There is the update of Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road through the new additions - from the beautiful new areas of Valenwood, the Colovian Highlands and Gold Road itself to the intricate Scribing system that lets you craft your own spells, there are a lot of things that will surprise you. Let's take a closer look!

The Gold Road Chapter

The new chapter for Elder Scrolls Online is Gold Road - an eternally autumnal stretch of West Weald, a picturesque zone nestled in the southeast corner of Cyrodiil that reminds me of the Rift in Skyrim. A rolling sweep of orange and crimson and occasional trolls that need setting on fire. Most excitingly, you get to explore the city of Skingrad, a place that Oblivion fans will fondly remember.

As well as Gold Road, you've also got Dawnwood, a tangle of enticing jungle from nearby Valenwood, home to the Wood Elves - Mecca for stealthy archers - and the Striking Colovian Highlands, a mountainous region littered with mysterious Ayleid Ruins. We've been promised 30 hours of content in this new chapter, and it's easy to see how.

I am sure you may happily spend all that time rambling about, accompanied by the classic ambient bloom of background music which, much like in Oblivion and Skyrim, does a brilliant job of soaking your senses in that intangible sense of adventure.

Only in Elder Scrolls Online, it feels more expansive and lived-in. Get ready for some ESO Gold and immerse yourself in the adventure!

Scribing System

Perhaps the biggest new addition gameplay-wise is Scribing, which essentially lets you craft and customize your own spells. After an initial quest that involves being sucked inside a mysterious portal (classic Elder Scrolls), you eventually meet a talking crow who takes you through the basics.

You can choose the nature of the fire spell damage, for example, then how the spell works, so that could be an immediate blast of damage or a stream of pain over a number of seconds. And finally, you can add a visual flourish, making everything purple, for instance.

In Elder Scrolls Online, the Scribing is explained as imbuing an element of artistry into your spells, and it does feel satisfying concocting something, slotting it into your skill line, and then unleashing it in battle. It reminds me of a bit of enchanting weapons in Skyrim - you're provided with all the base elements, but it's up to you how you assemble them.

Chapter For Returning Players

For returning players, there's the promise of a fresh story, with Gold Road picking up after the events of the previous chapter, Necrom. There's a new Daedric Prince on the loose in the Scions of Ithelia, a character never before seen in the Elder Scrolls Online, and it's your job to investigate, track down, and then ultimately stick a sword in.

Besides, there's a new 12-player trial called Lucent Citadel, set in a long-lost Ayleid Vault. That's where the MMO meat is - teaming up with friends and taking on the kind of sprawling challenge that simply wouldn't be possible in a single-player Elder Scrolls game. But as a new player, you may be pleasantly surprised by the welcoming familiarity of much of this world.

Final Thought

There's plenty to do on your own, and I don't think it's a disservice to say that for long stretches, the Elder Scrolls Online feels a lot like Oblivion and the Skyrim. You can solo quest away to your heart's content. It's just even more enormous, and you occasionally get the thrill of bumping into other players off on their adventure.

Welcome to this new guide of WoW Classic Season of Discovery Phase 3. The recently discovered epic profession items are poised to become your best-in-slot gear for virtually every class in the game. Some classes even equip 2 of these items, and acquiring multiple is straightforward. Let me guide you through the process.

Enter The Nightmare Incursion

First of all, head to Ashenvale, and we're going to go inside the Nightmare Incursion. Once you're inside, go all the way to the south below the Warsong Lumber Camp and you will see the Nightmare Amalgamation, a gigantic boss that you will not be able to defeat alone.

You don't even have to fight it. Apparently, you just need to get within its normal range because you'll notice a debuff on yourself called the Aura of Paralyzing Dread. You can pull him if you want. Then you'll hear a little whisper, and you'll begin your journey to get epic crafted gear.

Find The Field Captain

Head outside of the Nightmare Incursion itself and go right to the Field Captain that gives you the quest for the Nightmare Incursions. This might be camped out by the other faction, so just be aware of that. But as you're talking to this Field Captain, you'll notice at the bottom there are new options for you to communicate with them.

Talk With Itharius

After you talk to them, they will offer you a quest called An Amalgamation of Nightmares. This requires you to go to Moonglade and speak to the Druid trainer, Loganaar, which is located in Moonglade.

However, Loganaar will send you off to Swamp of Sorrow to find Itharius. Now, head into this cave and you'll talk to Itharius. He's going to tell you that you need to investigate the Sunken Temple and figure out what's going on down there.

Now, you either need a cleared raid lockout or to head into the raid yourself, but you can't do this unless you've actually started clearing the raid. This will go smoothly if you have a certain amount of WoW SOD Gold with you. So once you do, you will have discovered the Bands of Nefarious Deeds. So you can head on back to Itharius.

Head To The Moonglade

The next quest sends you all the way back to Loganaar in Moonglade, and you need to speak to him. And then you will need to speak to a shadowy figure. This figure will send you on a quest to find a gnome. And the gnome is actually located in Booty Bay within the inn. The gnome is called the Injured Gnome.

Next, you're sent off to Jaguaro Isle, the island to the east of Booty Bay. Once you're here, you're going to loot the small burrow. Now, we're going to go back to the Shadowy Figure in Moonglade, which is going to give you some bracers that will allow you to fight against the nightmares.

Get Mantle Of Nightmares

Then you're going to head back into the Ashenvale Nightmare Incursion. Now, you need to get a group together to kill the Nightmare Amalgamation. So, make sure that you have those bracers equipped, and you will attain a Mantle of Nightmares.

You'll take this back to the Shadowy Figure, which will now offer you an Inert Mantle of Nightmares, and she'll have a dialogue option to teach you all the crafted recipes for your chosen profession. If you need a second Mantle of Nightmares, you can just head on to Rix Xizzix in Booty Bay, and this mob will sell them to you.

Hi, players! As we embark on our journey of the new Phase 3 in WoW Classic Season of Discovery, I'm excited to share some useful tips with you that I firmly believe will greatly enhance our Sunken Temple raiding experience. I’ll cover 3 key aspects to optimize your chances of success in this raid, includes preparation before the raid, team composition, and strategies for each boss encounter. So, let's get started!

Raid Preparation

First, we have to talk about preparation. Your single biggest priority, and the rest of your raid’s priority, is to get all your new runes. Things are way different in phase 3. Some of these runes can increase your damage by even 20%!

New Runes

Hunters were absolutely destroying with new runes like Raptor Fury, but it’s really all the classes that get better with runes. Some of these runes feel so insanely strong on hard fights like Eranikus. The real Phase 3 secret is that Blizzard wants you to get all your runes and then do massively higher damage.

Speaking of runes, we have to prioritize the Emerald Wardens Reputation early on. First off, it guarantees you an in 2 or 3 hours of farming. Second, you’ll be getting WoW SOD Gold from all the quests, which really helps us to get expensive gear and supplies we’ll be needing for the raid.

