Path of Exile - upcoming F2P Daiablo clone

[frunk]

Just got to Act V. Died quite a few times in the last boss fight. Couldn't quite figure out what was going on. My trusty Siege Ballista took care of things though.

Malichai is tricky, particularly the second phase.  It isn't really clear what you should be doing until the second or third time through.  The later boss fights aren't as bad with making it difficult to figure out who to attack.  I say that but I still have to do the final Act 10 boss.

[Berkut]

Hey frunk, maybe you could throw us newbs some details around your verbiage? It would help us understand WTF you are talking about...like what an "arc" witch is...I am assuming that is a particular build type, since there is no Ascendancy class that maps to Arc?

[frunk]

Hey frunk, maybe you could throw us newbs some details around your verbiage? It would help us understand WTF you are talking about...like what an "arc" witch is...I am assuming that is a particular build type, since there is no Ascendancy class that maps to Arc?

Arc just refers to the skill used.  It focuses on Lightning damage and getting shock, since it is the ranged skill with the highest base Shock chance.  It also has a very long range and can hit targets widely separated.  It isn't that specific a build, there are a lot of variations on it depending on what supports/skills/equipment/passives are used.

I'm interested in revisiting it since they changed the way Shock is applied.  Previously it was a fixed % damage bonus over a variable time depending on the percentage of life removed by the hit.  Now it is a variable % damage bonus depending on the percentage of life removed by the hit over a fixed time.

Right now I'm experimenting with how I want to deploy Arc.  I'm trying out Storm Burst casting Arc.

[Berkut]

Well cool.

My witch is apparently an arc witch!

At least she blows things up with lightning. Generally very, very quickly...at level 20, she seems pretty damn OP.

[FunkMonk]

Just made Lvl 57 on my duelist slayer ground slammer. Picked up a cheap 4-link Marohi for 2c off poe.trade and I'm melting everything now. It'll do until I find something better with 5 or 6 links and without the speed malus.

The 8.5k a hit with massive AoE is fun 

[frunk]

Just made Lvl 57 on my duelist slayer ground slammer. Picked up a cheap 4-link Marohi for 2c off poe.trade and I'm melting everything now. It'll do until I find something better with 5 or 6 links and without the speed malus.

The 8.5k a hit with massive AoE is fun 

I found a Terminus Est so over the weekend I leveled up a Duelist.  Now I'm doing Heavy Crit/Flicker Strike.  If the mobs are arranged right I can start on one side of the map and finish on the other on one button press.

[FunkMonk]

The great thing about PoE is it feels really really good when your build actually works and everything falls into place. It's like all is right with the world 

[FunkMonk]

This guy has some pretty good guides for folks new to the game: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaFHfrY-6uGSAvmczp_7a6Q

[FunkMonk]

About to finish the game story and finally start mapping. Been quite fun and it really feels, finally, like a finished game.

And the great thing is they're planning another free expansion later this year

My 67 slayer is rolling pretty fast and even bosses are melting. Really satisfying to make your own build and actually have it work this far. Big question then is how far into mapping will it go?

[frunk]

Act 10 bosses are pretty easy, except for the last one.  You may need to grind for a bit before getting into mapping.

I'm actually leveling up my fourth character, so haven't really done much mapping yet.  I've been enjoying running through the new acts with new uniques I've found, but I'll get back to my end game characters eventually.

[FunkMonk]

Yeah that's what I'm expecting. I'm gonna ride this toon as far as it goes though, and start a new one when it either starts sucking too bad or I get bored.

[frunk]

Oh, a few hints for mapping, when you get there.

1.  You can vendor three maps of the same type and get one of a higher tier.  Good for saving storage space and getting new maps.
2.  Don't ID magic/rare maps you discover.  Save them until you are more confident in maps.  Running un-IDed maps gives you extra drops.
3.  Use Orbs of Transmutation on regular maps.  For each type of early map that is magic you complete you get a bonus to finding more maps.  Later on you'll have to use Orbs of Alchemy.  Check out the Atlas that Master Zana has.

[FunkMonk]

Nice, didn't know about 1 or 2. Thanks.

[Iormlund]

I'm having quite a bit of fun discovering things at my own pace. I haven't gone further than Act VI though, because I keep wanting to try new things (I'm an Altoholic at heart).

[frunk]

I've picked up a Sire of Shards and I'm trying to figure out what I'll do with this crazy thing.  I tried it with my Storm Burst/Arc Witch, using it as a speed clear Storm Burst/Cast while Channeling/Lightning Warp/Lightning Penetration.  It was ok, but I think I'd need SoS to be at least a 5 link to really make it work (as well as respeccing into more AOE damage/area). 

Since I don't have the capital to make that happen ATM I'm going to try out my Chaos/DOT Shadow with Ethereal Knives/Spell Totem/Decay/Swift Affliction.  Combined with Ring of Blades it should be a pretty effective Mob clearer.

If that doesn't work I'll probably revert down to my Templar who I still need to level up, and go with a Flame Totem build.