3.9| Stress-Free PoE - TRIGGER HAPPY |SSF the Atlas w/ 1 Button & Any Gear|Dungeon Crawl PoE!

I've really enjoyed this build, I took the bottom wing of the skill tree for mana leech and then went to the left, now almost done with the right section in act 9 and will finish up the middle for the life nodes. 4 life flasks and 1 mana (which isn't used much anymore) has worked fine, it's rare to need that much life, I might switch 1-2 for boss tankiness.

It's been really fun finding a new weapon which has nice physical damage, I found one last night and my dps jumped 50% from the previous.

The only issue I've had is massive lag spikes which started with this league, some of the metamorph boss spawns are killed before my screen even refreshes 1 frame, so being able to hit a potion and pray works really well with this build thanks to its tankiness. Even walking across a zone as each little pack of trash come on screen, I get a 1 second of 0fps and big lag spike. Medium texture to limit the special effects helps some, but again this tanky build is great for these circumstances.

Hello everyone,

I've been enjoying this build a lot! Currently at level 86 with the following gears:



Everything seems to go very smooth, my only problem is with events that require you to quickly kill multiple monsters like Blight or Legion Encounters, does anyone has any tips on what gear should I pursue now to advance more?

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Tanzanito wrote:

Hello everyone,

I've been enjoying this build a lot! Currently at level 86 with the following gears:

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Everything seems to go very smooth, my only problem is with events that require you to quickly kill multiple monsters like Blight or Legion Encounters, does anyone has any tips on what gear should I pursue now to advance more?

Nice gear! My biggest tip is six link that armor so you can use the fully linked bladestorm. I am lvl 80 and running a tabula, just creaming things. I focused on leveling another build the last few days so have neglected this build a little. Hope to get back on it, here is my gear atm (ssf):

I'm still slowly progressing. I'm at level 72 and just hit Act 10. I'm going to do the 2nd lab to get a couple of additional Ascension skills before finishing the campaign and getting to maps.

I'm doing SSF for the first time and wow does some of my gear suck. I've tried to focus on resists and armor and defense and blocking. I'm using a pretty crappy Axe that is slow, but the build is able to overcome it. I keep hoping for a great item or even a 5-link armor but alas, nothing yet.

I get unique item and incursion armor and weapon body parts for the metamorphs but nothing great has dropped yet. The only item that just dropped in the Refinery I think was the Iron Heart Crusader plate. I'm intrigued by the modifier to increase melee physical damage.

It's a nice armor upgrade but I'd have to try to increase the gem slots and get at least 4-linked to make it feasible. Is it worth it to have the Can't block spell damage negative form the armor? I feel like I'm just at the point of being too weak damage wise as bosses are taking longer, but otherwise my surviveability is good.

I keep hoping for a weapon upgrade, but that's the breaks with playing SSF. I also need to try the blood sacrifice mechanic, I've never done that. This game just has so much going on. I've barely done the mining stuff too and I also want to do the Atlas.

Anyway, any tips/advice on whether to use the Iron Heart Crusader plate from veterans? I'm dubious because the spell blocking limitation as that was what I was going to go for in the Cruel Lab.

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Royella wrote:

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Nice accesories Royella! Those are good!

Thank you! I play in Standard and all solo self found. I have leveled one toon, a warchief totem build, to 94 and farmed all of this gear as I leveled him. I love the first run through where every drop is a possible upgrade but it is also super fun to have a stash full of good gear to grind towards. Every level can unlock that next piece, and I've got some good stuff waiting for me! Here's where I sit this morning, hit level 60 before work and have done the first two labs. Thanks for the guide, absolutely love this build.

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I hear you Royella!

It's nice to start fresh, and nice to stack up on gear. I'm glad you're liking the build. Thanks for the kind words! I appreciate it.

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sluggersteve wrote:

Thanks so much for the advice and quick responses! Steadfast and Way of the Warrior seem like solid choices! Quick thing though, I don't believe major KeyStone nodes such as Vaal Pact or Resolute Technique can be annointed? Maybe that is a console thing? I am playing on PC this league.

I also meant what nodes would make most sense, given the pathing of the tree, such as maybe not annointing a node that someone may be just 1 or 2 skill points away from as opposed to a slightly better node that is way further away on the tree?


Thanks!


:)

Hey sluggersteve!

You're right. I'm not sure where I was at when I suggested Vaal Pact or Resolute Technique. Console and PC are the same, there are no anointing differences. Sorry for the misinformation. I'm glad that someone answered you correctly though.

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Ericjgreen5 wrote:

Hey all,

I'm having major mana trouble running pride, blood and sand and flesh and stone all at the same time. If I hit bladestorm twice I'm out of mana. Am I doing something wrong?

Hey Ericjgreen5!

Just in case you missed it, grab the mana leech node as quick as you can while levelling. It still won't be perfect for you until you do enough damage (mana returned via leech is a % of the damage we deal). So just turn on fewer auras and have a mana flask ready until you find leech sufficient. You're not doing anything wrong. It's just part of the levelling grind.

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buddhabunny wrote:

Make sure that you get the mana leech node relatively early. I got it right after getting Golem's Blood and then respecced later on when I had the points to get it while going by Command of Steel. Alternatively, you can get mana leech on your gear in some form. As a last (not worst) alternative, put a mana pot on your bar. It doesn't need to be a great one because you're not regenning or using a ton of mana.

As an aside, thank you Wrecker_of_Days for this and your other excellent guides. They are great for relaxed play, and as starting points if you don't mind bouncing around the screen like a jumping bean.

Thanks buddhabunny!

I always appreciate your kindness. Thanks for being so kind and encouraging.

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TheTrMachine wrote:

Hey there!
This build looks great but I would like to play lacerate instead of bladestorm.
I just replaced it in PoB and everything looks fine to me.
Do you think I need to do any changes to the tree?
Thanks!

Hey TheTrMachine!

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. The beginning of leagues are very busy. Sorry. I hope you started with Lacerate. It works perfectly with this build. I personally haven't given the skill too much time so I'm not sure about it's AoE size in either stance. So the only thing to consider with the original build is the value of Close Combat linked with Lacerate.

Nothing will need to change in the tree.

Let us know how it goes!

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Thrippy wrote:

Just hit level 40 on this on XBox and loving it. I was using Cleave and Double Strike until I got Bladestorm. Still using Double Strike on single target and having the same mana issues as stated above trying to run Pride, Flesh and Blood and Blood and Sand. Even so, I find that running without Pride is easy as is running with and and having 2 mana pots to just surge through the larger packs.

Getting the 20 mana on block passive helps. I'm running Leap Slam and Tempest Shield with Vengeance. I love Tempest Shield and just added an increased duration to it. Leap Slam for getting around easier and jumping into the middle of large packs to unleash the Bladestorm.

I'm really having fun with this and it's already tanky at level 40 where I basically just face-tanked the Act 3 bosses on the Spire.

Thanks for the great guide. I'm doing SSF so still dealing with a 4-link armor at this point, but hoping to go to the Lab soon and get Ascension and continue the journey. It's been a little slower going than the Necro zombie build last league, but once I got Bladestorm it started to be more fun, which is what I was looking for.

Glad to hear it Thrippy! Thanks for such a great post. Levelling with this build is really nice for sure. (Nothing will ever compare to a Zombie build in 3.8. It was a very overpowered meta last league.)

Nice modifications you've made for movement and mana.

I'm glad you're enjoying it so much. Please feel free to provide any suggestions if you have any. And thanks again for your kindness.