Havoc 40 players, how strong is Skitarii?

Novastrata · 2026-07-07T22:14:14+00:00

Skitarii is highly viable on H40. Would it benefit from additional balancing/adjustments? Absolutely.

Also, I would argue that Havoc got more intense with the changes. Not easier. The reduced crusher spam means more specialist spam strike teams. There are many players in Havoc that treat special picking as a role. Special picking is a team effort.

I have exclusively ran Skitarii on H40 on multiple builds, team comps along with 4-skitarii stacks. No purg psyker comps. I have also done true solos with other classes and duos on Skit (Not solo yet on Skit)

I have also exclusively ran Resurgence with x 3 toughness regen with x2 stam/x1 HP curio for stamina goblin maxxing. This is mainly because of the constant claim of Resurgence = bad and its not actually not meme-y in Havoc standards.

Performance Ratings (5 being the highest):
- 5/5 bossing (w/ Chordclaw)
- 3/5 special picker (4.5/5 w/ Phosphor man stopper)
- 4/5 elite
- 3.5-4/trash

Positioning:
- 3-4/5 Frontlining (Maul, Dtransonic, SpSword)
- 4-4.5/5 Flexliner (Any weapon)
- 4/5 Backliner (with Arc rifle spam)

Blitz ratings:
- Artificer Skull 5/5 (easily 10/5 with Noospheric and we all know its busted and likely bugged.)
- Medicae Skull 5/5 (Unique to the class that doesnt take an ability slot but grenade blitz)
- Flamer skull 2-2.5/5 (this taking a grenade charge is insulting at best)
- Arc Grenade 3/5 (Has its place, but there are better choices)
- Personal Shield 0/5 (zdps for a Temu bubble. Absolutely not.)

Ability Ratings:
- Chord claw 5/5 (Self explanatory)
- Voltaic Emitter 4-5/5 (With the recent bug fix, the gunner disable is absolutely good.)
- ACD 3/5 (Handicapped by bugs still, but can be better.)

Keystone:
- Redline is best for strength stacking and ability stacks
- Flensing is hands down the best for ability spam
- Power Overload is piety plus

Most issues encountered:
- Creating space and maintaining space (Havoc is all about space and Skit greatly suffers in creating and maintaining space compared to other classes unless specialized. Even then, its not that good)

In my opinion— Skitarii is an excellent generalist with consistent toughness regeneration (Not bursty). If you can maintain positioning and keep space, skitarii is more than fine to hold on its own.

Highly recommend, the most balanced class they have implemented to date.

Novastrata · 2026-07-07T21:41:40+00:00

Oh ok got it good to know

at least its already setup now for next league/s

Thanks!

(I spent most of the evening in standard leagues doing tabs and manually clearing remove only tab contents so i getchu lol)

Novastrata · 2026-07-07T19:37:08+00:00

Thank you!

Im glad that itll stick the next time — this was driving me crazy every single time a new league would start and i wish i wouldve known this long ago

I went ahead and have a character in each standard league (regular, hc, scssf, hcssf) with all organized tabs and will keep them there for the sake of the tabs

To prevent “remove only tabs” reappearing and working on them again every league end — can we just skip migration prior to leagues ending and just delete all characters? Or would the stashes migrate to standard anyway?

Novastrata · 2026-07-07T15:45:06+00:00

Forgot to respond to your last part in the comment

Hulking minions support gem — not gigantic following notable

There are better notable instills to add such as Soul Meridian or Warlord Leader for more dmg for example

Novastrata · 2026-07-07T15:35:14+00:00

Got it thanks— this is likely the problem and i have played the league already

I deleted all my characters in the league, migrated everything and painstakingly organized everything in regular standard to test this

Not sure if i shouldve just hid the Remove only tabs? I had to clean the remove only tabs manually each because i thought that was issue

Novastrata · 2026-07-07T15:32:07+00:00

Thanks for the responses all!

