How To Easily Complete All Invitations With Storm Burst Totem In POE 3.23?
Jan 02, 2024 Source: POECURRENCY
Happy holidays, Exiles. How is your league going? I’m playing at a slower pace than usual this time due to this Christmas festivities, but I’m enjoying the new league so far.
I’m very excited about this league as there are a lot of things to look forward to, Transfigured Gems, new Wildwood Ascendancies, and most importantly potentially improved loot for Affliction mechanic.
How About Affliction League?
The good news is, Affliction lives up to its name. You need to do the mechanic before you start mapping, and you can get more loot for the rest of the map.
Even without Magic Find build, the loot is still very good. For example, Strongboxes and Blight pumps will drop more loot if monsters are empowered.
Affliction is challenging, but also rewarding. I think this is how the league system should be. I don’t mind taking risks, maybe even dying, if the rewards are great.
People always come up with ideas to overcome difficulties. If the rewards aren’t good, people will completely ignore the mechanics, which I don’t think is what players want to see.
Whenever I enter a map, I always look for Wildwood entrance. So I think that speaks volumes about my overall understanding of the new league mechanics.
Storm Burst Totem
I started this league with Storm Burst Totem. It leveled well, and I could farm Red Map with 4-Link, like I showed you before. While it performed exactly as I expected, it didn’t perform well against empowered monsters.
I didn’t even expect the empowered monsters to be so tanky and deadly that I found fighting Pinnacle Bosses a lot easier. And if I’m not careful, the purple Wildwood monster will actually one-shot me.
So, at some point, we have to avoid the purple monsters until I get more Chaos Resistance. However, Black Morrigan and King In The Mist are relatively easy.
Right now, we’re trying to get as much damage as possible so I can kill everything before it kills me. But defense shouldn’t be ignored either. I have 100% Spell Suppression, Mind Over Matter Keystone, some Armor, and Block as my defensive layers.
That said, I’d still focus more on damage. This is because some empowered monsters are impossible to kill if you don’t do enough damage.
In my opinion, my current damage is not enough for empowered bosses. I like to kill them in 2 seconds. So, here’s what I’m doing.
All Invitations
In this guide, I show my battles in all Invitations. But I didn’t show any videos of fighting normal bosses because they are very simple.
I killed Infinite Hunger Boss and Black Star Deathless with 4-Link. Then there’s defeating Searing Exarch and Eater of World using 5-Link. I haven’t fully upgraded my build yet, but may next week.
I’m level 98 now, and if everything goes well, my DPS will be 25 million. Still using Agnerod West Imperial Staff. Next week, we will upgrade it to Wands and Shield.
Originally my goal was just +2 Body Armor, but after using 28 Tainted Fusing to stack 5-Link, it didn’t meet my expectations. So I spent POE Currency to buy another +4 Body Armor and 6-Link, and stacked it with 10 Tainted Fusing. So it’s good enough.
I also replaced Sulfur Flask with Diamond Flask, since it provides more critical hits and damage. Other than that, everything is the same as the previous example.
That’s all for this guide. I hope this will make your Affliction journey smoother. Good luck!
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Path Of Exile 3.26 May Be Saying Goodbye To Players! - My Personal Prediction
During the period of Path of Exile 2 Early Access, do players still remember POE 3.25, which was released in July last year? Yes, Settlers of Kalguur league lasted for over 6 months, but we still had no news about the next league.
However, recently GGG finally responded to this issue. Unfortunately, they did not specify the release time of POE 3.26, but brought the bad news that the next league will be postponed indefinitely. Yes, this league postponement is indefinite, and it may last for a long time.
Therefore, here we are mainly to help you understand the actual future of POE 1, and why I think you should be prepared for POE 1 to be completely closed after patch 3.26.
The Player Group Split Between POE 1 And 2
Two weeks after the release of POE 2, there are a few things that you should be able to see clearly. On the one hand, there is a clear split in the players, and on the other hand, there is a rather large difference between POE 1 subreddit and POE 2.
Looking at the data from the past few years, the number of players in POE 2 Early Access is on average higher than any POE 1 league. There are more than 1 million people registered for Early Access on Steam alone, which is at least $30 million in revenue, and that’s considering people pre-ordered the minimum $30 Supporter Pack.
However, for GGG, it’s not just about money, they have to keep players happy to retain them. Of course, they can also afford to lose players, because these people will still participate in POE 1.
