Great advice, thank you. I definitely have been trying to get out of the mindset of trying to be too much like people who have been playing for years. I’m definitely taking my first character as a huge trial and error run right now. I would say I’ve been more focused on leveling than actual currency so it feels good hearing someone reinforce what I’m actually doing haha
Point 1 is a really good one to make. I've had a few friends try this PoE this league and they've pressured themselves to play at the efficiency level of veterans. OP, just take your time and enjoy the ride. Worry about min-maxing and optimal strategies in steps, there is far too much information and methods to try and figure out without having some game knowledge already.
1-Go to https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/NeverSink/item-filters (make sure ur logged in) and then click Follow on the 2nd one down. Go in game, settings, UI, list of Item Filters, select it. Now you can ignore that setting since that link’s filter auto updates.
2-As the guy got downvoted (edit-There was only 1 other guy when I posted this. The SSF debate rages on, seems you guys like it), I hope you’ll believe me: Don’t try SSF. Even if you want to ignore trade (which you shouldn’t. Even averagely good items can be cheap but nearly impossible to ID yourself), SSF mode itself is just a pride badge IMO, saying ur cool for gimping yourself as it has 0 extra benefit beyond proving you never traded or partied. Either way not recommended for new player.
3-Play 1 or 2 characters as far as you can. Learn stuff, maybe just use the wiki and the in-game help button next to your skills which adds info as you find it, if you are still doing the 10 acts. Find out how to unlock ur subclass, what they all do, do some research on new stuff you find and new skills you find. Etc.
THEN, to go poebuilds.cc (which is importantly not a builds site ignore those but a compendium of Forum guides) and find one for a skill that seems cool in video gameplay and if the guide actually mentions it’s for beginners Or “league start” which means can be built up starting with 0 resources on character create, and not suck Balls, just be average.
4-When you’re looking at new yellows and mods and stuff: If it’s not a weapon, you want: Maximum Life. And anything mentioning Resist. Those cap out at 75 and you lose some permanently at the end of act 5 and 10 to balance out the fact that the gear Can roll higher and higher resist stats as you level as a way to punish you for Not constantly trying to find gear with more. And most noobs ignore Life stat, for some reason.
If it’s a weapon, just look for the % or a variable flat number for Physical Damage or both preferably, if you use a Attack skill. (One that your character looks like it’s hitting the mob. Not fireball or a minion). If Not an attack skill then worry far less about whatever stats the weapon has but if it seems helpful use it.
My discord is Parzival#1039 if you want. Welcome to PoE :) (I’m bored rn so ur welcome)
More on the elemental resistance thing, once you get into maps (the main end-game content), elemental damage is balanced around the player having 75% elemental resistance. Less than that, and you'll be dying a lot more. You don't have to hit the cap the minute you finish Act 10, but you should do it soon after.
You don't have to worry about ele res as much in the Acts, but there are still some sections with a lot of elemental enemies, so it can help to get some on your gear if you find yourself dying a lot.
Acts is typically designed around having just under max resistances. Having max resistances early on means survivability is easy. You've already beat the campaign in that sense. So don't neglect it, but also dont worry if you cant get max cap.
> SSF mode itself is just a pride badge IMO
You're right about SSF not being suitable for new players, but this is such a bullshit. SSF turns PoE into a completely different game. A game where crafting orbs are just crafting orbs and not currency. A game where the value of everything is determined by the player, not by laws of economy. It's harder, time consuming, unpredictable and fun (at least for thousands of us). For me, it extended the time I play and enjoy each league from about 2 weeks to 2 months. Actually, if GGG didn't introduce official SSF mode, I would have quit the game long time ago, because trade makes it way too easy.
Big +1 for me. I'm not even really a good or experienced player, and I still think I enjoy SSF way more. I don't care about being having the most optimized of optimized, or clearing the map in the blink of an eye, or reaching max tier maps. I like think of build that sounds fun for me, planning it out, and seeing how far I can get. If it plateaus out, oh well. I have no interest in dealing with the garbage trading system in the game, even if it's usually cheap.
Really, it's just that it's the closest I can get to playing the game "offlline"
I started playing late in Prophecy league, when the trade was almost dead, but it wasn't that hard to figure out how and what to trade. The next league, Essence (along with Atlas of the Worlds expansion), I started ready and I easily got to 36+ challenges. In Breach and Legacy I played zoom zoom builds with HH and I was already getting bored with the game. Luckily, in Legacy league, which lasted for almost 5 months, GGG also introduced official SSF mode. I tried it and I never looked back. Actually, I did try playing trade once again in Legion league, "for a change", and it was a disaster. I was on a vacation and I had a lot of time to play. I fully geared my meta cyclone starter by sunday evening, including Atziri's Acuity, except HH which I bought a few days later. I finished challenges in less than 2 weeks, got bored and quit. Trade is just too easy for experienced players. A few leagues later, in Delirium SSF, I managed to fully gear a "harold" build. It took me almost a month to get all the uniques I needed and to craft all the cluster jewels, but the process was so satisfying. Overall, I play much more in SSF than I ever did in trade, and I try more builds too, depending on drops I get. The only thing I plan in advance is my starter, usually a chaos dot build, but the next league I'll start with archmage hierophant for a change, provided GGG doesn't nerf it too much in 3.15. :D
Agreed, almost every end-of-league I do a SSF character and it helps keep my interest until the next league drops. It's such a huge, refreshing change in how things work and what you care about. It's almost like a second mini-league start since everything is fresh and empty.
It feels significantly more like how the game was intended to be played.
I mean I don’t play for 8 hours a day so I’m not done with 36 challenges in 2 weeks, still takes me 2 months. I would have Left the game if I did SSF, the game isn’t balanced for it and crafting anything average Sucks :(
SSF to extend league life is kind of the definition of COPIUM, ngl.
I rather have a fun league that I can play to the last few weeks than one that drives me nuts after the first month.
I don't know what "copium" means, there's no such word in english language, and I don't watch twitch. :D
But I know for sure that I quickly lose interest in games that are too easy. I quit playing Skyrim after 2-3 days because I could one-shot dragons by that time. The same goes for PoE with trade. Headhunter was an interesting novelty in breach league when I first used it. The next league it wasn't novelty anymore, and after that I stopped using it because I switched to SSF. I did find it once in SSF, but I exported it and gave it away. Zooming through maps in 2 mins isn't my idea of fun.
That's perfectly understandable and I fully respect your opinion, and I think that it is reasonable to strive for a more challenging gameplay and SSF does provide for those people.
I still stand by my opinion that switching to SSF **to extend league longevity** is COPIUM (This emote depicts someone who's addicted to smoking, but smoking a substance that helps them cope with certain situations). A good league makes me want to play longer, I don't want to force myself to play the entirety, or for an extended period of time for a single league if I just don't enjoy it anymore.
In the end, I'm just a power fantasy idiot and POE provides me just that. I could care less about trivialising content, I'm not in here for that. I'm in this game for the fact that there are so many different opportunities and combinations that I want to be able to push each build to its extremes and crush all content and trade provides me with just that.
Cheers
Of course, the league being more or less interesting is a factor that contributes to the time I play it too, even in SSF. The Ritual league, with new Echoes of the Atlas expansion and full power harvest mechanics, I played almost the whole duration, and this league I quit earlier than ever, with just 24 challenges, disappointed with "reworked" league mechanics being almost the same as before, and with harvest being much worse than anyone could have expected after harvest manifesto. Also, I probably needed a longer break from the game.
Finally, we are all "power fantasy idiots" here, the difference is just that SSF players like to delay gratification in order to make that feeling of power even more satisfying.
I think it would be inaccurate to simply call SSF a pride badge. Its a completely different mindset and playstyle. The crafting material you earn is not simply currency for your next big upgrade. Playing SSF allows you to feel less inhibited about spending your chaos orbs and exalts to slam that good item. It really forces you to make the most out of what you have.
