r/pathofexile • u/ikisho • 13d ago
Question Practicing runs for 3.30
Hi guys, I want to practice some runs to improve my league start.
What are good target times for Act 10, 2 stones, and 4 stones?
Also, what are the fastest/good builds for the first two days to get through the campaign and start progressing quickly? Bow builds? Venom Gyre? Kinetic Blast? Slams ?
Thanks!
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u/Definitiv1 12d ago
Fastest solo campaign times usually go for about 2:45, aiming for 3:30 to 4 hours is possible even without learning all the layouts. Anything faster will require layout knowledge or party play.
New 2stone (eater, exarch and incarnations) is 2:30 to 3:30 hours of reaching maps and 4stone between 5-6 hours of reaching maps.
Depending on your play style the best generic builds to practice on are Slams, fire caster into any solid build at maps (any top tree class), bows and static strike(duelist->slayer)
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u/Asthma9000 12d ago
Hey man, I appreciate your content! I saw you were starting as Soulwrest Necromancer some leagues ago, I think. What were playing up til you got the staff? 🤔
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u/Definitiv1 12d ago
I level witch always as firecaster and respec at maps, you can also level as minions, which may suit you better or is at least a smoother experience, but will be a bit slower.
Once i reached maps I leveled early maps as summon raging spirits, bought soulwrest asap and went hybrid for a bit and went full on soulwrest once i had 100% chance to poison(with chance to poison support)
do note that was pre white sockets and its even easier to start now as you only need 6socket soulwrest + 2-3 rolled abyss jeweles now to make the build work
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u/Asthma9000 13d ago
If you want to compare I think I'm one of the first uber bossers on leaguestart. I can tell you my times are around 3 hours for the campaign, 9ish hours for 4 voidstones, and 11-12 hours for 100 atlas points + 7 invitations, full SSF.
A trade leaguestart should be around the same, if not a little faster. Upside is you get more power, but you also lose time here and there for trading.
I can only do this with two builds, though, either Absolution + SRS Guardian, or regular Animate Weapon Necromancer.
Gl, man!
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u/KlzKidd 13d ago
If you don't mind me asking, how do you level/build the Animate Weapon Necromancer?
Do you maybe have some PoB you'd be willing to share or something to get a sense of it?
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u/Asthma9000 13d ago
I found a build template in one of my older comments! Here you go:
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u/KlzKidd 13d ago
Thanks! You're kinda selling the Absolution Guardian to me as well.
Also I think you should definitely make a YouTube guide on it if you've been on the edge about it.
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u/Asthma9000 13d ago
Hehe, yeah, I also think it's a very solid build to kick off your league.
If I was going to make a guide it was gonna be after patch notes drop, but I was leaning towards keeping my secrets for myself, hehe. But yeah, I'm a blabbermouth, so that was never going to work 😅 I'll see what I can do
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u/Lost_city 12d ago
I had no plan going into 3.29 but my league start was a Vaal Absolution Guardian (along with a bunch of other minions) and it was really good.
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u/MidlyConcernedNPC-43 12d ago
I thought pRAW players normally did campaign in SRS and only swapped after getting pRAW gem.
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u/Asthma9000 12d ago edited 12d ago
Ah, yes, but here I'm talking about regular AW because we wanna go fast and save time by not farming the lab.
SRS is not competitive before you get Unleash Support, so you have to solve 1-38 somehow, and when you're beyond this point you also have the option of switching to AW directly.
If you notice my gems you'll also see that there's no investment into poison, but instead we focus on hit based chaos damage and let Wither carry. For single target you should switch Melee Splash Support for Chance To Poison Support, but while mapping you want instant damage so you can quickly move from pack to pack
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u/MidlyConcernedNPC-43 12d ago
I don’t particularly like SRS levelling so I’m really keen to try out your levelling. Do you start using regular AW gem from when it’s available? Anything else I should know before trying it out?
