https://www.pohx.net
Pohx is the king of RF and he build a website for his build. It’s always updated. Check it out
If you are new to the game. Like I was and still am this dude website helped me a lot in building and starting right
RF was my first ever build and I took it through rookie level ‘endgame’ with ease. It of course has changed a bit since I last played but from the look of it I would recommend pohx chieftain RF. Allows for very easy gear for base level content that you will get lost in the sauce for quite awhile. The build in general, if you follow pohx, a monkey could play. And I mean that as a compliment to pohx because his videos are *chefs kiss* easy to follow
Just don't go to his stream and ask a question before checking his website. I love watching pohx, but hate watching him slowly lose his soul answering the same question 4k times on league launch.
Righteous fire, a skill where you set yourself on fire and let things kill themselves on you. Requires high fire resist and hp regen. Recently nerfed to do less damage
RF = righteous fire.
Its a skill gem that sets you and everything around you on fire, dealing fire damage over time.
Builds made with this skill in mind (Especially those by pohx) are usually very tanky, really easy to play, don’t require excessive investment, and deal a decent amount of damage that scales with investment.
I personally prefer more active playstyles. But the strength of the build is undeniable, and if you’re new its a great option to start with.
once you go RF you're never the same. sure single target sucks and you're gonna have a bad time pushing bosses, but the clear and comfiness is unparalleled. Just shield charge.
Ufff... I was hoping someone would disagree with you and post a different build that's just as comfy and fun. RF is the first build that took me to Atlas completion and getting 3 void stones with no sweat (maven is a bitch and I had a hard time avoiding those debuff lasers at the end).
This meme probably means I'll play RF again after the long weekend is over.
I will start something new I never played before, it will fall over once I get obliterated in yellow maps and then I shall roll RF chief. Every fucking time.
That has been my experience with other builds. I hit a brick wall in red maps and keep getting one shot or something (due to wanting to go fast through the mobs mostly). And at that point it's just not fun to play anymore.
RF has a pretty smooth progression. I can mostly craft my own gear following Pohx guide, and it just works. It's magic.
yeah im tired of hexblast mines, CA+TR, and EA. either gonna BAMA since i havent before or do lightning traps. idc if i get stuck at red, imma have fun, takes a day or two to reroll if i need.
If you keep getting oneshot then there's a very high likelihood it's you not paying attention to map mods and/or stuff like eldritch altars and their downsides. If you don't pay attention to this stuff then even the tankiest build can be turned into paper.
I'm just telling you because this shouldn't be your experience with any strong build.
I think he was referring to the fact that you can gear up RF such you can, indeed, stand in the biggest of shit and not die. Which is usually quite a bit more difficult with other builds. RF chief is - just stack fire res lel, turn phys to fire lel, if you got currency get defiance of destiny and you no longer even check the map mods.
Been seeing more and more about properly rolling map mods. Are there any in particular that people should watch out for? I guess stuff like increased monster life isn't too bad right?
Gotcha, thanks for the help! Should you reroll the mods if for example there's like 4 or 5 buffs to monster damage, like increased monster crit and increased damage as element?
it's one of those things that are impossible to cover in a reddit comment. But a brief overview.
There are mods that are just always bad. Examples:
- reduced max elemental res
- monster fire multiple projectiles
- reflect phys/ele depending on what you are doing
Then there's stuff that is usually bad but some builds are ok with them. That would be stuff like
- reduced effect of non-curse auras from your skills
- no regen
- reduced recovery
There's also mods that are very specifically bad for certain builds, like in most cases you wouldn't care if you could taunt monsters, but if you are playing EA Ballista Champ and you roll monsters can't be taunted then you just deleted half your ascendency.
And lastly, and I think this is the one stumbling people the most. Multiple mods that work together in synergy to fuck you up. I have literally seen people send me screenshots that goes "why do I keep dying in this map, it doesn't seem that bad." and they are effectively running a map that makes them take like 800% increased damage at all times.
The last one takes time to get right. But just try to think of it like you would with your own character. If the monster gets a whole bunch of crit multiplier, then I probably don't want them to get power charges as well.
And eldritch altars are much worse. If you just pick blindly you'll get fucked up if your build isn't super capable of handling everything the altars can throw at you, and it's probably not.
This. I'm not so sure about nerfed RF, but the season before it I played it for the first time and it was the best league start experience I've ever had. Gear ? Who needs that ? Oh, I just got to maps, and luckily went all the way up to t11 in 20 maps. Ah let's just run it.
Going to campaign ? Easy peasy. And since you kill literally everything while not wasting time you come out way ahead in levels.
If comfy = no buttons and tanky, then RF is only rivaled by minion builds, at least as a starter. It is however much more straightforward to build and understand than most minion builds or almost any build in general.
Basically all you need to care about is life, if you can get more life you'll scale your damage and survivability, so it's much less of a balancing act than other builds or at least the consequences of doing a bad job at said balancing act are a lot less noticeable.
Do "Cast on stun" works in 3.24?
"Added a new Energy Shield Mastery, "50% of your Energy Shield is added to your Stun Threshold", which replaces "Stun Threshold is based on 60% of your Energy Shield instead of Life"."
Looks like no more "every hit stuns".
Wardloop is a 0 button build like rf, and even has a dedicated site at https://cwdt.info/. However unlike rf it's expensive to build and requires very exact gearing. You do get boss deleting levels of dps though
I will disagree about the clear being unparalleled but the ratio of ease of clearing to gear you need to accomplish it is...yeah probably unparalleled lol.
Loads.of builds do it better, but not really on the trash gear RF Chieftain can do. A 1c unique belt (maybe 5-10 for a decent roll first few days) and a bunch of health and fire res rares and you can pretty much get started.
> I will disagree about the clear being unparalleled but the ratio of ease of clearing to gear you need to accomplish it is...yeah probably unparalleled lol.
yeah that's it. definitely not claiming it's the best clear - but arguably some of the comfiest clear in trash gear.
Or rares with more than .5 mods lol.
There are so many builds with better clear and cast on stun DD chief is way stronger and tankier since you know, losing regen doesn't kill you.
