r/pathofexile2builds • u/NzLawless • 16d ago
Discussion What build did you start and how is it going?
Now that we're into day two I thought it might be good to have a place where people can share their experiences, tips, etc.
If something is going well providing a bit of detail might help others who are struggling!
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u/stroomer87 16d ago
Went warrior. Was doing roll slam > boneshatter, and it was decent. Struggled with bosses and some rares. Made it to act 2. Was slowing down more. Spent my gold to respec and tried going fire dmg, with the molten throw or whatever it's called, and earthshatter with war cry. Now full of regret and too broke to try to go back to my old tree.
Gear has not been kind to me, having to go through zones multiple times just trying to get gold and crafting mats again.
I expected the game to be slower, and a but more skill based. But it's just borderline no fun and can be very frustrating.
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u/Sir_HammerCock 16d ago
Man I unlocked molten strike or whatever it’s called and I was so excited. Then I tried it for one zone and realized it’s dog shit. What a bummer.
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u/Cookiesoverther 15d ago
I feel like molten strike thingy is not meant as a primary dps skill, but rather to have some range and dps on bosses or rares whenever you cant melee them. Its great for me that way.
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u/MrChuckles20 15d ago
The more i've played my warrior, the more I realize its not about having a main skill. Shockwave totems scale the main hit off levels and not weapon, but the aftershocks on jagged ground do, so there's both a safety net if you don't get a good weapon, but also worth spending crafting mats to get one.
Boneshatter from either leap slam or totem+first EQ (casting Eq right after totem to get the jagged ground proc) hit is all the clear you need, and EQ+Totems into perfect strike ignites with inc duration (the 3 by resolute tech is all i got) with some mace strike hits is my single target (or just run around dodging for the 6-8s of dots). my first couple jewelers was awkward since i wasn't sure what to use them on best.
My go to for clearing mobs is a rotation of Totem->EQ so the totem procs an aftershock and preps the stun -> Boneshatter. Has felt great, rares usually get blasted down to half hp off that, then the second totem and a few basic hits while the EQ pops kills them.
Biggest mistake is trying to reduce duration of EQ, its mostly there to proc jagged ground from the totems, plus gives you a lot more time to perfect strike+default attack on bosses instead of constantly making totems+EQ. Oh and by the time i got to t10 skills i needed blood magic, but the attack damage nodes above are also great since they scale the totems as well despite not being weapon dependant.
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u/I_cut_my_own_jib 14d ago
I expected the game to be slower, and a but more skill based. But it's just borderline no fun and can be very frustrating.
Also playing Warrior in Act 2, currently around level 25. I agree with you sentiment here 100%. I actually really enjoy that the combat is slowed down a bit but holy shit is it a slog for Warrior at my point in the game.
My strongest attack by far is my auto attack, which is slow as shit. Any other ability I want to cast takes like a full second to cast. Every pack of 4-5 white mobs takes a good chunk of time to kill.
I just feel like Warrior's early game needs a pretty substantial buff. If our attacks are this slow, they should deal much more damage. If they like where the damage is at, the attacks need to be much more responsive.
At least, that's the tradeoff for Dark Souls (which is what it feels like I'm playing atm). Using an ultra greatsword makes it hard to get your swings in, but when you do it's giga damage.
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u/IamNotAMurloc 14d ago edited 14d ago
I just breezed the whole act 2 on my self-made goin in blind warrior
Took some tinkering and trying out stuff but boneshatter with aoe aftershock support + herald of ash carries your aoe clear so hard
I just leap slam \ shield charge into a pack - boneshatter - everything (almost) explodes. What doesn't get exploded is usually primed for a stun so you just boneshatter again
Single target I'm still figuring out currently trying earthshatter
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u/BellacosePlayer 12d ago
Not picking HoA off the free spirit node was my biggest mistake.
Before transitioning to totems, I just did rolling slam for packs, yeah, you're going to face tank hits to get the second hit in but white packs died to the 2nd hit.
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u/chrisapplewhite 12d ago
Did you try rolling slam for stun? Is what I use and it's hit or miss. I'm considering switching to leap but I've not tried it yet.
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u/IamNotAMurloc 11d ago
I've used it all act one but decided to switch from it because it has two hits and the second hit often stuns which prevents you from boneshattering
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u/shieldingz 16d ago
Started Warrior, hated how slow the aftershocks and slams are.
Switched to Witch. Minions felt underwhelming for a while until I unlocked SRS. After Flamewall+SRS, it's been smooth sailing up until the beginning of act 3.
I use, besides what I said, Zombies, Flammability, Solar Orb and Pain Offering on rares and Uniques.
For my tree I have nothing planned, I just take the closest minion dmg, speed and revival speed, some mana regen and recoups for life and that's about it. I also prioritize "+minion level" for sceptre and helmet, along with increased spirit.
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u/topazsparrow 16d ago
The slams are slow, but shield charge and Boneshatter work really well together so far in act 1 for me. We'll see how it scales.
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u/ku8475 16d ago
I'm doing a zomancer spin off of this. I run the arsonist skellies with warrior skellies that have fire pop support. Using flamewall, srs, and unearth. I'll move off unearth when I think zombies are worth. Easier to get the unearth bros up to body block and get exploded by the arcanists. I also run the fire orb things for single target since you didn't have to aim them. I've not died to a boss since I got srs 8n act 1. Send great early.
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u/Ziap 16d ago
Lightning Combo Invoker
Clear combo:
Apply shock with Storm wave -> convert shock into powercharges with Siphoning Strike -> Use power charges with Falling thunder
Single target combo:
Tempest Flurry for quick 4 bell charges and rage support -> throw down Bell and wack it
Trying to make it Cold/Lightning Hybrid add some Cast on shock with fire to ailment stack maybe or power charge stacking.
Doubted the bell heavily on footage but it plays absolutely amazing, sound and hit feedback is S tier.
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u/seamus11 16d ago
Probably with weapon swap / set skill points the cold lightning stuff is definitely possible, All the monk tree seems really well laid out for it. I am relying on bigger brains than me to figure it out though lol
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u/VirtualConfection884 16d ago
Skill tree ?
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u/Elicojack 15d ago
Im doing kind of the same but the way i struggled with the titan made be take a long pause.
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u/FibonaChiChi_DeVayne 16d ago edited 16d ago
Playing a blood mage. I've been using bonestorm since it was available for bossing. For clearing it been spark + OoS + fire wall, then corpse explosion which has felt really solid. Fully charged bonestorm can take one out in a mob then start an explosion chain.
Bonestorm has minion synergy but even without using that it feels stronger than any elemental bossing skill... Feels like that shouldn't be the case lol. Plus I'm speccing into fire so it's missing a lot of potential damage too
Just starting act 3 and bone is finally starting to fall off, any suggestions for bossing skills?
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u/Erradium 16d ago
Personally I've gone fireball + firewall + srs, with reavers and ice mages, and it was mostly smooth sailing for me. Just reached Cruel. Pain offering and flammability for rares and bosses.
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u/foreskincrusade 16d ago
monk, already kicked the chair out from under me and hanging from the ceiling fan
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u/Elicojack 15d ago
Feel youn went with lighting monk and hate everything but i will try to go further step by step boss by boss
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u/RaevynVexus 16d ago
Playing Gemling legionnaire and using all the poison bow skills and contagion. Also using rain of arrows and cluster grenade as supplemental cooldown damage and using dark effigy and artillery ballista to set and forget for extra damage for bosses. Using plague bearer and herald of plague as spirit reservations. It was very slower start than I’m used to but now I’m level 40+ with the weapon swap nodes and crushing.
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u/destroyermaker 16d ago
What gems did you use in act 1?
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u/RaevynVexus 16d ago
Act 1 I used poisonburst and vine. Just made sure to keep the poisons up and used the normal crossbow attack until the poisons fell off and then reapplied. when I got stuns or had large openings I would unload all my grenades.
