News Tag: Path Of Exile

In December of last year, the beloved Path of Exile released its sequel, becoming one of the most concurrently played games on Steam. Although the player base churn in POE was not too severe at the time, the number of daily active players and total players was declining.

But now, nearly three months after the release of POE 2, a new event has brought numerous players back to the game: during the Legacy of Phrecia event, the number of concurrent players reached a peak of 91,948, while POE 2 was only 80,879 at its peak, which is far more than the sequel!

But strangely, the number of concurrent players of the sequel was not greatly affected during the event, so where did all these players come from? And although POE may never break the heights set by POE 2, what are the reasons behind this phenomenal popularity? Will we see this again in the future?

These questions are the topics that are currently being focused on in the player community and social platforms, and this guide will answer these questions for you one by one based on the existing information and leaks. Whether you are a loyal fan of the original game or a player who is exploring the sequel and hesitating whether to enter POE to try it, the answers here may give you a correct direction.

Reasons For The Popularity Of POE

First of all, let’s take a look at why the original POE has set off such a phenomenal popularity, that is, because its game content has not been updated or improved for a very long time. Previously, Path of Exile would update four leagues every year, and each one would bring a lot of game content updates to players, such as new mechanisms, new bosses, and new POE 2 Items.

Before the early access release of POE 2 last year, in order to ensure the normal operation of the sequel, the developer used all the work teams that originally worked on POE 1 to develop POE 2, which led to the delay of the league that should have been updated in the original game. Although POE 3.25 Settlers Of Kalguur League was highly praised by players before, players lost interest in it during this long period of repeated grinding and exploration.

When this Path of Exile 2 was released in advance, it was thought that Grinding Gear Games would return the staff of the original game, but they did not. They have been solving some minor problems that POE 2 players have been struggling with, and officially announced that they will continue to use this team to develop the sequel until the release of Patch 0.2.0.

This caused some players who were loyal to the original game to protest because the developer broke the promise to treat both games equally to all players. After that, the players in the original game had no hope for new leagues or new patches, and jokingly called this the longest drought period in POE.

But fortunately, after announcing this news, the developer released a notice about the Legacy of Phrecia event to be held in POE, which will last for a month. And announced that it would destroy all existing classes and replace them with new game-changing ascendancies, which means that all 19 ascendancies will be redesigned, and those gear that could only be upgraded with POE Currency have also received some upgrades and improvements.

This was unexpected for all players, and made players feel that they had wrongly blamed Grinding Gear Games before, because this kind of experimental design also requires a very long time to study and explore. So many players who had given up the original game before began to return, and some players who were used to the old design also wanted to try these new game rules and gameplay, which gave this long-dormant game a new lease on life.

Why Hasn’t The Number Of Concurrent Players In POE 2 Decreased?

Although POE and POE 2 are both games of the same genre and have the same unique systems, they are fundamentally different because the original Path of Exile has decades of updates and quality of life upgrades, with the depth and level design that most pleases players, and it is difficult for new games to catch up with this depth of game content in a short period.

Especially the endgame of POE 2, although it uses a lot of data from the original to determine what players want in it. For players who have only tried this sequel, this exciting and difficult battle makes it a different game experience, but for fans of the original, the endgame here is not pleasing to them.

So the explosion of POE has little impact on the player group of POE 2, because the two groups essentially like completely different things, and there will be a steady stream of new players during the current POE 2 Early Access period, because they all want to try the extremely difficult gaming experience of farming POE 2 Currency.

Most importantly, one of POE’s most impressive feats is that it can retain players longer than other games. On July 1 last year, Settlers Of Kalguur League was able to reach 228,398 concurrent online players, which is the highest record for the game. At the end of July, the number remained at 163,118, which is a very outstanding number for a game that has existed for more than ten years.

The last question is, can POE maintain this super high popularity and move forward steadily? The answer is yes, because the sequel is currently only released in Early Access, and the official release time and game content are not completely determined, which leads to the players becoming bored again after the experience time is over. At this time, a POE with a better game experience and similar gameplay may become their next prey.

Hello, everyone. Today we’ll be going over some defensive layers that are very strong in Path of Exile. The first thing I want to mention is that these are only core components of a defensive layer strategy should be used in conjunction with other defensive layers to achieve a Powerhouse of mitigation.

Recharging POE 3.24 Currency in the game can make defensive components more powerful.

Now let’s go over the basic defensive components.

First, that are the strongest,in my opinion. And after we’ll look at some items and some defensive setups.

Spell Suppression

Spell Suppression is a core defensive layer because if we achieve 100% Suppression. We effectively are taking 50% less Spell damage. This is a common defensive layer, primarily effective when bossing. Because most of the damage dealt by bosses is Spells. 50% Spell prevention is a baseline which is achieved by having 100% Spell Suppression.

But this can be raised by some of the following.

There’s Ascendant Trickster notable. There’s Spellbreaker from the Trickster Ascendency, Inveterate and Spell Suppression Mastery. There are other ways but these were the ones that I found were the most impactful and accessible.

Armor

The number two is Armor. Armor is more effective when mitigating multiple small hits rather than one big hit. Ideally, though, you want 90% physical damage reduction from Armor which is the maximum. However, this mod doesn’t include things like Endurance charges giving you additional physical damage reduction and also the mod on a chest piece.

An Armor becomes more effective when physical damage is converted to an element. Because essentially you’re taking less physical damage. As a side note, if you’re a new player, Armor is extremely important in the campaign. Since there are many enemies that do physical damage, including big bad Kitava.

Physical Damage Taken As

Either an element or chaos damage is one of the best physical damage mitigation components in the entire game. Aside from additional physical damage reduction, both of these, though, can be used together as well to get a lot of mitigation. And it’s very strong because as stated previously. This makes your Armor way stronger.

There are many items that can achieve this feat: Helmet, Chest piece, a Vaal on a shield, Passive Tree, a Taste of Hate, Dawnbreaker Lightning Coil, Cloak of Flame and Lethal Pride.

There are others, but these are just the most common. Now keep in mind that the more physical damage you have taken around 75% plus as an element, the less you’re going to rely on Armor and more on maximum Elemental resistances to mitigate the incoming converted damage. An Ascendency that really shines with converting all physical damage to an element is Chieftain since we get 90% all maximum resistances.

Another Ascendency that’s a good example of physical damage taken as, is a Trickster or an Occultist. So typically you go to Chaos Inoculation with these Ascendancies. And what you want to do is get physical damage taken as chaos damage on either a Corruption for your shield or your Helmet. And basically what happens is you void that damage, you don’t have to take it at all because with chaos inoculation we are immune to chaos damage.

