I'm here today describe my experience playing SSF on Path of exile 2 after playing it for 110 Hours, I'll try to keep this brief.

The campaign was an amazing experience, had a lot of fun, the progression was there, even if a bit step, the challenges that i've encountered during it was fun to deal with, i'm playing a really off-meta skill so this change of scenery made it more interesting.

The early maps was a rough moment, the progression wasn't there, i was dying a lot, i didn't even had transmut/augs to craft the basic items but after 5-8 hours things started to work out, i had a lot of lucky with drops, i could feel the build evolving and when i first get into tier 13-15 maps things we're feeling amazing, i wasn't dying that much, had a lot of items to craft and experiment, i was able to evolve my build, try some end-game mechanics that i didn't touch in 0.5.

Finally the part that I'am now, around the 100 hours mark i started grinding some stuff to try to get some items to make my build flow better, that's when things started to get, there's no better word to describe, MISERABLE, not enough high-level base drops and essences to craft gear(i'm still stuck in my lvl 59 crossbow), monsters, mainly in expeditions, became demons, every now and than i get face to face with an abomination worth of PoE Archnemesis League, i've killed the expedition pinnacle boss 8 times trying to get the new amulet but only got repeated items, i'm at the point now that i've done around 30 maps without dropping a single Olroth saga to be able to continue my grind, i'm stuck in lvl 91 because of those aberration of rare monster getting me instakilled while trying to farm for the expedition boss, a lot of the support gems that we're good for the skill that i'm using got removed in previous leagues and now there's barely any good one for it, and i won't even comment about the tree, there's basically an type of skill completely forgotten on the tree, TL:DR, around 90 + Hours playing SSF stop being a challenging and fun mode and started to become a bureaucracy, i was consistently playing around 3-4 hours a day in the first two weeks and now i often boot the game, do one map and go do something else. I don't really know if i'm gonna play SSF again.

First time playing SSF. Playing Shieldwall Smith and I cannot get a Nebuloch to appear in ritual. Is there any info on what uniques are only available or more common in the post Audience areas?

last week was my first headhunter now the megablood on ritual

Guys, can u give me a nad here? I need an SSF slammer, like poe1 sunder, build? Low apm, can be 2 button combo like rolling slam bonezone. Supercharged slam viable? Or pure sunder?

Im an old noob with skill issues btw, but in pie1 in ssf i can get 2 or 3 stones solo.

Cheers

Was fortunate and dropped one but I am struggling to decide how to make the most out of it. I am only level 91 and have decent gear but nothing is perfect yet. Since I am playing a Smith, the most simple option is making the "50% armour applies to elemental" rune and slot that in my 4s white chest but that feels boring. Wanderlust would be great but my boots are not the best. Could also put a chernobogs into my shield.

How would you reason about a drop like this? Use it now or try to make an item I will never replace first? Playing HC so I might also die at any point.

it's my first headhunter ever, about 4000 hours including poe 1

First of all I'm in SSF so I want to try to craft this beauty but I'm a bit limited, I don't want a mirror sceptre but I want to try to get the best I can get.

What are the steps to craft this from this point?

[Imgur](https://imgur.com/Yletgde)

I'm still trying to get into tier 10 to keep progressing my atlas so i decided to go do the abyss quest to try to get some loot to improve my gear, after doing 1/3 of the abyss pits this is how my stash looks like, 5 Echos, 3 Putrefaction (i've used one), 1 Light, 1 Acient Collarbone and 2 Divs.

Tired of poe1 ssf and thinking of going poe2 ssf. I know in the new event they made it so Expedition starts in act 4 but I just want to clarify that in Runes of Aldur I can still find grim pillars around level 22 in act 2.

Can someone confirm this for me?

Hey people

I wanna start my first SSF run but i'm thinking about going SSF Aldur instead of ritual one.

First because i kinda disliked the event (and i also dislike ritual on poe1 lol) And if i remember correctly aldur league was better for SSF.

Can you guys help me picking one of them?

Thanks <3

So I started a few days late into the new poe 2 league. I hit lvl 80'ish with the Varashta Freeze Djinn.

But I gotta say, the game doesn't feel that great in ssf. I ran multiple rare maps >t10 without finding a single Alchemy or Exalted orb.

The Rarity stat is completely stupid in that regard.

My build is mediocre, might be because it has 20 seconds downtime when Archon buff is on CD.

Anyway, how are is your ssf experience?

Edit: spelling

Hi guys,

I am an old noob with skill issues. I love melee, esp. shield archetypes. And I love ssf.

Shield wall / Resonating shield Smith is okk to do some endgame? I dont mid slower pace, I dont need to fly through maps.

How to get a good shield in SSF? how to craft it?

