Am I ready for maps?

Well, I'm very new to the game. This is my 2nd character (1st one being shadow ~50 lvl, stopped playing when I realized it won't be viable).

Level 66 templar, 3.1k hp, 1.8k armor, capped resistances (75%) (with purity aura; chaos resist's at -25% on merc)

Skill tree: http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUABAcEswVbEdsSaRRNFm8XHBmFGjgabBzcHwIkPCSqJ6kpTyycLR82xTbYNuk62DwFRZ1G10kbSVFMs03YVcZabW0ZcXl6qnrmf8aBb4KbgziHZYgbi4yMdo9GkFWSOJrgnC2drp48n9-iAKKjpwinXKeEr7e4k8Hzz2XQ0NR82CTa3eFz42rkIudq6-7sOOxV7SDvfO-F8B_xdg==

About my damages:

For aoe packs I use fire traps (linked with inc. burning damage, added cold dmg) and firestorm (with chance to ignite, life leech, fire pen.). Using both, kills mob packs in docks within few seconds (I'm occasionally using flammability). When it gets wilder I'm using my searing bond as well.

I also use searing bond as my main single target damage (killed act-end bosses on cruel within seconds and melts rare merc mobs in up to 10 sec as well). It's linked with inc. burning damage making it ~4.2k dps (as mentioned, sometimes used for aoe as well). All dps gems are 0-8% quality (searing bond is 16%) and level 15/16

I have default movement speed of -11%, running 2 swiftness flasks and 3 hp flasks. Due to clarity, I have no mana problems (clarity and purity of elements are the only auras I run). I have no mentionable bonuses from unique items or w/e.

As title says - am I good to start running maps? If not, which are my weaknesses? As this is my first character to reach these levels, I'm not sure, but I think I'm pretty vulnerable to physical damage.

I'll give you some advice on your links.

For firetrap try firetrap + chance to ignite + elemental proliferation + concentrated effect(in that order). You'll want to take the witch AoE nodes which you're beside if you go this route.

For firestorm the chance to ignite does nothing. Firestorm is many small hits so igniting enemies with small hits is not too effective. Concentrated effect is a good replacement or faster casting if you don't have a concentrated effect.

As for maps.. just try them out. You're playing standard so nothing to lose. If you find them too difficult then you can further level elsewhere. At your level I would be doing docks till around 69 where the penalty sets in(when playing in hc leagues).

I can't speak for your map viability specifically, but I'm doing up to lvl 72 maps with only 3k HP with 80% resists, although I do occasionally get hit for half my HP (evasion/acrobatics based) by hard hitting bosses.

Think about it this way, If you can do the lvl 68 catacombs area (just off of the marketplace waypoint) then you are more than ready to start lvl 66 mapping.

when you can kill merc dominus solo you're probably ready for at least lvl 68 maps

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demivion wrote:

I can't speak for your map viability specifically, but I'm doing up to lvl 72 maps with only 3k HP with 80% resists, although I do occasionally get hit for half my HP (evasion/acrobatics based) by hard hitting bosses.

Think about it this way, If you can do the lvl 68 catacombs area (just off of the marketplace waypoint) then you are more than ready to start lvl 66 mapping.

when you can kill merc dominus solo you're probably ready for at least lvl 68 maps

if you can kill merc dominus you should rbe ready for lvl 71 maps in my opinion, your stats seem fine so if you are melting through packs then keep on rolling, youve got over 3k life which should be fine for up to level 70-71 maps in most instances and you have max resists. i believe you are good to go and should have no problems, though you will have to get used to the certain map mods so only roll blues for a bit to get the hang of it.

Thanks for the replays, guys. I think I'm gonna run docks for a little bit and give dominus and the catacombs a try when I'm around level 67 or 68. And also, how does portal system work within maps and what kind of death penalties do they have (experience loss as example)? And yeah, Im only gonna roll blue maps. For now I have 3 different ones stored. How much chances do I have of looting a map inside one if I try to clear it all?

And thank you on commenting on my gems. Well, I'm not too wealthy (sadly, I have none of suggested gems, but I can get one from quest I haven't done yet) so I'm having some trouble linking up things in the order I wish. But the advice is very appreciated, knowing some of mine stuff is pretty useless (like chance to ignite for firestorm) is going to help me quite a bit. More about skills, I'm also having ~1.3k fireball, but it kind of doesn't have any use for me. If I remove it and the linked gems (which are pretty random) I'd have 4 free linked sockets (3 blue, 1 green; but I have ~80 chromatics to change colors if needed), any suggestions on what I should use there?

Which stats should I try to improve, if I get a chance (gear wise) until I'm there? I think I should drop the little bit of evasion and energy shield I have on my gear for armor, would that be good?

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mregooo wrote:

Thanks for the replays, guys. I think I'm gonna run docks for a little bit and give dominus and the catacombs a try when I'm around level 67 or 68. And also, how does portal system work within maps and what kind of death penalties do they have (experience loss as example)? And yeah, Im only gonna roll blue maps. For now I have 3 different ones stored. How much chances do I have of looting a map inside one if I try to clear it all?

And thank you on commenting on my gems. Well, I'm not too wealthy (sadly, I have none of suggested gems, but I can get one from quest I haven't done yet) so I'm having some trouble linking up things in the order I wish. But the advice is very appreciated, knowing some of mine stuff is pretty useless (like chance to ignite for firestorm) is going to help me quite a bit. More about skills, I'm also having ~1.3k fireball, but it kind of doesn't have any use for me. If I remove it and the linked gems (which are pretty random) I'd have 4 free linked sockets (3 blue, 1 green; but I have ~80 chromatics to change colors if needed), any suggestions on what I should use there?

Which stats should I try to improve, if I get a chance (gear wise) until I'm there? I think I should drop the little bit of evasion and energy shield I have on my gear for armor, would that be good?

portals work differently in maps, you can only enter a map 6 times, when you use a portal scroll in the map it moves the entrance location to your location.

if you do some piety runs you'll get lots of lvl 66 maps, once you have a "pool" of around 10 maps or so you can sustain it just by running maps.

start with blue maps, reroll mods like +pack size or +magic/rare mobs to level up quick. If you want more loot/maps roll mods untill you get 30%+ quantity on the map. Just make sure to keep rerolling to avoid some mods that will make it VERY hard like blood magic, no mana regen, -max resists, and temportal chains.

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demivion wrote:

portals work differently in maps, you can only enter a map 6 times

if you are playing solo. but there are 6 portals able to be entered, so if the group is full its 1 portal a person or how many portals per person + additional portals left over.

Dominus is harder than maps 66, try some open like Tropical Island and Dried Lake. They are easy to solo, only go slowly to not call many monsters. If you play in groups, I guess you won´t have any problems, since you avoid some hard maps. Check the wiki and the guide about maps we have on forum.