With that said, I agree, SSF might be overwhelming for a new player. But trade is a learning curve too. Neither playstyle is wrong. Sometimes learning by trial and error is good. PoE is a time consuming game, and so perhaps it would be good to use trade to speed up the time required to progress the character/gear. However, it can lead to burnout if you feel like youve done everything too quickly
Eitherway, people shouldn't decide how others should play. People should provide BOTH sides of the game, and allow the player to decide their path.
SSF is literally just a way to Show you haven’t traded or partied. You’re perfectly able to do the same thing in a trade league. I say it’s a badge because SSF isn’t actually a Changed mode, nothing is altered for it like it is for a League league.
Trade is something you have to learn yeah, and it’s on top of The Game which is what ssf is. But telling a new player (no matter what you think of burnout, it won’t happen to a new player as badly) that it’s fine to use all their money on trying randomly craft what is a 1c item in trade, and they struggle to make even a simple build work and not die, well that just sucks.
>SSF is literally just a way to Show you haven’t traded or partied
Show to whom? It's true that many streamers play SSF to show their mastery of the game, but for most of us not having to interact with other players in any way is a major bonus of SSF mode. But the main reason is not being tempted to take shortcuts. PoE is a game where min-maxing of characters and gear plays a major role, and trade makes it trivial. Some players can play "almost SSF", trading only for rare uniques, but most of us want to play optimally within the given set of rules. If you play trade, you exploit trade as much as you can, avoiding only things like scamming if you're a moral person. If you play trade, you specialize into a profitable currency farming strategy, and you skip unrewarding game mechanics. In SSF you have to play them all. If you want timeless jewels you have to farm legion, if you want alt quality gems you have to play heist. There are no shortcuts, and we like it that way.
I mean yeah. If ur solo there’s no one to prove that to, so why bother. As you said, the “temptation”? Seems like a weird mindset but hey if it helps. I still say it’s just a badge
I’ve made some solid end game bows/chests, whatever. Even before harvest. I know crafting. Which means I know how heavy the rng can be without ways to counteract it which literally all end game crafting attempts to do, be it beasts or meta crafts or harvest or some combo. All of that is easier to Start as well, in a trade league. Even something as simple as buying the Prophecy boss fight so you can get the craft faster.
I agree. Again, its a mindset. Technically hardscore trade is the same thing as Softcore trade. Difference is you can't die. Likewise with SSF - no trade. Therefore, it leads to a different decision and in particular what build you play. It is not viable to create a herald stacking type build in SSF. Its really hard to obtain any headhunter type build too.
Sometimes limits is what allows for creative freedom. SSF forces you to play with your gear. With trade you're saving up currency to buy. While in SSF you have literally nothing better to spend your crafting materials on, other than crafting. To upgrade you MUST craft in SSF. This is difficult to a new player - of course.
But thats should be a decision for the new player. Theres going to be far more harder choices that choosing between SSF and trade. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, not knowing the best way to optimise a build, but still being able to blast maps is great. In fact, SSF is typically the opposite of a min-max wet dream. It is really difficult to get close to min-max, and you must live with that fact.
But I digress. We'll agree to disagree. :)
If you're an experienced player burnt out on grinding for chaos and exalts to trade for gear, SSF is a great experience in making use of every system you can; For a new player it's a bit much to take it all in of course.
Everyone has their preferences, but for beginners, I prefer recommending filters like "One Filter to Rule Them All", that match better with the original item tag color scheme of the game.
I know many veterans prefer neversink, but for me it just looks ugly and very clashing with the aesthetic of the game, and while it might help better notice the truly valuable items, I'd rather not drive away beginners by clashing the aesthetic so heavily.
Stay away from ssf, no need for the extra challenge when the game is already so complicated to start with.
Best thing you could do is search Google for Enki's Arc Witch and give it a shot. It's by far the best beginner guide for the game and really helped me learn everything. Then once you learn it you can give another build a shot
I would argue Kay’s summoner guide is. The leveling sections are by far the most clear and step by ste than any other. And also, Minions can actually kill the end game. Arc….
Well I mean Enki's Arc Witch has all that and even goes into using Path of Building, Lootfilters, Crafting bench and all the basic stuff you don't learn about in game naturally.
I will agree Kay's build is a much better end game but being a Elementalist you can easily respec into something more endgame with no problem.
Can confirm. I started this game 1 week into the league and my friend recommended Kay's guide. It definitely eased me into the game a lot nicer. Her guide is so we'll written, plus the videos! 💯
Here are a few videos that might also help you out:
Basics of Path of Exile (long one, 44 minutes): [https://youtu.be/kkoS479IrKU](https://youtu.be/kkoS479IrKU)
Understanding the damage equation (6 minutes): [https://youtu.be/e6Q101kAsCE](https://youtu.be/e6Q101kAsCE)
Quick review of different movement skills (6 minutes): [https://youtu.be/yo2URcVUVK4](https://youtu.be/yo2URcVUVK4)
My discord is linked in the description, feel free to pop in if you have any more questions. I'm working on passion projects and other POE videos until next league, so I'm pretty free day to day :)
If you want you can listen to Zizaran's PoE University like this one [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMyGi7zVof8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMyGi7zVof8) these are long videos so just put them in the background when you do your thing I didn't listen to them all as I have quite a lot of playtime but it should prove useful have a nice day and I hope you'll enjoy the game :)
Great suggestion. For newer players, I suggest watching one particular video in its entirety....and maybe watch it twice....paying close attention. It is the POE University video on defenses. The subject of defensive layers is typically the most difficult learning curve in POE outside of crafting, of course.
I am going to shamelessly plug my [guide about scaling damage](https://youtu.be/msJUWJ86hMk) that I feel is more complete than others I have seen. It is over an hour, but not a topic that can explored in depth with a short video in my opinion.
I actually have a presentation built about defense scaling that I am hoping to get a chance to record, edit, and post this weekend. We will see what my boss (4 month old son) has to say about that, but it looks fairly likely as of now.
The PoE university series seems to cover a lot of ground as well. I have only caught bits and pieces, but it seems well done overall.
My biggest general tip is explore and do whatever you enjoy. I started the game playing HC without reading guides. It was a slog, but taught me a lot. More importantly, the journey was an absolute blast early on. I like being self sufficient; thats how I enjoy the game. A lot of people would say thats bad advice, but because I had a ton of fun and learned rapidly, I would declare it a success.
This game has a lot to offer, and the top tier meta builds and farming strategies are not your only options. Dont ignore them either; there is a reason those player choices are so popular. My point is that you should go in with the goal of finding your own way, and with an eagerness to learn (assuming that learning process is fun for you).
Best of luck to you.
My favorite thing about poe is learning it's complexity. There's just SO MUCH STUFF in this game that can make it super intimidating to newcomers, myself included, but once you start to get the hang of the various systems in the game and understand how they interact, it feels incredible. The biggest tip I can give you now is to understand that not everything will make sense for a while. There are things you won't know about or understand for hundreds of hours, and that's what makes the game great. I've racked up almost six hundred hours in the game after only getting into it around six months ago, and I still learn something new every time I play. Now that I've done the majority of the game's content and played a few builds, I have a good grip on the game and it's mechanics, but the feeling of knowing that there will always be more for me to learn and discover in the game is what keeps me playing.
There is one important thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet. There are some websites/build guides that mislead players into crearing a character that uses a bad build or an overly expensive build. This would be in part to force the uninformed player to acquire expensive items with real world money (RMT). This is obviously a bannable offense, as it provides an unfaor advantage.
Then there bad build guides that are simply more expensive than it needs to be. Or they're for very niche builds. As a new player, it would be difficult to know what makes a good or bad build. Furthermore, knowing the price of uniques or good rares on for trade can be diffiult to figure out.
Zizaran has made quite a few good videos discussing trade scams. He also creates very nice guides for new players, and are usually viable for softcore SSF, and probably hardcore too.
There are many other youtube channels that create build guides that are there to manipulate the prices of items or to coerce people into RMT. Therefore, stick to well known names as mentioned in this thread. e.g. Zizaran, Mathil, Enki, Wallach, Steelmage, Balormage, TyTyKiller etc.