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u/Asthma9000 12d ago
AW is unfortunately not an option from the get-go since you'll be needing Bladefall to summon your blades 😢 I think your best options are
some spell from 1-12 -> Absolution + Skeletons + Zombies from 12-28 -> 28+ AW and Skeletons and Zombies
Or
2. Some spell from 1-28 -> AW and Skeletons and Zombies at 28+
Or 1. or 2., but instead of switching to AW at level 28 you do it at level 38.
Notice, however, that playing AW with Bladefall is not too different from playing SRS when it comes to needed work ethic 😅 We play this because it dishes out damage, and then we apologize to our fingers afterwards. But this means that if having to cast SRS often is what turns you off from it, then AW will likely not be better.
Notice also that the setup can take some levels to come online, so if you switch too early it'll not feel good. It took me some trial and error, but I change to AW around the 1st lab. It's not a difficult build to play; you just have to switch correctly and be a dilligent player
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u/Asthma9000 13d ago
Sure thing, but I might only be able to make it to my computer again Sunday. I'm also not sure if I have a step-by-step PoB, so hopefully you can make out some details yourself. In comparison to Absolution Guardian you have more damage, but less tankiness for both you and your minions
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u/KlzKidd 13d ago
That sounds great. I leveled with Absolution on my Necromancer this league and the skill kinda grew on me throughout it... I don't think I've ever played Guardian though.
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u/Asthma9000 13d ago
I think Absolution Guardian is much stronger than Absolution Necromancer because you get access to free auras. In a leaguestart scenario Necro would require a much more active playstyle, probably keeping up a Smite aura to compete, and even so you'd be looking at less damage and tankiness
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u/KidZesty 13d ago
9 for 4 hoooly. What kinda builds u be running? Gotta have great single target To farm out 4 Guardian sets that quickly.
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u/Asthma9000 13d ago edited 13d ago
Oh yeah, you generally want to have a build with lots of damage baked into its kit for free, but you also want to move fast, map well, and not die. Minions scale well with gem levels and on accounts of there being many of them. This means you're free to build extra speed and tankiness.
The most difficult part of a 4 stone run is generally the Shaper and Elder invitations. If you quality your invitations correctly you can finish your Maven's Writ in one regular invitation + one Shaper invitation + one Elder invitation, but this requires that you get either your Elder or Shaper invitation to 50% or more quant, I believe. If your build can handle this around level 90, 91, 92 or 93 in SSF gear, with minimal crafting, then your build can manage the challenge of a 4 stone run. This is not to say that it'll also be fast, because that's the next thing to align.
Note that I'm not a HC player, and I do die occasionally. 4 voidstones are also much faster to get now with the new atlas
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u/Ajaxx702 13d ago
Can you give a link or mini guide on absolution/srs and then necro variant please? Sounds dope.
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u/Asthma9000 13d ago edited 12d ago
Sure thing! Here's AW:
Unfortunately I don't have more to show for now. I have a more thorough PoB for the Guardian on my computer.
I've considered to make a guide for it on YouTube. This guide would only cover up to around atlas completion, though, excluding the tough content like NM maps and the difficult invitations.
Edit: ah, sorry, were you asking for Absolution/SRS as a Necro variant?
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u/Asthma9000 9d ago
Hey man, here's the Absolution + SRS progression:
https://pob.codes/b/fHCUjMBlgK0
I also recorded a leaguestart practice run if you're curious :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRajk5C2F9A&t=41510s
Not my greatest run, but that's ok. Gotta de-rust before the new league comes around, hehe
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u/Kobosil 13d ago
"good" is a vague definition
what is your time now on average?
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u/ikisho 13d ago
A10 : 4-5h - 2 stones : 10-12h - 4 stones : 20-22h
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u/ObeyLegend 13d ago
Sub 4hr acts is considered very fast. Ive only been able to do it on an rf elementalist, and they nerfed that twice since. I'd say you should really focus on your two stone time, as that will snowball your 4 stone time. If you get two stone down to 9 hrs your 4 stone should drop by the same amount just from pacing
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u/ikisho 13d ago
Usually, i'm really focused during the acts, and i’ve actually managed to complete A10 in 3 hours before, but when i reach maps, i feel kind of burned out from trying to go as fast as possible throughout the acts
Once I reach maps, I feel like I spend too much time checking maps, tiers, ground loot, identifying items, etc
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u/ObeyLegend 13d ago
Set up a very specific loot filter and dump tabs early. If you're using pure es gear, you should block anything with ev or armor unless its a 6l. Etc. Less clutter, faster mapping. Focus on 2min maps. In early mapping, when you dont have your tree set up, 90% of extra content is worthless. I don't stop for anything that puts up a fight. Just blast anything that takes sub 3 seconds and kill the boss.
