What are the essential addons for Season of Discovery Phase 3? Today, I’ll provide my recommendations on which addons I believe are crucial to have.

Nova World Buffs

The initial addon is called Nova World Buffs.

Its function is to monitor the current layer you’re on, which is then displayed at the top right corner of the minimap. Why is this feature crucial? It addresses the scenario where you might find yourself on a layer crowded with too many players, leading to excessive competition during quests or open-world farming.

To mitigate this issue, I employ a secondary account to invite me to a different layer. As observed, the player density significantly reduces upon switching to Layer 3. It’s advisable to seek assistance from someone in your guild or through world chat to invite you to another layer. However, it’s imperative that they also possess this addon for them to ascertain their current layer.

AtlasLootClassic

The following addon is AtlasLootClassic.

It’s crucial that it includes “Classic” in its name. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on viewing all the new loot introduced in Season of Discovery. This includes items updated in SoD Phase 3 and the newly added raids.

The primary reason I advocate for AtlasLoot is its capability to aid in mapping out your leveling path to level 50. Additionally, it assists in identifying the dungeons essential to focus on at maximum level to obtain specific items necessary for raiding readiness.

Questie

When leveling up, whether it’s your main character or any other character, acquiring Questie is highly recommended.

This addon serves various functions, including tracking quests, indicating locations to both obtain and turn in quests, as well as identifying flight points, mailboxes, repair vendors, and other useful points of interest. Not only does Questie facilitate faster leveling, but it also proves invaluable when new quests are introduced in Phase 3, potentially including those related to new profession items. These new quests will be conveniently displayed within the addon, greatly aiding your progress.

Moreover, Questie features a useful indicator within Nameplates and target portraits: a small bag. This bag serves to highlight whether an NPC needs to be defeated or if there’s an action required to fulfill a specific quest.

Additionally, it will display on your map, directing you to the precise location needed to complete the task at hand. Thus, installing Questie is highly recommended for smoother and more efficient leveling.

Better Vendor Price

Better Vendor Price provides information on the monetary value of a specific item in terms of copper, silver, and WoW SoD Gold if you opt to sell it directly from your inventory window, bypassing the need to visit the Auction House.

This feature proves beneficial in scenarios where my inventory is full, and I must discard items to make space for quest items. Additionally, it assists in selecting the most valuable reward from a quest.

Auctionator

I typically pair this with another addon called Auctionator.

When you search for specific items at the Auction House, Auctionator records their prices. This makes it easier for you to decide whether to sell the item to a vendor or list it on the Auction House for potentially higher profits.

Another reason I recommend this addon is its user-friendly buying and selling process. To sell an item from your bags, simply navigate to the selling interface and select the item. The addon will then scan for the lowest price and list your item slightly cheaper, ensuring you don’t significantly undercut others and maximizing your profit potential.

When making purchases, simply input the desired item, and the addon will streamline the browsing process. The cheapest available option will be displayed at the top, preventing you from overpaying for materials or items.

Bartender4

Would you prefer a cleaner user interface? Consider installing Bartender4. This addon enables you to personalize your action bars and hide elements you don’t wish to see.

Setting up Bartender4 is straightforward. Simply type “/bt” and press Enter. You can then lock or unlock your action bars and adjust various settings, such as size, scale, and padding. Navigate to the specific action bar you wish to modify, such as action bar one.

You have the option to disable individual bars or add more if needed for spells or macros. Additionally, you can customize elements like your reputation or experience bar, adjusting their size and enabling or disabling them as desired. For instance, I’ve chosen to hide my Blizzard Art Bar to declutter the UI, including elements like the Griffins.

With Bartender4, you can also resize your micro and back bars, offering extensive customization options to streamline your user interface.

DarkMode

Once you've addressed the previous issue, you might also consider installing DarkMode.

This addon alters the visual display, rendering everything significantly darker. This includes your target portrait, character portrait, action bars, spell book, and more.

And don't forget, you can adjust the positioning of your target portraits by right-clicking on them and dragging them to a more comfortable location.

Importantly, no additional addon is required for this adjustment. Simply right-click on the target portrait to make changes.

Also Read: WOW Classic SOD: Master These 8 Valuable Quest Items To Stack More Pre-Quests For Phase 3

Details

As you prepare for your initial raid, it's advisable to acquire Details.

This addon serves as an invaluable tool for monitoring not only your own performance but also that of your fellow raiders. It provides insights into metrics such as individual damage or healing output, as well as identifying issues like players standing in hazardous areas.

Utilizing Details enhances your ability to optimize raid performance by tracking various aspects critical to success.

Threat Plates

Some of you have suggested that I try out Threat Plates, and I'm genuinely pleased that I did.

I find it quite appealing. Firstly, the Nameplate feature significantly enlarges, with adjustable sizing options. Additionally, it now presents essential information such as remaining health and the duration of damage over time and crowd control effects.

I'm satisfied with my decision to explore Threat Plates, as I anticipate its continued use in the future.

CustomFontLoader

I suggested that you use the damage font Nice Damage, which we had previously discussed. I am aware, though, that some people might have trouble getting it to work correctly. I looked into it and came up with a solution in response.

The CustomFontLoader addon, which offers detailed instructions, can be installed. Additionally, you can customize how your damage or healing is displayed by installing new typefaces. I think this functionality is quite amazing.

AdiBags

Among the plethora of bag organization options available, my preference lies with AdiBags.

When acquiring a new item, it appears distinctively highlighted, similar to gray items but with additional hues of blue and green. Epic items, too, are showcased in vibrant colors. AdiBags facilitates easy categorization of items into armor, jewelry, and other classifications.

Furthermore, it offers automated sorting capabilities. A convenient feature is located at the top right corner, represented by a 'V' symbol, allowing users to toggle item visibility. For instance, if you wish to exclude quest items from display, you can easily do so by disabling them.

By entering '/adibags' in your command prompt, you can access the configuration menu. Here, you can adjust various settings, including the scale of your backpack, to tailor your bag organization experience to your liking.

What's Training

For increased efficiency, consider installing What's Training.

Within your spell book, you'll notice a new feature: a question mark icon located at the bottom right corner. Clicking on this icon reveals the abilities available for acquisition at every other level. This functionality prevents unnecessary visits to your class trainer in search of useful abilities.

This tool proves particularly useful while leveling in the open world, providing clarity on whether to continue progressing or return to your main city for training.

OmniCC & Bigdebuff

The following recommendation is intended for individuals interested in PvP or those playing classes with crowd control abilities. Consider installing OmniCC along with another addon called Bigdebuff.

Utilizing these two addons in tandem enhances functionality, allowing you to monitor crowd control effects and their remaining duration.

Additionally, this information is conveniently displayed on your action bars, providing clear visibility of cooldown times.

DeadlyBossMode

During raiding sessions, it's advisable to install Deadly Boss Mode.

This addon provides on-screen alerts for critical raid mechanics, ensuring you're promptly informed of important events requiring attention.

It also facilitates marking targets for focused action, such as designating enemies with a skull symbol, as demonstrated with this totem.

Crafting plays a pivotal role in advancing through the more challenging segments of Last Epoch. In this guide, we'll be examining a comprehensive crafting guide for this game. Let's begin without delay.

Crafting Basic

Let's begin with the fundamentals.

Pressing the 'F' key will bring up your crafting menu. You can select any piece of gear and bring it to the crafting menu or the forge.

Within the crafting menu, you'll find the tiers of affixes on your gear. Pressing the 'Alt' button reveals the tiers of your affixes. Each tier ranges up to five for normal items, with Exalted items being purple and rolling up to t6s and t7s. As you progress further into the endgame, prioritize seeking out purple gear, as they can roll higher affixes than normal gear.

During the campaign, keep an eye out for resistances, which play a crucial role in mitigating incoming damage. If you encounter a boss or situation requiring specific resistances and your gear lacks them, swiftly craft the needed resistances.

For instance, if you possess an amulet with only 7% lightning resistance, consider enhancing it on the fly to counter a lightning-intensive boss encounter.

Now, let's delve into crafting basics.

Each item has forging potential, dictating the extent of crafting you can perform. When leveling up an affix, the game informs you of the forging potential cost, typically ranging from 1 to 10. Once the potential reaches zero, crafting on the item ceases, though you can still shatter it.

Utilize Glyphs of Hope to enhance crafting outcomes. These glyphs grant a 25% chance of no forging potential cost, maximizing your crafting efficiency.

Suppose you have an amulet with desirable attributes like minion health and damage over time, but undesirable lightning resistance. This is where Glyphs of Chaos come into play, allowing you to reroll affixes.

As you progress, identify crucial affixes for your build. For example, if you specialize in fire damage, prioritize acquiring fire-related affixes. Rolling unnecessary affixes is costly and often not worthwhile. Of course, if you have enough Last Epoch Gold, you can ignore this point. Focus on refining your gear to suit your build's needs effectively.

Related: This Formidable Torment Warlock In Last Epoch 1.0 Deserves You Attention!

How To Hunt Specific Affixes?

Now, let's discuss the pursuit of specific and high-value affixes in Last Epoch.

Certain affixes hold greater value and importance, and it's crucial to keep an eye out for them. One significant example is the "percent increase to health" affix.

This affix provides a substantial boost to health, as demonstrated by its 6% increase. Upon further leveling of the gear, even greater health bonuses can be attained. However, I've currently exhausted my supply of shards for this increased health affix, necessitating the acquisition of more shards to enhance this chest piece further, potentially up to Tier 5.

Identifying essential affixes and incorporating them into your loot filter is imperative for efficient item acquisition. Let's illustrate this with an example: suppose we aim to improve a particular item by breaking it down.

If we stumble upon such an item, regardless of its rarity, we could employ either a Rune of Removal or a Rune of Shattering, depending on our priorities. The Rune of Removal is ideal for preserving affix tiers, returning a corresponding number of shards. For instance, if targeting health bonuses, utilizing this rune on a Tier 5 affix would yield five health shards, facilitating significant enhancements.

However, using the Rune of Removal involves a degree of randomness. In our demonstration, although we targeted health, we ended up depleting the forging potential without achieving our goal, emphasizing the need for careful consideration.

Conversely, the Rune of Shattering presents a more unpredictable outcome. It destroys the item, generating a random number of affix shards. While this method may yield desired results, it also carries a risk of obtaining fewer or even no shards, as seen in our attempt to improve the affix.

Ultimately, your approach depends on your immediate needs and the level of risk you're willing to accept. Utilizing Runes of Removal to secure specific shard quantities before resorting to Runes of Shattering can optimize your crafting endeavors. However, always exercise caution, particularly in the early stages of the game, where resources are limited and strategic decision-making is crucial.

How To Make A Loot Filter?

To prioritize these high-value affixes, it's beneficial to create a loot filter.

By pressing Shift + F, you can access the loot filter screen. Alternatively, navigate to your gameplay settings and manage the loot filter. Let's establish a new filter, naming it the xxx filter. Choose a symbol and designate it red for identification. Then, add a rule to designate certain affixes as high-priority.

To illustrate, let's prioritize health-related affixes, focusing on increased health and hybrid health over added health. Additionally, include movement speed and cooldown recovery speed, as they are universally beneficial for all builds.

With these conditions set, any item containing these affixes will be highlighted in red, making it easier to identify priority items amidst the clutter. For instance, we can now easily spot a belt with a 3% increase in health, indicating it's likely a tier one affix.

If such an item is encountered, and considering its low tier, using a shattering method to break it down may suffice, even if it doesn't yield the desired shards. For higher-tier affixes, such as tier three or above, employing a Rune of Removal may be necessary to acquire the desired quantity of shards.

That covers the fundamentals of crafting in Last Epoch. While there are numerous runes and glyphs to discuss, we'll touch on an advanced glyph known as the Rune of Ascendance.

