Path of Exile Solo Self Found (SSF) Guide

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eragon1111 a écrit :

Rule #1:

"DONT NAME YOUR CHARACTER 'SSF_*'

You will be used as a source of mockery for Reddit warriors when you quit ssf on day 2 because you are missing 99% of build required uniques.

You won't if you name your character "SSF_IZ_DED".

It's at bit more terrible info then good.

example: using a vaal chaos CAN mess up your unique and turn it into a rare instead (even crap). And any item a vaal chaos was used on can NOT have the slots changed anymore.

warchief totem is terrible unless you get a really good 2h item. (the odds are against you).

The poisons are crap unless you have a 6-link item with typically a +2 level item

Flame blast REQUIRES faster casting, A LOT of faster casting. slow casting = death

And some builds require gems the character you pick cannot buy. Like a witch that needs haste gem for a SRS build (or whatever). What is the builds that don't require gems for the build. Something for first character build in the league.

Very few builds can survive with only 4-socket or less items. This is the heart of what kills newbies. The learning curve is very high. It gets frustrating making your own build and find out it's crap after so many levels without extra sockets.

A better guide for newbies would be builds that can get 80+ with only 4 socket or less items. And stress highly this is the PATH OF LIFE NODES game for people that play with life. And every item (or as many as possible) to get 90+ life on each of them. or if using Energy shield how to get it up there.

Also important is characters in a league can share items in the tabs. So one character can try to find items for another build(s). And in SSF crafting items will be limited. What is the best way to get the most out of crafting, for example.

And few people like or want to play the trading game. Without a trading engine in the game, it's beyond frustrating. The odds of you and the buyer/seller being online at same time = ZERO for some. SSF does NOT allow the trading game, so items are strictly self found.

For naming characters I would suggest initials of your name, like I happen to use CT_name for my characters. If taken I would change it up more like CT82_name. Therefore you never have to worry about someone else using the same name you want.

Probably quite a few more tips for newbies, but i'm old. My memory doesn't work too well these days.

CT, I think your review, while constructive, is overly harsh in its initial statement. That being said, what SSF builds would you then recommend, given your criticism of the guide's build compilation?

P.

They seriously need an exalt recipe or at least allow us to sell chaos to vendors for exalts...

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Ain_Soph_Aur a écrit :

They seriously need an exalt recipe or at least allow us to sell chaos to vendors for exalts...

Vault.

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mrpetrov a écrit :

CT, I think your review, while constructive, is overly harsh in its initial statement. That being said, what SSF builds would you then recommend, given your criticism of the guide's build compilation?

P.

pewpew's firestormer.

Peace,

-Boem-

im playing shockwave totems. I think they are highly underrated. And with SF well.. I want shit not to come near me.

Im taking like 250% life and 10% regen too just to be safe. Its not a race when SF.

I've played SF since the start of OB, about 95% of my main account solo (I'll group with guildies, ofc, but mostly use a separate account specifically for this). So some comments with that in mind.

0) vendors and recipes are your friends. Check A1N for cheap chromes: check A3N onwards for 5L, A3C on for 6s. Every level.
And keep a tab for chaos recipe ingredients, stock sets until you find the rings/amulets/belts which are always the scarcest. Even if you ID everything, 1 chaos a time is OK, and there's generally no need to ID unsuitable bases (cloth belts, moonstone rings if you're not planning ES, coral/paua amulets, etc).
If you have the tabs, do the same for regal also. You won't need nearly as many, but yolo regals on jewels and crafted blues work occasionally.

1) plan your first build as something simple, needing NO particular uniques and not requiring constant weapon upgrades. Caster recommended because the gem scales and you don't have to find better base weapons. Totems work fine; or bladefall, or BV; but I've managed fine with Arc, SRS, Firestorm, Spectre/Zombie...
But I wouldn't say start with (e.g.) Warchief totem, or EQ, because these demand gear. YOu build one of these either expecting it to halt somewhere in the '50s until you find a map-worthy weapon, or build *after* you've found such a weapon. Or Facebreakers.
They do drop eventually, BTW.