Maximum Elemental Resistances

Maximum Elemental Resistances are capped at 75% traditionally in Path of Exile. However, there are many sources in the game now. To raise those base values, any build can strive for 80% resistances comfortably and with the new flask changes in 3.24. It’s much more accessible. All Elemental flasks now have 5% to their respective maximum resistance and this can be scaled by a percentage increased flask effect.

Using all these flasks is not a good way but you can use them respectively for encounters with each Element. Like Searing Exarch for Ruby, Shaper for Sapphire and Eater of Worlds for Topaz.

Flasks

Having the correct flasks for your build with the right modifiers is one of the most core defensive layers in Path of Exile. This is evident in the use of the Mageblood, unique that almost all top end builds will use.

For example, if you play a creep-based build, you may want to opt for the mod percent chance to gain a flask charge when you deal a Critical Strike. And if you get hit frequently, you can opt for the gain number of charges when you’re hit by an enemy mod. These are just some ways to help sustain those flasks and make sure you don’t run out of charges.

Fourth Vow + Glorious Vanity

So now that we’ve covered some defensive components. Let’s look at items that synergize well with each other. The first defensive setup is Fourth Vow and Glorious Vanity Jewel. Glorious Vanity needs to be under the influence of Xibaqua to change any Keystone on the passive Tree in its proximity to Divine flesh. The Fourth Vow is a fairly new unique in Path of Exile as of Sanctum League.

It has a modifier which applies 100% of your Armor to chaos damage taken as from hits. Now notice how I said 100%. I’m using this in reference to the unbreakable modifier from Juggernaut Ascendency. That states only 8% of Armor is used against Elemental hits. This is insane because we can apply 100% of Armor instead of 8%. Juggernaut is already noticeably tanky with the unbreakable node.

So Fourth Vow is basically unbreakable, but better. We then use Divine Flesh to convert half of our Elemental damage to chaos damage and give us 80% total chaos resistance as a baseline. We can increase this further with items like Saffell’s frame or the small Cluster Jewel for chaos resistance with the born of chaos notable. Multiple of these can be used to try to achieve 90% chaos resistance.

If you want, normally though, Fourth Vaal is used against 80% chaos resistance for a considerable tanky boost. Another thing that Fourth Vaal really excels in is Elemental penetration. Shifting Elemental damage works very well against this.

An example would be Shaper boss. The idea here is that 50% of Elemental damage is shifted to chaos and that damage cannot be penetrated. Effectively reducing the amount of penetration damage we take by 50%.

Incandescent Heart + Glorious Vanity

It’s the Incandescent heart and Divine Flesh combination. The interaction we’re looking for is the extra 25% Elemental damage converted to chaos damage from chest piece. This is additive with Divine Flesh, providing us a total of 75% Elemental damage converted to chaos damage. Incandescent Heart can be used with Armor and energy Shield Mastery to provide 10% of Armor applies to chaos damage taken as from hits.

To further help with mitigation, this setup is more reliant on maximum chaos resistance being higher than Fourth Vaal setup. And this setup works better for Elemental penetration.

Eternal Damnation + Loreweave

The last combination I want to talk about is Eternal Damnation Amulet with Loreweave body Armor. Personally, I think just using Eternal Damnation by itself is an impressive defensive layer since getting back to 75% maximum resistance is not that hard. Loreweave states that your Elemental resistances are 76 to 78% overriding the negative downside to Eternal Damnation.

This means that we have heightened resistances instead of the 70% new baseline that would be provided by using Eternal Damnation. This combination was very popular during Sanctum League when Eternal Damnation was introduced.

Transcendence Keystone

Lastly, another component that can be added into the setup is Transcendence Keystone. That’s provided by a Militant Faith Jewel under the influence of Max Auras. Transcendence has minus 15 to all maximum resistances which can be overridden by Loreweaves effect. Another key component of transcendence is that physical damage is no longer mitigated by Armor.

It is instead mitigated towards Elemental damage. In order to use Transcendence you will need many sources of physical damage taken as. It’s very common for this setup to use a Lightning Coil or a Dawnbreaker. Another interaction with Transcendence is you can use Endurance charges to make up the loss of physical damage reduction. This is an example where I mentioned before that using physical damage taken as an additional physical damage reduction work really well together.

Aegis Aurora

There’s one honorable mention that I would like to talk about. And that is Aegis Aurora Shield. The interaction we’re interested in is recover energy Shield equal to 2% of your Armor when you block. The plus 5 to maximum Cold Resistance is also a really good mod.

The cap on the block is 75% but with investment can reach 90%. This can also be used in conjunction with Transcendence and enough physical damage taken as to provide a massive amount of mitigation and recovery.

You can also combine this with 20 life gained on block through the Block Mastery for even more recovery. Even without pushing for 90% block chance, this is still a considerable amount of mitigation and recovery if you have 75% block chance for both attack and Spells.

I hope you learned something. That’s all my suggestions.

If you have an affinity for minion-based builds and seek a reliable option in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis, consider opting for the Lightning Summon Skeletons build.

This particular build is viable on both the Necromancer class in Softcore or the Champion class in Hardcore. It promises to offer a sturdy minion-centric approach, particularly suited for players comfortable with a more engaged playstyle.

If you're interested in pursuing and refining this build, ensure you have an ample supply of POE Currency at your disposal.

Mechanics & Playstyle

The Lightning Summon Skeletons build boasts formidable damage output, enhanced movement speed, impactful Vaal skills for burst damage, and the potential for solid resilience.

At the heart of the Lightning Summon Skeletons build lies the unique one-handed sword known as The Iron Mass, obtainable from Grand Heists. Equipping The Iron Mass in your main hand grants all Warrior skeletons wielding it the ability to deal triple damage for 4 seconds after you've recently struck with your weapon.

During mapping, maintaining the triple damage buff is typically achieved through the use of Whirling Blades or Leap Slam. While Leap Slam offers superior overall mobility, its triple damage uptime tends to be lower compared to Whirling Blades. The choice between them largely boils down to personal preference.

For single-target encounters and boss fights, Smite becomes the primary skill. It not only triggers the triple damage buff for 4 seconds but also bestows a substantial lightning damage aura upon minions. Moreover, when paired with Avatar of Fire, Smite triggers Elemental Equilibrium's 25% lightning exposure. Admittedly, the playstyle of consistently maintaining the triple damage buff may not suit every player, but it proves rewarding with proficient execution.

As is customary, most of the flat lightning damage originates from Wrath, Smite, and Generosity gems socketed within March of the Legion, all of which are then tripled by The Iron Mass. Ghastly Jewels serve as another excellent source of flat lightning damage.

In Softcore, playing as a Necromancer allows for a crit-based approach. However, in Hardcore, especially when playing as a Champion, investing in crit can be challenging due to limited passive points, thus generally leading towards a non-crit setup.

