Path of Exile catch-all

So I tried a Smite build with a Templar, and I never realized that that can buff minions with each hit! Having a ball with it. I've got a few self-found Uniques that boost elemental damage, and I have nearly all my skills throwing up Phantasms on kill. I have only 3 Zombies but they hit hard, and I am experimenting with a Lightning Golem as well. I use a Vaal Skeleton gem in extremis. The only thing is, I've created a bit of a glass cannon, especially since one of my Uniques has Blood Magic on it. That's cool, but I can get one-shotted since I use a life regen buff that grabs 35% of my HP.

Still, great fun to whack things with a staff and see my minions appear and kick ass.

So what are the mechanics of Brands? What's a good way to employ them? Why would I use Brand Recall?

Robear wrote:

So what are the mechanics of Brands? What's a good way to employ them? Why would I use Brand Recall?

From what i can tell they're similar to totems. Seen a lot of builds based around them since they're new.

Not sure about Recall.

So apparently, they are like self-attaching traps, and Recall brings them to your location and apparently refreshes their timeout? Something like that. I'm not familiar with trap builds, so I think I may give this a try. The vids I looked at showed players summoning them and then charging into enemy groups, and the brands glommed on to them even from outside the map view.

Storm brands are like Arc traps, sort of, with instant effects, while Armageddon ones drop fire meteors after a slight delay. 3 brands out max until you get some special nodes; one of each type per enemy attacked.

Looks like they attach to enemies too?
Pretty cool mechanic.
One of these days I will figure out how to get started in PoE.
I'm very tempted to read some beginner guides.

eh? Just build a character and start whacking stuff. The tutorial will help you out.

It is not that. I get how to play the game. I just want to uncover something that will help me get past the first couple of checkpoints in the game before being bored to tears.

...It's a roguelike. You're gonna run those checkpoints many, many times... Not sure what to say to make that more interesting.

Think i just made my biggest purchase in game to date by x2 or more.

IMAGE(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/410654359765123072/542184168419753994/unknown.png)

24 exalt for the chest and called it a steal. also spent 5exalt on a new helm and called it a steal. This takes the character into the 48-50 exalt range i believe.

To be fair, before i spent the 29exalt tonight, i killed uber elder with it 7 times, i havn't failed yet, and i'd never killed uber elder before this character.

Lovin it, definitely my main toon now.

11335 ES with discipline up. Character runs temp chains and enfeeble on blaspemy and discipline and aspect of spider.

Vortex dot DPS alone is up to 334,000

http://poe-profile.info/profile/Fuzz...

I fired up a witch and have been flinging phantasm summoning lightning tendrils.
It is starting to scratch an itch and I've calmed down with the overwhelming nature of the passive tree.
I mean I want to be a caster so putting points into intelligence and mana/regen is not going to gimp me.

I've been on a phantasm kick lately, playing Witch and Templar; it's an easy way to jack up minion counts in extended fights. They pack a punch, too.

Check out Arc and the skill gem that enhances lightning effects. You could put Arc on a totem so you would not have to worry about managing it. Put up a circle, light off the Arc totem, then go to town with the Tendrils. Another build for me to try, I guess. (I thought about it, and my answer to the boredom question is that I really like learning the subtleties of different builds and their play mechanics. That holds me until I get to more challenging areas and more difficult balancing with the higher levels of a build. The play mechanics are the entertaining part of the game for me, really.)

I set up a Brand character and I'm getting used to the mechanics. I'm using the lightning circle gem to enhance them, but I may drop that after a while. I use Smite with some enhancements to take on tougher enemies (with the brands and phantasms of course lol). I will probably switch to Armageddon Brand when I can, that's designed for single enemy fights it seems like. It's an interesting play style. Probably no fun for groups as it kills really quickly.

I recorded my uber elder attempt tonight and managed to go deathless for my 8th uber elder kill, after upgrading 3 key pieces of gear yesterday and today to power level 9000 levels. Got a cute watcher's eye too.

I added Herald of Thunder to my Storm Brand play, and I probably don't need the lightning circle spell at all. Just keeping it until I find a good support combo.

