Asking One of the BEST Melee Player for Top League Start Secrets

[@albezus]

I remember wanting to check alks build by typing !Build. I got a link from the chat bot expecting the paste bin. It was a picture of a Jacked dude with alks face photoshopped on holding two jeweled foils.

[@GermanLoLVidz]

lmaooo

[@Dezzled777]

Yeah snagging a alk build is a art form

[@TropeHatComics]

Sounds like the opposite of a problem.

[@eXileris]

lol I always check the PoE extension

[@michaelchase7561]

Yeah alk's stream is wild LMAO

[@corbtv]

Whenever his brain salad is filtered, Alk is actually a very interesting person to listen to.

[@xBINARYGODx]

LOL!

[@danparsons1423]

This seemed really hard work for Ziz, blood out of a stone.

[@EwokPanda]

Imagine if you could do a real-life "Filter all: 'Graliboar'"

[@christophercraig5033]

I don't think the professional interview format works with Alk. A more casual conversation that's a little guided maybe instead of written out questions. It was like watching someone jump in ice water in the beginning. Waiting for them to warm up.

[@iDeathHD]

Completly agree, what the fuck was those questions?

[@MrCMaccc]

I'm not familiar with Alk but glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. It felt very jarring at the beginning

[@freeSocrates]

yeah, this was really badly done, pretty awkward but not Alk's fault.

[@fredwin]

​@@freeSocratesOf course it's not his fault. Ziz's first question, he couldn't really answer it. Instead of filling in dead space or bailing the dude out, he goes "mmhmm, yeah. People trying to play shield crush but then they realize they're playing shield crush." That is completely worthless.

[@alwaysthink1st]

it was fine gg

[@Wrex90]

I know his type of stream and humor isn't for everyone and I get that. But honestly, if there is one person to ask about melee, it's Alk.

[@Hukas01]

Found his stream when D3 was good. Weird noises he makes have become white noise. Jokes are funny if you like satyr.

[@eunjangdong8843]

I drink poop

[@DixonYamouf]

There's a lot to learn from his characters and his gameplay for sure

[@bakedmomo5693]

​@@Hukas01 satyr? the half-human half-goat??

[@JayBills3]

@@bakedmomo5693I laughed when I saw that. That’s an error I’ve never seen before. 😂

[@haciendaddy]

cArn in the corner right now fighting for his life with that title. EDIT: Ziz changed the title from Melee GOAT

[@antiwhatever5391]

Carns the bone shatter guy not melee

[@drewjozz]

@@antiwhatever5391 bone shatters not even true melee because it was viable before this patch

[@lanl2qz]

I think cArn reigns in the Slayer & Boneshatter categories

[@Hadohs]

cArn got popular for melee builds recently but Alk's been playing PoE as melee only since open beta

[@NestiusHD]

Alk was already a melee goat when cArn was still playing starcraft

[@James0Blunt]

holy shit its grindle crudensphere

[@Ronkel1]

You know Alk's out of his comfort zone when he hasn't made any wierd noices in the past 15minutes

[@laranjo5999]

When he's not doing gargling sounds 24/7 and is behaving like a coherent human being, dude's just an incredibly knowledgeable and skilled player.

[@apalsnerg]

I want to do it all, man. Double strike, ground slam, earthshatter, shield crush, crushing fist. It all sounds so tempting. Sigh. Flicker Strike again, I guess.

[@vibonacci]

No spin to win?

[@ultrainstinct978]

Hell yeah trickster flicker got now 65/65 Block, should be even more sick now with aegis aurora and ES buff. Would love to start it direct but needs atleast 20-30 Div to start.

[@TheCosmicAstro-]

im really hoping we get a good crushing fist league start build somewhere so i can have fun with that before swapping to flicker

[@trycilz2307]

Any good builds for doubles strike??

