PoE Sanity

Rating ALL BUILDS I played in POE Mirage

By SteelmageWatch videoDuration: PT14M50S

Summary

  • OG Bannerman (Gladiator): A tanky Retaliate-based starter used to farm the league-specific Banner support from Simulacrum.
  • Bloodsoaked Bannerman: The standout “Build of the League,” featuring high speed, screen-wide explosions, and smooth mapping via warcry automation.
  • Spark Acceleration Shrine: A high-ceiling life-stacking build using Energy Blade and Rathpith Globe, ultimately limited by SSF gear constraints.
  • Minion Pact Blade Vortex (Chieftain): The most powerful build of the league, utilizing minion life snapshotting to achieve massive damage with high defensive layers and Chieftain explosions.
  • Mirage League Verdict: Highly rewarding as a loot multiplier; recommended for core integration similar to the Wildwood mechanic.

Introduction

The “Babython” event is concluding following the birth of a new son. With nearly 5,000 new subscribers, the support has been significant. This review covers the progression and performance of all builds played during the Path of Exile 3.28 Mirage league.

OG Bannerman

The league began with a character intended to be the “original” Bannerman. The goal was to reach level 95 and farm Ubers to acquire the new Banner support.

  • Initial Setup: Started as a bow build using basic gear and early unique drops.
  • The Pivot: It was discovered that the Banner support only drops from Wave 15 of the Simulacrum. Bow builds generally lack the defense-to-damage ratio required for high-wave Simulacrum.
  • Transition to Retaliate Gladiator:
    • Swapped to a Retaliate-based Gladiator for superior survivability.
    • Utilized Azari’s Crest to reach an eHP value of approximately 1 to 2 million.
    • While damage was mediocre, the character was tanky enough to clear Simulacrum through attrition, successfully farming the first Bloodsoaked Banner.

Bloodsoaked Bannerman

Rather than respecting the level 95 Gladiator, a fresh character was started to fully utilize the Bloodsoaked Banner. This ended up being the “build of the league.”

  • Performance: Exceptional at mapping, bossing, Heist, and Lab running.
  • Mechanics:
    • Used Aura and Terror for screen-wide explosions.
    • Achieved full ailment and stun immunity with high spell suppression.
    • Reached nearly 300% movement speed via Defiance Banner.
  • Quality of Life Fixes:
    • High investment in warcry speed via amulet prefixes, boot implicits, and the Admonisher passive node.
    • Linked Urgent Orders to main skills.
    • Left-Click Tech: Used Enduring Cry or Corrupting Cry on left-click. This solved a specific issue where the character moved so fast they would outrun their own banner’s damage-over-time application. The slight delay from the warcry animation ensured the character stayed within the banner’s radius.

Spark Accel Shrine

Following the drop of an Acceleration Shrine belt (and a Headhunter), a Spark-based character was developed to capitalize on the shrine’s projectile and action speed buffs.

  • Concept: A life-stacking Energy Blade build using Fireball, Ghost Writhe, and Rathpith Globe.
  • Limitations:
    • Spark currently feels underpowered without extreme investment.
    • SSF constraints made it difficult to acquire the necessary “broken” gear, such as a Focused Amulet, Helical/Manifold Rings, and Kalandra’s Touch.
    • Swapping to a Pinpoint, Overload, and Intensify setup forced the removal of Awakened Fork for Pierce, which significantly hurt the clear speed and overall “feel” of the build.
  • Verdict: Shelved in favor of more powerful options, though it showed potential for a high-budget trade league environment.

Minion Pact BV

This Chieftain build turned out to be the most “broken” interaction of the league, utilizing the Minion Pact support.

  • The Snapshotting Mechanic: Minion Pact sacrifices 3% of a minion’s life to add extra spell damage. Because Blade Vortex (BV) snapshots its damage, you can sacrifice a high-life minion once and maintain that damage bonus as long as the BV stacks are refreshed.
  • Minion Scaling:
    1. Marionettes (Ritual): Provided ~4 million DPS (likely GGG’s intended balance point).
    2. Meat Sacks: Provided 3x more damage than Marionettes (~12 million DPS).
    3. Carcass Boss Scorpions (Act 9): These intermission-phase scorpions have double the life of a Meat Sack, pushing the build to over 20 million DPS with basic SSF gear.
  • Defense and Clear: Combined with Chieftain’s explosions, capped block, and life-on-block recovery. Used Headhunter for high-density mapping (Breach, Legion, Beyond), resulting in “silly” gameplay.

Mirage Thoughts

The Mirage mechanic is highly regarded for its role as a multiplier rather than a standalone mechanic.

  • Core Integration: Suggesting that Mirage should become a core mechanic similar to the Wildwood. Instead of being a mandatory Scarab, it should have a random chance (e.g., 1 in 20 maps) to spawn and duplicate the entire map’s rewards.
  • Balance: Unlike the Affliction league, which overshadowed other content, Mirage acts as a reward multiplier for existing mechanics like Breach or Legion, making it feel consistently rewarding without being “broken” in a vacuum.
  • Future: Taking a two-week break for family time. Future plans include following Path of Exile 2 announcements and potentially a fresh start in the current league or SSF.

Key References