Path of Exile 2 Beginners Guide - Best Tips For POE2 New Players

Dec. 9, 2024

Path of Exile 2 Beginners Guide – Best Tips For POE2 New Players

In thisPath of Exile 2 Beginner Guide, I’m going to be going through some helpful information that should help players get through the main campaign of the game. This guide is aimed at brand-new players or players that are just starting off the campaign and have played a little bit or are not very familiar with Path of Exile in general.

So, the first thing I want to talk a little bit about is support gems. This is something that you’ve probably figured out a little bit about if you’ve already been playingPath of Exile 2, but essentially what these gems do is allow you to add things to your skills, just like in the first game, that change some of the properties of thoseskills. You’re only going to be able to have up to two support gems for any given skill at the beginning of the game, but as you progress further and further, eventually, you will gain items that allow you to add more supportskill gemslots to your skills. So, if you’re wondering how you do that, the way you do that is by progressing through the game.

Secondly, when you go to craft support skill gems, if you mouse over a given skill, it only gives you a few options. However, you can select from different categories of skills—strength,intelligence, anddexterity. Each has its own category, which allows you to see the full list of the support gems that you can craft from these, and I highly recommend going and looking through these when you’re crafting support skill gems instead of just trying to craft the ones that are available when you mouse over the skills. So, get in the habit of doing that.

The next thing is that for support skill gems, you’re not going to be able to use two copies of the same support skill gem across your skills. So, you need to pick and choose which support skill gems you want on specific skills. There are many that would be great on multiple skills, but unfortunately, you’re not allowed to do that. So, you need to try out different combinations and see what works best for you.

Lastly, the types of support skill gems that you can use are limited by your attributes. Your strength, dexterity, and intelligence will limit the number of support skill gems of that same color that you can use. So, if you’re a character that uses strength primarily—for example, like a warrior—you’re going to use predominantly strength-based support skill gems. However, if you put some points into dexterity and some points into intelligence, you’ll increase your limit from one of each of those types of support skill gems for every five points that you put in. This will allow you to make better use of them if needed for your particularbuild.

As a new player, I highly recommend that you don’t go too crazy putting points intoattributesthat are not your main attributes. So, if you’re a strength-basedclass, try to stick to strength and put very minimal points into intelligence and dexterity unless you know what you’re doing and you’re a more advanced player. Early on, try to stick to one attribute and predominantly use those types of skill gems when possible.

Something else that I want to mention is that on the skills screen, you can actually see the DPS of each skill. You might have seen this already, but this actually updates in real time. This means that if you swap out a piece of gear, a weapon, or a support skill gem, you will see the damage of your skill increase or decrease depending on what you’re doing. It’s a great way to tell if a piece of equipment is actually better than what you’re using now. So, make sure your skill screen is open when you equip new pieces of gear to see if it sends your DPS up or down. Obviously, DPS is not the only factor when choosing gear, but early on in the game, when you’re trying to kill things more quickly to progress, it’s a great way to see if you’re making improvements with some upgrades or not.

The next thing I want to mention is that you can farm skill gems if you need more of them. They are random drops in this game, so you can farm them frombossesorelite monstersto get more. However, keep in mind that if you’re looking for the next tier of a skill gem to improve a skill or unlock a higher tier, you will need to level up your character for these to drop. Progressing through the game is the best way to get higher-level skills and improve your skills further. So, don’t spend too much time farming unless you’re actually stuck at lower levels; instead, try to progress through the main campaign.

However, something I do want to mention is that it benefits you a lot to do the side quests as you make your way through the main game. Many of these are in areas you’re going to pass through anyway, and a lot of them offer passive benefits that are permanent to your character, such as passive skill points,permanent resistance buffs, or permanent stat buffs. So, make sure you’re doing theside queststhat are available to you while progressing through themain campaign, because it’s easiest to do them that way, and you will gain things that are very valuable to your character.

The next thing I want to mention is that there’s a very importantNPCin this game who plays the Deckard Cain role. He is calledthe Hooded One. You unlock him about one to two, maybe three hours into the game, depending on your progression speed, and he’ll let you identify items at will without any cost, which is fantastic. So, make sure you use him for identifying your items once you have him unlocked.

The other thing he’ll do is allow you to respec points in yourpassive skill treefor a certain amount of gold. If you find that you went in one direction and want to try a different one, you can use him to experiment. I highly recommend doing this very early on in the game because the skill point respec cost increases as your character level increases. It’s going to get more and more expensive later on. It’s still not that expensive between levels 1 and 30, I would say, but once you get much above that, it starts getting more and more costly.

So, try to experiment early on as you get new skills and figure out which direction you want to go. But as you get closer to higher levels, maybe become a little more conservative and think carefully about what you want to do before spending a lot of gold on respeccing.