[@krazzykracker2564]

I wonder what character would be best for flicker

[@mikec670]

just a reminder for campaign crafting, GGG introduced Faustus, who can create weapons with modifiers that are t0 and specifically said that he could be a good way to target an item during campaign. you can use gold instead of hard currency too. However I am aware that it may just be better to dump all gold into upgrading the town as fast as possible while your gold income is low during campaign, but we will just have to see i guess.

[@gilmarvenon]

oh yea, even better for SSF too, since we dont have acess to the new market and is where the gold is going to be used anyways.

[@TheAluvisify]

Going Rog + that guy is going to be the fastest gearing ever.

[@kirascendant]

Not t0, the mod that looked like t0 in the trailer was just because of the life explicit mod buffs. Otherwise, absolutely correct

[@daedalus6433]

@@gilmarvenonI mean, you will also use the gold for the workers. I imagine it will be beneficial to get tons of bubblegum currency from BOAT

[@Theely]

@@daedalus6433 Unless I missed GGG saying it, I doubt we'll be sending boats while still in the campaign or even early maps. Hope this isn't the case though.

[@darkphase7799]

If I am honest, I don't think I got much out of this. It seemed to give me 2 or 3 builds to not start, told me to make sure I update my weapon more often than spell casters and told me to worry about armour.

[@Bradbradhehe]

im a croagunk

[@YahMum69]

Almighty croagunk

[@yakuzachan]

alkMelee

[@Safetypin6010]

Croagunkian commander

[@davidwing288]

Love Alk . Thanks for having him on.

[@Insidius1]

The biggest issue before was you needed optimized weapons to make a lot of melee builds passable. The buffs should make a lot more middle of the road weapons usable

[@daedalus6433]

Yeah, it has raised the ceiling but the 20% qual being a more modifier also makes it easier to get some decent phys dps, so the floor has been kinda raised too

[@jacek2300]

🎉🎉 i love shield crush jugg. I leveld as test with SC from level 2 till level 45 to get the feel. Dont mind small aoe and slower clear. Is it ok for t16 map and boss and stones?

[@masonik420]

Is corgos dance guy here?

[@kirushanjey3709]

Since a lot more defences are coming from items + crushing fist indeed has 2193% dmg at lvl 20. I was thinking ; glancing blows to cap block as its easer than ever. Then can link crushing fist -> phys to lightning -> overcharge. To get consistent 50% shocks on bigger targets. ( Works better if you are crit as you can get the 50% ailment effect crit mastery

[@dinogalidson6327]

Apparently, he was not interested in responding in depth.

[@KingBrewHA]

“What da fk man, are you kidding me” - cArn

[@xenophon598]

I love how alk is no-nonsense and doesn't want to handhold noobs. he'll just tell you you're dumb/bad.

[@devonhogg234]

Ziz, can confirm both the the warlord and shaper life recovered on block nodes are in the game. One of the GGG console devs confirmed it to me(not trolling I promise)

[@ryanforgo3500]

i have to say while alkaizer is 100% right, it is not as bad as he describes it anymore. you can literally start shield crush after the buffs and it wont' be double the time anymore precisely because all skills will have the power to one shot now in one way or another as long as you are not trolling your tree. that said, what's king is king and sunder will stay king as it will still be more effcient damage and clearing. from my experience, however! you can transition into some skills and make htem faster than what anyone would expect at certain levels but therei s no generic cases for such skills. an example would be if your character's got phasing and a lot of damage / attack speed bladestorm feels INSANELY smooth as sandstorms will keep giving you sweet MS boost and you bladestorm a pack and go nexxt while the pack dies by the ticking storm.

[@jerppazz4525]

the part of do not try to save up currency in the early game is truly the best advice you can give, even though it will ironically be one of the most ignored advice. if at all possible make some currency before making your second build because you dont want to be replaying the same game state over and over. many people make their first 5-10 div and proceed to make a new build and then strugle 40h to get to that 5-10 div state again and then quit because for the past 40h theyve made 0 progress realistically. ie get a little bit of currency so you can make that second build and start progressing the game almost instantly instead of replaying the start again. (motivation runs out real fast if theres no sense of progression)

[@MisterMrah]

so until 2nd build is considered, I should dump currency on progressing starter as much as possible?

