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Leon Green
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!
In the WoW Season of Discovery, one of the prominent changes in WoW Classic is the level-gated content. Initially, in Phase One, players can reach Level 25, which will gradually increase to 40, 50, and eventually 60 in subsequent Phases. At the culmination of each bracket, a new Raid awaits, and for Phase One, the WoW SoD team has completely revamped the Blackfathom Deeps from a Dungeon into a 10-man Raid.
Each boss within the Blackfathom Deeps has undergone a comprehensive overhaul compared to their classic versions. As a result, players must adapt to new strategies to overcome the re-tuned and intensified bosses. This guide offers insights into the Raid preparation and specific strategies tailored for each role—DPS, Healer, and Tank—allowing for quick reference before each encounter.
Located in the northwest of Ashenvale, on the northern coast of the Zoram Strand, Blackfathom Deeps is initially available as a Raid at the maximum level in Phase One. However, in subsequent phases, it will transition into an optional Raid that players can engage in while progressing through levels, offering high-tier loot and quest XP. The Raid comprises seven bosses scattered throughout the redesigned underwater maze.
Presently, the recommended Raid setup includes two healers, two tanks, and six DPS equipped with at least a few Interrupts among them. Prior to entering the instance, it's advisable to enchant your gear and acquire specific consumables to aid in handling certain mechanics. Some helpful consumables are:
Additionally, before reaching Blackfathom Deeps, make a stop in Darnassus to obtain the Boon of Blackfathom world buff. This world buff automatically applies to everyone in Darnassus when a player turns in the final Blackfathom Deeps quest. It augments Hit Chance, Critical Chance, AP and SP, and Movement Speed, lasting for two hours.
Here are strategies for defeating Baron Aquanis based on different roles.
Melee DPS should consistently position themselves behind the boss to avoid the Bubble Beam ability.
If afflicted by the Depth Charge debuff, cease attacking and plunge into the water, returning once the debuff dissipates.
For Ranged DPS, maintain awareness and move to evade the boss' Bubble Beam ability.
Navigate between platforms to dodge the boss' Torrential Downpour AoE.
Remarkably, it's possible to attack the boss safely from the water below once the trash is eliminated.
Transition to a party or AoE Healing setup, utilizing Runes such as Mass Regeneration and Prayer of Mending.
Navigate between platforms to evade the boss' Torrential Downpour AoE.
Notably, healing allies from the water below is safe once the trash is cleared.
Remain vigilant and move to evade the boss' Bubble Beam ability, which targets the main Tank's location, as indicated by the castbar.
Here are strategies for defeating Ghamoo-Ra based on different roles.
Melee DPS should use rapid weapons and abilities that enhance Attack Speed, like Slice N' Dice, to expedite the removal of the boss' Armor.
Avoid stepping into shell fragments scattered in the area, particularly if you do not utilize Mana as a resource.
For Ranged DPS, employ swift weapons and abilities that bolster Attack Speed to accelerate the boss' Armor removal.
Steer clear of shell fragments scattered around the area, especially if Mana isn't your primary resource.
Reserve Emergency Healing abilities, such as Lay On Hands, in case a Tank accumulates excessive stacks of Crunch Armor.
Promptly activate AoE Healing abilities once Ghamoo-Ra's armor is shattered, as the entire Raid will sustain substantial damage.
Step onto shell fragments only if Mana reserves are critically low, and Tank attention isn't an immediate necessity.
Alternate Tanks upon accumulating two stacks of Crunch Armor, as Ghamoo-Ra's Triple Chomp ability becomes perilously potent with more than two Stacks.
Consume a potent Healing Potion after Ghamoo-Ra's armor is shattered, enabling Healers to concentrate on restoring the remainder of the Raid.
Here are strategies for defeating Lady Sarevess based on different roles.
Melee DPS should consistently disrupt Frost Arrow whenever it's cast. Rogues and Paladins are particularly adept at this task.
Avoid lingering in the Ice areas, as prolonged exposure may result in temporary immobilization.
Prioritize focusing on Sarevess rather than the Elite for a more efficient takedown.
For Ranged DPS, steer clear of the Ice areas to prevent temporary immobilization.
Prioritize focusing on Sarevess over the Elite for optimized results.
Avoid lingering in the Ice areas to prevent temporary immobilization. Maintain maximum range for safety.
Assign one Healer to concentrate on the Offtank, responsible for diverting the Elite's attention.
Continuously reposition Lady Sarevess to avoid the formation of Ice areas.
Ensure the boss faces away from the rest of the group to prevent cleave and chain damage.
Disrupt Frost Arrow to support melee DPS in preventing its execution.
Have the Offtank focus on the Elite, positioning it at the periphery of an Ice patch to potentially immobilize it.
Here are strategies for defeating Gelihast based on different roles.
Melee DPS should prioritize eliminating Tendril adds as soon as they emerge to prevent their casting of Mind Flay.
