How To Choose Skill Gems As A Mercenary In Path Of Exile 2? - 6 Best Options
Dec 18, 2024 Source: POECURRENCY
In POE 2 early access launched on December 6, you can not only experience a rich campaign and missions, including 3 acts, but also choose from 6 classes to find the class that best suits your play style.
However, it is worth noting that no matter what class you choose to play, the current skill system of Path of Exile 2 requires you to obtain and equip skill gems in order to cast skills successfully in battle or match skills with POE 2 Items. Of course, different classes are suitable for different skill gems.
Based on this, this time we will focus on Mercenary class and select 6 skill gems worth having for your reference.
1. Armour Piercing Rounds
This skill can be said to be the most basic Mercenary skill. If you equip it, you will find that it will almost accompany you through various battles and missions. And it is like a loyal one-click skill, which can play a dominant role without almost any combination.
Armour Piercing Rounds focuses on breaking enemy armor. It can not only pierce multiple targets but can even bounce between them, causing serious AOE damage.
Specifically, this skill will load a fast-flying armor-piercing projectile that will penetrate the first target hit and cause continuous, less damage to subsequent targets. It will produce a debuff called Armour Breaking on the target, causing the enemy affected by this effect to receive more physical damage.
2. Explosive Grenade
The principle of this skill is to launch a ball of elemental fire at the enemy, causing an explosion in a medium range after a 3-second fuse delay to form fire damage and ignite gas and oil, and the ignited enemies will receive additional fire damage for a short time.
It is worth mentioning that these grenades are very useful when dealing with large groups of enemies, suitable for you to carry out large-scale map clearing in order to get more dropped POE 2 Currency at one time. When Explosive Grenade fuse time is shortened, it will explode faster and be even more lethal to ordinary enemies.
In boss battles, this skill can be combined with other types of grenades to form a powerful AOE damage, causing the boss enemy to lose health continuously, while helping you deal with those annoying large numbers of enemy minions.
3. Galvanic Shards
Galvanic Shards is a skill that can output a powerful cone-shaped AOE attack in battle. When it works, the battlefield looks like it has experienced an electric shotgun explosion.
After hitting the enemy, it will cause shock and electric shock accumulation, causing the charged enemy to receive more damage from projectiles and lightning elemental attacks, and spread the shock to other healthy enemies nearby.
If you combine this skill gem with Herald of Thunder, or a support gem that can increase shock accumulation and lightning damage, it can successfully eliminate an entire wave of enemies. Or combine it with a high-quality crossbow equipped with two Storm Runes to produce a more powerful skill effect.
4. Herald Of Thunder
As a Mercenary, you can unlock Herald skills, and among them, Herald Of Thunder should be your first choice. Because it provides a powerful buff that increases the shock damage you deal after shocking an enemy.
This not only translates into a powerful AOE blast, but can also be modified to cause more damage by blinding, and can even chain attacks of more enemies. Although it requires you to provide 30 spirit points to keep it active, the rewards are huge. In addition, you can also use support gems to improve this skill, but then the spirit required will also be higher.
5. Rapid Shot
While the entire Path of Exile 2 is full of fantasy elements, Rapid Shot is similar to a modern Gatling gun. After a short “cooldown”, it will start to fire a barrage of fire elemental projectiles, causing ignition damage to the target.
In addition, if you provide Rapid Shot with support gems such as Ignition, Fresh Clip, Martial Tempo, and Primal Armament, it will become even more powerful, defeating some regular bosses in a few seconds, and improving your efficiency in farming POE 2 Exalted Orb.
If you combine this skill with Elemental Damage and Projectile Damage passives, plus Emergency Reload, you can create a stream of fire darts to melt any enemy. It is worth noting that as an additional passive effect, Rapid Shot also generates heat to enhance Grenades, causing them to deal with additional fire damage each time the heat is charged.
6. Gas Grenade
After casting this skill in combat, it will launch a bouncing ball, and then explode into a cloud of toxic gas after 2.5 seconds, causing continuous poison damage to enemies. Even targets that leave the cloud of poison will remain poisoned for a short period and continue to lose health.
If you combine Gas Grenade with Bursting Plague, Primal Armament, and Ingenuity, you can fill the battlefield with toxic gas. This gas can then be ignited by the effects of Explosive Shot or Explosive Grenade to cause even more powerful damage.
