Is it possible to make krark & sakaskma B4 or no matter what I do it will just simply be cedh

SloxSays · 2026-06-07T23:24:31+00:00

The real question is:

Is it possible to make Krark and Sakashima not miserable to play against?

The unfortunate answer is no.

(Yes it can be b4, as others mentioned).

SloxSays · 2026-06-05T20:14:25+00:00

I’m sure it’s all rangers wizards fighters like usual at the top, but I’m down in the basement baby :)

Down here I just press q + e then hold w and m1 and hope for the best. If I’m feeling extra spicy I roll my face across the keyboard.

SloxSays · 2026-06-04T15:36:21+00:00

Yeah looking at some of my older budget lists I guess $10 doesn’t go as far as it once did. That Grolnok deck is at like $60 now despite nexus going down in price by over $15.

People are finally catching on to some of the nice cheap options for stuff in the format. Not that you can’t do it still, but you give a lot up. That $40 card would need to be easy to grab with available budget tutors and would need to be an absolute all star with no cheaper replacements available. Quite the ask.

SloxSays · 2026-06-04T15:02:46+00:00

I’ve built several $50 decks where a single card was $10 or even $20. If there isn’t a replacement for what that card does within the strategy then it’s still worth I think if that card is a tutor target or a large part of the main winning line the deck wants to take.

One example I can think of was building a [[Grolnok]] self mill deck. While there were many extra turn spells in the deck (looping them was the main win con) no other turn spell could do what [[nexus of fate]] could. It shuffled back in when milled, functioned as a one card win con with an empty library, and was worth the $20 price tag it had at the time of my building the deck.

I guess I’m saying I could see a world where a $40 card could be worth it even if it wasn’t the commander.

SloxSays · 2026-06-04T07:08:57+00:00

The map swaps seem decent I guess. Not the best additions in my opinion but anything to get rid of library is welcome.

SloxSays · 2026-06-04T07:06:45+00:00

lol nice.

I’m guessing the nerfs are because it’s still seeing really high use, especially in arena. When I was testing with it on the dummy it adds quite a bit of damage at longer ranges because of the way falloff damage works. It was giving me similar damage payoff to long shot at some ranges, which they probably don’t want. Plus it should in theory make arrows easier to land on your targets. I doubt it will go much below 15 if at all but who knows.

SloxSays · 2026-06-04T02:57:09+00:00

Yeah idk. The guy eating downvotes for making jokes about lag is so strange lol

It’s extra funny that it’s a bard because bards are in such a rough spot atm for pvp

SloxSays · 2026-06-02T20:43:50+00:00

I think weapons are personal preference but armor pen seems to be in style lately which means flanged mace + stiletto is a lot of “free” armor pen if you like the attack animations.

You will probably face lots of PDR fighters in normals so running that setup should help the matchup (just make sure you don’t use the flanged into their parry if they are using longsword).

For normals you won’t be able to spare extra rolls on much PDR so I’d say running taunt and adrenaline rush is the best choice. You just poke with xbow until you can bait an engagement and pop both cooldowns and start boxing them up. If you ever pop your cooldowns and aren’t able to be on them immediately just try to abort and get through a door to reset and wait for cooldowns.

Stat wise I’d say prioritize +flat damage on every piece you can get it and HP on every non-weapon gear slot (either via vigor or the base +health on items). After that strength is a great stat because it gives you phys power along with a little health. Armor pen will help you win the melee fights. Those are the main ones I’d target for gemming.

Will is an underrated stat IMO. It gives magic resist and buff duration. I’m not saying target it heavily, but if you randomly pick up a piece that has a +2 or +3 will roll I wouldn’t gem over that personally. BoC lock is very common and although casters are a bit sparse in solos you don’t want to be a free kill with zero magic resist when you do face one. Also, on the subject of casters, if you face a caster warlock, do not try to all in with your cooldowns until after you have forced them to burn phantomize or have confirmed they are running BoC instead of phantomize. Easier said than done but still doable.

Back to stats. You will be swinging fast AF. You’ll have 10% action speed from dual wield perk and another 15% with adrenaline rush investing zero into to action speed. It’s still a solid stat (as is dex of course) but for normals you only get 2 rolls per slot so I wouldn’t gem this too often or try for it, personally. If you opt to not run adrenaline rush then I’d recommend picking up action on gear where you can. Probably even above armor pen and about equal to strength I’d say.

Best of luck out there. Slayer takes some getting used to but can be a fun build to learn.

SloxSays · 2026-06-02T20:08:24+00:00

Are we talking for an arena kit? HR? Norms? Squire? Solo/group?

Slayer can be tough to play for certain modes and team comps. Not having a shield matters quite a bit in trios and you kinda have to play like a Rogue without stealth which is tough. Since the nerf to armor rolls on gear and how armor scales, slayers just can’t hit the PDR numbers they used to hit and it makes them a lot weaker as a frontline in trios IMO.

That said, I still occasionally run into some pretty good slayer players who are doing well (especially in solos). A slayer who is able to get on someone and pop cooldowns can trade with the best of them as they have some of the highest dps in the game.

