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First Impressions Of New Unique Shield Kiloava’s Bluster In POE 3.22 - Comparison vs Saffell’s Frame

Aug 31, 2023

Hello, Exiles! Here we will discuss a new Unique in POE 3.22. That’s Unique Shield, Kiloava’s Bluster, that appeared in Trial of the Ancestors league.

This new Unique Shield is currently available in SC and HC trades for a meager POE Currency, and very few characters use it in all leagues. Does this indicate that the item is weak or useless? 

Actually, while Kiloava’s Bluster might not provide a consistent defense, when it triggers, it’s pretty powerful. Especially when faced with options like that. It’s actually powerful.

Path of Exile: New Unique Shield Kiloava's Bluster - How good is it?

Kiloava’s Bluster

Kiloava’s Bluster is a Trial of the Ancestors exclusive mechanic that has restrictions on where and how it can drop. It tends to drop as a rare reward for defeating that Valako tribe, and may appear in the finale.

So let’s actually see what stats the new Unique Shield has. It has a fairly high evasion rating and has a decent chance of evading Elemental Ailments. Also, elemental resistances have a 90% chance to ignore your current resistance value against enemy hits.

It also has a very special modifier. Here, elemental resistances have a 30%-40% chance of treating them as 90% of actual and maximum resistances when applying modifiers. 

So the shield also has considerable evasion ability and considerable blocking ability. And you have some chance to avoid Elemental Ailments, which can be useful. But it depends on your build and special modifiers.

Also Read: Everything You Need To Know Before You Jump Into POE 3.22 Trial Of The Ancestors League!

But that doesn’t mean this shield will be useful when an enemy hits. It has a chance to count your resistance as 90% in order to avoid taking damage from it. This means that when this modifier triggers, it will use the 90% value regardless of your current resistance. This overrides the effect of setting the resistance value to a fixed value, regardless of the resistance type, when you take damage.

For example, things like Exposure and Curses that lower your resistances won’t apply when this modifier triggers. Because it will take a fixed 90% value. But Penetration will still directly affect this new 90% value.

POE: New Unique Shield - Kiloava's Bluster

Comparison With Saffell’s Frame

First, let’s see how this mod actually performs compared to other options. Actually, the best comparison has to be with Saffell’s Frame. This is another Unique Shield that offers 4% of all maximum resistance. However, these two shields have very different stats when it comes to everything else they provide.

Because Kiloava’s Bluster has a fairly high dodge rating and attack block. With Saffell’s Frame as a modifier, it cannot block attacks. Instead, it provides a good amount of spell block, some spell damage and elemental resistance, and a moderate amount of armor and energy shield.

These differences matter. Because the two shields would attract completely different builds. Now let’s compare the maximum drag modifier on Saffell’s Frame with the special modifier on Kiloava’s Bluster.

Now, if a character has a maximum elemental resistance of 75%. Then Kiloava’s Bluster will provide an average of 6% of maximum elemental resistance, and a maximum roll of 40 times. 

For example, POE items from things like Eternal Damnation, or debuffs from things like Searing Exarch. This debuff reduces the character’s maximum fire resistance by 5%. If based on Kiloava’s Bluster mechanism, this effect will become more and more effective.

If they have 75% elemental resistance regardless of other defensive attributes. Then a character using Kiloava’s Bluster will take 9.5% less damage on average than a character using Saffell’s Frame.

But it’s worth noting Saffell’s Frame provides consistent and reliable damage reduction. Its max resistance bonus also applies to any associated damage-over-time effects, such as Ignite Cold Snap or Burning Ground. In addition, Saffell’s Frame also provides the largest resistance bonus to Chaos Resistance, which is a good advantage.

POE: Saffell's Frame

Use Case & Thoughts

But I think Kiloava’s Bluster isn’t useless, and it would be very effective for a character build to the right of the passive skill tree. This skill tree can use evasion and potentially Elemental Ailments to avoid modifiers. Meanwhile, spell suppression may also limit them. This makes Kiloava’s Bluster even more appealing.

Because of Kiloava’s Bluster’s unique mechanics, I think this item would be more useful in map settings. In that setting, the character might get a variety of hits more often than the typical slower larger boss hits.

That’s all I have to say about the new Unique Shield Kiloava’s Bluster in POE 3.22. I think it might make some useful combinations with other unique items. This may bring you a different gameplay!

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