The Rune of Ascendance transforms an item into a unique or set item of the same type. For example, applying it to a silver ring could yield any unique ring, regardless of its original type. This presents a fortunate opportunity to acquire desired legendaries for your build. Simply use the rune on a suitable item, such as a two-handed sword, to potentially obtain the legendary weapon you seek.

In summary, the Rune of Ascendance offers a strategic method to secure essential items for your build, albeit with an element of luck involved.

With the ongoing expansion and evolution of the game trading market, players now have an increased array of options when selecting trustworthy platforms for trading in-game items and currencies. Through investigation, we found that G2G, PlayerAuctions, MMOGA, IGGM and other platforms are favored by many players. Each platform has its own unique products and services to meet the diverse needs of gamers.

Today, I have the privilege of interviewing the webmaster of IGGM, a renowned professional store known for its wide array of game products and services, establishing itself as an industry leader. Recognizing the significance of this opportunity to gain insights into IGGM, I've curated a set of key questions addressing the concerns users commonly have.

Q: Can you elaborate on the game products and services provided by IGGM?

A: IGGM has been diversifying its offerings since its establishment in 2008, extending across various game products and services for multi-platforms or servers. This includes game coins, accounts, equipment, props, training, CDKeys and more.

Additionally, for popular games, we offer Boosting & Powerleveling services, ensuring a comprehensive range to cater to diverse gaming needs.

Q: Can you highlight the unique features and advantages of IGGM compared to similar platforms?

A: Certainly! IGGM prioritizes the concerns of players, and our distinct features set us apart. Firstly, we guarantee the lowest market prices for game products. Regular market price assessments and adjustments ensure our prices remain the most competitive. Additionally, our membership mechanism enables players to enjoy even more economical prices with increased purchases.

To enhance the gaming experience further, IGGM runs promotions during major holidays, allowing players to access their desired game products at more affordable prices, adding joy to their celebrations. Moreover, for players interested in earning while gaming, IGGM's Affiliate Program offers an opportunity to both make and save money.

Our efficient and professional team is another key advantage. In response to new game releases, we promptly update our game products and services, offering a broader selection. The cooperation of our customer service and delivery teams ensures a smooth and hassle-free order fulfillment process. Utilizing advanced technology, we prioritize the security of customer information and property.

No matter the issue, customers can reach out to us through Live Chat, Email, or Social Media. We are committed to actively resolving all inquiries and continuously improving our services.

Q: How does IGGM address potential risks and controversies associated with its services?

A: Addressing safety concerns is a top priority for IGGM.

To guarantee secure delivery, we utilize cutting-edge encryption technology to protect all customer data, ensuring the confidentiality of their personal information.

Moreover, we offer universally recognized and secure payment methods, including PayPal, Credit Cards, and various local payment options. Customers are free to select the method that best suits their preferences and circumstances.

In instances where orders face delays or encounter special circumstances preventing processing, we offer a refund option. While such situations are infrequent, they may occur during peak order periods. This also reflects that IGGM is very popular, doesn’t it?

Q: What feedback mechanisms and channels does IGGM utilize to enhance its services and ensure customer satisfaction?

A: Our 24-hour online customer service is a source of pride for IGGM. Whether you're a new or returning customer, once you place an order, our customer service team diligently assists you throughout the process. They ensure the accuracy of provided information, offer reminders about relevant precautions, and expedite the delivery process promptly. Whether you have questions or need updates on your order, our customer service is readily available. Upon order completion, you receive email notifications, showcasing IGGM's commitment to excellent pre-sales and after-sales support.

With the support of our customer service team, the shipping department expedites order processing. Confirming the accuracy of crucial information, they swiftly deliver the game products you require. In case of delays due to slow network speeds or unforeseen circumstances, the shipping department collaborates with customer service to promptly notify you of any issues and provide optimal solutions.

IGGM maintains open and transparent ratings on Trustpilot, accompanied by customer reviews. Prospective buyers can refer to these reviews for insights before making a purchase. Any dissatisfaction is promptly addressed by contacting us, and we actively seek corrections and improvements based on feedback. We embrace criticism and continuously strive to enhance our services.

Q: How does IGGM actively engage with the gaming community?

A: When popular games release updates, we swiftly collect relevant information and summarize it. This ensures players can grasp the content of the update in a timely and intuitive manner. Our official website's "New" section reflects this commitment, featuring actively updated guides and articles. This keeps players informed about the latest game updates and highlights key aspects.

To show appreciation to our new and loyal customers, we organize attractive promotions. Event-specific coupons/codes are provided, and we conduct lotteries on our social media platforms such as Twitter & Facebook. Lucky winners receive designated game products for free. To stay informed about these activities, players can follow IGGM's official website and social media channels.

As we concluded our conversation with IGGM, it was clear that IGGM puts in a lot of effort to provide the best possible service to its customers. This is undoubtedly a key factor in IGGM's success in the competitive game trading market. A big thank you to the webmasters of IGGM for sharing so much with us. Much appreciated! Moving forward, I hope to see IGGM continue to grow and flourish, becoming a prominent leader in the industry and earning recognition from an even broader user base.

The following is some relevant information about IGGM:

• Offical Website: https://www.iggm.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iggmcom
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/iggmcom
  

The Dragonflight story continues in patch 10.2.5, Seeds of Renewal, which goes live on January 16th, and we've got so much to look forward to.

We'll be able to dragonride in all the zones, earn new rewards in the Outland Cup, we'll explore the story of the Dragon Isles after the defeat of Fyrakk, and the Gilneans are finally preparing to retake their lost kingdom.

There are new features, like Follower Dungeons to open up group content to everyone, and the Azerothian Archives brings us new content with an archaeology flare. Then, there are also new customizations to look forward to, more holiday updates, and so much more.

Hurry up and take your WoW Dragonflight Gold to start a new journey in Seeds of Renewal!

Dragonriding Updates

Dragonriding is finally opening up to the rest of the world, so you'll be able to take wing and zoom through any zone where you could previously fly.

In Patch 10.2.5, if a regular flying mount is permitted in a specific area or zone, you will also have the ability to utilize a dragonriding mount in that zone. This means that, from here on out, you will get to choose which flying mode you want to use to get around in all of those old zones.

The Dracthyr Soar capability will undergo adjustments to seamlessly integrate into this expansive dragonriding environment. The cooldown has been reduced to just 10 seconds. You can use all of the same dragonriding abilities and you can use and generate Vigor, so Dracthyr can choose between using a dragonriding mount or just relying on their own wings going forward.

Additional opportunities to acquire Riders of Azeroth Badges will be available during the Outland Cup event. Zoom through Shattrath, soar over the Netherstorm, and see Outland from a new perspective. Each race completed will earn you more Badges that you can trade in for a new color variation of the Drake Rider's transmog set, as well as 2 new tabards.

New Story Quests

With the Primalist threat quelled for now, and Amirdrassil safely blossoming into Azeroth, the night elves can finally start building a new home for themselves.

When Amirdrassil bloomed at the conclusion of the raid in 10.2, it brought itself and the land about its roots from the Emerald Dream into Azeroth, and beneath the boughs of the new World Tree, the night elf city of Bel'ameth is starting to take shape.

Bel'ameth is connected to other important night elf areas throughout the world, including Darkshore and Feralas. Despite being a night elf city, the Horde is encouraged to explore, and there's a convenient portal from Hyjal for their use.

Also Read: WOW Dragonflight: 5 Simple Methods To Make A WoW Token Monthly - Gold Farming Guide

But when Amirdrassil took root, heroes of the Horde and Alliance heard a mysterious voice, ancient, beautiful and almost song-like, calling out to them. At the same time, Khadgar has received reports of dark whispers. Something is moving in the shadows. An ancient enemy stirs, incited by some harbinger.

But what are they planning, and where will they strike first? New story quests will unfold in the old world as the Greymane family endeavors to reclaim their lost kingdom, with the Forsaken offering assistance upon the request of Calia Menethil. You can earn yourself a new mount and some cool transmog rewards by helping the Gilneans reclaim their land from the domination of the Scarlet Crusade.

Follower Dungeons

A new feature that a lot of folks are already very excited about is Follower Dungeons.

You'll be able to queue for all 8 Dragonflight dungeons on Normal difficulty with between one and 4 players, and the game will fill in your group composition gaps with NPCs.

So, if you don't have a tank in your group, you can still queue up, and you will have an NPC tank to take all of those heavy hits. You can even queue up all by yourself and have a full group of NPCs to explore the dungeon with. You have the option to personally guide the NPCs or designate them to take the lead, particularly if you are uncertain about the direction.

Follower Dungeons are going to be a great way to learn how group content works. Embarking on dungeons for the first time can be daunting, but Follower Dungeons provide an opportunity to ease into this aspect of the game. It allows you to familiarize yourself with mechanics, encounter bosses, navigate dungeon layouts, and obtain valuable dungeon loot.

They're also going to be great for experimenting with new roles, classes or specs. You can explore tanking or venture into healing without the constraints of time or performance expectations. I am definitely going to take advantage of that to try and get back into healing and test out any class changes in the future.

Azerothian Archives

We'll also have new content to explore in the Azerothian Archives.

Engage with distinctive characters, immerse yourself in new narratives, and delve into the iconography of zones and local cultures through archaeology-themed activities.

There are smaller sites that you can work through by yourself, uncovering lost fragments to piece together the past. Then, there are also large sites, which are group activities similar to public events. Work through multi-stage scenarios together to properly excavate the area, fend off enemies, and see what lies beneath the soil.

There are also plenty of rewards to collect, including new mounts, battle pets, and transmog.

New Customizations

Patch 10.2.5 continues the trend of adding in new customization options for a couple of races.

Trolls will get 5 new vibrant hair colors to play around with, and the draenei will have a darker skin option, which fits in with their Man'arian locks from the previous patches.

Warlock demon customization options will also be expanded to include new color variations for your demonic tyrants, as well as new color and model options for your Darkglare summons, so you can pick and choose exactly how you want your floating eyeball to look.

Holiday Updates

We also have more holiday updates to look forward to in the new patch.

Love is in the Air will have new quests to work through and all-new rewards to collect, so we're going to have even more ways to get into the WoW holiday spirit in 2024.

So there's something for everyone to get excited for in the new patch, and it's going to be an interesting adventure as we start exploring what's next for the World of Warcraft.

Diablo 4 Abattoir of Zir Dungeon is an end game pinnacle content that players can only access once they've beaten all of the Season Journey and is incredibly hard.

The starting difficulty for the Abattoir of Zir is 20% harder than the highest tier of Nightmare Dungeons. So, this content is extremely challenging.

So, in this guide, we're going to be talking about some of the best tips and tricks to conquer the Abattoir of Zir in Diablo 4 Season 2. Of course, if you have enough Diablo 4 Gold, you'd better equip your character well, so that it will be easier for you to challenge Abattoir of Zir!

How To Start Abattoir Of Zir?

If you open up your season tab and then go to your season journey in order to start this content, all of the seasonal chapters will need to have check marks.

You need to complete the last tier. You don't need to complete every single challenge. You just need to complete enough that you get the chapter rewards. Once you do that, you will be rewarded with the Abattoir of Zir glyph known as the Tears of Blood.

In order to start using this, you're going to need to be leveling it up in the Abattoir of Zir. To access this content, you're going to want to come over to Ked Bardu. Ked Bardu is located in the Dry Steppes, and once you get here, you're going to want to come over to the glyph crafting Occultist.

When you come to the Occultist, you're going to look for the Bloodforged Sigils and craft a Tier 1. Now, there are 25 tiers of the Abattoir of Zir, each one increasing in difficulty and the amount of Sigil Powder that is required to craft it. You're going to earn them when you complete a Tier 1. You unlock the ability to do a Tier 2 and so on and so forth.