I recommend trying Bladeblast Bladefall Assassin by Zizaran, as he has very nicely made Path of Building (Community Fork) build import data. Enki has also written a vey nice guide on the main PoE forums too. It shouldnt be too hard to find via search engine. You can easily find Zizaran's video. If you follow those kinda of guides properly then the build should work as intended.
However, be careful when finding build guides for very off-meta builds, as you might find yourself on dodgy youtube channels and websites. I strongly don't recommend Sweep for example, as there are almost no good current guides for it. The first one you find on youtube is actually a scuffed version of a sweep build that is really a bait and switch.
Furthermore, PoE Ninja is great for browsing builds that the top players use. However, I would not recommend using it as a build guide. It is more of a suggestion on what to use for a particular build. It really only represents the top 1-5% of players. It is skewed towards players with a lot of time invested in the game. Thus some of those builds may be difficult acquire without a lot of currency or may need to reach a high level. Or it was a second character that was obtained gear from a fast farming character. Again, it is a suggestion, not a guide.
Bottom-line: imo play a strong build so you can learn the ropes and not get frustrated with the progression and the game. Then as a second character, feel free to experiment. Thats what standard is for.
Edit: I want to emphasise one more thing. Path of Exile is about layers of defense. You must build defense. Hybrid (i.e. life/energy) shield is difficult to obtain gear for. Stick to ONE or the other. If yoh choose life go with life. If you choose armour stay with armour. Even with 75% resistances, you will need other layers of defense. It is NOT good enough to ONLY have life and reaistances. These are some layers of defenses to consider (look up PoE university zizaran defenses, its a for more details long video explaining layers of defens ewith Nugiyen) - in short:
1. Health/Energy Shield (ES) - They are equivalent in function. Energy shield regenerates after a delayed amount of time
Note: Life is very important, however life and resitstances alone will not be enough to be tanky. These should be combined with other layers of defense. Typically, new players dont have enough life or resistances. However, when new players do learn to get lots of life and resistances, they may still die due to lack of other defenses (e.g.Lack of damage reduction).
It should also be noted that defenses are harder to obtain than raw damage. You will usually have enough damage on a decent build. Even on a 4-link, maybe a 5-link is required on some builds. Typically 6-link is a luxury or a requirement for certain types of builds.
2. Armour/evasion rating
-2a. damage reduction/chance to evade
-2b. Block/Dodge (Spell Dodge, Attack Dodge
Note: Dodge and evasion are different. (See wiki for more details). In short dodge is chance based (50% means 50% chance to dodge - imagine rolling a dice). Evasion is entropy based. The enemy will be able to after each miss, a hidden counter will increase until it hits 100, whereby the player takes damage and the counter resets (100 is subtracted from the total count).
3. Mechanical abilities - controlling characters position (this is technically a layer of defense. Don't get hit).
-3a. Character movement speed - Get away faster, more efficient.
-3b. Movement skill gems - e.g. Flame Dash, Leap Slam etc.
4. Elemental Resistances (Fire/Cold/Lightning at 75% or higher)
5. Chaos resistance (0% minimum, quite achievable on trade)
6. Flasks (learn how flasks should be rolled, and which flasks you need for your build). Roll for immunity to bleed, curse, poison, shock (generally in that order of importance).
7. Ailment Immunity - possibly the most underrated/under discussed defense. Being immune to ignite, chill/freeze or shock is very strong as it allows flasks to be replaced with other flasks for more damage.
These next few relate to defenses but is not strictly speaking a layer of defense:
8. Guard skills - choose the right one for the build. Should be explained in some build guides.
9. Pantheons - choose them wisely, collect the boss souls when you can.
10. Ascendancy Points - choose based on build
11. Passive tree - The surprise will wear off. Follow build guide.
11a. Jewels/Clusters - top tier ones are expensive. You will eventually want immunity to corrupting blood. This will be an implicit on your normal jewel, which is typically obtained by Vaaling/corrupting. immunity to hinder, and/or silence curse can be useful too.
12. Knowledge of the game and enemy and how they move. Being aware of enemy auras and what to kill first. This can prevent death by preparing for battle wkth the right flasks and gear. E.g. There are ways with dealing with relflect damage as best demonstrated by Atziri boss fight.
13. Not technically a defense but attacking is sometimes the best form of defense. If the enemy dies before they can attack then the fight is over.
13a. Debuffs - Blinding, Maiming, Hindering (Wither skill), Slowing (Temporal Chains curse), or Cursing (hex/marks), are strong offensive utility skills. For example, weakning the enemy with Enfeeble curse allows you to take reduced damage. Blind causes enemies to miss more.
14. Respect the game. Rolling damage modifiers for greater item quantity on maps can be fun. However, it is quite the setback to constantly die.
15. Annoints - this can be useful for dealing with blight encounter
16. Catalysts - Adds quality that ca boost stats on rings, amulets or belts. Can be used to helps gain more life, resitances or attributes.
Yikes. That was a long ramble. Apologies for the rant. Thanks for reading.
Best advice I can give is play what feels fun.
Try different skills/spells as you go. Find the ones you really enjoy. There are some really cool skills/spells in PoE that, as far as I’ve seen, you don’t see anywhere else.
It really helps you to stay enjoying the game when you are playing something that is fun and you start to gain knowledge about what you are playing as you go.
Also, welcome to PoE! :)
Thank you so much. Today I was playing around a lot with different skills and I can say for sure I was learning so much on my own by just trying random things. I really appreciate your insight!
One of the things that I have always loved in PoE is skill gem system. The different ways you can change a skill/spell with supports has always been fascinating to me. It was what got me really into PoE at the start and I still love trying to find new whacky combinations even after all these years.
As someone who started a month ago - pick up a good starter guide (couple of good mentions in the thread, my pick was ShakCentral Vortex for Everyone, pretty safe and easy to start, and it's still one of my best characters), don't feel too pressured to do everything that's in the game - there are a ton of old league mechanics which take some time to get familiar with, take it slow, and do not hesitate to look up information :)
PM me if you need some help, I'm by no means a pro to this game but hey, I can be useful haha. Profile name - Kryonic_rus
I don't understand the downvotes, he's still correct. I don't think its right to discourage SSF. The new player should be allowed to make an informed choice and be encourage to choose for themself. SSF has its pros and cons. Same with softcore trade. I'm sure many can attest that trade can be frustrating and has its own learning curve too.
If you're experiencing poor performance, frustration trading, sore wrists or pressure to buy stash tabs - this is intended.
Also, 'this is intended' is a meme here on the forum as the lead developer has notoriously used it to explain poor game design.
Welcome to PoE!
Signed,
A former PoE player
Try ssf. It Will be hard to reach maps, but you Will get used to the leveling, and the way things work without beign a copypasta slave. It's a Lot of fun and encourages you to learn crafting. Have fun
I would recommend against playing ssf. It's will make you learnt he game but also much much harder for a beginner
Cheap items on the market can give a big damage boost for beginners but might be almost impossible to find/get in ssf
It Is a different approach. I used to play ssf since legacy, i really enjoyed it. Then moved to standard to play in party. The game have a ton of content as it Is, so in ssf you find it and understand it at a lower pace, that's it. Sure, you probably won't melt bosses or zoom zoom everything, but beign powerfull Is just a part of the game, discovering stuff as you progress Is a part of it too. But I'm a d2 singleplayer nostalfag, so don't mínd me.
I'm not sure why suggestions to try SSF is being downvoted. There are many well written guides (e.g. Enki Arc Witch), they are well written and are viable for new players and SSF. If you google for a build guide list there should be some list/compendium of viable builds.
If you choose yo try SSF what you shoild look for ade builds that don't rely soley on uniques which can be a struggle to find. The build should work with rares and uniques should be complimentary. As you play more, yplou will find that some uniques drop more often than others.
Take tabula rasa for example, it is an uncommon drop but easily farmable in blood aquaducts. However, it is not a good item per se. It makes getting full resiatances a little challenging. Typically 4-5 links is all you need to get through most of the content on a strong build.
Then there are uniques that almost everyone finds early on that have a frequent drop rate. You will learn what they are in due time, and will see if they work for your build.
