The contest is simple. Submit your Path of Exile build using the form below. I will feature a user-submitted build each week on my Youtube channel and those chosen to be featured on the channel will be entered to win these badass gaming headphones. I want to see your creative builds. Your chances of being featured are much higher if you can record a video of the build in action. Be creative and good luck!
Even now I can remember the feeling of despondency as I lay in bed. I just knew that I would never get a girlfriend. Therefore, life had no meaning, and I had no purpose.
If I was a melodramatic person I would say that I felt like a stranger in a strange land.
In reality I was just a typical teenage boy trying to find his place in the world. But one difference did separate me from my peers- I was Chinese and they were not.
I remember thinking about my day as I lay in bed. The first sixth grade dance was a week away and it fired my imagination. If only I could get a girl to go with me, then we would dance, and maybe touch, and if we touched, then maybe she would like me, and if she liked me, maybe she would go out with me, and if she went out with me then my life would be perfect and I would never have to worry about anything, ever again.
Solid sixth grader logic. But my plan had one fatal flaw. I was a skinny Asian kid in a predominantly white school in the mid-west. I wore massive Harry Potter-esque glasses and had the social skills of a rock. I arrived to school each morning looking like I’d survived an electrical accident; my hair stuck straight out- except for the side that I’d slept on. The hair on that side had the appearance of being glued to my head. In a word, I was unattractive.
As if my appearance wasn’t enough to tank my social status I also read gigantic fantasy novels. Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind were my constant companions through school. When other students socialized I would be absorbed in a fantasy world of trollocs and myrddraal. Apparently teenage girls aren’t into that kind of stuff.
I still wonder how that timid little Asian boy could have ever grown into the man I am today.
At fourteen I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie True Lies in which he plays a super-spy living a double-life as a computer salesman. In his movies Arnold always got the girl, won the day, and earned everyone’s respect. I idealized the thought of being big like Arnold. I thought, “If I was muscular then I will get ALL the girls!”
But how would I get muscular? I didn’t own any weights and I knew nothing about bodybuilding.
I improvised.
Every night for the next month I practiced the only workout routine I knew. Bicep curls followed by more bicep curls finished up with an extra set of bicep curls. My spindly little Chinese arms pumped a water-filled one-gallon milk jug. I exercised with fervor as I visualized the amazing life that could be mine. At the end of that month I had the beginnings of a bicep and I was hooked.
From the milk-jug I progressed to old weights my mom owned. I’m almost certain she bought them in the 80’s because they were an ugly golden brown color, had hundreds of ridiculous sparkly pieces of something embedded in the plastic, and were filled with sand that would swish inside the plastic shell. This produced a maraca-like shake shake shake sound with every rep.
The weights weighed eight pounds and I could complete a set of twenty curls before fatigue set in. I was pretty strong.
After two months of my new weight-training regime I knew I was onto something special. Children on the bus would ask me to perform bicep flexes daily. Looking back now I don’t know whether they really wanted to see me flex or were just poking fun at my pathetic 10 inch arms. The truth didn’t matter. I had gotten a taste of the attention that muscles could bring and nothing was going to stop me.
Now we move ahead to my freshman year at Missouri State University. Like many first year students I didn’t care one bit about how I did in class. Unlike many first year students I also didn’t care about partying or socializing. I had one goal. I was going to get huge.
Each day I worked out for two hours in the gym. Instead of studying for class I poured over countless topics on bodybuilding.com and took breaks by playing World of Warcraft.
In the summer of 2006 when the first year of school ended I had progressed from a unremarkable 155lbs to a respectable 175lbs. My strength in the gym increased tremendously- my bench press rose to 255 from a max of 205. I even developed stretch marks on my chest and biceps because of their rapid growth!
The most exciting change however had nothing to do with my body. It was in how people perceived me.
I sensed a palpable change in my relationship to those around me. I was taken more seriously because I had proven that I could accomplish something difficult. I wasn’t just a shy Asian kid anymore. I was a weight lifter. I was a bodybuilder. I was someone who deserved respect.