And if you're looking for Sigil Powder, you get it by breaking down sigils. So, if you have a sigil from a nightmare 100 dungeon or a nightmare 20 dungeon, anytime that you break them down, you'll earn yourself sigil powder.

If you successfully complete Abattoir of Zir, you will earn Sigil Powder. So, as long as you're not failing these, you can keep running them. But once you start failing, you can run out of Sigil Powder.

Tips & Tricks - Some Basics

The next thing to note before you jump into your first Abattoir Of Zir is your defenses.

Now, Abattoir of Zir is very different from a nightmare 100 dungeon or nightmare dungeons in general because you only have one life. That means if you die at any point, you're kicked out of the run. If you're playing with teammates or if any of your teammates die at any point, all of you are kicked out of the run. And it costs a ton of Sigil Powder to make another sigil. So, going in prepared is very important.

What do you need to be prepared? The very first thing is your resistances. You're going to want all of your resistances to 70% or as close to 70% as possible.

The next thing that you're going to want to look for is armor. Now, the armor cap of Abattoir of Zir is around 14,000 armor for fighting the hardest enemies. When you're walking into it, you're going to want around 13.3k armor. The reason you're going to want that much armor is because armor affects your physical damage negation, meaning that the more armor that you have, the more damage reduction that you take from enemies. This caps out at 85%, but it changes for the level of enemies.

For example, I have more than enough armor to fight enemies that are my level at 10,000 armor because I'm getting max physical damage negation, which is 85%. However, if I start fighting enemies that are 156 levels or level 156, then I'm going to need more armor because their damage is going to go up as their level is going up.

Also Read: Diablo 4: Best Druid Paragon Board With Tears Of Blood - Abattoir Of Zir Unique Glyph

So, walking into Abattoir of Zir, it’s really important to note that you want really high resistances. You’re shooting for around, I would say, 10,000 base armor. Then, you can use an Aspect of Disobedience to increase your armor even more so that you’re taking the least amount of damage possible via your armor.

If you’re low on your resistances or damage for the Abattoir of Zir, you can come over to the Elixir crafter and craft some Elixir to increase your defenses, increase your resistances, increase your damage.

You can also craft Incenses, which can give you more dodge chance, more thorns, more max life and so on. You can have both a potion and an incense active at the same time to increase your rate of success in Abattoir of Zir.

There are also Helltides every hour, and opening the Helltide chest can give you potions that can increase your armor, for example. This is another thing to stack up on before you go into the Abattoir of Zir.

Abattoir Of Zir Actual Run

Now that we’ve gone over some of the basics, let’s walk through an Abattoir of Zir actual run.

One of the big things that you’re going to notice about Abattoir of Zir is enemies are going to be beefy. In fact, enemies get 20% more HP per level, so their health scales exponentially. The higher you go, the more HP that they get. And if you’re playing with team members, they get even more HP.

You’ll also note that there is a time limit. You have 10 minutes to clear a run, and once you get into the later tiers, that can become a genuine issue. Right now, the big struggle with Abattoir of Zir is having enough survivability so that you don’t die in the run, but also having enough damage that you can complete the run in under 10 minutes. And this is kind of a bit of a struggle.

This struggle becomes a little easier with the new Tears of the Blood glyph. Once you complete a run, you’re going to get experience that you can socket into your Tears of Blood glyph.

Now, for leveling up this glyph, the experience required is massive and only realistically achievable in the Abattoir of Zir. The reason for this is the Tears of Blood glyph goes up to level 200, whereas all other glyphs in the game only go up to level 21. And normal nightmare dungeons just don’t reward enough experience to make meaningful level gains on this glyph.

As of the hotfix that happened on December 8th, they’ve massively buffed the amount of experience that you get from completing Abattoir of Zir runs so that you can actually earn meaningful progression on this thing. Prior to that hotfix, it was basically theoretically impossible to level up this thing to level 200 given the timeframe of the season. So now experience gains are a bit better, but it’s still going to be a lot of grinding to really level this thing up.

In terms of socketing this glyph, it’s really important to socket it in somewhere that’s going to give you more survivability for the Abattoir of Zir and hopefully more damage. There’s a lot of places in a lot of Paragon Boards that you could socket in multiple characters.

For example, the reason I’ve socketed in the Heightened Malice board for the Druid is mainly because it’s going to boost up my damage reduction from poison enemies. Damage reduction is super important in the higher tiers, and it’s also going to give me increased damage to poisoned enemies.

The reason for this is that the Tears of Blood glyph not only gives me the percent increased in damage, but it also gives me a boost to all of my rare nodes that are in radius. Rare nodes are these yellow nodes. And putting it somewhere smart that to give you more survivability is really important.

Once you complete your first two runs of Abattoir of Zir, you’ll have enough experience to level up your Tears of Blood glyph to level 1. Now, socketing this thing can be very important and critical to your success. You’re going to want to socket in it in a glyph socket that has a ton of core stats nearby as well as beneficial rare notes.

The Tears of the Blood glyph is going to give you for every 5 core stats purchased within range. You're going to get 2% increased multiplicative damage and a 50% bonus to all rare nodes within range. Bonus increases by 10% every 10 levels.

That is going to do it for our guide on the Abattoir of Zir. This is hard challenging pinnacle end game content that will push your build to the test. And if you've already gotten a character to max level and done all the content in Diablo 4 and want to try something even harder and push your build to the limit, Abattoir of Zir is the place to do it.

However, this content is brutally crushing. The enemies are incredibly strong and even on the best builds, you will most likely die. So, be careful.

The newest Genshin Impact update contains a lot of new and insane content and these are the top 5 new features coming with the 4.2 version.

1st Feature: New Zones

So, with this new update, comes many zones.

There’s a lot of peculiar landscapes we saw during the livestream. And from what I understand, these zones will be on the east side of Fontaine and you’ll get to visit places like this foggy forest with a strange tree.

One of the main things about this zone in particular is that it has these contaminated bacterial zones that you’ll find all over the place and you’ll need to cleanse them by utilizing a new aberrant ability, which are those temporary skills you obtain while underwater. But we’ll learn all about this more from a new world quest that will explain what’s the deal with those contaminations.

Still, we’re not done yet. There’s another cool place called the Fathomless Tower that we’ll get to explore and it will be a critical point in the storyline that explains some of the things about the Primordial Sea, so I am personally interested to learn more about it. And besides, who doesn’t love a good old mysterious tower exploration?

And when it comes to questing, it’s been officially confirmed that Act V of the Hydro Archon quest will be included with the 4.2 update and on top of this, Furina’s personal story quest is also going to be available.

2nd Feature: New Events

As always, we’re getting a bunch of new events.

Now the main one is going to be focused around this cute mechanical penguin that you’ll need to fix and improve together with Freminet.

The event is made up of 3 stages:

In the first one, you’ll need to play a small mini-game where you guide the penguin to its objective on this grid, while in the 2nd stage will require you to go underwater and look for parts to use on the Penguin.

Finally, the third stage will be a combat mini-event, and here you actually get to fight alongside your mechanical penguin friend. He will apply different effects for the battle and to me. This looks like the coolest part of this main event.

Now, if you put in the effort and finish this quest, then the biggest reward is going to be a free copy of Freminet, which is pretty cool. But you know what’s even cooler?

Bongohead is making a return. That’s right, the pokemon-esque Fungi event is making a return, and it seems like the developers made optimizations for this event, so I am interested to try it out.

Another event called Graph Adversarial Technology Experiment Log or, as I like to call it, just exchange stuff with your friends event. So basically, submit photos, use patterns or exchange them with your friends and obtain this new unique gadget called Zoom Lens that allows to zoom in before taking a photo.

Finally, Misty Dungeon is also making a return. This combat event is known for being a pretty cool place to test various characters you don’t have since you can use their trial versions.

And as always, Leyline overflow event will also be available sometime during the new update.

3rd Feature: New Characters

So, with the 4.2 update, we’re finally going to be able to pull for the legendary archon Furina, who is a 5-star Hydro Sword user. If you want to quickly experience this 5-star character in the new version, buying Genshin Impact Accounts directly will be a good choice!

And from what it looks like, she can switch between Ousia or Pneuma by using her charged attacks. And this will matter because her skill will summon Hydro companions to the battlefield and they will differ depending if she was aligned with Pneuma or Ousia.

I am a huge sucker when it comes to cute little critters, but Furina goes over the top by summoning more than 1 of them!

However, I think the biggest thing about her is her burst. To put it simply, it will deal some Hydro DMG and then put the whole team into this special state and whenever someone loses or gains HP, their damage and healing will be boosted.

It’s clear that Furina will be a unique hybrid that boosts the team but also applies Hydro with her skill, which will be an important factor to consider.

But on a lighter side, one of Furina’s passives decreases the CD of aberrant abilities you use underwater and get this. When one of her summons from the skill are on the field, she can walk on water. Talk about powercreeping Kokomi.

Moving over, Charlotte, a 4-star Cryo Catalyst, will also be available to summon for. I think it’s funny that Hoyoverse decided to release 2 Cryo Catalysts back-to-back, which was one of the element & weapon combos that we’ve never had prior to 4.1.

But I think it’s a good that they have done this because playing a Cryo Catalyst is pretty funny with all things considered. So, it really shouldn’t be locked behind a 5-star.

Also Read: Genshin Impact 4.2: Details About Furina Buffs & Changes

But, what does Charlotte do? Her skill shares some similarities to Nahida’s skill, so she can tap it and deal some damage or hold it down and take a snapshot with her camera of several enemies.

Now, I am not sure what kind of potential this skill has, but you gotta admire her Normal and Charged attacks. They look so satisfying. It makes wanna build her as a damage dealer no matter how unfit this may be.

And there is a reason why I mention this. Her burst will create this field and deal damage to enemies inside. But at the same time, it will also heal your characters. So, I think this burst kinda gives away the fact that Charlotte is going to be a healer. But no matter what, I will still try to build her as a damage dealer because those Normal Attacks look too good.

And remember those Zoom Lens I’ve mentioned. Charlotte has a unique ability that allows her skill to take pictures mid combat when using this gadget. So, it’s interesting to see that while you can use this gadget with any character, she has a special use case for it.

But, let’s quickly talk about the banners now. In the first phase, Furina as well as Baizhu will have their own featured banners. But what’s interesting is that it will be possible to pull for Charlotte during this phase as well. So, both new characters are available during the first phase while in the second phase, Ayato and Cyno will be the featured characters.

So, if you have saved up a lot of Primogems and your plan is to pull for Furina, chances are you might also obtain Charlotte, so two Steambirds with one stone.

Obviously, in the first phase, you’ll also be able to pull for Furina’s signature weapon, so keep that in mind.

4th Feature: New Enemies

This time around, the new weekly boss is going to be a massive whale. And I know what you’re thinking – how fast a whale player will beat this whale, right?

Anyway, this is actually a pretty interesting fight because during the first phase, this big beefy boy will unleash tons of AoE attacks. So, you’ll need to run around like crazy and dodge them.

But what’s interesting is that you’ll notice he has this thingy below his health bar. From what I understand, there will be special ways to build it up because you’ll need to defeat the Whale this way.

However, what’s really cool about this fight is that the whale will literally suck you into his belly and then a new foe, a really cool foe shows up and you need to duel him to death. So, this fight seems to be pretty complex but interesting and hopefully it won’t get tiresome after repeating it over and over for materials.

And speaking of repetition, a new world boss called Hydro Tulpa will be waiting for you, so you can slaughter him and take its materials to level up your characters.

He looks pretty cool. I like his design, but like with every other world boss, they’re just there to get demolished within a minute.

5th Quality Of Life

When it comes to Quality of Life changes with 4.2 update, there’s actually quite plenty of them.

