Path Of Exile: The Forbidden Build Of Wardless Ward Loop - My Advice

Jul 19, 2023 Author: POECurrency.com

Salutations exile been a while, for several leagues, now Ward Loop builds have been meta and expensive.

I aim to change that, to afford this build, you must first acquire Mirror of Kalandra that a high-end Ward Loop build would require, then vendor it to get POE Currency that this build requires.

Path of Exile

What I Have Done In The Past Year

Over the past year, I've made three iterations of the build, and it's been so long, that most of the things I used have been changed. So rather than go over my exact build, I'm just going to give a broad overview of the build concept. A traditional Ward Loop build uses Olroth's Resolve for permanent Ward, so we can face tank an infinite number of forbidden right casts without actually losing any life, then use cast when damage taken to create a Spell Cast Loop.

Because the self-damage is completely negated, it can use as many spells as will fit in the sockets, at the highest gem level possible as fast as possible. This is quite powerful in combination with Annihilating Light and Crystallised Omniscience, as Ward mods are all prefixes, leaving the suffixes up button for Attributes modifiers. This is by far the best use of cast when damage taken, and there is little advantage to using anything else.

Path Of Exile Annihilating Light

Try To Create A Similar Build

I set out to create a similar build that is much cheaper, and in some ways better. We will not be using Ward at all, Awardless Ward Loop if you will instead. We will face tank all of the damage, and simply recoup over 100 of it, using a combination of at least 60 life recoup, mind over matter, and at least 40 percent Mana recoup.

We will also be theoretically harder to one shot than a traditional Ward Loop, by having higher maximum life and more damage reduction. One of the only problems with the traditional Ward Loop, is that it is prone to getting one shot by physical or chaos damage. Spell Cast Loop depends on heartbound Loop, so any armor would ruin it, and there's no room for armor on Ward gear anyway.

Path Of Exile Spell Cast Loop

It also relies on forbidden right, and since the build has so little life, it requires Negative chaos resistance to function. We solve this problem by using the doppelganger guys unique chest, by having a percentage damage reduction instead of Armor's flat reduction, we can have a reasonable amount of physical damage reduction against big hits, while allowing the self-damage to still be high enough:

With Regular Caster damage taken gem, we can have up to 35 physical damage reduction.
With Divergent Caster damage taken, we can have 40 percent on the doppelganger guys, and take gruffalo pantheon for an additional five percent.

Some Differences Between Them

Unlike armor, this physical damage reduction also works on damage over time. We also get some handy chaos damage reduction, which we offset by simply having more life to increase the self-damage of forbidden right. The more life we have the more chaos resistance we're allowed to get.

The constant 10 life regeneration is nice, but roughly 600 life regeneration per second is nothing. Compared to the over 13000 per second from recoup, so we're harder to one shot. But Ward Loop can tank an infinite number of hits that are smaller than the ward amount, having over a hundred percent recoup is nice, but four seconds is plenty of time for the enemy to simply hit you again before you've healed.

The Way To Solve The Problem

We solved this problem back in Sentinel League, by having five Max rolled pre-nerf flagellant flasks and taking the Pathfinder Scion node, which had the four percent life recovery flask mastery on it at the time. Essentially we would recover 20 life whenever an enemy hit, note that the Spell Cast Loop doesn't count as being hit by an enemy.

Path Of Exile Sentinel

Speaking of those flasks, that's also where all of our Elemental resistances come from, Annihilating light makes it difficult to cap resistances, so we use Ruby, Sapphire and Topaz Flask. One of which has a tier 1 resistances role in order to cap our resistances without relying on our gear. Having 100 uptime on these flasks is much much easier than all Olroth's Resolve.

We also use purity of elements, because ailment immunity is very nice, and we don't have many other options anyway. While we've spent a dispro fortunate amount of our budget merely surviving our own damage, the build is actually pretty good at clearing content, one to two million DPS seems low on paper, but being constant and fully automatic makes it feel much higher.

Outro

This is the first build I've ever done, that is both great to map with and capable of completing most Endgame content. Unfortunately, because recoup takes four seconds to ramp up, we kind of have to start the loop like a lawnmower.

Next: Think Breach is Dead in Path of Exile 3.29? This Budget Scarab Strategy Yields 20+ Divines/Hour!