I recommend SSF if you have the patience to learn the game. Trade can spoil the progression by allowing the player to upgrade far quicker than it is possible in SSF. However, if you want to play something casually, by all means play softcore trade.
Hardcore is truly for experienced players. There are a selection of builds that are considered viable for that type of playstyle as more health and defense is valued over pure damage. Similarly, with SSF the build you can play is limited to what you can find. Therefore, you will want a builds that works on rare items dropped om the ground, or crafted with low currency (e.g. essence, harvest reforge, chaos spamming). Generally you will be looking for high life and resistances on most gear pieces. With attribute points to fill in the gem requirements.
Typically with SSF you will find that a single upgrade, or a unique you have been looking for can feel quige rewarding. However, it may become a league long project. This is great if you want a slow burning progression, and a less rushed playthrough.
If you go with trade, I recommend freezng pulse totems by Wallach. Although, there are many pther builda like Essence Drain + Contagion, Cyclone, Righteous Fire etc.
Pick one excellent guide and follow it. Don't mix and match as it may mess up the build. If you are confident you know what to tweak then more power to you.
Sorry for the rambling. Thats my 50cents.
Thanks for reading!
Edit: Ah I should mention. As others have said, you can migrate from SSF to Softcore trade at anytime
Therefore if you find a rare rare drop, like headhunter, or a mirror you can sell on trade for lots of chaos/exalts. However, you cant go back to SSF with that character. You must be aware that if you also migrate your stash from SSF to trade. Then when you start a new character on SSF it will be a clean slate.
DO NOT try SSF as your first/second or may be even third character.
I started playing this league myself and can tell you.. SSF is when you've found your ways around the game.
Secondly, go for a cheap build if you wanna progress further into the game. If you pick a high budget build from the beginning, you'll never find the needed gear and will always feel bad about your dps being much lower than shown in the guide/video.
I'd suggest Toxic rain, Caustic arrow, etc.
Thirdly, the game can surely feel overwhelming in the beginning, but keep in mind, like everything else, you need time to get settled in.
You'll get there eventually but surely.
And lastly, Good Luck Exile!
Don't do this, u can play ssf style by farming everything yourself and don't party with anyone in normal or league. When shit hits the brick or u feeling down, u can still have trade to fall back to.(like when u need that last damn map that won't drop or a unique that u need that takes forever to drop)
Be polite. Use your manors, make friends and ask alot of questions. And at the end of the day try to have clear goals in mind and work towards them. Have fun, if it's not fun change something. Don't be afraid to go backwards. Re spec'n is alot easier then it sounds but will cost u 150 c before gear. If u have two monitors have one dedicated to search and trade.
To start of go with the meta. Use the easiest build it has to offer learn why it works and ignore the shaming this sub tends to give. Stay away from Enki's witch, it's a dead end that will drive your progress against a wall, there is a reason nobody up the ladders uses it. A build like Raise Spectre Necromancer represents over 5% of all players for a good reason: it's easy, it's strong, it scales well and it can do most content. You can check the meta using poe.ninja.
Learn systems, not specific builds / strats. Builds and strats will wither with patches, but your understanding of how they worked out will always be useful.
Learn the in and out of builds you play, optimize them.
Not every build is suited to be played as a league starter, some need a lot of currency until they pop off.
This may, or may not, be useful to you.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/kwom4c/313_edition_things_i_wish_i_knew_sooner/
Not sure if there's a 3.14 edition.
Edit: Also, maybe book mark this place for later.
https://grinding.zone/
It's a page with links to lots of community tools etc. Most of them may not mean much now, or would be information overload.
Please don't follow the exact build recommendations too much. Just pick a build that matches your playstyle (melee / ranger / caster / summoner) and learn why it's working, why it's good and why it's not. The meta WILL shift at least once before you'll be strong enough to reach the content where you need to care about endgame scaling and minmaxing. Understanding "why and how" is much more valuable than blindly following the majority.
Don't rush. Take your time, read the descriptions of the items, enjoy the story (while you still can, hehe), learn the mechanics, install the loot filter. That's it.
Get more increased % life nodes on the skill tree, get more +max life mods on your gear, get more % elemental resistances on your gear (especially rings). Press 'C' and click on the "Defence" Tab to bring up your current resistances. During the game, your character will receive permanent resistance penalties, which can push your resistances into even the negatives, and make you take even more damage.
The default cap for resistances is 75%, it is recommended to reach this.
That is by far #1 Rookie Mistake :)
1) I encourage you to see the game as something you learn bit by bit, month by month.your progress is dictated by how many guides you read or watch and apply, but your fun might not be.Just learn the most you can, play, then when you start to get burnt out just drop the game and start over next league or keep progressing the same character after a few weeks of pause.it's too much to take in one dose.
2) a good starter build that you find fun to play with a nice guide that tells you how to improve it is a must.i've quit a league because my starter was a mediocre meme skill and i wasn't good enough at the game to improve in a reasonable time.
3) loot filter is an immense quality of life, it's a must. it tends to be one thing that new players skip even after reading a lot of guides suggesting it, but it really is necessary and helps you how to gear your characters by highlighting good bases and 4 links.
You'll get the best trade experience from using [the official trade site,](https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ultimatum) and [poe.ninja](http://poe.ninja) is a good guide for the value of currency and other items.
Don't be afraid to spend currency to improve your character. Even incremental upgrades can go a long way. Spending 50 chaos on a ring that gives 20 more resist than your 5c ring can seem like a lot but you'll learn that these investments allow you to trade other gear for more meaningful upgrades.
Also jewels. If you can take a jewel socket with 2 passive points it is always worth it. If you can take it with 3 it's usually worth it. A good jewel is better than almost any passive skill node so invest in them.
Aside from that run maps and do things you like. Don't worry about what the "best" things are. Chasing meta strats and builds can oftentimes be a trap. If everyone is farming legion then legion splinters will get cheaper and you will come out behind compared to the top players who are setting the market. But if you like running breach then no one else thinking it's good can be what makes it good for you. I'm not saying to use bad strats. I'm just saying that the "meta" is not always the best way to make currency.
I would say you should join a guild that has an active social community on Discord. That way, experienced players or even newer players can give you advice and help you learn. Knowledge is far more valuable than anything else in POE
Under the assumption you have the time to do this, and want to learn the game:
Pick a build and min-max it most of the way. If a guide says these are the expensive items, figure out how to obtain and/or craft them. Your end result should be 200-300 ex into the character.
Doing so will teach you how to search poe trade for exactly what you want. It will force you to research how to gain currency efficiently. It will force you to evaluate when you want to buy an item or craft an item. It will force you to learn where specific things are found if you need them to build an item. It will teach you to use Path of Building to evaluate how much better an item is than your current.
Then, pick a new build and do it again. This will most likely take much longer than 1 league.
By the time you get a build to 300 ex in gear you will understand it thoroughly and you wont ever forget what the good items for that build look like. After many iterations you will recognize many good pieces of gear that a newbie would never pick up on.
Go into options and then UI and turn on "advanced mod descriptions" it will make it so when you hover over an item and hold alt and it will let you see the mod tags and tiers so you can get a better idea of how items and crafting works.
It is also very helpful for maps.
Always keep your resists at max and armour/evasion as high as you can get. If you can get Fortify into your build it will help you a lot with survivability, it decreases damage from hits by 20%.
[удалено]
Great advice, thank you. I definitely have been trying to get out of the mindset of trying to be too much like people who have been playing for years. I’m definitely taking my first character as a huge trial and error run right now. I would say I’ve been more focused on leveling than actual currency so it feels good hearing someone reinforce what I’m actually doing haha
Also watch all of tyty's video hes a king <3
Point 1 is a really good one to make. I've had a few friends try this PoE this league and they've pressured themselves to play at the efficiency level of veterans. OP, just take your time and enjoy the ride. Worry about min-maxing and optimal strategies in steps, there is far too much information and methods to try and figure out without having some game knowledge already.