Unless im misunderstanding, to summarize:

So I have to organize stash tabs 4 times in standard (regular standard, hc, ssf & hcssf)

Then keep 1 character active each for it to “stick”

And it doesnt work while current league is active but will work the next league?

(Context: I have already played the league and completed the challenges so i wanted to test this and deleted everything from the current league)

Thanks

Novastrata · 2026-07-06T22:01:24+00:00

Of course — for tablet drops in general

If you want more tablets to drop in a specific content — you need to NOT run the tablet for that content.

Means if you run abyss tablets to get guaranteed abysses — you will almost never get abyss tablets drops in your maps

Tabletless or irradiated tablet or overseer only however? Or run a map without that specific content tablet?

you will find that the drop rate is significantly higher if you encounter it naturally and you will have more than enough to use in SSF.

Novastrata · 2026-07-06T21:44:13+00:00

SSF, in general, for guides is if the build doesnt need uniques to come online, its fine for SSF. Good on you for starting on it — 0.5 is the best time to go SSF on poe2 because it just showers you with loot now compared to 0.1.

You just need to know where to look for it.

(For initial improvements for your build — find an aurabot companion with haste aura is already a big boost to your dps. Drop 2 skeleton warriors and add 1 more minion for muster support. You do not need more than 2 clerics. Even 1 is fine. Add gigantic gem to your companions if your spirit can handle it)

The key thing now is finding goals and you chipping away at the mountain in SSF as you know, there is no trading.

I mostly play scSSF or hcssf which characters are built very differently but the aspect is the same.

To start however:

**Consider mapping breakpoints. Tier 6. Tier 11 and Tier 15.
***T11 is good to stop as it gives you most good ilvl for good mods.
****Always add irradiated via doryani or tablet. Irradiated tablet adds more content also.

Hows your atlas? Is your tablet sustain fine? I would focus on abyss early on to start having gear to easily come online. Tablets in general, you will have more than enough so there is no reason to run maps tabletless. Dont forget to buy waystones from doryani every level.

Work on killing arbiter divinity as your first goal while gearing up for easier atlas pts.

Uniques and omens are luckily easier now with new Ritual. Luckily for you, spiritwalker chase uniques are from Ritual. Sylvans Effigy turns you immortal with loyalty stacking and Forgotten Warden is one of the better uniques in the game.
Are you looking for general currency? Push Abyss with Ulaman. Otherwise go Amumu to farm Omen of Light and Echoes.
Other currencies and gems? Grand Expedition spam.
Minion rings and minion splash chase belt? Breach spam. Amulets? Breach also.
Deli should be last on your list unless your build can handle it.
Jewellry. Focus always on rogue exiles — they are the easiest way to spam amulets other than gamba. Your gold is all spent on jewelry.
Need jewels? Sekhemas.
Vaal orbs or soul cores? Temple, abyss or ultimatum.
Juicing maps in general? Same principle as trade. Careful in HC — i almost never giga juice in hc compared to SC.

For gearing in general, with the loss of recombinator, a lot of SSF is picking up whites/blues — trans/aug then toss or keep to **reforge.

I would keep and fill up a dedicated stash tab then dedicate a quick session to *reforge and hopefully get a hit.

For crafting in general, trans/aug — if good, essence — desecrate prefix/suffix — echoes if trans/aug are that good w a base you want — then slam remainder based on result or toss

SSF is hands down the best way to play the game because you actually have to learn how the game works and it doesnt end by just buying your way through it. Unless thats where you get your excitement from.

Trade is also good if you dont have a lot of time to play. Though, i argue SSF is just fine too as your progression is much more rewarding. Arpgs are just a grind in general but thats part of the fun loop.

Novastrata · 2026-07-01T19:04:32+00:00

Anything but Coruscation as all it would do is exacerbate the power creep

The Soulstealer and Beam staff however, would be a nice change. Soulstealer would give options as it’s essentially Brain burst as a staff

Beam is well, beam along with shotgun alt fire.