New Gear

Your second biggest priority should be getting all the easy and overpowered new gear. The first place to check for that new gear is at the Warsong Gulch and Arathi vendors. You can grab the Level 48 upgrades instantly. Blood Moon offers new rings that'll nearly double the stats for Priest, and there are new relics and trinkets for other classes as well.

Even with the increased cost on top of PvP, you'll also want to be blasting out the newly unlocked dungeons for upgraded gear, particularly Zul'Farrak, Maraudon, and Blackrock Depths. All have newly upgraded pieces of gear.

In Zul'Farrak, by completing God of the Wild quests, mobs will drop a new currency called Wild Offerings. These Wild Offerings can be turned in for crazy near-bis items like the Band of the Wilds. This is a reliable source of Darkmoon Cards for the new decks.

Team Composition

We also have to discuss how to ensure your success in raiding. The first thing you have to do is join a guild. This raid is intentionally designed to be completed gradually with the guild. Then the most important thing is that you need to plan your team composition.

This is a raid that really tries to push you to bring a mix of melee and ranged. Speaking of specific classes, there are 2 specific classes that I'm very happy with, aside from the extremely powerful Shaman. These classes are Hunter and Shadow Priest. They can bring a lot of damage and healing to negate team damage or even tank damage.

Boss Fighting Tips

Let's discuss boss tips and strategies for the Sunken Temple raid. The raid's really challenging in Phase 3, but it's going to be getting a few rounds of nerfs. I think the best approach is to offer my first piece of advice to every boss:

Atal'alarion: Everybody's spreading out, making sure to stand between the pillars and the boss. The reason being that the knockbacks destroy the pillars, which means you take less damage. Everybody really should be running at least 2,000 health to not get one-shot.

Festering Rot Slime: As you're kiting the boss down the hallway, to stack up on a specific side. Then you can switch whenever the poison lands and take way less damage. I definitely recommend pre-farming Demonic Runes.

Atal'ai Defenders: Having several Priests in this fight felt amazing since we could chain each boss. Alternatively, Freezing Traps work really well if you have a Hunter stack.

Dreamscythe & Weaver: We tried to position ourselves past both dragons and a bit in the middle. Having a third tank to swap in was really crucial. Otherwise, our tank would get clapped.

Jammal'an & Ogom: We rolled Shadow Protection Potions, which feel like a big exploit. That's because there isn't really any Shadow damage until Phase 2. The other big thing was that I assigned a Healer to each specific group.

Hazzas & Morphaz: There is an ability called Lucid Dream that you'll want to line of sight at the end of it. This allowed us to completely skip the DPS check, and it may be patched at some point.

Speaking of healers, Resto Shamans felt like god healers in this fight. Having a shaman in each group negates much of the healing of the poison mechanic.

Tier 17 maps in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League introduce new bosses and unique items for players to acquire. However, rather than introducing entirely new Uniques, these are revamped existing unique items extracted from the core drop pool, significantly enhanced, and reintroduced exclusively as drops from these bosses.

The Dark Seer Unique Sceptre

Let’s get to the first unique item - the Dark Seer Scepter. It’s getting a large buff. Because of this change, the Dark Seer Scepter will now have plus 2 to the level of all spell skill gems, and it now rolls between 1 and 2 mana and energy shield per level. Therefore, when you reach high levels, you will gain a lot of manas and the energy shield from it.

There has been a major change to the Malediction part of the item as well. Malediction is a good debuff. It makes monsters take 10% of increased damage and deal 10% reduced damage. The way Dark Seer worked is that there were 3 different types of the weapon: one that granted life and mana, one that granted life and energy shield, and one that granted mana and energy shield.

In terms of which boss the new Dark Seer will drop from, it will come from the Uber Lycia fight. Dark Seer was a Beyond League Unique, and with the Scourge replacing Beyond. It makes sense that this item drops from the Herald of the Scourge up. For a smoother Uber boss fight, obtaining POE Currency is crucial.

Manastorm Unique Shield

Next up is another unique item which is called the Manastorm. This Shield makes you sacrifice all of your mana whenever you cast a spell, and added maximum lightning damage is gained based on the amount of mana sacrificed. As part of this change, the percentage on this modifier went from 25% to 50%, so you now gain added maximum lightning damage equal to 50% of the mana sacrificed.

Be aware that this is added maximum damage, so you want a source of lucky lightning damage if possible. But that’s not the only change that they made to this item because they’re also adding 2 new stats and changing 2 old stats.

It will now have a roll range for 4 modifiers on the item: that’s maximum mana, mana regeneration rate, mana per enemy killed, and mana recovery from flasks, ranging from 1 to 100. The new Manastorm Shield will drop from the Uber Uhtred fight.

Wraithlord Unique Helmet

Let’s get on to the massively improved Wraithlord Helmet. This helmet now has 4 slots for the Ghastly Eye Jewel, so that’s going to be an extra 4 spectres. It also has plus 1 to 2 the level of all minion skill gems as well. This will be a good unique item starting choice for the Necropolis League. The new Wraithlord will drop from the Uber Catarina Abyssal Lich fight.

Malachai’s Mark Unique Gloves

Next, we have the improved Malachai’s Mark gloves. If you don’t know how these gloves work, they grant a buff every 6 seconds which rotates through Malachai's Endurance, Frenzy, and Power. In Path of Exile 3.24, the chance to gain charges will instead be changed from 20% chance from kills to 10% chance from hits.

You will need a decent hit rate, only 10% chance, and you’ll also be wanting to invest in some charge duration if you want to keep the charges up. If the other predictions for which the boss drops which unique are correct, that would leave these gloves being dropped by the final boss, the Uber Malachai.

Yoke Of Suffering Unique Amulet

Last comes to a unique amulet, the Yoke of Suffering. This amulet is getting a far simpler change in POE 3.24. The modifier, which makes enemies take increased damage for each different type of ailment that you’ve inflicted on them, will now have a roll range going from a fixed 5% increase damage taken to 5 to 10% increase damage taken.

This amulet can make enemies take increased damage is a powerful stat on a lot of builds, especially the type of builds that want to make use of this, because they often only have one other source of increased damage taken on enemies. This one will drop from the Uber Unbreakable boss fight.

Are you trying to find ways to get better in MLB The Show 24's Road to the Show as a Ballplayer? This year's version of San Diego Studio's baseball simulation features an enhanced Ballplayer mechanic that was previously included in earlier releases. This improvement lets you construct numerous distinct players for use in Road to the Show, along with a female athlete for the first time. Similarly to past incarnations, you'll enhance your Ballplayer by completing Skill Set Programs, and you'll be able to construct alternative Playstyles that meet your demands. Dive into our MLB The Show 24 guide for insights on elevating your Ballplayer in Road to the Show.

What Are Some Ways To Enhance Your Ballplayer's Performance In MLB The Show 24's Road To The Show Mode?

This complete guide will describe how to get better at Ballplayer in MLB The Show 24's Road to the Show.

It is important to note that you have the ability to construct numerous distinct Ballplayers, each of whom can perform a variety of roles and places on the field. You can create Playstyles that raise your ratings in important areas by advancing Programs that unlock better Archetypes and Perks, but your progress will be limited to the Road to the Show.

