Here Are What You Expected! Path Of Exile 3.12 - Top Starter Heist Builds

Exiles, today we're taking a look at the build that won Build of the Week on PoE 2 Forums this week: Grape Soda Power Washer by Toastji!

Actually, Grape Soda here is the purple chaos damage converted by Blackflame Covenant Passive after Acolyte of Chayula Monk uses Incinerate skill! This intriguing concept is perhaps one of the key reasons why this build was named Best of the Week. Here, we'll take a closer look at how this Powerwasher Acolyte of Chayula endgame build works.

How Does It Works?

First and foremost, Power Washer Acolyte of Chayula build relies heavily on collecting fuel to incinerate enemies, clearing everything in your path. Meanwhile, the purple flame beams stacked with Volatility boost your damage to the max.

Incinerate is quite simply a flamethrower. To use it, you first need to accumulate fuel, which is collected by spending mana.

We can spend mana on Living Bomb, which not only causes enemies to explode upon taking enough damage or dying, but more importantly, it also drops Fire Remnants, which empower Incinerate with Burning Ground buff, effectively killing two birds with one stone.

Furthermore, to maximize mana consumption and generate more Remnants, we can actually use two Living Bombs, one of which is automatically triggered by Casting on Elemental Ailment. Since Ignite is also a Damaging Elemental Ailment, using Incinerate allows us to continuously cast Living Bombs and generate Remnants.

And, as mentioned earlier, Blackflame Covenant Keystone converts 100% of the fire damage dealt by fire spells into chaos damage, turning its visual effect purple and causing it to scale based on the chaos damage modifier instead of the fire damage.

While the visual effect isn't essential, it's certainly a nice touch. More importantly, this conversion also means that any Ignite dealt by these spells will now deal Chaos damage and benefit from the increased Chaos damage modifier and spread.

Skill Tree Setup

This Grape Soda Acolyte of Chayula Monk build centers around the reworked Incinerate skill, paired with the new keystone passive, Blackflame Covenant, to convert fire spells into Chaos damage and apply Chaos damage over time.

This unique interaction allows for simultaneous adjustment of Ignite power and Chaos mechanics, creating a powerful and flexible build that, when combined with spells like Fireball, can create a trendsetting purple Monk build.

Additionally, this skill works in conjunction with the new Elemental Infusions mechanic, allowing Incinerate to ignite the ground and deal increased Ignition damage to enemies passing through it.

To enhance the effectiveness of our AoE attacks, we can also use Cast on Elemental Ailment Gem to apply Living Bomb to the target during mapping.

Additionally, Volatility mechanic of Acolyte of Chayula Ascendancy in PoE 2 grants you additional Volatility stacks, detonating every 4 seconds, damaging the player and dealing 1% Chaos damage over time, significantly increasing mapping efficiency.

To maintain mana consumption for long-lasting Incinerate spells, target enemies affected by Elemental Ailments, as killing them has a chance to spawn a Mana Remnant, instantly replenishing mana, even exceeding your current mana cap.

However, keep in mind that during Incinerate, movement is limited, which is where Ghost Dance comes in handy. This skill allows you to instantly consume energy upon being attacked, restoring energy shield based on your evasion value.

Finally, Despair and Ball Lightning synergize perfectly. While Ball Lightning's own damage output is low and not a powerful primary damage skill, it can be used to trigger Effigy of Cruelty, which curses enemies upon impact. Despair reduces Chaos Resistance of all targets in the area, allowing us to easily clear all enemies.

Jewels

For Jewels, you should focus on investing in Ailment Magnitude, Ignite Magnitude, Chaos Damage, and Critical Hit, as these directly impact the damage output of most of your skills. Notably, Ignite damage from Incinerate scales with critical hits, which is why it's so effective.

Alternatively, if you have enough PoE 2 currency, you can also equip a Heart of the Well Diamond with Ailment Magnitude stat.

Gear Selection

Weapon Set

In PoE 2 patch 0.3.0, weapon switching has no delay or time penalty, meaning we have even more gear options. To take advantage of weapon switching, this build uses two gear sets to stack powerful debuffs.

• Weapon Set 1: Non-Unique Wand and Focus
• Weapon Set 2: Wicked Quill Withered Wand and Effigy of Cruelty Antler Focus

Whichever weapon set you choose, remember to focus on stats that increase damage, particularly spell damage, spell skill level, and chaos damage.

Armor

For armor, you'll want to equip items with higher Evasion, Energy Shield, and Deflection stats. Since this build doesn't require unique armor pieces, you can easily craft or swap in items with your preferred stats.

