Can't I just play the game without copying brain-afk builds?

Hey guys,

is it really impossible to just play the game without having to worry about bricking your character? Everyone says you should make a build around a certain skill. But how do I know which skill I want when I don't even know what skills there are?

I don't want to theorycraft several days before even starting the game.

I don't want to copy a build from this forum because that would make the game trivial and I could just let a trained monkey play for me.

How the hell do I know if I want attack speed or physical damage if I don't even know which skills are viable for me?

Is it even important to have the perfect build? I mean, Delve will be over in 1 month and then all characters will get a skill reset anyways.


How should a beginner approach the game nowadays without copying builds and setting your brain on autopilot?

Last bumped on Nov 8, 2018, 4:05:52 PM
I enjoyed playing lots of different skills and characters to about level 50 when i started. Then i started enjoying build guides. Play, explore, try and have fun failing.
I made my own builds from launch when i started. The first 10-15 failed miserably though, but I learned every step of the way. Grabbing a build is just skipping this learning curve.
@insilopeh that's exactly what I think. I don't want to copy builds without learning the games mechanics. However, it is really hard to make an own build because you don't know which stats you need and I don't even know which skills exist to begin with lol
If you are just having fun. Just learn by failing a few times. I brick'd 3 characters till I figured how to work the game mechanics.

Honestly, for skills. I'd just youtube the skill so I'd know what it looks like and if I like the look. I'd use it.

(⌐■_■)
Personally I just grab a few skills at low level, try them out to see which ones I like more and then build around it, eliminating those that aren't fun (for me enjoyment > efficiency). If necessary, create a new character.

Only closely followed guides once, though I do read them to get an idea how to optimize my chosen semi-random builds.
Dont follow a build if you dont want to. Its for people who think its too complicated. The most fun part of this game is making your own builds.

I started off making retarded shit builds. Now my builds are fucking great.


If you are unsure what you want to start with i would recomend just grabbing something broad and simple and trying the gems you think seem cool, like going melee physical, lightning or bow damage or something else. Then you just take ALL life you can while maximizing damage. Its not that hard. It wont be a 10/10 quadrillion dps shaper killer, but it will probably carry you through most of the game, with a slight struggle.

You get a few respec points while leveling, and you can buy more through trading. Worst case scenario you could do a full respec later on, or make another char.
Last edited by Amensentis on Nov 6, 2018, 6:04:34 AM
I am sure lot of new players like to explore the game and learn by doing instead of looking for guides.
I did it myself when I was new. It could not be so hard, I thought, coming from the other game, to make my hero not to be a zero.
I looked for some videos about rangers and had my idea of my own build.
I messed up - totally. Had no life, resistances was crappy and bad and sad my damage was, let´s say, not good.
I thought, I can do better and tried another character, a summoner whitch with big army.
Because I did no trading at this time, I had to make it with the items on the way. Terrible.
I noticed, this is not going well and started to look PoE Wiki, ZiggyD and others to understand the mechanics, combinations, Itemization ....

Without this I would still create charakters that would be my idea but not able for mapping or even more.
Do yourself a huge favor, get info and you won´t have to repeat my fails.

Best game here, have fun and luck
Depends if you know the mechanics fairly well, I've always played my own builds not followed a build guide yet but at the beggining that was a real struggle (though to be fair there were far less build guides then too).

I find it far more entertaining, the games a joke if you build into a subset of skills/trees I love the character building aspect and the challenge of pitting that against the content.
Yes you can. But it takes some time to gain proper knowledge. Just make different builds, read related topics on wiki, search for answers.. You chars will be better and better and one day you become a master:) ..

Then you would be able to screw meta and make very strong builds without the need for spending fortune on items all the horde of guide followers look for as well.

Ofc, it depends if you like games with complex mechanics and if you are keen on learning. Build guides are a shurtcut to good char with no need to learn.. But it is not that satisfying as theorycrafting and then destroying stuff with our own builds

IGN: Eric_Lindros
CET: Timezone

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