Have trouble getting to endgame? Guide to a Spectral Throw/Double Strike Scion's early game.

A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO THE SPECTRAL THROW/DOUBLE STRIKE SCION
----THIS GUIDE IS NOT YET FINISHED, ALL I HAVE DONE IS SUGGEST ITEMS, AND QUEST REWARDS TO PICK UP ALONG THE WAY. MORE WORK IS YET TO BE DONE ON GEM LINKS ETC. IT IS DESIGNED FOR NEW PLAYERS, OR PLAYERS WHO STRUGGLE TO GET OUT OF NORMAL. IT DOESN'T HAVE AN ENDGAME BUILD, YOU CAN FIND A LINK IN THIS GUIDE TO SOMEONE ELSE'S BRILLIANT ENDGAME BUILD THAT I BASED THIS AROUND. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT PASSIVES TO GET, GO CHECK OUT THE GUIDE THAT I HAVE LINKED UNTIL I SET UP MY OWN PAGES----

_____________________________________________
Hi there everyone, this is my first guide so any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

I'm not great at this game, and I don't have endless hours or the friends pool to get rushed through difficulties, nor the currency to buy expensive items. But for the first time, I'm in nemesis with an excellent character, and having a really great time!

I wanted to make this guide for all the people out there who DON'T have the time that our professional players do, or the knowledge, and can't make heads or tails of all the guides that give you rough ideas on how to get to endgame content (maps and so forth) and mainly focus on endgame builds! Every day heaps of people post on reddit about what build to do, how to start, etc, so I want to help out :)

I'm just happy that finally my goal of actually MAKING it to maps is coming to fruition with a character that I enjoy playing.

This character is, at base, a SPECTRAL THROW and DOUBLE STRIKE Scion. Credits for the majority of the build go to dbum, with his [HC][Nemesis] Spectral Throw (The Super Tank 2h) EB/MOM. Take a look at his guide, its fantastic, and helped me on my way to making a decent character!


So without further ado, lets get into it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Quest Rewards and Game Progression
Spoiler

A good way to plan out if you will be able to get the gems you want is to check out the quest rewards for Scion on the link I post below. You may have to buy some gems, you may quickly level up another class (i.e. marauder) to around level 10 to grab some the scion doesn't get, etc.



Also, I'd suggest when using this part of the guide to also check the gem links section, as I'll point out when you will want to pick up some extra things that you don't get from quest rewards (such as life gain on hit).

Act 1 Normal
------------
Spoiler
You start out with Spectral Throw (YAY! How useful!) so that's one less thing to worry about! SpecThrow is your mob clearing skill, and your single target is up to you. My personal favourite? Double Strike. Another great utility that I love, especially as an escape, is Leap Slam. These will be our main three skills!

I'm going to be a pain straight up and say, before you get into your Scion, start a Duelist; you're after 2 quest rewards from this character to give to your Scion. The first quest reward you want is Double Strike for killing Hillock outside the gates, the next is Leap Slam, a quest reward for killing Brutus. This will take you 30mins to an hour, but will save you money buying the things off someone. Throw them in your stash for your Scion, and discard the character (harsh, I know).

Now! Onto the Scion.
The main quest rewards I'll point out are picking up Bear Trap (Breaking Some Eggs quest), Clarity (for killing Brutus [you may see leap slam as a reward here too, but clarity can be a pain to get hold of]), and your first support gem, Added Fire Damage (for getting into the Caverns of Anger). Clarity is super useful to us until we have enough mana regen. I'd suggest keeping it at level 3, no more than that, otherwise it will take too much of your mana pool in reserved space.