[@jerppazz4525]

@@MisterMrah yes

[@jerppazz4525]

@@MisterMrah in short, dont randomly save up currency for no reason. the second build has to be planned out and saved for that exact reason. when is up to the individual but simply be aware of the pitfall that many new or even "intermediate" players fall in, which i explained above.

[@MisterMrah]

@@jerppazz4525 thank you

[@Richard1H65S]

Wow so good to have Alk opinion on Melea. Well done Zairian.

[@saifer21]

SST video when?

[@Xxelamoon]

would have liked you ask about Support gem priority during the campaign for a slam build (like sunder) because there is just soooo many options, would like to know which supports are the GOAT and which are not cos we get alot of useful ones early like (Chance to Bleed) (Maim) (Close Combat) (Faster Attacks) (Melee Phys) (Momentum) (Fist of war) (Brutality) (Pulverize) the new exertion support etc.. etc..

[@pinksnake7584]

I am so hyped for friday

[@Unflushablepiss]

its like we getting a new game!

[@Trollosauras]

Truly! Whatya thinking of going ?

[@alfred8241]

My hardon is making it hard to sleep

[@Mayhemzz]

The one thing I learned that makes melee leveling nice is you cannot overstate the benefit of a good weapon and attack speed, and on the contrary having a bad/underleveled weapon makes it feel like the worst thing in the world.

[@jasonbonadio8870]

On witch, damage recouped as life was insane for me in affliction. I was nearly un killable with the notable damage taken from mana at 40% and Eldritch battery

[@parob7285]

How much dmg recoup did you have?

[@jasonbonadio8870]

@@parob7285 if I remember correctly 80ish % there's a couple cluster that have that. Then I believe the mind over matter notable we're 40% of damage is taken from mana, combine that with eldrich battery and suddenly you have a lot of mitigation. So much so that in 60 80% deli maps, I would get jumped sometimes by packs monsters, lose my mana and would not be able to die or move because my recoup was so good. Aside from getting one shot

[@tiaeth6631]

@Zizaren, do we also get a video / PoB for a Bleed SST league starter?

[@addressunknown8]

I was wondering about that. He talked about SST in the podcast but then put out a melee guide.

[@nefstead]

It's coming.

[@deceiver444]

Impatiently waiting for this one

[@EriktionEBW]

@Zizaran, would you please hand over this SST Bleed build already?

[@WissenstattGlauben]

take a look at british exile

[@PixelsPending]

13:00 i think the 10% life node is now even better as before, as all other items have more life now too ! so the 10% can be massive now even if you have to ditch a huge life roll :3

[@kyleciantar307]

At 1:55, Alk says to upgrade your melee weapon of choice every 8 levels. That feels right having leveled melee before. I have a question on the comment. Is that player level or zone level? I guess the two never really go that far apart, but am still curious what the default is in Alk's gameplay. Separately, I think, as a racer, you prefer to stay slightly under leveled to keep xp gain efficient, but that needs to be balanced out with how cleanly you are dealing with the current content. All that being said, I think what he said taught me that if I'm 10 levels down on the zone I'm gonna throw every alc, alt, aug, and belt I got at it until I have a decent upgrade on the best base currently available. Today I learned you like reading long youtube comments (me too sometimes), but I think it's worth it to explain to those who might not know what melee leveling feels like.