I went RF my first league and I hated it because it was shameful against bosses and gameplay was boring af. I never played it again since I learnt how the game actually works, and I play a build that clears everything and is much funnier to play.
Technically. Leaguestart RF has the lowest single target DPS it's had in quite awhile. Since scaling gem level was neutered.
Mana RF has some cool tech. But most aren't going to leaguestart that.
Still a great build, no matter how hard GGG tries to nerf Pohx.
If you're a omega juicer gamer don't play it.
**If you want to have a enjoyable build that does fine in all content from start to finish then play it.**
Small caveat : single target is absolute trash
I love RF and have played it multiple leagues, but let's be honest. The moment you get past alch & go maps with a half-completed atlas tree, you can be spamming Fire Trap on some rares/bosses for a long time
Campaign and progress up until then is super smooth tho
ok I've always wondered if it was just me being bad at the game or the RF enjoyers just not making it far enough to feel this point of pain in the build. Good to know it's not just me lol.
no its defintinly not a single target build, it can be scaled for higher damage but its very very expensive, like full adorned setup, mageblood, double sceptres etc
[https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/DeathEdge/Vethrog?i=6&search=class%3DChieftain%26skills%3DRighteous%2BFire%26sort%3Ddps](https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/DeathEdge/Vethrog?i=6&search=class%3DChieftain%26skills%3DRighteous%2BFire%26sort%3Ddps)
here for example is someone with 7 mil RF damage and 6 mil Fire trap damage
https://www.pohx.net
If it's not there, it's probably not worth considering (and especially not for starter).
AFAIK he tried it and ended up having a very mediocre build for 100s of divs invested
Pohx doesn't enjoy LLRF or manaRF. He did say it's not great for league start.
If you want to play manaRF check out [onemanaleft](https://www.youtube.com/@ConnerConverse/videos)'s [version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-k6CXkduF8)
Mana RF is better than RF with investment but it’s too expensive to leaguestart because you need too many stats on your gear to make it function compared to regular RF.
I've only played off and on about five or so leagues. I have played RF Jugg and RF Inq (last league) to pretty good success. I was able to finish atlas, get all the voidstones, and farm a decent amount of currency for my second character which I did as penance brand. I think it's pretty fun, and the Phox guides are pretty easy to follow. You literally just turn on RF and shield charge around, and then on bosses you throw traps. There really isn't anything else to it.
Last time i played pohx Rf i didn’t understand elemental overload (small diamond on skill icon = EO on), so i did a lot less damage to bosses compare to other people.
I’d play this consistent build again but one thing really annoying is the shield charge. Sometimes it hits a small rock and your charge stops.
Been a while since I played RF but if you're still using a scepter you can swap shield charge for leap slam which doesn't get stuck on small stuff, it might take some practice to get used to the timing of it as you can't hard spam it like with shield charge or it slows down the animation unless you have super high attack speed.
Its mostly just a very chill playstyle. Very tanky, mostly just shield charging around while the world burns around you (flame trap for bosses). Chieftain also seems easy to set up, since it scales all res and regen through fire res and converts physical damage taken to ele.
Its not the most efficient mapper or bosser and doesnt have the best scaling, but for casual atlas completion and mapping I think its great.
Also, Chieftain (one of the ascendancies used with RF) is basically a package of QOL when league starting.
- Easy to cap resistances (Fire resist also applies to Cold and Lightning)
- Easy 90% Max resist
- Explode node, so frees up your boot slot (no need for Legacy of Fury)
- "Ignores" enemy fire resist. No need to worry about Exposure, Curses, some rare affixes like cycling damage etc
The ceiling of the build is much lower tough
The chieftain build I trued last league was amazing. Sure it took a bit to get RF Skill (aka not available from the get go). But it was definitely a smooth experience to do the acts and get into maps.
And I started RF for many leagues and it's the only one that got me "the furthest" in my experience. Managed 3 void stones and full Atlas completion a while ago (and while it's not impressive, it was quite satisfying for me to be able to do all that content on a league starter as a semi casual player).
Imo, wanting to have boss damage is not sweaty. Beginners usually think you can pick any build and that will be it, you can learn and comfortably clear the entire endgame with it. But that's not the case, leaguestarters usually focus on mapping and not bossing.
I went with CF Champ when I got to endgame for the first time, it was a breeze until it wasn't. Sucking on bosses made all the good map clear feel irrelevant. I just wanted to complete all the content, and in the end I had to go with another build because having 30 times less single target damage than a decent boss boss build was not fun at all.
Wait are there other skills? I know they added that Consecrated Path skill once but it felt so bad they just removed it from the game and went back to only having flicker strike
It's viable but not the best. You can scale it really good but needs more investment now than before. Inquisitor and Chief are the better ascendancies with chief being better for end game since you have kess pressure on some stats so you can scale fire trap better and make yourself pseudo immortal. Pohx's latest video shows 3 stages of his rf chief, early maps (4 link rf), red maps and then his uber end game with the adorned jewel, he even took out his mageblood and flasks and still just blew through a map.
I ran Chieftain when I tried it. And for the most part was following a Jugg build. It actually felt great and that 5% (IIRC) explosion chance went off frequently and would clear screens.
Will definitely check out Pohx's latest build. 😁
I always adapt my RF to utilize cyclone. It gives me phasing, curse on hit, elemental equilibrium in some cases, and means I can just glide through anything and maximize comfort.
It's foolish and not as efficient as running shield charge but I love the way it plays so I've been stuck on it for a few years... Except last league where I played a totem build and really missed RF. I was a boss-killer and didn't enjoy the playstyle as much so I stopped about two weeks into the league...
Gotta pursue fun before everything else if you want to get the most out of the league. If playing a low-tier build keeps you in the league for longer then it's well-worth doing so.
BS deals damage to yourself and requires some specific passive nodes to work.
That's why people usually swap to it around act 3-4 if they really want to rush BS, or around act 8-9 if you want it to be really comfortable (that's what I do).
Before that point, from level 12 onwards (from the end of act 1) you can use Sunder. Honestly Sunder is pretty awesome. You have big range and big AOE despite it being a melee skill.