The act 1 boss is Merveil, who deals in Cold damage, so getting Cold Resistance is imperative, and makes her easy :)



Act 2 Normal
------------
Spoiler
Alright! Now we're getting somewhere!
The quest reward for Intruders in Black is up to you, Enduring Cry is something we will use later on, so I heartily suggest this. I'll say right now though, don't level it until you have checked out the gem links section! There is a reason behind my madness ;)
Now, for the Sharp and Cruel quest, you get another support gem (support gem rewards are my favourite...) Lesser Multiple Projectiles. No other choice (unless you luckily picked one up). LMP + Spectral Throw is the basis of this build. Delicious. The rest of the quest rewards aren't all that important to us, just grab whatever you like (maybe something for another character?)
One of the quests requires dealing with 3 different bandits; Alira, Kraitlyn and Oak. Depending on which one you decide to help (and kill the others) gives you a different quest reward. If you decide to kill all 3, you get a skill point! BUT, what most (if not all) life-based builds do is help out Oak. If you Help Oak, you get 40 permanent life. This might not seem like much, but when you have a crap-ton of %health nodes, it really adds up. You miss out on the skill point, but it's worth it. Go check out the PoE wiki for Bandit Rewards and see what each bandit has to offer if you choose to help them and kill the others; it is different for every difficulty!

The act 2 boss is Vaal; his elemental stuff is lightning and cold. Things to watch out for are his big hammer (you'll see him wind up then hit the ground), and his lightning laser thing. Getting hit by the lightning beam multiple times is what kills people. Dodge this, and you'll be fine! Now, onto Act 3!


Act 3 Normal
------------
Spoiler
Alrighty, first up, you'll head out into the Slums. Watch out for the big Rare queen things that summon the little minions, those bitches can HURT.
The first quest reward is pretty lame, nothing interesting for us unfortunately, but once you start getting through the act 3 content you'll come across the Sever the Right Hand quest, with another support gem. Still nothing interesting for us, you might want to pick up Endurance Charge on Melee Stun (goes really well with 2h hammers) or melee splash, which is also very good with single target skills.

Next interesting quest reward comes from A Fixture of Fate. We do use Temporal Chains in our late game build, but I think I picked up the Cast When Stunned. I linked the Cast when Stunned with Molten Shell and the previously picked up Enduring Cry. For reference later on, you don't want to level up your Molten Shell or Enduring Cry past level 5. Adhere to this, otherwise you'll have to find another one somewhere along the line!

Now, you'll come across Piety, and finally get to kill the bitch. She shouldn't be too difficult for you, as long as you've maxed your resistances and have plenty of armour. Life will be taken care of with all the health nodes you've picked up along the way, and any +life you have on your items.

Once Piety is done for, your last stop in Normal Difficulty is to kill Dominus. On the way up the Scepter of the Gods is a creature called Caliga, Imperatrix. To many players, she's worse than Dominus, because she can triple lightning trap you and instakill you. She's about 2 levels up in the Scepter. BE CAREFUL. IF IN DOUBT, RUN AWAY.

NOW, Dominus.

MAX YOUR RESISTS.
GET AS MUCH ARMOUR AS YOU CAN, AND AS MUCH HEALTH AS YOU CAN.
TRANSMUTE AND ALTERATION ORB YOUR POTIONS UNTIL YOU HAVE AT LEAST 1 OR 2 WITH THE STAUNCHING SUFFIX. Staunching stops bleed damage.
I farmed Docks and Piety til level 44 so that I could pick up Iron Reflexes. This was the difference between 600 armour and 1500 armour. This keystone is amazing. I would HEARTILY suggest farming til you have it.

AND, most importantly, WATCH A GUIDE ON HOW TO KILL DOMINUS.

See you in Cruel ;)



Act 1 Cruel
------------
Spoiler
Since you know the score on how to do everything in the act, I'll just point out the skill gems we may want:
Enemy at the Gate quest: Grace. You may ask "why Grace, and not Determination?" Grace overall at level 20 gives 2016 evasion, Determination gives 50% extra armour. It appears that the flat amount means more to us than a percentage increase (since we treat evasion as armour because of Iron Reflexes). SO, we choose Grace :) you can equip it and level it, but you might still be using clarity, so just keep it to one aura at this point.

Mercy Mission quest: Another support gem. To be honest, since I'm not at endgame, I'm not sure what to take here between Life Leech and Blood Magic. I will probably lean towards Life Leech, since we do want a lot of that kind of thing.

Siren's Cadence: more supports. love it. I just love getting support gem rewards. Faster Attacks is king. We want 3 Faster Attacks gems (for Spectral Throw, Double Strike and Leap Slam).


