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Tyrus�s Guide to Being Decent At Races
Ok first off I�m literally what you would call �okay� at racing. I place decently (recently, mostly around the Top 200, and averaging around 19th in my class). So maybe I�m borderline good, but not spectacular. In any case, I have enough knowledge to pass on some basic ideas. Racing is not nearly as much about RNG as people make it out to be. My finishes with an epic rare tribal maul, unique Limbsplitter, and crying my way through with a a weakass magical tribal maul for 70% of the race didn�t change my placement much. RNG can HELP but it�s literally incremental, and racers are stratified mainly on skill in racing. The difference between 50th and 60th, or 1st and 4th, or 100th and 130th might be RNG, like a good drop from hillock, but the difference between 60th and 160th is all STRATEGY.
GENERAL PLAYING ADVICE
#1: YOU ARE NOT PLAYING PATH OF EXILE: You are racing. There�s a huge difference. Things that would be totally unthinkable in the main game are normal course for races:
#2: Play the Lag: This is one of the toughest, but at least more familiar, rules. Don�t �wait� for the game to catch up to you. This takes several forms. The most normal for me is that if I know 2-3 hits will kill a majority of a pack I fire twice and move the hell on. Half the time I�m almost off screen and then 5 mobs fall dead behind me. You have to trust your game sense more than the screen. This includes:
�Learn what desync looks like: Running through tight corridors, hitting a chest and no reaction� obvious ones. There are more subtle indications though. If I�m using fire trap and the trap lands wildly far away (or explodes off the graphic) I�m descyned. Casting curses that fail to hit seemingly targeted mobs is a good one. Mobs dying off of where you�re using your primary damage skill (for example, behind me while I�m ground slamming). /OOS immediately once you sense a desync.
� Hit potions early: There�re a couple of reasons for this, but I�m listing it under compensating for lag. The primary issue here is staying at high life early in a fight against a pack, and not getting in to critical territory until most mobs are almost dead. I default to simply assuming I will need potions in many fights. You DO NOT want to run out of mana at a critical juncture.
�Open chest, keep moving: IMO if a chest seems within reach, it�s worth opening. I got a limbsplit from a chest last race. Don�t go out of your way but if you run by it anyways, click it but keep moving (chances are it�s shit)
�Don�t correct for lag unless it is absolutely critical: For example, try to open a chest, pick up an item, whatever. But if you�ve massively bypassed it, or you missed the item, don�t go back. Most chests are shit, so opening and running, 90% of time it�s worthless to wait for the lag to catch up and spawn items.
#3: Skip small packs, don�t �clean up� packs: For example, 10 monkey pack, kill 8, don�t chase the other 2 around the screen. This is especially applicable for fast enemies that are likely unsynced and therefore more difficult to hit. Only clean up BLUE packs, as the exp is virtually always worth it.
#4: Don�t go back to Town: In Act 1, you should go to town twice or MAYBE three times. Once after hillock, and twice IF NECESSARY to check for sapphire rings from Nessa. There�s a tiny bit of leeway here (coral rings, possibly), but if you�re in town more than three times you�d better have a goddamn good reason. Get the highest damage support gem you can.
#5: Skip content: Don�t do tidal island, don�t even THINK about doing fetid pool. Don�t kill the crab. Don�t Kill Fairgraves. Don�t � anything. This also reduces your desire to return to town.
#6: Vendoring � anything� will never make up for time lost: Exception: if you go back after brutus, AND you happen to have gotten an iron ring, get a blue skill gem and a sapphire IF nessa isn�t selling them. Don�t pick shit up. Don�t hoard rares early. ID all rares that may be useful (every armor piece, for example)
#7: You don�t need those skills: My templar uses Ground Slam and Glacial Hammer. If I�m feeling frisky, I get the Sweep gem and eventually trade to axes (picking up Infernal Blow when shopping for Sapphire Rings), such as when I got a Limbsplitter. Duelist? Cleave and doublestrike, never go back. (LoH when you shop for sapphire rings). Scion� spectral throw is almost all you need. Witch has some excuse to both run tidal and get both fire trap and ice nova� but witch sucks.
