Simple Rules for Builds?

Greetings, all!

Before I begin, I'm sorry if threads like this have been made before; I did a search and the first half-dozen pages didn't turn up anything similar, so here I go.

By way of introduction, I'm a comparatively new player who understands things in terms of simple rules. For example, bird flocking behavior can be modeled with three simple rules:
1). Stay a certain distance from each other
2). Don't change speed too fast
3). Don't fly into anything

With that in mind, are there any simple rules shared by successful builds?

Thus far, the rules I've seen appear to be as follows:

• Make sure you achieve minimum levels of damage, resistances, life (and/or shields), mana, and secondary stats (dexterity or strength for a character that is primarily intelligence-based). Unfortunately, I'm not sure what exactly those minimums ARE yet, so if anyone could enlighten me, I'd appreciate it. I realize that minima will be context-dependent (if you're going armor, you're gonna need something to deal with elemental damage, for instance).
• Choose your class based on their starting position in the passive skill tree as it compares to what you want to do with the character and what kind of defense type you want to use (evasion, dodge, armor, shield, etc.)
• Perform cost-benefit analysis for notable passives -- a 15% increase for 5 points will generally be less cost-effective than a 15% increase for 3 points UNLESS there is some sort of context-dependent ancillary benefit
• When using a build calculator, try to achieve your build within 90 points or so, because the last 33 points cost much more XP to acquire

So, can anyone add to the above? I'm particularly interested in minimum viable stats for things like damage (for a damage build vs. a crit build), crit (for a damage build vs. a crit build), resistances, secondary stats, etc. I'm also interested in ratios: armor:health, armor:resistance, shield:health; resistance:health; damage:crit; etc.

EDIT: Once again, I'm well aware that ratios and minima will be context-sensitive -- a melee character will, by necessity, need to be more durable than a character who doesn't have to get up in someone's grill to do damage to them. But every little bit helps, and a range of values can help give me a sense of the game.

If this thread takes off, I'll keep the OP updated.

EDIT:

• Raics recommends roughly 10-20K DPS, roughly 39% over resist cap, 70-75 points per build, 5-10K armor (for armor builds), either 0 or 60-75% block (depending on whether or not you're running a block build), and 50-95% crit chance for crit builds. See his post below for full explanation and context.
• As adghar mentioned, synergy, overlap, and specialization are all important considerations when allocating points. Briefly: any points you allocate should benefit your skills and playstyle. See adghar's post below for specifics.

Thanks for all feedback thus far, and thanks in advance for future replies!

"

J_Gaius wrote:

* Make sure you achieve minimum levels of damage, resistances, life (and/or shields), mana, and secondary stats (dexterity or strength for a character that is primarily intelligence-based). Unfortunately, I'm not sure what exactly those minimums ARE yet, so if anyone could enlighten me, I'd appreciate it. I realize that minima will be context-dependent (if you're going armor, you're gonna need something to deal with elemental damage, for instance).

Resists at least are easy, you need them capped at all times, which means overshooting your cap by 39% so you stay capped even when cursed with ele weakness curses. It is also highly advisable to raise your resist caps when doing endgame maps, though some bosses will be a problem even with purity auras so carrying elemental flasks is advisable, usually fire and lightning.
Minimum recommended amount of life depends a lot on your build, the usual is 1-1,2k life by the end of normal, 2-2,5k by the end of cruel and 3-3,5k as you enter act4 merciless. For comfortable playing in low-mid tier maps, having under 4,5k is not advisable and 5,5k is recommended. Players in HC will typically have even more.

"

J_Gaius wrote:

* When using a build calculator, try to achieve your build within 90 points or so, because the last 33 points cost much more XP to acquire

Something like that, finishing your build by level 70-75 is highly recommended, though there are builds that can take a bit longer to kick in properly.

"

J_Gaius wrote:

So, can anyone add to the above? I'm particularly interested in minimum viable stats for things like damage (for a damage build vs. a crit build), crit (for a damage build vs. a crit build), resistances, secondary stats, etc. I'm also interested in ratios: armor:health, armor:resistance, shield:health; resistance:health; damage:crit; etc.

As levelling is a something most players try to skip as much as possible, your dps and defenses will gravitate towards 'good enough' and differ wildly depending on skills and build used, there aren't really any minimum values to keep tabs on except life and resists.

