Highlights from day 1 of the Misery Gauntlet include close calls, RIPs, triumphs and community moments. If you've been following along with the Misery Gauntlet hosted by Zizaran and sponsored by Maxroll (among others) then you'll recognize some of the highlights.
Ladder & Bounties
Around 24 hours into the Misery Gauntlet, here's a look at the day 1 Ladder and bounty standing (broken down by class & overall). Several contenders are off to a strong start but this is a hardcore solo self-found event so all of the participants are only one mistake away from heading back to the beach. Here's the standing taken from PoERacing.
Overall Standing
- muns_over_funs (Darkee / Ben)
- Level 92 Necromancer using Volatile Dead of Seething.
- exile_failedEDLMAO (nickexile11 / Nick)
- Level 92 Necromancer using Volatile Dead of Seething.
- Nick has 2 confirmed bounties, First to Slay Merveil (Conditional) for $250 and First to slay Fire and Fury in the Coast, using only Flame Dash for $200.
- sbb_misery (xSayByeBye)
- Level 91 Juggernaut using Boneshatter of Complex Trauma.
Class Ladder
- Witch
- muns_over_funs (Darkee), Level 92 Volatile Dead of Seething Necromancer.
- exile_failedEDLMAO (nickexile11), Level 92 Volatile Dead of Seething Necromancer.
- 跟這個世界說拜拜拜拜 (soul1027), Level 89 Volatile Dead of Seething Necromancer.
- Shadow
- JungroanGauntlet (Jezie), Level 88 Frostbolt Trickster.
- drizTriesGauntlet (myklose), Level 87 Explosive Trap of Shrapnel Trickster.
- Qualia_OhTheMisery (QualiaH), Level 85 Flamethrower Trap Saboteur.
- Ranger
- Goratha_XDDDDD (Goratha), Level 88 Toxic Rain Pathfinder.
- EzFirstGauntlet (ericleezhang), Level 85 Caustic Arrow of Poison Pathfinder.
- Elix_LastEpochPracRun (Elixi_R), Level 85 Toxic Rain Pathfinder.
- Duelist
- cArn_Become_a_Champion (CARNDARAK), Level 91 Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Slayer.
- WOODLANDER_JOE (puckorwin), Level 89 Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Slayer.
- MeowCD (Meowmixxed), Level 89 Splitting Steel of Ammunition Champion.
- Marauder
- sbb_misery (xSayByeBye), Level 91 Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Juggernaut.
- Havoc_BoneZone (Havoc6), Level 90 Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Juggernaut.
- POOPGODX (AlkaizerX), Level 90 Boneshatter of Complex Trauma Juggernaut.
- Templar
- nnqweqweq (nn313), Level 90 Summon Raging Spirit Guardian.
- Tekki_Two (Tekkiii), Level 89 Righteous Fire Inquisitor.
- PlayLifeItIsWhatItIs (Mechkov), Level 89 Ball Lightning of Static Hierophant.
- Scion
- Seerax_worst_ascendancy (Seerax), Level 85 Volatile Dead of Seething Ascendant.
- Wyrm_wristpaingang (Wyrm_GG), Level 84 Cremation of Exhuming Ascendant.
- DinoGauntletDance (skydeep), Levbel 84 Summon Raging Spirit Ascendant.
Many people are off to a strong start, but some skills and ascendancies are quickly pulling ahead. Despite the Detonate Dead ban we're seeing a lot of corpse skill representation with Volatile Dead of Seething and Cremation of Exhuming. Across the melee sector, Bonezone is absolutely dominating with Boneshatter of Complex Trauma, and we're seeing chaos DoT skills like Toxic Rain for the bow enjoyers.
Notable Bounties
Here are a few of the confirmed bounties players claimed during day 1 of the Misery Gauntlet. So far 2 of Maxroll's own bounties have been claimed!
- First to acquire a perfect Taste of Hate (Maxroll bounty).
- $500 claimed by AlkaizerX.
- First to reach exactly 100,000 DPS on any skill tooltip in-game (Maxroll bounty).