#8: You�ll almost die. But you won�t: This is also a tricky, experience based tip. You will get close to dying but you need to be able to anticipate whether you�ll kill more mobs than will kill you faster. Learn when to dodge run and when to just power through. This is a VALUABLE asset, but comes at the price of dying at times trying to learn the skill.
#9: LEDGE AT LEVEL 4: This should set up your mentality for the early levels. You want to hit ledge around Level 4. MAYBE level 5 if you get insanely lucky on pack size in submerged passage. Personally, I hit level 2 on twilight strand ONLY because it virtually guarantees that I leave town the first time with a driftwood maul. I tested it both ways and the time seems to be a wash. Level 4 is the lowest level that gives you full experience at ledge. Ledge is good for farming because of its linear shape and relatively large pack size (submerged has pack size, but the level is significantly lower).
#10 Don�t worry about tank type: If anything, favor an early mix. I virtually always approach Brutus using a brigandine because the combined EV/AR tank makes Brutus miss more, and it�s hard to develop enough armor to counter his hits early. The misses are much more valuable. For witches and shadows even, don�t favor ES tank to the exclusion of other gear (particularly since the shadow can wear more useful gear than the witch). As a templar I virtually never equip AR/ES because I don�t have bonuses to it anyways. Use ES rares if they have good mods.
#11: SAVE CRAFTING FOR WEAPONS. USE YOUR ORBS and use them on the latest and greatest weapon you can get. Your weapon is the MOST important piece of gear you have. You don�t really need those transmutation orbs anyways. DO NOT transmute a basic weapon (e.g. driftwood maul). Save them for next-tier, around Level 8-10, weapons. Only transmute weapons when/before you can use them. Don�t retroactively transmute unless you�re really desperate. Alchemize only at-level weapons when you�re sure you don�t have anything better and need an upgrade RIGHT NOW. Second-order crafting if you get a great weapon is chestpiece if you need an upgrade or boots for movespeed, or gloves for possible damage. Helmet isn�t really a big deal and the small chance of getting good mods on rings and amulet means you really want to be rolling an alch at them but those are generally best saved for weapons.
#12 Blacksmith�s and Armorer Scrap sell for wisdom scrolls: Do this but do not make special trips back to town just for it., UNLESS you are planning on buying a next-tier weapon. For example, if I get an early Whetstone I may use it to buy a tribal maul the instant I hit level 8 if one hasn�t dropped yet.
#13 Don�t stop moving to optimize: If you�re standing still to decide on items, you�re probably doing it wrong. There�s a fine balance here, I admit, but you must ALWAYS PRIORITIZE MOVEMENT over decisions. Have a gameplan, and STICK TO IT.
#14 You can move while your screen is open If you�re stopped while ID�ing items, stopped while choosing passives, stopped while swapping gems, gear, whatever, you�re wrong. You can move and do a majority of things in the game, the most notable being passive allocation, which I will do in combat if necessary.
#15 If you stop to farm before your terminal location, you lost: "Old" race strategy involved farming ledge to level 8 or 9, farming at certain locations, whatever. it is ALWAYS preferable to move on rather than stay and farm.
OVERALL BUILD AND GEAR:
Split between damage and life about 50/50. I like templar mostly because the direct route to life goes through the first damage nodes. It works out pretty well. Duelist�s first node is GREAT for this reason. You don�t have to start life-stacking because in a vast majority of races you won�t get to hard enough content to need it (i.e. cruel mode). Templar, btw, is technically suboptimal directly compared to Marauder in the build I use it in. Witch blows because you need to be like level 12 before you actually hit any tank at all if you get damage nodes. Generally I�d advise using 2h weapons for damage. The reason for this is alpha-strike. 1-2 hits per mob pack is superior to 3-4, even at faster attack speed. Never 1h/shield in races, the DPS is too poor to bother, and the parts of the game you�re in don�t require high tank.