Steps To Create A Ballplayer

For newcomers, beginning your journey in Road to the Show mode of MLB The Show 24 necessitates creating a Ballplayer through starting a new game. The option to have multiple save files and Ballplayers is available, and this year offers the choice between a male or female athlete.

When creating your Ballplayer, the first step is to determine your Playstyle. Options include Pitcher, Position Player, or Two-Way Player. Opting for the Two-Way Player role initially provides a broader scope of gameplay possibilities, although the choice ultimately depends on personal preference.

Regardless of your selection, specifying a position focus and/or pitching focus, along with a fielding position and/or pitching position, is crucial. These choices contribute to defining your starting Program.

In this guide, we opted for the Two-Way Player role, concentrating on the Shortstop and Closing Pitcher positions, with a focus on Velocity and Power. These decisions shape your initial Skill Set, which can then be further customized with Perks to better suit your preferred Playstyle.

Methods For Modifying Your Ballplayer's Loadout

After crafting your Ballplayer, you have the flexibility to tailor different Playstyles to suit various scenarios.

For instance, if speed is crucial for stealing bases, you can enhance this aspect by attaching Perks like Speed I. Additionally, equipping your Ballplayer with specialized gear, such as different cleats, can provide further advantages in speed.

To access these customization options, navigate to the Playstyles section from the Road to the Show menu after selecting your Ballplayer. From there, you can opt to Create New, enabling you to personalize your player in unique ways. This allows you to develop a Playstyle that emphasizes different strengths, whether it's power or any other attribute you deem necessary.

Strategies Of Raising Your Ballplayer's Ratings

Once you have created your Ballplayer, you will need to learn how to improve their ratings because they have a direct impact on how well they perform on the field. Although ratings are heavily influenced by your Skill Set and your allotted Perks, there are other ways to raise them as well, like playing Road to the Show matches, putting on gear, and finishing Skill Set Programs.

As you perform well on the field, moving up through the Road to the Show contests automatically raises your base ratings. Your ratings can rise to a maximum of 50 for successful performances, which can include batting the ball into play, pitching strikeouts, or displaying plate discipline.

Additionally, you can use training facilities like the Batting Cage or Bullpen to concentrate on particular traits during rest days. Your Ballplayer's qualities will inevitably advance as you move closer to the major levels.

Moreover, by fulfilling mission objectives, Dynamic Challenges that present themselves at critical junctures in matches present chances to further improve qualities.

Furthermore, your Ballplayer's ratings can be directly influenced by outfitting them with gear. You can adjust your gear selection by accessing your Ballplayer from the "Road to the Show" menu and proceeding to the "Equipment" section under "Playstyle".

It's advisable to choose equipment that aligns with your Playstyle. For instance, opting for quality cleats if speed is a primary focus.

To further enhance your Ballplayer's abilities, it's essential to progress through your Skill Set Program. Navigate back to your Ballplayer's profile, select Playstyle, and scroll down to your Skill Set. From there, click on "See Tasks and Rewards."

As you participate in matches within Road to the Show, completing Road to the Show Missions will earn you Skill Set Points. These points unlock new Packs containing additional Perks, Equipment, and MLB The Show 24 Stubs along the way. Upon completing an entire Skill Set Program, you'll unlock an upgraded version of your Skill Set, providing a significant boost to your base ratings and introducing a new Program to pursue.

After a match or series concludes, you'll have the opportunity to review your progress within the Skill Set Program and any unlocked rewards. Utilize the quick menu by pressing the touchpad and selecting "My Collection" > "My Inventory" > "My Packs" to open any unlocked packs.

Additionally, it's possible to purchase certain Perks using Stubs from the Community Market. Access the Community Market by pushing the touchpad, then select "My Collection" > "Community Market" > "Equipment & Perks" > "Perks." Keep in mind that high-quality Perks may come with a substantial Stub cost, but they can significantly enhance your Ballplayer's performance. Make sure to equip any purchased Perks or Equipment to your Playstyle to benefit from the statistical upgrades.

In Skull and Bones, there are many players seeking to trade for ammo, suggesting a widespread shortage likely because of extensive ship building activities. So in this guide, I'll share some tips to help you acquire ammo more effectively. Without wasting time, let's dive in!

The variety of ship builds, ranging from support to offense, all contribute to the increasing demand for ammo, which requires a considerable investment of silver. Hence, silver plays a crucial role in acquiring ammo. To conserve silver, it’s advisable to accumulate a substantial amount of Pieces of Eight.

Farm Silver For The Supply Network

When it comes to acquiring ammo, it's essential to develop a habit of farming silver for the Supply Network, as it incurs silver costs that can accumulate over time. Once you've amassed a sufficient amount of silver, make it a routine to purchase ammo whenever you dock at a port.

Whether you're in Lenitra, Africa, or any other location, visit the local merchant or Rogue and buy all available ammo crates. Even if you don't currently use certain types of ammo like Torpedoes, it's wise to stock up on them as future updates may introduce new and powerful variations.

Obtain Ammo Crates & Repair Kits

There are typically around 5 types of ammo crates available at each port, covering various ammo types. Consider acquiring enhanced reinforcement and Repair Kits along with your ammo purchases. Focus on obtaining intense Repair Kits and Enhanced Repair Kits, as the latter can be used to craft the former at no additional cost. Prioritize purchasing all available ammo and Repair Kits each time you dock, maximizing your resources.

Take advantage of its hourly restocks to make deals with the hawker. Ensure to purchase all available items, regardless of immediate need, as future updates may introduce powerful weapons or equipment. By consistently restocking on ammo and essential supplies during each docking, you'll effectively maintain a well-stocked inventory and stay prepared for any encounters or challenges that lie ahead.

Trade With The Blacksmith

We need to head over to the Blacksmith. If we look at craft new items and we go all the way to the end, we have ammo kit and ammo crate short of. They may have some blueprints such as Cannonball Crate. Then we're going to keep track of the blueprints and pick them all up, no matter where they are. The Blacksmith has some available. Specifically, they offer the Ballista Bolt Crate, which might be the only option available.

Plunder Shipwrecks

However, another Blacksmith may also have some in stock. This highlights the importance of plundering shipwrecks to acquire additional resources. Shipwrecks are abundant and can be found virtually anywhere. Zooming in on the map, you'll see a distinct symbol representing shipwrecks.

Shipwrecks are abundant, scattered across the seas, so whenever you stumble upon one during your voyages, seize the opportunity to explore its treasures. Once you've gathered items from the shipwreck, make your way to the Blacksmith. Utilize the salvaged materials to craft essential items such as ammo, maximizing the utility of every discovery.

Final Thought

Ensure that you explore shipwrecks regularly, as many people wrongly believe that the loot obtained from them is useless. This is untrue. Upon gathering items from shipwrecks, visit the Blacksmith and utilize the acquired materials to craft your own ammo. You don't need to rely on trading with others to replenish your ammo.