First of all, the weekly boss fights for new players had to be a bane to deal with, especially when you pull that sweet new character. And you realize that you can’t level their talents if you haven’t unlocked a specific region and completed its Archon quest.

This changes with 4.2 update and now, you can just quick challenge any of the weekly bosses even if you haven’t unlocked their fights through the story.

The next one on the list is a feature that I wanted to see for a long time and that’s giving more control over your quests. Up until now, if you used one of those keys to unlock a hangout or a story quest with a character, often you would end up causing some conflicts for other quests, like when it says a character is busy in another quest. So annoying.

But, now you can choose to just unlock a quest and then later you can decide to accept it, which means fewer characters being busy when you need to complete other quests. You will even get to see a window with pre-requisite conditions for a quest, so you’ll know what to expect.

Now, when it comes to the next quality of life feature, it’s pretty small but still matters and it will increase the amount of pins you can have on your map from 150 to 200. There will also be a batch delete function for pins, so you don’t have to go around and keep selecting and deleting one pin at a time.

But then, there’s probably the most important change, at least for me, and that’s Genius Invokation TCG getting sped up. Basically, there will be an option to enable where every single animation gets accelerated. And from the previews I saw, it actually looks like the game doesn’t feel sluggish anymore and I’ll be real.

Part of the reason why I didn’t really get into this game mode was literally because of how slow it felt and I kid you not. This might actually convince me to go and play this mode again, because I still haven’t unlocked everything.

And what’s even better, you’ll also be able to share decks with each other, thanks to the Sharing Code feature. So, now, I can just copy top meta decks and enjoy my life as a slacker.

Finally, Stellar Reunion has been optimized. This event for players who return after taking a break from the game will offer more relevant rewards, and you can even get story keys if you haven’t collected them.

I wanted to have an open discussion with the Diablo IV community to see what players are thinking about for the new content. We’re seeing a lot of changes coming to Diablo 4 Season 2, and when there’s a massive amount of changes it can be difficult to navigate what the new best practices are.

Whether the balance and content updates are good or bad, only time is going to tell. But one thing I know is, right when Season 2 launches and I create a new seasonal character, I just have no idea what content I’m going to tackle first.

Gold Farming Dilemma

The first topic I want to talk about is how exactly are we going to farm Diablo 4 Gold in Season 2?

We know from the live stream that “whispers are going to have a substantially increased amount of gold”. But beyond this, I mean Greed Shrines are probably still going to be a meme. But this still leaves me thinking, did they nerf gold farming?

Other than picking up ambient gold dropped from enemies, normally we would just farm gold from picking up trash rare Diablo 4 Items and sell them at a vendor, hence the saying Salvage Oranges and Sell Yellows. But with the new update, these junk yellows are now just going to drop as crafting materials instead.

So, I’m not really sure what the new best method is going to be. The best ways to farm gold might just be climbing high tier Nightmare Dungeons. Hopefully from the update, whispers are in a much more competitive position in endgame that people actually have a reason to do them besides just leveling 1 to 50.

And it’s also important to mention it was revealed in the live stream that we have a new content type downstream from whispers in the form of an endgame boss, but the relevance of this content will largely depend on its loot table for unique items.

I think that Nightmare Dungeons still have a competitive advantage anyway, considering they’re still the only way to level glyphs for the Paragon Board.

It was also mentioned during the live stream that glyph leveling got buffed, meaning they’ll give more glyph experience. So, maybe this will give us more time away from nightmare dungeons to pursue new content without worrying about glyph leveling as much.

Vampiric Powers & Theory Crafting

It’ll be interesting to see what we come up with as a community moving forward for the best practices in farming gold in endgame. So, let’s talk about Vampiric Powers.

We’re looking at a total of 21 new Vampiric Powers, 14 of which require 1 to 3 pacts, and the remainder requiring 6 pacts. We know the sanguine circle has 5 total slots, armor I believe can have a total of 5 pacts at once. So, technically, we should be able to equip 5 of the strongest vampiric abilities, right?

The question I think is how hard are pacts going to be to line up properly. It would be miserable if you got a god roll armor drop in terms of affixes, just to realize you’re missing all the pacts you need to finish your build.

They said in the live stream that there will be a way to inject or remove pacts from armor. I just hope there are no restrictions that only allow us to do this a limited number of times. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want this system to be easy, but I also don’t want it to be impossible.

It’s going to be interesting to see how these affect our build options and to also see if there’s any Vampiric Powers that are basically going to be so overpowered that it’d be dumb not to pick it.

Here’s a full list of the Vampiric Powers coming to Diablo 4 in Season 2:

• Anticipation (1 Divinity)
• Coven’s Fangs (2 Divinity)
• Domination (1 Ferocity)
• Feed the Coven (1 Eternity)
• Hectic (3 Divinity)
• Hemomancy (3 Eternity)
• Infection (1 Ferocity)
• Jagged Spikes (1 Ferocity, 1 Divinity)
• Prey on the Weak (2 Ferocity)
• Rampart (1 Divinity, 1 Eternity)
• Ravenous (3 Ferocity)
• Resilience (2 Eternity)
• Sanguine Brace (1 Divinity, 1 Eternity)
• Terror (1 Ferocity, 1 Divinity, 1 Eternity)
• Undying (1 Eternity)
• Major Vampiric Powers (6 Pacts Required)
• Accursed Touch (6 Divinity)
• Bathe in Blood (3 Divinity, 3 Eternity)
• Blood Boil (6 Eternity)
• Call Familiar (3 Ferocity, 3 Divinity)
• Flowing Veins (2 Ferocity, 2 Divinity, 2 Eternity)
• Metamorphosis (2 Ferocity, 2 Divinity, 2 Eternity)
• Moonrise (6 Ferocity)

From a quick observation, it’s obvious that some of the lower pact requirement ones are going to be weaker and probably switched out later.

Accursed Touch kind of reminds me of a marked for death type ability that spreads out like Rabies on Druid.

Bathe in Blood is the channeling Vampiric Power that we saw in the developer live stream. Personally, I don’t see this being used much. I mean incinerate Sorcerer isn’t really in a good spot and I can’t think of many channeled abilities off the top of my head.

Call Familiar, the Vampiric Power that spawns the bat seems like it might be another meme ability. But I mean, this could potentially be great on Death Blow Barbarian or on a Firewall Sorcerer.

Also Read: Changes In Season 2 QOL In The Latest Diablo 4 Developer Live Stream! - Multiplicative EXP & Uber Unique Farm

I could totally see a Pulverize Druid or Blood Lance Necro using the Vampiric Power called Blood Boil. It just seems like it’d synergize easier with existing builds that are centered around overpower.

Flowing Veins sounds like it’d be great on any damage over time classes like Poison Rogue or Blighted Necro. And maybe we’ll actually see a Poison Druid build for season 2.

Metamorphosis sounds like it’d be absolutely hilarious on a Sorcerer using Oculus. The unique item that makes you bounce around randomly from using Evade.

It also looks like we might see some interesting basic attack builds come out finally using the Vampiric Power Moonrise. I know that I’ve been reading comments on Reddit from people who want to use basic attacks in a build that’s more competitive. And this might be the way to do it.

Looking at some of the lower pact Vampiric Powers, it looks like Undying might be great on any class that spams abilities like Corpse Explosion.

Unless Vulnerable gets nerfed to death from the Damage Rework, Prey on the Weak might be an absolute must have on most classes. It says that any mob affected by Vampiric Curse is automatically made vulnerable, which provides a new route for any build that needs an extra source of damage.

I’m seeing some good attack speed opportunities like on Moonrise and Ravenous. Even if you don’t go a basic attack build, this could be an answer for any classes that are resource hungry.

Endgame Exploration

The other thing I wanna talk about is how do you guys plan on spending your time in endgame?

Personally, for me, I’m definitely going to rush endgame to check out the new bosses. I’m actually curious to see how difficult these new bosses are going to be. Are they more like dungeon bosses? Or are they challenging to fight and it’s going to take time to learn the fight?

I think if they’re like dungeon bosses, I’m going to be pretty disappointed, because right now dungeon bosses even with the added health, are just really meant for casual players. I think Duriel King of Maggots is most likely going to be like the Uber Lilith fight, which I’m kinda crossing my fingers. They have news on an Uber Lilith rework in the campfire chat on October 10th.

I’m hoping with the new endgame flow that I’ll find it worth it to switch between running Helltides, doing some Whispers, grinding some high tier Nightmare Dungeons, and after all of that actually getting some decent loot from The Ice Beast, the Galvanic Saint, Lord Zeer, and Varshan.

So, Item Power is going to more closely follow enemy level in Season 2.

Multiplicative Experience Points

I’ve been thinking, do I prioritize gear or prioritize experience points?

The way I’ll first tackle it is I’ll see how fast the new leveling experience is in Diablo 4. And if it’s fast enough, I might actually just continuously raise the tiers of the nightmare dungeons I’m doing. At least until I find some really good affixes on gloves, weapons, boots and amulets.

After that, I’ll probably consider the odds of finding anything better will be so slim that I might as well just level more efficiently instead.

By the way, if you didn’t catch it in the live stream, experience point bonuses in Diablo 4 are now going to be multiplicative, not additive. This is huge considering once you’re in World Tier 4, you’re getting 400% more experience points, which means your 15% bonus on top of the 400% bonus isn’t like a 6% increase in experience points anymore. You’ll get the full 15% of whatever the 400% value is after it’s calculated.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how all of these changes sound. I’m excited to see the live stream on October 10th with information on the balance changes to damage, gear and classes. We’ll ultimately have to be the judge on whether or not it’s executed properly on October 17th.

Here, I want to go over everything we currently know about the mechanic and rewards of Path of Exile 3.22 Trial of the Ancestors League, as well as the implications this league mechanic will have on, what build you should play, the league’s economy, and Atlas strategies.

That way, you can jump into the league with everything you need to hit the ground running!

Matches & Tournaments

First up, let’s go over everything we know about the league mechanic.

Trial of the Ancestors, which I’ll be referring to as “Trials” from now on, is an autobattler-inspired league mechanic. You’ll be recruiting and upgrading Warriors over the course of a tournament, strategically placing your team at the start of each match to counter the enemy team.

Each position you can play a Warrior has an associated role, which determines how that Warrior behaves in battle. Some will have them on the offense, others on the defense, as well as other specialized roles.

Unlike a traditional autobattler, you will fight alongside your team, much like how Blight is a tower defense game where you fight alongside your towers.

Each Warrior, including the player, has a totem that they revive at a short time after being defeated. If a totem is destroyed, that Warrior instantly dies, and will no longer respawn for the duration of the match. The goal of each match is to destroy all of the enemy team’s totems before your totems are destroyed.

Each match represents a single game in a larger tournament. These tournaments are double elimination. You can lose once without getting knocked out. But after two losses, you have to start over in a new tournament.

Before each match, you’ll get to view each team and what the reward for beating that team is. You then pick your opponent, and pay the entry fee – one Silver Coin, per match.

In addition to the rewards you get from winning each match, you get additional rewards for successfully winning the entire tournament.

Many of the best rewards seem to be exclusively available from tournament wins, so you definitely want to make sure you’re winning the whole thing!

Every time you win a tournament, your ranking will increase. The better your ranking, the higher the difficulty and the better the rewards of future tournaments.

It’s likely that consistently winning and being able to do extremely high-ranking tournaments will be the most profitable way to farm Trials.

Favour & Teambuilding

In between matches, you will get to spend tribe-specific Favour that you receive from winning matches, to recruit new Warriors for your team, and to purchase Equipment and Field Items.

There are a total of 10 different tribes, and each has a different selection of Warriors and Equipment for sale. Mixing and matching will probably be key to creating a strong team.