- $500 claimed by Resume_TTV.
- First to acquire a full set of the Brush, Paint and Palette Divination Card (Displate bounty).
- $500 claimed by Goratha.
- First to ascend the Master of Metal Notable as a Champion (Displate bounty).
- $500 claimed by MOSTPOSITIVEMAN.
Close Calls
The Misery Gauntlet is some of the deadliest content Path of Exile has to offer and during day 1 we saw some close calls which kept audiences on the edge of their seat.
During the campaign, Solaris and Lunaris attempted to stop Ben's run dead by cleverly casting their abilities from off screen after being phased. This was a close call, but Ben pulled through thanks to some quick reflexes on his Life Flask.
Check out the original clip.
Health is a resource and players often say that so long as you don't go below 1 you're good. Pathofexilebota put this to the test on the Avarius fight and pushed his build to the limit of it's Life.
Check out the original clip.
Sometimes you're your own worst enemy and Goratha definitely proved this true when he had an extremely close call against... himself! Or at least the twisted Vaal Shadow of himself. This one was a a blast.
Check out the original clip.
RIP Clips
Not everyone is lucky enough to survive their close encounter with a supercharged enemy. Thusfar, it's been a bloodbath with many hopefuls biting the dust. Here are some of the top RIP Clips from day 1 of the Misery Gauntlet.
- Sime180 progressed to level 69, reaching the Control Blocks at rank 4 in the Gauntlet Ladder. Unfortunately for him, Vilenta had other ideas and slammed his progress to a halt. With the lethality of monsters in the Gauntlet your next RIP is only a frame away.
- On the other hand, Goratha got his first RIP out of the way early on. In the Cavern of Wrath he encountered an aggressive pack of drifting eyes. At least the walk back from the beach is a short one.
- The Vaal Oversoul dropped the hammer on Xhibbi in what feels like a cheap shot. The Oversoul's telegraph slam is difficult to see due to the Holy Flame Totems, but it looks like there was a lag or desynchronization issue here.
- Malachai in Act 4 becomes far more dangerous in the Gauntlet. Once the screen is full of projectiles and the floor is full of traps you'll run out of room to dodge. Asmodeus was using the Lucky Suppression mastery and in this case, his luck ran out.
- RaizQT was absolutely devastated by his death in the Ledge. Cannibal Fire Eaters shotgun at close range and deal massive damage. When it comes to monsters in Path of Exile the best way to avoid death is simply not getting hit, in a case like this there's nothing to do but go again.
Maxroll in the Gauntlet
Several members of Maxroll have been participating in the Misery Gauntlet and testing their mettle during day 1. These clips stood out as great community highlights.
- Tytykiller is a Path of Exile Racing legend, but could he pass the IQ test within the Climb? Well, you can't say he didn't call this...
- Darth Microtrancation is pretty new to Path of Exile but he boldly stepped up to the challenge offered by the Misery Gauntlet. DM was backed into a corner, but can he find a microtransaction to get himself out of trouble?
One Step Closer
Day 1 of the Misery Gauntlet has been quite eventful, we've seen close calls, RIP clips and community highlights. But the Gauntlet is just getting started, plenty of bounties remain unclaimed and many of the deadliest bosses remain unchallenged. However, 2 exiles sit ahead of the rest Ben and Nick. Even Izaro himself seems to be on Ben's side, providing him with exactly the gem he needed on an early lab run. But everyone loves and underdog story and Nick is right behind, and may have even passed Ben by the time you're reading this. Or maybe both of them will RIP and restart from the beach, when it comes to the Gauntlet you never know what's going to happen next!
Upcoming Coverage
That's it for our day 1 wrap-up on the Misery Gauntlet. To keep up with the daily Gauntlet highlights here on Maxroll, head over to our Discord and select the Path of Exile role in #roles to stay up to date with our content development. Stay sane, Exile!
Written by: Tenkiei
Contributions by: The Path of Exile Community
Reviewed by: Northwar