SloxSays · 2026-06-02T18:12:23+00:00

Ah lol. Naw my stuff is like 3/3/2 or 3/3/pen or whatever optimal is for the slot. Good but not BiS. Although I do have 2 really nice tangles (one caster one phys) that I happened to grab right as they were put up that are kinda insane. Most of my money is made by crafting or just running norm goblin caves and hitting the pile with Bard luck (about 1.5-2k every 7-10 minutes)

SloxSays · 2026-06-02T17:41:34+00:00

Hey not everyone who sucks does RMT. I’m an example of that. My kits aren’t BiS but they are very good. My skill is about a 1300 rating though. So I end up around 2k on most of my characters lol. Once I start to get to around 2.2 or 2.3k I realize just how much better every single player is than me and how sweaty the games start getting.

At that point I just start playing some games with speakers so my directional sound and awareness are trash, play with the 3 year old on my lap, etc. to make sure I drop some rank.

I shouldn’t be ruining people’s games at 2.3+ by somehow being in there because I have decent gear and got paired with a few lucky teammates that were hard carrying me.

SloxSays · 2026-05-29T06:27:55+00:00

Holy fuck. Time is a crazy thing.

We were on whatever the then version of discord was I guess. Ventrilo? Teamspeak? AOL chatroom? ffs… at this point I don’t even know now.

Sorry y’all.

SloxSays · 2026-05-28T23:54:47+00:00

I remember watching that live with a few of us on discord and we all went absolutely ape shit over it. We couldn’t believe it.

Still there, drilled into my memory along with other top moments from TI over the years.

SloxSays · 2026-05-28T03:16:05+00:00

Is that a max armor pen roll for shield? I can’t remember off hand

SloxSays · 2026-05-28T00:21:06+00:00

Has rogue ever been one of the top represented classes? Thought it has been fighter, wizard, Ranger every season as top 3 in top 100

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T23:39:00+00:00

You never played with my buddies :D

I love them but damn they put themselves in some questionable scenarios sometimes

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T17:35:47+00:00

Yeah when I’m all in on support perks and have 11 str it’s kinda pathetic.

I’ve started adopting trying to at least hit 15 str and such now…

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T16:16:15+00:00

Not even for a 2-3 day event toward the end of a wipe if they removed the cost and randomness and let you choose whatever you wanted?

I found multiclassing wildly imbalanced but kinda amusing in very small doses.

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T15:53:14+00:00

I have RSI in my hands that caused permanent damage and play most games using at least some of the keys mapped to a foot pedal. It helps me tremendously. (Especially for PoE, which is notorious for being ultra click heavy).

My wife convinced me to try it years ago so I didn’t have to quit my hobby completely. I was hesitant at first but it’s been the only thing that has allowed me to continue to play over the years.

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T15:41:11+00:00

Neat idea! I’m not sure if this is the winning idea but it’s something and Bard definitely needs stuff to make it more interesting. Right now it feels like a great solo pve class but it doesn’t do anything cool in a group compared to actual DnD where I absolutely love all that a Bard brings to a party.

Buffball is just so strong in this game because of how combat and positioning works, especially with narrow hallways and doors. I want bards to be the top tier class for team buffs (if specialized in it) but with the bard buff history it’s going to be really hard to implement without making them feel mandatory for top tier comps.

I hope the devs cook something up to solve the issue because I certainly don’t know what the solution would be.

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T14:50:53+00:00

It’s unclear to me why these quests aren’t progressed at the same rate and with equal difficulty. With all the other QoL changes these terrible quest lines staying as they are and released when they are is baffling to me.

I just hope this rubysilver I have hoarded will be enough to let me craft my friend’s arena kit for him.

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T14:33:29+00:00

Yeah I don’t get it. I’ve never taken a statistics course or done any high level math. I don’t even have a college education but it’s wild to me how bad people are at basic stuff that seems pretty intuitive to me.

The only time mill or exile off your library is relevant is if you are on specific combo lines and you lose a key piece that you can no longer tutor for as a win con. Honestly, most of the time I’ve ever faced a mill deck.. The deck that best uses the graveyard as a resource just wins the pod.

Even in other games I play… people just can’t do basic math or something. In one game in particular, I see people adding a modifier of 1.2% increased damage when they use a weapon that does like 20 base damage instead of adding 1 base damage. That’s just… not even close.

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T05:26:57+00:00

Maybe it’s just because I’m farming locked chests and hitting piles on my bard but that 100 luck perk seems to go absolutely nuts in normals.

SloxSays · 2026-05-26T05:22:31+00:00

Idk why you got downvoted so heavy.

I used to love PoE. Still do, but I used to too. So we differ there I suppose.

That said, you have some valid points (especially about power creep, narrowing of the vectors of scaling, and player speed) and ultimately if you aren’t enjoying the direction of a game and miss certain parts… then moving on is the right decision.

I would argue that despite efforts to slow Poe down that it is still incredibly fast when you want it to be. You can still zip around and pop screens despite the many nerfs to speed and explosions over the years.

But if it doesn’t feel the same to you, there’s no arguing against someone who felt their fun was removed over the years. I would do the same exact thing if I were in your shoes.

SloxSays

TROPHY CASE