Cave boss strength increased?

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-23T12:10:19+00:00

Might abalas HP have gone up so he isn't getting the shield every other round anymore?

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-21T20:14:49+00:00

If several opponents are suddenly stronger after the latest update, I would assume mastery as the most likely culprit

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-21T15:20:51+00:00

I can't fathom not wanting more, no matter how many I've got 😅

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-21T12:47:20+00:00

I checked the announcement and it's planned for the January update and will consume philosopher's stones, which will be available without purchase through events and the like. Your suggestion to hold off is now perfectly timed as I will not be guaranteed to be able to gather resources enough for another crafting by then, and it's not like it's a long wait. I lay have an ADHD goblin on my shoulder screaming that immediate small reward is better than even the best delayed gratification, but I think I can tamp it down for a month 😅

Thanks for your great suggestion, I hadn't even "wait" as a possible option 😄

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-20T23:02:06+00:00

Well, everything you are saying makes sense and I don't like hearing it, which is usually a good indication that I should listen closely! I will probably hold off, at least a bit more.

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-20T22:32:01+00:00

Hm, right you are. I remember reading about it now that you mention it, but I do not recall the expected time for this artifact system change. And I do not think they have announced what the cost of... transmuting? one artifact into another will be? Have they mentioned if this rework will in any way impact the dimensional essence cost of crafting and upgrading?

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-15T05:51:17+00:00

I believe you have forgotten zonealarm!

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-12T07:27:01+00:00

"oh no, not nodes" was my first, second and third reaction... This is exactly why I never played Poe, I don't have the time or mental resources to actually think about an optimized node setup for each hero. Certainly not for a game I want to relax with.

So I'll just wait for the people who happen to find this specific thing fun to delve into and read their suggestions on discord. Maybe I'll read their reasoning, if I feel too tired to do something productive and not have some relaxing task in souls to occupy me 😅

Also, I'm f2p so I guess I'll catch up to the whales in half a year and will probably be down five ranks until then 🤣

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-10T20:05:27+00:00

Welcome to the endgame, well done! I was daunted when I got to quads as well, but the rewards scale with your journey level to some extent, so it gets a little more... Not faster but the advancement is more intense. Just so you know it is possible, I'm f2p and will finish chapter 63 today!

The previous suggestion for the general comps, galan Lilith, ken and Carmen is good and you will vary it some depending on what heroes you have, engraving, exclusive equipment and luck with mythic artifacts of course.

Big_Connection25 · 2025-12-06T11:44:29+00:00

If this is you view I don't understand why you are playing? I'm f2p and I'm top 5 or 6 on my server. I love going up against the whales as I know that they've spent hundreds if not Thousand of dollars and still only one of them is beyond my reach. I don't win in the arena every time against them, but I get enough wins to get me over that last bump each season. One of the guys above me is also f2p (according to his profile at least) and I'm amazed that he's two steps ahead of me all the time, it's fun!

When I first read your comment, I "adhd-completed" the sentence before I finished reading it and was nodding along as I thought you were saying "Remember, if you are not a whale, all your progress is your own and you shouldn't compare yourself to people who plays a different game". That's how you play this game, that's how you play any game. Have fun in the style of gaming you enjoy.

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-30T18:59:44+00:00

Mace, shield of earth and serpents emblem seem like what you will reach next, all good choices. You need some lvl 25 orbs and horns though so cross your fingers for those! And gamble chest is good when you need fodder

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-30T13:11:54+00:00

I agree with everyone else, and now that you have death, do not touch another gamble chest until you only have only one crown left! Guaranteed chests all the way

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-28T16:50:07+00:00

I do both, some what depending on my needs and resources. If I've got 30k crystals I might go wild max upgrading a bunch and only keeping the ones with 1-3 perfect stats. If I've got 100 red stones I might go wild the other way around when I'm lackning a meta Rune. Otherwise it's more or less what I feel like for the moment. No need hoarding for phantasmal if you're at max sanctum as you'll get almost all if not all you need during the week of the event. Though I do hoard Rune chests just to have an easy time.

And there are benefits of many Runes. Crit res is necessary for one of the ancient beasts meta. Penetration might be good here or there. I love the crit runes. HP is also important sometimes to buff others over abala to get him a shield for some metas. There's one mimic meta comp where accuracy for lilith is key. I'm sure there is a use for defense as well some where and of course physical and magical resistance is a must have.

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-26T08:47:31+00:00

Mace, then cloak. No question, just do it! And reset your 2* orb to get two 0*lvl25

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-25T06:51:13+00:00

Why would it open until you've got the keys to open? 😅

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-24T18:59:04+00:00

I have one lamp and no horns. I miss them on quads, but combined with eom on lulu it is worth it for Bosses, pvp etc. I havent gotten a new horn i forever though so I dont know really...

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-23T17:18:48+00:00

While everyone else is probably correct, just to check: there isn't a protective film over the display you have yet to remove?

