Returning to Ascendancy - So Many Goodies?!

Hey guys, I'm making a return to PoE after a fairly long hiatus; I haven't played since shortly after the introduction of the final act with Malachai and I gotta say damn this game has changed!

I've spent the past 6 hours trawling the forums, twitch and YT for information and I still feel completely overwhelmed. New flasks, currency tabs, sub-classes, skills, passives, mechanics.... GGG really do put a crazy amount of love into this game.

I don't normally like to ask these kind of questions but can any of you kind folk provide me with a few details on some of the main meta changes? Last time I played there were just flame totems galore. I'll throw down a few questions off the top of my head, if anyone can offer any information it would be greatly appreciated! (I should mention that my ladder of choice is HCP)

* The current HCP ladder top 20 seems well mixed; Are there any Classes/Builds that stand out above the rest for end game mapping?

* If I wan't to get up and farming currency asap, can anyone suggest a relatively safe Class/Build?

* Crit vs Non-Crit, Block/Arm/Evasion mechanics... have there been major changes to these? Max block was considered non-viable last time I played and HC chars were all about non-crit, armour based builds, is this still the case?

* Levelling skills: Not overly important but worth an ask... have any of the new skills overtaken Pizza Blast, Fire Traps or Tendrils for early game levelling?


Thanks again for any info you guys can offer

Much Love, TLM

The large, and affordable, stand out is Maruader, due to the Juggernaut Ascendancy. It deals with physical damage by basically GIVING you your Endurance Charge generation, and I'm told the 8% reduced elemental damage at max translates to roughly +1 max all res. It shrugs off bleeding, it can shrug off slows, it can be stun immune...And thus as long as you pick up the Endurance Charges and enough life, basically everything else you have can be for damage.

It's still not a TON of damage compared to some, but it's more than enough to clear the end game.

Main meta changes....Melee run Earthquake now. Seeing anything else is sadly very rare. Reave still has a solid amount of players, but...It's EQ now, for melee.
Chaos Conversion is not just nerfed, but well and truly dead. For high damage Lightning Arrow builds you still see Voltaxic Rift used, but that's all.
Phys Mitigation is more important than ever, because of the labyrinth.
People are swapping to CI later than before also because of the labyrinth.

Crit, Armor, Evasion, are all about the same. Max Block is more viable now because of a few changes and Gladiator ascendancy.

Leveling Skills, nothing changed, unless you're going melee. If you are, even if you decide not to use EQ, pick up EQ at L28 when you can use it, and enjoy the easy leveling.

Not sure that covered everything, but hopefully it covered some basics. The big thing, as HC, to be scared of is the Labyrinth. It's scary. The traps do a lot of damage, Izaro does a lot of damage, and god forbid you go in there on a day where Izaro gains charges, he'll kill you. AFAIK, HC players are waiting to reach Cruel Lab before doing Normal Lab. Some are waiting until they enter Merciless. Some are even more cautious and wait until they reach Merciless lab and have all their end game items on. It's a scary, scary thing.

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar!

Thanks so much for taking the time, that covered most of what I needed. At least I now have something to guide my focus for restarting the game. I was planning on doing something like a Crit Leap/Sweep Marauder first but mebbe I'll hold off and go with EQ for grinding currency.

Incidentally, are totems still a good alternative for a safe early character?

Thanks again, Much love!

He's right about EQ. It's too good. Massive AoE, hardly any draw backs. The damage scales without focusing on attack speed, and unlike other melee abilities you don't need to stand still to attack.

The play style is slightly different. You slam the ground and move. Slam the ground and move. Pick up a reduced duration gem which now has a MORE multiplier coupled with it... Just doesn't make sense to use any other melee skill (and this is coming from a guy that has a 440 physical dps 1Her sword in Standard). Unfortunately I cant use the sword for EQ but that's another story.

Shield block is starting to gain popularity. Gladiators can reach block easily, and use the ascendancy to also get spell block. That's what I did on my level 94 Duelist. Doesn't take much investment in the tree.

Physical damage reduction has become a larger part of the game but acquiring physical mitigation has become easier.

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TurgidLeafMan wrote:

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar!

Thanks so much for taking the time, that covered most of what I needed. At least I now have something to guide my focus for restarting the game. I was planning on doing something like a Crit Leap/Sweep Marauder first but mebbe I'll hold off and go with EQ for grinding currency.

Incidentally, are totems still a good alternative for a safe early character?

Thanks again, Much love!

Totems are a good alternative, yes. You could go with the classy Righteous Fire Totem Chieftain build. Part of the Chieftain ascendancy makes your totems immune to fire damage, so you can place two and they'll burn for their max life, but will never take damage from it. The damage falls off some late game, I'm told, but it does work, and it's certainly a safe playstyle.

everything is OP now

have fun