Field Items can be placed on the battlefield the same way a Warrior can, and serve as single use consumables that you can activate by clicking on them, to get a beneficial effect when you need it most in a match.

Equipment is given to your Warriors, to enhance their abilities. Based on the Equipment GGG has previewed, these POE Items are not simple stat boosts, but are often transformative in nature. For instance, the equipment Dying Roar makes your Warrior explode on death.

Figuring out what Equipment to buy, and what Warrior and Role to use that equipment on will probably be key to victory. For instance, the explosion on death equipment probably combines well with a tanky character, perhaps on a defensive role where they will be fighting enemy Warriors

All of these progression mechanics - Warriors, Field Items and Equipment, are tournament-specific progression only. None of them carry over. You start every new tournament from scratch.

Skill Point Tattoos

So, what are the rewards from doing all this, anyway?

Well, the Trial of the Ancestors League has some pretty spicy new rewards. The first of which are Tattoos.

Tattoos are a new consumable item, which can replace attribute passives on your Skill Tree.

So, for instance, you can overwrite a +10 strength travel node with one that gives 8% Fire Resistance, or another that gives 1% Mana Reservation Efficiency.

These tattoos are permanently applied to the skill point, unless you use an Orb of Scouring or overwrite them with another tattoo. These tattoos offer an incredible amount of power to min-max your character build to levels never seen before!

Every single build needs to take some number of travel nodes. In the past, there really hasn’t been anything you can do about that. But now, you’ll be able to turn all of those travel nodes into far more useful stats. I expect some of these tattoos to be very pricey.

Also Read: 10 Easy Ways To Make Currency On The First Few Days Of POE 3.22 Trial Of The Ancestors League

Omens

Another new type of consumable item available from the Trial of the Ancestors League is Omens.

Omens are automatically triggered and consumed from your inventory upon meeting some trigger condition. For example, one of the Omens previewed creates a portal on death, and another gives you Soul Eater upon leveling up.

While some of these seem marginally useful for mapping, the real money here is in the rare ones, such as the Omen of Fortune, which guarantees your next orb of chance will upgrade an item to a unique.

In order to prevent players from feeling like they need to fill their inventory with Omens, there’s a restriction of only one Omen being able to trigger per zone.

Hinekora’s Lock

The final reward available is a powerful new endgame crafting currency, Hinekora’s Lock.

Hinekora’s Lock has a very unusual effect. It allows you to “foresee” the result of the next currency item used on it.

It’s unclear exactly what this means, and people have different interpretations. Some claim that you have to actually use the currency item, like an Eternal Orb, whereas others believe you’ll be able to see what the outcome would be without actually using it.

Regardless of how it ends up working, one thing is clear: this is an incredibly powerful crafting option that rivals the power of the Eternal Orb. And the Eternal Orb was removed from Path of Exile for being simply too powerful at crafting.

Hinekora’s Lock will end up having a very similar effect. With enough Hinekora’s Locks, you will be able to deterministically craft, getting the exact outcome you want at every step. If it foresees an outcome you don’t like, you simply change the item’s quality, use another Hinekora’s Lock, and check again.

I expect that all of the most powerful items created in the Trial of the Ancestors League will rely heavily upon the use of Hinekora’s Lock. Regardless of how rare or common it ends up being, this will be a chase reward worth many Divine Orbs.

Build Considerations

So, now that you know everything there is to know, the question remains: what should you do to best prepare for the Trial of the Ancestors League?

Well, as far as builds go, it’s likely that strong, single target ranged DPS builds will be king in Trials tournaments. Being able to quickly burst down Warriors and Totems will allow you to simply delete the enemy team, without having to overly rely on the rest of your team.

In addition, POE 3.22 marks the return of the Sanctum league mechanic, which is a league mechanic, and also incentivizes strong single-target DPS builds.

Another consideration is that you may want to pass on playing a stat-stacker. Stat stacking builds won’t be able to take advantage of tattoos in the ways other builds will, and might end up falling short in terms of character power this league. Or at the very least, you’ll miss out on the fun of playing with the new character progression mechanics.

Atlas Considerations

As far as your Atlas and Farming strategies go, it’s worth noting that the new Maven keystone also incentivizes single-target DPS. Boss killers may find that they thrive in this league.

Other than that, something I want to highlight is the way that you interact with the league mechanic. You spend Silver Coins to play matches, but these Silver Coins are just regular POE drops.

As far as we know, they aren’t limited to one per zone or come from special league chests, or anything like that. It’s worth emphasizing just how unusual this is.

GGG hasn’t done a league mechanic like this in years. The last time they had a league mechanic that you started through regular drops off of enemies was Legacy league in 2017, over 6 years ago.

The reason why they normally don’t do this and what makes this so interesting is that it means the amount of Silver Coins you find will scale with player and area Item Quantity, as well as pack size. This means that you have the ability to specialize in farming Silver Coins by magic finding. And some players will be able to farm Silver Coins at absolutely obscene rates.

My understanding is that the current go-to strategy for magic finding is to use the strongbox sextant with the Wandering Path.

It’s worth noting that even though Strongboxes aren’t on the map device this league, the new “Seventh Gate” keystone will allow you to add strongboxes to the map device. And if you go for this niche strategy, you may be able to farm a fortune in Silver Coins, even if you don’t engage with the league mechanic directly.

Other than that, my last observation is that because Hinekora’s Lock only works with crafting POE Currency, other crafting methods that aren’t currency may be far less valuable than usual this league, as players look to craft endgame items via means they can use deterministically.

These would be things, such as Aisling T4 in Betrayal, Harvest, and possibly even fossils.

I’ve spent most of the last week researching the best new items coming in WOTLK Classic Phase 4. And let me tell you something. They aren’t going to come cheap.

What I found confirmed one thing: you’ll need more WOTLK Classic Gold for Phase 4 than you needed for all the other phases combined. There are just so many big-ticket items you won’t want to miss out on, like the Deathbringers’ Will trinket, the new 264 item level BOEs, and Invincible, which is the most impressive mount in the game.

If you’re curious on exactly how much gold, you’ll need to save up you should check out my top 10 most expensive ICC items guide first. No matter what items you plan to go for, there’s no doubt the need for gold making in Phase 3 is really ramped up.

I’ve personally settled on farming 150,000 gold to get everything I need from Quel’Delar to full BOEs on every character and maybe even work on a Shadowmourne down the road.

So, here’s exactly what I’m doing to save up that gold in the next 45 days.

Making Passive Gold With Dailies

The first thing I’m doing every day is making sure not to miss out on any passive daily gold.

I do have Jewelcrafting on three characters, which means I get over 320 gold per day in just a few seconds turning in the daily. I’ve managed to pre-farm the Jewelcrafting daily, which you can do by making the items as you collect them. This is also the time where I take advantage of Alchemy transmute on my Death Knight, where you could easily fit in your Titansteel transmutes as well.

I also still do a handful of dailies for 200 more gold on my Druid per day. That’s mainly because the single best perk of dual specing Boomkin is just how quickly I can destroy an entire island of Kvaldir.

Of course, you can’t forget the Daily Heroics. I have been enchanting on my Paladin, so it feels fantastic vacuuming up all the epics.

Plus, I definitely want to keep stockpiling Emblems for Epic Gems in Phase 4.

Open World Goldfarming

The next key thing I’m doing to save up over 150,000 gold is Open World Goldfarming. There are three different fantastic spots in Phase 3 right now, all with different benefits and some small drawbacks.

1. Frostfloe Deep

My first favorite spot that I keep coming back to is the Frostfloe Deep cave in Northern, Storm Peaks. The Wailing Winds mobs here drop an insanely high amount of Crystallized Fire. That sells for three gold each on Faerlina and I know the prices are even higher on some servers.

The trick here is to bring a friend to farm the upper area while you farm the lower section. And that’s because this is a true hyperspawn where the enemies instantly respawn when they’re killed.

With a good farming class, you can easily push 700 GPA. There’s also a side benefit, which is that the Crystallized Fire can be sold instantly. That means you can immediately turn around and invest that gold or do flips with it.

2. Wetlands Gnolls

My second favorite spot is the Wool Cloth farming in the Wetlands.

This is a consistent 800 gold per hour farm because you get instant farming mobs that drop Wool Cloth at a really high rate. On my server, the wool is always worth at least 70 silver and it sells instantly. So, this just prints money.

But I do have a bunch of new optimizations to make it better.

The first big optimization is to bring Scrapbots, Jeeves, and the MOLL-E mailbox. Because this method generates so many inventory problems.

Then, I like to use Speedy AutoLoot to grab all the wool really fast. Whenever my inventory is full, I can use TradeSkillMaster to sell the trash and BOEs to a Scrapbot. I try to maximize Scrapbot usage by selling multiple times with one Scrapbot. Then, whenever my character has a lot of wool, I’ll just mail it to my Alt using the MOLL-E mailbox.

One of the big tricks I realized is that the Linen Cloth is basically worthless. So, I started destroying it. Also, having a second Alt logged out at the same location, able to drop another mailbox and more Scrapoots is a huge well.

3. Converted Heroes

The other farming spot I’ve started to really enjoy recently is the Icecrown, Converted Heroes.

These are a very comfortable 800 gold per hour. I always did this farm wrong in the past by sticking to the wall and I didn’t realize there were way more spawns throughout the entire area. This is definitely one of those farms way better on a class with AOE, like a Mage, and it’s even better with Tailoring. These mobs drop a ton of Frostweave Cloth and you get even more with the tailoring passive.

Also Read: WOTLK Classic: How To Prepare For Phase 4 Icecrown Citadel? - Investing & Goldmaking Guide

AFK Goldmaking Methods

I’ve really enjoyed doing AFK gold making methods, like Potion Crafting and making Leathers recently.

The numbers are deceiving because there’s still a lot of profit to be made on things, like Potions of Speed, Potions of Wild Magic and Mighty Frost Protection Potions. I would definitely recommend crafting everything in the process like the Pygmy Oils and also having Master of Potions.

I also like to do a lot of AFK Leatherworking, making things like Heavy Borean Leather and Heavy Knothide Leather. You can’t forget classics like Netherweave Cloth, either.

I just post a low price bait cloth and then anything under 15 silver is pure profit crafting heavy bandages. I’m not just relying on AFK gold making though since I’ve also recently begun mastering flipping.

Flipping is able to consistently generate me over 4,000 gold per day. I like to primarily do an undercut strategy with fast selling items. The main items I like to flip are things like rare and epic gems, leatherworking items, and Enchanting Vellums.

I’m using the Auctionator for these quick flips. And in order to get your Auctionator to look like mine, you’ll need to enable some settings in the options. The main settings you’ll need are the “Show Crafting Costs” and “Show Bag Items” in the Selling panel.

The main thing is to check prices using Auctionator and then craft 3-10 of any given item based on profit. Some of my favorites are the gem flips like the Runed Cardinal Ruby flip as well as the Leatherworking leg armor flips like the Icescale Leg Armor. I also love Enchant Weapon like Berserking and Mighty Spellpower, too.

The key though is that the bigger the number of profitable recipes you craft each day, the more profit you’ll make. You can even do better than me if you have one of every profession, since tailoring an Inscription is also very profitable.

From the many hours of flipping the last month, the biggest tip I can give you is that the number one spot on any item will always get 99% of the sales. Don’t be afraid to run a cancel search and then repost since it’s so fast if you have a hotkey set up.

The other tip is that raid times are when most of the sales will happen, so don’t get into undercut wars at five in the morning. Either way, if you don’t want to be up until five in the morning making gold, you should definitely switch to more profitable professions.

This guide will show you eight tasks in The Elder Scrolls Online that you can complete every day. This is what your daily routine in ESO should look like.

1. Collect Your Daily Rewards

Every day that you log into The Elder Scrolls Online, you get a free reward. This can be anything from collectibles, potions and poisons, XP Scrolls, ESO Gold, and other forms of currency.

