[Action RPG] Path of Exile

[HumblePie]

That's why most people build defenses in HC. I had just taken 8 straight damage nodes, if I had life nodes instead, I might have lived -_-.

That's all I had for nodes. Only offensive nodes I had taken were ones I had to take to get to my defensive nodes. I had several of the shield nodes, the resistance nodes, and since my guy was mostly evasion and energy shield, all those as well. The only offensive nodes I took were those right at the very beginning for shadow that you HAVE to take to go anywhere.

I was sitting at 800 health, 800 energy shield, 42% block chance, 1600 evasion, and even 400 armor, I had also 75% resistance to all elemental damage and was about to get the additional 16% chaos resistance I had going on top of the 8% node I picked up to bring me over the positive.

Didn't matter, insta pop to one mob. Nothing else had done that to me. I was level 42 in the Ship Graveyard which was like 5 or 6 levels below me. I smacked all the orange bosses down really frikking easy up to that point as well as all the yellows. But even with all that in defense, I got insta popped by a yellow with all the right affixes on it to do so. That was on top of not blocking, evading, or being able to absorb the damage. It was 1 hit 1 kill by that damn thing. I saw the damn thing coming for me like a laser, and I THOUGHT I had moved out of the way to dodge the charge. But since it was a charging Rinoa and had extra speed, it was an automatic desync. What I saw was already too late. I was already dead. It's that desync bug on shit moving too fast that is messed up with the game.

 

[Hacp]

That's all I had for nodes. Only offensive nodes I had taken were ones I had to take to get to my defensive nodes. I had several of the shield nodes, the resistance nodes, and since my guy was mostly evasion and energy shield, all those as well. The only offensive nodes I took were those right at the very beginning for shadow that you HAVE to take to go anywhere.

I was sitting at 800 health, 800 energy shield, 42% block chance, 1600 evasion, and even 400 armor, I had also 75% resistance to all elemental damage and was about to get the additional 16% chaos resistance I had going on top of the 8% node I picked up to bring me over the positive.

Didn't matter, insta pop to one mob. Nothing else had done that to me. I was level 42 in the Ship Graveyard which was like 5 or 6 levels below me. I smacked all the orange bosses down really frikking easy up to that point as well as all the yellows. But even with all that in defense, I got insta popped by a yellow with all the right affixes on it to do so. That was on top of not blocking, evading, or being able to absorb the damage. It was 1 hit 1 kill by that damn thing. I saw the damn thing coming for me like a laser, and I THOUGHT I had moved out of the way to dodge the charge. But since it was a charging Rinoa and had extra speed, it was an automatic desync. What I saw was already too late. I was already dead. It's that desync bug on shit moving too fast that is messed up with the game.

I don't think evasion is a good idea for Hardcore. I went iron reflexes, which changes evasion to armor and went evasion/armor. Of course, I learned about iron reflexes later on at lvl 30, so I had to waste a bunch of free respecs to get to it, but I managed to get it fairly early.

 

[JEDI]

I really wish you could zoom out more. I've been killed by Roas myself in similar situations, and don't get me started on Piety's arrows, or Vaal's lightning... always seems super cheap they can nail me with multiple projectiles when I can't even see them.

get a 2500x1400 resolution monitor and play at that mode (game max)?

 

[HumblePie]

I don't think evasion is a good idea for Hardcore. I went iron reflexes, which changes evasion to armor and went evasion/armor. Of course, I learned about iron reflexes later on at lvl 30, so I had to waste a bunch of free respecs to get to it, but I managed to get it fairly early.

doesn't matter. Armor sucks against big hitting bosses. Doesn't do anything against elemental, spell, or chaos damage. Of which it becomes a worthless stat. The ONLY reason to go armor and iron reflexes in hardcore is to get unwavering stance. Stuns cause desyncs in the game. Period. Unwavering stance prevents all stuns. So taking unwavering stance is a HUGE thing to get in hardcore because it prevents desyncs which are far more likely to kill you than anything else in this game.

The downside to unwavering stance is you can't evade. So it's best to turn your evasion into something usable like armor. Everyone gets a base amount of evasion too.

As for armor versus evasion, there are plenty of theory crafters out there that show they are equal in most situations. Evasion is better in some versus armor and vice versa. Evasion isn't a pure chance based skill either. If you have a 50% evasion, and evade 1 hit, the next hit is far more likely to hit you. The game tries to break streaks and balance out to exactly 50% hit rate. Which in some cases makes it predictable when you will take a hit. So the trick is to take a hit from something weaker to reset the streak in the other way. Making it far more likely you'll evade the next big hit. Block is straight up chance to block any and all damage. Tempest shield allows you to block spells along with other things.

I had massive defensive stats for my level for what I was doing. Doesn't matter when a stupid desync in this game decides to kill you. Nothing you can do if it's an instant kill hit like in my case from a desyc. Otherwise hitting Alt+f4 immediately the moment you notice a desync in a slightly bad area will save your ass every time.

