POE 3.20: This Build Tanks Everything!

The developers have added a lot of new Uniques to the current Path of Exile 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas expansion, with the goal of increasing the build possibilities for players to create and use in the game.

As expected, the new Uniques have been very popular since their release, such as Whispers of Infinity, which can increase your attack and defense attributes, and Coiling Whisper, which increases your curse and spell damage ability, are currently used by about 5% of the total player population.

Dark Monarch, which is only used by 3% of characters, is the focus of this guide, including its modifiers, affixes, and usage strategies. Not only that, here will introduce you to some gear options that work well with it to maximize its potential.

Where Do You Get Dark Monarch?

Dark Monarch is a new Unique Lich’s Circlet added to POE 3.26. You can only get it from the loot of a specific boss, Incarnation of Dread, which is a pinnacle boss with 4 combat phases.

Although the developer has not yet accurately stated the drop rate of this helmet, you can make this farming more effective by carrying some gear with affixes that increase the amount and quality of loot before entering the arena it has.

You can also reduce the number of deaths in encounters to achieve effective farming by enhancing your combat or defense capabilities. Although Incarnation of Dread has a certain resistance to all four elements, it only has 30% resistance to Chaos damage, which is 20% less than the others.

So you can buy POE Currency and stack as much chaos damage as possible in your build to achieve a smooth defeat. Or increase the character’s resistance to elemental damage such as fire, cold and lightning for the various types of damage cast by this boss, which are all very good farming strategies.

Item Overview

Dark Monarch is a rare minion-themed Unique Helmet in the game, and requires your character to reach level 84, which means that you may not be able to equip it on your build after the main campaign is over. You also need to find some profitable maps to farm a lot of experience points to achieve a quick level up.

As a defensive accessory, it can provide you with 167-234 energy shield, which is fixed and will not change due to the application of POE currency. Because there is no variable modifier, its protective effectiveness may not be as good as other crafted helmets.

In addition, Dark Monarch can provide you with 27%-37% chaos resistance, which is more effective for you to survive against some monsters or bosses that focus on this type of elemental damage. And increasing the maximum energy shield value by 50-100 is also effective.

But in fact, players who focus on farming Dark Monarch and want to learn how to use it effectively from this guide may pay more attention to the minion-related affixes rather than the defensive capabilities it provides.

The most popular addition is to increase the level of your minion skill gems, which is very important in endgame content where there are not a lot of experience points to upgrade these skill gems.

Not only that, it also doubles the maximum number of random minion types you have, which is the number of minion types you randomly choose from the following 14 different options when you first get Dark Monarch or you first apply a POE Divine Orb to it.

• Animated Weapons
• Raised Spectres
• Raised Spiders
• Raised Zombies
• Sentinels of Absolution
• Sentinels of Dominance
• Sentinels of Purity
• Summoned Golems
• Summoned Holy Relics
• Summoned Phantasms
• Summoned Raging Spirits
• Summoned Reapers
• Summoned Skeletons
• Summoned Spectral Wolves

Due to this affix, you will not be able to have minions other than the above minion types. Although this seems to limit the types of minions you can use, in fact, it gives you more opportunities to choose more powerful minions.

However, all current POE Items have two sides, and Dark Monarch will reduce the light radius you have by 50%, so you may need to be more careful during exploration.

Best Synergy

Once you get Dark Monarch from a very difficult boss encounter, you can start building around it, otherwise it’s nowhere near as effective as crafted helmets. First, you need to pick support gems that go with it.

For example, Summon Phantasm Support gives you a chance to summon a Phantasm minion after killing an enemy with a supported skill, which deals physical damage with a piercing projectile spell. When paired with Dark Monarch, this combination doubles your number of minions of that type and prevents you from summoning other types.

Or put a Soulwrest Ezomyte Staff on it, which is a new Unique added in patch 3.26. It gives you an additional Phantasmal Might for each Phantasm minion you summon, and your spell damage and casting speed are greatly increased.

Rigwald’s Crest Two-Stone Ring is also a very good choice, allowing you to summon twice as many Spectral Wolves that can kill enemies at super fast speed in some maps where you need to quickly farm loot or experience points, and providing you with 12%-16% additional fire and cold resistance.

Law of the Wilds Hellion’s Paw, which has similar effects, is more suitable for you in some battles that require super high mobility and damage ability, because the gains it provides to you in attack speed, critical strike chance, and global critical strike multiplier are all very considerable.

In fact, with the developers’ hot fixes and patches released during the current league for POE 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas expansion, there will be more and more gear options that can effectively synergize with Dark Monarch and will be more suitable for different play styles.

