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In Path of Exile 2, Rarity Bot playstyle is a very unique economy-focused approach designed specifically for multiplayer mapping. Instead of dealing damage by yourself, you stack Item Rarity and execute mechanics to help your party obtain higher-value loot drops.

There are not many players who choose this playstyle because your main role is supporting the team, almost like a robot following other players around. In addition, this setup was weakened in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0. Although it remains effective, the gameplay is now very different compared to the previous League.

The Core of Rarity Bot Playstyle

The Fate of the Vaal League

In PoE 2 Patch 0.4.0, there were actually quite a few players choosing Rarity Bot playstyle. Its core item was Gravebind Rope Cuffs, which counted all enemies killed near you as your own kills, allowing you to benefit from additional loot bonuses.

You could also equip items such as Palm of the Dreamer Shrine Sceptre, Fixation of Yix Stellar Amulet, Alchemist's Boon, or various aura skills to provide damage bonuses and recovery effects for your teammates.

You did not need to cast spells or actively fight. You could freely chat, pick up loot, and even help your teammates collect PoE 2 currency. Your main responsibility was simply staying close to the team and maintaining the required range, making it a very relaxed playstyle overall.

Runes of Aldur League

However, this playstyle received a major nerf in Runes of Aldur League. Gravebind Rope Cuffs gained a devastating negative modifier in Patch 0.5.0: your other Item Rarity bonuses no longer apply. This means that when using these gloves, you can only gain around 20% increased rarity.

As a result, Rarity Bot setup from The Fate of the Vaal League no longer works effectively in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0. Fortunately, the player community discovered an alternative solution.

Legacy of Deathblow

In Patch 0.5.0, you need to replace the gloves with Horror's Flight Engraved Bracers and socket a Legacy of Deathblow Rune into them.

Legacy of Deathblow Rune grants the culling strike ability, allowing all of your skills to execute enemies:

Normal monsters are executed at 35% health, Magic monsters are executed at 20% health, Rare monsters are executed at 10% health, Unique monsters are executed at 5% health.

Culling Strike Threshold can be further increased through equipment. For example, certain Myris Uxor Covert Hood items can provide 100% increased execution threshold. By combining multiple item modifiers, you can significantly improve your execution efficiency.

However, Legacy of Deathblow Rune costs around 200 Divine Orbs. For new players who want to try this playstyle, the entry requirement is extremely high, which may be one of the main reasons why the number of Rarity Bot players has dropped significantly.

If you want to give this build a try, you can buy PoE 2 Divine Orbs at PoEcurrency.com. Rarity Bot playstyle yields excellent returns, so you'll be able to recoup your investment quickly.

Because you need to equip Legacy of Deathblow Rune, your passive tree must allocate many Culling Strike Threshold nodes. This heavily restricts your passive choices, making it difficult to invest in curse and aura improvements. As a result, both your team buff potential and personal survivability are reduced.

New Equipment and Passive Choices

Although Rarity Bot playstyle faces many challenges in Runes of Aldur League, there are still several ways to increase Item Rarity:

• Rite of Passage Golden Charm: Increases Item Rarity found by 15%.
• Magnum Opus node: For every empty flask slot, Charm effects are increased by 100%. This can greatly enhance the effect of Rite of Passage.
• Wondertrap Silk Slippers: Provides a large amount of Item Rarity while in Low Life status.
• Mageblood Utility Belt: Greatly helps Rarity Bots maintain resistances while reaching higher Item Rarity limits.

Gameplay Feel and Damage Contribution

The current League's Rarity Bot setup feels much more active. Since triggering executions requires you to actively use skills, you are no longer just a passive follower. You must continuously cast abilities. This creates a double-edged effect because it changes both the gameplay style and the overall experience.

From a damage contribution perspective, previous Rarity Bots dealt almost no damage themselves. However, with the execution mechanic in the current League, you can instantly kill enemies once they reach the execution threshold, meaning you are now contributing real damage instead of simply acting as an AFK support character.

Strategies Suitable for Rarity Bot

Patch 0.5 completely redesigned Endgame system. For normal players, most strategies still provide decent returns, but the situation is completely different for Rarity Bots. Almost none of the redesigned content benefits this playstyle.

• Grand Expedition: Most rewards come from explosives obtained through Versium Remnants, while Divine Orb drops are relatively limited. Rarity Bots have very little impact on this content.
• Breach: Most rewards come from Breach completion rewards, which are not affected by Rarity Bots.
• Delirium: Item Rarity and party size have no significant impact on the number of Simulacrum Splinter drops.

Currently, the only clearly effective option is Abyss content. It provides a large number of monsters that can be executed, and Item Rarity can influence the drop rate of Omen of Lights. Temple content is still usable, but it has been heavily weakened, further limiting the performance of Rarity Bot builds.

Overall, Rarity Bot support playstyle performs quite poorly in Runes of Aldur League. It requires significant investment and has limited applications. However, this playstyle still has a dedicated player base, and many players hope it can receive further improvements in PoE 2 Patch 1.0.