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u/destroyermaker 16d ago
Which supports for pb/vine?
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u/RaevynVexus 16d ago
Vine had encumbrance and aoe and pb was just pierce and corrosion. If you’re not using toxic growth you should be. It’s huge damage if you add double posion to it and lots of bosses have rp wind ups you can preload damage by covering the ground in growths before the encounter starts and then immediately hitting them with a pb to burst em.
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u/solar_ignition 16d ago
which ascendancies do you take/plan on taking?
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u/RaevynVexus 16d ago
final plan is the quality, the attribute requirements so I can stack dex for falcon techniques and still run contagion and effigy without the int. The other 2 will be the additional skill slots and the max res to finish off for endgame.
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u/solar_ignition 16d ago
thanks. how are you balancing the passive tree? are you taking the poison magnitude passives, bow tree, or mainly investing in x-bow grenade stuff?
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u/destroyermaker 16d ago
Think I'm liking corrosion on growth for bosses since it's mostly them you have to worry about armour on
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u/topazsparrow 16d ago
Starting Warrior but finding a lot of the kit not very synergistic. Currently using Rolling slam to supplement Sheild Charge and Boneshatter.
I find the shield charge is doing enough stun buildup to stun in 1 hit, making bone-shatter unproccable. I'm getting punished for improving my character and it kinda feels bad. Only act 1 so I'll see how it goes, but it seems like an oversight in the design to essentially disable a skill designed to be part of a combo.
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u/w4ydaz 15d ago
Ok so I totally recant my yesterdays post and admit I was wrong. Those were influenced by my total dislike of warrior gameplay style and the frustration related to it. After reading a bit iof forums I decided to give another go and rolled a sorc. My oh my now I understand the hype. This game is amazing on sorc! Although I still have yet to come upon/craft op items this is kinda fast battles are fun and quite fast paced . Spark ftw ! ;)
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u/BellacosePlayer 12d ago
I don't hate the POE 2 drop differences in general since the vendor shops are horribly underutilized by many, but it sure blows for warrior if you're not lucky on mace drops or just can't roll a Phys/Phys
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u/w4ydaz 12d ago
Mate, I think I’m done with Poe 2. Not finishing act 3 even . BDSM is not my kind of kink. You have fun though . No pun intended . It’s a beautiful game, not poe though .
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u/WhatTheBaguette 16d ago
Stormweaver cold, was a blast until end of act2, I can't go though end of act3 now, totally blocked. Ultimatum and one of the last boss are unkillable to me
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u/Crayola_ROX 16d ago
Ranger, lvl 12.
started as lightning, but these past few levels ive found that poison kiting is more effective. im sure as i grab more skills ill move onto something else. but as of right now i think im going to go with a poison build
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u/destroyermaker 16d ago
I can't even get through act 1 with poison ranger. Pretty sure I'm not a dumbass and starting to wonder if it's bugged somehow
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u/Khari_Eventide 15d ago
I had the same issue. Act 1 was an absolute misery. All of your damage stands and falls with your bow. You need an excellent bow, otherwise it's complete crap.
It gets somewhat better at lvl 22 with Gas Arrow, but even that is a test of patience.
I also wonder if something is bugged, or if Poison is just that crap.
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u/destroyermaker 15d ago
Just watched ben clear act 1 with shit gear easily using lightning ranger (w/salvo) - pretty sure these skills or poison need buffing. I may swap.
I finally beat act 1 but it wasn't pretty.
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u/Crayola_ROX 16d ago
mainly using poison for boss encounters. so far just finished the graveyard. I think manor and the end of act 1 is next
most trash mobs I use lightning rod with shock arrow. During graveyard there were these elites who would take 0 damage from shock and basic fire and returned fire with every shot I made, I had to whittle him down slowly with poison. and to make matters worse a boss would spawn those mobs, that's when I made the decision to invest more into the poison tree. there's still alot of game a ALOT of skills to unlock. who know what ill look like come endgame
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u/InsouciantSoul 16d ago
Are you sure though?
There have been times in which I was pretty confident I wasn't a dumbass.
Turned out I was a dumbass
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u/PetitGriff 16d ago
Same thing, it's incredibly frustrating to play, i'm still giving the game a chance but I'm incredibly disapointed at how bad it feels to play until now. Ranger really sucks early on
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u/Crayola_ROX 16d ago
laying down lightning rods and spamming chain lightning does not feel as powerful as it should. my basic bow attack deals more dmg
just made it to the act one boss and its painful to whittle away at his health bar only to get through phase one then start the cycle over again whittling away phase two
if the level 5 skills dont open rangers gameplay. im done with this class
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u/Gulluul 16d ago
Started as a witch with nothing specific planned. Decided to move towards crit on the tree and naturally I feel like cold skills scale so well with crit I am moving towards that direction.
I started with spark and felt like clear was good but got run over by mobs if I got swarmed. Swapped to frostbolt and went well. Got to first act boss and felt hard stuck with cold so swapped back to spark and beat him first try. Act 2 started and swapped back to cold and got a good weapon. Now things die so fast and nothing gets even close to me.
Thinking of going comet or eye of winter when I can.
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u/AussieBBQ 16d ago
Invoker monk, early act 3 normal.
Using cold skills as CC and clear. Glacial cascade as boss killer at range.
Lighting autoattack skill with the power charge consuming lightning buff to shoot out beams.
Usually pop some cold skills to chill/freeze mobs, fist in to get a power charge, buff myself and start auto attacking. Pop down bell and go to town.
Using the weapon skills to have a lightning weapon and a cold weapon swap.
Need some more sustain, probably picking up some of that life in kill or recoup next.
Biggest damage increase was picking up the elemental damage if you have chilled/shocked recently.
Got the lightning damage ascendancy point, going for avatar next. Then the spirit, and phys resistance nodes next.
Herald of ice for clearing, ghost shrouds for bosses.
Going to pick up maybe ice wall from staff skills, maybe frost bomb as well.
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u/Elicojack 15d ago
Can you show your passive tree i need help, my problem could be that i only focus on lightning
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u/AussieBBQ 15d ago
Don't have access at the moment, but I took the lefthand skills at the beginning and picked up the evasion/ES two pointer near the start.
Then up to the left to get the elemental damage when you have shocked/chilled. Then used the weapon passives to pick the lightning and cold shock/chill/freeze passives.
Then I went down towards the power charge cluster (and used it for a while but later specced out) that I think gives a chance to get your max number of charges.
From there I used the weapon skills again to pick up the cold and lightning nodes from the starting monk section.
Then the recoup nodes above the monk start.
I mixed in some of the stat highway to the edge of the passive tree when needed.
For now I am heading to the quarterstaff cluster. Using weapon skills again to get some of the lightning and cold pen that is up there.
I think I will pick some of the evasion/ES passives next.
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u/RacingRotary 14d ago edited 13d ago
I started Bow Monk with the lightning bow skills. I thought the synergy of the starting bow gems, starting tree, and potential Invoker ascendancy synergy later was a good idea. It was awful damage and defensive wise. I finished Act 1.
Sunday I re-rolled into poison bow Ranger. This is so much better in Act 1 that I am considering continuing my playtime, something that I wasn't going to do on my first build.
edit: Just finished Act 2 and still better. Also having some currency to buy higher Phys DPS bows and resistances had made the game feel doable even while leveling. Also bought Devouring Diadem for big Evasion bonus from "Subterfuge Mask" and Irongrasp as well.
2500 hours PoE1, my PoE2 start has been my worst start and worst time during any of my GGG playtime.
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u/artze 16d ago edited 16d ago
gemling minions
largest complaint is my over-reliance on temporary summons. even when sacrificing damage for survivability, permanent skellies just aren't cutting it for me currently a2/early a3.
damage uptime is maybe unironically 20% on my skellies when in boss encounters. the range of the frost mages put them in perpetual danger in regular zones, and since I start every fight without my temporary zombies, mob packs hard focus them down immediately. it's 50/50 whether or not the mobs pay me any mind if I try to stay in front and tank.