2) In the section on crafting... Elreon Multi-mods? Exalt slam? Not sure how many exalts you expect to drop, but I've found 3 this league and that's high. Even chaos are rare until you can run the recipe, and then most of what you get go to maintain T6+ maps.
"Crafting" beyond blues generally isn't possible for SSF, not in leagues. Maybe chaos-spam a really good base (5L) to get 3 good mods, but I'd prefer alt-aug, then regal and hope.
And remember you're solo: I've run Elreon every day and every time, bar 1-2 at the start of the league, and he's not level 8 yet. No rotations here.
Same with Vaaling uniques: fine if you have 2 of them, but you talk about vaaling a 6L Shavs, or Shaper's Touch, or 6L Atziri's Disfavour, or Headhunter's... SELF-FOUND. Maybe in standard this might eventually be possible. But not in a guide for new SSF players. The whole section notes "best done on cheap but decent uniques. SF. Price is irrelevant, it's if they drop.
It's a tough call whether to 5L with Vorici or go random on a 6s item. Depends on your patience, and whether you can manage without the 5L until it's linked. It makes a big difference in power, IMO necessary to move past about T8-T10. But save fusings whenever possible, collect 20 from Vorici as often as you can afford, and it's doable. If you only have 5s, go with Vorici or wait until you can get the 6s.
Don't blow your chances trying for uniques, especially before end-game. You shouldn't really need them, the odds are tiny, and you'll want those orbs to buy from Zana later.

3) On labs: ofc. Makes a big difference. But I would say run the uber lab once you can, and always run all the uber trials you can as it's easy to burn through offerings once you do have it open.
The lab is generally a good test of your build and skill: if you have the build right, it might be painful and the fights might take longer but it should be doable. But I don't recommend going in underlevelled and I try to stop Izaro getting buffed, the extra keys aren't really worthwhile. Argus is a good meter - if your build can kill him then you should be OK for the rest of the lab.

4) On levelling uniques... fine, if you have found them in time. But rather than a long section listing uniques which you may never find, simply say "if they're better than what you're using". It's a giveaway that this wasn't written for SSF when it says on Le Heup "... buy 2 of them."

5) Strongboxes. I always carry some trans/alts/augs for random boxes, to get at least increased qty/additional. Extra sockets, links, uniques, rares... all good. I don't bother chaosing yellows, except if a rare arcanist's has no qty boosts or if I ever found a yellow carto/diviners when it might be worthwhile. It slows me down a little but repays.
Note, on arcanists, I find rolling blue to get at least +6 better than +qty (which can drop only 2-3 orbs).

6) on saving gear. Never mind " Jewelry (Tri-res gear pref 100%+ combined)", save it if it has 2 decent resists. Life or some helpful mod a bonus. Same for "350+ DPS weapons", think yourself very lucky if one drops. Accept lower standards here, because unless you no-life you very rarely find anything this good.

7) maps... go blue for 1-5, alch the first at 6-10 and then consider alching if you're not struggling to complete. I aim for blues at least 30% quantity. Always choose +packsize on rare maps,unless the quantity/mods are fantastic without. I suggest not chiselling anything below T8, those are easy enough to sustain SSF, don't forget purchasing from Zana.
T11+ are rare and not designed for self-sustain. I find T11-T12 in practice is as far as I can manage, T13+ are too rare to be relied on.

And no, I've never managed to reach the Shaper or Uber Atziri: don't play enough for this, I don't gear towards this or expect to do so. A less casual player should find it possible, especially if they already know the mechanics. In general level 90 is as high as I care to go in leagues, it just gets too slow after that and I want to try other builds.
That's one thing I say should be held in mind, only really dedicated players will get much over 90 in league as SSF and the highest end-game portions may not be accessible.

<edit> Chisels. Not before T8, is my advice. Save them all until then. Collect every white quality stone hammer/rock breaker/gavel plus as many others as you can bear to pick up and portal back pre-maps. I don't bother buying them, though.
Once you're in maps, just get quality ones for sure; and fill up if normal ones are still around and you have space.
Incidentally, if I have free space, or from dailies, I still collect small quality weapons/armour to save for the scrap/whetstone recipe. It's easy to run out otherwise, although breaches do help with low currency.

TL;DR GO for SSF, it's fun and more rewarding than buying progress, just don't expect it to be as fast or powerful.

<edited> 5L may be available from A3N vendors on, not A2N.
Also added notes on chisels.

One other thought. Some easily-found uniques which I don't see used often work really well to give impromptu boosts by providing extra supports.
My favourite such is http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Bitterdream, it makes any embedded cold spell effectively a 7L with help on mana. The low support level doesn't matter so much because it's better than a 4L without, probably on a par with a 5L. Nycta's Lantern (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Nycta%27s_Lantern) powered my SRS through Cruel.

And there's a special fuzzy in using something which just happened to drop to help a quirky build.

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Varana a écrit :

I've played SF since the start of OB, about 95% of my main account solo (I'll group with guildies, ofc, but mostly use a separate account specifically for this). So some comments with that in mind.

0) vendors and recipes are your friends. Check A1N for cheap chromes: check A2N onwards for 5L, A3C on for 6s. Every level.
And keep a tab for chaos recipe ingredients, stock sets until you find the rings/amulets/belts which are always the scarcest. Even if you ID everything, 1 chaos a time is OK, and there's generally no need to ID unsuitable bases (cloth belts, moonstone rings if you're not planning ES, coral/paua amulets, etc).
If you have the tabs, do the same for regal also. You won't need nearly as many, but yolo regals on jewels and crafted blues work occasionally.