Exercise caution while maneuvering between enemies, refraining from attacking them, during the March Of The Murlocs ability across phases (three total waves).
For Ranged DPS, prioritize eliminating Tendril adds promptly to prevent their casting of Mind Flay.
Exercise caution while maneuvering between enemies, refraining from attacking them, during the March Of The Murlocs ability across phases (three total waves).
Evade Gelihast's Shadow Crash ability, an extensive AoE Shadow damage aimed at Ranged party members.
Reserve Emergency Healing abilities, such as Rewind Time, should a Tank accumulate excessive stacks of Crunch Armor.
Exercise caution while maneuvering between enemies, refraining from attacking them, during the March Of The Murlocs ability across phases (three total waves).
Evade Gelihast's Shadow Crash ability, an extensive AoE Shadow damage aimed at Ranged party members.
Switch between Tanks once Gelihast accumulates two stacks of Shadow Strike – the boss's damage significantly escalates beyond three stacks.
Be cautious while moving amidst enemies (avoid attacking them) during the March Of The Murlocs ability, occurring across three total waves.
If still affected by the debuff during March Of The Murlocs, consider using a Shadow Protection Potion to counter any potential contact.
Outlined below are approaches to defeating Lorgus Jett across various roles.
Melee DPS should cease attacking Lorgus Jett immediately upon the casting of Corrupted Lightning Shield Totem. Rapidly dismantle this Totem before resuming attacks on Lorgus.
Avoid the boss's Molten Boulder ability, a slow-rolling, high-damage Fire attack traversing the room.
For Ranged DPS, refrain from attacking Lorgus Jett upon the casting of Corrupted Lightning Shield Totem. Swiftly dismantle this Totem before returning focus to Lorgus.
Stay clear of the boss's Molten Boulder ability, a slow-moving Fire attack causing substantial damage on impact.
Steer clear of the boss's Molten Boulder ability, a slow-rolling, high-damage Fire attack traversing the room.
Watch out for the boss's Windfury Totem, which significantly boosts the boss's DPS, and be prepared to employ Emergency Healing abilities if available.
Immediately halt attacks on Lorgus Jett when the Corrupted Lightning Shield Totem is cast. Rapidly dismantle this Totem before returning focus to Lorgus.
Avoid the boss's Molten Boulder ability, a slow-moving Fire attack causing substantial damage on impact.
Here are strategies for overcoming Twilight Lord Kelris in different roles.
Interrupt every Shadowy Chains that the boss attempts to cast. It is cast about every 10 seconds in Phase One, so Rogues can Kick it every time on cooldown. Other DPS should focus on Interrupting Mind Blast.
Consume a Shadow Protection Potion right before Phase 2 (at about 35% health) and focus on unleashing heavy damage. Kelris cannot be interrupted in Phase Two and will continually cast Mind Blasts.
Avoid staying within the Shadow Crash AoE area by monitoring your debuffs.
When transported to the shadow realm, eliminate Priestesses until one reveals a Portal to return you to the normal world. Kelris targets the closest players and avoids targeting the same players twice.
Coordinate groups of two (Tank+melee DPS) to stay close and compel Kelris to teleport them. Others should maintain maximum range to avoid becoming targets.
Minimize healing in Phase One to conserve mana for the much more impactful Phase Two.
Maintain maximum range at all times to avoid being sent into the Dream realm via Kelris' Sleep ability.
If Shadow Chains isn't interrupted, employ a Free Action Potion to avoid being CCed before it takes effect. Priests can also utilize Dispel Magic.
Consume a Shadow Protection Potion right before Phase 2 (at about 35% health) and focus on heavy healing. Kelris cannot be interrupted in Phase Two and will continually cast Mind Blasts.
Avoid staying within the Shadow Crash AoE area by monitoring your debuffs.
Position the boss so that Ranged party members can still attack Kelris while having enough space to avoid the Shadow Crash AoE DoT.
Assist DPS in interrupting Mind Blast and Shadowy Chains in Phase One.
During Phase Two, employ personal defensive Cooldowns to assist Healers and consume a Shadow Protection Potion right before he reaches the 35% HP mark.
When transported to the shadow realm, eliminate Priestesses until one reveals a Portal to return you to the normal world. Kelris targets the closest players and avoids targeting the same players twice.
Coordinate groups of two (Tank+melee DPS) to stay close and compel Kelris to teleport them. Others should maintain maximum range to avoid becoming targets.
Here are strategies for overcoming Aku-mai in different roles.
Melee DPS always stay behind the boss to evade either Corrosive Blast or Void Blast. The boss might abruptly change direction from the Tank, so maintain proximity to reduce travel distance.
Halt attacks immediately when Aku-Mai summons adds; prioritize eliminating them. Neglecting these adds could jeopardize the success of your attempt.
Towards the fight's end, utilize defensive Cooldowns to aid Healers, particularly if both Tanks become incapacitated – Aku-Mai's attacks are formidable.