Remember to dock at ports and purchase all available ammo crates from the local merchant. Incorporate shipwreck exploration into your sailing routine, alongside other activities such as collecting Pieces of Eight. Shipwrecks are incredibly beneficial and will help you maintain a well-stocked supply of ammo.

Season of Discovery Phase 3 has been officially confirmed. It brings along a plethora of new features including 10 additional levels, fresh runes, equipment updates in dungeons, PvP sets, profession items, and various other additions. As Phase 3 approaches, it's important to assess the potential impact these changes will have on Druids. Will these enhancements prove beneficial, or will Druids find themselves once again falling short in comparison to other classes?

Talents - PvE Feral

We begin with the addition of 10 new Talent points.

For Feral Druids, there are various allocations to consider, depending on whether we focus on PvE or PvP. In PvE, we now have the opportunity to fully invest in the Feral tree and even opt for Furor. However, I would not recommend this path as we still have 5 talents left to allocate, particularly nowhere else. Therefore, our priority lies in investing in the Balance tree and Natural Weapons to enhance our physical attack damage by 10%. If you want to speed up the process, then make sure you have plenty of WoW SoD Gold.

At the outset, we must choose between Wrath and Nature's Grasp, 2 talents that hold little significance in PvE but are necessary for progression. Upon selecting either, we can then advance to Natural Weapons, where our 10 points will be directed. 

Unfortunately, we lack an additional talent to reach Omen of Clarity, a skill utilized in Phase 1. We will have to await Phase 4 for its acquisition.

Talents - PvP Feral

When discussing PvP, there are various builds to consider, each with minor adjustments.

The most notable aspect of this phase is the ability to simultaneously invest in both the full Feral tree and Furor, a capability absent in the previous phase. This enhancement enhances our intellect, crucial for shapeshifting, as well as strength and critical strike. Additionally, we retain our energy when shifting from Furor, providing 4 extra points for allocation elsewhere, such as Nature's Grasp, Feral Aggression for Ferocious Bite, or Feral Instinct.

Alternatively, a Mana-oriented build presents itself as a solution to alleviate the hefty Mana cost associated with shapeshifting. To pursue this route, sacrifices must be made, potentially abandoning the Feral tree, Leader of the Pack, and some points from Heart of the Wild or Faerie Fire, or entirely forgoing Furor.

In my view, Furor remains indispensable for PvP, and I lean towards sacrificing offensive statistics instead. However, dropping 3 points from Heart of the Wild results in an 11% reduction in intellect and a 30% decrease in Mana for shapeshifting, which may not be advantageous. Consequently, opting for Natural Shapeshifter may not be worthwhile for several reasons, particularly in this phase.

Firstly, as previously mentioned, sacrificing intellect for Mana reduction seems illogical. Secondly, Season of Discovery differs significantly from the classic format, favoring burst meta and swift engagements where the utility of extensive shapeshifting remains uncertain, barring encounters involving Rogues.

Talents - Balance

Conversely, Balance and Restoration specializations do not introduce any notable additions in terms of talents.

Presently, acquiring Insect Swarm remains elusive as it necessitates 11 points. Consequently, you'll initially focus on Moonfury, subsequently considering Natural Shapeshifter if you're engaged in PvP, given its effectiveness in maneuvering and adapting during one-on-one encounters. Pairing it with Wild Growth or Lifebloom runes, along with Rejuvenation, renders you formidable while your damage-dealing allies execute their tasks. 

Notably, the minimal Mana cost of 200 for your monkey form and 120 for traveling form seems inconceivable considering your substantial Mana pool exceeding 4,000. Following this, you can opt for whatever abilities you deem beneficial. However, significant impact remains elusive, as we await the allocation of the remaining 10 points until reaching level 60 for truly impactful talents.

The Restoration Druid will finally complete the Restoration tree, assuming the role of a healer.

New Abilities

Regarding abilities, at level 44, Barkskin becomes accessible, serving as our final in-game defensive capability. 

Its arrival has long been anticipated, as it represents our sole defensive option. As for spells, there is nothing further to discuss. However, attention can be directed towards the advancement of runes, particularly given the confirmation linked to Barkskin.

Runes Confirmed

Thus far, we have confirmed 2 runes: Improved Barkskin and Gore.

Improved Barkskin allows us to cast it on allies while in shapeshifted form without incurring any penalties to our casting time or combat speed. While this feature may not seem particularly remarkable, its utility as a healer, or secondary healer, may prove valuable, potentially hinting at preparations for future arena battles.

The other confirmed rune, Gore, presents a bit of a puzzle. The initial portion mentions the use of Lacerate, which is classified as a Hand Rune. This rune offers a 15% chance to reset Mangle, which is also a Hand Rune. It raises questions about how we can simultaneously utilize 2 distinct runes. Alternatively, it's possible that I am overlooking something crucial.

Using Swipe while tanking could serve as an effective method to frequently trigger this rune, providing a substantial damage bonus and generating additional Rage, a valuable resource that bears struggle to accumulate. Conversely, employing Mangle or Shred as a cat grants a 5% chance to reset Tiger's Fury. When combined with King of the Jungle, this ability restores 60 energy and enhances our damage output by 15%. Such enhancements could significantly amplify damage during boss encounters, particularly when executing Shreds swiftly.

However, I fail to discern a practical application for this rune in PvP scenarios, where typically, only 4 to 5 Shreds are executed at most during a single engagement. Moreover, the rarity of procs in PvP settings presents a challenge. Additionally, both of these runes are designed for the head slot, limiting our options in terms of equipment customization. This lack of variety in equipment slots may force us to make difficult decisions regarding prioritizing runes for PvP and PvE purposes, which is less than ideal.

Runes Unconfirmed

Now, let's delve into the unconfirmed runes, where Barkskin and Gore stood just 3 days ago before their confirmation.

Starting with one that particularly catches my interest: Improved Frenzied Regeneration of the wrist slot. This bear spell is now usable across all forms, enabling the conversion of various resources into health, energy, rage, or mana. I anticipate this rune will serve as an exceptional defensive cooldown, especially beneficial for Feral Druids and Cat Form. Cats typically possess health ranging from 3 to 3.5k without buffs, while bears could reach up to 5k. Picture healing for 300 health every second in Cat Form—a transformative aspect in our PvP strategy. Combined with Barkskin, it empowers us to engage in direct confrontations with melee classes like Paladins, Warriors, and Shamans without succumbing to critical hits. Additionally, imagine a tank bear with abundant stamina and buffs, accruing rage upwards of 70, then activating this ability, yielding 700 health per second for a duration of 10 seconds—a truly staggering prospect. Furthermore, Balance Druids could extricate themselves from precarious situations with this ability, albeit at a cost of 50% mana for 10 seconds. Nevertheless, when paired with Innervate, it forms a potent combination for PvP. This rune harbors immense potential, to say the least.