Gear you pray for:
2x Coral or Iron rings (preferably with added damage affixes).
Sapphire rings (by Merveil). Topaz Rings (if you plan on Running CoS, such as if you�re extremely skilled in a 2h race or any 3h race.)
Coral Amulet (life regen is very nice early)
Flasks
Leather Belt, though any good belt drop is nice. I tend to roll a rustic sash with high implicit early since killing fast is most important.
Weapons. Ones you can use, particularly.
Don�t pick up items unless you�re decently sure they will be useful. ID Rare armor whenever feasible because some affixes are very worthwhile. I will often equip ancillary (helmet, gloves, boots) items that have these affixes regardless of tank type. For CHEST armor alone I tend to stick to tank type. DO NOT waste time evaluating armor.
Extra life � For obvious reasons
Life Regen � Also quite nice.
Added Damage � A pair of gloves or a ring that adds a flat amount of damage early in the race can SUBSTANTIALLY increase your DPS and chance of alpha�ing mobs.
Move Speed � On boots, is amazing.
A race basically looks like this:
Starting off, click the guy to open the convo, then get your weapon, which auto-closes the conversation and activates the zombie, it shaves a few seconds off of your time. Get first skill gem. PERSONALLY I get to level 2 on twilight strand, HOWEVER, this is not necessarily optimal. I do it this way as a melee class because I really want to get a driftwood maul at Tarkleigh and he only offers them to L2 or above.
Lioneye: Talk to Tarkleigh, get AoE skill (unless you�re duelist, in which case get your single-target skill). Check Tarkleigh�s shop, QUICKLY (<10 seconds) for:
Weapon: Damage enhancement, assuming hillock didn�t drop
Movespeed boots
IF hillock/strand didn�t drop, or totally necessary for some reason: a chest piece with the needed color socket in it. DO NOT �complete� your armor set here. I�ve literally gotten past ledge with no gloves, no boots or no helmet.
Tyrus�s Guide to Being Decent At Races
Ok first off I�m literally what you would call �okay� at racing. I place decently (recently, mostly around the Top 200, and averaging around 19th in my class). So maybe I�m borderline good, but not spectacular. In any case, I have enough knowledge to pass on some basic ideas. Racing is not nearly as much about RNG as people make it out to be. My finishes with an epic rare tribal maul, unique Limbsplitter, and crying my way through with a a weakass magical tribal maul for 70% of the race didn�t change my placement much. RNG can HELP but it�s literally incremental, and racers are stratified mainly on skill in racing. The difference between 50th and 60th, or 1st and 4th, or 100th and 130th might be RNG, like a good drop from hillock, but the difference between 60th and 160th is all STRATEGY.
GENERAL PLAYING ADVICE
#1: YOU ARE NOT PLAYING PATH OF EXILE: You are racing. There�s a huge difference. Things that would be totally unthinkable in the main game are normal course for races:
#2: Play the Lag: This is one of the toughest, but at least more familiar, rules. Don�t �wait� for the game to catch up to you. This takes several forms. The most normal for me is that if I know 2-3 hits will kill a majority of a pack I fire twice and move the hell on. Half the time I�m almost off screen and then 5 mobs fall dead behind me. You have to trust your game sense more than the screen. This includes:
�Learn what desync looks like: Running through tight corridors, hitting a chest and no reaction� obvious ones. There are more subtle indications though. If I�m using fire trap and the trap lands wildly far away (or explodes off the graphic) I�m descyned. Casting curses that fail to hit seemingly targeted mobs is a good one. Mobs dying off of where you�re using your primary damage skill (for example, behind me while I�m ground slamming). /OOS immediately once you sense a desync.
� Hit potions early: There�re a couple of reasons for this, but I�m listing it under compensating for lag. The primary issue here is staying at high life early in a fight against a pack, and not getting in to critical territory until most mobs are almost dead. I default to simply assuming I will need potions in many fights. You DO NOT want to run out of mana at a critical juncture.
