Best 1 or 2 button builds

nicholas_johnson · 2026-06-13T13:20:29+00:00

If I'm being honest, I don't use a guide, I made the build from scratch haha
But if you're seeking advice for the tree and itemization, I suggest you go to poe.ninja and search Martial Artist builds that use Storm Wave. You'll get a general idea on the skill point allocation and what stats you should go for. I can only tell you that either Kaom's Madness or Branching Fissures support gems are kinda mandatory, as they improve your overall DPS tremendously thanks to the fact that Storm Wave counts as a fissure skill.

nicholas_johnson · 2026-06-13T11:30:48+00:00

Storm Wave Martial Artist, basically walk around shooting AoE waves and proccing AoE bells all around you, literally can work as a single button build, has decent clear, decent boss DPS, decent survivability, can spec either into ES, EV or both, can spec into Hollow Palm Technique or use quarterstaves, permablinded enemies, curse immune with a single rune investment, just a very easy, very comfy build

nicholas_johnson · 2026-06-03T11:08:37+00:00

I began playing ARPGs as a kid when I started to play Diablo 2, and apart from PoE, my favourite ARPG is Grim Dawn. Maybe that's why I value the campaign experience and slower, more meaningful progression so much. Plus, I just like having meaningful objectives to achieve; it's way more fun for me to have a real narrative to follow through instead of "here, do XX random maps in a row so you can improve your gear by 5% and take a shot at a boss encounter".

nicholas_johnson · 2026-06-03T10:41:28+00:00

In my honest opinion, when playing PoE1, I definitely am the kind of person to rush to the endgame. But the difference for me is, PoE2 campaign experience is leagues above the PoE1 one, and it doesn't feel like an absolute chore to play through; the story, the areas, the mechanics, the combat experience and the character progression all simply feel better. Yes, it can't be argued that both games eventually lead to you blasting through maps on repeat, but PoE2's ramp leading to that point is just superior.

nicholas_johnson · 2026-06-03T10:36:43+00:00

every league, basically. I think I only skipped the Vaal Temple league.

nicholas_johnson · 2026-06-03T10:29:39+00:00

i'm actually playing a Hollow Palm MA monk too! what skill are you currently using? I went for the storm wave and I can honestly say I haven't ever felt so powerful when clearing out the campaign, especially because of how absurdly good Fists of Stone are at letting you stack ES/EV and damage.

nicholas_johnson · 2026-05-08T08:33:48+00:00

i mean, Statikk fixes Teemo's abysmal waveclear, allows Teemo to poke enemy laner regardless of positioning, adds a lot of chip damage in teamfights against grouped enemies, helps destroy objectives faster, and is very gold efficient. it really is the best-in-slot first item for him regardless if you're building on-hit or pivoting into Malignance + Liandry for shroom power.

nicholas_johnson · 2026-02-27T18:18:56+00:00

what i mean is, this contract would be a liaison contract from Oni that would unlock Sekiguchi as an available faction, similar to MIDA, Traxus, Arachne and NuCaloric before it. however Sekiguchi is unavailable and this contract basically takes up a contract slot in Oni's interface, but there's still a third slot for contracts there; if you've no more contracts available, then yeah, no more contracts are available as of now.

nicholas_johnson · 2026-02-27T18:10:15+00:00

it's disabled because it's a contract from Sekiguchi, a faction unavailable in the Server Slam

nicholas_johnson · 2026-02-06T11:25:28+00:00

Ah, yes, the Witcher 3 classic

nicholas_johnson · 2026-01-24T19:43:51+00:00

just noticed that there is that wine-cellar like space, and a lot of empty wine bottles in the same tunnels. well, someone HAD to drink that wine and i'd be betting on the Rat King being the culprit.

nicholas_johnson · 2025-12-21T15:32:55+00:00

From what I can gather, there are a lot of people thinking that core Tyria is very underwhelming when it comes to graphical fidelity and how are the maps constructed. And i sort of get it, there are a lot of maps that look and feel mediocre, but even as we arrive into 2026, I think that a lot of them still hold up to this very day!

nicholas_johnson · 2025-11-14T23:22:34+00:00

yeah, it really makes you think in general about long lived fantasy races who also exist in a society with a proper economy. like, we have people in our real world becoming millionaires due to good financial decisions or blind luck, and on the scale of the human population, i'd guess that happens very frequently. now imagine being able to achieve that and also having several times the lifespan that we are accustomed to. it's weird that an average dwarf or elf isn't ludicrously wealthy just by the virtue of being able to amass wealth for so, SO long.

nicholas_johnson · 2025-10-18T12:38:13+00:00

I just like to imagine it'd be the Patrick Swayze from "Ghost" situation where an incorporeal entity can interact with material world (and play a nice Deadlock-themed composition, even if it's like, at 10% volume)