Claiming your login reward should be your very first action every day.

2. Upgrade Your Mount

You should upgrade your mount skills as early and as often as possible.

There is a stable master in every major town marked with the horse head icon. Talk to them to upgrade your mount’s Speed, Stamina, and Carry Capacity. You can only apply one point every day at the cost of 250 gold.

Note: Mount upgrades are not shared between your characters. So, if you have multiple, make sure to buy an upgrade daily on each of them.

3. Complete Daily Crafting Writs

Crafting Writs are special daily quests for the seven crafting disciplines that offer extra XP and gold for fairly low effort.

Any character at or above level 6 can do the Writs as long as they are certified for the specific crafting profession.

Talk to Millenith or Danel Telleno to complete the certification process. They can be found in all major cities. You can complete your Writs from the local writ board every day.

If you’re on PC, you can use add-ons to speed up the process. But for those on consoles, the best way to improve time spent is by setting your tables to the quest only option.

Your maxed out professions with full skill points allotted to the top passive in the tree have a chance to earn a Master Writ in addition to gold, XP, crafting materials, and Survey Reports that you can use for even more crafting materials.

This will take a few minutes. But the selling prices for materials and Master Writs are a great way to make gold fast.

4. Researching Crafting Traits

While you are completing your Writs, start researching traits. This is especially important for using Transmutation to change your Traits on your gear later or if you are just interested in crafting.

You should always have research active, at least with your dedicated crafter character.

Research takes real time to complete. The more Traits on an item that you have completed, the longer it takes to complete the next one.

Research can take only a few hours or up to a whole month, depending on how many you have left. So, the sooner you start, the better.

There are also skills in the crafting tree to improve research time and the number of items that you can research at one time. This will speed up the process of researching all Traits, considerably.

5. Complete Daily Endeavors

You can find available Endeavor quests in the Activity Finder under the Endeavors tab.

Endeavors include both weekly and daily quests, with a limit of three dailies per day and one weekly per week.

Endeavors reward with gold and the Seals of Endeavor currency, with which you can purchase Crown Crate items that are available with the active crates.

Also Read: Elder Scrolls Online: The Best Arcanist Build You Need To Try In Necrom - One Bar Stamina Build

6. Random Daily Dungeon

Completing the daily random dungeon for the first time per day will give you a huge chunk of XP, 10 Transmutes, and other items.

It is best to do this once per day every day to get the most out of the rewards. You can do this on Normal or Veteran to get the same rewards and can complete it every day on each character that you have if you are needing the Transmutes.

7. Random Daily Battleground

Just like the dungeon daily, completing the random Battleground daily will give you a huge chunk of XP, gold, more transmutes, and other items.

This is a PVP game mode. But you get the rewards whether you win or lose.

8. Daily Pledges

When you reach level 45, you can start accepting Pledges by reading the Undaunted Enclave Invitation that you receive in your level up rewards.

Pledges our special daily dungeon quests that ask you to complete specific dungeons. You can pick up the Pledges from the NPCs found in the Undaunted Enclave. The Undaunted Enclave is located in the capital city of every Alliance, way rested in Stormhaven, Mournhold, Deshaan and Elden Root in Grahtwood.

By completing Pledges, you’ll receive keys to open monster shoulder chests in addition to some Transmutes, gold, and XP. Make sure to save any Undaunted Keys until you hit the gear cap of a 160 CP.

Pledges can also help you to level the Undaunted Skill Line in which are some very useful passive skill that can be unlocked.

Benefits Of Doing These Tasks & Additional Dailies

These tasks can help you to level up faster, make gold faster, and increase your overall in-game efficiency.

Most of them will only take a few minutes, but will help you to progress and build your character.

These are just some of the dailies available. There are tons of other daily quests gathered throughout Tamriel, including the Mages Guild daily, the Fighters Guild daily, Zone dailies, Tales of Tribute dailies, Arena dailies, and Trial dailies that you can include in your daily routine. So, get out there and explore!

These are all the differences between Path of Exile 1 and its independent sequel, Path of Exile 2 that we know about after the conclusion of ExileCon 2023.

Crafting In POE 2

As it currently stands, crafting is entirely different in Path of Exile 2.

Firstly, the Crafting Bench no longer exists unless there is a replacement that has not been detailed yet. This means you can no longer add an extra affix to your gear with ease, whether it’s Fire Resistance, a bit of Maximum Life, or a few points of damage.

Additionally, metacrafting might be gone with this removal, too. This means all the metamods like suffixes cannot be changed that enable players to craft powerful items might no longer be accessible. This system was originally added to Path of Exile 1 in 1.2 Forsaken Masters and was seen as a good update by many. It’s going extinct in POE 2.

Alongside the removal of the Crafting Bench, multiple crafting currency items have been changed or removed in POE 2. Orbs of Alteration, the POE Currency that allow you to re-roll the affixes of magic items are gone completely. So are Orbs of Scouring, the POE Currency that allow you to transform a rare or magic item into a normal item. Chaos Orbs have also been changed.

Now, they randomly remove one affix and add another. Essentially, they’re re-rolling a single affix on a rare item, not all of them as they used to. As you’ve seen in the picture below, every currency item is getting a facelift with the sequel. The art looks objectively incredible.

Vendors & Gold

Sticking to the currency subject, vendors will not trade you shards or full-on currency orbs in Path of Exile 2. When you sell them items, they will give you Gold.

This Gold can be used to purchase POE Items from various vendors who are supposed to have well stocked actually decent items in their shops.

Plus, you’ll be able to use Gold to gamble for items, even unique items. It’s a bit like POE 1’s Gwennen Gambling system in Expedition.

Flasks are getting a major shake-up in POE 2. Normal monsters will no longer grant flask charges instead, only magic, rare, and unique mobs will. This drastically decreases the rate at which your flasks recharge.

Plus, flasks will no longer fill entirely upon visiting a town. You must use a well in the town to refill them. Utility flasks are also catered to be reactionary, not enhancements.

We don’t exactly know which flasks will remain in POE 2. But we do know Quicksilver Flasks currently do not exist in the sequel to POE 1. These are the flasks that increase your movement speed.

Big Boss Changes

The core mechanics surrounding boss fights are also updated in POE 2.

Corpse rushing or the act of respawning and rushing an already injured boss, is dead. If you die during a boss fight, you’ll need to begin the fight from the beginning. In the same vein, logging out midfight will no longer save you from Deadly Strikes. When you log back in, you’ll zone in to the moment you left. The boss will have no mercy on you. This kills the log out macro used by many hardcore POE players.

Unlike POE 1, every single area in the game will have a meaningful boss encounter. Most are as in-depth as the present-day Pinnacle Bosses. This will lead to POE 2 to launch with at least 100 distinct bosses in the campaign. This doesn’t account for a new endgame or Pinnacle Bosses.

Bosses are also integral even to base POE 2 character power progression. Certain optional bosses and core bosses will reward statistical character-based passive bonuses upon killing them. This function is in a similar vein to the current kill or ally with the bandits questline in POE 1 Act 2, except it appears the bonuses are varied and far more frequent.

For example, one boss might grant +5% Fire Resistance while another might increase your Maximum Life by 50%. Additionally, bosses will now be a good source of great items the first time you kill them. In the campaign, the first time you kill each boss, it will have a huge bonus to rarity, encouraging you not to skip them.

Those aren’t the only big boss changes. You are also able to stun and freeze bosses in POE 2. Each boss has a custom stun animation. Many bosses and creatures, for that matter, can now be much larger too as they’ve redone how hitboxes work. All hitboxes in POE 1 are square, but in POE 2, they can greatly customize that and allow for huge encounters.

Skill & Gem Updates

As discovered in 2019, we no longer socket gems into our gear. We socket support gems into skill gems.

A further difference between POE 1 and POE 2 revealed in Exilecon 2023 is that we initially find uncut gems and then can choose what gem to transfer support those into, selecting from dozens of scales.

Uncut gems are various tiers, which allow access to each different tier of skill gems. Firestorm might be a tier 2 skill and always begin as a fifth level gem while Fireball might be a tier 1 scale and always begin at first level.

POE 2’s new gem system will not be brought into POE 1. The system shall remain distinctly different. Many skill gems are also hyper fixated on a specific situation or use, as you can have up to 9 six-Link skills in POE 2.

Touching on support gems briefly, many don’t add raw damage anymore and instead focus on adding quite specific mechanics to your skill gems. Pure damage adding supports do still exist, but they’re fewer in number.

Unlike POE 1, weapon swapping will be important and consequential in the sequel in POE 2. You can tie specific clusters of your passive skill tree alongside specific skill gems to either of your weapons.

For example, you can have a fire damage ax and a cold damage ax. When you use a certain slam scale tied to fire damage, you will pull out the attached fire damage ax and use a passive skill tree tied to dealing more fire damage. When you use a different slam skill tied to cold damage, you will automatically swap to the cold damage ax and the version of your skill tree tied to enhancing cold damage.

This could allow characters to actually build out a weapon and skill specifically for bossing accompanied by another set catered to clearing huge packs with the ability to swap seamlessly between. The two the possibilities here are absolutely ridiculous.

Layered on top of these gems and weapon differences is the fact that GGG is designing many skill gems to be tied to specific weapons, an amount far larger than in POE 1.

The most prominent example at Exile Con was the Warrior demos, using the two-handed mace. Many of the skills used were either tied explicitly to maces or, even more specifically, two-handed maces. This is intentional, meant to give each weapon an identity.

Additionally, weapon implicits are going to be far wilder. For example, a mace implicit might destroy enemy corpses if they are killed with a critical hit, while a dagger might break an enemy’s armor by a certain amount upon crit. This is far more very than POE 1 where, for example, sword implicits are all tied to accuracy rating.

Also Read: Everything We Know About Path Of Exile 2 So Far - 11 Points

POE 2 Character Classes

In Path of Exile 2, there are 12 character classes. The only class missing from Path of Exile 1 is the Scion, which wouldn’t mesh well with the new class identities GGG is going for with the sequel.

The six new classes are the Warrior, the Sorceress, the Mercenary, the Monk, the Huntress, and the Druid.

Like the initial six, each is tied to a specific attribute or attribute combination. Each of the matched classes starts at specific points on the new massive passive skill tree. But they all have unique gem rewards and a set of three new ascendancy classes attached.

Each of the 12 POE 2 classes has their own batch of three ascendancies, stacking up to a total of 36 total ascendancy classes. All of these ascendancy classes are different to the ones in Path of Exile 1.

For example, the Ranger in POE 2 can ascend as a Beastmaster, a Tactician, or a Survivalist. But in POE 1, she can become a Deadeye, a Pathfinder, or a Raider. These sets of new ascendancies will greaten the divide between the predecessor and its sequel.

As will the fact that you do not ascend via the Labyrinth, there is a new Ascension mechanic in POE 2.

Lots Of Small POE 1 & POE 2 Differences

Now, here’s a barrage of miscellaneous differences between the two games.

Passive skill tree masteries will not be in Path of Exile 2. They’re a POE 1 only feature for now.

Portal Scrolls now have about a 2.5 second casting animation during boss fights, only you can be knocked out of the animation. This is similar to how the Portal gem in POE 1 functions.

Many league mechanics are unlocked by specific quests. For example, the revamped Delirium mechanic is unleashed upon interacting with a quest involving the strange voice. In POE 1, most league mechanics just occur randomly at first.

The world map is massive, sprawling, and far more detailed than Path of Exile 1’s.

Player characters, our Exiles, speak much more and dynamically adjust choices we make during our playthroughs. For example, if we zoom past NPCs without speaking, they’ll remark to us and will retort.

Fewer items drop from monsters. Vendor shops are more incentivized. Perhaps this is a campaign-only concept with loot becoming a bigger slice of the pie in the late game.

