The League Starter I Couldn't Stop Playing - Essence Drain of Wickedness Hierophant - PoE 3.29

REGEX Beginning Campaign: "-\w-|Runn|rint|me Sh|Earn" Post-Chaos Switch: -\w-.-|Lord|Wani GENERAL PROTOL 1) TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO DO THE LEAGUE MECHANIC A) Benefits 1) Being over-leveled - Who gives a shit about speed. Being over-leved just makes life easier. 2) GOLD - We need gold for gambas, and it seems like the league mechanic will be good for this. 3) Just have fun, bro... 2) BE SURE TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THE FOLLOWING: A) Jewelers and Fusings - DO NOT USE THESE IN THE CAMPAIGN PRE-ACT 4 1) Goal is to have a 4-link Honourhome by the end of the act 4. This requires: a) 10 Jewelers b) 5 fusings B) Gifts From Above 1) It's just pretty good for the build, especially post-chaos swap. And we use it for our early endgame setup. C) Quality Chaos-tagged gems 1) We can vendor 40% quality worth of a gems with a wand/sceptre to get a +1 chaos weapon D) +1 wands 1) In acts 1-3 we are looking for +1 fire. After that it's +1 chaos. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT BUYING +1 CHAOS EARLY. SAVE CURRENCY FOR LIBRARY GEM PURCHASES. 3) GAMBA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FOLLOWING ACTS: A) ACT 2 - Armor/ES Helmets 1) We are fishing for Honourhome here. Socket numbers don't matter. We can fix that at the end of act 4. B) ACT 4+ - Wands - ONLY IF WE GET HONOURHOME EARLY 1) Unlight Extant would be HUGE for the campaign if we can snag it. It's a T4 and only has a few low-tier unique wands to compete with. It might even be worth checking trade for one if we get a lucky chaos orb drop. C) ACT 9 AND BEYOND - Warstaves 1) We want Cane of Unravelling here. There is a bit more competition here than with Honourhome, but it's a T4 so it should still be common. 2) Don't stress if we can't get it in acts 9 & 10. We can also obtain it through the following means: a) Gamba - We're already doing this b) Breach - If we focus breach early then I think we should be able to get this pretty fast. c) Chancing on bench - If we have the chance/scoures for it. d) Trade - It might be 5c or so, maybe more, but we should be prioritizing this purchase and that honestly isn't bad at all. 4) SAVE AS MANY ALTS/TRANSFUSION/AUGMENTATIONS/CHANCE ORBS FOR ACT 3 LIBRARY A) We just have a lot of shit to buy at the Library, so don't try to do too much crafting outside of res, if needed. Even then, we're probably gonna be over-leveled and have good gear from the league mechanic (or at least that's the hope) so we shouldn't need to craft too much. 5) DECENT LEVELING UNIQUES A) Ghostwrithe - T4 1) Good source of early chaos res, life & ES (especially ES) B) Cloak of Flame - T3 1) Shouldn't have to explain this. Probably the best defensive body armour in the game for campaign. C) Doedre's Damning - T4 1) +1 curse is amazing. Would allow for Despair + Assassin's Mark, plus gives mana on kill and all res. D) Kikazaru - T4 1) Probably a BiS unique for campaign and early mapping for this build. Here are all of the synergies: a) Mana regen - Something we really want, especially for getting a lot of damage out. Could also allow us to potentially drop clarity in the campaign. b) Curse immunity - Since we run zealotry this should make us curse immune with conc ground. c) Life regen - Also pairing well with conc ground, giving us some great recovery early on. E) Dream Fragments - T3 1) Rare, but great regen and would basically solve cold res. Unlikely, but a good shoutout. F) Le Heup of All - T4 1) Probably the defacto generic ring. Gives everything: %dmg, Attributes, Good all-res. Probably the 2nd best unique item to get on this list outside of the necessities. G) Mark of Submission - T5 1) Super common and just a decent QoL ring. Nothing amazing, but not a bad pick-up either. H) Timeclasp - T4 1) Only good if it rolls decent skill effect duration. Otherwise it's pretty bad. I) Prospero's Protection - T4 1) Super underrated ring. Though I would only take it pre-Cane of Unravelling and was wearing a pure ES body armour J) Wanderlust - T5 1) Pretty decent for the build, but only early. Gets outscaled very quickly. K) Rainbow Stride - T3 1) Rare during campaign, but would probably be an amazing pick-up. Gives a lot of what we need, especially block and resists. L) Kalisa's Grace - T5 1) Super good and common. Probably one of the better uniques to have right out of the campaign, especially if Honourhome shenanigans don't