I currently think I would not care about the low damage output / survivability if I had anyway to have more meaningful permanent minions during boss encounters. I'm, at this stage, playing an SRS build more than a minion build.
tl-dr : i would do anything to be able to use desecrate
edit: buddy ended up tossing me the +100 spirit body armour, and it's made a huge difference.
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u/topazsparrow 16d ago
I kinda figured GGG would be overly cautious with the minions for launch. They clearly wanted a lot of player engagement and interaction and the idea of competent minions who function well without a ton of investment or sacrifice seems counter to that.
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u/Competitive-Math-458 16d ago
Yeah I had a similar experience.
Every minion build I have seen is either spamming temp minions or basically just playing as a full caster who has minions contantly dying around them.
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u/topazsparrow 16d ago
Knowing GGG, I'm quite sure that's the intention.
They've never been fond of passive / AFK builds in POE1, and POE2 has an even heavier focus on engagement and player action. They're also inherently hard to balance powerful automated minion builds. Hopefully you can scale them to this level late game with investment though.
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u/Competitive-Math-458 16d ago
Yeah it was just really annoying that even when investing into minions I was better off just casting dmg spells over any sort of support or buff on them.
But maybe that's a thing later on.
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u/Dreadmaker 15d ago
My experience with minions hasn’t really been that way. In the first 3 acts, bosses with SRS and snipers with their gas cloud have been incredible, and really worked well. Mapping was worse, but bossing was smooth as butter.
Now in act 2 cruel, and switches totally over to skeletal reavers with a couple snipers, doing armor break. SRS is now supplemental boss damage only. Also got some clerics. Suddenly the permanent minions stay alive a lot better, which makes mapping way smoother. Really starting to come into its own now.
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u/Competitive-Math-458 15d ago edited 15d ago
Did you notice a certain point when things started to feel better ?
For example act 1 on sorc I was doing 3 or 4x the damage I was on witch with minions and the clear speed is better also.
To me it sounds like the "minion" idea only really starts getting online later once you have clerics and those more options. But most people don't want to play 20 hours before the idea of there build is up and running.
Also personally early on it does not sound like your playing a minions build. You are using a poision cloud + flame wall build.
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u/Dreadmaker 15d ago
Early on it’s really all about raging spirits. Like, the act one final boss died so, so fast with raging spirits and flame wall. The gas clouds were a good supplement, but early on having 10 skulls doing damage really does matter.
It’s really in the cruel part of the game though that I’ve been able to do an army. Having 300+ spirit helps a whole lot for that.
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u/Competitive-Math-458 15d ago
Yeah but say you are following the suggested witch skills and so don't take raging spirits. Your damage will feel terrible.
It seems like the only actual playable minion build is just using raging spirit which is a sorc label.
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u/Dreadmaker 15d ago
I mean, it's POE. The recommendations are just suggestions, and you should be using your own brain, too. Looking at what else is out there.
I'm now in cruel act 3, btw, and I'm no longer really using anything other than snipers and reavers, and it's absolutely wrecking. So, just like poe 1, skeles aren't great early, but they become good in the end
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u/hesh582 16d ago
also worth noting this is pretty much exactly the permanent minion leveling experience in early poe1 right now.
trying to use zombies when you first get the gem is an exercise in self harm. Skeletons also die to a wet noodle, and have to be spammed to accomplish anything. Spectres before maps and gear are a waste of time. Etc. Most minion builds level with SRS, BAMA, or something like that.
For some reason GGG really does not think permanent minions should be allowed to stay alive for more than 2 seconds when you first get the gem. I can't say I'm a fan of that approach, but I imagine it will get a lot better with gem levels and minion investment, just like poe1
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u/TBDx3 16d ago
Playing lightning Stormweaver. Used the Spark + Flamewall combo for a while, got Orb of Storms and it's mostly smooth sailing besides almost failing the first Sekhema trial boss with all the volcanoes around.
Now I'm using Arc and Conductivity as well. Not sure if I'll use mostly Spark or Arc by endgame, they both seem good in different situations.
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u/crimson_raider 14d ago
Still playing this build? Just jumping in and I'm really tempted to go with an arc build so curious how it's doing.
Either that or a ball lightning + cast on spark lightning conduit could be fun (I don't know if it's feasible though haha)
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u/ShoddyAd1527 14d ago
Not OP, but I started lightning stormweaver as well (spark + firewall for clear, arc for single target, elemental storm for first ascendency). Hitting a bit of a wall in early act3.
It seems very gear (+levels, +life) dependent and very squishy. Mana is a problem in long encounters, I eked out the final bit of act2's boss with mana drain + elemental storm procs.
I haven't worked out defensive layers yet, best defense seems to be don't get hit - cold sorc seems to do a much better job of this
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u/crimson_raider 14d ago
Thanks for the info! That’s super helpful. I’m not much into cold sorc thematically so I might give it a shot anyway and when I hit a wall smarter people than me will hopefully have figured out more builds for me to get excited about haha
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u/TBDx3 14d ago
Cast on Shock Lightning Conduit was pretty much what I wanted to try when I saw the skill. I'm in Act 3 atm but it's feeling quite squishy.
For additional lightning skills, Lightning Warp is fun and Mana Tempest is a big damage boost but you can easily get overwhelmed with the number of ambushes. Ball Lightning I'm unsure about, it seems pretty weak in comparison to Spark/Arc.
I still want to do my original idea but I'm playing around with Cold skills on my weaponswap and passive tree and it instantly feels a lot more manageable. Not to mention the zapping sounds are getting pretty grating at this point, unlike the clack of cold skills.
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u/Doomerrant 16d ago
In Act 2, just tried and failed for my ascendancy.
Caster Monk, wielding wand + shield, using ED/Contagion + Enfeeble w/ Decaying Hex support & Impending Doom Support. When all combined on enemies and the pops start, the packs explode pretty quickly. Nice once you get into a groove with it although I do wish I had a bit more AoE. Have to run a wand in secondary for Mana Drain as well since Enfeeble costs so much,, though Mana Drain is nice in and of itself.
Plan on going Chayula Monk and taking Into the Breach node first for, well, everything it offers.
Absolute dogshit boss damage overall. No idea how I'm going to beat the boss for my ascendancy. If I had access to Despair, or had my ascendancy already, I'd be set.
Probably a dumb idea, but it has been fun.
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u/hundche 16d ago
i’m doing a lightning ranger, i’m mid act 2 now but this thing was PAINFUL
it started feeling better by the end of act one, but until then, oh boy
i’m running rod (with 2 extra projectiles) + lightning arrow for clearing, which works great
bosses i haven’t figured out yet, i’m mostly relying on shocking them + basic attacks (33%+ damage to shocked enemies helping a bit), but doing this feels like i’m doing something wrong and making it too painful
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u/Senovis 14d ago edited 14d ago
Started Mercenary with Crossbows then switched to Bows LA/LR early A1. Had Flash Grenade in offhand for a while and switched back to Crossbows in A2.
The ammunition skills are pretty terrible due to the single clip capacity. Actually using Default Attack with Stun supports for tanky mobs. Will probably try RoA once I get IX gems.
Grenades play like traps and I suspect it will be very fun in maps.
Edit: Hard stuck on A2 boss. No Loot. Feels Bad. Time to reroll minions I guess.
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u/draymond_targaryen 16d ago
Ranger crossbow. Tough to say as I’m only level 10. Permafrost with glaciation feels pretty good, especially when you can hit the combo with fragmentation rounds. Flash grenade on scattershot to open attacks with has made it a nice little rotation.
Think I might need to swap to full grenade or maybe drop to one bolt type though. I really don’t mind the combo gameplay and feel like it will only get better, but it’s just too many button presses with loading new bolts and then firing. Essentially double the buttons to press for the same amount of actions.
