Path Of Exile Resource #17 - Voidwalker Unique Item Review

Voidwalker in Path Of Exile is a unique pair of murder boots that when equipped grants the player up to 50 dexterity attribute points, up to 180 percent increased evasion and energy shield rating, 30 percent increased movement speed, 20 percent chance to avoid projectiles while phasing, the unique modifier "you have phasing if you have killed recently", and the unique modifier "projectiles pierce while phasing". This unique has a maximum evasion rating of 483 and a maximum energy shield rating of 66 if all armorer's scraps have been applied to the unique. This unique has not changed since it's original introduction into the game in September of 2016.

Item Usefulness Information - This unique is best suited for range based character builds that utilize piercing projectile attacks in their main build setups. The up to 50 increased dexterity points granted by the unique is beneficial towards all character classes, since it can help ease attribute requirements on gear and grant a small bonus towards accuracy and evasion rating. The up to 180 percent increased evasion and energy shield is somewhat negligible, unless your character build is focused on scaling evasion rating as your primary source of defense against enemies. The 30 percent increased movement speed granted by the unique is useful with regard to builds that cannot use whirling blades as their main movement skill in their build setup and will mainly utilize walking to get from area to area. The unique modifier "20 percent chance to avoid projectiles while phasing" is amazing for evasion based character builds. This will make enemies projectiles attacks have less of a chance to hit you, which is a definitive increase to defenses. The unique modifier "you have phasing if you've killed recently" works in tandem with the previous modifier, and is incredibly useful since it means that you will almost always have the phasing buff if your character build has a sufficient clear speed. The final unique modifier "projectiles pierce while phasing" is a damage output boost for builds that utilize and scale their main damage with pierce in their build setups. This unique modifier can save you from having to invest in a pierce support gem and several passive skill tree points, and works incredibly well with the Drillneck unique, since the Drillneck unique grants increased projectile damage based on your arrow pierce chance. The best character class to pick when deciding to fully utilize maximize damage output with this unique is the Ranger. The best ascendancy class to pick when deciding to go Ranger is the Deadeye. The Deadeye's Powerful Precision notable passive skill states "projectiles have 100 percent additional chance to pierce targets at the start of their movement, losing this chance as the projectile travels farther", "attack projectiles return to you after hitting targets", and "projectile critical strike chance increased by arrow pierce chance". This works in tandem with the Voidwalker unique, since it means that the downside of losing pierce chance as the projectile travels further is completely neglected, since you will have 100 percent pierce chance while phasing. Due to the fact that your arrow pierce chance is 100 percent while phasing, it means that your critical strike chance will be greatly enhanced. You cannot use this unique in the early stages of the game, since it's level requirement is level 69. In the late stages of the game, this unique is a great defensive and offensive item due to it's unique modifiers, and is likely the best in slot item for evasion based character builds that utilize and scale their main damage with pierce currently.

Informative Links -
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Voidwalker - additional information regarding the Voidwalker unique
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Phasing - additional information regarding the Phasing buff
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Drillneck - additional information regarding the Drillneck unique
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Deadeye - additional information regarding the Deadeye ascendancy class

Path Of Exile Resource #16 - Victario's Acuity Unique Item Review

Victario's Acuity in Path Of Exile is a unique turquoise amulet that when equipped grants the player up to 40 percent lightning resistance points, up to 10 percent chaos resistance points, 10 percent chance to gain a frenzy charge on kill, 10 percent chance to gain a power charge on kill, 5 percent increased projectile speed per frenzy charge, 5 percent increased projectile damage per power charge, and up to 24 dexterity and intelligence points from the turquoise amulet's implicit modifier. This unique has not changed since it's original introduction into the game in June of 2013.

Item Usefulness Information - This unique is best suited for range based character builds that utilize projectile attacks in their main build setups. This unique can also be useful for spell based character builds, however it is less popular in such builds since most people consider projectile spells to be weaker than their projectile attacks counterpart. The up to 40 percent lightning resistance points granted by the unique is beneficial towards all character classes. The up to 10 percent chaos resistance points is beneficial towards most character classes, although on a much less noticeable scale since currently only a few enemies in the game deal a significant amount of chaos damage. This unique modifier is not useful for characters that utilize Chaos Inoculation in their builds, since Chaos Inoculation grants immunity to chaos damage. The 10 percent chance to gain a frenzy charge on kill, as well as the 10 percent chance to gain a power charge on kill are both incredibly powerful unique modifiers that are hard to come by elsewhere. The unique modifiers provide an easy way of generating frenzy and power charges, an action that many range and spell based character builds need in order to fully maximize their damage potential. The frenzy and power charge generation can be difficult to sustain while fighting bosses that do not spawn or provide minions to kill during the fight. These two unique modifiers have incredible synergy with the next two unique modifiers that the unique grants, which are 5 percent increased projectile speed per frenzy charge, and 5 percent increased projectile damage per power charge. The 5 percent increased projectile speed per frenzy charge is mostly negligible, unless your build specifically needs increased projectile speed to make it comprehensively stronger. The 5 percent increased projectile damage per power charge is incredibly strong for builds that fully utilize power charges in their main build setup. In most cases, spell based character builds are the ones to fully utilize power charges, however most range based character builds that have a high critical strike chance rate can utilize power charges in a multitude of ways, such as through specific gear selection and effective passive skill tree utilization. The up to 24 dexterity and intelligence points granted by the turquoise amulet's implicit modifier is beneficial towards all character classes, since it can help ease attribute requirements on gear and grant a small bonus towards accuracy rating, evasion rating, maximum mana, and maximum energy shield. In the early stages of the game, as well as the late stages of the game, this unique is useful due to it's ability to save you a support gem link or curse aura, such as a power charge on critical strike support gem or a poacher's mark curse aura, greatly increase your general damage output, increase your overall clear speed, and moderately increase your survivability.

