Connect with us
Leon Green
Here, we are showcasing 7 FC 24 football clubs in no particular order, all of whom are currently experiencing a challenging football season and are in need of a rebuilding phase as they aim to elevate their performance to a higher level.
Let's start with Spain. At the time of recording, Sevilla is just one point above the relegation zone, performing significantly below expectations.
Known as the kings of the Europa League, this season has been a struggle despite a strong squad, including veteran Sergio Ramos.
What's a rebuild without goals? Achieve the following objectives to consider the rebuild a success:
To make it challenging, we suggest the following rules during this Sevilla rebuild:
Sevilla is in dire need of a rebuild and hungry for new European success. Can you lead them there?
Now, let's head to the capital of Germany, Berlin. There are 2 clubs here, and no more in need of a rebuild, but for this guide, we'll focus on Union Berlin.
After 2 sensational seasons, they now find themselves in the lower regions of the Bundesliga. Achieve the following goals with Union Berlin to complete the rebuild:
Union Berlin's journey is remarkable, considering they were nearly bankrupt 20 years ago and were kept afloat by their supporters.
This inspires our sole unique rule for this rebuild: Never spend more FC 24 Coins than what is earned.
Additionally, we'll stick to the 2 standard rules: Choose a challenging difficulty level and repeat the same yearly goal if not achieved.
Union Berlin is a beautiful club on the quest for upward mobility, a truly great challenge.
Our next destination: 2019 Shadow.
In 2019, Ajax captured the hearts of football fans by impressively defeating Real Madrid and Juventus in the Champions League before being dramatically eliminated by Tottenham.
Following 10 Hag's departure to Manchester United, the club is a shadow of its 2019 self. This year, they can already forget about winning the Eredivisie title, which leads us to the objectives for Ajax:
Ajax fans, known for not resting on past laurels, mean 2 rules must be considered:
With these 2 rules, winning the Champions League in Year 5 becomes a significant challenge, especially when choosing a challenging difficulty level.
Bring Ajax back to the promised land, as they did in 1995 and were so close to in 2019.
For our final 4 clubs, we turn our attention to various levels in England, the mecca of football. We start in Stoke City, the least glamorous of the four.
Six years ago, their run as a mid-table Premier League team for a decade ended, and now they're languishing at the bottom of the Championship, England's second tier.
Stoke was always known for playing hard with the well-known kick and rush approach. We'll incorporate this into our rebuild:
As I said, Stoke City was known for playing hard with the well-known kick and rush football.
For this rebuild, maintain this as a rule: for transfers, we're looking for strong, fast, and tall players who imprint their aggression on the game.
Leave the beautiful, elegant football behind and dive in with the Stoke City rebuild.
Now, let's move up a level to the Premier League, where Everton is fighting relegation and facing penalties due to financial issues.
Everton has long been a solid mid-table team but has fallen so far that they are seriously fearing relegation. Additionally, there's a new stadium in the pipeline, which might not materialize if they're relegated. Everton could certainly use some renewed vigor.
We've also devised some rules for Everton to make it extra challenging due to financial troubles. Everton faces penalties such as points deductions.
Therefore, don't spend more than what is earned. Save Everton from the brink and restore them to their rightful place and beyond.
In our discussion of the final two clubs, we shift our focus to the upper echelons of the Premier League, or more accurately, its erstwhile summit. These two teams now exist as faint reflections of their former greatness, earnestly pursuing a resurgence.
Even with just a modest interest in the Premier League, the mention of these 2 clubs—Manchester United and Chelsea—undoubtedly rings familiar.
Both teams have invested heavily yet seem further from success than ever. These powerhouses are yearning for success and ready for a new rebuild.
Manchester United and Chelsea have both been trying for years to regain their form and win another Premier League title, but to no avail.
To keep it realistic, we've set the following rules:
These clubs are closer to the ultimate goal, but the journey will be a significant challenge.
Experience the Lunar Awakening, a time-limited event amplifying Shrines in Diablo 4 Season 3.
Running from February 6th to the 20th, Lunar Shrines grant 50% XP per monster kill, a 30% movement speed boost, and an extra modifier beyond their usual effects. For instance, Lethal Shrines, in their Lunar New Year variant, provide a chance for instant enemy execution alongside critical strikes. Lunar-variant Shrines feature distinctive dragon skins for easy identification.
This guide delves into all Lunar additions and more.
Once the event is active, fast-travel to Ked Bardu and head to the northern section of town. There you'll meet Ying-Yue, who runs the Lunar Night Market, your main event hub for Lunar Awakening.
You can ask her about some interesting lore, check your Ancestral Favor reputation, and claim some sick rewards. There are 10 reputation levels to earn and 6 different Lunar-themed rewards to unlock.
The weapon skins for the event are the Lunar Scepter Wand, the Dragon's Courage Two-Handed Axe and the Moonshot Bow. If you're a fan of markings, there is a Dragon's Tapestry marking to unlock, as well as a Moon's Bounty mount trophy and the Moonborn Stallion mount.
Lunar Shrines are spread throughout Sanctuary, so just play as you normally would. You can find them in the overworld Vaults, Whisper bounties, and dungeons.
Speaking of dungeons, during the event, Nightmare Sigils have a chance to roll an Ancestor's Favor Dungeon Affix. This guarantees extra Shrines can spawn for that dungeon, and you will receive 10% bonus Glyph XP once complete.
Remember, you can only earn Ancestral Favor reputation while the Lunar Shrine effect is active, so make sure to rack up as many kills as you can before the time runs out.
Lunar Awakening Shrines are enhanced versions of regular Shrines, offering bonus XP, increased movement speed, and all the familiar powers along with an additional ability. Here are some examples.
For the Lunar Awakening Event in Diablo 4 Season 3, you must master these 2 tips.
Engage in the Lunar Celebrant local event for a classic monster-defense experience. Completing the Mastery objective triggers a bonus frenzy wave, making it more efficient than regular Shrines.
Earn bonus Glyph XP with Lunar Affix Nightmare Dungeon Sigils. Guaranteed Lunar Affix Nightmare Sigils in reputation reward tiers make the reputation grind self-reinforcing. Optimize efficiency by completing Whisper bounties parallel to events.
In summary, play Diablo 4 Season as you wish, reinforcing your preferred gameplay loop. Efficiently tackle Lunar events and dabble with Shrines for a rewarding experience.
There are some interesting lesser-known nuances with the Shrines in Diablo 4 Season 3.
Explore these lesser-known nuances with Shrines for an enhanced and strategic gameplay experience in Diablo 4 Season 3.
Here are some tips on how you can optimize Shrines and get more rewards.
Slay demons swiftly to align with the pace of conversation.
Personally wait for a good monster density before popping a Shrine for optimal impact.
Miserly Spirits contribute as a bonus to the local event Mastery objective.
The focus is on maximizing player enjoyment through rapid monster shredding.
Stockpiling Nightmare Sigils with Ancestor's Favor Affix is viable for post-event use.
Bonus Glyph XP remains on crafted Nightmare Dungeon Sigils even after the event concludes.
Inspired by the popularity of Gileon's Brew from Midwinter Blight, rewards are designed to persist.
This encourages players to stockpile for future use, ensuring rewards endure beyond the event.
Go ahead and stockpile for doomsday.
Occultist, as an Ascendancy class, is mainly related to Explode construction in Path of Exile. The monster actually explodes and does considerable damage to nearby enemies. In POE 3.23, however, Occultist reaches new heights, thanks to the new Transfigured Gem: Penance Brand of Dissipation!