Another intriguing unconfirmed rune is Elune's Fires, particularly appealing to Boomkins and tailored for PvE. This rune prolongs the duration of damage-over-time effects, enabling Boomkins to cast more Wraths and Starfires while minimizing global cooldowns and instant abilities like Moonfire and Sunfire. Undoubtedly, it serves as yet another damage amplifier, greatly benefiting Boomkins in PvE endeavors. Conversely, for Ferals, the extension of Rip by a mere 2 seconds leaves much to be desired. Why not extend Rake as well? This disparity fuels the perception that Blizzard harbors a bias against Feral in this expansion—an aspect that fails to captivate my interest.

The remaining unconfirmed runes include Gale Winds, augmenting Hurricane's damage output by 100% while reducing its mana consumption—an utterly perplexing concept. It seems to serve solely as a farming rune, a notion that bewilders me. Admittedly, as a Feral, farming poses a significant challenge, but this rune appears more gimmicky than practical. 

Lastly, Efflorescence emerges as an unconfirmed rune that would potentially prompt Resto Druids to prioritize Swiftmend over other talents, such as those found in Balance trees or hybrid builds.

Also Read: Revealing The Secrets Of Investing In The Late Phase Of WOW Classic SOD

Itemization

Phase 3 introduces several new features, including updated itemization.

For the first time, PvP sets with active bonuses are becoming available, marking a significant development for all 3 Druid specializations. Considering that Survival Instincts from Phase 2 and the potential rune Improved Frenzied Regeneration in Phase 3 scale independently of HP, this represents a promising enhancement. The significance lies not only in augmenting abilities but also in bolstering stamina overall, particularly pertinent in the current burst-oriented meta. Increased stamina proves advantageous against specific specs such as Rogues, Shamans, and Hunters, among others. With these additions, Druids are less likely to face easy defeat at the hands of Rogues, offering another layer of survivability to mitigate bursts from certain classes, barring any unforeseen complications stemming from PvE items with obscure offensive procs.

Conclusion 

In summary, we've received some positive developments, although certain aspects remain unconfirmed, and lingering issues persist.

It's evident that Phase 3 will bring about enhanced defensive capabilities, a matter of particular significance to me as a PvP player. In Phase 2, Druids faced significant challenges in this regard, often necessitating the sacrifice of King of the Jungle to obtain a single defensive ability, Survival Instinct. Now, with the addition of Barkskin and Improved Frenzied Regeneration, the landscape has shifted slightly. Not only will Feral Druids benefit from these changes, but Resto and Balance Druids will also see advantages from PvP gear and the potential inclusion of Improved Frenzied Regeneration.

Another area of concern is mana management. While the pursuit of Natural Shapeshifter for mana reduction appears less likely, it's worth acknowledging that this phase may prove less arduous for Ferals due to the inclusion of all 5 Hard of the Wild talents and a boost in intellect. However, mana issues for Feral Druids will persist until Phase 4. Balance Druids appear to address this challenge in this phase, while Resto Druids demonstrate commendable healing capabilities in battlegrounds and raids, aided by new potential runes and the comprehensive Restoration tree.

Despite these advancements, certain problems persist: a lack of solutions for Feral Druids in PvP, ongoing mana problems during shapeshifting, and the absence of runes that would allow for bonus damage scaling from agility. Nevertheless, the defensive enhancements appear quite substantial.

Here are some invaluable tips for players to adequately prepare for the forthcoming Phase 3 in WoW Season of Discovery. Adhering to these essential guidelines will undoubtedly facilitate a smoother gameplay in the upcoming phase.

Dungeons & Exploration

Dungeon grinding has gained popularity, particularly with Scarlet Monastery, offering efficient leveling opportunities. Dungeons such as Zul’Farrak, Maraudon, Sunken Temple are all viable options. While the potential for Maraudon or Sunken Temple to become level-up raids exists, it remains unconfirmed. Questing also plays a significant role, with locations like Booty Bay in Stranglethorn Vale offering suitable quests.

For both Horde and Alliance, Blasted Lands and Swamp of Sorrows provide additional questing opportunities. The Hinterlands stand out as a substantial questing area, with Kalimdor offering zones like Tanaris, Feralas, and Un'Goro Crater, ideal for leveling up towards Level 50. Familiarizing yourself with quests in these core zones is crucial for effective Phase 3 progression.

PvP Reputations

Another important tip to consider is focusing on PvP reputations. It's essential to grind your PvP gear and strive for an exalted reputation with Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin factions. Achieving exalted status will unlock Level 50 bracers, which are superior to their Level 40 counterparts.

You'll have access to epic bracers and other valuable items from the Arathi Basin reputation vendors, although some items may require revered status. Notably, revered gear includes boots that increase movement speed and grant attack power, as well as a girdle suitable for Level 48 characters. While attaining exalted status may take time, many players are currently farming the STV event for logs and grinding the Arathi Basin reputation to expedite the process.

Consumables & World Buffs

The next essential tip is to ensure you have an ample supply of consumables and world buffs. While Spark of Inspiration is significant, don't overlook the benefits of Darkmoon Faire, which provides a substantial 10% damage buff. Although there's a risk of losing these buffs if you die, they can significantly enhance your gameplay experience.

Notably, the Darkmoon Faire buff remains active even at Level 39, offering a slight advantage in movement speed. Therefore, strategically planning to acquire these buffs before reaching Level 40 can provide a small yet beneficial edge.

Consider maximizing the efficiency of your consumables to save time and increase damage output. For instance, Firepower and Lesser Arcane can provide a notable boost without costing much of your SOD Gold. This strategy is particularly valuable for players aiming for world-first racing.

Flight Paths

Next, let's discuss the importance of obtaining essential flight paths. For Horde players, securing Stonard for Swamp of Sorrows is crucial, while Alliance players should aim for Nethergarde Keep in Blasted Lands. You may already have flight paths for Stranglethorn Vale and Booty Bay, but if not, it's advisable to acquire them. Prioritize obtaining flight paths for key locations like the Hinterlands.

Alliance players can access Aerie Peak, while Horde players can reach Revantusk Village. An efficient way for Horde players to reach Revantusk Village is by flying to Arathi Highlands, taking a boat to the coast, and swimming to Hinterlands. This method can be faster than the conventional route through Aerie Peak, especially considering the high-level mobs in the area.

Don't forget to obtain the flight path for Gadgetzan in Tanaris if you haven't already, as it can be highly beneficial. Similarly, ensure you acquire flight paths for Un'Goro Crater and Silithus while you're in the vicinity. Although Silithus is an endgame zone, acquiring the flight path early on will be advantageous for future use. Consider visiting Felwood, another endgame zone, if you're heading towards Winterspring. Whether you are Horde or Alliance, Felwood's flight path is located in the northernmost part of the zone.

Profession Planning

Another crucial tip is to have a clear profession plan for the upcoming Phase 3. With professions reaching a maximum level of 300, there will be an abundance of SOD content available. While it's uncertain if unique recipes aimed at Level 50 will be introduced, it's a possibility worth considering. It's essential to familiarize yourself with these specializations and develop a plan accordingly.

