New to Endgame

[Haldor65 0]

So I'm playing a seasonal hero and I have been using the Season Journey as a guide on what to do and so on. But now I have my full set and I'm not sure what to do if I find gear pieces that are statistically better than the set piece. Do I equip them? Or should I try to reforge using the cube? Or Upgrade hoping for a statistically better set piece?

[Knutsanity 15]

Depends what you mean. For this season you only need 5 of the 6 set pieces. So if you are wearing 6 then replace one, whichever one you can replace with the best legendary ability. Those are very often more important than better stats. If you have already followed the suggestions to only wear 5, do not replace any more. Wait for better versions of the set pieces you have. 

But it might be best to be specific, with which build you are using, whether you have 5 or 6 set pieces on, which legendaries and ancients you have that you would like to fit in. It's best to get ancients with appropriate and good rolls to maximise your build, but at no point is it more important than set bonuses and legendary abilities. So grinding for drops and bloodshards, upgrading rares and reforging until they are more ideal is, of course, better than replacing them and losing set bonuses or important legendary abilities. 

[Yolo 40]

What @Knutsanity said is very true. There is no possible scenario in which you should break a 6 set bonus (with the provided Ring of Royal Grandeur effect, Set bonuses work from 2,3 and 5 set items but only while the season is up)  for items that have better stat rolls. Even with the absolutely totally worst roll, other items with better rolls still do not stand a chance against the sheer damage or/and survivability increase of the set bonuses. 

After you complete the the Season journey Chapters  1-4, and thus, receive a full set, look for a build you can build around that set. (There are plenty of them here on IV.) Then grind for them in an efficient way.
What i did in every season is choosing a difficulty on that i effectively oneshot trash and kill elites and RGs fast: this point should be at t8-t9 with a 6 set bonus, considering  the recent buffs to them. I did Nephalem Rifts and GRs too (with the corresponding difficulty, so around tier 40), and use every chance with getting critical pieces of my build.
Some things to keep in mind:
- The Upgrade Rare recipe of the cube creates a legendary item of the exact type you have put in: when looking items that have a high bloodshard cost (Weapons and jewelry), you are better off with upgrading rares. This is especially true for class-specific items like Flails or Wands. When going for the very last or most crucial items for the build, it is also acceptable to use your rare upgrades for items that cost 25 Bloodshards. To be specific, Crusader Shields and Mighty belts can be gambled under the  Shields and Belts, but the shared pool makes them harder to gamble due to the higher possible amount of legendaries.
- Therefore, you should first gamble for items with 25 Bloodshard cost, and go for the items that give the most benefit.
- Save Reforges for the time you completed your build.
- There is a high chance that you'll get important items for other builds. Save them, because there is a possibility you can complete them faster than the season journey set build. (For example: my Demon hunter was very unlucky with drops for a true Natalya RoV build, but i got Manticore, Bombardier's Rucksack and 3 pieces of Marauder set, so i decided to switch tracks and go for a Sentry DH.) Legendary and set piece drops dramatically increase at high Torment and even higher GR levels. Do not stick for only one build to hard, if there is a chance for increasing your character level, take it. You can revert to the build you find the most fun, but its way easier once you can farm it out fast.

[Shaggy2Joe 1]

Do the set bonuses count with lon being the season 17 buff?

[RayShimley 5]

On 4/11/2019 at 11:00 AM, Shaggy2Joe said:

Do the set bonuses count with lon being the season 17 buff?

You will not get the LoN seasonal bonus if you have a set bonus active. That would be busted!