For endgame, I personally feel having around 10k dps on your AoE skill in mid-tier maps is enough to play the game. Many would say that's a bit low so the whole thing depends a lot on your tastes, some need more to feel good, some need less, some like to struggle a bit and allow the game to put up a fight and some will satisfy with nothing less than a shower of blood, guts and brain. So yeah, 10k was me, the average acceptable figure is probably closer to 20k. Again, depending on skills used, some will feel good with half as much dps as another one, and elemental skills typically require higher numbers than physical ones because of resists.

For armor, the lowest value you will feel like having in endgame is around 5k, 10k being the average value for a build that qualifies as an armor user but doesn't particularly try to stack it and 20k would be a significant number. You should count the granite flask in those numbers only if your flask management is good and you can keep it up.

Block is either totally ignored with just the default shield value or stacked as close to 75% as possible, middle values are not as common, builds above 60% block will typically be called blockers.

A crit build will typically at least 50% final crit chance to get decent returns for the investment, some will manage to cap it at 95% with investment amount dependent on weapon/spell used. Weapon crit builds will typically have higher crit values but it depends a lot on the weapon choice.

Many thanks, Raics, both for the information and for your generosity in providing it. I shall update the OP accordingly.

In deference to the possibility that some players may disagree with you (not I; I don't know enough about the game to do so), I'll list the information you provided as one possible viewpoint. No slight intended.

I don't know if this is toooo simple for you to even include in the OP, but one thing I've been repeating to lots of new players seeking advice on making their own builds is: Specialize and Synergize.

• Example: You don't want to spec both Bow and Dagger damage as there are almost no skills that overlap in their usage and of course you can't apply bow bonuses to daggers or vice versa.
• Example: You do want to use a Wand with Crown of Eyes, a unique item that allows Increases to Spell Damage to also apply to Attacks. That is because Wands have spell damage implicits, possible spell damage mods, and spell bonuses near wand attack bonuses on the passive tree, in addition to the physical/elemental/attack speed bonuses that can roll on all weapons.

"

adghar wrote:

I don't know if this is toooo simple for you to even include in the OP, but one thing I've been repeating to lots of new players seeking advice on making their own builds is: Specialize and Synergize.

• Example: You don't want to spec both Bow and Dagger damage as there are almost no skills that overlap in their usage and of course you can't apply bow bonuses to daggers or vice versa.
• Example: You do want to use a Wand with Crown of Eyes, a unique item that allows Increases to Spell Damage to also apply to Attacks. That is because Wands have spell damage implicits, possible spell damage mods, and spell bonuses near wand attack bonuses on the passive tree, in addition to the physical/elemental/attack speed bonuses that can roll on all weapons.

You're absolutely right -- synergy, overlap, and specialization are all important AND worth mentioning. I'll add them to the OP.

Here are some hints about designing builds:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/510084

From my experience:
1) 1st I decide the main theme and class,ex Ball Lightning Knockbacking Witch.In the future,if I get some wider set of uniques probably I'll design a build around some,ex Mjolner or Whispering Ice.So far I'm not much familiar with uniques in PoE,neither I have funds to buy them at will,so I focus to create builds whose work on self-found stuff.
2) I design base skill setups and links,then if possible I test them with Tabula Rasa and other character just to see if that makes sense.I especially pay attention to get as much and as strong synergies between them as possible.This way ex I've discovered surprisingly effective defensive setup CWDT lv1 + Firestorm lv8 + Ball Lightning lv4 + Blind.
3) Now it's time to create passive tree.On 1st iteration I allocate all 123 points.On 2nd one I check the tree if there are nodes whose can be replaced by bandit's reward - ex 4% melee attack speed,it's better to help Kraityn on Cruel to get 8% attack speed instead.And on the 3rd one I try to replace nodes by jewel sockets if possible - ex if I can take socket for just one point then I can free say 5% life node to put a jewel with 7% life + 3 other features.
Designing a tree I always try to acquire at least 120% increased life.

Gold rule should be the budget/league, there is some builds very very expensive, and requieres some uniques very hard to find in short leagues.
Try to make a Physical Spectral Throw in DarkShrines could be a massive fail, due there is not mirrored daggers in the league and there is not enough time to make one good item.

My comfort AOE DPS it's arround 20k and 6000+ HP of life (evasion or armor) or 4500HP + 4000 ES.