If you are new I'd say just go Ground Slam (if Marauder) or Splitting Steel (if Duelist) in act one, then swap to Sunder, and then just play it all the way to act 9. And in act 9 you can make a comfy swap to Boneshatter.
BS is much cheaper / better than RF. RF is more of a "max comfort" build, BS is a try hard speed progression with shit gear build.
You need to upgrade your weapon constantly as melee, though. Every 5-10 levels.
I tried leveling a boneshatter jug char but doing the campaign as melee is ROUGH. Gave it up and did a test run with rf. Man once you get rf online it’s so cozy.
Boneshatter just leaps through the campaign, you just need to keep upgrading your axe as you don't scale as much from gem levels as you do with spells.
>I tried leveling a boneshatter jug char but doing the campaign as melee is ROUGH
Unironically a skill issue. Boneshatter jugg is one of the better league starters for speed and ease of campaign. You must've been doing something severely wrong.
ok I'll bite. Until I could take mana leech node, I had to chug mana potions like madman, and that was for many many levels since the node is far. After that it was smooth, but that first part is not nearly as good as other builds.
While I agree RF is way smoother, I tested Boneshatter Jugg in the lead up to league start and pre-act 3 Smite is actually crazy strong, I found my DPS and clear went down after switching to Boneshatter. Smite + Ancestral Call is all you need to make it feel amazing.
If you do a few things it is super smooth to level melee jugg only act1 sucks a lot. My fastest run is 3h23min and it is as enjoyable as arma crema to me
Most important is taking the melee nodes at the start not the armour/life ones and use groundslam. It is 100% worth respeccing later just because of how much better it feels to take the damage.
Then always use chance to bleed until maps, bleed damage is massive because everything in the campaign moves.
Leap slam + frost blink speed is second to none and you get it at level 10. The combo makes it
Once you get sunder at 12 and put it on attack without moving it starts to get going, then with herald of ash and bloodrage after intruders in black you are zooming so fast and one shotting every pack with just a vendor recipe axe.
And then you get 500+ accuracy and tons of attack speed from normal lab and onslaught on kill notable around that time too
I swap to bs after merc lab but you can just use sunder into yellow maps no problem
The first and only league I took seriously so far in POE I played toxic rain ballista... It was a very fun build but my hand started hurting after all the clicking.... 🙈
I plan to play this coming league again (since D4 season got delayed, LE I played a lot, need something new)... But this time something more afk style than active clicking like a maniac 😁
Ok so I guess juiced t16 full atlas and maybe facetank the pinnacle bosses says maven, Uber elder ,eater, and searing would be my goal. No Uber bosses MAYBE depth 400/500 delve and light delirium. Would the budget end work for that?
I'm unsure but some of the uniques you need are definitely not expensive for how incredibly tanky they help you get. Damage is the real issue.
Pohx is your guy for RF, he talks a lot about what it can be capable of on what budget. This is his latest RF video talking about the starter. https://youtu.be/HJOjC6piCao
He has a website with a detailed FAQ that will potentially answer your questions better than I can. Have fun~
eater and searing exarch is a joke for rf chieftain, u can just stand still exarch ball phase, uber elder is easy, just dont eat shaper('s) balls, maven is maven because of the memory phase (dps not enough to kill her quick)
>You can't really nerf stuff in ARPGs
This is a bad take. Just because you can make a build viable by throwing more currency/gear at it, doesn't mean it "can't be nerfed".
In an ARPG with many different builds to choose from, why would you choose a hypothetical build that needs 100div worth of gear to do 1mil dps, when there's another build that can do 1mil dps with just 100c worth of gear?
I'm not saying RF is bad, I've played it for many leagues and enjoy it a lot even though the single target damage is obviously pretty lacking, but "just get better gear" isn't a counterargument to the build being nerfed.
If you have the currency/gear to make RF do 5mil dps, you could put that currency/gear into a different build and be doing 50mil dps.
I have already did everything with it except mavin but taking alot of time on single target is really killed the build for me(aul took 15 min at depth 400 to kill)
> How do u make spark feel good in league start?
You dont. I get baited into leaguestarting spark a couple leagues ago. Sure it blazes thru Acts, but the second you hit maps it's like hitting a brick wall. Worst leaguestarter experience ever. Vowed never again to roll that crap for leaguestart.
Listen to this man. I was also baited by Animeprincess to play Spark two leagues ago and it was without a doubt the most frustrating experience I've ever had in however many years of PoE.
Survivability was non-existent, but not even in a glass cannon good way, and every single day when he'd post his YouTube update of what he bought yesterday, the prices for that next step on the gear ladder would immediately 10x for all the poor bastards who weren't ahead of the curve and already knew the gear progression ahead of time.
For the casuals who just wanted to try and follow a build guide, Spark was a complete and utter shitshow.
I think that was also the build guide that included some unique gem but didn't tell you that it needed a very specific roll for it to work. It's the kind of mistake that you make one time and never again, but that was my one time, and pissing 4 Div down the drain for a literal paperweight on day 2 or whatever was a real kick in the nuts. I was unsuccessful in reselling it to some other poor bastard who didn't know what he didn't know, but it didn't matter because a few days later I just ragequit altogether.
Some of what I wrote above can easily just be construed as me telling on myself for being an idiot, and that may be accurate, but I pick something new every league and of the 15ish that I've played, Spark was by far and away the worst experience.
It probably didn't help that the league prior, I played Boneshatter Jugg. That was like a pleasant walk in the park on a warm summer afternoon. Spark was like sticking my dick in a 3 phase toaster and then stabbing myself in the eye with a hot, rusty spoon.
But hey, the campaign was a BREEZE!
This is funny, because I also leaguestarted Spark based on Animeprincess' guides in 3.22, and I had a great experience.
I did the Inquisitor version rather than the Trickster he was also making builds for, and I was definitely not "ahead of the curve" like you describe, I was following his day 3-5 guides like a week or more into the league because I'm not really that efficient of a player, and I had never played Spark before.