What we want to emphasize here is that there are actually two types of players who have diametrically opposed views on the game. Some POE 1 players like the fast-paced endgame experience, with wide explosions appearing on the screen, blowing up the map one after another, and they only need to wait a moment to click on POE Currency and rare items dropped by the boss. But there is another group of people coming from games like Elden Ring who want the endgame to be like POE 2 campaign. These are completely different audiences.
POE 2 Bugs Appear Frequently
At the same time, there are some serious issues with POE 2 that affect the gaming experience and need to be resolved urgently. I mean some of these issues may even make your computer explode, turn your GPU into a smoke screen, or you will wake up to find that your account has been hacked.
The most serious problems are not game balance, but bugs and crashes. One of the things is the careless Windows 11 24H2 update, which caused a lot of CPU problems in the game, especially a serious crash on our loading screen. When players open portals between maps, we have to enable and disable multi-threading, or sacrifice half of the CPU capacity to run this game.
We must understand that it will take Microsoft a few years to replace the useless DEI to solve these problems. Anyway, we can only hope that GGG will be able to fix their game after this bad Windows update. After all, it is just one of the serious problems they are currently solving.
1.5 months have passed since Early Access release, and POE 2 players are still eagerly waiting for a ton of fixes and endgame issues that need to be changed.
POE 1 Might Be Ready To Terminate?
Meanwhile, POE 1 subreddit is on the verge of a nuclear explosion, because more than 6 months have passed since GGG released POE 3.25 update, and we have never seen such a crisis.
Before, the developer was crucified for testing a new idea in a few leagues, but now suddenly everyone wants to see him resurrected. To be honest, we do live in the age of prophecy, and maybe we may see it soon.
But what’s worse is that more people suspect that this may be their farewell to Path of Exile 1 development. Because unless the two development teams are completely separated, you can’t maintain league updates for 2 games every 3 to 4 months. Chris Wilson himself admitted this as early as 2019.
Developers May Be Stretched Thin
You can feel the pressure from embedding the core content of the old game into the new one. They had less than a few weeks to make the endgame, which they have been working on for years.
I mean, it’s probably been 5 or 6 years since we saw a snippet of POE 2 Act at ExileCon 2019. And the carefully polished 3 Acts we see today took 6-7 years. Rumor has it that there will be more details on these contents after the official release.
So, like we mentioned before, GGG made millions of dollars from POE 2 Early Access, but their only ongoing income comes from POE 1 League, which also requires development and maintenance costs. It’s a gray area to draw the line between which one must take priority now.
After the release, the developers have clearly shown less enthusiasm for completing the remaining 3 Acts of POE 2. Honestly, ask yourself which is more important? POE 2 endgame or POE 2 Acts 4, 5, and 6?
I believe most people want to fix the endgame and continue its development. But this is where I am deeply critical. If you want to make a brand new game, then why bring back the endgame mechanics from the old game that require you to kill and clear quickly? Many POE 2 players want the endgame to be slowed down, but these mechanics are the same requirements of the old game. So, GGG must decide which group of players they must cater to. If they want to separate the game, then they should completely avoid the content from POE 1 in POE 2.
My point is that if GGG pushes hard now, both games have quite strong momentum, they will succeed in winning over both player bases. This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and this has been proven many times.
The Success Of POE 2 Sacrificed The Development Of The Previous Game
There are many people who are deeply concerned about POE 1. Because Settlers of Kalguur is the best state of POE 1 league update so far, many players returned because of the update of patch 3.25.
But the thing is, currently GGG is still using developers from POE 1 team to develop POE 2. These developers are literally the best developers in any action RPG.
Nevertheless, GGG has good reasons to allocate more resources to POE 2 at the expense of the expansion of POE 1. Like I mentioned before, POE 2 currently has more players and everyone is a paying customer. Second, POE 2 has been a tremendous success at the beginning. Despite the criticism, once they start adding crafting, endgame mechanics, and challenge leagues, the scope of success of POE 2 will be much larger.
Final Thoughts
However, this is not a priority at the moment, GGG can always balance the game, but for a large group of POE 1 players say, 6 months without any content, it’s really hard! So it is recommended that GGG first put all resources into fixing the major issues in patch 0.2.0, and once that is done as soon as possible, they can save the rest for the release of POE 3.26. In this way, Path of Exile can keep the momentum and effectively complete both without losing more players.
In short, prioritize the right things and let the right people do the right job to improve efficiency. This may help the two games run at the same time. GGG must decide and plan the overall strategy to usher in a better future. Looking forward to seeing the early arrival of POE 3.26!