Ranged DPS always stay behind the boss to evade either Corrosive Blast or Void Blast. The boss might abruptly change direction from the Tank, so maintain proximity to reduce travel distance.
Halt attacks immediately when Aku-Mai summons adds; prioritize eliminating them. Neglecting these adds could jeopardize the success of your attempt.
Towards the fight's end, utilize defensive Cooldowns to aid Healers, particularly if both Tanks become incapacitated – Aku-Mai's attacks are formidable.
Always stay behind the boss to evade either Corrosive Blast or Void Blast. The boss might abruptly change direction from the Tank, so maintain proximity to reduce travel distance.
Consider shifting to a single-target Healing focused setup, utilizing abilities like Beacon of Light, as Aku-Mai primarily focuses on a single Tank at a time.
Position yourself on the opposite side of Aku-Mai to face away from the party, preventing them from getting hit by the boss's Corrosive and Void Blast, and keeping Cleansing Pools nearby.
The Offtank should employ AoE Tanking abilities, such as Thunderclap or Consecration, to generate Threat for the adds that frequently spawn during the fight.
Only utilize Cleansing Pools if afflicted with four or more stacks of Corrosion or Shadow Seep, as they have limitations. Swap Tanks upon reaching this limit.
WOW Classic Season of Discovery has started for a few weeks. Currently, almost all Warlock Runes have been discovered. Some you just click on an item, but some are more difficult to complete, like Metamorphosis Rune.
So, in this Warlock Runes guide, I want to review the five most important Runes of Warlock, which are Runes above level 15.
So let’s get down to business first. The Incinerate Rune deals fire damage and increases the fire damage you deal by 25%.
They dropped Rune of Incinerate from Incinerator Gar’im. This is a level 23 elite found in a cave in Render’s Valley, which is located in the southeast corner of Redridge Mountains, approximately around coordinates [77, 85].
Keep in mind that Redridge Mountains are a contested area, so rival factions on PVP server will attack you here. You’ll also have to deal with other Blackrock orc monsters in the area.
So if you’re at a lower level, you may need a friend. You just have to fight him, knock him down, and then you can loot Rune of Incinerate from him, which is actually pretty easy to get once you get to that level.
In Season of Discovery, one of the most valuable Runes you can get as Warlock is Lake of Fire.
This spell is powerful in a fire-based Warlock build. Because it leaves an area on the ground beneath your target, causing all other targets within that AOE radius to take increased fire damage from you and your demons.
To get this Lake of Fire, you first need to find Zixil, a goblin merchant. After finding Zixil, purchase Demolition Explosives from the merchant for a total of 1 WOW Classic SOD Gold. This reagent will be the key to obtaining Lake of Fire Rune later.
Next, head northeast in Hillsbrad Foothills to Durnholde Keep reaching coordinates [79, 40]. There, you’ll find a pile of rocks and debris labeled “Rubble.”
Stand directly on the rubble and use Demolition Explosives purchased from Zixil. If done correctly, you will destroy the rubble and a locker will appear containing Lake of Fire Rune.
If you miss the rubble or stand in the wrong spot when detonating the explosives, the locker containing Lake of Fire Rune will not appear and you cannot get explosives there.
You only have one chance to get this rune, and if you mess up, you’ll have to return to Zixil and drop another gold piece before you can try again.
It can engrave rune of Everlasting Affliction on Legs slot and allow Warlock’s various abilities to refresh the duration of your applied Corruption.
We should note that Alliance and Horde players get Rune of Everlasting Affliction differently.
To get Rune of Everlasting Affliction, Alliance players need to turn in Waylaid Supplies until you gain a Friendly reputation within Azeroth Commerce Authority faction. You can then purchase Rune of Everlasting Affliction from the same Supply Officer for 2 WoW Classic SoD gold.
Horde players who want to get Everlasting Affliction need to turn in Waylaid Supplies until you gain Friendly reputation in Durotar Supply and Logistics faction. You can then purchase Rune of Everlasting Affliction from the same Supply Officer for 2 gold.
Shadow Bolt Volley is a Gloves Rune that enhances Warlock’s classic skill, Shadow Bolt. When this rune is activated, your Shadow Bolt can attack chain enemies within up to 10 yards, but 20% reduce the damage dealt.
In a raid or dungeon situation, Warlock can easily top the damage charts with Shadow Bolt Volley. While your single target damage may suffer as a result, Warlock still has plenty of other damage options, including pet damage and DOT spells. I highly recommend this rune to anyone running a burst damage Warlock build.
To get Shadow Bolt Volley Rune, travel to Beren’s Peril in the southeastern Silverpine Forest. The entrance to this cave is around coordinates [60, 74], which is a bit hidden. We can find it by following the road south and then northeast into the mountains below Ambermill.
You will then need to kill Ravenclaw Guardians and Ravenclaw Drudgers until one of them drops a Tortured Soul.
