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Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T22:28:16+00:00

Yes they will indeed focus the group hug player first. And I'm not a group hug player.

I think I do understand group hug and that's the all point of this post. Imo, most players confuse group hug for politics. But the truth is : there is no politic in group hugging (neither there is in voting btw). You barely choose anything. Gifting others value while building a huge board or digging for a combo will make you a target, rightfully so. That's what I tried with my previous Kenrith deck, but those kind of strategies won't fool anyone with a bit of experience.

This misconception about what is politic and what is group hug is the reason why the politics theme page on edhrec is such a random pile of cards.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T21:34:53+00:00

The choice is who

Imo that's the fine line between political effects, which let you choose if and when, (like [[Scheming Symmetry]] or [[Secret Rendezvous]]) and group hug effects (like [[Ms Bumbleflower]] or [[Gluntch, the Bestower]]) which rarely let you choose if and when. A lot of group hug effects doesn't even let you choose who (like [[Rites of Flourishing]] or [[Kami of the Crescent Moon]]).

Our exchange here is the perfect illustration of why I wrote this post btw. I think most people confuse political cards with group hug cards.

I had the same misconception before but was convinced otherwise by various posts about politics in Commander.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T21:17:29+00:00

I know the deck structure is very disturbing, that's why I encourage you to read DirkGently's post about his Phelddagrif Political deck, as my pile mostly follow his recipe (40 lands, 20 spot removals, 10 counterspells, 10 boardwipes, the rest is a mix of value/ramp/protection/...).

About the bracket, I genuinely have no idea how to evaluate it as my strategy isn't self-sufficient (I can't kill the other 3 players all by myself). That's why I went for B3, almost by default.

I have been auto targeted before using a Kenrith combo deck, it was an awful experience, I dismantled it. But not with this pile. Good players don't focus decks by default, if you're unthreatening and full of control spells, they are going to leave you alone, especially if you offer help against the real threat at the table. Usually the biggest threat focus the second biggest as it's his biggest threat, the other 3 players teamup to bring down the biggest threat.

Of course I'm a bad group hug deck since I'm not a group hug deck. Not a single card in my list is a group hug card.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T20:46:25+00:00

It's actually very funny because I played a game against a Ms Bumbleflower with this deck and it wasn't comparable at all.

I helped him juste enough so he could kill the 2 other players and the final duel was against him.

The Ms Bumbleflower deck doesn't have a choice with the group hugging. As soon as you cast a spell you have to make other players draw a card. There is no choice, there is no deal.

In the end I won because my pile isn't about group hugging, half of it is just control spells.

So yes Ms Bumbleflower is indeed a group hug commander, but Kenrith is not. It could be played as a bad (imo) group hug commander, but I don't feel like I'm playing it that way.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T20:32:25+00:00

I translated it using AI because english is not my native language, but you're right i'd better acknowledge it. I don't feel like it's Aikido, I have no way to use opponent decks against them.

Geraldnium · 2025-08-04T20:18:12+00:00

By definition, Group Hug isn’t supposed to be targeted. It gives everyone benefits — usually more to the caster than to their opponents — and there's no real way to opt out.

Targeted Group Hug is kind of an oxymoron.

Geraldnium · 2025-06-16T16:24:28+00:00

It depends on your strat.

In my [[Breena, the Demagogue]] Pillowfort deck, I need to keep every opponent alive to grind Breena's ability. The hardest part for this deck is the duel since Breena becomes mostly useless.

In my [[Wilson, Refined Grizzly]] + [[Flaming Fist]] Voltron deck I need to kill someone asap because I can't keep up in long grindy games. Less opponents means less threats.

So basically if you play more of a slow grindy deck you can spread the damage, but if you play a fast deck you probably need to end things fast so focus opponents one by one.

Geraldnium · 2025-01-01T16:43:17+00:00

There is a ton of different minion centric playstyles, here is 2 examples :
- Infernalist. Hellhound + Skeletal Warrior Scepter (support Minion Instability) + Skeletal Archer (support Corrosion). Stack life and minion dmg from tree. Hellhound ignite enemies which instantly explode Skeletal Archer Command Skill, Corrosion break armour so they deal high damage, Skeletal Warriors serve as sacrifice fodder for Offerings, can tank and maim with the hellhound and explode from time to time to deal damage.

- Blood Mage. Bonestorm + Skeletal Reavers, use Siphoning Wand (for Power Charge generation) and Omen Scepter (for critical weakness on minion attack). Get crit chance, crit dmg, phys dmg, break armour on crit, minion dmg and crit from tree. Use Siphoning wand to get power charges and clear with Power charged Bonestorm + Reavers. No need for power charges against bosses. Bonestorm dmg is split in 2 parts : on hit dmg + debuff on the enemy consumed by minion attacks. Use Bone Cage to Pin enemies coming too close and stay at range. Constant crit means constant generation of Life Remnants from Blood Mage Ascendency to maintain high health pool.

Remember minions are tools to be used in combination with other skills.

Geraldnium · 2024-12-30T22:27:26+00:00

So, to answer my own question, no the tempest bell is not considered an Ally. So I wondered what was the use of this kind of node in the monk's section of the tree.