The above is just some of the selection references we provide for you. In fact, there are many skill gems suitable for Mercenary in Path of Exile 2. You can continue to filter according to your own game habits and builds. I hope you have fun!
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What Best Minions Should You Choose For Witch In Path Of Exile 2? - Top 6
Currently, Path of Exile 2 has been released in early access for a while, and players have basically understood how each Class in the entire game works, and can make a character build that suits their own game style according to their needs. Among the 6 Classes currently provided to players, Witch has become a favorite because of its ability to summon minions and powerful ranged damage.
In Witch build, whether you like to be the commander of those death minions or want to deal huge spell damage yourself, it is very important to choose a minion that suits you best. So here this guide will introduce you to several best minions for different game styles, so that you can explore smoothly from Act 1 to endgame with their help.
1. Skeletal Brute
Requirements
- Your character must be at Level 33
- The character must have 55 Intelligence
- A Level 13 Spirit Gem
For players who want to experience the thrill of powerful physical attacks from a spell-damage-focused Witch, the large Skeletal Brute will be your best choice, as it can deal a lot of damage to enemies with its powerful melee attacks.
In addition to this physical damage, Skeletal Brute can easily stun some more agile enemies and continue to cause shock waves with tremendous damage within this range. This super ability can give you a better chance of winning when facing some group enemies, and it can be easier to pick up POE 2 Currency and other loot they drop.
But it is worth noting that the summoning of Skeletal Brute requires more Spirit than most other minions, so its cost in battle may be the highest of all minions, even though it is a very good tank and damage dealer, so it may only be suitable for your early exploration of the game. Or you can combine it with multiple ranged minions that can deal spell damage, such as Skeletal Cleric and Frost Mage.
2. Skeletal Reaver
Requirements
- Your character must be at Level 31
- The character must have 72 Intelligence
- A Level 9 Spirit Gem
In fact, Skeletal Reaver is a direct upgrade of Skeletal Brute just introduced, and many players will consider it as the best choice in the early game. On the one hand, it is easy to obtain because the required level and attributes are relatively low; on the other hand, it requires less Spirit, which can cause more sustained damage to the enemy.
Although Skeletal Reaver is not as powerful as the original variant, it has a special mechanism. In combat, it can enrage. Although this minion will lose a certain amount of health per second in this state, the damage caused will be greatly increased.
If you spend some POE 2 Regal Orbs to upgrade the rarity and affixes of your build’s gear that can enhance this minion’s defense, it will greatly increase your sustainability and safety in this fight. Or you can run it at the same time as Skeletal Cleric, which can also provide some healing to Skeletal Reaver.
3. Skeletal Frost Mage
Requirements
- Your character is at Level 14
- The character has 34 Intelligence
- A Level 5 Spirit Gem
In your Witch build, you can choose to focus on your character’s spell casting ability or focus on letting the undead army fight fiercely on your behalf. Or you can focus on both aspects at the same time, and Skeletal Frost Mage allows you to do this idea.
It can fire ice bombs for great area damage, and can also apply cold damage to enemies, slowing their movement and attack speed. Thanks to these two effects, it’s more suitable to be used as a support minion in your build rather than a core, as this minion, which casts ranged damage like the Witch, is more effective in combat when the enemy is focused on more powerful melee minions, such as Skeletal Brute or Skeletal Reaver.
Read More: Diablo 4 Fans, Would You Give Path Of Exile 2 A Try? - 5 Reasons
4. Skeletal Cleric
Requirements
- Your character is at Level 52
- Your character has 119 Intelligence
- A Level 13 Spirit Gem
As mentioned above, Skeletal Cleric is a support minion that focuses on healing other minions and resurrecting those that die in combat. While it doesn’t cost much Spirit to summon it, over-running it can leave your entire build with a lot of damage and put you in a difficult position, so the best way to do this is to mix it with minions that can provide melee and ranged damage.
While Skeletal Cleric itself isn’t a super powerful minion, they are essential in your build because they can make other powerful minions more durable in combat, which is very important when you are exploring higher difficulty content or farming some special POE 2 currency or other items.
5. Infernal Hound
- Requirement: Unlock Loyal Hellhound ability in Infernalist Ascendancy skill tree
Once you complete the trial of ascendency in Act 2 of POE 2 and choose Infernalist path, you can choose this Ascendency Class-exclusive minion, Infernal Hound, which can continuously ignite enemies in the surrounding area to cause unbearable fire damage. More importantly, it can also help you share some blows cast by enemies, making you more survivable.
