Underused Skills/Ascendancies Challenge Sythesis - Goes live in 1 week (4.20.19)

INTRODUCTION

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Back again with a new twist!

The league will be created Saturday, April 20th at Noon USA Central. They've thankfully added the ability to crowdfund in advance, so if you are able to crowdfund please do so. I'm not sure how it will work now, but my hunch is that if you crowdfund I don't have to accept your league request seeing as it doesn't let you remove people that have crowdfunded (sometimes people request to be removed to open spots for others if they aren't having fun or don't have time).

Countdown Timer

Reddit Thread; 2nd Reddit Thread

Discord: https://discord.gg/MXDd3Ps

Private League Link: Link for Softcore League

Link for Hardcore League

Mods are 10 days, SSF, Increased Monster Damage (tier 2), Increased Monster Life (tier 2), Added Phys as Elemental to Monsters (tier 2); Multi Proj (+2) to Monsters; Increased Monster Speed (tier 2)

Chat: /global 15551

NOTICES

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First, if you are able, please contribute to the crowdfunds as they are updated. On average it amounts to like $.60 per person. But if people aren't crowdfunding, people are stuck waiting to get in. So please consider throwing some extra points at it. I will fund at least 10 spots (in both leagues if HC has enough interest).

Second, if you decide to quit, please message me on reddit or through PoE ingame or account messages. It's very difficult for me to tell if people aren't playing, and I don't want to cut someone who is still playing the league. If you aren't playing, that's a spot that someone else could be using! They've made changes to league creation, so I'm currently unable to remove or revoke invites until the league launches. Hopefully after league creation I can delete some people that decided to switch leagues or not play.

Third, I chose the skills based off data from Synthesis SC SSF on Poe.ninja. The cutoff was generally 0.3% usage with 5+ links. I'm open to arguments until the league goes live, but please check poe.ninja to see where the skill is at before posting (inevitably a few skills get forgotten). If you feel I've included something that will be clearly broken please let me know. Also, keep in mind that Underused doesn't equal Unplayable or even Underpowered! Also, I've expanded the list slightly to compensate for the Ascendancy restriction.

GOALS

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No one wanted prizes last two times, so I'm not even going to deal with that. I think it's more about the challenge or competition. (If anyone has anything cool in Standard they want to donate I'll certainly be open to that!)

First Shaper Kill: You are the undisputed King of Crappy Skills/Ascendancies (Last league's reigning champion: Zzat1; Here's a clip of his/her Shaper kill)

Anyone else who kills Shaper: You can join the King's Court and scoff at all the other plebeians (Joining the Court from last league, and scoffing at the rest of us, was Susihukka555, well done, sir or madam!)

Top level of each Ascendancy: You get bragging rights and a (well done) nod.

RULES

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You must make your profile and characters public, otherwise there is no way to see that you are playing the allowed skills below.

APPROVED ASCENDANCIES

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The same Ascendancies were 1% or less in both Synth SSF SC and HC:

Ascendant

Pathfinder

Deadeye

Champion

Assassin

Raider

Guardian

Berserker

Slayer (interestingly the change to leech made Slayer just as unplayed as Berserker)

(Witch has no available ascendancy, so you can't play witch, but you can mule one to Level 1-4 to get support gems or an extra quicksilver or whatever).

APPROVED SKILLS

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As soon as you enter Merveil's Cavern (when you get access to lvl 12 gems) and beyond, you can only use the following "underused" skills and/or their Vaal version. I pulled these from SSF Synthesis and cut the list off at 0.3% usage:

All Golems
All "item-granted" skills

Ancestral Protector
Animate Guardian
Arctic Breath
Armageddon Brand
Ball Lightning
Barrage
Blade Flurry
Bladefall
Blast Rain
Burning Arrow
Charged Dash
Cleave
Cremation
Dark Pact
Desecrate
Detonate Dead
Discharge
Dominating Blow
Dual Strike
Earthquake
Elemental Hit
Explosive Arrow
Explosive Trap
Fire Nova Mine
Fire Trap
Firestorm
Flame Surge
Flameblast
Flamethrower Trap
Flicker Strike
Frenzy
Frost Blades
Frost Bomb
Frost Wall
Frostbolt
Glacial Cascade
Glacial Hammer
Ground Slam
Heavy Strike
Ice Crash
Ice Shot
Ice Trap
Icestorm
Infernal Blow
Kinetic Blast
Lacerate
Lancing Steel
Lightning Arrow
Lightning Strike
Lightning Tendrils
Magma Orb
Mirror Arrow
Molten Burst
Orb of Storms
Power Siphon
Projectile Weakness
Puncture
Raise Skeleton
Raise Zombie
Reave
Scorching Ray
Searing Bond
Seismic Trap
Shattering Steel
Shock Nova
Shockwave Totem
Shrapnel Shot
Siege Ballista
Siphoning Trap
Smite
Spectral Shield Throw
Spectral Throw
Split Arrow
Static Strike
Storm Call
Summon Bestial Rhoa
Summon Holy Relic
Summon Lightning Golem
Summon Phantasm on Kill (As a support it is allowed, but wanted to clarify)
Summon Raging Spirit
Sunder
Sweep
Tornado Shot
Unearth
Vigilant Strike
Viper Strike
Volatile Dead
Wild Strike
Wither


OTHER

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Defensive skills:CWDT (can still only be used with listed skills), Molten Shell, Tempest Shield, Immortal call, Bear Trap etc. - all defensive skills are okay

Golems/Skeletons: No restrictions this league.