Here I’m going to share our build guide for Penance Brand of Dissipation Occultist! If you’re interested in creating this character, don’t miss this build guide!
Our skill choice is Penance Brand of Dissipation. You create a brand, which will connect to an enemy and start collecting energy, dealing more and more damage per energy. When the maximum energy is 20, the brand will deal maximum damage until the end or the target dies and jumps to another target.
But to be honest, I don’t think the build will ever reach max stack because in Sanctum, most people will die after the first damage. Even the supreme boss will die after 2 seconds. But we can use the new Specters added to the game in this patch.
So why am I not using any Specters in Affliction League? Since I always try out some Uber Boss content, and Specters die easily on the map, it’s annoying to buy new ones every time. What’s more, if they weren’t in Sanctum, they were zero threat.
However, in Sanctum, the effect of Specters is completely different. So we use Specter, Perfect Spirit of Fortune. It will bring us Wrath Aura.
Another Specter is Perfect Hulking Miscreation. This gives us 20% of physical damage as bonus lightning damage. This is a big damage buff for this build.
To further increase our damage, we will use Animate Guardian in a basic setup, with Dying Breath as a weapon, which will give us more damage and also increase the aura effect used by Guardian.
Because we use Guardian’s Blessing, and select Haste Aura, we will move faster and cast spells faster.
We also use Leer Cast as a helmet, which also gives us more damage. Gruthkul’s Pelt acts as body armor, which will give him health regeneration. Southbound Gloves will also increase his maximum health.
To keep Specter and Animate Guardian at their best, we’ll use Convocation on left-click. This way they will transfer to us every few seconds and gain life regeneration.
Because this build is focused on critical hit damage, we’ll be using a lot of unique items that will give us more and more damage.
But I want to talk more about body armor, Dialla’s Malefaction. We need 2 red sockets because red sockets increase the gem level by 2. We insert Penance Brand and Empower here.
Other sockets need to be green. In green slots, they will gain +30% quality. This is the biggest damage increase and is much better than gem levels.
With all this, our gemstones will have 50% quality and Penance Brand will also reach level 27.
We’re going to convert all damage to lightning, and then convert it to cold with Call of the Brotherhood. This is because we can deal with cold damage better than lightning damage. And we can also freeze enemies so we can reduce the risk of getting hit in Sanctum.
Since this build has such high cold damage, we can also use Heatshiver. Based on cold damage, we take additional fire damage. We also take more damage if we hit a frozen target.
Malachai’s Loop deals with more spell damage and also grants 2 additional Power Charges. We can also use Badge of the Brotherhood to increase our maximum Frenzy Charges to 10.
Also, we cannot ignore Ralakesh’s Impatience, which will give our character Power Charges. So all 10 Power and Frenzy Charges will be activated and it will also give us Endurance Charges.
In this build we also use some unique items which will give us extra damage.
Next, let’s take a look at some of the important flasks you’ll need in this build.
Then I would like to highlight some key points from Penance Brand of Dissipation Occultist on Passive Tree, as well as some of the unique jewelry used.
Each Frenzy Charge deals with damage at 2% movement speed and penetrates elemental and all elemental resistances.
Watcher’s Eye takes additional physical damage as lightning damage while affected by Wrath. We get Wrath Aura from Specters, so it’s always active. And its movement skills have a good cooldown recovery rate when affected by Haste. This will give our Flame Dash a very short cooldown.
Militant Faith Timeless Jewel with carved to glorify a new faithful converted by high Templar Dominus. Note that we assign Inner Conviction here because it may convert the node you are using into a bad node.
Green Dream Viridian Jewel will give us extra cold damage.
We use Occultist as Ascendancy.
There is no doubt that Penance Brand of Dissipation Occultist is one of the best builds in Path of Exile 3.23 in terms of bosses and maps. While this build feels clunky at first, it gets better later on, especially if you’re already equipped with everything mentioned in this build guide!
Finesse Shot and Controlled Sprint are both old meta on FC 24, so what is the new meta on FC 24? That’s exactly what we’re going to learn today. In this guide, we’ll take a look at 4 game-changing new meta Skill Moves. Without further ado, let’s get started!
First, there is a new Skill Move introduced at FC 24 this year, and that is Flair Nutmeg. Even at the highest levels of the game, Flair Nutmeg and Flair Nutmeg Pass are the most impactful weapons.
I’m talking about Pro vs Pro gameplay, but not many people are using it in their games. I rarely encounter players using Flair Nutmeg Pass. As a new meta-Skill Move, this is definitely worth learning.
Flair Nutmeg is a new 5-star skill in EA FC. This means you can only use it on players with a 5-star Skill Move. To get the most out of Flair Nutmeg, it is necessary to spend FC 24 Coins on explosive players such as Kylian Mbappé, Marcus Rashford, or Ousmane Dembélé.
In fact, executing Flair Nutmeg is actually pretty simple. All you have to do is hold down L1/LB and R1/RB, flick the right analog stick to cancel the movement and rush in the specified direction. While we recommend using Flair Nutmeg to get into the side areas, you can go wherever you want.
So what is Flair Nutmeg Pass? It’s best used on wings. While we’re doing Flair Nutmeg, I’m going to press X, which will cancel Nutmeg animation. Then I’ll pass the ball to the excellent players. It’s a game-changer!
When you go down the side, your opponent may expect you to go straight in this game, but you have to surprise it. At this moment, the best way to surprise him is to use Flair Nutmeg Pass. This way, you can take a clever shot when your opponent isn’t expecting it. Now you have a new weapon to use on Wings.
One way to defend against Flair Nutmeg is to take a few steps back and hold L2 in line with Skill Move to make a tackle. However, be careful with this strategy, as missed tackles can leave a lot of room for the opposing striker.
Next on our list is Inverted Trivela. This Trivela technique involves hitting the ball with the outside of the foot, creating a turning effect. Use this technique during a match to surprise your opponents.
The goal is approached from that corner based on the player’s dominant foot. For example, if you are a right-footed football player, run towards the goal from the right side. Make sure to stay diagonal to the goal; otherwise, you won’t be able to get the shooting angle Trivela needs.
Before shooting, press and hold L2/LT button on your gamepad. Aim for the far post and keep shooting.
The far post detail is crucial here. The goal is to use the outside of your foot to shoot the ball into a corner that the goalkeeper cannot reach. So, no matter which corner you attack from, aim in the opposite direction of the goalkeeper on your gamepad.
Shooting ability is also something to pay attention to. It is crucial to adjust the power based on the distance from the target. Failure to do so could result in a shot being deflected or leaving it too easy for the goalkeeper to catch the ball.
Next we have Crossing. Crossing is the best trick we’ve seen since FIFA 19. And FC 24 Crossing is crazy and you really need to master it. Even at the highest levels of play, it’s the most threatening skill.
Classic Crossing in EA FC 24 is one of the best ways to get the ball into the box, especially when the forward is in a suitable position. However, it is important not to use too much force when passing the ball, lest the ball fly over the player’s head. Before you pass the ball, make sure your attacker is ready to receive the ball and shoot to complete the move.
There are many players in the game who can fill this role for you. As you can see, we have Ronaldo as RF and RAM, and what you want to do is you want to use L1 Square Cross. You can use it once you are in and around the area, or even inside the box. It will increase the force by 1 to 1.5 bars, making it more difficult for the goalkeeper to catch crosses.
The last one on the list is Player Lock Fake. Player Lock Fake is a game-changing move that you really need to master.