Since summoning Infernal Hound does not require Spirit, it can be easily integrated into any Infernalist build that focuses on summoning minions. Combined with some ranged attack skills and minions that can provide you with support, this highly tanky minion will make you difficult to defeat in battle.
6. Skeletal Sniper
- Requirements: Your character is at Level 1 & a Level 1 Spirit Gem
As one of the earliest minions available to Witch, Skeletal Sniper is also one of the most powerful minions. It can deal continuous ranged damage, leaving enemies nowhere to hide. It also fires a gas arrow that leaves flammable gas behind, which eventually causes area fire damage to the enemy.
This minion is suitable for any Witch build, and can cause continuous damage to enemies from a safe range away from the center of the battle. Like Skeletal Frost Mage, you need to combine it with a minion that can engage in melee to complete the battle together, no matter at any stage of the game.
The above are some of the best minions you can choose for your Witch in the current POE 2 Early Access. I hope you can complete the game content at each stage with the help of these powerful minions and get the best gaming experience in it. I wish you a happy game!
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How To Fight The Powerful Xesht Which Is The Optional Boss In Path Of Exile 2 Early Access?
As you explore the thrilling endgame content in Path of Exile 2 Early Access, you may encounter many optional bosses, which are usually hidden behind quests and requirements. Once you find and defeat them, they will provide you with some permanent attribute bonuses and a lot of valuable loot.
This guide will introduce you to Xesht, We That Are One, which is one of these optional bosses. It requires you to complete some requirements on the map in Atlas to appear. Since the difficulty of these bosses will be greatly increased in the endgame stage of POE 2, here are the specific locations of Xesht, the tips you need to fight it, and what rewards it will provide you.
Xesht’s Location
As you explore Twisted Domain, you may come across a Realmgate, which is your portal to the current area boss encounter. But before you open this portal, you need to clear a large breach contained here - clear all the monsters that appear here and collect Breach Splinters, which are important items for opening the portal, as well as other loot.
After you collect 300 Breach Splinters, you can combine them into a Breachstone, then take it to the beginning of Atlas to find Realmgate, and then place it in the slot shown on the screen, and then click Traverse button, you will be teleported to the arena where you and Xesht, We That Are One fought.
It should be noted here that because of POE 2’s unique map update mechanism, you may find that the furnishings and the location of Realmgate on the map have changed when you explore again the next day. This is the developer’s effort to give you a fresh exploration experience. But no matter how it changes, the Realmgate is generally always located near the beginning of the Atlas map, and you can look for it carefully.
Xesht’s Moves
Now that we know where Xesht, We That Are One is, let’s take a look at what attacks he’ll use in battle and how you can react to them. Here we’ll divide his attacks into low-risk and high-risk moves based on how dangerous they are, but since each player will use his moves in a different order, it’s best to learn them all.
It is important to note that before taking on this optional boss, you should interact with the nearest checkpoint near Realmgate. This is so that you can spend POE 2 Currency to make your gear in your build higher in rarity and with a better affix before the fight. It is also so that if you lose the fight, you can respawn here and make the next attempt.
Low Risk
- Fireball: Xesht will gradually charge up, eventually throwing a large fireball and slamming it in front of the boss. Although the fire damage this move can cause is huge, it’s good to predict when it’s charging. Most importantly, the fireball only affects a small area in front of Xesht, so you just need to dodge in time or increase your fire resistance by spending POE 2 Regal Orbs to improve defensive gear capabilities.
- Lightning Puppet: Like most optional bosses, Xesht will summon some puppets during battle to help him complete the battle. One of these is Lightning Puppet, which charges up to create an expanding area of lightning that explodes after a few seconds. This deals more area damage than the previous move, so make sure you stay away from the expanding blue source to avoid taking more damage.
- Cold Puppet: Like Lightning Puppet, this is another puppet summoned by Xesht that deals elemental damage. However, Cold Puppet fires many projectiles with strong cold damage, so you may need to stay as close to the circle behind the puppet as possible or keep a certain distance from it to avoid the projectiles.
- Hand Crawl: In this move, Xesht disappears from the arena, but you will see a crawling hand that keeps chasing you and can cause damage. Stay calm and stay still. When it reaches you, look for the lines indicating the direction of the wave and dodge accordingly to avoid subsequent attacks.
