In Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis, a significant number of new unique items were introduced, including some exclusive drops from Uber bosses. Among them is a new drop from the Uber Shaper boss called the Tides of Time, which is the unique belt we're going to talk about today.
Tides Of Time Explained
The Tides of Time belt is a new Unique themed around flasks in POE 3.24. It grants a very substantial increase to life and mana recovery from flasks, a 100% increase to each. It also provides 25% increased flask effect and grants flask charges, similar to the Pathfinder ascendancy.
The difference being that these stats apply their flask charges to specific flask types, and each of these stats rolls between zero and 3 flask charges gained every 3 seconds: one for life flasks, one for mana flasks, and one for utility flasks.
Build Options
This new Tides of Time unique belt will have 2 powerful use cases in the Path of Exile 3.24:
- Non-Pathfinder Builds: The Tides of Time will serve as either an entry-level belt to be replaced with the Mageblood at a later stage of progression, or be used to enable permanent unique flask uptime on those non-Pathfinder builds.
- Pathfinder Builds: The builds will empower and use multiple unique flasks simultaneously while benefiting from the huge amount of increased life recovery from flasks modifier combined with Master Surgeon.
Non-Pathfinder Builds
Let’s first discuss those non-Pathfinder builds with the Tides of Time. This belt can provide access to permanent uptime on flasks as an entry-level option to the builds, which may later use the Mageblood. These builds will need to invest in increased flask duration and increased flask charges gained modifiers to sustain flasks permanently outside of normal mapping.
In the Necropolis League, Tides of Time unique belt with 3 utility flask charges gained every 3 seconds is going for about 3 Divine Orbs, whilst a Mageblood with 4 flasks enabled is about 138 divines. Enabling permanent flasks via the Tides of Time will require varied levels of investment depending on your location on the passive tree.
Non-Pathfinder Ranger builds will have it the easiest, as they can spec into a lot of charge generation and flask duration near their start location on the tree. The only increased flask charges gain stat obtainable on the passive tree is the Essence Extraction wheel located at the Mind Over Matter keystone. However, this wheel does provide a sizable 35% increased flask charges gained.
Also Read: Path Of Exile 3.24: How To Harvest The Mageblood Using The New Ritual Scarabs? - A Quick Guide
Permanent Flask Uptime
If you're trying to enable permanent flask uptime with the Tides of Time, you'll likely want to make use of 1 or 2 cluster Jewels, as these can grant the required stats you need anywhere on the tree. There are life and mana recovery from flask clusters or clusters which provide flask duration, both of which are medium-sized cluster jewels.
The Spiked Concoction cluster jewel notable provides access to the Alchemist's Genius buff, which grants 20% increased flask charges gained and 10% increased flask effects for 4 seconds when using a flask. You can pair that with the Fasting notable for another 20% increased flask charges gained.
The potential of permanent uptime on flasks like Progenitus on something like a Juggernaut or Champion is crazy, not to mention other unique flasks such as Taste of Hate and Coruscating Elixir.
Pathfinder Builds
However, I think the true potential of the Tides of Time is realized on the Pathfinder. This belt can provide an entire Pathfinder ascendancy notable for other ascendancies, but the Pathfinder just has the tools available to really push this belt to its limit.
A Pathfinder with the Tides of Time and Master Surgeon and a small amount of points invested into flask recovery on the tree will reach 4,000 plus life recovered per second from their life flask alone. The Tides of Time belt has several powerful stats, making it competitive with very expensive crafted belts. In specific setups, the Tides of Time is outright superior to Mageblood.
To maximize the potential of the belt, a setup utilizing at least 2 unique flasks, Progenitus and Taste of Hate, is recommended. The Pathfinder's Master Surgeon provides constant life recovery, synergizing well with the belt's abilities. Additionally, the belt itself offers a 25% increased flask effect gain.
For Pathfinders, employing a cluster Jewel for Alchemist Genius and acquiring all increased flask effect nodes on the passive skill tree can result in an impressive 80% increased flask effects for Progenitus and Taste of Hate.
With the flask effect, it’s possible for a Pathfinder with the Tides of Time to actually keep up a well-rolled Dying Sun permanently as well. With the 80% increased effect, it will provide skills to fire 3 additional projectiles, and some increased area effects. Importantly, the Dying Sun is also a ruby flask. It will also provide plus 9% to maximum fire resistance.
Conclusion
In setups where you utilize multiple unique flasks while maximizing life recovery from flasks, the Tides of Time stands out. Progenitus and Taste of Hate aren’t the only options because of the ample flask charges you can generate.
Pathfinders synergize the belt's charge gain with the ascendancy to maintain 2, 3, or even 4 unique flasks. Leveraging Master Surgeon for substantial life recovery boosts, the Tides of Time proves incredibly potent. This belt offers significant utility and power, especially when paired with a Pathfinder.
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