[@eliahubeleck2037]

Have to hard disagree with Alk about Molyen Strike being ok at start. At least on Marauder, it's so slow that you'll get stun interrupted constantly. Maybe ok on duelist, but such a rough first few levels with 70% effective atk speed on the gem. Not for beginners

[@forfeitthewar]

alkaizer mentioned viper strike as a weird but “playable” build and this was the build i was planning on playing, crit assassin viper strike in particular. any thoughts on the viability on a build like this or tips? tried to research and see if anyone has done anything with it but having no luck on anything recent

[@AuRelion77]

i remember ziggyd doing a viper strike build a league or two ago. he had liked that build quite a lot too.

[@lanague6890]

1. this was about leveling, he just said its weird to level with it. 2. He speaks from a viewpoint of absolute efficiency. If there is some skill and another skill B that is 5% worse, then for Alkaizer there is no point in playing skill B. For your build, you can play it, but make sure you have covered how you do area damage because viper strike is single target. And make sure you know how to make assassin not die to everything.

[@baronunderbeit7723]

Gotta send people these questions ahead of time. (maybe you did and it's just Alk things). Good insights still.

[@blech71]

I don’t like how we have to fathom how centaurs have two sets of abs.

[@KennyIsUndead]

Came here to find out what melee build is safe to play in 3.25. Am still lost on that.

[@Prakx9]

For leveling, always choose frost blades. But same as you, I’m still unsure what to play endgame

[@RobertusAmor13]

Slams are strong, level as sunder and switch to your main skill in maps. Earthquake, earthshatter, ground slam, etc.

[@giga-aston-enjoyer]

How are you lost? He said level sunder switch to earthshatter then maybe later dual strike of ambi if you get the gear.

[@robertveres6232]

Alk is really the poe melee GOAT 100% no doubt. He is playing hc ssf usually and rarely ever dies, he is also a good bosskiller i mean he's skilled af. And he plays different builds not like that slayer boneshatter guy if u know what i mean.

[@LauriHuu]

i still remember the the earthshatter warcry chimp days but i was part of it so no hate, only love for Alk

[@RickeOOO]

Alk builds are very balanced in all areas, ive been copying this guy for ages... Offense, defence & never too cluncy or annoying to play.

[@iFullgogo]

How can you do that when he rarely shares his builds

[@RickeOOO]

@@iFullgogo you just look up alk on poe website or just put alkaizerx into PoB and add his character there, then do what he is doing :) but yeah it requires him to level up and get going before u can copy. But he is very fast, so you can see what hes doing in just a couple hours :)

[@Moritz.Langen]

@@iFullgogo Watch his streams.

[@RickeOOO]

@@iFullgogo I usually check what his doing on his stream, at the poe website or PoB if u want more details, alkaizerx. Usually i can see what hes up to in just 10 hours after reset :)

[@jozsefkun6960]

@@iFullgogo look at his poe profile, import his latest character in pob, it's pretty common practice

[@SwabbieGaming]

It's pretty clear that arcane cloak will be mandatory for the north side of the tree

[@omanlady123456]

i found his approach to gameplay and how his thoughts apply much more relatable to me lol

[@franks_9254]

Unrelated related. The Mud Flats are still the most scary part at League start, especially with a melee character.

[@apathyreaper5323]

Corgos eats baconators and shits EVERYWHERE ON ZAPPLEE'S FACE

[@dogeeee606]

Grandpa

[@GrizZzlyWiZzZly]

bignose

[@doothdooth]

that's a perma for sure

[@mrpilhas]

how long you want to be baned?

[@danocnl]

Pestilent strike was gigabuffed and has in built clear mechanics, I am not sure what is up with the hate for it.

[@decree72]

Im a simple casual arpg player since 2013 hier in PoE my most played builds are shield gladi with lacerate and cyclone slayer, im really looking forward to play just these builds again and see the difference, starting with gladi the class which i had my only lvl96, most times i stop at lvl 90, im casual in the end, one day to 100 would be a goal still.

[@Deaner3D]

Man Alk really needs to be prepped for segments like this. Give him the questions ahead of time - review his bullet-point responses. And keep it organized. It's just painful to listen to a dude looking at the ceiling wondering what melee skills are good through the campaign.