High Risk
- Finger Guns: Xesht points his fingers forward and fires a number of projectiles that explode when they hit you. While these projectiles are very powerful, the duration of this move is very short, so you can avoid being hit by getting close to Xesht to cast his attack skills.
- Giant Hand: You will see a giant hand hovering above the arena, and the shadow area will burn with flames. It should be noted that this hand will track your position, so you need to dodge and roll in time to avoid this move that can cause continuous damage.
- Arm Portals: At this time, portals on the floor of the arena will spawn some giant arms and slam down on you. Since these arms are generated around the arena, you can move to the center of the portals to get past the minimum range and avoid subsequent attacks. But it should be noted here that even if Xesht is defeated, these arms will continue to attack you, so you need to be careful when picking up loot.
- Double Puppets: besides being summoned individually, Lightning Puppet and Cold Puppet can also be summoned by Xesht at the same time, and they will flood the entire arena with their projectiles and area attacks. Avoid being in the arena, and preferably in one hallway to keep your character safe.
- Wind Blast: Xesht will also charge up a wind projectile and fire it for physical damage. Of course, you can also predict it while it’s charging, so try to dodge from a distance. Or you can just get in close to avoid the projectile’s path.
Rewards From Xesht, We That Are One
Generally, this type of optional boss will drop a lot of POE 2 currency and some loot. But players are most concerned about what kind of permanent attribute rewards it can provide you. Here Xesht will reward you with an Otherworldly Book of Knowledge, which can provide you with 2 Breach Atlas Passive Points, but only if you defeat it for the first time.
In addition, Xesht also has a certain chance to drop a Unique, so that you can use it to enhance your build. Generally, it will drop one of the following lists. But some of these items have a relatively low drop rate, so you can farm this boss multiple times at different difficulty levels.
- The Pandemonius Lapis Amulet
- Beyond Reach Visceral Quiver
- Hand of Wisdom and Action Furtive Wraps
- Skin of the Loyal Garment
- Choir of the Storm Jade Amulet
- Xoph’s Blood Amber Amulet
- Controlled Metamorphosis Diamond
This is the location and strategy of the very important optional boss Xesht, We That Are One that you will encounter in POE 2 Early Access. Hopefully, you can use this guide to complete this boss’ encounter in a smooth manner. Have fun!
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What To Prepare Before You Dive Into Path Of Exile 2’s Extremely Difficult Endgame Content? - Tips & Strategies
After you complete all the game content in Normal and Cruel difficulties provided to you by Path of Exile 2 Early Access, you will enter the second half of the entire game, which is the endgame content that most players are very troubled by. In this content that differs completely from the first half, you will need to learn new ways to navigate the game, judge the value of items, and learn the ability to use new functions to ensure that your exploration is in the best state.
Generally speaking, when players reach the endgame stage, they are already familiar enough with most of the mechanisms and builds in POE 2 to cope with most challenges. However, given that the difficulty here is several times that of the previous game content, you may need to learn about some of the special mechanisms and knowledge in advance according to the introduction in this guide. The tips and strategies provided here may bring you a better endgame experience.
1. Use Some Loot Filters
As you explore the endgame in POE 2 and explore Atlas of Worlds, enemies or bosses here will drop a lot of loot. At this time, you need to learn some loot to judge which loot will have a greater benefit to your build, such as POE 2 Currency, which can be used to upgrade gear, and Magic-quality Flask, which is very important in combat.
In general, it is difficult for you to see what specific effect this item will have on your build directly, so you can use some loot filters. They will highlight those valuable or useful loot in a pile of loot and hide those that are not suitable for your build or not worth picking up.
But here I need to remind you that it is best to use loot filters in some maps that use advanced Waystones, because with the help of this Waystone, the map you explore will become more difficult, but the loot provided to you will also be a lot, and even cover your entire screen without filtering.
2. Focus On Gear With Rune Sockets And High Quality
Although I just said that you don’t need to pick up all the loot, gear with rune sockets or high quality deserves your special attention. After you obtain these items and salvage them, you will obtain Armorer’s Scrap, Blacksmith’s Whetstone, and Shards, which can be used as materials for Artificer’s Orbs that can add rune sockets to any of your gear.