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How To Choose The Best Build For The Latest POE 3.25 Settlers Of Kalguur Event? - Cold Tornado Occultist Build Guide
Exiles, I’m back with my Cold Tornado Occultist build! As a low-life crit build, it performs particularly well in boss damage and map clearing. With the official launch of POE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur Event, if you like to experience super-fast mapping and dominate the battlefield with clever tactics and exciting damage output, then don’t miss this powerful build!
Here, we will talk in detail about the pros and cons of this Cold Tornado Occultist and the equipment settings, so that you can better master it in the latest Settlers Event and win more loot.
Pros & Cons
In POE 3.25, Tornado has become one of the favorite skills of many players in this game, especially for some avid fans of Totem mechanism. The reason why they like Tornado so much is that it works a bit like Totem. You don’t even need to aim, stand still, or get close to the monster. Just run away after casting it, and it will cause damage and kill the monster. So, with this build, you can greatly improve the efficiency of farming Divine Lantern in Settlers of Kalguur Event.
Speaking of its advantages, it must be mentioned that this build has amazing damage. For regular Tornado builds, having solid defense is often the core competitiveness, but their DPS of only 12 million makes many offensive players give up it as the first choice. Therefore, here, we want to try to improve the disadvantages of this build, that is, to increase its DPS and make a crit build that can easily complete Tier 17 maps and Uber bosses.
Of course, there is no doubt that this has prime requirements for your budget, and you need to invest in at least 40 Divine Orbs. This will bring your DPS to 24 million, and your level 29 Tornado will easily make your crit multiplier exceed 500%.
So why do we choose to use a low-life build? This is mainly because it is also very easy to get started, and you are able to easily deal high damage by stacking multiple attack auras. Of course, the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, there is no spell suppression, because it is difficult to integrate it into this build, and it requires several mandatory POE items.
In addition to this, except for Energy Shield Mastery “10% Less Physical Damage Taken while on Full Energy Shield”, you do not have any physical damage mitigation or reduction, which means that this build is extremely easy to die from physical damage. It cannot withstand huge physical blows. Although blocking helps a lot, you still have to dodge these blows manually in the end.
Offense
This build uses 3 curses: Elemental Weakness, Frostbite and Assassin’s Mark. Previously, some players said that Herald of Purity and Herald of Ice were also good choices, but later after many trials, Summon Skitterbots were clearly more advantageous because it caused more damage.
In addition, this build has 9 Power Charges all the time, so allocating Inner Conviction keystone is a breeze. It has been very easy to deal with areas like Abomination Map. Facing 3 bosses spawning at the same time is not a problem. Like said before, it doesn’t matter where you cast the skills, because the skills will move, and the boss will die, anyway.
Defense
Of course, this does not mean that this build has no defense. For example, damage avoidance is okay for this build. It has about 40% attack block and 60% spell block. Chill and Freeze will also come in handy when surrounded by monsters.
Thanks to having such high spell block, you can have the easiest Uber Elder killing experience. You can run around without worrying about these elusive purple balls. And having high Energy Shield and fast recovery through leech and Energy Shield recharge is also crucial to survival. If your resistance is also capped, including chaos resistance, and immunity to all Elemental Ailments.
Gear Choice
For gear choices for this build, Void Battery must be mentioned first, which is one of the best unique wands in POE 3.25. Trust me, this is a wise choice, because for a Power Charge Stacking build, there is nothing better than it.
Prism Guardian and Shavronne’s Wrappings are a must for this low-life build to work. If you are trying to squeeze as much attack blocking as possible out of your gear setup, Crown of the Inward Eye may be essential for you, but it is also a high demand for your budget. Because a good roll with this implicit requires at least 20 Divine Orbs. Of course, you can also choose to corrupt some helmets yourself, and if you are lucky, you will get the result you want after a few attempts.
Presence of Chayula is very useful for Stun Immunity, don’t sacrifice this position for anything else. In addition, +3 to the gem level is too good to miss. It not only increases your damage but also increases the movement speed of Tornado build.
Passive Skill Tree
You can easily get Stun Immunity through Occultist’s Vile Bastion, but to get this, you have to sacrifice one of the passive skills, which I don’t think is worth it.
There is also Immutable Force here, which seems to be quite good, and the stun is almost unnoticeable. Combat Focus needs to be placed correctly to get the effect. Please note that “With 40 total Dexterity and Strength” here does not mean that all stats need to get 40 points. For example, here, having 40 points of Strength meets the requirement.
As for other passive skill choices, it is recommended that you prioritize those that provide Energy Shield, Reservation Efficiency, Power Charge and Critical Hit.