 

[Hacp]

doesn't matter. Armor sucks against big hitting bosses. Doesn't do anything against elemental, spell, or chaos damage. Of which it becomes a worthless stat. The ONLY reason to go armor and iron reflexes in hardcore is to get unwavering stance. Stuns cause desyncs in the game. Period. Unwavering stance prevents all stuns. So taking unwavering stance is a HUGE thing to get in hardcore because it prevents desyncs which are far more likely to kill you than anything else in this game.

The downside to unwavering stance is you can't evade. So it's best to turn your evasion into something usable like armor. Everyone gets a base amount of evasion too.

As for armor versus evasion, there are plenty of theory crafters out there that show they are equal in most situations. Evasion is better in some versus armor and vice versa. Evasion isn't a pure chance based skill either. If you have a 50% evasion, and evade 1 hit, the next hit is far more likely to hit you. The game tries to break streaks and balance out to exactly 50% hit rate. Which in some cases makes it predictable when you will take a hit. So the trick is to take a hit from something weaker to reset the streak in the other way. Making it far more likely you'll evade the next big hit. Block is straight up chance to block any and all damage. Tempest shield allows you to block spells along with other things.

I had massive defensive stats for my level for what I was doing. Doesn't matter when a stupid desync in this game decides to kill you. Nothing you can do if it's an instant kill hit like in my case from a desyc. Otherwise hitting Alt+f4 immediately the moment you notice a desync in a slightly bad area will save your ass every time.

In hardcore, where one death means being sent to default, you need to prepare for the worst situation. Maybe you'll enjoy non-hardcore play more and not be as frustrated.

 

[HumblePie]

In hardcore, where one death means being sent to default, you need to prepare for the worst situation. Maybe you'll enjoy non-hardcore play more and not be as frustrated.

The worst situation is a situation no player can prepare for. Which is what I experienced. When the game bugs up and kills you completely out of your control. For reference, I went back to beat that area and that same boss that killed me. I also went past it and just now got into Act 1 merciless without dying again. If the game had not bugged out, I would still be in hardcore. You can't prepare for bugs and telling people that they can is asinine.

 

[JEDI]

omg.. merciless act3 trash mobs are a big step above merciless act2 trash

now i know what zeze meant by hitting a wall in merci act3

 

[rstrohkirch]

omg.. merciless act3 trash mobs are a big step above merciless act2 trash

now i know what zeze meant by hitting a wall in merci act3

Just grab the docks wp from somebody and farm that to infinity.

 

[JEDI]

Just grab the docks wp from somebody and farm that to infinity.

why? whats so special about farming merci docks?

 

[Udgnim]

why? whats so special about farming merci docks?

as long as you have max fire resist and decent cold resist, the only thing that represents significant danger are multiple projectile Voidbears

so you can get to Lvl 70+ farming Docks and be pretty safe about it

 

[JamesV]

I'm not playing hardcore, so take this as you will, but...

Just hit 76 last night on my Witch, and have been soloing maps pretty easily. When I first started doing maps, I died quite a bit, but now they seem to be pretty easy to complete. Maybe once or twice out 20 maps I've almost died, but a quicksilver flask with removes frozen and chilled has saved my life each time.

I am not running a popular build with 3 auras, every single life node I could get, nor am I wearing good gear. 2500 life, 300 energy shield, resists at 51/19/31/-40, and the best IR/IQ gear I can find with life on it. Got most life nodes around my damage nodes (ele/fire), but didn't plan my build on getting all the life nodes I could, nor do I bother at all with energy shield, but I'm trying to put together a set of armor/es gear for an eventual fast map clearing set.

Was worried you had to take all life nodes, and carry 3 auras, and... but it turns out you really don't need all that. Hardcore is different of course, but I'm not remotely interested in trying it with all the lag spots I get. Thank god my spectre and totem grab aggro for when I get 5-10 second lag pauses, but I wouldn't bet a lvl 76 on that.

 

[Dumac]

omg.. merciless act3 trash mobs are a big step above merciless act2 trash

now i know what zeze meant by hitting a wall in merci act3

Sometimes a pack of those snakes will just kill me in a second. I'm trying to push through the story for the rewards so I can go farm docks after.

 

[Zeze]

omg.. merciless act3 trash mobs are a big step above merciless act2 trash

now i know what zeze meant by hitting a wall in merci act3

That's where I ragequit and haven't looked back.

Great game, great new mechanics to the old genre, and fun. But I had my fill and haven't looked back.

 

[JEDI]

as long as you have max fire resist and decent cold resist, the only thing that represents significant danger are multiple projectile Voidbears

so you can get to Lvl 70+ farming Docks and be pretty safe about it

i'm lvl 60 right now and got a portal to docks waypoint.

so ignore all the merci act3 quests till lvl 70, where i will have 10more skill points to dump into +dmg and +attack speed nodes?

 

[JamesV]

i'm lvl 60 right now and got a portal to docks waypoint.

so ignore all the merci act3 quests till lvl 70, where i will have 10more skill points to dump into +dmg and +attack speed nodes?

The only really bad parts of act 3 are in the sewers with the poison alchemists, and the flickerstrike mobs that also appear in Marketplace and Wharehouses. After that, it was pretty easy, except for the lightning mages in the Barracks, which seem to do 5x the damage of the similar mobs from Battlefront.