Previous: Will 3.22 Be Path Of Exile’s Last Major Atlas Update Before Path Of Exile 2? - The Overwhelming Possibilities Of POE 3.22

Best Scarabs and Map Setup

Maximizing profit relies on choosing cost-effective Scarabs and map modifiers rather than overpaying for overpriced options. Currently, the best Scarab combination for Path of Exile 3.29 includes:

2x Breach Scarab of Instability
2x Scarab of Monstrous Lineage
1x Scarab of Wisps

This setup increases the magic monster pack size, ensures additional Breach spawns, and utilizes Scarab of Wisps to generate a large amount of PoE currency within Breach area.

I know some of you are probably wondering, isn't it better that Horned Scarab of Bloodlines increases the number of magic monsters in the area by 150%? While high-end Scarabs like that are certainly effective, their cost-to-yield ratio isn't ideal in the current meta.

Given their high market price, with a single Scarab costing between 1.5 and 1.8 Divines, they fail to provide a return on investment that offsets the cost. In contrast, setups using lower-cost standard Scarabs offer superior net profits.

When preparing maps, prioritize T16.5 maps and ensure they have at least 90% increased currency drop modifiers.

Dunes is the absolute best choice due to its open layout, which allows Breaches to expand fully without being obstructed by narrow doorways or walls.

It is recommended to use Fine Delirium Orbs to enhance the map, adding multiple layers of Delirium effects and increasing currency drops upon killing enemies. Depending on your character's survivability, apply between 2 and 5 Fine Delirium Orbs per map.

Additionally, be sure to use Exalted Orbs to roll the map to six explicit modifiers, thereby maximizing item drop quantity and monster pack size.

To optimize Altar spawns, rush to and kill the map boss immediately upon entering the map. Killing the boss early prevents the appearance of boss-specific Altars, ensuring that subsequent Altars offer high-value options such as duplicated currency, duplicated Scarabs, and increased item quantity.

Atlas Tree Synergy

To maximize returns from every map run, your Atlas Tree must be specifically configured to boost monster density and map efficiency.

The core of this strategy involves allocating points to all nodes related to map explicit modifier effects, item quantity, and the core Breach mechanics.

Furthermore, integrating the Beyond mechanic significantly boosts overall monster density. By allocating points to key Beyond nodes and Endless Tide keystone, you ensure a continuous stream of Beyond bosses and currency-dropping portal monsters around the expanding Breach.

A crucial detail of this strategy lies in the choice of Breach keystones. If you are using Breach Astrolabe, you must select Unstable Breaches on Atlas Tree to prevent unwanted map mechanics from diluting Breach spawns.

Regarding general map clearing, choose between Red Altars and Blue Altars based on the specific strengths of your character build. For highly durable tank builds, selecting Red Altars generally ensures a smoother map-clearing experience; you can comfortably accept almost any negative modifiers in exchange for immediate bonuses to item quantity and currency duplication.

Breach Tree Planning and Specialized Farming Strategies

Beyond the map's base drops, your Breach Tree configuration determines the primary source of your long-term profits.

Recent balance adjustments in Path of Exile 3.29 have significantly reduced drop rates from rare Breach monsters, making a tree built around rare spawns no longer the optimal choice. Instead, shifting your strategic focus to Unique Item and Currency nodes yields more substantial economic returns.

If your goal is obtaining Unique Items, prioritize nodes that increase the drop rate of valuable Breach-exclusive gear. However, if you are chasing massive orb profits, you might steer your tree toward Mage Hunter nodes to gamble on rare drops like Mageblood, or invest points into jewel nodes to hunt for high-value passive jewels.

Alternatively, if you prefer currency that can be liquidated immediately over trading Unique Items, you can pivot your Breach Tree entirely toward currency specialization. Focus on nodes that yield large quantities of Vaal Currency or Flawed Seeds, directly catering to the high market demand for corrupted Uniques and crafting materials.

Maximizing Hourly Profit

The key to high returns from Breach farming lies in clear speed and strict inventory management. Although the potential drop value of a single map is immense, your final hourly profit depends directly on how frequently you cycle through maps.

