Hey folks,

since there are a lot of posts from new or inexperienced players in this subreddit in the run-up to the new league, I thought it might be a good opportunity to post my Toxic Rain Champion build guide for beginners & casuals which has now been updated for 3.21.

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Before I go into the changes I made for 3.20, here's a quick summary of what the guide does in the first place: The guide primarily addresses new players, beginners and casual players who want to have a smooth (first) levelling experience through both the campaign and the endgame. The goal of this guide is to give you the information you need at the time you need it without being too complex and without being too demanding in terms of knowledge.

Therefore, it comes with a simple build that scales well to the endgame - Toxic Rain Champion - without the need of having to invest hundreds of Divine Orbs and with a handy step-by-step checklist which guides you through your journey and is intended to be your primary - if not only - source of information needed to reach the endgame.

• Link to the guide: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3229622
• PoB: https://pobb.in/_0FeX9pNtkm2 or https://pastebin.com/L9nwx7LE

Please note: This build can do Uber bosses, but I don't recommend using it to do so. The damage scaling is just not enough and if you really want to kill Uber bosses you will have a way better time using very high-damage bossing builds. This build guide is all about having a comfortable league start and is especially dedicated to players who never played PoE before and/or were struggling with the game in the past (and therefore enabling players to do Uber bosses is no priority at all).

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3.21 patch notes and its implications

The damage output of the default version of this build was negatively affected by the changes to the skills & masteries. Compared to 3.20, the build lost about 16% damage. Nevertheless, this can be negated by investing into more damage-focused nodes on the skill tree, if needed (and the guide contains a dedicated milestone section how to do so), which gives the build even more damage than in 3.20 (but with less defense, to be fair).

• 3.20 damage: 5,444,000 (Pinnacle Bosses)
• 3.21 damage(default defensive setup): : 4,579,000 (Pinnacle Bosses)
• 3.21 damage (optional offensive setup): 5,638,000 (Pinnacle Bosses)

Note: Due to the addition of Crucible item skill trees, the 3.21 numbers are expected to be higher. How much higher must be waited for.

In terms of overall survivability, the build hasn't changed too much. Effective Hit Pool, Phys Max Hit, Elemental Max Hit, and Chaos Max Hit are all on the same level as in 3.20. Nevertheless, the build's peak survivability has been negatively impacted by the Molten Shell nerf, as it is now more vulnerable to strong hits and has a much weaker emergency skill. At the same time, the new Chaos Mastery that provides 'Recover 1% of Life per Withered Debuff on each Enemy you Kill' may add more sustainability to the build's defense while mapping (but that has yet to be confirmed).

In addition to the changes mentioned above, some skills (Splitting Steel, Shattering Steel, Onslaught Support) have been altered or nerfed. There have also been changes to the mana reservation of skills and their accessibility, which makes the use of multiple (very helpful) auras problematic. Overall, the changes are somewhat of a double-edged sword: On the one hand, the build's level experience in the early acts may suffer a bit due to the nerfs, as the build will do less damage and offers slightly less survivability than before (but honestly not significantly). On the other hand, some options are eliminated due to the changes in mana reservation, which ultimately make the build much simpler, which is particularly beneficial for new players (and this guide is aimed at exactly those players).

Conclusion: Overall, in my opinion, the build is still ideal for new and casual players. It offers solid damage, strong survivability, is easy to equip, and is not too complex. So ... I can still recommend this build with a clear conscience to anyone who wants to explore the world of Path of Exile ;)"

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What you can expect from the guide (excerpt)

• Helpful tips, especially during the campaign (example below)

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• In-depth guidance on how to progress in the endgame by completing the Atlas and getting Voidstones (example below)

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• Detailed information for each endgame item, including acquisiton options, crafting guide and trade links (example below)

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• Build specific lootfilters for the campaign and the endgame highlighting all important items
• Comprehensive explanation on how to scale damage and how to scale surivability
• Dedicated sections for important endgame basics and endgame milestones

... and many many many more helpful stuff.

On top of that, the use of 3rd party tools - Path of Building included - is not required; the guide provides all information needed.

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In addition, I would like to share with you some reviews that the guide received in the past leagues (directly taken from the comments in the PoE forum). Maybe one or the other of you would like to give the guide in 3.21 a chance based on this feedback ;)

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Perhaps the single best source of information (for casual/beginning) players around... thank you SO much for doing this guide and keeping things up-to-date! Looking forward to the next league, and will be starting it off with your build :) - by citruslounge

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This is by far the most informative and broken down guide I have ever seen. I am a long time player (started back on Prophecy league) so this isn't something I would need anymore, but if I found something like this back in that time I would have lived by it. - by Drewndaberetta1

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This guide is a true labor of love! I tried other guides before, but yours is on another level, really appreciate. For the first time I'm enjoying the end game. Thanks very much for this! - by razzent

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There's so much good in this guide for newer folks, and everything being in text and images and broken down helps a lot. Unique one-of-a-kind guide that will likely not show up ever again. Looking forward to setting up my end game build and shedding my tabula! Thank you so much!! - by Tahuma

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Brilliant build mate. My 10 year old is following along and really really enjoying it. [...] It's the first guide he feels comfortable with man, everything laid out for him. I enjoyed watching him, so i started one too! very well done, super comfortable. - by fight4anarchy

You can check out more reviews here.

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Last but not least, I would like to thank all of those who have taken the time to provide very helpful and educational feedback via the forum, discord and ingame messages in the past leagues. You are awesome!

Cheers,

Your friendly neighborhood Exile

fezz

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> CHECK OUT THE BUILD GUIDE HERE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<