How to use the Arctic Armour Level 20

I currently run level 20 Arctic Armor (always on - except for in half regen maps) using Eldrich Battery. I have just a little over 4k mana and 250 Mana regen/s. The only way I can see you running a Level 20 arctic armor with CI is if you grab some of the mana nodes on the tree, as well as stack as much int/mana on gear as you can.

the question you should be asking, Destro, is whether or not gems like AA can be applied to any build as a "quick fix", for the purpose of facing monsters such as Voidbearers, Tentacle Miscreations and Fire Snakes.

obviously, one can create a character and build it with AA in mind - but I can argue this gem wasn't really meant to be built around. it was probably meant to be that exact "quick fix".

well the answer is a decisive "no", and a Blood Magic build is only one example.
therefore, you can't design a monster assuming the player uses AA, and/or has epic spell-block gear equipped like the one I demonstrated in a previous post.
the reason being, gear is a function of luck, and luck alone, if playing self-found, and skills unrelated to actual gameplay, if trading.

still, many monsters are manageable, despite being designed with gear-check in mind.
even Voidbearers can be kited and flickered/leaped-upon given moderately good resists (semi gear-check) and quick reflexes - but then GGG added insult to injury, and put a Multi-projectile version (and this includes the map boss variant) just to melt your face off.
can you beat those, while lacking the gear? no. the odds are completely stacked against you.
do you - as a player - think it is fair? I sure don't. it's frustrating as hell.

and the overgrown flame-puppies are just one example, out of a thousand.

to me, difficulty by AI and interesting design, beats difficulty by 1-shot gear-check any day.
GGG obviously disagree.
perhaps I'm not their preferred breed of "hardcore".

"

johnKeys wrote:

the question you should be asking, Destro, is whether or not gems like AA can be applied to any build as a "quick fix", for the purpose of facing monsters such as Voidbearers, Tentacle Miscreations and Fire Snakes.

obviously, one can create a character and build it with AA in mind - but I can argue this gem wasn't really meant to be built around. it was probably meant to be that exact "quick fix".

well the answer is a decisive "no", and a Blood Magic build is only one example.
therefore, you can't design a monster assuming the player uses AA, and/or has epic spell-block gear equipped like the one I demonstrated in a previous post.
the reason being, gear is a function of luck, and luck alone, if playing self-found, and skills unrelated to actual gameplay, if trading.

still, many monsters are manageable, despite being designed with gear-check in mind.
even Voidbearers can be kited and flickered/leaped-upon given moderately good resists (semi gear-check) and quick reflexes - but then GGG added insult to injury, and put a Multi-projectile version (and this includes the map boss variant) just to melt your face off.
can you beat those, while lacking the gear? no. the odds are completely stacked against you.
do you - as a player - think it is fair? I sure don't. it's frustrating as hell.

and the overgrown flame-puppies are just one example, out of a thousand.

to me, difficulty by AI and interesting design, beats difficulty by 1-shot gear-check any day.
GGG obviously disagree.
perhaps I'm not their preferred breed of "hardcore".

The game is most certainly balanced around players trading to get the tools needed for specific encounters. It is not possible to balance it for self found and for multiplayer trading.

IIRC they actually said that most characters would only be able to do specific maps, and were supposed to trade around for the ones they are best at. Having maps that certain characters faceroll and others stand no chance in is a good thing IMO. It keeps things interesting and gives you a reason to party/roll more than one char. I do'nt think it is a flaw at all

Thanks for the conclusive no. I'd like to reassure you once more that I have no and haven't had any interest in the other arguments you are arguing, even though you continually mentioned them in every response to me and tried to get me involved with the "you should be asking [...]" post just recently.

Have a nice day.

@Saffell, you are probably right.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for the best shield in the game


fuck Aegis Aurora :)

@BJWPDaemonSadi, in my previous posts, I stated that faceroll is just as bad as hopeless gear-check.
I view neither as a good thing, because both ruin my enjoyment from playing a game.

@Destro, please read my post again. all of it. you will find your answer there, in the second paragraph.
"no" is for "the question you should be asking".