�Open chest, keep moving: IMO if a chest seems within reach, it�s worth opening. I got a limbsplit from a chest last race. Don�t go out of your way but if you run by it anyways, click it but keep moving (chances are it�s shit)
�Don�t correct for lag unless it is absolutely critical: For example, try to open a chest, pick up an item, whatever. But if you�ve massively bypassed it, or you missed the item, don�t go back. Most chests are shit, so opening and running, 90% of time it�s worthless to wait for the lag to catch up and spawn items.
#3: Skip small packs, don�t �clean up� packs: For example, 10 monkey pack, kill 8, don�t chase the other 2 around the screen. This is especially applicable for fast enemies that are likely unsynced and therefore more difficult to hit. Only clean up BLUE packs, as the exp is virtually always worth it.
#4: Don�t go back to Town: In Act 1, you should go to town twice or MAYBE three times. Once after hillock, and twice IF NECESSARY to check for sapphire rings from Nessa. There�s a tiny bit of leeway here (coral rings, possibly), but if you�re in town more than three times you�d better have a goddamn good reason. Get the highest damage support gem you can.
#5: Skip content: Don�t do tidal island, don�t even THINK about doing fetid pool. Don�t kill the crab. Don�t Kill Fairgraves. Don�t � anything. This also reduces your desire to return to town.
#6: Vendoring � anything� will never make up for time lost: Exception: if you go back after brutus, AND you happen to have gotten an iron ring, get a blue skill gem and a sapphire IF nessa isn�t selling them. Don�t pick shit up. Don�t hoard rares early. ID all rares that may be useful (every armor piece, for example)
#7: You don�t need those skills: My templar uses Ground Slam and Glacial Hammer. If I�m feeling frisky, I get the Sweep gem and eventually trade to axes (picking up Infernal Blow when shopping for Sapphire Rings), such as when I got a Limbsplitter. Duelist? Cleave and doublestrike, never go back. (LoH when you shop for sapphire rings). Scion� spectral throw is almost all you need. Witch has some excuse to both run tidal and get both fire trap and ice nova� but witch sucks.
#8: You�ll almost die. But you won�t: This is also a tricky, experience based tip. You will get close to dying but you need to be able to anticipate whether you�ll kill more mobs than will kill you faster. Learn when to dodge run and when to just power through. This is a VALUABLE asset, but comes at the price of dying at times trying to learn the skill.
#9: LEDGE AT LEVEL 4: This should set up your mentality for the early levels. You want to hit ledge around Level 4. MAYBE level 5 if you get insanely lucky on pack size in submerged passage. Personally, I hit level 2 on twilight strand ONLY because it virtually guarantees that I leave town the first time with a driftwood maul. I tested it both ways and the time seems to be a wash. Level 4 is the lowest level that gives you full experience at ledge. Ledge is good for farming because of its linear shape and relatively large pack size (submerged has pack size, but the level is significantly lower).
#10 Don�t worry about tank type: If anything, favor an early mix. I virtually always approach Brutus using a brigandine because the combined EV/AR tank makes Brutus miss more, and it�s hard to develop enough armor to counter his hits early. The misses are much more valuable. For witches and shadows even, don�t favor ES tank to the exclusion of other gear (particularly since the shadow can wear more useful gear than the witch). As a templar I virtually never equip AR/ES because I don�t have bonuses to it anyways. Use ES rares if they have good mods.
#11: SAVE CRAFTING FOR WEAPONS. USE YOUR ORBS and use them on the latest and greatest weapon you can get. Your weapon is the MOST important piece of gear you have. You don�t really need those transmutation orbs anyways. DO NOT transmute a basic weapon (e.g. driftwood maul). Save them for next-tier, around Level 8-10, weapons. Only transmute weapons when/before you can use them. Don�t retroactively transmute unless you�re really desperate. Alchemize only at-level weapons when you�re sure you don�t have anything better and need an upgrade RIGHT NOW. Second-order crafting if you get a great weapon is chestpiece if you need an upgrade or boots for movespeed, or gloves for possible damage. Helmet isn�t really a big deal and the small chance of getting good mods on rings and amulet means you really want to be rolling an alch at them but those are generally best saved for weapons.
