Underused Skills/Ascendancies Challenge Sythesis - Goes live in 1 week (4.20.19)

So I'm using Zana's random map mod to unlock maps. I go down the list and see Elemental Weakness, so I recraft my gear to make sure I'm overcapped. Everything else looks fine, so I go in, cast Volatile Dead on the first pack, and instantly die to reflect.

I thought the extra projectiles would kill me. Nope, it's the reflect mod being hidden somewhere in the dozens of league mods in the top right so that I'll eventually miss it even though I'm being extra super careful. League mods and map mods REALLY need to be separated at the top. That death felt incredibly shitty and undeserved.

You can remove me from the league now. That was more than enough.

For anyone looking for a solid build to play in the HC version of this league, check RuoVaxxilath in my account. The build was fantastic. Just make sure you read the mod list two or three times every time you run a random map. Goddamn reflect.

"

Jennik wrote:

So I'm using Zana's random map mod to unlock maps. I go down the list and see Elemental Weakness, so I recraft my gear to make sure I'm overcapped. Everything else looks fine, so I go in, cast Volatile Dead on the first pack, and instantly die to reflect.

I thought the extra projectiles would kill me. Nope, it's the reflect mod being hidden somewhere in the dozens of league mods in the top right so that I'll eventually miss it even though I'm being extra super careful. League mods and map mods REALLY need to be separated at the top. That death felt incredibly shitty and undeserved.

You can remove me from the league now. That was more than enough.

For anyone looking for a solid build to play in the HC version of this league, check RuoVaxxilath in my account. The build was fantastic. Just make sure you read the mod list two or three times every time you run a random map. Goddamn reflect.

Damn. That blows. Well done though! Thanks for playing!

"

Jennik wrote:

So I'm using Zana's random map mod to unlock maps. I go down the list and see Elemental Weakness, so I recraft my gear to make sure I'm overcapped. Everything else looks fine, so I go in, cast Volatile Dead on the first pack, and instantly die to reflect.

I thought the extra projectiles would kill me. Nope, it's the reflect mod being hidden somewhere in the dozens of league mods in the top right so that I'll eventually miss it even though I'm being extra super careful. League mods and map mods REALLY need to be separated at the top. That death felt incredibly shitty and undeserved.

You can remove me from the league now. That was more than enough.

For anyone looking for a solid build to play in the HC version of this league, check RuoVaxxilath in my account. The build was fantastic. Just make sure you read the mod list two or three times every time you run a random map. Goddamn reflect.

Damn I was thinking it was just a crazy multiproj moment. Sad to hear it was something sucky like that.

Still, getting to 87 in this league on HC is no joke. What tier were you at?

Edit 10 min later: ded.

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Distinc_T wrote:

Still, getting to 87 in this league on HC is no joke. What tier were you at?

Edit 10 min later: ded.

I was just getting into tier 6. The build could at least handle all yellow tier maps defensively, but it took ages to actually get maps to drop so I could move up. Volatile Dead with Herald minions pulling aggro is probably the safest build I've ever played. The only really sketchy situations were in memories. Some of those Synthesis enemies scale insanely with these mods.

Sorry to hear about the death. It actually gets much easier once you hit maps. Some of those late bosses and enemies like Kitava's Heralds are pretty brutal. I say my build was safe, but a rare Herald or Flame Elemental with bad mods could probably still one shot me because of the extra projectiles.

Tried out Duelist melee. Total slog. Finished A10 Kitava with exactly 100 deaths :D

Tapped out after getting a Tabula to drop and still not being able to do T2 maps without dying at least once. At some point, it would have been better for me to give up on a map if the Syndicate spawned on it. Insta-thwaked in Alva temple instances too. Around 160 deaths in the end? Haha.

Thanks for putting on the league! Would definitely play again after next official league's meta settles down.

Hi everyone, well I made it past 60 and cruel lab, so that was pretty solid for me in Hardcore. I think I'm probably done with PoE until the official event. Lots of other games I've neglected :P

I'm pretty happy with the different skills available and what people came up with regarding ascendancies. It was refreshing to not just see some obvious choices since many of the top ascendancies were banned.

If you can, please give feedback or share your stories on the forum thread. I'd like to know about cool things you found, the worst roadblocks faced, what your greatest achievements were etc.

But I'd also like to hear thoughts on SSF, how hard the mods are, etc.

I really like that everyone stays on an equal footing, but I think I'd like to try a trading league next time around! I think it would make for a very fun and interesting dynamic. Maybe you don't even want to play, you just want to be a loot hoarder and dominate the economy? Who knows.

I'd like to hear thoughts on that, as well as parties. What do you think about parties? Obviously people need to party for trading, but as this entire concept of "underused skills" is based on the honor system, I wonder if we could do trading, but no partying for actual gameplay?


Thanks again for joining!

First HC Character was interesting, was planning on some Champion melee variant, probably BF for shaper, but leveled mainly as Frost Blades. Went about as well as expected only close call prior to dying was Kaom, as that with multi proj is not fun at all. Then ripped to Daresso not more than 15 minutes later at level 39.

Second round was interesting, went for VD Scion, and honestly VD was extremely smooth and probably the safest route for HC since you just offscreen everything. Hillock was probably the biggest hurdle because ST feels absolutely awful with buffed up Hillock, pretty sure I died like 4 or 5 times to it. Unfortunately succumbed to DC on Ascended Dominus and logged into a rip.

It being a "Shaper race" is fun, but I feel it takes out a lot of the potential skills, as there are obviously skills that just aren't going to be able to clear bosses, especially with the rippy mods. Realistically it doesn't matter what the goal is because the challenge is going to be difficult regardless and its just for fun and bragging rights anyways. Maybe next time I'll just race for 80/85/90 and then maybe meme a shaper kill depending on the build.

Ascendancy restrictions seem harsh, but at the same time, Occultist/Trickster/Elementalist would almost trivialize a lot of the challenge, so I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

Other than that really fun league, but I think that's about all the effort I can put into it, with 1 month being announced soon and having to work on challenges.

Cheers it was fun! :^)

Realized my post was far too long and deleted it. Died at level 92 right after crafting this staff (killed by Acid Caverns Spectral Throw boss). Oh well. Neat league. I just wish more people were active in the HC version. My highlight of the entire league was actually seeing another person running around in Lioneye's when I went back to buy some gems. We were the only two people in the entire league online at the time.

Thanks, this was a blast! Died a stupid death (let myself get surrounded in A5 indoor map) but happy enough with #11.

There's no way to fund additional duration for the HC league at this point, I take it?

PS - thanks for linking my SSF guide! There is an updated version for Synthesis if you end up linking in the future, it is a bit improved: https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/axn5gs/so_you_want_to_try_ssf_in_synthesis_a_friendly/

I'd like to play this again pleeasseee