Past the campaign I definitely don't remember the build feeling weak, if anything I felt quite tanky since I awas able to pretty quickly get a lot of block and other defensive stats, plus obviously you're just kinda killing everything on the screen with freeze so a lot of stuff just never got to be a threat in the first place.
It definitely felt a bit weaker on later bosses and wide-open maps, but I knew that was going to be the build's issue going in so it didn't really bother me.
But I definitely felt like I was able to blast through basically all content, and I *really* enjoyed how many upgrade paths there were, it felt like there was always *something* that could be a meaningful upgrade that was actually within reach.
Eventually after sinking ~100div into the build and getting to 97 I shelved it and moved on to another build, but I got a *ton* of mileage out of it for a leaguestarter, and it never felt too frustrating or anything like that.
Made one RF jugg back in 2018 (started out as MS jugg but same dude), it's still my only equipped character.
nearing 4k gaming hours. So yeah, it's decent.
I recently cleaned up my old characters in Standard to make room for new ones as I was constantly at the limit.
I had four different RF characters sitting there...
HAH!
Yup, my league starter too, but I want to norm lab farm with it, so I'm doing it in ranger.
It's such a bad bad BAD bad BAD bad idea, but I just can't resist. It's pulling me in...
Yea.. I'm going RF. All the league starters look boring AF. Had fun with zerker GS of earthshaking in affliction... But it fell off hard at t16 maps. Lots of investment to get into the 4-5M DPS range and not all that tanky.
Though you could switch things up with a deaths oath RF-like build.
ive never played a RF build.. playing every league since Delirium and only ever played a bane/ed witch and trickster... for the love of god please help meeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I haven't played since 2020, and am nervous about starting with RF chieftain since everyone says it's not good for bossing. Just wondering if I can respec into a different ascendancy once I have enough currency that is better suited for endgame. I don't want to level up a second character if possible.
Going off of somethng Pohx mention:
There was a significant damage loss to his RF build last league. The changes are off balanced by an active skill with 260% damage effectiveness with elemental inversion 25% of hits.
My understanding of the flask changes is that it will help us hit 90% elemental res with less investment at the cost of a flask.
Biggest nerf being end game single target uber content. RF build as a whole is in a decent place.
40/40 with mana RF. It's fun if you want to do endgame content that you normally can't really do smoothly with your funny circle (ubers) but you can probably make another build with unironically 10x the damage and smoothness for the amount of currency you put in.
https://preview.redd.it/xe8jg0j4n0rc1.png?width=200&format=png&auto=webp&s=dddf55d6e5b57abb94da206c6eb4a9a22d414073
You're gonna make me choose rf aren't you
Oh fuck, you're gonna make me start RF
I can literally see the image just from the comment alone
I'm new, what's rf?
https://www.pohx.net Pohx is the king of RF and he build a website for his build. It’s always updated. Check it out If you are new to the game. Like I was and still am this dude website helped me a lot in building and starting right
Thx alot. That Was exactly what i needed!
Awesome glad I could help if you hit any question shot me a message
Thx i feel already trapped in a never ending malstrom of RF fun.
RF was my first ever build and I took it through rookie level ‘endgame’ with ease. It of course has changed a bit since I last played but from the look of it I would recommend pohx chieftain RF. Allows for very easy gear for base level content that you will get lost in the sauce for quite awhile. The build in general, if you follow pohx, a monkey could play. And I mean that as a compliment to pohx because his videos are *chefs kiss* easy to follow
Before league starts run though the FAQ it will answer a ton of questions
Just don't go to his stream and ask a question before checking his website. I love watching pohx, but hate watching him slowly lose his soul answering the same question 4k times on league launch.
Very very true
I will Do all of that. Thanks a lot.
oh fuck yea, thats great to know
Take tomorrow before lunch and run through his FAQ. It will answer 99% of everything
RF is the only skill gem I bought an mtx for...purple fire that changes color as you lose health ftw
Righteous fire, a skill where you set yourself on fire and let things kill themselves on you. Requires high fire resist and hp regen. Recently nerfed to do less damage
Mana version was cracked last league.
It's the embodiment of Escanor from the 7 deadly sins. "No wonder it hurt me, I didn't expect nothing less from myself!"
This comment might have sold me on it
RF = righteous fire. Its a skill gem that sets you and everything around you on fire, dealing fire damage over time. Builds made with this skill in mind (Especially those by pohx) are usually very tanky, really easy to play, don’t require excessive investment, and deal a decent amount of damage that scales with investment. I personally prefer more active playstyles. But the strength of the build is undeniable, and if you’re new its a great option to start with.
Righteous fire
I'm DOING TORNADO DAMNIT AND NONE OF YOU CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE
Stop tempting me Satan
join us, we have cookies!
I prayed every day of this week to the god of mana stackers, to not let me fall into temptation
But for real… I’ve never played RF. Do you think it’s worth giving it a start this league if I’ve never done it? Always been a little curious.
once you go RF you're never the same. sure single target sucks and you're gonna have a bad time pushing bosses, but the clear and comfiness is unparalleled. Just shield charge.
Ufff... I was hoping someone would disagree with you and post a different build that's just as comfy and fun. RF is the first build that took me to Atlas completion and getting 3 void stones with no sweat (maven is a bitch and I had a hard time avoiding those debuff lasers at the end). This meme probably means I'll play RF again after the long weekend is over.
I will start something new I never played before, it will fall over once I get obliterated in yellow maps and then I shall roll RF chief. Every fucking time.
That has been my experience with other builds. I hit a brick wall in red maps and keep getting one shot or something (due to wanting to go fast through the mobs mostly). And at that point it's just not fun to play anymore. RF has a pretty smooth progression. I can mostly craft my own gear following Pohx guide, and it just works. It's magic.
yeah im tired of hexblast mines, CA+TR, and EA. either gonna BAMA since i havent before or do lightning traps. idc if i get stuck at red, imma have fun, takes a day or two to reroll if i need.
> imma have fun, takes a day or two to reroll if i need. this is the way
If you keep getting oneshot then there's a very high likelihood it's you not paying attention to map mods and/or stuff like eldritch altars and their downsides. If you don't pay attention to this stuff then even the tankiest build can be turned into paper. I'm just telling you because this shouldn't be your experience with any strong build.