I was able to show on the outside what I had always felt on the inside. That I was destined for more than mediocrity. That I was someone who could accomplish great things in life.
In the fall of 2008 I reached a physique milestone of six percent bodyfat at 187 pounds. I have never looked as good before or since. Accomplishing a goal I’d held since childhood was an amazing feeling, but the euphoria didn’t last. Discontent grew inside me as 2009 began. The process took many weeks, but finally I accepted the reality that having a great body didn’t bring any lasting happiness or joy.
That realization was a precursor to three months of depression. Being big had been my beacon of hope in my otherwise unremarkable life. Every aspiration I held was centered around the idea that once I was big I would be confident, respected, and happy. But to my dismay I learned that a good body by itself brought none of these things. If anything they heightened my feelings of insecurity because now I was out of excuses for why I didn’t have the life I wanted.
In the depths of depression I learned that our inner selves are distinctly separate from our physical bodies. I learned that our inner selves require work and attention to grow and develop just as our physical bodies require the same care. In those months I voraciously read self-development books by Napoleon Hill, Anthony Robbins, Jack Canfield, and Robin Sharma. As I learned from these masters who had mastered themselves a new vision crystallized.
I strive today to develop myself mind, body, and soul.
The journey is arduous. Every new attempted endeavor delivers multiple failures before success is achieved. Nothing ever turns out as expected. Life tests your mettle at every turn in this human Odyssey.
Is it worth the cost? Absolutely. Humans are built to face challenges. Our souls crave growth. Comfort and security cause stagnation of the mind and spirit. We are never truly alive until we push at the edges of our self imposed limits.
I can say with complete honesty that today I am happy. There is not a shred of discontent within me. I still have many goals to accomplish but I no longer look to future events for fulfillment. I am fulfilled in the present. I am secure in the knowledge that no matter what happens in life this harmony of mind, body, and spirit can be maintained.
Deep inside you there is a burning desire for greatness. Maybe you don’t want to be the next Mr. Olympia or president of the United States, but there is something great that you’ve always wanted to accomplish. Maybe you’ve dreamed of traveling the world, writing a book, or becoming an artist. Maybe you want to own your own restaurant. Maybe your dream is to be a rock-star but you became an accountant because that was the safe path.
Fear. Fear of failure, fear of disappointment, fear of the unknown. Fear is what keeps us bound, gagged, and immobile. But let me ask you this: how fulfilled are you after decades of living a “safe” and “conventional” life? You already know where this path leads. Be fearless. Take risks. He who dares, wins.
I for one would rather die young in the pursuit of my dreams than die old, comfortable, and unfulfilled. Will you choose the safe path of a slow death, or risk it all for your heart’s desire?
This coconut postworkout shake has the perfect blend of protein, fats, and carbs. It is a great option for breakfast in addition to postworkout. I have drank one of these everyday for the last eight months. They save you time, money, and make it easier to stay lean. If you don’t have a ninja blender already you NEED to get one. They’re only $44 and worth every penny with all the time and hassle it saves you over using a traditional blender.
Cut down on your caffeine. Caffeine, ironically, is one of the biggest causes of lethargy in our society.
Think of high doses of caffeine(>50mg) caffeine as borrowing energy from your future. It ramps your system up to a really high state, that is unnatural, and keeps you there for hours. Thus, your body compensates by bringing your energy system to a very low point after the caffeine wears off in order to maintain a semblance of homeostasis and balance. And what do people do when they reach this low point? They drink another coffee/soda and ramp their system right back up again! This kind of unnatural manipulation of our body’s metabolic rhythm has, in my opinion, caused millions of Americans to develop an insanely unhealthy and dysfunctional energy system.
They cannot function without caffeine. Think about that. They are every bit as dependent on caffeine to lead a normal life as alcoholics are to alcohol and as heroin addicts are to heroin.
This is NOT how the human being is meant to function.