By the way, these crafting materials are useful in themselves and can be exchanged for some currencies you often use when making builds. For example, 2-3 Armorer’s Scrap plus 5-6 Blacksmith’s Whetstone can be exchanged at Currency Exchange for a POE 2 Exalted Orb, which can add a useful affix to the gear in your build and make it more effective.
If you follow the first tip, you can set these items with high quality or rune sockets as exceptions when using the loot filter to avoid missing these important items. Or if you don’t have much help, you can choose based on the description of the item: the little white square on the description means it has a rune socket, and then see if the item has Superior in the title. You can also see if the loot has these two important pieces of information on their description by hovering your mouse over them.
3. Use Portals Early
In the endgame in POE 2, after you activate a Waystone for a map on Atlas, six portals appear in Ziggurat Refuge, each representing an opportunity to use a Town Portal to return to Refuge during exploration. Generally, you can use this as an opportunity to refresh Flasks and Charms, clear inventory space, or readjust your build to handle more difficult map challenges.
When you die on a map, all portals are closed, and you can only use a Waystone to return to Ziggurat Refuge and try again, but only if you don’t destroy the map node. So you should use the portals as early as possible in the process of exploring the map, so that there is a low probability of running out of resources.
4. Add Some Gear With Elemental Resistances
When you are playing the previous game content, you may have always adhered to the rule of standardizing Elemental Resistances, which can help you deal with most situations. However, some maps or enemy types in the endgame will threaten you with specific and very high elemental damage, so you should try to use some gear with specific Elemental Resistances to counter them before exploring.
For example, high Fire Resistance will be suitable for areas with a lot of Fire enemies, and high Poison defense stats will be suitable for areas with a lot of Poison enemies. If you don’t need these gears in your current exploration, you can save them in your Stash, because you never know when you will encounter a map that can cause 200% specific elemental damage and a lot of elemental enemies. These gears will increase your survivability far more than those combat modifiers.
5. Select Atlas Skills That Have Buffs To Waystone Rarity & Drop Chance
Once you enter Atlas and complete ten Tier 1 or higher Waystones in a map, an NPC named Doryani will give you a book that grants you 2 Atlas Passive Skill Points, which are only applicable to maps in Atlas.
While nodes on Atlas Skill Tree affect maps in a variety of ways, you should prioritize two points of gain, the rarity and drop rate of Waystones. The more Waystones are valuable and available, the more rewards you will get from exploring maps here. Generally, these passive skill nodes are to the right of the starting point of Atlas Skill Tree and in the lower right corner.
The above is the preparation of information you need to know before exploring the endgame of POE 2. I hope that with the help of these strategies and tips, you can explore the second half of the game more easily and smoothly, and establish your own exploration awareness and playing style in the process. I wish you a happy game!
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How Does Honor System Work In Trial Of Sekhemas In Path Of Exile 2 Early Access?
As you explore Path of Exile 2 Early Access, you will encounter a side quest in Act 2 called Trial of Sekhemas. Although this quest is optional, once you pass this trial, you will choose Ascendancy Classes, which will completely change or customize your build.
So all players should try Trial of Sekhemas so that you can maximize your character’s potential. However, given that there is a very complex Honor System in this trial, the difficulty of the entire trial has increased dramatically. Because of the difficulty of this trial, it is very important to understand how Honor System works and some precautions in this guide before starting to explore, which will make it easier and faster to pass this very difficult trial.
How Does Honor System Work?
When you first enter Trial of Sekhemas, you will have a new health bar at the bottom of the screen. This is Honor bar, which acts as a secondary HP bar here. It will show you how much Honor you currently have, the maximum Honor you can get, and which Trial Keys you currently have. You will start your Trial of Sekhemas exploration with a full Honor bar. It is important to note that the maximum Honor you have is determined by the sum of your Life and Energy Shield stats. For example, if your two stats are 250, then the maximum Honor you can use will be 500.
Given this mechanism, you should try to improve these two key attributes in your build as much as possible before starting this trial. For example, you can spend some POE 2 Exalted Orbs to give defensive gear some new affixes to ensure maximum gains. However, it should be noted that your Honor Bar and health are two different increase and decrease mechanisms, so your health will not be greatly affected if your Honor is used up.
During your trial, your Honor will be reduced bit by bit as you take damage from enemies. It can be explained here that the honor damage you take depends on the type of damage the enemy inflicts on you and your resistance to damage. For example, if your character has very little Chaos Resistance and the enemy casts poison, lightning or fire damage on you, your Honor will be greatly reduced because they are all the same type of elemental damage.