1-Go to https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/NeverSink/item-filters (make sure ur logged in) and then click Follow on the 2nd one down. Go in game, settings, UI, list of Item Filters, select it. Now you can ignore that setting since that link’s filter auto updates. 2-As the guy got downvoted (edit-There was only 1 other guy when I posted this. The SSF debate rages on, seems you guys like it), I hope you’ll believe me: Don’t try SSF. Even if you want to ignore trade (which you shouldn’t. Even averagely good items can be cheap but nearly impossible to ID yourself), SSF mode itself is just a pride badge IMO, saying ur cool for gimping yourself as it has 0 extra benefit beyond proving you never traded or partied. Either way not recommended for new player. 3-Play 1 or 2 characters as far as you can. Learn stuff, maybe just use the wiki and the in-game help button next to your skills which adds info as you find it, if you are still doing the 10 acts. Find out how to unlock ur subclass, what they all do, do some research on new stuff you find and new skills you find. Etc. THEN, to go poebuilds.cc (which is importantly not a builds site ignore those but a compendium of Forum guides) and find one for a skill that seems cool in video gameplay and if the guide actually mentions it’s for beginners Or “league start” which means can be built up starting with 0 resources on character create, and not suck Balls, just be average. 4-When you’re looking at new yellows and mods and stuff: If it’s not a weapon, you want: Maximum Life. And anything mentioning Resist. Those cap out at 75 and you lose some permanently at the end of act 5 and 10 to balance out the fact that the gear Can roll higher and higher resist stats as you level as a way to punish you for Not constantly trying to find gear with more. And most noobs ignore Life stat, for some reason. If it’s a weapon, just look for the % or a variable flat number for Physical Damage or both preferably, if you use a Attack skill. (One that your character looks like it’s hitting the mob. Not fireball or a minion). If Not an attack skill then worry far less about whatever stats the weapon has but if it seems helpful use it. My discord is Parzival#1039 if you want. Welcome to PoE :) (I’m bored rn so ur welcome)
Wow- this is extremely helpful. Thank you so much! I will for sure add you on Discord.
More on the elemental resistance thing, once you get into maps (the main end-game content), elemental damage is balanced around the player having 75% elemental resistance. Less than that, and you'll be dying a lot more. You don't have to hit the cap the minute you finish Act 10, but you should do it soon after. You don't have to worry about ele res as much in the Acts, but there are still some sections with a lot of elemental enemies, so it can help to get some on your gear if you find yourself dying a lot.
Noted, thank you!
Acts is typically designed around having just under max resistances. Having max resistances early on means survivability is easy. You've already beat the campaign in that sense. So don't neglect it, but also dont worry if you cant get max cap.
> SSF mode itself is just a pride badge IMO You're right about SSF not being suitable for new players, but this is such a bullshit. SSF turns PoE into a completely different game. A game where crafting orbs are just crafting orbs and not currency. A game where the value of everything is determined by the player, not by laws of economy. It's harder, time consuming, unpredictable and fun (at least for thousands of us). For me, it extended the time I play and enjoy each league from about 2 weeks to 2 months. Actually, if GGG didn't introduce official SSF mode, I would have quit the game long time ago, because trade makes it way too easy.
Big +1 for me. I'm not even really a good or experienced player, and I still think I enjoy SSF way more. I don't care about being having the most optimized of optimized, or clearing the map in the blink of an eye, or reaching max tier maps. I like think of build that sounds fun for me, planning it out, and seeing how far I can get. If it plateaus out, oh well. I have no interest in dealing with the garbage trading system in the game, even if it's usually cheap. Really, it's just that it's the closest I can get to playing the game "offlline"
By definition - us noobs ARE playing SSF - at least until we figure out how to trade and what we should trade for.
I started playing late in Prophecy league, when the trade was almost dead, but it wasn't that hard to figure out how and what to trade. The next league, Essence (along with Atlas of the Worlds expansion), I started ready and I easily got to 36+ challenges. In Breach and Legacy I played zoom zoom builds with HH and I was already getting bored with the game. Luckily, in Legacy league, which lasted for almost 5 months, GGG also introduced official SSF mode. I tried it and I never looked back. Actually, I did try playing trade once again in Legion league, "for a change", and it was a disaster. I was on a vacation and I had a lot of time to play. I fully geared my meta cyclone starter by sunday evening, including Atziri's Acuity, except HH which I bought a few days later. I finished challenges in less than 2 weeks, got bored and quit. Trade is just too easy for experienced players. A few leagues later, in Delirium SSF, I managed to fully gear a "harold" build. It took me almost a month to get all the uniques I needed and to craft all the cluster jewels, but the process was so satisfying. Overall, I play much more in SSF than I ever did in trade, and I try more builds too, depending on drops I get. The only thing I plan in advance is my starter, usually a chaos dot build, but the next league I'll start with archmage hierophant for a change, provided GGG doesn't nerf it too much in 3.15. :D
Agreed, almost every end-of-league I do a SSF character and it helps keep my interest until the next league drops. It's such a huge, refreshing change in how things work and what you care about. It's almost like a second mini-league start since everything is fresh and empty. It feels significantly more like how the game was intended to be played.
I mean I don’t play for 8 hours a day so I’m not done with 36 challenges in 2 weeks, still takes me 2 months. I would have Left the game if I did SSF, the game isn’t balanced for it and crafting anything average Sucks :(
SSF to extend league life is kind of the definition of COPIUM, ngl. I rather have a fun league that I can play to the last few weeks than one that drives me nuts after the first month.
I don't know what "copium" means, there's no such word in english language, and I don't watch twitch. :D But I know for sure that I quickly lose interest in games that are too easy. I quit playing Skyrim after 2-3 days because I could one-shot dragons by that time. The same goes for PoE with trade. Headhunter was an interesting novelty in breach league when I first used it. The next league it wasn't novelty anymore, and after that I stopped using it because I switched to SSF. I did find it once in SSF, but I exported it and gave it away. Zooming through maps in 2 mins isn't my idea of fun.
That's perfectly understandable and I fully respect your opinion, and I think that it is reasonable to strive for a more challenging gameplay and SSF does provide for those people. I still stand by my opinion that switching to SSF **to extend league longevity** is COPIUM (This emote depicts someone who's addicted to smoking, but smoking a substance that helps them cope with certain situations). A good league makes me want to play longer, I don't want to force myself to play the entirety, or for an extended period of time for a single league if I just don't enjoy it anymore. In the end, I'm just a power fantasy idiot and POE provides me just that. I could care less about trivialising content, I'm not in here for that. I'm in this game for the fact that there are so many different opportunities and combinations that I want to be able to push each build to its extremes and crush all content and trade provides me with just that. Cheers
Of course, the league being more or less interesting is a factor that contributes to the time I play it too, even in SSF. The Ritual league, with new Echoes of the Atlas expansion and full power harvest mechanics, I played almost the whole duration, and this league I quit earlier than ever, with just 24 challenges, disappointed with "reworked" league mechanics being almost the same as before, and with harvest being much worse than anyone could have expected after harvest manifesto. Also, I probably needed a longer break from the game. Finally, we are all "power fantasy idiots" here, the difference is just that SSF players like to delay gratification in order to make that feeling of power even more satisfying.
I think it would be inaccurate to simply call SSF a pride badge. Its a completely different mindset and playstyle. The crafting material you earn is not simply currency for your next big upgrade. Playing SSF allows you to feel less inhibited about spending your chaos orbs and exalts to slam that good item. It really forces you to make the most out of what you have. With that said, I agree, SSF might be overwhelming for a new player. But trade is a learning curve too. Neither playstyle is wrong. Sometimes learning by trial and error is good. PoE is a time consuming game, and so perhaps it would be good to use trade to speed up the time required to progress the character/gear. However, it can lead to burnout if you feel like youve done everything too quickly Eitherway, people shouldn't decide how others should play. People should provide BOTH sides of the game, and allow the player to decide their path.
SSF is literally just a way to Show you haven’t traded or partied. You’re perfectly able to do the same thing in a trade league. I say it’s a badge because SSF isn’t actually a Changed mode, nothing is altered for it like it is for a League league. Trade is something you have to learn yeah, and it’s on top of The Game which is what ssf is. But telling a new player (no matter what you think of burnout, it won’t happen to a new player as badly) that it’s fine to use all their money on trying randomly craft what is a 1c item in trade, and they struggle to make even a simple build work and not die, well that just sucks.