PoE 2 Patch 0.5 introduced Concussive Runes, bringing new possibilities to melee gameplay. This Concussive Ancestral Cry Titan build is a powerful build specifically designed around this mechanic.

It chains together Heavy Stun, Ancestral Cry, Armor Explosion, and Herald effect, turning a single normal attack into the starting point of a series of explosions.

The biggest feature of this build is its incredibly smooth pacing.

The character doesn't need to stop and wait for skill rotations; by constantly approaching enemies with high-speed movement, the first hit inflicts Heavy Stun, after which Concussive Runes and various explosions automatically take over the battlefield. Clearing maps is essentially a matter of charging straight in, with monsters falling one after another behind you.

Core Mechanics

In PoE 2, this build revolves around a simple loop: Attack enemy - Cause Heavy Stun - Trigger Concussive Runes Shockwaves - Destroy armor and trigger explosions - Herald effect continues to spread damage.

Return of the Ancients's Concussive Runes unleashes Shockwaves on Heavy Stun enemies, and this build has numerous Stun buffs. Through the area-of-effect buffs of Hulking Form, Sine Aequo Grand Manchettes, and Overwhelming Presence, most monsters will enter a Heavy Stun state after the first attack.

This is crucial because much of the build's damage only applies to Heavy Stun enemies.

Effects like Crushing Impacts and Smash provide additional damage after enemies are controlled. Against bosses, these damage spikes activate simultaneously as Stun gauge begins to build, resulting in a very rapid decrease in health.

Concussive Runes themselves also contribute to clearing mobs. Their impact range can grow, and with Runes' shield and area-of-effect buffs, a single heavy attack can cover a large area in front.

Armor Explosion provides an additional layer of damage. Equipped with Wolf Charm, the character continuously damages enemy armor, triggering an explosion upon armor breakage.

Combined with Herald of Thunder and Herald of Ice, multiple explosion effects can be chained together. In actual gameplay, it's common for a single enemy to be stunned, wiping out surrounding enemies as well.

Ancestral Cry

Another unique feature of this build is the triggering method for Ancestral Cry.

In Patch 0.5, normally Glory needs to be accumulated to unleash Ancestral Cry. Here, Animus Exchange is used to quickly acquire Glory.

Animus Exchange itself consumes Mana, so when paired with Lifetap, it becomes a life cost. Combined with Second Wind III, this allows for continuous skill activation. Since Zerphi's Infamy also consumes life, this combination quickly replenishes Glory.

In PoE 2, casting Animus Exchange twice consecutively will activate Ancestral Cry. It's recommended to use instant health potions to avoid health stress affecting gameplay.

Weapon Set 2 is crucial here. It needs to have a skill effect duration bonus and also requires a hammer that provides +5 melee skill level.

Note that Ancestral Cry must be configured in two weapon slots simultaneously. Switching to Weapon Set 2 when casting grants the skill level and duration bonuses from that set; then switching back to Weapon Set 1 raises the skill level to 38.

After casting, using skills like Earthshatter set to Weapon Set 1 and switching back will restore the damage boost from Weapon Set 1.

If your Animus Exchange is only level 20, two casts might not fully fill Glory slot. In this case, you can replace Second Wind III with Uhtred's Constellation to allow the skill to be cast three times consecutively.

This build requires moderate investment to reach its full potential. Core upgrades include a high-level hammer, skill level bonuses, key unique items, and optimized Concussive Runes. While the build can function on a lower budget, additional PoE 2 Currency greatly improves damage, clear speed, and consistency.

Skill Combinations

This build's main damage output revolves around Ancestral Cry.

Ancestral Cry is paired with Voran's Siege, Zerphi's Infamy, Rakiata's Flow, and Concussive Runes.

Since a large portion of the damage in this build in Return of the Ancients comes from elemental bonus damage, Rakiata's Flow effectively supplements the overall output.

Earthshatter primarily serves to switch weapon sets. After casting Ancestral Cry, use Earthshatter to switch back to Weapon Set 1, regaining damage and passive effects.

Of course, it can also be used as a single-target PoE 2 skill, but in actual combat, the enhanced Ancestral Cry is sufficient to handle most targets.

The two Heralds are Herald of Thunder and Herald of Ice. Herald of Thunder provides Lightning damage and status effects, while Herald of Ice helps supplement control. 

Since Cold damage itself doesn't easily cause a stun, Concussive Runes are included here, allowing armor penetration and bonus damage to help trigger control chains. 

Wind Dancer is used as a defensive skill, incorporating Concussive Runes. When enemies attack the character, Runes are triggered, and the character recovers status through Armour Explosion, Life Leech III, and other methods.

Passive Skill Tree

In Patch 0.5, the passive skill choices for this build primarily revolve around Stun, area-of-effect, and Elemental Armament.