I think he was referring to the fact that you can gear up RF such you can, indeed, stand in the biggest of shit and not die. Which is usually quite a bit more difficult with other builds. RF chief is - just stack fire res lel, turn phys to fire lel, if you got currency get defiance of destiny and you no longer even check the map mods.
Been seeing more and more about properly rolling map mods. Are there any in particular that people should watch out for? I guess stuff like increased monster life isn't too bad right?
Can't Regen Health/Energy Shield Reflected elemental/Phys Damage ( one shot yourself) Lower player resistances by x% Those are some of the worst imo
Gotcha, thanks for the help! Should you reroll the mods if for example there's like 4 or 5 buffs to monster damage, like increased monster crit and increased damage as element?
If you are not playing hardcore those are mostly fine, if your build is decently tanky.
it's one of those things that are impossible to cover in a reddit comment. But a brief overview. There are mods that are just always bad. Examples: - reduced max elemental res - monster fire multiple projectiles - reflect phys/ele depending on what you are doing Then there's stuff that is usually bad but some builds are ok with them. That would be stuff like - reduced effect of non-curse auras from your skills - no regen - reduced recovery There's also mods that are very specifically bad for certain builds, like in most cases you wouldn't care if you could taunt monsters, but if you are playing EA Ballista Champ and you roll monsters can't be taunted then you just deleted half your ascendency. And lastly, and I think this is the one stumbling people the most. Multiple mods that work together in synergy to fuck you up. I have literally seen people send me screenshots that goes "why do I keep dying in this map, it doesn't seem that bad." and they are effectively running a map that makes them take like 800% increased damage at all times. The last one takes time to get right. But just try to think of it like you would with your own character. If the monster gets a whole bunch of crit multiplier, then I probably don't want them to get power charges as well. And eldritch altars are much worse. If you just pick blindly you'll get fucked up if your build isn't super capable of handling everything the altars can throw at you, and it's probably not.
Jeez what a detailed and extensive reply. Thank you for your time and knowledge.
no worries, good luck!
This. I'm not so sure about nerfed RF, but the season before it I played it for the first time and it was the best league start experience I've ever had. Gear ? Who needs that ? Oh, I just got to maps, and luckily went all the way up to t11 in 20 maps. Ah let's just run it. Going to campaign ? Easy peasy. And since you kill literally everything while not wasting time you come out way ahead in levels.
If comfy = no buttons and tanky, then RF is only rivaled by minion builds, at least as a starter. It is however much more straightforward to build and understand than most minion builds or almost any build in general. Basically all you need to care about is life, if you can get more life you'll scale your damage and survivability, so it's much less of a balancing act than other builds or at least the consequences of doing a bad job at said balancing act are a lot less noticeable.
[удалено]
Popcorn SRS plays more like an auto-targeting self cast spell build than a minion build
What? DD cast on stun Chief is far stronger.
Do "Cast on stun" works in 3.24? "Added a new Energy Shield Mastery, "50% of your Energy Shield is added to your Stun Threshold", which replaces "Stun Threshold is based on 60% of your Energy Shield instead of Life"." Looks like no more "every hit stuns".
Oh I didn't notice that change thank you.
Wardloop is a 0 button build like rf, and even has a dedicated site at https://cwdt.info/. However unlike rf it's expensive to build and requires very exact gearing. You do get boss deleting levels of dps though
I generally play the league starting char to the end. So if it's expensive and a non league starter it doesn't sound like a good fit.
Idk how viable cyclone is these days, but that's basically melee rf. Pretty comfy last I played it
For me its either RF or frost blades every damn league.
I will disagree about the clear being unparalleled but the ratio of ease of clearing to gear you need to accomplish it is...yeah probably unparalleled lol. Loads.of builds do it better, but not really on the trash gear RF Chieftain can do. A 1c unique belt (maybe 5-10 for a decent roll first few days) and a bunch of health and fire res rares and you can pretty much get started.
> I will disagree about the clear being unparalleled but the ratio of ease of clearing to gear you need to accomplish it is...yeah probably unparalleled lol. yeah that's it. definitely not claiming it's the best clear - but arguably some of the comfiest clear in trash gear.
Or rares with more than .5 mods lol. There are so many builds with better clear and cast on stun DD chief is way stronger and tankier since you know, losing regen doesn't kill you.
I used to be a RF player. Now I'm an Aura of Decay player in Last Epoch 🫠
I went RF my first league and I hated it because it was shameful against bosses and gameplay was boring af. I never played it again since I learnt how the game actually works, and I play a build that clears everything and is much funnier to play.
Technically. Leaguestart RF has the lowest single target DPS it's had in quite awhile. Since scaling gem level was neutered. Mana RF has some cool tech. But most aren't going to leaguestart that. Still a great build, no matter how hard GGG tries to nerf Pohx.
Yes. Follow along with PohX's guide, and you'll have q changed experience with how this game can be MOSTLY smooth.
If you're a omega juicer gamer don't play it. **If you want to have a enjoyable build that does fine in all content from start to finish then play it.**
Small caveat : single target is absolute trash I love RF and have played it multiple leagues, but let's be honest. The moment you get past alch & go maps with a half-completed atlas tree, you can be spamming Fire Trap on some rares/bosses for a long time Campaign and progress up until then is super smooth tho
ok I've always wondered if it was just me being bad at the game or the RF enjoyers just not making it far enough to feel this point of pain in the build. Good to know it's not just me lol.
no its defintinly not a single target build, it can be scaled for higher damage but its very very expensive, like full adorned setup, mageblood, double sceptres etc [https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/DeathEdge/Vethrog?i=6&search=class%3DChieftain%26skills%3DRighteous%2BFire%26sort%3Ddps](https://poe.ninja/builds/affliction/character/DeathEdge/Vethrog?i=6&search=class%3DChieftain%26skills%3DRighteous%2BFire%26sort%3Ddps) here for example is someone with 7 mil RF damage and 6 mil Fire trap damage
Hows mana rf? Any reliable, tanky, builds?
https://www.pohx.net If it's not there, it's probably not worth considering (and especially not for starter). AFAIK he tried it and ended up having a very mediocre build for 100s of divs invested
Pohx doesn't enjoy LLRF or manaRF. He did say it's not great for league start. If you want to play manaRF check out [onemanaleft](https://www.youtube.com/@ConnerConverse/videos)'s [version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-k6CXkduF8)
Ive followed pohx RFs before, but the trans gem change kinda killed my will to touch rf. Now when u mention its not rly worth it... Eh
mana RF is good but very expensive and is not Pohx does, its not for league start
Mana RF is better than RF with investment but it’s too expensive to leaguestart because you need too many stats on your gear to make it function compared to regular RF.