To use this item, you must lose some health. Use Life Tap or Health Funnel if needed. Then right-click the item to summon a level 20 elite ghost of the same name. Kill it to Shadow Bolt Volley Rune.
Finally, Metamorphosis offers the biggest overhaul to traditional Warlock gameplay by transforming spellcasters into melee tanks. This Rune increases Warlock’s armor by 5x, reduces their critical chance, increases their overall Threat generation by 50%, and doubles Life Tap’s mana regeneration.
For such a powerful, class-changing Rune, Warlock must undergo one of the most complex missions of the season. There are four quests in Metamorphosis quest chain, starting with Orb of Soran’ruk.
To us by Doan Karhan brought this assignment to us. Doan Karhan is a neutral NPC east of Camp Taurajo in Barrens.
Karhan requires players to collect three Soran’ruk Fragments and one Large Soran’ruk Fragment. Small fragments drop from Twilight Acolytes inside and outside Blackfathom Deeps, while large fragments drop from Shadowfang Darksoul enemies inside Shadowfang Keep. Collect both, then return to Karhan.
Karhan will then ask players to collect Orb of Des and Bough of Altek, two new unique quest items.
We can find Orb of Des in Tower of Ilgalar in the eastern Redridge Mountains. Bough of Altek, on the other hand, is located at the top of Tower of Althalaxx in Darkshore. Once you’ve collected these two items, return to Karhan to complete the third part of the quest.
He then asks the player to collect ten Blood of the Legion. These can only be obtained from demonic enemies southeast of Ashenvale. Waves of demonic enemies will spawn here. Warlock must stand among Purple Runes that appear on the ground near the obelisk and use Drain Soul ability to kill these enemies. Survive here and Mysterious Traveler will appear.
Speak with Mysterious Traveler to complete Conjuring and begin the last steps of Metamorphosis quest. When Mysterious Traveler appears, he will give the quest Raszel Ander. After picking it up, return to Karhan one last time to complete the quest and get the Metamorphosis Rune.
That’s it for all the major Warlock Runes. These five Runes will make your Warlock even more powerful in WOW Classic Season of Discovery. Remember, patience is crucial when dealing with these challenges.
Toxic Rain Pathfinder was my starter build for League and it didn’t disappoint me at all. You can easily scale into the late game while remaining tanky. You can also easily farm tier 16 empowered Legion and Expedition. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Our skill choice is Toxic Rain. Fire a projectile with your bow, which will spawn Spore Pods where it lands. Over time, this will start to cause chaos damage in an area, and they can overlap each other.
We’ve gained huge buffs in this league, but we’ve lost gems that increase area quality. Therefore, we need a new method to reach the area threshold of 39% increase.
I’ve seen others use Searing Exarch Helmet Implicit, which increases the area. But I think giving up 15% or more of Despair Curse effect is bad.
So I came up with a simple solution, which is to exchange for a Medium Cluster Jewel. In this way, only 1% of damage is lost in exchange for 10% Area of effect and 8% life.
To increase the speed of clearing, we use Caustic Arrow. When you fire a projectile, it creates Caustic Ground where the projectile lands. Over time, this can cause chaotic damage.
But it is difficult to pass the level using this skill alone. Therefore, we added Arrow Nova Support. With this combination, our clearing speed will be much faster.
Our biggest and best multipliers come from secondary sources using Ballista. We can have 5 of these and they will help stack Wither on the boss. By default increases Chaos damage by 90%.
In addition, we also get an Ascendancy node, which will increase the Wither effect and give us the chance to cause a Wither.
The other really big damage increase is skill effect duration. Because Pods will stay in the fight longer and deal damage for longer.
We can keep all the mana because we use Eldritch Battery for the build. We’ll spend our Energy Shield just like we have mana, but we can use our skills more freely because we don’t have to worry about mana.
You need at least 400 Energy Shield as I think that’s a good breakpoint for Divine Blessing to set. Even after you use Divine Blessing, you have enough Energy Shield to send Toxic Rain and still not deplete Energy Shield.
We can use Charm because we selected Wildwood Primalist as our secondary Ascendancy. I also used 2 Spell Suppression Charm and a Mana Reservation Charm, so we didn’t have to use Enlighten.
Also, because I’m using a clear setup rather than a single target setup, this means the damage we take will be much higher. And POE currency cost of running the map is very high. Therefore, this build will need to continue to be updated. Of course, you can adjust it to suit your play style.
On the defensive side, we convert 63% of physical damage into elemental damage. Of these, 50% were achieved just by using Lightning Coil. The rest comes from the helmet.
Because we treat so much damage as elemental damage, we can use all elemental damage reduction flasks to reduce converted elemental damage, such as Ruby, Sapphire, and Topaz Flasks.
In addition, we can also use Grace Aura to increase the evasion rating, so that we will almost never die from the monster’s normal attacks or projectiles.
