You can’t ride horses or any other beasts of burden in Path of Exile; the same goes with carts and chariots, so how do you do POE races. And given the game’s setting, there are definitely no cars here. Yet the game has races, which, of course, aren’t literal, physical races. You don’t bet POE Currency on it either. If you want to participate in them, then we’ll gladly help you with that.
Path of Exile Races
In Path of Exile, races are special event seasons within a league where players have to accumulate the highest amount of experience points for the duration of each particular event within a race. Thresholds vary per poe race; some are at level 60, while some are at 70, 80, all the way up to 95.
To make things fair for all participants, they have to make a new character just for the poe race, which will come with his/her own starting gear. In addition to that, to give players an even bigger challenge, some races have special modifications.
Risks
Stronger monsters, players are not allowed to form parties, players are rewarded for taking on bosses – these are just some of the modifications in races. There are many others, so it’s important to take note of them so you can either prepare for those that hinder the leveling process, or take advantage of those that will help you out.
Flashback events are also considered as races so that participation in them can be counted as achievements. There have been Flashback events during Bestiary, Inclusion, Synthesis, and most recently, Heist. The latest ones will start on December 11 and 18, so you better get ready by brushing up on how you can gain experience faster than anyone else.
For more information, December 11 will be the One-Week Endless Delve, while December 18 will be the Three-Week Heist Flashback. The latter will be the more traditional race wherein the winner will be determined by whoever gets to the level cap for the race, while the top 5 for the former will be determined by those that reach the deepest delve node.
Rewards
Other than having your name up in lights, you are also rewarded with items for being in the top spot. This depends per race, they’re exclusive microtransaction items most of the time. So whether you want the chance to win free stuff or it’s just some extra motivation because you’re all about the challenge, then you should definitely take part in the races.
Why You Should Participate in Path of Exile Races
Now that you know what races are and why you might want to–or even should–participate in them, here are the ways how you can do better in races, and perhaps even win them if you’re good enough.
The first and foremost thing to keep in mind is that time is of the essence. Sure, you are competing with other players, but the stiffer competition here is the clock. Plus, it’s safe to assume that your fellow exiles are doing just as good as you or even better, so you just focus on improving your methods of racking up experience.
Preparation
It also helps to know beforehand what you’re going to do before the race even begins. If you’re clueless as to how you need to approach the race, you’ll definitely lag behind because you’ll still be conscious about tweaking your PoE build. Remember that every minute you spend planning is a few minutes saved in the real thing!
Being more familiar with the maps that will be featured in the races will definitely help. Although they are randomly generated, there is a certain pattern that you can observe in the generation of these maps. Once you have a good grasp of this, you can now figure out where monsters will spawn, which will allow you to earn more EXP within a given period of time.
Another thing that can help you out cut the time would be the use of filters for POE items. Going through mounds of loot–including POE Orbs and POE Uniques–will definitely save a few minutes if you’re looking for something specific, so you’re better off installing a third-party program that will do the job on your behalf.
Last but definitely not least would be movement speed and recovery. The former might not seem like a big deal, but something that may seem as little as a 10% difference in movement speed actually decided the outcome of races before. Also, better and more recovery keeps you going, saving you time as well.
There you have it, the basics of POE races. So, are you going to be a part of the upcoming races? Drop a comment to let us know. If you are, then good luck–the competition is always stiff, so you’re going to need it!