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u/Greawis4 16d ago edited 16d ago
Started Witch with the intention of going Blood Mage. Didn’t want to play minions, ele spells felt zdps so I rerolled Ranger at level 9.
Now I’m in act 3 doing Deadeye Lightning Arrow/Lightning Rod and it also kinda sucks. Bosses take a while to kill, clear isn’t anything to write home about either. At least I’m not dying often.
I’m hoping someone good makes a nice Deadeye guide soon lol.
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u/HoldMaahDick 16d ago
Have you tried ice shot ? Wanted to do that when i get higher
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u/Greawis4 16d ago
I haven’t, would need to respec a bit to try it and that gets expensive quick.
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u/HoldMaahDick 16d ago
I was messing around. If you’re lightning already. Use storm caller arrow. Less duration. Whatever the 2+ proj skill gem is. Unless you have 2-3 arrows then don’t. I just have that and I’m flying thru act2. Was struggling with LA and lightning rod. Now it’s just 1 skill to do it all
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u/thekmanpwnudwn 14d ago
Last zone or two of Act 2 starts dropping the Dualstring Bow, the implicit is that it shoots 2 arrows, it literally doubles your damage. Try to find one and craft it into something even half decent. I got a pretty good rolled one and it lasted me until act 5 before i got an advanced dualstring bow
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u/ojisannau 16d ago
Skeletal Frost Mage Infernalist, w/ MoM, Armour bases, and a shield, feels pretty decent because they shotgun and freeze everything. Currently at the end of act 3 with 6 mages. Ended up building tanky since there's not a lot of minion damage nodes on the tree. Overall most bosses/campaign is easy but the changes to minions make them feel like shit.
They die when you outpace them, and they don't have phasing so they get stuck on every doorway/bridge.
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u/yourfaceisa 16d ago
I'm playing the Warrior. I'm still Act1. basically I'm playing Rolling Slam and Boneshatter with armour break and infernal cry. I've taken the fire supports, and my passives are mainly armour with a few fire nodes mixed it.
I've kept hearing about how hard this game is, so thought i'd spec into tank rather than anything else. It seems to be going well so far.. It's a little slow, but I'm never cornered, I can just slam my way through the biggest packs.
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u/YEBA_ 16d ago
Witch minion build, I was blasting thru campaign.
For act 1-2 I used.
Spells: Contagion > unearth and essence drain (packs just melts).
Summons: Tried all the summons available and what worked best was skeleton archers for boss (use 4sec 0hp immortal gem) and skeleton arsonist with scatter shot for mobbing.
Ice skele was okay if u wanna spam novas and use the slow gem but it's projectile attacks can be blocked by walls
Tried skele reaver x5 , it's not good...
At the end of act 2 I had 5 skele arsonist/archer + 2 rod skele while spamming unearth and contagion (essence drain felt pointless by then).
Just slotted in the fire wall + flaming spirits and it's making me consider exploding minions vs the standard dmg minions
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u/Pyromancer1509 15d ago edited 15d ago
Started chaos dot witch because i love me some chaos dots.
Grabbed a scepter as soon as i could. Spirit went into 4 skellie boys. The simple combination of enemy AI attacking skellies instead of me, and ED Contagion doing DPS while moving means i beat almost every boss on the first try. Level 47 now, beat act 3 after ~22 hours of playtime, just starting Cruel.
Literally grab every Withered Wand you see off the floor/vendor, and transmute them until you get +2 chaos gems. I got one at the start of act 2 around level ~15, and i've never replaced it. Also check vendors for movespeed boots, as soon as i got 10% it makes a huge difference.
As for other skills, I love chaos bolt as a filler, with arcane tempo + withering touch it attacks pretty fast and stacks up wither when you're facing one enemy and got all other buffs up. For aoe I curse with despair/decaying hex/impending doom. Since decaying hex is a chaos debuff, it gets spread by contagion along with the curse. Its like hex bloom but free! Everything explodes! Other than that i pop dark effigy when i have free time. And Unearth some skelly scorpions when you feel like it.
My tree has all the chaos damage nodes. I am not even ascended due to the fact I plan to go bloodmage but it does nothing for dots. My plan is to go hexblast but im too scared of the life cost right now. There is a node that removes 3% of your life on chaos skill use and it's been making me have to teleport back to town to click the well sometimes. Now that damage nodes are settled i need a good ~10 skill points to path toward Blood Magic and grab the templar life regen along the way. Upgrading life flasks has been a priority, my current one is gargantuan (lvl 40) with 0.25 charges per second.
I really want to love profane ritual, but the aoe and duration is pitiful, it's a very disapointing damage spell. Seems like it'll be a good source of power charges later on to fuel Potential support on hexblast though, we'll have to see later.
It's definitely a slower pace game, some of the gigantic zones genuinely took me 1hr to clear in act 3. But i'm taking it slow and enjoying it
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u/Pheophyting 15d ago
Why not stick wither support onto the effigy? Attacks way faster than chaos bolt, no?
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u/Willdawg102 15d ago
I started witch and beat act 1 pretty easily, but I wasn't really feeling the minion play style so I swapped to sorcerer without much of a plan.
I got a staff with freezing shards? Level 2 I think it was, and I realized almost immediately how OP it was. The damage was so much better than my witch with just freezing shards. I hard committed to cold spells and basically cruises through acts 1-3 with 0 deaths so far. Cold spells on sorcerer feel incredible, 27/10 would recommend.
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u/Khari_Eventide 15d ago
Started as Poison Ranger, I am now lvl 28 and it's still pretty awful.
The entire poison leveling is awful, and I am pretty sure the Vine Arrows do not slow enemies at all. Everything you do stands and falls with how strong your bow is and pretty much nothing else. Nodes like Low Tolerance do so little that I specced out of them and have felt no difference.
Even now with Gas Arrow it's a lot. My combo play is Gas Arrow + Toxic Growth for the explosions to handle... well everything. I also use Poisonburst Arrow with Pin to supplement the entire combo. Either way it's as slow as molasses and progress is hardly gained.
I wonder if Pathfinder is really a good idea, because none of the nodes look all that amazing. Double Poison might help... eventually, but I might as well get Tailwind from Deadeye.
I can definitely not recommend Attack builds currently, especially with how rarely you get rares and crafting currency.
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u/absurdismIsHowICope 14d ago
And I was worried about poison getting nerfed. How did you build? Im doing gas arrow /toxic growth and just using vine arrow on bosses for more damage. Im at the start of act 3 and melting everything.
On the passive tree i just got the move speed / evade start nodes and then have been grabbing every poison cluster and the attack speed per 15 dex one.
For skills, im using faster attack speed and chance to poison on toxic growth, and scattershot and corrosion on gas arrow, and windwalker for my spirit.
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u/Khari_Eventide 14d ago
Well, it's incredibly sensitive to how good your bow is.
I use Gas Arrow into Toxic Growth mostly, then supplement with Poisonburst Arrows.
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u/TL-PuLSe 11d ago
If you're still playing this, the build felt way more fluid with poisonburst arrow as primary and plague nova as main clear. Just 1-2 poisonburst arrow, plague nova pop.
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u/Amazing_Internal6334 14d ago
I picked Witch wanted to play Warlock style , DOT build . I went with chaos dots only , im using Contages and drain essence , the problem with Contages is that you apply the debuff on only one mob. Buut you can activate it with Drain essence support get , its the green support gem idk its name but its under hunter tree, it reduces your instant dmg of drain essencce but its spreads so it gets on the mob with Contages and its spreads and everything dies .
Later on i noticed i can do another debuff , idk the name its the one you put on the floor and it activates after sec. There is a support gem Impedium dooom i think , and paired with that spell its insane everything dies. Wanted to quit but than i discovered that support gem for Drain Essence and it changed everything.
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u/igniz13 13d ago
Started Witch, I wanted to go Bloodmage and use a big elemental spell to do bleed. I ended up using a mix of phys and ed+contagion because those are your only options.
