When to corrupt?

I'm a long-time casual player & tend to just hoard currency. I only ever SSF as I see trading in a ARPG to avoid the whole point of finding better loot.

However I am now at the point where I'm struggling to progress, any optional Map content (Monoliths, Rifts etc) tends to kill me as well as map bosses - pretty much map tier 7-9 (cant find anything higher!)

All my gems that I use have recently reached Lv20 & I was wondering if now is the time to try to get them to Lv21.

However - I'm not really sure how to go about this - is there any risks? Losing my Lv20 main skill gems would tip the balance not in my favour.

Should I be using any other currencies at this point & if so what?

(Ive never used sextants etc as they seem so rare I don't want to waste them)

Thanks in advance for any tips

Rough guide to my character:

Using 6L split arrow with Caustic arrow & Ballista. Passive tree not optomized, approx. 45k dps.

you can read more here about what can happend when you use a Vaal orb on something -->
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vaal_Orb

You have 2 weapon sets.
level 6 main skill gems in your 2nd weapon set and get them to 20, then flip them at vendor to make level 1/20% quality.
Sell level 20 gems to vendor with a GCP, look at what you are getting to make sure it goes level 1 20% quality.
Level them back to lv 20.
Corrupt all 6 at once, pray to RNGesus for a good one.
Or corrupt your only source of damage and hope you get it to stay 20/20 corrupted at least... Good luck
Risks? It could end up level 19 corrupted or worse.

"

Ploppy100 wrote:

All my gems that I use have recently reached Lv20 & I was wondering if now is the time to try to get them to Lv21.

Vendor each gem with 1 gcp per gem to get insta 20% quality gem.
Level them back to 20.
As said above,level 6 skill gems in your secondary set to 20/20 then corrupt those.
Since you're SSF, I would not even entertain the thought of corrupting my main level 20/0 gems at all.
It's just not worth the risk.

Thx for this.

Wider question: which currencies should I be using?

At the moment all I really use are the stuff to make quality 20%. I haven't used any sextants, delve recipes, or any orbs.

I use the odd Alchemy orb to get a map to yellow for atlas completion purposes & the odd chaos to swap out reflect damage if it rolls (that mod pretty much 1 shots me as my damage is pretty much a mix of everything).

What should I be using chance orbs on?

What should I be using on my gems, if anything? (except 20% quality)

Worth using the 30% quality beast recipe? Does this have risks?

Any other worthwhile stuff I should be doing?

I do have access to Atziri etc however never run it as pretty sure these will insta kill me.

Unfortunately my build is low health (2800) as there are few life nodes for archers (pretty muck go right & up) and with SSF its hard to find decent life gear without my dps dropping 1000's.

If you are dying a lot, corrupting stuff isn't going to help a lot. It might give an improvement, but it's not going to be a game breaker.

For gems, besides using Vaal Orbs, you can try to get the T3 Gemcutter's Workshop in Incursion. You can double corrupt a gem. Higher risk, higher payoff.

Tabulas are fairly common. If you have more than one, you can corrupt those for a possible implicit.

Any time you are debating between two pieces of gear, try corrupting one or both of them.

If you are hoarding Vaal Orbs, try corrupting anything that is almost but not quite good enough to use.

Try farming Ossuary for Vaal Side Areas. You can get corrupted items that are usable as-is. Also stock up on Sacrifice Fragments.

It's RNG. So be prepared for whatever happens. Don't corrupt anytuing that you can't afford to lose.

"

Ploppy100 wrote:

However I am now at the point where I'm struggling to progress, any optional Map content (Monoliths, Rifts etc) tends to kill me as well as map bosses - pretty much map tier 7-9 (cant find anything higher!)

Rough guide to my character:
Using 6L split arrow with Caustic arrow & Ballista. Passive tree not optomized, approx. 45k dps.

Hi there,

I am not surprised you´re struggling with your character.
According to PoB (Path of building) you have uncapped resistance but 28xx life.
You play pure glass canon build but without good damage.

some tips to improve:

1) cap elemental resistances (unless capped; a bit of chaos might be fine but nothing you need to care about right now)

2) your gem setup is a bit weird
You´re struggling with bosses and tough rares bcos you don´t have a good singl target skill.
Chin Sol is solid bow but a bit slow to make good elemental based character but it´s up to you
I would probably go for pure physical Impale build with this bow and drop all ele things.
Besides that your gem setup is far from ideal.
Onslaught and Life gain on hit are rather wasted (especially Onslaught-- you can get Onslaught from flask; you loose good damage multipliers otherwise)
Life leech from tree should fix life sustain (mana leech … mana)

Although Caustic Arrow is good skill to use in SSF (easy scalable with gem level) your setup is out of touch (it does close to nothing)
You can keep Split Arrow as skill to clear packs (if you enjoy the skill) and choose Barrage or TS as singl target skill (you should have clear skill in 4/5 link and singl target in six link)

3) You need to stay close to the boss to fully profit from Chin Sol (being in close range) and I would allocate Point blank too (being in close range will buff your damage by a lot -- it´s 50% damage multiplier)

4) Gearing --- I see you play SSF but your should replace some gear.
Every piece of your gear should have life and resistance roll
Using your crafting bench should help to fill the gaps.
Gear should fit your passive tree and skill gems (ele damage vs physical damage etc)
Drop Loris (you don´t play low life); gloves (no life roll); Boots (no lif roll, low movement speed; especially if you stick with phys build)
Tabula is fine but try to farm some div cards to get 6-link body

5) Get better flasks! --- 90% of players use bad flask …
Get one 1 flask that heal instantly and the rest should be good utility flasks (or unique eventually) -- you need to deal with different ailments (bleed, freeze, shock,..) and curses
Drop all of them and get smth useful


And use them in battle (good players keep them active allthe time or when needed)

6) Passives --- Try to use PoB to plan your character
drop some minor damage nodes (i.e. 20% crit chance) and invest to life (Blood Drinker, Bravery).

7) Your ascendancy tree might need some love too. Your build would profit from
Gathering Winds and Far shot much more (you can get pierce from Piercing Shots passive or gem eventually)

8) Use Aura (Hatred for ele damage or Pride for pure phys) and curse (Assassins mark maybe)
Use Guard Skill - Steel Skin
You can use Frenzy + curse on hit + GMP + Assassins mark (to proc FC and curse enemies) etc

I think you can more than triple your DPS while getting 1K more life without much trouble.
There are probably more things to say but you have smth to think about:)
(use Wiki to get better understanding of things and mechanics -- no place to describe everything)

thx ill try to do what you suggest.

I find it difficult to ever replace 1 piece of equipment as it highlights a flaw elsewhere - for instance the Lori ring I'm mainly using for the resistance side of things - the other mods arn't really useful but losing 20 odd all res would uncap me in everything but fire.

I need 7 passive tree points to get blood drinker & bravery

Where should I take them from?

The obvious 1 from avatar of the hunt radial

1 from lethality but the other 5?

Since you're playing ssf you'll have to stock some items, so you're able to swap sereval parts of your gear at once.
E.g. with new boots you've got good fire and cold res, but lightning is bad now, put these aside, until you can fix the lightning problem with another item.
Like already mentioned, crafting the missing resistances could also help alot.

For the gems, use your second weapon set and lvlup some important gems there. Use them for corrupting, so you don't lose anything on your main setup if it fails.

for the skill tree: use path of building and play a little around with your current skilltree. then respec ingame if you're satisfied.