The above is all about this Cold Tornado Occultist build. To be honest, the arrival of the new Settlers of Kalguur Event is unexpected, but I hope this build can bring you a pleasant experience in this new event! Although this new event is a bit boring with only Divine Lantern, it is understandable considering that GGG had to transfer most of its resources to POE 2. Anyway, good luck to you!
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Predictions On POE 3.26 Release Date And The Upcoming Settlers Of Kalguur Event
Hello Exiles, we are in the season of spoilers for Path of Exile 2 recently, and a lot of content about this new sequel has been revealed, but our topic today is related to POE 1, namely the possible release date of patch 3.26, the end time of the current POE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur expansion, the recently announced new Settlers of Kalguur Event, and how we can prepare for it.
To be honest, this event may not bring any exciting new content, but with POE 3.25 league cycle already more than halfway through, it may be an interesting new event to attract many players to return. Here, let’s take a closer look.
Why POE 3.26 May Be Released Next Year?
Let’s first take a look at the possible update time of POE 3.26. Before Grinding Gear Games pushed back the release date of Path of Exile 2 Early Access from November 15th to December 6th, many players had been speculating that patch 3.26 would not be released this year.
The reason for this is simply because of its commercial reality. Because GGG wants to launch their biggest release ever in POE 2 Early Access, they don’t want to release a minor 4 weeks later to steal their limelight. With this factor in mind, it will be difficult for you to see the news that POE 3.26 will be released on December 13th if it follows the previous update cycle.
And because of Christmas holiday, you will also most likely not see them release it around December 20th or 27th. So it is also expected by many people that Path of Exile 3.26 will be released next year. And GGG’s recent post has proved that this speculation is correct, but not just next year.
But honestly, next year is late enough that even a decline in player interest in POE 3.26 is unlikely to be a factor in delaying it to next year. So we’re going to hazard a guess that they never planned to launch Path of Exile 3.26 this year.
We think the developers originally planned to launch it in the 1st or 2nd week of January, but now it will be the 4th or 5th week of January instead. It’s worth noting that they haven’t locked in specific numbers yet. They hope to achieve it in late January, but this is by no means a firm promise. This means that POE 3.26 may also be delayed until February. And depending on the progress of Path of Exile 2 Early Access, maybe it will be brought forward to mid-January. We just know that it won’t be this year.
New Settlers Of Kalguur Event
In any case, this means that Settlers of Kalguur League will be extended until 2025. But one thing GGG knows is that once players get everything they want in this league, these people tend to stop playing, which is part of the reason why Standard League is not as popular as Temporary leagues. Of course, although not everyone who plays Settlers of Kalguur league gets everything they want, many people do.
In Temporary leagues, it is more realistic for players to get the next upgrade, while in Standard, few people reach that point in Settlers of Kalguur, which makes them feel that the next upgrade is out of reach and they are just waiting for something new to do. So, in order to bridge the gap and give players a brand new experience, the developers also took the opportunity to launch the new Settlers of Kalguur Event.
This is a fresh start with a twist, and it will bring some content that differs slightly from the base game. This Settlers of Kalguur Event will start soon. If you are in a similar time zone in United States, it will start on November 7th, but if you are in Australian time zone, it will start on November 8th.
What Are The Features Of The New Event?
This new-look event offers a brand new economy and ladder reset that functions very similarly to the base version of Settlers of Kalguur. On top of that, it also includes enemy modifiers for each zone, which was a key feature of the previous Necropolis league. However, unlike Necropolis, these modifiers only grant rewards, including bonuses to aspects such as POE Currency or item drop chance and enemy pack size.
The addition of this Necropolis mechanic will be a positive change, and their main impact will be for more casual players, as they will make gear drops faster. Especially if you’re the type of player who still wants to get a lot of Chaos Orbs while advancing Atlas, running this event will definitely make you earn a lot of money.
This new league event will run in parallel with the existing Settlers of Kalguur league, so you can continue to play with your current character if you wish. However, if you choose to participate in the new event league and reach level 50 on any character, you will receive a mandatory Settlers Mystery Box, which includes a random cosmetic selected from the new additions in POE 3.25. If you already own all of them, you will receive two Polaris Mystery Boxes instead.
As for the available game modes for this event, when it was originally announced, there were only two versions, namely Softcore Trade and Solo Self-Found Hardcore modes. But later, GGG changed the announcement and added Hardcore and Solo Self-Found versions.
It is worth noting that it does not look like there will be any support for Ruthless mode. Of course, there will not be much demand from the player community for this, so this is unlikely to change, and it looks like there will only be four different versions running.
