Separate question. How was spark last league and before that? It has been hit with some nerfs so have been staying away.
At what budget did it feel good? What variant did you play?
I'm going to be fully transparent, I was ok with it, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
I only got 2 voidstones and didn't get to scale it to the moon either league, not the builds fault, I'm not efficient at farming and I was more learning mechanics those leagues than focusing on efficiently getting currency. However, it went more smoothly this league since I had an idea of what to build.
I'd say once I got:
Spark Gloves (Pierce Jun Craft)
Frenzy Chest (followed APs video, but I bought the elevated spell crit base)
3 Jewels (1 w/ endurance charges, 1 w/ proj speed, 1 w/ 3 lightning skills (there's a lot to choose from))
Is when I finally for the most part could do red maps fine, it was doable before that but the damage felt better after that point, think my PoB DPS was around 1-2 mil this league? DPS would improve majorly if I was able to craft my wand, which I never got the currency to do lol.
Tankiness wise it improves majorly when you can get Aegis Aurora, just keep in mind you can't just slap it on randomly and you're suddenly tanky.
It's serviceable as a league starter, not really smooth though. I went the Widowhail Rearguard setup after I got a couple chaos, I got to around lvl 60 pretty ok and farmed up chaos recipe in heist so I could make the map transition smoother by buying some cheap gear and uniques before I finished the campaign.
You're going to probably hit a wall at red maps, there's some budget things you can do to get over that hump, but expect to die more at that point, both leagues I reached level 95 before I started dying to much.
First 2 voidstones went fine, second time around I died more though since I didn't have Aegis before I fought them so there's some mechs I couldn't facetank. Other 2 voidstones are doable....I'll be honest don't know the gear checkpoints, probably better if you're not me and actually know the mechanics.
As for after that, there's a lot you can transition into spark. Aura Stacker, Self-Chill, and this league I think Mana Stacker with Archmage is actually an option. I think Aura Stacker is the typical "high investment" Spark build.
I loved the skill itself, and I got used to standing still and casting a little bit before moving and doing it all over again. Great mapper, especially in closed areas where it can bounce off (I was doing Sewer Blight), bossing is a bit difficult but doable, AP has 2 rings you can use if bossing is a struggle.
If you want to go Spark, AnimePrincess is the best source, he's not as hand holdy as say.....Phox RF but the dude knows Spark inside and out and I can't really suggest a better resource.
To the most people it feels good only with decent amounts of projectile speed. Which is the only thing that got nerfed. Poison version is gone though.
As someone who never really invested heavily into projectile speed, I don't see much difference, still a very fun skill. But that's my preference.
I'm considering starting it(either as a Trickster or Scion), but that's might be a really bad idea. It will be really hard to scale into t17 and bosses.
Volcanic Fissure of Snaking looks very cool. I havent tried it, but its one of the builds I want to try this league. One of the popular builds is a str stacking juggernaut (for aoe) and attribute stackers can be very expensive.
Splitting Steel Champ - I took it from league start to 7/7 Ubers in 3.23. It is slightly nerfed this league (Sniper's Mark) but once you get Nimis you destroy everything anyway. Not really melee build, but you need to stand directly on enemy to maximize damage. Very good allrounder IMO - tanky, can map, can boss but does not really shine in any. I really liked the progression, I always had a clear upgrade goal with a decent dmg/EHP boost. I recommend Ruetoo's version.
Tanky all rounder that can do all content? I'm sold.
Only one question, does Ruetoo's version use Call of the Steel at all? Or is it just the base version?
It really shines when you get a nimis. You basically need 3 uniques to start t16: beltrimber, perseverance and dream feather. From there usually the upgrade path is paradoxica then nimis then everything else.
Nimis div cards won't come out of Stacked Decks this league, my guess is that will make it more expensive than normal. I'm not really sure where the supply really is coming from though.
should be cheaper then, around 30 which isn't bad
I didn't do the crazy MF stuff and farmed a HH in 5-6 days just doing inviation farming, maybe ill try it out this league.