Skeleton Minions

Skeletons present an intriguing mechanic: despite their aggressive nature, they exhibit a tendency to dash towards foes, aiding significantly in map traversal due to their moderate speed compared to other minions.

Regrettably, the sole practical means of enhancing their aggression in this setup is through the Feeding Frenzy Support, which proves beneficial for mapping endeavors if damage isn't a concern. A Summon Skeleton gem at 20/20 grants a maximum of 8 minions and summons 3 with each cast, increasing to 4 at level 21.

When utilizing Vaal Summon Skeletons, opting for level 5 Awakened Minion Damage typically serves as the most straightforward route to achieving gem level 21. Additionally, there are two sources of extra skeletons available on the passive tree, offering a considerable boost to damage output.

Unlike the majority of minions, skeleton damage isn't affected by increases in gem level, as they directly utilize and inherit the stats of The Iron Mass sword. Nonetheless, higher gem levels do provide a slight improvement in accuracy.

Offensive Vaal Skills

The build boasts several impressive offensive Vaal skills.

Vaal Summon Skeletons stands out by conjuring a vast array of diverse skeleton types, proving surprisingly effective for single-target burst damage. 

Vaal Haste grants substantial boosts to attack speed, cast speed, and movement speed for both you and your minions. 

Meanwhile, Vaal Smite bestows a notable portion of flat lightning damage upon your minions.

There's considerable flexibility in selecting these skills. Typically, opting for any two out of these three Vaal skills is advisable, as relying on all three can strain Vaal Souls reserves. It's recommended to utilize them together when facing resilient rare enemies, Essences, or formidable map bosses.

Tactical Approaches For Mapping

When mapping, summon skeletons amidst a cluster of monsters, then either leap slam into the group or whirl through them with blades before continuing onward.

Dealing with rare enemies involves casting skeletons twice and following up with a strike from Smite. It's essential to uphold the Wrath Aura granted by Divine Blessing consistently.

When facing map bosses or Essences, initiate by applying curses and your offering, then utilize Smite before activating all offensive Vaal skills to swiftly dispatch them.

Boss Battle Strategies

During boss encounters, frequently apply Smite to the boss while ensuring the maximum number of skeletons are engaged. If employing a crit-based strategy, maintain the Fresh Meat buff by summoning skeletons at least twice every 4 seconds.

Continuously manage Divine Blessing, Wrath, and Arcanist Brand alongside any curses and offerings. Save your powerful skills for opportune moments to maximize damage output.

Methods For Successful Leveling

Regarding the leveling process, utilizing skeletons might not be optimal until you acquire the necessary unique items, but it remains achievable.

For Necromancers, popular options for leveling include Detonate Dead or the Blink Arrow technique with Bombarding, commonly referred to as Bama, provided you obtain the gem. 

As for Champions, transitioning from Slayer Bone Shatter to a Champion respec later is likely the most effective option. Additionally, Explosive Arrow or Toxic Rain Champion builds can serve as viable alternatives for leveling.

Essential Items & Gems

Essential items include The Iron Mass, March of the Legion, and Blessed Rebirth. Blessed Rebirth ensures a guaranteed 4 seconds of uptime per cast, allowing for the neglect of minion defenses if support minions aren't utilized.

In Softcore Necromancer crit runs, consider employing the Ancient Skull Helmet for a significant damage boost. For Champions, The Devouring Diadem proves invaluable for addressing mana issues and enabling Divine Blessing.

Due to the reliance on several unique items, managing suppression can be challenging in certain setups unless utilizing a rare chest. Ensure to invest in the Lucky Suppression Mastery if not already capped. Ailment immunity can typically be resolved by utilizing Stormshroud in conjunction with a high-roll shock avoidance abyss jewel housed within Darkness Enthroned.

During mapping, utilize Melee Splash, swapping it out for Multistrike when facing bosses. Experiment with Feeding Frenzy Support for mapping to gauge the effectiveness of skeleton dash. For crit builds, always incorporate Fresh Meat Support and ensure a minimum of 40 seconds of Summon Skeleton duration.

Ascendancy Flexibility: Necromancer VS Champion

When it comes to ascendancy choices, this build is viable for both Necromancer and Champion.

Necromancer presents an easier option for league starters with fewer gear requirements. Additionally, Necromancer allows for the inclusion of specters or animate Guardian, though socket availability may be limited.

On the other hand, Champion offers increased durability and is better suited for hardcore play, although it poses greater challenges for league starters. It's advisable to refrain from using support minions with the Champion ascendancy. An alternative endgame setup, such as The Adorned, may be considered, albeit it often comes with a substantial cost. 

Initially, I designed this build around chaos damage, utilizing Severed in Sleep in the offhand for enhanced reliability with wither and crit. However, upon transitioning to a lightning setup, I found it to be significantly more effective and never looked back.

Here's a concise overview of how Desecrate interacts with the maximum limit on Raise Specter. I find this strategy particularly valuable in Path of Exile 3.23, especially with the addition of new Transfigure Gems like Detonate Dead of Chain Reaction.

As of now, it's uncertain if player corpse skills will undergo nerfs in POE 3.24. Nevertheless, even if adjustments are made, I anticipate that they will likely retain their effectiveness and remain favored options for starting builds in prominent leagues.

Understanding The Interaction Between Desecrate And Raise Spectre in Patch 3.17

Players familiar with corpse skills like Detonate Dead likely already understand how this operates.

In patch 3.17, GGG eliminated the need for Raise Spectre to transport Spectre Corpses into zones for Desecrate or Corpse Walk. Previously, players had to summon Raise Spectre minions with high life multipliers. When entering a new zone, these Spectre Corpses were added to the zone's corpse pool, allowing Desecrate to summon them. This setup allowed skills like Detonate Dead to inflict significantly more damage due to the higher life of these corpses compared to regular monsters in the zone.

In version 3.17, GGG altered the behavior of Desecrate and Corpse Walk. They introduced a memory function that stores the player's most recently summoned specters in a list of corpses, limited by the maximum Raise Spectre limit. Now, each time Desecrate or Corpse Walk summons a corpse, there's a 15% chance it will be replaced by a randomly selected corpse from this list. Consequently, once players raise specters with high life multipliers, they can safely remove the Raise Spectre gem. Desecrate and Corpse Walk will retain these spectre corpses in the list and transport them into new zones, mimicking the previous functionality when entering a zone with actual Raise Spectre minions.

This update relieves players from concerns about losing Raise Spectre minions or managing secondary spectre banks, providing an additional gem slot.

An Explanation Of Interaction

However, the key aspect here lies in the functionality: the Raise Spectre corpse list essentially mirrors the effect of bringing the entire list of actual Raise Spectre minions into the new zone, as seen in older patches.

Each Spectre Corpse saved on the list gets added to the existing corpse pool upon entering any new zone. You might wonder why this matters, given Desecrate and Corpse Walk's fixed chance to spawn corpses.