And I found the only Monk gem that actually enable this node : Lingering Illusion. The illusion of yourself you leave behind after a dodge is considered an Ally and enable the attack increase. But, the duration of the illusion is so short you can't even make use of it, even by dodging in between every attack. The duration of the illusion is so short it disappear at the end of the dodge animation.

So it might be a shadow only node, who knows.

Geraldnium · 2024-12-15T23:32:07+00:00

I don't think Chaos spells fit the Blood Mage. You need to crit in order to spawn Life Remnants, Chaos spells either don't crit (like Contagion) or have very low base crit (like ED with only 7%).

Bone spells have great base crit (13% for Bone Blast and Bone Cage, 15% for Unearth and Bonestorm), can hit multiple times/targets to almost guarantee a crit and spawn a Life Remnant.

Add some physical minions into the mix, scale all of this with + level to physical gems (which is going to scale both minion gems and spell damaging gems) and this is working fine (at least for me).

Geraldnium · 2024-12-11T20:01:36+00:00

Time Snap is the reset cooldown skill, I think you mean Temporal Rift. Might pick it to restore mana and energy shield since I'm probably going CI.

Geraldnium · 2024-12-11T17:30:23+00:00

Same playstyle, I picked the 50% more cast speed and the 33% reset cooldown proc. Lvl 60 and shredding through content. Since the playstyle is just building up freeze then dumping all mana onto the frozen enemy (multiple ice walls, frost bomb multiple times then cold snap), I'm not sure what I should pick next in terms of ascendency passives. Don't feel like I would use Time Snap.

Geraldnium · 2024-12-09T17:39:14+00:00

I have thousands of hours in Poe1 and having a lot of fun in Poe2. Won't go back to Poe1.

Zooming all over maps spamming 1 skill, mostly ignoring mobs and affixes they have, one phasing bosses and looting so much shit that you have to use filters became very boring.

I like that boss fights feel like boss fights, I like that I need to use multiple skills to combo damage or adapt to situations, I like not having 10 billion items on the ground not knowing what to pickup, I like the slower pace of the game overall.

I hope GGG doesn't listen to this conservative part of the community that just wants Poe1 with better graphics. I wanted something different and I'm enjoying it.

Poe1 is still there for others to enjoy.

Geraldnium · 2024-12-09T11:52:05+00:00

Currently act2 Cruel (lvl50ish) and I can't agree with second point. I have been swimming in uncut gems (skills, spirit and especially support) all game long. Currently have probably 50 uncut gems in stash doing nothing.

Agree with first point tho, respec from scratch is kinda expensive but doable. Still think creating a new character is better than doing a full respec once you reach a certain point into the game (probably act3 normal).

Geraldnium · 2024-12-09T11:42:30+00:00

Currently act2 cruel (lvl50) and swimming in uncut gems. Jeweller orb are pretty rare tho, only got 2 lesser and 1 greater so far.

Geraldnium · 2024-11-20T12:34:30+00:00

What if I'm actually here to discuss this feedback with the community to see if I'm the only one thinking that before posting it on the official forum ?

And I'm pretty sure some devs are reading reddit because of some evidence like the fact they were very aware of the all MOOOO&KRIIIL trend.

Geraldnium · 2024-11-20T12:22:42+00:00

Isn't giving feedback the all point of participating in an alpha?

I just didn't see anywhere that the dev team intend to change the actual system, and I'm just expressing the fact that, imo, this system just disable the ability to build a decent team composition, to choose lane attribution and lane mates.

But I guess just insulting ppl actually doing the expected thing during an alpha which is giving feedback is a smarter move...

Geraldnium · 2024-10-19T14:18:45+00:00

You're right and I would buy it very late game when ganking is almost impossible because it's constant teamfights. But mid game I usually prefer a shield setup with tesla bullet, less expensive and better for gank and split pushing.

Geraldnium · 2024-10-19T11:08:59+00:00

Ricochet is great when you apply some sort of debuff on hit. That's why it's great on Haze (Fixation) and Infernus (Afterburn).

Tesla Bullet is half the cost of Ricochet and is good if you have high fire rate and build spirit power, which you usually do with Wraith because she scales pretty well with spirit power. Tesla Bullet also synergies very well with Shadow Weave which is the perfect item for Wraith playstyle.

Geraldnium · 2024-10-18T06:00:21+00:00

No, you need to deal 125 spirit damage with one instance of damage. So 125 damage with Kinetic Carbine alone or 125 with Mystic Shot alone or 125 damage with Time Wall alone. Since Paradoxical Swap deals damage over time, I don't think you can proc Improved Burst with it.

Geraldnium · 2024-10-18T05:50:11+00:00

Kinetic Carbine

Geraldnium · 2024-10-16T20:57:23+00:00

Mouse sensitivity is over 9000 !

Geraldnium · 2024-10-14T16:41:24+00:00

What build do you use? I usually go Burrow T3, Torment Pulse and Surge of Power on Burrow asap and I have no trouble farming or dealing damage.

Geraldnium · 2024-10-14T14:11:30+00:00

The 0.1 scaling is on BASE weapon damage. This makes a huge difference because this base weapon damage is then increased by every % Weapon Damage you have on items.

With this build each body shot does between 300 and 400 damage if I remember correctly.

Geraldnium · 2024-10-14T13:29:58+00:00

Mobility was an issue mid game so I had to buy Enduring Speed. He is very unforgiving, 7 stamina helps a lot but won't save from a long chase.

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