The above is a detailed introduction to the new Dark Monarch in the current game and some precautions to pay attention to when assembling it. Hopefully, you can get it earlier in the exploration process, which will give you enough defensive capabilities from that time and enough time to choose other item options around it. I wish you a happy game!

Probably the biggest news in the gaming world this month is Path of Exile releasing a new expansion pack, Secrets of the Atlas, which adds some very interesting league mechanics and a variety of game content.

Among these additions, players may pay the most attention to the new Uniques, because they may bring more builds and diversity to the new leagues, which will enrich the experience of exploring in POE. Bound By Destiny Prismatic Jewel is a very obvious example.

When the developers revealed the picture and type of this unique item, many players commented that it was very similar to Watcher’s Eye Prismatic Jewel that has been in the game since the 3.1 patch. But in fact, the effectiveness they bring and the game style they adapt to are also completely different.

In addition, since the in-game descriptions of Bound By Destiny jewelry are very abstract and difficult to understand, this guide will not only explain the differences between the two jewelry, but also explain what specific benefits this new jewelry will provide you.

Bound By Destiny VS Watcher’s Eye

If you show the descriptions of these two unique items to a player who is somewhat familiar with massively multiplayer online role-playing games but not proficient in them, he/she will definitely say that Watcher’s Eye looks a little more useful.

Because its benefits are very obvious: maximum Energy Shield, Life, and Mana are all increased by 4%-6% (not active at the same time), and a buff that can provide you with 2-3 random aura effects was added in the previous POE 3.25 Settlers of Kalguur League.

On the other hand, Bound By Destiny, its effect description does not have a certain impact on specific properties, but only gives you a random 2, 4, and 6 times influence item bonus, which is very confusing and difficult to maximize its effectiveness without clear guidance.

Indeed, this is true. Watcher’s Eye’s improvement in specific attributes has very clear benefits for your exploration, especially when you are fighting the two bosses Searing Exarch and Eater of Worlds.

As for Bound By Destiny, it will be more suitable for you to use it in your leveling build, because you only need to link its three modifiers with clearing speed or crowd control (damage) effectiveness to achieve efficient farming of POE Currency and some high-quality loot.

However, I need to remind you that you cannot place two Watcher’s Eye in one build, so you can try to place Bound By Destiny jewelry as its substitute in your build to expand the effectiveness that Watcher’s Eye can provide.

What Are Effects Of Bound By Destiny?

First, Bound By Destiny jewelry has three modifiers: Random 2x influence item bonus, Random 4x influence item bonus, and Random 6x influence item bonus.

According to the developer, you can set 2 or 4 influences to different types, but you can only set 6 influences to the same type, which means you need to put items with the same effect in your 6 rare item slots to maximize the effect.

Or you can put some unique items you get through combat or completing quests. But it is important to note that the items you put in it are best to have dual influence, such as Emperor’s Vigilance.

This Steel Kite Shield allows you to add a certain amount of energy shield as defense, as well as allowing the damage you deal to bypass some of the enemy’s shields and directly cause a deadly attack, a super high Chaos Damage effect that usually requires investing a lot of POE Currency into your build to achieve.

Or Ravenous Passion, which is perfect for those builds that need to accumulate Rage to deal higher damage. Not only that, it will also change the damage you cause into spell damage instead of regular attack damage, which is a huge advantage when fighting against bosses with less elemental resistance.

Tips For Use

Among the modifiers currently available in Bound By Destiny, two times influence bonuses may be the most easily overlooked by players. Although the scale of the bonus it can bring you is small, if you focus on some bonuses, it will give you an unexpected surprise.

For example, after you equip two Hunter Items, you will not be harmed by poison in battle; after you equip two Elder Items, you will increase your maximum health by 10%-15%; and after you equip two Shaper Items, you will increase your maximum mana by 10%-15%, etc. These are all very necessary attributes in battle.

In the modifiers that increase 4 times and 6 times influence, your focus should not be on survival or defense, but on critical strikes and improving your damage ability. For example, equipping 4 Shaper Items will increase your spell critical strike chance by 1-15%, or equipping 6 Elder Items will increase your all Physical Skill Gems’ level by 1, etc.

The above is a specific introduction and usage strategy of Bound By Destiny Prismatic Jewel added by the developers in Path of Exile 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas expansion. I hope you can maximize the effectiveness of this jewel in the game and use it to complete more challenges to get a better gaming experience. I wish you a happy game!

Exiles, time has passed quickly. From looking forward to the arrival of Path Of Exile 3.26, to now being released for nearly half a month, how have you performed during this period?

Is your bank still full of dust, or is it overflowing with Divine Orbs? If your current currency balance is very tight and you are in urgent need of earning a lot of money to continue to advance the game, then don’t miss this guide!