Now that we are almost untouchable by physical attacks, the remaining danger is spell damage. Skill Tree, Gear and Charm can achieve 100% Spell Suppression.
Since we’re using Eldritch Battery, you’ll need Energy Shield and Evasion Bases and the pure Energy Base Helmet.
So the flasks we use are Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, Quicksilver and Divine Life flask. All flasks require this mod: increased effect and reduced duration.
Be careful when you roll your flask, as there are many mod combinations of the two, but it will reduce the duration even more. So your flask won’t have 100% uptime.
The sub-mod reduces mana cost, chance to avoid being frozen, and all elemental resistances. When you get into a boss fight, change your Quicksilver flask to a Silver flask with attack speed.
That’s it for my Toxic Rain Pathfinder build guide. Ready to dive into Affliction League with Toxic Rain Pathfinder build? Looking forward to seeing you in the game!
Genshin Impact 4.3 is expected to be released on Wednesday, December 20th. But during the live broadcast on December 8, 2023, we received a bunch of officials information.
Below we discuss 5 insane new features included in Genshin Impact 4.3 update!
Right now, we know very little about Genshin Impact 4.3’s story quests, but we did get a ton of information about the upcoming events. Among them, the main event called Roses and Muskets is about filming some scenes with a bunch of unique characters from Inazuma and Fontaine.
Now, we can see that the biggest reward for participating will be this limited Claymore called Ultimate Overlord’s Mega Magic Sword.
This event will consist of a series of mini-games.
In the first activity, you need to become a Sniper Elite and destroy enemies.
In the second campaign, you need to fight in this battle arena and use various film effects, such as this old-time grayscale effect.
In the third activity, you need to enter the co-op and drive those blue balls to their target areas.
And the final fourth activity requires you to take a bunch of dynamic photos of the characters.
Moving to smaller events, Itto’s Beetle Battling event is about to return. It doesn’t seem to have any unique rewards, just a bunch of resources. But the developers do promise that there will be some new ways for you to strategize and become the best Beetle Master you can be.
Plus, we get unique rewards in Lost Riches event. That’s right, Mini Seelie is back! I’m excited to see that I can add another Seelie to my collection.
Interestingly, we had the option of a new Brilliance Seelie as a bonus, and it actually traveled with us underwater. So I figured it wouldn’t be a hard choice for me when it came to choosing which new Seelie I wanted to get.
Now, another event called Dance of Resolute Will is a combat-focused event. Here you need to use 1 character in both rounds of battle and the other 3 characters cannot be the same in both rounds. It looks like fun and will have lots of universal rewards.
Also, Liben will appear in Mondstadt again. If you’re not familiar with him, you just trade a bunch of materials in your Genshin Impact Account for a Primogem reward.
Finally, TCG mode welcomes a new intense battle mode, and Forge Realm’s Temper Event. Meanwhile, you can also challenge some Melusines and get a lot of new cards, including 6 new characters and 5 new monsters.
After nearly a year, we finally get a new Geo character, Navia.
Navia is a new 5-Star Geo Claymore character. This is also the third Geo character to use Claymore.
It now appears that she can use her skills to shoot enemies. When anyone in the party picks up Crystalize shards, they grant these Crystal Shrapnel stacks, thus empowering skills. So the more stacks Navia has, the more powerful her skills become.
But her over-the-top gaming style doesn’t end there. Because quite literally, her burst summons a massive cannon that causes a massive explosion and deals with AOE damage while leaving a trail of supportive fire that damages nearby enemies.
What’s also cool is that Navia will also gain additional Crystal Shrapnel stacks when the burst hits an enemy. So this will allow her to improve the performance of her skills faster.
Also, she is the first character that will increase the rewards you receive from Fontaine adventures.
Now another new character in patch 4.3 will be Chevreuse. She is a 4-Star Pyro Polearm Users. Her ability is very interesting. When clicked, she will fire rapidly and then provide continuous healing to the active character.
If you have this skill, she can lock onto the weapon sights. And if anyone in the party triggers Overloaded reaction, she will release this Overcharged Ball, causing better AOE Pyro damage.
As for her explosions, this time she fires a grenade, which will explode first and then leave shells scattered around, which will explode after a while.
I think the most important thing about this new 4-Star character is her unique passive ability. If the team consists strictly of Pyro or Electro characters, it will become proactive. Because of this, when anyone triggers Overloaded reaction, the enemy’s Pyro and Electro Resistance will be reduced.
This passive restriction is very similar to Nilou’s, in that you can only activate her instantly explosive Bloom if the party consists of Hydro or Dendro. But this time, Chevreuse stipulated that the team must be composed of Pyro or Electro. So now I wonder what these new Overloaded teams will be like.
But let’s talk about the upcoming banners. In the first phase, it will feature Navia and Ayaka 5-Star weapons along with Navia’s iconic 5-Star weapon.