In addition to the elemental damage type, the Honor you lose is also related to the distance between you and the enemy. The closer you are to the enemy, the less damage your Honor will suffer. So whether you are using a Sorceress that focuses on long-range attacks or a Warrior that emphasizes melee attacks, try to get as close to the enemy as possible to avoid more Honor from being damaged. But don’t get too close, otherwise you will be more likely to be hit by the enemies in the trial and cause greater damage.
During the entire exploration process of Trial of Sekhemas, Honor will not be restored as often as health points, so each damage is very serious. Once your Honor reaches 0, your journey in this trial ends immediately. Since Trial of Sekhemas is a one-life dungeon, if you run out of health or lose all Honor, you will lose your chance to explore Trial and can only enter Trial by resetting the map and fighting Balbala.
How To Recover Honor?
Although Honor is difficult to recover during exploration, it is not impossible. The first way to recover Honor is to use specific Djinn Boons that you can apply to your character during Trial of Sekhemas. You need to find Balbala in Trial Room and exchange Sacred Water for these Boons.
Boons provided here are divided into Minor or Major according to their effects. Minor Boons require less Sacred Water than Major Boons, but the effects are also weaker than those of Major Boons. They all provide some benefits to your build so that you can more easily obtain POE 2 Currency and other loot in subsequent explorations.
The most noteworthy Major Boon is Earned Honor, which requires you to deliver 600 Sacred Water. Earned Honor will restore a certain percentage of Honor for each Trial Room you complete, so that you can continuously complete all challenges. In addition, you can also restore some Honor at fountains in some public areas, but it should be noted that it does not appear after each room is completed, so you can’t rely on it too much.
Besides this external factor, you can also gain some Honor by upgrading your character during Trial of Sekhemas, because during your upgrade, the main sources of Honor, Life and Energy Shield, will be enhanced to a certain extent, so Honor will also be increased and restored to a certain extent.
How To Reduce The Damage Taken By Honor?
Now that you know how Honor system works, you might be thinking about it in relation to health and wondering if there is a way to increase Honor’s resistance in POE 2 Early Access. In fact, there is.
First, you can equip some Relics in your build that can increase Honor’s resistance. You can get them from Balbala. Relics not only reduce the damage taken by Honor but also increase the maximum Honor value. But it should be noted that when you first start Trial of Sekhemas, you can only place one Relic in your build. But as you go deeper into Trial, you can add more and more Relics, and the boosts and rewards you get will increase accordingly.
That’s all the details of Honor system you are experiencing in the current Trial of Sekhemas in POE 2 and some strategies you can use. Hopefully, this guide will keep your Honor value in this Trial stable and within a safe range, and make it through this difficult Trial with ease. Have fun!
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What Rewards Will You Get In Slithering Dead Quest In Path Of Exile 2 Early Access? - Walkthrough & Rewards
As you explore Path of Exile 2 Early Access, you will encounter many side quests that are generally closely related to the story of the entire game and will provide you with some permanent attribute rewards. This Slithering Dead Quest that this guide will introduce to you is one of them.
In this side quest, you will be asked by Servi, a local guide in Ziggurat Encampment, to help her uncover the secrets hidden by the rival tribe and the fate of her son Apus. Although the tasks to be completed in Slithering Dead Quest are very simple, once you figure out the ins and outs of things, you will complete it in a brief time.
However, in this guide, we will not only introduce you to the specific steps to complete this quest but also help you choose the reward given to you after completing the quest, because here you can only choose one of the three permanent rewards, which may make some players very difficult to choose. Without further ado, let’s start our exploration of this Slithering Dead Quest!
Steps To Complete Slithering Dead Quest
First of all, we need to make it clear that Slithering Dead Quest is located in Jungle Ruins map in Act 3 of POE 2 Early Access, and because the game content in Cruel difficulty is the same as the normal difficulty, this quest will also appear in Act 3 Cruel.
However, I have to remind you that the difficulty of the game content in these two acts is completely different, so you can use the previous common builds before entering Act 3 Cruel, but spend as much POE 2 Regal Orbs as possible to upgrade some of the defensive or offensive gear and add some affixes. This will make you have a more relaxed gaming experience in this more difficult game content.
