Shoju's 1.0 Stuff.

[shoju]

Am heading into Merc Merveil at some point this weekend, though I will probably test out the Fetid Pool first, see if I'm ready to clear that place. I have avoided it like the plague so far in Merc, if only because My gear was shaky at the beginning. I guess I'll see how "awesome sauce" the new "exploding loot pinatas" are in Merciless Difficulty.

Up until 1.0, I never found much "good" in farming boss runs. I had much better luck on the Ledge, Or in the Church, or in the Catacombs with finding QTY / Quality of loot.

Here is a question, because it's something I've never tried. You can Shift Click Portals to new areas to open a new instance. Is this the case with Merveil's lair? Could I set up shop after clearing out the second level, and then just keep killing, and opening up new instances of Merveil? I'm highly doubting that would be the case, because it seems.... "too easy", I would think that they would want you to at least clear some trash before killing bosses.

[Frag]

No, you cannot do that, you have to ctrl click on the entrance. In this case, a cleared first cavern can be rerun, but then have to ctrl+click on cavern of anger and run through that to have a fresh Merveil.

[shoju]

Yeah, I've been running Anger + Merveil. I've not had much luck at getting good stuff. The only thing I got that is good, is a Searing Touch. It dropped 1S, and I dropped some jewelers on it, got it to 5S, and I'm going to spend some time to get it some links. Not sure if I'm going to sell it, or if I'm going to keep it, and build something fiery.

All in all though, Outside of the massive amounts of currency that I get from junking everything I get, I'm not seeing much. To be expected I guess.

[Frag]

RNG is RNG, but the sweet thing is you can rerun as fast as you can.

[shoju]

Yeah, reruns are good and all, but man if it's the very antithesis of "fun".

[shoju]

I dropped Merc. Vaal like it was nothing. no deaths. First time I have ever killed merc vaal with no deaths. A little crazy. I'm now 65, and headed into AIII.

It feels like Map drops have been severely neutered. I normally have a half dozen going into AIII just from running A2 areas, and getting drops. I don't have any....

I certainly don't want to be stuck farming piety for level 66 maps....

[shoju]

Ok guys. I'm looking for some input. I'm at a crossroads. I'm not entirely sure where to go / what to do with my build.

My tooltip DPS "feels" low. I'm at ~1500 Tooltip DPS on both my Single Target, and LMP'd ST. (The single target has some utility on it, instead of DPS). I feel like I'm at a pretty good place with my HP, I know I want to get some more armor, but I'm just not sure what / where to go from here.

My Current Build

I'm pretty happy with it. I don't have a ton of armor, but with Determination running, I'm currently just over 3k. Armor really, is just for a I'm getting overrun, and hey, I can pop my Granite, and this helps me live type thing. i'm not expecting this char to facetank like my marauder.

I am at 3k HP right now (2997), and I'm not even sporting Life on every piece yet.

My Tool Tip DPS "looks" low, but I'm not having problems killing anything... yet.

I have my.... here to 'Kill Piety' points mapped out. it should be a total of 5, by the time I kill her and get the reward.

level 68 and piety dead

This, is where I hit my crossroads. I feel like I "should" worry more about my DPS. I have a pretty bitchin' 2h'er, right now (383.64 DPS) So, weapon upgrades are going to start coming slower, and slower. I know that I'll be able to eek more out of my gear, since it is by no means end game gear.

I'm also not 100% sold that I have enough HP nodes in my tree yet.

At this point, My next goal, will be ~70, and Dominus dead. 2 more points between now and then. Ok, what do I do? I'm currently thinking
level 70 That addresses some more of my HP problems, as well as some more DPS. That will be a total addition of 10% HP, and ~120 DPS as current gains in the build look. That's not bad. I should be ok with that.

But from there? I'm really sort of at a loss. I could pick up Skull Cracking (another 24% Damage increase, as well as more Stun Threshold Reduction. That's on my short list)

But, I'm left thinking that my HP is really my "thing" for defense. I feel like I need more. I'm not sure if I do, but I'm nervous that I do. There is 52% + 16 sitting readily available at my fingertips over the course of 7 passives. At which point, I could really start kicking the train into high gear, and going for the Regen Nodes nearby. But again, I'm not really sure. I could start into the 'rauder starting area, and pick up more HP, resists, Armor, and Regen. BUt that's going to be a rather large expenditure of points to see "notable gains", and would carry me into the high 80's, where points come.... slow to be polite about it.

So, really, any and all help that you wish to offer would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and if you are curious what I'm currently wearing:

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/113210

[Frag]

One idea that you may not have thought of for more armor: http://goo.gl/ka2Ru1

Given your stats, that is what I would do next, as the two extra endurance charges are +8% Physical Damage reduction and 8% elemental resistances with 2% max resistance. Seems the most cost effective way to up defense.

[MonTy]

I feel like that's way too many skill points just for 2% mana leech. You can get that on items and save the dozen or so points. I feel like going into the Shadow area is wasted if you're not getting the Crit nodes.

Personally, I'd like something like this: http://goo.gl/WVbQql - I find grace + determination + IR + US to be really powerful with new characters, since you don't have those insane high armor pieces.

[shoju]

It's not just for the Mana Leech. I need the Dex to level Spectral Throw, and after messing around with a few variants on builds, the dex going over to get the Attack Speed, and Mana Leech nodes ended up feeling the "least wasted". After playing with IR + Grace on my marauder, I hated it. It was one of the things that I was most happy about in the aura changes. I didn't feel obligated to run Grace + IR anymore.

