Path of Exile, story continued.

A coupla months ago I was lauding this new game, Path of Exile. This is to point out that it wasn't a flash in the pan - I still think it's the best game out there currently.

As you can see I've made it to level 65, which is end-game-ish (in the sense that I'm in Act 3, ultimate difficulty, otherwise max level is something like 100 I think).

I'm playing a Shadeⁱ which pretty much works as a Necromancer / Dark Paladin in practice. My mainstays are Summon Zombie (6286 hp / 10% + 80% increased damage) of which I can get a total of six + Summon Skeleton (2518 hp, about the same in damage) of which I can get a total of 9. If you add it all together that's a healthy 60k HP to screen and shield me from damage.

The key to the high life and dmg factors, other than the various Passive Tree improvements, are support gems. On top of that I keep three auras going at all time - extra Cold damage (Hatred - 23% Physical damage added as Cold), extra Lightning damage (Wrath - 6-104 Lightning damage) and extra Energy Shield.

I am playing a very Int heavy build (511 Int / 360 Dex / 110 Str) with a few perks. Chaos Immunity means I can't be hurt by the game's nastiest magic source (other than Physical there's also Cold, Fire and Lightning) but also means that my Hit Points are a measly 1. Consequently my Energy Shield (2.3k atm) is pretty darned important for survival, and that's why the MS aura helps lots. Because I wear claws and other gear I have 14% Leech on attacks, and the perk which moves that leeched life straight into my shield. Most importantly, I have the Minion Instability perk, which makes them explode on death for 1/3 max Hit Points damage as fire.

So here's the story of my battles : if my horde of 15 minions lives they dish out something like 3k DPS, which is about 1/6 Lightning, 1/5 Cold and the rest Physical. If they die they dish out 20k damage + about 2k DPS (all Fire) because that's the rate at which I can pump out more minions. I can h2h most bosses as long as I have the swarm distracting them, because my Leech repairs me in between hits - most of the time anyway. I've just destroyed the Vaal monstrosity in Merciless without dieing, which was pleasant.

My gear is mediocre at best, here's a rundown :

Woe Roar (Rare Prehistoric Claw) 20% Quality, 66-175 Physical 3% HP Leech +117% Physical +29 Dex +27% Fire Res +10 Attack Rating.

Tempest Song (Rare Prehistoric Claw) 20% Quality, 56-147 Physical 3% HP Leech +79% Physical +19 Int +6-11 Cold +12 Lightning Res +21% Stun Duration.

Hate Circle (Rare Prismatic Ring) +11% Elemental Ress +14 All Attributes +4-8 Cold Damage +1 Mana per Kill +11% More items found.

Fate Knot (Rare Gold Ring) +15% Rarer items found +27 Dex +3-7 Fire +12% Cold Damage +17 Max Mana +26% Fire Res.

Plague Star (Rare Gleaming Circlet) 120 Energy Shield +24 Max Mana +52 Max ES +35% Lightning Res +10% Rarer items found.

Onslaught League (Rare Carnal Boots) 86 Evasion / 25 Energy Shield +21 Dex +31 Int +24% Fire Res +15% Movement speed.

Armaggedon Touch (Rare Assassin's Mitts) 137 Evasion / 41 Energy Shield +50% Ev/Es +36% Fire Res +20% Cold Res +35% Lightning Res.

Sorrow Snare (Rare Chain Belt) 14 Energy Shield +25 Str +37 Max Es +15% Lightning Res +25% Block and Stun recovery.

Fate Hide (Rare Crypt Armor) 20% Quality, 347 Evasion / 269 Energy Shield +28 Int +32% Ev/Es +106 Max ES +41% Cold Res +24% Lightining Res +10% Block and Stun recovery.

Carnage Heart (Unique Onyx Amulet), +19 All Atrributes +38 All Atrributes 8% damage leeched as life 25% Reduced HP 25% reduced ES 14% All Res Extra Gore.

That's about it. Having fun like it's day one.

1. Which is a Dex / Int combo - game uses three main attributes (Str / Dex / Int) and has six classes, three pure and three mixed. [↩]