If completing a single map takes 10 to 12 minutes, your hourly profit will be around 10 to 12 Divine Orbs; however, if you can compress that time to 5 or 6 minutes, your earnings can instantly double.

By maintaining a fast map rotation, avoiding the use of premium Scarabs, quickly killing map bosses to ensure altar spawns, and selecting maps with open layouts like Dunes, you can transform Breach mechanic in PoE 3.29, despite its significant nerfs, into one of the smoothest and most reliable farming methods available.

Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0 Garukhan's Resolve Lineage Gem Guide | Best Builds, Drop Location, and Farming Strategy

In Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0, Critical Strike builds remain part of the meta, and for players seeking the highest possible damage output, Garukhan's Resolve Lineage Gem is the ultimate pursuit.

This Gem is rarely used by standard Attack Builds. Instead, it is mainly found in high-end Endgame Attack Builds that already have strong Critical Strike Chance and Critical Damage Bonus scaling. Obtaining it is also extremely difficult, as it only drops from specific encounters and maps. Let's take a look at its mechanics and acquisition method.

Basic Mechanics of Garukhan's Resolve Lineage Gem

PoE 2 Garukhan's Resolve allows Supported Skills to have their Maximum Critical Strike Chance set to 50%, while causing Attack Critical Strike Chance to become Bifurcate.

Specifically, every attack performs two separate Critical Strike checks. As long as one of the two checks succeeds, that attack will deal a Critical Strike. If both checks succeed, the critical damage bonus will be applied twice to that Critical Strike.

In Patch 0.3.0, this Gem had a restriction that required players to move 20 meters before it could be used. However, in Patch 0.5.0, this movement requirement was removed and replaced with the new "Maximum Critical Strike Chance is 50%" mechanic.

After equipping Garukhan's Resolve Lineage Gem, reaching 50% Critical Strike Chance is enough, which reduces the pressure on equipment affixes.

It is important to note that this Gem cannot support the following types of Skills:

Skills that already have a Condition requirement;
Skills with a Cooldown;
Triggered Skills;
Skills used by Minions.

In addition, Garukhan's Resolve and Culmination series Support Gems cannot be socketed into the same Skill at the same time.

Which Builds Use It?

Garukhan's Resolve is not a universal choice for every Build. Instead, it is a core component for highly specialized Critical Strike setups. It is designed for Builds that already have extremely high Critical Strike Chance and aim to maximize single-hit burst damage.

Ice Strike Monk

Ice Strike Monk is one of the most typical users of Garukhan's Resolve. Ice Strike naturally has a high attack frequency, allowing it to perform many Critical Strike checks quickly, making it highly compatible with Garukhan's Resolve's mechanics.

Once Critical Strike Chance is increased close to 50%, Garukhan's Resolve can provide greater Critical Strike benefits and further amplify Critical Damage Bonus scaling.

Tempest Flurry Monk

Tempest Flurry is another Monk Build that works extremely well with Garukhan's Resolve. It has a high number of attacks, fast combo speed, and focuses on sustained melee DPS.

Since Garukhan's Resolve gains more value through a large number of attack attempts, high-speed Skills like Tempest Flurry are better suited for it than slower heavy-hitting attacks.

If Tempest Flurry follows a Critical Strike setup, Garukhan's Resolve is usually considered one of its core Support Gems.

Charged Staff Crit Monk

Whether Charged Staff Monk uses Garukhan's Resolve depends on the direction of the Build.

If you build focuses on Power Charges, Lightning Damage, or Critical Strike scaling, Garukhan's Resolve provides significant value.

The reason is that Charged Staff requires melee attacks to build resources, while its final burst relies on high-damage attacks. If the character has already invested heavily into Critical Strike Chance and Critical Damage Bonus, Garukhan's Resolve can provide a noticeable damage increase.

Lightning Arrow Deadeye

Although Garukhan's Resolve is often associated with Monk Builds, it is not limited to melee playstyles. Lightning Arrow Deadeye is also a suitable option because this Build has a high attack frequency, fires many projectiles, and relies on Critical Strike scaling for damage.

During the endgame stage, Garukhan's Resolve can further increase overall DPS.

How to Obtain Garukhan's Resolve Lineage Gem?

Sacred Reservoir

Garukhan's Resolve can only drop from specific Boss encounters. It cannot be obtained through Uncut Support Gems or Engraving.