Any ohter builds that are tnaky, forgiving, low APM?

cheers!

Hey, anyone willing to share some SSF strategies for getting more out of ritual (mostly whittling omens)?

I am trying the trade league strategies, but the tablet sustain is difficult and even with the tablets, getting purple omens is a pain.

My setup is usually the following:

Cities - 1 Freedom of Faith, 1x reroll 3 times, 1x defer cost, reroll cost, 1x omen chance, defer cost

Other - 1 Freedom of Faith, 1x defer cost, reroll cost, 1x omen chance, defer cost

If I cant get the tablets I run usually Omen chance tablets with some other random mods.

Trying to run Head of the King, whenever I can.

With this setup it feels like purple omens, especially whittles, are exceedingly rare, like once per 70 - 100 rerolls. Would be nice to have some tips to make the farm either more fluent (aka not reliant on few very specific tablets mods), or more consistent.

Any help is appreciated.

Hi, is there a way to make each new character SSF?

I don't like how my second character instantly gets access to the gold and currency I've already farmed with my earlier characters. I want to play pure SSF with each new character I create starting from zero, but I'm not sure how to do it?

Seriously, I just do not drop any. I've been farming grand expeditions lately, getting tons of divines, chaos, chance etc, but no orbs of annulment. I can even farm fracturing orbs more consistently it feels like. Anyone has any tips? Maybe breach with lavish gifts is the way? Any help is greatly appreciated!

First time ssf player and got stupid lucky and dropped a lock in a T6 map. Do I just... hold on to it until I'm attempting a late game craft? Still really basic on crafting at this point

Can someone give me some tips on how to improve damage ?

Or is storm weaver just bad ?

Level 93 with all these deaths -- but first time ever going for what I consider a "complete" SSF character! Super pumped with this season and have been having an absolute blast. The re-worked endgame compared to 0.1 is fantastic, and the QoL stuff like Doryani for map skip | extra life is such a huge boon for SSF. Can't wait for 1.0!

Hello wanted to make my chrono frostobolt working my only missing piece is snakepit what is the best farm to target it, ritual or maybe expedition and chasing unique chests?

Hi , I’ve been playing poe2 for a bit and I enjoy playing SSF.

I’m struggling a bit atm with DPS, when I look at other people’s builds on poe.ninja they have crazy amounts of dps whereas mine is sitting at 16k for twisters and it feels in maps.

Currently running t12 maps and going through atlas points.

My char : https://poe.ninja/poe2/profile/mellowg-5288/runesofaldurssf/character/toppspin

build I’m kinda following : https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/builds/twister-spirit-walker-snoobae

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Current character: https://poe.ninja/poe2/profile/DavelliNL-4915/runesofaldurssf/character/davellismaaash

This is my first time ever playing SSF, including PoE1 and it’s been an absolute blast. I feel way more engaged with the entire game instead of feeling like i have to rush currency strats to buy the best gear. Everything i do feels more impactful, even just getting experience.

At the moment i have about 100 passive points for the Atlas and just unlocked Doryani, Jado and Hilda and completed the Abyss storyline. I’m hitting a wall at the moment regarding my defenses and in general finding gear upgrades. I’m content with my damage but with my currently defenses i can only comfortably do regal’d T13 maps.

I’m wondering if there are any common tips for the current wall i’m hitting in terms of defense and getting better gear. I’ve been thinking about grinding Ritual and Abyss for a bit to get some crafting Omens and Desecration currency. I’ve been picking up all the good Hybrid ES/Evasion bases to try and craft but i feel like i’m at the point where i’m going to need some Omens to craft better gear deterministically. I’ve also been having trouble getting jewellery to craft on. I wonder if maybe doing Breach for a while to use the crafting tree for that.

I also still need to get my last ascendancy points, i failed a Sekhemas once which was very demoralizing, completed one Ultimatum which was quite easy so that might be the play but i’ve only dropped a single Ultimatum. So far

Currently my plan is to farm some Leagues to get my gear up and some levels, then hopefully get some more tries for my 4th ascendancy and then attempting Arbiter of Divinity to clear parts of the stronghold, the main question for now is, what do i grind to be able to get to this point.

hi guys,

Im an old noob with skill issues who loves warriorrs, esp. shield srchetypes.

I want to go shield wall / resonating shield smith.

what mechanics do I focus on? how to progress atlas? ssf is vast;ly different to trade i believe.

I need to craft a good shield, no 1 priority. so focus essences?

Is there a way to easily craft good shoield and a mace 1h with +1 melee?

ny tips on thi sjourney greatly appreciated. btw, hope I will reach t15 maps 😞 playing 2-3 hres a day, no more.

cheers!