Runes

For your runes, be sure to equip Fenumus' Rune of Agony on your wand and Greater Body Rune on your shield to help you gain more chaos damage and life leech, thereby improving your survivability.

Also, equip Greater Iron Rune on your helmet and armor to increase your weapon's physical damage by 20% and armor, evasion, and energy shield by 20%.

You can also place Farrul's Rune of Grace into an empty rune slot on your weapon or armor, reducing the movement speed penalty for using Incinerate by 6%.

Belts

If budget is of no concern, Headhunter Heavy Belt is definitely our best bet. This allows you to gain temporary strength after killing rare monsters, lasting 60 seconds, allowing your character to become temporarily stronger while clearing the map.

Charms

For Charms, prioritize defensive options to maintain Incinerate casting. Ideally, choose a charm with a defense chance modifier when activated to further enhance survivability while channeling skills.

In short, Grape Soda Power Washer build in Path of Exile 2 combines the power of Chaos-themed Acolyte of Chayula Ascendancy with the fire spell Incinerate, providing high-speed casting and potentially massive Chaos damage. This build, with its combination of damage and visuals, truly deserves its spot as the best build of the week!

If you're considering this build, I must warn you that while Incinerate Acolyte of Chayula has impressive damage output, it also comes at a considerable cost. However, you can also visit the cheap PoE 2 currency for sale page on POECURRENCY.com, which will allow you to complete the build at a much lower cost!

In Path of Exile 2, Evasion is a defensive stat that grants a chance to completely avoid physical attacks, making it crucial for characters who rely on this mechanic for survival. This is especially true for builds like Hollow Palm Monk and Lightning Arrow Deadeye, which typically maximize their defensive capabilities by stacking Evasion and Energy Shield.

Therefore, players using high-evasion builds can maximize their chances of dodging incoming attacks by crafting Pure Evasion Body Armor. Especially for new players, using Evasion Body Armor wisely can provide a more direct defense against one-shot attacks than stacking Energy Shield and Life.

So, how do you craft the best Evasion Body Armor in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.0 to effectively boost your build's overall defense? This guide will provide the answers!

Step-By-Step Guide

What do we need to start crafting this armor?

Slipstrike Vest Base

First, we need Slipstrike Vest Base Body Armor. Note that it must be Slipstrike Vest, as this is the base with the highest evasion rating; it should be at least level 79, preferably 80, as this is the most common level available.

Next, we need a chest with the prefix Tier 1 Flat Evasion Rating or Tier 1 % Increased Evasion Rating. Please note that the prefix cannot be hybrid.

For the suffix, we need at least 30% resistance or a deflection rating of around 20%.

Once you have these bases, you need a Greater Essence of Ruin. This essence grants chaos resistance to our body armor, which upgrades it to a rare item.

Infusing Chaos Essence

But what if you already have armor with both evasion and chaos resistance? In this case, you can choose one of Fire, Cold, and Lightning Resistance Essences. It really doesn't matter which one you choose - it's entirely up to you.

Next, we'll crush Chaos Essences. This is because by the end, you can roll anything from Tier 5 to Tier 1. These are the only mandatory requirements, and this makes the crafting cost of this Evasion Body Armor lower overall compared to other materials.

So, we've infused four Chaos Essences into each piece of armor.

Adding Prefixes And Suffixes

So, what's next? We'll add Desecrated Suffixes. To do this, we need Omen of Dextral Necromancy and Preserved Rib. You can select Omen of Dextral Necromancy and then hit each piece of armor with Preserved Rib to ensure it gets the suffix.

However, you don't have to reveal this mod right away. In fact, we even recommend not doing so, as you'll most likely want to use Omen of Abyssal Echoes later to achieve this. However, not every piece of armor is worth it.

Now that our body armor has a complete set of suffixes, we need to add our prefixes. So, what do we do with our prefixes?

If you already have flat evasion, we'll look for the highest% increased Evasion Rating and a hybrid evasion.

You can slam both hybrids, as you have a chance to hit all three mods. However, if you lose, you'll have to repeat the previous steps. However, the crafting cost is really low, so it's worth a try.

Also Read: Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.3.1 Update | All Maps Have Bosses, Orb Of Alchemy Rework & Major Atlas Changes

Omen Of Homogenising Exaltation

Next, we take Omen of Homogenising Exaltation, which grants us the evasion modifier. We can combine it with Greater Exalted Orb to add the desired higher-level modifiers, which share tags with the existing modifiers on your item.