So how to implement Player Lock? You just need to hold down L3 and R3, then flick the right stick toward the player. So how do you fake it? You can cancel it by pressing R3 and L3 again.
Just like you can see in the example. If you’re running down the wing and a player moves inside. After you do this, most opponents will try to track the run. Then you just cancel it and choose another option directly. It’s all about finding space, utilizing space and creating space.
That’s it for the four new meta Skill Moves we’re talking about here: Flair Nutmeg Pass, Inverted Trivela, Crossing and Player Lock Fake. These are powerful skills that can change the rules of the game, so come and try them out!
Talking about defending in FC 24, there are 3 types of defending, which are Legacy, Tactical, and Advanced Defending. However, you can’t use Legacy Defending in competitive mode, meaning you can’t use it to play online games.
So, if you want to learn how to defend in FC 24, Tactical and Advanced Defending is what you need to learn.
In Legacy Defending, by holding X, your player will press the ball holder.
But that’s not how it works in Tactical and Advanced Defending. This is what will happen if you hold X or A to contain in Tactical and Advanced Defending: observe the behavior of the player with the indicator.
Instead of the player standing in front of the attacker and challenging him, he will just run beside him. That means, in Tactical and Advanced Defending, you need to be the one to control the behavior of your defenders.
Jockeying is crucial to control the behavior of your players when defending.
Whenever your opponent is approaching, instead of holding X or A to press the attacker, what you need to do is hold L2 or LT button. By holding the L2 or LT button, your player will stand in a good shape to defend.
Then, use your left analog to move your player while holding the L2 or LT button.
Whenever you’re using the Jockey, your first objective is to deny him of free passage. Your second objective is to place yourself in a position to block any shot he plays. Your third objective is to wait for him to try and dribble past you. But since you’re standing in front of him, you will win the ball.
The last thing is to wait for the perfect time to use Stand Tackle to win the ball.
To use Stand Tackle in Tactical or Advanced Defending, press the button you used to shoot.
You can also use Hard Stand Tackle. This is more effective than a normal Stand Tackle. Hold R1 or RB, then press Circle to use this.
Whenever you want to make the tackle, make sure it’s from forward to avoid any foul. If you tackle from behind, you will give away a free kick or penalty inside the box.
Also, get the timing right because if you miss a tackle, it won’t be easy to recover with that player.
Now, let’s go back to Jockey and talk about how to use Speed Jockey and when to use it.
Once you hold L2 or LT to activate your Jockey, your player’s speed will reduce. So, if the attacker is moving fast in front of you, you need to use the Speed Jockey to keep up with him.
To perform this, hold your Sprint button together with the Jockey button. There are some situations in which your opponent will get past you while using Jockey.
Then, you need to take your hands off the Jockey button and let your player run at full speed to get the ball. To do this, use your left analog and Sprint button only to control your player.
Let’s talk about how to keep a good defensive structure when playing the game.
If you use all the defensive techniques very well but can’t keep a good structure when defending, it won’t be enough. That is why I’m going to teach you how to avoid those common mistakes that always make your defense slack.
Firstly, whenever your opponent is attacking, don’t ever press with any one of your 2 center backs. Pressing with either one of them will destroy your defensive shape. If your opponent is a good attacker, he will utilize the opportunity you gave him.
To keep a good defensive shape, your right back, left back, and 2 center backs should be intact with no cursor on them. If you rush out to press with one of your center backs with no 100% guarantee of winning the ball back, you will leave your defense vulnerable.
It’s not forbidden to switch to your center backs. You can switch to your center back to anticipate and stop your opponent’s movement. Once I see his opponent making a run, I switch to the center back to stop the run. The difference here is that I switch to my center back to drop back. The other one is that I switch to my center back to press. You should know the difference and avoid making mistakes.
Anytime your opponent is attacking, press with your midfielders or any other players except the center back. Pressing with your midfielders will keep your defensive shape, and your opponents will find it hard to go through.
Of course, if you learn these tips and know how to properly invest your FC 24 Coins in your players, winning various games easily will be a piece of cake for you!
Greetings and welcome to the latest guide for WoW Classic Season of Discovery Phase 2, with a primary emphasis on the Feral Druid within PvP.
I've labeled it as speculation due to the uncertainty surrounding the runes scheduled for the upcoming phase. Thus, our discussion will revolve around the runes speculated on forums and the essential abilities that Feral Druids urgently require for improved playability in PvP.
Phase 1 was and still is very rough and unfair for Feral when it comes to PvP. We are forced to play every kind of hybrid build with Cat Form kiting and Sunfire spams. But that’s not the cat we want. I mean, we are not even using Feral abilities and Feral talents, so we can’t really consider it as a Feral. On the other side, if you try to use cat abilities as the main source of DPS, we still run the balance tree to get the clarity and pray for it to proc for the instant Shred because it’s unusable with 60 energy and not so good DPS. The only good thing is the Feral talent that allows us to refresh 40 energy instantly whenever we shape-shift, but that’s also limited because of mana problems.
Our other spells are Rake and Shred. Rake has so low DPS even with Savage Roar and Mangle bleed buff, and it costs the same as Mangle but does less DPS. Feral is almost made as a one-ability class in this phase, which I can’t accept.
But before we jump into runes’ prediction and the things we hope we get in the next phase, let’s talk about abilities and talents.
At Level 40, there is some fantastic news for new abilities. We are finally getting our stealth opener ability, Pounce. So, we don’t walk cluelessly around in stealth just to hit a Mangle. Pounce allows us to hit 1 free ability, get 2 combo points, and hit a couple of auto attacks while our target is still stunned. However, we still have energy issues.
Another opener ability we got between Levels 20 and 40 is Ravage, which actually deals with some nice damage but costs 60 energy and doesn’t stun the target. So, we need Pounce to get actual opening damage with these 2 different abilities. Having in mind that with Pounce, we deal with a couple of auto attacks while the target is stunned.
Next, the brand-new ability is finally another combo point finisher called Ferocious Bite. It deals instant damage, unlike Rip, which deals damage over time. However, the use of these 2 is situational, but Rip still remains the best DPS finisher with numbers.
But it’s not always about the numbers in PvP. New levels don’t bring us just attacking potential news but also defensive ones. At Level 40, we are getting Dire Bear Form and Frenzied Regeneration, which boosts our defensive capabilities a lot. A Level 40 Druid with proper PvP items and the talent Survival of the Fittest had some insane HP, like 4,500 health and about 40% to 50% reduced damage. And when we add Frenzied Regeneration on top of that, that makes Druids insanely hard to kill in Phase 2 in Bear Form.
Next to offensive and defensive capabilities, we also have a Cat Form Dash and Travel Form so we can actually close the gap with enemies or kite them and heal. But wait, a lot of shape-shifting also requires a lot of manas. But there is also a solution for that. We are getting innervate at Level 40, which regens our mana on some insane scales, so we can actually shape-shift and heal in the middle of the fight.
These abilities and possibilities bring Feral Druid surely onto another level when it comes to PvP. We are not a one-ability spec anymore.
For talents, we can finally spend our points where they belong - in a Feral tree. Some of the important and matchable talents would be Sharpened Claws, which increases our crit chance in Cat Form by 6%, and Blood Frenzy, which adds another combo point whenever we make a Critical Strike with an ability. This is one of the game-changers and the start of the better times that will come for Feral Druids.