Here, we will share five effective Divines farming strategies in POE 3.26, so that you will no longer be troubled by the lack of currency. We will quickly introduce each strategy, and you can find a way that works for you and is more profitable to practice as soon as possible!

1. Blight

First, we have the Blight map. The Blight map is basically a battle centered on the tower defense mechanism, which can be generated in Fungal Growths in any area, and Sister Cassia NPC will appear with it.

It’s worth noting that this encounter is considered extra content, so there’s a greater than 8% chance that it will appear in any non-unique map zone. And the best part is that you almost never need higher DPS or rare gear to play Blight maps.

In a Blight encounter, stalling the minions is the first thing we need to do. If a lane is unguarded, you’ll have to defend the pump alone, which will waste your time taking down towers.

Next, we need to choose a Blight map with good checkpoints, paint the appropriate anoints, and build towers. It’s recommended that you prioritize building stalling towers over damage towers, and use Empowering Towers for cover whenever possible.

An empowered Tier 3 Chilling or Seismic tower is usually enough to hold a lane. Note that Tier 4 stalling towers are not much more defensive than Tier 3 towers, and while other damage towers are not as damaging, they can still be useful in the right place. So if you have a delayed lane in a Blight encounter, wait until they spawn and see if you can find a suitable tower at the checkpoint.

After building your towers, you just sit back, hold your line, and wait for loot to drop. If you’ve never tried a Blight map, you’re missing out on an easy, low-effort, and profitable opportunity.

2. Essence

Straight into the second strategy, Essence farming, this one may require a small amount of DPS, and there may be a small learning curve to get the whole setup right. But you can expect to net around 50 Chaos Orbs per map after costs and Essence drops, and this seems to be true in almost every league.

In Path of Exile 3.26, farming Essence requires players to constantly run maps to find and defeat Essence monsters, and collect their drops.

To maximize your gains, you may want to consider using the Beyond atlas passive, which increases the amount and quality of Essence drops. Additionally, Scarabs can further improve the efficiency of Essence farming.

For this strategy, you’ll want to run on a well-laid, low-level Yellow map, especially one with two bosses. Note that this doesn’t work on the White map, as you can’t get high-level Essence.

Basically, you just need to kill the Essence monsters on the map, then defeat the boss and leave. In addition to this, we can also make some extra income by looting Smuggler’s Cache.

3. Abyss

The next way on the list is Abyss farming, which is a low-investment money-making strategy that can produce a lot of Divine Orbs, Scarabs and Divination Cards.

You will find that Abysses are usually marked with a green icon on the minimap. When we pass through an Abyss, a crack will appear on the ground and a lot of monsters will emerge from it. As the player advances, the crack will continue to expand and eventually generate an Abyss.

If the player follows the crack into the Abyss for too long, the crack will close, and then it will generate another crack, leading to another Abyss.

After clearing the last enemy, an Abyssal Trove will be generated, which can be opened to obtain a lot of loot. It is worth noting that in addition to the normal drops, this treasure chest will always provide at least one or more Abyss Jewels, which can be inserted into the passive skill tree or the Abyss slot on the equipment to scale the damage of bow builds and stack higher DPS.

Therefore, I recommend running Abyss with a spellcaster build, because when you cast spell mastery, there is a 25% chance to open Abyssal Trove.

4. Stacked Deck

Next, another low-investment Divines farming method is to collect Stacked Deck.

In POE 3.26, Stacked Deck is a currency item that can be used to obtain a random Divination card, and these Divinations can usually be exchanged for specific high-value items. Therefore, I think Stacked Deck is essentially a gamble to obtain a high-value card.

This farming strategy mainly relies on specific scarabs and map selection. We need to use 5 Divination Scarabs of The Cloister to summon a large number of monster hordes in your map, each of which has a chance to drop a Stacked Deck, making this an efficient and scalable farming strategy.

Note that you will need some layers of defense and focus on nodes in your chosen map that can increase the size and number of monster hordes, and while it is also more dangerous, the rewards are easily worth it.

5. Strongboxes

Last but not least is Strongboxes farming. Strongboxes are a special kind of treasure chest on the map that will release hordes of monsters to attack the player. We must kill all the ambush monsters before this loot chest will open. Of course, defeating these spawned monsters will also drop loot and gain XP, so this is a good way to level up in addition to farming currency.

In Path of Exile 3.26, farming T17 Strongboxes is still one of the most effective ways to get high currency returns, but there are more cost-effective ways to do it in T16 maps. And to reduce costs, it is recommended that you avoid using Containment-Scarab unless you are rich.

Honestly, this strategy requires some critical thinking, as the price of Scarab in each league tends to greatly affect the market cost of this strategy.

