Top 3 Currency/Crafting Materials Farming Strategies For The Start Of POE 3.23 SSF
Dec 27, 2023 Source: POECURRENCY
I'm here to share my expertise on 3 lucrative POE Currency and crafting material farming strategies for the start of the Solo Self-Found (SSF) of Path of Exile 3.23 Affliction League.
These strategies are versatile and don't demand any particular prerequisites, making them suitable for any build.
3. Essence Farming
The very first and most important thing you need to know about Essences is that unlike other league mechanics, Essences do not scale with map tier.
Their rewards will be the same whether killed in a Tier 1 or Tier 16 map. This makes Essences an extremely strong option for league start currency farming.
Corrupting Essences
The next thing you need to be aware of is the mechanic behind corrupting Essences using the Remnant of Corruption.
This special Essence will corrupt other Essences that trap monsters, modifying them unpredictably. It will either randomize the Essences, upgrade them into a higher tier, or do nothing.
It's essential to know on which Essences to use this Remnant of Corruption. There are four in particular that you want to be aware of and corrupt whenever you can because they could potentially yield a very profitable and strong reward. They are as follows:
- Screaming Essence of Dread may corrupt into an Essence of Delirium.
- Screaming Essence of Envy may corrupt into an Essence of Horror.
- Screaming Essence of Misery may corrupt into an Essence of Hysteria.
- Screaming Essence of Scorn may corrupt into an Essence of Insanity.
Now, I will talk about the actual farming strategies, including how to run Essences in your maps and important Atlas nodes to take if you wish to do this method.
Running Essence Maps
Actually running the maps is very easy and simply consists of using white maps to run through them as fast as possible until you encounter an Essence monster.
Then, check if it needs to be corrupted if it has any of the 4 Essences mentioned previously.
Then, activate the monster, kill it, and collect the Essences. Repeat this until you've cleared out all the Essence monsters in a map, then repeat the whole process in another map. It's that simple.
Essence Atlas Nodes
As for the Atlas nodes, here are important ones that you would want to pick up to maximize the efficiency of this farming strategy:
- Amplified Energies
- Crystal Resonance
- Remnant of Corruption Essence Chance
- Proliflic Essence
- Crystal Lattice
- Imprisoned Monster Additional Essence Chance
If you would like to see where one of these is on the atlas, simply write the name of the node into the search bar in the Atlas itself.
Recommended Maps
Lastly, I'll talk a bit about which maps you want to be running.
Although this is mostly preference, you definitely want to run the right maps to ensure it's as fast and as easy as it can be. Picking an easy map layout could prove to be beneficial, so look out for maps such as:
- Strand Map
- Atoll Map
- Jungle Valley Map
A side note for an Atoll map: The Essences in that map tend to spawn near the center, making them easy to track down. So basically, run the map in a figure 8.
2. Blight Farming
Blight is a bit of a tower defense game and that's why it's great for any build. You're mostly relying on correct tower placements in chokeholds and selecting the correct type of tower for the enemies that you are facing.
Upon completing a Blighted map, you'll have a multitude of chests that spawn from the Tendrils that the enemies were coming from. They have different types of rewards, but there will always be at least one guaranteed Blight chest reward.
Blighted maps do scale with map tiers, and in higher tier maps, you'll have a chance of encountering a Blight boss, which will work the same as other Blight monsters following a set path along a Tendril but will be much tougher to kill and reward you with an extra chest at the end.
Since the chests at the end of a Blight map are random apart from one, the rewards will vary. But at the same time, since there are so many chests when you really get into Blight, you'll have a high chance of receiving something useful to you and your build, whether that's raw currency, gems, POE Items, uniques, oils, Divination Cards, etc.
Blight Multipliers
Another important aspect of Blight is understanding how multipliers work with Blight. They don't work as you may think.
Increased item quantity does not directly increase the loot quantity from Blight chests. Since these are the main source of loot, that means this multiplier isn't a priority whatsoever. However, it does affect generic loot dropping from Blighted Monsters themselves.
Similarly, increased item rarity does not affect Blighted chest rewards, either. It affects Blighted Monsters' loot but not chests. Increased pack size multiplies the number of monsters spawning from each Tendril, affecting loot from Blighted Monsters but not chests.
Blight Scarabs
Scarabs are a great way to guarantee a Blighted map. There are 4 types of Blight-related Scarabs, each with progressively increased profitability and difficulty. Some rarer Scarabs can be challenging to complete.
Blight Atlas Nodes
Regarding the Atlas nodes, here are important ones to maximize the efficiency of this farming strategy.
- Spores on the Wind
- Immune Response
- Mycelial Swarm
- Epidemiology
- Fungal Bloom
- Sturdy Construction
- Distilled Fungus
- Blightspawn
- Cassia's Pride
Blight Towers
Lastly, I'll talk about recommended maps for Blight and my preferred tower choices.