#12 Blacksmith�s and Armorer Scrap sell for wisdom scrolls: Do this but do not make special trips back to town just for it., UNLESS you are planning on buying a next-tier weapon. For example, if I get an early Whetstone I may use it to buy a tribal maul the instant I hit level 8 if one hasn�t dropped yet.
#13 Don�t stop moving to optimize: If you�re standing still to decide on items, you�re probably doing it wrong. There�s a fine balance here, I admit, but you must ALWAYS PRIORITIZE MOVEMENT over decisions. Have a gameplan, and STICK TO IT.
#14 You can move while your screen is open If you�re stopped while ID�ing items, stopped while choosing passives, stopped while swapping gems, gear, whatever, you�re wrong. You can move and do a majority of things in the game, the most notable being passive allocation, which I will do in combat if necessary.
#15 If you stop to farm before your terminal location, you lost: "Old" race strategy involved farming ledge to level 8 or 9, farming at certain locations, whatever. it is ALWAYS preferable to move on rather than stay and farm.
OVERALL BUILD AND GEAR:
Split between damage and life about 50/50. I like templar mostly because the direct route to life goes through the first damage nodes. It works out pretty well. Duelist�s first node is GREAT for this reason. You don�t have to start life-stacking because in a vast majority of races you won�t get to hard enough content to need it (i.e. cruel mode). Templar, btw, is technically suboptimal directly compared to Marauder in the build I use it in. Witch blows because you need to be like level 12 before you actually hit any tank at all if you get damage nodes. Generally I�d advise using 2h weapons for damage. The reason for this is alpha-strike. 1-2 hits per mob pack is superior to 3-4, even at faster attack speed. Never 1h/shield in races, the DPS is too poor to bother, and the parts of the game you�re in don�t require high tank.
Gear you pray for:
2x Coral or Iron rings (preferably with added damage affixes).
Sapphire rings (by Merveil). Topaz Rings (if you plan on Running CoS, such as if you�re extremely skilled in a 2h race or any 3h race.)
Coral Amulet (life regen is very nice early)
Flasks
Leather Belt, though any good belt drop is nice. I tend to roll a rustic sash with high implicit early since killing fast is most important.
Weapons. Ones you can use, particularly.
Don�t pick up items unless you�re decently sure they will be useful. ID Rare armor whenever feasible because some affixes are very worthwhile. I will often equip ancillary (helmet, gloves, boots) items that have these affixes regardless of tank type. For CHEST armor alone I tend to stick to tank type. DO NOT waste time evaluating armor.
Extra life � For obvious reasons
Life Regen � Also quite nice.
Added Damage � A pair of gloves or a ring that adds a flat amount of damage early in the race can SUBSTANTIALLY increase your DPS and chance of alpha�ing mobs.
Move Speed � On boots, is amazing.
A race basically looks like this:
Starting off, click the guy to open the convo, then get your weapon, which auto-closes the conversation and activates the zombie, it shaves a few seconds off of your time. Get first skill gem. PERSONALLY I get to level 2 on twilight strand, HOWEVER, this is not necessarily optimal. I do it this way as a melee class because I really want to get a driftwood maul at Tarkleigh and he only offers them to L2 or above.
Lioneye: Talk to Tarkleigh, get AoE skill (unless you�re duelist, in which case get your single-target skill). Check Tarkleigh�s shop, QUICKLY (<10 seconds) for:
Weapon: Damage enhancement, assuming hillock didn�t drop
Movespeed boots
IF hillock/strand didn�t drop, or totally necessary for some reason: a chest piece with the needed color socket in it. DO NOT �complete� your armor set here. I�ve literally gotten past ledge with no gloves, no boots or no helmet.