On top of that, this talent will make Druids actually stack agility instead of strength because now we have direct advantages for our Critical Strike, which wasn’t the case in Phase 1. Strength still gives us 2 points of attack power, while Agility gives us 1 point and gives us bonus armor, dodge, and crit. For every 20 points of Agility, we get 1% of critical chance.
The next important talent we are getting is Improved Shred, which reduces its cost by 11 energy. And by the time we hit level 40, we will have a Level 3 Shred with some increased damage, plus a 30% bonus scale from Mangle bleed effect. So prepare yourself in case these crits.
Other mentions would be Savage Fury, which finally boosts our Rake damage and will probably make it worth with Savage Roar and Mangle bonus, like in Phase 1, where damage sucked hard. But this talent also increases the Claw damage, which means our Mangle is getting buffed once again for the same energy cost.
There are also Predatory Strikes and Heart of the Wild for Faerie Fire (Feral), and even Feral Aggres sion in case we decide to go for Ferocious Bite damage.
As I mentioned because there are a lot of variations we can try, and all that still depends on runes we are actually getting in Phase 2. And with runes being mentioned, let’s see what we had on the runes’ wishlist: Eclipse, Berserk and Tree of Life. So, they are more or less aiming for each spec to have their ultimate rune. These 3 would be surely the game-changers in both PvP and PvE.
Berserk would surely make a big difference, especially in PvP, where we could hit 5, 6, or 7 Mangles in a row, which on this damage scale would be probably absurd. While in PvE, Berserk is already decent with DPS, so getting this ability would be a blast. But I don’t think we are getting Berserk in this phase. I think that’s an ability saved for later phases.
Still, it’s not impossible because we don’t know what runes other specs are getting. So, I would rather talk about realistic things that Feral lacks at the moment and the runes that would be nice to get for a much better experience in PvP.
The first thing that comes to my mind, thinking about PvP and PvE, is a Tiger’s Fury. This ability is completely useless at the moment. With a 30 energy cost, this energy cost should be zero, or even better for Feral, would be something like a talent from the Cat called King of the Jungle to make our Tiger’s Fury restore 20, 30, or 40 energy when used and keep the ability damage bonus. That would be a blast in both PvP and PvE, especially in PvP because now we got Pounce opener, and this would lead to instant 3 to 4 combo points in the opener without our enemy moving at all.
While we still talk about offensive runes, I have to mention Primal Gore. This one would be amazing, but I think it’s less likely to happen, and we would probably need to sacrifice one of the other PvP runes we are talking about now if we want to use it. Probably, this one would be used much more in PvE.
The next game-changing rune for PvP would surely be Predatory Strikes. With 5 combo points, we get an instant ability, which we can use either for Entangling Roots to kite or instant healing like Healing Touch. This rune would improve survivability and stability in fights, so we don’t need to constantly shift into Travel Form and waste tons of mana on shape-shifting. I don’t even think this is something unfair when I compare it to the Priest survival ability and damage in Phase 1, which is insane.
And the last thing Feral Druid needs is some kind of slow to control the fight and make Shreds easier to land. A perfect solution could be Infected Wounds with a 50% movement speed reduction debuff from Mangle. But this one wouldn’t be a game-changer to actually waste 1 whole rune on this. For example, a combination of 70% from agility into healing done and a 50% slow on Mangle should be a nice combination for just 1 rune, which would add much more stability in our fights.
Something that could also be considered adding in Phase 2, for example, Apex Predator’s Craving, where our Rip has a chance to proc Ferocious Bite. Because I feel that Ferocious Bite won’t be used much since we have so much bonus bleed damage, and Rip just outperforms it for pure numbers. This free Ferocious Bite damage doesn’t need to be at maximum 5 combo points.
Welcome to another POE 3.23 builds guide. Each week I’ll choose a theme and show you my three favorite builds.
Today’s topic is for those players who like to stay and call the shots. I’m talking about Minion Builds. if you want to try any of them, then don’t miss this guide. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Let’s start with this classic minion build, like there are fireworks on the screen, Mage Skeletons Guardian with Templar class.
I’m sure you’ll remember that to turn regular skeletons into Mage Skeletons, you once needed a unique Jewel called Dead Reckoning. This all changes thanks to the introduction of the new Transfigured Gems.
Now we have Summon Skeletons of Mage Gem, which naturally summons Mage Skeletons without any mandatory unique items, and for a much lower price. This means Mage Skeletons become a better starter than before.
To list the pros of this build, I’ll start with its survivability. With Guardian Ascendancy, you have nearly a 75% chance of blocking attacks and spells, and massive life regeneration and the new Sentinel of Radiance can take 20% of damage for you.
Best of all, this is a very safe minion build to play. Because you stay behind your minions, they can kill enemies from a long distance. With the new Elemental Relic, you and your minions can gain 3 damage auras completely for free, allowing for massive boss damage.
Now to list the cons, the first thing I’d say is that Mage Skeletons don’t move. They feel more like totems in the build. Therefore, you need to keep re-summoning them as you clear the map.
Guardian Ascendancy also doesn’t get the speed boost from Flesh Offering like Necromancer does. So it’s a little slow.
On top of that, this build also doesn’t give you and your minions an exceptional 30% resistance to all elements compared to Necromancer. If you don’t look for minion resistance on your rare gear, this could result in your Zombies and Specters dying from elemental damage.
This build was fairly low budget. You only need about 50 Chaos Orbs to destroy the early EndGame map. To easily advance to Yellow Map, I recommend investing around 120 Chaos Orbs. If you want to complete your atlas easily, I recommend investing in 4 Divine Orbs.
For clear speed, I would give it an 8 out of 10. You have many skeletons firing many projectiles at a high cast rate. The two points I deducted are because Mage Skeletons don’t move and you need to keep re-summoning them, and also because Guardian doesn’t get Flesh Offering speed buff like Necromancer does.
Its boss damage is also amazing and deserves a score of 9 out of 10. With the new Returning Projectiles Support Gem, 100% of projectiles will hit the enemy twice. But since it’s not as powerful as the nerfed Anomalous Faster Projectiles, I removed a bit.
For this survivability, I would give it a 10 out of 10. This version has tons of defensive layers, like high armor, a 75% chance to block attacks and spells, and a minion that can take 20% off the damage for you. And since it’s a minion build, you’re always out of danger.
Now let’s take the previous build to another level and use Archer Skeletons Guardian with Templar class.
I’m pretty sure by now you all know that the very popular Mage Skeletons build nicely with the new Transfigured Gems. We also have Summon Skeletons of Archers now, so I spent the weekend trying it out and got this super fun build. So I hope you all enjoy it.
To list the pros of this build, I’d start with its balance. Unlike Mage Skeletons, this build has a smoother clearing speed and can deal more damage to bosses.
And this one isn’t complicated to build either, we just need a very cheap mandatory unique item. On top of that, as a Guardian, we still have three damage auras for free and a minion that takes 20% of the damage for us.
Now to list the cons, I’ll start by saying that while this build is still very tanky and safe, it’s not quite as tanky as Mage Skeletons staff build because it has less chance to block. But don’t worry, if you keep an eye on your position in time, you’ll have a hard time dying.
As for budget, this build is pretty cheap. You only need about 80 Chaos Orbs to destroy early endgame maps. To easily advance to Yellow Map, I recommend investing around 150 Chaos Orbs. To easily complete your atlas, I recommend investing in 4 Divine Orbs. But you can definitely do it for less money.
For this build, you only need one mandatory unique item, which is Lioneye’s Vision Armor, which already provides Pierce Support and allows us to give our skeleton one more Support Gem.