A quick explanation for why we used Greater Exalted Orb instead of Perfect Exalted Orb is that the difference between the two Exalted Orbs is only one tier, which isn't worth it. Don't waste your PoE 2 currency; it's better to start over.

Now, let's bash through all of them. If you don't hit anything good, I recommend recombining them or throwing them away, then getting new bases and repeating the process again.

Desecrated Modifiers

So far, we've managed to achieve a 2400 evasion rating, which is pretty good. But we still need to further optimize this body armor with Desecrated Modifiers in Well of Souls.

Desecrated Modifier system allows you to improve items without risking them being ruined, giving you a lot of autonomy in your crafting. We can take this armor to Well of Souls in Mastodon Badlands to reveal three modifier options.

Note that the three modifier options you receive are random, but are designed to provide useful upgrades for your character. Finally, choose the modifier that best suits your build and select Confirm to add it to your armor.

Cost

Finally, for budget, this Pure Evasion Body Armor costs approximately 5 PoE 2 Divine Orbs, as we only used Omen of Homogenizing Exaltation + Greater Exalted Orb, and Omen of Abyssal Echoes. Aside from the base, the rest is completely affordable, requiring only around 20-30 Exalted Orbs, depending on when you acquire them.

These are the complete steps and cost breakdown for crafting this Evasion Body Armor. Overall, Evasion Body Armor is crucial in PoE 2 because it grants a chance to completely dodge incoming attacks, which is very effective for defending against multiple smaller attacks and reducing critical hit chance. If you're struggling with incoming physical damage, prioritizing crafting this unique armor is an excellent strategy.

If your budget is limited or you don't have the time to craft this armor, there's actually a great solution: visit Cheap PoE 2 Currency Items for sale page on POECURRENCY.com, where you can buy everything you need with lightning-fast delivery!

While Path of Exile 2 patch 0.3.0 only adds Act 4 campaign content, the developers, mindful of player complaints about the repetitive nature of the campaign experience from previous acts, have also introduced new mini-Acts, also known as Interludes, to balance the situation.

Currently, POE 2 has Interludes as a temporary transition between the campaign and the endgame, replacing the need to complete the campaign on Cruel difficulty. These Interludes include new areas, unique bosses, and storylines, providing new sources of POE 2 currency farming and adding depth to open-world exploration.

Here, we'll take a look at Recruit the Ezomytes Interlude quest, which opens after Act 4 in Path of Exile 2, and share how to tackle the final two-boss encounter in this questline Isolde of White Shroud and Heldra of the Black Pyre.

Starting The Battle

Interlude quest is played in no particular order; if this is your first time experiencing it, it'll take you back to Refuge in Ogham.

The first level you encounter here is Scorched Farmlands. Head along the map until you reach a checkpoint, where you must defeat two witches before you can advance.

Before you begin the battle, you'll notice a slight altercation between them, but they'll interrupt it and fight you first. This battle isn't easy, so we'll do our best to explain the attacks and what you need to do to win.

Boss Attacks

The first thing you need to make sure is that one witch deals fire damage and the other deals cold damage.

The first thing you need to do is defeat White Witch who deals cold damage, also known as Isolde of the White Shroud. This is because Isolde applies Cold debuff, which slows your movement speed and makes you vulnerable to attacks from both bosses.

Isolde Of The White Shroud

Now, let's look at Isolde's cold attacks.

Her basic attack occurs when she says, "Ice rends the earth!" Note that there are two versions of this attack if you're close to her, she throws cone-shaped ice shards; if you're far away, she uses her wolf's skull to hurl high-speed ice projectiles.

To dodge both attacks, you need to time your move perfectly. If these attacks hit you, you'll be slowed down. Even if these attacks aren't fatal, they can make you vulnerable to the other witch's more powerful attacks.

Next, let's look at her more powerful attacks. The first is when she says, "Frozen solid!" Several blue circles with runic symbols appear, and large ice spikes emerge from them. Be aware that she can combo twice, so be careful and dodge whenever you see circles appear.

Isolde's next powerful attack occurs when she summons Ice Tornado. A tornado explodes around her, creating several waves of icy spikes on the ground. You'll need to move away from her and avoid the icy spikes.

Her final attack occurs when she says, "Awaken!" Isolde will summon about six or seven wolves with her wolf's skull. At this point, it's important to use Frost Wall to contain them and prevent them from surrounding you.

Heldra Of The Black Pyre

Next, let's look at Fire Witch Heldra of the Black Pyre's attacks.