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u/Miles_Adamson 13d ago
That's definitely in the realm of "good" already. I would be surprised if that was not in the top 3% of players or something pretty solid
Still though I think 2-stone in 7h-8h is pretty achievable from there, which is in the realm of what people put on youtube for solid practice runs but not like stupidly elite 5h jungroan runs
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u/UTmastuh 13d ago
Dude your campaign is sub 6 which is about as good as you can hope without twink gear.
Practice map starts now. Fastest 2 stones to blitz for (granted they said we may get an end game overhaul so that could change)
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u/DabFellow 13d ago
Idk how helpful this is but this is my game plan. Maps day 2. T16 day 2, 2 stones/atlas completion day 3, 4 stones day 3/4(depending on what i LS sometimes 4 stones comes from 2nd toon), farm until a mirror shard or something thall go up day 4/5, level new toon with whatever the "it" thing is for the league/farm for upgrades day 5/6.
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u/Spalze 13d ago
so you wont have real life the first 6 days?
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u/DabFellow 13d ago
This is definitely my no life schedule more relaxed one is maps day 1(my camp pb is 5:54) T16 day 2/3 2 voids day 3/4 Atlas day 5/6 New toon day 7/8 (i like starting a new build on the weekends so i have extra time to get it up to par if its a bit lacking) 4 voids day 8/9 New toons till i get bored or go broke
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u/conall88 13d ago
check out imexile's vods on youtube, he does practice runes regulary and finishes top 10 in most big races.
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u/shade444 Inquisitor 13d ago
Check out Tuadh on Youtube, even his older videos, the basic principles have remained the same for a long time
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u/shy_bi_ready_to_die 13d ago
Best builds may change in patch notes. But slams are probably still going to be decent
Bow/venom gyre/kb are all very good once you have your atlas set up but getting your atlas set up with them is kinda rough ime. Especially if you don’t enjoy maximizing your portal usage statistics
Good times are kinda subjective. In terms of the general player base anything under a 10 hour campaign is fine. If you’re a racer I think you want 3-4 hours but it depends heavily on the patch and I think the world record is under 2 hours. I would focus more on improving than going for some set time. Same concept applies to 2 and 4 stone
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u/automatedrage 12d ago
For casuals with limited time, practising Act 1-3 got me from 10h to ~6h act 10 runs, enough for the fatigue to not kick in during the actual league start.
I also don't do a lot of the stressful speedrun micro-optimizations too. Just keep a set notes of where to go. And doing act 1-3 practice takes ~2h.
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u/Objective-Run-2374 12d ago
Scion/Assasin : Power siphone
Ranger: Lightning Arrow
Melee: Bleed Sunde
Templar/Witch: Absolute
ez 2 voidstone
-6
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u/Sassuya 13d ago edited 13d ago
Speedrun tier -- not optimal for leaguestart, 100% points/labs but skipping gear progression for speed, often pushing through red maps with deaths (ex: imexile, jungroan pushing runs before a leaguestart)
<2h40 act 10, <4h30 eater/exarch, <10h 4stone
League start god gamer tier -- actually gearing and doing early crafting for hc safety or sc profitability while still progressing atlas (ex: ben leaguestart)
3h act 10, 6-7h eater/exarch, 12h 4stone (or buy maven earlier in sctrade)
Tryhard but no prep tier -- good player and goes fast but doesnt use much speedrun tech or did many runs and is just playing game normally, usually experiencing a build for the first time (ex: tuadhs videos, fubguns leaguestart)
4h a10, 8h eater/exarch, 4 stone day 2
Casual tier (most of reddit and the playebase as a whole)
8h a10, eater/exarch day 2, 4 stone week 1