[@ConfusedPenguin87]

Yeah I felt like the only things I learned were “pay attention to bases” and “endurance charges OP” everything else felt extremely vague with no real substance.

[@Romial34]

I need like notes from this like a checklist. Would be much easier than trying to pay attention to the whole 30 minutes.

[@Aeqstaw]

Retal will really depend on how clunky it feels to play, I think the damage is there on paper though.

[@patrick70333]

I can tell this Alk guy plays A LOT of video games.

[@erosdemise1359]

I am pretty excited for the changes to gladiator! Thoughts about a gladiator bleed cyclone build?

[@ramschasar7654]

The biggest mistake you can do is value efficiency higher than having fun and playing your original build can in my experience deliver that that better even if it never is able to kill uber maven.

[@Eqnotalent]

With a melee league. Is melee gear going to super expensive or more opposite because there is so much supply?

[@maggotthemadman8142]

Spectral Throw with Volley is better for almost every leveling build until you get past Merveil at least, way faster.

[@bubblehulk7647]

“Witch will take 10x more damage than the big beefy tanky melee guys” This is how it should be probably, right?

[@NeoFryBoy]

No

[@TheDontbeEvil]

no outro?

[@Chieftain01]

I swear to god Shield Crush was my favorite skill after Shattering steel got it's Shotgun aspect nerfed. and hearing Shield Crush get completely shit on has been definitely a horrible experience. love the skill. love the gameplay and I always end up attacking faster than any skill in the past.

[@itiswrittenministry4131]

Alkaizer sounds like Derek more plates

[@X777-w6o]

Ok. I need help. Im at level 43 wiz. But i have no clue. Since tomorrow is the update, where should i start. Any help will be appreciated

[@testdemgames]

For new folks like me who just go into these videos searching for a build name that will be solid and let you finally finish the Uber boss content it's Earthshatter into dual strike.

[@kaleidoughscope]

... for hardcore? for racing? for end-game? 1st question = loaded question

[@JRBaldOPPA]

Molten Strike + Claw should be viable for leveling. Fixes your life leech and mana early on

[@1988Anomaly]

4:37 looks like Alkaizer pushes air, like he's having stress here.

[@jajalbdp]

This is too informal for a degenerate gamer.

[@LegatoC]

he shit himself

[@ivanlazza87]

Any good tectonic slam ?

[@86TrapHouse]

Alk x Ziz = Prime OF Content

[@ashton35]

I don't care about the weird stuff he does. He pays attention to the game and puts effort into playing it Watch him and learn

[@jan111to]

Would you call farm oni goroshi at the league start as a miasteake? I ask for my friend who wants to farm it.

[@polan7429]

yes

[@Razgriz__1]

Absolutely a mistake, farming Oni takes as long as the campaign itself unless you get super lucky.

[@oopomopoo]

Oni is a meme

[@LockheedMartinEnjoyer]

Sure why not if that's what you find enjoyable.

[@willfoltz]

Only if you find the farming itself enjoyable. I've done it once or twice and I personally find it kills my desire to play since all of my time is spent farming it instead of just... playing the league. But your mileage may vary on how draining you find the process. Its also worth noting the weapon isn't actually that good and you have to build around its degen mechanic.

[@killer109536]

varunastra/claw gladiator crit dual strike of ambi with block cap/82 max res/suppression cap, 8-15m dps? Yay or ney?

[@sammyjenkis5260]

Hey Ziz, do you think I can level one handed to try some retaliate skills or is it too bad compared to 2H

[@Basedard]

I'll be starting Reave it's dope as are the claw and dagger nodes.

[@kaleidoughscope]

Hipster gems: Viper Strike, Shield Crush, ____ etc.

[@sddrat]

it feels weird not hearing him say Big nose in every sentence 🤣

[@germalganis]

Hey @Zizaran the other day you were asking for video ideas. Now that we’ll have new ES bases why not do an updated CI guide, everything on KZbin has 5 years at least.