How To Prepare For The New Event?
If you plan to participate in Softcore Trade version of the event, then here are some tips that may help you.
You can try to play with your partners as a cooperative group, use the guild warehouse to trade resources between each other, and try to prepare each other to pass milestone encounters to obtain a large amount of wealth. At the end of a period after the group has run a few times, maybe 10 days, or maybe the end of the second weekend, you can go your separate ways and split the loot at that time. However, you have a lot of things to do to make this happen, because making it as fair as possible is key.
Anyway, that’s all we know about the possible release date of POE 3.26 and the upcoming Settlers of Kalguur Event. If you’re interested in being a part of the event, then grab your chance and prepare early!
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How Does This Ice Crash Of Cadence Slayer Perform In Path Of Exile 3.25?
Exiles, POE 3.25 league progress has passed more than halfway. Which one do you think is your best build in Settlers of Kalguur? If you haven’t chosen yet, then don’t miss this guide. Here, we will bring you a build that is definitely worth trying for melee enthusiasts, Ice Crash of Cadence Slayer, which will definitely exceed your expectations!
Build Overview
Ice Crash of Cadence build in Path of Exile 3.25 offers a unique play style that utilizes dual-wielding weapons for powerful AOE melee attacks. This build utilizes the unique mechanics of Ice Crash of Cadence Slayer to maximize cold damage, AoE, and overall damage effects, making it very effective in both single-target and group encounters.
By focusing on alternating slams with main-hand and off-hand weapons, players can deal significant damage and control large areas. Here we will talk about how to optimize Ice Crash of Cadence Slayer in POE 3.25 to ensure you maximize your damage output.
Defense
For this build, the defense not only looks good but also feels good, mainly because of the huge debuff caused by Chill, Frozen, and Maim, which reduces the enemy’s movement speed by 30%. Coupled with the fact that the bosses in Settlers of Kalguur league have low health and damage, they are still easy to deal with as long as you don’t roll some crazy or impossible map mods.
As a melee character, getting close to the enemy is inevitable. Especially for this build, you have to get very close to the enemy to fully play the role of melee support. But don’t worry, except for the occasional death when fighting Tier 17 Boss and Uber Boss, most of the time you are very safe.
This is all because this build has 23 Fortification, 7 Endurance Charges, and Spell Suppression. Although this build is not immortal, the defense is still very solid, and even if you make a few mistakes here and there, the punishment will not be that severe.
As you can see, not only can this build take some big hits, but Life Leech, Life Regen, and Life Flasks are all great for quickly restoring our lives. But be careful, sometimes it’s hard to notice the ground effect because of the visual effects of Ice Crash. So move carefully and avoid death.
Why Choose Slayer Ascendancy?
For Ascendancy, it is recommended that you choose Slayer because it provides more damage, AoE, and defense.
This build is built around Ascendancy passive skill, Masterful Form, which allows your maximum Endurance Charges to be equal to your maximum Frenzy Charges. What you need to do is stack as many Frenzy Charges as possible, then equip Ralakesh’s Impatience, and after waiting for the bang, you will have the maximum Charges permanently. In this case, you can get 7 Frenzy Charges and 7 Endurance Charges.
It is worth noting that Endurance Charges now also provide 4% elemental damage reduction on top of physical damage reduction, which is a tremendous boost for defense.
If you don’t play Slayer, you can also choose Juggernaut. This is a well-rounded Ascendancy that also provides a ton of damage, AoE, and defense. On top of that, the quality of life you get from its Unstoppable passive skill is unmatched.
And Juggernaut is especially good when you’re using Arn’s Anguish, as it can easily generate Endurance Charges, which are then converted into Brutal Charges, which have a 3% chance to deal triple damage each time. Therefore, if you’re playing Juggernaut, stacking Endurance Charges makes more sense.
If you don’t mind sacrificing some tankiness for higher DPS, then Berserker is also a viable choice. And if you have a lower POE Currency budget, it may perform better than Slayer. Because Slayer tends to require you to equip some rare equipment to reach its maximum potential.
Gear Choice
As mentioned before, this build stacks Frenzy Charges, so attack speed is one of the top priorities for damage scaling.
On top of that, you can also go for crit, with a crit multiplier of around 500%. Therefore, two One Hand Swords with good attack speed and crit are also important for this build.
You can get a triple damage bonus by using Arn’s Anguish. And keeping your Brutal Charges at max while mapping is not a problem either, because Endurance Charge on Melee Stun Support is linked to Leap Slam, so that you can very easily refresh the duration of your Brutal Charges while jumping from pack to pack.