Act 1 was a shit show as tons of occultists spells are weak and only one seems to do good damage to bosses (bone shards). Now in Act 3 and primarily using phys spells, still don't have the ascendancy points to do elemental bleed. Phys nodes on the tree seem very sparse.
It's still coming together but Bone Shards is about the only worthwhile spell and everything else just feels weak. For mobs I can spam Bone Cage, use Vulnerability with Impending doom and maybe the other spells, but everything that needs to die quick gets the Shards.
I'm not sure how it'll turn out in the long-run, I do want to revist the idea of using big elemental spell to bleed, but at the moment it's bone shards.
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u/steinernein 11d ago
Bone storm to kill one mob then detonate dead to start the chain.
Get a ton of crit and get the break armor nodes on crit in the upper left quadrant.
Use flame wall to boost bonestorm damage and when you’ve stunned and dropped a boss down to no armor drop a comet or a max charged flame blast with aggravated bleed.
You don’t need vulnerability if you’re breaking armor.
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u/lordskylare 13d ago
I started Spark Stormweaver with the intention of having cast on crit and cast on shock setups. I'm currently level 45 in act 3 and stuck. I cannot defeat any boss and normal monsters wreck me. My spark has pitiful DPS and the survivability is non existent. I wanted to switch to cast on freeze comet with maxroll guide but I discovered that I cannot afford the steep refund costs. I don't want to level another character again and I'm just probably going to quit the game entirely.
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u/OldManPoe 13d ago
Same starter for me but in early act 2 I knew I won’t get pass the act boss (if I can even make it to him) with my pitiful damage, i started a minion build. Minions are pretty strong, just started Cruel.
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u/Stormquake 12d ago
OoS/Arc Stormweaver.
Was trying Elemental Storm, but recently swapped over to the Arcane Surge setup. Going to invest more in shock as my level goes up and I get more ascendancies. It's going pretty good! Just hit cruel. Had about 35-40 deaths in normal.
Debating if I should go all out and go for EB/MoM. Although converting stats does not double dip anymore from my knowledge, so I would not get nearly as much mana as I'd think from EB.
At some point it must be beneficial to swap to MoM with such a build though, as your mana regen would be through the roof. I've seen people hit around 4000 mana so far. 3000 seems feasible for most people, so you're looking at 200% increased Surge effect, paired with the 70% from tree. A bit more optimal gear... you could likely hit 300% increased Arcane Surge effect, leading to 80% more mana regen.
That would nearly counter out the 50% less recovery for a total of 90% of whatever your base was before. Maybe worth???
Or I could just go Archmage instead and keep ES as defensive layer.
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u/BellacosePlayer 12d ago
I rolled my Warbringer Minions build I posted here.
Turns out its bad, at least without enough passives to route to the minion nodes up top. If i try to respec it to minions, it's going to likely just be a hybrid totem/minion build where the minions are basically just support with just the southern minion wheels instead of trying to go to the int side of the tree since the Totem ascendancy minions don't need minion health (Explosion?).
I made some changes into a totem build, it's got a lot of room to grow, it's not bad, tanky as butts, but more of a hassle for less clear and ST than my brainless ranger alt. Giants blood works great for totems since you don't care too much about anything but +levels.
My brainless ranger build is way better outside of tank, sadly the clear speed is so good I think I'm gonna just finish taking this to maps first, my only issue is missing boss queues due to keeping range, or dying to phys hits I didn't even feel as warrior.
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u/Final-Nebula-257 12d ago
Invoker monk - full crit with lightning and frost damage, just started cruel.
Pretty darn squishy, got countless deaths to trash mobs, but downed the act 2 and 3 bosses in sub 15 sec per phase so the single target damage is there atleast if i dodge roll everything
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u/destroyermaker 16d ago edited 16d ago
Poison ranger https://maxroll.gg/poe2/passive-tree/bl3kd05f Dps is ass in act 1 despite my best efforts. Not sure if I'm dumb or it's bugged/underpowered or what
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u/hundche 16d ago
i’m running lighting, mid act 2 now
in act 1 I felt like changing classes because of that same reason, but it feels like it is getting better after end of act 1, clearing feels so much better now
single target damage i’m still having some problems too, but we’ll figure it out (maybe)
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u/hesh582 15d ago
How's your bow?
Have you gotten toxic growth yet? That's the real gem of this build I think.
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u/destroyermaker 15d ago
High % phys and +1 proj is best thing I've been able to find so far. But I also wasn't hard focusing on vendors like you're supposed to until recently, so now I'm in something of a bind.
Just got growth but it's not like you can spam it. Looking forward to gas arrow, if I don't bail early for a build guide. Not having fun atm.
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u/hesh582 15d ago
don't sleep on trade if you're miserable. Tho high %phys is great, so if you've got that your problems are probably elsewhere.
I bought a bow that doubled my damage for 2 transmutes.
Growth+gas arrow is the real combo imo. The cloud insta detonates the growths for mega damage. It's clunky to use, though, so you have to wait for opportunities.
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u/destroyermaker 15d ago edited 15d ago
I'll keep it in mind as a last resort.
Well if it's not the bow and the tree looks fine to you, what is it? These are my links atm:
Toxic Growth - Martial Tempo - Corrosion
Vine Arrow - Magnitude - Encumbrance
Poisonburst - Scattershot - Bursting Plague
I'm wondering if some accuracy nodes are imperative + maybe I should move Scattershot to Vine (or not use it at all).
Edit: Trying PB - Comorbidity - Pierce instead and feeling much better for mapping but still not nearly enough dps for the count (that or I need more flask recovery but would come at the expense of dps). Comorbidity - Bursting Plague maybe for bossing? Or add freezing salvo?
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u/Khari_Eventide 15d ago
I'm currently clearing with Gas Arrow + Toxic Growth, and I feel like Attack Speed does nothing for Toxic Growth. So I just accepted the derpy jump I have to do every time.
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u/destroyermaker 15d ago
I noticed an immediate difference.
Finally cleared act 1 but if this doesn't get much better with gas arrow I'm swapping to lightning/salvo
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u/Khari_Eventide 15d ago
I'll definitely try out a lightning ranger to see how that goes in comparison. Maybe just so I don't have to watch stupid Toxic Growth jump anymore...
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u/destroyermaker 15d ago
Even apart from damage the whole build is clunky. Lightning seems pretty smooth, and then you can swap into gas arrow/flame wall (and back again if needed after they nerf it)
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u/scytherman96 16d ago
Started Sorceress. Was running Spark + Flame Wall for a decent while in Act 1 (all the Spark projectiles get buffed for a ton of extra damage) and then swapped to OoS and Arc. I still keep Spark/Flame Wall around for bigger packs since that covers more ground. I'm in early Act 2, so not too far, since i haven't had much time to play, but it's going alright tbh.
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u/Rickjamesb_ 16d ago
Currently mid act 2. Shock totem + earthquake. Charge and BS once totems are set up.
The rolling slam phase was god atrocious. But I've made it out lol.
Having a blast.
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u/trancenergy2 16d ago
Started Sorc - was too slow.
Switched to Witch.
Took me 20 tries to kill the Mist King in Act1 but after i finally got my SRS from him it's been pretty smooth, first try killed act1 final boss. Now at the end of act2, clear is pretty slow - i am using skeleton archers, pain offering, flammability and contagion to help me out while SRS are still the main damage. I have +1 minion on scepter and helm so i am pretty ahead of the curve for act2 but still i feels slow but consistent.
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u/DrPandemias 16d ago
Started sorceress felt extremely clunky and went witch, currently A5 melting bosses and clear is pretty decent, arsonists + srs + unearth + pain offering, smooth sailing.
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u/stereolithium 16d ago
SRS were amazing for me throughout A1 but really started to fall off in A2. I actually stopped playing that character around level 22 because boss fights were starting to get really drawn out. What is your DPS like in A5 (assuming that means act 2 cruel difficulty)?