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

I do feel I went way off thread topic here, so my answer to the OP is use movement skills instead of running, to avoid triggering the faster degen.
Eldritch Battery isn't an option because you are CI, so I don't see a way for you to get significantly more mana.
perhaps use one less aura?

"

johnKeys wrote:

@Destro, please read my post again. all of it. you will find your answer there, in the second paragraph.

Oh my bad. I misinterpreted your post. I apologize, while I do appreciate the other aspects of your post all they served to do was distract me from finding the answer I required. I was looking for a "yes" and when I saw it I jumped on that section immediately! But you know that, haha.

Cheers!

In regards to your main point, I think you have some really cool points.

"to me, difficulty by AI and interesting design, beats difficulty by 1-shot gear-check any day.
GGG obviously disagree.
perhaps I'm not their preferred breed of "hardcore"."

Of course these are more interesting. How can anybody disagree with this? "New Content" is always going to be exciting. Having new AI and new designs are always going to be cool.

But they take work, time, and ultimately money. Remember, GGG is a relatively small company and the game is new. They are still trying to push out a released game and get other more critical things done right now. Everything always come down to resource allocation when it comes to suggestions. They can:

A.) Work on a new guilds feature that everybody will love and be extremely excited about.
B.) They can rebalance monsters that the majority of players are satisfied with to have interesting design or more intelligent AI to maintain difficulty while decreasing damage.

They will take the more 'hype train' feature imo.

And to be fair, they are working on interesting design, maybe not so much AI at the moment. Just look at the Weaver fight! I think GGG wants fights to be more interesting, different, and fun. Chris said that at some point they want to give Fairgraves some abilities because right now he has nothing special.

Yeah, there are 1-shot gear checks in the game. But they are absolutely essential right now or players would absolutely never die. I'm sure we can both agree that if void bearer didn't do the damage he did and did, let's say even 1/2 damage, nobody would ever be afraid of him.

Also, curiously enough, what do you think would be some interesting and unique design changes for AI and monster attack patterns to improve the current situation?

@Destro,

TL;DR: it's not about new content, as it is about what you do with existing content.

I'm actually running a level 17 AA WITH inner force, it drains me 245 mana while moving total and grants 162 reduction. And i have just 2.7k mana.

You need to stack mana regene above 40% with: ring, ring and amulet or, like me, just ring and a 50%+30% paua amulet regen.

Needless to say, with just 3k armor you're almost immune to any attack, only big hits can hurt you much. And with granite you can face tank any mob in lunaris and 70+ maps taking ZERO damage.

Also, voidbearers, fire vipers and boobs bithces in lunaris will deal ZERO damage, even with less than 50 fire resist

Take a look at my buid (running 7 auras):

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMABAcEswVbB2MI9Ax9DkgQfxGWFE0ZhRnXGjgabB8CJDwkqiaVJ6kpTy0fMYgyiTbFNuk62DvhP3NG10lRTLNN2FAwUEJVS1XGVytX4lptXcZfKmNDZk9tGW17cFJzU3fleM55A35Zf8aBSYIehX2Ia4t6i4yMNox2j0aQVZ2jna6iAKIuoqOnCKcrp1ynhLI4tQS1SLiTwFHAVMHzxp7PZdDQ0xvYJNsC2wvbXuFz4vfjauOE5CLr5Ow47SDwH_F28-r8qw==

And my gear:



No life leech and no regene, but i could run 73-74 maps very easily. Unfortunately, i never found a 75+ map so i couldn't test there :(

With CI, you should get all mana regen nodes and mana% you can, but imo is not effective at all, being life based is way better

the places where mana node are near, are too close to ES to not take them, and go CI with a AA toon. CI AA are made for each other. if u dont have to worry about crit hp and only care about defenses and auras artic armor and CI are same peas in a pod. Int in gear for AA toon are a must.

atrzi foible, perandus signet, rainbowstrides. add 2 sceptres with high mana + regen with alot of mana nodes and u have a born AA sustained toon. its not that hard really lol. inner force and AA isnt worth it considering, the actual damage reduction u get vrs ur mana "damage" negates any benefit u would receive from innerforce AA.