Informative Links -
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Victario%27s_Acuity - additional information regarding the Victario's Acuity unique
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Chaos_Inoculation - additional information regarding the Chaos Inoculation keystone passive skill

Path Of Exile Resource #15 - Skyforth Unique Item Review

Skyforth in Path Of Exile is a unique pair of sorcerer boots that when equipped grants the player up to 120 increased mana points, 30 percent increased movement speed, 25 percent chance to gain a power charge on critical strike, 6 percent reduced mana reserved, the unique modifier "you have no life regeneration", and the unique modifier "stun threshold is based on 500% of your mana instead of life". This unique has a maximum energy shield rating of 77 if all armorer's scraps have been applied to the unique. 3d art for the Skyforth unique was added in June of 2016. This unique has not changed since it's original introduction into the game in December of 2015.

Item Usefulness Information - This unique is best suited for any character builds that fully utilize the potential of Chaos Inoculation, Ghost Reaver and Vaal Pact in their build setups. The unique modifiers on this unique make it so it is the best in slot item for character builds that utilize the specifically mentioned keystone passive skills. The up to 120 increased mana points granted by the unique is beneficial towards any character builds that have a low mana supply or have attack skills that cost a large amount of mana per use. This unique modifier is generally more useful towards spell based character builds than melee or range based character builds. The 30 percent increased movement speed is useful towards builds that cannot use whirling blades as their main movement skill in their build setup and will mainly walk around to get from area to area. The 25 percent chance to gain a power charge on critical strike granted by the unique is most beneficial towards builds that fully utilize power charges but need an easy way to generate them. Most builds that fully utilize the potential of power charges are spell based character builds and range based character builds, however since this unique is generally more beneficial towards spell based character builds, it is more effective to use it on those builds. On spell based character builds, the best unique item to use in conjunction with the Skyforth unique is the Void Battery unique. This is due to the fact that the Skyforth unique saves a gem link by not needing to link a power charge on critical strike support gem in your build setup. The Void Battery unique primarily scales spell damage through attaining power charges, and since the Skyforth unique grants an easy way to generate power charges, you can add another, more effective damage support gem to fully maximize the damage on your build. The 6 percent reduced mana reserved is great for builds that fully utilize auras, whether defensive or offensive, and want to have as many of them as possible in their builds. The unique modifier "you have no life regeneration" is the only downside to equipping this item, however since most builds that utilize this item to it's fullest extent spec into Chaos Inoculation, Ghost Reaver and Vaal Pact, this downside is negligible. The final unique modifier "stun threshold is based on 500% of your mana instead of life" is great for builds that scale energy shield as their primary source of defense against enemies, since energy shield based builds have trouble with enemy stuns. The main way most energy shield based builds have dealt with this problem was through utilizing the Eye Of Chayula unique amulet, which grants the unique modifier "cannot be stunned". However, equipping the Skyforth unique saves us from having to utilize the sub optimal for energy shield based builds Eye Of Chayula unique, meaning that in it's place you can use any other amulet you want, whether it be a defensive or offensive for your build.
You cannot use this unique in the early stages of the game, since it's level requirement is level 67. In the late stages of the game, this unique is a great defensive and offensive item due to it's unique modifiers, and is likely the best in slot item for energy shield based builds currently.

Informative Links -
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Skyforth - additional information regarding the Skyforth unique
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Chaos_Inoculation - additional information regarding the Chaos Inoculation keystone passive skill
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Ghost_Reaver - additional information regarding the Ghost Reaver keystone passive skill
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vaal_Pact - additional information regarding the Vaal Pact keystone passive skill
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Whirling_Blades - additional information regarding the Whirling Blades movement skill gem
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Void_Battery - additional information regarding the Void Battery unique
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Eye_of_Chayula - additional information regarding the Eye Of Chayula unique