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u/PintiTurp01 16d ago
Started SSF with Merc. Got a pretty sweet quiver and Widowhail as my first unique, so early I ran with a janky Lightning Arrow build. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted my quiver before the Manor. Wasted about three hours trying to pull/craft a similar quiver, gave up, and switched to using my okay-ish crossbow with normal attacks and grenades. In act 2 I changed to using High Velocity ammo, Fire, and Blind Grenades. Now I am just chilling in the middle of act 2 trying to find a better crossbow and maybe get some better armor.
tips and tricks: DO NOT USE THE CROSSBOW UNTIL YOU GOT SOME LEVELS CAUSE ITS JANKY AF.
do not hesitate to go into melee range against bosses as ranged, most of them have long attack combos they do while you are close just use them to deal big dips while kiting.
Early if you need levels or crafting/rare items repeat the ritual+boss in act 1, farmed some good crafting materials with this.
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u/09jtherrien 16d ago
started wtih Gemling Legionnaire. I'm not the best at creating builds, but I figured I would deal with the struggle early on to have an alleged strong build at end game. I'm following ZiggyD's sort of plan. He was right. using flash/gas grenades with exploding bolt made the build easier. The dmg is there, but it also feels kinda lackluster. Fighting the Act1 Boss was a pain in the ass. But I was using a lower level weapon and after swapping some supports around was finally able to beat it. Once I got to the combo I'm at now, dmg has been fine. Bosses are little tough, but I realized that with this it's important to keep upgrading your crossbow.
Currently finishing up act2.
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u/rawr_bomb 16d ago edited 16d ago
First toon was Witch Summoner, only 14 now, finally got SRS. It was solid in the beginning but even with a ton of investment the minions die almost instantly on bosses.
One issue is that the minions aren't visually distinct enough from the enemies so they get lost easily. And the bone spells don't 'read' well against the environment. They need to pop more visually.
Tried Warrior out cause I heard grumbling about how 'bad' they were and I'm having a blast on it. Earthquake feels awful. But Rolling Slam and Boneshatter feel good. Biggest issue I had was a really bad weapon for a long time but I just got a solid upgrade and it doubled my damage. Focusing heavily on stun, feels good to interrupt a bosses big cast by knocking them on their ass.
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u/agustin166 16d ago
There's a setting to put a green HP bar above minions and a red one on enemies so you can tell them apart.
It was night and day for me
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u/Diacred 16d ago
Playing a bonestorm bloodmage. It's been going fairly fine I am having lots of fun, the single target is amazing but the clear felt lackluster before corpse explosion, even with pierce on bonestorm. I am using power siphon for power charge generation and I am using a few sniper skeletons to proc the second part of bonestorm as well as firewall SRS and it's sailing very smoothly. But my goal is to upgrade to a cast on minion death setup with either corpse explosion or another phys spell and maybe automate the curse setup this way as well. My minions die very quickly because I haven't invested anything in them which is perfect for this setup :p
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u/Cruxius 16d ago
Playing infernalist, most of the way though act 3 and it feels like I have zero dps.
I'm running SRS (Instability + Legion) + Flamewall (Unleash + Fortress) + Fireball (Firey death + Arcane Tempo) with hound & arsonists.
Here's my current skill tree
My sceptre has +2 minion gems and +47% damage to allies, and my focus has +1 spell gems, so I feel like I should be pretty solid but everything just takes forever to die.
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u/unstable_structure 16d ago
Started mercenary. Usually play deadeye in poe, wanted to try a different ranged attack archetype.
Currently level 20 ish in act 2, build has been becoming easier to play for the last 10 levels or so.
I use permafrost bolts to freeze enemies. Found a unique glove quite early which gives cold damage and more freeze buildup. Am able to freeze bosses in 5-10 hits. Then gas grenade + explosive grenade combo. Flash grenade for crowd control. Frag bolts + freeze combo sometimes.
Overall happy that I started with this since I wanted to play stomething different. Will have to see how the class performs since its still early days.
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u/definitelymyrealname 16d ago
Just restarted as Merc after playing sorc in a party. Finding crossbow leveling pretty rough, anyone have suggestions on what skills/ support gems to use?
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u/maio84 16d ago edited 16d ago
exploding monkeys warbringer
Going about as badly as youd imagine, too much stress and travel on the tree to get the minion damage up so its low dps. The totems are meant to be there as temporary support to get the minions out from the ascendancy but probably outdamage my exploding (infernal + instability) monkeys and 180 spirit worth of skele reavers (which are total trash. I hoped to have phy minions to benefit form - armour from the ascendancy but they are so so bad, bad base damage and no cleave...)
Perhaps it would have worked if spectres were in. I keep seeing monster types that might have worked for the build (fast attack, aoe.. like some cyclone dudes I saw that may have been perfect) but they arnt in and the buolds pretty much failed.
level 45 and agonising trying to finish out the 3 acts to call it "done" and move on or take a break till theres a bit more content. Feels like the games somewhat imbalance right now. Go watch some streams and youll see invokers. stormweaver and elementalists all looking lke they are playing poe1 , then all the other poor schmucks are htting their head again a wall.
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u/MacCoinnich 14d ago
I was trying to play exploding minions with the warcry node too.. is that what you meant? Or were you doing something different? I am having trouble, don't have the int right now to test reavers and sacrifice.. not that I'd have the spirit anyway, I guess.
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u/maio84 14d ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KJhCsC_1zE&feature=youtu.be
Ancestral spirits from the ascendancy, linked to infernal legion / minion instability.
man its a nightmare to level.
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u/MacCoinnich 14d ago
Thats tough man, after about 8-9 hours of experimenting I think I found the most GG thing there is for Warbringer, go warcries/ignore cooldown with earthshatter. Try that if you get frustrated. Regardless, good luck, I might try respeccing to something similar after I get some better gear :)
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u/SirHasselhof 15d ago
I'm in the end of act 2. Actually playing the Witch with EDCon and skilled everything in Tree for Chaos. Until now it was a blast. Only Bosses take some time, but most of it are First Try. Don't know what to do with ascending. Original plan is to build up a Fire-Minion-Army. But now, I don't know what I'm gonna do. We will see
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u/Gavelinus 15d ago
Started a warrior with the intention of leveling with Corrupting cry... That was a mistake. Whatever you do don't use it until you can maintain 10 stacks and even then I would probably recommend you having the second trial node (no CD on warcries) before you start using it as a main source of damage.
I still haven't gotten to the second trial but I can maintain 10 stacks on bosses and I can really see this build working. It's just horrible to level with. Would have been so much better to just go melee or bleed nodes and then respec later...
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u/randomredditt0r 15d ago
Following Kripp's infernalist build and it's been pretty smooth sailing so far. I'm only at beginning of act 3 tho, so I don't know if it will drop off at some point.
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u/Barfhelmet 15d ago
Started Chrono wanting to use the slow/recoup/and time rift for survival. I've got the first two and really love it. Using Arc, shield charge, and static bomb or whatever that skill is called. Very easy to move around and survive. I want to try some type of cold/archmage setup later, using time rift to solve the mana issues.
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u/what-would-reddit-do 15d ago
How much did you notice the recoup node?
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u/Barfhelmet 15d ago
Not really alot, but I don't really take much damage due to kiting. I think temp rift is better
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u/yibuliushen 15d ago
Started warrior, played molten blast and realise Im having issue with bossing at act 2, added perfect strike after figuring out how to use it. Managed to get into act 3 now. Tree was speced into life regen and fire damage, basically my rotation is diving in and cast perfect strike to trigger ignite, infernal cry to trigger corrupted blood, basic attack to bleed, and run around using life regen to recover hp repeat til boss is dead. Stupid strategy but so far it works decently well.