Blacksmithing and Engineering stand out as particularly significant professions, while tailoring lacks specialization. I recommend prioritize obtaining the Mooncloth recipe and the Runecloth Bag recipe from Everlook in Winterspring. These recipes were disabled in Phase 1, and their availability in Phase 2 is uncertain.

Crafting Mooncloth will be crucial due to its 4-day cooldown, requiring 250 Tailoring skill. While obtaining Felcloth may be challenging before reaching Level 50, it will become a valuable resource for crafting in Phase 3, particularly in Felwood.

Class Quests

Finally, upon reaching Level 50, players can embark on class quests, which provide unique and potent items for most classes. These quests are predominantly located in Sunken Temple, although their exact format may vary if Sunken Temple becomes the designated level-up raid.

Players unfamiliar with these class quests are encouraged to research them, as they offer powerful rewards. All class quests typically involve completing tasks across the world before culminating in Sunken Temple. Therefore, it's crucial to understand and prepare for these quests to maximize their benefits.

In the upcoming Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League, Scorching Ray stands out with its unique mechanic that enables multiple entities to inflict debuff together. So, today we will delve into the significance of this for the altered Scorching Ray.

About Scorching Ray

Scorching Ray is a channeled ability that deals fire damage over time, and it does this by applying stages of a debuff to enemies caught in the beam. Debuff stages are gained based on the cast interval, each debuff deals with its own damage and has its own duration.

But the duration only starts to expire when the enemy leaves the beam, with each debuff stage increasing the base damage by 60%, and if the enemy remains in the beam long enough to reach 8 debuff stages. Fire exposure is inflicted at a magnitude of minus 25% to fire resistance.

Ascendancy Choice

In terms of ascendancy choice, Hierophant will overcome this problem by reaching 6 maximum totems: one from Ancestral Bond, one from the ascendancy, one from a Shaper Shield, and 2 from Multiple Totem Support. This way, you’d have 3 cycles of totems, providing a larger window for each set of totems to apply their debuff. However, one of the biggest problems with Scorching Ray totems is map clear, as the totems’ AI often locks onto targets and there are some straggling mobs that are left unchecked.

The Chieftain’s Hinekora, Death's Fury notable may provide a much better map clear with his explosions, and Chieftain also has the upside of Ramako, Sun's Light, which makes the use of Temporal Chains easier as you don’t need to worry about flammability. Of course, having some POE Currency in hand can make your game smoother.

Scorching Ray Totems

Now Scorching Ray has another rather unique mechanic attached to it which allows beams from distinct entities to deal damage simultaneously, which is why Scorching Ray totems have been a thing in the past and this is an intended mechanic.

In fact, since the Scorching Ray appeared in patch 2.4.2, fire resistance of the Scorching Ray is specified to be no more than minus 24%. Each Scorching Ray debuff on an enemy can have 8 stages. An entity can be affected by multiple Scorching Ray debuffs at a time from different beams. They’ll all apply their damage over time based on their individual stages, but the total fire resistance penalty from all the debuffs on a particular enemy cannot exceed minus 24%.

In the past, this mechanic has only really been relevant for the case of using Scorching Ray totems in a standard totem build setup, where you try to max out as many totems as possible. This makes sense because Scorching Ray deals the most damage when it gains all of its stages. If the totem has been long enough to gain 8 stages, it will deal the maximum damage that it’s capable of, which is a lot more than just the base one stage because it gains so much damage from extra stages.

Transfigured Version Of Scorching Ray

However, we now have a transfigured version of Scorching Ray in POE 3.24, that’s Scorching Ray of Immolation. This gem is significantly different in terms of the numbers from its original counterpart, but it shares the same mechanics Scorching Ray of Immolation has far more front-loaded damage relying a lot less on gaining stages to deal decent damage.

It also has double the base duration and doesn’t have the fire exposure at maximum stages by using this version of Scorching Ray you can scale the damage in a way that wasn’t possible with the original gem and this is by having totems inflict their beam debuff right before re-summoning them again to inflict new debuffs and so on.

So forth this way you can scale the duration of the debuff that lasts when an enemy leaves the beam and scale your totem placement speed to achieve a ramping damage over time, which is somewhat similar to poison in fact you even make use of Temporal Chains since Scorching Ray damage component is considered being a debuff which persists on the enemy and it is affected by Temporal Chains slower expiry mechanic.

Theory & Technology

So, let’s have some theoretical and technical discussion. I think to make use of this tech, you’re going to want to invest into duration because it’s increasing your maximum potential damage output. You’ll need a good balance between scaling damage normally through increases, more multipliers, and DoT multipliers, and scaling skill effect duration.

A single duration wheel on the passive tree combined with the more skill effect Duration Mastery will be good, along with Efficacy and Malevolence. This will bring the 3-second base duration up to around 6.2 seconds, and Temporal Chains then essentially act as a multiplier on top of that duration, which will bring the actual debuff duration to just over 8.2 seconds.

Re-summoning totems will despawn the oldest totems first, so having access to additional maximum totems is potentially a great thing to have in this build. Where you get the opportunity to spam your totems for maximum damage ramp in a boss fight, if you have a low maximum totem limit, depending on your totem placement speed, you may despawn the totem before they’ve applied their debuff.

The Sentinel’s holy guardian Mastery class in Last Epoch, the Paladin, places a strong emphasis on magic and defense. By use of its Mastery Skill, Holy Aura, the Paladin protects and amplifies personal and allied qualities, such as protection and damage.

Without the right build, leveling up as a Paladin can be difficult because of the build’s concentration on defensive, which makes switching to offensive strategies more difficult, especially when playing alone. However, there are a few strong builds that provide workarounds, like the one below that focuses on Healing Hands. Please bring enough Last Epoch Gold to find out with us!

An Overview Of Healing Hands Paladin Build

This Paladin build revolves around the Healing Hands skill, which at its core provides healing to nearby allies along with a heal-over-time effect. However, by specializing in Healing Hands, you can enhance it with the Searing Light node, introducing a damaging aspect to the skill.

Following this, there are two paths to take with Healing Hands - melee or ranged. In this particular build, we’ll focus on the melee version, although the ranged option is equally viable, albeit with a distinct skill setup.

The pivotal nodes essential for making Healing Hands your primary damage-dealing skill are Cleric’s Hammer and Seraph Blade. At four points, Cleric’s Hammer grants a 100 percent chance for Healing Hands to activate upon using a melee attack, while Seraph Blade transforms Healing Hands into a melee attack, allowing it to scale based on melee damage rather than spell damage.

Considering this, the general gameplay of this build leans towards tankiness and melee combat, utilizing Void Cleave to maneuver between enemy groups and dispatch them with Rive and Healing Hands. Overall, this build offers straightforward gameplay, requiring only one button for attacking and another for traversal.

Skills

As previously mentioned, the central skill of this build is Healing Hands.

When enhancing this skill, prioritize maxing out Cleric’s Hammer initially to ensure Healing Hands triggers with a 100% chance upon executing a melee attack. Subsequently, progress towards the Seraph Blade node. Following this, acquire Divine Barrier, Synthesis of Light, and Guardian’s Heart to generate Ward on the left side of the skill tree.

