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Learn the best beginners tips and tricks for playing Path of Exile 2 and start out strong in your adventure across the land of Wraeclast.
Path of Exile 2 is an action RPG that offers a vast world filled with deadly challenges and rewarding possibilities. With 12 classes in early access (six to choose from in the beginning), over a thousand Skills to unlock, over a hundred Skill Gems to acquire, hundreds of equipment items, and more. Starting POE 2 as a fresh player who has not played the original game can most likely be overwhelming due to its complex systems and mechanics.
That is why we have created this beginners tips and tricks guide for playing Path of Exile 2 to help you understand the game a bit more and have a better gameplay experience in your adventure.
What POE 2 game is about?
Path of Exile 2 is an action RPG that takes place in the land of Wraeclast. Wraeclast is a large continent filled with ancient secrets, populated by unique cultures, and monstrous dangers that have been revived by Corruption. The gameplay of Path of Exile 2 is similar to other action RPGs containing hack and slash, looting, and exploration mechanics. However, there are numerous other complex mechanics involved that you would have to understand to power up your character, enhance skills and equipment, strengthen your build, and more.
Path of Exile 2 offers an expansive campaign with six Acts in total containing hundreds of unique enemy types and 100 bosses. Although, the campaign itself is just the beginning, as the real adventure begins in the end-game. Throughout your campaign, you will discover numerous biomes with separate pathways. In the end game, you can explore them to uncover challenging bosses and unique encounters. Moreover, unlocks special passive trees and powerful crafting that reward you greatly.
Top 10 Beginners Tips and Tricks For POE 2
For ease of your journey in Path of Exile 2, we have listed down the 10 best tips and tricks, especially for beginners that will help them greatly. These tips and tricks will help you with Gems to enhance your skills, which attributes to increase, how to progress, farm essential resources and equipment, and various other gameplay features.
Here is a list of beginners tips and tricks for playing Path of Exile 2.
- Standard Game Mode/League is the way to go
- Utilize the Skill and Support Gems to enhance your skills
- Take advantage of a rolling mechanic to negate most of the damage
- Choose Ascendancy very carefully
- Activate Waypoints while exploring a region/biome
- Try to complete side quests while progressing through the main campaign
- Upgrade the Flasks for better replenishment
- Do not sleep over Weapon Set Points and use Weapon Specialization
- Read the Description of every item and Watch Videos of Skills for a better understanding
- Identify items for free at The Hooded One NPC
1. Standard Game Mode/League is the Way to Go
Path of Exile 2 offers four different types of Game Modes each one containing certain rules and penalties. While starting as a new player with no experience of PoE in the past, it is best that you select the Standard Game Mode. The Standard game mode has all the gameplay features with no extra rules and penalties. You can freely party up with other players and friends, trade with them, and progress together.
The other game modes do not have all of these features combined as each one is missing some of them along with a penalty.
- Standard: Default game mode with all gameplay features. Best for beginners.
- Hardcore: It is the same as Standard but the difficulty is increased. Moreover, your character will have only 1 life. Dying in Hardcore will end your journey and the game will automatically move you to the Standard difficulty.
- Solo Self-Found: Regular difficulty but you are on your own. You cannot party up with other players or trade with them.
- Hardcore SSF: Higher difficulty and you are on your own. You cannot party up with other players or trade with them. Moreover, dying in Hardcore SSF will move you to regular SSF mode.
So, choose the game mode wisely, and if you want to challenge yourself, then you can go with Hardcore or Hardcore SSF mode.
2. Utilize the Skill and Support Gems to enhance your skills
If you are a returning player, one of the many new things that you will notice is the enhancement of Skills with gems. But if you are a new player, then you do not have to worry about it. Unlike the original PoE, the Gems are not socketed into the equipment items like armor and weapons. Instead, you allocate Gems separately into the Skills allowing you to engrave a skill on the gem or level up a skill.
During your encounters with enemies, especially Elite and Bosses, you have a high chance of finding the Skill Gems and Support Gems. Every Skill Gem you find will have five slots for the Support Gems. However, you will only be able to socket two Support Gems at the start. Every Support Gem adds certain bonuses to the active Skill Gem allowing you to enhance your Skill. Moreover, you can further enhance each Skill Gem as follows.
- Use the Jeweler’s Orbs to add additional support sockets to a Skill Gem.
- Use the Chromatic Orb to change the color support sockets on your Skill Gems.
NOTE: You can get Jeweler’s Orbs as a random drop from Act 3 of the main story.
Another thing that is worth mentioning for beginners is that you can increase the Support Gem Capacity by increasing the points in an attribute. For instance, if you wish to add more Support Gems for Strength, you must add more points in the STR attribute. To be exact, for every 5 points you add in an attribute, the Support Gem Capacity increases by 1.