Stop drinking caffeine completely for sixty days. Then if you decide to have some drink no more than 25mg, in the morning. The morning is naturally when our bodies are revved up. We have high levels of cortisol and are naturally at our highest point of energy/wakefulness. A little caffeine here can be beneficial in improving your cognitive function. Don’t drink caffeine in the afternoons when you get in that slump. You are tired because your body wants to REST. So, motherf*cking REST. A 20 minute nap, 20 minute meditation, or just 20 minutes sitting quietly is all you need. Then you’ll be good to go for the rest of the day. Use caffeine to enhance your body’s natural rhythms, not FIGHT against it.
Your energy levels also greatly depend on your blood sugar levels. Look at your diet. Is it full of fast digesting carbs(sugars, grains, breads, pastas) that spike insulin and cause blood-sugar rises and dips? If so, you’re going to again have energy problems. To get away from this you need to cut out all of these things that cause high levels of glucose to be released into your bloodstream quickly. Don’t eat carbohydrate dense food in the mornings. Breakfast(if you eat breakfast) should consist of fat and protein. I like to do 3 eggs with an avocado. Get your carbs from sweet potatoes, plantanes, fruits, veggies. Eat this way consistently and you will have steady blood sugar throughout the day, which means you will have consistent levels of energy throughout the day.
It is not normal to be tired all day. It is not normal to need caffeine to function. It is not normal to be brain dead after 5pm.
So. Go caffeine free for 60 days. Eat a diet that evens out your blood sugar. Take a small rest/nap in the afternoon when you’re tired. Be disciplined about when you go to bed so that you have 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Path of Exile seems straightforward. Kill stuff. Do quests. Level up.
All of that is true, BUT there are some very simple playstyle tweaks that can dramatically increase your leveling efficiency. Intrigued? Read on.
The biggest mistake I see new players make when they start leveling in Path of Exile is that they stop to kill every single mob. Don’t do that.
Run around the map(toward your quest objective, not just aimlessly) until you have at least four to five mobs on your tail. Then turn around and demolish them. This simple strategy will lead to you outleveling your “whack-a-mole” friends by a ratio of two to one.
This point leads to the next which is…
Again players new to PoE carry this idea from other games that they should only DPS one mob at a time. WRONG. What is better, to do 250 damage to a single mob, or 100 damage to three mobs? This simple concept is the core of Path of Exile. Your AOE skills will always out damage your single target skills when 3+ targets are available. Thus, your single-target skills should be reserved for bosses and unique monsters.
AOE skills literally let you kill two birds with one stone, or in this case, three risen zombies with one lightning strike.
If you can run 25% faster, you increase your clear rate of maps by 15-20%. Always strive to have runspeed on your boots. Especially later game.
You incur experience penalties if mobs are too high or too low from your own level.
Study the graph above. Let’s take level 40 characters for an example. You can see that for level 40 players they gain 100% experience if the mob killed is between level 33 and 45. Beyond both of those ranges the experience they gain starts to drop steadily to zero.
The actual calculation is:
((PlayerLevel +5)^1.5) / ((PlayerLevel+5+(EffectiveDifference^2.5))^1.5)
So a level 24 character gets 100% experience with mobs that are 3+1=4 levels. So monster level 20 to 28 give him full experience.
Stay within this range for optimal leveling.
Playing with other players can be daunting to new players. Don’t be discouraged. The party system in PoE is simple to navigate. Simply bring up your social panel(by hitting S) and then find a party appropriate to your level. It’s best to find parties that are working on the same quest as you are on. Once you’re in the party, type % in chat to speak in party chat. Ask for a portal to the location of the party, then join in the fray.
Using this tactic you can find waypoints and quest objectives much faster than trying to clear the zones by yourself.
Being in a party also grants everyone more loot! Each additional player in the party grants the entire party a +50% item quantity bonus, so with three people in a party everyone gets 100% more loot!
Check out the Path of Exile section for PoE character build guides, game mechanics guides.
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