In short, the above farming methods are enough to help you get rich quickly in POE 3.26. Although the farming process is relatively long, please believe that the final result is worth your effort!

There are 19 Ascendancy classes across 7 base classes in Path of Exile, which has been out for over a decade. Many skill gems and Ascendancy passives have been reworked or changed over the years, making some classes better at combat or farming than others.

Especially with the current 3.26 patch, which is the largest update to POE in nearly a year, it has made major changes and additions to many build options. After you’ve gone through your first Trial, you’ll be faced with choosing Ascendancy class that corresponds to your base class, which will allow you to focus more on or directly change your current play style.

This guide will introduce the best and worst Ascendancy classes in Path of Exile 3.26 Secrets of the Atlas expansion, so that you can more easily build stronger builds around them, choose more effective passive skills, and make them synergize perfectly with your active skill gems.

Best

1. Elementalist For Witch

Whether in Path of Exile 1 or its controversial sequel, spell-based classes seem to be favored by developers, such as Witch and its reworked Elementalist Ascendancy.

In the current game content, Elementalist can summon two additional golems and have reduced mana consumption during the casting process, making it better able to achieve the goal of continuous combat.

In addition, the triggering mechanism of Shaper of Flames, Shaper of Winter, Shaper of Storms passive nodes of this Ascendancy class has been reworked: now they will trigger simultaneously when the corresponding conditions are met, so that enemies will be hit by three elemental types at once and quickly die under their excellent synergy.

2. Deadeye For Ranger

In the first few leagues, Deadeye has become a popular choice for offensive players due to its high movement speed and deadly damage ability. And this new expansion has not changed the attributes or statistics of this class, so it is still very useful.

Although Deadeye is not as strong in damage resistance as Berserker or Chieftain, you only need to invest a small amount of POE Currency in it to use its continuous attack ability to kill enemies before they enter your melee range and effectively farm a lot of loot.

If you look at its huge Ascendancy passive skill tree and don’t know where to start activating it, here I recommend you to focus on Elemental Hit of the Spectrum, which can fire a projectile that deals Fire, Cold, or Lightning damage, and also deals a certain amount of area damage on hitting an enemy.

3. Berserker For Marauder

Of course, there is also an optimal Ascendancy class for those players who want to rely on their own strong survival and defense capabilities to resist all attacks from monsters or bosses - Berserker.

Its main feature is that it accumulates Rage to increase the damage to the enemy and the movement speed. Typically, each point of rage increases damage by 1%, up to 30%. But you can use some Uniques, such as Kaom’s Primacy, to increase your Rage.

However, it should be reminded that Rage mechanism has a very obvious disadvantage: as the number of Rage stacking layers increases, the damage you receive from it will also increase.

If you normally equip some defensive gear such as armor or helmets, there is not much threat, but if you are really worried, you can spend some POE currency on upgrading them or gear that can increase your maximum health.

Worst

First of all, these worst Ascendancy classes don’t mean you can’t explore with them, but you need to spend twice as much time and effort on this build as other builds to make it stronger. So are you ready? Let’s get started!

1. Ascendant For Scion

In fact, Scion should have more build possibilities in previous game content, but because of its own complexity and developer neglect, it became a little transparent and even removed in POE 2.

Although the recent patch update has added higher mana retention efficiency for Ascendant, this is only effective for aura-stacking builds, which requires you to invest a lot of POE Divine Orbs in it to increase the buffs of auras with specific items, which is very expensive.

2. Assassin For Shadow

Similarly, Assassin, who originally focused on poison damage and critical strikes, has always been a favorite of players who are keen on challenges, but after Pathfinder remake, its weapons and the way specific damage interact have changed. And as the game content develops, Pathfinder also has poison damage.

This completely wiped out the advantages that Assassin had, and its defense ability is not as strong as other classes, especially in maps with Reflected Damage, it is completely like a piece of paper-cannot suffer a little damage.

3. Guardian For Templar

Before Chieftain appeared, Guardian has always been a healer class that supports life recovery, damage reduction and elemental resistance in teamwork. Now, Chieftain can not only do these, but also has considerable damage ability, which makes Guardian less visible to players.

Although POE 3.26 provides Guardian with an opportunity to generate a random shrine buff every ten seconds, its offensive and defensive capabilities are still not outstanding enough, unless the developers increase the chances of being blocked by Bastion of Hope and make it a noteworthy feature.

These are the best and worst Ascendancy classes you can choose and avoid in Path of Exile 3.26 Secrets of Atlas Expansion. Since POE is very concerned about build diversity, you are more than welcome to create a strong build that differs completely from the mainstream style during the exploration process. I wish you a happy game!