For clear speed, it deserves 9 points. We have a lot of Archer Skeletons, which fire a lot of arrows and have a high attack speed. Unlike Mage Skeletons version that uses Spell Echo Support, we can easily cast 4 skeletons at once in different locations and greatly increase their damage angle.
Its boss damage is amazing and deserves a full 10 points. It can even destroy those endgame bosses in seconds, and that’s just using Determination Aura. But if you’re playing in Affliction League, you can use Specter of the Guardian Turtle to get free Determination Aura, and Pride to deal more damage.
I would give it a 9 out of 10 for this survivability. As a minion build, you can stay out of harm’s way while they tank for you and kill everything. This is a very safe style of play.
And this build also has over 90,000 effective HP because of its high armor, block chance, and minions that take 20% of the damage for you. I’ll just point out that because we don’t use this staff like Mage Skeletons version, we end up with less chance of blocking in terms of effective HP.
Finally, we have a surprising endgame build, Poison Raging Spirits Guardian with Templar class.
This build takes advantage of the large number of Raging Spirits we can summon to stack massive amounts of poison on our enemies. Initially, I tried to make it a Necromancer. But with Guardian, we only lose a little of damage, but nearly triple the survivability.
To list the pros of this build, I’ll start with its boss damage. Once the build is complete, we’ll kill the biggest boss in just a few seconds. Survivability is also amazing, as we can have all of Guardian’s layers of defense on top of an already very safe minion build.
Now to list the cons, I’ll start by saying that this version isn’t for everyone. You’ll need plenty of POE Currency to assemble this build. Another problem is that Raging Spirits have a short duration and you have to stop frequently to re-summon them.
As for budget, this build will require at least 10 Divine Orbs to put together. Like I said, this is an expensive build.
Also, this build requires four required unique items.
The first is United in Dream Sword, which gives us Envy Aura, which deals with massive chaos damage to our minions. It also gives them a 60% chance of being poisoned on hit.
We also need a Darkness Enthroned Belt with two Abyssal Jewel Sockets so that we have a 100% chance of poisoning our minions.
Next we need a piece of Covenant Armor to provide level 29 Added Chaos Damage Support to our Raging Spirits. This means we have more chaos damage.
Finally, we need Ancient Skull, which gives our minions a massive damage and attack on speed boost.
For clear speed, I would give this a 9 out of 10. Even though we have a lot of fast minions that can destroy everything in seconds, their duration is short and they need to be re-summoned all the time, which is why I removed one point.
Its boss damage is totally worth a 10 out of 10. You can easily get over 30 million DPS, which is enough to take out every boss in the game.
This is definitely a 10 out of 10 in terms of survivability. As a minion build, you’re already out of danger. On top of that, you have a number of layers of defense from Guardian Ascendancy, which gives this build a staggering 250,000 effective HP.
That’s it for today, guys, what do you think of these minion builds? Please take a moment to tell me what you think. Have a great day and don’t forget to keep building.
Palworld encompasses everything: combat, farming, crafting, collecting, and exploration. These constitute crucial elements within this open-world survival game, where you coexist with both adorable and dangerous creatures known as Pals.
Given the multitude of activities available in the game, numerous options exist for commencing your adventure. Here are 7 primary steps in Palworld to lay the groundwork for a successful initial night survival.
While you have the freedom to explore the world for hidden treasures and collectibles, the initial tasks in Palworld serve as an excellent starting point.
To begin, gather materials essential for crafting survival items. Locate at least 2 pieces of Wood on the ground or opt to punch trees for collection. Heading north from your starting point in the Plateau of Beginnings leads to an Expedition Survivor, providing 10 Wood. While there, ensure to unlock fast travel at the Great Eagle Statue, earning you 1 Technology Point.
With these preparations complete, it's time to construct a Primitive Workbench, allowing you to craft a diverse range of items. Initially, you can place the workbench anywhere, knowing that you'll have the flexibility to disassemble it and retrieve materials at your convenience.
Advancing in the game grants you Technology Points, which serve to unlock crafting and building recipes. These points are earned through leveling up and unlocking fast travel points at the Great Eagle Statues.
Allocate your initial 6 Technology Points strategically by investing in the Palbox for establishing your base, the Pal Sphere for capturing Pals, the Campfire for warmth and cooking, the Wooden Chest for material storage, and the Wooden Structure Set for constructing a house.
Now that you've unlocked Pal Spheres, it's time to catch Pals to help you survive.
If you're lucky, you might find Pal Spheres on the ground or in treasure chests scattered throughout the world. But you'll likely need to craft these items, which require 3 Wood, 3 Stone, and 1 Paldium Fragments.
Find these materials on the ground or continue punching rocks. Paldium Fragments can be gathered from the small sparkling blue rocks. Once you gather the required materials, head to your Primitive Workbench and craft Pal Spheres.
There are few options for Pals in this initial area, but Cattiva is a very useful Pal to have around because of their cat helper partner skills that help carry supplies to increase your Max Carrying Capacity.
Additionally, Cattiva has multiple uses for your base, assisting with building & crafting, transporting goods, collecting crops for farming, and mining stone and ore.
Note that Cattiva will run away from you when you get close. One way to catch Cattiva is to corner it in an area, then attack to weaken it and throw your Pal Sphere to attempt to catch it.
Be careful if you're in an area with multiple Cattiva because the others will turn aggressive and attack you.
With your first Pal caught, it's time to build your base. You want to build your first base in a flat, open area near resources.
There are multiple spots north of the starting area to choose from. You might consider finding a spot a little bit away from a fast travel statue because you'll also be able to fast travel to your base. You'll be able to unlock the ability to create multiple bases later on, so don't stress too much about it as long as you have nearby resources to gather.
Once you have a good spot for base building, access your build menu to find the Palbox. You'll need 1 Paldium Fragment, 8 Wood, and 3 Stone to build it. If you have Cattiva or any other Pal that has the Handiwork suitability out of their Pal Sphere, they will assist you while building structures in your base.
You can also assign a Pal to work on your base by accessing the Palbox management menu. Cattiva will often get straight to mining nearby rocks.
Now that you have a base location, you can start building a house, storage chest, and campfire.
These structures require lots of Wood, so it's best to craft tools to help you gather Wood and Stone more efficiently than punching trees and rocks.
Make sure you have a workbench in the area to craft items if you set up your base away from your initial workbench spot. Start with crafting a Stone Axe, which requires 5 Wood and 5 Stone. The axe will let you chop trees together Wood and Fiber more quickly. Gather more Wood with the axe if needed. Also, build a Stone Pickaxe for mining.
Holding on to all these resources will weigh you down, so you'll want to build a Wooden Chest for storing materials to avoid encumbrance. Place the chest in a location near your resources. This is helpful for Pals to carry items to the chest without needing to walk far.
As you too expend energy during the day, your hunger meter will deplete. You can restore this bar by consuming food.
Find food by gathering berries from nearby bushes, or by drops from Pals you attack. You'll have an option to eat these items from your inventory. Note that food rots over time and will vanish when they spoil. Eventually, you'll be able to store items in a cooler to prevent rotting.
Your Pals also have their own hunger meter that needs to be replenished as they provide labor on the base. At level 4, you'll be able to unlock a Feed Box with Technology Points where you can place food for your Pals to automatically eat at the base when they're hungry.
Finally, you need to make sure you have a way to survive your first night.
You'll either need a source of warmth or a bed to sleep through the night. Craft a Hand-held Torch if you want to use the least amount of resources. It only requires 2 Wood and 2 Stone.
