning a character, but you don't know how. So, you play and learn, and it takes several iterations to find out what works. Like is it worth chasing keystones? Can I ever overcome the squishabillity of a pure damage specced witch by having a high enough DPS to not worry about getting hit? Should I get swords or axes? Learning these sorts of answers takes more then one iteration of a character.

This seems to be intended though. D3 had very limited replay value, as if you had a given class at a given level there was nothing else to do with that class, you might only want to replay as another class entirely. The limited capability to respec and the learning process involved seems to be intended.

One nice thing though, is how the barter system works with this. One of the most hated things about playing an alt in WoW or other MMO/RPG games is how for the whole leveling process you never get anything remotely useful in endgame, and even gold you find is minuscule compared to what you can farm at the highest levels. Basically it feels like your time leveling up an alt is sunk time with no real benefit beyond the alt itself.

In PoE, this isn't the case! Drop rates for currency items including almost all the various orbs are good from the very beginning. There are a few items that just won't drop until a certain point, but most of the valuable currency drops will drop even for a level 1 character in the very first zone. I once found a chaos orb there.

So, even though it feels like a waste of time to level a character "again" to try a different spec, you are actually getting valuable farming out of the game at the same time, and you don't really fall behind in the usual sense.

 

[JEDI]

Thanks for the advice, just made a ranger.

My witch is in Act 2 cruel and my templar is in Act 1 cruel. I'll let you know when I get to Act 3 if the difficulty jumps.

Right now my witch is cruising with high level zombies in a +1 to skill gems helm. They have crazy HP. I support that with discipline, and then play with a friend who runs haste and grace.

heard zombies get 1shot often, even with 1k life?

 

[Rinaun]

Split Arrow is de facto the best AOE spell in the entire game, not just Ranger. That's not just my opinion, but a general consensus of the community.

The close second is Lightning Arrow (gemmed with lesser multiple projectile). Rain of Arrows isn't even considered.

When I played my Ranger, I tested both SA and RoA constantly. SA comes out top because:

1. Incredible reach & AOE - it shoots about another 1.5 screen outside of your view. This is not only great, but a necessity in late game (lvl 50+) when you're kiting scary mobs.

2. Once you get Piercing keystone or support gem, they practically become lasers

3. The scaling is much better. 3 arrows at start then 6 in the end, which fans your entire direction. RoA's AOE only increases marginally.

RoA does have its uses.:

1. Full AOE behind choke points like doors where SA can't fan out.

2. Concentrate fire on enemies in the back. But this soon becomes a non-issue once SA gets piercing.

3. Reach enemies where SA would be blocked by an obstacle.

Overall, RoA is a decent situational supplemental skill. But it's outclassed by SA, no contest.

Here is the comparison video of the top 2 AOE skills- Split Arrow vs Lightning Arrow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB0rXRY7Ilc

Split Shot + Fire Damage gem + Increased Elemental Damage gem + Pierce keystone = I cruised through all game.

110% agree. Split arrows is hands-down the best AOE move. I've stacked SA, lightning arrows, and another gem to speed up the cast time and other trivial stuff. I run around with people three levels higher than me and out-dps them in packs of 3 or more. It's comical how fast I fire. I just get bored using that I Win combo so I think I'll try another class soon. Rangers too easy in a group

 

[JEDI]

110% agree. Split arrows is hands-down the best AOE move. I've stacked SA, lightning arrows, and another gem to speed up the cast time and other trivial stuff. I run around with people three levels higher than me and out-dps them in packs of 3 or more. It's comical how fast I fire. I just get bored using that I Win combo so I think I'll try another class soon. Rangers too easy in a group

grrr.. i just set up my character for:
LA-fork-life on hit
burning arrow-added fire dmg-wep ele dmg (for boss)

had hell of a time getting any G-G-R linked gear that wasnt armor, shield, or weapon.

looks like i need a new setup of:
Split arrow- added fire dmg- life on hit
burning arrow-added fire dmg-wep ele dmg (have 2 added fire dmg)
I hate having a powerful gem like fork go unused


also, i have 2 amulets. one is +10% elemental dmg. other is +5 to 8 points fire dmg.

I get slightly higher DPS with the +5 to 8 fire.
cant wait to get better +elemental gear

 

[qwertyaas]

Just rolled Ranger and hit Act 3 last night at level 21. So far running with LA+Fork as I only have 2L equip. Once I hit level 28, I'll have my 4L GGGR bow. Time for some LA/SA + Fork + Pierce + Elemental Damage/Life on Hit.

So far so good. Put my 40 Witch on hold.

 

[JamesV]

Hit a brick wall last night - Vaal.

Lvl 30ish Witch with around 400 life and 200 energy shield, 1-shotted each of the four times I've tried to kill Vaal so far. Well, 1-shotted might not be technically correct; he summons those spitters, and between their shots and Vaal's lightning, it looks like I get 1-shot.

Wouldn't be so bad if I could see the boss, but as I'm running around him and dodging the add projectiles, he goes off-screen, stop 1/2 a second to cast firestorm(?) and get nailed by a lightning bolt from off-screen.