Something else I would have mentioned a little bit ago, but I want to elaborate on in a larger context, is that you canfarm bossesfor drops in this game. A lot of times, you’ll find yourself not getting gear upgrades for very long stretches inPath of Exile 2because you need a specific type ofweaponfor your class, it needs to have certain stats, and it needs to be better than what you already have. So, it can be very difficult, particularly with weapons. What you can do is farm bosses to try and get drops, giving you a higher chance of obtaininguniquesor rare items that are good. Rare items are, as the name suggests, pretty rare in this game.

If you find yourself stuck gear-wise, which can happen, I highly recommend finding a boss or two and farming them—even if they’re a little lower level than you—because it will help you get some gear to allow you to progress. You don’t have to do this just once; you can farm some bosses until you get better gear, progress several hours in the game, and then find another boss to farm. This strategy can prevent you from reaching a later part of the game where you’re up against a very difficult boss you can’t get through and end up needing to farm anyway.

Something else that’s related to bosses—especially if you plan on farming them a lot, or you may have already noticed while fighting them—is thestagger or stun mechanic. There’s a small bar near the health bar of bosses (and sometimes other enemies, especially elites) that shows how much stagger buildup you have on them. When this bar fills, it stuns the enemy temporarily.

This is a popular strategy, particularly against difficult enemies, because it renders them useless for a certain amount of time—around five seconds, though it depends on the boss. Some have shorter or longer stun durations, but during this time, you can deal free damage. Often, it will also increase the damage you deal while the enemy is stunned.

Different skills apply varying amounts of stagger buildup, and you can use support gems to increase the amount of stagger buildup on enemies. Consider using this as a strategy, especially during tough phases of boss fights. For instance, if a boss is about to perform an attack that you’re not good at dodging or blocking, stunning them right before they execute it can prevent the attack altogether.

The next thing I want to mention is that once you get to Act Two, there’s going to be a part of the game where you can do a trial. This will allow you toascend, which essentially lets you pick a subclass passive skill tree that provides a specific focus for the class you chose.

Right now, in early access, each class has two ascension options to choose from. These are unique to the class you pick, and you can’t choose ascensions outside of your class. Your class will determine which two ascensions are available to you at the moment, and you’ll be able to see these options when you reach the trial.

Now, the trial itself, in my opinion, is very difficult. If you’ve made your way into Act Two without getting stuck and have been breezing through the game, this challenge can be surprisingly tough. It’s entirely possible you may need to come back and attempt the trial after gaining a few more levels, as it will become a little easier. That’s what I did the first time, so don’t worry if you get stuck on the trial. Don’t try to brute-force your way through it if you can’t; you can always return later and try again.

However, your choice of ascension is apermanent decision. So, when you’re reviewing the ascension options for your class, take a minute to read through the skills carefully and decide what’s going to be best for your build.

You’ll gain points for this skill tree separately from the passive skill tree as you complete more trials while progressing through the game. If you’re wondering how to get more ascension skill points, just keep advancing the game and watch for additional trials.

And the last tip I want to give you isn’t about combat mechanics or builds at all—it’s a social tip. A lot of people have been asking how to invite their friends to the game or how to play with their friends. If you hit theJbutton, a screen will pop up. You can go down to the bottom, enter your friend’s player name, and find them. From there, you’ll be able to invite them to yourparty. If you’ve been having trouble inviting or finding your friends, or you can’t figure out how to do it, that’s how you can invite them. You can also start a guild that way, etc., but the option is there.

So, that wraps up our article on beginner tips forPath of Exile 2. I hope you found this useful. This guide was aimed at brand-new players or those who aren’t as familiar withPath of Exile. If you’re a veteran player, you probably knew most of these tips already, and some of them you’ll naturally figure out as you play.

This guide is just to answer some common questions players have right out of the gate. For instance, how do you get more support skill gem slots for a specific skill? I remember having that question for a long time. Generally speaking, if you’re not sure how to get something—like higher-level skill gems, certain support skill gems, or even consumable items—the main strategy I suggest is to keep progressing the game. As you advance through the campaign, a lot of these things will become available, and your questions will be answered naturally. Instead of worrying too much, just keep playing, and these mechanics will gradually unfold for you.

One last thing before I wrap up: there are tons ofconsumable itemsinPath of Exile 2, which can feel overwhelming, especially for new players. My recommendation is to just stick them in your stash for now. Don’t worry about them too much in the beginning, as they won’t have a significant impact on your early gameplay. Many of these items can be used later to improve or craft better items, so it’s fine to hold onto them until you’re more familiar with the game’s mechanics. Focus on playing and learning the game, and you’ll naturally discover their uses over time.

So, how are you guys likingPath of Exile 2Early Access? Does it feel likeDark Soulsmixed with an ARPG? Was I right about that? Let me know in the comments below!

Castielle

Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.