Died wearing a 16 or 17 Exalt cost chest piece during Beyond League. That made me sad. Probably the only Harcore character I haven't deleted after they went to Standard.

Then again, another friend lost two different characters with a Mjolnir, one of them also with a 6 link Lightning Coil, among other items, so...

 

Hmm trying to decide my build. Looking for something that is playable with minimal gear, and can ramp up a lot later on as you add more pieces, and have good clear speed. I'm thinking crit dagger spectral throw. Any suggestions?

 

I've been obsessively browsing the forums for a good starter build the last week myself. Ice Crash is new and shiny and looks cool enough, but I really don't wanna go 2h mace Marauder for it. Maybe a 2h crit sword version, but that build isn't finished.

I'd probably make a CoC build if I understood how it works and plays in a new league.

 

I'm leaning towards kinetic blast wanderer now. Hmm I've never had much interest in CoC builds not sure why. Ice Crash is a ridiculously op from what I saw of it, heard it got nerfed though.

 

CoC wander is like KB wander, only it does a million dps instead of 20k or what have you. Yeah, crash got nerfed, but so did a lot of other stuff. But crash is honestly the only melee skills I've been interested in so far, so I should probably try it out.

But eh, I guess the same old builds are going to be good - FP, EK, Poison Arrow, the basic, life-based stuff. Damn, at a time like this, I really wish I had gotten to know the game more, I used to just copy builds from the forums. I have no idea what is actually good and easy in a new league. It's all too easy to make a single-skill spam build and end up at 5k dps trying to start mapping and get bored of the low dps or other limitations of the build.

 

Yea your probably right, for some reason I just don't find it interesting >_> I don't know why.

Yea last time I tried to make a build it was a Fire arrow Trapper, turns out it has the smallest prolif range ever.

 

Easiest builds in new leagues traditionally are caster builds. Arc. Flame Totem. Sporks (fallen out of favor lately), Glacial Cascade, flameblast, Ball Lightning, ect., ect. They all are more dependent on the level of the gems/supports than your gear, so you can focus on gearing for survivability to take on higher difficulties earlier.

That being said, the existence of Fortify makes melee builds significantly easier to pull off without horrible dismemberment. Melee builds will still need strong weapons to clear effectively, though. The Masters make that slightly easier, but it can still stall your progression to high difficulties.

CoC builds are insanely powerful, but the issue with them in brand new leagues is getting all the gems you need. You have to buy from other players, and early on build-enabling gems like CoC (and Spell Echo/Multistrike) are rather expensive. I'm not sure how the gem quest rewards have been moved around though, so that may be less of an issue in this league.

Ideally, for new leagues, you want a build that requires as few things as possible to make work. It's not too hard to find what you need if you are playing an Arc caster, or a Magma Orb caster, because you get the gems as guaranteed rewards. The rest of your gear (weapon, shield, armor, whatever) can be whatever helps your resists most/ fits your gem colors. A two-handed mace Ice Crash build, however, is entirely dependent on its weapon to have a high damage output (which means being at the mercy of drops).

Those are my thoughts, at least. I'm planning to try a Magma Orb build, personally. Looks like a fun skill.

Oh, and a warning for those planning to play on the HC league, be extremely careful. Not only are the new bosses in act 4 absolute monsters (even in normal), but the actual league trait, Tempest, looks way too similar to Beyond for me to be comfortable. Being at the mercy of RNG when all it takes is one bad roll to force you to start from scratch is a truly miserable thing. I'm planning to enjoy Warbands, however. Sounds like Invasion, which was great fun if you did not encounter The Sunburst Queen or that stupid devourer.

 

All very true. Simple caster builds are probably the easiest, but also the hardest to scale well into endgame maps, at least in my experience.

The gem situation in Awakening is a lot better, afaik. From what I read, all the quest reward gems go to vendors after completion, so you can buy them all afterwards if you want. Good gems are also moved around so that you can get them earlier.