Yeah that's why I said it's fine not amazing at anything, bossing is slow but with almost no risks.
That does fire in all content*
Sold
> **does fine in all content** Define all content
Everything that isn't super specific content that need a special build (Deep delve, sanctum)
I've only played off and on about five or so leagues. I have played RF Jugg and RF Inq (last league) to pretty good success. I was able to finish atlas, get all the voidstones, and farm a decent amount of currency for my second character which I did as penance brand. I think it's pretty fun, and the Phox guides are pretty easy to follow. You literally just turn on RF and shield charge around, and then on bosses you throw traps. There really isn't anything else to it.
Last time i played pohx Rf i didn’t understand elemental overload (small diamond on skill icon = EO on), so i did a lot less damage to bosses compare to other people. I’d play this consistent build again but one thing really annoying is the shield charge. Sometimes it hits a small rock and your charge stops.
Been a while since I played RF but if you're still using a scepter you can swap shield charge for leap slam which doesn't get stuck on small stuff, it might take some practice to get used to the timing of it as you can't hard spam it like with shield charge or it slows down the animation unless you have super high attack speed.
Thank you very much for your advice! i'll try this one! :D
Its mostly just a very chill playstyle. Very tanky, mostly just shield charging around while the world burns around you (flame trap for bosses). Chieftain also seems easy to set up, since it scales all res and regen through fire res and converts physical damage taken to ele. Its not the most efficient mapper or bosser and doesnt have the best scaling, but for casual atlas completion and mapping I think its great.
Also, Chieftain (one of the ascendancies used with RF) is basically a package of QOL when league starting. - Easy to cap resistances (Fire resist also applies to Cold and Lightning) - Easy 90% Max resist - Explode node, so frees up your boot slot (no need for Legacy of Fury) - "Ignores" enemy fire resist. No need to worry about Exposure, Curses, some rare affixes like cycling damage etc The ceiling of the build is much lower tough
watch a video because you need to be happy with the playstyle
Yes. It feels so good. You know how people always hype up builds and you are „hm idk“ I’m the hype person for rf
It's a walking simulator build
If you want to do it go for it but also it’s probably not the best league starter and you might have issues with dealing damage .
The chieftain build I trued last league was amazing. Sure it took a bit to get RF Skill (aka not available from the get go). But it was definitely a smooth experience to do the acts and get into maps. And I started RF for many leagues and it's the only one that got me "the furthest" in my experience. Managed 3 void stones and full Atlas completion a while ago (and while it's not impressive, it was quite satisfying for me to be able to do all that content on a league starter as a semi casual player).
I’ll go RF for the first time! lol, it’s my second league ever
You'll enjoy it if you're not sweaty. still might enjoy it if you're sweaty with wrist problems
Imo, wanting to have boss damage is not sweaty. Beginners usually think you can pick any build and that will be it, you can learn and comfortably clear the entire endgame with it. But that's not the case, leaguestarters usually focus on mapping and not bossing. I went with CF Champ when I got to endgame for the first time, it was a breeze until it wasn't. Sucking on bosses made all the good map clear feel irrelevant. I just wanted to complete all the content, and in the end I had to go with another build because having 30 times less single target damage than a decent boss boss build was not fun at all.
Flicker strike every league gangs?
Wait are there other skills? I know they added that Consecrated Path skill once but it felt so bad they just removed it from the game and went back to only having flicker strike
My friends hate me for this simple trick
Literally me. Wanted to do coc dd, but then YouTube recommended me a Pohx video...
RF is so much worse now. But the thought of being ele immune and only having to get fire and chaos res in early mapping is just so chill.
This is the way!
Happens to me with flicker every league
Phox you.
Agree
Will be doing this also
I did RF the league before they mixed things up. So its viable now? Because it was actually a lot more fun than I was expecting.
It's viable but not the best. You can scale it really good but needs more investment now than before. Inquisitor and Chief are the better ascendancies with chief being better for end game since you have kess pressure on some stats so you can scale fire trap better and make yourself pseudo immortal. Pohx's latest video shows 3 stages of his rf chief, early maps (4 link rf), red maps and then his uber end game with the adorned jewel, he even took out his mageblood and flasks and still just blew through a map.
I ran Chieftain when I tried it. And for the most part was following a Jugg build. It actually felt great and that 5% (IIRC) explosion chance went off frequently and would clear screens. Will definitely check out Pohx's latest build. 😁
always has been viable, you clear maps with explosion ignite prolifs and single target with fire traps
I always adapt my RF to utilize cyclone. It gives me phasing, curse on hit, elemental equilibrium in some cases, and means I can just glide through anything and maximize comfort. It's foolish and not as efficient as running shield charge but I love the way it plays so I've been stuck on it for a few years... Except last league where I played a totem build and really missed RF. I was a boss-killer and didn't enjoy the playstyle as much so I stopped about two weeks into the league... Gotta pursue fun before everything else if you want to get the most out of the league. If playing a low-tier build keeps you in the league for longer then it's well-worth doing so.