However, when fighting bosses, you have to rely on Enduring Cry, because it provides 2 additional Brutal Charges each time. This can be a bit annoying though, because you have to press Enduring Cry every 5 seconds to refresh the duration.
Note that this build does not use Admiral’s Arrogance, so its Rage needs some boost to reach max. And Admiral’s Arrogance is a new gauntlet that is great for keeping your Rage at max. But because we don’t use it, we will have to give up some spell suppression. So, this build is more suitable for farming strategies that don’t require you to stop. For example, Strongboxes, Legions and Harbingers.
In addition, using explosions from Herald of Ice can give you a very satisfying clearing speed. And you can also get more AoE in Sand Stance, but if you feel that AoE is enough to clear, you can switch to Blood Stance for more DPS.
In short, this Ice Crash of Cadence Slayer build in POE 3.25 provides a powerful and unique play style for melee enthusiasts who like to deal heavy AOE damage and freeze enemies. With the right equipment selection, passive skill tree planning, and strategic use of Ascendancy passive skill, players can effectively dominate single-target and group encounters. So, hurry up and try it out and crush all enemies with overwhelming force!
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How To Build A Low Life Damage King In Path Of Exile 3.25? - Cold Tornado Of Elemental Turbulence Occultist Build
Exiles, the league cycle of POE 3.25 is halfway through. Have you found the endgame build that suits you best? If you haven’t, take a look at our build guide today, which may bring new inspiration to your build creation.
Here, we will bring a Cold variant with Tornado of Elemental Turbulence as the core. This is a Low Life build, accompanied by extremely high clear speed and damage output, which can satisfy the player’s desire to win quickly in the boring endgame run. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Tornado Of Elemental Turbulence
Tornado of Elemental Turbulence is a Prismatic skill, so by using Combat Focus Unique Jewel, we can focus on a single element. In this case, you can use Combat Focus Cobalt Jewel and Combat Focus Viridian Jewel, so that your Prismatic skill cannot choose Fire and Lightning. This means that every time you cast Tornado, it will only be Cold Tornado.
Ascendancy Choices
For Ascendancy Class, you can choose Occultist, this is because the class gives you offensive and defensive bonuses to cold damage.
Frigid Wake can freeze nearby enemies once every 4 seconds, while providing more damage and some Quality of Life. You may be skeptical about this Ascendancy and not even consider it at first, because most people think it only has a 50% chance to freeze, and it only happens once every 4 seconds. But if you use it often, you will find that this is actually a misunderstanding.
Freezes actually happen frequently and are very useful for bosses. Combined with Hypothermia Support, you can reliably freeze bosses, which is great as a defensive layer. And with it, you have more flexibility in choosing Pantheon, because you no longer have to choose Soul of the Brine King to avoid freezes.
The core concept of this build is stacking Power Charges and using Inner Conviction Keystone. Therefore, Forbidden Power from Occultist is very powerful because it provides more damage and AOE for each Power Charge on top of +1 Maximum Power Charges. And Unholy Authority Ascendancy passive allows you to easily reach the 3 curse limit, and your curses can affect enemies with curse immunity.
Therefore, in my opinion, Occultist is the best Ascendancy for this build.
We chose to design this build as Low Life because Occultist is very suitable for Energy Shield build. It is also easier to deal higher damage because we can retain more than 90% of health and stack multiple Offensive Auras.
But as we all know, the standard Low Life build is not very popular now because it is difficult to get Spell Suppression with equipment. Therefore, this build is quite fragile.
As a Low Life build, Prism Guardian and Shavronne’s Wrappings are obvious equipment choices. Prism Guardian allows our Auras to reserve life instead of mana, and the reservation efficiency is increased by 30%. Shavronne’s Wrappings is a must-have to prevent yourself from being instantly killed by chaos damage. If you have more POE Currency, you can also go for Crown of the Inward Eye, which is the best slot because it provides a lot of Energy Shield and Damage.
Defense
We don’t usually invest too much in the defense of a build, as long as it does what it is supposed to do, it is completely sufficient.
Besides freezing, this build also has about 40% attack block and 60% spell block with Rumi’s Concoction turned on. However, the main form of defense is first not to get hit, and secondly to get high damage to kill enemies quickly. Offense is the best defense.
Degen can be dangerous because we have no Energy Shield regeneration, and it even prevents our ES from charging. But Lethe Shade is good because it will reduce Damage over Time you receive by 50% and increase the duration of your Ailments by 100% if you start receiving Damage over Time in the past second.