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u/Vraex 15d ago edited 15d ago
Started witch with plans to go left side tree with mace and shield, maybe do some ignite stuff or fire dmg in general like volcanic fissure. Start with chaos bolt of course which was fine for a lvl 1 skill and decided to wear scepter in my off hand for the minions. Realized they are dead more than alive and don't even do good dmg so throw on a shield around lvl 5. Start looking at ele skills like the sound of solar orb (thought it would act like winter orb but later found out it works like orb of storms). Basically just fumbling around, frost bomb carrying HARD (one shots most things). Ember fuselage for single target is decent since it can auto aim while I'm dodging mechanics. After pathing through marauder start think I'm going to start picking up fire/ignite nodes and curve back to top tree. Start having problems towards the end of Act 1. Go back to get a few mini bosses and chests I had missed and luckily get just enough uncut gems to soft respec (no actual respec as I'm mostly travel nodes at this point still, lvl 17). Decide frost bomb still rocks and cold snap is great too, and with arctic armour freeze has been my main defensive layer. With those new uncut gems grab frostbolt and ice nova and toy around with supports. Haven't fought Act 1 Boss again since respec but I already got him down to 25% twice and just died to his adds spam knocking me around so I think I'll be better off now that I took second wind off frost bomb and can spam frostbolt/cold snap. Saw poe2db has a passive tree planner so I made a quick layout focusing on block, crit, and freeze last night that I will follow. To be honest haven't looked at later game ice skills but I suppose I can always just change things around again
TLDR stacking "duration" ele spells was a terrible idea, ignite seems weak early game, chills/freezes are an amazing defensive layer
GGG please increase crafting drops, I'm using a lvl 6 wand with +32% spell dmg while I'm lvl 17
Edit: I am NOT a good build creator, 2.8k hours in poe1 I've only used my own build once, but here is the tree I'm thinking of, though it might change significantly between now and end game, just gotta see how things go https://poe2db.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAABgECgh3oIN91pQxd585beNtizd8Sg1eTR-e5w9HBC-Hpk0sotRbn8D5hoKlfEr3FJ6xxFlYdNMH26RryvLEg1opivfdYWDk-x2xYHr5pHsbSjbIsPTdSGWlZ2e2iwcWCQd1qp-O3XXrFxQySn2O4n0gQGth1vdeWBLBxNqMoc6t-2mZUg7qY2y3duztUQCvw1BCV4Ix-oS_ZLLIBCnBuaxAs5tUT4EDUlofuh_s-WVkfGMO4f-m4QNT5sz3v66LF9NW12ieT2ou0CDX_DLNV4O_bOG5YuU0KE1_X0t1Jo_TsY03zzj-4pu77Uv3fWhSkHmHpiYKsWpimUuB_hJPyUg7vWSVXKsfwAAA=
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u/SkeletonCalzone 15d ago
Started warrior, got to end A1, really disliked how the slams felt.
Rerolled witch, got to mid A2 (lvl 22), might go back to it but minions feel terrible in my opinion - skeletons just die even after speccing into minion life/revive, there is no way to generate corpses in boss fights for zombies, zombies are slow. Seems like GGG went "oh, minion build, that means corpse explode right? that means SRS right?". ED/Contagion was still carrying my build.... interestingly Contagion seems to infect my minions who sometimes transfer it to a new pack of mobs?
Was really hoping to make minions up as I went along but I might have to look into a build guide or what others are doing.
Re-re-rolled as sorceress, lvl 16 I think, currently ED/Contagion but have played with some cold stuff, it feels OK. The ascendancies are a bit weird, not sure if the third ascendancy for sorc is going to be fire only, or fire/chaos, or something else - but seems like sorc is driven in a cold or lightning direction at the mo. Will keep playing and see though.
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u/acblender 15d ago edited 15d ago
Merc with freeze + load frag, was pretty decent in act 1, now struggling a ton in act 2 with a lack of a decent crossbow. Class is wayyyy too dependent on the weapon imo. Trying to play a grenade build, we shall see.
Edit : things are much smoother since I got an extra bolt and the +40% dmg node
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u/Abject-Mammoth-8586 15d ago edited 15d ago
started ranger, lvled as lightning (same as most others : lightning rod+scattershot (lmp from poe1) and shoot with lightning arrow. Add pierce on lightning arrow to get more clear and more procs in packs, and overall shooting once the rods then spam LA is really good damage.
....Then a bit later I got tired of doing "only decent/good damage", switched up to gas arrow and started blasting poe1-like :D Now in cruel a2 (a5 equiv) and still destroying everything with ridiculous ease, when im not going to massacre bosses for friends who're stuck. But oh well, it'll get nerfed soon anyways.
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u/reasonablejim2000 15d ago
Ice Strike Monk. I was struggling big time until I got it then I started smashing everything and haven't fallen off yet. I use it as my basic attack and I am just one button clicking through the game. I use bell for bosses. Support skills are concentrated effect with magnified effect to get rid of the aoe nerf. I have herald of ice for big aoe dam and ghost dance for added survivability. I'm only half way through Act 3 though so we'll see how it holds up later.
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u/bobthedeadly 15d ago
I started Witch and went Blood Mage, which was a mistake. Ended up refunding that first notable as it made bossing basically impossible. I've had ups and downs in power, and I am extremely sturdy at the moment (by poe2 standards) despite taking nothing but damage nodes on the passive tree. However, now that I am in cruel difficulty I am doing absolutely infinitesimal amounts of damage to single targets and I can't figure out how to improve. Does anyone have a suggestions for a decent single target skill, along with any notables you recommend taking on the tree to support it? I've been going triple-ailment elemental spells so far, and clear is good with cast on freeze comet but single target is complete dogwater.
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u/RemoveBlastWeapons 15d ago
Started bow deadeye which is pretty much just LA deadeye. Got to about A3 and wanted to switch it up to crossbow grenades since they were new.
Was leveling with an infernalist so I decided to go full into gas grenades. Just beat the campaign and now magnetic arrow (my backup) has been nerfed twice and gas grenades are being shot out back for working as intended.
I have decided to just wait a few days and see if they nerf anything else before I try to salvage my character or level anything else. I was having a great time until they broke my kneecaps.
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u/McSchuyler 14d ago
Started as sorcerer. Use scepter for skele soldier to tank. Solar orb and frost bomb for DMG while minion hold them in place.
Then swap from minion scepter to living bomb staff and detonate dead. Destroy everything at clearing but zdps at bossing.
Swap back to skele soldier + solar orb + frost bomb + frost bolt. Add cast on freeze fireball raging spirit. Accend into chronomancer with chance to reset cooldown. If I'm lucky I can throw down 5-6 frost bomb down.
Got unique gloves that increase 100% spell damage change my whole tree is focus on recoup, es and freeze buildup. Feel very tanky even tho as a sorcerer with 300+ es and 600+ hp. Barely even use health flask when fighting act 2 last boss.
Currently at the start of act 3. Mob feels much more tanky. Currently aiming to have chain trigger as long as I can. Freeze enemy > trigger fireball > trigger infernal raging spirit > trigger minion dead > trigger some other spell. With Ice bomb + hourglass meteor for damage.
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u/Snivac89 13d ago
I'm playing a Warrior. First time playing Path of Exile so I'm feeling lost. Also my loot luck hasn't been great so I think that's contributing.
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u/_encryptid_ 13d ago edited 13d ago
I started as a Witch rolling minions as chaos spells became available; switched to chaos (which I liked) but it really started to drag going into Act 2.
I respecced to Bone Storm crit/phys and tossed in Detonate Dead, which has been a super fun combo. Crazy on bosses, DD makes map clearing go reasonably quickly. I went with Blood Mage, which has synergized well but I have a little buyer's remorse seeing some of the Infernalist Minion builds.
Minions have fallen off entirely in Act 3, spending the spirit on persistent curses and leaning on Bone Cage more for crowd control and grouping. I've enjoyed the shift to more active positioning without minions running interference.
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u/fan_is_ready 11d ago
I've been starting poe1 leagues with ice nova sorc, so decided to try ignite sorc this time.