1) plan your first build as something simple, needing NO particular uniques and not requiring constant weapon upgrades. Caster recommended because the gem scales and you don't have to find better base weapons. Totems work fine; or bladefall, or BV; but I've managed fine with Arc, SRS, Firestorm, Spectre/Zombie...
But I wouldn't say start with (e.g.) Warchief totem, or EQ, because these demand gear. YOu build one of these either expecting it to halt somewhere in the '50s until you find a map-worthy weapon, or build *after* you've found such a weapon. Or Facebreakers.
They do drop eventually, BTW.

2) In the section on crafting... Elreon Multi-mods? Exalt slam? Not sure how many exalts you expect to drop, but I've found 3 this league and that's high. Even chaos are rare until you can run the recipe, and then most of what you get go to maintain T6+ maps.
"Crafting" beyond blues generally isn't possible for SSF, not in leagues. Maybe chaos-spam a really good base (5L) to get 3 good mods, but I'd prefer alt-aug, then regal and hope.
And remember you're solo: I've run Elreon every day and every time, bar 1-2 at the start of the league, and he's not level 8 yet. No rotations here.
Same with Vaaling uniques: fine if you have 2 of them, but you talk about vaaling a 6L Shavs, or Shaper's Touch, or 6L Atziri's Disfavour, or Headhunter's... SELF-FOUND. Maybe in standard this might eventually be possible. But not in a guide for new SSF players. The whole section notes "best done on cheap but decent uniques. SF. Price is irrelevant, it's if they drop.
It's a tough call whether to 5L with Vorici or go random on a 6s item. Depends on your patience, and whether you can manage without the 5L until it's linked. It makes a big difference in power, IMO necessary to move past about T8-T10. But save fusings whenever possible, collect 20 from Vorici as often as you can afford, and it's doable. If you only have 5s, go with Vorici or wait until you can get the 6s.
Don't blow your chances trying for uniques, especially before end-game. You shouldn't really need them, the odds are tiny, and you'll want those orbs to buy from Zana later.

3) On labs: ofc. Makes a big difference. But I would say run the uber lab once you can, and always run all the uber trials you can as it's easy to burn through offerings once you do have it open.
The lab is generally a good test of your build and skill: if you have the build right, it might be painful and the fights might take longer but it should be doable. But I don't recommend going in underlevelled and I try to stop Izaro getting buffed, the extra keys aren't really worthwhile. Argus is a good meter - if your build can kill him then you should be OK for the rest of the lab.

4) On levelling uniques... fine, if you have found them in time. But rather than a long section listing uniques which you may never find, simply say "if they're better than what you're using". It's a giveaway that this wasn't written for SSF when it says on Le Heup "... buy 2 of them."

5) Strongboxes. I always carry some trans/alts/augs for random boxes, to get at least increased qty/additional. Extra sockets, links, uniques, rares... all good. I don't bother chaosing yellows, except if a rare arcanist's has no qty boosts or if I ever found a yellow carto/diviners when it might be worthwhile. It slows me down a little but repays.
Note, on arcanists, I find rolling blue to get at least +6 better than +qty (which can drop only 2-3 orbs).

6) on saving gear. Never mind " Jewelry (Tri-res gear pref 100%+ combined)", save it if it has 2 decent resists. Life or some helpful mod a bonus. Same for "350+ DPS weapons", think yourself very lucky if one drops. Accept lower standards here, because unless you no-life you very rarely find anything this good.

7) maps... go blue for 1-5, alch the first at 6-10 and then consider alching if you're not struggling to complete. I aim for blues at least 30% quantity. Always choose +packsize on rare maps,unless the quantity/mods are fantastic without. I suggest not chiselling anything below T8, those are easy enough to sustain SSF, don't forget purchasing from Zana.
T11+ are rare and not designed for self-sustain. I find T11-T12 in practice is as far as I can manage, T13+ are too rare to be relied on.

And no, I've never managed to reach the Shaper or Uber Atziri: don't play enough for this, I don't gear towards this or expect to do so. A less casual player should find it possible, especially if they already know the mechanics. In general level 90 is as high as I care to go in leagues, it just gets too slow after that and I want to try other builds.
That's one thing I say should be held in mind, only really dedicated players will get much over 90 in league as SSF and the highest end-game portions may not be accessible.


TL;DR GO for SSF, it's fun and more rewarding than buying progress, just don't expect it to be as fast or powerful.

+1,this is imho a must read for every new-to-ssf player, together with the (somewhat decent) guide.