Guess I gotta run it with a group, try to level up more, or look for lightning resist and whatever resist I need versus those spitters. Ugh.

 

[JEDI]

Just rolled Ranger and hit Act 3 last night at level 21. So far running with LA+Fork as I only have 2L equip. Once I hit level 28, I'll have my 4L GGGR bow. Time for some LA/SA + Fork + Pierce + Elemental Damage/Life on Hit.

So far so good. Put my 40 Witch on hold.

how the hell did you make act3 at lvl21? you skip many quests?
I'm at vaal ruins and at lvl 25

the normal attack on my bow is 50 dps. seems too low for vaal?

so lvl28 is when u can wield 4L gear?

 

[Udgnim]

Hit a brick wall last night - Vaal.

Lvl 30ish Witch with around 400 life and 200 energy shield, 1-shotted each of the four times I've tried to kill Vaal so far. Well, 1-shotted might not be technically correct; he summons those spitters, and between their shots and Vaal's lightning, it looks like I get 1-shot.

Wouldn't be so bad if I could see the boss, but as I'm running around him and dodging the add projectiles, he goes off-screen, stop 1/2 a second to cast firestorm(?) and get nailed by a lightning bolt from off-screen.

Guess I gotta run it with a group, try to level up more, or look for lightning resist and whatever resist I need versus those spitters. Ugh.

I'd recommend seeing if your build is salvageable or rerolling

I'm pretty sure Firestorm is not a very good skill to rely on as the main DPS skill

I'd recommend looking into Freezing Pulse and pairing it with Faster Projectile support. you can get it to reach the end of the screen if not more as you stack Faster Projectile speed.

 

[qwertyaas]

how the hell did you make act3 at lvl21? you skip many quests?
I'm at vaal ruins and at lvl 25

the normal attack on my bow is 50 dps. seems too low for vaal?

so lvl28 is when u can wield 4L gear?

On my first char I was higher. Now I just speed through. PL Act I in The Ledge and try to do the main quests quick either via WP or Groups. I had some items in my Stash for my Ranger so that helped too. If I miss a side quest, I would go back later to just get the skill point/refund so I don't waste a bunch of time on it.

Usually on rerolled chars, you will progress much quicker.

As for the 4L, that's just an item I had in my stash that dropped on another character.

 

[qwertyaas]

I'd recommend seeing if your build is salvageable or rerolling

I'm pretty sure Firestorm is not a very good skill to rely on as the main DPS skill

I'd recommend looking into Freezing Pulse and pairing it with Faster Projectile support. you can get it to reach the end of the screen if not more as you stack Faster Projectile speed.

I was using Freezing Pulse until I got LMP on my Ice Spear. That is just crazy. I want to stack that with Fork now.

 

[Dumac]

heard zombies get 1shot often, even with 1k life?

That happened to me for a while in the beginning, but my zombies are just starting to get meaty. They have 2.85k life now, and they rarely get one-shot or all killed at the same time.

I am level 45, for reference.

 

[Chiropteran]

This makes me want to roll up a real dedicated summoner witch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MZdwQMagkk

I played around with specter a little, but I had no idea they could be used like this. Pretty insane.

 

[Dumac]

This makes me want to roll up a real dedicated summoner witch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MZdwQMagkk

I played around with specter a little, but I had no idea they could be used like this. Pretty insane.

That video is a little misleading. They are in cruel (monster level 44), yet the witch is level 68. Also, those spectres are from Act 3, yet they are in Act 2.

The build is still pretty cool though.

 

[Udgnim]

This makes me want to roll up a real dedicated summoner witch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MZdwQMagkk

I played around with specter a little, but I had no idea they could be used like this. Pretty insane.

summoner is mostly fine solo

takes a while to start up in Normal then starts revving up in Cruel

damage output isn't as good as other classes/builds

AoE chaos damage destroys minions. certain map mods (additional elemental damage) also do a number on minions.

don't think Summoner is a good build to use in HC especially an ES based one

 

[Grooveriding]

I have a full blown level 71 summoner based around ES and I would not even think of this for HC. You won't get that far first of all, you can't stay alive with this sort of build in HC imo. You actually could but you'd need some great 5 & 6 link gear with the right gems to keep yourself sustained as well as beefy resists and life on all your gear as well.

Summoner is tons of fun, but not a great HC char imo. You're more prone to deaths than all of the other builds I've tried.

 

[Dumac]

I have a full blown level 71 summoner based around ES and I would not even think of this for HC. You won't get that far first of all, you can't stay alive with this sort of build in HC imo. You actually could but you'd need some great 5 & 6 link gear with the right gems to keep yourself sustained as well as beefy resists and life on all your gear as well.

Summoner is tons of fun, but not a great HC char imo. You're more prone to deaths than all of the other builds I've tried.

I feel the same way. Especially because summoning is extremely weak to start.

 

[JEDI]

just beat vaal in normal. died twice. i had 900hp and maxed out lightning resist.

thankfully i created a portal when i reached the top of the pyramid.
would have sucked balls to fight thru all those levels again to get back to the top of the pryamid.

that said, how do u get a better bow?! my 60dps bow was WEAK vs vaal.
my top dmg attack was burning arrow @ 100dps.