Act 2 Cruel
------------
Spoiler

Sharp and Cruel quest:If you still need more Faster Attacks, you should probably get it. But damn, a Life Leech, Mana Leech or Reduced Mana? I picked Reduced Mana here because I had 2 Faster Attacks already (for Double Strike and Spectral Throw, Leap Slam doesn't really need it yet). Check prices on the Trade chat for Reduced Mana, Life Leech and Mana Leech to see if you can pick one up cheaper than the others, then pick one of the expensive ones as quest reward.

Deal with the Bandits quest: I helped Oak again, but up to you!




QUICK NOTE ON ACT 2 AND 3 IN CRUEL: at this point, you want at least 1 granite or jade flask. Look up what they do, and how amazing they are. learn to use them at the right time (JUST BEFORE YOU'RE GONNA GET HIT HARD).

Act 3 Cruel
------------
Spoiler

Sever the Right Hand quest: Mana Leech if you don't have one, or Melee Physical Damage.

A Fixture of Fate quest: I grabbed Added Chaos because everything else is boring, and chaos damage is getting some changes I think!

DON'T FORGET FOR DOMINUS: Maxed resistances, Granite or Jade Flasks, Flasks with Staunching.
Hope to see you in Merciless, good luck!



MERCILESS
------------

By now you should be well on your way to knowing what it is you need, what you want, what you still have to get. I'm not going to point out what gems to get in merciless; you may have picked up things already, may have bought them, may have found them. Plus, you've got to decide where you want to take your Scion. You'll be messing around with your links to get 4-linked (or if you're lucky, 5 or 6 linked) skills, and how you want your gems laid out. I'll make my suggestions in the gem links section, but its up to you, friend! This game is about choice!




_______________________________________


Now, I will say straight up that this is a hell of a lot easier if you pick up a few unique items along the way, but I have only used cheap ones, so you should be able to get your hands on them without too much worry!

Levelling Items
Spoiler

As I said, THESE AREN'T NECESSARY. But, I'm making a guide to make it EASY AND FUN for you to get to endgame content. Using this method has been very effective for me, and I can't see why it won't work for you.

Spectral Throw is based off your weapon's damage, so a good weapon is your main objective! From the start, you're going to have to make do with whatever you can find; for the first few levels it shouldn't matter too much anyway. I'm going to break up this section by different unique items' required levels.

Level 1 - 13
Spoiler

Pick up whatever seems good! Extra life on items is great, so are resistances. If you can find yourself some boots with movement speed on them, its always helpful. Rings to look for are Sapphire and Coral (Sapphire for the cold resistance as the act 1 boss is cold damage based, and coral for the extra life). Any 1 handed or 2 handed weapon with decent damage (% physical, added elemental damage, etc) will cover you just fine. Flasks, easy enough, 2 health, 2 mana and a quicksilver flask is always a good setup.


Level 13 - 27
Spoiler

Essentially, this is the section of levels where you will complete act 1 and act 2. Hopefully, by level 13, RNGeezus will have gifted you with a http://webcdn.pathofexile.com/image/Art/2DItems/Currency/CurrencyRerollRare.png?scale=1&stackSize=1&w=1&h=1&v=c60aa876dd6bab31174df91b1da1b4f92! Chaos orbs are pretty much the base currency for (decent) low level items. Now you will want to head to trade chat and pick yourself up one of these:

You shouldn't pay more than 1 chaos for Limbsplit (i.e. DON'T). This weapon should carry you for quite a while, and make it nice and easy. If you didn't get a chaos orb, or you don't want to spend your hard-earned currency, keep on looking for good 2 handers!
With the rest of your gear, you're still (always) aiming for lots of resistances and health.


Level 27 - 44
Spoiler

Alright! I think by now you will be in Act 3, and the damage on your Limbsplit will have started to drop off. Time to make things easy again! Next item on your to-do list is:

Geofri's Baptism is glorious. You're gonna love it. Trouble is, it will cost you 3-4 chaos. You SHOULD be able to get one for 3; I did, just keep on waiting. Just remember that people will (generally) happily take a mix of chaos, fusings and/or alchemy orbs, so see what you can do! You might have struck lucky and picked up enough anyway. This weapon will get you to Act 2 or 3 Cruel, I think I used it til around level 50, so don't despair if you don't have enough chaos to get the next level item straight away.
Once you've got Geofri's, you'll almost be up to Dominus. I'll tell you now, I was a pussy and overlevelled a heap before going up against him. Why? because I had a heap of Armor/Evasion gear, and I wanted to get Iron Reflexes. Plus, farming for a while gave me enough currency to buy good things, and get my resistances full. I elaborate more on my methods elsewhere in the guide.
NEVER FORGET: Once you get into cruel (and merciless) your resistances get lowered. Having max resistances is critical to survival. Make sure you change your gear to suit.


