Welcome new exiles. Let me give you a hand

If there's only one thing you can be bothered to read I hope you read this :)

not because I'm an authority in PoE or I know it all. However I have been with PoE since early 2013 and I believe I know a thing or two.
Too often in the past few leagues I have seen new players trying to get answers in General or Trade chat, too often I've been appaled with arrogant and sarcastic answers that probably just discourage fresh blood that both Kitava and Chris enjoy ;)

Seems like the questions and issues I usually try to help (if I happen to pop in main chats) are all similar so here's a little cheatsheet to answer main ones.

1. Yes, PoE is complicated. Not just for new guys, enough to mention infamous banned D3 streamers and their attempt to switch to PoE with no research. Who knew pushing 'P' keybind can crush egos ;)

2. Yes, you can make your own build but if this will be your first character in PoE, it will seem the game is ridiculously hard and you will simply not enjoy it. Chose an character that you like the visual of and visit https://www.pathofexile.com/forum to get a build tailored to get a feel of the game first, soon enough you will be able to decide if or when you fancy your own build making.

3. DO NOT chose a build that says 'facetank' 'god' 'eevrything slayer' and so on. A god-like build requires currency and it's killing me when I meet exiles with 20-30 chaos orbs saved and asking to buy an Impulsa or Loreweave. Sure it is possible to get them as a league starter but not for new players.

Chose a build that is 'budget' '4-link' 'just rares' 'SSF'. Trust me, you will not need uber-lab or elder farmer anytime soon and cheap builds are the best way to learn this game AND see post-story content.

4. If you LOVE a build with uniques and nothing else will do, check their prices here: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Delve (link for 3.4) or here: https://poe.ninja/

To understand currency values go to: https://poe.ninja/challenge/currency (listed in order of value in chaos orbs) or https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/exchange/Delve to check current exchange rates for any currency

5. If you wonder if the item you have dropped is of any value, see number 4. With time you will discover some great tools that many are using but they can be very overwhelming at first.

6. Do not look or ask for freebies. Veteran players are happy to help out but noone likes a beggar. You are an exile, fend for yourself.


to be continued...

More questions? Ideas? Feel free to msg me or find me slacking n my hideout ;)

Since this is something I didn't fully appreciate the importance of myself when starting out:

1. Cap your resistances (fire, cold, lightning). The (normal) cap is 75%. You get hit with a 30% penalty at the end of Act 5 and Act 10. Which means you need 135% for each resistance when going into mapping. It sounds like a lot, but there are many item slots too. If you're in a pinch, it's usually easy to find a viable item via trading for 1-2 chaos.

2. Pick life nodes in the passive tree, AND make sure you have life on your gear. You need both. 50% of 50 isn't a lot, but 50% of 500 is.

Two points that many struggle with, so it bears repeating :)

A couple of points that should be mentioned:

Build life, not ES. ES gear is hard to come by while you're leveling and it's not exactly cheap in endgame either. Top life items end up around similar prices, but life recovery isn't tied to a high pool as much as ES.

Get all the life on the skill tree you can get. You should have at least around 160% increased maximum life in the end, preferably 180% or more. I know there are a lot of juicy damage nodes, but stuff will die without them. You will die without life.

Don't get too many uniques. This is a more general advice than in the OP. I know they're shiny, but uniques often lack life, resistances, or both. Uniques are supposed to be used in a limited manner, 1-3 at a time at most. Never take more if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

Get a flask that can remove bleed, and make sure it's a utility flask, not a life or mana flask, whose effects will be removed when you are full.

all valid tips, thank you
:)

Probably the number 1 hint for this game.

Don't try to face tank bosses, like never. Even if the guide you followed says the build can facetank every content, it's a lie/excaggeration it most likely can't. There is stuff in this game that will 1 shot you if you get hit so don't get hit if you can help it.

There is the exception of actual facetanking builds, but they're very expensive (for obvious reasons) and require a considerable knowledge of game mechanics to execute correctly.