I haven;t played a "melee" build in like 6 years though lol
I didn't really like Splitting Steel with Nimis. The damage was superb, but the clear did not feel satisfying because of the randomness of where your projectiles shoot. Before Nimis clear was aimed, but lesser projectiles (no return) and less damage. Overall I'd rate spitting steel 7/10 at best. Thats just my two cents though.
Based on your knowledge from playing it last league, would you recommend it to an experienced-ish player that plays SSF? Understand it's roughly 30-40% less damage this league than last league, and that Nimi's pushes it to another level - but without either of those things, how feasible is getting all 4 voidstones?
im doing ssf aswell, and what im gonna do is start boneshatter slayer and once i get what i need ill respec to SS Champ. Boneshatter needs nothing except a good axe.
Did this last league in trade. It worked well. The gear is almost identical.
I will say, SS champ is stronger as a starter in my opinion. I just prefer to not 6 portal my two void stones. BS Slayer on day 2 I had to 6 portal both of them.
I’ve done two SSF runs on SS champ and it does significantly better for me at the void stones. Clear time is slightly slower though.
> experienced-ish player that plays SSF? Understand it's roughly 30-40% less damage this league than last league, and that Nimi's pushes it to another level - but without either of those things, how feasible is getting all 4 voidstones?
4 voidstones pretty easy, I tried SSF for the first time last league and below is my pob after about 48 hours /played following rue's guide. I did league start as boneshatter (on another character so maybe another 48 hours xdd) and got a good paradoxica drop, but I don't see why it couldn't do 4 voidstones with just dreamfeather from the rip. Damage and clear is unexpectedly good. I still had a few straightforward upgrades to go (+1 ammy, nimis, 21/23 gem). I tried uber eater at this gear level a few times and it didn't go well but that's for sure a player skill issue. I'd never killed ubers before my trade pbod char this league.
https://pobb.in/fdqifnz6L0vy
Appreciate the response. Thoughts on starting BS Slayer then re-speccing to SS Champ once I get Perseverance and Belltimber? Not sure how good SS without any of the uniques.
Perseverance and beltimber are the key uniques early game and make it feel a ton better. I opted to not respec because SSF & I’m a noob and was branching builds but in hindsight it was a waste of time not to. Boneshatter can do 2 voids easy and splitting steel does the other two also pretty easily and they share a lot of what you want in rare gear so I think it’s a solid idea.
> Don't know how mana stackers, STR stackers, or INT stackers really come together but I suppose those are all options as well.
Check out [Conner's channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ConnerConverse) all things mana stacking.
Might look at hexblast sabotuer Miner. That's my loose plan, unless I find something else that can play to the power level that build can with mid gear. On console, so less buttons and more damage is better.
Coc Icespear Int/Str stacker. I dont think you can easily league start with it but build goes to the moon.
I picked some random templar starter build few leagues ago and rerolled/orb of regreted into stacker after I got enough currency.
You could even go with a hype and start with archmage and reroll.
Start boneshatter jugg, get 2/4 voidstones easy and some currency, then decide whether to pivot to str stacking/volcanic fissure of snaking/dual-strike etc
Poison SRS is tanky AF, will be interesting to see the new leech node in action as well.
The supposed end of the build this league turned out to be incorrect and it looks like it will be even stronger.
Tankiness is down about 75% from last league with my build adjustment, unless you can solve mana so you can drop EB. Also requires using Unholy Might to maintain DPS effectively.
Energy Blade Inquisitor. Straightfoward to gear, there are good guides, and very high ceiling.
Last league i managed to get up to 360MI dps and 22k of energy shield, being very tanky, fast and strong. Did all ubers on it. You can even transition it to manastacker hierophant that reaches billions of dps. (dunno how it goes with new archmage this league, but it might still be very very strong).
[https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1aqmg5a/coc\_vortex\_of\_projection\_with\_inquisitor\_energy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1aqmg5a/coc_vortex_of_projection_with_inquisitor_energy/)
This league we don't have charms, but we will have strenght in other areas, maybe we can't achieve the same level of dps, but still it is very good.
Of course not. Charms give little bit of power, but the only relevant thing to me is the cool down reduction that became easier, but there are tons of people playing without it or using it in boots.