Yet, the crucial interaction isn't about the 15% chance that Desecrate mandates a corpse from that list. Rather, it's about the remaining 85% of the time.

When Desecrate or Corpse Walk spawns a corpse that isn't a forced Spectre Corpse from the list, it randomly selects one from all available corpses in the zone. Now, since the zone incorporates every Spectre Corpse from your Raise Spectre corpse list upon entry, these skills can potentially spawn a Spectre Corpse from the pool of available corpses, even without a forced Spectre Corpse roll.

Therefore, by raising your maximum Raise Spectre limit and summoning numerous high-life unique spectre minions, you're expanding the list of saved Spectre Corpses for Desecrate or Corpse Walk. Consequently, all these corpses accompany you into every new zone you enter. The greater the number of Spectre Corpses on the list, the higher the likelihood of spawning a Spectre Corpse whenever these skills roll the 85% chance to select a random corpse from the zone pool.

Usefulness Of Interaction 

The efficacy of this interaction hinges entirely on the number of corpses present in a given zone compared to the character’s maximum Raise Spectre limit corpse list.

In zones with few corpses, this interaction can significantly amplify damage. Conversely, in zones inundated with corpses, the damage increase will be relatively minimal.

Raising The Spectre Limit

Increasing your maximum Raise Spectre limit is a straightforward and typically affordable endeavor, primarily because the unique items that offer this attribute are quite common.

For instance, a Raise Spectre Gem at level 13 allows for a maximum of two spectres, while reaching level 25 expands this limit to three. Additionally, the Death Attunement notable passive skill situated at the top of the skill tree provides a bonus of +1 to the maximum number of Raise Spectres. If your character is distant from this area of the passive tree, you can use anointment for 1 Clear, 1 Crimson, and 1 Silver Oil to acquire this benefit.

The Queen’s Decree, a unique two-handed sword, bestows an extra maximum spectre. However, if you possess two Midnight Bargain unique wands, it’s advisable to dual-wield them to gain +1 maximum spectre from each wand.

Moreover, the Wraithlord unique helmet offers an increase of +2 maximum spectres and also enhances socketed minion gems by two levels, aiding in reaching the coveted level 25 Raise Spectre gem. Furthermore, you can secure an additional +1 maximum spectre by equipping body armor with the Delve Drop-only prefix modifier that grants this statistic.

Which Spectres?

It’s important to note that this process only needs to be done once. After you’ve raised your maximum Raise Spectre limit to your desired level, ensure to summon unique spectre minion types up to the maximum limit.

Most, if not all, of the necessary spectres can be found in campaign areas. Seek out spectres with life multipliers of 360% or higher. Even if their life multiplier exceeds 360%, they’ll operate similarly to a 360% life multiplier Spectre Corpse. This is because spectre life totals were standardized in patch 3.17 to match that of a Kitava’s Herald spectre, which boasts a 360 life multiplier.

Once this is completed, you can safely remove the Raise Spectre gem, remove the associated gear, and reallocate any nodes dedicated to increasing maximum spectres. This summarizes the essence of the interaction between the maximum spectre limit and summoning corpses with Desecrate or Corpse Walk. It’s a valuable technique for players utilizing these types of builds.

Currently, we are just a few days away from the release of the POE 3.24 patch notes, and there has been considerable interest in Explosive Trap and traps in general, particularly on platforms like Reddit and within the creator community. There appears to be a notable lack of accurate information or perhaps simply insufficient information regarding Explosive Trap and its variant, Shrapnel. Having extensively engaged with this skill across various builds in Affliction League for numerous hours, I have developed a deep understanding of its mechanics. 

The Truth

Shrapnel proves to be a superior and more potent bossing skill, offering higher DPS performance across most boss encounters in Path of Exile. Contrary to widely held beliefs on platforms like Reddit, which suggest that Shrapnel is primarily suited for clearing with mediocre single-target damage, this notion is simply incorrect.

However, it's understandable why these misconceptions exist, particularly given the recent introduction of Transfigure Gems and the inherent challenge of accurately quantifying trap damage within tools like Path of Building (PoB) for comparison purposes.

The Uber Boss Showcase

Now, I'll delve into the mechanics of the gem and elucidate why Shrapnel yields greater damage. However, the most effective way to illustrate Shrapnel's superiority in boss encounters is through empirical evidence. Here's a direct comparison of the two gems battling an Uber boss.

To ensure a fair comparison, I've significantly weakened this character, reducing its power to about 4% of my league build although this process may waste some of my POE Currency. This was achieved by deactivating auras and removing several support gems and curses to prevent instant defeat. Apart from the chosen skill gem, these characters are identical in every aspect. 

Now, let's begin by examining three distinct boss scenarios, each with its explanation. The commonality among these scenarios is their stationary nature. Uber Shaper occupies the center of an open space, while Uber Maven emerges against the back wall, and the Uber Brain roams in an open area with a larger hitbox than Shaper. 

I've selected these scenarios because stationary encounters are more favorable for the standard gem, whereas in mobile boss scenarios, Shrapnel significantly outperforms it.

Overview Of Mechanics

It's essential to understand the key changes in the gems. 

Firstly, Shrapnel receives an additional 20% effectiveness of added damage. Secondly, it gains a 30% increase in damage per hit multiplier through a higher base physical hit. Thirdly, Shrapnel benefits from an AOE multiplier on its two secondary radii. While the increase in damage is straightforward, the aspect of AOE is often misunderstood by many, including content creators.

At a basic level, Explosive Trap produces a primary hit of a certain size for a level 21 gem. The secondary radius, where smaller explosions occur, matches this size. Visualizing it, this is represented by our blue circle, typically 1.9 meters for a level 21 gem. The smaller explosions can spawn anywhere within this radius, leading to a gradient decrease in effective damage from the center to the edge of the green circle. This effective damage reduction occurs within a 1-meter circle at the center for a level 21 normal gem, as illustrated by the orange circle.

Shrapnel Overview

In functionality, Shrapnel operates similarly to the standard version. 

However, its secondary explosion radius is doubled, and the secondary explosions themselves are approximately 40% larger. This expanded spawning radius decreases the degree of overlap by roughly 45%, leading to a common misconception that it's solely effective for clearing purposes. 

Reason 1: Mobility of Bosses

When facing mobile bosses where Explosive Trap's damage reaches 0%, Shrapnel still maintains half or more of its expected damage output. 

However, in our initial boss encounter assessment, these bosses lacked mobility, thus not benefiting from Shrapnel's enhanced damage uptime.

Reason 2: Enhanced Ailment Effect

This constitutes the second point supporting Shrapnel's superiority as a bossing gem, attributed to its access to ailments. 