And in the second stage, you will pull Raiden Shogun or Yoimiya with Chevreuse.
So as you can see, the developers are doubling down on the whole Overloaded team concept. The line-up is very interesting, but it surprised me to see Albedo not return around Christmas time. Regardless, you can also expect Navia’s story missions to appear in this update as well.
I hope you’re ready for some new Artifacts, because we’re getting two new Artifacts in Patch 4.3 update. Unfortunately, the developers have yet to reveal official information about them. So, we can’t talk about that right now.
Now I don’t know how much you care about Serenitea Pot. Maybe it’s just a glorified place for you to pick up materials with Realm Currency. But in the 4.3 update, you will purchase this new Fontaine-style Realm Layout.
In fact, you can see a whole cool swimming sequence as you travel between islands. I mean, we can finally start building our empire under the sea!
It’s honestly a little insane how many quality-of-life changes Patch 4.3 update brings.
First, we finally have one-click exploration, no more constant clicking to farm the same materials! Now it’s all just a click away. Even better, this fresh change also applies to all forged items like Ores and Process Ingredients.
But the continuous clicking of one button does not end there. When using Artifact Strongbox, you can also add multiple Artifacts in batches with a single click.
In a future release, the developers also plan to add this one-click functionality to furniture when you claim it. So a lot of the tedious stuff we’re used to is finally gone in this new update.
Now, another big change is coming to Artifacts management.
From Artifacts inventory screen, you’ll be able to filter and quickly lock or unlock Artifacts based on the requirements you set.
For example, you can quickly lock down any Artifact that has both Critical Chance and Critical Damage sub-stats. You can then see that Artifacts filter screen in the character’s Artifacts menu changes as well.
But even crazier is that you can now see the most popular selection of Artifacts for that character based on other players’ preferences. You can view the best Artifacts for each character in the game.
Because now you can quickly level up your character with just one click, and it has added much the same functionality to Artifact levels. You can now add up to 15 Artifacts. This saves me a lot of time when I just want to see if it’s worth putting resources into an Artifact.
Nowadays, weapon upgrades are also liked by some people. Now you can add up to 40 materials to upgrade. And you no longer have to refine one by one, you can just dump all copies or materials once to get a quick R5 refinement.
And Artifacts farming is also accelerating. Now, when you claim your rewards, you don’t have to make the tedious run from the domain entrance, but directly generate the domain challenge.
Finally, there will be some minor quality of life changes to enemy navigation when using the manual. Enemies are now laid out in a grid rather than a scrolling list like we’re used to, and you can also untrack more easily. So I’m delighted with this small but crucial change.
Overall, Genshin Impact 4.3 update is about as good as it gets. It seems packed with a lot of content and I’m actually eager to see these fresh changes. Regardless, I hope you found this guide useful. Have a nice day!
POE 3.23 Affliction Challenge League will be launched soon. In this guide, I want to go over what we know so far about Affliction’s league mechanics and rewards, potential farming strategies, and the implications of this league mechanic on what builds and Atlas strategies you should be playing. This way you can enter the league armed with everything you need!
First, let’s review everything we know about league mechanics.
Affliction is mechanically similar to Delirium. Near the entrance to each area, you’ll find a Sacred Wisp that will lead you to Wildwood.
This is an area shrouded in darkness. As you explore the darkness, the power of Sacred Wisp will be drained. You need to explore a limited area before running out of energy. Your goal in Wildwood is mainly to collect Wisp while keeping an eye out for Azmeri Wanderers and Bosses.
Wisps are automatically collected by walking through them or killing enemies in Wildwood.
When you leave Wildwood, it released these Wisps into your map to enhance monster abilities. Monsters that are empowered are more powerful - similar to Delirium and Tormented Spirit.
The way empowerment works is that after you leave Wildwood, every monster on the map has a percentage chance of being possessed by each Wisp independently. The more wisps of that type you collect, the higher your chances.
Monsters can have more than one type of Wisps. This makes them more deadly, but also increases the bonuses given by Wisps.
As for these rewards, each Wisp has a different effect. Primal Wisps give monsters an Item Rarity bonus, Wild Wisps give monsters an Item Quantity bonus, and Vivid Wisps are a little different and cause monsters to drop currency items.
It’s very important to note that empowerment doesn’t just affect the monsters on the map when you complete Wildwood. Afterwards, each monster spawned in your map will also gain a rolling percentage of empowerment.
Now let’s move on to Wildwood Ascendancies. Affliction Leaguer adds 3 new Ascendancies that you can unlock through Affliction content. In addition to the regular Ascendancy class, you can also choose one of Ascendancy classes to get.
You can unlock these benefits by finding relevant Azmeri Wanderers in Wildwood. If you choose to occupy their Ascendancy, you will immediately gain the first 2 points and start a quest line to get the remaining 6 points.