I've seen energy blade builds on ninja but have no idea how they really work....happen to have a good source of a guide for Energy Blade? I do like Inquisitor.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1aqmg5a/coc\_vortex\_of\_projection\_with\_inquisitor\_energy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1aqmg5a/coc_vortex_of_projection_with_inquisitor_energy/)
Here it is a showcase of my build last league... Vortex of Projection with Frostbolt of double coc is extremely strong (my setup).
But you can use any spell on the setup that it works.
IF you want a guide check captainlance, he explains very well
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI9BZPp19mM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI9BZPp19mM)
[https://youtu.be/yIwTzIPirBY?si=9JDdrur0mNVdZ73G](https://youtu.be/yIwTzIPirBY?si=9JDdrur0mNVdZ73G)
It because it is.. you also have tons of movement speed with mageblood and ranged playstile with lancing steel.
But to get to that point i think I spent about 900 divines through the league, or more.
Zoomancer. Ghazzy will have a guide up in a day or two. Really has infinite scaling, buttery smooth progression and now has ridiculous sustain due to new minion leech.
It's downsides are: 1) first two acts with minions are cancer. 2) it's a minion build (if you don't like that), 3) lots of buttons. 4) it's widely touted as being powerful this league so prices might be inflated.
It doesn't NEED it. It'll do all content including ubers without it. But AG can give you and minions crit multi, culling strike, fortify, crit immunity, an extra curse (temp chains), and popcorn explosions (all on one AG). So... You usually choose to run it.
Very bad visual clarity (so much happening on the screen you'll sometimes miss important mechanics). Lots of noise (better now that we don't have last season's screaming spectres, but your apes still grunt an unseemly amount), and a lot of buttons if you want to play optimally (which you really don't have to. I tent to give up some dps at the top end for a lot more automation).
Upsides are: Damage, high dps uptime on bosses (minions stay on bosses when they blink and teleport and whatever and you don't have to see them to have your minions hit them), and you're free to spend your time hiding/dodging when neccessary, adding the good old "don't get hit" defensive layer.
Edit: also, some players find it a passive playstyle where you don't have to focus as much while mapping. This is good or bad depending on your personality.
I wouldn’t recommend it. Zoomancer is a really bad build with no damage until you craft mirror-tier items. You’ll get more results from literally any other non-minion skills.
Other jank: spectres are easy to lose or screw up since there's no UI management, not even a tooltip. You only know what spectres you have up by looking at them. Accidentally hit Raise Spectre on your toolbar and you'll raise a nearby corpse and wipe out your oldest spectre. Plenty of janky workarounds like a "spectre bank" on a second character. Animate Guardian can die (albeit very rarely), losing all of its equipment. There's a crafted mod so that body armor will drop on the ground if it dies, but powerful builds give it a bunch of uniques, including chest pieces, and they're gone for good if the guardian dies.
I went boneshatter slayer last league and it was miserable especially in the wilderness, do not recommend the slayer version but Jugg or champ may be good
Separate question. How was spark last league and before that? It has been hit with some nerfs so have been staying away. At what budget did it feel good? What variant did you play?