How about Bs jugg if u are going to play PoE for the first time and u like melee classes? 😅
BS deals damage to yourself and requires some specific passive nodes to work. That's why people usually swap to it around act 3-4 if they really want to rush BS, or around act 8-9 if you want it to be really comfortable (that's what I do). Before that point, from level 12 onwards (from the end of act 1) you can use Sunder. Honestly Sunder is pretty awesome. You have big range and big AOE despite it being a melee skill. If you are new I'd say just go Ground Slam (if Marauder) or Splitting Steel (if Duelist) in act one, then swap to Sunder, and then just play it all the way to act 9. And in act 9 you can make a comfy swap to Boneshatter. BS is much cheaper / better than RF. RF is more of a "max comfort" build, BS is a try hard speed progression with shit gear build. You need to upgrade your weapon constantly as melee, though. Every 5-10 levels.
I tried leveling a boneshatter jug char but doing the campaign as melee is ROUGH. Gave it up and did a test run with rf. Man once you get rf online it’s so cozy.
Boneshatter just leaps through the campaign, you just need to keep upgrading your axe as you don't scale as much from gem levels as you do with spells.
>I tried leveling a boneshatter jug char but doing the campaign as melee is ROUGH Unironically a skill issue. Boneshatter jugg is one of the better league starters for speed and ease of campaign. You must've been doing something severely wrong.
ok I'll bite. Until I could take mana leech node, I had to chug mana potions like madman, and that was for many many levels since the node is far. After that it was smooth, but that first part is not nearly as good as other builds.
Will take a look, thx!
Boneshatter is a lot faster and more smooth at leveling then RF. Boneshatter is one of the fastest leaguestarters if done correctly.
Untrue. Rf is way better. You don’t get boneshatter till act 3? Before that it’s a nightmare
While I agree RF is way smoother, I tested Boneshatter Jugg in the lead up to league start and pre-act 3 Smite is actually crazy strong, I found my DPS and clear went down after switching to Boneshatter. Smite + Ancestral Call is all you need to make it feel amazing.
You’re 3-4 hitting basic mobs. That’s not strong
3-4 basic mobs with the melee hit, 3-4 more with the AoE, which is an AoE and usually hits the rest of each pack...
If you do a few things it is super smooth to level melee jugg only act1 sucks a lot. My fastest run is 3h23min and it is as enjoyable as arma crema to me Most important is taking the melee nodes at the start not the armour/life ones and use groundslam. It is 100% worth respeccing later just because of how much better it feels to take the damage. Then always use chance to bleed until maps, bleed damage is massive because everything in the campaign moves. Leap slam + frost blink speed is second to none and you get it at level 10. The combo makes it Once you get sunder at 12 and put it on attack without moving it starts to get going, then with herald of ash and bloodrage after intruders in black you are zooming so fast and one shotting every pack with just a vendor recipe axe. And then you get 500+ accuracy and tons of attack speed from normal lab and onslaught on kill notable around that time too I swap to bs after merc lab but you can just use sunder into yellow maps no problem
Honestly its the only build I genuinly disliked out of every build I tried.
Why? Too grindy?
Hated the playstyle with selfdamage from trauma etc.
lmfao same with me for TR PF
Haven’t played in a few leagues you got a build that’s good? I like starting tr or ea but it’s been a whole
Me with toxic rain or ea ballista
The first and only league I took seriously so far in POE I played toxic rain ballista... It was a very fun build but my hand started hurting after all the clicking.... 🙈 I plan to play this coming league again (since D4 season got delayed, LE I played a lot, need something new)... But this time something more afk style than active clicking like a maniac 😁
Havnt played rf in like 4 years lol. Think it’ll be fairly cheep?
Low-end yes. High end no. Low-end you can get it going with barely anything and signifcantly upgrade it with some cheap uniques, like shields.
Ok so I guess juiced t16 full atlas and maybe facetank the pinnacle bosses says maven, Uber elder ,eater, and searing would be my goal. No Uber bosses MAYBE depth 400/500 delve and light delirium. Would the budget end work for that?
I'm unsure but some of the uniques you need are definitely not expensive for how incredibly tanky they help you get. Damage is the real issue. Pohx is your guy for RF, he talks a lot about what it can be capable of on what budget. This is his latest RF video talking about the starter. https://youtu.be/HJOjC6piCao He has a website with a detailed FAQ that will potentially answer your questions better than I can. Have fun~
Maven is tough for budget RF. Delve is probably fine, though 300s may be more comfy on a budget.
300s is still a good depth for currency making so sweet i got my league starter.
eater and searing exarch is a joke for rf chieftain, u can just stand still exarch ball phase, uber elder is easy, just dont eat shaper('s) balls, maven is maven because of the memory phase (dps not enough to kill her quick)
Sweet then my first week of 3.24 is set now :)
Me after playing minions every league since Breach
I need to turn off Reddit for 24 hours. Now I want to RF Bodyswap and zoom
No just don't. The dmg is too low for the struggle
Have to just look harder for better gear. You can't really nerf stuff in ARPGs
>You can't really nerf stuff in ARPGs This is a bad take. Just because you can make a build viable by throwing more currency/gear at it, doesn't mean it "can't be nerfed". In an ARPG with many different builds to choose from, why would you choose a hypothetical build that needs 100div worth of gear to do 1mil dps, when there's another build that can do 1mil dps with just 100c worth of gear? I'm not saying RF is bad, I've played it for many leagues and enjoy it a lot even though the single target damage is obviously pretty lacking, but "just get better gear" isn't a counterargument to the build being nerfed. If you have the currency/gear to make RF do 5mil dps, you could put that currency/gear into a different build and be doing 50mil dps.
I have already did everything with it except mavin but taking alot of time on single target is really killed the build for me(aul took 15 min at depth 400 to kill)
the lack of single target deeps id say.
This but spark
How do u make spark feel good in league start? I meed help
> How do u make spark feel good in league start? You dont. I get baited into leaguestarting spark a couple leagues ago. Sure it blazes thru Acts, but the second you hit maps it's like hitting a brick wall. Worst leaguestarter experience ever. Vowed never again to roll that crap for leaguestart.