The torch is also useful if you want to explore on foot at night. You can also build a campfire to provide warmth and a way to cook food to replenish your hunger faster.
Alternatively, you can unlock and craft Cloth to make a Cloth Outfit, which requires Wool. Wool drops from Lamball when you attack them. The Cloth Outfit protects against cold at night so you can explore and hunt down those nocturnal Pals.
If you want to craft a bed and skip nighttime entirely, you also need to build a structure with a roof. Unlock the shotty bed at level 3 in your Technology menu and build it using 20 Wood, 5 Fiber, and 1 Wool.
While you're spending Technology Points, also be sure to unlock the Straw Pal Bed so your Pals at the base can recover at night.
And that's 7 things to do first in Palworld to survive your first night.
Did you know that Magic Find is arguably the most popular attribute in Diablo game? Did you know that Magic Find is still present in Diablo 4 even after it’s fully released? Are you interested in learning how this innovative and interesting property became completely useless in Diablo 3 and was eventually removed entirely in Diablo 4?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then hang on. This guide outlines the rise and fall of Magic Find during the evolution of Diablo game.
Magic Find was first introduced in 2000 with the release of Diablo 2, and it remains one of the most important statistics for players, especially after the launch of Diablo 2: Resurrected.
Magic Find is the stat that everyone wants: it increases the drop rate of Magic, Rare, Unique and Set items by a percentage of the original drop rate. So if your character has 50% Magic Find, and a mob or boss has a 1% chance of dropping a Magic item, you actually have a 1.5% chance of getting that item.
In Diablo 2, Magic Find can be obtained not only through equipment but also through runes. It can be used to enhance your gear, gems, can be embedded into items, as well as charms of different sizes, and can be added to your inventory to add stats to your character.
In an interesting twist, you need to give up Magic Find for different character powers: inventory space for Charms, and actual combat stats for Runes, Gems and Items.
Part of Diablo 2’s endgame is balancing the amount of Magic Find you have while maintaining a strong enough character to kill monsters and bosses effectively. Best of all, Magic Find has no upper limit. The roll limits the amount of Magic Find you have only on the item, with a theoretical maximum of just over 1,100%.
As you might imagine, finding more and more Magic Find was, and still is, a big part of Diablo 2. Because it’s really fun to have a stat that actually changes the drop rate in your favor.
The developers have further improved this system by adding new Magic Find sources in the expansion Lord of Destruction.
It’s clear that Magic Find, combined with Rune and Runeword systems, has contributed greatly to Diablo 2’s playability and success so far. As a result, there are still many players playing Diablo 2: Resurrected, especially with the game being updated semi-regularly.
With Diablo 3, the developers took a more conservative approach. But they seem to view balancing the game around Magic Find as more of a hurdle.
Their reasoning is that if players can increase the drop rate so much, then the base drop rate without any Magic Find will be very low, similar to Diablo 2.
We all know where these decisions lead: each Rift Guardian drops a ton of Legendary and Set items, but 99.9% of the loot is worthless and players have a full set of gear after half a day of playing.
Overall, Diablo is becoming a game for casual players.
When looking through several pieces of loot I’ve picked up on exits in D2 in the past, I found that the game gives you so many Legendary and Set items that checking them all one by one feels cumbersome and a waste of time.
This has even forced developers to introduce new rare items, such as Ancient and Primal Ancient Legendaries, that have better or higher rolling stats than the original items.
While I believe Reaper of Souls expansion and subsequent released seasons did improve the overall quality of the base game, it certainly pushed the series further toward casual players and away from the original two games.
The changes to Magic Find are just part of the bigger picture. Magic Find in the original Diablo 3 is very similar to the effect in Diablo 2. However, after many changes, its importance slowly but steadily waned.
Originally, Magic Find percentage was a stat that could be rolled randomly on items, with a hard cap of 300% on Magic Find coming from gear. This hard cap immediately eliminates the exciting balance between Magic Find and character abilities we discussed in Diablo 2.
With the introduction of the original Paragon system, you’ll gain 3% of Magic Find per Paragon level. Unfortunately, this and the vast majority of Magic Find you could get from gear were removed with Reaper of Souls expansion, save for a few special perks on legendary items that are considered largely useless today.
Also, the expansion also imposes a heavy penalty on your existing Magic Find for increasing the drop chance of Rare and Legendary items: only 20% of Magic Find is added to the drop chance of Rare items. For Legendary and Set items, this number is even only 5%.
This means that a hard cap of 300% Magic Find will increase your Rare item drop rate by 60%, while Legendary item drop rates will only increase by 15%. These numbers are obviously a far cry from Diablo 2’s numbers. This makes the incentive to equip the few remaining items with this property essentially non-existent.
In fact, players don’t need to balance their character’s power with the amount of Magic Find they carry. This resulted in Diablo 3 having to introduce several difficulty levels: 16 Torment levels and several Greater Rift levels.
But all levels have increasing chances of dropping more and better loot. This gives players access to hundreds of different game modes with varying difficulties, rather than just a few difficulty levels, and makes it harder for those who choose to carry more Magic Find by making them give up character powers.
As for Diablo 4, not many players know that Magic Find did exist in the game for a short period. Because its impact is even smaller than Diablo 3.
You can’t even get it by installing Magic Find on your gear or through Paragon Board.
The only appearance of Magic Find in Diablo 4 is as an affix on Nightmare Dungeon Sigils.
Nightmare Dungeon is an endgame activity in which players open dungeons using Sigils, who determine the dungeon’s difficulty and certain attributes. These attributes are called affixes, one of which is Magic Find.
No one knows exactly what this affix does, other than a brief description of “You find more items from enemies.” The exact percentage of this bonus and the items it affects were never actually revealed. But some players have reported significant increases in loot, especially when running Nightmare Dungeon with this affix.
Despite this, players have found a way to abuse Magic Find affix by using a trick to keep resetting the same Nightmare Dungeon repeatedly, thus keeping the bonus permanently active.
You may have noticed that I used the past tense when talking about Magic Find in Diablo 4. Because the developer’s response to this abuse was to remove Magic Find affix from any newly dropped Nightmare Sigils. They also later fixed a bug that allowed players to endlessly reset Nightmare Dungeon with the same affix.
So today, despite probably spamming the same Nightmare Dungeon endlessly, Magic Find simply doesn’t exist in the game. All we can do is wonder if it will be added again.
This is the story of the rise and fall of Magic Find in Diablo: from the core game mechanics to the barely noticeable affixes that were removed from the game to prevent misuse. Which implementation of Magic Find is your favorite? See you next time!
Hello fellow adventurers! Today, we’ll be taking a thorough analysis into Gnomeregan lore, history, mysteries, unanswered questions, and how they’ll finally be resolved in Season of Discovery.
As we approach February 8 launch, it’s crucial to understand the background, not just for curiosity’s sake but for strategy. After all, knowledge is power in WOW Classic.
Therefore, in this first part, I will discuss the controversial legend surrounding Gnomeregan.
The story of Gnomeregan is one of innovation, tragedy and unsolved mysteries. We need to explore the key events that shaped this iconic place.
It all started in the mountains, where Dwarves and Gnomes lived together in Dun Morogh. They were both smart and resourceful. Thus, after Dwarves and Gnomes worked together to create a magnificent city called Gnomeregan, the two races quickly developed a friendship.
It’s a fantastic and very tech-focused city, so for a while, everything was fine. Gnomes invented amazing machines and gadgets that more than made up for their small stature.