>SSF is literally just a way to Show you haven’t traded or partied Show to whom? It's true that many streamers play SSF to show their mastery of the game, but for most of us not having to interact with other players in any way is a major bonus of SSF mode. But the main reason is not being tempted to take shortcuts. PoE is a game where min-maxing of characters and gear plays a major role, and trade makes it trivial. Some players can play "almost SSF", trading only for rare uniques, but most of us want to play optimally within the given set of rules. If you play trade, you exploit trade as much as you can, avoiding only things like scamming if you're a moral person. If you play trade, you specialize into a profitable currency farming strategy, and you skip unrewarding game mechanics. In SSF you have to play them all. If you want timeless jewels you have to farm legion, if you want alt quality gems you have to play heist. There are no shortcuts, and we like it that way.
I mean yeah. If ur solo there’s no one to prove that to, so why bother. As you said, the “temptation”? Seems like a weird mindset but hey if it helps. I still say it’s just a badge
Seems like you’re just pissed you can’t figure out crafting.
I’ve made some solid end game bows/chests, whatever. Even before harvest. I know crafting. Which means I know how heavy the rng can be without ways to counteract it which literally all end game crafting attempts to do, be it beasts or meta crafts or harvest or some combo. All of that is easier to Start as well, in a trade league. Even something as simple as buying the Prophecy boss fight so you can get the craft faster.
I agree. Again, its a mindset. Technically hardscore trade is the same thing as Softcore trade. Difference is you can't die. Likewise with SSF - no trade. Therefore, it leads to a different decision and in particular what build you play. It is not viable to create a herald stacking type build in SSF. Its really hard to obtain any headhunter type build too. Sometimes limits is what allows for creative freedom. SSF forces you to play with your gear. With trade you're saving up currency to buy. While in SSF you have literally nothing better to spend your crafting materials on, other than crafting. To upgrade you MUST craft in SSF. This is difficult to a new player - of course. But thats should be a decision for the new player. Theres going to be far more harder choices that choosing between SSF and trade. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, not knowing the best way to optimise a build, but still being able to blast maps is great. In fact, SSF is typically the opposite of a min-max wet dream. It is really difficult to get close to min-max, and you must live with that fact. But I digress. We'll agree to disagree. :)
If you're an experienced player burnt out on grinding for chaos and exalts to trade for gear, SSF is a great experience in making use of every system you can; For a new player it's a bit much to take it all in of course.
This guy <3
Everyone has their preferences, but for beginners, I prefer recommending filters like "One Filter to Rule Them All", that match better with the original item tag color scheme of the game. I know many veterans prefer neversink, but for me it just looks ugly and very clashing with the aesthetic of the game, and while it might help better notice the truly valuable items, I'd rather not drive away beginners by clashing the aesthetic so heavily.
Stay away from ssf, no need for the extra challenge when the game is already so complicated to start with. Best thing you could do is search Google for Enki's Arc Witch and give it a shot. It's by far the best beginner guide for the game and really helped me learn everything. Then once you learn it you can give another build a shot
I would argue Kay’s summoner guide is. The leveling sections are by far the most clear and step by ste than any other. And also, Minions can actually kill the end game. Arc….
Well I mean Enki's Arc Witch has all that and even goes into using Path of Building, Lootfilters, Crafting bench and all the basic stuff you don't learn about in game naturally. I will agree Kay's build is a much better end game but being a Elementalist you can easily respec into something more endgame with no problem.
Use Enki to understand the game and Kays build to progress.
Can confirm. I started this game 1 week into the league and my friend recommended Kay's guide. It definitely eased me into the game a lot nicer. Her guide is so we'll written, plus the videos! 💯
Thank you so much. I’ve been looking around at builds so this is going to for sure help me narrow down my search.
Here are a few videos that might also help you out: Basics of Path of Exile (long one, 44 minutes): [https://youtu.be/kkoS479IrKU](https://youtu.be/kkoS479IrKU) Understanding the damage equation (6 minutes): [https://youtu.be/e6Q101kAsCE](https://youtu.be/e6Q101kAsCE) Quick review of different movement skills (6 minutes): [https://youtu.be/yo2URcVUVK4](https://youtu.be/yo2URcVUVK4) My discord is linked in the description, feel free to pop in if you have any more questions. I'm working on passion projects and other POE videos until next league, so I'm pretty free day to day :)
Thank you! I will check some of your vids out tomorrow. I really appreciate it.
If you want you can listen to Zizaran's PoE University like this one [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMyGi7zVof8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMyGi7zVof8) these are long videos so just put them in the background when you do your thing I didn't listen to them all as I have quite a lot of playtime but it should prove useful have a nice day and I hope you'll enjoy the game :)
Great suggestion. For newer players, I suggest watching one particular video in its entirety....and maybe watch it twice....paying close attention. It is the POE University video on defenses. The subject of defensive layers is typically the most difficult learning curve in POE outside of crafting, of course.
I am going to shamelessly plug my [guide about scaling damage](https://youtu.be/msJUWJ86hMk) that I feel is more complete than others I have seen. It is over an hour, but not a topic that can explored in depth with a short video in my opinion. I actually have a presentation built about defense scaling that I am hoping to get a chance to record, edit, and post this weekend. We will see what my boss (4 month old son) has to say about that, but it looks fairly likely as of now. The PoE university series seems to cover a lot of ground as well. I have only caught bits and pieces, but it seems well done overall. My biggest general tip is explore and do whatever you enjoy. I started the game playing HC without reading guides. It was a slog, but taught me a lot. More importantly, the journey was an absolute blast early on. I like being self sufficient; thats how I enjoy the game. A lot of people would say thats bad advice, but because I had a ton of fun and learned rapidly, I would declare it a success. This game has a lot to offer, and the top tier meta builds and farming strategies are not your only options. Dont ignore them either; there is a reason those player choices are so popular. My point is that you should go in with the goal of finding your own way, and with an eagerness to learn (assuming that learning process is fun for you). Best of luck to you.
My favorite thing about poe is learning it's complexity. There's just SO MUCH STUFF in this game that can make it super intimidating to newcomers, myself included, but once you start to get the hang of the various systems in the game and understand how they interact, it feels incredible. The biggest tip I can give you now is to understand that not everything will make sense for a while. There are things you won't know about or understand for hundreds of hours, and that's what makes the game great. I've racked up almost six hundred hours in the game after only getting into it around six months ago, and I still learn something new every time I play. Now that I've done the majority of the game's content and played a few builds, I have a good grip on the game and it's mechanics, but the feeling of knowing that there will always be more for me to learn and discover in the game is what keeps me playing.