By considering the straightforward calculations involving the increased effectiveness and base physical damage, adjusted for expected overlaps, Shrapnel demonstrates approximately 85% of the damage of the standard gem. 

Moreover, many Explosive Trap builds utilize Conflux or Secrets of Suffering to induce potent alternative ailments. The 30% higher base physical hit of Shrapnel translates to a flat 30% increase in ailment effectiveness. If one opts against using alternative ailments, it prompts the question of why not, as effects like Scorch, reducing all Elemental Resistances by up to 30%, and Brittle, providing a flat 6% base crit, remain unutilized. 

Thus, the second reason for its superiority as a bossing skill lies in the expanded access to ailments.

Reason 3: Hitboxes & Overlaps

However, what about the Maven? 

The explanation doesn't solely rely on an 8% increase in Scorch. Ironically, many believed this was the reason the skill was inferior, but in reality, its superiority stems from its significantly higher potential. At the baseline, it's been established that both skills do roughly equal damage. 

However, increasing overlaps from 80% to 100% with the normal gem results in a 25% damage boost, while going from 40% to 80% effectively doubles your damage. These boss hitboxes can reach up to 1.1 million.

Reason 4: Overlaps Again

The penultimate topic I want to discuss is leveraging reduced overlaps to yield significant additional damage. 

Let's revisit Uber Maven. Notice how she, like all invitation boss encounters, spawns near a wall. Understanding the mechanical dynamics enables you to exploit this for effortless damage gains. Allow me to elaborate.

In open scenarios, where smaller explosions occur randomly, overlaps typically hover around 40%. By intentionally confining the secondary radius against a wall or obstacle, you limit the space available for secondary explosions while maintaining their radius. This reduction in available space can easily result in a 30% to 40% damage increase, simplifying encounters like invitations, which I intend to focus on early in the league. However, this strategy isn't as effective with the normal gem due to its already high overlap rate and smaller explosion radius.

Moreover, in battles such as Uber Elder, Uber Cortex, and Uber Shaper, approximately half of the arena can yield damage increases ranging from 10% to 40%, depending on the boss's teleportation patterns.

Reason 5: AoE & Random Throws

The final aspect I wish to address, and the ultimate reason why Shrapnel excels as a bossing skill, pertains to its area of effect (AOE). 

This time, there's a critical mechanical issue with the normal gem involving random throws around the target location. Most non-cooldown traps typically utilize supports like Swift Assembly, Sunblast, or Cluster Traps to increase trap quantity.

Numerically, Swift Assembly stands out as one of the most effective supports for traps. I'll employ Swift Assembly until acquiring a Sunblast, and subsequently, switch to Sunblast until obtaining a Mageblood. However, it's essential to note that Explosive Trap incurs a damage penalty when traps are randomly thrown, unlike Shrapnel.

Recall my initial explanation of how the skill gem functions. When traps are randomly thrown at a target location, they may spawn outside this window, resulting in a slight reduction in damage. While this doesn't justify skipping Swift Assembly, it underscores a difference that Shrapnel doesn't face, as its area of expected maximal overlaps is significantly larger.

The latest teaser from GGG for Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis introduces intriguing new skill gems that automate skill usage, alongside a notable nerf. This article examines the potential implications of these new gems and explores the ramifications of losing left-click instant skills for certain builds.

Automation

Automation is an intelligence-dexterity hybrid blue gem that serves both as a skill and a support. 

When paired with instant spells, Automation bestows the Automation skill, which can be activated similarly to a reservation skill. When activated, Automation automatically triggers all supported instance skills as they come off cooldown, rendering manual use of linked skills impossible.

Call To Arms

On the other hand, Call to Arms is a pure strength red gem that operates similarly but for Warcries. 

It functions as both a skill and support gem. When combined with Warcries, Call to Arms grants the Call to Arms skill, which can be toggled on. 

Once activated, it triggers all supported Warcries upon cooldown, preventing manual use of the linked Warcries. Additionally, this setup causes all Warcries to share cooldowns.

Initial Thoughts

Upon initially viewing these two gems featured at the start of the teaser, I took a moment to carefully review them. I found the concept quite appealing as it provides players with additional options, which I consider advantageous. 

However, the teaser concluded with a notable statement: "We've removed the capacity to bind any instant skill to left-click as a result." Indeed, this implies the removal of the ability to utilize instant skills via left-click.

Community Reaction

Approximately an hour after the teaser's publication, the Reddit post became untraceable as it had been heavily downvoted. 

Consequently, moderators were compelled to pin the thread to ensure its prominence on the Path of Exile subreddit. 

Similarly, the cross-post for this teaser elicited a predominantly negative response, with almost every comment expressing discontent over the alteration to left-click instant skills.

Potential For Comprehensive Changes

In all honesty, I've found myself undecided when faced with similar community uproars in the past. This time around, I've invested considerable thought into the matter.

I've pondered the potential rationale behind this change in the context of POE 3.24, contemplating the possibility of a comprehensive overhaul to a specific system or perhaps viewing it as a smaller adjustment within a larger framework. 

However, I've yet to find a satisfactory explanation. Unless significant developments are in progress, I remain uncertain about the implications of this alteration.

The Implications Of This Shift

Currently, our best course of action is to analyze this change within the context of the game's current state.

Here's how the change impacts most builds: If you previously employed an instant spell or Warcry on left-click, under the new system, when linked to Automation or Call to Arms, Warcries will trigger automatically upon cooldown without any manual input. However, this change comes with drawbacks: increased cost, slower cooldown recovery, and the need for an additional gem slot due to the link with Automation or Call to Arms. This means you have to spend more POE Currency.

Let's consider the pros and cons realistically. While the automatic triggering of skills upon cooldown may seem beneficial, it's crucial to note that this isn't always the case, especially if you weren't continuously holding down left-click. The increased cost and longer cooldown are definite drawbacks, although they raise questions about the potential benefits of the automatic triggering. Additionally, sacrificing an extra gem slot is a significant disadvantage.

However, these implications primarily apply to builds utilizing left-click instant skills. What about builds employing damage abilities on left-click, such as General's Cry, Corrupting Cry, and those utilizing Detonate Mines? 

In the absence of macros or similar solutions, these builds face reduced damage potential, as they now require Automation gems in their primary link, or they must adjust to using an additional keybind, impacting their playstyle comfort.

Macros

However, in the realm of gaming, macros exist as a reality.

Over time, GGG has progressively reduced the necessity for macros within various aspects of Path of Exile gameplay. They've generally shifted away from design choices that encourage players to rely on macros. However, this specific change is poised to significantly increase the adoption of macros or similar tactics to address this issue and revert to previous gameplay dynamics.

There are already numerous posts on the subreddit outlining methods like the NumLock trick to effectively replicate the functionality of the old left-click instant skill. These posts are receiving widespread positive feedback and upvotes.