pan out. M) Unlight Extant - T4 1) Probably the best unique weapon we can get during the campaign. Definitely just outdoes any weapon we could buy/craft pre-Cane. ACT 1 1) Mule witch to lvl 4 A) Play with freezing pulse B) Get to cave & complete medicine chest quest C) Gems to obtain - DO NOT LEVEL GEMS 1) Fireball 2) Arcane Surge 3) Elemental Proliferation 4) Frostblink 5) Contagion D) Additional goals 1) 2 & 3 link items 2) 3-socket weapons for offhand leveling 3) Decent wands/Sceptres 4) Rings/Amulets (Jade Amulet in particular) 5) Move speed boots 2) Templar run A) Level Contagion in offhand B) Gem progression 1) Fireball -> Elemental Proliferation -> Combustion 2) Flame Wall -> Arcane Surge 3) Frostblink - DO NOT LEVEL C) Gems to buy & lvl in offhand 1) Efficacy & Void Manipulation - Buy after Brutus 2) Essence Drain - Buy after entering Merveil's Cave ACT 2 1) HONOURHOME GAMBA BEGINS A) Dump all gold into Armour/ES helm gamba. FINGERS CROSSED! 2) Nothing else of note here, really. Just make sure to get Tempest Shield. ACT 3 1) HONOURHOME GAMBA CONTINUES (If you didn't get lucky already) 2) Grab Flammability & Firestorm 3) Make sure to grab fire damage to spells craft 4) Might be worth waiting until the start of act 4 to ascend, but league mechanic might have us over-leveled A) Just see how things are feeling with Firestorm after doing Library. WHEN TO PIVOT TO CHAOS SPELLS 1) Pivot after first lab A) Make sure to do Library 1) Gems to buy in library a) Soulrend b) Multiplie Proj c) Pinpoint (Lvl in offhand) d) Automation e) Withering Step f) Despair GEM SETUP POST-CHAOS SWITCH 1) Main Damage A) Soulrend -> Arcane Surge - Multiple Projectiles (Swap for Void Manipulation on bosses) - Controlled Destruction (If you're lucky enough to get a lucky 4-link) 2) Secondary Damage A) Essence Drain - Efficacy - Controlled Destruction B) Contagion - Efficacy - Controlled Destruction (If you can get your hands on 3 of them lol) 3) Utility A) Zealotry - Tempest Shield - Clarity B) Automation - Withering Step FARM 2ND LAB UNTIL YOU GET ESSENCE DRAIN OF WICKEDNESS ATLAS PROGRESSION DURING ATLAS PROGRESSION BE SURE TO DO THE LEAGUE MECHANIC IF IT TURNS OUT TO BE PROFITABLE DO NOT RUSH BOSS PROGRESSION. TAKE THINGS AT YOUR OWN PACE AND DO BOSSES WHENEVER YOU FEEL COMFY 1) Go for Unwavering Vision at the top ASAP and then allocate your tree as such: A) https://poeplanner.com/a/6gRu 2) Path towards shrine & Nico chance for more player power and to make maps easier A) https://poeplanner.com/a/6gRh 3) Start pathing towards Breach nodes A) Prioritization: Breach chance -> Unstable Breach Guarantee/Adding additional breaches -> Ancient Wombgift chance -> Wombgift drop chance -> Hiveblood gained B) The goal here is to farm as many ancient wombgifts as possible to farm chase uniques 1) We want to aim ring/amulets with the goal of obtaining a possible Badge of The Brotherhood & Anathema 2) Afterwards, pivot towards farming Foulborn Romira's Banquet(s), Tulfall, and other potential uniques. 3) Keep tabs on streams and the community for any other potential uniques which get popular and can be target farmed. C) Any additional points can be stockpiled until you have 20 points build up, that way you can unspec out of Unwavering Vision. D) https://poeplanner.com/a/6g4I 4) 2nd Atlas Tree should be going for Alva temples. Check prices on the Incursion Scarab of Timelines to see if it's worth going for. If not, it shouldn't be a big deal and should still be profitable. Just slower. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ITEM PROGRESSION MAKE SURE TO CRAFT GEAR ALONG THE WAY Anathema -> Badge + Frenzy Ralakesh + Militant Faith (Go for cheapest one that doesn't brick build, but check for ones that actually benefit you if they're within budget) -> Sublime Vision & Cluster Crafts/Purchases -> Nadir Mode -> Light of Meaning -> Big Staff Craft LARGE CLUSTER CRAFT 1) When going for your clusters we want check prices on trade first. We're looking for 8 passives with Arcane Heroism at a minimum. If we can get Sap Psyche & Conjured Wall as well for 30c or less, then I say it's a pretty good option over crafting. A) Other options are Arcane Heroism, Conjured Wall and suffixes which give either attributes or resists to relieve some suffix pressure on gear. MEDIUM CLUSTER CRAFT 1) Crit Cluster A) This shit is fucked. Just fuckin' buy it. LMAO 2) Proj Cluster A) Check trade and if you can't find 2 of these for less than 10c a pop, then just craft them via alt/regal/exalt spamming.