Warden of the Maji gives you access to a new item called Tinctures. Warlock of the Mists has Curse and life-related passives. Wildwood Primalist has Sockets that can be inserted into Charms. Wildwood Primalist also has a notable skill that allows your Warcries to open chests and cause corpses to drop additional loot.
Each of these Ascendancies has small nodes that add some type of Wisps collected in Wildwood.
Next, let’s talk about Tinctures, Charms, and Corpses. Likewise, Azmeri Wanderers NPC lets you ascend double as a vendor, allowing you to trade Wisps you collect in Wildwood for Tinctures, Charms, and Corpses. These are unmodifiable but can be traded.
Tinctures go into the flask slot, but not the flask. They provide passive bonuses to your equipped weapons, and you can activate one Tincture at a time.
Charms have 1-2 affixes and are miniature versions of the existing class Ascendance passives. I predict that certain combinations of affixes on Charms will be powerful, sought after by many players, and valuable.
Finally, Corpses are consumable items that spawn specific Corpses on the ground. We can use these Corpses with minion skills like Raise Specter, or with Warlock’s Ravenous skill.
Unfortunately, these Specters will not spawn additional Corpses once revived with Desecrate. So if your Specter dies, you will need to spend POE Currency to purchase additional Corpses to re-summon them. This sounds bad, but if they were powerful enough, I’m sure some players would use them, despite their clunky nature.
Now that we’ve had a quick look at how everything works in Affliction, I want to start discussing Affliction League strategy.
The first choice you have to make is what Ascendancy is to choose. I recommend that players first choose their first Ascendancy based on which force is most powerful at the start of the league. They can then transition to another Ascendancy later if they wish.
I think Warden is the right Ascendancy to choose first for almost every build. This is for two reasons.
First, Warden passive, Oath of the Maji, can provide many valuable rewards early in the league. Most notably, if you don’t have any gems embedded in your boots, you move 30% faster. This is a price you’ll be happy to pay in leveling up and ancient maps.
Another reason is that each vantage has small nodes that increase the specific type of Wisps collected. A type related to Warden is Vivid Wisp, which allows monsters to drop large amounts of POE currency.
If this turns out not to be the enormous boost to the currency that I was expecting, it would be cheap and easy to move to something else. The risk is tiny and the rewards are extremely high.
The next thing I want to talk about is the potential for Raw Currency farming with Vivid Wisps.
While many players have been focusing on Ascendancy, I believe the currency drops of these Vivid Wisps will become the focus of farming strategies.
There are two different paths you can take when farming currency is this way. The first is to fill your map with as many monsters as possible. The second is to gain triple-empowerment on powerful and unique monsters. Because these monsters inherently have top item counts and rarity bonuses.
The key thing to note about the first method is that monetary rewards from Vivid Wisps actually double-dip with pack size. This is because the monsters in Wildwood that drop Wisps scale according to the pack size, and there will be more monsters on your map for Wisps to empower.
So there are more monsters, and the probability of each monster dropping currency is also higher. If you go this route, you can target many league mechanics that will spawn large numbers of enemies.
On the other hand, the monsters that guarantee currency drops during the league are not the ones that cause huge currency explosions. This is a unique monster that has a tremendous bonus to item quantity and item rarity.
So, how do you extend these bonuses further? Mainly through Delirium, Tormented Spirit and Expedition. Tormented Spirit and Delirium can increase the rarity and quantity of items, and Expedition can add modifiers to farmed monsters, increasing the quantity and rarity of items even further.
Finally, there is something that absolutely everyone can relate to. Some Charms from Azmeri Wanderers Vendors will be highly sought after. This means they will be profitable if sold.
Therefore, you’ll want to focus on the prices of various accessories on Charms so you don’t miss out on items at the vendor that could be worth a lot of Divine Orbs.
For my last topic, I want to briefly talk about Affliction’s build options.
Unfortunately, it’s unclear which building is best for Affliction, as it can interact with many league mechanics, and we don’t yet know what the winning strategy will be.
If energetic bosses are going to end up dropping the best rewards, then you’re going to want a build with a strong single target. If the number of monsters is high, you’ll want a build with a high clearing speed.
Personally, I’m focusing on Explosive Arrow Ballista build. It takes advantage of Tinctures I can get through Warden Ascendancy, can take down the most active bosses in the game, and has a pretty good clearing speed if needed.
That’s all for this guide. What are your plans for how to use Affliction mechanism? Do you think it would be better to fill the map with as many monsters as possible? Or focus on creating the most exciting rare items and bosses? Hope to see you in Affliction League!
The healer is part of the Holy Trinity and Expedition and Trial Explorations. Your main goal is to keep your teammates alive. The primary target is your tank and then your DPS buddies. This build will make sure you have the highest chance of survival and PVE content.