Next in focus is Rive, which serves the purpose of activating Healing Hands while inflicting damage. Within this skill tree, promptly unlock the Foe Cleaver node, then shift attention to the right side to obtain Challenge, subsequently progressing towards the Double Slash node.

For mobility, Void Cleave is employed. While Lunge is an alternative, Void Cleave enables movement without requiring a target and serves to trigger Abyssal Echoes for supplementary damage.

Within Void Cleave’s skill node, prioritize unlocking Gravity’s Edge promptly to enable Void Cleave to operate as a proper traversal skill, followed by acquiring the Hellish Chasm node to convert it into fire damage. Subsequently, focus on unlocking Resonating Cleave to ensure Void Cleave triggers Abyssal Echoes efficiently.

Abyssal Echoes serves solely for additional damage when utilizing Void Cleave and is not cast independently. Start by using the Void Purifier node to transform Abyssal Echoes into fire damage. Then, use the Embrace the Darkness and Vorpal Reverberation nodes on the left side of the talent tree to increase the damage.

Lastly, Holy Aura is addressed. Progressively enhance the Shelter from the Storm node for substantial Elemental Resistance, then bolster the skill’s damage buffs by investing in the Flame Burst, Fanaticism, and True Strike nodes.

While our primary focus in this build is on Rive, it’s worth noting that Vengeance offers alternative effects. Rive boasts higher attack speed, allowing more frequent triggering of Healing Hands, whereas Vengeance becomes preferable when seeking additional defense.

Passives

In this build, we’ll allocate passive points across the Sentinel, Void Knight, and Paladin skill trees.

Before unlocking your Mastery, prioritize investing points into nodes such as Juggernaut, Armour Clad, Valiant Charge, and Time and Faith in the Sentinel tree. Additionally, allocating points into Blademaster proves beneficial.

Within the Paladin tree, initial emphasis should be on upgrading Defiance, Valor, Conviction, and Holy Icon, offering a balance of defensive and offensive stats. Subsequently, prioritize enhancing nodes like Blinding Light, Divine Essence, Reverence of Duality, and Light of Rahyeh for increased damage output.

Lastly, in the Void Knight tree, consider acquiring the Abyssal Endurance node for supplementary Void Resistance, World Eater for lifesteal, and Void Corruption for a notable boost to critical damage.

Crucial Attributes

The paramount statistic for the Healing Hands Paladin build is Healing Effectiveness. Through the Bane of Evil node within the Healing Hands skill tree, this skill scales its damage in proportion to Healing Effectiveness, doubling its original healing augmentation function. Consequently, every percentage point of Healing Effectiveness significantly bolsters both survivability and damage output.

Considering this, here are the primary statistics to prioritize when upgrading your gear as you progress:

1. Healing Effectiveness
2. Levels of Healing Hands
3. Fire Damage
4. Attunement
5. Elemental Resistances of any kind

It's advisable to leverage crafting opportunities as you advance and acquire new gear. Utilizing shards imbued with any of these statistics, alongside more general defensive or utility attributes like health, mana, and armor, can enhance your gear for added potency.

Noteworthy Unique Items

Fortunately, this build doesn't heavily rely on specific Unique items, making gearing relatively straightforward.

Nonetheless, several Unique items offer notable power increases and should be integrated if you chance upon them while leveling:

• Volcanus: With a ton of extra Fire Damage, this two-handed sword is the greatest weapon in its slot for this build.
• Valeroot: This Chest Armor offers good defensive stats and the crucial Healing Effectiveness stat, even though Spriggan Form isn't applicable in this situation.
• Calamity: By adding additional fire damage, this helmet amplifies the healing power of Healing Hands.
• Advent of the Erased: Serving as a generally beneficial pair of boots, these boots expedite leveling through increased Movement Speed and Haste upon enemy demise.

Check out this new build guide for Warlock in Last Epoch 1.0, which is called the Torment Warlock. The Torment is an exceptional ailment that delivers a tremendous amount of damage with a single application. This build doesn't rely on special skill combos. If you’re new to the Warlock, this build is perfect for you.

Pros & Cons

The main reason to pick this build is the traditional gameplay of damage over time build that doesn’t require constant reapplying. You can achieve very high amounts of ward with a method to quickly recover it in case of danger, paired with access to a strong crowd control effect.

On top of that, your boss fights are very safe because of the high uptime of Profane Veil, which makes you almost immortal while your Torment continues to deal damage. You will have excellent damage with low gear requirements to start, and you will breeze through the campaign as soon as you unlock the Warlock Mastery.

Of course, this gameplay has some drawbacks that you should know of. The Chthonic Fissure skill has high mana consumption and requires proper skill usage management, which is especially noticeable during Echo. The single target damage is limited by the single stack of Torment, which can make boss fights a bit longer at higher corruption levels.

Gear Setup

Most of your ward comes from specific modifiers that are generated based on your missing health, available on specific unique and experimental items. But you don’t need it to farm low corruption levels. The more health you have, the more ward it will generate. The other items are very synergistic with the modifiers they provide, but are not required for functionality. You can decide which Uniques you need based on your amount of Last Epoch Gold.

The Marina's Lost Soul is a simple wand, but it grants you exactly what you need. It offers a lot of flat Necrotic damage for your spells and decently increases your spell and curse damage.However, it also lowers your maximum health a bit.

The Exsanguinous is one of the core items for your ward generation. It drains your health but restores a portion of your missing health as a ward, which you can then boost via ward retention or ward decay threshold. You will also gain a decent boost to your movement speed when you use a potion.

This pair of Last Steps of the Living boots offers the same modifier as the previous armor, further improving your ward generation. It also offers a decent amount of movement speed, but it is mostly negated because of the chill applied to you every 3 seconds. Your skills will cleanse negative effects on you, but not as often as those boots apply it.

This Boneclamor Barbute helmet offers plenty of intelligence and Necrotic Resistance and greatly increases your ward generation thanks to the resistance modifier you stack. It is fairly common, so getting one with good Legendary Potential shouldn’t be too daunting to acquire.

The most important modifiers to scale your damage are flat damage for spells, Necrotic Resistance, critical strike multiplier, and intelligence. You will also need some mana regeneration to comfortably spam your Chthonic Fissure during Echo, although it is not that important against bosses. The Necrotic Resistance and intelligence are also the major methods of improving your ward.

You will need an experimental mod on your gloves that grant you a ward based on the missing health, which is why you should improve your maximum health too. By increasing the health of your minions, you will improve the Vampiric Pool interaction. Capping your critical strike avoidance at 100% is mandatory for your survival.

Active Skills

Chthonic Fissure: This skill creates a rift in the ground that deals with a bit of damage and releases spirits upon contact. The spirits apply the curse of Torment, which is the major source of damage in this build. Most of your damage scaling comes from the Twisted Waves and Grim Tide, which grant you more damage per point of Necrotic Resistance or critical strike multiplier. You will also deal more damage against bleeding or poisoned enemies. The Stygian Coal, paired with the Gloom and Flames, increases the frequency of your spirits, making it easier to apply your Torment.