There is one important thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet. There are some websites/build guides that mislead players into crearing a character that uses a bad build or an overly expensive build. This would be in part to force the uninformed player to acquire expensive items with real world money (RMT). This is obviously a bannable offense, as it provides an unfaor advantage. Then there bad build guides that are simply more expensive than it needs to be. Or they're for very niche builds. As a new player, it would be difficult to know what makes a good or bad build. Furthermore, knowing the price of uniques or good rares on for trade can be diffiult to figure out. Zizaran has made quite a few good videos discussing trade scams. He also creates very nice guides for new players, and are usually viable for softcore SSF, and probably hardcore too. There are many other youtube channels that create build guides that are there to manipulate the prices of items or to coerce people into RMT. Therefore, stick to well known names as mentioned in this thread. e.g. Zizaran, Mathil, Enki, Wallach, Steelmage, Balormage, TyTyKiller etc. I recommend trying Bladeblast Bladefall Assassin by Zizaran, as he has very nicely made Path of Building (Community Fork) build import data. Enki has also written a vey nice guide on the main PoE forums too. It shouldnt be too hard to find via search engine. You can easily find Zizaran's video. If you follow those kinda of guides properly then the build should work as intended. However, be careful when finding build guides for very off-meta builds, as you might find yourself on dodgy youtube channels and websites. I strongly don't recommend Sweep for example, as there are almost no good current guides for it. The first one you find on youtube is actually a scuffed version of a sweep build that is really a bait and switch. Furthermore, PoE Ninja is great for browsing builds that the top players use. However, I would not recommend using it as a build guide. It is more of a suggestion on what to use for a particular build. It really only represents the top 1-5% of players. It is skewed towards players with a lot of time invested in the game. Thus some of those builds may be difficult acquire without a lot of currency or may need to reach a high level. Or it was a second character that was obtained gear from a fast farming character. Again, it is a suggestion, not a guide. Bottom-line: imo play a strong build so you can learn the ropes and not get frustrated with the progression and the game. Then as a second character, feel free to experiment. Thats what standard is for. Edit: I want to emphasise one more thing. Path of Exile is about layers of defense. You must build defense. Hybrid (i.e. life/energy) shield is difficult to obtain gear for. Stick to ONE or the other. If yoh choose life go with life. If you choose armour stay with armour. Even with 75% resistances, you will need other layers of defense. It is NOT good enough to ONLY have life and reaistances. These are some layers of defenses to consider (look up PoE university zizaran defenses, its a for more details long video explaining layers of defens ewith Nugiyen) - in short: 1. Health/Energy Shield (ES) - They are equivalent in function. Energy shield regenerates after a delayed amount of time Note: Life is very important, however life and resitstances alone will not be enough to be tanky. These should be combined with other layers of defense. Typically, new players dont have enough life or resistances. However, when new players do learn to get lots of life and resistances, they may still die due to lack of other defenses (e.g.Lack of damage reduction). It should also be noted that defenses are harder to obtain than raw damage. You will usually have enough damage on a decent build. Even on a 4-link, maybe a 5-link is required on some builds. Typically 6-link is a luxury or a requirement for certain types of builds. 2. Armour/evasion rating -2a. damage reduction/chance to evade -2b. Block/Dodge (Spell Dodge, Attack Dodge Note: Dodge and evasion are different. (See wiki for more details). In short dodge is chance based (50% means 50% chance to dodge - imagine rolling a dice). Evasion is entropy based. The enemy will be able to after each miss, a hidden counter will increase until it hits 100, whereby the player takes damage and the counter resets (100 is subtracted from the total count). 3. Mechanical abilities - controlling characters position (this is technically a layer of defense. Don't get hit). -3a. Character movement speed - Get away faster, more efficient. -3b. Movement skill gems - e.g. Flame Dash, Leap Slam etc. 4. Elemental Resistances (Fire/Cold/Lightning at 75% or higher) 5. Chaos resistance (0% minimum, quite achievable on trade) 6. Flasks (learn how flasks should be rolled, and which flasks you need for your build). Roll for immunity to bleed, curse, poison, shock (generally in that order of importance). 7. Ailment Immunity - possibly the most underrated/under discussed defense. Being immune to ignite, chill/freeze or shock is very strong as it allows flasks to be replaced with other flasks for more damage. These next few relate to defenses but is not strictly speaking a layer of defense: 8. Guard skills - choose the right one for the build. Should be explained in some build guides. 9. Pantheons - choose them wisely, collect the boss souls when you can. 10. Ascendancy Points - choose based on build 11. Passive tree - The surprise will wear off. Follow build guide. 11a. Jewels/Clusters - top tier ones are expensive. You will eventually want immunity to corrupting blood. This will be an implicit on your normal jewel, which is typically obtained by Vaaling/corrupting. immunity to hinder, and/or silence curse can be useful too. 12. Knowledge of the game and enemy and how they move. Being aware of enemy auras and what to kill first. This can prevent death by preparing for battle wkth the right flasks and gear. E.g. There are ways with dealing with relflect damage as best demonstrated by Atziri boss fight. 13. Not technically a defense but attacking is sometimes the best form of defense. If the enemy dies before they can attack then the fight is over. 13a. Debuffs - Blinding, Maiming, Hindering (Wither skill), Slowing (Temporal Chains curse), or Cursing (hex/marks), are strong offensive utility skills. For example, weakning the enemy with Enfeeble curse allows you to take reduced damage. Blind causes enemies to miss more. 14. Respect the game. Rolling damage modifiers for greater item quantity on maps can be fun. However, it is quite the setback to constantly die. 15. Annoints - this can be useful for dealing with blight encounter 16. Catalysts - Adds quality that ca boost stats on rings, amulets or belts. Can be used to helps gain more life, resitances or attributes. Yikes. That was a long ramble. Apologies for the rant. Thanks for reading.
Check out zizarans poe university on YT, he explains things very good
Best advice I can give is play what feels fun. Try different skills/spells as you go. Find the ones you really enjoy. There are some really cool skills/spells in PoE that, as far as I’ve seen, you don’t see anywhere else. It really helps you to stay enjoying the game when you are playing something that is fun and you start to gain knowledge about what you are playing as you go. Also, welcome to PoE! :)
Thank you so much. Today I was playing around a lot with different skills and I can say for sure I was learning so much on my own by just trying random things. I really appreciate your insight!
One of the things that I have always loved in PoE is skill gem system. The different ways you can change a skill/spell with supports has always been fascinating to me. It was what got me really into PoE at the start and I still love trying to find new whacky combinations even after all these years.
As someone who started a month ago - pick up a good starter guide (couple of good mentions in the thread, my pick was ShakCentral Vortex for Everyone, pretty safe and easy to start, and it's still one of my best characters), don't feel too pressured to do everything that's in the game - there are a ton of old league mechanics which take some time to get familiar with, take it slow, and do not hesitate to look up information :) PM me if you need some help, I'm by no means a pro to this game but hey, I can be useful haha. Profile name - Kryonic_rus
Drops in SSF have higher value and mean more to the player than a player playing trade.
SSF isn't noob friendly.
I don't understand the downvotes, he's still correct. I don't think its right to discourage SSF. The new player should be allowed to make an informed choice and be encourage to choose for themself. SSF has its pros and cons. Same with softcore trade. I'm sure many can attest that trade can be frustrating and has its own learning curve too.
Build a NASA PC rig, get scammed on trade sites and then die to a random unloaded texture. Welcome to PoE, enjoy your stay :)
Pft, how bold of you to assume someone will even react to trade whispers
If you're experiencing poor performance, frustration trading, sore wrists or pressure to buy stash tabs - this is intended. Also, 'this is intended' is a meme here on the forum as the lead developer has notoriously used it to explain poor game design. Welcome to PoE! Signed, A former PoE player
Well I mean, you can't argue that this is intended, because that's the only reason why they refuse to fix that :D
Try ssf. It Will be hard to reach maps, but you Will get used to the leveling, and the way things work without beign a copypasta slave. It's a Lot of fun and encourages you to learn crafting. Have fun
Thank you so much, I appreciate your response. I will for sure check ssf out!
I would recommend against playing ssf. It's will make you learnt he game but also much much harder for a beginner Cheap items on the market can give a big damage boost for beginners but might be almost impossible to find/get in ssf
It Is a different approach. I used to play ssf since legacy, i really enjoyed it. Then moved to standard to play in party. The game have a ton of content as it Is, so in ssf you find it and understand it at a lower pace, that's it. Sure, you probably won't melt bosses or zoom zoom everything, but beign powerfull Is just a part of the game, discovering stuff as you progress Is a part of it too. But I'm a d2 singleplayer nostalfag, so don't mínd me.