The shotgunning removal means I probably won't play Freezing Pulse or Flame Totem, but you really made me consider playing Arc. I'm much more familiar with casters, after all. And it's a cool, easy and lazy build. And crafting a +1 gems wand early is super easy, after all.

 

Yeah, the shotgunning removal hits flame totem (and incinerate, and freezing pulse, and... yeah, a lot) rather hard.

Don't be fooled, though. I was playing a flame totem templar in CB and it was still perfectly viable all the way to the end of cruel (which is where I stopped, didn't feel like grinding for better res gear). The new totem nodes in the tree are very helpful, in that regard, and flame totem still does silly damage.

Arc is a super easy build, and great for a first character in a league. Flameblast is similar (although more dangerous).

In the event that anyone is interested, someone on Path's forum linked a passive tree for the 2.0 (Awakening) release.

http://cb.poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMA

 

I'm going to be playing a Glacial Cascader. Always loved the skill, was my favorite spell actually. Now that it can not be blocked by pebbles and random bs? Can't express how happy i am about that. Sucks its crit was nerfed by 1% but the overall damage/clear speed will still be greater because the base damage was buffed + changes to mob ai grouping up more and the aforementioned change.

Not much gear requirement to be played either, just use a +2 cold wand cold wand till i can support GC/spell echo/faster casting/added chaos then can use increased aoe for possible 5L.

Probably gonna go zealot's oath/eldritch battery/mind over matter/CWDT Immortal Call for defenses and use enduring cry to keep up endurance charges as well to regen ES when need be. Also gonna be keeping up frenzy charges(and power charge via assassins mark) with Blood Rage due to the incredible buff to frenzy charges for the Awakening.

 

Warcrys don't work with CWDT anymore. That means no enduring or immortal unless you want to manually cast them.

Blood Rage was nerfed hard as well.

 

I didn't say CWDT Enduring Cry Immortal call, only CWDT Immortal Call. That still works.

Yes i'll have to manually use Enduring Cry but that's not a big deal. Use it once every few packs or so if even that often. MIght only use it when i feel the need to mitigate some upcoming damage(or running low on ES(mana))

As for the blood rage nerf, what was the nerf exactly? I'm only using it expressly for the frenzy charge generation. Not the attack speed on low life, not gonna be a low life build. And the life leech, while helpful, not the main reason im using it either. Though if you know a better frenzy charge generation skill to use for a caster, i'm definitely open to advice. I was told previously(about midway through beta of awakening) that blood rage was pretty much the best to use.

 

Blood Rage is now 25% chance to get Frenzy Charge on kill. That's the part that got nerfed. It was way op and everyone used it, so I guess it was warranted. Probably still worth using, idk.

I tried looking for a 2.0 Arc build, didn't really find any. Might have to go in blind and screw myself over, haha.

 

It's not terribly difficult.

http://cb.poedb.tw/us/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAuMEswVCB6UI9BEPEVAUsBZvFy8aOBvxHNwdFB1PHxgkqiTYKU8snC0fLX01uTaJNuk6WDsNQZZCS0WdRtdJskwtTLNPr1H7U1JVxlXWV5RZ81xrZOdmVGaeZ71o8mpDbRlxhXIPfEt-r37HgKSCEIIegpuESIUyhW2FxYx2jRmOZI8aj0aQVZRvlnSaO5rgm6Gdrp48ogCnCKyYrrOxQrWFtvq3McBUwGbBtMNtzLfNFtAf0PXVddWB1abYJNlf2rnbC92M37DfvuAS4XPjauWL6-7tPO9Q7-vwH_Tp96b31_rS

There is a rough idea of what I used in the beta (obviously not the entire tree, I only got to about 60 that wipe). It's even easier as a Templar.

 

I have almost no clue what any of that means.

I play a marauder, I wield a sword and shield, I mostly use Cleave that has Warlords Mark on hit, backed up with Heavy Strike, which thanks to the awesome helm I just got before I last logged is linked with Life Leech, + Melee Physical Damage and + Added Fire Damage.

