Class/Builds/Sync

Hum actually I'm moving with space bar... Old habit from playing a ww Barbarian in Diablo... But it should work with mouse button anyway ?

To move with spacebar, just change one key in-game (in all your windows of course) using the key configuration menu under "Options", and change one key to space bar, then apply "walk" to this key, the same way as you apply a spell to a key.

I started out with 5 summoner witches, got em all to level 60 without too much issue, but around merciless docks I started noticing some serious lag issues with all their summons and auras up. I could play for a bit, but around once an hour, sometimes a couple of times in an hour, one of my boxes would freeze up and disconnect, or crash. It was annoying so I experimented with different settings, different auras, and finally less witches. :p I'm running maps now without much problem, but I don't run more than three at once because I don't really want to lose maps due to disconnects, or die due to lag.

I'm super excited that they've finally addressed this in the latest patch, I'll definitely be dusting off my two neglected, still-level-60 witches and taking them all out for a spin again. If all goes well they'll definitely be joining me in maps.

Setupwise, for people that are having trouble:

Absolutely make sure to have the exact same run speeds, this is the number one cause of headaches. :p Navigating some areas are a pain (I hate indoor maps ), but practice will help, and smooshing everyone into a corner now and then for a group hug is usually very helpful. Bind a key to toggle broadcasting to something easy, I use it *all* the time and it makes things so much better. Have pickup also bound to a key (in-game settings), and generally toggle off broadcasting when you're picking things up if you don't want the others to get all full of white crap. For a while I had it set up so only my "leader" would have keyless pickup, which works well, but is a huge pain if you want to switch leaders around, which I do often.

I run 2 auras per witch, so my minions get a shitton of boosts, without mana-starving my witches. I was originally going to have my witches be more support-based (was contemplating dual curse and dual totems, even necromatic aegis), but they were doing pretty good damage on their own so I've pimped them out and they're decently face-melty along with my minions. Their main skill is firestorm, just cuz it's nice AOE that you don't have to worry too much about aiming in a group. Any decent AOE or non-targeted spell will do, really. Just recently picked up Chaos Innoculation when I noticed that the only thing that'd been killing me in maps lately was chaos damage.

Gonna go test my 5 witches now, I'll report back how it goes.

This is the first time I multibox anything but I can tell why people say PoE is hard.
Main issue here is character collision is enabled (characters/monsters don't stack).

I began with a pack of 4 Rangers, and recently added another ranger to the bowl so 5 Rangers, been successful so far, enjoying very much.

Tips:

- Make full screen regions instead of dividing your screen for each client. You only need to see one at a time.
- Use ISBoxer's Click Bar buttons to create tags for each of your characters (just the name) so it's easier to identify which one you're on.
- Change your "swap" hotkeys to something easier than CTRL+ALT+1. I have it set to ALT+1, ALT+2, etc.
- When you desync, simply mouse over the desynced character to check which one it is, swap to its screen and walk it back to the flock, one by one if needed.
- Don't mix classes/builds. Have all your characters leveled at the same pace, using the exact same skills on the exact same action bar slots.
- Do not click mobs to attack, but instead, press shift and attack to the target's direction. Unless all your characters are stacked real tight and the target is hugging you, clicking a mob doesn't work.
- Try using AOE as your main attack, something that does not need to be accurate. For example, a ranger's "Rain of Arrows" is better than firing a single arrow, as it is more tolerant to poor aiming, since you hit a larger area with each attack.
- The main character (the one you will be controlling) needs to have at least 5% more movement speed than the others due to a minor delay on broadcasting mouse clicks.
- All others (the ones you're not controlling) need to have the same movement speed between themselves. I currently have 25/20/20/20/20, which after gear movement penalty becomes 21/16/16/16/16.
- Use corners to re-sync without effort.
- Go slow, resync as needed, and remember you're already running 4x faster than playing a single character, in terms of loot. No need to rush.

Happy boxing.

Updated 04/12/2013 :

My team is now 74-76, farming maps. I have exactly the same comment for docks as weaselgirl...

I modified my team (Dual-Totem Templars), I don't use decoy totems anymore, it's just a waste of dps, and critters are attacking dps totems anyway. Rather, I'm using 4 characters with pure dps totems...

• 3 characters are casting 2x Spell Totem / Spark / GMP / Faster Casting / Item Quantity (6th link will be Item Rarity)
• 1 character is casting 2x Spell Totem / Ice Spear / LMP / Blind / Elemental Proliferation (6th link might be Chance to flee)

My computer can't handle 6 characters with dual spark totems, so I downgraded my team to 4 templars. This is more convenient for moving the team in dungeons, too.

Right now I need another GMP, and 6 links, but like everybody else, I have trouble making 6-links items... It consumes a LOT of fusings. I'm using my gcp on Faster Casting and GMP Gems, and I have made plenty of +20% flasks with all the stones I found.