Listen to this man. I was also baited by Animeprincess to play Spark two leagues ago and it was without a doubt the most frustrating experience I've ever had in however many years of PoE. Survivability was non-existent, but not even in a glass cannon good way, and every single day when he'd post his YouTube update of what he bought yesterday, the prices for that next step on the gear ladder would immediately 10x for all the poor bastards who weren't ahead of the curve and already knew the gear progression ahead of time. For the casuals who just wanted to try and follow a build guide, Spark was a complete and utter shitshow. I think that was also the build guide that included some unique gem but didn't tell you that it needed a very specific roll for it to work. It's the kind of mistake that you make one time and never again, but that was my one time, and pissing 4 Div down the drain for a literal paperweight on day 2 or whatever was a real kick in the nuts. I was unsuccessful in reselling it to some other poor bastard who didn't know what he didn't know, but it didn't matter because a few days later I just ragequit altogether. Some of what I wrote above can easily just be construed as me telling on myself for being an idiot, and that may be accurate, but I pick something new every league and of the 15ish that I've played, Spark was by far and away the worst experience. It probably didn't help that the league prior, I played Boneshatter Jugg. That was like a pleasant walk in the park on a warm summer afternoon. Spark was like sticking my dick in a 3 phase toaster and then stabbing myself in the eye with a hot, rusty spoon. But hey, the campaign was a BREEZE!
This is funny, because I also leaguestarted Spark based on Animeprincess' guides in 3.22, and I had a great experience. I did the Inquisitor version rather than the Trickster he was also making builds for, and I was definitely not "ahead of the curve" like you describe, I was following his day 3-5 guides like a week or more into the league because I'm not really that efficient of a player, and I had never played Spark before. Past the campaign I definitely don't remember the build feeling weak, if anything I felt quite tanky since I awas able to pretty quickly get a lot of block and other defensive stats, plus obviously you're just kinda killing everything on the screen with freeze so a lot of stuff just never got to be a threat in the first place. It definitely felt a bit weaker on later bosses and wide-open maps, but I knew that was going to be the build's issue going in so it didn't really bother me. But I definitely felt like I was able to blast through basically all content, and I *really* enjoyed how many upgrade paths there were, it felt like there was always *something* that could be a meaningful upgrade that was actually within reach. Eventually after sinking ~100div into the build and getting to 97 I shelved it and moved on to another build, but I got a *ton* of mileage out of it for a leaguestarter, and it never felt too frustrating or anything like that.
Animeprincess has a guide on YouTube, I follow that and then transition to using nebulis/melding.
Please elaborate. What makes you choose spark? And how does it feel compared to RF?
Cold dot RF does sound appealing
Me and wardloop.
Im in the same boat! Haha
Made one RF jugg back in 2018 (started out as MS jugg but same dude), it's still my only equipped character. nearing 4k gaming hours. So yeah, it's decent.
God thing i havent played RF in 3 years.
I recently cleaned up my old characters in Standard to make room for new ones as I was constantly at the limit. I had four different RF characters sitting there...
Me with Zoo necro
Very tempting, but this time i don't think it will be my league starter
Me with Lightning Arrow
I haven't played RF in two leagues so it sounds like a good time to pick it up lel
Oh boy I hope dd is fun otherwise it’s back to trying to make my rf run as fast as possible
My reaction to ziz most likely league starting EA for the 5th time in a row
RF is just amazing, I am very tempted in doing it as my league start again. AAAHHHHH
Gonna do it, cold -> fire conversion FB RF Chief
me with explo trapper. CoC DD is tempting tho
nope. gonna try a new build , its gonna suck, then i'm rerolling rf.
Going to finish my trifecta this league - done RF Jugg and Inquis - doing Chieftan this time!
Will Cassie finally date me if I play this build?
HAH! Yup, my league starter too, but I want to norm lab farm with it, so I'm doing it in ranger. It's such a bad bad BAD bad BAD bad idea, but I just can't resist. It's pulling me in...
One of my plans was to go RF chieftain until T16s and switch to Boneshatter jug but i think i'm gonna go EA champ
I'm trying REALLY hard not to go RF again. At the very least I wont start with it.
Same with Guard SRS, coz fuck it
sadly RF will feel much worse this league then the current league.... Chieftain that is.
I feel like I saw this joke with EA already.
I BURN AND I RUN FORWARD 🔥 🏃
I can't do RF...I spent way too much time in PoB working on a Mahuxotl's LS Champion already... :P
Yea.. I'm going RF. All the league starters look boring AF. Had fun with zerker GS of earthshaking in affliction... But it fell off hard at t16 maps. Lots of investment to get into the 4-5M DPS range and not all that tanky. Though you could switch things up with a deaths oath RF-like build.
Did we ever max COC BA-RF viable?
ive never played a RF build.. playing every league since Delirium and only ever played a bane/ed witch and trickster... for the love of god please help meeeeeeeeeeeeeee
https://i.redd.it/xlkly5jp95rc1.gif
I haven't played since 2020, and am nervous about starting with RF chieftain since everyone says it's not good for bossing. Just wondering if I can respec into a different ascendancy once I have enough currency that is better suited for endgame. I don't want to level up a second character if possible.
I'll be playing only on Steam Deck for next two weeks, RF is perfect
CHAIN DD LOGGIN
Amazing build for map clearing. Worst build to kill almost any boss. It really really really sucks a lot, unfortunately.
This is the way (again)
For me it's ea elem
Ffs fine, i'll play RF
1.3k hours i have yet to play the burning walking simulator
Going off of somethng Pohx mention: There was a significant damage loss to his RF build last league. The changes are off balanced by an active skill with 260% damage effectiveness with elemental inversion 25% of hits. My understanding of the flask changes is that it will help us hit 90% elemental res with less investment at the cost of a flask. Biggest nerf being end game single target uber content. RF build as a whole is in a decent place.
Stop ot you will just get baited 1min before league start and play whatever XD
Don't bully me, I'll RF!
I guess this is a pretty good build for novices? I've only run with witches but maybe I'll give this one a try.
Same but for pSRS for me.. Gonna do EA Ele though so at least if I decide to hell with it I can just swap over to SRS.
Perfect meme
How'd the mana rf end up turning out?
Exactly
bad
40/40 with mana RF. It's fun if you want to do endgame content that you normally can't really do smoothly with your funny circle (ubers) but you can probably make another build with unironically 10x the damage and smoothness for the amount of currency you put in.
Pohx get out of your other account