I also have Vengeance(+Life Gain on Hit), Reckoning, Tempest Shield, and Molten Shell (+Iron Will).
I did have Riposte, but it was in my helm and I sacrificed using it to upgrade to being able to buff my Heavy Strike.

I'm level fifty, I'm in Act 3 Cruel and I'm just about to set off to do Piety and her Pets.

I may not know what I'm doing, but stuff is dying and I'm having a blast, loving everything about this game.



Except those firebreating dog things in the docks, fuck those things with a rake. Metal. End. First.

 

Ah... I probably should have mentioned that I want a Shadow, not a Witch. Sorry you had to make that tree =P

I was thinking something like this: crit Arc.

Shadow lends itself to crit, and I play scrubcore anyways. Not sure about Revenge of the Hunted. I might pick up MoM. Maybe Vaal Pact? I should get the Frenzy Charge and Survivalist next to Acro, then the Templar Celestial nodes? Doom Cast would be really good too, though.

I was planning on Frenzy Charges from Blood Rage and Power Charges from Assassin's Mark. Herald of Thunder + Curse on Hit + Assassin's Mark + Leech? Wrath? Reduced Mana? I know that the new Wrath is good for lightning. Some golem? And I have no idea what I should run for my defenses. And the standard Lightning Warp setup for movement.

As for gear, Geofri's Crest first, I guess? Later, maybe Lightning Coil + Purity of Lightning, Maligaro's gloves, Doryani's belt.

Gah, this is why I need a guide. I don't have a clear overall vision of what I need, especially with all the links.

But if you have anything to say about the passive tree, please, feel free to.

 

Ah, shadow is a pretty strong start for shocking via crits. As far as gear, I recommend not worrying about it in a new league. Focus on playing, reaching maps, build based on what you find. 90% of the time I am using rares, not any cool uniques (at least early). Don't get too worked up about having the perfect plan, it's pointless to try and predict what the gear will be when the economy has not established itself. It will take a long time for things like Doryani's to even be available for purchase (Atziri is not easy, even on softcore). That's my advice, at least.

Of course, this will be the first league I play on SC instead of HC. I'm used to running through/gearing at least two chars before I can safely map, so this should be a pretty cool experience.

@ Psychotic Cat There is nothing wrong with that! Let me know if you ever want to run with a group/join the guild Fen, Zerg and I have. I hope you join the new league, it should be pretty fun. I'm hoping to actually get a full map group for once (usually I'm either soloing maps or running with pub parties), an actual group for end game content would be so much better. Leveling as a group is also easier.

Sephiroso Sorry, misread your post. As far as generating Frenzy charges as a caster, Blood Rage actually is the only way I can think of, even with it's nerf... Wait, I feel dumb. https://www.pathofexile.com/theawakening/skills
Check about midway through the page. Ice Bite, new support gem. Bonus chance to freeze, and 40% chance to gain a frenzy charge on killing a frozen enemy. That would be pretty good if you can sacrifice a gem slot for it, I would think.

 

Unless things were changed yet again, Herald of Thunder no longer procs curses with curse on hit. Also Reduced mana does not work for auras anymore. As for golem, can't go wrong with chaos golem. Barely even need to support it much for it to be pretty tanky.

@Dullahan Woah dude, thanks for the Ice Bite info. Didn't even know about that skill, that would be PERFECT for a GC build. Shit, might even do something like GC-Spell Echo-Faster casting- Added chaos-Ice Bite- Hypothermia instead of using increased aoe/concentrated effect for 5th/6th links.

 

I started a Duelist. Dual wielding swords with Static strike,Cleave, Molten shell currently.

It's getting complicated...

 

Oh, don't worry. It gets even worse!

What are everyone's char names? I'd like to at least add people to my list, if no one minds.
I'm Reaching_Eudaimonia (or, at least, one of my characters is).