Heralds: You can use Herald of Purity and Ash without restrictions (Guardian meta?). You may use Agony, Lightning and Ice as long as they are unlinked (Enlighten Support being the only exception.

Banners: No restrictions.

Elder/Shaper/Essence Crafted: Notwithstanding previous rules, no restrictions. Example - you could have Herald of Agony in an elder minion damage helm if it's unlinked to natural support gems; or Wave of Conviction in elder increased duration boots (for longer exposure). I doubt this will be used, but just wanted it clarified. These pseudo-link items can of course also be used with any of the approved skills too.

Spell/Ranged Attack Totem Support & Trap and Remote Mine Supports: All usable with any listed skill.

Other Exceptions: corpse creation skills, convocation, offerings, auras, curses, support gems and skills (molten shell, warcries, blood rage, arctic armor, etc). counterattacks (these CAN be linked to damage supports if you choose), non-damaging totems, and movement skills (except cyclone and consecrated path). You can use Ancestral Warchief totem for the buff only (i.e. unlinked).

EDITS

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Check back before launch to see if there were any other additions or omissions.

Added: Vigilant Strike, Wave of Conviction (unlinked for causing exposure); clarified that flicker strike is allowed. It previously didn't make the cut and I had copy pasted part that said it was not. Sorry about that; added Frenzy; added Summon Holy Relic, Explosive Arrow, Puncture, Shrapnel Shot, Searing bond, Split Arrow, Discharge, Siphoning Trap, added convocation under "other exceptions"; added note on elder/shaper/essence items.

HARDCORE

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Added and funded a Hardcore version. If you can pitch in to the crowdfund (on either league) prior to start it will help a lot.

TIPS

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Keep in mind, especially in HC, the Brutus fight is insane, so you CAN over level to 12+ to kill him if you want. This helped me a couple leagues ago to get lvl 12 flasks. The multi-proj in my opinion is the most dangerous mod. However, keep in mind that all monsters do extra damage as all elemental types so you're constantly getting ailments.

There is also no restriction on characters, so you can mule a character class that can buy Decoy Totem at lvl 4 (he probably still 1 or 2 shots it).

If you're playing HC, keep all movespeed boots or other early gear you "grow out of" as dying is a pretty much mandatory part of this league haha.

Here are a couple links I found on SSF as there are a lot of people that have only ever played trade league. I haven't vetted these or anything, but they looked solid:

SSF Tips Link 1

SSF Tips Link 2

SSF Tips Link 3

I applied and I hope I get accepted, maybe gonan throw in some points :D
I thought about going either Bear Trap Berserker or Shock Nova Trap assasin but I think I settled on Dual Strike CoC Shock Nova and self cast Storm Call for single target. Never played SSF or Private League with mods before. Wanna give it a shot :D

There is now a Hardcore version of the league. I'm pretty confident we'll get funding in time for the Softcore league as I only did the crowdfund for 50 people, but please contribute as soon as you know you will be able to play.

As for hardcore, I funded it for 10, and will keep expanding it as each crowdfund tier is met (same for SC after the initial 50 is met).

I was Wondering that can i join the league if I'm from the Singapore realm?

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PeaceWalker1o1 เขียน:

I was Wondering that can i join the league if I'm from the Singapore realm?

Looks like you're good to go, good luck!

Is flicker strike as main skill allowed or not ? In skill list it is included but in exceptions it says that movement skills are allowed EXCEPT flicker strike (and 2 more)

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TrolllCZ เขียน:

Is flicker strike as main skill allowed or not ? In skill list it is included but in exceptions it says that movement skills are allowed EXCEPT flicker strike (and 2 more)

It is allowed. I copy pasted from the previous leagues and flicker didn't make the cut back then. I edited it to clarify.


Thanks for catching this!

I would Like to Apply for the SC one^^ (i will crowfund my place at least)

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Bakudan เขียน:

I would Like to Apply for the SC one^^ (i will crowfund my place at least)

Appreciate it! Everyone that's applied should be accepted. If you can pitch in to the crowdfund I would appreciate it as it will allow more players to take part. Even 10 points helps.

Jolsen when will i get the discord server up ? I feel like my build choice is terrible and wanna discuss it :D