[3.5] Guffin's McSundae Strike | All Bosses Down | Fast and Safe Mapping | Skillchoices

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eaglecnt wrote:

Spoiler

wow, long post coming - sorry, I guess I've been holding it in!
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Hi Guffin, I'm new to the game and the genre (just 1 month in) and your guide has really helped me to actually start learning something - the guide is well laid out and super easy to follow. It also appealed to me because it's not heavily dependent on a set of uniques that cost 50ex, and there is also a good strategy for levelling. I was looking for a blade vortex (it looked fun) and I'll admit that for the first few days that's what I thought I was getting here (however BF != BV, part of my learning) :)

So I started your guide with maybe 50c since I was fortunate to find 1ex in my first week (I started on a frostbolt inquisitor, but paid little attention to the guide - e.g. I killed Alira because that bitch is a bandit and deserved to die, oops). Anyway, I almost lost that 1ex because I didn't know I could trade it for >105c, I was about to blow it on a single piece of overpriced gear because that 1ex and 6c was the only currency I had! So it went that I learned about trading...

Initially reading your guide, I could comprehend about 20% of it and maybe 5% stuck (newbie) - so I've read it many times over the next few weeks. I even read it in my lunch break, browsing trade links and passive trees, determined not to screw it up. Maybe I'm still missing some things, but I started to get the hang of it. Fast forward ~3 weeks and I finally found the last trial for Uber Lab and bashed Izaro - I was level 85 and it might have been a bit unfair, but in the last phase I WB through him and nailed him from behind so fast he didn't even get time to turn his head and look me in the eye. He thanked me with a crappy mod on my helmet.

I have questions - admittedly I only read about the last 10 or so pages of comments, so I'm sorry if you have answered these in the previous 70. I have to say that I'm impressed that you're still taking the time to analyse builds and reply to questions 80 pages in!

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Only after moving towards the end game tree did I finally feel like my overleech started to work properly and I'm almost ready to ditch the life flask (I'm still new and slow, so I'm not ready to quit it just yet) - before the end game tree it seemed like I was only hitting 100% life and immediately dropping - am I crazy or was it something I might have done wrong in my earlier tree?

My coordination is a bit sucky, so I bound the 4 support flasks to a spare mouse button - this made it super easy to keep my flasks up at all times (the difference is phenomenal). I also bound all 5 flasks to a second button I called 'flask panic' and I use that when my life bar starts tanking hard. Is there something in this game that tells you what killed you, or do I just have to read the map mods and know my enemy types?

Trade links were one of the things that got me hooked reading your guide, I even managed to change the league to 'Standard' most of the time and not message people in Delve. There were literally evenings where I did nothing but search and trade, no gameplay at all, and I loved it.
Can you recommend any resource that will teach me the more advanced search methods, like using the weighted sum effectively? I will learn on my own, but if there is a guide...

I feel like I'm at a point where I can make a few small gear tweaks with my meagre savings (50c right now), but probably only if I'm really active on trade to snag a bargain. Some of the ideal gear is super expensive in Standard - I'd be grateful for your advice on any cheap tweaks I can make in my setup, or if I should just save up for some bigger purchases and if so what first?

Any recommendations for my tree? I lucked out finding a MotM, but perhaps another cheap Jewel or two will give more benefit than other nodes I have?

A single accuracy node has a big benefit for me in PoB, but I probably should fix that with gear right? Same with my Int I assume..

Can I get rid of Mana Leech now that I have Soul Raker?

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Overall I'm really enjoying this build and of course the guide. At the moment I'm crushing T10-12 maps (my first time in maps), my only problem is finding or affording to buy more maps to move up faster.

Btw, your sections on Uber Lab and Elemental Reflect map mods were super valuable - absolutely the only thing that got me through both.

Btw2, PoB is amazing, thanks for recommending it. Once I learned that I didn't have to manually type gear stats into it (2 days later) it was freaking amazing and has saved my from many truly terrible purchases.

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HDTanel wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply man!
Yeah was thinking the same... Merciless aka LVL65 I should switch as I would get both important ascendancies then.
It is quite hard atm on Sunder 4link though at lvl59.. like very squishy on bosses.. or well.. mostly cause damage is so low I have to tank a lot of damage. ACT IX bosses take quite some time to die.. like minutes. Trash mobs die pretty easy.
Just thinking how the hell am I gonna beat lvl65 Lab with this low damage :DD

What to you do on league start if it is the average luck?
I´ve been just upgrading my base weapon but havent really found anything useful for offhand.. links I think I have the ones needed but yeaa.. dps is on the very low side sadly. Would love to hear how the leveling part would be easier in league start, hmm..

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At League Start I have at least a 5 Link by then, they are incredibly cheap then. You can literally get them for 1 Alch now, why don't you have one?
As for upgrading Weapons and Offhand, that is legit all explained in the Levelling Guide. There are Twink Uniques listed.

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Guffinn wrote:

We always want a 20/20 BR for the Attack Speed, but a second low level one in a Cwdt link can be used to keep it up passively. It refreshes the Duration, with no changes to the Values of the Buff.

That Vaal Haste / Totem Setup is up to you, that's completely fine :)
As for the Frostbomb, I'd personally never have it in a CwDt Setup, as we can't selfcast it anymore. And we should be able to drop one whenver we're about to unload Damage on a Boss.

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HDTanel wrote:

Alright finally made the switch, did 2 labs and grabbed the lifesteal node.
You can check my gear, 4link reave and blade flurry
Well being honest here it is absolute dog shit atm lol. I don´t know how you would league start with this really. ACT X bosses are pretty hard as DPS is so low to gain anything over the max so you wouldnt get oneshotted.

Kinda sad as this means you are 100000% dependent that somebody lists an item at the start of the league.. without that item you are not gonna have any fun at all.. and that is just if one item would be enough to atleast do white maps.

Will buy some cheap starter items you recommended when I wake up and see how much it changes the clearspeed. Atm trapper just facerolls over this.. Trapper I only needed random shaper gloves and easy crafted the trap support on it.. didnt even need that actually.. all random selffound rares took you easy to red maps. EASY.

Sooo.. yeahh, very dissapointed atm but.. will see how good it is by buying some very cheap unique items.

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Asbestoxic wrote:

Hello, i was wondering how Damage on Full life works with Blood Rage. It seems it's not a good synergy. Can you light me up on this one ?

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Guffinn wrote:

Major - Arakaali LvL 2
"50% increased Recovery of Life and Energy Shield if you've stopped taking Damage Over Time Recently" is triggered by Cast When Damage taken linked to Immortal Call, which stops us taking damage from Blood Rage for a split Second. This is huge Boost to survivability as it makes our Leech incredibly fast, healing 5k damage hits in a Second.

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Guffinn wrote:

As for the Leech: you can always pick up Vitality Void for stronger Leech, it is noticeable but I personally never felt it.
Other than that, remember to keep your Blood Rage up to gain the Leech Bosst from Arakaali Lvl 2 + Immortal Call.
And remember, more max Life = stronger Leech, so that's always something we can improve on :P (maybe a Life Abyss Jewel in your Belt)
I'd recommend to drop Coldhearted Calc + the Node before, and the same for Aspect of the Panther, and get Vitality Void + an INT Node if you need it.

Other than that, Guardians are the rippiest things in this game, depending on Mods.
And maybe look into upgrading your left Ring Slot, that one is by far the weakest you have.

Feel free to keep me updated if these things help you out a bit :)