You need to enter Sacred Reservoir, which belongs to Anomaly Map category. However, it does not initially appear as Sacred Reservoir on Atlas and instead appears as Temporal Sandstorm.

You must first clear the special blocking mechanic in this area before accessing the actual Sacred Reservoir. After defeating Zahmir, the Blade Sovereign inside this map, there is a chance to obtain Garukhan's Resolve, but the drop rate is extremely low. Some players may farm for several hours without seeing it drop.

Farming Setup

Lineage Gems are considered a type of Waystone drop, meaning increasing Waystone Drop Chance can effectively improve the chance of obtaining Lineage Gems.

Waystone and Map

It is recommended to use Waystones with more than 100% increased Waystone Drop Chance, with 120% or higher being the ideal target.

Prioritize T16 Forest Maps, because Atlas passive tree contains a Forest Node that provides a 50% additional chance to drop Lineage Support Gems.

Tablet

For Tablets, prioritize those with the modifier "Map gains 2 additional random modifiers."

If you have enough currency available, you can also combine them with Visions of Paradise Irradiated Tablet. It increases Monster Level by +1, improves drop rewards, and allows the map to regain its Irradiated state after completion, effectively letting you run the same map twice and increasing overall drop opportunities.

Atlas Passive Tree

Forest Mastery: Increases Lineage Gem discovery chance by 50%.
Partial Translation (Jado's Spycraft): Increases Tablet modifier effects by 0–40%.
Untold Histories (Jado's Spycraft): Bosses have a 50% chance to drop Lineage Gems.

Garukhan's Resolve is considered a top-tier pursuit item for advanced players. For regular players, if they happen to obtain it through luck, it can also be exchanged for a large amount of Divine Orbs, allowing them to further improve their overall equipment.

Path of Exile 3.29 Revives Spellcasting: Winter Orb Buffed, Mana System Completely Changed

Path of Exile 3.29 Curse of the Allflame finally turned its attention to the spellcaster system, making balance adjustments to many existing spell abilities. However, is this spell rework a true revival, or more like a cautious, incremental change? This article will provide a comprehensive analysis of the 3.29 spell system from multiple dimensions, including skill changes, mechanic adjustments, and new abilities.

Main Skill Gems Changes

The Biggest Winner - Winter Orb

Winter Orb is undoubtedly the brightest star of this patch. Its base projectile count has been increased from 1 at all ranks to 2 at rank 1 and 3 at rank 20 (previously requiring a Greater Multiple Projectiles support gem, now freeing up a gem slot). Critical strike chance has also been increased from 6% to 7.5%. The base damage at level 20 has been increased from 450 to 539, and a 25% base freeze chance has been added. In practical use, Winter Orb has received approximately a 70% damage increase.

Winter Orb's mechanics are already extremely smooth - it automatically attacks enemies while moving after charging. Now that its damage weakness has been addressed, it has practically secured its position as the most popular spell skill.

Physical Spells

Physical spells are another major beneficiary of this change, with the core change being a uniform increase in base critical strike chance from 6% to 10%. Specifically, Ethereal Knives (EK), a highly comfortable map-clearing skill, received a 10% base critical strike chance increase, along with other bonuses including projectile count and speed; Blade Blast also saw its critical strike chance increase from 6% to 10%; Blade Blast of Unloading also increased from 6% to 10%, while gaining more AoE bonuses.

However, it's important to note that most players are actually using Ethereal Knives of the Massacre, the version with a circular projectile centered on the caster. This variant only gains an increased critical strike chance and doesn't receive the other bonuses of the regular EK. If you plan to use EK, please make sure you're using the correct version.

Cold Spells

The overall strategy for ice spells is to lower the critical strike threshold - a large number of ice spells that previously had a 6% critical strike chance have been uniformly increased to 7.5%, while a 25% base freeze chance has been added, allowing non-critical strike builds to reliably trigger freeze.

Freezing Pulse is a prime example: it now grants 5 base projectiles (which can be further increased through additional projectile affixes), significantly improving map clearing ability. However, the damage decay mechanism (damage decreases with distance) still applies, making single-target damage somewhat questionable.