Area maps are much larger and they feel much larger due to the lower overall speed of movement. Fortunately, they do appear to be swarmed with monsters and boss fights.

All item icons will have a consistency between them, unlike in POE 1, wherein some icons might be cartoony or just enhanced pictures. Iconic unique items, like Headhunter and Chaperone’s wrappings, will be in POE 2.

Staves as a weapon will always include a mana free spell skill attached as implicits, while Quarterstaffs will fulfill the melee staff experience.

Resistances no longer go below zero. The new resource Spirit is used for all skills that usually dealt with Mana Reservation. There will be new support for it on the passive skill tree and items.

Scepters are extremely minion and aura focused weapons now. Additionally, Traps and Mines are now actual weapons, not skill gems.

Complete Wrap-Up

Overall POE 1 and POE 2 are both ARPGs set in the world of Wraeclast developed by Grinding Gear Games.

They do appear to have fundamental differences, especially when it comes to maintaining resources. But I’m confident both will be excellent games to play and I plan on continuing to play and cover both of them as long as I’m having fun.

Today, we will be looking at how damage works in Honkai Star Rail.

So first, an in-depth guide on the damage formula, and then we will go through all the ways we can boost this damage, as well as how effective these boosts are.

For example, we will see how strong DMG% is versus ATK%, including any additional DMG% if you already have a ton. We will also look at how efficient crit ratios are, and how speed substats fare versus crit substats, as well as how well defence shred and resistance shred boost our damage, and much more.

The Damage Formula

First, let’s look at the good old classic damage formula.

It is composed of 7 different elements, but some formulas also show 8. We have 3 elements that we can affect by boosting our characters, and 4 elements that depend on the enemies and how we affect them.

So, for character dependent elements, we have our Base Damage, the Crit Multiplier, and the Damage Boost Multiplier.

Base Damage Explanation

First, we have our Base Damage, which is the skill multiplier multiplied by the scaling stat, plus any additional damage.

Seele’s ultimate at level 10, for example, does 425% of her attack, meaning her ultimate’s base damage will be 4.25 times her total attack, which at 3k attack would be 12750 damage.

If it scales off HP or Defense, or anything else, you use those values instead, multiplied by their respective skill multiplier.

How Do CRITs Work?

We then have the Crit Multiplier.

If you crit, your base damage will be multiplied by the crit multiplier, which is equal to 1 + your crit damage percentage. So, if you have 100% crit damage, your crit multiplier is 2, and your base damage will be doubled upon critting.

To find your average damage, you multiply your base damage by your crit rate and your crit multiplier, and add it to your base damage multiplied by 1 minus your crit rate.

You’re adding the damage of a crit with the damage of a non crit, respectively multiplied by their chances to happen.

At a crit ratio of 80 to 160 with our same ultimate damage from before, we do the following calculation, giving us an average damage of 29070.

How Does DMG% Boost DPS?

We then have the Damage Boost Multiplier.

Any damage% bonuses are totaled up and added to the base multiplier of 1, which will then multiply your damage again.

You have general DMG% bonuses that work on all attacks, like Bronya’s DMG% boost on her skill, then you have specific DMG% bonuses, like Subscribe for More, which are only taken into account on Basic Attacks or Skills. Or, another example is Elemental DMG% bonuses, which only work when said attack is of the corresponding element.

If, for example, we have a Quantum DMG% orb on our Seele, and our talent at level 10, we have a DMG% boost of 118.9%, and we thus multiply our previous damage by 2.189, giving us 63634.23 damage.

Next, we are onto the enemy multipliers: the DEF Multiplier, the RES Multiplier, the Vulnerability Multiplier, and finally the Broken Multiplier (this is part of a Universal DMG Reduction Multiplier that enemies have).

How OP Is DEF Reduction?

The DEF Multiplier is first.

It is calculated by a division. The numerator is your character’s level plus 20. The denominator is the enemy’s level + 20 multiplied by 1, minus any defence reduction or ignore effects. And this is then added onto your character’s level again plus 20.

What this basically means is your DEF multiplier depends on two things: the level difference between you and the enemy, as well as any defence reductions or ignore effects.

At the same level as your enemy, you are dividing your level by your level times two essentially, so your defence multiplier is 0.5, and your damage is halved.

As the enemy’s level increases, the denominator increases and your multiplier drops. This is why we calculate with a defence multiplier of 0.476, because we are level 80 versus level 90 enemies.

As we include defence reduction, the enemy level is multiplied by a smaller and smaller number, increasing our division’s final multiplier, until we hit 100% defence reduction, where we will now be dividing your level by your level, giving us a defence multiplier of 1. And Defence Reduction doesn’t go further than 100%.

Versus a level 90 enemy with a level 80 Seele, equipped with the 4 piece quantum set, we will ignore 20% of their defence and multiply our damage by this long number, dropping our damage to 33848.

Why To Fight Weak Enemies?

The second multiplier is the Resistance Multiplier.

You have the base resistance multiplier of 1, and then you subtract the subtraction of the enemy resistance with your resistance reduction or penetration. So, if the enemy has 20% resistance, you get a resistance multiplier of 0.8. If they have 40%, 0.6, etc.

If you have resistance reduction, you are removing this resistance, and any further reduction still counts towards your resistance multiplier, now boosting your damage. If you have 20% resistance reduction on an enemy with 20% resistance, they now have 0% resistance, and your multiplier is back at 1. If they have 0% resistance, your multiplier is at 1.2, and so your damage is increased.

This is why we generally bring DPS to an enemy with a weakness corresponding to our DPS’ type, since any enemy that is weak to an element has 0% resistance to that element, and so your base resistance multiplier is 1.

Including Seele’s A4, which gives us 20% RES PEN, versus a Quantum Weak enemy, we now have a resistance multiplier of 1.2 on our damage, increasing our damage to 40617.6.

Vulnerability Modifiers

Next up is a very simple one, the Vulnerability Multiplier, which is indicated by text saying increased damage received or increased damage taken by enemies, like Welt’s A2, or Silver Wolf’s signature Light Cone. By the way, if you haven't pulled Silver Wolf by now or find some of her Light Cones too hard to get, buying a Honkai Star Rail Account would be a good option.

You have a base multiplier of 1, and any vulnerability modifiers will increase it by their respective percentages. Say we have Welt on the team with his 12% vulnerability, we multiply our damage thus far by 1.12, increasing our damage to 45491.7.

Why Breaking Is Important?

Finally, we have the Broken Multiplier, which is part of enemies’ total damage reduction, and is dependent on the toughness bar. The broken multiplier is 0.9 when the enemy has a toughness bar, and 1 when they don’t.

So, you gain a 1.11x damage increase if you hit a broken enemy, meaning if you can save that juicy ultimate for when the enemy is broken, it’ll give a final nice boost.

TLDR On Boosting Damage

Now, onto how we boost our damage.

For an easy summary, we boost our damage by boosting each of these multipliers. So, we increase our trace level or scaling factor for our base damage, then we increase our crit ratio for our crit multiplier, and add DMG% buffs for our damage.

Applying def reduction debuffs or gaining def ignore will boost our def multiplier, the same with resistance reduction for our resistance multiplier. Inflicting vulnerability will boost our damage too. And finally, breaking an enemy’s toughness bar will grant us more damage.

But then come the questions of balancing stats. How much attack% I should have? How much crit should I have? Is DMG% better than ATK%? What if I have 100 DMG% already? And that is what part 2 of this guide will explain.

DMG% VS ATK%

Our first comparison is DMG% versus ATK%. This also works for any other scaling factor, like DMG% vs ATK HP% on Blade. At no buffs DMG% beats ATK%, due to characters and light cones having a base attack, and the gloves relic piece having a flat 352.8 attack.

For example, 10% of damage is worth a lot more than 10% of attack. This only further increases as we add ATK% buffs and main stats to our units. Adding an ATK% main stat skews the difference in favour of damage% even more. If we only add a damage% orb instead, ATK% becomes a bit stronger than damage%.

However, we will naturally be building a lot of attack%, and damage% only comes from the orb, set bonuses, and ally buffs. Attack% can be on the chest, boots, orb, rope, and also comes from a ton of set bonuses and ally buffs.

So, as you can see, two attack main stats make DMG% very favourable even with a DMG% orb. Even with a 66% buff from Bronya’s skill, it still comes out ahead.

DMG% VS CRIT%

DMG% versus CRIT% is similar, except they are both multipliers onto your base damage. CRIT also has the problem of only being valuable if you have enough of it.

For example, from no DMG% or crit buffs or pieces,100% damage is equal to a crit ratio of 55/110 in boosting your damage. Getting a better crit ratio improves the damage boosting capabilities of more crit, but it also doesn’t mean DMG% should be wasted. With a lot of DMG%, crit becomes very valuable, but so does crit with a lot of extra damage%.

ATK% VS CRIT%

Finally, in this three way match up, we have ATK% vs CRIT%, which is compared in increments of 2 substats, so 2 ATK% subs versus 1 crit rate and 1 crit damage sub. This is considering a base crit of 5 to 50.

For example, crit stats without initial crit are useless, and attack% is favoured even after two main stats. Now if we have a favourable crit ratio, any additional crit stats are worth a lot more.

So, don’t go adding some crit to a unit when you won’t hit a high enough ratio for it to be worth it. This also shows that DPS does want crit, as ATK% is pretty saturated, and it’s why we go crit chests on our DPS to avoid any DPS loss.

The Perfect CRIT Ratio

Now, onto Crit Efficiency, this one is a classic from Genshin Impact, and just shows, depending on your crit rate or crit damage, how effective extra crit damage or rate is to the perfect 1 to 2 ratio.

This shows that, for example, 50 crit rate to 100 crit damage is a nice ratio, but having 15 extra crit rate, or 30 extra crit damage, won’t impact your ratio too much, and you shouldn’t get too worked up over the perfect crit ratio.

We can also see this in the average Crit Multiplier, which is how we find our average damage dependent on our crit rate and crit damage. We used this earlier in the Seele calculation to find our average ultimate damage.

At the base 5 to 50 crit ratio characters have, our average damage is not increasing by much at all. But we also see that whilst the perfect ratio will boost our damage by the most amount, not having a 1:2 ratio is still great for damage.

Speed Breakpoints

Now, we are onto speed and their comparisons.

Remember, speed varies a lot, and speed can make tuning buffs better, or worse, and this is just showcasing how effective speed is for DPS turns and damage gain.

We first have the standard speed breakpoints. You have probably already seen this from Grimro. It shows how to get additional actions per cycle in the first 8 cycles.

For example, if we want 10 actions by the 6th cycle, we need 154 speed. This also shows the infamous 134 speed breakpoint. That gives us an additional action every 3 cycles, including the first cycle.

So, we get 2 actions in our first cycle, and then 6 in our 4th, and so on so forth. As for effective damage gain, we compare how many actions we get to the standard 1 action per 1 cycle.

So, getting two actions by the first cycle is a 100% damage gain. But 3 actions by the second cycle is only a 50% damage gain, since you’re already supposed to have 2 actions. This doesn’t mean you should just go for 161 speed breakpoints for damage gain. It just shows the potential.

SPD% VS ATK%

To further showcase that just going for speed is bad for DPS, we now have two comparisons: speed substats versus attack subs, and speed versus crit. These are my favourite comparisons, since they show the breakpoints really well.

SPD versus ATK shows 1 minimum sub of speed versus 1 minimum sub of attack. Obviously, having more attack will win until you hit a speed breakpoint. And having stats is important too.

Going for just speed for more turns won’t give you much gains, unless you have the stats to do damage. This also shows how important speed boots are for DPS gains. But that too much speed is unneeded as well.