3. Take advantage of the Rolling Mechanic to Negate Most of the Damage
In Path of Exile 2, we have a new movement mechanic, roll. Every player either a beginner or a veteran should learn about this mechanic as it allows you to dodge most enemy attacks. Dodge or Roll is a famous mechanic for most action RPGs. If you are familiar with Dark Souls or Soulslike games, then you might understand how this mechanic works and how useful it is.
Roll is a basic movement ability in Path of Exile 2 which you can trigger with the Space input (PC). Doing a roll action while an enemy is attacking will let your character dodge the attack. You can roll in all directions, giving you more flexibility and room to dodge the attacks.
There is no cooldown on the roll ability and you can dodge the strikes and projectile attacks easily if timed right. However, the AOE attacks cannot be dodged simply by rolling. You have to get out of the range of the AOE to dodge the attack. Moreover, rolling in Path of Exile does not certainly provide eye frames like Souslike games. But, it is essential to use in dodging most of the attacks of all enemy types.
Another thing that is worth mentioning is that rolling does not increase your speed. However, if you enhance the movement speed with passives, it will also affect the rolling speed. If you have increased rolling speed, it can help you greatly in staggering enemies/elites. Attacking the enemies and dodging away continuously will keep the pressure on enemies allowing you to stagger them quickly. This technique works greatly against Elites and Bosses.
4. Choose Ascendancy Very Carefully
There are 12 classes in total with the early access launch of Path of Exile 2. You get to select one class permanently for your adventure out of six at the start of the game. Each class then offers two Ascendancies which basically are specializations. However, unlike the original game, you cannot switch to the other ascendancy of the class after choosing one. For instance, choosing the Titan Ascendancy will not let you switch to the Warbringer Ascendancy of Warrior.
However, you can still respec the Ascendancy Points for Gold to test out the alternate nodes of the chosen Ascendancy. So, if you are a returning player or a new player, keep in mind that you cannot change the starting class or its Ascendancy once you choose them.
To unlock the Ascendancy in general, you have to progress through the main campaign until you unlock the Trial of the Sekhemas in Act Two. After that, complete the trial to get the option to unlock one of two Ascendancy of your class. Moreover, these trials are not only for unlocking the Ascendancies as completing them again will provide you with Ascendancy Skill Points. Use the Ascendancy Skill Points to unlock new skills for your Ascendancy.
5. Activate Waypoints while Exploring a Region/Biome
Exploration is essential in Path of Exile 2 as it can reward you greatly with rare equipment items and currency. Throughout your whole initial playthrough, you must explore each area around the main campaign quest location to look for any chest or secret encounter. Finding these chests can help you get better and rare loot. Moreover, within these areas, there is a high chance of finding every possible Waypoint.
Waypoints work as a fast travel point, allowing you to teleport to the activated Waypoint instantly. Activating these around the world will help you navigate through the world efficiently later in the game. Moreover, if you happen to find a Waypoint close to a certain activity like an Elite enemy spawn or a Boss spawn, you can farm these enemies for better loot and currency.
Furthermore, if you find yourself carrying numerous items and want to store them safely, consider using the Town Portal to return to the Town. You can cast the Town Portal with your skill which will create a portal to the town. Once in the town, manage your inventory or undertake any necessary actions needed. After that, interact with the same portal to travel back.
Using the Waypoints and Portals is essential for your adventure and they do not cost anything. Moreover, you can do them indefinitely. So, do not hesitate to explore each area to gather loot and valuables and return to a safe town whenever you feel like it.
6. Try to Complete the Side Quests While Progressing Through the Main Campaign
Progressing through the main campaign is essential to unlocking and learning all-new gameplay mechanics and more. However, in addition to the main story quests, always complete the side quests as they can reward you with some serious rewards. Each side quest offers essential rewards like an increase in a certain Elemental Resistance, Spirit bonus, Support Gems, Passive Skill Points, and Permanent Buffs.
Moreover, the world offers various activities, and completing them will also reward you with essential buffs and loot. There are numerous side quests that you will run into throughout the whole campaign so try to do as many of them to enhance your character capabilities. The difficulty of enemies and bosses increases drastically which may require you to get better loot and enhance the skills.
It is better that you undertake these precautions before running into harder challenges.
7. Upgrade the Flasks for Better Replenishment
Throughout your whole journey, you will rely on your Flasks of Health and Mana for replenishing Health and Mana. The number of uses and replenishment quantity of flasks will be lower initially, but you want to upgrade to a better one as soon as possible.
To get better flasks of Health and Mana, you need to either farm enemies or use Orbs of Augmentations on your current flasks to add modifiers to them. Moreover, if you have Gold, you can purchase better Flasks from the vendors. Out of all of these methods, finding the better flasks is more convenient as it is the cheapest way, especially in the early game.
Moreover, if you come across Orbs of Augmentation, then use them without hesitation to add modifiers to your flasks. It will help you increase the number of uses or the replenishment amount which is very helpful. All these upgrades are essential as they increase your survivability. As the difficulty increases drastically as you progress in the campaign, having these upgrades will help you greatly win these encounters.