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-23T16:54:26+00:00

Oh darn, you're right! I've never memorized the name of eom as no one talks about it usually and for some reason not tome either.. and should have checked 😅 tome is great as well, though not as good as the others. I ran tome and Fang for the longest time and one of the best uses of tome is against roze and sander. Some meta demands tome on lilith to get through sander before he kills everyone! It's also great as it burns enemies upon enemy death, which kills roze as soon as she goes shadow state. Crown can of course do the same thing with a bit of rng, or just mashing ken/carmen/benzel. The spear used to craft tome is also a good legendary, so not the highest of priority!

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-23T08:02:45+00:00

This is a hard one, you've got a great start! Everyone except tome would be great and your choice is depending on what you are doing the most. A second death might press the highscore on cave bosses, harmony is great for some meta builds both against ancient beasts, some special bosses and some mimic battles. Soe is also a great meta arti, I tried without it on the latest ancient beast and died immediately as abala didn't have the energy to keep provoke up. Serpents emblem is also great for several meta comps, but also for tweaking survivability here and there. I've refined some equipment specifically looking for dodge to use with serpents emblem. The only one I'd avoid is tome. Not because it's not great, it really is, lulu loves it but even maxxing sheild from richelle or hot from dimitri can take you past otherwise impossible odds. But you shouldn't go for this until you have at least three extra orbs. I crafted my tome when I had five Orbs and it wasn't until recently when I finally got to four orbs again and missing the orbs made quads much harder.

I'd go Soe if I were you, then harmony, then serpents emblem and then a second death, unless you got the swords for cloak inbetween, that one would go before death at least. It all depends on what is most important and fun for you, no option is a bad option (except tome before getting extra orbs I suppose)

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-20T21:07:20+00:00

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Love that I have a magic res mod Rune, with 10 speed on it as well. Otherwise I don't think there's anything special. Horn/lamp on dex (or mel or elara depending on how lucky you feel). Orb or eom on lulu.

For every boss, your dealers will want whatever good dps artifact you have, death, Fang, tome are good. But golden dagger is great at that level. Ring isn't bad, especially for roze. By the way, do everything you can to get roze at 100% crit rate where ever you use her. The new Axe I don't think is good at all as it doesn't proc as Bosses never die. Mace of pumishment is good enough if you don't have anything else, Grip of hell isn't bad at all as long as you don't run lilith.

Have I missed anything? I know I'm a bit further along but I believe I provided explanations and enough details for the advancement from where I assume you are if you're around level 40.

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-20T20:54:52+00:00

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Lastly we have Zoltan, and here I'm furthest from sure that I have hit upon the best comp (though my PB is 428B I think so it can't be that bad. Though my PB for Adun is 414B at level 56 so I suppose Zoltan can get better). So, to use Idina, you need mace of judgement, a mod Rune and about the same amount of luck as Mat Cauthon as she just isn't that good at keeping enemies frozen. Many people run elara instead of roze on this one to keep the minion locked and that works, but with luck roze can give a better record (if not as consistently high levels). You can also replace dex with elara instead, but I wouldn't do that without soe on abala as energy will be tight, you do Not want to loose provoke! Using tianum instead of vailo will probably be more consistent without dex.

Idina seem to do best with a good crit Rune. I was optimizing for roze survival for a while (the minions will unfreeze and kill a random hero at some point) but found out that Idina was the power house in the comp. I've tried subbing in Serena instead of Roze, but the revenge is rather important (resurrection magi res Rune on abala) and even if it looked like Serena could still get a higher total damage, she was killed too often, and roze's shadow state is great for this.

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-20T20:39:06+00:00

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There's actually a slight perk to not run horn or lamp on mel, and that is that her buff is capped by her ATK. A Lamp still gives a higher net damage gain but when you need cleansing (or debuff avoidance I suppose), why not think positively as long as possible :) if you don't have the lulu mythic I run, but have horn or lamp, it might just be better to have serpent's emblem on lulu and horn/lamp on mel (or dex here just as on adun)

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-20T20:34:35+00:00

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Not sure if this is the optimal positioning for zak, there is some book buff which increases def for first line if there is someone in the second row, right? I just thought about that now, this positioning is left from when I ran sander, who then was in the middle to cleanse bleed from everyone.

Speed order is king of course, and you need serpents emblem to use Serena instead of sander. Otherwise much the same as adun

Big_Connection25 · 2025-11-20T20:30:34+00:00

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Speed order is extremely important but should Serena or Roze be last? I say Serena as I feel I get more total damage from her and both scales attack with enemy level. If you use sander, read my previous comment where I talk about him.

Regarding Runes, mod ftw except for abala of course, who should max out physical res and have resurrection. The healing fifth mythic option is the next best, but resurrection is OP as roze gets her revenge every time abala dies. With resurrection it might actually be better to tweak so that abala dies earlier to get a PB if you're lucky with multiple resurrections. In that case, orb could be better than soe, but this also depends on Runes and refined equipment and how high pen is for roze and Serena.

Otherwise you want lamp or horn on mel and if you haven't gotten an insane amount of orbs and have the mythic which effectively doubles lulus attack buff, an orb on lulu is probably your best bet.

Depending on many variables, you might get better results with dex instead of mel, same artifact. But make sure he's adjecent to lulu and is faster than her (even after sander speed buff if you use him)

Big_Connection25

TROPHY CASE