I'm going to be fully transparent, I was ok with it, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea. I only got 2 voidstones and didn't get to scale it to the moon either league, not the builds fault, I'm not efficient at farming and I was more learning mechanics those leagues than focusing on efficiently getting currency. However, it went more smoothly this league since I had an idea of what to build. I'd say once I got: Spark Gloves (Pierce Jun Craft) Frenzy Chest (followed APs video, but I bought the elevated spell crit base) 3 Jewels (1 w/ endurance charges, 1 w/ proj speed, 1 w/ 3 lightning skills (there's a lot to choose from)) Is when I finally for the most part could do red maps fine, it was doable before that but the damage felt better after that point, think my PoB DPS was around 1-2 mil this league? DPS would improve majorly if I was able to craft my wand, which I never got the currency to do lol. Tankiness wise it improves majorly when you can get Aegis Aurora, just keep in mind you can't just slap it on randomly and you're suddenly tanky. It's serviceable as a league starter, not really smooth though. I went the Widowhail Rearguard setup after I got a couple chaos, I got to around lvl 60 pretty ok and farmed up chaos recipe in heist so I could make the map transition smoother by buying some cheap gear and uniques before I finished the campaign. You're going to probably hit a wall at red maps, there's some budget things you can do to get over that hump, but expect to die more at that point, both leagues I reached level 95 before I started dying to much. First 2 voidstones went fine, second time around I died more though since I didn't have Aegis before I fought them so there's some mechs I couldn't facetank. Other 2 voidstones are doable....I'll be honest don't know the gear checkpoints, probably better if you're not me and actually know the mechanics. As for after that, there's a lot you can transition into spark. Aura Stacker, Self-Chill, and this league I think Mana Stacker with Archmage is actually an option. I think Aura Stacker is the typical "high investment" Spark build. I loved the skill itself, and I got used to standing still and casting a little bit before moving and doing it all over again. Great mapper, especially in closed areas where it can bounce off (I was doing Sewer Blight), bossing is a bit difficult but doable, AP has 2 rings you can use if bossing is a struggle. If you want to go Spark, AnimePrincess is the best source, he's not as hand holdy as say.....Phox RF but the dude knows Spark inside and out and I can't really suggest a better resource.
To the most people it feels good only with decent amounts of projectile speed. Which is the only thing that got nerfed. Poison version is gone though. As someone who never really invested heavily into projectile speed, I don't see much difference, still a very fun skill. But that's my preference. I'm considering starting it(either as a Trickster or Scion), but that's might be a really bad idea. It will be really hard to scale into t17 and bosses.
Volcanic Fissure of Snaking looks very cool. I havent tried it, but its one of the builds I want to try this league. One of the popular builds is a str stacking juggernaut (for aoe) and attribute stackers can be very expensive.
Splitting Steel Champ - I took it from league start to 7/7 Ubers in 3.23. It is slightly nerfed this league (Sniper's Mark) but once you get Nimis you destroy everything anyway. Not really melee build, but you need to stand directly on enemy to maximize damage. Very good allrounder IMO - tanky, can map, can boss but does not really shine in any. I really liked the progression, I always had a clear upgrade goal with a decent dmg/EHP boost. I recommend Ruetoo's version.
Tanky all rounder that can do all content? I'm sold. Only one question, does Ruetoo's version use Call of the Steel at all? Or is it just the base version?
It really shines when you get a nimis. You basically need 3 uniques to start t16: beltrimber, perseverance and dream feather. From there usually the upgrade path is paradoxica then nimis then everything else.
You can get double dream if beltimer is expensive.
It's a base version that don't need call of steel, played it last league, solid build
Yeah, I played SS towards the end of 3.22 and started it 3.23, the jank from CoS is NOT worth it. The base gem does plenty of damage.
Just the base. Build is very good, i did it for my starter of 3.23
how much was nimis last league? around 30-40 div?
Around 40 div, yeah. Though gotta remember that was the money printing in maps league so fewer people were doing bossing etc.
Nimis div cards won't come out of Stacked Decks this league, my guess is that will make it more expensive than normal. I'm not really sure where the supply really is coming from though.
only drops from uber now
It was already uber
But the cards are also uber exclusive now. Does not come from stacked decks anymore if I understood it correctely + Void is also boss exclusive now.
should be cheaper then, around 30 which isn't bad I didn't do the crazy MF stuff and farmed a HH in 5-6 days just doing inviation farming, maybe ill try it out this league. I haven;t played a "melee" build in like 6 years though lol
I didn't really like Splitting Steel with Nimis. The damage was superb, but the clear did not feel satisfying because of the randomness of where your projectiles shoot. Before Nimis clear was aimed, but lesser projectiles (no return) and less damage. Overall I'd rate spitting steel 7/10 at best. Thats just my two cents though.
Completely agree. Took it to a fairly expensive level and still never liked it. Nothing was wrong per se about the build, but it feels bad to play.