8. Do Not Sleep Over Weapon Set Points and Use Weapon Specialization
Another new mechanic addition to Path of Exile 2 is Weapon Specialization allowing you to use different weapons. You can have more than one weapon with the swap feature which gives access to more than one type of damage. During combat, the Weapon Swap feature allows you to swap weapons automatically and use the associated weapon skills.
Speaking of weapon skills, the Weapon Set Points allow you to get passive skills for your set of weapons in the Passive Skill Tree. It is better that you spend these Weapon Set Points for more passive bonuses for your weapons to deal additional damage with weapon skills. For each weapon, you can use a certain type of damage, giving you more combat flexibility.
So, for your selected set of weapons, acquire the passive skill nodes to enhance their damage and use them frequently in combat for an overall better composition of damage.
9. Read the Description of Every Item and Watch Videos of Skills for a Better Understanding
Starting your adventure in Path of Exile 2 can feel very overwhelming for new players due to hundreds of equipment items and Skill Gems. For every equipment item you find, it is better that you read its description to see if it is worth it for your current build or not. Go through all of its bonuses and decide accordingly. However, for the starting hours of the game, we recommend choosing any weapon with more damage. Because you want to eliminate the threats as soon as possible. However, you may want to choose more wisely later in the game and get the essential bonuses for your build.
Moreover, progressing through the campaign and clearing out bosses will give you various Skill Gems and Support Gems. Before you allocate them, you can watch a brief video of each gem from the Gemcutting Menu. Instead of reading the bonuses of the gems, the video explains the bonuses more clearly.
So if you are ever confused among any Support Gems, it is better to watch their respective videos to make a better decision.
10. Identify Items for Free at the Hooded One NPC
Identifying items is one of the most important things that you have to do throughout your journey in Path of Exile 2. As you explore the areas and defeat the enemies, you will come across unidentified gear items. These items are useless until you identify them. You will not be able to see their stats and bonuses without identifying them. To identify the items, you have to use the Scroll of Wisdom item. You can purchase this item from a vendor for 25 Gold each.
However, if you progress through the main campaign and unlock the Hooded One NPC, you can start identifying items for free. You unlock this NPC after completing The Mysterious Shade quest and you can find him in the town. After unlocking him, interact with the Hooded One and select the Identify Items in the dialogue box option to select the unidentified item in your inventory to identify it for free.
For the unidentified items in your stash, move them to your inventory and then interact with the Hooded One to identify them as well. Identifying the items is very crucial as you never know which items you have in your inventory or stash. Identify them freely with The Hooded One to start using the one essential for your build and sell the rest of them for Gold.
Bonus Tips and Tricks for POE 2
In addition to the tips and tricks mentioned above, here are some additional ones that might be helpful in your overall progression, character build, and gameplay experience.
Turn on Damage Information
If you are someone who likes seeing damage numbers on enemies then you might be a little disappointed as there is no such option in Path of Exile 2. However, you can turn on the “Mini Life Bar Above NPCs” option under the Gameplay section of the Interface Tab (Options). Set the Mini Life Bar Above NPCs option to “Enemies only” or “Allies and Enemies” to start seeing a small HP above enemies.
It does not show the damage numbers but it does show how much damage you inflict on an enemy with each hit. Similarly, you can also see how much of your allies take damage from the enemies when they get attacked.
Farm Better Gems and Equipment Items
Acquiring better equipment and Skill gems or Support gems is an essential way to enhance your character capabilities. Due to random drops, it is hard to convince the RNG Gods to be in your favor. However, you can farm the gems and equipment items by repeatedly defeating the Elite enemies and bosses.
The “Skull” icons on the map usually have a boss encounter which you can farm indefinitely. Defeating these bosses will drop a random set of items including gear items and possibly a gem. If you are looking for a rare equipment piece, you can start farming a boss that is a bit under-level than you.
FAQs about tips and tricks for beginners in Path of Exile 2 (POE2)?
1. Question: What’s the best way to start in Path of Exile 2?
Answer: If you are a new player to the series, start with the Standard game mode for all gameplay features. Explore each area as you progress through the campaign and complete any side quests/activities within those areas for better equipment. Do not spend Gold carelessly as it is scarce and sell any equipment item you do not need.
2. Question: What’s the best way to level up quickly in POE 2?
Answer: The best and fastest way to level up in POE 2 is by completing the main story quests. The campaign is your best bet to level up quickly rather than killing anything that is in your way. However, it does not mean that you should not do any side activities.
3. Question: What’s the best skill for beginners in POE 2?
Answer: Witch is the best class for beginners in POE 2, skills like Unearth and Skeletal Warrior can help you greatly. Unearth will let you raise spikes of bone and raise nearby corpses that will fight alongside you.
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