Brands are fun! They are fast-acting lightning bees. The gameplay is a bit repetitive, but the slaughter is undeniable. I put out a brand for every 5 or so opponents, and it gloms onto one and zaps everyone very, very quickly. When I have 3 out, I can use Smite to attack the big bad guy if needed.

Brand Recall adds 1.5 seconds to the life of the brands (I think it resets them too) but it has its own cooldown too, so you can't just spam it. Each brand has a duration as well. So you do a fight, leave your brands behind, then if you encounter a new group on the next screen, hit Recall and the unexpired brands will pop to your new location and set to work.

I have never really done Lightning builds of any kind at all before, because I didn't get that they are meant to stack several different skills and supports to really lay on the damage. They are kind of fun, very extrovert.

There are some totem/brand lines that improve on time and number of brands.

Yep, just ran out to one of those today. I hit it around 36 or so. Now I'm working on supporting skills.

Nice!

Awww, yisss!!!

I didn't play the last league. I kept killing guys and choosing an option and nothing ever happened except a giant mess of pictures and string. Maybe I just wasn't into it, but IMO it was a mess, even after reading the cheat sheets.
I'm planning to play this league though. Any suggestions for an overpowered spellcasting or bow build that scales well as you invest in it? I think I've had my fill of cyclone and RF. Preferably something that can stomp the shaper and his guardians as I've never killed the shaper before but I think I have the game to do it now.

They have rebalanced all the spells in the game, so until we see patch notes any recommendation for what you're looking for would most likely be inaccurate. That said, I believe Arc will remain one of the most solid ways to start the league. Storm Brand will probably be good but I expect some nerfs tbh.

Some things to get you started if you're not set on a build and atlas strategy.

I'm going with a Lightning Trap build. I've never done anything non melee other than an RF build. I'm hoping it is as fun as it looks.

Jumping in to the new league. So if I wanted to throw a bit of money their way and get some extra stash space, to compensate for the 100+ hours I've put into the game in the previous leagues, what's my best bet? The $20 starter pack and then use the 200 points on...what?

I don’t remember what it’s called, but there’s a stash page that organizes all the currencies and has a pretty high stack limit that is super convenient.

Currency and map tabs are a must. Then divination and quad tabs. But honestly, all the specialist tabs are a must have for a regular player so depending on how much you play and what clutters your stash the most.

Agreed. Currency, essences, maps, cards - one of each. Quad tabs, start with one for armor (at least, that's how I packrat, and armor tends to be wider than many weapons). Plan to have enough tabs to absorb Standard League keepers, after the league ends, since your characters will move there. You'll have every tab you buy available in every league, even though the tabs are not shared between leagues.

I'll agree...currency, map, card, essence tabs in order of importance. I would also say to get a premium tab or 2 so you can sell stuff on poe.trade. I don't have any quad tabs or anything, just 3 regular tabs, 2 regular premium tabs and the 4 specialty tabs. I'm thinking I'll get a fragment tab this league...but that one only really comes into it's own if you get to and run a lot of maps.

Just picked this up (for the PC) after a couple of hours played on the XBox.

Now to search for a nice, beginner-friendly build that is more of the face-melty (by magic) or archery-style as opposed to in your face smashy smashy. Something that is viable throughout most of the game without a high requirement for ultra-specialized gear or gems.

mudbunny wrote:

Just picked this up (for the PC) after a couple of hours played on the XBox.

Now to search for a nice, beginner-friendly build that is more of the face-melty (by magic) or archery-style as opposed to in your face smashy smashy. Something that is viable throughout most of the game without a high requirement for ultra-specialized gear or gems.

I have a build for you that should be good. I will post a link to it when I get home. It is an essence drain/contagion build I have been having a lot of fun with. This is my first real foray into a caster character and I have been having a blast with it. Nothing special, have not had any gear problems through about level 45 (I think I am still running a mix of normal and magic with a couple rares I've found so far). Mobs just melt.

Edit: here's the link to the build.

ED/Contagion is the classic melter.