Spirit Plague: Inflicts your target with a curse of Spirit Plague, which deals with a small amount of Necrotic damage. In this build, it is used to buff your Torment damage even more. The Pestilence grants you global increased damage as you continue to cast the skill. The Enfeeblement weakens the enemies you hit, and the Anguish causes them to run in Fear.

Transplant: This is your movement skill. You should cast this as soon as it goes off cooldown as it also restores your mana and grants you the Bone Armor buff. The Acolyte’s Fervor also grants you Haste and Frenzy buffs for 3 seconds. The Azure Veins and Pale Blood restore your mana, but only if you hit at least one enemy. The Bone Armor and its upgrades grant you the Bone Armor buff, which reduces the damage you take.

Profane Veil: It is a very powerful defensive skill that makes you dodge any incoming hit when you keep channeling it. In this setup, it is also used to generate a lot of ward with the Vampiric Pool. You will consume your minions to get the ward based on their maximum health. You will also deal more damage to your Torment applied during channeling the Profane Veil. Thanks to the stream of profanity, you will lower the cooldown of the veil by spamming any curse skill.

Bone Curse: With this skill, you can weaken enemies and create a Bone Prison, providing a substantial ward increase when consumed. The Sigil of Mortality applies a Mark for Death on enemies, resulting in increased damage taken by them. With the Marrow Thief, you will occasionally gain Bone Armor when you kill enemies affected by the curse.

Passive Trees

Acolyte: Your basic Acolyte tree is focused mostly on defense. It will boost your ward resistance and intelligence. During leveling, you can pick Blood or a Blood Pact and Eye of Damnation to boost your damage, but it isn’t very effective in the endgame. The Stolen Vitality enhances the health of your minions, resulting in a greater amount of ward gained when you consume them.

Lich: The Survival of the Cruel is extremely useful during the campaign as it offers health leech. You may also opt for Dance with Dead and Grasp of Fate to augment your Necrotic damage. However, given your endgame setup, these passives are redundant and should be refunded. The Apocrypha is universally useful as it grants mana regeneration and intelligence.

Warlock: The Unholy Torment and Duskbringer are very valuable as they add flat spell damage to your Torment. The Doom Herald grants more damage when you channel the Profane Veil. You will take slightly less damage if you invest 5 points into Harrowing Armor, Dark Protections and Wither. With the Fleeting Crone, you will constantly have the Haste buff with an increased effect. Lastly, the Wreak Havoc grants you crit multiplier, which is converted into more damage.

Idols & Blessings

Then let's talk about idols in this build. You can use them to get more health, ward retention, stack more resistances, or improve your spell damage a bit. If you find yourself channeling to Profane Veil very often, you can try to get a modifier that generates ward for each second spent in the Veil.

For blessings, in the Black Sun timeline, you're faced with a choice between critical strike multiplier and void resistance. Opting for the resistance bonus is advisable, as it allows you to allocate more resources towards Necrotic Resistance elsewhere. In the Age of Winter timeline, you'll encounter a straightforward decision: cold or physical resistance, depending on your current needs.

Moving on to the Spirits of Fire timeline, you'll have the option to either reduce your enemies' Necrotic Resistance, particularly beneficial against bosses, or enhance your damage output by stacking more Necrotic Resistance instead. In the Reign of Dragons timeline, you can select one of the resistance bonuses or prioritize critical strike avoidance for improved survivability.

As you approach the end of the Storm timeline, choosing the Lightning Resistance blessing is a viable option, although ward-related bonuses should also be considered, especially if you lack the necessary Uniques combination.

I believe many players have noticed that there is a stat called Ward Retention in Last Epoch 1.0, which you sometimes see on gear and passive skills. Most notably, for every 1 point of intelligence you gain, you gain 4% Ward Retention, which I think is where most people’s Ward Retention comes from.

In fact, Ward Retention affects how quickly your ward decays over time. If you have a basic understanding of how Ward works, it’s not hard to see why a stat like this might be useful. In this guide, we’ll provide a brief overview of how Ward Retention works and explore how it affects Ward Decay rate.

Ward Decay Rate Formula

However, it is unclear how to judge the opportunity cost of Ward Retention modifiers. Fortunately, we have an equation:

Ward Decay Rate=0.4* (Current Ward - Ward Decay Threshold)/1+ (0.5*Ward Retention)

This means that Ward Decay rate depends on Current Ward, Ward Decay Threshold and Ward Retention. If you can invest some Last Epoch Gold to improve these stats, extending the duration of the ward will no longer be an issue.

For those not interested in math, here’s a summary: Just think of 2% Ward Retention as an increase of 1% Ward.

We will assume that Ward Decay Threshold is zero and ignore it. Because I want to focus the discussion on Ward Retention.

When you gain Ward, you gain some extra shield on your health bar, which decays exponentially over time.

With zero modifiers to ward, your Ward Decay rate is 40% of the current ward per second. This means that in order to maintain a certain number of wards, you need to generate 40% of the current ward value every second to offset the decay.

The Impact Of Ward Retention On Ward Decay Rate

Ward Retention reduces Ward Decay rate, but its implementation is a little unintuitive.

When you have Ward Retention, your Ward Decay rate is divided by 1 plus half of your Ward Retention stat. Because of this strange factor of 0.5, you actually need 200% Ward Retention to halve Ward Decay rate, which is 20% of the current ward per second.

In other words, 200% Ward Retention will extend the duration of your Ward by 100%. A Ward Retention of 400% extends the duration of Ward by 200%, and so on.

I’m not sure why the developers decided to put 0.5 into the formula here instead of simply dividing all Ward Retention values in the game by 2. This changes nothing except making Ward Retention value more intuitive and easier to understand.

For example, 100% Ward Retention means the ward lasts 100% longer. This seems more logical, but maybe we’re missing something.

The 2% Ward Retention Is Approximately Equal To 1% Ward

Even though you now understand how Ward Retention affects Ward Decay rate, there’s still a degree of separation between it and what we’re ultimately interested in, which is how does Ward Retention affect the total number of Wards you can maintain?

If you can generate 100 wards per second, you will reach a steady state of about 250 wards without any ward retention. Your Decay rate at that point is 100 wards per second, and since you can only get 100 wards per second, that’s the amount you can sustain.

On the contrary, if you have 200% Ward Retention, your ward will even reach 500. That’s because you now lose 20% of your ward per second instead of 40%. So you need to reach 500 wards first, and then your Ward Decay rate is equal to 100 ward gain rate per second.

Following the same pattern, 400% Ward Retention will triple Ward retention, and 600% Ward Retention will quadruple Ward retention. In other words, you can think of every 2% of Ward Retention as “a 1% increase in Ward.”

Anyway, this concludes this guide to Ward Retention mechanism. As always, if you have a different opinion, don’t forget to share it!