Fire Spells

Fire spells follow a high damage scaling, low critical strike chance strategy. For example:

Fireball: Reduced critical strike chance, but gains higher bonus damage and lower mana cost.
Vaal Fireball: Base radius increased from 0.9-1.4 meters to 1-1.8 meters, bonus damage increased from 240% to 330%.

Lightning Spells

Lightning spells have been changed to reduce cast time but increase mana cost. Spells like Storm Call have faster cast times, at the cost of higher mana costs - in the already difficult mana-manageable PoE 3.29, this adjustment might be considered a nerf.

For players planning to try out popular spell builds like Winter Orb and EK in 3.29, quickly perfecting gear and resource allocation in the early game will significantly improve progression efficiency. To save farming time, you can buy PoE Currency from POECURRENCY.com to complete your character build faster.

Mana-Related Adjustments

Mana Cost Efficiency

This is one of the most significant system changes in patch 3.29. Previously, many affixes stated Reduced Mana Cost of Skills, but now it's changed to Increased Mana Cost Efficiency.

In the old mechanic, mana cost reduction was linearly cumulative; you could stack it to 100% and cast skills for free. However, now, mana cost efficiency uses a diminishing returns formula. 100% Mana Cost Efficiency corresponds to 50% of the original Reduced Mana Cost, while 200% does not correspond to 100%, but only approximately 33%.

This means the old strategy of relying on stacking cost reduction is completely ineffective. Although the developers have compensated for some base mana costs, for high-energy-consuming spellcasting builds, the actual cost is actually higher.

Archmage Nerfed

The bonus lightning damage gained by skills supported by Archmage has been reduced from 10-16% of Unreserved Maximum Mana to 8-14%. With the changes to mana consumption efficiency, the actual output of the Archmage build will generally decrease.

Nevertheless, Archmage remains one of the most viable directions for Spellcaster build, just with a higher barrier to entry.

New Gems and Skills

New Exceptional Skill Gems: Pact

PoE 3.29 introduces a brand new Pact gem series, all of exceptional quality:

Pact of Beidat: Enhances projectiles, causing them to deal more damage and increasing their attack range.
Pact of Ghorr: Enhances damage-over-time spells, granting you Hunger of Ghor buff.
Pact of Lycia: Enhances channeled spells, increasing their spell damage and periodically triggering Lightning Bolt.
Pact of K'tash: Enhances Vaal spells, shortening the duration of Soul Gain Reduction and refunding Souls upon use.

However, all of the above Pact skills will apply an Affliction to the caster as a cost upon activation.

Mana-Infused Staff

The newly added Mana-Infused Staff skill is crucial for mana management. This skill always retains 30% mana, increases attack and spell block chance, and reduces skill mana cost. While active, it also unleashes a burst of lightning based on maximum mana duration whenever you block.

For staff builds, this is a crucial way to alleviate mana pressure.

Overall, the changes to the spell system in Path of Exile 3.29 weren't a complete overhaul, but rather a comprehensive optimization with a wide reach. Skills like Winter Orb have undergone significant improvements, and many previously unpopular spells have finally gained a chance to shine again. Choose your favorite spell build and head into battle!

Tired of traditional summoners? This Path of Exile 3.29 Life-Stacking Flame Link Turns Your Mercenary into a Million-Damage Flamethrower

Players, if you're tired of traditional summoner builds in Path of Exile 3.29, this Luminary Mercenary build might offer a refreshing change - your character will directly convert their Life into massive additional Fire damage from Mercenary via Flame Link, making Mercenary the core of your damage output.

This insane Luminary Mercenary build will make you invincible in PoE 3.29!

Leveling Timeline

Luminary Mercenary build takes three stages to develop.

First, in the early stages of Patch 3.29, use Spectral Throw to level up. Switch to Righteous Fire in Act 2, and then transition to Mercenary system after unlocking Luminary in Act 6.

At this point, Resistances Penalty will make Righteous Fire unsustainable, but Flame Link and Mercenary will be able to take over the damage output.

Skill Gem Combinations

Flame Link is the absolute core of this Luminary Mercenary build, tied to Arrogance Support Gem and used in weapon switching slots.

Early on, players can use the level 20 version of Arrogance Support Gem, which offers good value and is a suitable level.