Level 44 - 65
Spoiler

I say level 44, because that's the required level of the next weapon, but I got it around level 50, because Geofri's was still doing me good.

Real fun weapon, only about 4 chaos to pick one up. It's ludicrously fun doublestriking with this, especially if you have multistrike. Keep on using til you can't use no more!


Now, this part of the items guide is for a variety of unique armor slots that I have been using. THESE ARE NOT CRITICAL TO THE BUILD; BUT, I will say, they have helped to get my character to level 65. IF YOU HAVE excess chaos/alchemy orbs, and want to make your ride to endgame easier, they are (reasonably) cheap, and VERY worthwhile.
UNIQUE ARMOUR YOU MIGHT WANT

Spoiler

I'll admit it, I'm a loot whore. I love Increased Item Rarity and Increased Item Quantity.
That's what got me onto most of these items, but I realised that they are actually very applicable and excellent with this build. Most (if not all) are evasion based, or armour/evasion. Given that our character picks up Iron Reflexes as fast as possible, evasion = armour = happy campers.

Aurseize. Ridiculous Item. You don't start finding items with this kind of armour value until level 55+, and you can wear them from level 36. Also, dem resistances. Seriously, try to pick these up after you get yourself Geofri's Baptism. If you're lucky, 3 chaos, otherwise 4 chaos.

I think I came a bit late to Goldwyrm, but I've picked up 2, haven't bought them. Increased quantity is nice for farming currency, super high fire resist means you can focus on the other 2 resistances with your ring slots. What's best about them? Mana regeneration rate. 2-3 chaos.

The Peregrine: required level 23. What even. I think you can grab it for 2-3 chaos. Its great in every respect. Acc rating, mana leech, move speed. I definitely suggest.

Perandus blazon is one of the first you can consider getting for a helpful boost. Though I liked the IIQ, the real draw for me was the + to attributes. We have trouble early on with dexterity, and this helps out heaps. 1-2 chaos.

My upgrade from Perandus Blazon. +Life, resistance, and both leeches, yes please. Not sure on prices, probably >4 chaos. I found mine thankfully. You're probably better off alchemy orbing a rustic sash once perandus seems useless.
-------------------------------
Just to give you an idea of why these items are good, I'm wearing Wurm's Molt, Aurseize, Goldwyrm and The Peregrine at level 63, and only now am I starting to think about phasing into higher level stuff. I essentially haven't worried about helmet, boots, gloves and belt for 30 levels. Great stuff.


_______________________________________________________________________________
Now remember! Key things on your gear are LIFE, RESISTANCES, and later on, mana and life leech. The uniques aren't necessary! MAKE SURE YOU DON'T LEVEL YOUR GEMS ABOVE YOUR ACTUAL STATS (DEX, STR, INT) JUST IN CASE YOU TAKE THE GEAR OFF!





Gem Links!

Spoiler

SPECTRAL THROW+LESSER MULTIPLE PROJECTILES+LIFE GAIN ON HIT+FASTER ATTACKS

DOUBLE STRIKE+[LIFE GAIN ON HIT/LIFE LEECH]+FASTER ATTACKS+MULTISTRIKE

LEAP SLAM+LIFE LEECH+FASTER ATTACKS

REDUCED MANA ----> GRACE,HATRED,CLARITY (WHATEVER YOU NEED)

CAST ON STUN/CAST ON DAMAGE TAKEN(LV1)----> ENDURING CRY (5), MOLTEN SHELL (7), TEMPORAL CHAINS (5)

What I want to do with this section is outline when you want to be picking up the support gems for each of these setups, such as: life gain on hit for SpecThrow and DStrike get ASAP.



More to come as soon as I can, super busy at the moment! I hope you get something out of it!
Hi there,
i'm a new player and wanna say that i found this guide usefull:) thx

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info