Heavy Stun-related nodes are core, as a significant amount of additional damage is applied simultaneously when the boss enters Stun. Area-of-effect effects increase the coverage of Concussive Runes and Herald Explosion, while Elemental Armament further enhances Herald of Thunder and Herald of Ice.

If your PoE 2 gear allows, you can choose a hammer with Stun accumulation affix for more consistent first-hit control. However, this build does not rely on attack speed; skill level and base damage are always higher priority attributes.

The greatest appeal of this Concussive Ancestral Cry Titan set lies in its combination of the impactful melee combat of PoE 2 Return of the Ancients with explosive map clearing. After a powerful punch lands, the enemy's armor, health, and formation all crumble together.

Players, when you're meticulously planning your map and adjusting affixes in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0, have you noticed that this time is far longer than the actual time you spend on the map and fighting? The optimal gameplay everyone's chasing in endgames - finding suitable cities, stacking Deliriousness, and combining four tablets - seems to have gradually become repetitive labor.

Frankly, can we really derive enjoyment from PoE 2 endgames now?

The Preparation Phase is Tedious

Compared to the map's inherent appeal, the problems with Path of Exile 2 endgame gameplay seem to lie more in the pre-game preparation phase.

The tablet system, in particular, is incredibly tiring. Players constantly need to spend a significant amount of time managing tablet affixes and searching for suitable tablets to trade with, while also repeatedly searching for suitable city locations and modifiers in Atlas.

Furthermore, the search tools are limited, only allowing searches of visible areas and restricting bookmarks to 20, which falls far short of players' needs.

This results in players spending more time on tablets, trading, searching the map, and planning than actually fighting on it, leading to a significant imbalance in time allocation across PoE 2 content.

Profit Gap

The huge profit gap in endgames further exacerbates the players' predicament.

Based on player experiences, a single currency reward on a normal map is approximately 1 Divine, while a 200% Delirious map can yield a staggering 38 PoE 2 Divine Orbs!

This vast profit disparity forces many players, even those who find the preparation process tedious, to persevere for higher profits or to keep up with the game's economic pace.

While other gameplay options like Expedition exist, their efficiency is significantly lower than Delirious strategy, effectively limiting players' strategic choices.

Poor Map Design

Furthermore, many players have been tolerating the visual effects of PoE 2 endgame maps. Because the maps are so large, players have to spend a significant amount of time aimlessly running around in open areas, leaving very little time for meaningful combat.

Not only is the endgame map layout terrible, but the colors of the monsters and background terrain are also highly similar, making it feel like they are wearing natural camouflage during combat, which greatly affects the player experience, not to mention if Delirious effect is turned on.

Whether it's the clarity of combat or the ease of player control, the visually chaotic map design can, to put it bluntly, lead to player failure, wasting all their hard work and preparation.

Moreover, the core endgame mechanic, Towers, is actually quite disconnected from the overall game flow. If this isn't addressed, it will probably further damage the endgame experience.

Improvement Directions and Suggestions

To address the current issue of gameplay fatigue in PoE 2 endgames, the focus should definitely be on simplifying unnecessary and complex steps.

Many players believe that removing the mandatory requirement of four tablets is crucial for improving endgame gameplay. They argue that city terrain can be improved through other bonuses in Atlas Skill Tree, rather than relying solely on the benefits of four tablets.

Another important suggestion is to include key items like Grand Mirror in the currency exchange market, making them easily tradable like Breachstones or Ritual materials, thus reducing the time players spend trading and searching.

Based on the issues we mentioned earlier, another direction for game improvement is to optimize and modify the search tools and the maximum number of bookmarks, allowing players to truly devote more energy to endgame combat and character building.

Different Player Preferences

We need to recognize that everyone's gaming experience is highly subjective, so naturally, everyone will have different preferences.

Therefore, some players choose to ignore this strategy, continuing to farm at their own pace, or even enjoying the process of meticulous planning and pursuing maximum efficiency, viewing the complex preparation as part of the fun in PoE 2 Patch 0.5.0.

However, the third type of player - those forced to follow - deserves our most attention, because being forced to execute strategies is the biggest source of fatigue in endgame gameplay.

Game design can certainly require players to put in effort for substantial rewards, but this effort itself should be attractive - it could be researching builds, challenging powerful bosses, but not repeatedly searching maps, mechanically placing tablets, or wasting excessive time on trading.

When players find themselves spending far more time planning how to play PoE 2 than actually playing the game, and this planning process is tedious, lacking interaction and a sense of accomplishment, the game essentially becomes just repetitive labor.

Therefore, the core goal of optimizing PoE 2 endgame gameplay should not be to reduce the rewards of high-end farming, but rather to make the preparation and execution of strategies more engaging and enjoyable.

Unnecessary and tedious actions in the endgame should be prioritized for reduction, allowing players more freedom to choose their playstyle based on personal preference. Every step in a high-yield strategy should be enjoyable, not a heavy burden.

Are you the kind of player who would go to great lengths to achieve the optimal economic strategy in Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.5.0 endgame?