Also, Once I'm done picking up life, and Armor on the other side, My plan is to go back to the shadow / Ranger area to pick up Ballistic Mastery, and some of the life over there but I have a few other things I want to get to first.

The big downside from the build you listed, is that I will have to get the majority of my dex to meet my gem reqs from gear.

[MonTy]

For the build I posted, it has access to 110 dex if you take the 30 node, which means you don't need much from items. I agree running Grace is annoying, but the flat armor bonus is truly amazing when combined with Determination. It'll allow you to run higher maps when you just can't without high armor or gear. Plus you're not getting IR but are getting Unwavering Stance, so you'll be forced to wear only armor pieces instead of having the option of armor / evasion. This can be really tricky / frustrating to be limited to a specific item set.

[Frag]

I'm with Monty on this one. It drove my Mara up the wall that I couldn't find gear with the stats, sockets and base armor type that I needed. I was a pure armor spec and was sporting almost 30% evasion rate simply because of other requirements. That is the real power of IR, fixing their broken gearing system.

[shoju]

I can't run Grace unless I drop either determination, or hatred (which I'll be running once I get my gear sorted out a bit). I can't afford to sacrifice either of those at this point, so I can run another defensive aura. At this point, I just don't have the Blood Magic Supports, or the links to try and sell out so that I can run three auras.

I'll have to just keep getting better gear, and improving my armor. I know some of my pieces aren't good. Trust me. If I had any doubts, then last night removed those doubts, as I just got utterly demolished by the Avians in the Imperial gardens, over, and over, and over, and over, and over, three times from monsters off screen.

Yes. I've pigeonholed myself into only wearing Pure Armor or Armor ES gear. I'm ok with that. If there were a node that halved eva and ES at the expense of more armor (ala acrobatics, but for armor) I'd sport that. I can't begin to tell you how not fun I found IR on my marauder. I'm just not doing it again.

[shoju]

A couple of things that I've noticed about the new Righteous Fire.

1.) It seems to be able to kill things far easier than before. (I tried it once for a zone or two in beta)
2.) Even with 2+% Life Regen, and Life Flasks, And Arctic Armour Running, It is burninating me very very very very fast. I'm not that high in level though, so I don't have much to go on yet.

I think it's very possible that if built correctly, RF now could still be pretty potent. Though, I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of "Low Life" to make this work

[shoju]

played some more righteous fire tonight. I'm not sure if it's going to work out with the build that I have planned. It is pretty hilarious to turn on righteous fire on a boss when I get them down to ~25% life, and watch them explode, but I'm just not able to (at least at low level) get my Regen high enough to sustain it.

If I can get my regen to a point where I can sustain it, I could theoretically just run RF + Arctic Armour + Curses, and clear things. Stuff is just melting all over the place under RF. The damage is just insane, which makes it frustrating to not be able to put it to use.

[shoju]

Merc Dominus is dead in Domination.

I don't know what it is about that fight, that increases with each difficulty, but it's brutal on my system. each difficulty was more unplayable than the previous.

[Frag]

Well done, man!

[shoju]

TY!

Had it not been for just absolutely abysmal lag heading into the P3 Transition, I think I could have got him, no portals, no deaths, outside of the "Hey, I started the fight, locked up, and died to the first wave of adds while I Alt+F4'D to restart the game."

Now, I'm thinking I'm just going to spend my time on her in Library / Lunaris / Maps. I'm hoping to find a Meginords either drop (haha!), or for sale at a price I can afford. Since I got my shop back up and running, I'm starting to make some sales, and I'm going to really start packing the currency away so that I can pick up some new pieces.

I REALLY need a new helm. I just can't seem to find one that isn't a bajillion exalts for something that is mainly a sidegrade in every statistic except armor (and I'm not even searching for high armor. just... ~2-300 armor range.

[shoju]

OK.... I'm royally confused. I have a DW Duelist in Domination that I'm really just goofing around with. I had an idea for a DW Sword Spec that I just wanted to "try out", and the DPS is just... blowing my mind. At level, it is by far the most DPS I have ever pumped out. To the tune of.... Once I cleared out all of Kraityn's puds, 3 Dual Strikes put Kraityn on the ground.

Are DW Swords really that strong (I'm using the Increased Accuracy flavor)?
Does Dual Strike's damage end up plateauing at some point?
Does Melee Splash stay this effective as a viable AoE?
What's better... Taking % Accuracy, or flat out accuracy? As I level, and it will be "slow" since this isn't something I'm "actively" working on, I'll probably continue to use the % Accuracy Swords, but I wasn't sure if I should actively spec for Accuracy in the passives, or what?

My first "idea" for a spec is something like this. speccy spec spec It's pretty bland. Just, going with what I'm sort of knowledgeable at this point.

I'm at this point here with the spec. I figure this gives me a chance to try out the grace / IR that everyone talks about, as well as giving me plenty of options for gearing. I'll probably run a rather base set of auras. Grace, and Hatred, with Reduced mana to support them, and use Blood Magic Gems, for casting.

Right now, I'm just using

Dual Strike (Single Target)
Double Strike + Melee Splash (AoE)
Whirling Blades (movement)

[LochnarITB]

Are DW Swords really that strong (I'm using the Increased Accuracy flavor)?

I hope so. My Duelist is mostly just a placeholder so far, but I was planning to go dual wield pointy sticks with him. I don't know if I'm going to go swords only or allow daggers, though. I'll be interested to see how it goes with yours.