Once you reach Jungle Ruins map, you can start looking for the entrance to Venom Crypts, which is located near Jungle Ruins Waypoint and may require your careful search. In addition to this exploration area, this map has another exit, which is Infested Barrens, which is very easy to find as a must-explore area in the main quest Legacy of the Vaal.
Once you have successfully found the entrance to Venom Crypts and entered, you can explore the area thoroughly. It is important to remind you that because of the new map mechanics in POE 2 Early Access, you may find that some furnishings on the map will change during the second day of exploration. Please do not panic, this is the effort made by the developers to keep players fresh in their exploration.
When you explore Den of Serpent Priestess, you may encounter a corpse, which you need to interact with, and then you will receive Corpse-Snake Venom. Then you need to teleport back to Ziggurat Encampment with this important item and give it to Servi, and your mission is complete.
How To Choose The Rewards Offered By Slithering Dead Quest?
As mentioned earlier, this Slithering Dead Quest is a repetitive quest that will appear twice in Act 3 at different difficulties. The rewards offered to you are different each time, but what remains unchanged is that you need to choose one of the three rewards as your permanent attribute reward. Next, we will introduce you to the rewards that will be offered to you in the two game contents one by one, and how to choose.
Act 3
In Normal Difficulty, Servi will provide you with a dialogue after receiving Corpse-Snake Venom you brought back, and you need to choose one of the three rewards. The specific effects of the three rewards are as follows.
- Venom Draught of Stone: It can increase Stun Threshold of your build by 25%.
- Venom Draught of the Veil: It can increase Elemental Ailment Threshold of your build by 30%.
- Venom Draught of Clarity: It can increase Mana Regeneration Rate of your build by 25%.
In the nearly one-month period since the release of POE 2 Early Access, most players choose Venom Draught of Clarity here, because it can better help your build gain better defensive capabilities, ensure that you can safely survive some difficult battles and easily obtain the final POE 2 Currency reward.
Especially for classes that emphasize melee attacks such as Monks and Warriors, Venom Draught of Clarity can solve their shortcomings of too little and too slow mana recovery at critical moments, and is the best reward choice.
Next, Venom Draught of the Veil will be your second choice if you use Witch and Sorceress classes. This Elemental Ailment Threshold buff can greatly reduce the degree of damage caused by Bleed, Poison, Chill, Freeze, Ignite, Electrocute, or Shock caused by the enemy for these classes that do not worry about mana problems, and increase the defensive capabilities of the build.
Finally, Venom Draught of Stone is the least appealing choice of the three bonuses, as Stun Threshold only works against enemies that can cast Stun, which is rare in later game content.
Act 3 Cruel
After you finish exploring Act 3 Cruel, you will also have three more Venom Draughts to choose from, each with a different effect. Here are their names and effects.
- Venom Draught of the Lost: Increases your build’s Chaos Resistance by 10%.
- Venom Draught of the Sky: Increases all of your character’s attributes by 5.
- Venom Draught of the Marshes: Reduces the effect of Slow debuffs by 15%.
The choices here are much simpler than those in Act 3. Chaos Resistance-increasing Venom Draught of the Lost is your best choice, because after you complete this act, you will enter the endgame, where enemies that deal Chaos damage will increase, making exploration in the endgame much safer.
Another very important reason is that Chaos Resistance you can gain from gear in a build is very low, regardless of what type of build you use. Another reward worth your attention is Venom Draught of the Sky, which improves your character’s overall attributes and makes your entire build more balanced so that you can explore various game content. As for the reduced slowing buff provided by Venom Draught of the Marshes, any higher rarity boot in the game will do the trick, so it's not some rare permanent bonus.
The above is how to complete Slithering Dead Quest in POE 2 Early Access and the rewards you can get. Hopefully, this guide will help you complete this super-rich side quest faster and allow you to choose the right effective rewards that will help your character’s build the most. Have fun!
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Choose The Best Support Gem For Your Character Build In Path Of Exile 2 Early Access! - Top 6
In the popular Path of Exile 2 Early Access, there is a completely different skill system than similar games - the skills you use in the game are provided by the skill gems you find during exploration. In addition, you will find a lot of support gems in the game, which can be linked to the appropriate skill gems to gain some benefits.
While the skill gems and support gems you choose in POE 2 are largely dependent on your build and class, there are some support gems that can greatly benefit any skill gem, which this guide will introduce to you.