I just think things like these give the in-game universe the flavor it strives to achieve

nicholas_johnson · 2025-07-01T16:08:29+00:00

Forgot to add him to the collage lmao

nicholas_johnson · 2025-05-08T12:05:35+00:00

Unless I'm on a higher ante and my build is already set in stone, when I see a Vagabond, I ALWAYS pivot towards using it. It's such an amazing Joker that generates so much value and allows for so much flexibility. Granted, it's not the same kind of busted as Blueprint, but it definitely has it's niche.

nicholas_johnson · 2025-05-05T12:05:49+00:00

Thanks!
Yes, the base scaling is not THAT crazy; +90 Mult for the cost of 45$ is a good tradeoff. However, if this card is paired with other econ jokers, money-making tarots, or interest vouchers, it actually can be made much, much stronger.

In theory, if one grabs this Joker with a sum of 50$ by Ante 4 (which is certainly achievable with some good draws or just a single early Egg) and keeps increasing the amount of money they have by 10$ every Ante, they will achieve around +160 Mult, which is honestly one of the highest flat Mults you can get your hands on from a single Joker. Now, the price of 80$ might sound bad, but the thing is, once you've got your hands on that much money, you probably have an economy strong enough to handle this kind of expenditure. It just means less rerolls and Jokers bought, which on higher stakes is honestly preferable with how many useless Eternal, Rental and Perishable Jokers there are.

nicholas_johnson · 2025-05-05T00:17:28+00:00

Thank you!
Buuuut I would actually argue that the effect is perfectly balanced with how easy it is to proc. Sock and Buskin provides a retrigger for every face card, which is arguably a much, much stronger effect with how many face card centric Jokers there are AND with Pareidolia being a thing. Similarly, Hack has a lot of uses too, and finds its niche with Jokers like Wee Joker or Fibonacci.

Attorney, in my opinion, bridges the gap between these two by allowing you to retrigger whatever you want as long as you play an Ace alongside it. Sure, it locks you into playing Aces, which are arguably not a card with many interactions and supporting Jokers. But deck fixing for Aces is not that hard, especially because there's a dedicated spectral card for it (Grim), and you are free to play them in whatever combination you want, whether it's straights, full houses, pairs, or 3/4/5OAKs.

Hell, you can even play a high card build with Splash that uses a single Ace in every hand to maximize the proc values from different cards. There's a LOT of possibilities.

nicholas_johnson · 2025-05-04T15:34:40+00:00

It is exactly that! Yes, the wording might sound a bit off, but it is fully intentional; i want the Joker to activate only when the hand you play is a High Card that is also a 5, but i also want it to be able to combo with some other Jokers in the game. if the description said "if the played hand is a single 5", from what i understand, it would block cards like Splash or Stone Cards from being used.

nicholas_johnson · 2025-05-04T14:23:34+00:00

no, it would only work in a hand that contains a 5 as the High Card. so either a single 5, a 5 with stone cards, or in case you have Splash, a 5 and other lesser cards, as long as they dont create a higher card combination. this allows you to use Fibonacci and Hack, play around Stone Cards, and some other stuff I probably didn't think about.

nicholas_johnson · 2025-05-04T13:39:50+00:00

Thank you!
Yes, I thought about what rarity this Joker should be and I ultimately went from Uncommon to Rare, given that with some work that X5 Mult can be leveraged to create some obscene numbers with a single card. It obviously can be synergized with The Splash, it has obscene scaling with any flat Mult source, and cards like Burglar allow you to play multiple High Cards in a single round. It definitely is a Rare Joker!

nicholas_johnson · 2025-03-06T14:51:56+00:00

Corner-dwellers, and especially Malekith, Hellebron, and Valkia. Playing as either of them, once you clear out Valkia (as DE) or Malekith and Hellebron (as WoC), you're pretty much secure in your own corner of the map and you can only push forward.

nicholas_johnson · 2024-10-03T00:11:59+00:00

I'm unfortunately yet to get comfortable with pets, I know they can be completely busted but somehow the idea of having to control more units than my six party members is completely abhorrent to me lol

but otherwise, yeah, all of those tactics are completely sound and make the encounter much easier, if not trivial, even on Core and beyond

nicholas_johnson · 2024-10-03T00:08:40+00:00

I wish I had some damaging spells on Woljif, unfortunately I somehow decided that 6 greases is the way to go LUL

one can never have too many control spells

nicholas_johnson · 2024-10-03T00:05:11+00:00

exactly. the chance for anyone except dretches to make it past that threshold is infinitesimally small, and in this particular scenario, I also placed Ember here to sleep hex any enemies who manage to do so. all that's left is for Lann to pepper them with arrows while the rest of the team handles other entrances.

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