A high Council of Gnomes led them, eventually electing Mekkatorque as their leader. Also in this Council of Gnomes is Sicco Thermaplugg, one of the most genius Gnome inventors and the most ambitious of all Gnomes. He dreams of one day expanding Gnomeregan further into the lands of Dwarf.
Regardless, Gnomes lived here for many years until a Dwarven Expedition entered Azeroth.
After easily slaughtering Dwarven Expedition, all Troggs were awakened from their slumber, and Troggs tracked Dwarves back to Ironforge. Thus began a long and terrible war between Troggs and Gnomes. Their city is under siege. Troggs are slowly advancing, and Gnomes are desperate.
But Troggs are mainly at the bottom, which seems to be a blessing. So all they need is to move all Gnomes to the upper levels, and then Gnomes can release all the toxic radiation from the machines in the city to the lower levels. This will kill Troggs instantly. After the cleanup, Gnomes could move back, but that was how Gnomes’ downfall began.
In fact, Troggs didn’t die when the radiation was released into the ground floor. They just get stronger. Meanwhile, a filtering system that was supposed to keep the upper Gnomes safe failed completely. A shocking 80% of the entire Gnome population either died or became irradiated Evil Gnomes.
At this point, the irradiated Gnomes and Troggs have completely disappeared, with their new leader, Thermaplugg.
But Thermaplugg has also been affected by the radiation, and is more crazy and ambitious than ever. Meanwhile, their city was completely destroyed, and the remaining healthy Gnomes had to flee to Ironforge, where they remain to this day.
Despite its rich history, Gnomeregan leaves many unanswered questions: why has it not been reclaimed, and what secrets does it hold? Let’s delve deeper into these mysteries.
The first question is why the city had not been recaptured during the initial attack.
At the time, the rest of Azeroth was busy dealing with Scourge, fighting Lich King, and messing with Defile mechanics. But after Third War, powerful forces combined with the remaining Gnome population could easily reclaim the city. In fact, the only attempts to retake the city occurred far away from Little Fanfare.
Another question surrounding Gnomeregan is why Troggs attacked in the first place.
The common answer is that factories are really noisy and Troggs is attracted to the noise. Although Troggs are barbaric in nature, they are also known for hoarding Titan Artifacts.
What do you think it is about Gnomeregan that is so attractive to Troggs that it warrants a multi-year siege? This is the beauty of Season of Discovery. Because we finally have a chance to get answers to these unanswered questions in Phase 2, we no longer have to think about how to change the story and what new chapters might be added.
We’ll hear back by February 8th. Because we knew we’d be revisiting Gnomeregan with a raid group and facing a new, more challenging Thermaplugg.
If we can defeat Thermaplugg once and for all, this could be the beginning of urban reclamation.
We expect Phase 2 will feature new quest chains with raid rewards. These quest chains may open up new lore and insights.
One possibility is to create a new staging center near Gnomeregan, which has vendors and NPCs and is the perfect place to organize attacks on new raids.
There is another key legend. We found that there is also a lot of speculation about Shadowy Figure helping you get epic craft in Phase 1. Many speculate that this is Xal’atath.
If that’s the case, she’ll likely be back to help us get more epic gear and new artifacts, with new raids coming soon. This is truly the perfect time to explore the engineering marvels and rare artifacts Gnomes have preserved in the city’s underbelly.
This means that countless machines and gadgets lost during the war will eventually be recovered in engineering-themed raids. There is a good chance that there will be unique and exciting items that have never been seen before.
So you might be wondering why Gnomeregan is such a perfect raid environment. Let’s look at the different aspects that make it ideal for raiding.
The first aspect that makes it so perfect is the verticality. As you enter from the top and take the elevator down, you descend into the dungeon, where it becomes more challenging. After all, this is the most vertical dungeon in Vanilla, located next to Sunken Temple.
So we could potentially see any mechanic, and we could even get some crazy stuff like launching players into the air to assist us.
As we get deeper into Gnomeregan, the elevators kill a lot of raiders. While Gnomeregan’s elevators don’t have buttons, we’ll probably find them all in one place.
There’s another marvel of engineering in the raid, and that’s the unique vendor system. Where you can exchange specific drops for rewards.
Imagine you don’t need the typical low value rewards from Vendor-Tron. You have a chance to earn epic crafting materials and loot in new raids.
There’s also Punch Card system, which is part of Data Rescue Quest for Alliance. You can have random cards that drop and unlock doors to new rewards and maybe even some secret boss encounters. This is probably my favorite part of Gnomeregan raid.
It’s a city full of secrets, locked bolts and mysterious buttons that may well lead to rare treasures and unseen artifacts. I really hope the developers incorporate the original spirit of invention, mystery, and curiosity that built this city so long ago in Gnome.
Understanding the legend of Gnomeregan is more than just a matter of satisfying our curiosity. It is also about adding depth and experience to the challenges we will face in the future. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on Gnomeregan lore and potential solutions to unanswered questions.
I know there are still some players who are concerned about their Mage leveling and farming. So in this guide, I want to bring you my 10 tips and tricks that will help your Mage become better at AOE farming in WoW Classic Season of Discovery. So if you are ready, let's get straight to these tips without wasting any time!
For those that don’t know, AOE that comes from player models can have their range increased by jumping when they cast the spell. We used to jump to maximize the distance so that sappers would go. This works well with all AOE that come from the player. I will use Arcane Explosion, and it does not hit the mob. Neither of us moves, but when I jump in the air, my Arcane Explosion gets a little extra distance. A lot of the time when I am Arcane Explosion spamming, I will be jumping to make sure I am hitting every mob in my range.
Daze is a pretty annoying mechanic. It reduces your move speed by 50%, and if you are unlucky, you can get chain dazed and die. You have 2 options to bypass this mechanic, both of them pretty cool. When a mob strikes your back, there's a possibility of experiencing Daze. You can avoid daze easily by making sure you turn and face the mobs as they are hitting you. Another way to avoid daze is by shield effects. You are unable to be dazed when you have a shield buff applied. This includes Power Word: Shield, Mana Shield, and Ice Barrier.
Quick note: You can only be dazed by melee attacks, not ranged attacks. Using Mana Shield and Ice Barrier, as well as facing mobs, will be key to future farms in avoiding daze.
Leeway is in the game for lag and melee attacking. It’s a latency system that buffers melee combat to allow people to hit targets a little further than you normally would in case there is weird lag going on. Melee swings can cover a much larger distance with leeway attacks.
When someone in combat is strafing or jumping, melee range is increased by a lot. This happens for enemy mobs too. If you are strafing or jumping, they will benefit from leeway. This is a trick we see used a lot currently in Wailing Caverns. You can avoid a lot of melee damage taken when abusing leeway correctly, such as backpedaling while kiting.
Ice Block is used for more than just saving your life. It is very important for getting a lot of mobs stacked in one spot. When you Ice Block, all ranged mobs will stop using their ranged attacks. When you’re in an Ice Block, all ranged mobs will run to your position and start auto-attacking your Ice Block. There are a lot of farms where you can not line of sight and get ranged mobs closer to you.
You will see Mages constantly using Ice Block to get numerous units stacked for an easy kill. When you leave an Ice Block, never jump, as this will cause you to take a lot more damage from melee attacks. If you just hold forward out of the Ice Block and spam Nova, you’ll be able to avoid a lot of instant damage coming out of the Ice Block.