[@olop-ln7ot]

I only saw the video title without seeing who it was from and I thought it was a mango interview lmao

[@Whitewingdevil]

Any melee skill is viable? Got it, it's time for my Vigilant Strike build to finally shine!

[@Robot-Overlord]

Shitstain_Steve Interview when?

[@martinbruns1963]

Remember if you build useing Brutality Support elemental damage on your weapons become worthless

[@dkozel]

People quick to shit on Alk for silly clips he has without even watching him, but he's definitely one of the most seasoned PoE players. I've literally watched him playing the same melee skills multiple leagues in a row through multiple nerfs/changes and will only drop it when it's close to dead in the ground. Mans got that headstrong autism you want to see in a ARPG streamer, his channel and chat is funny af and has been the same for like nearly 10 years

[@UnknownString123]

He generally goes for the strongest melee in a HC setting, so if the skill got nerfed but it's still the strongest then he'll keep playing it.

[@sebastiangrebe8276]

All well and good, i will still start as Absolution necro. Collecting bows and 2h melee leveling things.

[@fr0zeNstriKe]

Its good when you gonna LS shield crush and Alk mention as bad af

[@justinEDIBLE4]

Love these conversations! I can never learn enough about PoE!

[@foxdavion6865]

Boneshatter hasn't been changed, which is why it is worse off than before. EQ Jugg? Yeah still works, but it isn't the only option anymore and is arguably the weaker choice damage wise. GGG are likely going to nerf or buff something end of week one. EQ Jugg was a product of the time when melee sucked, GGG's logic is "well people used it back when melee sucks so it must be good, so we won't touch it." No, GGG, it was used because it was the only one which didn't suck and it was just ok. It needed love too. Everyone who isn't going melee is going some form of Trickster, Necro or Chieftain build or just straight up Cold Arch mage.

[@thomasgrimm1664]

Alkaizer is great, but that interview felt a bit off.

[@Mastervivi10]

Corgoes is a BABY... HE BITES WHAT HE DOESN'T LIKE... THAT'S YOU Iao_!

[@mikael9703]

badass dude

[@naisancoder9487]

i wonder if an unarmed build with facebreaker would be viable this league

[@NolaGamer]

Will you be putting out a slam build guide?

[@Jirkamcz]

I love Alk he play for fun and thats how games should be played ❤

[@Sandlchi]

they look like that one meme that goes "art enthusiasts vs artists"

[@Sydmaster]

as a melee player: after reading these comments, I feel like an intellectual for the first time in poe

[@ArchonPR]

What do you guys think about cyclone in this league?

[@cv-10hs49]

Worst decision ever. Worst melee skill rn

[@deceiver444]

​@@cv-10hs49why ?

[@ArchonPR]

​@@cv-10hs49😢😢😢

[@Covertghost]

ur better off doing rage vortex

[@flaxenwall9840]

The rich people that are able to buy everything and resell it for higher in hctrade are mostly in you guys guild.

[@brunoc330]

what about smite? I really like that skill, would be better with templar or warden?

[@schlootle]

When you do an evasion build, do you even care about armour? I typically ended up doing raider evasion builds woth ele conversion

[@siipis7766]

I always forget to check the weapon requirements in gems😂 and sometimes accuracy rating and wondering why the f im not hitting things

[@fakeigniz13]

I was specifically looking at venom strike and pestilence strike

[@bartmoorman]

yo waht the hell happened to alkaizers twitch views, he has insane numbers this week

[@PrematureGoat]

alkizer loot filter?

[@Kleezie]

Need to work on your active listening Ziz versus waiting for your turn to talk. Will come across more engaging. Ty though for doing informational colabs though, props getting as many people involved as you are.

[@nickusification]

this comment is the UFFF :Q__ of all comments here.

[@yalmeme]

timecodes?