PoE Sanity

Zero to Mirror Ep 4: The Land Mine Incident 💀💀💀

By XTheFarmerXWatch videoDuration: PT28M10S

Summary

  • Market Update: Logged in after three days to find most items sold, bringing the total liquid currency to approximately 420 Divine Orbs.
  • Simplex Amulet Crafting: Attempted a high-end craft involving a Simplex Amulet base, aiming for “Increased Attributes” and “Damage per 15 Strength.”
  • The Land Mine Incident: Experienced a notorious trade scam where a player (Twopong 1212) used hideout traps to kill me during a 40-Divine trade for a Craicic Chimeral, resulting in the loss of the currency and the item.
  • Recombinator Struggles: Faced significant statistical anomalies, including missing eight consecutive 1-in-3 annulment attempts and losing multiple 50/50 recombinations.
  • Helmet Side-Craft: Successfully crafted a Tier 1 Rarity/Life minion helmet using Hollow Essences and Resonators, yielding a 125-Divine sale to recoup losses.
  • Final Success: After losing roughly 200 Divines throughout the session, successfully finished the Simplex Amulet on the third recombination attempt, resulting in a marginal 7-Divine total profit for the session.

Market Update and Initial Goals

After a three-day absence, the trade tabs are nearly empty. Several overpriced items sold, bringing the total currency to 420 Divine Orbs. The primary goal for this session is to craft a high-end attribute-stacking amulet.

  1. Acquire a Warlord-influenced amulet with “15% Damage per 15 Strength.”
  2. Acquire a Simplex Amulet base.
  3. Roll “Increased Attributes” on the Simplex base.
  4. Use an Awakener’s Orb to combine the mods and attempt to annul off any undesirable third suffixes.

The Simplex Amulet Preparation

The crafting process involves rolling multiple Warlord amulets to hit the damage-per-strength mod.

  1. Amulet Rolling: Use Chaos Orbs or Alchemy/Scouring spam to hit “1% increased Damage per 15 Strength.”
  2. Base Preparation: Roll the Simplex Amulet for “Increased Attributes.”
  3. Awakener’s Orb: Combine the Warlord mod onto the Simplex base. This guarantees the two influence mods but usually adds a “shitter” third suffix.
  4. The Annul: Attempt a 1-in-3 annulment to remove the unwanted suffix while keeping the two desired influence mods. If the annul fails, use a Craicic Chimeral imprint to revert the base and try again.

The Land Mine Incident

During the process of buying Craicic Chimerals for imprinting, I encountered a trade scam. Upon entering the seller’s hideout (Twopong 1212), I was immediately killed by a series of land mines/mobs placed at the waypoint. Because the trade window was not yet secured or the instance was bugged, I lost 80 Divines without receiving the items. This is a known tactic previously associated with players like Sushi and Fubgun in past leagues.

Recombinator Strategy and First Failure

After recovering from the scam, the focus shifts to using the Recombinator to merge the Simplex Amulet with an Astralabe Amulet.

The Math:

  • Suffixes: Combining three suffixes on one base with one on the other (4 total) provides a 91% chance for the resulting item to have two suffixes.
  • Influence Blocking: By ensuring the unwanted suffixes are from different influence pools (e.g., Crusader or Hunter), we filter the pool so only the Shaper and Warlord mods are eligible to stay on the Simplex base.
  • Outcome: There is approximately a 48% total chance to hit the perfect base with both desired suffixes.

First Attempt: The recombination failed. The base was lost, and the suffixes did not transfer as expected.

The Sunk Cost Grind: Essences and Annuls

Returning to the lab to restart the craft, I faced a streak of terrible RNG.

  • Essence Tech: Switched to using Essences to roll the amulets. This is roughly 1/3 the cost of Chaos spamming and guarantees a blocked prefix.
  • The Annul Streak: I missed the 1-in-3 annulment seven times in a row. Statistically, this is a 1-in-1,000 occurrence of bad luck.
  • Eighth Attempt: Finally hit the annul on the eighth try to move forward with the second Recombinator attempt.

Side Project: High Rarity Minion Helmet

To offset the massive losses from the Simplex failures and the scam, I pivoted to a secondary craft.

  1. Base: Fractured Tier 1 Rarity helmet.
  2. Method: Use Hollow Essences in Resonators to hit Tier 1 Rarity and Tier 1 Life.
  3. Investment: Spent approximately 35 Divines on 20 resonators.
  4. Result: Hit Tier 1 Rarity with Tier 2 Life on the final attempt. Slammed the remaining prefix for Evasion.
  5. Valuation: Listed the helmet for 125 Divine Orbs to replenish the crafting budget.

The Final Simplex Recombination

After a raid from Fubgun, I prepared for the final attempt.

  1. Preparation: Acquire a Warlord base with the necessary attribute suffixes.
  2. Setup: Place the Simplex Amulet on the left side of the Recombinator (traditionally considered the “lucky” side).
  3. Divine: Ensure the Simplex base is divined for high rolls before combining.
  4. The Result: Success. The Recombinator preserved the Simplex base and successfully transferred “Increased Attributes” and “Increased Strength.”

Final Tally:

  • Losses: 80 Div (Scam) + 100 Div (Two failed Recombinations) + ~25 Div (Failed Annuls/Materials) = 205 Divines.
  • The final amulet is valuable, but after 4.5 hours of work, the net profit for the session is only 7 Divine Orbs.

Key References