The World Buff from BFD is pretty massive, and the main reason for this is 20% move speed. In WoW Classic, the only way to get this kind of buff was from The Zanza elixir. This buff was massive for basically every dungeon farm in the game. The 20% move speed allows you to easily outpace mobs with Blink and avoid huge amounts of damage. While the other buffs from Boon of Blackfathom are also incredible. But it is not a good idea if you are farming without 20% move speed.
Engineers get access to a lot of cool toys and effects that can assist in farming, but the main reason you want it is for Grenades, Sappers, and Dynamite. Even for just Phase 1. Let’s talk about the the Heavy Dynamite. Heavy Dynamite does 128 to 172 damage. Arcane Explosion Rank 2 does 58 to 65 and costs 120 Mana. So, on average, one Dynamite is worth 2 to 3 explosions of damage and Mana.
Being able to kill all the mobs before they can run away very smoothly. As we get further into Season of Discovery, our pulls will become much longer and more intense on our Mana. Dynamite, having a 60-second cooldown, will allow you to get multiple casts off in the longer pulls. It’s very important. I couldn't recommend Engineering more.
This may seem like an obvious one, but I want to emphasize the scaling of spell power with Living Bomb. The kill phase is way cleaner, and I have plenty of Mana left over for Arcane Explosion. Living Bomb scaling with spell damage is amazing. I recommend prioritizing it wherever you can. Phoenix Bindings, Phoenix Gloves, Invoker's Mantle, and Invoker's Cord are all really cheap and easy spell damage options you can pick up off the auction house by your SOD Gold.
The first playstyle I want to go over is face tanking, which I use a lot in open-world farms or versus mobs that are lower level than me, such as Deadmines. The key interaction here for face tank farming is Living Flame and Regeneration. Living Flame does spell fire damage, which counts as Arcane damage for the healing from Regeneration. The amount of healing you receive will keep you alive versus some pretty insane damage.
Before casting Living Flame, make sure you have Temporal Beacon on yourself. I like to get 4 to 5 Living Bombs out, then Living Flame. Then you just spam Arcane Explosion until all the mobs die. Add on the extra healing you receive from the Arcane Explosion spam, and it’s pretty incredible what you can live through.
This is the playstyle I expect to be dominant, from now on into Season of Discovery, so I recommend learning it now. Blizzard will be amazing for massive pulls where you can’t handle the incoming damage from Elites slapping you. You can play this style with or without Regeneration. If you aren't running Regeneration, I recommend Fingers of Frost.
In Phase 2, we will have 5 points in Shatter for 50% increased crit chance. It will be pretty amazing. What you want to do for this style is grab as many mobs as you can and then get to your kite spot. You will then start throwing out 6 to 8 Living Bombs, Living Flame, and then begin to Blizzard kite. By using Living Flame after the Living Bombs are out. Make sure the Blizzard keeps all the mobs tightly stacked in the Living Flame for maximum damage. Add on the Living Bomb crits from Fingers of Frost, and you speed up the kill so much. Come Phase 2 with all the extra mana and talents we will have. This style will be king for a lot of the content.
There are a few addons I couldn’t recommend more for Mage farming, and the most important one is called WeakAuras. This addon lets you create custom code that will track certain things for you in-game. I highly recommend Plater. It makes it way easier to see what HP the mobs are at and who is missing Living Bomb. I also use Nova Instant Tracker to track my dungeon lockouts, how many mobs I’ve killed, as well as the XP and gold gained during those runs. There are a lot of WeakAuras out there that can track your uptime on buffs and other things. Make sure to customize this to your liking.
That’s my list. I hope you found these tips and tricks helpful. There’s a lot going on with Mage farming, and it can be pretty overwhelming if you dive straight into it with big massive pulls. Start small, learn small pulls first, and then work your way up to the big challenges. We Mages are kings of farming, and you can become one too.
The highly anticipated item faction system is coming to the full release of Last Epoch, on February 21st.
With this innovative new way, players can participate in the deep and rewarding item hunt that Last Epoch offers, in a way that they like to play.
By joining the Merchants Guild, you will be able to buy, sell, and trade items through the bustling bazaar. Or, if you choose to join the Circle of Fortune, you’ll set your sights on the stars and be able to bolster your item acquisition through Prophesies and increased item drop rates. So, this faction system is the result of many years of debating what the ideal trade system should look like in a loot-based ARPG.
If you have observed carefully, you will know that players of ARPGs are split nearly down the middle when it comes to those who want their experience to heavily trade and an economy, and those who want to focus on finding items themselves or, with close friends. So, it would be great if the developers of Last Epoch could provide players from both factions with a tailor-made and exciting path to finding top-tier items through the item faction system!
In Last Epoch 1.0, you will join a faction once you reach the great mercantile city of Maj’Elka.
When you select to join the Merchants Guild or the Circle of Fortune, a new interface will become available that will let you access details about your current status with your faction (known as reputation), how much Favor you currently have and what benefits your faction is currently providing you. Let’s talk about these briefly.
Reputation within a faction is a core part of how a faction is going to be benefiting you on your journey. As a representative of that faction, you will continue to increase your reputation by killing enemies and completing quests.
For the Merchants Guild, this includes participating in the bazaar and completing trades at your current level. And for the Circle of Fortune, this means completing prophesies that will divine certain items after fulfilling the foretold conditions.
Through earning reputation, you will ascend ranks within your faction, earning your unique benefits and options. Once you have earned reputation within a faction, that reputation stays with your account, in that game mode. This means, if you rank up a cycle character, all of your other cycle characters will have that rank when they join the same faction, and contribute to that faction’s reputation gain. You may switch factions and earn and maintain reputation with them with no penalty to your earned reputation with the other.
There are currently 10 ranks to achieve in each faction. With the later ranks requiring quite a bit of commitment in order to obtain. So, while you have the freedom to change your faction at any time, you will want to pick a faction and stick with it to reach the most powerful benefits that they have to offer.
It is important to note that you can only be a member of one faction at any given time per character. And items earned with the benefits from those factions will require that you are aligned with them in order to use them. So, most players will want to stick to a faction that rewards their preferred playstyle.
Next, let’s talk about Favor. Favor is the currency you will earn while slaying enemies or completing quests for each of the factions.
Favor is separate from reputation. This currency can be used to either complete trades with the Merchants Guild or acquire new prophesies from the Circle of Fortune. And if you find yourself with excess favor, you can always spin the wheel with the faction gambler.
Item gifting to party members has been in the game for a while now and it isn’t going anywhere.
However, it’s important to note that once you have joined a faction, items will start being tagged with the faction you are a part of when they dropped.
This means, that while questing if you are a member of the Merchants Guild, and an item drops for you that item will still be shareable with anyone who was in the party like always, and be available to be sold provided that you meet the rank requirements in the Merchants Guild bazaar.
Just be sure that the person you are trading it to also meets the same faction requirements.
The last use case developers wanted to solve for, are friends who choose to play together and just want their own little trade group.
To solve this problem, developers introduced Resonance, which is a new type of item that can be found when you are questing with your friends or party members. This item can be used to enable an item to be gifted specifically to the player you have a Resonance with, even if they weren't there when the item dropped.
A lot of times, players will play with their friends and then later, you'll be soloing a piece of content and the perfect item drops for your buddy. Thanks to the new Resonance system, you will be able to give them that perfect item, the next time you see them.
As those of you who love loot-based ARPGs know, trade and economy is a very complex and divisive issue to solve for when catering to a large player base and different play styles, while keeping the item acquisition hunt feeling great.
There is so much more to explore with the item faction system. Let's wait for February 21st. All the mysteries about the item faction system will be revealed during the search!