If you don’t have extra passive points, you can use Soul of Arakaali and Soul of Ralakesh, which are great for solving this problem.
This build is extremely vulnerable to physical damage, and Energy Shield Mastery, “10% less Physical Damage Taken while on Full Energy Shield” helps a little, but that’s it.
Build Gameplay
The playstyle of this Tornado Occultist build is simple. All you need to do is cast Tornado every few seconds, and they will chase the enemy for a while. Auto-targeting is also good, so you can cast this skill no matter where you are standing or where the enemy is.
You can also use Power Charge On Critical Support to generate Power Charges, so we have Maximum Power Charges most of the time, which greatly improves our critical chance.
Of course, as POE league continues to develop, and with the release of new patches, this build still has some room for improvement, and there are still some things that need to be upgraded. For example, you can also get +1 Power Charge on the helmet and Double Corruptions on Body Armor.
The above is the complete guide for Low Life Cold Tornado Occultist build in POE 3.25 that we shared today. What do you think of this build? Do you have any better suggestions for optimizing this build? I hope this build can bring you a smooth endgame journey. Wish you good luck!
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Which Melee Skills Received Big Buffs In Path Of Exile 3.25? - Best Melee Skills List
As a melee fan, the most exciting changes in Path of Exile 3.25 are the melee skills that are received by major buffs. While many skills received buffs, we’re only going to highlight the ones with the most potential here, showcasing the skills that received the biggest buffs and the best Ascendancies and specific unique skills that may benefit certain builds. Without further ado, let’s jump right in!
1. Pestilent Strike
Overall, the skill that received the most buffs was Pestilent Strike, which saw its damage effect nearly tripled. But for a variety of reasons, it’s not very popular, and even now, there are probably more promising options. However, with such a big buff, there may be some pioneers who build around it.
2. Double Strike
Although Double Strike only received a small buff of 0.03, this can lead to a lot of nice builds around it. This skill was previously used mostly by Champions and Slayers, and made for super tanky builds based around Power Charge Stacking and Paradoxica.
3. Lacerate Of Haemorrhage
Another skill that has been widely loved is Lacerate of Haemorrhage, which loses its flat damage bonus, but the 226% bonus effect easily makes up for that.
It’s also worth noting that it was a solid early game choice before, and now with all the bleed buffs added, the skill should be more usable in some meta builds, builds like Lacerate Gladiator or Lacerate Gladiator with Olesya’s Delight and Usurper’s Penance are sure to shine.
4. Viper Strike Of The Mamba
Perforate, regular Lacerate, and Frenzy of Onslaught have also been buffed, but most of them will be overshadowed by better options, which brings us to another big winner of POE 3.25, Viper Strike of the Mamba, which has a 238% increase in effect, which will really increase your damage.
This is also a skill that is barely affected by the removal of Totems, as it never cared about the attack speed bonus from Ancestral Protector, plus now with builds like Viper Strike Of The Mamba Trickster and Pathfinder, it will only get stronger. Combine it with Olesya’s Delight Cloth Belt and Charge Stacking, and this build can also benefit greatly from early Covenant, making it easier and faster to get 6-links.
5. Sweep
Another great option is Sweep, which has received a 383% damage effect buff, which feels pretty good. Not only that, but if you have enough POE Currency to get a nice two-handed weapon, Sweep can almost reach almost full screen AOE and give you a pretty comfortable gameplay experience.
On top of that, you can also use a variety of Ascendancies, such as Slayer, Juggernaut, Berserker, and even Champion. In my opinion, Berserker Build has very strong synergy with all Rage variations and should be a good fit for this skill.
6. Glacial Hammer & Glacial Hammer Of Shattering
Next up is another niche skill that already has some fans, Glacial Hammer and Glacial Hammer of Shattering. This build has a splendid set of defensive abilities and can easily freeze everything around it without a lot of problems, and after the buff, it will have one of the highest damage effects of all melee skills, reaching 622%!
Combining it with Heatshiver and Frostbreath will make it even more popular, and even be able to replace newer skills like Warden Ascendancy, which has a lot of cool elemental buffs.
7. Reave
Reave is probably the most popular Strength Stack Berserk and Juggernaut skill. Although Original Sin is already powerful enough, Reave’s effect is more than doubled in comparison, which is quite surprising. Therefore, this may add more popularity to Strength Stacker Builds based on Reave, but it will also be more demanding on your POE Currency budget.
8. Flicker Strike
Flicker Strike has been a very popular skill in many leagues, and it has also been buffed in POE 3.25, gaining an additional 192% effect while keeping the fixed damage bonus. Since using a totem with Flicker is always difficult, especially when mapping skills, it benefits greatly from the buff it has received.
