infinity mijinion

Here we are in the endless endgame of PoE2, doing endless maps to raise our level (and fusing maps to create higher tier maps to give us more exp, so we can level up and take on higher tier maps…).

“Let’s find some stuff to fuck up and fuck it up,” said HGR.

Currently I’m level 89, and HGR is 90. The MSQ at this altitude is incredibly thin. After we lost the final battle offscreen, Doryani set us to clearing the world of corruption by doing maps. HGR recently completed the MSQ by clearing a tier 15 corrupted nexus (the highest waystone tier). Doryani was like “Good job. Keep doing maps.” That’s it, that’s the ending. To be fair, I looked it up and two more acts are planned for the game’s full release, so presumably we will eventually get a dramatic final showdown against the Countess.

I never got into the endgame of PoE1. After completing the campaign (there were only four acts at the time), I did a few maps, was like “okay, that was fun,” and stopped. So I’m only now learning that the main goal of endgame is to hit level 100. You reach endgame at roughly level 70, and the last 30 levels are all about raising your waystone tier and improving your gear and your build to handle the high level waystones. In endgame, you lose exp when you die, so you’re expected to be very consistent in running the highest-level content.

There’s a lot of risk-reward assessment. Yesterday there was a guy in chat complaining that he lost 140% of a level in exp due to running abyss overrun escalation maps. It was funny because he’d post every hour or so and the amount of exp he lost went up every time. If it were me, I would just stop using escalation tablets on abyss overrun zones, but you do you.

Our teamcomp is HGR on sorceress + me on galvanic shards witchhunter. We just each picked the classes that spoke the most to us, but it turned out to be a great combo. Normally, in boss fights, galvanic witchhunter uses lightning attacks to shock the boss and then swaps to shockburst rounds, a high-damage single-target shot that only works on shocked enemies. But HGR puts out AoEs that shock enemies constantly. So I can open every boss fight with shockburst for mega dps.

The last few levels are going to take a long time; we’re already at the top tier of waystones, while the exp for each level keeps scaling. We initially planned not to do any trading on the market, just amongst ourselves, but HGR allowed as how my patience has limits. (Unlike his. For the next league starting in May, he’s considering doing a SSF (solo self-found) character, meaning all trading is disabled.) Anyway, we checked out the market board for the first time yesterday. I picked up new chest armor (roughly 2k evade, up from 1k) and an amulet with +2 level to all projectile skills. HGR snagged some upgrades too. It feels almost too easy to buy this stuff instead of relying on drops and crafting.

For durability I run evasion + upgraded sorcery ward, with a bit of armor for flavor. In its upgraded form, sorcery ward is a rechargeable 4k+ HP shield that protects against all hits from enemies, but does not protect against damage that does not count as a “hit.” I can stand in the middle of a maelstrom of enemy attacks and be fine, but afterwards I go to pick up loot and dip my toe in a poison puddle (dot = not a “hit”) and lose a third of my HP. Kinda goofy. Of course the real danger is stepping in puddles in the middle of a fight. This game prides itself on being visually indistinct—imagine looking out for blood puddles in the Bloodwood at night, with the ground covered in corpses and coalesced corruption—and HGR is constantly layering AoEs on top of everything else. Overall, it means I have to keep a constant eye on my HP. But if I don’t step in a puddle I’m usually fine.