My dps is pretty low, due to my template, but I'm not in a hurry, and my only concern is to cast/recast totems faster than the mob can destroy them, which is really no problem 95% of the time.

If I had to do it again, I'll probably go for a team with 4 witches with Dual Totems and Chaos Inoculation. But I'm pretty happy with my team, with each character holding 2 wands for increased spell damage, which I could hardly do with a witch team, who would need spirit shields in left hand for energy shield purposes.

Okay, so I decided to restart a new team. Ahem, actually GGG decided that I have to start again from scratch

I'll start with a team of 4 witches, with a goal of Chaos Inoculation + Double Totem. Actually I'm not really convinced about de CI thing, but as the saying goes, if you don't try, you'll never know

I'll try EK Totems in the process, instead of the Ice Spear / Spark mix. Damage from EK seems to be a lot higher, and it's physical damage, which will be more convenient against those pesky hexproof+lightning resistance packs.

[sabindaman]

Okay, so I decided to restart a new team. Ahem, actually GGG decided that I have to start again from scratch

I'll start with a team of 4 witches, with a goal of Chaos Inoculation + Double Totem. Actually I'm not really convinced about de CI thing, but as the saying goes, if you don't try, you'll never know

I'll try EK Totems in the process, instead of the Ice Spear / Spark mix. Damage from EK seems to be a lot higher, and it's physical damage, which will be more convenient against those pesky hexproof+lightning resistance packs.

Mind elaborating on what GGG did as far as your accounts/characters?

EDIT: never mind I noticed your other post on accounts getting locked

OK I had to go abroad during a few days, but then I had some spare time to rebuild a team. So here it goes... 4x Witches with Dual Totem + Chaos Inoculation as planned.

It's slow in the beginning, I used Spark + Summon Skeletons + Fire Trap... I got Spell Totem gems, and Dual Totem skill at about level ~35, since then there is no stopping me

Compared to the Templar team (RIP), my dps is way higher, I can see that when dealing with rares with life regeneration. Now they disappear in seconds, just like the rest. Obviously doing the act 3 sewers is a joke, I liked when the rare dude there was spamming poison bombs for no effect. However, in the sewers there is a "new" rare with a very special "lag and freeze" attack, who destroyed my whole team, doh. Maybe GGG will fix this some day.

Right now I'm using 3 Witches with 2x Sparks - Fork - Spell Totem - Faster Casting and one Witch with 2x Ice Spear - LMP - Spell Totem - Elemental Proliferation. No 5L yet. If everything goes right, mobs are frozen by the 2 totems with Ice Spear + Elemental Proliferation, then the 6 Spark totems do the shock + DPS thing.

Eventually one of the witches cast Elemental Weakness, while the 3 others are casting Fire Traps. Fire Trap is a very nice spell at high levels, however it's mostly effective on bosses since the white mobs are frozen most of the time, so they don't walk on traps

My current build :
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBVyvfsIIQB6UC40myLJzBtOTsdhF-rx8CNsXYJKcI2t0VUI9GHRT60maewBpZ81orLKej8riTDH0Qf8aeVa5Eq4-mLR9tGTvhu9YRUOL3pyuLesHzoqN_xn5ZJ6nBxU-_Q1Qd2Sy_hq4V19eGVmPsGMNtEZYOSKIuXfJw1XBS8-oWv4fb62N1itQFES8=

I'll complete the build with some crit and dps nodes that I left along the path untill now (in the Shadow branch), as well as some Energy Shield nodes... Also, this is the build for the 3 Spark witches, obviously the Ice Spear witch has a slightly different build with frost damage in place of lighting damage in the Witch branch.

Like I said, my dps is good, but survivabilty... Right now (level ~58) my Witches have about 1.8k shield (with full buffs), that's not a lot... Well, I'm a "glass cannon", which isn't a problem 99% of the time, but then there is the Vaal Oversoul... And with no armor, I'll be flattened by falling rocks. I managed to pass Cruel Vaal with a fews deaths, but Merciless Vaal is going to be a real pain. Maybe I'll need to get 5 Granites Flasks per character, and use portals to recharge them. We'll see.

Well finally Merciless Vaal wasn't as hard as I expected. Only one death from falling rocks. I waited till level 62 to do it however... I wanted to boost all the characters to 2500+ Energy Shield. And, with higher dps (and better knowledge of the fight), I was done after like 4 minutes. Only one Granite Flask per character.

I'm currently working on capping all my resists, and collecting maps from the docks.

My team is now ~71, not playing a lot since I switched to Neverwinter...

Doing maps with 4 witches, Dual Totem and Chaos Inoculation templates. I cast 6 Spark + Fork Totems (with Faster Casting), 2 Ice Spear + LMP Totems (with Elemental Proliferation). I single debuff with Elemental Weakness (+ Increased AOE), then if something is still alive I throw Fire Traps with Concentrated Effect, Increasead Burning and Fire Penetration. And I run 5 auras (I don't have a use for the remaining possible auras).