For towers, I usually stick to a few trusted ones that work most of the time. Tower choices depend on the current league, map, build, and monsters' resistances. However, some towers generally work well for many scenarios.
Firstly, we have Chilling Towers III or a Freezebolt Tower. The difference is that the Chilling Tower slows enemies, affects more targets and deals moderate damage whereas the Freezebolt Tower shoots a piercing projectile, which freezes enemies, and deal high damage.
The choice between the two lies on how much resources you currently have to spend and what the map layout is.
Usually, if I can afford it, I would go for the upgraded version - the Freezebolt Tower. But if the map is quite open, affecting more enemies with a Chilling Tower could prove to be more useful.
I like to pair these towers with a Seismic Tower level 3 for maximum crowd control. Seismic Towers deal low damage but always stun enemies. And they repeat multiple times, where at level 3 of the tower, they will slam the ground 7 times in a row, stunning enemies each time. Pairing both of these towers works great for choke points, which is their main objective.
Next up for some damage, I recommend going with the Meteor Tower. It reigns fiery meteors from the sky and is one of the best, if not the number one best damaging tower for monsters. Spreading a few of these around to cover as much area as possible is beneficial.
Also Read: 5 Most Recommended League Starters For POE 3.23 Affliction League
Pair the Scout Tower with the Meteor Tower as it deals high amounts of damage and works as a distraction, holding enemies off for a bit longer. The Scout Tower spawns 10 flying minions that fight the Blighted Monsters heading towards you.
Lastly, a very important tower to place across your run is the Empowering Tower level 3. It improves the effectiveness of other towers nearby, so placing it strategically is crucial. Prioritize improving your crowd control towers first to secure those choke points. Then, if you have enough resources, improve your damage and towers by 100%.
The most important thing to remember, though, is that each one of these towers will be ineffective against Blighted Monsters of the same type. Each Blighted map you run is going to have monsters that are resistant to some of the elements of your towers.
So, you want to make sure you carefully read what monsters are resistant to before starting the map and plan ahead. This way, you don't miserably fail.
If you can see that the monsters are resistant to chill or frost, then do not put down those chilling or freezing towers, as you are simply wasting your time.
Recommended Maps
Now, to quickly finish off this section, I will talk about with what maps I recommend.
I would say to try and go for the maps that have an enclosed layout. Enclosed maps will have more choke points for you to shut down and control compared to open maps. Enclosed maps also mean fewer Tendrils, which means fewer chests but also more chances for Blight chest rewards.
Some maps I recommend are:
- Core Map
- Toxic Sewer Map
- Waste Pool Map
3. Heist Farming
I will be talking about Heist farming, assuming that you already know the basics behind this whole mechanic.
Heist Benefits
First of all, Heist drops an absurd amount of raw currency, which straight off the bat is a big positive on a league start. Not to mention the fact that through Heist, you can get a 5-link very early on and maybe even a 6-link and some other useful equipment, such as talismans or uniques.
Heist can also be comfortably run before even finishing the campaign as a replacement, for example, grinding Blood Aqueducts. If you're looking to get into Heist early on in the league, then you should just focus on leveling up and gearing the Rogues that accompany you in the Contracts and just doing as many Contracts and Blueprints as you can. This way, you are going to be gathering a large amount of raw currency, Divination Cards, and uniques. By the time you're past league start, you'll have a solid foundation for Heist and will be able to run some more advanced methods for some rare and expensive uniques, other items, and raw Divine Orbs.
You need to look at Heist as more of a long-term investment because you really need to level up and gear the Rogues and have a decent understanding of how Heists, Grand Heists, Blueprints, and Contracts work to really maximize your profit throughout. With that being said, though, your efforts will be greatly rewarded.
A lot of people simply don't want to go through all that, and therefore, so-called "Heisters" (people that run Heist a lot) are actually in demand for things that are only available in Heist.
That doesn't mean that Heist is not profitable early on as it definitely is. Even though you don't have a very specific farming method or goal, it's still worth running with the benefits I've just mentioned.
Heist will always be more efficient with a fast movement speed character. So, I even more so recommend Heist if you're running a fast league start build.
Best Heist Contracts
If you want to know which Contracts are the most expensive and what to look out for in particular, then it would be Deception Contracts.
These make it so that once you trigger the final alarm and have to escape, all the doors on the way back will be open for you, so you can just blitz to the exit instead of opening multiple doors and fighting waves of monsters, potentially risking death.
Heist Atlas Nodes
As for Atlas nodes, here are important ones that you would want to pick up to maximize the efficiency of Heist:
- Secret Stash
- The Finer Arts
- No Honour Among Thieves
- Casing the Joint
- Friends in High Places
- Heist Smuggler's Cache Chance
Then, is my list of what I recommend doing as a strategy for league start, and it is personally what I'll be doing regardless of what build I choose. I have run these choices many times before, and let me tell you, they do not disappoint if you put the time. But as always, remember to choose whatever you find the most fun because at the end of the day, what matters most is not efficiency or wealth but simply joy.
