Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) is an Action RPG where you have the option to choose between 12 classes and 36 ascendancies, during its early access you may only choose between 6 classes and 12 ascendancies. Your class choice will most likely determine a category of skills you will use based on the passive tree starter location, and you will build your character around that choice by pathing accordingly in the passive skill tree, choosing the good synergizing stats on your gear, and putting the strongest support gems.
Path of Exile 2 basically has 2 phases, the first one is to go through the campaign composed of 6 acts (on early access you will do the first 3 acts twice), and the second phase is called “the Endgame”, which consists in mapping, bossing, and higher-end crafting. This game can be rough for a newcomer, so we’ll cover the basics together.
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Before starting
If you are unfamiliar with the Path of Exile system, I recommend you follow a build guide made by a content creator. It will help you understand how to put together your build, what makes it work, what item is mandatory, and what are your power spikes.
You may choose not to follow a build guide, and that’s completely fine; just be ready to struggle if you don’t know where you’re going.
League
Before choosing your class you will have to choose a league you wanna play in, there’s 4 leagues in Path of Exile 2: Standard, Solo Self-Found (SSF), Hardcore(HC), Hardcore Solo Self-Found (HCSSF), as new player I recommend you to choose Standard or SSF, if you choose SSF you will still be able to migrate to standard when you want to (The game is usually easier in standard because you can trade items for what’s your build missing).
Passive Skill Tree
Each class has its own passive skill tree starter location on top of an ascendancy skill tree unlocked during the campaign with labyrinths, on this tree, you will encounter 3 types of nodes:
The small passives, which are usually called travel nodes, it’s usually not that big of an upgrade but it’s necessary to path toward bigger nodes.
The notables are what you're looking for when you’re planning a build, and usually give you a lot more stats than small passive nodes
The keystones completely alter your character by providing a powerful upside and a downside, you can take a few of them or not depending on the downside may break your build.
On top of those nodes you may encounter empty jewel sockets where you can put jewels in, these are very strong in the endgame when you can get “perfect jewels” but not much in the early game where a travel node would most likely give you more stats than a random jewel.
Skill Gems
Skill gems are currently divided into 12 categories, you will most likely use your class category skill gem during the first 3 acts of the campaign but they are not locked to a class, so you can plan to play another skill when reaching maps.
Support Gems
You can equip support gems on any of your skill gems as long as you meet the requirements for them (each gem has a stat requirement depending on his level strength for red gems, dexterity for green gems, and intelligence for blue gems). Before equipping a new support gem make sure the tag matches with the skill gem associated.
Meta Gems
Meta gems are a type of gem triggering a skill gem linked to it when a condition is met, for example, if you’re playing a cast when stunned (meta gem) linked to a molten shell (skill gem), your character will automatically cast molten shell when you’ll get stunned, but this way you can not trigger molten shell manually.
Items
On each character you will have 9 to 10 equipment slots:
- Weapon slots 1 and 2 (2 handed weapon takes 2 slots except for bows, in this case, you equip a quiver)
- Helmet
- Chest
- Boots
- Gloves
- Amulet
- Ring 1
- Ring 2
- Belt
Each item has its own list of modifiers depending on its base type, some modifiers are specific to an item slot or a base type so you may pay attention to the base you choose before crafting (for example, % increased movement speed can only roll on boots, but if you want a pair with %increased energy shield on top of that, you will need a base type that has energy shield on it. The level of the item also changes the tier of the modifier you can get (you can roll higher valuers of modifiers on higher item level bases)
There are 4 types of rarity in the game, normal (item with no modifiers), magic (item with maximum 2 modifiers), rare items (usually goes up to 6 modifiers but it really depends on the item base type), and unique. There’s no limit to the unique items you can equip. Each magic or rare item has space for prefixes and suffixes, each having its own pool of mods, for example, if you want to craft life on any item in the game, it will be a prefix, but if you want a resistance it will be a suffix. To put a concrete example on this case, if you want to craft yourself a magic jewel with life and a resistance you can use an augmentation orb on a single moded jewel with life and hope for a resistance. But if you want double resistance for example, you know that it cannot roll on a magic item so you have to make it rare by using a regal orb to give more suffixes space.
Checkpoints and waypoints
During the campaign you may encounter waypoints and checkpoints, they will refill your flask charges and allow you to respawn from there if you die.
Last Words
Now you know the basics of Path of Exile 2. Head over to LootBar.gg to buy PoE 2 Currency to buy cosmetics, stash tabs to store your items, and make your way to the endgame. Have fun and stay safe Exile!
