How much PoE is actually open to custom builds?

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Prisus wrote:

To be fair, the nature of this game doesn't really allow for more than 2 main skills and maybe a couple of support skills (i.e. one movement skill).

The reason is that the Gem linking system allows for at max 2 6-linked skills (1 skill + 5 support gems). That is also providing you use a 2 hander with a chest piece. If you go to using anything that is not a two-hander (incl bows), then you will usually be relegated to 1 main damage dealing skill with a few supporting skills.

That's true enough, if you really want to use more skills Hierophant can also with his pseudo 5Ls in helm, gloves and boots but you can also pull it off by picking skills that don't need many slots for basic functionality. One other limiting factor is you can't really use four or five skills efficiently at the same time so multiskill setups go for as much automation as possible. Honestly, the main reason people aren't using more than two or three skills is because there's absolutely no need for it, you do it mostly if that's your idea of fun.

Here's an example of a build I'm playing currently in prophecy, it's an Elementalist manual discharger hybrid with Dory's fist. A very oldschool build in its core with a few modern twists, we could probably say it's a somewhat unorthodox setup.

Chest
Discharge - Ele Focus - Added Lightning - Controlled Destruction
Flame golem and Lightning Golem in separate slots

Boots
Ice Crash - Faster Attacks - Ele Focus - Conc Effect

Helm
Storm Call - Spell Totem - Faster Casting - Controlled Destruction

Gloves
Blasphemy - Ele Weakness - Warlord's Mark
Enduring Cry

Shield
Shield Charge - Faster Attacks - Fortify

So, like I said, the core is simple, you use enduring charge to give yourself a starting set of charges, shield charge into a group and blow it up after which WM replenishes your charges, rinse and repeat. When you run into tougher blues or a rare you pound it a few times with Ice crash while keeping endurance charges and fortify up, for bosses or monsters that are tricky to tank you also drop a totem. Flat damage from Fist and added light ensures you're killing stuff even with one or two endurance charges, Discharge maintains -25% penetration to all elements and Ice crash does the same for lightning damage which forms the most of your melee hits.

Can a Discharge build be done more efficiently? Of course, it can be much stronger but I wanted to do it this exact way and the game provides, that's probably the very definition of customizing.

According to GGG they want everyone to follow the META and start new leagues for fresh economy.


Thats like the gameplay. New character, repeat repeat let all ur awesome stuff rotten in standard. Dont reach level 100, just start new league and whatever.

The creativity is just bleeeh from GGG devs theese days

Kinda scary how a team of 5 developers end up with 60 nooob devs / support staff and just screw the game up more and more.

kinda gotta go on reddit to see theyr defensive stances anyway. they aint even responding to proper bug reports that has been out for YEARS. DJeeeZes Chris

Game Engine, Servers, Math glitches, Desync, bleh bleh. Wont ever stop will it FPS drops, no group play??? a NO group play wtf?? Why cant we choose what build we want to play and play with friends? Why????

Let's just hide all theese problems with TONS of CRAP uniques and TONS of CRAP Divination CARDS
Oh and just nerf everything in the game instead of doing balance. If you make an item u dont change it PERIOD.... Why the hell do you make an effort in creating items and bother changing the stats on them when u just can nerf it like you always do without chancing the stats?

Just freaking make all skills equal... Is it so hard?

Shall we GGG, GreedyGimpyGuys

If it weren't hard, then all skills WOULD be equal by now. However, it IS hard and thus they aren't.

Back to the main topic: I personally really enjoy weird builds. Sometimes even expensive ones at that. Hell, I'm about to blow almost 3 ex on some items for a build that is very, VERY unlikely to actually work the way I want it to. Yet still I do this because I think it will be fun. The less competitive you look at things the more fun they usually become. Not always, and not everyone sees it this way, but it's true for me.
Oh, and if you like funny stuff: try flamedash totems. Just try them. They never fail to make me laugh.

Hello there.

I just wanted to pop in and say that after ascendancy , almost every skill in the game is viable and can do fast/semifast clearspeeds .

I only do snowflake builds , there are very few times I play the same build and I have played since closed beta , and now after the ascendancy update, almost everything is viable.

You will face a lot of people in the community who will advocate for following specific builds/guides , but in the end it's mostly cause they need to clear things as fast as possible or they never learned how the mechanics works in the game.

Have fun exile , and do whatever you will , its hard to fail nowadays =)

You can make any 'skill' viable with enough exalts thrown at it but why would if a superior cheaper option exists.

Poe only actually uses about 5% of all existing skill gems because GGG refuses to buff underpowered skills meaningfully.

Just look at the gap between EQ and any melee skill.

To add on, you can do what you want.

Build's do not have to be able to complete Twinned Core for it to be deemed "viable".

I've been having fun using lowbie uniques and making builds to complete at least act4 merc.

Then again, this whole meta concept due to periodic buffs and nerfs will affect you in some way or another.

It's always a good idea to try making a build, doesn't matter if it fails or not or doesnt conform to the "meta". It's still a new experience.

Some people play by following guides or whats popular. Some prefer to build as it goes while levelling.

How end game? You can play literally any skill until 14 maps. Some are better some worse. Then there are thousands of combos how you equip everything many not even discovered. So yeah GGG is open question is are you?

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DeathzStalkerz wrote:

To add on, you can do what you want.

Build's do not have to be able to complete Twinned Core for it to be deemed "viable".

I've been having fun using lowbie uniques and making builds to complete at least act4 merc.

Then again, this whole meta concept due to periodic buffs and nerfs will affect you in some way or another.

It's always a good idea to try making a build, doesn't matter if it fails or not or doesnt conform to the "meta". It's still a new experience.

Some people play by following guides or whats popular. Some prefer to build as it goes while levelling.

I love lowbie builds most of all. This a 1 alc Nycta's Lantern everyone laughed at me in last ladder after I took it out of gstash and I said watch this guys its a GG weapon. I was clearing maps almost as fast as discharge with 3L Nyctas with fire nova and one shotting red map bosses with 4L VRF in wyrmsyn another alc specimen... no 5L let alone 6L.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGlR67NtYt8&t=2m20s

People in my clan called me for 15 map achievement to one shot koam.

How much PoE is actually open to custom builds?

If u dont mind dying u can try this and that.

If u want level up there is not much space to custom builds. U will have to switch at some point to "only one solution" depends on skill u r using.

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Prisus wrote:

The answer is: Depends on how you like to play.

True but only when you add another sentence:
You can run whatever custom build when you are happy with never reaching high level maps or doing uber atziri OR you can run one of the 3-4 really strong builds like everyone else.