To attack Heldra, when you see several red circles appear on the ground, stop everything you're doing and move away from them, as they will explode and deal heavy area damage.

However, be aware that Heldra will often attack twice in a row, so you'll need to stay on the move until the attack is truly over.

Her second attack is quite bad. When she says "To Ashes," two walls of stone fangs appear, leaving you with only one exit. Heldra then summons fire from the other side of the wall, and if you're inside it, you're likely dead.

Her other attacks, like Incinerate or The Fire Feasts, aren't as scary as long as you dodge and keep moving.

Boss Battle Tips

Okay, now that we know all the attacks of both witches, let's look at how to survive the fight.

As we mentioned earlier, we can completely ignore Fire Witch here. Our strategy for attacking Ice Witch is to dance in a circle, attacking her at close range, then immediately backing away from her, then getting in close again, repeating this process. This way, we can dodge her attacks, continue attacking, and accumulate damage.

Another important reason for doing this is that if you notice, Isolde of the White Shroud rarely moves around; she stays in the same place, unlike Heldra, who jumps around all the time. This allows you to quickly defeat her, as long as you're constantly stacking damage.

Also, if you need some advice, try not to use your Mana Flask against White Witch, as you'll need it more when facing Fire Witch alone.

After defeating White Witch, you'll finally face Heldra one-on-one. The key to dealing with her attacks lies in dodging and surviving. Honestly, don't worry about stacking damage, as she's constantly moving and constantly casting spells that force you to dodge.

If you have damage-over-time attacks like bleeding, burning, or summoning minions, this fight might be easier, as the damage will stack over time. However, when she creates walls of stone fangs and red circles, her combos will make it difficult to sustain continuous attacks.

Aside from that, don't be afraid to use your flasks, especially life flasks. Be patient and pause when you need a breather. Victory is within reach.

In short, as long as you follow the tips to become adept at anticipating Isolde and Heldra's attacks and consistently deal boss damage, defeating them isn't difficult. But I still recommend that you buy cheap and safe POE 2 Currency at POECurrency.com before starting the boss battle to invest in your character's fire and cold resistance to help you easily deal with the boss's attacks during the battle!

Exiles, great news! The first-ever Fan Art competition for Path of Exile 2 players has arrived! If you're a longtime player of POE series, you know this is a great opportunity for community artists to unleash their talent and creativity, allowing all passionate players to truly enjoy this RPG!

This event invites all community artists to create original static art based on the new content in Path of Exile 2 Early Access, including the recently released Patch 0.3.0, The Third Edict. If your work receives significant attention and places high in the competition, you'll have a chance to win a series of exclusive rewards, including PoE 2 merchandise, Displate metal posters, and in-game micro-transactions.

Are you interested in participating? Here, we'll detail the specific schedule, requirements, and rewards for POE 2 Fan Art Competition.

Time

This Fan Art competition begins on Wednesday, September 24th, and ends on Tuesday, October 21st, at 9 PM PDT. You can submit your artwork at any time until the deadline. Please note that any submissions made after the deadline will not be considered, so hurry! The developers will then announce the winners in the coming days, so stay tuned!

Notes

Before you begin your creation, it's important to understand that this Fan Art competition provides a platform for POE 2 fans to showcase their creative talents. Originality is highly valued, and the rules prohibit the use of AI-generated artwork. If your work is deemed AI-generated, the developers may disqualify you.

How To Submit Your Work?

As mentioned previously, submissions must be static art based on POE 2 Early Access, including paintings, drawings, or modeling, but not videos. You can submit multiple pieces on the forum at any time during the competition. Here are the steps:

1. Go to imgur.com
2. Go to ‘New Post' and drag your images into the window.
3. Once the image has been uploaded, right-click it and click ‘Copy image address'.
4. Click reply to this post and paste the link into the window with [img] at the beginning and [/img] at the end.
5. When you click ‘Post', your image should be displayed!

Rewards

Path of Exile 2 Fan Art competition rewards artists of varying levels, with the top three winners receiving the most generous prizes. But even if you are not a top-ranked creator, the tiered reward mechanism of this event will allow you to reap rewards!

