Maverick played well over half of Path of Exile’s seasons since starting in 2011, some with a build guide and some without. He mixes Path of Exile with many other games, so he is a solid player but is not at the level where he considers high-tier content easy.
Do You Need a Build Guide To Play Path of Exile?
It depends. Yes, I know it’s a dreaded answer. Yes, I also know you would like a quick answer. So, in this first section, I’ll try to be as concrete as possible, in as few words as possible, before diving deeper into the subject.
In general, I recommend new players follow a build guide when playing Path of Exile. It is, however, not a requirement. If you fit these criteria, then you’ll be fine without one:
- You like figuring things out for yourself and/or get pleasure from making your own ideas work.
- The idea of not being able to clear all content is not a problem for you
Why It Is Generally Recommended To Follow a Build Guide in Path of Exile
If you are familiar with games such as Hearthstone: Battlegrounds or the more recent Balatro, this will be fairly easy to understand. A 20% bonus here and there does not seem like much, but it adds up very quickly. Many such small bonuses, applied repeatedly, in many aspects, end up making a huge difference.
Path of Exile has many such bonuses through its many systems. Equipment, passive trees, jewels, ascendancies flasks, skills, supports, enhancements of your equipment, debuffs to enemies, synergies between all of these things, …
All of these elements multiply on top of each other and end up making a tremendous difference to your character’s power. These bonuses over many years of development mean that an average player following an expert’s build guide can treat the game like a walking simulator with some investment. A veteran who is above average at making his own builds, in the meantime, may struggle with mid-tier content.
As a beginner, you will simply lack the knowledge to apply all of these things effectively. Even if you tend to be pretty good at coming up with your own strategies in other games, you will need to bridge this knowledge gap first.
…But Why You Can Still Manage Fine Without a Build Guide
Although Path of Exile has many systems that synergize to build huge bonuses, these only open up gradually.
Many of the systems are not available during the campaign. On top of that, veteran players tend to rush through it. They don’t have the time to invest in accumulating all the bonuses that are available. The difficulty of the content takes this into account (general content, anyway, you may struggle a bit with league-specific content depending on the league you start).
In other words, if you want to figure out your own build, you’ll very likely be fine during the campaign. Preach did it. Darth Microtransaction did it. You can do it too. But you don’t have to.
If you prefer a smoother gaming experience, there is no shame in following a build guide. Path of Exile has many things to learn even excluding how to build your own character. Your skill and ability to adapt will still make a difference.
Tips for Your First Path of Exile Build
As you likely gathered by now, you’ll be fine using your own build, as long as you accept you’ll likely hit a wall somewhere in your post-campaign adventure. These basic tips focus on delaying that wall while still giving you the freedom to go your own way:
- More damage is always tempting, but do not neglect life on the passive tree. Many new players end up being way too squishy.
- Start paying attention to your resistances when you hit Act 3. Focus on them even more when you hit Act 5. Try to build them up to 75% as you go but make absolutely sure you get there by the time you finish the campaign. For Chaos Resistance, 0% tends to be enough for most content unless you focus on energy shield rather than life.
- Check the tags on the skill that you are using. If you’re using a fire attack, then ice damage or spell damage or projectile damage is not going to help. Put the skill gem in an item that links to support gems that do help your skill.
- Do not neglect crafting. You don’t need to craft your own items. However, most yellow items you find on the ground allow you to add an additional prefix or suffix. These can help you fill up your resistances or give you a bit of extra life.
- Do not forget to pick up your Ascendancy by running the Labyrinth at the end of Act 3 and Act 8. If the boss there is too tough you can do them at the end of Act 4 and 9 instead, but the bonuses there are huge boosts to your character’s power.
What To Do When You Do Hit a Wall
Don’t be discouraged when you do hit a wall. Your experience will surely help you make a better new character, but that’s not the only option you have. You can also switch to a build guide after you hit the wall.
It’s not even a must to create a new character to do so. You can just find a build guide for your existing class. The same Ascendancy class is the easiest to do, but a different Ascendancy from the same base class (e.g., from Inquisitor to Hierophant or Guardian, all Ascendancies of the Templar class) is not that much harder.
Switching to a Build Guide
Hopefully, you managed to build up a bit of currency or reached a level where you can fairly easily gather some. To make a smooth transition to a League Starter character (click through for more information about those) you will need:
- 50-120 Orbs of Regret (depending on your character level and if you want to change Ascendancy class or not)
- 5-10 Chaos Orbs per equipment slot to buy
If you were fortunate enough to find one or more Divine Orbs during your own journey, you’re already at that level. You can trade your Divine Orb(s) for Chaos Orbs using the Path of Exile trade site. You can also trade your Chaos Orbs for Orbs of Regret and equipment for your new build there.
- Each Orb of Regret can undo one Passive Skill Point
- It takes 5 Orbs of Regret to refund an Ascendancy Point. You will need to refund all of your Ascendancy Points and then run the Labyrinth again to choose a new Ascendancy
Although it is not an immediate must, you can also respec your Bandit reward using 20 Orbs of Regret. You need to sell these to a vendor, together with one additional item. Sell them with:
- An Onyx Amulet to get Eramir’s favour (most popular choice)
- A Lapis Amulet to get Alira’s favour (a niche choice somewhat more common in starters)
- An Amber Amulet to get Oak’s favour (almost never used)
- A Jade Amulet to get Kraityn’s favour (used even less).
You can buy these amulets from Vendors or simply find them on the ground.
Where To Find Path of Exile Build Guides
There are many, many places you can find Path of Exile Build Guides. These are my main recommendations for beginners:
- Zizaran always has a good selection of build guides available at each league start. He regularly throws one of his own builds in the mix, but mainly features other creators excelling at different aspects. This gives a varied selection and allows you to find something that suits your own playstyle.
- Mathil is a good choice if you’re looking for very varied, solid builds outside of the obvious meta. It’s likely he’ll have recent featured builds in his recent videos, but I recommend his latest reviewing video of his own builds. He does one after the end of each league. Just make sure you don’t pick something that was heavily nerfed in the new league (you can just ctrl-f the latest patch notes).
- If you prefer written guides, give Maxroll a try. Just make sure the guide you pick is updated for the current league.
- Looking for a super in-depth guide that will teach you not just a build but many aspects of Path of Exile itself? Then you’ll want to take a look at Pohx’ site, specifically the builds section. The disadvantage is that Pohx only focuses on one build, Raging Fire, but it’s the most in-depth beginner-friendly guide out there.
- Once you get used to the basics of following Build guides, the Path of Exile Builds Subreddit is a very good resource. Just ctrl-F Current League Start Build Index once there (the URL changes every league, so I can not link to it directly).
- Looking at some meta-breaking, screen-melting builds once you have gathered some (read: a lot) of currency? Check out Jungroan’s channel.
Following a Build Guide
Simply watching/reading the above resources will sometimes only explain the basics of a build. To really follow them for yourself, you will need to download Path of Building. After that, simply copy-paste the Build Guide code that the Build Guide provides you with into Path of Building. This will allow you to view recommended equipment, the skill tree of the build, notes and more.