3.19 RF - general help in reaching end-game

Hi folks.
I wonder what I'm doing wrong, here. Or if this is just, as they say, the brakes.

I suppose I have a general question, which is true for most builds. How the RNGesus do I get past the difficulty and cost (In Standard) of obtaining the end-game gear I need?

I'm playing RF Inquisitor at the moment (standard build: https://www.poe-vault.com/guides/righteous-fire-inquisitor-gear-flasks). I've picked up some, but not all, the end-game items suggested by the build, with 4.2k life (low, yep, hence the search for more!), 81/81/81 elemental resistance, 75% physical reduction with auras, and my RF deals about 175k dps. Clearing alch'd t8 is pretty smooth, but t10 gets me popped too often.

I need things like Ashes of the Stars, an Elder-influenced helmet with awesome mods, and Replica Soul Tether. These will set me back 2-3 Divine each. And I just can't envisage how to get there, given in 300 hours I've seen 3. Pre-3.19, I could just about imagine it: lots of harbingers for exalted shards, plus occasional sales. but now? It's kinda heartbreaking

Is this just the deal? Or am I missing something that I could be doing?

Go to the twitch stream of Pohx.

He successfully plays RF even in SSF and can give you some tips.

You picked a very crappy build to league start, RF is aiight, but on its own and without high investment is rather weak.
When starting out u need to pick a cheap-o build that can get you u red maps (I started with explo arrow for example, its fast, and capable of doing most content on a shoe-string budget, but there are plenty of other examples)

I played some RF this league aswell, which is great for clear but not so much for bosses, the varient i played had Firetrap aswell on a 6-link for bosses i started it out with a 90 Div investment and a self-crafted pseudo 6-link RF helm.
I was highly dissapointed in the build, the clear speed and survivability was insane but the bossing was just too slow imo.
(My RF was ~1mil DPS and firetrap ~4mil dps)

Honestly - if u dont have the currency to invest, dont play it.
some builds require huge investments to work properly, this is one of them, get urself a cheap build and farm *Insert ur prefered farming method here* till u get the currency to switch.

"

SoulRus wrote:

Honestly - if u dont have the currency to invest, dont play it.
some builds require huge investments to work properly, this is one of them

That is absolutely not true. For RF you need absolutely no currency. I Tested it myself this league. Most of the Items you need to run RF in a smooth way till t16 are very easy to craft.

If you dont know hot to craft the items just take a look at pohx wiki page.

for Exsample:

Helmet for Firetrap: Get Any Helmet with Armour or Armour/Es and Elder Influence
That costs you only a couple Chaos.
Then use Essence of Horror to hit Conc Effect. Average Chance to hit is 1:8

Body Armour: Armour/ES Base drops in every map you run... a 6 linked should not cost more then 15 chaos. For Crafting Use Essence of Loathing for Mana reservation for 5 Aura Setup till you get some Life and Resis on it.

Scepter:
Budget version: Void Scepter with 40% ele dmg implicid. Sell that to a vendor with Fire Tagged skillgems 40% quality in total for guaranteed +1 to fire skill gems scepter. then augment and regal it and craft dot multi or fire multi if posible.

High End: Get a Fractured Void Scepter with fractured Dot Multi and altspam till +1 Fire skill gem, regal it. if you hit 2 free suffix and 1 free prefix multicraft fire multi and fire damage.

and so on...

i did spent round about 50c till i was able to run t16s while sleeping.

the most extreme upgrade for RF is Aegis Aurora till you have the currency to buy one you can run Dawnbreaker what you can get for 1-3 Chaos. or an elder influenced Shield with % Life gain on Block for round about 50 Chaos.

Thanks to you both for your input. The fact it contrasts so heavily is informative in its own right!
I picked RF because on PoEVault, splashed everywhere, was how cheap and viable it was for leaguestart, even at t16. It happens I play Standard, but the cheapness still matters - in fact, stuff is much more expensive in Standard, I find! ?!

It's interesting to see those crafting notes. I found essence of horror quite hard to farm, as I was only encountering the required essence monsters only rarely.

Still, I get the principle. So thanks!