With attack% buffs and a mainstat, getting an additional attack main stat does not prove as significant as speed boots, since we get our damage multiplied by more than 8 cycles, and we are closer to a future breakpoint for even more damage.

Also Read: Honkai Star Rail 1.2: 5 Things You Need To Know About Imbibitor Lunae - Stats, Ultimate, Skill, Technique & Gameplay

SPD% VS CRIT%

SPD% versus CRIT% is the same concept, but with the added nuance of crit needing a good ratio to be worth in the first place.

If you hit breakpoints, it’s great, but so is the value of the crit for your damage. You will be needing a good crit ratio in the first place, but getting extra crit is very valuable for damage.

DEF% Reduction

Now let’s look at the defence shred.

As we saw with the formula earlier, and as we can see in this graph, it’s an exponential DPS increase as you stack more and more defence shred.

Pela’s ultimate will give us a 26.5% damage boost, Silver Wolf’s talent and ult 38.4%, but combined they give us a 95% damage boost.

RES Reduction

Resistance shred gives us a linear boost instead. But we can see the value of the resistance shred for our Resistance Multiplier.

The more resistance the enemy has, the more gain we get from the resistance shred. But since we aren’t bringing our DPS to a fully resistant enemy, this doesn’t mean much to us.

We want to be fighting enemies of our elemental weakness for the most damage.

DEF VS RES Reductions

Next, let’s compare defence reduction and resistance reduction in their effect on multiplying our damage.

Versus a weak enemy, defence shred comes out ahead of course, but takes time to ramp up versus resistance shred, which is linear.

Also remember, defence shred can max out, and resistance shred doesn’t. So, having a combination of both will improve our damage a ton.

We can also see, for example, how effective Silver Wolf is in boosting our damage. Versus a non weak enemy, we get a 95.53% damage boost to our damage, which can boost our whole team’s damage.

Combined with Seele’s A4 and the quantum set, our damage goes insane.

Vulnerability

Adding Vulnerability is an additional multiplier, and very simple.

Every % of vulnerability multiplies our total damage by an additional %. It is linear and having it on the enemy is great for damage boosting.

Broken Multiplier

We then have the Broken Multiplier and its effects on our DPS. It’s even smaller than vulnerability in its complexity.

You either gain 11% DPS from attacking a broken enemy, or you lose 10% potential DPS by not attacking a broken enemy.

So again, try to hit them when their toughness bar is broken. But it’s okay if you don’t. It’s just an additional boost of DPS.

Break Damage Boosts

So that’s all the damage multipliers for standard damage, and how they fare versus each other. Let’s also quickly look at break damage and how it scales on our level.

So, Break Damage scales exponentially on our level, and is why it was so slept on in the past. It still won’t beat out standard DPS builds unless you break a lot, which is always tricky to calculate, or unless you are a support like Asta that doesn’t traditionally do a ton of damage.

Level is very important for break damage. Going from level 40 to 50 gives us a 113% damage increase on our break damage at level 40, which is compounded onto future levels.

So, even though from level 70 to 80 we get another 41.66% increase, that’s a 41.66% increase on our break damage from level 70, which is a 62% increase over the break damage from level 60, and so on.

With future break effect supports and buffs, the break effect will be very strong.

Here, we’ll be talking about seasons.

What Are Seasons?

It’s basically an update mode on top of the base game that brings about new and exciting ways to play the game. Seasons will last for approximately three months.

For those unfamiliar with the way action RPGs typically do seasons, think of it like new content based around a theme, similar to expansions, but on a smaller scale, that sticks around for a few months.

After a season ends, a new season starts after a short break to replace the previous one, creating long-term replayability.

Diablo 4 Season 1 - Season Of The Malignant

The first Diablo IV season, Season of the Malignant, begins on July 20th.

You’re going to want to make sure you complete the Campaign with at least one character before Season of the Malignant begins. Then, you can create a new character in the Seasonal Realm and skip the Campaign to access the new questline and more.

Here are a few things you can expect to see in seasons.

Seasonal Questlines

These are storylines separate from the Campaign that guide you through the new seasonal theme, introducing new characters and quests as you are adventuring.

Fresh Gameplay

Each season introduces new gameplay mechanics that go beyond just balance changes, that will change the way you approach your abilities.

Much like the Season Journey from Diablo III, Diablo IV brings back the Season Journey where you can complete a variety of objectives as you progress, split into different chapters to earn rewards, which can help the leveling process or further boost your character.

You can even earn new Aspects, separate from the ones you’d find in the Codex of Power, that can spice up your builds, as well as earn Favor, which is used to progress your Seasonal Battle Pass, offer boosts to speed up your leveling experience, and additional character-customization options.

Quality Of Life Changes

In addition to balance changes, each season will bring about quality-of-life changes that will give you a better Diablo experience.

Also, expect new transmogs from items, as well as the new cosmetics in the shop, to really give your character a look to set yourself apart from the rest of the adventurers.

Also Read: How To Fully Prepare For Diablo 4 Season 1? - Season Of The Malignant Details

Battle Pass

One of the biggest things you will come across in seasons is the new Battle Pass.

As you play and progress in Diablo 4 Season 1, you’ll gradually receive rewards from the Battle Pass, such as cosmetics and premium currency. It’s important to note that these cosmetics do not affect your character stats in any way, meaning you will not miss out on any armor or weapons.

Completing objectives in the Season Journey allows you to earn Favor, which progresses you through the Free Battle Pass.

As you progress, you collect Smoldering Ashes, which can be used to boost the rate at which you gain experience, Diablo 4 Gold, resources, and more in game.

As for the Battle Pass itself, there are three versions: Free, Premium and Accelerated.

The Free version has 27 tiers and rewards players with cosmetic items and Smoldering Ashes, a resource that can be spent on experience, Gold boost, and other bonuses for your seasonal character. However, you should note that you can only get these boosts through the Free Battle Pass, and you must first meet certain level requirements.

The Premium Battle Pass has 63 more tiers, which reward you with cosmetics unique to that season, and Platinum currency that can be spent at the game shop.

The Accelerated Pass is the same, but allows you to skip through 22 tiers and comes with a special cosmetic. While the Accelerated Battle Pass allows for tier skips, you still have to meet the required character level to access Smoldering Ashes for bonuses towards your seasonal character. In short, you cannot simply pay for a boost.

These seasonal offerings are great and do a good job of spicing up the base game. But to partake in the full experience of each season, you'll need to create a seasonal character.

What Will Characters Look Like In Diablo 4 Season 1?

Some players new to action RPGs and Diablo may be asking: "Why do I have to make a new character? And what about the work I just put into this character?" I also had these questions when I first started playing Diablo III and made a lot of mistakes because of it.

And honestly, I regret being so stubborn and missing out on some amazing Diablo III seasons. Creating a new seasonal character allows for the game to feel new and exciting more often, with everybody starting fresh to experience the new features at the same time.

I forgot what it was like to find upgrades on a regular basis, as my Eternal character was already fully geared and upgrades came once in a blue moon. It was fun to use skills that I never thought I'd use again simply because they didn't scale well in a previous build, and it was a blast to use throughout the leveling as I found Legendaries to complement their power.

Additionally, it will be easier to level and acquire loot this time around, because now you have the experience that you did not have before when you were first leveling up.

In addition to the boost provided through Smoldering Ashes and the new powers you will unlock, map discovery and Altars will not need to be collected again if you've already done so. This is as easy as it gets when it comes to starting a new character for a Seasonal Journey.

"What about my Eternal character?"

Any characters you've created will never be lost. Each character you've created, including your current characters, will always be playable in the Eternal Realm after a season ends. You can play at any time you please, you just won't be able to interact with the seasonal content. Eternal Realm characters will still benefit from all the game's balance changes and quality-of-life updates, just like the seasonal characters.

Since Diablo 4 is out, the Diablo 2 Resurrected’s servers are much emptier. And I found that the update frequency of many Diablo 2 Resurrected content creators is also significantly reduced.

Given the status quo, some people are wondering how things will continue and if Diablo 4 will even replace Diablo 2 Resurrected. I can clearly answer this question with a no.

Of course, Diablo 4 is just new. Not even a month has gone past since release, so there is much new content. But in this article, I have 7 points for you why Diablo 4 will not be a replacement for many Diablo 2 Resurrected players in the long term.

1. Items

Number one, the item system in Diablo 2 Resurrected is a class for its own.

There are many different affixes and host mechanics you have to understand, such as Open Wounds, Crushing Blow, or Deadly Strike. Also, the player must pay attention to certain breakpoints and there are the various popular Runewords.

In Diablo 4, the complexity develops on a completely different level. The legendary and unique aspects make a lot of difference and there are many different types of damage to understand.

2. Trading

Point number two is related to the first point - trading.

In Diablo 2 Resurrected, a gigantic market has developed. It’s hard to find the comparison for this. I can’t think of any other game where trading with other players is such a factor.

In Diablo 4, the trades are currently limited to very few goods, such as rares and Diablo 4 Gold. And even if something changes, I think items that are bound to your account will remain an integral part of the Diablo 4 mechanics.

3. Speed

Under point number three, I list the game resume and speed.

In Diablo 2 Resurrected, you teleport through the maps in no time and make high frequency runs or farm many different spots one after the other.

In Diablo 4, everything takes much longer. If you want to run a dungeon, you have to ride there first and, in the worst case, you get involved into fights on the way.

4. Skill Trees

Point number four is the Skill Trees.

The skill system is very good in both games but also completely different. Both offer the base for a great variety of characters. And even though I can’t assess the whole potential in Diablo 4 yet, I dare to say that the variants in D2R are a bit greater. I can certainly think of over 20 different builds just for the Paladin.

In any case, the build possibilities in Diablo 2 Resurrected are unique in some respects.

In Diablo 4, it will probably be difficult to build an efficient build where the Sorcerer strikes with a sword.

5. Optic

As point number five, I would like to mention the beautiful graphics of Diablo 2 Resurrected.

Diablo 4 doesn’t look bad either, but the engine is completely different. In Diablo 2 Resurrected, however, the new detailed implementation of the classic look has become so ingenious and makes the heart of an old Diablo 2 Resurrected player beat faster.

6. PVP & Speedruns

Point number six in Diablo 2 Resurrected various disciplines have been established that have kept many players happy for years, such as Speedrunning or PVP. Even though there may be both in the far as well, it will be completely different.

In Diablo 2 Resurrected Speedrunning, I loved the mechanics of how the game generates the maps and how you can read the maps to progress faster.

In Diablo 4, on the other hand, the entire outside world, as well as the specific dungeons in the main storyline, are always exactly the same. PVP is also something completely different in Diablo 2 Resurrected.

This, of course, already results from the engines and game mechanics we have already discussed. Every enthusiastic Diablo 2 Resurrected PVP player will definitely understand what I mean.

7. Offline

Last but not least, we have point number seven and that is the fact that there is an offline mode.

Diablo 2 is a game that has been modded a lot in the past and there are already some mods for Diablo 2 Resurrected, too. In addition, there is also a group of players who like to play the Solo Self Found.

In addition, it should also be mentioned that Diablo 2 has survived for so many years, although there was a long break. Without new content with Diablo 2 Resurrected, cool new content was added, and the graphics were brought to a good new standard. So, it would surprise me if there would be a sudden finish soon.

A certain car of players to which I also count myself will certainly still play the game for a long time. I also have a lot to do, so, for example, only two of my PVP charts are level 99 yet and the equipment I also have to optimize.

Diablo 4 is also pretty cool. But it’s a different grind. You have the open world and the complexity develops in a completely different direction, which also has its charm but is just no replacement. It is rather an additional offer variety. I could imagine that Diablo 4 will replace the third part, but for judging, I have played too little Diablo 3.

In any case, I'm looking forward to many more D2R content since the hype of Diablo 4 will not be forever.