Positive Response To The Gems

However, if we set aside the widespread discontent, it becomes evident that many players actually responded positively to the introduction of these two new skill gems. 

Nevertheless, their strong aversion to the elimination of left-click instant skills has overshadowed this positivity.

Unresolved Skills?

Additionally, there are unresolved edge cases to consider, such as the Focus skill or the Necromancer's Bone Armor, which cannot currently be supported by Automation.

Effectiveness Of Call To Arms

I find the concept of Call to Arms supporting quite appealing, so let's briefly delve into it.

An interesting aspect that may have escaped notice in the teaser is that this gem simultaneously triggers all Warcries, rather than sequentially. For instance, in a slam build, you could allocate a four-link setup with Call to Arms connected to three Warcries. With some investment in Warcry Cooldown Reduction (CDR), you could eliminate the need for manual activation of Warcries in these builds, which would be truly beneficial.

However, it's worth noting that the mana cost and reservation multiplier associated with this gem are excessive. At level 20, Warcries already incur a substantial mana cost of 19 without any additional links. 

Therefore, adjusting these parameters is imperative for this quality of life enhancement to be viable.

The Cost Of QoL

The fundamental problem lies in the implementation of both these new gems. 

Their excessively high cost in the pursuit of quality of life renders them counterproductive. Attempting to integrate them into your build would ultimately detract from, rather than enhance, your gaming experience.

Brand Recall

Indeed, Brand Recall is also a factor to consider.

It's conceivable that they might introduce a slight casting delay to mitigate potential exploits in this regard. Since the Automation gem triggers linked instant skills, it has the capacity to activate Brand Recall. Consequently, this scenario resembles builds that slot Brand Recall into a trigger weapon or rely on triggering it with Spellslinger. 

However, with Automation, there's no need to initiate the trigger or reserve Spellslinger. It consistently triggers without any player input, which could lead to absurdity with Saboteur triggerbots.

Conclusion

On the whole, I must express my appreciation for the conceptualization of these new skills, which I find to be quite commendable. 

However, their execution leaves much to be desired. If the intention was always to eliminate left-click instant skills, then the solution should have been more refined, especially considering the reliance of entire build archetypes on this mechanic.

In my view, sacrificing a bit for the sake of improved quality of life is often justified and tends to benefit the majority of players. However, in this instance, the sacrifice is far from minor, and true quality of life would only be achieved if left-click instant skills had never been part of the game.

In Path of Exile 3.24, there's an issue with Ralakesh's Impatience boots. Today, I'll discuss why these boots are formidable, why they might be overly potent, and potential solutions.

Overview

Path of Exile 3.23 saw a complete overhaul of Ralakesh's Impatience Riveted Boots. Initially, they provided power, endurance, and frenzy charges when stationary, but moving negated these benefits, leading to intriguing interactions.

GGG deemed them too powerful and enhanced them further. Now, these boots grant maximum charges even when empty. They've become a staple for builds reliant on charges, offering unparalleled versatility with added speed and resistance.

What Makes Ralakesh's Impatience Boots Strong?

So, what makes these boots formidable?

By counting as having the maximum number of charges, you eliminate the need to ramp up charges during fights. In boss encounters, you automatically possess your frenzy charges, ensuring your initial attack is delivered at maximum speed. Additionally, your endurance charges are consistently active, providing reliable physical damage reduction and resistance.

With ten endurance charges, you can count on having a 40 all-resistance boost. Previously, endurance charge resistance held little significance, but now, having all charges consistently active offers substantial benefits. Maven belts, like Arn's Anguish, Olesya's Delight, and Graven's Secret, introduce intriguing interactions. For instance, Arn's Anguish grants a maximum endurance charge but replaces endurance charges with brutal charges, tripling your damage output.

Moreover, these boots provide power and frenzy charges continuously. Unfortunately, their generic potency allows them to fit into almost any build reliant on charges. They're also quite common, with prices ranging from 10 to 20 Chaos by the league's end.

In an effort to mitigate some of their powerful interactions, the developers may have inadvertently made them excessively versatile. Such POE Items tend to promote cookie-cutter builds in the endgame, which could be detrimental to the game's diversity.

How Do We Fix Them?

So, what's the solution?

I've heard 2 common suggestions, but I find them rather uninteresting. The first is simply making them tier zero. However, I believe we already have a sufficient number of powerful chase items in the game, and making these boots incredibly rare won't address the issue.

Another proposed solution is to nerf them by reducing maximum charges, but I also find this unappealing. My suggestion for these boots is to provide one type of charge and remove the other two lines.

Consider something akin to Doryani's Machinarium boots, where there are multiple versions available. In this scenario, there would be a power charge version, a frenzy charge version, and an endurance charge version. They could be renamed to Ralakesh's Endurance, Ralakesh's Frenzy, and Ralakesh's Power.

This approach would retain the boots' interesting aspect of granting charges that players wouldn't otherwise have access to, while preventing the generic power of having all charges simultaneously.

For example, if the Maven boots prevent you from generating frenzy charges for the Olesya's Delight belt, you could opt for the version with only frenzy charges. This allows for specific interactions without the overwhelming power of having both endurance and frenzy charges.

Additionally, it enables interactions like Inner Conviction to function, along with many other intriguing charge-related interactions. I believe introducing niche power is much more engaging in Path of Exile, encouraging prolonged gameplay and fostering creativity in building new characters.

GGG, if you intend to nerf this item in POE 3.24, please do so in a manner that maintains interest. Simply gutting them and relegating them to obscurity isn't the solution.

Path of Exile shares similarities with the Diablo series, boasting seven base classes and numerous Ascendancy classes, each offering distinct gameplay styles. Moreover, a wide array of builds is available to enhance and specialize these classes further.

Whether you aspire to be a formidable caster, a skilled warrior, or delve into the intricacies of necromancy, there exists a build to cater to every preference. Unlike Diablo, Path of Exile offers a unique approach to character development, providing greater flexibility in class selection.

Below, we showcase some of the timeless and revered Path of Exile 3.23 builds in 2024, serving as potent foundations for players seeking a powerful playstyle or a solid base for crafting their own custom and experimental builds.

Every build outlined below is straightforward to assemble, yielding a character capable of dealing substantial damage in battles. Additionally, we've organized them based on their potency, providing clarity on which one reigns as the most effective choice in Path of Exile 3.23.

#7. Oro’s Flicker Strike Raider

This build centers around the utilization of the Oro’s Sacrifice weapon and the Flicker Strike skill. The strategy involves delivering substantial fire damage through weapon strikes, followed by swift teleportation using Flicker Strike and repeating the process.