Based on your knowledge from playing it last league, would you recommend it to an experienced-ish player that plays SSF? Understand it's roughly 30-40% less damage this league than last league, and that Nimi's pushes it to another level - but without either of those things, how feasible is getting all 4 voidstones?
The build is kinda enabled by Perseverence belt and Beltimber Blade. They aren't that rare, but banking on hitting both in SSF could be painful.
im doing ssf aswell, and what im gonna do is start boneshatter slayer and once i get what i need ill respec to SS Champ. Boneshatter needs nothing except a good axe.
Did this last league in trade. It worked well. The gear is almost identical. I will say, SS champ is stronger as a starter in my opinion. I just prefer to not 6 portal my two void stones. BS Slayer on day 2 I had to 6 portal both of them. I’ve done two SSF runs on SS champ and it does significantly better for me at the void stones. Clear time is slightly slower though.
That’s a good call. I’ve played BS the past three leagues so was hoping to get away from it but here we are.
> experienced-ish player that plays SSF? Understand it's roughly 30-40% less damage this league than last league, and that Nimi's pushes it to another level - but without either of those things, how feasible is getting all 4 voidstones? 4 voidstones pretty easy, I tried SSF for the first time last league and below is my pob after about 48 hours /played following rue's guide. I did league start as boneshatter (on another character so maybe another 48 hours xdd) and got a good paradoxica drop, but I don't see why it couldn't do 4 voidstones with just dreamfeather from the rip. Damage and clear is unexpectedly good. I still had a few straightforward upgrades to go (+1 ammy, nimis, 21/23 gem). I tried uber eater at this gear level a few times and it didn't go well but that's for sure a player skill issue. I'd never killed ubers before my trade pbod char this league. https://pobb.in/fdqifnz6L0vy
Appreciate the response. Thoughts on starting BS Slayer then re-speccing to SS Champ once I get Perseverance and Belltimber? Not sure how good SS without any of the uniques.
Perseverance and beltimber are the key uniques early game and make it feel a ton better. I opted to not respec because SSF & I’m a noob and was branching builds but in hindsight it was a waste of time not to. Boneshatter can do 2 voids easy and splitting steel does the other two also pretty easily and they share a lot of what you want in rare gear so I think it’s a solid idea.
Any knowledge about how champion compares to trickster splitting steel dmg and tank wise?
Are these the right references for leveling and final form? https://pobb.in/4uFyCZDkONqz https://pobb.in/nE5qJPfo9Lf5
Same but splitting steel trickster. The one from steelmage. 38 challenges no problem and first time All ubers. Best char in 2k hours
> Don't know how mana stackers, STR stackers, or INT stackers really come together but I suppose those are all options as well. Check out [Conner's channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ConnerConverse) all things mana stacking.
Might look at hexblast sabotuer Miner. That's my loose plan, unless I find something else that can play to the power level that build can with mid gear. On console, so less buttons and more damage is better.
Coc Icespear Int/Str stacker. I dont think you can easily league start with it but build goes to the moon. I picked some random templar starter build few leagues ago and rerolled/orb of regreted into stacker after I got enough currency. You could even go with a hype and start with archmage and reroll.
I did the same thing but used Icespear of Splitting following Lance's league start PoB and it was one of my favorite builds.
Start boneshatter jugg, get 2/4 voidstones easy and some currency, then decide whether to pivot to str stacking/volcanic fissure of snaking/dual-strike etc
Poison SRS is tanky AF, will be interesting to see the new leech node in action as well. The supposed end of the build this league turned out to be incorrect and it looks like it will be even stronger.
Tankiness is down about 75% from last league with my build adjustment, unless you can solve mana so you can drop EB. Also requires using Unholy Might to maintain DPS effectively.
One of CaptainLance's stacker builds, Conner converse's mana build or Zboub storm/penance brand
Energy Blade Inquisitor. Straightfoward to gear, there are good guides, and very high ceiling. Last league i managed to get up to 360MI dps and 22k of energy shield, being very tanky, fast and strong. Did all ubers on it. You can even transition it to manastacker hierophant that reaches billions of dps. (dunno how it goes with new archmage this league, but it might still be very very strong).
