With every season, there come changes and balances in PoE to support underutilized items, and some OP items are nerfed to balance across the board. There have been similar changes in 3.19, Lake of Kalandra season, not to mention the controversial currency change. Today we will discuss a few items that may look insanely good and benefit you in the long run, but they might ruin your season journey making it difficult at the start of the season. Before reading the meat of the article, don't forget to check out how to get early PoE currency for a great start early on.
Sunblast – Cloth Belt
Sunblast, in the initial overview, is an excellent belt that allows you to throw additional two traps when you use a skill that throws traps. It is excellent gear for any assassin if you are making a passive build in which you throw your traps and move around kiting enemies. But the recent nerf has increased the delay in the springing of the trap and triggers after one second. As it also doesn't spring when an enemy walks through it, then they are no use if you are fighting fast enemies. In the end game, you constantly move around and hit enemies while staying alive. This delay in the trap will bother you a lot as you don't have enough time to wait for it to deal damage. Let's look into the item's stats and skills.
Required Level – 16
Main Stat – Increased Stun and Block Recover by 15-25%
Additional Skills:
You throw two additional traps with a skill cast, which throws a trap.
The traps will land within a particular area where you have targeted the skill.
Enemies walking over the traps will not trigger the trap.
Increased Fire Resistance
Reduced trap duration
Light radius increased
Vendor Price – 8 Chaos Orbs
Item Type – Belt and Unique
How to Acquire the Item? – It can drop anywhere
Recipes
The Wretched – Need 6 and gives you Random Belt.
The Dungeon Master – Need 7 and can give a random double-influenced belt.
The Cache – Need 6 and can drop you a random jewelry.
Prejudice – Need 7 and can drop you a random influenced item.
Costly Curio – Need 6, and you can get a loot of a random double-influenced item.
Arrogance of the Vaal – Requires 8 and bags you a random two-implicit corrupted item
Jack in the Box – Requires 4 and gives a random item
Singular Incubator – Needs only 1 and gives a random item
The Void – Need only 1 and gives you a random divination card set that you can easily exchange.
Lightning Conduit – Skill Gem
Lightening is one of the new skill gems introduced in 3.19 and is a lightning skill gem, as is the theme for all new gems in this challenger season league. Even though it is a great item, we do not recommend using it at the start of the league as the mechanic requires you to click twice, so use it when you have reached the endgame.
Some players may think it is like Detonate Dead skill that it isn't a constant casting skill, so waiting for the skill to take effect and then casting it a second time is boring in the start when all you want to do is kill and move on.
The only problem with this gem is casting two skills to reap the full benefits of the Shock and lightning damage. This is further problematic if you have high ping, which is why not recommended in those cases.
Let's look at the details of the item.
Required Level – 28
Max Level – 20
Mana Cost – 6 to 16 depending on the gem level
Crit Change – 6%
Casting Time – 0.5 seconds
Skill Description – After you have shocked enemies from another skill or item, lighting automatically strikes shocked enemies around any target location. Lighting strikes with a damage range of 43-1548 remove Shock from the enemies. This gem isn't supported by any spell that cascades or unleash mechanic.
Stats of the Gem
This Gem deals from 43-516 up to 130-1548 lightning-based damage.
The damage from this gem cannot inflict Shock on enemies.
The damage is increased by 10-20% for each 5% shocked enemy.
Increased damage based on quality up to 20%
Recipes
The Cataclysm – Need 13 and drops a random corrupted gem that is a spell at level 21.
The Fox – Though need 6 but can easily drop you a level 20 random gem.
Dying Anguish – Requires 8 but can give you a random 19-level gem with a 19% chance of alternative quality as a loot drop.
The Hook – Requires 6 of these while bagging you a random corrupted gem of level 21 with at least a 23% chance of making it an alternative quality.
Gemcutter's Promise – Needs 6 and drops you a random 20% quality gem.
Gemcutter's Incubator – for 1 of these, you get 1-20% quality random gem.
The Void – Easily get a random divination card set you can exchange for 1 of these.
Defiance Banner – Skill Gem
The Defiance Banner is a defensive gem in PoE and one of the most potent such gems in the game and loved by most players. The main reason behind its popularity is that first, it's an aura skill that increases the Armor and Evasion of your character but also other players if you are playing as a team, plus reducing enemies' Crit Chance. Furthermore, it taunts all the enemies in a particular area.
Now you may ask why it is listed here if it is that strong. Well, even after the nerf, it is still a strong contender for team play. But the nerf might not be acceptable for some players. Nonetheless, let's discuss its merits and show you places where it is nerfed.
Type of Skill Gem – Spell, AoE, Aura, Spell, Physical
Required Level – 26
Max Level – 20
Reservation – 10% of Your Mana pool
Cool Down – 1 Sec
Casting Time – 1 second
Skill Description – When you cast this skill, it reserves the mana for the ability to carry a banner. As long as you carry the banner, the Evasion and Armor of you and all your allies nearby increases with reduced crit chance from the enemies. The potency of the banner increases with each stage, and we cannot have more than one banner in one team.
Stats of the Gem
You and your allies who are nearby getting an increased Armor and Evasion rating of 15-24% based on your gem level (Reduced in 3.19 from 30-49%).
Enemies have reduced crit chance who are nearby by 30-40% based on the gem level ( Reduced this patch from 20-29%).
The banner gains 1 stage every 0.2 seconds as long as enemies are within range.
As long as the banner is active, you get to taunt enemies within range for 0.15 seconds for each stage of the banner; these enemies will deal significantly less damage, around 15%.
Further stats like area of effect, duration, and aura effect are increased per stage.
The quality of the gem enhances the increased armor and evasion rating per 0.25% in quality (nerfed from per 0.5% quality).
Acquired Location – Can drop anywhere
Recipes
The Wilted Rose – Needs 7 of them and can drop a random level 21 corrupted Aura Gem.
The Cataclysm – Need 13 and drops a random corrupted gem that is a spell at level 21.
The Fox – Though need 6 but can easily drop you a level 20 random gem.
Dying Anguish – Requires 8 but can give you a random 19-level gem with a 19% chance of alternative quality as a loot drop.
The Hook – Requires 6 of these while bagging you a random corrupted gem of level 21 with at least a 23% chance of making it an alternative quality.
Gemcutter's Promise – Needs 6 and drops you a random 20% quality gem.
Gemcutter's Incubator – for 1 of these, you get 1-20% quality random gem.
The Void – easily get a random divination card set you can exchange for 1 of these.
The GGG was concerned that this banner was giving players a significant boost in Armor and Evasion ratings, which was becoming a must for Hardcore players and highly sought after by others. This gem was a low-invest but high-reward gem, becoming the only defensive gem most players used. Furthermore, the classes that didn't have access to defensive stats as much in their skill tree and instead relied on dealing damage were also taking it to boost defense. Its combination with Grace and Determination made this skill a regular part of all the builds.
Conclusion
This article discussed 3 items/gems that you should avoid in 3.19 or at least at the start of the league until you are more relaxed with the game's different game styles and mechanics. These items on the list aren't as bad per se but, in my humble opinion, should be avoided as long as possible. If you want to know more about other builds and guides, visit our website PoE page for more information.