Effectively, this build enables robust tank characters to swiftly maneuver across the battlefield, decimating hordes of enemies with an exceptionally potent skill typically associated with slower movement. Flicker Strike unleashes the full potential of Oro’s Sacrifice, resulting in a formidable synergy between the two.

What makes this build remarkable is its adaptability to any Strength-based character, making it accessible to players who opt for a Maunder and progress towards wielding formidable two-handed weapons.

#6. Tectonic Slam Chieftain

Ranked at number 6 on our list, the Tectonic Slam Chieftain build is highly regarded in Path of Exile 3.23, boasting exceptional physical prowess and extensive area-of-effect (AoE) damage capabilities against enemies.

Begin by selecting a standard Strength class like the Marauder and concentrate on leveling skills such as Tectonic Slam and Endurance Charges, keeping a tank-oriented build in mind. However, these 2 primary skills will serve as your main focus. While the build excels at dispatching groups of enemies, its reliance on AoE damage can pose challenges when facing bosses.

Due to Tectonic Slam and Endurance Charges being tailored towards engaging multiple foes, it's essential to always have a contingency plan in place to leverage this setup effectively.

#5. Mage Skeleton Necromancer

The Necromancer is a mystical character whose abilities revolve around controlling and resurrecting the deceased to serve their bidding. These eerie spellcasters have the capability to summon skeletons and fallen foes to engage in combat on their behalf, while they remain in the background casting enhancements to support their minions and curses to impede their adversaries.

To construct this build, begin with the Witch class and concentrate on mastering summoning abilities, particularly focusing on the Skeleton Mage skill. Achieving proficiency in Mana management is crucial for success, although it's important to acknowledge the vulnerability that arises when your minions perish.

It's important to note that this build entails significant casting time, so compensate by summoning minions before engaging in melee combat, or by doing so from a safe distance and with ample preparation. Then, observe as your minions obliterate your enemies with ruthless efficiency.

#4. Elemental Hit Slayer

Named for its reliance on elemental magic, the Elemental Hit Slayer build specializes in harnessing the power of elemental forces to vanquish adversaries. While you have the option to concentrate on a specific element, relying solely on one can become problematic when faced with foes resistant to that particular element.

To ensure versatility, we suggest starting with the Witch class and dedicating your efforts to leveling Fire, Lightning, and Cold skills, thus obtaining a diverse array of abilities. Fortunately, you can develop proficiency in all 3 elements by focusing on the same magic attributes. However, the Elemental Hit skill serves as the cornerstone of this build, allowing you to unleash devastating elemental attacks on enemies.

This skill combines all 3 elemental types to deliver potent elemental damage randomly, ensuring that even if an enemy resists one element, they are likely to succumb to another.

Alternatively, the Elemental Hit skill can be specialized in a single element, such as Fire, by utilizing POE Items like the Unique Jewel. Players who relish the classic Wizard archetype will find this build particularly appealing.

#3. Impervious Herald Of Agony Juggernaut

If you prefer the playstyle of Crusader or Paladin-like characters, then the Impervious Herald of Agony Juggernaut is the ideal build for you in Path of Exile 3.23. To assemble this build, start by crafting a traditional tank character, such as the Marauder or Duelist, and then obtain the Herald of Agony skill gem.

A crucial component of the build, this already resilient Juggernaut class will see its mana bolstered by the gem, allowing it to poison enemies and summon an Agony Crawler to swiftly dispatch them.

With this build, you can fashion a Templar-like warrior capable of consistently applying status effects on hordes of enemies while delivering the final blow when they're weakened. Ensure to maintain your mana buffed, as the gem alone may not always suffice.

#2. Lacerate Gladiator

A traditional Dexterity-based setup, the Lacerate Gladiator primarily relies on the Lacerate skill to augment the chances of inflicting bleed damage. Additionally, utilizing Blood and Sand will complement Lacerate, further amplifying your damage potential.

While opting for a Dexterity class like the Ranger is the optimal path for this build, don't hesitate to explore other classes if you believe additional survivability would be advantageous during intense encounters.

Although the build can be adapted for the Marauder, we suggest selecting the Duelist class, as it strikes a harmonious balance between resilience and agility, allowing you to harness the strengths of both styles effectively.

#1. Detonate Dead Necromancer

The Necromancer class stands as the undisputed champion in Path of Exile 3.23, and among the two Necromancer builds listed, the Detonate Dead Necromancer unquestionably steals the spotlight.

True to its Necro roots, this build revolves around summoning minions to wreak havoc from afar. However, it takes a unique twist by transforming these minions into explosive bombs to obliterate your adversaries.

To embark on this explosive journey, begin by crafting your quintessential summoner Necromancer build. Then, pivot towards mastering the Volatile Dead and Detonate Dead skills. This ingenious combination converts your minions into volatile orbs, triggering explosive reactions from nearby corpses, resulting in devastating damage to any nearby foes.

While you have the option to utilize each skill independently, the true power lies in employing both simultaneously to effortlessly decimate hordes of enemies across the map. This build offers an exhilarating Path of Exile 3.23 experience, showcasing unparalleled dominance.

Do you want to blast guardian maps and invitations in Path of Exile 3.23? Here, I would like to highly recommend Ignite Death Wish Elementalist build. If you're interested in making this build, you'd better have plenty of POE Currency.

About The Build

The central item in this build is the Maw of Mischief, a unique bone helmet. This item provides a level 20 Death Wish ability that triggers the detonation of the character’s minions, inflicting 19% of their maximum life as fire damage.

The Perfect Dark Marionette, acquired from the Breaker of Oaths in The Vidian Wildwood, is another crucial component. In addition to exploding for an extra 15% of its maximum life upon death, it also scorches enemies in the vicinity, further weakening their elemental resistances.

With a level 83 Dark Marionette boasting over 92,000 life, it forms the foundation for amplifying the build’s ignite damage.

Ways To Increase Minion Life

To attain a level 83 Dark Marionette, the strategy involves elevating the gem level of Raise Spectre to 32. This is achieved through the utilization of Pragmatism and the incorporation of a level 21 Raise Spectre gem linked with a level 20 Minion Life Support and a level 4 Empower Support.

Through an Elegant Hubris commission to Caspiro, the build gains the ability to allocate 3 Axiom Warden nodes, resulting in a significant 240% increase in minion life. This commission also enables the build to ignore stat attribute requirements by allocating Supreme Ostentation.

Cluster jewels play a crucial role in acquiring additional passives like Raze and Pillage, Feasting Fiends, Hulking Corpses, Life from Death, and Blessed Rebirth. The collective effect of these passives further bolsters the life pool of the specters.

Ways To Increase Ignite Damage

The Scourge is used to allow increased minion damage to affect the character at 150% of their value. 

This allows the build to benefit from passives, such as Redemption and Righteous Army. Bitterbind Point increases the life pool of the Dark Marionet and also grants Arcane Surge, as well as high crit chance to sustain Elemental Overload. 