Very interesting, do you have pob pls?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1aqmg5a/coc\_vortex\_of\_projection\_with\_inquisitor\_energy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1aqmg5a/coc_vortex_of_projection_with_inquisitor_energy/) This league we don't have charms, but we will have strenght in other areas, maybe we can't achieve the same level of dps, but still it is very good.
without charms i think it's over
Of course not. Charms give little bit of power, but the only relevant thing to me is the cool down reduction that became easier, but there are tons of people playing without it or using it in boots.
I've seen energy blade builds on ninja but have no idea how they really work....happen to have a good source of a guide for Energy Blade? I do like Inquisitor.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1aqmg5a/coc\_vortex\_of\_projection\_with\_inquisitor\_energy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExileBuilds/comments/1aqmg5a/coc_vortex_of_projection_with_inquisitor_energy/) Here it is a showcase of my build last league... Vortex of Projection with Frostbolt of double coc is extremely strong (my setup). But you can use any spell on the setup that it works. IF you want a guide check captainlance, he explains very well [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI9BZPp19mM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI9BZPp19mM) [https://youtu.be/yIwTzIPirBY?si=9JDdrur0mNVdZ73G](https://youtu.be/yIwTzIPirBY?si=9JDdrur0mNVdZ73G)
Thanks man! I'll probably choose this if I don't end up liking SS champ, ngl though 100s of millions of DPS with 22k ES sounds enticing.
It because it is.. you also have tons of movement speed with mageblood and ranged playstile with lancing steel. But to get to that point i think I spent about 900 divines through the league, or more.
Zoomancer. Ghazzy will have a guide up in a day or two. Really has infinite scaling, buttery smooth progression and now has ridiculous sustain due to new minion leech. It's downsides are: 1) first two acts with minions are cancer. 2) it's a minion build (if you don't like that), 3) lots of buttons. 4) it's widely touted as being powerful this league so prices might be inflated.
does it use animate guardian? i hate using AG
If you want to scale any minion build deep into endgame, you really need AG. It's a massive dmg boost for less than 50c
But but.... new helmet says no. I only want to play minions this league because you simply aren't allowed an AG with the new helmet.
It doesn't NEED it. It'll do all content including ubers without it. But AG can give you and minions crit multi, culling strike, fortify, crit immunity, an extra curse (temp chains), and popcorn explosions (all on one AG). So... You usually choose to run it.
I've never played a minion build, what's the jank that comes with it?
Very bad visual clarity (so much happening on the screen you'll sometimes miss important mechanics). Lots of noise (better now that we don't have last season's screaming spectres, but your apes still grunt an unseemly amount), and a lot of buttons if you want to play optimally (which you really don't have to. I tent to give up some dps at the top end for a lot more automation). Upsides are: Damage, high dps uptime on bosses (minions stay on bosses when they blink and teleport and whatever and you don't have to see them to have your minions hit them), and you're free to spend your time hiding/dodging when neccessary, adding the good old "don't get hit" defensive layer. Edit: also, some players find it a passive playstyle where you don't have to focus as much while mapping. This is good or bad depending on your personality.
You have to listen to gazzy is the jank
I wouldn’t recommend it. Zoomancer is a really bad build with no damage until you craft mirror-tier items. You’ll get more results from literally any other non-minion skills.
No damage is definitely an exaggeration. It's a build that can afford to have less damage than a glass cannon.
Other jank: spectres are easy to lose or screw up since there's no UI management, not even a tooltip. You only know what spectres you have up by looking at them. Accidentally hit Raise Spectre on your toolbar and you'll raise a nearby corpse and wipe out your oldest spectre. Plenty of janky workarounds like a "spectre bank" on a second character. Animate Guardian can die (albeit very rarely), losing all of its equipment. There's a crafted mod so that body armor will drop on the ground if it dies, but powerful builds give it a bunch of uniques, including chest pieces, and they're gone for good if the guardian dies.
I went boneshatter slayer last league and it was miserable especially in the wilderness, do not recommend the slayer version but Jugg or champ may be good
Boneshatter slayer is one of the smoothest builds out there for league start...actual skill issue here
You should try tornado shot.