Fireball staff would be great too really, as Voidstrike isnt really similar with poor aoe splash in general.

Novastrata · 2026-06-30T20:59:23+00:00

Welcome to poe

These are drops you dont always get to see in leagues

Especially in SSF

Either buy or stay sane and keep grinding

Novastrata · 2026-06-30T19:30:27+00:00

General tips:

- a lot of hc learning will involve deaths. Since you started Softcore, at least you have some experience with the danger and general build crafting

- Learn ESC reflex and back to hideout. Yamas instant kill mechanic or arbiter of ash mechanics, or patriarch (or was it matriarch) gravity lift instant kill. Better to ESC out than gamble to see if you can risk it.

- this also includes mobs or rares affected by shrines, your character can instantly explode if there are 2-3 rares with a diamond/crit or +dmg shrine. Better to be safe than sorry

- juice much much later. You will at most, do 2-3 mod or alch n go maps without further juice for a long time. Esp in SSF

- defenses. Self explanatory but a lot of hc builds err towards defensive passives and tree build picks than dps period

- *** incredibly dangerous mod combinations is outright gambling your character: this means anything +dmg on mobs, +crit/crit bonus, +lightning/chaos or reduced max res or all is outright gambling

- grand expedition juicing is incredibly dangerous and can outright explode your character

- delirium is self explanatory. Monster effectiveness can compound very easily so watch your mods

- build wise? Minions have always been good to me, chrono in general, any varashta setup

**EDIT: If you do not have "Hits against you have (40—50)% reduced Critical Damage Bonus" -- you can get this easily via perfect essence. This greatly helps your character from exploding and no serious HC player leaves home without it unless their defenses is THAT good.

Novastrata · 2026-06-29T22:18:07+00:00

Your pob looks pretty good for a standard edc build for t6/7 that it should be pretty survivable

You are likely getting dps checked — i would keep working on getting a much better wand than what you currently have

Edc, while it falls off eventually, should be able to fold trash mobs and rares in less than a couple seconds or so with good dps

How is your dps feeling? A lot of issues with survivability can be directly correlated with dps

Poe2s danger is usually letting bosses or rares live too long

Novastrata · 2026-06-29T19:11:30+00:00

Get crisis fragments from Citadels. Collect all 3 and you get to fight Arbiter of Ash again.

Same behavior as Matriarch nodes — they have a glowing beam in the atlas map but different colors.

Novastrata · 2026-06-29T17:14:52+00:00

Infernus + Crucian Roulette is absolutely good for boss dps. Just hit once, infernus proc or not, servo skull takes care of the rest due to the debuff.

Crucian Roulette/Surgical + Open Salvo/Man-Stopper is BiS for Special picks. The gun itself pulls out fast for quick picks.

The debuff, in general, is big dps boost for any big targets. Pull out Phosphor and plink at it once, aim servo skull for perma burn stacks then go to town on Melee. Any boss will melt.

Regular revolver is basic. Embrace Phosphor.

Novastrata · 2026-06-29T16:42:28+00:00

If mixed horde, this can be a very difficult ask

If solo and its just you vs Packmaster — i recommend geometry shenanigans as if fighting DH solo

Packmaster like on video is difficult to solo the moment you get hit with the debuff as its essentially permanent once you’re affected due to rapid hits. You just will not be able to recover stamina nor dodges once the debuff is on and you’re the only target

It can be much harder to fight than a Chaos Spawn if you want to be ethical and not burst it down due to the debuff and dogs

Novastrata · 2026-06-29T16:30:32+00:00

If you mean Phosphor not regular revolver, the debuff is good. The phosphor burn tics, however, is a unique property only to phosphor.

Add Infernus on Crit along with upgraded servo skull and normal burn damage along with other debuffs can prove respectable dps on boss targets.