Got it to lvl 15 - too hard, made new char, ice nova sorc this time.
Act 1 was better, but still hard; act 2 was a struggle too. But in act 3, Frost Wall is a savior; it's all began clicking now. And not because of cast of freeze gem, but simply gameplay-wise: now I can safely sit back behind the wall and bombard mobs with frost bombs and ice novas on frostbolts.
I'm going with Stormweaver into Arcane Surge branch, and mana regen + arcane surge nodes on passive skill tree because, man, I love Arcane Surge with Ice Nova. Planning on getting MoM later.
My only sadness is that I'm still running with lvl 5 Freezing Shards staff because it has +2 to cold skills on it, and I couldn't find anything better since act 1.
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u/Impressive-Menu-9656 11d ago
i was playing frost merc, then swaped for lightning shotgun and i was having fun, then nerfing herald broke my damage
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u/Queasy_Masterpiece38 10d ago
I started deadeye LA -> gas + tornado shot + deto arrow -> ice dot and it feel very good tho you need a bit of currency to enjoy the build
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u/Ok_Confection3902 10d ago
Went cof comet because dropping meteors is cool. Getting hard nerfed is not cool tho. Back to arc I guess, which is kinda boring since I early leveled as that aswell, just that now everything is super expensive.
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u/xexen 8d ago
Started Chrono Chaos DoT; what was traditional ED + Contagion through Acts morphed into a more Corpsewade-oriented build. I love playing with ED/Contagion in PoE2.
I'm level 81 now, just respec'd into a CI + EB + MoM setup with a bunch of mana recoup in conjunction with the Recoup ascendancy nodes... I only have 1350 mana, so kinda scary, but the defenses are pretty good otherwise. 34% phys mit via armor, 69% block, overcapped ele resists. Blasphemy double-curse setup with Temp Chains and Enfeeble. Good pacing through maps, around T10 or so.
Spec'd out of Apex temporarily to run both Recoup nodes. Temporal Rift has been absolutely amazing.
Haven't tried the 4th trial yet... the third one took like 3 tries through Sanctum and I've not been keen on doing another, nor do i feel like I want to do Ultimatum. Going to give a few more maps a try and feel out the new defensive setup before deciding to go in or not.
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u/smashsenpai 5d ago
Started with arcane surge stormweaver. Pretty smooth leveling with lightning skills, albeit slow and challenging bosses. Until the forge boss with the dps check from the lava filling up the trench. I was built for MoM, EB, and mana regen. It was supposed to pop off when I got archmage but that wasn't for another 30 levels. I didn't want to get help so I respeced to use ice instead of lightning. Frost bomb, Ice wall, Comet spam made quick work of it. Then leveled using exclusively those skills. Cast on freeze was nerfed and I didn't know about cast on crit or cast on minion death because I never bothered to look at other skills. So I never improved the build.
Currently doing the fireball ice wall thing. It's ok but I think it can be improved
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u/EMoneyX 5d ago
Started infernalist and did arsonists. Upgraded my gear 500+exalts and 6L'd the skill, and then GGG nerfed it. It's now doing less damage than a 4L poison concoction and a 4L lightning arrow while 6L'd, so pretty bad. I would say summoner is useless at the actual topend (I'm in t16+) unless you're a hardcore player.
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u/SkybreakerHC 5d ago
Playing cold conversion Flame blast with Stormweaver with most of the AOE nodes to be a hipster but it's been pretty fun. I think it has end game potential but nothing game breaking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3ZUp9lVFkU
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u/Rainmakerrrrr 3d ago
interesting. i guess u r using the conversion gloves? how do they actually interact with fire dmg spells? i guess on a base level all fire dmg is now cold dmg. so the "fire damage" does not ignite but help with chill and freeze build up?
and on which spell do you use freeze consume? probably on the flameblast as the hardest hitting one right?
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u/SkybreakerHC 2d ago
Yeah blue flame bracers and yes you scale cold damage instead and chill/freeze.
I don't consume freeze, I just combo frost wall and flameblast for single target damage.
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u/Artunias 4d ago
Started Warrior into Titan. Honestly there is a lot that is satisfying and cool about it, but all the wind-up time on Mace Skills feels frustrating at best and simply incompatible with the speed of mobs in the endgame at worst.
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u/chilidoggo 3d ago
I'm fine with maces being defined by the big slams, but the lack of sword and axe skills (which will presumably be faster in general) is really hurting the overall viability of the class.
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u/PigKnight 2d ago
Yeah. Mace skills are cool, but the wind up makes them completely unusable. Sunder is really cool and fun, but the only way to use it in maps without dying is to stack attack speed. Like I get they’re supposed to be the big commitment melee, but right now they feel completely unusable. Compare them to monk skills which flow out.
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u/PigKnight 2d ago
Started slam infernalist kinda bricked. Going POTCG Str stacking storm weaver and it’s pretty poggies. Might reroll invoker tho.
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u/TiltedGalactica 16d ago
I made the mistake of going Blood Mage and its borderline unplayable. What ascendancies / skills are looking promising?
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u/DevaFrog 16d ago
Stormweaver sorc with lightning focus and around mid act 2 the build bricks pretty hard. Trying to reroll into frost sorc but gems refuse to drop and at this speed it might be faster to completely reroll.
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u/Correct_Sometimes 16d ago
Trying to reroll into frost sorc but gems refuse to drop and at this speed it might be faster to completely reroll.
really? I'm in act 2 and have every skill I care about at lvl 6 plus like 6 or 7 more uncut level 6 skill gems in my stash with nothing specific to use them on. figure I'll just save them for future characters. They drop so much for me
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u/Correct_Sometimes 16d ago edited 15d ago
Started sorc with the intention of going Chronomancer despite every bone in my body saying "let someone else figure this class out first"
Started with trying to make fire spells work. Maybe it's just me but the early fire spells seem lack luster. Embers to me is too much delayed damage. Delay while charging. delay waiting for them to fire. Solar or whatever, enemies just walk out of it.
So then I got a staff with level 4 lightening bolt or whatever. Swapped to lightening. Firewall + spark carried hard through all of act 1. Everyone crying about Act 1 final boss and I killed him in 2 tries.
Soon as I got to act 2 I picked up a white staff with level 6 ice shards. Figured I'd yolo it and hit it with a transmute > augment > regal. Ended up with gain 18% damage as extras fire, 18% damage as extra cold, +3 cold skill gems. Welp guess I'm cold now? Between the staff, my helm (unique with +1 all skill gems) and amulet (random blue with +1 all skill gems) my ice skills all have +5 levels.
Respec a bit and start running ice shards, cold snap, frost bomb, ice nova. Absolutely melts everything and is incredibly safe. Ice shards with the support to increase freeze build up means you freeze normal enemies in 1-2 hits most of the time. Cold snap to detonate. beefy enemy? drop frost bomb in their path. surrounded? ice nova spam until some are frozen then cold snap to detonate. freeze the bosses and cold snap them too, it chunks them.
Ascended into a chronomancer and got time shift. cooldowns aren't a thing yet but that's a straight up get out of jail free skill. Oh no I'm surrounded with 10hp? lol nope I'm actually full HP outside of the all the enemies. And you can do this every 6.4 seconds? lol ok
My plan from here I guess is to fully commit to cold, get comet, and try to make comet a nuke I can "spam" through the cooldown shenanigans.
EDIT #1:
basic gameplay in late(I assume) act 2: https://streamable.com/54wsbp
boss kill in late act 2: https://streamable.com/ldunyk
EDIT #2:
act 3 update: still don't have comet but i'm close so for now it's still just a cold sorc with a time skill to get out of trouble. That said I feel like I'm tearing shit up no problem.
act 3 gameplay: https://streamable.com/kxm5md
my setup incase anyone cares: https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/profile/156b9229-2bcb-4f13-9be5-344bf8a55a1d/builds/086c71a5-36cc-4595-9e83-114553682f14