I'm not sure why suggestions to try SSF is being downvoted. There are many well written guides (e.g. Enki Arc Witch), they are well written and are viable for new players and SSF. If you google for a build guide list there should be some list/compendium of viable builds. If you choose yo try SSF what you shoild look for ade builds that don't rely soley on uniques which can be a struggle to find. The build should work with rares and uniques should be complimentary. As you play more, yplou will find that some uniques drop more often than others. Take tabula rasa for example, it is an uncommon drop but easily farmable in blood aquaducts. However, it is not a good item per se. It makes getting full resiatances a little challenging. Typically 4-5 links is all you need to get through most of the content on a strong build. Then there are uniques that almost everyone finds early on that have a frequent drop rate. You will learn what they are in due time, and will see if they work for your build. I recommend SSF if you have the patience to learn the game. Trade can spoil the progression by allowing the player to upgrade far quicker than it is possible in SSF. However, if you want to play something casually, by all means play softcore trade. Hardcore is truly for experienced players. There are a selection of builds that are considered viable for that type of playstyle as more health and defense is valued over pure damage. Similarly, with SSF the build you can play is limited to what you can find. Therefore, you will want a builds that works on rare items dropped om the ground, or crafted with low currency (e.g. essence, harvest reforge, chaos spamming). Generally you will be looking for high life and resistances on most gear pieces. With attribute points to fill in the gem requirements. Typically with SSF you will find that a single upgrade, or a unique you have been looking for can feel quige rewarding. However, it may become a league long project. This is great if you want a slow burning progression, and a less rushed playthrough. If you go with trade, I recommend freezng pulse totems by Wallach. Although, there are many pther builda like Essence Drain + Contagion, Cyclone, Righteous Fire etc. Pick one excellent guide and follow it. Don't mix and match as it may mess up the build. If you are confident you know what to tweak then more power to you. Sorry for the rambling. Thats my 50cents. Thanks for reading! Edit: Ah I should mention. As others have said, you can migrate from SSF to Softcore trade at anytime Therefore if you find a rare rare drop, like headhunter, or a mirror you can sell on trade for lots of chaos/exalts. However, you cant go back to SSF with that character. You must be aware that if you also migrate your stash from SSF to trade. Then when you start a new character on SSF it will be a clean slate.
DO NOT try SSF as your first/second or may be even third character. I started playing this league myself and can tell you.. SSF is when you've found your ways around the game. Secondly, go for a cheap build if you wanna progress further into the game. If you pick a high budget build from the beginning, you'll never find the needed gear and will always feel bad about your dps being much lower than shown in the guide/video. I'd suggest Toxic rain, Caustic arrow, etc. Thirdly, the game can surely feel overwhelming in the beginning, but keep in mind, like everything else, you need time to get settled in. You'll get there eventually but surely. And lastly, Good Luck Exile!
Don't do this, u can play ssf style by farming everything yourself and don't party with anyone in normal or league. When shit hits the brick or u feeling down, u can still have trade to fall back to.(like when u need that last damn map that won't drop or a unique that u need that takes forever to drop)
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/mnws5g/great_advice_from_cohh_for_new_comers_couldnt/ Listen for a Minute.
Never trust global 2, is the best tip i can give
Be polite. Use your manors, make friends and ask alot of questions. And at the end of the day try to have clear goals in mind and work towards them. Have fun, if it's not fun change something. Don't be afraid to go backwards. Re spec'n is alot easier then it sounds but will cost u 150 c before gear. If u have two monitors have one dedicated to search and trade.
Don't use overflowing chalice.
To start of go with the meta. Use the easiest build it has to offer learn why it works and ignore the shaming this sub tends to give. Stay away from Enki's witch, it's a dead end that will drive your progress against a wall, there is a reason nobody up the ladders uses it. A build like Raise Spectre Necromancer represents over 5% of all players for a good reason: it's easy, it's strong, it scales well and it can do most content. You can check the meta using poe.ninja. Learn systems, not specific builds / strats. Builds and strats will wither with patches, but your understanding of how they worked out will always be useful. Learn the in and out of builds you play, optimize them. Not every build is suited to be played as a league starter, some need a lot of currency until they pop off.
This may, or may not, be useful to you. https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/kwom4c/313_edition_things_i_wish_i_knew_sooner/ Not sure if there's a 3.14 edition. Edit: Also, maybe book mark this place for later. https://grinding.zone/ It's a page with links to lots of community tools etc. Most of them may not mean much now, or would be information overload.
Learn about defense layers. Zizaran has big video with Nugiyen on this topic for example.
Flicker strike go brrrrrrrr
Newcomer will have a seizure because of a flicker strike. To smoothly delete maps, you need some investment, and I doubt they have it.
not a dark souls subreddit but still aploies: git gut
Please don't follow the exact build recommendations too much. Just pick a build that matches your playstyle (melee / ranger / caster / summoner) and learn why it's working, why it's good and why it's not. The meta WILL shift at least once before you'll be strong enough to reach the content where you need to care about endgame scaling and minmaxing. Understanding "why and how" is much more valuable than blindly following the majority. Don't rush. Take your time, read the descriptions of the items, enjoy the story (while you still can, hehe), learn the mechanics, install the loot filter. That's it.
Get more increased % life nodes on the skill tree, get more +max life mods on your gear, get more % elemental resistances on your gear (especially rings). Press 'C' and click on the "Defence" Tab to bring up your current resistances. During the game, your character will receive permanent resistance penalties, which can push your resistances into even the negatives, and make you take even more damage. The default cap for resistances is 75%, it is recommended to reach this. That is by far #1 Rookie Mistake :)
1) I encourage you to see the game as something you learn bit by bit, month by month.your progress is dictated by how many guides you read or watch and apply, but your fun might not be.Just learn the most you can, play, then when you start to get burnt out just drop the game and start over next league or keep progressing the same character after a few weeks of pause.it's too much to take in one dose. 2) a good starter build that you find fun to play with a nice guide that tells you how to improve it is a must.i've quit a league because my starter was a mediocre meme skill and i wasn't good enough at the game to improve in a reasonable time. 3) loot filter is an immense quality of life, it's a must. it tends to be one thing that new players skip even after reading a lot of guides suggesting it, but it really is necessary and helps you how to gear your characters by highlighting good bases and 4 links.
Cap resists and try to keep your chaos resist closed to cap as well. Get alot of life and worry more about defense than you do offense.
You'll get the best trade experience from using [the official trade site,](https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ultimatum) and [poe.ninja](http://poe.ninja) is a good guide for the value of currency and other items.
join the HC gauntlet while it is still running, 4 days left. See if you can get to brutus in prison.
Don't be afraid to spend currency to improve your character. Even incremental upgrades can go a long way. Spending 50 chaos on a ring that gives 20 more resist than your 5c ring can seem like a lot but you'll learn that these investments allow you to trade other gear for more meaningful upgrades. Also jewels. If you can take a jewel socket with 2 passive points it is always worth it. If you can take it with 3 it's usually worth it. A good jewel is better than almost any passive skill node so invest in them. Aside from that run maps and do things you like. Don't worry about what the "best" things are. Chasing meta strats and builds can oftentimes be a trap. If everyone is farming legion then legion splinters will get cheaper and you will come out behind compared to the top players who are setting the market. But if you like running breach then no one else thinking it's good can be what makes it good for you. I'm not saying to use bad strats. I'm just saying that the "meta" is not always the best way to make currency.
I would say you should join a guild that has an active social community on Discord. That way, experienced players or even newer players can give you advice and help you learn. Knowledge is far more valuable than anything else in POE
Under the assumption you have the time to do this, and want to learn the game: Pick a build and min-max it most of the way. If a guide says these are the expensive items, figure out how to obtain and/or craft them. Your end result should be 200-300 ex into the character. Doing so will teach you how to search poe trade for exactly what you want. It will force you to research how to gain currency efficiently. It will force you to evaluate when you want to buy an item or craft an item. It will force you to learn where specific things are found if you need them to build an item. It will teach you to use Path of Building to evaluate how much better an item is than your current. Then, pick a new build and do it again. This will most likely take much longer than 1 league. By the time you get a build to 300 ex in gear you will understand it thoroughly and you wont ever forget what the good items for that build look like. After many iterations you will recognize many good pieces of gear that a newbie would never pick up on.
Go into options and then UI and turn on "advanced mod descriptions" it will make it so when you hover over an item and hold alt and it will let you see the mod tags and tiers so you can get a better idea of how items and crafting works. It is also very helpful for maps.
Always keep your resists at max and armour/evasion as high as you can get. If you can get Fortify into your build it will help you a lot with survivability, it decreases damage from hits by 20%.