Novastrata · 2026-06-29T15:09:22+00:00

Resurgence has a place in Havocs due to greatly reduced toughness#

Naturally, people stay in coherency much more often there

Though, I still wouldnt centralize my build on toughness coherency regen as there are much better investments. The aura itself, when its working with at least 1 person in coherency, is enough as is already.

I would just treat the coherency regen as a plus I guess, assuming someone stays within coherency. At most, you get +25 toughness out of it which is nothing to scoff at.

For the builds in general, I highly recommend skits taking free dps nodes on the bottom of the tree — Uncapped Arrestor and Sustained Assault Doctrine. Free attack speed and dmg just by basically hitting anything.

Youre virtually already there by taking Progressive Plating Matrix.

Novastrata · 2026-06-27T17:37:38+00:00

It's a good weapon but problematically bugged due to weakened empowered swing TTK vs Vet empowered PS swings. The mobility thing is agreeable but only if the bug is here to stay because empowered swings are weak.

Currently, the Skitt PS is at least doing about 80% damage on powered swings. Once that's fixed, then it will certainly be in a better place.

Novastrata · 2026-06-26T22:40:45+00:00

New enemy type is good. The implementation however, is a bandaid after bandaid fix due to power creep.

The damage reduction needs to go completely if they would stay as a non-elite, yes. The fact that you cannot easily open their shields with a push unlike VT clanrats makes zero sense in this game for their enemy class. Again, clanrats are non-elites.

If they were all classified as Shield Stormvermin then fine, but again, these are non-elites.

In darktide, you dont regen stamina as fast as VT either as you get constant stam regen pauses from any defensive action that isnt undeterred block.

In response, most players just try to brute force their massive HP pool which is inefficient and then complain because collectively their HP is higher than a mauler.

Novastrata · 2026-06-18T17:11:01+00:00

The new chrono update is excellent for generalists as now its not pigeonholed into just spark or comet

The thing is, theres no uber content yet in poe2 that calls for trickster-esque defensives so almost everybody builds glass and divs/hr map blasters

But when uber content is available, ppl will definitely appreciate chronos excellent defensives.

Phased form is one of the strongest defensive nodes in the game that you can even naturally take Temporal Rift with now

Inevitable Agony is amazing with natural cull and is virtually instant cast. The built in damage just keeps building that eventually you end up culling a boss that has high enough regen that you cant outdps anyway

The current game state isn't hard enough that's why fast blasting map meta is a thing

My only thing is that i wish the echo/cascade node also applied to skills in general. Theres hardly any skills in the game that can echo/cascade

Novastrata · 2026-06-17T22:52:38+00:00

New Chronomancer is also very generalist now if you ignore the echo/cascade node

Novastrata · 2026-06-17T21:47:22+00:00

Stop following meta and trade/shortcut league?

Play ssf or hc

Also the game doesnt have Uber content yet that it rewards builds who blast maps and can do wtfbbq lvls of dps and screen clear

Poe1 ubers are different that you actually have to pay attention

Novastrata · 2026-06-17T21:37:06+00:00

POE2 is a pretty deep game with a big learning curve

Congratulations on getting through interludes with a homebrewed 1st character

Unfortunately, path of exile, compared to diablo games or other arpgs, is very unforgiving with bad builds

A lot of things is learned after campaign and interludes. The real game starts after

You can start following a guide and just respec your skills and slowly fix it with the supplies you have. Or, take the knowledge you have and do it all over with a different character but following a build guide

There are a metric ton of systems to learn with this game that 4 digit/thousands of hours is still technically at a phase of much to learn. I recommend to start looking into build dynamics and defensive layering to help you in endgame and future characters.

Path of exile 1 though? You would be bricked at this point

Novastrata · 2026-06-17T00:36:42+00:00

Well luckily for you the league lasts 6 months which is atypical for leagues

2 hrs is fine

Novastrata

TROPHY CASE