First, we will talk about three essential perks for any healer in PVE. These are Health, Enchanted Ward, and four stacks of Refreshing. Health is good in all situations as it increases your maximum HP and it is the best way to protect yourself against any form of damage. Enchanted Ward is very useful as the most common form of the enemy's offense is a light or heavy attack. Element Aversion is a good substitution for these perks. However, compared to light and heavy attacks, spells are much less frequent. Therefore, the Enchanted Ward is a better form of protection. The last perk that you want to have at maximum stacks is Refreshing. A lower spell cooldown means that you heal more often.
Let's take a look at almost the best in slot gear that is very strong in PVE situations. It is your faction gear. It is Health and Enchanted Ward and Refreshing — all of the perks that you need. If you buy all five gear slots, you already have the very strong gear to complete at least M2 as the recommended gear level is 675. I am fully aware that you will waste a perk slot because you will use more than four stacks of refreshing. But their turn for having health and an Enchanted Ward as your other two perks is much more valuable than not having them. New World Items are meant as a placeholder until you get a higher gear score with health and an Echanted Ward or you will get an artifact of your choice.
On the topic of artifacts, I recommend two of them. One is Featherweight. This one allows us to wear two heavy gear pieces on the head, gloves, or feet. This will give us more Armor overall and we will take much less damage and the game will be easier to play. So our gear will now look like this. You will have a heavy or light head. Featherweight as your chest piece. Then heavy or light gloves, light pants, and heavy or light feet. Up to a maximum of two heavy pieces, if you want to stay in light equip load. The next artifact that I would use as a Healer is a Nimble coat. It is a medium chest piece that gives us more refreshing. With four Stacks plus the unique perk, we will be sitting on a maximum of 24% cooldown reduction. This will allow us to spam more skills and in certain situations with a refreshing move on your weapon and life stuff passive you can have almost zero cooldowns on your skills.
I will now cover some of the New World Items that are very strong and can replace your faction gear. One of them is the Azoth Crystal set that can be crafted with mutation Material in the gypsum kiln. This set gives you an Enchanted Ward and Refreshing. It is guaranteed a gear score of 700 and the third perk is randomly picked. With health having a 15% chance of being picked. But do not worry, you can change the perks later with some other items as well. The other set that is easy to get can help you and it is two perks you want to focus on is the Empress Joe's set. It is healthy and refreshing as its primary perks and the enchanted ward has a rather small percentage of rolling at 3%, but you can change it later.
With all the gear covered, now let's talk about the weapons. For the life stuff, you have many options that can be crafted from a gypsum kiln. You just pick your favorite one, of all the three options is hard to pick the one stuff that is the best. The corrupted one can be farmed in Merk guard and the other two can be crafted with material in a gypsum kiln.
When it comes to Gems, each mutation has one element that is more prevalent and generally you will want to slot in the Gem that is resistant to it, however. I would just take the general Elemental Gem that has less resistance against one element, but has against many. In the long run, this is much cheaper than wasting your New World Coins on getting all your gems replaced each time you want to do a mutation.
The same as with the previous gear set with the body gear covered let us focus on the jewelry. My Amulet of choice that is always good is the passage of time. It has a constitutional attribute. It is guaranteed a gear score of 700 when it is crafted from a gypsum kiln. The primary perk is refreshing and stamina recovery. As a third perk, you can pick the element ward of the mutation you are doing or you could just Select Health. It will not be as perfect as element Ward perks such as fire or Abyssal. But it will do. As for the ring, I like using Vivify. It has focus as its attributes and has refreshing and Healing Breeze as its primary perks. I like taking sacred as the third perk as this gives us more healing. my favorite jewelry artifact is Endless Thirst. It gives you a big potion drink in a time of need. Usually, you do not need to drink one, but when you do you need a strong one. As a third perk, I like picking a healing heart as it heals us when we use the Heartune.
When it comes to Heartrunes, you have two options Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform or brutal Heartsrune of Grasping Vines. Stoneform is more defensive and Vines are a more offensive option. I would use Stoneform in critical situations. Vines I would use in more offensive situations when the DPS of the group needs to be as high as possible.
When it comes to the skills, I would use the a healing skills such as sacred ground orb of protection and Beacon. I would cycle through them and then swamp to your other weapon. This playstyle would come in handy if all of your teammates are melee DPS. I would slot in the Divine Embrace if you have one or more ranged ones as it has very strong single target healing. Remember that your light attacks also can heal.
As our secondary weapon, I love taking lifetaker. It is a Void Gauntlet Artifact. Its unique perk is that it applies to disintegrate on ranged attacks on both weapons. Disintegrate is a DOT and a 10% rent that stacks up to three times. Giving us up to 30% rent, as the final perk I would take blessed as we are a healer and none of the weapon perks are suited for PVE situations. Now let's take a look at the skill tree for the VG. The primary skills that I like taking is Oblivion. It gives you and your teammates 15% in power among other buffs. Next I would take the orb as it heals your group and it applies disintegrates to your enemies. I also like using the blade for non-boss fights and essence rupture for the boss fight.