For its Ascendancy Option, Slayer with Rakiata’s Dance is always very popular, and Ephemeral Edge is always a priority for Trickster builds. Finally, Warden can be an interesting choice compared to Raider with Paradoxica and Shako.
9. Cyclone Of Tumult
Another skill that is a fan favorite and finally getting a buff is Cyclone of Tumult. This is a very fluid and fun skill that can be used as a purely physical or Physical Shockwave version with Abyssus and Warstaff, or as a Chaos-based Strength Stacker build. The most popular Ascendancy for this skill is Slayer or Berserker.
10. Molten Strike & Molten Strike Of The Zenith
Molten Strike received a pretty nice buff in both the normal version and Molten Strike of the Zenith, increasing the effectiveness of both by about 1.8 times. This skill is already very popular for different types of builds, such as Rakiata’s Dance Champion or Pillar of the Caged God Juggernaut, and can lead to more interesting combinations, such as Poison Molten Strike Pathfinder with Nimis.
11. Ice Crash & Ice Crash Of Cadence
Ice Crash also received a very significant buff, increasing the effectiveness to 611%, making it one of the highest-effective skills in the entire series. It will definitely bring more popularity to this skill, as it is very convenient and fun. Therefore, both Hollow Palm Warden and Mace Berserker builds should get a boost.
12. Frost Blades
Frost Blades has long been a fan favorite starting skill in the league, and now it will be even more popular because the damage effectiveness of the skill has been increased by 184%. It also stacks well with the new Warden Ascendancy, and another option is Trickster or even Berserker to further increase the damage. Don’t forget to bring your Heatshiver, The Taming, and Yoke of Suffering to join the blasting party!
13. Smite
Armor Stacker will now be built differently because of the changes to Auras. On the bright side, Smite is getting a buff to gain 215% additional effectiveness, and it doesn’t lose inherent damage, so it will continue to be a sound choice for all Armor Stacking Champions and Ascendants with Doryani and Dreamfeather.
14. Splitting Steel
Splitting Steel was also a very popular skill in Necropolis League, so the buff to it isn’t that big, and it also loses its inherent damage bonus. But if it’s paired with a strong Ascendancy, such as the lightning damage version of Trickster with Ephemeral Edge or Champion with Paradoxica, it can also help further boost an already strong build.
15. Lightning Strike
Lightning Strike also got a buff in POE 3.25, but it’s the least changed with only 74% extra effect, and it also loses the fixed damage increase. Considering there are no totems, the overall damage should be close to pre-change levels, still playable, but with a little buff. If you still want to try it, Armor Stacking Champions or Ascendants should be your best choices.
16. Boneshatter
Boneshatter has long been one of POE fans’ favorite melee skills, and now it’s been buffed! 88% extra damage effect without losing fixed damage, that sounds great. So always get your Juggernaut or Slayer ready and go smash some bones!
17. Rage Vortex
The last skill on the list is Rage Vortex. In reality, it wasn’t popular in POE 3.25, but some people played it, so it can be considered a niche skill. With all the changes to Rage, it’s hard to predict how good it will be, however, considering it only gained 8% of its effect, the buff doesn’t seem to be huge. The main advantage of this skill will always be Berserk, so if Rage Vortex is your first choice, don’t hesitate to pick it.
Which Melee Skills Are Most Likely To Become Meta?
Finally, we talk about the skills that were popular in POE 3.25 and benefited the most from the patch. I think these skills are most likely to become Meta or close to Meta.
- Lacerate: Its buff effect is huge, and Aggravated Bleeds bonus and Gladiator together will push it quite far.
- Flicker Strike: This skill has always been popular, and its buff is enough to become mainstream.
- Frost Blades: It has a good clearing effect, single target stability, few melee plays, and has interesting interactions with different settings such as Nimis, so it will be strong and popular.
- Molten Strike: The biggest problem with this skill is the range, but the damage is great and Nimis can help boost it even higher.
- Splitting Steel: Again a great clearing effect, and the skill feels like a ranged skill instead of a true melee, a good middle ground for those who want to keep some distance.
- Reave: Will continue to be a good stacking skill. The biggest problem with Strength Stacking skills is the cost, but Reave still stands as one of the strongest choices.
All in all, the above is a list of melee skills that have received the most buffs in POE 3.25. Which one do you think is the best? What do you think of these buffs and changes? Hopefully, this guide can help you find the best melee skills to complete a strong build. Good luck!