A “That Which Was Taken” Jewel grants the build more exposure effects as well as the ability to cover unique enemies in ash because the highest damage type dealt by Death Wish is also fire damage. 

The build can take full advantage of the Shaper of Flames ascendancy. Mastermind of Discord increases any fire exposure inflicted by another 25%. And Heart of Destruction gives a free 30% more multiplier when fighting unique monsters.

Clear Speed & Single Target

Berek’s Respite is a unique ring that spreads ignites from slain enemies.

This allows the build to achieve screen wide clears from a single Death Wish. This is typically used when clearing maps or farming high mob density mechanics, such as Abyss, Expedition or Legion.

For boss fights, the build will swap out Berek’s Respite for a Replica Emberwake. This ring will significantly increase ignite DPS at the cost of a greatly reduced ignite duration.

Defiled Forces allows the build to infinitely sustain ignites on enemies, which bypasses the downside of using Replica Emberwake.

To automate the process of continuous curse application, an Arcanist Brand is used to cast Elemental Weakness, Flammability, and Flame Surge on any mob of interest.

Defenses

This build doesn’t have many layers of defense and is effectively a glass cannon. It has a low physical max hit and succeeds mainly by slaying enemies before they can react or respond. 

However, to alleviate some of the pain involved with the build that constantly dies, this setup uses a Defiance of Destiny to regain a portion of missing life before every hit is calculated allocating.

The nodes around Instinct running 3 suppression based charms (Pathfinder’s Lupine Charm of the Raider, Saboteur’s Lupine Charm of the Raider & Lupine Charm of the Raider) and rolling suppression on the boots (Gloom Slippers) and gloves (Foe Fingers) allow the character to reach a 90% chance to suppress all spell damage.

This build makes use of the Bloodnotch and Immutable Force combo, which allows for tremendous recovery from stunning hits.

To guarantee that enemy hits stun the character, the build combines Eldrich Battery with Energy Shield Mastery that makes stun thresholds scale with energy shield.

Flasks

For the flask setup, this build uses a Granite Flask (Flagellant’s Granite Flask of the Impala) and a Jade Flask (Flagellant’s Jade Flask of the Armadillo) with the prefix that gains charges when the character is hit for maximum uptime.

A Taste of Hate is also leveraged for a bit of physical damage shift that can slightly improve the physical max hit of the build.

Today, our focus is on the Blade Blast Saboteur by Primaeva, which employs an innovative transfigured iteration of Blade Blast to release captivating and lethal circles of destruction.

If you are interested in this build, you can use your POE Currency and follow his guide to build one. I believe you will be particularly surprised!

How Does This Build Work?

Blade Blast collaborates seamlessly with other gems, generating blades on the ground when casting Bladefall or Ethereal Knives, which can then be triggered by Blade Blast.

In this league, a transformed version of the gem, Blade Blast of Unloading, has been introduced, designed to synergize with Blade Vortex. Blade Vortex accumulates spinning blade stacks around the character, and Blade Blast of Unloading can be employed to detonate these blades sequentially, with subsequent detonations gaining 100% more area of effect.

Recognizing the gem's potential, Primaeva fully embraces its effectiveness, particularly when timed with movement skills to allow the blasts to follow the character, enabling continuous movement while dealing damage in all directions. The challenge lies in maintaining the blades smoothly without the need to stand still and repeatedly cast Blade Vortex.

To address this, Arcanist Brand comes into play. Once placed, this brand periodically triggers the linked spell, in this case, Blade Vortex, automatically generating blades that can be detonated at will. Primaeva recommends acquiring the Saboteur’s Perfect Crime skill, providing 2 Triggerbots, which duplicate triggered spells, effectively doubling the number of blades per brand activation for Blade Vortex.

The "secret sauce," as Primaeva terms it, involves the use of the Brand Recall skill. When activated, it recalls and triggers all brands simultaneously. With 5 active brands, it will trigger 5 times, further doubled by the Triggerbots, resulting in 10 stacks of Blade Vortex.

The final step involves binding Brand Recall to the left click, occasionally casting Arcanist Brand as its duration depletes. Primaeva assures gamepad players that a solution for binding actions to the left click will be available in the next league.

Offence

So we have beautiful circles, but how do we make them murderous? The trick is more circles! 

Power charges are a fantastic idea for this build because they are an efficient way to invest in critical strikes. Primaeva is using Ralakesh’s Impatience, which essentially takes the bonuses we’d get from having maximum charges, and provides them permanently. 

Then it’s a matter of stacking more maximum charges from sources like:

• +2 To Maxmium Power Chargers (Malachai's Loop)
• +1 To Maxmium Power Chargers (Chimeric Visage)
• +1 To Maxmium Power Chargers (Void Battery)

There’s also plenty of ways to get extra damage per power charge. POE Items like Void Battery and Malachai’s Loop are perfect for this. We can even use charms (Occultist's Corvine Charm Of The Necromancer), from the current POE 3.23 Affliction League, to gain more stacked bonuses. 

Our amulet, Badge of the Brotherhood is also a must-have. It sets our max Frenzy Charges equal to our max Power Charges, with all the advantages that brings. 

In all, we can reach 9 maximum power charges and thus get 9 charges worth of all these bonuses:

• 50% Increased Critical Strike Chance
• 40% Increased Spell Damage
• 4% More Damage
• 3% More Spell Damage
• 4% Attack And Cast Speed

The attack and cast speed is very useful for our Shield Charge and Arcanist Brand, helping the build to feel more responsive. 

Defence

Ideally, this character should be strong enough to kill most things before they hit you, but Primaeva admits it is something of a glass cannon. 

There are several approaches we can take to alleviate this. You’ll remember we’re using Malachai’s Loop for the power charge nonsense. This item does have a major downside. Usually, we would shock ourselves every time we reach maximum power charges. 

Fortunately, there is a belt-shaped solution. If we equip Graven’s Secret, every time we would gain a power charge, we instead gain something called an absorption charge. This means we never trigger the self-shock from Malachai’s Loop. 

As an added bonus, absorption charges recoup a percentage of elemental damage we take as energy shield. Since we’re using so many uniques, we do have to be careful to optimise the rest of our item slots for defence.

A good band-aid fix for our defence is Utula’s Hunger. This body armour provides a huge chunk of life so long as the rest of our gear doesn’t have any. 

Fortunately, the other necessary uniques we’re using don’t have any life mods. Primaeva has clearly demonstrated how powerful transfigured gems can be with a little creativity. 

Not only that, but he’s also outlined several versions of the build for different budgets and preferences. One such version focuses on Impale, while another focuses on cold damage, so you can freeze your foes with that massive AoE. Thanks to Primaeva for his contribution.