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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!
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These 3 Popular Meta Builds Will Help You Play Path Of Exile 3.25 Better
In POE Series of games, players usually use various types of Builds to improve their Combat capabilities. Different types of Builds can be matched with different Skills and Weapons, so they have unique characteristics and Combat Effects.
Therefore, it is important to know when to use what kind of Build. For example, Melee Builds are usually more suitable for Melee situations rather than other situations. Compared with other Builds, Meta Builds are usually applicable to more scenarios.
So if you don’t waste too much time to Equip a corresponding Build for different occasions, it is better to try to find a good Meta Build that suits you, and you can also avoid using some extra POE Currency.
Based on this, will introduce you to 3 Meta Builds that have been popular among the player community in recent times.
1. Lightning Strike Trickster
Most players know how important it is to find a core Skill for your Build. It can be said that this determines how your Build will eventually Attack Enemy. Core Skill of Lightning Strike Trickster Build is Lightning Strike.
It is said that more than 25% of high-Level players are currently using this Skill and Lightning Strike Trickster Build that goes with it. In previous versions of the game, Lightning Strike was once a powerful presence in Meta, but after several generations of Nerfs, it was once forgotten by players.
However, in Path Of Exile 3.25, it was noticed again and effectively strengthened. Therefore, players began to notice it and started using it, and even created Lightning Strike Trickster Build for it.
To use this Build, you first need to have about 80 Chaos Orbs and a relatively good Rare Elemental Claw. Since the latter is usually difficult to get, this is also considered one disadvantage of this Build. However, one benefit of this Build is that it is easy to assemble.
When clearing Enemies in Battle, this Build will bring you seven frenzy charges and a huge Effect of Elusive, which can effectively increase your Movement Speed and Fight more efficiently.
And Lightning Strike will create a lot of Projectiles for you on the ground, so that many Enemies will be killed by Explosion Effect formed by Projectiles before they get close to you. So you don’t even need to be afraid of Boss, using this Build will bring you Damage Buffs for Boss Battles, and Effect is considerable.
As for Life, you don’t have to worry about it when using this Build. It will provide more than 100,000 effective HP because it has High Armor, Evasion, Spell Suppression, Fortify, and even Trickster Buffs.
And these Effects that come with it can not only protect you from 40% of Enemy Damage but also make you Immune to Freeze and Stuns caused by Enemies.
2. Turbo Flicker Strike Slayer
This is also a powerful and efficient Build that can speed up Battle. It usually uses Terminus Est to maintain Frenzy Charges you need to Flickering. In comparison, it will be a Build suitable for novice players, and it is also more suitable for Duelist Class use.
To use it, you also need to have about 80 Chaos Orbs and a Mandatory Unique, Terminus Est sword. This Mandatory Unique can help you keep Frenzy Charges, because you need to keep Flickering in Battle.
This Build clears Enemies very quickly, even slightly higher than Lightning Strike Trickster. The specific Damage caused is also as high as millions per second, which can be said to be quite powerful, so you don’t have to worry even when facing a very dangerous Boss.
In terms of survivability, this Build can provide nearly 100,000 effective Life to the player using it because of its High Armor, Evasion, and Spell Suppression Effects.
But when using it, the player will always be in a relatively close position to Enemy, which is easy to be exposed in Enemy’s field of vision, which will make your Concealment worse overall. So overall, the Survivability Effect it brings is relatively general.
3. Venom Gyre Deadeye
This is an OP Venom Gyre Deadeye Build suitable for Ranger Class, and its core Skill is Venom Gyre.
This is a very interesting Skill. It will first Fire a Projectile, and after Hitting Enemy, it will return to you, causing Piercing and Damage to all Enemies it passes through during the return.
You can accumulate these Projectiles that return to you to form a stronger Damage, up to 30 times. When you activate Whirling Blades movement Skill, these Projectiles will be released at once, causing incredible Damage.
When used with a Build, you will need to use about 90 Chaos Orbs for this. After that, you can start Fighting with Build. In Combat, Venom Gyre Projectile itself will cause Damage quickly, not to mention that Deadeye further provides some Speed and Projectile Buffs. This Build will make you eliminate Enemies very quickly.
When facing a Boss, by using Whirling Blades, Vaal Venom Gyre will immediately gain 50 Stacked Projectiles and an amazing Shotgun Effect to Hit Boss. As for Survivability, through High Armor, High Evasion, Spell Suppression, and Block Chance, this Build can provide players with more than 80,000 Life.
Overall, these three Meta Builds have their own strengths and are applicable to different occasions. Therefore, they have potent power in their respective fields, so it is not surprising that they will be popular among players.