Warcry system includes Support Gems such as Battlemage's Cry, Enduring Cry, and Urgent Orders. The second Flame Link here is used to maintain skill availability during weapon switching.

Of course, our Luminary Mercenary also needs to be able to fight bosses in Patch 3.29, so Stormblast Mine, Minefield, and Assassin's Mark Support Gems need to be used in this build.

As for Purity of Elements, which is the defensive aspect, we need to synergize it with Eternal Blessing Support Gem to achieve unreserved resistance coverage.

In this Luminary Mercenary build, Vitality and Precision provide regeneration and critical strike chance, respectively.

Passive Skill Tree Selection

Our points should be entirely invested in Flame Link enhancement, Link Duration, Life, or Mercenary empowerment, avoiding investments in damage skills.

The primary attribute is Maximum Life - it determines both defense and the additional damage from Flame Links (converting Life into Fire Damage).

Light Radius becomes a core damage multiplier after Golden Glory is unlocked; although not displayed on the panel, the scaling is significant.

For Luminary Mercenary jewels, prioritize Life, Light Radius, and resistances to avoid investing heavily in expensive jewels too early and neglecting basic life gear.

The first Ascendancy point must be Noble Blood to unlock the permanent Mercenary system; the secondary Oath of Fealty compresses Link casting to once per area.

Our third point requires choosing Golden Glory to give Light Radius offensive value, while the final choice of Legendary Amulets and Legendary Rings will allow Mercenary to unlock Legendary Jewelry combination, thus amplifying Luminary Mercenary's damage exponentially.

These passives work together to form a complete closed loop, providing a powerful boost to Luminary Mercenary.

Skill Selection and Priority

Mercenary's skill combination determines our gameplay experience in Path of Exile 3.29. Therefore, the core principle here is to avoid all movement-related skills, as they occupy attack windows and severely reduce our character's actual output.

For better map clearing, the optimal solution is to use Kinetic Blast of Clustering skill, connecting Multiple Projectiles Support Gem, Returning Projectiles Support Gem, and Clear Support Gem. The simultaneous use of Kinetic Bolt is strictly prohibited to avoid interfering with the AI.

Ice Shot is an excellent all-around option, paired with the same Support Gems.

In addition, players can also consider Purple Molten Strike, Molten Strike, Spectral Helix of Trarthus, and Static Strike as alternatives.

In the early game, only one functional Mercenary is needed for combat; don't worry too much about other options. You can replace it with Warrants later in PoE 3.29.

Equipment Affix Priority

For this Luminary Mercenary set, prioritize Life and Light Radius affixes.

Use Crystal Scepter as your weapon, as it increases Light Radius. If you don't have enough PoE currency, you can use a rare Scepter as a temporary solution.

Use Imperial Buckler as a shield, Pig-Faced Bascinet as a helmet, and Kaom's Heart, with its huge Life bonus, to improve both Luminary Mercenary's survivability and Flame Link damage.

Antique Gauntlets and Carnal Boots correspond to the glove and boot slots respectively, with the following affix priority: Maximum Life, Elemental Resistance, Chaos Resistance, Movement Speed, and Light Radius.

For rings, choose one Sapphire Ring and one Topaz Ring, both prioritizing Life and then Light Radius.

Rotmother's Mutiny amulet provides a significant amount of Light Radius, Chaos Resistance, and Elemental Resistance, so invest some currency to obtain a version with a high Light Radius stat.

For the belt, use Ceinture of Benevolence to enhance Merchant's speed and critical strike chance.

Of course, the affixes on Merchant's own equipment are equally crucial: prioritize attack speed, elemental attack damage bonus, critical strike damage, and Fire Penetration.

The priority of base bonus damage affixes decreases after Flame Link provides thousands of points of bonus fire damage - because the base damage provided by Link is already extremely large, the benefit of percentage-based amplification is far greater than additional damage.

In summary, the core appeal of this Luminary Mercenary build lies in simplifying complex operations into a smooth cycle of maintaining Links and navigating the map. As long as Life translates into Fire Damage and Light Radius becomes an offensive multiplier, Mercenary can unleash explosive damage.

In Path of Exile 3.29, it is one of the top choices for maximizing map efficiency with minimal operations.