Top Three Winners

• Forum avatar based on the winning submission
• Your choice of 2 Path of Exile 2 Displate Posters
• A set of Path of Exile 2 Pins
• Path of Exile 2 Keycap
• Your choice of Path of Exile 2 Deskpad
• Your choice of two Path of Exile 2 T-shirts
• Chaos Orb Socks
• Your choice of an Armor Set (an Armor Set from the list below)
• Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (Footprints Effect from the list below)

4-5th Place

• Your choice of 1 Path of Exile 2 Displate Poster
• Your choice of one Path of Exile 2 T-shirt
• Chaos Orb Socks
• A set of Path of Exile 2 Pins
• Path of Exile 2 Keycap
• Your choice of an Armor Set (an Armor Set from the list below)
• Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (Footprints Effect from the list below)

6-10th Place

• Your choice of one Path of Exile 2 T-shirt
• Chaos Orb Socks
• Path of Exile 2 Keycap
• Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)
• Your choice of Footprints Effect (Footprints Effect from the list below)

11-20th Place

• Your choice of a Portal Effect (a Portal Effect from the list below)

Runners-Up

• 1 x Third Edict Mystery Box

Microtransaction Prize Pool

Armor Sets List

• Arachnamagus Armor Set
• Arctic Armor Set
• Ashcaller Armor Set
• Celestial Armor Set
• Cerulean Crustacean Armor Set
• Coral Crustacean Armor Set
• Darkwood Armor Set
• Deepwater Armor Set
• Eldritch Monarch Armor Set
• Eldritch Royalty Armor Set
• Elven Knight Armor Set
• Executioner Armor Set
• Havenwood Armor Set
• Immortal Body Armor Set
• Immortal Spirit Armor Set
• Legion Commander Armor Set
• Misery Armor Set
• Myrmidon Armor Set
• Nethermancer Armor Set
• Project Armor Set
• Scarlet Clay Mage Armor Set
• Scourge Commander Armor Set
• Sin Armor Set
• Snowcaller Armor Set
• Suffering Armor Set
• Violet Clay Mage Armor Set

Portal Effects List

• Albino Toad King Portal Effect
• Amber Jellyfish Portal Effect
• Arachnamagus Portal Effect
• Arctic Crystal Portal Effect
• Astral Portal Effect
• Auspicious Gargoyle Portal Effect
• Azure Shardbound Portal Effect
• Bloodsoaked Gargoyle Portal Effect
• Cane Toad King Portal Effect
• Crimson Paladin Portal Effect
• Cursebringer Portal Effect
• Deepwater Portal Effect
• Demonic Shardbound Portal Effect
• Divergence Portal Effect
• Divine Shardbound Portal Effect
• Halls of the Dead Portal Effect
• Harmony Portal Effect
• Heritage Portal Effect
• Lunar Paladin Portal Effect
• Marble Gargoyle Portal Effect
• Maven Portal Effect
• Mist Portal Effect
• Opal Jellyfish Portal Effect
• Overgrown Gargoyle Portal Effect
• Overseer Portal Effect
• Regal Shardbound Portal Effect
• River Toad King Portal Effect
• Sacred Wisps Portal Effect
• Scavenger Portal Effect
• Siren Portal Effect
• Solar Paladin Portal Effect
• Thundering Portal Effect
• Turquoise Jellyfish Portal Effect
• Vulcan Portal Effect
• Zenith Portal Effect

Footprint Effects List

• Arcane Footprints Effect
• Arctic Footprints Effect
• Blighted Footprints Effect
• Blood Tendrils Footprints Effect
• Darkshard Footprints Effect
• Deepwater Footprints Effect
• Delirious Footprints Effect
• Divergence Footprints Effect
• Dragon Hunter Footprints Effect
• Ebony Footprints Effect
• Fire Footprints Effect
• Ghostflame Footprints Effect
• Gore Footprints Effect
• Harmony Footprints Effect
• Harvest Seed Footprints Effect
• Huntsman Footprints Effect
• Ice Footprints Effect
• Infernal Footprints Effect
• Ink Tendrils Footprints Effect
• Lightning Footprints Effect
• Madcap Footprints Effect
• Misery Footprints Effect
• Necrotic Footprints Effect
• Nightfall Footprints Effect
• Overseer Footprints Effect
• Pure Light Footprints Effect
• Radiant Footprints Effect
• Scavenger Footprints Effect
• Siren Footprints Effect
• Synthesised Footprints Effect
• Webbed Tendrils Footprints Effect
• Wild Footprints Effect
• Wrangler Footprints Effect

That's all you need to know about Path of Exile 2's first-ever Fan Art Competition. Enter now before the event closes!

By the way, the rewards for this art competition are primarily cosmetic and won't actually increase your character's abilities. If you want to level up faster and reach the endgame, POE 2 currency for sale on POECurrency.com is what you need.