However, the only quest I put off til later was the allflame from act1, because of the flickerstrike packs, which are just retarded for a single minion caster.

If you just turned 60, I'd farm Fellshrine in Act 2. Until you hit 62, you can farm alot of currency orbs there, including from the numerous chests. My first Witch, now 46, will be a forever-farmer of that zone for orbs once she gets there... every time I'm about to overlevel that zone and get a nerf to my orb drops, I'll just die multiple times to lose experience.

TLDR; farm Fellshrine for orbs, and buy/trade for great gear from it.

 

[Maleficus]

and my 64 duelist is now dead.

 

[JEDI]

and my 64 duelist is now dead.

doh! sorry to hear that

got any gear u wanna sell to a fellow atot'er for cheap?

 

[Maleficus]

I only have the gear on my 64 and 65 in softcore, I have my normal stuff all in my stash. depends what you need?

anyone is welcome to my limited char gear in SC for cheap.

duelist gear sword/board.

 

[JEDI]

I only have the gear on my 64 and 65 in softcore, I have my normal stuff all in my stash. depends what you need?

anyone is welcome to my limited char gear in SC for cheap.

duelist gear sword/board.

5L armor
4L gloves (mine is blue and just +50life, +20% lightning resist)
rings

 

[Chiropteran]

and my 64 duelist is now dead.

Same just happened to me, lost my 54 hardcore witch. The free respec messed me up, I should have just gone back to the same spec but I wanted to try a dedicated summoner build. turns out that after a certain point adding more zombies and skeletons just crowds the screen and causes lag but doesn't directly help all that much. Died to the nail spitter things in lunaris temple.

I still have a thing for the witch, but I'm going to go for more of a spell-damage & life based build instead of all the summons, though I might keep a spell-totem +skeletons setup for certain fights as it is just so strong in the right place.

 

[Hacp]

So I had bought a ilvl 62 rare chest with 89 life and 2 decent resists in the high 20s, and a high flat evasion roll for an alch. The level requirement was 54, but I thought it was a good deal since it takes a bunch of currency to roll high life items. The only problem with the armor was that it only had one socket. I needed a 4link for my build. So I spent 20 alterations on jewelers and used them all to try to get a 4 socket. Didn't get a 4 socket, but got a 5 socket. Good enough. Next goal was to 4link that 5socket. On my first fusing, it got 5linked! So happy lol.

One trick I use that might be very helpful to people here is I pick up white 4 links. I use my scraps and whetstones to get it to 20% quality(takes 4), then alch it after. If the roll is bad, I store that item. I'll check the vendors for white items when I lvl, take those up to 20%, transmute one to a blue and use the recipe:
1 alch for a 20% quality rare,blue, and white of the same item.

 

[JEDI]

So I had bought a ilvl 62 rare chest with 89 life and 2 decent resists in the high 20s, and a high flat evasion roll for an alch. The level requirement was 54, but I thought it was a good deal since it takes a bunch of currency to roll high life items. The only problem with the armor was that it only had one socket. I needed a 4link for my build. So I spent 20 alterations on jewelers and used them all to try to get a 4 socket. Didn't get a 4 socket, but got a 5 socket. Good enough. Next goal was to 4link that 5socket. On my first fusing, it got 5linked! So happy lol.

One trick I use that might be very helpful to people here is I pick up white 4 links. I use my scraps and whetstones to get it to 20% quality(takes 4), then alch it after. If the roll is bad, I store that item. I'll check the vendors for white items when I lvl, take those up to 20%, transmute one to a blue and use the recipe:
1 alch for a 20% quality rare,blue, and white of the same item.

u just vendored a 5L armor for an alch?!

 

[Hacp]

u just vendored a 5L armor for an alch?!

Nope. The two paragraphs are independent of each other. I'm just giving suggestions to people on how to take advantage of the vendor recipies.

 

[Chiropteran]

I like the 7 iron rings + rare ring = rare amulet recipe. Get a bad roll on your ring? turn it into an amulet for a free stat reroll! I collect every iron ring I see for this one Only works on rings that have an amulet version, so not the resist ones.

 

[JamesV]

That 5% quality per white item, versus blue or yellow, also works with maps and chisels. If I get a high level map, I almost always use four chisels on it, before trying an orb of chance or trans orb on it.

I don't use armor scraps/whetstones on whites before alch'ing them though... I have around 200 of each type, so if I do get a good rare, I can easily quality it to 20% without putting a large dent in my supplies. If you pickup quality items (armor/weaps), and sell 40% total combined quality at once, you get armor scraps or whetstones. One run of say Fellshrine can net you quite a few in a quick time.

For the 7 iron ring craft, most merchants sell iron rings also, so if you got a ring you want to try your luck on, but no iron rings, just go shopping.

All I'm doing now, is picking up certain 65+ level items in maps, and trying my luck with them. Too bad I'm not Lightning based, because I got a 80% spell dmg, +2 lightning skills, added lightning damage, projectile speed wand with resists from that (time to make an arc witch :O ).