It is important to remind you that support gems, like skill gems, are loot and rewards you get during exploration, so you don’t have to move them all to your build. You can choose to accord to your own needs. Of course, you can also cut the uncut gems in the game into the support gems you want to enhance your build.
1. Arcane Tempo
First up is Arcane Tempo. While it doesn’t have a big impact on the gameplay of POE 2, it can greatly increase the casting speed of builds that rely on casting by up to 25%. However, it should be noted that you can only equip one Arcane Tempo with a skill gem at a time.
For example, Sorceress has some skills with long casting times, which is very disadvantageous when fighting against enemies with strong mobility, because too much idle time in long-range combat can easily lead to enemies dealing melee damage to you. Once you embed Arcane Tempo in this skill gem, the casting speed will be increased, and the damage ability will also be improved to a certain extent.
The information we can provide you here is that Arcane Tempo only requires Tier 1 Uncut Gem to obtain. But if you are just starting to explore the game content and didn’t have an Uncut Gem, you can spend some POE 2 Exalted Orbs to increase the casting speed of your main skills, which will also make it easier for you to explore in the early stage.
2. Unleash
If you need a multi-functional support gem, then Unleash will be a good fit for you. It not only increases your casting time, but more importantly, for every 200% increase, the assisted spell will also gain a seal (up to two). Moreover, this skill will reoccur all effects when it is cast, which means that enemies will be hit continuously by this assisted skill, which greatly increases your chances of quickly obtaining POE 2 Currency and loot rewards.
Although the damage caused by this skill will be reduced by 50% when reoccurring, if this skill can be cast twice in a row, such as a continuous fiery projectile, it means that you can cause more damage, because the damage of the subsequent projectile will make up for the loss of the previous one, and the continuous damage will make the enemy more unable to resist.
3. Jagged Ground
Jagged Ground is a very simple support gem that gives you a 50% chance to create a Jagged Ground that will debuff the enemy by 20% movement speed for 4 seconds. Given this feature, it is very suitable for Classes that need a strong melee build like Warrior or Monk, because it can create a large area around the character that can cause a lot of AOE damage, which is convenient for subsequent damage skills.
On top of that, Jagged Ground can also be used to support Slam skills, which are very important for these melee Classes. When these skills are combined with this support gem, they can cause difficult-to-avoid area damage to the enemy, which is very effective against some groups of enemies, and you can use it to farm some POE 2 Currency or consumables you need in your build.
4. Conduction
Next up is Conduction, which increases the amount of shock you can inflict in combat by 100%. This means that when you hit enemies directly, they will take more damage from shock and will take more damage for a short period.
The other support gems we just covered have specific builds and classes, but Conduction doesn’t. It works with all builds. But you can use it in builds that want to add elemental casters, such as Sorceress build, which will make the spells it casts more damaging.
Or you can use it in a Mercenary build that uses skills like Galvanic Shards, which will make the projectiles it fires have more lightning damage, an elemental type that many bosses in POE 2 Early Access can’t resist.
5. Mastery Support Gems
At this point, what I want to recommend to you is no longer a specific support gem, but a category. The gems under this category will increase the level of the skill gems they support by one level, which will make this skill get a greater benefit. The following are the specific gem names.
- Chaos Mastery
- Cold Mastery
- Fire Mastery
- Lightning Mastery
- Minion Mastery
- Physical Mastery
Because a skill gem is a place for 1-3 support gems, when using these support gems, you can use gems that provide other benefits together, which will make your build play a huge role. But it should be noted that remember to choose the support gem that has the same focus as your build.
6. Infusion Support Gems
Again, this is a collection of support gems, with Fire Infusion, Lightning Infusion, Cold Infusion, and Chaos Infusion. Each of these will grant the skill. It supports 25% additional elemental damage, but will reduce the other elemental damage by 50%, depending on the type of gem. So if your build is focused on dealing only one elemental damage, these are your best bets.
Please note that the buffs and debuffs of these Infusion Support Gems only apply to the skill gems they support, and will not affect the elemental damage of other skills. So you don’t have to worry about your entire build being ruined by them. They will instead balance the damage and defense capabilities in your build.
The above are the 6 best support gems in the current POE 2 Early Access. You can choose the best one based on the attributes and elements you value in your build. But I have to remind you that it is not recommended to change these support gems frequently, because in the more difficult endgame content, these support gems will play a very important role. I wish you a happy game!